dining room table

We bought a dining room table. To many this may not seem like a huge deal. But its something we didnt have.. and somthing I felt like we needed as a family. We have a very small kitchen/dining area, so I searched long until I found what would fit there. Even the one I did find is a sqooch to big. But we slide it against the wall in the daytime. Its black and white and wood grained. Not fancy and by no means expensive. But it has made a difference.

We are a mixed family. Caitlin and I, Steven and Jasmin. Caitlin and I were alone when Steven found us... and Jasmin needed us. She was without a mommy and my baby needed a Daddy. Both had the biological parents that had created them. But neither had what they needed. Steven and I were wounded by our pasts and our broken relationships, doing our best, but missing something.

Slowly we have been blending together. A little at a time. With each year that passes feeling a little more confident and a little more sure.We have been creating traditions, things for our children to cling to and remember to adulthood.

We take a vaction every spring, go someplace as a family and make memories. We put up our christmas tree early the weekend after thanksgiving and take it down early.. mostly Christmas day after the presents are all open and before we gorge ourselves on a fancy dinner at my parents house. We go to the movies together and to the zoo... we go to church on sundays and nap as a family in the afternoon... and now we eat together every night... at the table.

We had been eating separately.. some in the livingroom watching television, some in the kitchen at a kiddie table doing homework or listening to adult conversation.... but now? We turn everything off, we talk to one another and learn about one anothers days and what we want for the future. My girls are learning ettiquitte and table manners... its been amazing.

According to statisics children that eat at the table as a family 5 times a week are less liekly to try drugs.. less likely to have permisquious sex and have 25% higher SAT scores... I am determined to give my girls every opportunity to do well. So yahoo for dining room tables!