Day Twenty-eight: Last Minute Changes

We were excited all day today, because we were having great friends over for a really special dinner.  Mike was walking on air all day, and Jack had the usual bounce to his step.  Our friends who were supposed to come over at 6:00 called at 4:45 to cancel.  Immediately we sank into a deep and dark depression. 

There was talk of ordering a pizza... lots of talk.  It took all my will power to squash the temptation.  As a last minute change, I pulled out an easy, family-friendly recipe from my neighbor, Melissa, and headed to the store for the ingredients.  On the way there I called my sister to invite her for dinner.  Following Knauer family tradition, she didn't answer her phone.

By the time I got back home and was halfway through the recipe, she returned my call.  She couldn't come to dinner, she said, because she had just ordered a pizza.  The nerve!  Mike talked her into cancelling the pizza and coming over right away.  Mike is a salesman.  Sara took the flak from the pizza man and headed over right away.

Tonight's dinner was a Taco Ring.  It was easy and fun.  First, just brown your ground meat and add a little cheese.

Now comes the fun part!  Arrange a can or two of crescent rolls on a cookie sheet, pointy tip out.  Spoon the cheesy meat on top.  Now fold the crescent roll over.  This sounds extremely confusing when you're reading off the recipe.  In fact, I had to google "taco ring" to figure out just what I was making. 

It turned out to be extremely easy.  I felt so confident that I even made a double ring.

Meanwhile, Jack and Connor played and played. 

Mike got to play with his friend, too.

That's our neighbor, Ross.  It's winter, so Mike and Ross haven't been playing as much as they usually do.  Still, Ross is over a lot.  Ross is over so much that Jack can pronounce his name perfectly.  This is a big deal, since he still can't pronounce most of his family members' names.  In fact, when Jack sees a man he doesn't know, he calls him Ross. 

The taco ring baked in the oven for 20 minutes.

When it was ready, we thought it looked pretty good.

We gave Mike the entire inner ring, and the rest of us split up the outside.  Connor gobbled his up in no time, and Sara only had to beg him to take one more bite once.  Usually, he has to take one more bite about 8 times before she declares his dinner finished.  Jack stabbed his bananas and enjoyed trying to stab Connor with his fork.  He did not partake of the taco ring.  Mike, Sara, and I all thought it was pretty good.  We wished it had a little more zing.  I suggested adding shredded lettuce to the meat/cheese mixture.  Mike suggested adding more cheese or pouring queso over the top. Sara was just excited that Connor was eating!

We had a fun family dinner.  There was lots of laughing, a little crying, and one time-out.  The biggest hit of the night was the candle.  We all took turns trying to blow out the candle.  Jack and Connor were happily entertained playing this game for 20 minutes.

By the end of the night we fell into bed exhausted.  We had had a great time playing with Connor and Jack all night.  We had enjoyed our new recipe.  Even though our dinner had turned out totally different from what we had planned, we loved everything about it.