A 4 Course Dinner with 19 Teenagers!

About a week ago Rachel asked us if we would be willing to let her friends come over for a University of Texas (yuck! sic 'em bears!)  formal dinner send off for one of her best guy friends who was leaving for college today.  She assured me that the guys would be the ones doing all of the cooking and cleaning up.

In a moment, where I must have lost my best judgement, and because we love our daughters and would do most anything for them, we agreed.  So, early Saturday morning, again with the losing my mind thing, I cleaned my oven and picked up my kitchen.  We swept the floor, but I didn't mop it...clearly my mind had returned!

The girls had fun getting ready.  They were all dressing up for the event and they wanted to eat outside...I believe it was over 100 degrees as we were setting up tables.  While all of the girls got ready, the guys went to the grocery store.  They were all running about an hour behind, so the guests didn't start arriving until 8:00 and the dinner was served at 9:15.  There were 19 teenagers at the 4 course dinner.

So, in the mean time, I snapped a few photos of my girls.

And their funky tights.  We hear its all about the tights/leggings/jeggings this year:

See what I have to work with?  Ha!  They are so much fun...even when I'm trying to take a pretty picture.

Soon 17 other teenagers started arriving and began cooking:

All of the girls had fun watching the boys find their way around the kitchen.  I have to say that we were pretty impressed by their mad cooking skills. They made a fruit and cheese platter, a salad course, bruschetta, a stuffed chicken over pasta, and tiramisu for dessert. 

While the girls found their seats outside, the boys staged their plates and then presented their 4 course meal:

They dined beneath tiki torches and candles.  My outside photos are not the best because I was trying not to say, "Parent alert!  I'm taking pictures"  So, I didn't use a flash and it was DARK outside! 

While they finished their dessert course, Mr. Incredible and I washed all of the dishes, and pots and pans.  He reminded me that they were suppose to do that, but I couldn't help myself! 

They all had a great time.  We heard a lot of laughs and giggles and then singing and some dancing.  In spite of one of the teens, one of my students, trying to light my tongs on fire in MY kitchen, we had a fun evening too and we were thankful they wanted to have their special dinner at our house.

Rachel was right all along...it was fun!