Here’s our Big Family Food and Fun: June 29-July 5, 2025 post!
We enjoy a Sabbath rest from Saturday evening through Sunday evening – so I turn off my computer on Saturday afternoons and miss posting some of these pictures. I’ll catch up on our last Saturday activities before launching into our new week!
Saturday, June 28
Malorie’s grandparents were visiting from Texas that Saturday! It was wonderful to get to know them while they were here.
The kids were extra squirrely that afternoon and evening. We think this is because they were extremely tired from the weekend’s events at church which was super fun, but also kept them up later than normal two nights in a row. Typically, when we have guests in our home, our kids tone their behaviors down and “mask” – saving their more extreme behaviors for the safety of when our family is alone. Their tiredness made their masks come off, so even with Malorie’s grandparents visiting, our kids were very loud, screamy, tantrumy, and challenging. Phew.
We took all the kids outside to give Malorie, Elias, and the grandparents some quiet. Matt set up the Slip and Slide, and I cut up a watermelon.
For dinner that night, I made a bunch of Burgers and Brats with Baked Beans, Watermelon, Pickles, Strawberries, and Whipped Cream.
Dinner was loud. Malorie’s grandparents were very gracious.
Big Family Food and Fun: June 29-July 5, 2025
Sunday morning, we sent Malorie’s grandparents on their way back to Texas. I set out our traditional church day Breakfast Cookie Bars for everyone to eat while we got ready to go.
There was a special Family Worship morning that day and Acacia and Keith found themselves being loved on by Ms. Kathi during the service.
At the end of the service, the kids got to share one of the special songs that they had learned during the weekend’s Kids’ Experience. It was so sweet to watch them up on the stage singing and praising God.
For Sunday Lunch, we set out a big Burrito/Nacho Bar with Taco Meat, Salsa Chicken, and all variety of fixings. I made three different kinds of Ice Cream and friends brought Brownies to go with it.
There were 35 of us gathered that day to enjoy time together around our tables.
I usually make Frozen Pizza on Sunday nights, but I didn’t think our kids would eat pizza very well that night (there’s been extra pickiness going on this summer and I’m tired of food fights). So I tried the idea of making them a surprise Snack Tray Dinner to provide something fun and different. I made a bunch of Graham Cracker Peanut Butter Sandwiches then we added Blueberries, Grapes, Clementines, Pickles, Carrots, and GoGurt.
The kids loved this and ate very well – all eight of them!
After they were fed, we sent everyone to potty and put on shoes (this takes at least a half an hour) then headed out for a walk to Sunken Gardens.
The walk there and back was very good for our kids. They were tired from the weekend, and the walk was a positive way to calm them so that they went to bed well that night. Of course, I packed our much needed bag of apples for kids to munch on during our outing.
The kids slept very well that night, praise God!
Monday morning, Brayden and Auggie had doctor appointments for well-checks. So I made 15 scrambled eggs to use on slider rolls for Egg Sandwiches, then the boys and I headed out to the doctor. We were almost late because as we arrived at the clinic, we had to wait for these two-dozen pedestrians…
This boy has gotten taller!
Back at home, we finished putting together a picnic of Uncrustables, Apples, Applesauce, and Pistachios. Nothing fancy here. Mama was tired.
We loaded up and went to a nearby park. I forgot I was a blogger (ha!) and only took one picture the whole time we were there. Keith and Bonus Buddy had brought their skateboards and found a perfectly sloped sidewalk to ride down over and over.
We farmed out the kids for the afternoon and Matt and I had some blessed downtime. The girls got to have a sweet time at Ms. Kathi’s. And Ms. Kathi had an extra special visitor who had brought fun dress-up dresses to share!
That evening, three kids had ABA therapy. Kiya helped me make Breakfast Cookie Bars for the next two upcoming Sunday mornings.
Brayden helped me make a very simple dinner of Chicken Nuggets, Spinach, Grapes, and Watermelon. Dinnertime while all of the ABA therapists are here working with kids can be a bit extra hectic. So the simpler the food, the better.
Tuesday morning, we ate Granola with Yogurt and we got Auggie situation with his ABA technician. Then, I left with Acacia for her Speech Therapy.
When Acacia and I got home, we did some laundry then made an early (and slightly weird) lunch of leftover Taco Meat, Noodles, and leftover Corn. The kids ate a variety of combinations of these three options, topped with shredded cheese. It filled their bellies, and that was the goal of the morning.
I made a batch of Spinach Cupcakes, of which I forgot to add the eggs. Forgot the eggs? Apparently, I have very little baking experience and don’t know how to follow the directions on a box, gooooood grief.
We put Auggie down for a nap and handed the baby monitor to Elias. Then we got everyone else into their swim suits and headed to the Zoo to play in their water area.
Mid-water play, the (Eggless) Spinach Cupcakes came out. I figured this would be a great zoo snack since they were full of spinach. This was true, except that the lack of eggs made these very crumbly and we made a very big chocolate mess by this bench. All 18 cupcakes got eaten though. What a great way to eat salad!
Also, what a great way to take a shower!
We visited the giraffes and tigers while we dried off a little bit before heading home.
Brayden, Kiya, Keith, and I headed to our weekly Food Distribution to hand out food to the community and clean up afterward.
Back at home, Matt warmed up Burrito Casserole we’d put together Sunday after lunch. We rolled the mixture into tortillas for an easy dinner.
We’d picked up some Cinnamon Swirl Bread at the food distribution on Tuesday, so Wednesday morning I used it to make a bunch of French Toast for breakfast.
The three youngest kids had a WIC appointment that morning. We had several errands we needed to run to prep for a fast and furious weekend trip we were planning on taking. So we loaded up all eight kids to make a big outing of it. Matt hung with four kids in the WIC clinic while I took the other four with me into the appointment room.
We loaded back up and made several stops – including one to Aldi where I bought some fun splurges for our road trip.
We topped off the morning with a big lunch treat at Freddy’s. We’d been given 14 Free Kid’s Meal Coupons several weeks ago at our school’s Zoo Night. This day seemed like a good day to use them to reward the kids for hanging in there while we ran all of our errands.
Elias, Malorie, and Kermit met us there. This was fun and super special for the kids!! Because a restaurant is so rare for them and because they were very hungry – and because we had five adults for our eight kids – this outing ended up going pretty smoothly. But will we do this again any time soon? No way, thank you. :)
Back at our house, Eva and Arrow were waiting for us so that we could have our special Arrow afternoon! Look at this boy’s big-kid summer hair cut!! I can’t stop gushing at him.
While Arrow was napping, I organized the snacks and food I’d bought at Aldi for our trip.
Then I called in the kids a few at a time to help pack a sack for their Friday breakfast on the road.
Brayden made Tuna Salad for our dinner that night.
With our Tuna, we ate crackers or bread plus Strawberries, Boiled Eggs, and Pickles. Our three ABA kiddos had their therapy sessions that evening…
…and then we changed everyone into swim gear and headed to the Splash Park. Every Wednesday evening in July, our church is hosting Popsicles in the Park at the Splash Park. We’ll meet together then hand out popsicles to everyone.
A huge highlight of the night for all of us was being surprised by our friend who was recovering from a major surgery. We had no idea they’d be up for joining us all at the park, but there they were!!
Arrow tried the Splash Pad for the first time and loved it!
Thursday morning, I made a big skillet full of Sausage Cheese Eggs. We ate a good portion of it, and with leftovers, Matt made himself some Breakfast Burritos to eat while driving over the weekend.
Auggie had ABA therapy that morning. During one of his breaks, he and I played with a bowl of water outside in the shade.
For lunch, we made four boxes of Mac and Cheese with Peas.
We farmed out the kids with Eva, Elias/Malorie, and Ms. Kathi that afternoon since we’d be gone Friday. Asa was off work that day so he got to join the fun too! He and Eva took the Kiya and Anna to buy fireworks, and Elias and Malorie did the same with the boys. Everyone had THE BEST AFTERNOON EVER!!!
Later in the afternoon once everyone was home, I called the kids in to pack their lunches for our Friday trip. Our drive would only be six hours, but we needed to be very structured about these hours to hopefully make the ride go as smoothly as possible. We had a schedule of when we would eat meals or snacks, when we would draw or read, when we would play with new special hand-held fidgets/games, and the most exciting of all – when we would get to use our tablets. The kids struggle if they have too much screen time. So tablets only come out when we go on a road trip. Matt spent a good part of this week getting these set up and ready.
We had invested in new Uncrustable makers, and the kids had fun making their own special sandwiches to go in their Friday sack lunches.
I couldn’t resist taking this sweet picture of Auggie when I went in to wake him after his nap that afternoon.
We ate leftovers for dinner that night, then it was time to do the majority of the fireworks the boys had picked up that afternoon. This made for an hour and a half of extreme excitement (and a lot of adults saying, “back up!” over and over).
Sweet Josie. She is not a fan of fire, sparks, loud noises, or basically anything that goes along with this holiday. Bless.
We left Friday morning and didn’t get home until late Saturday. So I’ll share about our trip next week!
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