Wild Wednesday! Yeehaw! My once-a-week window into what it would be like to have a really big family - everyone in the kitchen, all talking at the same time, the kids (sort of) doing homework, John (sort of) working, Stacey and I (sort of) chatting, everyone playing with Cooper, all while I make a big, messy dinner. And an early dinner, since everyone's dashing out the door by 5:50 p.m., off to various Wednesday night events. I prefer an early dinner myself, so it's absolutely fine by me to be sitting around the dining room table at 5 p.m., everyone still talking at the same time, laughing at Cooper's Chatty Cuteness, and discussing the pros and cons of the various components of our meal. Everyone's a critic, of course, especially my kids. Tonight's crispy oven-roasted chicken drummies are pretty universally well-loved, except by Nathan, although he digs the accompanying sticky rice with pan juices plenty fine. (The pic is actually from the summer, when I add garden tomatoes to the pan juices. In January, no garden tomatoes, sniff, although the juices are darn tasty anyhow.)

As a bonus, Stace arrived with Whole Foods goodies that everyone happily dug into - spicy nuts, olives, and coconut cupcakes for dessert, yay!