The night before school starts back there's always a little pressure. I feel it incumbent upon me to give the junior recipe testers the best chance of a good start for term. So last night it began. Nutritious meal, check. This was expertly prepared by the senior recipe tester. I was in the big kitchen preparing your nutritious meals.

Next, not too late to bed. Check.

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The week that's been has been one of ups and downs. We had a child in hospital (down) who was completely fine (up). The end of school for the term (up) and a redundancy, which means loads of time as a family (up), a dinner celebration to mark the occasion (up) and a small issue of income (you know).

A dear friend once told me that I unnecessarily sweat the small stuff. At the time, I disagreed. In the intervening 25 years I have come to suspect his character assessment may have been right. I will here add a caveat: I do not count buttercream amongst the small stuff.

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Today I reflected that throughout my working life, I have been most fortunate to have jobs that have required me to write. With my Dinner on the Table hat on, it is my joy and privilege to write these posts every week about the daily juggle that we all do.

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We are reaching a somewhat golden age of family life where evening outings are possible, as long as we're not out too late. Of course, we still have to have the altercation about whether one needs a woolly jacket when going out on a winter's night...

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We're routinely told it is good for juniors to be active and spend time outdoors. Too right. And so we thought to do just that. A trip to the park, a ride on the bikes, throw in a few cousins and you pretty much have junior-recipe-tester nirvana.

Drink bottles. Check. Morning tea. Check. Hats and sunscreen. Check, check. Bikes. ...Ah.

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