I was thinking the other day that I hadn’t seen the grandsons for a while. When I say “a while”, I’m talking two or three weeks, which is silly because they live all of two blocks away. So, how to remedy this? I said we should have a “dinner at grandma and grandpa’s” once a week and get it on the calendar. My wonderful husband has of course given it a nickname; Dinner at Granny’s. I need to let you know that I am not a “Granny”, nor will I ever BE a granny.

Anyway, to get our inaugural meal going, I asked the boys what they wanted for dinner. “Mac and cheese!!”, they yelled, followed by “more Mac and cheese!”… and steak! said the oldest. So there we were, steak and mac and cheese. Followed by other things for grandpa who will tolerate Mac and cheese as long as it’s followed with some veggies.

Oh and not just ANY Mac and Cheese, it had to have Velveeta cheese. For those of you who have not grown up in the south, it is one of the basic food groups. As Doug made the grocery list, I told him to buy a LOT of it, to which he retorted, “they can’t eat THAT much” and off he went.

The boys arrived promptly at 5:00, greeted by a set table, veggies and dip and fruit to munch on before the main course because you must placate boys with food before more food. The steaks finished, the large bowl of Mac and cheese set on the table and off we went, with the oldest grabbing the spoon before the youngest. “He’ll eat it all before I get any!” he explained and the youngest one said, “don’t let him have too much!”, concerned he would have more than his share. Never mind grandma, grandpa and Uncle David, this was not going to be enough for the two of them.

Covering half his plate with the Mac and cheese, the youngest proceeded to lower himself in the chair so that his mouth was at the same height as the plate so he could literally shove it in, while the oldest delicately picked up the Mac and cheese with his fingers to place on his fork before he ate it. We were lucky to get any without losing our fingers. Who knew Mac and cheese was such a powerful thing?

After dinner the kids decided to hang out in grandpa’s office to watch some TV. They were a bit too quiet, so I stepped in for a minute to check. They were doing just fine, but informed me they had found something fun to do. They each took a sticky note and ran it through the shredder. “Isn’t that cool, grandma?” Well yes it was. So I suggested they could each have one piece of printer paper to run through the shredder for fun. As they each oohed and ahhed through this, the oldest said, “this is just so satisfying!”. And I suppose it was – until the youngest took the top off the shredder to see what the paper looked like. Now, I’m all about indulging the grandkids, but I didn’t want shredded paper all over the floor. On to the next thing….

Second dinner! They demolished their first dinner and within an hour and a half they were hungry again. The rest of the Mac and cheese never knew what hit it. They did actually eat more fruit and veggies the second time around, downed more Dr. Pepper and Sprite, just in time for mom and dad to arrive from their date and lay down the law about not having any MORE Dr. Pepper and Sprite before bed.

So this weekly thing could be interesting. There will be some changes and grandma might just have to insert a bit of etiquette now and then – no more shoveling – but it was fun to have them over. Especially when they like to hug and cuddle on the couch. Totally worth the all of the mess on the floor around the table, right? Until next week….