Big Family Food and Fun: August 2-8, 2026

Here’s our Big Family Food and Fun: August 2-8, 2026 post!

Big Family Food and Fun: August 2-8, 2026

Our Sunday started with Breakfast Cookie Bars, of course…

At church that day, I had the honor of sharing a big part of my journey and testimony of God at work in my life as He is helping me overcome worry and people-pleasing. A lot of time and energy had gone into preparing for this. But mostly I got to experience more of God’s teaching, Truth, and goodness as Matt and I prepared this together.

Immediately after our worship service, we enjoyed a sweet “Baby Sprinkle” for Phoebe and her family.

We came home and had a wonderful lunch spread in which people could build a wrap of their choice. We set out Shredded Rotisserie Chicken, bacon bits, shredded cheese, guacamole, lettuce, and a variety of dressings and dips. We enjoyed chips, fruit, and a delicious cucumber salad on the side, and ice cream for dessert!

There was a sweet crowd of 21 of us, providing lots of good conversation and encouragement.

For dinner that night, we air fried Taquitos and ate them with chips, salsa, queso, and fruit.

Brayden had been at a Christian Camp all weekend, and before heading up to bed, he enjoyed showing Kiya the crafts and pictures he had brought home.

Monday was my birthday! We took four kids to Day Camp, Emma came to stay with the other four, then Matt and I headed to Holmes Lake. We walked around the lake twice, talking and talking and talking. It was amazing!

With one more hour before we needed to be home, we went to Culvers for a birthday treat/lunch date.

Elias and Malorie got back into town that afternoon! We were still waiting for Malachi to get back for my “actual birthday dinner.” But meanwhile, some dear friends had send us pizza gift cards so we invited the kids who were available and we ordered birthday pizza to share that evening.

It might have been my birthday, but Phoebe was the most popular guest when she arrived.

Four kids were having ABA therapy during our dinner – so there was lots of noise and activity. But it was a wonderful evening with family and I loved it!

There was a lot of wedding chatter as Elias and Malorie shared the beginnings of their plans with us!

On Tuesday morning, after I made scrambled eggs for breakfast, I hurried to get a little bit of baking done because we didn’t have anything on hand for me to quickly hand kids who might be in “snack crisis.” I baked Crustless Cheesecakes, Nutella Oat Bars, and Vanilla Cheater Muffins.

I don’t love that these muffins have white flour and sugar. But I DO love that these are full of pumpkin and take no time to make. Those factors redeem the sugar, or something like that. :) The recipe made 18 of these muffins, and they were gone by 3:00 that afternoon. What a great way to eat an entire can of pumpkin puree!

As we were finishing up ABA therapy and lunch that day, suddenly my dearest friend, Charlene, from York walked into the house. WHAT?!?!?! As it turns out, she and Matt secretly planned a coffee outing for my birthday. This was the sweetest surprise!! We headed out to the closest coffee shop and talked, laughed, and cried for two and a half glorious hours!!!!

We arrived back home to this sweet scene. Kelsey had been at Costco that morning and found a ridiculously cheap deal on blackberries and raspberries (plus shorts and socks – she scored big!). The kids had a Berry Picnic, not holding back on eating as many berries as their bellies could hold.

Brayden, Kiya, Acacia, and I went to our Tuesday Food Distribution to serve that afternoon while the other kids were home having ABA therapy sessions.

We’d found a Cheeseburger Casserole in the freezer and that became dinner. This casserole did not look pretty. But it tasted good!

Wednesday was our kids’ final day of camps for the summer! I dropped them off then took advantage of only leaving four kids at home with Matt while I stocked up on groceries. EVERY TIME I grocery shop, I think that surely this haul will get us by for a good long while. Then, the very next week, I’m filling up several carts again. I wonder when I’ll stop being shocked by the amount of food we eat at our house??! (This is a super huge job, but one I very much enjoy, so don’t hear any complaint in what I just said. It’s just shocking and borderline funny to me that we go through so.much.food.)

My first stop was Aldi, where I got a little bit of fresh produce but mostly odds and ends of items we needed for upcoming school lunches, school morning breakfasts, and cooking/baking ingredients. I checked the meat section for pretty red 50% off stickers and was thrilled to find our favorite boneless chicken thighs marked down!! I grabbed all I could and left some behind too. Boneless thighs for $1.50/pound? THANK YOU!

My next stop was Wal-Mart. I’ve found that the best use of my time at this store is to walk through and scan end caps for clearance or sale items. I got some school supplies for super cheap, paper plates on super clearance, a Christmas gift to hide away for Auggie, four packages of brats for less than half price, plus a few regular food items we needed like milk, bananas, and oatmeal.

Finally, I filled a cart at Costco. On my way in, I ran into my precious friend, Angie, from York and we shared hugs, tears, and praise to God for ways He is at work in our families’ lives. That was a huge boost in my day! Then I shopped for sales and needed items to get us through the week and maybe a bit beyond.

We have a huge van and a small car – and I’d driven the car that day so I could fill it with gas at Costco. Did I have enough room in this small car for all of Aldi, Walmart, and Costco? Barely. The trunk, back seat, and passenger side were all completely filled up as I headed home!

All of the shopping took four and a half hours to accomplish! Then, we all worked together at home to get everything unloaded, organized, and put away. This basically took the rest of the day off and on as I had time to continue putting things in their places.

Brayden helped me put sauce on all the discounted chicken before we put it into the freezer. This will make it much easier later when all we have to do is thaw it and put it on the smoker!

He also helped me make another batch of Vanilla Cheater Muffins because these have been incredibly popular with everyone lately!

While he was making those, I put together a Spinach Cake for an additional veggie-treat snack option. Keeping up with appetites at our house is a full time job!

Dinner that night was super tasty! I smoked some Teriyaki Pork Loin from Aldi plus made Cheesy Potatoes, Stir-Fried Veggies, and Strawberry Parfaits.

Thursday was a big day with all eight kids home all day. Auggie had ABA therapy that morning, so we couldn’t plan an outing at that time. The little girls occupied themselves with building a bus in the living room.

Matt took four kids to pick up our Azure Standard order and then to Menards. This picture shows how brave my husband is…

Meanwhile back at home, I spent the entire morning working in the kitchen. I baked a pan of Breakfast Cookie Bars to enjoy the next two Sunday mornings.

The girls were in and out of the kitchen helping me as I worked. We made a huge pan of Chewy Granola Bars.

Then I made three loaves of Whole Wheat Zucchini Bread.

Matt and the older kids finally made it home from their outing so we got our Azure Standard order put away. I’d ordered our favorite tortillas, plus a case of GF tortillas for one of our housemates. If you haven’t checked into this great food co-op, I highly recommend it!

We got three big bags of grain: two of whole wheat pastry flour and one GF oats. I’d like to think this will all last us a good long while but I probably know better. ;)

We ate a lunch of Chicken Nuggets, Mac and Cheese, and Fruit. Then we got everyone ready to head to Holmes Lake for the afternoon.

I have loved all of the times I’ve been able to walk there this summer, so we wanted to see how the kids would handle the walk. Elias and Malorie went with us which made this experiment possible.

Overall, the kids did great.

Elias stayed with his buddy, Auggie, whose three-year-old legs had the most struggle with keeping up.

Two miles later, we had a reward of cold juice with Zucchini Bread, Vanilla Cheater Muffins, Grapes, and Nuts. Food tastes extra good after a long walk around a lake.

We headed home in time for five kids to have afternoon/evening ABA therapy sessions. I smoked 20 Brats for dinner, which we ate with fruit, carrots, and tator tots.

On Friday morning, I cut and individually packaged the Chewy Granola Bars that I’d made the day before. My goal was to get food like this prepped for the start of school to help with packing lunches.

We didn’t have therapy that morning, so we loaded up and took all the kids to a nearby park to play.

We stayed for two hours, and enjoyed a snack of cheese sticks, applesauce, and blueberries while we were there.

That afternoon, Matt was a rock star with all the kids on his own at home while I went to school for an IEP meeting. There was a one-day-only sale on eggs at Hy-Vee, and Elias and Malorie were sweet to go grab 15 dozen for me. I couldn’t pass up getting these for $0.99 each!

All of our kids were finally back in town, so we were able to have my official birthday dinner together that night! I was hungry for this Cheesecake Factory knock-off salad, and my people made it happen!

We left all the ingredients separate so everyone could build their own salad – but I added everything just as the recipe stated. The mixture of flavors in this is super good! Matt also air fried some Chicken Bites for people to add or for kids to eat if they didn’t want salad. I cut a loaf of Zucchini Bread and set out Grapes to stretch the meal also.

I didn’t get a lot of pictures that night because I wanted to enjoy family time – plus we had four ABA therapy sessions happening throughout dinner time – so everything was great and hectic. After our salads, we cut into a cheesecake from Costco. It was all perfect!

Phoebe’s mama had spent dinner time feeding her, so while Eva was finally taking a turn to eat, Kelsey helped Kiya grab a snuggle.

On Saturday, I prepped for our upcoming Sunday Lunch by putting together two large Egg and Hashbrown Casseroles – one with ham and one with sausage.

Mid-morning, we met up with some extended family at the Zoo. Justus, Kelsey, and Hopelyn met us there and we all had a lovely time!

Since they were coming from out of town, I offered to provide our picnic lunch. There were 22 of us and we’d had a busy week, so I opted to purchase two big cases of Uncrustables. I threw them out onto the tables with apples, applesauce, cheese sticks, oranges, chips, and fruit cups. Kelsey brought homemade muffins, carrots, and trail mixes. We had a great feast!