Family Fun Friday

Our party of 5 has decided on a new family activity - Family Fun Fridays! We are all so excited! I love that the kids are at the stage where they can objectively voice their opinions and we can all decide on something fun to do as a family. Last weekend I sat down with the family to plan out our weekly menu. With the threat of snow, I wanted to make sure that we had plenty of food. I also thought that sitting down with the family and deciding on our menu would help with the great debate every night - "What do you want for dinner?". I admit, it is hard to decide what kind of meat you want for dinner first thing in the morning. However, it is equally as hard to decide what to feed our party of 5 each night without complaints and planning ahead. I always have food stocked up, but if I don't have the time during the day to thaw out my meat, then we are out of luck. I love cooking, the stress comes from knowing what to fix each day. I love that everyone voiced their opinion on what they would like for dinner and that we were all able to agree.

Our weekly menu this week. I can't wait to make next week's menu tomorrow!

Jason picked my homemade chicken noodle soup, Joshua picked Spaghetti night, and Abby Kate picked Roast (I love it all). I can't even begin to tell you how excited everyone was for "their night" this week. I gave up on trying to fix dinner on Wednesday nights several years ago. We live too far out for Jason to make it home before church and for us to have dinner fixed and eaten before heading out for Wednesday night church. It kind of bothers me that we don't eat at home on Wednesday nights, but I've just learned to embrace it and accept it. We did go ahead and decide on the place that we would eat because that also always poses a challenge each Wednesday night. I have to admit that it was nice to know ahead of time what we were going to eat. It also helps with Jason's schedule during the week to know what he is going to have for dinner so that he can plan ahead his lunch appointments.

Now, I am not usually one that likes to have a dinner schedule planned for each night. In the past, there were times where we tried to have a dinner calendar and I just didn't want whatever was on the menu that night. We are at a different phase in our family right now and having this weekly dinner schedule is going to be a huge help. I love that we can all give our input and help decide our family's menu. It is very exciting for the kids, but I think that I am more excited. For once, I don't have to be the deciding factor for each meal. I also love hearing what the kids find to be their favorite meal that I make.

We decided to add a little fun each week too. After a long week of school, it is nice to have time out as a family. The kids are really excited about our Family Fun Fridays. Each week we will choose something fun to do as a family. It might be dinner out, a movie, a special treat, a camp out in the living room, pizza night, a ballgame, bowling, a trip to the park, ice cream night, etc. The possibilities are endless and the fun thing is that the kids help decide what we are going to do together. Family Fun Friday is also a great way to keep everyone on track with their behavior. Tonight our plans include dinner at Rosie's and a trip to Krispy Kreme. It is so hard to believe that we already have 6 year old twins and the time that has flown by. I know that in a few short years, they will have other things to do on Friday nights. For now, we want to soak it all up. I hope that the kids will have fond memories of the fun that we have on Friday nights. Whether we spend our time together out doing something or we are under our roof having game night, we will have fun together!