We NEVER eat in there....

Last week Scott came in and asked

"Can we have Miguel over for dinner next week?"

(heart skips a beat...)

"Ummm....sure"

Miguel is Scott's boss from California.
He was going to be in town for the week
and Scott thought it would be nice to have him over
for a home cooked meal while he was here.

They travel so much that I am sure eating out gets old.

Once the shock wore off,  I calculated how many hours

it was going to take me to hide all of the toys,

laundry, sweet up the dust bunnies and decided on a menu.

Scott kept telling me not to stress,

that this was not like the BOSS coming to dinner,

but just a dinner with good friends...

that made me feel better,

he's such a good husband!

He even helped me hide a dust bunny or twenty!

Once the plan was in place I decided that this would be 

a perfect opportunity to break out the "good" dishes

and play a little.

As we were picking up on Monday night, Austin told Scott that 

we needed to put the leaf back in the kitchen table, cause

we would not all fit in the kitchen, and guests were coming.

He paused a minute and said,

"Or we could eat in there...but we never do that!"

Well sonny...times are a changin' around here!

Not only was he going to eat in the dining room,

which we do use...Austin is just usually at the kids table in the kitchen.

I decided to totally blow his mind and let him eat off of 

our Wedding China, too!

Out came the dishes and the table was set.

I call this my Wedding China, but I actually had 

this before I ever even met Scott.

My mother worked at McRae's for several

years when I was in high school and she bought

a new set of fine china for both of us using her 

employee discount.  She also used that little discount on 

several pieces of silver too!  

So when we got married, I registered for Christmas china

instead...you'll get to see that in a few weeks!

(I can't wait for the holidays!)

I didn't have much time to think about a centerpiece

or try and get really creative,

I was trying to hide those dust bunnies, remember?

I had recently found these woven pumpkins at Target.

They were on clearance and I think I got them both for

less than $15.  I placed a candle in the middle of them and

had to say, "That will have to do"

I also didn't have any nice napkins on hand so I ran to
Tuesday Morning and grabbed these after I picked Austin up from school.
I didn't think my Bounty paper napkins would do the trick.
(No offense to the makers of Bounty)

We even used the "fancy glasses"
They are made by Gorham and are
the Cherrywood pattern...

Here's a little close up of my china.
It is Chandon Gold by Noritake.
I think it has now been discontinued.

I love the scalloped edges and delicate lace pattern.

 On the menu was

The Pioneer Woman's Pot Roast
you can find the recipe here

Fresh Green Beans

Sweet Potato Casserole

Sister Shubert's Rolls

and

Peanut Butter Pie for dessert

Dinner may not have been a show stopper,

but let me tell you...this dessert was to die for!

I served it in my individual trifle bowls

from Crate and Barrell.

This is soooo good!

I found the recipe the other day on 

Pinterest and thought I needed to keep it because 

Scott loves anything with Peanut Butter in it.

In case you are a Peanut Butter-a-holic too,

here's the recipe

here is a link

that I found on Pinterest

or you can read it below

For the crust:

16 Oreo cookies

4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

For the Filling:

1 cup heavy cream

8 ounces cream cheese

1 cup creamy-style peanut butter

1 cup confectioner's sugar

1 14 ounce can sweetened condensed milk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:

Place Oreo cookies into a food processor and pulse into fine crumbs. 

 In a small bowl, combine cookie crumbs with melted butter and stir. 

 Evenly divide crumbs between your individual serving dishes 

and press into the bottom to form the crust.  In a stand mixer, beat the heavy cream until stiff peaks form.  Transfer whipped cream to a small bowl and place it into the refrigerator while you prepare the rest of the filling.  Place cream cheese and peanut butter in the mixing bowl and beat on medium speed until smooth.  Reduce speed to low and gradually add the confectioners' sugar until well combined.  Add in sweetened condensed milk and vanilla and beat on medium speed until creamy and smooth.  Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed.  Stir in 1/3 of the whipped cream into the filling mixture.  Use a rubber spatula to fold in the reaming whipped cream until well blended and no streaks remain.

Evenly pipe or spoon into the serving dishes.  Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 3 hours before serving.  If desired, garnish with whipped cream and chocolate curls.

YUMMY!!!

At the end of the evening, all of the dishes had been washed and dried

and my china had survived my two little men.

I can trust Scott with the "good dishes"

but Austin and Jackson are my work in progress.

They tried to use their best manners but I have to admit...

Austin was so excited to be using crystal that he tried to 

make his glass "sing" in the middle of dinner....

and immediately after that Jackson announced to our dinner guest

"I can go Poop in the Potty!!!"

Manners....yeah, we are still working on that...

I could have just crawled under the table and died with Jackson's 

announcement.  While we are very proud of his recent accomplishments,

we would prefer to keep that one away from a dinner table conversation.

Our honored guest was a trooper,

having raised two boys of his own,

he jumped right in there and said

"Hey, that's great, you are a Big Boy now!"

The night was a success...

good food and good friends

eating on the good china,

and good memories that you can hold over your 

children's heads FOREVER!!!

Hop on over and see all of the other beautiful tables at 

Between Naps on the Porch