Weekly Theme Dinners

We are a vegetarian family of 5-

Vegetarian recipes... I have posted some of my favs here on my blog-- everyone loves Southwestern Eggroll night in my family of five.

For me, everyone got less complainy when I solidified theme night-- so we do:

Monday- Soup night (lentil, split pea, black bean, matzo ball, barley, chili)

Tuesday- Taco Tuesdays  (make your own at the table)

Wed- Splitsies-- adult meal the kids hate for the adults, treat for kids (veggie nuggets, mini pizzas)

Thur- Brinner (they love eggs, bagels, hash browns, frittata, etc)

Fri- Stir Fryday (I coined this fun term-- we do brown rice, snap peas, broccoli, water chestnuts & peanuts in Whole Foods Teriyaki sauce)

Sat- Leftovers

Sun- Eggrolls or try a new recipe

Some substitutes I do are:  falafel pitas, pizza, pasta night, hors d'ouvres night

My first grader's  FAVORITE lunch by far, is an apple, cut in half, the core scooped out with a mellon baller, fill the holes with peanut butter, then rubber band it back together.  (Push in a few chocolate chips for a treat).

I'm going to try HARD to remember to do a blog post of each day for more detail.  Coming soon!

Hanukkah wish list and mapping out the 8 nights

This year, my oldest child can write!

Yay!

I had my 6 year old write out her wish list and her 3 year old sister's list.

Each person in the family gets their own page every year. I thought it would be fun to look back and see what people wished for in any given year.

But more importantly, I have a go to notebook to plan each year.

With 3 kids, cousins, friends, events, etc... The 8 nights can get chaotic and unorganized easily. It is very easy to overbuy too many gifts with eight nights, and also too easy to light the candles and then realize you're missing a gift for one child or something etc.

I made my own binder to make sure I had gifts or plans for everybody for each night.

One night every year is spent with our cousins, and one night is expressly for siblings giving a handmade gift.

We don't necessarily give a gift every night, one night might be an event we go to, or playing a Hanukkah game etc.

Below are my notebooks, hope they give you ideas to get organized for Hanukkah! They are still in the works, but you get the idea…