Big Family Food and Fun: August 30-September 5, 2026

Here’s our Big Family Food and Fun: August 30-September 5, 2026 post!

Big Family Food and Fun: August 30-September 5, 2026

Sunday morning was a bit rougher than normal, only because one of our housemates was very ill and I’d had to take him to the ER in the middle of the night. So I was sort of slowly trudging through the morning as we got ready for church. Thank goodness for Breakfast Cookie Bars!

Being with our church family fills us up 100% of the time. We walk through our weariness together, holding each other up. It is beautiful. Brayden got to help our youth minister with Ministry Updates that morning…

It was Family Worship Sunday so all of our kids were with us that morning. This would be tricky with so many littles except that Anna sat with our friends behind us, Bonus Buddy sat with Asa and Eva, and Elias and Malorie helped with those left in our row.

We’d invited several for lunch but not many were available this week. This meant that we had a quiet, sweet gathering with just our family plus our friend Robin. I had made a very simple meal of Smoked Chicken Thighs, Cheesy Potatoes, and Green Beans.

We followed it with Homemade Ice Cream – vanilla and Oreo!

The guys had a meeting after church so afterward, Robin’s husband Trent arrived plus Asa and Justus. Then our Community Group met in our living room while the kids watched a movie in the basement.

I baked pizzas for dinner that night.

Since we had already heated up the ovens, we decided to get some baking done. Kiya made a birthday cake to celebrate Acacia the next day!

Anna helped me make a double batch of Peanut Butter Snack Bars.

With all that had been going on the past couple of weeks, I hadn’t gotten much baking done. It felt good to do this with a couple of our girlies!

After the Peanut Butter Snack Bars cooled, I cut and bagged them to have ready for school lunches. These have a lot of peanut butter and eggs in them, so I feel good about sending these as a protein option for our kids who eat very little meat.

That afternoon, the kids had found some hidden totes of train tracks and cars tucked away in a storage room past our laundry room. We won’t talk about the fact that our kids don’t have impulse control to stay out of the rooms I tell them to leave alone. We will, instead, highlight the way they stayed happy and busy for a good long while building a track on our laundry room floor.

Monday, Acacia turned six! We started the day with French Toast before school.

Emma came over to hang with Auggie that morning. Matt and I walked and rested at Holmes Lake.

We got home in time to take Auggie to his bus.

I left right away after that to shop for groceries. Matt and Brayden went to the library for his homeschool afternoon.

After school, the birthday girl helped me put (too many) sprinkles on her cake. :)

Her dinner request was Hotdogs and Mac and Cheese. Mom threw in Salad and Strawberries to round out the meal a little bit.

Neighbors from across the street have been incredible to come by every time someone has a birthday. They brought Acacia a balloon and sang to her. She loved it!

Asa and Eva’s family were able to join us for dinner, plus we had ABA therapy going on for four of our kids. It was a rowdy evening!

We finished the evening with present time. When you’re six, Mom shops in her closet for inexpensive goodies she’s picked up here and there on clearance. This is a win every time!

Phoebe and Auntie Kiya were able to have some girl talk that evening. Eva sent me this incredibly sweet photo. Look at how Phoebe is filling out!

I’m very behind on baking needs, but I was able to throw together Nutella Breakfast Bars on Tuesday morning.

Tuesday mornings have become very full with back-to-back appointments starting at 9:00 and lasting until almost noon. Hopelyn joins us for this, and we were able to find a little time to walk outside afterward.

Auggie had been struggling with getting on the bus, but two days in a row he got on without complaint!

Matt took Brayden to an appointment after lunch while I spent an hour and a half doing paperwork and ABA assessments. Then I got dinner prepped before picking kids up from school.

Four kids went with me to Tuesday Food Distribution that afternoon. Then we headed home to do homework, eat burgers, and have a full evening of ABA therapy.

On Wednesday, I had phone appointments with our kids’ ABA therapists all morning until lunchtime. Brayden had the privilege to do Art Lessons that afternoon with our friends, Paula and Randy. Matt and I spent the afternoon together in the quiet.

After school, we got three kids started with ABA therapy and homework. I was able to make a batch of Crustless Cheesecake that evening. Did I forget that they were in the oven and therefore let them get a little bit too brown? I did.

For dinner that night, I pulled random bits of this and that from the fridge and freezer and put together a tasty Pasta Bake. We had leftover Green Beans and Fruit to eat with it and afterward, the fridge was a little bit less cluttered.

On top of everything else we’ve had going on, our island dishwasher has not been working. I’m spoiled to have two dishwashers in our kitchen and I don’t take that for granted at all! But it probably goes without saying that we have a lot of dirty dishes at our house. I typically fill and run both dishwashers daily, so being down to just one dishwasher has made it difficult to keep up in the kitchen.

Matt was finally able to spend time on this project on Wednesday evening and praise God, he got it working again! Hopefully I can keep up with dishes a bit better now!

At bedtime, I caught this sweet scene of Josie and Auggie with their bedtime books and toothbrushes. I’m glad you can’t hear the chaos in the background. Bedtime looks so sweet around here, huh?

Hopelyn and Arrow came over on Thursday! Late morning when the bus came to pick up Auggie, they enjoyed looking out the window as Pop helped him.

The intense heat has shocked us all as we’ve launched the month of September. Making it home from school to enjoy a 100% juice pop from Costco has been really motivating as we’ve trudged home.

The evening went pretty smoothly with ABA therapy, despite the heat. I smoked Chicken Legs for dinner, warmed up Mashed Potatoes from Costco, and Steamed Broccoli. We had a big container of Watermelon that was very refreshing too. This meal tasted so good!

I had a few extra minutes that evening, so I made three packages of Meat and Cheese Slider Sandwiches for our upcoming Sunday Lunch.

Friday morning, Matt continued working on a project in the boys’ room and Auggie and I did some decluttering and cleaning. We ended the morning in our “Reading Room.” This is a lovely little sun room just off our girls’ room where we keep some dolls, stuffies, and a shelf full of books. Auggie settled in with a couple of books while I finished re-organizing.

That afternoon, for Brayden’s homeschool he helped me make a double batch of Chocolate Chip Cookies.

They turned out beautiful!

We plated them up to serve on Saturday for Elias and Malorie’s engagement party.

Brayden started his afternoon ABA therapy session and I continued baking. I made a double pan of Breakfast Cookie Bars.

I also made three loaves of Banana Bread. It felt so very good to bake!

I was able to get all of the cleaning and baking done that day thanks to our friends Paula and Randy! They had brought over a delicious spread of hoagie rolls, meats, cheeses, dressings, and pasta salad for our dinner. All we had to do at prep time was set it out and serve. We are so thankful for such good friends showing love and care to our family!

Saturday was a full day! We started the morning by going to the first fall session of Sensory Storytime.

We got home in time for the first Husker football game of the season. Friends had given us pizza gift cards and we used it to make this day fun and a little bit easier.