Manners

After observing disturbing table manners in our home, such as throwing each other pancakes instead of passing them, I decided something needed to be done.  Something I've missed since serving in our YW group, is having an Ettiquette dinner like I always did in YW growing up.  That is how our yearly family Ettiquette dinner came to be....  Plus, since I have never had a baby in January ( :) ), that month was in desperate need of some sort of party, and I always love a party...

 The children helped plan the party, they planned the menu....which ended up being rather extensive:

soup, salad, meat, rolls, and dessert.

So naturally, I enlisted all sorts of help.

Madelyn made all the noodles for the chicken noodle soup.

And Drew washed our special dishes.

We always have an Ettiquette lesson before the actual dinner.  And it varies a bit from year to year, last year I included a made up story of a princess who had horrible manners--they thought it was hilarious.

We also dress up to make it more formal.

 

 Drew and Jed are the official escorts of the evening.

 

 Jed was catching me demonstrating not desirable manners and tried to catch me on camera....  :)

Jed and I are the waiters and serve the kids.  This year we had different courses.

It was sure fun.

So does that mean everyone in our family has perfect manners at every meal?  No.  But it has given us something to reference to and that sure is helpful!