Here’s our Big Family Food and Fun: December 3-9, 2023 post…
Big Family Food and Fun: December 3-9, 2023
Sunday before we left for church, I put a huge Lasagna into the oven to bake plus made a pot of buttered corn and buttered hoagie buns to warm up later, (The day before, I’d made a bunch of lasagnas to try and get ahead.)
We invited another family to come over and eat with us, plus all of our older kids came, plus one of our kids’ friends.
Altogether there were 21 people who ate, which made our pan of Lasagna look like this by the end of the meal. It was an awesome time!
For dinner that night, I made a big pot of Chili. I froze the leftovers so we can have an easy meal another day.
Monday, we had “leftover breakfast.” Leftover Warm Vanilla Soother, leftover Breakfast Sandwiches, and leftover Flourless Chocolate Banana Muffins. With blueberries and yogurt.
Eva came over to help with kids and I took Keith to the dentist for a checkup. He did awesome!
When we got home, I sliced apples and served them with peanut butter and sprinkled cinnamon for a snack. We ended up going through five apples for four kids. It hit the spot!
Having Eva’s help meant I had extra time and hands! So I took advantage and made Mudballs (x5) and Snickerdoodle Bites (x8). These are some of our favorite snacks.
We were out of baby carrots so in the late afternoon while dinner was cooking, Keith helped peel carrots so I could make carrot sticks.
For dinner that night, I boiled two pounds of whole grain angel hair pasts and stirred in a container of white queso from Costco along with a little bit of milk. Then I added diced ham. It was so good! We ate it with leftover peas.
During the evening we got out some craft kits to keep the kids busy. We started by making Reindeer Hats. Then we wore those while making Sticker Cards with Christmas scenes.
Even this guy got to be a Reindeer!
We gave up on gathering all 9 kids for a picture (our 7 plus two friends). But here’s what we managed to get. You can’t hear it through the screen, but you should know that this picture is LOUD. ;)
Ah, here’s another Reindeer.
Tuesday I didn’t get many pictures. We had Scrambled Cheesy Eggs for breakfast with fruit then cheese/crackers/avocado cups for lunch. I picked Brayden and Kiya up from school and headed to our Food Distribution site to help hand out food.
The kids have become great at helping vacuum after the giveaway ends…
We got to help ourselves to some of the leftover items – mostly bread, rolls, and buns but also some greens, fruit, and sweet potatoes.
One of our housemates treated us all to Costco pizza and salad for dinner that night! (This was all that was left after we all enjoyed four large pizzas.)
Wednesday morning I used some of the biscuits we’d been given at the food distribution and made Sausage Gravy to surprise Matt. (Biscuits and gravy is a favorite meal for him.) The kids had biscuits with butter and jelly plus clementines.
They were still hungry and I didn’t want to fill them with more empty carbs so I got out last week’s Crustless Cheesecakes for them.
In the midst of fixing breakfast plates and taking kids potty, I started a big pot of broth for our dinner that night.
We loaded up all seven littles, dropped Brayden and Kiya at school, then took the other five to Wal-mart for a few essentials. Somewhere between the girl’s clothing and picture frames, one of the girls peed her pants. This picture does not accurately share how much pee was on the cart and floor.
Clean up on aisle nine!
We got it cleaned up, changed her into new leggings that I was planning to buy anyway, got some groceries, and headed back out to the van. PHEW. (Have I mentioned lately that Matt is a rock-star dad??)
Our dear friend Phyllis came all the way to Lincoln to visit us that afternoon. She is one of our biggest prayer warriors, a huge support, and precious encourager. She always spoils us with her delicious cooking and baking when she comes. I texted this picture of our favorite Phyllis cookies to Malachi saying, “Guess who’s here??” He was like, “No way! ON MY WAY!” He loves Phyllis. We all love Phyllis.
Here are some of the littles hanging out in the kitchen later while I finished making dinner.
I used that morning’s broth to make Beef and Noodles (like this except with beef. and store bought noodles). We had loads of veggies in our soup broth – such a great way to guzzle down nourishment!
Thursday morning I made two loaves worth of French Toast like this plus four pans of bacon. Having this big box of bacon that I scored on sale a couple weeks ago has been SO NICE!
I have loved the ease of these Flourless Chocolate Banana Blender Muffins, so I experimented with making Flourless Banana Muffins (without the chocolate). They turned out ok but I’m going to make some tweaks to make them a little bit better. Then I’ll share the recipe with you!
Thursday night we warmed up Pulled Pork that Phyllis had made and brought to us. It was delicious with corn, spinach, and fries.
Friday evening our church had a Christmas party. Then a friend of mine and I snuck out to go to our monthly Adoptive Moms Support Group. THEN, Saturday morning our church hosted a lovely Christmas Brunch for ladies. It was all so much fun and so very good. But I was too busy enjoying it and didn’t get many pictures.
Before leaving for the brunch on Saturday morning, we made pancakes and sausage. I had helpers and a fit thrower, but we got the job done.
Eva dropped off Asa to help Matt with kids, then I hopped in with Eva to head to the brunch. Before leaving I made a bowl of Chicken Salad and Asa was using it to make the kids sandwiches when we got back. I made a blender full of these Smoothies to finish off lunch.
For dinner that night I made 5 Cheese Tortelloni with sauce, plus Garlic Butter Shrimp, steamed broccoli, and Caesar salad. It was a great feast – and super easy to make.
I had an idea to make these cookies with the kids and maybe watch a Christmas show, but then we turned on the Husker Volleyball game and really enjoyed watching that instead. The game ended just in time for us to give kids baths before bed. Here are the three littlest girls with clean and braided hair at bedtime. :)
And that was our week!
Charlotte Moore says
Thanks for sharing! What a week you have every week! Ha!! Thank the LORD for the ANGEL Phyllis bringing food. Such a nice BLESSING!!