a little bit of fashion, a lot about our weekly family dinner night

Happy Tuesday, friends! I'm here to talk about some things I've worn recently, and about the family dinner night that I reinstated this summer. I'm linking up with Amy for the weekly Fashion Files and Joanne for Tuesday Talk for this post. I'll jump right in! 

First up is all about the outfits I wore last week...

I wanted to look cute at work last week; I also wanted to be comfortable and cool as I worked in rooms getting my friends ready to teach for the school year. Because of that, I lived in gauze and tee shirt dresses all week, and I loved being all of those things I wanted to be. I wore a mixture of sandals and sneakers; this last picture of us is from Saturday night. I'd bought a dress to wear to a wedding this weekend, but I had a last minute outfit chance once Jonah took a picture of us outside and I saw what the dress looked like. Inside the house, it was fine; outside, it turned sheer, and I didn't love that. I went back inside at the last minute and threw this one on instead. 

Do you have thoughts on any of the outfits? I'd love to hear them! 

And now onto family dinner...

Most of you know that four weeks ago, I reinstated family dinner night. This takes place each week on Sunday afternoon at five; I go to church, then I come home to prepare for my sons and Mallory (plus any extras) to come eat dinner. I never take pictures of this during the main event, which is great because I'm living in the moment instead of being on my phone. This week I decided to try to take some pictures.

I try to keep things as simple as possible. The first week I made an Italian pasta dish they love with garlic bread; week two was requested by Noah: chicken poppyseed casserole, rice, and green beans. Week three found us Mallory's and Drew's apartment for swimming and poolside pizza! 

Mallory is a twin! This is her twin sister Meredith on the left.

Mallory's parents were also there; her mom is also a Jennifer, and she's there in the baseball hat in the picture above.

This was such a fun afternoon; I got there at two and stayed until six. The pool felt amazing! This week was back at my house for week four; I made French dip sandwiches, homemade macaroni and cheese (in the crock pot), and for dessert we had cookies with ice cream. Like I said before, I keep things as simple as possible, so I make the things they love that are easy. I also use paper products when I have them on hand.

I forgot to buy some this week, so I used these Christmas since I had them on hand. I loved this! It was like a Christmas in August party. I always have two liters of soft drinks for them, and bottles of water. Sometimes they bring their own alcoholic drinks, and sometimes I have some on hand already. The goal isn't perfection or a Pinterest worthy night; the goal is to be together, to laugh, and to have fun while we connect. They can't make it each week, and I don't expect that, but each week I provide a meal for them all. When it doesn't work out for my sons to be here, I invite Mom, Bill, Trish, Devin, and Tyler (the last two are my nephews). One week we'll invite Chris' dad and his girlfriend; another night I might decide to invite some friends. Next week our plan is to grill hamburgers and we'll swim in my neighbor's pool since I'll be watching their dogs for the weekend. I made sure to tell them all this last night while they were here. 

Drew made and left this little thing while he was here Sunday night. I love that he still loves to make things by folding paper and napkins. I have a collection of such things of his.

I have to give a shout-out to my Chris; he's the one that encouraged me to start this back up each week. I'm so glad he did and that I took his advice! I've loved each week and how it has turned out. Do you have thoughts or questions about this? I'd love to hear some recs or answer any questions you might have. Thanks for reading my blog today, friends! Love to all.

Jen 

p.s. Please enjoy the picture from last summer when Graham had us all at his house for family dinner night; he made salmon, potatoes, and garlic bread on that night and we took this picture with the spectacular sunset. I later had this put onto a canvas, I loved it so much, and it hangs in my living room today.