Weekly Dinner Plan 1/27 to 2/2

Weekly Dinner Plan for January 27th

Another full week of dinners at home!  During other seasons of the year/life we have busy weeks that require quick dinners, dinner on the go with fast food or packed snacky stuff for sports, or heading out to eat with family or something on the weekend, but lately it's been a lot of at home dinners! It's cold outside, and we are between sports (or at least the ones we have don't fall over the dinner hour...) so we are pretty happy to hibernate at home and enjoy a more relaxed pace for dinner while it lasts!

Monday:  Burritos

I typically make these burritos to use up leftover taco meat and just add in beans, salsa, cheese, etc.  We all really love them.  I may do a post soon with more details- they're a super handy, quick dinner to have in your docket and a great way to use up leftovers in a little bit different way.

Tuesday: Shrimp Alfredo

Tuesday is my daughter's 11th birthday, and as the tradition goes in our house, she gets to pick whatever she'd like for dinner.  Her favorite is when my husband cooks shrimp alfredo, so it's a win for me too!  I'll be in charge of garlic bread and salad only!

She has also requested a Llama cake for after dinner when family comes over to celebrate, so my hubby and I will teamwork that one.

(update- here's the final product! Not too shabby if I do say... we are NOT professionals and just wing it for the kids sake!)

Wednesday: Beef Stirfry and Rice

I am trying a new recipe for beef stirfry using a packaged veggie and sauce mix from the produce section.  I honestly just stumbled upon it randomly while doing my online grocery pickup and decided to give it a whirl!

Thursday: French toast and sausage

Brinner is a big hit at our house and we end up doing it almost weekly!  This time we are opting for french toast, and will make sausage/eggs/fruit to go with it, depending on time and mood!

Friday: Pizza Picnic and Movie!

We are just opting for plain old take and bake pizza this Friday.  We have not landed on a movie yet but might go with our second choice from last week!  We had narrowed it down to the old Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory or the new Dora in The Jungle (or whatever?) and Dora won out!  I think I'm going to make the decision for Willy this Friday because I haven't watched it in FOREVER!

Saturday:  Shredded Turkey sandwiches and cold veggies/chips.

Honestly, I'm just throwing this in the crockpot and having easy sides because I'm planning on Saturday being kind of busy with home projects and whatnot.  Either way, happy to have a pretty hands-off dinner on a Saturday!

Sunday: Crockpot beef roast and roasted veggies.

Not much to say about this one, just one of our favorites for a Sunday family dinner, and super handy to pop in the crockpot before church in the morning!

Happy meal planning! 
See the rest of my weekly meal planning here.

P.S. I do Walmart Grocery Pickup for the bulk of my shopping list- total game changer and I can't recommend it enough! (HELLO- grocery shopping in my jammies at night.)  If you haven't tried it before, use my referral code for $10 off your first purchase.

Favorite Graphic Novels for Elementary Kids

Do your children have a love for the "graphic novel" style books as well? Graphic novels have honestly been a game changer in our household.  You may not know them as "graphic novels" specifically, but basically any book with "comic" type pictures, or a lot of fun pictures, fonts, etc. are included in my loose definition of a graphic novel for our purposes!  My children love them, and they make a very easy transition into chapter books, especially when your child may be at a higher reading level than the easy readers, but not willing to give up the pictures, the colors, and all the fun things.  Of course picture books come at every level, and I am always a fan of those... but regardless, these books I'm listing really helped my kids enjoy reading and kept them excited.  They also love that they are quick reads, and they can bust through them rather quickly, which is always a bigger deal for kids, right?  My kids tend to want to finish things quickly, unless of course it's something like getting their socks and shoes on for school... that tends to fully encourage them to slow down and notice all the things around them.

As a note, graphic novels come at every age level.  Just because a book is at their reading level and has fun pictures, may not mean it's at their maturity level.  As always, check it out before they read it to make sure the content is appropriate and in line with the types of things you want them to read!  Some graphic novels are much more geared towards teens or even adults so.. there's my tidbit on that!

If you haven't given graphic novels a whirl yet, I recommend trying any of these.  I do think they are a great option to get some children interested in reading that otherwise are not the most interested.  They have seriously helped with some of ours!  Hope it does the trick for you too!

1.) Babysitters Club and Babysitters Little Sister

My daughters LOVE these.  So fun to see a series that I enjoyed so much as a kid being reinvented as a graphic novel for them.  I'm super excited that the Little Sister ones are now being released as well, it's a much better age and interest level for my younger daughters.  The second book is out now as well!

2.) Geronimo and Thea Stilton books

There are so many of these and a lot of subcategories of them as well.  These have been such a big hit with each of my daughters and I'm fully confident that my son will enjoy them as well when he hits that age- so this is a good one for boys and girls alike!  The books are super fun, the stories are interesting and attention-holding, and the pictures and fun fonts make it much more appealing at younger ages.  There are really a variety of reading levels in these as well, shorter/easier ones that my kids could read at the end of kindergarten/first grade, and much longer/more difficult ones that are still interesting to them (and at their level) through 4th or 5th grade. 

3.) Owl Diaries and Unicorn Diaries

These books are adorable.  The Unicorn Diaries is a new series, and are awaiting the first book to arrive from the school book order, but we own Owl Diaries through book 11!  These are very easy readers, and worked well in kindergarten and first grade for my kids.. however, they love the stories so much, and really enjoy having such a large series to follow the characters through, that they request to read the new ones as they come out, even as a 3rd or 4th grader!  I encourage them to read books below their level if they enjoy them for sure, so I think it's great to have a quick, fun, read that basically reads as quickly as a picture book now that they are at a higher reading level.

4.) Phoebe and Her Unicorn

We just recently found a couple of these for my 8 year old daughter who LOVES unicorns.  If you have a unicorn lover as well, and honestly, based on the amount of unicorn products out there, a lot of people must... these would be a fun option!  

5.) Smile, Guts, Sisters, etc.

Another big hit at our house.  My oldest daughter who is now in high school first discovered these around middle school age and really enjoyed them.  She is not a big reader, no matter how hard we try, and these are some that she really enjoyed and couldn't wait to buy or check out.  During a time where it was difficult to get her to read for enjoyment, these were really helpful and it was lovely to see her with a book in her hand that she did not want to put down!  Since then, my younger daughters have really enjoyed them.  They do talk more about middle school type stuff, but none of it has felt inappropriate for our 3rd and 5th grader.  Use your best judgement.

6.) Anne of Green Gables

This is new to me! I found it while browsing the free Kindle Unlimited books on Amazon, and can't wait to check it out!  It's the classic Anne of Green Gables, remade into a graphic novel, and I have very high hopes for it!  Leave me a comment if you or your children have read this yet!?  I'm excited to see what it's like.

Let me know in the comments if you have any other graphic novels that your kids love! We are always looking for more around here.  

Weekly Dinner Plan 1/20-1/26

Weekly Dinner Plan for January 20th

Monday:

• Sauteed Sausage/Peppers/Onions
• Mac and Cheese for kids (and probably hubby too, in all honesty)
• Salad for me

Tuesday:

• Taco Tuesday!! (Ground beef, hard shell + toppings)
• Sauteed veggies with seasonings or rice.

We typically do ground beef tacos, this is my favorite taco seasoning, and then we stuff hard shells with the meat and cheese and bake before eating! Such a life hack for hard shell tacos- they do not break and crack nearly as bad when you bake in the meat and cheese.  Then we add all the other toppings individually as we are filling our plates!

Another note about tacos- they are so versatile and change at our house based on mood/ingredients on hand.  Sometimes we keep the meat pretty plain, but I love to add black beans and salsa while it is cooking as well!

Wednesday:

• Crockpot beef tips
• Egg noodles
• Some veggies... (not sure yet. Steamed broccoli, sauteed veggies, whatever mood strikes me I guess)

Thursday:

• French toast
• Fruit or Smoothies

Friday:

• Pizza roll-ups!

Pizza and movie night! My kids LOVE pizza and movie night, and we try to do in whenever we have a wide open Friday night! We vary between takeout, homemade, or pizza-ish recipes.

Saturday:

• Chicken strips and waffle fries for the kids

Date night for hubby and I and a few couple-friends we have.  Our oldest will babysit and make chicken and waffle fries for them all.  Hopefully they decide to toss a few veggies and dip along with it or something but.. it's likely to be followed by popcorn and Disney+, who am I kidding?  As long as we get a quickie dinner date with friends, I have learned to let go a little.

Sunday:

• Crockpot turkey tenderloins
• Baked potatoes
• Veggies

Happy meal planning! 
See the rest of my weekly meal planning here.

P.S. I do Walmart Grocery Pickup for the bulk of my shopping list- total game changer and I can't recommend it enough! (HELLO- grocery shopping in my jammies at night.)  If you haven't tried it before, use my referral code for $10 off your first purchase.