Murray: Table for 6
We’re eating as a family of six now, which has been an overwhelmingly pleasant transition. Since I attempt to feed the boys what we are eating for dinner and eat at the same time they do, it made sense for us all to be around ONE table. It’s been a blessing to pray together before our meal; holding their sweet little hands and listening to them say "amen" at the end.
We are using the Fisher-Price booster seats that we had already used a few times for traveling. Thanks to the Goerlich’s for reminding us that the "booster" part of the seat makes it table height and thus allowing us to save some dough from purchasing our alternative option, restaurant style high chairs.
Being all plastic makes for easy easier clean-up! A+, Fisher-Price!
We ordered two more chairs from our local Woodcraft Furniture, which is where we purchased the other 4 in 2003. Good news – they still make the exact same style of chair! They sell affordable, solid, all-wood, pieces of furniture. We order unassembled and unstained to save on the cost. Until they are shipped, we’re using folding chairs. (By the way, I’m crouching, not sitting in this picture. I’m short, just not THAT short!)
The table was a scratch and dent (with MINIMAL scratches or dents) bargain from Ashley Furniture. We figured scratch and dent was the way to go for our family, since there’s a high probability for both in a family of 4 boys!
Thanks for all of your sweet, tender, comments on my feeding table post. I’m glad I wasn’t alone in my nostalgic thoughts. Can’t believe y’all were tearing up with me! I think the "next step" is going to be a great fit for our family!
We love the FP seats, too. To make things even cleaner, once our son was old enough that he wouldn’t fall out, we removed the straps from the seat. They’re washable, but ours got a little gross after a while. =)
Every single on of the kiddos I work with uses the FP seats. They are amazing 🙂 Welcome to the new phase in your life. The boys look so handsome in their “big boy” chairs 🙂
~Elyse~
I thought I was gonna have to start calling you Murray the Midge….but then I realized you were crouching down!
Awesome new chapter in the life of the Blue Crew. They look so grown up sitting at that BEAUTIFUL new table (we totally shop alike, Jen…right down to the best bargain for the buck).
I could almost hear their 4 little voices chiming in with “Amen” when you wrote that. What a phenomenal job you and Brad are doing raising the boys to love Jesus above all.
Love you!
Moni
We are also ready to transition from our quad table to the big table with our whole family. Do you think the FP seats are better than restaurant style high chairs? I don’t have either of them but was thinking of ordering them this week. I am leaning towards the restaurant style chairs. Any advice would be great! Thanks
Love the FP seats! Enjoy your meals as a family of 6
If there’s anything more precious than praying with your kids I don’t know what it is! When our kids were little they prayed “Thank you Jesus for this food.” for just about any need! It is an all purpose call to the Throne!
Love the new table.
Woodcraft Furniture is a great place! I live in Lafayette and we drive down to buy furniture from them. We got our night stands and dresser from them already finished. And we also got a great kids table that we finished for our two year old to have for crafts. It is huge, it can seat 6 kids (we only have 4 chairs though) has four drawers for stuff and is big enough that I even sit at it with her. We have also finished a pie cabinet and a big glass door hutch for the kitchen from them. They are such nice people and the product is great.
What a blessing to be able to share a table and also that you were able to find the exact same chairs! I too got teary about your table. It is just one more reminder that they aren’t babies anymore. My boys are soon to be 7 and 9 and I still miss the baby days.
I like you am on the shorter side of life and our poor boys are too! So at 5 and 6 they both still use the booster at the table, straps cut off now because they get discusting! by using the booster I have found that it has been so much easier compared to friends to get our boys to eat a full meal and learn their table manners. the other thing I love is no more high chairs taking up room, with toys and little people the less bulky stuff the happier the mummy!!! they are getting very big, I really enjoy reading your posts
Leonie
We have 3 of those strapped to the chairs around our table too. Its always amazing to see how thickly crumbs can accumulate on upholstered chairs whenever I take the seats off. And don’t EVER look under the table after a meal.
But they are such a space saver over high chairs.
We have a couple of those as well – and we like them 🙂
Cool to see you all at the same table!!
We also have FP boosters for our almost 2 year old twins. Just a hint…..we first covered the chairs with towels and then put on the booster to try to save the upholstered seats. We remove the towels about once a week (more or less), wash them, and put them back on b4 the next meal. We also wash the belts when we do this, we just put them in a lingerie bag in the washing machine. I, like the first poster has done, am looking forward to removing them soon, they do get gross! And, we also bought a used slightly scratched table and chairs from our neighborhood yahoo group. We knew with our 3 kiddos, it was bound to get some rough treatment. Enjoy your new family table, we sure do!
:)Caralyn
We have similar seats, they are just Safety First brand instead of FP. Love the table. We have to get three more chairs for our table, but it has been a pain in the tail trying to find chairs that match enough it won’t drive me crazy!
BTW-I love the plates the boys are using…please tell me what they are and where they can be purchased?!
We also use the FP boosters. They had high chairs for a long time but I loved when we moved them to the table with us so we could eat as a family – not with the twins off to the side of the table 😉
Enjoy your meals!
Awww, the boys look so grown up! They always are well behaved…and such neat eaters! You both are great parents.
One thing for sure – when your four boys become teenagers, you will never, ever have leftover food in your house (especially when they invite their friends over)! But you have a few years before that happens, yay!
Gail
Annapolis, MD
What a handsome bunch! You are so blessed! I’ve lurked on your blog for quite some time… doing a lot of laughing, crying and praying with you along the way. May God continue to give you wisdom as you train your precious boys to become godly men.
It was so nice to meet you and your husband Thursday night, (very sad circumstances, though). I also use the Fisher-Price booster seat, it’s great for Gramma’s house! I’m sure they love eating dinner with Mommy and Daddy at the big table!
Gretchen’s MIL, Lennis Neisler
Jen,
We just transitioned ours from highchairs to "little people" chairs. We ended up getting them a table just for them. It is amazing how much more of a mess they can create! LOL! The messiness drives me crazy but they seem to love it! YAY for them growing up into little men!
Love, Cathy & the quads
itsaquadlife.blogspot.com
Like the new table…very “homey”. I bet the boys think they are big stuff now 🙂 I would love to hear them all say “amen” too! And I agree on those FP seats! We’ve only used that seat…rather than a high-chair. saved room, money and easy clean up…plus it’s great for travel!
jz
AWWW!!! they look SO BIIIG sitting at the big boy table now!!! AWW i bet its PRECIOUS hearing them say “amen”!! That makes my heart melt! -sioby 🙂
p.s. you look too cute crouched down!! haha 🙂
Hint: Cover the seat part of your chair with a kitchen towel. Then you can throw it in with a load of clothes when it gets nasty and you aren’t scrubbing for hours!
We have that booster seat as well and love it. So easy for traveling and transitioning to just the table. Glad it has gone smoothly so far!
They look so grown up!
I see someone recommended covering the chairs with towels. I was going to recommend covering the chairs, too, but I was thinking more along the lines of plastic or so anything liquid doesn’t stain seep through and stain them.
KS
Where’d you get those plates? I love them! … and need them! Your crew is so rapidly growing up, it’s crazy! Love those boys!
We have the very same chairs! I love them! And it was such a nice developmental step when the kids learned how to crawl up into the chairs and buckle themselves in! Yea!
Jen, would you still recommend these seats? Any other advice or recommendations? Isaac is about to bust out of the feeding table you gave us! Can you believe it??
Keep up with me, Ted, and our Fab Four at four-by-two.blogspot.com