Heavenly Homemakers

Encouraging women in homemaking, healthy eating and parenting

Big Family Food and Fun: February 11-17, 2024

by 6 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see our disclosure policy.

Here’s our Big Family Food and Fun: February 11-17, 2024 post!

Big Family Food and Fun: February 11-17, 2024

Sunday morning we had a little bit of extra time since we don’t meet for church until 2:00 pm right now. So we worked on kids’ valentines for their Wednesday parties at school. I had ordered stickers with the kids’ names on them from Delight Design so Keith and Anna put their stickers on fruit cups and fruit strips. Easy and so cute!

We spent the rest of the morning giving baths and showers, fixing hair, and prepping for the Super Bowl. I boiled some noodles for lunch and added some White Queso and milk. We ate it with spinach because we are very fancy around here.

Matt was preaching that afternoon so we got to church a little bit early. Elias and Malachi had brought their skateboards and pulled them out to entertain the kids. Nothing warms my heart more than watching my Bigs with my Littles.

Matt had used one of our dining room benches for an illustration in his sermon, and it took almost every Coppinger to get it back out to the van. :) Daddy is a rock star.

When we got home, we had some time before the Super Bowl started so Kelsey and I took the four littles for a walk in two double strollers so that we could visit. How amazing is this weather that we can take a long walk in February!

We got home and put together Super Bowl Party food: Ham and Cheese Melts, Bacon Ranch Chip Dip, Spicy Ranch Dressing (to eat with these Potato Wedges), and regular Ranch Dip to eat with veggies. and Brownies.

Something had gone a bit wrong with my jar of Ranch Dressing Mix when I put it together last week so none of my dips were salty enough. So I kept stirring in salt and testing them again. Good grief, how does one mess up this recipe??

We had a small crowd but it was perfect. A couple friends from York came, a friend from Lincoln, plus Justus and Kelsey. I didn’t actually get to watch much of the game (or the commercials, ha) until after all the kids were in bed. So I watched the final three minutes of regulation time which was actually pretty exciting! I decided that I don’t hate watching football and actually kind of enjoy it once a year for three minutes. (I had been up since 4:15 that morning so staying up for overtime was a no-go for me.)

Just before bed, Kelsey read part of a chapter book she’s been going through with the kids. I love our big kids’ relationships with our little kids. :)

Monday morning Keith and I went to help set up for Tuesday’s Food Distribution.

Wait. Has anyone seen Keith?

That afternoon, the little girls and I made a double batch of Banana Muffins. Kiya got to enjoy Craft Club after school.

Elias took Brayden to Holmes Lake for their Bro Time. They walked all around the lake, about two miles!

Then they took advantage of Honest Abe’s 1/2 price kids meals for an extra special treat.

Dinner at home for the rest of us that night was Sausage and Cheesy Eggs, Banana Muffins, and Steamed Broccoli.

Tuesday morning, BabyBoy#11 and I were on our own for about a half and hour before everyone else got up. So he helped me get our big freezer a little bit more organized.

For breakfast that morning we ate more Banana Muffins with some yogurt.

Two of our kids had appointments with their Speech Pathologist, then I took Anna for a different appointment. I love reading to the kids in the waiting room during our rare and precious one-on-one time. :)

We came home and made Mac and Cheese with Peas for lunch before sending Keith and Anna to preschool.

Then while Daddy stayed home with napping BabyBoy#11, I took Acacia and Josie to Walmart to get Valentine cards for the kids and to try and find Baby’s new Pediasure drink. (His dietitian is working to make sure he is getting the right kind of nourishment since he is almost 14-months old and still not eating solids. Matt and I are following doctor’s orders and trying not to overthink reading the label on these drinks. The sugar content is reallly high, oy. But God is bigger, right?)

The girls and I found the special cart that allows me to actually have room for groceries while they sit in the blue chairs.

While we were there, I told the girls to look for yellow mark-down labels. You never know what you’ll find marked down at Walmart! (Remember my $5.00 hams?!?!) Half-way through our shopping, Acacia reached over and pulled Josie in for a hug. She’s only 8-months older than her little sister but she’s such a little mommy.

Oh hey, look what we found! Great big pizzas marked down to just $6.88! I bought three and decided that we were having a special pizza dinner for Valentine’s day!

Brayden, Kiya, and I went to had out food at the Food Distribution after school that day. For dinner, Elias and Matt warmed up Burritos I’d found in the freezer that morning.

Then we gathered around the table to finish up Valentine’s for tomorrow’s parties. I’d gotten Keith’s and Anna’s finished on Sunday. But Brayden and Kiya weren’t allowed to take any edible treats so I finally got their cards picked up that day and we put them together just in time to take for the party. Phew.

Valentine’s Day morning I attempted Heart-Shaped Pancakes. They weren’t a total fail, but they also weren’t very pretty. They got eaten though. :)

After getting Brayden and Kiya off to school we loaded up the five littlest and went to Aldi. We’ve found that their organic fruit and veggie pouches are best for BabyBoy#11. We can usually get him to eat 6-7 bites of this in one sitting compared to 2-3 bites of any other kind. So Matt kept the kids in the van while I ran in to restock.

Of course, I always have to check for meat markdowns. SCORE!!!!!! I found three 1/2-price pork butts. These guys were just $5.60ish each!

From Aldi, we ran to Costco because we were almost out of diapers. Matt took the kids and gassed up our van while I ran in and grabbed diapers, strawberries (for Valentine’s day dinner!), and butter. Oh look. Annie’s Mac and Cheese was on sale so I got two cases. :)

We were close to Scheels so we went to look at fish and play in their play place. On our way out, Matt and Keith picked up a package of plastic practice golf balls to use with the small golf clubs we’d acquired.

The weather was lovely that afternoon so we played outside while we waited for Keith and Anna to come home on the bus. Then everyone was excited to pull out their valentine cards to show us.

Our neighbor, John, walked over when he saw us playing. Anna had received a ring in her Valentine sack and John was a good sport about letting her try it on his pinky. :)

I baked the marked down pizzas I’d picked up the day before so that we could have a special Valentine dinner. Plus I cut up strawberries and made Cheesecake Parfait to enjoy with them.

Elias and taken Brayden out for a Bro Time session and they had been making big “surprise Mom for Valentine’s Day” plans! They snuck in and spread little gifts on our tub for me to discover.

Brayden walked in ahead of me so that he could be standing there with the rose and card they’d picked out.

Wow, wow, wow. I was not expecting all of this, that’s for sure. Elias is doing an amazing job pouring into Brayden and this day he taught him to think of Mom and to show appreciation and honor. They were both pretty thrilled with how they spent their outing time that day, but not as thrilled as I was. :)

Thursday morning I made Scrambled Cheesy Eggs and Smoothies for breakfast.

Matt and Elias went to work in York for the day and Malachi came over to help me. Josie and I made a pan of Butterscotch Bars for our birthday celebration for Justus that evening.

Days without Matt here are always a bit of a blur. But we see a light at the end of the tunnel as we get more of our properties fixed up and sold so that Matt doesn’t have to go back and forth so much.

After school, Brayden and Keith played outside with our neighbor while the girls helped me prep for a big birthday dinner for Justus.

These salad kits are so helpful and easy and the kids love making them (and eating them, woot!). We put three kits together this night since there would be extras eating with us. Kiya made two of them…

And Keith came in and made one. This was the first I’d turned one over to him, but it really is as simple as cutting open the bags and tossing it all together. Did it make a mess? Sure. But messes wipe up. He was very proud.

Justus’ birthday meal request was this Italian Cream Cheese Chicken. I always forget about this recipe until he requests it and every year I tell myself that I have to make it more often. It is so easy and good!

I put candles in his Butterscotch Bars, but not 24, ha.

Friday was a day off school for the kids so we loaded them up after breakfast and headed to the Children’s Museum. We have a membership there that we bought with Christmas money so we decided to take advantage!

The trickiest part of this outing was staying with all seven kids by myself while Matt ran a few blocks to get the van and pull up to the front for us. Somehow we all managed not to scatter back into the museum. Phew!

We got home in time for a visit with case workers and CASA for BabyBoy#11. While I visited with them, Matt warmed up Hotdogs and sliced apples and got out carrots for the kids for lunch.

We cleaned out the fridge to eat up leftovers for dinner. Then to end the evening I told the kids that if they got the toys all picked up and put away we could get out our drawing paper and pencils and watch a “How to Draw” video on YouTube.

Before I went to bed that night, I put one of the pork roasts into a crock pot to cook all night. We woke up Saturday morning to a delicious smell and I turned it into Pulled Pork for our Sunday evening meal.

Friends came over to spend several hours with us on Saturday. They brought Rotisserie Chicken from Sam’s and fruit. I steamed broccoli and buttered some rolls. This visit was so rich and encouraging.

For dinner that night I boiled some 5-Cheese Tortelloni from Sam’s which we ate plain (little kids) or with spaghetti sauce (the rest of us). This is such a great “cheat” meal to make when we want a night off from cooking!

And that was our week!

Heavenly Homemaker's Club Members: Access your homepage and all your fantastic resources here! Not a member yet? Please join us!

4 Grocery Items I Can Only Find at Sam’s

by 14 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see our disclosure policy.

I’m a big fan of Costco, Aldi, and Sam’s so those are the stores where are do the majority of my grocery shopping. Here are the 4 grocery items I can only find at Sam’s.

To be fair, when I say that I can only find these at Sam’s, I mean that I can only find these brands at these prices in these amounts. As in, there are certain items I can buy at Sam’s, Costco, or Aldi or any other grocery store. But there are four items I always and only buy at Sam’s because they are amazing and/or not specifically to be found at other stores.

Allow me to explain. Shall we begin with bacon?

5 Grocery Items I Can Only Find at Sam’s

UPDATE: The original post I wrote in February, 2024 didn’t include the fifth item that I added December 2024!

1. BACON

I’ve been so excited about this restaurant-style box of bacon I find and love from Sam’s. It is worth mentioning that we have two Sam’s Clubs in Lincoln but I can only find this box of bacon at one of the locations. So that’s the store I go to!

This is a 10-pound box of bacon for only $29.98. That’s a great price per pound for very good bacon, and a huge bonus is the cooking convenience this box provides. The bacon comes on parchment paper sheets (about 8 slices per sheet) so all I have to do is get out my cookie trays, place a sheet of bacon on each tray, and bake it as-is. SO EASY. And the bacon is delicious.

I usually cook eight or ten sheets of bacon in one cooking session so that we can eat some for our upcoming meal and then have leftovers in a bag in the fridge for sandwiches, breakfasts, and casseroles. I also save the bacon grease to flavor our green beans.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

2. PEANUT BUTTER

The ingredients in this peanut butter are very similar to this Homemade Peanut Butter I used to make. The price – $8.12 for 5-pounds of peanut butter – cannot be beat! And we love how this peanut butter tastes.

We go through a lot of peanut butter at our house so I usually buy two 2-packs each time I go to Sam’s. Here are 40 recipes we use regularly.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

3. WAFFLE FRIES

Sam’s carries this 4-pound bag of Waffle Fries for only $6.98. I pick up a bag of these every time I go to Sam’s and we love this treat!

With so many of us living here, we usually eat the entire bag for one meal. But what an amazing price compared to buying fries if we were to eat out! $6.98 to feed fries 10-13 people, depending on who is here, is fantastic!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

4. COLBY JACK CHEESE SLICES

Obviously there are packages of sliced cheese at just about every grocery store. But here’s why I always get it at Sam’s:

  • Costco’s Sliced Colby Jack is “reduced fat” and we prefer regular.
  • I love having a huge quantity to work with and Sam’s is the only place I find it like this.

This 42-pack costs $7.24 at Sam’s, and in case you’re wondering – the cost per slice is the same at Aldi. But there are only 11 slices in an Aldi package and that doesn’t go very far for us.

We love this cheese when we make Grilled Cheese Sandwiches and sometimes the kids like to eat a slice for a snack. It is worth mentioning that while we don’t like the Reduced Fat Colby Jack at Costco, they do have a sliced Havarti cheese that is incredibly good. So that’s the variety of sliced cheese we buy at Costco.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

5. GRASS FEED HAMBURGER MEAT

Costco has organic hamburger meat, but it doesn’t specify that it’s grass fed. Aldi has grass fed hamburger meat, but their price just tipped above Sam’s price by $1/pound. So each time I go to Sam’s, I get several pounds of their Grass Fed Hamburger Meat for $4.98/pound.

Beyond these five items, there are all kinds of groceries that overlap between Costco and Sam’s that I get at either store depending on where I am and what I need. I love having memberships for both warehouses because they are similar, yet different, and I’ve settled into needing both.

Have you found anything you always make sure you pick up at Sam’s?

Heavenly Homemaker's Club Members: Access your homepage and all your fantastic resources here! Not a member yet? Please join us!

Big Family Food and Fun: February 4-10, 2024

by Leave a Comment

This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see our disclosure policy.

Here’s our Big Family Food and Fun: February 4-10, 2024 post!

Big Family Food and Fun: February 4-10, 2024

My brother and his wife had spent the might so Sunday morning we enjoyed a little bit more time with his family before they headed out to join my niece for church in York. I made bacon and set out fruit, yogurt, Bran Muffins, and Lemon Bread.

If you recall, our church is currently meeting in a temporary location on Sunday afternoons while we wait for flood-related repairs to be done at our building. So we spent the rest of the morning giving all seven kids baths and showers. Plus I took a long bath – woot!

We warmed up leftovers for lunch, then enjoyed a Snacky Dinner after church with some of our older kids and some friends coming over to join us.

Matt turned on some soccer highlights to watch and I captured this happy moment of hoopla in our living room. :) :) :)

Monday morning Eva came over to help and I took Keith to our Food Distribution site to help set up to give out food the next day.

When we got home, I discovered that Eva had cleaned my kitchen and made it so shiny! Bliss!

We warmed up leftover Instant Pot Mac and Cheese for lunch and the kids requested frozen peas to be stirred in. Who am I to argue when the kids want veggies?

That night, Elias and Brayden made dinner as part of their weekly Bro Time. They had purchased the groceries during last week’s time, and this night was a great night for them to put it together for us. Hiring Elias for this special task of pouring into Brayden was such a good decision. It’s making a big difference in Brayden’s life, even more than we’d hoped.

They mixed up Brownies to bake before starting dinner.

Then we all feasted on the meal they made: Pasta with both red and white sauces, Garlic Butter Shrimp, Meatballs, Caesar Salad, and Garlic Toast. We all loved it and Brayden beamed with joy.

That afternoon, since I had the night off from making dinner, I put together a batch of Peanut Butter Honey Puffs for snacks.

While the guys were cooking, Kiya spent time with the loom she’d gotten for Christmas to make her sisters bracelets and necklaces.

Tuesday morning we ate Breakfast Cookies that I pulled out of the freezer. While the kids ate those, I made a batch of Warm Vanilla Soother.

Matt walked Brayden and Kiya to school, then our Speech Pathologist came to work with Acacia. Josie joined this morning too, and she was wearing her life jacket – just in case. ;)

Afterward, we loaded everyone up to do some shopping. Matt dropped two girls and me off at Sam’s then took the other three littles with him into Menards. Divide and conquer, right?

It had been a while since I’d been shopping so I over-filled our cart.

I got lots of fresh produce, sparkling water and 100% juice “pop” for our Super Bowl gathering, shredded cheese, applesauce, chips, chicken nuggets, eggs, milk, chicken thighs, hamburger meat, and a few ingredients and condiments we needed.

That afternoon, I picked up Brayden and Kiya from school and we headed to the Food Distribution to help hand out food. Brayden got to give out Runzas and chicken; Kiya gave out boxed side dish options. Over 100 people come through the line each week, giving us lots of opportunity to smile and show love.

We brought home three bags full of food – lots of bread, buns, and bagels and even a container of strawberries!

Back at home, Elias and Matt warmed up Green Beans that I had made that afternoon and baked this Easy Ham and Hashbrown Casserole that I’d put together over the weekend. In the hubbub of getting home, I almost forgot to take a picture. By the time I remembered, the green beans were gone and people were going back for seconds on the casserole. :)

Matt and Elias went to York on Wednesday to work on our properties and Malachi came over to help me with the kids. For breakfast before sending everyone off to school or work, we had toasted bagels/bread/English muffins, and ate them with sausage and grapes.

To keep the kids busy that morning, I filled a container with dry rice then gave everyone a yogurt container and measuring cups.

Was this messy? Yes. But it was a controlled mess and it kept the kids engaged for several minutes. Malachi and Keith decided to go outside and ride their skateboards together so the girls and I continued to measure and scoop.

I had a lot of help sweeping up the floor afterward.

Once the mess was cleaned up, we spotted the boys through the dining room window with their skateboards.

BabyBoy#11 got up from his morning nap so Malachi came in and took care of him while the girls and I went outside to join Keith. His regular bike is missing (might have been taken??) so he’s making do with his old balance bike for now.

Everyone worked up a big appetite so we came in and ate applesauce pouches and finished off a small bowl of leftover Cream Cheese Salsa Dip with chips.

Dinner that night was simple: Grilled Cheese Sandwiches, Tomato Soup, and Stir Fried Veggies.

After kitchen clean-up, one of the kids brought me a book to read. We opened it up and before I knew it there were six kids piled up on and around me. This was perfection!

Thursday morning was apparently not picture-worthy, ha. I had a treasured phone call with one of my cousins while the kids played and Matt took Keith to get a hair cut before school. Then I took BabyBoy#11 to yet another specialist to see if we could get to the bottom of his eating issues. I’m so thankful for everyone at Nebraska Children’s Hospital, and I’m extra thankful that there is a satellite clinic in Lincoln so that our appointment needs with his specialists are more convenient. I came home overwhelmed with information but also hopeful that we are on the right track to meet his needs.

We got the big kids home from school and played outside again since it was so nice!

That morning, I had put Crock Pot Fajitas in to slow cook all day. I fried some corn tortillas that I had tucked away in the freezer so we ate the Fajita meat more like Tostadas. :)

I cut up a fresh pineapple for dessert. So good!

The most exciting part of Thursday was that I found a few minutes to actually find the bottom of two laundry baskets that night! This is no small thing to celebrate.

Friday mornings are a bit more hectic because Brayden has to be at school an hour early for Ukulele class. So I decided to not cook and instead get out cereal and granola choices that morning.

Here’s what our couch looks like each morning after I make my way to our laundry room and bring up outfits so that we can dress the five littlest.

Everyone was dressed and ready for the day when our friend Courtney arrived for a visit!! She’s one of our dear York College friends we become close to during her time as a student a few years ago. It was so good to catch up with her!

We fed the kids a snacky lunch of crackers, cheese, grapes, cucumbers, and sliced turkey or ham before the preschool bus arrived to pick up Keith and Anna.

Then Acacia, Josie, BabyBoy#11, and I walked around outside our house and enjoyed the sunshine for a while.

I dropped the girls off at Ms. Kathi’s house for their special time with her that afternoon. They started off with a tea party which was so cute that I snapped a photo before I headed out. :)

I took the night off for dinner and got out frozen nuggets and fries.

Besides not cooking, the best thing about a meal like this is that everyone eats it without complaint! After dinner, I got to go out by myself to an Adoptive Moms Support Group that meets once-a-month. My time at these meetings is incredibly valuable and helpful to me. Oh how I need the support and understanding that this group offers.

Saturday morning I made Scrambled Egg Sandwiches with fruit.

Then we loaded up and headed to Sensory Friendly Story Time. (Saying it this way makes it seem like it is actually easy to feed everyone breakfast and load up in the van, hahaha. In reality, it takes a solid hour to get everyone ready to leave after we feed them breakfast. Getting out the door doesn’t always bring out the best in me, oy.)

Today the kids got to enjoy waving scarves along with Valentine-themed books, rhymes, and songs.

I love seeing Keith so engaged. :)

After story time, Librarian Diane gets out lots of tubs full of sensory toys for the kids to enjoy for about 20 minutes. Brayden and Josie weren’t able to play though, seeing as they were buried under all the scarves.

That afternoon we worked on Super Bowl Party food. Kiya had helped me make a double batch of Brownies the day before and we got them frosted.

I baked several pans worth of Bacon like this. I needed cooked bacon so that I could make this dip, plus we’ve found that it’s really nice to have pre-cooked bacon in the fridge to pull out for breakfasts or sandwiches. And yes I had just baked several pans worth of bacon on Sunday, but indeed, it was already gone. What can I say? 13 people live here and six of us are adults. Food comes and goes, then comes again, then goes. :)

I cut several pieces of cooked bacon into a bowl and Kiya stirred ingredients together to make Bacon Ranch Chip Dip for our Super Bowl Party.

I had recently made a big jar full of Ranch Dressing Mix, so it’s possible I went a little bit too Ranchy as I made our party food. I was just trying to use what I had and I didn’t feel like getting out a bunch of different seasonings. So Ranch won when I was working on recipes. Bacon Ranch Chip Dip, Spicy Ranch Dressing (to eat with these Potato Wedges), and regular Ranch Dip to eat with veggies. I didn’t put ranch in the brownies though, so I feel like we’re ok. :)

I was in “use up what we have” mode so dinner that night was a little bit of this and that as I cleaned out the fridge. I had olive oil in a cast iron skillet on my stove from Thursday night’s Tostadas, and I had a small bag of pizza dough that Eva had given me. So I baked the dough in the olive oil in the oven then topped it with leftover marinara sauce from the night Elias and Brayden had made dinner. Then added cheese and we had a skillet pizza!

This was obviously too small to feed our entire clan, but we just pieced it together with whatever fruit everyone wanted plus I asked everyone to eat some fresh spinach on the side. We didn’t sit down to eat dinner together that night, just ate in spurts as I kept working in the kitchen.

Acacia crushed some cornflakes for me and we made another batch of Peanut Butter Honey Puffs. (We go through these faster than we go through bacon.)

I also made a small batch of Peanut Butter Honey Rice Krispie Bars. The Puffs and the Bars are just my way of staying on top of everyone’s hunger when kids (or mom) needs a little bit of protein throughout the day.

Super Bowl Dips in the fridge, snacks made, sink full of dirty dishes, and it was time to get everyone ready for bed to wrap up our week!

Heavenly Homemaker's Club Members: Access your homepage and all your fantastic resources here! Not a member yet? Please join us!

Big Family Food and Fun: January 28-February 3, 2024

by 2 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see our disclosure policy.

It’s time for our Big Family Food and Fun: January 28-February 3 post!

Big Family Food and Fun: January 28-February 3, 2024

Because our church building is undergoing major repairs due to a frozen pipe and flood, we will be meeting for worship with our church family at a different location on Sunday afternoons for the next several weeks. It’s different, but we sure are thankful to be together with our church family again!

With the change in Sunday schedule, I decided to make Pancakes, Eggs, and Sausage for lunch that day before we left. Josie helped me count the cups of water we added to the mix.

Keith helped me whisk it together.

And we had a great feast.

Unfortunately, while trying to get everyone fed, some of our kids had some pretty severe behavior struggles. We can never predict what might trigger these larger melt-downs and this particular day, my heart felt broken to pieces after dealing with them.

Our babies have so many hurt places to deal with and I just hate it. I was so glad to spend time in worship right after this, and I just cried through the songs. Their words were perfect to minister to me, knowing that we serve a Savior who rescues and heals us. He will do this for our children. Oh how I hurt for their hurt.

It was good to hug friends after church that we hadn’t seen for quite a while because of the harsh weather. Then Justus and Kelsey came over to have a Snacky Dinner with us.

We had Cream Cheese Salsa Dip with chips, carrots, pickles, leftover tuna, fruit cups, and cookie bars that I made from a mix we got at Christmastime.

Monday morning we got Brayden and Kiya off to school, then Eva came over to help! Keith and I packed up some snacks for him to eat on the way, then headed to help set up food for the next day’s Food Distribution.

Is he setting up the food or is he building towers? The answer is yes.

We arrived home to find Anna feeding BabyBoy#11 his bottle, while Eva made sure no one dropped any babies off the couch.

Now that Acacia and Josie are 3 1/2 and 2 1/2, they have decided that afternoon naps are for babies and Matt and I have decided to stop fighting the losing battle. Booooo.

So we let them watch a show for a while in the afternoons so that we can at least have a short minute of breathing time, then I took them into the kitchen with me to do some food prep. Acacia crunched up some cornflakes for me while I mixed up Peanut Butter Honey Puff ingredients for a snack.

After everyone got home from school, Kiya started her homework and Elias grabbed Brayden to head off for some “Bro Time.” (I mentioned last week that we’ve hired Elias to spend some very intentional one-on-one time with Brayden to help meet some of his needs. It’s going fabulously.) This particular day, they headed to Barnes and Noble to look around at games and books. Brayden comes home ten feet taller after these outings.

Meanwhile, I’m able to use this time to pour more intentionally into the others. Anna and Acacia were happy to fold kitchen towels and washrags for me.

I wrote out my Easy Egg Casserole recipe for Kiya. She read through it, and I got out measuring cups and spoons to show her more details about how to use them. Then she put the entire casserole together almost completely on her own. She has decided that she loves cooking and can’t wait to learn more!

After she finished putting together the casserole, we set it into the fridge to bake Tuesday morning for breakfast. Then she started to butter hoagie buns for dinner.

For dinner that night I had made a Crock Pot full of Spicy Ham and Potato Soup with leftover ham from last week. 

Then we toasted the buns Kiya had buttered and spread jelly over them for our dessert.

Tuesday morning I was up early and put Kiya’s Egg Casserole into the oven to bake while I had my God time. Once all the kids got up, we ate it with pears and leftover pancakes from Sunday. It tasted great!

For a morning outing, we went to a Music and Movement Library Storytime. Then we played with some of the library learning toys for a while before heading home.

Late that morning, we had a visit from BabyBoy#11’s CASA who has been with us through several of our kids’ cases. She loves seeing all the kids’ progress (and we appreciate hearing her perspective since we are living through the day-to-day and don’t always see progress through the messes). The girls had fun vising with her while they ate avocado cups and applesauce.

It was gorgeous outside so we got to play in the sunshine and get nice and muddy. :)

After school, I took Brayden and Kiya to Food Distribution to hand out food. Before clients started to come through the line, I was able to sneak in a quick photo of the kids setting up their tables so that you can see a little snippet of what the set-up looks like. Brayden got to hand out boxes of crackers this week and Kiya gave out different varieties of meat. I can’t say enough to share how good this service opportunity has been for our kids.

Back at home, Elias and Matt were holding down the fort. Elias warmed up leftover Pizza Casserole from last week for everyone to eat for dinner. We got home and handed out some grapes and berries we’d been given at Food Distribution and the kids acted like they’d never eaten fruit before. :)

Wednesday was GLORIOUS. The beginning of January gave us negative temps and the last day of the month gave us high 50s. Amazing! We got ready to head out for the morning, but before we did, everyone took turns scrubbing potatoes to put into the crock pot for our dinner.

They took their jobs very seriously.

It takes FOR.EV.ER to get out the door any time we go anywhere. Shoes, man. Finding this many shoes (that have a matching pair), and getting everyone a jacket, and packing snacks, not forgetting the baby’s bottle…

Leaving the house is such an ordeal every time. But then it’s always worth it!!! We went to a skateboard park so that we could play outside at a park but avoid mud from all the melting snow. This was perfect! We took Keith’s skateboard, Anna’s bike, and Acacia’s and Josie’s little scooters. But then, of course, they mostly just climbed all over the cement mountains. :)

We got home in time to eat a few bites of lunch before sending Keith and Anna out the door for the preschool bus. Then we cleaned the kitchen and took Acacia and Josie over to our friend Kathi’s house to spend part of the afternoon.

Matt and I have been praying that we’d find a few more people we could call on for babysitting as the girls stopped napping and we are rather exhausted from the pace we keep. It’s been hard to get much work done beyond parenting tantrums and dealing with poop.

God answered with not one, but two different people who are kind and willing to helps us out a few afternoons each week. We are so thankful! As I write this sentence, only BabyBoy#11 is home and he is asleep. The quiet house is life giving and needed!

Meanwhile, this is how I left the girls today. Ms. Kathi had a lovely assortment of activities for them to enjoy.

The weather was so incredible that the kids played outside all afternoon when they all got home while I made Smoked Chicken. We ate it with salad, corn, stir fried veggies, and watermelon. I had made Baked Potatoes in the crock pot but they weren’t done cooking by dinnertime, so we had buttered rolls instead.

Justus and Malachi came over and ate with us (followed by a piano lesson for Brayden by Justus). I plated up some leftovers to send back with each of them for Kelsey and my nephew Troy since they couldn’t come over to join us. We’d eaten most of the food, but at least they got some of the amazing chicken!

Thursday morning for breakfast, I made two loaves of French Toast like this. No need for syrup when it’s this good all by itself. :)

Keith spent some time with gloves and a shovel clearing out more melting snow. He enjoyed this work so much that I could hardly get him inside when it was time to get ready for the bus to come.

After school that day, Elias took Brayden out for some Bro Time so Kiya and I hit the kitchen for more cooking lessons. The little girls joined us too, of course. Today, Kiya learned how to make Chewy Granola Bars. This involved learning to turn on the stove and stay safe with the heat.

They turned out great!

Meanwhile, I made a big jar of Ranch Dressing Mix to use with our dinner.

The Baked Potatoes we attempted the night before got turned into Potato and Bacon Foil Packs for this night’s dinner because it was beautiful enough to grill again.

While they cooked, Kiya helped me make Pineapple Fluff Salad for a side dish.

What is the best part of helping cook? Licking the spatula. Of course.

Josie had been puttering around and found one of our waffle irons. She sat down and started using it as a laptop. It was the CUTEST.

Dinner that night was Potato and Bacon Foil Packs, Green Beans, Salad, and Pineapple Fluff Salad.

Elias sent me this as the two of them headed home from their outing to enjoy dinner with us.

Friday morning I made Eggs in a Nest for breakfast before getting Brayden off to his early morning Ukulele class, Matt off to York for the day, then Kiya off to school. Elias wasn’t feeling well so Malachi came over to help me hold down the fort while they were gone.

We spent some time getting Malachi’s empty room cleaned up for company over the weekend. The kids had too much fun with the extra mattress that kept “accidentally” falling on them.

At noon I had a big IFSP meeting for the two youngest kids (IFSPs are like IEPs for kids under age 3). So we made a couple of Frozen Pizzas for an early lunch then Malachi was a rock star chasing kids while I spent two hours in the meeting. Phew.

With Matt being gone, we kept dinner simple too. I cooked a package of hotdogs and made these smoothies so we’d get some veggies in us. Kiya helped make Baked Beans because she’s enjoying the kitchen so much and wants to help at every meal now. :)

Saturday morning we had cereal, yogurt, and fruit plus leftover Chewy Granola Bars.

We headed to our favorite Sensory Friendly Storytime. Check out Brayden sharing his coat with Keith as they walked in.

Everyone got to pick a special sensory chair to sit in.

Afterward, Ms. Diane, the librarian, pulled out special sensory-friendly hand-on toys. Truly, this is an amazing option we love to take advantage of here in Lincoln!

We spent time in the main area of the library also, thinking we’d just be there a few minutes. But the kids got very involved playing Post Office and we ended up mailing packages for an hour!

On our way home, Matt remembered that we had some Free Kids Meals coupons that we’d been given way back in October. Today was a good day to cash them in! So he bought one adult meal and we got five free kids’ meals. The kids were so excited about this treat!

There was a special showing of Charlotte’s Web at the theatre for only $3 that afternoon, plus someone gave us two free vouchers. So Elias helped us out and took Brayden, Kiya, and Keith there during afternoon rest time. What a day – restaurant food AND a movie at the theatre!

While they were gone and the youngest four were resting, I cleaned. Hello mop. Thank you for your service.

Meanwhile, Anna’s “nap”…

My brother and his family came to visit Troy so they were all here for dinner. Having them all in our living room was pretty great!

Asa and Eva were able to join us for dinner. (Justus and Kelsey came later. Malachi was filming a hockey game and couldn’t make it.)

For dinner I made 3-pounds of Meatballs, a double batch of 10-Minute Instant Pot Mac and Cheese, Cornbread, and Buttered Peas.

 

I had Chocolate Chip Cookies and Brownies in the freezer so we pulled those out for dessert.

And that was our week!

Heavenly Homemaker's Club Members: Access your homepage and all your fantastic resources here! Not a member yet? Please join us!

Monthly Grocery Budget for 13 People

by 9 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see our disclosure policy.

Here it is! Our current grocery budget for 13 people living in our house right now.

First, let’s talk about inflation.

As I write this, it is January, 2024. Grocery prices have been creeping up, but here’s what I’ve noticed:

The food that has more greatly been affected by inflation are processed foods. Restaurant prices? WOW. Items in the frozen prepared food section of the store? Those prices shock me!! Cereal? Yikes. I used to rely on some of these more often as back-up options on days I am too worn out to cook. But I find that I buy fewer of these now because I just can’t justify spending the asking prices.

But be encouraged by this:

Some ingredient and fresh food prices have gone up also, but not so much that I feel any sort of shock while I’m buying groceries. Truly, basic grocery prices are still very, very reasonable and many still cost what they have cost for several years!

  • I can still buy Chicken Legs for $0.98/pound, just as they have been for quite some time.
  • Boneless Chicken Thighs are still around $3.50/pound, no change here!
  • Produce sales still give great savings – just take note of the sales and buy in season.
  • Stores still have marked down items that need to be sold quickly. Watch for those and take advantage. (Remember the $5 hams I found after Christmas?!)
  • There are still wonderful sale prices available at stores every week – giving us all great opportunities to buy our favorite foods at prices we feel good about. We just have to spend a little bit of extra time to watch for the sales.

But beyond inflation…

Have I been able to hold onto my $1,200/month grocery budget?

Sometimes. Oh how I’ve tried. The stubborn, frugal part of me has been so determined to avoid a budget increase. Some months I can easily stay under $1,200. Other months I go over quite a bit. I suppose it all averages out, but here’s what I realized:

It’s causing some stress and I’m overthinking. 

Now, there’s a lot to be said for determination, hard work to stay under budget, and finding great ways to save money on groceries. But my head spins too much keeping up with our family as it is. I finally bonked myself on the head and asked, “Why are you doing this to yourself?”

Ultimately, I’ve been trying to stay within our 2017, family-of-six budget EVEN AFTER DOUBLING our family size and adding more adults to our household (three gals who rent our third floor suites). Plus, our little kids are getting older and starting to eat more.

And there’s more to be considered: The rent amount we charge our three third floor housemates includes food. They are welcome to eat any and all meals with us, pack their work lunches and snacks from the food in our pantry/fridge – what’s ours is theirs. It’s part of the package, they are a part of our family, and it’s fantastic! But one must wonder: Why it has taken me so many months to consider the fact that some of that rent money should be added into our monthly grocery budget amount?

I just really like keeping our budget number as low as possible, I suppose. I like a challenge!

But I’m tired.

I need to give my budget brain some freedom. We eat A LOT OF FOOD at our house.

2024 Monthly Grocery Budget for 13 People

I just drank a cup of coffee, so let’s look at this with fresh eyes and an awake brain. What if I took some pressure off and bumped our grocery budget up to $1,400/month?

This would feed:

  • Six adults
  • Six kids
  • Lots of guests throughout the month
  • One year-old baby who still struggles to eat solids, is mostly covered by WIC, but not entirely and wow, formula is expensive.

I just did some calculating and wait. This can’t be right. $1,400 divided by 13 people is just $108-per-person-per-month?? THAT’S IT? Why have I waited so long to figure this out?

We can absolutely increase our Grocery Budget to $1,400/month. We are still eating so well for so little. And with this, we can easily feed all the precious extra people who join us at our table each week! It’s one of our favorite things to do!

More Math

I’m going to geek out some more. Thank you.

  • $1,400/month for 13 people = $108/person for the entire month
  • $108/person/month divided by 30 days in a month = $3.60/day
  • $3.60/person/day = $1.20/meal

Ok, Laura. This is a no-brainer. You should have made this move months ago.

Something important to note

There are three very significant items I need to point out about why I don’t need to increase our monthly budget amount even more:

  1. Our youngest four kids qualify for WIC because of their foster/adoption subsidy benefits. This blesses our family with some cheese, cereal, beans, juice, bread/pasta/rice, and produce – saving us around $180/month.
  2. We volunteer once a week at a Food Distribution and often bring leftovers home, which saves us a small, unknown amount, but saves us nonetheless. I haven’t had to buy bread, buns, or bagels for a very long time. This has been such a gift!
  3. I am an affiliate with Azure Standard. Typically this earns us $30 in Azure credit each month. I wait until the amount accumulates to somewhere over $100 then place an order for free. Such a blessing!

The Bottom Line

I don’t actually think much will change about how I grocery shop and buy all the food we need. But the grocery budget increase will relax my brain, and that’s what I need.

  • I’m still going to watch for and take advantage of deals and sales and markdowns.
  • I’m still going to buy the frozen pizza and other occasional convenience items we need so that I can give myself needed breaks as I feed all of us.

We have the money we need for this increase. —> If you’re curious, these are all the ways we don’t spend money so that we have enough money for groceries. We are so thankful for God’s provision!

Grocery Spending Total for January 2024

I decided to do the official calculations for this month since we just started a new year and because I wanted to see where I landed on our budget as January comes to a close. As it turns out, I spent:

  • $639 at Costco
  • $90 at Aldi
  • $112 at Walmart
  • $102 at for Amazon Subscribe and Save
  • $182 at Sam’s
  • and I ordered seven Domino’s pizzas once for $53

Grand total for January: $1,178

So after all that, I stayed under my old budget amount, and now I’m cracking up. :) :) :) Stay tuned for grocery spending updates as the weeks and months go by!

Care to share your household size and grocery budget? It’s always fun to see what works for other families!

Heavenly Homemaker's Club Members: Access your homepage and all your fantastic resources here! Not a member yet? Please join us!

Big Family Food and Fun: January 21-27, 2024

by Leave a Comment

This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see our disclosure policy.

Here’s our Food and Fun: January 21-27, 2024 post!

Big Family Food and Fun: January 21-27, 2024

Because of the extremely cold temps last week, our church building had a pipe burst and a lot of water damage. :( We are unable to use our building for a while now, so our ministry staff put together a worship service that we could stream online, and our church leaders organized families to meet together in people’s homes.

We were happy to open our home to whoever wanted to join us, so in preparation to host Sunday morning, I set out Bran Muffins I’d baked that morning, plus some Banana Muffins that were in our freezer.

I also made a pot of coffee and got out creamers and mugs.

We were thankful for the friends who gathered in our living room for worship that morning.

Our Kid’s Minister had organized a “Picnic with Pals” event for that day also. Since we couldn’t stay after church at our building to eat as originally planned, we all met at the Mall Food Court. The kids had helped me pack a picnic the day before. We ate cheese, turkey, crackers, pistachios, applesauce, juice, and cookie bites.

After we ate, several of us walked over to the Mall’s play area. It was so fun to burn off energy after so many days of being cooped up in the house. But the best part was being with friends. We are so thankful for the connections we are making here.

We watched a show when we got home so we could have some down time. Then for dinner I made a big Bacon Cheeseburger Casserole, using the leftover burgers I’d made last week. I topped it with leftover French Fried Onions I had in the pantry from Thanksgiving. This made the casserole so good! Also, not all of our kids like bacon so I left that on the side for people to stir in as desired.

After dinner that evening, I got Brayden and Kiya involved in scrubbing potatoes for our next day’s big meal. They are so capable of being big helpers, I just have to be intentional about involving them. They love it!

Monday morning we ate Bran Muffins that I cut in half, buttered, and warmed in the air fryer. They are so good this way! I also made several sheet pans of bacon and got out a container of yogurt to finish off.

Eva came over to help with kids that morning so I took Anna to an appointment then used my extra time to make a batch of Peanut Butter Honey Puffs. The kids love these, but mostly I make them because I’m addicted to them right now. :)

I took a photo of the smoothie full of greens I made that morning, just in case you were wondering if we still drink these every day. ;) For Matt and me, this blender-ful means survival. :)

Acacia has decided that she doesn’t need an afternoon nap any more. Ugh. So she and I did some baking during naptime. My plan was to make a double batch of Poppyseed Bread. But then I realized that I didn’t have poppyseeds or almond extract – both key ingredients in this recipe. So this turned out more like our knock-off Starbucks Lemon Loaf. It was delicious as our after dinner treat!

When the kids got home from school that afternoon, Elias figured out how to play our new Catan Junior game with them.

Malachi dropped by to pick up a few things. Just like when each of his older brothers left home and then came back for a visit, he seemed like a celebrity. :)

We’d been given two turkeys during the holiday season – one from the realtors who helped us buy our Castle and one from our foster care agency. I pulled one out of the freezer to thaw last week and baked it for dinner that night. We ate it with mashed potatoes, gravy, and green beans. It was more work than a typical weeknight meal, but it was so good!

Unfortunately, we had a mix-up on getting leftovers put away so the leftover turkey got left out all night and wasted. Boohoohoo. :(

The good news is that I had already put the bones into the fridge and could still use them to make broth. I started cooking it during breakfast on Tuesday and it turned out great.

That morning, we had a home visit with our Speech Pathologist who comes to work with three of our kids. As you can see, the kids love her.

That afternoon I picked Brayden and Kiya up from school and we headed straight over to hand out food at the Food Distribution site where we volunteer. We had missed two weeks because of all the terrible weather and road conditions so it was so great to get back and see everyone. Now that we’ve been doing this for several months, we are starting to become acquainted with the clients who come through the food line each week. We love this.

I’m not able to have my phone out while people are coming through the line so I can’t show you pictures to describe the specifics of how this works. But local restaurants and grocery stores donate items that they can’t sell to an organization called Food Net. There are locations all over Lincoln throughout the week that give out this food to people who come at the designated pick-up times. The goal is that no food gets wasted and that no one goes hungry. It’s such a cool program and we’re so thankful we can serve in this way.

Volunteers are blessed with any excess, and often we come home with quite a bit of wonderful food.

We got some great bread and bagel items on Tuesday plus some fruit, sparkling water, chicken broth, and canned goods.

While Brayden, Kiya, and I are handing out food, Elias and Matt are home holding down the fort. I try to leave something easy for them to make for dinner while I’m gone. This week I left what I called “Taco Dip” which was all of last week’s Taco Bar leftovers stirred into a casserole like this. Elias warmed it up and scooped it onto plates with chips like this. It was so good!

Wednesday morning I made a pot of oatmeal and told the kids that after they ate theirs, they could have a Poptart. :) We’d been given a box of Organic Toaster Pastries at Food Distribution so this was very exciting!

The kids’ favorite way to eat oatmeal right now is with an overripe banana smashed up and stirred in.

Mid-morning we took our five littlest to a Music and Movement Storytime at one of our libraries. We got there early so we had time to play with the learning toys. The girls found the make-believe post office.

Meanwhile, Keith hung out at the Train Station.

The story time was SNOW themed this time. I tried to capture the fun they had dancing and singing with their snowflakes here…

Back at home, we decided that our table was a “charcuterie board” and just tossed out apples, clementines, nuts, and crackers for the kids to eat before the school bus came for Keith and Anna.

That afternoon, I baked Chocolate Cake full of spinach for our dessert that night. I topped it with this Cream Cheese Frosting, though instead of stevia I used a couple of tablespoons of powdered sugar just to lightly sweeten it.

I also cracked 24 eggs onto parchment paper-lined cookie sheets to bake. Once they came out of the oven I sprinkled shredded cheese on top to melt.

Then I cut the eggs into squares and turned them into 24 Breakfast Sandwiches to have on hand. I’ve noticed that our third floor renters really enjoy grabbing these and warming them up for breakfast before heading to work. Elias, Brayden, and Matt really like them too. How long will 24 sandwiches last? I give them a week. :)

For dinner that night I made Smoked Sausage, Stir-Fried Veggies, leftover Mashed Potatoes and Green Beans, plus Mac and Cheese and Corn on the Cob we’d brought home from Food Distribution. Followed by Chocolate Cake of course.

I had to run out the door for Parent-Teacher-Conferences that evening, Justus and Kelsey came over to eat and to have a piano lesson with Brayden, and we had a lot of dishes to wash at the end of the day. That sums up Wednesday. :)

Thursday morning for breakfast I warmed up Sausage Links or Bacon, depending on kids’ preferences. Then we toasted and buttered some Cranberry Orange Bread we’d been given at the Food Distribution plus I sliced apples.

Mid-morning we piled all the littlest kids into the van and went to the Zoo Play Place to burn off energy.

We had freeze dried apples, crackers, and juice for a snack while we were there.

That afternoon, Elias took Brayden out for some one-on-one time (something we’ve decided to employ him to do a couple afternoons each week to help with some of B’s extra needs). So I used that time to pour extra energy into Kiya. We read through my fun new (old) cookbook and picked a recipe to make together. She learned about measuring cups and some simple, cooking basics and she LOVED IT. So did I. :)

I had put together a huge pan of Pizza Casserole that morning, so it baked while Kiya and I made her snack. We steamed broccoli to go with it.

That evening, one of our housemates, Abby, went out for dinner with some of our York friends, Melody and Alice. Abby returned home with a special bag for us from Melody – a 4-pint package of Culvers Ice Cream!!! Such a sweet surprise!

Friday is a big blur as Matt and Elias went to work in York for the day. Malachi came over and helped me with the kids, but I got no photos of our day because we were mostly in survival mode. We decided to take advantage of a Domino’s Pizza special offer for dinner. We knew we’d have up to 16 people joining us that evening, so I ordered seven larges, paid for them online, and my nephew Troy picked them up and delivered them for us at dinner time. He then grabbed the Baby and chased preschoolers and toddlers and basically, he was the hero of the night. :)

By the way, seven large two-topping pizzas that night only cost $53 – a pretty sweet deal!

Matt and Elias brought our Bonus Boy (former foster son) back from York with them Friday evening so that we could enjoy the weekend with him. Saturday morning we took all 8 kids to our favorite Sensory Story Time at one of our libraries.

BabyBoy#11 was soooooo cute, crawling up to the front where Librarian Diane was singing and reading and doing fun action games with us. He sat there the entire time, just like he was one of the big kids. :)

We then did something a bit crazy, but what do you do when you are almost out of milk, eggs, and formula?? We took all 8 kids into Walmart, oy. It was a good outing but wow, not one we want to enjoy regularly. I got zero pictures of the shopping time or groceries because we were keeping everyone alive and trying not to scan groceries twice. Also, Walmart on a Saturday?? WHY? But at least we now have milk, eggs, and formula. :)

I had made a big bowl of Tuna Salad before we left so as soon as we got home, we made sandwiches for lunch.

Our friend Katie came by for a visit and while we chatted, she washed dishes and swept my kitchen floor. SO SWEET!!

We had a couple extra friends over that afternoon so after they did crafts and painted nails (hello, we have girls now!!), we let them watch a movie. I made popcorn for everyone, and as it started popping out into the machine, Anna laughed and laughed!!

Dinner that night was one of our $5.00 Hams, along with Mac and Cheese and Peas.

It was time to get ready for bed after that, and that wraps up our week!

Heavenly Homemaker's Club Members: Access your homepage and all your fantastic resources here! Not a member yet? Please join us!

Costco or Aldi: Which Has Better Prices?

by 1 Comment

This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see our disclosure policy.

Have you ever been curious about the bottom line here? Costco or Aldi: Which has better prices?

Back when we lived an hour away from both Costco and Aldi, at most I could hit each of these stores once per month. Now that we live in Lincoln, I can go wherever, whenever. Hahaha, I mean, if you don’t consider the fact that getting out of the house and to the store EVER is quite the feat.

How many carts does it take to contain all of the Coppinger children??

Two. And then let’s hope there’s still room in the carts for groceries.

If I move a few mountains, I can get out of the house all by myself to buy groceries. This still sometimes requires two carts, but that’s only because I don’t have kids with me and will therefore buy as much as I can because of the “convenience” of shopping on my own.

Our current grocery budget

There are currently 12 people living in our home and our grocery budget is hanging in there at $1,400/month. You can read details about this here.

Now that we’ve lived in Lincoln for over half-a-year, I feel like I’m finding my groove just a bit when it comes to knowing which prices are better at which store.

My favorite places to shop in Lincoln are: Costco, Aldi, Sam’s

I pick up our WIC items at Walmart because I’ve found that to be the easiest and because the three above-mentioned stores don’t work with our WIC cards.

There are a few items I can only get at Sam’s. This post details that info. But for today…

Costco or Aldi: Which Has Better Prices?

Now, it all depends on what you’re going for. In my experience, non-organic items at Aldi are less expensive than almost all Costco items. But the quality of most of those Aldi items are subpar and I’ve found that it’s not always worth the savings. I mean, have I really saved money if I buy cheaper grapes at Aldi but then have to throw half of them away because they got moldy right away?

Here are the items I’ve cost compared and where I’ve landed on purchase preference. Prices tend to fluctuate so I won’t share specific costs, but will instead note what I’ve learned about which store has the better overall price.

Grassfed Butter – Both stores have a Kerry Gold knock-off and wow are they good! Best price: Aldi

Tip: Watch for it to go on sale during the holidays and stock up. It freezes well!

Cream Cheese – As of 2024, I’ve stopped buying cream cheese at Aldi and have discovered that Costco’s brand of cream cheese is less money and delicious! Best price: Costco

Regular Butter – Best price: Depends on the day – watch for sales at both stores and stock up when they are discounted!

Shredded Cheese – Aldi has regular-sized pouches whereas Costco has bulk-sized (5-pound) pouches. Shredded cheese freezes well, so buying the bigger pouches works even if you don’t go through it quickly. Best price: Costco

Nitrite-Free Lunch Meat – Both stores carry a nice variety of healthier lunch meats. They freeze well so it works to buy in bulk. Best price: Costco

Organic Chicken Broth – Both stores have good quality organic broth that I like to have on hand for easy soups and casseroles. Costco’s price wins by a few cents per container. Best price: Costco

Organic Salsa – Both stores have tasty organic salsa, but Aldi’s is significantly cheaper. Best price: Aldi

Canned Corn – Cost per can of corn is about the same at both stores, but Costco’s is better quality. So in my book… Best price: Costco

Applesauce Pouches – By far every variety of these is cheaper at Costco. We go through these like crazy at our house! Best price: Costco

Why yes, I do buy my bulk in bulk…

Organic Pasta Sauce – Both stores have very tasty pasta sauces and both are high quality. Hands down though, Aldi’s is cheaper. I buy 6-12 jars at a time! Best price: Aldi

Rotel – Cost per can of Rotel at Costco and the Aldi knock-off are about the same. Because the price is the same, I prefer to buy a case at Costco because we go through a lot of it and it’s easier to buy by the case. Best price: Both

Organic Coconut Oil – There is no comparison on this one – Costco’s oil is much, much less per ounce compared to Aldi. Granted, Costco’s is an 84-ounce tub vs. Aldi’s 14-ounce jar. The bulk option saves a large amount of money! Best price: Costco

Organic Olive Oil – Again, you’ll have to buy a larger quantity to enjoy the savings. But I find that it’s worth it! Best price: Costco

Cage Free Eggs – I like to buy the 5-dozen packs at Costco because we go through eggs so quickly at our house. As it turns out, they are less money this way. Best price: Costco

Whole Milk – I buy many gallons of milk each week and while I know the cheapest price is at Aldi, I can’t go there every week. I just pick it up wherever I happen to be that week. But best price: Aldi

Half & Half – Do you want organic or non-organic? If you want organic, best price: Costco. If you aren’t particular and are ok with non-organic, best price: Aldi

4% Cottage Cheese – We like whole milk cottage cheese at our house and have found that price per ounce is less expensive at Aldi. Best price: Aldi

Grocery Shopping Cheat-Sheet

Here’s a quick summary of each item I mentioned above and what is cheaper at which store:

Costco

Shredded Cheese
Regular Butter
Nitrite-Free Lunch Meat
Organic Chicken Broth
Canned Corn
Rotel
Organic Coconut Oil
Organic Olive Oil
Cage-Free Eggs
Applesauce Pouches
Cream Cheese

Aldi

Grass-Fed Butter
Regular Butter
Organic Salsa
Organic Pasta Sauce
Rotel
Whole Milk
Half & Half
4% Cottage Cheese

Obviously this doesn’t cover every grocery item. And both Costco and Aldi carry specific products that the other doesn’t carry, making it impossible to compare.

I love and appreciate both stores! Hopefully these price comparisons are helpful to you as they are to me!

Heavenly Homemaker's Club Members: Access your homepage and all your fantastic resources here! Not a member yet? Please join us!

Big Family Food and Fun: January 14-20, 2024

by 3 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see our disclosure policy.

Here’s our Big Family Food and Fun: January 14-20, 2024 post!

Big Family Food and Fun: January 14-20, 2024

Last week was full of Snow Days, below zero temps, and a bit of going stir crazy while being cooped up day after day with so many littles. Church services on Sunday were canceled. By the day before, the roads were finally starting to be cleared out somewhat. So we decided to text some families to see who might be ready to venture out and make their way to our house for worship and fellowship.

Altogether, there were 28 of us gathered in our living room. It was so very beautiful to enjoy this time together. Kids played and were engaged at the same time. It was awesome.

I had made a roaster full of White Chicken Chili and Applesauce Muffins to share. Plus I put Saturday night’s leftover Spaghetti and baked it with cheese on top for an additional option for people to enjoy. I made 12 Sub Sandwiches with turkey, bacon, and cheese then toasted them and cut them in half. Friends who came brought Pigs in a Blanket, Cookies, Homemade Bread, Crackers, and we all had a wonderful feast!

Several families stuck around for a good part of the afternoon to visit and play games.

Monday the kids didn’t have school because of MLK Day. For breakfast, I baked several pans of bacon, fried leftover baked potatoes, and rewarmed leftover French Toast. I also made a blender full of these smoothies so our kids could be filled with veggies and fruit.

Mid-afternoon, Keith requested Breakfast Cookies. He was so excited to help me, and it was a great idea. So we made a double batch.

They turned out tasty, but for some reason all the cookies I’m making in this oven aren’t turning out pretty. I still feel like I’m getting used to my Castle oven. :)

Eva came over that morning to help with kids. Brayden and Kiya had fun playing games with her. And it was because she was there helping that Keith and I were able to make our Breakfast Cookies. :)

We warmed up leftover mac and cheese and Pizza Chicken Bake for lunch with sliced oranges and cucumbers.

That afternoon, Malachi finished packing and loading up all of his stuff. He and his cousin, Troy, have been making plans to rent an apartment together here in Lincoln. And Monday – cold as it was – was moving day. Snifffffff. I’m super happy for Malachi, just as I was when his three older boys left for college and got to venture out on their own. But I cried just the same, just as I did for his three older brothers. I just really, really like my kids. :)

And yes, he’s just moving across town so I’ll see him often. Which is why he chuckled at my tears.

Currently living at our house right now: Matt and me, Elias, Brayden, Kiya, Keith, Anna, Acacia, Josie, BabyBoy#11, plus three gals who rent our three third floor suites. We frequently have our adult kids coming and going plus lots of friends in and out. This Castle God gave us is such a blessing. :)

Back to our Food and Fun…

That afternoon, Justus and Kelsey came over and they, along with Eva, started doing some freezer cooking. By the end of the afternoon we’d made a huge bunch of Breakfast Sandwiches, Burritos, and four pans of Creamy Salsa Enchiladas.

For dinner that night, I baked our pan of Creamy Salsa Enchiladas and served it with canned fruit, fresh spinach, and buttered corn. We’d gotten a fun M&M Cookie Mix in a Jar for Christmas so we baked those for dessert.

Our kids were going a little bit nuts (Matt and I were fine though, hahaha) because of being copped up in the house for so many days. So we let the kids play in the bathtub until they got wrinkled that night, just because we needed some kind of indoor activity and change of pace. As we pulled them out and jammied them up for bed, Matt made popcorn for a bedtime snack.

Tuesday morning was guess what? Another snow day. We lazed around watching a show that morning, then ate some of the Breakfast Sandwiches that Justus had made the day before plus some of the Breakfast Cookies.

As a way to provide some structure and learning to our day after having SO MANY DAYS away from school, I decided that we would have a “Pretend Homeschool Day.” I pulled out activity books and put together Learning Packets for Brayden, Kiya, and Keith. They loved this!

They spent a full hour and a half on their packets, taking their jobs very seriously. I was thankful God had given me the inspiration to do this that morning.

While the “big kids” were doing their school work, Matt hung out with the littler ones. Magnatiles are the best.

Meanwhile, Kelsey had managed to slowly make the drive over to help us out, praise God. She had stopped at the store for us on her way, picking up much needed formula and milk – plus construction paper and balloons!

 

Just before lunch, I read a Magic School Bus book to the kids for a “science lesson.” After lunch, I found the episode that went along with this book on Netflix so they got to watch that and have fun learning more about the Human Body.

Lunch was leftovers, heated up by Kelsey. We all chose from Beanie Weanies, Taco Soup, and Ham and Potato Soup.

Keith helped me make dinner that night. He was so proud of how he poured the sauce on the chicken all by himself.

He also helped me make a double batch of Flourless Chocolate Banana Muffins. These made a great snack that afternoon plus a great addition to our dinner that night.

The temps were still ridiculously cold, but Kelsey bundled up with the kids and went outside anyway. It had been days and days since they’d been outside and they were needing the fresh air. Most of the kids only lasted a short time, but Brayden hung in there for about an hour. Phew1

Dinner that night was Barbecue Chicken, Green Beans, 10-Minute Mac and Cheese, and Flourless Chocolate Banana Muffins.

It was a loud and crazy mealtime (louder and crazier than normal) because several of the kids had refused naps that day and were cranky. Matt had to go to our church building to help with a frozen pipe flooding mess. <— This has turned into quite an ordeal as the building now has a lot of damage.

A friend had come by for dinner, so she got to help with babies, bless her. Our three housemates helped with babies. Kelsey stayed to help with babies and helped me get them all to bed. It was a pretty crazy evening.

Oh! Also, my brother, Kevin, had come to town from Kansas to help his son Troy move into the apartment he is sharing with Malachi.

It was all good but wow was I happy to see bedtime roll around that night. :)

Wednesday we sent Kevin off and were able to get the kids to school. They were excited to go back! Acacia wanted to help me fold laundry and she actually did it. She was very proud of her work, as she should be!

I knew that this would be the warmest day of the week so during naptime I headed to Walmart and Costco for groceries.

Is it just me, or do we go through a lot of food every week? I’m not sure why this astounds me every single time I fill the back of our huge van with food. :)

I picked up as many of our kids’ WIC items at Walmart that I could that day. But BabyBoy#11 has been put on a special Toddler Formula since he isn’t eating solids yet. I am having a hard time finding it and will have to keep looking around town.

I got home from the store just as Matt was getting home with Brayden and Kiya from school. So they got to help bring in all the groceries. I’m excited to see that while our kids still need so much focused care, some of them are also becoming big helpers. We’re getting there!

I made four pounds worth of Hamburgers plus a big bag of Fries for dinner that night. Plus I cut up a watermelon I’d found at Costco. Watermelon in January? I’ve never bought one in the winter before. But Kiya had been hungry for watermelon and I wanted to surprise her. She was so excited!

I cut it all off the rind and we ate almost all of it with our dinner. Just before bedtime I caught these three stinkers up at the counter stuffing more of it into their mouths and GIGGLING. Oh, the giggling. I swiped the tray of melon away because it was getting destroyed and making a sticky mess. But I also captured this photo because they were still in a fit of giggles. :)

Thursday morning the kids had fun playing dress-up during BabyBoy#11’s naptime.

Josie helped me make Brownies for Elias’ birthday.

Malachi came over to give Elias his birthday gift and to take him out for coffee. :)

That afternoon, it started to snow again. Matt parked our van on the side of our house after picking the kids up from school because he needed to shovel our driveway. The snow had continued to fall so by the time he was ready to move it back to the driveway, the van got stuck. Well. There “just so happened” to be a tow truck driving by. The driver turned around and pulled Matt out, refusing to let Matt pay him anything. Amazing!

We all watched this “show” from our play room windows. :)

It was Elias’ birthday and we’d invited all of our kids to join us for dinner. With the snow falling yet again, some decided just to stay in for the night. But Asa and Eva were able to make their way over after the snow stopped. We’ll have another “official birthday dinner” a different night. But this night we had Elias’ choice of Fish Tacos with the works.

He had requested Frosted Brownies for dessert, and I filled the pan with 22 candles to challenge him to blow them all out in one breath.

Can he do it?

Yes, he can.

 

Friday is a bit of a blur as I tried to get caught up on laundry (4 loads, woot!) and reset for the weekend. Usually I make some sort of fun dinner on Fridays, but this time I decided we just needed to clean out the fridge. So we rewarmed the last of our White Chicken Chili and 10-Minute Mac and Cheese and that was that.

Asa stopped by with a couple of his buddies that we hadn’t seen for a while, so that was awesome. Elias had some friends over to hang out for his birthday, and that was also awesome. We put all the littles to bed after a long week, and that was the most awesome of all, ha. :)

Saturday morning for breakfast I made sausage and Peanut Butter Honey Puffs (the childhood favorite recipe I mentioned here). I’ll share my adapted recipe for these in a post soon. These are so good and our kids love them like I used to!

After breakfast, we prepped to host House Church on Sunday. With the pipe bursting and the subsequent flooding at our building, our elders and ministry staff worked extra hard to organize a Live Stream option and encouraged people to meet in homes to worship together. I haven’t made communion bread for years, but found a recipe online and it came together quickly.

Please take a moment to appreciate how un-uniformly I cut the pieces. Good grief, Laura. :)

Next, I got the kids involved in helping me pack a picnic for after church. There had been a scheduled “Picnic with Pals” with our Kids Ministry Group inviting us all to stay after worship and enjoy together. But with the building being unusable, the new meet up spot became one of our malls in town. Knowing we’d need to leave right after online worship to make it on time, we got our food packed and put into the fridge to grab and take with us.

I was feeling a bit like I needed a kitchen break, so for lunch we had Chicken Nuggets, Spinach with Dip, and Oranges.

Dinner that night was Hotdogs and Peas. And that was our week!

Heavenly Homemaker's Club Members: Access your homepage and all your fantastic resources here! Not a member yet? Please join us!

Big Family Food and Fun: January 7-13, 2024

by 6 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see our disclosure policy.

Here’s our Big Family Food and Fun: January 7-13, 2024 post!

Big Family Food and Fun: January 7-13, 2024

Sunday for lunch we made Cheddar Brats (I cooked them before church then put them into a crock pot to stay hot). I had made Cheesy Mashed Potatoes and Oatmeal Raspberry Bars the day before. Plus I made Green Beans, Cream Cheese Corn, Baked Beans, and warmed up leftover Ham for those who didn’t want Brats.

There were 17 of us for lunch that day. :)

That afternoon, our friend Paula dropped off school lunches for Brayden and Kiya to enjoy all week (read here about how this came about). This is a huge gift and help for our family!

That evening Keith, Anna, and Acacia helped make pizza for dinner.

While the pizzas were baking, I did some work on Anna’s hair. It seems that while she was in her room “napping” that afternoon, she had discovered the body wash in the girls’ bathroom. I’m not sure how much she pumped out of the container, but you can be sure that her hair was very, very, very clean. It took quite some time to rinse all the bubbles out of her locks. Oy.

We had carrots with our pizza. Some of our kids really like to dip carrots in peanut butter. Ever tried it? It’s highly recommended by the Coppinger kids. :)

That night we got the much anticipated school email that Monday would be a Snow Day! I started thinking of ways to make our day with the kids super fun at home since we wouldn’t be able to get out and go anywhere.

First up, Snowman Pancakes for breakfast with sausage links.

After breakfast we headed to the table to make Shrinky Dinks. Remember those?! None of our kids had ever experienced them before so they were a huge hit.

We heated up the smaller of our two ovens knowing we didn’t need the large one for melting down our Shrinky Dinks. But this was a bad idea because it was too hard to get that many heads in the same spot to watch the magic happen in the small window of that oven. Oops.

We headed back to the table for more crafting…

Then we went into the kitchen and started making Snowflake Quesadillas. The kids LOVED this.

Anna was convinced that this was NOT the snowflake she made and I couldn’t talk her into understanding that once I unfolded her tortilla, this was the result. Nope. (I gave hers to Josie and asked Anna to make another one – showing her the unfolded version right away this time.)

After lunch, we headed into the living room to put together puzzles before naps.

We had leftovers for dinner that night. Brayden asked if he could warm up the Chili. He has started to really love helping in the kitchen!

After dinner, Elias was an awesome sport and joined us for a game of Headbands. :) :) :)

We had served an early dinner so before bedtime I sliced, buttered, and toasted some Pumpernickel bread that we’d been given last week.

We had another snow day on Tuesday so I drew fun faces on cups and filled them with Warm Vanilla Soother. (Our BabyBoy#11 has eating challenges but I was able to get two tiny nibbles of Soother in him. Hooray!)

I made French Toast that morning also. Man, I love this built-in griddle. It is such a blessing to have!

I had been hungry for a childhood recipe “Peanut Butter Honey Puffs” – likely the very first recipe I tried on my own with my very first Buddy Bear Cookbook. I couldn’t remember the exact measurements but we made it work and they tasted like I was eight again!! (Also? That afternoon I was able to find the cookbook on Amazon and ordered it for myself!! I mean, I ordered it for the kids. Ha.)

Then, we took turns adding ingredients to make Chocolate Chip Cookies to share with our church staff.

At lunchtime, I turned Sunday’s Baked Bean leftovers into Beanie Weanies. Once again, Brayden wanted to help.

The boys were excited to help Daddy shovel snow during naptime.

Acacia helped me vacuum the living room rug later that afternoon. She’s tiny but mighty. :)

For dinner I made two pans full of Crunchy Ranch Chicken with leftover Cheesy Mashed Potatoes and Buttered Peas. We all LOVED this chicken. I need to make it more often!

Since we’d been cooped up so much that day, we found some Winter Dance Party videos on YouTube so that we could get some exercise before bed.

The kids got to go back to school on Wednesday after two weeks of Christmas break and two bonus snow days. I made them Scrambled Egg Sandwiches so they’d be nice and full for their first day back.

We’d heard that there was more Snow Storm on the way so I went to Aldi and Costco during naptime that afternoon. At Aldi I got several gallons of milk, lots of whole milk yogurt, salad mixes, cucumbers, fritos, and cake mixes for upcoming birthdays.

At Costco, I got stocked back up on frozen fruit, frozen peas, frozen pizza, chicken nuggets, potatoes, bananas, grapes, avocados, broccoli, spinach, spring mix, oranges, eggs, hamburger meat, turkey for sandwiches, canned corn, rotel, applesauce, chocolate chips, and a few other odds and ends. I was so happy to find a new coat/snowsuit for just $9.00 for a birthday gift for Anna!

Back at home, the older boys helped me get everything unloaded. It was fun to see all the fruits and veggies filling the island in our kitchen! I’ve been trying not to spend much at the stores this month so that I could focus on using the food we have on hand. But we were really low on produce so I feel like after this shopping trip, I can put together more well-rounded meals.

That night I used Tuesday’s Crunchy Ranch Chicken to make this Chicken Bacon Pasta dish. It was SO GOOD. And so easy. It’s a one dish meal with spinach stirred right in.

We got the kids off to school Thursday morning and sent Matt and Elias to York to work on our houses there. Malachi helped me get through the morning with the 5 littlest. At one point, all of them were in one spot playing happily. I got a picture as quickly as I could before they scattered or screamed. :)

Mid-morning we put together plates of cheese, crackers, blueberries, and cucumbers with ranch. We had case workers visit after that, plus Keith and Anna left on the school bus for their afternoon pre-school.

It was Anna’s birthday! Kiya wanted to paint her nails as a gift to her, so as soon as Anna and Keith got off the preschool bus, this was the scene:

Anna requested Mac and Cheese with Peas for dinner, and we made some Chicken Strips and Caesar Salad too. (We just stir frozen peas into hot mac and cheese – it’s a kid favorite.)

Yes, it was as loud in our dining room as you imagine that it was when you look at this:

Cake time! Anna requested Chocolate Cake, which of course I made like this with spinach blended in. Then I poked holes in the cake and poured in chocolate pudding. Then I made Chocolate Whipped Cream for frosting. It was super good!

After cake, we gathered in the living room for present time.

 

Anna loves her new coat. Hooray for Costco clearance!

While we were gathered in the living room, we got the email telling us that school was canceled for Friday because of another incoming snow storm. Justus and Kelsey, who were at our house for Anna’s birthday, had packed a bag in hopes that this would be the case so that they could “accidentally” get snowed in with us. We didn’t tell the kids – but let them be surprised when they woke up on Friday morning. :) It was awesome!! And it was so helpful to have them with us because Matt and I were getting a little bit exhausted from keeping so many cooped up kids entertained.

I made Whole Wheat Waffles and Bacon on Friday morning.

Mid-morning, we found some fun YouTube videos that walked us through the process of “how to draw.” We all drew a dinosaur, a minion, and a flamingo. This was a fantastic activity to keep us busy! By the way, we all decided that it was a Pajama Day. ;)

Kelsey warmed up leftover Chicken Bacon Pasta and leftover mac and cheese for lunch. I sliced oranges and that was that.

Keith and Acacia worked together to scrub potatoes for dinner.

Matt and Kelsey played Ticket to Ride First Journey with the kids during naptime while Justus and I worked on our computers.

After the game, I pulled Brayden, Kiya, and Keith into the kitchen to teach them how to make Pizza Chicken Bake. This is a great recipe to give to the kids!

While dinner baked, Kelsey and Justus played several rounds of “Silent Ball” with the kids. That might be one of the most amazing games – it’s quiet, engages the kids, and keeps them busy. Perfection!

Dinner that night was Pizza Chicken Bake, Baked Potatoes, Steamed Broccoli, and leftover Cream Cheese Corn.

Justus and Kelsey hadn’t planed to stay a second night, but the snow had continued to fall all day, leaving them no choice. I sure didn’t mind! I hadn’t made Cinnamon Rolls for a very long time (years probably), and after all the Snow Days, it seemed like the perfect thing to make. It was super fun to show the kids how Cinnamon Rolls were made. But I will likely not make them again for a while. I just don’t have time to spend on recipes like this right now. :)

But what is worth it? Oh yes.

We turned on music and made more crafts that morning.

For lunch, I made Taco Soup with avocados, fritos, and fruit.

Justus and Kelsey were able to shovel themselves out make it home that afternoon. Having them here for two days was such a game changer for our Snow Day needs. It was amazing to have them here!

Brayden ventured outside to get us a bowl full of snow so that we could finally make the Snow Ice Cream we’d hoped to make all week.

I had apples that were getting squishy so I turned them into a double batch of Applesauce Muffins.

I made Spaghetti with Salad for dinner.

We spent the evening giving everyone baths and getting ready for Sunday. WHAT A WEEK!!! :)

Heavenly Homemaker's Club Members: Access your homepage and all your fantastic resources here! Not a member yet? Please join us!

Big Family Food and Fun: December 31-January 6, 2024

by 1 Comment

This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see our disclosure policy.

Here’s our Big Family Food and Fun: December 31-January 6 post…

Big Family Food and Fun: December 31-January 6, 2024

This week’s big goal was: CLEAN OUT THE FRIDGE. We had enjoyed so many fun meals the week before when we celebrated Christmas and birthdays! So our refrigerators were full of all kinds of tidbits we needed to eat up.

Sunday for lunch, we pulled everything out and prioritized what needed to be finished first. We warmed up Nachos, Chicken Tenders, and Orange Chicken and put everything else away for another meal.

Justus and Kelsey joined us, plus our friend Kermit who comes almost every Sunday after church and feels like a part of our family now. I mean, you know you’re a part of the family when you’re only offered random leftovers for lunch, right?

Dinner that night? More leftovers. This time it was cheese, crackers, and meats. We got out Avocado Cups to provide something green with our meal. :)

Breakfast on Monday was Yogurt and Granola with the rest of our Blueberries.

Eva came over to help Matt with littles and I took Brayden, Kiya, and Keith to our Food Distribution site to set up food to give away the next day. We did everything we could and then had some down time while we waited for the next delivery truck to show up. So we enjoyed some Tic-Tac-Toe. :)

When we got home, we built Magna-Tile Towers with Eva.

Lunch was leftover pizza (that I almost over cooked when I warmed them up in our Air Fryer). I sliced an entire bag of pears to eat with the pizza.

We snacked that afternoon on Bananas and Pretzels to help tide us over because at 5:00 we’d been invited to tour our neighbor’s house. They decorate for every holiday in a BIG way. While we’d enjoyed looking at the outside of their house, they told us that their inside decorations were even more impressive. They were correct!

We had our Bonus 5-Year Old with us (former foster son) so we bravely took eight little kids into this beautifully decorated home full of breakables. Our neighbor took us into every room of their house, showing us all that they’ve collected through the years and telling us where they’d bought their treasures. The kids did amazing and were fascinated!

We headed back home and pulled out a Ham I’d put into the oven that afternoon (one of these awesome $5 hams!). We enjoyed it with leftover Mac and Cheese plus Buttered Peas and Corn. I also drank my Smoothie because I hadn’t had one yet that day. :)

Tuesday morning I baked a batch of Pumpkin Muffins, scrambled some Cheesy Eggs (with spinach), and peeled some Clementines.

BabyBoy#11 had his one-year check-up that morning and Anna went with us for the appointment. They had fun looking at the very sweet kids in the mirror while we were waiting for the doctor to come in. :) :) :)

Back at home, Matt sliced apples to serve with peanut butter and sprinkled cinnamon. We needed a substantial snack because we decided to take all the kids to the zoo for a late morning run around with the Spider Monkeys!

I grabbed Cheese, Summer Sausage, Crackers, Applesauce, and Juice to take with us for a snacky lunch.

It was a sunny 38 degrees, so a great winter day to walk from the van to the indoor play area! (…with an unnamed three-year-old who “wasn’t cold” and refused to wear the spring jacket she brought to wear with the spring dress she’d chosen to wear that day.)

We stopped off at the Tigers on our way as they were sitting in their hay bed soaking up some sun. How many Coppingers can you fit into the Tiger Truck? Quite a few, as it turns out.

The kids ran around and played for a solid hour, stopping eventually to eat and drink every last drop of food I’d packed.

We took some time in the room next door to enjoy the Iguanas and Chinchillas before heading home for rest time.

I had used soup bones from last night’s ham to make a pot of broth that morning. That afternoon, I blended up the veggies to stir into the broth for extra nourishment, planning to use it later in the week for soup.

Brayden, Kiya, and I headed out to hand out food at the Food Distribution while Matt and Elias kept everyone else happy at home. We came home with some extra food, including some Izze drinks they were handing out. The girls found them and pretended to chug them down on the step.

Matt had warmed up Tomato Soup and leftover Sandwiches from last week for our dinner. Everything was too crazy when we got home so I forgot to take a picture of our meal. ;)

Wednesday morning we had Toast/Bagels with Cottage Cheese and Peaches/Pineapple.

We loaded up and drove to meet some friends at a library for a Snow Much Fun Story Hour.

After fun stories and songs, we got to make crafts.

I had used the broth I’d made on Tuesday along with leftover Ham from Monday to make Spicy Ham and Potato Soup. We were all super hungry when we got home so it was great to have it ready to serve when we got home.

The kids also enjoyed Tuesday’s Pumpkin Muffins with their soup.

Justus and Kelsey came that afternoon so that Justus could give Brayden a piano lesson. Kelsey was awesome and played games with Kiya and Keith during that time!

I made Spaghetti for dinner that night with Salad and Corn.

Thursday morning was busy as we had an appointment in the morning and then needed to leave for York so that some of our kids could have a scheduled visit with their bio mom. Emotions were running high that morning.

I had a container of Homemade Instant Oatmeal in our pantry so I used it for our breakfast. We had bananas that were over ripe so I smashed those in the bottom of each bowl so that the kids could have Banana Oatmeal – their favorite.

Meanwhile, I made a pot of Chili to take to York for our dinner and a bowl full of Tuna Salad for us to eat quickly for lunch after appointments and before heading out.

Brayden, Kiya, and Keith stayed home with their big brothers while Matt and I left with Anna, Acacia, Josie, and BabyBoy#11 for their WIC appointment. I was able to snap this sweet photo of Anna as she got her height checked. (All three of the little girls are almost exactly the same height and weight. No wonder people ask all the time if they are triplets!)

An hour+ later, we waved goodbye and said thank you as we headed out the clinic door.

The rest of the day was a blur as we made Tuna Sandwiches at home before loading all the kids and heading to York. The kids and I played for a few hours at a friend’s house (delightful!) while Matt and Elias spent some time working on our York properties. Then I took three of our kids to spend some time with their biological mom. It was bedtime when we loaded everyone back up and made the drive back to York.

Friday morning after breakfast and general hubbub, we loaded everyone up to go to a Sensory Library Storytime. These are our favorite as they provide an intentionally calm environment with fidgets and weighted animals for the kids as they sing interactive songs and read fun stories. Quite a few of our kids become overwhelmed so easily (as do I, honestly, as everyone’s emotions start to run high with overstimulation). These story times have a smaller audience – and in fact, this day we were the only family who showed up. We filled the room, ha. And the librarian was so sweet to all of our kids as she engaged them in the interactive songs and stories.

Afterward, the librarian pulled out some fun learning toys for the kids to enjoy.

Then we all explored the rest of this library as we hadn’t visited this one before. We loved it and will likely visit often even though it isn’t super close to our house.

Everyone was “starving” when we got home at lunchtime. The plan was to warm up leftover Spaghetti, which we did. But while it was warming up, I quickly spread some peanut butter on tortillas and folded them into triangles to fill their bellies as fast as possible.

For dinner that night, we put together a simple Nacho Bar with chips, seasoned meat, white queso, shredded cheese, salsa, cilantro, spinach, and corn.

Saturday was an exciting day as it was my niece’s wedding day! We spent the morning taking baths and getting dressed up for the big event. I also took some time to get our Sunday lunch ready since we’d be gone all afternoon/evening Saturday.

But first, Bacon.

We baked (like this) the last of a big box of bacon we’d gotten at Sam’s so we could enjoy it for breakfast and for upcoming easy meals.

I made a huge pot of mashed potatoes, then added sour cream, butter, and cheese to bake for our Sunday Lunch the next day.

And I made Oatmeal Raspberry Bars (x2) for our Sunday dessert.

After the baking and cooking, we got all seven littles through bath and showers. I had grand plans of braiding all the girls’ hair but time got away from me and I only ended up getting Josie’s and Acacia’s done.

We quickly threw sandwiches together for lunch so that we could get dressed in wedding attire and head out the door.

I filled a bag with non-messy snacks knowing that we’d likely need them to get us through the day while we were gone. Before Christmas I’d found Party Trays at Sam’s marked down to only $6.91 – crazy low and not near expiration. I still had one in the fridge and it was perfect to take along to feed hungry kids (and grown-ups for that matter). I also grabbed granola bites, pistachios, and applesauce. I was glad I packed all this because the kids worked their way through quite a bit of it throughout the day.

The wedding was lovely and we got to see so many people we hadn’t seen for years! We are so happy for the new Mr. and Mrs. Heinrichs!

Our girls spent as much time as they could with their very favorite Emma.

Keith was determined to dance to every song and took this job very seriously.

Before heading out we said our goodbyes and took this photo with two of my favorite friends. There’s Anna, still attached to Emma and acting as silly as possible.

And that was our week!

Heavenly Homemaker's Club Members: Access your homepage and all your fantastic resources here! Not a member yet? Please join us!