Heavenly Homemakers

Encouraging women in homemaking, healthy eating and parenting

Is Inflation Hype…Inflated?

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Hear me out, and be gentle with your responses. We’re all in this together for the good of all! Today I ask the question: Is inflation hype…inflated?

Inflation is real.

In no way do I want to downplay what is 100% real. Inflation is real. All of us are feeling it in a variety of ways.

But I keep seeing inflation information that is stated as fact. —> And much of it isn’t fact for our family.

I feel like this is saying something because of our family size. Trust me when I say that we buy a lot at the store. From food to shoes – it takes a lot of shopping and purchasing to care for a family this large.

This has me questioning: Are all of the “facts” we read actually facts? Or is some of the information provided about inflation actually inflated? Or biased? Or “fact-ish” but not absolute in all contexts?

Should we all panic, or can we take a deep breath and know that we will all be ok?

Pssst. Here’s the truth about the cost of ground beef in my experience.

Is Inflation Hype…Inflated?

The price of certain foods has gone up considerably – IN SOME GROCERY STORES. Are the online price comparisons I’m seeing an accurate comparison from store to store and proverbial apple to apple?

For example:

If I were to look at the price of a gallon of milk at Aldi in 2020 and compare it to the price of milk at a higher priced grocery store in 2024, I might come up with something like this:

That’s one of the many charts and memes I’ve seen floating around that are always followed by comments like:

  • “I know, it’s outrageous!”
  • “These prices are killing us!”
  • “I blame _____ (pick a president)”

Here’s why I question these “facts.”

I’m calling all of these to our attention today because the truth is, most of the prices on that chart aren’t my prices. My chart would look more like this.

Also? Last month, April 2024, I bought gallons of whole milk at Aldi for $2.62. That’s cheaper than the above chart’s 2020 price. In addition, the price of eggs has been alllllll over the place during the past few years, which has nothing to do with inflation and something to do with bird flu or some such tragedy.

Admission: Some of what I’m saying isn’t fair.

I, Laura, live in Lincoln, NE. We have running vehicles and multiple grocery stores in my city. This means that I have all the access to any store I want and the ability to easily get there. (I use the word “easily” loosely – considering the fact that I have somewhere around 37 kids and going anywhere is an extreme sporting event).

But what I’m admitting here is that because I have access to Costco, Sam’s, Aldi, and multiple other stores, I truly can find and enjoy much better prices compared to someone who say, lives in a tiny town, far from bulk grocers, and only has access to a higher priced, locally owned grocer. Or compared to someone who doesn’t own a car and can only walk to the nearest store for necessities. The majority of us, though, I believe do have access to options that truly can keep our food and clothing costs down. 

Unfortunately, I don’t think the Awful Inflation Memes and Scary Chart people are talking about the minority. They are making inflation out to be the worst of the worst for everyone everywhere and I’m here to say:

Hey. Wait a minute.

Are you sure you’ve done thorough research? Are your “facts” thoroughly checked? Would you like to go shopping with me and see how I can save much more money on groceries than you claim that I can? Please do! Go with me! Hold the baby and help me lug my two full carts while you’re at it.

Here’s some of my research:

This. Many of you chimed in on this.

I didn’t want to speak only into my context and say, “Meh. Sure some prices are higher, but not all of them. I’m fine. You’re fine. Stop worrying.” So I asked you what your experiences have been. Most of you agreed that while some prices on certain items have increased, many of you are still finding reasonably priced groceries, therefore feeding our families well is still very doable.

I also looked back at past receipts and compared them to my 2024 receipts. Guess what? My chart looks very different compared to the chart I shared above. Look at this. While some of my staple purchases have increased in price, many of them have stayed the same. A few have even gone down.

I’m not panicking. It truly is going to be ok, friends.

How do you feel about this meme?

Is this “Interesting fact…” truly a fact?

WOW. Does it? If so, that is perhaps a reason to panic. Especially because we are not a family of 4. We are a family of (Laura stops a long, long time to do the math)…

10? 16? 13?

In total, we are a family of 16 with only 10 of us living at our residence. BUT, we also have three housemates so there are actually 13 people living in our house and sharing our food. Plus we always have guests. You see now why I had a hard time landing on a number.

But for fairness sake, let’s just go with the number 10 for current the family numbers living in our home.

If, according to the above Meme “Fact” it costs a family of 4 $11,000 more to buy basic necessities than it did just 18 months ago, then it must cost my family of 10 (Laura stops to do more math)…..

$27,500.

More per year? For all of us to eat and wear shoes?

Stop it. No it doesn’t.

Here’s what is fact for our family:

  1. Some grocery prices have increased. Some have not.
  2. 13 people (6 adults, 7 kids) live in our house and eat our food.
  3. I have only had to increase our grocery budget by $200/month since 2017 when there were only 6 people living in our home. That’s a increased total of only $2,400/year. Here’s how I’m doing with our grocery budget so far this year.
  4. We eat well rounded, high quality meals that include fruit, vegetables, whole grains, meat, and dairy.
  5. Restaurant prices and processed food prices at the store seem to have gone up quite a bit. We avoid these to save money.
  6. Shoes, underwear, and socks cost more than they used to. We have a lot of shoe, underwear, and sock wearing people in this house. Our costs for these items have increased, but definitely not by $1,000’s of dollars.
  7. We have two kids in diapers (down from five kids in diapers, so woohoo for that!). Diapers and wipes are not costing us thousands more per year than they used to.
  8. We buy yearly family memberships to places like the Lincoln Zoo and Children’s Museum. The costs for these have gone up – by only 20 total dollars for the entire year. This increase is minimal.
  9. We enrolled Keith in soccer this spring. This was our first time to do that since moving to Lincoln so I don’t have past fees to compare prices. But it only cost $48, which breaks down to $6/game.

Again, I know we can’t all compare costs across America as costs of living vary. I also know that as our kids get older, our expenses will increase. But that will be because they eat more, do more, and care more about their clothes – not solely because of inflation. :)

Sample grocery cart for our family, just to prove that yes, I know a thing or two about buying food:

What might help us all be free from inflation stress:

1. Shop around. Maybe find a new favorite store or two.

There are certain grocery stores that I do not frequent because their prices ARE actually outrageous. (It’s worth noting that these stores were more expensive, compared to my favorite, lower priced stores all along, not just through and because of this inflation streak.)

If these higher-priced stores were where I did the majority of my shopping, I, too, would be worried and upset. But instead, I have found the lowest priced, best quality options that work for our family.

2. Find sales.

They still exist!!

I’m continually encouraged by the food mark-downs I regularly find that offer us great prices on high quality staples. Grocery stores offer loss-leader prices that help us stock up on groceries at truly good prices. Clothing still goes on clearance at the end of every season. Name-brand shoes (if you need high quality) can be found at outlet malls for great prices, and in my experience last longer than “cheaper” shoes at Walmart or Target.

Maybe we have to work harder now to find good sale prices. But many of us are working pretty hard to complain about inflation, so perhaps we could instead use that energy to score some deals! ;)

Underwear and socks I found on clearance for our four littlest kids, May 2024 —>

Our favorite free range chicken thighs marked down to just $1.98/pound, May 2024 —>

3. Hand me downs (and thrift store clothes) are your friend.

I am amazed at the clothing that is available for free or cheap – all around us. Many churches offer free clothing to the community, and not just for people who struggle to make ends meet. In my experience –  there’s usually enough to go around and then some. I am shocked at how many people have loads of clothes that they want to get rid of.

Thrift stores still offer “$0.99 days” and “fill a bag for $5” days. It’s so much fun how many times I have  complimented someone’s great shirt or dress only to hear, “I picked it up for $3 when I was thrifting!” or “I got it at the Clothing Giveaway!” or “I found it on clearance at the sidewalk sale!” You guys rock.

4. Eat at home more instead of at restaurants.

I promise I’m not trying to be a buzz kill with this one. Or sound like a broken record. But if I’ve seen inflation hit something hard, it is definitely take-out and restaurant prices. It’s not the restaurant’s fault. They have to pay higher wages to be competitive in keeping employees and some of their food costs have gone up as well. That all gets passed down to the consumer.

Here are some ways our family eats out without eating out. And here’s a little cost break down I did for foods like Pizza, Chicken Nuggets, and Hamburgers that I make at home for much less than the cost of restaurants. Great coffee? I did some math here too.

Inflation is real, but you are amazing.

My encouragement today is to look around you to embrace what is true. Don’t believe the scary memes that tell you that we are all going to go broke.

You have resources, you are smart, and doggonit, Rotisserie Chickens are still just $4.98. We might have to make adjustments as we settle into some newly inflated prices that are here to stay. But we are resilient. We can make modifications and we can thrive because of them!

Weigh in on this. When you look at actual facts based on your experiences, do you see that some of the inflation hype is inflated?

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Big Family Food and Fun: April 28-May 4, 2024

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Here’s our Big Family Food and Fun: April 28-May 4, 2024 post!

Big Family Food and Fun: April 28-May 4, 2024

I had put together an Easy Bread Pudding the day before when I was making a big batch of Uncrustables so I baked it for our Sunday morning breakfast!

I packed lunch for us to eat after church with other families who were staying for a fun Sundaes on Sunday event! I had two loaves of bread worth of Uncrustables, four cans worth of Tuna Salad, and a batch of Cream Cheese Salsa Dip. Plus I packed grapes, chips, bread/buns, and sweet peppers.

Keith was supposed to have a soccer game mid-afternoon also, so I packed oranges for us to eat during the game and juice for the kids to drink on the way home.

Keith was prepared to fight a fire that morning but we packed his soccer gear just in hopes that his Fire Chief duties allowed him to play in his game. :)

During church, we got the inevitable “Your child’s game is canceled due to wet field conditions.” I think he’s had more cancelations than actual games at this point. But that did mean that we could stay longer at our church fellowship event.

Our awesome children’s minister had Sundae supplies set up after lunch for everyone!

Those oranges I cut up for the kids to eat during Keith’s (canceled) game? Not to worry – those got eaten right on our kitchen floor when we got home. BabyBoy#11 even got in on the action – sucking out some juice while his sisters gobbled down the fruit.

For about an hour that afternoon, I got all the kids involved in doing some much-needed house cleaning. Were they excited and did they have good attitudes about this? Not really. But did they learn some life skills and life lessons about working as a family team? Yes.

Keith had the privilege of running our steam mop, so he actually LOVED his job. The kitchen floor looked much better after he was finished!

I warmed up leftover pancakes and sausage for dinner that night. Then, our friends, the Bakers, came over to watch the seven littles for us. We grown-ups all loaded up at met up at a nearby church for a…

Rend Collective Concert!!!

This was a Christmas gift we gave our adult kids and we finally got to enjoy it together!

The entire night was full of powerful worship! While the entire group is extremely talented, we were all especially impressed with the fiddler. And look! We found the fiddler and got a photo with him during intermission!! :)

Ah, but you might not have noticed the fiddler in the above photo because Kelsey is holding a tiny babe. :) Indeed. Justus and Kelsey have recently started to foster this sweetheart. She is beyond precious. :)

Monday morning, I packed the BBQ Pork/Cheese Sandwiches I’d put together the week before plus some bags of chips to send with Matt as he headed to York. Malachi and some friends were meeting up at our old house to clean it out one last time before the new owners started to move in.

Elias and Malorie helped me with the kids all day while Matt was gone. I decided it was a piggy-tail day.

A piggy-tail-BUBBLE day.

I had a big meeting with our Case Worker, Casa, and Foster Care Support Person that morning. BabyBoy#11’s adoption is coming up soon and we got more paperwork completed!

That evening, I smoked 14 Brats and 24 Hotdogs for dinner. I threw out Pickles, Fruit Cups, and Chips plus warmed up leftover Baked Beans. We ate as fast as we could then headed out for Brayden’s Ukulele Concert at school.

I could not stop smiling while he performed. Music brings out the best in him, 100%, and I was praising God the entire time for giving Brayden this area of success. I didn’t get any pictures of his fan club, but there were 14 of us sitting in the crowd cheering him on. :)

Tuesday morning Keith took on the task of washing some dishes. These dishes got very, very clean and also very wet.

Meanwhile, in the living room…

Just before taking them to school, I had Brayden and Kiya come in to the kitchen to scrub potatoes for our dinner that night. I’m working very hard to train the kids to serve our family in various ways.

The day before I had discovered a Lilac Bush in our yard that I didn’t know existed. It reminds me of the lane leading up to  grandparent’s house and the scent took me back to my childhood. I’m so excited we have this! I put some lilacs into a vase and took it into our kitchen for us to enjoy!

Late afternoon, Acacia and Josie snacked on grapes outside at their picnic table.

Dinner that evening was leftover BBQ Chicken from Saturday night plus Crock Pot Baked Potatoes and Steamed Broccoli. I also warmed up leftover Corn from the fridge. I needed to be out the door by 5:00 because Keith had Kindergarten Roundup. So dinner was ready by 4:30 and we started feeding kids in shifts.

In an effort to divide and conquer, Matt stayed home with four kids and I took Keith, Anna, and BabyBoy#11 with me to the elementary school. Keith was very excited and has declared that he is already a kindergartener. :)

We got to meet the kindergarten teachers and Keith made a hat in what might be his classroom next year. Anna made one too, because, why not? And BabyBoy#11 ate some magnatiles. :)

It was still early evening when we got home and everyone was hungry again because we’d had such an early dinner. The snack this tired mom decided to provide for her hungry children? Spoon after spoon of Peanut Butter. It was easy and it filled their bellies!

Matt attempted to mow part of our lawn while the kids played before bedtime. Everything went fine until it was time for me to transition everyone into the house to get ready for bed. That’s when kids started to put grass clippings in each other’s hair and then they all rubbed fresh grass onto their hands, creating grass-stained hands. Things can, and often do, go from calm to crazy in the span of five seconds. But hey, the lawn looks nice and we all survived.

Wednesday morning I baked a batch of Bran Muffins. Notice how I didn’t get the cinnamon stirred in well? That actually ended up being a pretty tasty mistake. :)

Keith had been asking for Breakfast Cookies so late morning, he helped me make a double batch. Having muffins and breakfast cookies in our freezer is so helpful!

In the afternoon I bagged up the Muffins and Cookies for the freezer. I also baked several pans of Bacon to have on hand and to share.

I had the little girls help me crack 2+ dozen eggs, then I made two Breakfast Casseroles in an attempt to get ahead.

For dinner that night, we made a simple meals of Boiled Elbow Noodles, Spaghetti Sauce with Meat, and Steamed Broccoli. Brayden helped make most of this meal, taking big pride in already knowing how to do most of it. :)

Most of the littles prefer their noodles without sauce but with butter and cheese.

With so many littles to chase, it is very rare for us all to actually SIT an enjoy a meal. But here we are, sitting. For two minutes. We attempted to practice some Bible verses with the kids, which is something we like to do at meal time if we can possibly get everyone seated and quiet.

Thursday morning, Matt headed back to York to work. Elias has started a new job as a Special Ed Para (such a great fit for him!) so he got out the door early. Malachi had video work to do so we called our dear friend Christina to come help us this morning!

I captured this photo of the girls enjoying a rare moment of quiet coloring as the adults were trying to get out the door.

Meanwhile, Keith had gotten out string, scissors, glue, paper, and a hole punch to make…a mask?

His creativity was flowing so next he made a light saber!

Christina is the best with our kids! She helped make our morning go very smoothly. :)

For dinner that night, we stirred together Wednesday night’s leftovers and Elias topped it with cheese to bake.

I decided to go with paper boats that night so that I didn’t add extra dishes to our needs of the day.

And we ate outside so that the mess would fall to the ground! After playing more, we ate some fruit cups to refresh us before bedtime.

We had refrigerated Wednesday’s Egg Casseroles so Friday morning, I cut them and warmed some up for our breakfast. Then I put the remaining pieces into baggies, and then into freezer bags for easy packed lunches (adults) and easy breakfasts (everyone).

We ran to Sam’s that morning where I grabbed milk, fruit, and veggies.

But the real reason we went to Sam’s is because I’d been researching the best Wagon/Stroller for our outings and they had a great one! We wanted to pick it up and get it ready for the season. Of course, putting it together was a BIG EVENT when we got home and Daddy could not have done it without all of this great help. :)

We loaded up and took it for a test drive all the way to the kids’ school where they were having a special Walkathon outside that day.

It’s going to be great to have, but it was a bit heavy for me once we put 100+ pounds of children inside. :) At the zoo, soccer games, parks, and other events, it will be fabulous!

To celebrate our kids’ school’s Walkathon that evening, our closest community library hosted a gathering for the students. They had a scavenger hunt, activities, crafts and PIZZA.

BabyBoy#11 was all in for this event. ;)

It felt extra special to eat pizza inside the library.

But the best part of the night was interacting with people from our community. Many are still new to us and this was a great gift to be with them in this way.

Saturday morning we ate odds and ends to finish off Breakfast Cookies and Muffins.

Meanwhile, I cut up the great big watermelon I’d gotten at Sam’s the day before. (I spent just under $8 on this. Read here to learn why I think this is a GREAT PRICE.)

We got to go to our favorite Sensory Friendly Library Storytime that morning.

We came home and warmed up leftovers for lunch. I used leftover baked potatoes and bacon to make a skillet full of something similar to what is described here. Wow was it good! Brayden and Kiya helped warm up veggies.

In preparation for our Sunday lunch, I dumped two kinds of sauces on chicken to marinate. Later that evening I smoked the chicken. I planned to rewarm it and put it into crock pots Sunday morning to take to church for lunch since once again, Keith had a soccer game right after lunch (if it doesn’t get canceled).

The rest of the afternoon was spent playing outside, moving a new housemate into our third floor, and getting ready for Sunday.

Our neighbor, John, was planting more flowers into his gorgeous flower garden. He has been so gracious to teach our kids and let them help. This is big for any kid – but for our kids – the time, energy, and love he is pouring in has been beyond big. Brayden was out having Bro Time with Elias, BabyBoy#11 was napping, and the other five kids and I went across the street to plant flowers with John.

He talked us through how he does things, why he does them, and he let the kids do all the work. It was amazing. When we got back to our yard, our kids used their new skills to plant fake flowers in our dirt while I smoked the chicken I had marinated earlier.

I also mixed up two loaves worth of Stir-and-Pour Bread to go with our Sunday lunch chicken. I haven’t made bread in a very long time, and my intent was to pull kids inside to make it with me. But they were playing so well outside and having so much fun I just let them be. They can make bread with me 100 other times or more. :)

I realized I only had whole wheat pastry flour, which doesn’t work for yeast breads. So I used unbleached white flour and the bread turned out great. Truly, anyone can make this bread. It’s so easy and requires no kneading!

The smell of smoked chicken and freshly baked bread teased us as I saved it for our Sunday lunch and instead pulled out leftovers for our Saturday dinner. This was the last of the leftovers in our fridge and it felt so good to get them all cleaned out! I turned the remaining leftover noodles into Mac and Cheese by making a white sauce. Keith grated cheese for this project and was so proud. Then I cut up the leftover hotdogs I’d smoked earlier in the week and stirred them in. We ate it with peas and the kids gobbled it up!

We put a lot of dirty, tired kids into the bathtub, and that was our week!

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Big Family Grocery Spending for April 2024

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Curious how much it cost us to feed 13 people (give or take plus guests) every day last month? Here’s our Big Family Grocery Spending for April 2024 post!

When I look back through these posts from the beginning of the month until the end, I am amazed at how much food we eat! I shouldn’t be surprised since there are so many of us. It’s just that every time I get back from the store and see all the food in the house, I always think, “That should hold us over for a while!” But nope. We need another grocery run just a few days later so we can get more fresh produce and milk. And meat. And cheese. And…

Here’s what April looked like at our house!

Big Family Grocery Spending for April 2024

1. Walmart

The 8th of April was the first day I needed anything at the store since I’d gotten so well stocked up toward the end of March. But we were almost completely out of fresh fruits, veggies, milk, and eggs. We also needed more of BabyBoy#11’s special protein drinks, which we can only find at Walmart. So we headed there to fill our cart with the WIC items our littlest kids are allotted through their foster/adoption subsidies.

Total out of pocket I spent $43.00 on some staples that I can only find at Walmart (or that I simply needed and decided to pick up there since I was there anyway).

Total at Walmart: $43

2. Sam’s and Walmart

I needed some of our favorite Sam’s items and got a few others staples while we were there.

There’s a Walmart right next door so I went in for more WIC items and Pediasure drinks.

Total at Sam’s and Walmart: $255.49

3. Costco

On April 12, we headed to Costco to pick up diapers. While there we looked for items we love and use that were on sale so that we could get nice and stocked up.

The best deals that day:

  • Boneless Chicken Thighs – These were $6.00 off each package, making them only $2.65/pound. I bought three big packages so we can do this during the next few weeks!
  • Horizon Organic Whole Milk – They were clearancing out their 18-packs of milk because they are nearing expiration. They are regularly $21.99 and were priced at $5.00!! I bought six cases. These will be great for picnics and outings!

I also bought several fun picnic items we needed for a big gathering we were having, fresh fruits and veggies, applesauce, frozen pizza, crackers, lunch meat, sliced cheese, mayo, and a few other snacks and chips.

Total for food at Costco: $465.44

4. Kansas City Barbecue

This was a super rare treat as we almost never eat out. But THIS OCCASION called for KC BBQ!!

All of our adult kids were with us plus two friends from out of state. Matt and I were happy to treat everyone!

Total at BBQ restaurant: $140

5. Bro Time Meal

Elias and Brayden picked up a few items during a Bro Time outing so that they could make a meal for our family. They made a super tasty Smoked Queso for us, plus a pan of special Oreo Brownies!

Total for Bro Time Meal (beyond the groceries I already had at home): $15.79

6. Walmart Run

We took a morning outing to Walmart so we could pick up diapers for someone. We didn’t need much in the way of groceries, but we grabbed some fruit and ice cream while we were there.

Walmart: $19

7. Another Walmart Run

Goodness, Walmart, again?! A few days later, Matt was fixing the kids’ bike tires for the season so as we went in search of inner tubes, I checked for any grocery mark-downs!

I found these pizzas for $5.74 and $6.56…

Plus I was excited about this Beef Roast for only $3.12/pound!

Total at Walmart: $23.10

8. Aldi

I ran into Aldi for a few items we needed and was happy to discover strawberries on sale! I always stock up on the Fruit and Veggie Pouches there for BabyBoy#11. (We let our toddler/preschoolers eat these too as a snack.) Plus I grabbed sausage and bananas.

Total at Aldi: $39.31

9. Sam’s

Once again, we were almost out of fresh produce. And cream. And milk. So on April 25 we picked up those items at Sam’s along with a few other sale items and staples.

Total at Sam’s: $146.78

Total Grocery Spending for April:

$1148 

Our family’s grocery budget is broken down here.

Running totals for 2024:

January: $1,178
February: $849
March: $1,356
April: $1148

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Big Family Food and Fun: April 21-27, 2024

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Here’s our Big Family Food and Fun: April 21-27, 2024 post!

Big Family Food and Fun: April 21-27, 2024

Sunday morning was a bit less intense compared to the past few weeks. Instead of having to pack an entire lunch for our family to eat after church and before Keith’s soccer game, we were planning to enjoy a potluck lunch with our church family. My only responsibility was to take Frosted Brownies, which I had baked and frozen last week.

So while feeding all the kids breakfast, I put BabyBoy#11 into one of our kitchen sinks for his “bath.” A couple of the kids had fun helping me.

We loved spending extra time with so many friends after church while we ate.

Then we loaded up and headed to Keith’s soccer game. I had packed apples and pistachios to snack on at the game because even though we had just eaten lunch, we seem to always still need snacks. ;)

I tried to capture a picture of Keith’s fan club as we all trailed out after the game. We are quite a parade.

I had put a a Pork Roast into a crock pot early that morning for our dinner that night. But it was still not quite done at mealtime. So I left it to continue cooking and pulled out leftovers to fill our bellies.

It was a boring and no-veggie dinner of leftover Smoked Chicken, Mac and Cheese, and Toasted Sourdough Bread.

I had made some Peanut Butter Cup Whipped Cream that afternoon so we all enjoyed it with graham crackers as a treat after dinner.

Monday morning for breakfast I scrambled eggs and the kids made toast for themselves to go with their eggs.

It was a warm day so the girls were so happy to put on new summer-y outfits!

I attempted to take Anna to Food Distribution where Keith and I go on Monday mornings. Once Keith starts Kindergarten next year, Anna will be my Food Distribution sidekick. I instructed Keith to show her how it’s done and he did – sort of. They got pretty distracted by toy donations in the room where we were working, oy.

I just had the two of them for the rest of that morning because Matt and Elias had taken the three youngest kids to York for the day to spend time with our friend Nancy. So I spent my time and energy working extra on some of Keith and Anna’s behavior needs. And I taught them both to help me load the dishwasher.

After school, Kiya set up a nail salon on our back steps. :)

We had lots of visits from friends that afternoon/evening as our dear friend Phyllis came to see us. She showers us with love when she comes and our time with her is such a gift.

Then friends Charlene and Samantha came for the evening. Once our girls discovered Samantha’s purse, it was all over. Thank you, Sam, for letting them use up ALL YOUR LOTION AND CHAPSTICK. All of it. Gone. Plus dental floss. Bless.

I was so busy enjoying friends that evening that I didn’t cook or take pictures of what I didn’t cook. ;)

I asked Elias to throw in four frozen pizzas for us, which he did, and here’s what that looked like at the end of the night:

Tuesday, Matt and I made a plan to run to a couple of stores and then go to a park before heading home. I packed lunch, knowing that we would need to eat through all of these plans.

We had some lunchmeat that needed to be eaten up so I put it on buns with cheese and melted them in our air fryer just before we left for our outing.

Matt stayed in the van with our littles while I ran into Walmart for inner tubes so he could fix bike tires later that day. While in the store, I couldn’t not run over to see if there were any food mark-downs, right? Woo – marked down pizzas!

And a beef roast for $3.08/pound!

Our time at the park was windy! But it was a good outing for the kids so that we could get their energy out.

We dropped Acacia and Josie off at Ms. Kathi’s on our way home for their special time with her that day. Then we got home and put away groceries we’d picked up that afternoon. Here’s what I got at Aldi:

Keith and Anna didn’t have school that day. Anna was excited to help me load the dishwasher, seeing as she’d been taught how the day before and was now an expert.

Keith played in the dirt all afternoon and came in with a mustache.

Justus, Kelsey, and Kelsey’s mom, Nicole, came for dinner that night! Brayden, Kiya, and I had just arrived back from helping at the Food Distribution but I had all the food in crock pots or ready to rewarm on the stove. We had Sunday night’s Pork Roast, Crock Pot Baked Potatoes, Corn, Green Beans, Rolls, and Strawberries with Whipped Cream.

We don’t get to see Nicole very often so it’s a huge treat that she is in town!

Wednesday morning, I made French Toast and Bacon. I also blended up a smoothie full of greens for Matt and me.

It is worth a mention that I do very well keeping children alive. But plants? Not so much. (Water perked these back up, thankfully.)

While the plants were suffering and dehydrated, I also failed to pull the last of our  bacon out of the oven at the right time. I decided to make as much bacon as possible that morning to get ahead. But then I forgot about these pans when I went upstairs to get myself dressed and ready for the day.

Can’t win ’em all.

Matt and Elias spent the day in York working again and they took the youngest three kids to our friend Emma’s for the day. They loved this!

That night for dinner I grilled some Pork Steak I’d picked up on the cheap a few weeks ago.

They turned out amazing! We ate them with strawberries and salad.

Thursday morning I let Brayden and Kiya toast their own bagels or toast in the air fryer (they consider this a huge privilege). We ate them with applesauce or bananas.

Matt needed some items at Menards so he dropped three kids and me at Sam’s while he took the other two kids across the parking lot to Menards to do his shopping. My main goal was to get fruits and veggies because we go through them so quickly. Beyond spinach, spring mix, broccoli, oranges, salad kits, and grapes, I picked up some kleenex, plastic containers, barbecue sauce, pickles, heavy whipping cream, almond butter, hot dogs, milk, eggs, and fig bars.

We dropped Acacia and Josie off at Josalyn’s where they spent some time painting. :)

Late afternoon I handed everyone a box or two of kleenex from the case we’d bought at Sam’s that day and we all paraded up the stairs to put them on our storage shelf.

Kiya is quite the organizer, so she helped everyone put their box in its place.

We had to be at the kids’ school that evening for a special Preschool Family Open House so for an early dinner I baked the Walmart pizzas that I’d picked up earlier in the week.

Keith and Anna were so excited to introduce us to all their friends. Brayden was excited too because he has had the privilege of helping in a preschool classroom a few mornings recently. He felt like a celebrity when he walked in and was swarmed by little ones who were happy to see him!

There were activities set up at tables for us to enjoy.

Of course Anna found the flamingos at the photo booth!

Friday the kids didn’t have school so I made a huge batch of pancakes with sausage.

I was planning to make these Chocolate Cupcakes (with spinach) but discovered that I didn’t have any chocolate cake mixes. Not to worry – I just added a little bit of cocoa powder to the yellow cake mix to cover up the green spinach. :) While I was using greens, I made another batch of these smoothies for Matt and me.

Mid morning I packed up a lunch for us to take on our outing for the day. It was rainy and wet outside so we decided to take everyone to the indoor mall play place to get energy out. For lunch I packed Cheese, Salami, Crackers, Grapes, and the Cupcakes with a container of frosting to surprise the kids.

The mall play area was a big hit!

At lunchtime we took all eight kids (our Bonus Boy was with us again this weekend) to potty and wash hands. Then we sat in the Food Court and handed out the lunch we’d packed. It was both sweet and crazy. :)

Back at home, there were tornado sirens off and on all afternoon, which was a bit nerve-wracking for some of our kids. As many of you heard, there ended up being a lot of tornado-action here in Lincoln and in Omaha and surrounding areas. THANK YOU SO MUCH to all who emailed to check in on us. Thankfully, we are all safe and sound.

Because of the craziness of the afternoon, we stayed in that night and warmed up leftovers for dinner. Kiya was excited to be our food-warmer-upper. :)

While Kiya was working on dinner, I used Sunday’s leftover Pork Roast to get ahead for future meals. I put together a huge pan of Party Potatoes with Pork Roast. Then I turned the rest of the meat into sandwiches like this. All of the adults in our house love having individually wrapped sandwiches on hand to grab and go for work needs.

Saturday morning we had No-Bake Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Bites. (I had intended to make No-Bake Snickerdoodle Bites but realized too late that I didn’t add cinnamon. So I switched to chocolate chip and no one complained!)

While the kids played outside, I prepped our Sunday lunch. We were going to have a fun Sundaes on Sunday event with church friends right after worship service and everyone was to bring their lunch. I made two loaves of bread worth of Uncrustables to take with us. Then I used the crusts to make Easy Bread Pudding for our Sunday breakfast.

I headed outside so Matt could come in and get something done. I discovered that Brayden and Kiya were across the street with our neighbor, John. He is a plant and flower expert and they were helping him and learning as they went. This is so good for them!

Then John came over and started teaching our girls about the weeds in our yard that look like flowers. Note how Acacia has her arms around Josie and Anna. She is such a little mama. :)

The weather was decent so we decided to load up the eight kids and go to the zoo for a few hours. I grabbed a random assortment of whatever was easiest to grab for us to eat for lunch an snacks while we were there.

After we finished eating, the kids lined up on a wall to watch a Porcupine lesson being taught in the exhibit area.

We headed over to look at other animals and were stopped by a Peacock with all its feathers spread wide. Amazing!

We played in the sand area for quite a while before loading up for home. We had a huge afternoon/evening with people stopping by for visits including overnight guests. Our friend Malorie has turned into Elias’ girlfriend Malorie. :) :) :) She graduated from college that day and her family came to spend the evening and night with us. It was a wonderful time getting to know each other better!

For dinner I made a meal similar to this one with Smoked Chicken Legs, Caesar Salad, Corn, Baked Beans, and Rolls.

We got a bunch of dirty, tired kids through the bath and that was our week!

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Big Family Food and Fun: April 14-20, 2024

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Here’s our Big Family Food and Fun: April 14-20, 2024 post!

Before I share about our week, I have to tell you about the end of last week. :)

Saturday, the 13th, we had BIG PLANS. First, I made Crunchy Ranch Chicken with Steamed Broccoli for lunch. But because of our big plans, no one cared much about lunch. (But we did need to eat…)

Two wonderful couples and their kids blocked out the day to come stay with our seven littles. Praise God for such caring friends!

Then Matt and I, along with Asa and Eva, Justus and Kelsey, Elias, Malachi, and our friends Ricky and Cooper climbed into our big van to head to Kansas City for the day.

First stop: IKEA to pick up a crib for Asa and Eva’s baby. :)

Next stop: BBQ. Because when you go to KC you have to eat BBQ.

But the real reason we went to Kansas City: To watch MESSI play soccer.

Now. If you don’t know who Messi is, that’s ok. We can still be friends. Messi is THE BEST SOCCER PLAYER IN THE WORLD. He was coming to play just three hours from us, so we had to make it happen to go see this game.

It was truly incredible – the entire experience. I’m so thankful for the people who stayed with our kids so that we could make this happen.

So what if we didn’t get home until after 2:00 in the morning?? Yikes.

Big Family Food and Fun: April 14-20, 2024

If you can believe it, all of our little kids woke up at their normal time on Sunday morning, ha. Four hours of sleep was not enough. But it was all worth it for this great experience.

We had a huge day ahead of us, so after some coffee and eye drops, we trudged on. :) Keith had his actual first soccer game (the first two got rained out; third time’s a charm) so before heading to church I packed food so that we could eat after church instead of driving all the way home and then driving all the way back.

Some friends joined us at the park, making 15 of us altogether.

We had Sub Sandwiches with Sliced Oranges, Sweet Peppers, Cucumbers, Carrots, and Chips. REMIND ME not to buy the fun individual bags of chips anymore. They were on sale and I thought it would be fun, which is was. But of course the kids only wanted Doritos and getting them to eat anything else was a fight. Who can blame them??

I’m not sure if you can see the little yellow butterfly in this photo. But Josie spotted it and had a marvelous time trying to catch it. :)

One poop diaper change later, we loaded back up and headed to Keith’s game. Would you look at that? He has two of the best coaches around. (How fun to have older brothers who are willing to be your soccer coach!)

Oh, and as it turns out, at this level, if you are a coach, you also get to be a referee. :) Check out that cutie in the orange socks!

The rest of us tried not to get sunburned on the sidelines and I guess it goes without saying that Keith’s cheering committee was rather large that day.

We got home and cooled off in front of the TV with Phineas and Ferb for a little while so that we could recover from our huge weekend. Our friends Ricky and Cooper would be heading back to Texas the next morning so we wanted to gather one more time for a meal together with them that night.

I asked Justus and Kelsey to pick up two Rotisserie Chickens from Sam’s before coming over and I would make some sides. But guess what? Sam’s had NO rotisserie chickens that night. Yikes. Last minute Plan B!!

I directed Justus to the refrigerator section of the store to get some Smoked Sausage that he could quickly grill for us. Meanwhile, I warmed some frozen Meatballs for the kids got them fed while the sausages cooked. We had Salad, Strawberries, Broccoli, and 10-Minute Mac and Cheese with our meat.

We all went to bed early Sunday night and felt much more rested on Monday morning. :) Also on Monday morning? I needed to face this laundry pile. After such a big weekend, I was very behind. This wasn’t even all of it as we still needed to strip beds and gather clothes baskets from the kids’ rooms. :)

I started a load, then Eva came over so Keith and I headed to help set up food at the Food Distribution site. He discovered a pull toy so I loaded it with some of the items we needed to carry to a table because this was a MUCH better way to haul the food. :)

Also, note that this soccer player is still wearing his jersey from Sunday. He was so very excited about it and wanted to show the ladies he sees every Monday at Food Distribution. They oooed and awwed over it appropriately. Then I told him he had to put on clean clothes before the school bus came to pick him up later. :)

Back at home, Justus had come over to smoke a Pork Loin that he was making to share with a few families. Keith helped him prepare the spices.

We spent a lot of time outside that afternoon enjoying the sunshine. These curls tho…

Kiya got to be a part of a Craft Club on Mondays after school this semester. She brought home some clay this time and was sweet enough to share it with her sisters. They had their own little Craft Club at the picnic tables while I finished making dinner.

Meanwhile, Elias and Brayden were having some Bro Time, playing a fancy game of Uno.

Dinner that night was very simple because my brain and body had not yet caught up on rest from all the work and planning it took to execute our fun weekend. I grilled Salmon Burgers that I had tucked away in the freezer from Costco, air fried some French Fries, and got out a jar of Pickles. Do pickles count as a vegetable?? ;)

Here’s how I kept the Salmon Burgers warm after I brought them in. A large cooking pot worked as a great cover for the plate!

Tuesday morning I made a double batch of Peanut Butter Honey Puffs for all of us to snack on as needed.

I used some of the awesome chicken thighs I’d picked up on sale last week to get prepped for dinner that night and for another meal in the future. I put the amount of chicken we needed for that night’s meal into a pot and dumped on some Creamy Italian Dressing I had in the pantry. Then I put the rest into a small crock pot with some Salsa to slow cook all day.

It had rained quite a bit but we were able to go outside later in the morning. Our neighbors are awesome and all of the kids between our house and two other houses play in each other’s yards as if they are our own. That morning, we enjoyed our neighbor’s trampoline. I caught the girls giggling while playing ring-around-the-rosie. Indeed, they did all fall down. :)

The kids didn’t want to come inside, which was fine by us. While we were playing, a friend we hadn’t seen in a while stopped by for a hug. :) Matt and Keith walked to the corner to watch a tree get removed that had fallen in the night. Late morning I took a tray of snacky-lunch outside to eat before the preschool bus came for Keith and Anna.

That afternoon I smoked the chicken that I’d marinated in Creamy Italian Dressing. Brayden, Kiya, and I went to hand out food at the Food Distribution site, so at mealtime, Elias made a salad to go with our meat.

We came home with some treasures from Food Distribution that day.

Bedtime is always a loud and crazy ordeal with this many (tired) littles. I loved being able to capture this calm and quiet moment with Daddy and some of the kids after teeth were brushed and Acacia’s brace put in place.

Brayden saw what Daddy did and wanted to get in on the action. So he had an easel set up with his favorite train book to share with Keith when he came in.

Wednesday morning we took about a hundred years to get our shoes on so that we could go to Walmart to pick up diapers for someone and to get a few items to celebrate Kelsey’s birthday.

BabyBoy#11 has been making progress with his OT and Speech Pathologist so he hasn’t puked in a while. BUT. When I fed him a little snack that should have dissolved in his mouth while we were shopping, well. Let’s just say we needed a lot of paper towels and baby wipes. Poor guy.

Of course, the other four kids sat calmly in the carts while we were cleaning it up. (bahahaha.)

Anyway, people around us were helpful and we made it to check out and home all in one piece.

I made a big pot of Ham and Potato Soup for dinner that night (which was supposed to have been started earlier in the day in the crock pot but I could never get around to it).

One of our kids had my phone for a Zoom call with the therapist during dinner-prep time so this is the only other picture I was able to take of our food that night. I cut up strawberries and whipped some cream plus cut up a watermelon. Then I packaged up soup and fruit to go deliver to a family with a new baby. :)

Thursday morning we ate Toasted Bagels or Bread with Bananas. I made a “blender full of salad” for Matt and me. :)

Matt and Malachi headed to York to work for the day, leaving Elias and our friend Malorie here to help me with the kids. We had signed up to take Frosted Brownies to a potluck on Sunday so the girls and I put those together to bake.

I snapped this shot of Anna getting on the bus at noon. Note that she is wearing her bath robe as a jacket. There was no convincing her to exchange it for an actual jacket. We fight enough actual battles with the kids that I definitely didn’t feel that this was a battle to fight. You want to wear your bathrobe to school? It will be just as warm as a jacket? Alrighty. See you after school!

And speaking of after school, she and her bathrobe barely made it off the bus because of the fun and exhaustion. :)

Malorie and the kids spent some time drawing while we waited for dinner to cook.

What was dinner, you ask? Elias and Brayden had spent some Bro Time putting together Smoked Queso for us to eat. We ate it with cold watermelon on the side and it was TASTY.

They also made a pan of Oreo Brownies as a treat after dinner.

I found a minute to cut the big pan of brownies I’d made earlier in the day to freeze and take to the potluck on Sunday.

Friday afternoon while we played outside, BabyBoy#11 got some walking practice in.

I made a pan of Stick of Butter Rice then got out the Salsa Chicken I’d made earlier in the week to make 24 of these Burritos for the freezer.

We warmed up leftovers for dinner.

Before bed, we played outside. It got a little bit chilly so Daddy got the fire pit going for a few minutes. Everyone LOVED this.

Our Bonus Boy (former foster son and half-sibling to some of our kids) came to visit for the weekend. We all love it when he comes. He and Keith are only 6-weeks apart and BFF.

Saturday morning we took all the kids to the zoo for a couple of hours.

We went during lunch time so I’d given them a snack of applesauce and pretzels before leaving. Then we ate a snack of milk, cookies, and cheese while we were there.

We came home and had a late lunch of leftover Smoked Queso, Olives, and Fruit for lunch.

Dinner that night was leftover Smoked Chicken and Smoked Sausages from the week. Plus I made several boxes of Mac and Cheese (one of the only foods Bonus Boy likes) and a bowl of Salad.

And that was our week!

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Summer School at Home

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IT’S HERE!

Our Summer School at Home Curriculum is ready for you to grab and enjoy!

But first, the WHY.

There are always many practical and spiritual reasons that I do what I do and create what I create. This particular big project idea came about because:

Summer is coming and…

  1. We want our kids to learn more about thinking of others, serving others, and showing love and care to others.
  2. We want our kids to stay on track academically. If we aren’t intentional about keeping their noses in good books they might back-track and struggle when school starts up again in the fall. Plus we want to focus on teaching life skills like how to read a recipe and shop on a budget. ;)
  3. We want to provide a lot of fun activities for our kids this summer that don’t involve screens.

Also – some of our kids really need what Summer School offers, but our kids’ school isn’t offering it for all ages as we assumed that it would. No problem! I got an idea for how our family could keep our kids’ learning alive throughout the summer. Then, the ideas exploded so my family plans turned into an entire, shareable curriculum!

Summer School at Home

Summer School at Home Toolbox is overflowing with incredibly fun ideas and resources!

The best part is…ok…two best parts. Fine. THREE.

Best Part#1: The kids really won’t know that they are actually learning. Summer School at Home is not really like school at all. No doubt – your kids will be learning. But this particular learning will look to your kids like cool projects, crafts, activities, outings, and picnics – all with intentional learning aspects that won’t hurt even a little bit. It’ll all just feel like a really amazing summer break to them!

Best Part #2: Many of the ideas in each of the folders overlap with ideas in the other folders. For instance, the Math Pack shares an idea for setting a budget as you decide on what picnic food to make, and you can use recipes from the Cooking Corner to make your picnic. Then you can take your picnic somewhere as suggested in the Investigation Station and follow all of it up by journaling about it with a fun template in the Writing Tools packet. Just do some of it, or do it all – whatever works for your family!

You can use ideas from the Craft Kit along with the Serving Suggestions. The Math Pack will direct you to double recipes and divide cookies using recipes from the Cooking Corner. There are some really cool ways to get your kids excited about reading in the Reading Nook. And guess what else???

Best Part #3: None of this is hard for the parents. If these activities were difficult, WOULD I BE DOING THEM?? Goodness no. What in the world?

Summer School at Home Parent Guide

I put together a helpful binder to highlight some of what you’ll be receiving in this curriculum: Summer School at Home Parent Guide. <— open it up to see how this works!

Get all the info you need when you click here to open up a small eBooklet that tells you more about what the Summer School at Home Toolbox includes. BONUS: You will love how affordable all of this is!

What ages and grade levels does this cover?

This curriculum is very adaptable so you can make it work for all ages and academic learning levels through middle school. At our house, I foresee that our kids ages 4, 5, 8, and 10 will get the most from this with our 2 and 3-year-olds tagging along and being very engaged with the activities too. Our 1-year-old will come along for the ride, of course. He’ll love all the outings, playtime, and sunshine.

How can I get the Summer School at Home?

Summer School at Home is available in our Club Membership Portal now!

We felt that it didn’t make sense to offer this as a stand alone package in our shop because of all the other curriculum, printables, cookbooks, and other resources already available to Club Members. Since we’re adding it to our Membership Site, you’ll be able to utilize our full collection of items (worth $1,000s) for your kids and family while you enjoy Summer School at Home. There’s so much here that it’ll truly amaze and excite you!

Join now and get a head start looking through all your family can do this summer. You are going to love this! 

Let me know if you have questions. :)

Heavenly Homemaker's Club Members: Access your homepage and all your fantastic resources here! Not a member yet? Please join us!

Big Family Food and Fun: April 7-13, 2024

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Here’s our Big Family Food and Fun: April 7-13, 2024 post!

Big Family Food and Fun: April 7-13, 2024

We planned to stay after church on Sunday to enjoy a Focus Group meeting as our church family prayerfully considers our mission and vision and how to grow faithfully in the direction God wants us to grow. After the meeting, Keith had a soccer game. So we needed to pack a lunch, snacks, soccer gear, jackets, and oh yeah, don’t forget to pack the kids. :)

The day before, I had put together a 10″x15″ casserole dish full of  Simple Egg Casserole so that I could easily slide it into the oven to bake before leaving for church.

Once it came out of the oven, I cut it into 20 pieces and put it into a crock pot so we could plug it in at church to stay hot for our lunch.

This plan worked great and after church we ate our Casserole with Banana Muffins, Applesauce, and a couple of Pound Cakes we’d been given at last week’s Food Distribution.

Childcare was provided for us during our Focus Group meeting and the kids played hard with their friends. And what about Keith’s soccer game? Ugh. It had been rained out…again. Maybe, maybe he’ll have his first soccer game by the time his third scheduled game rolls around?!

We drove by his soccer field to at least show him where he’d be playing, then we headed home. Some of us couldn’t keep our eyes open.

Later that afternoon, our friend Paula dropped off school lunches for the week and Acacia used all her muscles to drag them into the pantry for me. :)

I made a simple dinner of Chicken Strips and Popcorn Chicken with Fries and Buttered Peas.

When I was cleaning the kitchen that evening and writing tomorrow’s menu on our white board, Anna wanted to practice writing her name. Look at what a great job she is doing!!

We assigned some clean up chores to the kids before bed. Keith used his skateboard to help pick up toys and drive them to the playroom for the night. :)

Monday morning our friend Caitlyn came over to help me all day so that Matt and Elias could go to York and work on a house we’re trying to finish and put on the market. She was amazing and the kids and I loved spending the day with her.

It was beautiful outside that day so we spent a lot of time playing in the fresh air and sunshine.

For dinner that night, I made Spaghetti with Sauce, Meatballs, and Green Beans.

This meal is a huge hit with all the kids. Pasta is one of my least favorites, but I will be making it more often because all the kids eat it very well. I like it when the kids eat well. ;)

Monday we finished off the Banana Muffins along with Scrambled Cheesy Eggs and Apples.

We had almost no fresh fruit or veggies in the house, plus BabyBoy#11 was getting low on his special Pediasure drinks. So after we got Brayden and Kiya off to school, we loaded up the other five and headed to the store to get some WIC items. (Side note, speaking of BabyBoy#11! On Monday I was able to get him to eat five tiny bites of a peach – a huge break through!)

Matt dropped Anna, Acacia, and me off at Walmart, then he took the other three kids to Great Clips so Keith could get a hair cut.

This handsome boy greeted us when we met back up after hair cut and shopping!

That afternoon, Brayden, Kiya, and I went to our weekly Food Distribution to help hand out food to people in the community.

I had made a big bowl of Tuna Salad beforehand. When we got home, I cut up two pounds of strawberries and whipped some cream. It was a super simple meal, but we all loved it.

Malachi surprised us by stopping over and he took kids outside to skateboard for a while. :)

Wednesday morning we had big plans to get Brayden and Kiya off to school, and then Matt, Elias, Acacia, Josie, and BabyBoy#11 off to York. So we just pulled out cereal and fruit for breakfast.

Acacia and Josie were so excited to spend the day at their beloved Emma’s house that when I told them to load up they RAN to the door!

That left just Anna, Keith, and me for the morning. We read some books then Keith had a therapy appointment.

Before the bus arrived, Keith wanted an apple and was excited to try cutting it himself with the special apple cutter.

I had three and a half glorious hours of quiet that afternoon while everyone was away. Thank you, God, for providing what we need!

Once Brayden, Kiya, Keith, and Anna were all home from school we played outside while I grilled burgers for dinner. Brayden practiced his ukulele and everyone enjoyed the concert. :)

Friends were coming over for dinner that night so to go with our Burgers I made Baked Beans and Stir Fry.

When I brought the burgers in from the smoker, I put them into a crock pot to keep them warm.

I cut up 2-pounds of strawberries and whipped some cream to go with two pound cakes for dessert.

Thursday morning I used the leftover hamburger buns to make Breakfast Sandwiches. I cheated and cooked browned sausage right in the eggs and cheese. This worked great for the sandwiches!

I was hoping to get ahead a little bit that morning so I made a double batch of Bran Muffins, made Stick of Butter Rice, and browned three pounds of hamburger meat.

Some friends were coming with their homeschool group to the Lincoln Zoo for the day so we packed up some food to meet them there. I buttered some of the hot muffins to take and they were melty and good when it was time to each later!

With this many kids, I’ve decided that I no longer care if the baby’s socks match so long as he’s actually wearing socks. :)

Not only did we get to see several friends we don’t see very often, we got to enjoy watching the penguins get fed that day.

 

Afterward, our friends came over to hang out at our house. The kids played and played, then ate and ate. :) Malachi wanted to come say hi to everyone before they left so he stopped by.

That evening, Matt needed to exchange something at Menards and I wanted to pick up some items at Walmart and Sam’s. Hadn’t I just been to Walmart, you ask? Indeed I had. But BabyBoy#11 needs 18 6-packs of his Pediasure every month and each Walmart only carries 5-6 packs at a time. So all month long we hit up every Walmart in town to get what he needs. We’re thankful for the provision, even if it does mean we have to shop a little bit extra.

Before we loaded up to shop, I warmed up leftover spaghetti to feed everyone a fast dinner.

Spaghetti Hack: I’ve found that once it’s in bowls for the little ones to eat, I can easily cut the noodles with kitchen shears so that they can easily eat it with a spoon.

Shopping Hack: NEVER take the Coppinger children to the store in the evening after a full day of going to the zoo and/or school. Don’t do it. They can’t handle it. They’re already overstimulated and exhausted and they will not be able to hold themselves together at the store. The fits will be horrible and there will be many fits. You don’t need groceries that badly.

Oy.

So Walmart was a disaster. Kids back in the van, Matt went into Menards by himself to quickly make his exchange. Then I ran into Sam’s by myself while Matt fed the kids a cookie and apples. I really just went in for these few things but I saw a few other items I needed and this was the result:

Every time I shop I think we’ll be stocked up for a while. Hahaha. The groceries go fast at our house. :)

Friday morning I used the hamburger meat I’d browned on Thursday plus the Stick of Butter Rice to make a huge batch of Burritos. I plan to share them with some friends whose kids currently have some major health struggles.

Well. Sure I’d been to Walmart twice that week and Sam’s the day before. But there are certain items I also needed from Costco (diapers!!) so off we went on Friday morning. The shopping trip went much better than the evening before because the kids were rested and we only had five with us this time. ;)

I wasn’t planning to buy boneless chicken thighs, but wowza! They were on sale for $6.00 off per package, which made them only $2.65/pound. Now that we can grill more, you can bet I stocked up big time!

I also picked up some special treats for a picnic we were planning on Sunday. I almost never buy individual bags of chips, but they were highly discounted and will be very fun for the picnic!

Our friend Malorie was visiting, and Acacia sat still for quite a while letting Malorie braid her hair that afternoon. :)

We had a huge weekend planned with friends coming in from Texas and all of the grown-ups going to Kansas City to watch Messi play soccer.

Justus had been over all afternoon and was smoking two racks of ribs for us to enjoy for dinner when our TX friends arrived. I made hotdogs for the kids and Brayden made Caesar salad. For other sides, I simply washed two kinds of grapes and two pounds of strawberries, got out sweet peppers and tomatoes, and set out rolls with butter.

Dinner was going to be later than normal so we fed the kids at their regular time to avoid extra meltdowns.

All of our older kids were able to come over to join us for dinner, plus our friend Ricky and his son Cooper had arrived from TX. Gathering in our kitchen and dining room like this is my favorite.

Justus’ Barbecue Ribs turned out AMAZING.

 

 

Saturday morning I spent getting ready to go on our day trip and getting everything ready for our kids and their sitters while we were gone.

I made Crunchy Ranch Chicken and Steamed Broccoli for lunch, then sitters came and we got out the door. I’ll share photos of our Messi experience next week!!

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Big Family Food and Fun: March 31-April 6, 2024

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Here’s our Big Family Food and Fun: March 31-April 6, 2024 post!

Big Family Food and Fun: March 31-April 6, 2024

Easter Sunday was a perfect way to start a new week, being surrounded by our church family all morning and then continuing our celebration all afternoon at our house. If you recall, last week the kids had made cookies and we packaged them up to hand out on Sunday morning before worship. Here’s Keith handing a cookie to some men at church. :)

The time of worship, celebrating Jesus’ victory over death, was powerful that morning. It was such a gift to be all together that day! And yes, Eva IS the cutest pregnant mama ever.

Back at the Castle, 21 of us gathered in the kitchen and dining room to fellowship and feast.

We had Ham, Baked Potatoes, Green Beans, Cream Cheese Corn, One Hour Yeast Rolls, Fresh Pineapple, and Cheesecake.

Our friend, Caitlyn, was planning to come and she’d put together gifts for all the kids. But she wasn’t feeling well so she just dropped off her goodies and headed home. The kids were thrilled with the baskets and Matt and I were so grateful for her kindness. :)

After we ate our meal, we headed outside for our traditional Easter egg hunt. First the guys headed outside and hid eggs for the gals (hiding hard ones for the adults and easy ones for the kids).

Then the girls got revenge by hiding eggs for the guys. Truth: I will never not love seeing grown men holding Easter baskets. :) :) :)

Our time together was wonderful, and I’m so thankful!

Monday we got our weekly routine started back up. I made Eggs in a Nest for breakfast and the kids chose between canned peaches or canned pears.

I walked Brayden and Kiya to school, then Eva came to help Matt while Keith and I went to the Food Distribution site to set up for Tuesday’s giveaway.

I had baked a pan of Stick of Butter Rice early in the morning so after Keith and I got home, I used the rice, along with meat I’d cooked on Saturday, to put together a big Tator Tot Casserole for our dinner.

Late afternoon, our Foster Care Agency sent someone to our house to work on our Adoption Home Study for BabyBoy#11!! We’re getting closer to adoption day!

For dinner that night we enjoyed our Tator Tot Casserole with leftover Pineapple and Cream Cheese Corn from Sunday. Plus I experimented with our night’s veggie by serving the kids Shredded Carrots. I’d picked them up wondering if eating little tiny sticks of carrots would be a fun change of pace for them. Overall, I’d say the experiment was a success. The kids had fun and most of them ate their carrots (with Keith going back for thirds!).

Tuesday morning, I took Anna to an appointment. She got a “star wand” for being so good there. I was grateful for the one-on-one time with her.

After we got home, we had some time before the preschool bus came for Keith and Anna so we loaded everyone up and went to the indoor play area at the Zoo. Of course Keith was excited to see a “worker truck!” on our way into the zoo.

The Spider Monkeys are fascinating to watch. :)

I had quickly grabbed cheese, meat, and crackers to take with us to the zoo – plus applesauce and juice.

The kids took a play break to enjoy their snack/lunch.

Before leaving, we went to say hi to some Lizards, Snakes, and Cockatoos.

I picked Brayden and Kiya up from school and headed over to the Food Distribution where we helped hand out food to 100ish people.

We were blessed to come home with a huge variety of breads and buns.

Plus we got a nice assortment of other items like fresh spinach, oranges, tuna, sparking water, and biscuits.

For dinner, I had used Sunday’s leftover ham to make a crock pot full of Ham and Potato Soup.

Wednesday was full with an Occupational Therapy appointment for BabyBoy#11 in the morning, Azure Standard pick up in the afternoon, and all the kid/work needs in between. According to the OT, BabyBoy#11 is making progress in his eating skills. We’re thankful for progress, even if it’s slow in coming. :)

Our Azure Standard order this time included a case of yogurt, a case of frozen hashbrowns, 25-pounds of whole wheat flour, a case of tortillas, a bag of whole dry milk, a bag of tapioca pearls, and three boxes of lightly sweetened cookies that are a perfect treat on the go.

For dinner that night, I boiled two pounds of Penne Pasta and warmed up White Sauce, Chicken, and Bacon. We stirred it together into Pasta Bowls and enjoyed it with a side of Spinach.

There are still so many littles around here, but as they get older they are becoming more capable so we are trying to train them all in helping and cleaning. So we spent some time after dinner involving everyone in picking up the house and sweeping some floors.

Then we got teeth brushed and settled everyone in the living room to watch a little bit of Ms. Patty Cake. This is a fun throw-back to when our first set of kids was little. We used to get Ms. Patty Cake videos at the library to watch at home!

Thursday morning, Matt and Malachi headed to York to work and Elias helped me with the kids all day. Keith found a book on our shelves about Native Americans and everyone gathered around on the floor to let me read it. I was amazed at how engaged they were. :)

At lunchtime I pulled out the leftover ham from Sunday and put together Ham/Cheese/Honey Mustard Sandwiches on Rolls. My goal is to always use up what we have in the fridge and it never hurts to get ahead. So I followed this basic idea for these sandwiches, and since I had 24 rolls, I made 24 mini-sandwiches. We ate a few for lunch and I packaged the rest for easy grab-and-go lunches during the next few days.

Keith was determined to mop the kitchen before his bus came, and who was I to stop him?

That afternoon, when Keith and Anna got dropped off by the school bus, Anna made it exactly as far as our front steps before she just couldn’t make it any longer. :) This photo is a pretty accurate description of how our kids handle school and home. They hold it all together beautifully at school, exhibiting kind, sweet, and cooperative behaviors there. Then they get home and immediately let down and let it all go – all they’ve been holding in.

So between 4pm and 8pm, we deal with quite a few meltdowns and behavior struggles. Some days are better than others. And some days, some of us just need to lay down on the cement steps because facing what’s next (the terrible chore of hanging up a coat and backpack) is just.too.much.

Dinner was leftovers!

Then Elias engaged several kids in making a tiny treat. He’d received a Skookie (skillet cookie kit) as a white elephant gift at Christmas time that he needed to use. The kids helped him mix it up and get it into the oven. The littles didn’t understand that it was going to take 17-20 minutes to bake so they sat down to watch (until it got too boring, because you know what they say about a watched oven…).

See? I told you it was tiny. :) :) :) Everyone got one bite of Skookie, and they were thrilled!

Friday morning, Brayden had Ukulele class before school so Matt ran him up there early. I walked Kiya at the regular start time. Then I got back just in time to take BabyBoy#11 to his 15-month well-check. While he’s pretty behind developmentally (though making progress!), the doctor was very pleased with how he looked physically.

When I picked Brayden and Kiya up from school, Brayden announced that he was bringing his ukulele home. His teacher asked him to practice extra for his upcoming concert. When we got home, he showed everyone his skills. :)

It had been such a full week that Elias and Brayden hadn’t had their second Bro Time afternoon, so Elias had made plans for he and Brayden to make dinner together that night. The rest of us played outside (and broke a window, but whatever, heh).

They made some cookies for our dessert…

And they made four fancy pizzas for us that included a variety of meats and cheeses.

Elias had to run off to a youth event at church that he was helping with, so he explained each kind of pizza then headed out.

Then pizza was SOOO good. And having the night off from cooking was pretty great for me (you know so that we could instead deal with a broken window).

Saturday morning I made a fresh pot of coffee, courtesy of my friend Molly. If you live in the St. Louis area, this coffee is a must for you. :) It is goooooood.

Josie was my kitchen helper that morning, cracking eggs so we could make Simple Egg Casserole to eat for lunch on Sunday.

We also made a double batch of Banana Muffins to eat with Sunday’s casserole.

Then we got ready to take the kids to our favorite Library Story Time. We were excited to go because we’d missed so many Saturdays in a row, plus this was the final session for a few weeks. I grabbed some easy food to pack for a picnic to eat at a park afterward. I had Apple Bread in the freezer that I’d set out the night before so I sliced it and packed it with carrots, cheese, salami, fruit, chips, and dip.

Story time was great and we enjoyed playing with all the fun sensory toys afterward.

Then we spent over an hour in the main library area, enjoying some books and learning toys. Last month, they had a Post Office in this area. This time, a Pizza Parlor!

Everyone was hungry when we loaded up to head out, but Matt and I changed our picnic plan because it was too windy and chilly outside to go to a park. Instead, we headed home and had a “picnic” at our dining room table.

After naptime, we decided to go to the park we had planned to go to earlier. It was still windy, but the temps were warm. I made popcorn to take with us, putting it into the last of the popcorn sacks I’d bought for Asa’s high school graduation many years ago.

I had a little bit of cooked hamburger and some leftover pasta from earlier in the week, so for dinner I turned those into Spicy Mac and Cheese. SO GOOD.

We filled our night with bath time and showers and that was our week!

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Big Family Grocery Spending for March 2024

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Curious how much it cost to feed 13 people every day last month? Here’s our Big Family Grocery Spending for March 2024 post!

Big Family Grocery Spending for March 2024

Here are the details to share where we shopped, what we bought, and how much we spent on food during the month of March!

1. Super Saver

The very first day of the month, we went to Super Saver (a store we hadn’t tried out yet) to take advantage of their Mega Meat Sale. We got pork loin for just $1.58/pound, pork roast for only $1.18/pound, pork steak for $1.78/pound, plus hamburger meat marked down that ended up being $2.20/pound.

Matt spotted packages of Chicken Strips and Popcorn Chicken that ended up only costing $2.98 for a 24-ounce package (which breaks down to $1.99/pound). We bought nine packages to enjoy during the next few Friday nights. I also checked the French fries in their freezer section and found some big bags on sale at a fairly decent price so I took advantage so that I could have a night off or two. :)

Overall this store’s non-sale prices were significantly higher than what I pay at my regular stores (Costco, Sam’s, Aldi). But stopping in this time for this meat sale was worth it!!

Total at Super Saver: $108

2. Bro Time Meal

Elias and Brayden planned a meal for our family and went to the store to buy needed items to make the meal. They decided on biscuits and gravy, hashbrowns, eggs, and orange juice.

It turned out amazing and the night off was a gift to me. I had most of the necessary ingredients on hand for them to make this meal, but they did (use my credit card to) pick up biscuits, hashbrowns, and juice at the store.

Their total at the store: $18.17

3. Sam’s

March 5 I went to Sam’s with two of our girls to give them an outing and to pick up a few of the items I can only find at Sam’s plus some other staples. While I was there, I picked up two boxes of our favorite Orange Chicken so that when I needed a night off, we’d have it on hand. Cost for two boxes is a splurge at $25.96. But when compared to needing a night off and ordering take out, this is super savings!!!

Total for food at Sam’s: $204.67

4. Costco

The next day we needed diapers, plus the littles needed an outing, so we headed to Costco. Since we were there anyway and we always need fresh produce, we picked up grapes, oranges, bananas, and peanuts. (We like keeping those peanuts in the van to help with hunger meltdowns and to feed the parents who also sometimes get hungry and need to eat.)

Total for food at Costco: $31.74

5. Aldi

I hadn’t been to Aldi for a while and needed baby food pouches for our littlest plus a few of our Aldi favorites.

Total at Aldi: $76.56

6. Costco

Matt and I had decided to have a two day getaway! So, I ran in to Costco get a few convenience items for our big kids to have on hand to feed our gang while we were gone.

Costco Total: $47.26

7. Eating Out

While Matt and I were on our short getaway, would you believe that we ate out three meals but didn’t have to pay out of pocket for any of them thanks to gift cards we’d saved up for this? So thankful!!

We enjoyed Cheesecake Factory…

Good Evans…

And Culvers.

8. Costco Lunch

We’d made plans with our littles to have a special Costco lunch sometime during their spring break. So we made this happen mid-March, ordering a pizza ahead of time then ordering some hotdogs once we got there. This is about the only way we can make it work to “eat out” with our crew and the breakdown ended up being only $1.80/person for this fun lunch!

Total at Costco: $21.65 for 12 people

9. Costco

While we were there, I ran through and picked up a few items like potatoes, apples, bananas, maple syrup, and juice for picnics.

Costco grocery total: $78.01

10. Sam’s

We decided to pick up some Rotisserie chickens at Sam’s on our way home from church on March 17. Since I was in the meat aisle, I grabbed hamburger meat – the best price for the best quality that I can find in Lincoln.

Total at Sam’s: $42.68

11. Costco Stock-Up Trip

It had been quite a while since we’d done more than pick up a few items here and there during small shopping trips. So on March 22 we took our five littlest kids on a big shopping outing.

We got what we needed up and down each aisle: chicken thighs, chicken breast, organic hamburger meat, strawberries, sliced cheese, shredded cheese, chicken nuggets, fish sticks, applesauce, avocado cups, crackers, hot dogs, sour cream, ketchup, mayo, coconut oil, turkey lunch meat, tuna, cream cheese, tortelloni, butter, crackers, and pistachios.

Total at Costco: $501.69

12. Gallon of Milk

We were getting low on milk toward the end of the month but I didn’t have time to do anything about it. So Elias and Keith make a quick trip to a local grocery store close to our house to get us by until I could go to Aldi. Milk at this store was significantly more expensive than I’m used to paying at Costco, Sam’s, or Aldi so that definitely solidified these as my favorite three money-saving stores here in Lincoln!

Total at Russ’ Market: $5.02

13. Aldi Bro Time Dinner

Elias and Brayden spent another Bro Time afternoon making dinner for us. They had gone to Aldi earlier in the week to decide on what to make and to pick up needed groceries.

They made us a Taco Feast with Cinnamon Rolls for dessert.

We already had most of the needed ingredients at home, but they grabbed limes, cilantro, taco shells, cinnamon rolls, and a few other things when they were shopping.

Total from Aldi: $16.61

14. Aldi Stock Up Trip

On March 28, Matt and I loaded up our five littles and got stocked up on all of our favorite Aldi items. I bought a case each of Organic Spaghetti Sauce, Organic Salsa, and Whole Milk Yogurt. Plus we bought 5 gallons of Milk, about 15 Fruit/Veggie Pouches to try and feed the baby, Organic Spring Mix, Bananas, Blueberries, Apples, 6 containers of 100% Fruit Cups, Tortilla Chips, French Fries, Granola, Cottage Cheese, and Salami.

Total from Aldi: $203.68

Total Grocery Spending for March:

$1,356.

I stayed under budget, but barely. I felt great about this because it had been a while since I’d focused on stocking up fully on all of our staple foods. As of the end of March, we had full freezers, fridges, and pantry to get us kicked off into April!

Running total for 2024:

January: $1,178
February: $849
March: $1,356

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Big Family Food and Fun: March 24-30, 2024

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Here’s our Big Family Food and Fun: March 24-30, 2024 post!

Big Family Food and Fun: March 24-30, 2024

Keith has been counting down the days for his very first soccer game! Sunday afternoon was the big day, and he had his cleats and shin guards ready. :)

The game location is closer to church than home, so we decided to pack lunch to eat at the church building and then go to the game from there. I made a crock pot full of Pasta with Red Sauce, a crock pot full of Smoked Sausage cut into pieces, a small crock pot filled with Costco Meatballs, a container of Carrots and Cucumbers, 4-Pounds of Cut Strawberries along with a dish of Cheesecake Parfait, and a container of Rice Krispie Treats. I also got out a few items to hand out as snacks to the remaining kids during Keith’s game.

As church began, Matt got a text that rain had canceled Keith’s game. Poor Keith. He took the news like a champ as we had prepared him for the possibility of a cancellation. Since we already had all the food at the church building, we decided to go ahead and eat there before heading home.

We were blessed to grab a few extra friends to join us. I loved this kitchen scene which included some of our boys with a bunch of their friends. (All the plates on the floor were left there by our little ones as I had fixed their plates and parked them there to eat before the big guys came in.)

While the adults ate, Brayden led the other littles in worship in the auditorium. Notice our littlest, standing by the stage in his diaper after peeing through his outfit. Hey, Jesus wants us to come as we are, yes?

We came home through the rain (that had canceled Keith’s game) so our afternoon was spent watching a show and then playing games with Daddy.

Our friend Paula dropped off Brayden and Kiya’s school lunches for the week and I put them into a fridge. She and Randy have been doing this since October and it has been incredibly helpful on school mornings!

I pulled out leftovers for dinner and got out a bag of pears to go with them.

Everyone ate a pear before having a random plate of whatever sounded good from our leftover stash. :)

Monday morning I made a double batch of Chocolate Chip Cheesecake Muffins. These were a hit, though once the little girls discovered the chocolate chips on top they only wanted to eat the tops of the muffins and ignore the rest. ;)

We had a rough behavior morning for three of our kids. :( So I changed our plans for the morning, hoping that the change of routine might give us a reboot. Eva came over to help as she does every Monday, which was a huge and needed blessing. We left BabyBoy#11 home to nap with Daddy while Eva and I took the other four out to shop for Easter clothes.

Sure enough, while it isn’t always easy to shop with little ones, the change of pace distracted everyone and behaviors settled (mostly). Keep praying for these kids’ healing. We are seeking answers from professionals and trying to figure out where to turn to help meet all their needs.

Fun side note: One of our neighbors has a tree service business and Keith LOVES watching him work and organize tools in his garage. Coleman has been such a gift to Keith as he allows him to ask thirty-eleven questions and chatter and look at his tools and basically, Keith wants to be like Coleman when he grows up.

While shopping for an Easter shirt, Keith came across this toy chain saw. “I need to get this so I can help Coleman cut down trees!!!” The word “no” isn’t Keith’s favorite, but I was able to help him settle with the promise that while we weren’t going to buy the chain saw, I’d be sure and show this picture to Coleman the next time we see him. :)

The afternoon went smoothly and for dinner I decided to make Pancakes and Bacon. Lots and lots of bacon.

Tuesday morning both of our dishwashers were full and clean from the day before (we run them both at least once each day). Acacia got right to work and cleaned out one dishwasher all by herself (except for the knives and mugs that I grabbed before she got started). She loves doing this job – and watching her reminds me of her capabilities. She’s a very tiny 3.5-year-old. She struggles with speech, so much of what she says doesn’t come out clearly. She delayed in other ways that make learning harder for her. She was born with a club foot, which affects her gate and growth. But she knows nothing about this. She’s a big girl who can clean out the dishwasher for her mommy, while chattering confidently even if I can’t understand most of her words. I love her heart and how she goes all in with everything she does. :)

It was cold and windy that day so we kept the little ones in all day instead of having an outing. To help them get some wiggles out, Matt found some interactive YouTube videos that we all danced and jumped and did jumping jacks with.

Late morning I got out ingredients to make White Chicken Chili, including Homemade Ranch Dressing Mix.

I discovered the three little girls sitting in the pantry singing “The Wheels on the Bus” together.

We didn’t have any leftovers so I baked two frozen pizzas for lunch. Have you tried the Cauliflower Crust Pizzas from Costco? They are pretty tasty! I added some pepperoni to ours since it was a veggie-only pizza.

That afternoon, Brayden, Kiya, and I went to our weekly Food Distribution. We were placed in charge of some “extras” that day so we handed out toothbrushes, toothpaste, and Easter items to over 100 people who went through the line.

Matt and Elias had served all the kids the White Chicken Chili from the crock pot. Then Brayden, Kiya, and I dug in when we got home.

Wednesday morning we had Bagels and Fruit. Kiya is enjoying her newly found freedom in toasting her own bagel in the air fryer.

I made a double batch of Peanut Butter Honey Puffs to have on hand for snacks.

Keith, who is always (always, always, always) rigging something up, taking something apart, or creating some sort of something, had hung a rope with a hook around our second floor banister. He then attached our ball pump to it and used the rope as a pulley to move the pump up and down. Why? Well, why not?

Elias and Brayden had picked up groceries to make a meal for us during their Bro Time on Monday. So Wednesday night, they made a Taco Feast for us with beef, chicken, and shrimp options plus all the taco fixings.

To top off their meal, they made Cinnamon Rolls for dessert.

Thursday morning we loaded up all five littles for a shopping trip to Aldi. Outings like this are both great and hard – but they offer a fun experience for our kids and we get the shopping done that we need so it’s worth the craziness.

Two carts are a must.

This particular trip I bought 5 gallons of milk, 12 jars of spaghetti sauce, 12 cups of yogurt, and 12 jars of salsa -plus all kinds of other needed items I like to get at Aldi. The gal at checkout was like, “Wow, that’s a lot of spaghetti sauce.” and then when she saw our five littles “Wow, that’s a lot of kids.” Should I have told her this wasn’t even half of our kids? Naw. :)

We got home in time to put Keith and Anna on the bus for preschool. Then I blended up a batch of Mini Crustless Cheesecakes to put into the oven.

I also mixed up a big batch of Cream Cheese Cut Out Cookies so the kids could have fun making Easter cookies on Friday.

Acacia was playing dress-up but stopped to help once she saw her opportunity to help me scoop and pour. :)

After school that day, I finally got around to cutting Kiya’s hair. I took off a few inches to get all the dead ends removed so she’ll be fresh and ready for spring!

Meanwhile, I had dumped some barbecue sauce on to a package of chicken legs, so those were on the smoker making us all very hungry. Back in the kitchen, Elias helped Acacia and Josie make Caesar Salad and Chipotle Cheddar Salad to go with our chicken.

I had peeked outside to see that our neighbor Coleman and his wife Sarah were chatting with Matt and the kids so I hollered out to see if they wanted to eat Bbq chicken with us. Elias and I finished putting the meal together, and we had a feast with our neighbors. :)

We had BBQ Chicken Legs, Mac and Cheese (that I’d picked up at Aldi that day), Fried Zucchini, and Salad.

Friday morning, I made a big batch of French Toast for breakfast.

Matt and Elias left to work on our rental house in York so Kelsey came to spend the day with the kids and me. There was no school that day so we had lots of fun plans. I started to roll out the Cream Cheese Cut Out Cookies that I’d mixed up the day before and the kids took turns cutting out cookies to bake. (Ever made cut-out cookies with a bunch of eager children? Oy. This is how I do it and stay sane-ish.)

Mission accomplished.

Then we moved into the dining room to dye Easter Eggs. I’ll admit that this is not one of my favorite activities, but the kids love it so it’s worth it. The best part is seeing the kids’ reaction when I add vinegar to the little dye tablet in a cup. :)

The weather was beautiful so we packed a picnic and walked several blocks to a big park to eat and play.

Justus met us there, which was just the boost we needed after such a full morning with the kids at home.

We played and ate and ate and played, staying at the park for over two hours.

Our lunch was cheese, meat, crackers, artichoke dip, sweet potato chips, pear cups, avocado cups, and some mini-cookies that we’d baked that morning.

Keith is sooooo interested in all things construction so before I knew it he was way across the park visiting with “the workers” and trying to learn about what they were doing.

We were hot, hungry, and thirsty when we got home so I made a blender full of these Smoothies to cool everyone off and to give us nourishment.

Everyone continued to play outside the rest of the day, and look who found the big bottle of bubbles? Eh, they needed a bath anyway.

I cooked 28 hotdogs on our smoker that night, made a small pan of Baked Beans, and got out pickles for dinner. Justus, Kelsey, and I were all pretty tired by the end of this full day so we were all very happy to see Matt and Elias get back home!

Saturday morning Anna and Acacia helped me finish a project for Sunday morning.

The girls put stickers on baggies (I’d picked them up at a sidewalk sale that Delight Design was having last summer and decided that this was a great way to use them!). I put a decorated Easter cookie into each bag and the kids can hand them out at church tomorrow. :)

Our church was planning to walk around to homes in the neighborhood surrounding our building that morning so that we could invite people to join us for Easter. Our family decided to take part in this, hoping it would work with so many kids in tow. Before leaving, we had a simple Cereal and Fruit breakfast then I made Peanut Butter and Honey Sandwiches to take along since I didn’t know how long we’d be gone.

It was a chilly morning but it worked out pretty well for us to take this on. Our littlest four were in strollers and our friend Caitlyn was helping us. The kids took turns putting invitation cards on people’s porches as we walked from house to house.

Back at home, we finished our sandwiches and applesauce then had some Easter fun.

The rest of the evening was spent getting ready for Easter Sunday. I somehow managed to make a double batch of No Knead Yeast Rolls for Sunday’s Easter Dinner.

I browned several pounds of ground beef, saving half of it for another meal and turning the rest of it into Sloppy Joes for our dinner that evening.

And that was our week!

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