Big Family Food and Fun: August 4-10, 2024

Here’s our Big Family Food and Fun: August 4-10, 2024 post!

Big Family Food and Fun: August 4-10, 2024

Sunday we decided to keep everyone home from church after a couple of the kids woke up with fevers. I’d already invited people for lunch and started cooking a big ham and a crock pot full of potatoes. So we texted everyone again and told them to skip coming over but to stop by if they wanted lunch “to-go!” Five people took us up on our offer so Matt cut the ham while I worked on getting to-go lunches ready.

I had a 30-pack of to-go containers from Sam’s and they were perfect for this. Ham, potatoes, and green beans went into the container then I put buttered rolls in baggies and Rice Krispie Bars on paper plates and into baggies. It was fun! Though not as fun as having everyone over to eat. :)

For dinner that night, Brayden helped me make a double batch of Taco Pasta.

We put some into a disposable casserole dish to give to a family with a new baby. The rest we ate for dinner with spinach on the side.

Brayden and Kiya got to go across the alley to swim in the neighbor’s pool. So we set up our kiddie pool and slide with water for the littles that evening.

Tuesday morning we needed to run some errands so we had a very boring outing in which the kids sat in the van while Matt and I took turns running into a couple different places to get tasks done. The kids were troopers, eating cheese sticks and apples while they waited.

When we got home, Elias and Malorie were doing a workout in the living room. Immediately all the kids joined them. :) I warmed up leftovers for lunch while they “completed their workout.”

That evening we were blessed to join a big group of new friends at a park for dinner. I’m a part of an Adoptive Mom Support Group which has been a huge help to me. At our last meeting, we decided to get our families and kids together. It was great! I didn’t take any photos during our time together so that I don’t post any that aren’t allowed to be shared online. But I snapped this as we headed back to our van at the end of the evening.

Tuesday morning Justus dropped Little Sweetheart at our house as he headed to a meeting. She helped Lolli with a load of laundry before we headed out for a walk.

The temps had dropped overnight, giving us a wonderfully pleasant day for taking a walk. We snacked on pistachios, popcorn, and water before headed out.

On our way, we happened upon our neighbor who snapped some photos of us. We are so thankful for the great community we’ve become a part of!

We made our way to Sunken Gardens for the morning.

We warmed up leftovers again for lunch then had some rest time. I took Brayden and Kiya to hand out food at our weekly Food Distribution. For some reason, just before start time Kiya decided to take her hair down and Brayden thought he could braid it for her. Ummm????? We got a bit of a chuckle (and I might have also rolled my eyes) before I took over and fixed it quickly before clients came through the line for food.

Back at home, Elias made Chicken Quesadillas for everyone for dinner.

We had been given free tickets to a Salt Dogs baseball game so Matt took Elias, Malorie, Brayden, Kiya, Keith, and Anna with him. I stayed home to put Acacia, Josie, and Auggie to bed on time. Before bedtime, we played outside and I marveled over how EASY it was to only have two 3-year-olds and a 1-year-old. The evening was rather calm and fun!

Wednesday was a BIG DAY. First, we hugged Malorie over and over as we sent her on her way back to Texas to be with her family for a few weeks.

Then our former foster son – half brother to some of our kids – moved back in with us. We spent the first part of the morning getting Bonus Buddy settled, then decided that emotions were running high for everyone and an outing was needed.

I packed a picnic so we could head out – crackers, cheese, grapes, chips, guacamole cups, applesauce, apples, and popcorn.

The zoo was a perfect outing.

There was a Macaw “Show” right at noon, so we settled everyone at the theater and handed out lunch for them to eat while we watched.

After lunch, we looked at a few more animals and met some new friends before heading home.

That afternoon I finalized the enrollment of Bonus Buddy in school. He’ll be in kindergarten with Keith (but in different classrooms). Our friend Christina asked how she could help with our transition and I sent her an Aldi list. She and her kids arrived at our house a few hours later with everything we asked for in true Coppinger style – BULK. Not pictured: 6 tubs of yogurt and 6 packages of cubed cheese. Her shopping for me checked a big to-do off my list.

Right after that, Eva and Arrow came to see how they could help. I held Arrow while Eva started laundry for us and helped me get all the kids school clothes and shoes organized. That was a huge job that I’d had a hard time finding time for, so her help with that was a big burden lifted!

Then Eva and Kiya put together a Taco dinner for us. I loved this scene!!

Meanwhile, in the living room…

We enjoyed our Taco Feast then got all the kids changed into swim suits to head to the Splash Park.

It was Heartlands Church’s final Popsicles in the Park night so we met up with lots of friends, including our new friends that we’d met at the zoo that afternoon!

Thursday morning, Elias headed back to work after his summer break. He got a promotion for this school year! He is now a Behavior Technician, supporting special education teachers and working with higher need students.

After we waved goodbye to him, we ate Banana Bread that I’d made and frozen, along with yogurt and sausage links.

I spent some time getting school lunch items ready for kids to pack next week. I baked a batch of Chocolate Spinach Cupcakes.

After they cooled, I put them into snack sized bags then into a freezer bag. We’ll pull them out to pack in lunches as needed.

My friend Christina had picked up some containers for us to put lunch items in so I baggied up cheese cubes, veggie straws, crackers, and peanuts to have handy for packing.

The weather was incredibly nice so we spent a lot of time outside.

We cleaned out the fridge to eat leftovers at lunchtime.

At 3:45 I baked five Pizzas and made two bags of Caesar Salad so we could eat an early dinner then walk to our kids’ school for their Open House.

Ever tried to take eight kids to meet six teachers? WOW. We should have called in for back-up. The entire night was crazy as we went to Acacia and Josie’s room to meet their preschool teacher, Anna to her room to meet her preschool teacher, Keith and Bonus Buddy to their rooms to meet their Kindergarten teachers (they are in separate rooms), Kiya to her third grade room to meet her teacher, and then finally Brayden to his room to meet his fifth grade teacher. We had one hour to do it all and it felt much like herding cats around a huge school. Oy.

But look how sweet they are…

Friday morning, we ate Bagels and leftover ham for breakfast. I baked a huge batch of Breakfast Cookies for the freezer.

Acacia had a lovely time licking the bowl.

We were out of homemade ice cream and it’s so easy to make that I threw together a quick batch of Vanilla while I cleaned the kitchen.

We put together a picnic mid-morning and loaded up to take the eight kids to a park to run off energy. I packed hotdogs, canned fruit, carrots and cauliflower, applesauce, crackers and peanut butter for Auggie and Bonus Buddy, juice, pretzels, and cookies.

Auggie had fun bouncing on my knees as I was trying to brush girls’ hair so we could go out.

Our time at the park was good and needed.

That afternoon, Acacia and Josie had doctor appointments for check-ups before preschool. I took them to Sam’s with me so we could grab our four Sam’s must-haves. I filled the cart with everything else we needed in hopes that I won’t need Sam’s for another month or so.

The week had been so incredibly full with moving in our Bonus Buddy that I fell back on convenience food for dinner again (and felt no guilt about it). We had Chicken Nuggets, Tator Tots, and Green Beans.

While cleaning the kitchen for the night, I made another batch of ice cream. This time I followed this recipe but added a cup of peanut butter to the milk mixture. It’s Matt’s favorite!

Saturday morning we ate Breakfast Cookies with Bacon and Bananas for breakfast, then took the kids to a fun Discovery Event at the UNL East Campus. There were learning experiences at almost every booth, which the kids loved!

We made five boxes of Mac and Cheese for lunch, plus had frozen peas and leftover ham.

I baked a quadruple recipe of Brownies for our Sunday lunch.

I got a pan of Crunchy Ranch Chicken out of the freezer to thaw for our dinner. It had been such a full week, I was very grateful to find this tucked away as a convenience meal. (The kids were excited too because they love this chicken!)

I pulled Brayden and Kiya into the kitchen with me for about 30 minutes that afternoon so that they could help me with school lunch prep. They made their sandwiches for the week, put veggies in baggies, and we talked through how our new system will hopefully work as we put lunches into lunch bags each morning for school. I’ll let them pick a sandwich for three of the five school days each week, then the other days they can choose something else: meat, cheese, crackers, tuna salad, peanut butter, cottage cheese, leftovers in a thermos, etc.

Meanwhile, I worked on Keith and Bonus Buddy’s lunch items plus baggied up hard salami to go with cheese and crackers. Our fridge now has lots of great options for everyone to choose from (including our adults who pack lunches for work). Our pantry is also currently fully stocked with add-ons. Hopefully our first week of school will go smoothly in the lunch department!

I made a huge batch of Peanut Butter Honey Puffs, knowing that this are filling for snacks through the day as needed. These will also be great to send to school with Keith and Bonus Buddy to give them some extra protein.

Our Crunchy Ranch Chicken dinner was easy and a huge hit with everyone. We ate it with leftover steamed broccoli or green beans (kids’ choice) plus bowls of applesauce.

And that was our week!