Big Family Food and Fun: January 19-25, 2025

Here’s our Big Family Food and Fun: January 19-25, 2025 post!

Well, my friends. So far, January 2025 has not been my favorite. Two weeks ago, beginning on January 1, our family started to pass around a stomach bug – affecting all seven kids plus three of the adults in our house. We recovered from that…just in time to start passing around Influenza A.

0/10, do not recommend.

We had a big family birthday dinner planned for Elias on Saturday, but alas, our gathering was quite small because our older kids didn’t want to risk coming over and exposing themselves or their babies, of course. (Hopefully we can have a make-up birthday dinner together later after everyone is well.)

Malachi and his friend Andrew had already been at the Castle with us all weekend, so that made our evening more special.

Elias’ birthday dinner request was Fish Tacos. For this, I simply buy frozen Crusted Tilapia from Costco because it’s so good and so easy. I also made Hamburger Taco Meat for those in our group who don’t like fish. To complete the buffet, I made or set out Rice, Black Beans, Corn, White Queso, Spinach, Cilantro, Tomatoes, Sour Cream, Salsa, Guacamole, Shredded Cheese, and Tortillas and Corn Chips. It was soooo delicious.

Elias’ dessert choice (that none of us were hungry for after such a big dinner) was Brownies with Homemade Vanilla Ice Cream and Hot Fudge Sauce.

After our feast, I stirred some of the leftovers together to make Burrito Casserole to eat later in the week.

And that is what I will now call: My Last Supper. Because…

Big Family Food and Fun: January 19-25, 2025

Sunday morning, Influenza took me down.

I laid on the couch with a very sick Brayden, a very sick Josie, and a very sick Auggie while Matt worked overtime taking care of all of us.

Those who were well and felt like eating enjoyed the plate of Breakfast Cookie Bars I’d made for our Sabbath morning breakfast.

We all stayed home from church that morning and watched the live stream. Justus preached that morning and I was so thankful we had a way to watch. There was a celebration potluck after church that day that I’d already prepped for, so I sent our food with our housemate as he headed to church that morning. I’d made Baked Beans, Cream Cheese Corn, and Chocolate Fudge Pie. Plus I sent some bags of popcorn our neighbor had given us and a package of rolls.

From Sunday through Friday, I was completely down. Matt took care of everything, which was no easy task with this many littles and half of them very sick. I tried to hang out on the main floor to at least be somewhat helpful, but mostly my body just wanted to sleep. Tuesday morning, Acacia went down. Look at that sweet little fever face.

What did everyone eat during these days? Well, our friend Cindy brought over a big pot of Chicken Soup on Sunday night. Plus, she brought food others handed to her after Sunday’s church potluck so we had lots of prepped food to warm up.

Meanwhile, we continued to get texts from many people checking in on us, asking how they could help. Had we not already had a fridge full of food, we would have been well fed because of all the offers. Those of us who were sick really didn’t feel like eating so we weren’t going through food very fast.

Mid-week, Eva dropped off an Egg Casserole for us to warm up as needed. This was perfect for breakfast!

She also dropped off Yogurt, Granola, and Berries, which our kids love. Kiya somehow escaped catching this virus, so one morning I asked her to set out all the yogurt and granola for people to choose from. She took this picture and of course, it was set up super fancy. :)

By the end of the week, we started running low on leftovers. Elias baked us frozen pizza Thursday evening. And Malorie made us dinner on Friday.

Appetites were coming back, so the kids gobbled these up!

As of Saturday morning, fevers are gone and we are in recovery mode. We are diffusing oils to cleanse our house. I’m trying to eat and gain strength. Pray for Matt as he recovers from the stress of holding down this fort with so many sick kids and a very sick wife. The guy is exhausted.

Hopefully next week I’ll have a healthy, normal post to share!