Heavenly Homemakers

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Big Family Food and Fun: January 4-10, 2026

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Here’s our Big Family Food and Fun: January 4-10, 2026 post!

We enjoy a Sabbath rest from Saturday evening through Sunday evening – so I turn off my computer on Saturday afternoons and miss posting some of these pictures. I’ll catch up on our last Saturday activities before launching into our new week!

Saturday, January 3

For dinner on Saturday evening, I’d made a huge pot of Beef Stew with some stew meat I’d picked up marked down at Sam’s that week. The kids didn’t eat it very well, but we grown ups enjoyed it. :)

The evening was uneventful, filled with bath time and the normal mayhem. I did manage to finally cut and individually wrap the Flourless Peanut Butter Brownies that I’d baked the day before. Having these ready to pack in school lunches was my main goal for them.

Big Family Food and Fun: January 4-10, 2026

On Sunday morning after worship, Josie and Auggie helped Matt fill a tote of pantry items to bring home and fill our Little Free Pantry.

Our lunch gathering after church was a huge delight, as usual. Our friend Steve walked in a case of Root Beer to share – and it didn’t take much arm twisting at the mention of Root Beer Floats for him to run right out to the store to pick up ice cream so that we could add Floats to our dessert bar. He was back with “the goods” right as we were getting ready to serve lunch: Ham and Cheese Sliders, Tomato Soup, Fruit, and Potatoes.

I’d put together six foil 12-packs of Sliders to warm in the oven – so 72 Sliders altogether. At the end of our meal? Exactly one slider remained. I guess this meal was a hit!

There were 25 of us gathered that day, with so much joy in our conversation and fellowship.

Matt and I sent the kids downstairs to watch a movie with Elias, Malorie, and Malachi during the afternoon while we enjoyed time with three other couples during our Community Group. For dinner that night, I put a box of Taquitos into the oven, warmed up White Queso, and served up Grapes. Easy and fun!

In an effort to get ahead for our launch into a new school semester after a long break, I made a big batch of Breakfast Burritos.

On Monday morning, Emma came to help with the non-school kids, Auggie had ABA therapy, and guess what I got to do? I ducked out for the entire day for some time of Recovery. First stop: a massage. I’ve been holding onto this certificate from my sweet daughters since August.

My friend Terra is amazing if you happen to be in Lincoln and want a healing massage. I was so relaxed after this that I wasn’t sure it was safe for me to drive, ha. But, drive I did – all the way to Panera where I sipped (well, a ton of water at first to get the most out of my massage and then…) coffee. I had my laptop and spent two blissful hours writing.

I ended my time away from home with a run into Costco to get a couple of things. This is what “a couple of things” looks like for our household…

Back at home, Matt and I took Auggie in the stroller for a walk to pick up the school kids. Mayhem and meltdowns began immediately, then ABA therapy, then dinner. I’d thrown BBQ Sauce on Chicken in the crock pot early that morning, then I made Green Beans and Buttered Rolls to go with it.

As the kids were finishing their meal, I decided to make Cheesecake Parfait to go with the Strawberries I’d picked up at Costco. We went through one two-pound round of strawberries very quickly and I got my blender back out and made another batch of parfait. Four pounds of strawberries later, I’d say this was a huge hit with everyone that night!

On Tuesday morning, Little Sweetheart came over to spend the day. We did some hair styling then played in the container of hair ties – which are very, very fun to throw all over the place.

That afternoon, I took Brayden, Kiya, and Keith to serve at our weekly Food Distribution. They all did well this week, and it was great to see over 100 people go through the food line.

Back at home, Matt finished the dinner I’d started: Leftover BBQ Chicken turned into Meat and Cheese Melts with leftover Veggies.

On Wednesday morning, I baked a batch of Chocolate Banana Blender Muffins.

Arrow came and spent the morning, making a batch of his own muffins in our play kitchen.

Somewhere in there, Josie helped me make Party Potatoes to slow cook for our dinner that night.

It was gorgeous outside, so I grilled Steak and Pork Ribs out on our smoker. IN JANUARY. What a treat!

Before bed that night, Brayden and Auggie helped me put together a large Cheeseburger Casserole for our Thursday night dinner.

On Thursday morning, after we got the kids off to school and settled Auggie in with his ABA therapy, I made a new extra large batch of Granola Bars to have on hand.

All throughout the morning, I baked many pans of Bacon. I had plans to use it with our casserole that night for dinner, for a breakfast-for-dinner on Friday, and just to have bacon on hand for anyone who wanted bacon during the next few days. The grown-ups in our house like it when I have cooked bacon on hand. I also save the bacon grease to use when I make Green Beans.

On my last round of bacon, I put two pans of Spinach Cupcakes into the oven to bake for a snack that night. I felt very relieved after all of this time in the kitchen because now I had a lot of good food items made ahead for upcoming needs!

When Malachi got home from work, Auggie helped him warm up and make a cup of coffee. There’s no way Malachi could have done this without the help of his three-year-old brother.

We enjoyed our Cheeseburger Casserole that night with Bacon for those who wanted to add it, Buttered Corn, and Spinach Cupcakes.

Keith took a break from his ABA therapy that night to make rice with Elias. I love how our younger kids love to be a part of life with their older brothers. And I love how the older kids include their younger siblings in their tasks.

On Friday morning, Daddy took Acacia to Speech Therapy. But first, this Helper of the Day helped me make Banana Bread with all of the bananas I’d been holding onto in the freezer.

We quickly ate our way through one loaf of Banana Bread, but I froze the other two loaves for later.

Dinner that night was a HUGE hit with everyone. I made a mountain of French Toast, 20+ Sausage Patties, and warmed up a large amount of Bacon from what I’d baked the day before. We got out Applesauce and Blueberries and feasted on dinner for breakfast. Everyone ate so well that we ran out of food before all of the adults got home from work to eat. Wow.

On Saturday morning, we took the kids to our favorite Sensory-Friendly Library Storytime. There’d been a break from this during the holidays, so we were very excited to go back! The theme for the day was SNOW, so we got to enjoy snowflakes made of felt, books and songs about snow, and then…

…we got to have a snowball fight!

Ms. Diane is incredible at putting this weekly program together!

Matt helped me load up the kids in the library parking lot, then he left in a different vehicle to drive to Heartlands to support our friends during their mom’s funeral service. I was on my own at home with all seven kids for a couple of hours, which is rare! We planned that we would let them watch a movie to help me survive the time. It all went well, and everyone did ok overall!

Part way through the movie, our friend Paula showed up with a car full of groceries for us to put into our Little Free Pantry. Their church group has been awesome to take part in this ministry with us! We paused our movie so that all seven kids could help bring in food.

It overtook our pantry floor – a great problem to have! So many people will be blessed by this food!

I needed to turn off my computer at this point, so I’ll continue sharing about our Saturday next week!

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My 2026 Grocery Budget Musings, part 2

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Here’s my My 2026 Grocery Budget Musings, part 2. Thank you for putting up with me.

Did you read part 1? Bless your heart. While I wrote that, I was verbally processing – with my fingers – as I typed. Thank you for reading. And as it turns out, my processing continued into this post also. Wowza. Are you ready for more?

My 2026 Grocery Budget Musings, part 2

THE FIRST DRAFT

The summary of we discovered in Part 1 is that I struggle to spend what my brain tells me is “unnecessary money,” therefore, I had to talk myself into increasing our grocery budget for 2026.

Yep, I’m frugal. Matt is too. Yay. That has served us well and brought us to this point. So here’s what’s great about this…We can now be more generous with others and also:

We can be generous to ourselves.

What if I were to “give” myself some extra budget money so that I can breathe a little bit easier as I feed a large household every day? This truly will be a gift.

We can afford it because we are frugal in other areas. We only buy what’s needed. So with that…

What if I could realize that ordering pizza sometimes actually is a NEED?

That’s a hard one for me – because even on the hard days, I can figure out a way to feed us without spending more than necessary. But what about my energy? My time? The needs of our children that take so much of both? I’m going to move forward with a new mindset. Or at least I’m beginning that journey.

Why all this jabber? What’s your new grocery budget, Laura?

I landed on: $1,600/month.

For 14 people; 7 adults, 7 kids.

There you go. The past two years, I’ve budgeted $1,400 and have spent an average of $1,250/month.

Kudos to me, but also…so what?

I guess I’ve taken pride in being able to feed so many people with such a small amount of money. I really, really like saving money. But I also really, really need to alleviate some of the mental load I carry. So I almost decided not to have a grocery budget at all.

Depending on how this year goes, I might do just that – scrap the whole idea of keeping track and just BUY WHAT WE NEED WHEN WE NEED IT, THE END.

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

Take a breath, dear readers. Now you are about to read…

THE UPDATE

I wrote the above DRAFT on January 5 while I was able to have two solid, uninterrupted hours at Panera thinking, pondering, and writing.

I finished the final sentence, tucked away my computer, went to the potty – because…coffee – then planned to run next door to Costco before heading home to jump back into the evening grind with our family.

It was in the Panera bathroom stall (you did not need to know that part) that the words I’d just written spoke very clearly to me:

“…scrap the whole idea of keeping track and just BUY WHAT WE NEED WHEN WE NEED IT, THE END.”

Those words, and the very idea of doing exactly what I’d just written made me feel…

Beautiful Freedom

Imagine not thinking about money: spending, calculating, keeping track, posting about it – well. It suddenly sounded wonderful and I wondered why I’d needed to write almost two thousand words just to come up with it. (<– Because writing is therapeutic for me and God tells me things through my typing fingers, that’s why.)

With new resolve and a heart full of peace, I went next door to Costco. I threw everything I’d just thought about regarding grocery budget numbers out the window, and I simply put everything into our cart that would bless our family and allow me to take care of our large household of dear ones. And while I did, I didn’t overthink any of it. In fact, I felt great about it. I even grabbed a $100 pack of Valentino’s Pizza gift cards for $74.99 to keep on hand for a night I needed a break, and it felt very, very good.

Oh look at that. I got everything I would have normally bought anyway.

How much did I spend on these groceries? I don’t know. I don’t care. I threw away my receipt after leaving Costco because I had decided in the Panera bathroom to stop having a grocery budget.

Huh. How about that?

The day after

On January 6, the day after my writing, revelation, and non-overthinking shopping trip – this still felt great.

The reality is, I will likely still spend between $1,200-$1,600 on groceries for our household every month. I’m still frugal and I’m never going to stop looking for sales, meat markdowns, and great prices on groceries. To me, that’s just wise spending practices and I’ve learned how to be good at this.

But not keeping track of it all takes a little chunk of burden out of my head. Plus “giving myself permission” to order pizza or whatever else we might need on an extra hard day is a generous gift I can give to myself. What a weird form of self care. But I believe that’s what it is!

Ok, one tiny regret

Keeping track of every penny I spend on food, taking pictures of my shopping trips, calculating, documenting, and sharing it with you has been a blog feature here for quite some time. I think it’s been a good one, and if I have any “regret” it’s that for now, I’m leaving that behind.

But the need for a mental load shift for me is vital, and maybe, just maybe alleviating my monthly grocery spending feature will open up time for me to write about something else as God allows.

Also? While I don’t plan to keep specific track of everything I spend on food, I’ll probably throw all kinds of grocery store pictures into our weekly Food and Fun posts. And goodness if I find a great deal, how can I not share about that?!

Moving on…

Who we are feeding

In case you’re wondering where all the food goes, here’s what our home life looks like right now:

  • At the very least, I’m feeding nine people three meals a day plus snacks: Matt, myself, Brayden (12), Kiya (10), Keith (7), Anna (6), Acacia (5), Josie (4), and Auggie (3).
  • Five other adults live at our house: Elias, Malachi, plus three adults that rent rooms from us. All the adults are welcome to eat anything they would like that I buy and make, and most of them appreciate and take advantage of this. Food is included in their rent cost, as I found it easier to feed our wonderful housemates instead of expecting everyone to fend for themselves and try to cook in our kitchen in the midst of me trying to cook for our family. This has been a great arrangement! At the same time, all the adults are welcome to cook or eat out or do whatever they want to. They are adults, after all.
  • We host a houseful of guests (25-40 people) every Sunday Lunch and it is the biggest pleasure of my week to do this. We usually provide the main dish and some sides/desserts. Guests often bring sides/desserts. It’s the most wonderful thing to be a part of this!

Matt and I would love to host more guests in our home during the week, specifically for people in our neighborhood. As of right now though, we’ve not been able to add much more to our evenings because of all the ABA therapy happening in our home.

A huge thank you

Thank you, thank you, for supporting us and caring about our family. It was a blessing for me to write through all of my thoughts as I worked out a new budget – or non-budget – grocery plan for our family.

As time goes on, I’ll keep you posted about what it’s like to not focus on a grocery budget. I think I’m going to enjoy the mental freedom this brings as I do exactly what I’ve done for years but without the extra burden of keeping track of receipts!

How do you work out the grocery budget needs for your family?

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My 2026 Grocery Budget Musings, part 1

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Whelp. Here we go. I’m making some changes to our my 2026 grocery budget. Brace yourself for some major rambling in this post!

My Grocery Budget

First, why do I say “my” grocery budget instead of “our” grocery budget? Because Matt is awesome. I am the grocery shopper and cook at our house. While I do talk over this budget line item with Matt as we work on finances together, he’s happy to let me do whatever I need to do to feed our household. When I told him, “I think I need to increase our grocery budget this year,” he simply said, “ok, sounds good” – because he trusts me to do what is best for our needs in this area.

Second, let me say: I’m so thankful that we can do this. Not everyone has wiggle room to make budget changes. I don’t take this for granted. We have learned to live a pretty frugal lifestyle, and this has led to financial breathing space for us at this point in our lives. We are very grateful that God has led us to a place that we can focus on our kids’ needs instead of worrying every day about how we are going to put food on the table.

But speaking of being frugal…

Saving money and spending as little as possible is such a big part of who Matt and I are that I’ve done some unnecessary wrestling in my own head as I’ve considered a 2026 grocery budget increase. It’s pretty silly, actually.

As a tiny aside, I’ve always declared myself to be frugal – but still FUN. As in, we don’t go out for ice cream very often, but I most certainly do make ice cream at home or buy a quart of it at the store for a fraction of the price. We scope out all the fun, free activities and events around Lincoln, and we take our kids on tons of super cool outings. We pack picnics, draw snowman faces on our drink cups, make cool crafts, and cut our tortillas into snowflakes.

But goodness, I struggle to spend “unnecessary” money. Like, last month when we took the kids to Freddy’s because we had a bunch of free kid meal coupons, I was happy to pay for our adult kids to eat but told Matt, “I’ll just wait and eat at home.” Good grief, Mom. Just order yourself a cheeseburger already. (We only spent a bit over $30 for 12 of us to eat out. Why was that so hard for me?)

Anyway, I guess I’m frugal to a bit of a fault. Or there’s this: I can be generous to others, but not always to myself. So. I’ve been thinking about that, trying to release any weird fears to Jesus, and here’s where I’ve landed. Ok, fine. Here’s where I’m trying to land:

I can splurge sometimes.

There, I said it.

As I launch into my Year of Recovery, I’ve decided that a very simple way to offer myself some breathing space is to order pizza sometimes. Or buy a few more ready-made foods that can feed our busy household quickly and easily. To do this so that I don’t have to overthink any of it, I need to increase our food budget.

Why is that hard for me? I certainly do other hard things all day long. So how about I choose to spend a little extra money sometimes to make the hard days easier?

Hmm, what a concept.

What about nutrition?

Sob…yeah. Ain’t that the question.

Have I really gone from a grain grinding, yogurt making, organic gardening, free range chicken mama to…someone who buys and feeds her kids cereal and chips?

Funny you should ask.

I actually wish that was all that I had to think about – nourishment in our food choices. But in fact, what I have to wrestle with now beyond just allowing myself to spend extra money on “food I could make myself for much cheaper and way healthier” is much bigger. MUCH, MUCH BIGGER. As in – I have several kids that actually will not eat many certain foods. Parenting these kids with the idea of “they’ll eat it when they get hungry enough” is not a thing for our special needs kids. They will not, in fact, eat it when they get hungry enough. They will, instead, starve. :(

This is a hard and challenging reality for us. Our tiniest girl eats so little and fights us so hard about food that we are almost to a point of “let her eat whatever she will eat so she doesn’t lose any more weight.” It’s scary, but that baby needs calories.

So, I wish my biggest food preoccupation was about organic food, whole grains, and vegetables. But now I’m quite literally trying to keep my kids alive.

A little side note of praise

Autism and trauma has created some shocking food needs for our kids, and here’s what I’m realizing:

God has equipped me for this. I’m such a foodie!!! I only thought that my love of food provided me with the opportunity to teach people how to eat nourishing, delicious meals and snacks in a simple way. Instead, I get to be a learner. And as it turns out, my love for food and my giftedness in being able to feed a multitude is serving me very well right now.

If I hated grocery shopping and cooking, this hard job would be so much harder. So, here we are, and this is what we do now. God keeps growing me, and food gets to be my wheelhouse in a brand new way.

So, we give the girl her Pirate’s Booty.

(She calls it privates booty, which is both hilarious and embarrassing.)

Sometimes all she’ll eat is a Slim Jim, a bag of Pirate’s Booty, and an Applesauce. But at least she ate. And yay for applesauce.

Goodness, I’m going all over the place in this post. I guess I’m writing my way through my thought process as I considered our Grocery Budget Increase.

Stay tuned for the conclusion to this rambling, the actual number I’m landing on, what I’m planning to buy with my “extra” budget money.

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 28-January 3, 2026

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Here’s our Big Family Food and Fun: December 28-January 3, 2026 post!

We enjoy a Sabbath rest from Saturday evening through Sunday evening – so I turn off my computer on Saturday afternoons and miss posting some of these pictures. I’ll catch up on our last Saturday activities before launching into our new week!

Saturday, December 27

Saturday afternoon, Asa, Eva, and Arrow came over to hang out. Eva brought her camera and was amazing to spend time taking an photo of each of the younger kids so that we can update our picture wall. It was almost comical how complicated it was to get Josie to stand still and look at the camera. Her autistic traits showed up during this shoot, for sure. She was very sweet about it though, and Eva was very patient. :)

I made a simple dinner of Mac and Cheese and Peas that night. We warmed up leftover Taco Meat to stir into the Mac and Cheese for those who wanted some.

We were out of muffins, so I solved that near tragedy by baking a batch of Flourless Chocolate Banana Blender Muffins. After Asa’s family headed home and we’d given the kids baths, we loaded up in our jammies to drive around and look at more Christmas lights.

Big Family Food and Fun: December 28-January 3, 2026

Sunday morning, we ate through half of a large pan of Breakfast Cookie Bars.

It started to blizzard as church was letting out. Whoa. Several friends were still able to make their way to our house for lunch, and we were so grateful for all who gathered.

I made a full crock pot of White Chicken Chili. Friends brought bread and fruit. Then for dessert, we ate through some Christmas treats others had gifted us. It was a simple and delicious feast.

Even with the blizzard, 24 of us were able to gather and enjoy time together that day.

We introduced our friends to our “new” Air Hockey Table. This is one of the reasons we bought this table – to enjoy it with friends who came over.

The kids broke out their new puzzles and worked together on those.

Here’s what the crock pot looked like at the end of our time together. Empty food containers make me happy. They tell me that everyone was well fed and that our fellowship was sweet.

Matt and I enjoyed Community Group time that afternoon. Then the girls helped me bake some cookies from mixes they received for Christmas.

For dinner, I baked some Mini Pizzas that I’d picked up on sale at Costco.

Then we loaded up most of the kids and headed out to look at more Christmas lights. Kiya stayed home with Malachi because she was sick. And another kid had had a major fighting meltdown and lost the privilege of going out with us. :( Malachi was so good to help us with the follow-through on this. All kids were calm by the time we made it home.

On Monday morning, Auggie had ABA therapy and everyone else played.

It was Brayden’s and Auggie’s birthday that day! Keith was my special helper of the day, so he helped me make an Ice Cream Cake.

After lunch, we took down our Christmas tree to pack it away until next year.

That afternoon, I made a big batch of Granola Bars. It’s pretty important that I keep something like this on hand for Keith because when he needs to eat, HE NEEDS TO EAT.

Elias and Malorie and Justus’ family were all out of state visiting family, but Asa’s crew and Malachi were able to join us in celebrating birthdays that night.

Brayden wanted Orange Chicken for birthday dinner and he even requested Stir Fried Veggies to go with it! I made a pan of Stick of Butter Rice to stretch the meal.

This is the first year Auggie has understood what a birthday is, and it was very sweet to enjoy this with him. Here’s his face when Malachi asked him to “smile with your teeth!”

I’d put twelve candles on the cake – then lit three of them for Auggie. After we sang to him and he blew out his candles, I lit all twelve and we sang for Brayden!

Present time was fun – and did I mention that ABA therapy was going on for two of the kids (including our 3-year old birthday boy) throughout this whole night? The therapists were sweet to work their programming around our birthday fun.

Brayden was excited to receive a digital clock that has weather and temperature features! One of his special interests is ALL THINGS WEATHER. So he was very excited about his gift!

On Tuesday, we took the kids to the mall to get some energy out in the play area there.

We had a pile of free Subway kids’ meal coupons that expired at the end of December, so we enjoyed the treat of eating in the mall food court!

That afternoon, I took Brayden and Keith to serve at our weekly Food Distribution. There was a ton of food to give away that day, and a lot of people came through the line to be blessed by this! Brayden’s job is to clean all the coolers as they get emptied out. Every single cooler got used so his work load was bigger. Unfortunately, I didn’t get a picture of him doing this job. But I sure was proud of his hard work that day. Keith mostly helped me hand out chicken at my table.

I’d made a large Tator Tot Casserole and a pot of Green Beans before leaving that afternoon, and Matt got everyone fed before we got home.

On Wednesday, we loaded up mid-morning to go to a gym nearby to watch Asa and some of his buddies play basketball. We weren’t sure how this would turn out because we didn’t know how much space around the gym there would be. Well. We were in for a great surprise!

First though, look at these sweet sisters admiring their biggest brother playing ball!

What we learned about this Rec Center: IT IS FREE TO THE PUBLIC. We had no idea! The gal at the desk told us that we could come within certain hours of the day to use the gym, the game room, and their collection of games and balls. Wow. This is a gold mine for us – and it’s only a mile from our house! We assumed it was like the YMCA in which people have to pay monthly fees for a membership. Nope. Free to the public. Well, we will see you again very soon Rec Center!

We ate leftovers for lunch at home, then I baked two Pumpkin Pies for a special New Year’s Day breakfast.

We still had plenty of leftovers, so we warmed up more at dinner time as kids got hungry. I had brought home several packages of Hawaiian Rolls on Tuesday’s Food Distribution because one of our local stores had donated several cases. This was a fun score, and I spent some time Wednesday afternoon putting together six foil wrapped Ham and Cheese Slider Sandwiches for the freezer with plans to warm them for our upcoming Sunday Lunch.

I’d been sorting through some of our older puzzles in an effort to get re-organized for the new year. I discovered a set of three wooden puzzles all a mess. So we had Puzzle Challenge at the table to sort the pieces and put the puzzles together. Even Auggie had fun with this!

On Thursday morning, we ate Pumpkin Pie for breakfast, then made a batch of Cheater Cheater Pumpkin Eaters to take for a snack on an outing.

We loaded up the kids and went to Scheels, hoping to entertain them with the aquarium and play area. Unfortunately, they started scattering after two seconds of looking at fish. So we had to move on right away.

We headed to the second floor and found some cool new features (or maybe they aren’t new but we just haven’t been there for a while to discover them?!). We hit some golf balls in the putting area.

Then we took a boat ride in a pond. Ha. I wish. I actually had no idea that taking a picture there would give us that background. We were just sitting for a minute. :)

After that, we fought over who would bowl first paid two dollars and let our kids take turns bowling. What a great, cheap activity!

Then six of us went on the Ferris Wheel while Daddy hung out with the remaining crying kids. Ultimately, this was a great but hard outing as we tried to have fun with kids who often sabotage the fun we try to have. Crazy though – I think they will have good memories from this, and we only had to spend a whopping $8.00.

For dinner that night, I made two Quiche with Caesar Salad and Tator Tots.

After dinner, the kids and I did some baking. First we made some Crustless Cheesecake to have on hand for a high protein snack option.

Then we made a double recipe of Flourless Peanut Butter Brownies, also for a high protein snack option, and also for school lunches next week.

On Friday morning, I cut and individually wrapped the Flourless Peanut Butter Brownies and put them into the fridge. I made a batch of Tapioca Pudding because Brayden has been requesting it! Keith really wanted to do the stirring. So I put him in a safe spot and that kid stuck with the whisk for twenty entire minutes – amazing!

Acacia had Physical Therapy and Speech Therapy that morning. Matt held down the fort at home with Auggie and his ABA Therapy and the other five kids hanging out.

We had Spaghetti with leftover veggies for lunch, then Meatloaf, Peas, Strawberries, and Buttered Croissants for dinner. The night was filled with more ABA Therapy for Keith and Anna – then bedtime!

On Saturday, we loaded up and headed to the Children’s Museum. We spent over two hours there with friends, and we enjoyed several of the new exhibits!

That afternoon, we did some baking and cleaning to get ready for Sunday. Then we transitioned into our time of Sabbath rest. 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 Grocery Spending for December, 2025

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Here’s our Big Family Grocery Spending for December, 2025 post!

Curious how much we spent during the month of December and what groceries we bought? Here’s the breakdown…

Big Family Grocery Spending for December, 2025

1. This and That

Our month started off with some sickness and a dead refrigerator. :( So between Matt grabbing milk as needed and our friend Christina picking up a few things for us at Aldi when I didn’t feel well enough to get out, we got our month started with the bare minimum.

Total from random grocery grabs: $43.24

2. Aldi

On December 8, I finally felt well enough to go out and do some shopping. I opted to go to Aldi and got milk, cheese slices, sausage links, sausage patties, bananas, apples, blueberries, oranges, grapes, salad kits, cream, half and half, eggnog, eggs ($1.24/dozen!!!!), chicken broth, rotel, pasta sauce, fruit/veggie pouches, fried onions, barbecue sauce, frosting, crackers, and chips.

Total at Aldi: $202.35

3. Wal-Mart

Matt ran into Wal-Mart on December 10th and was on board with checking for meat markdowns while he was there. Look what he scored! Plus, we needed sour cream and spring mix so he grabbed those too.

Total at Wal-Mart: $45.00

4. Wal-Mart

On December 15, I ran into Wal-Mart while I was out to see if I could score any meat mark-downs. I was blessed to get several packages of ground beef plus a small package of steak!

Total at Wal-Mart: $57.42

5. Costco

That day, I filled two carts at Costco. First, I got all of the non-perishables we needed. Then I went back in and got all of our fresh, refrigerated, and frozen food.

I got granola bars, z-bars, tortilla chips, frozen green beans, shredded cheese, broccoli, frozen pizzas, half and half, heavy whipping cream, taquitos, spring mix, grapes, butter, milk, sausage patties, white queso, guacamole, fresh spinach, blueberries, sliced havarti cheese, chicken nuggets, frozen french fries, cherries, kiwi, bananas, eggs, and frozen fruit. I also picked up $10o worth of Valentino’s gift cards for just $74.99 to use for Malachi’s birthday dinner. Oh! And a Rotisserie chicken for that night’s dinner.

Total at Costco: 520.77

6. Azure Standard

I ordered my favorite flour and tortillas from Azure Standard this month. Thanks to you all, I had some referral credit to spend so I didn’t have to use any of our grocery budget for this purchase!

Total from Azure Standard: $0

7. Sam’s

On December 22, I went to Sam’s and Wal-Mart. At Sam’s, I got oranges, apples, bananas, strawberries, Caesar salad kits, pears, orange chicken, z bars, mayonnaise, sliced cheese, breakfast sandwiches (Brayden’s birthday request), rotel, tomato soup, coconut oil, chili powder, brown sugar, mac and cheese, and chicken nuggets.

Total at Sam’s: $221.76

8. Wal-Mart

At Wal-Mart, I got a few of our WIC items to finish out our benefits for the month. I also got beef little smokies for Christmas time, tator tots, milk, pasta, and eggs. I found some chicken pot pies marked down, so I bought those to put into our Little Free Pantry.

Total out of pocket: $60.37

9. Wal-Mart

Twice at the end of the month, I ran into two different Wal-Marts to try and score the $5 hams I’ve found the past two years after Christmas. This was not to be – sob. ;) But I found other meat markdowns and got a few other items I needed both times I went in.

Total for two different trips to Wal-Mart: $78.07

Total for groceries December, 2025: $1,228.98

Our WIC benefits provide our littles with around $120 worth of groceries each month. You can read here to learn our 2025 Grocery Budget plus look over ways I’m able to keep our budget at this level.

Running Totals for 2025

January spending: $679
February spending: $1,459
March spending: $1,346
April spending: $1,364
May spending: $1374
June spending: $1,127
July spending: $633
August spending: $1,501
September spending: $1,603
October spending: $1,347
November spending: $1,425
December spending: $1,229

Total spending for 2025: $15,087

Average per month for 2025: $1,257

Grocery budget for 2025: $1,400

Somehow, I came in under budget overall for 2025. I’ve been doing some reflecting on our budget for 2026 – and as soon as I’m able, I’ll share a post sharing where Matt and I have landed for the new year!

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Big Family Food and Fun: December 21-27, 2025

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Here’s our Big Family Food and Fun: December 21-27, 2025 post!

We enjoy a Sabbath rest from Saturday evening through Sunday evening – so I turn off my computer on Saturday afternoons and miss posting some of these pictures. I’ll catch up on our last Saturday activities before launching into our new week!

Saturday, December 20

This particular Saturday, we farmed out the younger kids so that all of the adults in our family could spend the day together. It was Malachi’s birthday and the last Saturday before Christmas travels took some of the kids out of Lincoln. So thanks to many from our church family, we were able to have some much needed respite and hours of laughter with our grown up kids!

Brayden, Kiya, and Keith went to one friend’s house, Auggie and Little Sweetheart stayed at our house with a sweet couple who came to care for them, Arrow hung out at his other grandparent’s house, and the three little girls went to the Adcock’s. They all had a blast!

My nephews drove up from Kansas to celebrate Malachi’s birthday, which was extra amazing! That evening, we all gathered back at the Castle for a birthday pizza dinner.

Big Family Food and Fun: December 21-27, 2025

Sunday morning, we worked our way through a plate full of Breakfast Cookie Bars.

We had a fun buffet of Meatball Sub fixings for lunch that day. I had one crock pot filled with meatballs covered in marinara sauce and another crock pot filled with meatballs covered in barbecue sauce. We had a variety of cheese slices, pickles, and condiments for people to work with as they built their sandwiches. Friends brought chips and fruit to complete the buffet.

It was an amazing spread!

I’d made a large pan of Frosted Brownies for dessert. Friends brought a fun tray of cakes from Sam’s to share (that I missed getting a picture of).

There were 35 of us gathered that day! But the only good picture I got of friends was this one. :) I was too busy chatting and hosting such a fun gathering.

That afternoon, Malachi helped us out by picking up my Azure Standard order. I was out of my favorite flour, and am so relieved to have two bags in our pantry now. (I also got a case of our favorite tortillas.)

We ate leftover Burritos and Chili for dinner that night. Then we did a craft at our living room table before settling in the kids to watch a Christmas movie after dark.

On Monday morning, Emma came and helped Matt with kids. I finished grocery shopping for our holiday needs. Then during the afternoon, we took the kids to a park because it was beautiful outside!

I surprised Brayden by hopping onto the teeter totter with him. He couldn’t stop laughing. :)

Neither could these girlies on the slide. Daddy had them giggling and they had so much fun! Almost every outing with the kids is hard. But this one was actually FUN. We were so thankful! The kids were sweet and cooperative as they let the time at the park meet their needs.

Back at home, ABA therapy started for Keith and Auggie. I immediately started dinner because the kids had played so hard at the park. I baked several trays of bacon and cooked 18 slider-sized hamburger patties. We had Bacon Cheeseburgers, Fries, and Carrots – which was a big hit with everyone.

Keith and I had watched a reel that morning featuring a fun and “easy” Wreath Craft so we gathered around the table after dark to attempt it. It wasn’t as easy as it looked and Keith quickly lost interest. Pictured here is Matt finishing Acacia’s and Kiya finishing hers without problem. Not pictured: a couple of girls melting down on the floor. ;)

On Tuesday morning, we got the kids ready for a brand new outing. We had them each draw a name amongst the seven of them. Then we took them Christmas shopping for a gift for the person they drew.

Was this a crazy idea? Yes. But are we also trying to teach our kids to think beyond themselves and to care for others? Yes. Elias, Malorie, and Malachi teamed up with us for this adventure, and we all headed into Five Below to select a gift.

This turned out to be THE SWEETEST. The kids took their jobs very seriously, as evidenced by this girl and her shopping cart. Somehow, we were able to get everyone through checkout and keep the gifts hidden from one another. It was a Christmas miracle.

Since we were already on the crazy train, we took everyone to Freddy’s for lunch. We had a bunch of free kids meal coupons to enjoy. This was fun…ish. By the time we got home, I was pretty overdone by the neediness of the morning. But we made a special memory for the kids, so it was worth it!

Meanwhile, I’d been texting with a friend about putting together a meal for a family whose mom is on hospice. So as soon as we got home, I made a quick batch of Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars, cut some Oranges, and got out items for Sandwiches. My friend Cindy made two kinds of Soup and she picked up my food to deliver to our dear ones.

Matt and I worked together to make a big bowl of Tuna Salad for our own dinner that night. Then I took Brayden and Kiya to hand out food and clean at our weekly Food Distribution.

The schools had donated thousands of small cartons of milk to be handed out at the Food Distribution. We gave away all that people could take, and guess who got to bring home the rest? :) We probably brought home 400+ cartons of milk. Here’s just one of our fridge spaces that we filled with milk. Imagine many, many more.

So what did we do? We put a bunch of little milks into our Little Free Pantry, then loaded up the wagon and took a walk around the neighborhood giving away milk to families we knew who had kids. It wasn’t our typical Merry Christmas delivery of goodies – and I was really wishing I could deliver cookies with our milk – because how perfect would that have been?! Either way, we were able to share lots of milk with our neighbors and it was a fun outing for the evening!

Bedtime was extra special that night. Elias, Malachi, and Malorie planned a special “sleepover” event for Brayden, Kiya, and Keith. The younger four got put to bed as normal. Then these buddies got to bake, drink hot cocoa, and watch a show before bed that night.

Wednesday morning – Christmas Eve! I made a double batch of Poppyseed Bread with Orange Glaze and turned it into tiny loaves for our family and to share with neighbors.

I also made a batch of Vanilla Ice Cream to go with our Christmas Eve treats. And I made a super huge Egg Casserole for Christmas morning.

I took the kids upstairs one at a time to wrap their gifts that they’d purchased the day before for their sibling.

We enjoyed a beautiful Christmas Eve service with our church family.

Justus, Kelsey, and Little Sweetheart came over that evening for dinner (Nachos) and gifts. They were flying out to Montana to visit Kelsey’s family on Christmas morning, so we snuck in some time with them before they left.

On Christmas morning, I baked the huge Egg Casserole I’d put together the day before.

Asa, Eva, and Arrow came over and we had a wonderful, crazy day of fun.

Our traditional Christmas lunch for the past three years has become a knock-off of our kids’ favorite Raising Cane’s meal. I pick up a large container of Cane’s sauce a few days before Christmas, then make a bag of chicken with Texas toast (buttered on both sides). Kiya put together a bowl of salad, and our meal was great (and super easy)!

Eva captured this sweet moment with Auggie and Arrow…

Our family’s favorite gift was our big surprise of an Air Hockey Table. Matt and I had found this for super cheap on Facebook Marketplace – a huge score!

Every one of us had a blast with this – and some of us played while holding a heavy child on her hip.

 

Another gift highlight this year was that we set up a special Sensory Space in our basement for our kids to retreat to as needed. We rolled out some carpet pieces that were here when we bought the house – and they fit this space perfectly. There’s now a hammock, two punch bags, a compression seat, and a spinning chair in this area for our kids to use when they need to find calm for their bodies.

The weather was incredible on Friday – and we had more free kid meal coupons we needed to use up before the end of the year. So we went to Goodcents and let the kids order their meal (such a good experience for them!). Then we took our food to the park to eat.

We played for over two hours that day – amazing in Nebraska on December 26!

Kiya and Keith got new watches for Christmas, and they were very excited to use their stopwatch feature the entire time we were at the park. They timed EVERYTHING, and let us know how long everything took. “Mama, it took me 19 seconds to run from there to the water fountain…” :)

We ate leftovers for dinner. Then we loaded up into the van for a fun adventure (after over an hour of fighting with kids who were struggling to obey, phew). We drove just out of town for an incredible light show set to music. Apparently, this family has set this up for 30 years and this was their final year. We all loved this!!

On Saturday morning, I baked a double recipe of Breakfast Cookie Bars. The past two batches I’ve made have not turned out well (this – after baking them for decades?!). I blame it on the fact that I had run out of my favorite Azure Standard flour and nothing else works quite the same for me. BUT, I finally ordered and got 50 pounds of Azure Standard’s Soft Wheat Pastry Flour. This makes all the difference and my bars for Sunday turned out perfect!

Our Bonus Buddy got dropped off to spend a few days of his Christmas break with us. We loaded up and headed to the zoo for the morning because the weather had remained beautiful!

We enjoyed seeing some of the animals we hadn’t seen for several weeks due to the cold weather. We think they had missed seeing us too.

I had packed a simple snacky lunch of hard salami, cheese sticks, pirate’s booty, applesauce, apples, almonds, cashew clusters, and milk. Almost everything I packed got eaten. These kids get hungry running around at the zoo!

Back at home, Auggie took a nap while the other kids played outside. We had a fun afternoon and evening planned – and I’ll share more about that next week!

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Big Family Food and Fun: December 14-20, 2025

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Here’s our Big Family Food and Fun: December 14-20, 2025 post!

We enjoy a Sabbath rest from Saturday evening through Sunday evening – so I turn off my computer on Saturday afternoons and miss posting some of these pictures. I’ll catch up on our last Saturday activities before launching into our new week!

Saturday, December 13

Saturday morning, I was blessed to sneak away to Heartlands Ladies’ Christmas Brunch. Justus and Asa and their babies came to our house to help Matt with our kids and I hopped in with Kelsey to enjoy the morning.

Asa and Arrow hung out a while in the afternoon, watching a little soccer and playing.

The little girls needed an activity to do during Auggie’s nap, so I got out Christmas paper, scissors, and glue. They cut and cut and cut, then glued it all together. This made a big mess but kept them occupied for a nice fifteen minute stretch. Look at Acacia’s hair, courtesy of Malorie!

We had our Sabbath dessert before dinner that day, mostly because I needed another activity to fill our afternoon. We had made Christmas cookies a few days prior, so today they got to frost, sprinkle, and eat one!

It was a big day for Auggie as he got to help Daddy take apart his crib. He’d been transitioning to a mattress on the floor, had mastered sleeping there, so today was crib graduation day.

For dinner, I made a million Quesadillas – some with leftover Salsa Chicken and some with just cheese. This is all that was left at the end of the evening.

Big Family Food and Fun: December 14-20, 2025

Sunday morning, we ate Breakfast Cookie Bars – but they were very dry. I’d run out of my Azure Standard whole wheat pastry flour that I love so much and had used regular whole wheat flour from the store. This did not offer the same baking results. Thankfully, I have more Azure flour ordered and on its way!

We were so glad to host Sunday Lunch after church since we’d had to cancel last week!

I made a huge pot of Cheeseburger Potato Soup, which was this recipe with hamburger instead of ham.

For dessert, I set out Peppernut Cookies (made into actual cookies instead of tiny bites) and Cream Cheese Cut Out Cookies.

There were 29 of us gathered that day.

This was one of my favorite scenes of the afternoon: Sam (age 18, bless his heart) joining Keith and Bonus Buddy in some football tackles in the living room. Sam is SO GOOD to love on Keith in this way.

Matt and I enjoyed Community Group time that afternoon. Afterward, we realized that the Huskers were playing volleyball and the game was tight. So we managed to pull it up on our TV to watch the intense ending.

Brayden had a youth group Christmas party that night, and the rest of us made Frozen Pizzas for dinner. I loved this sweet scene in which we were handing out pizza slices while Elias and Malorie worked on cooking and prepping lunches for their upcoming work week.

After dinner, I gathered the kids to help make goodie bags to add to our Little Free Pantry. We added a microwavable popcorn, a package of cookies, and a chocolate to each bag.

Monday morning, Auggie had ABA therapy and Emma came to hang out with Acacia and Josie. I took advantage of this break to head out and grocery shop!

I was blessed to spend several hours out of the house that day. I filled one cart at Costco with non-perishables. Then I went across the street to Panera and sat with my laptop and a cup of coffee. I wrote for two entire hours at my favorite spot by the fireplace. It was so lifegiving!!

Then I went back across the street to Costco again to get all the cold food we needed. I filled this cart also, plus got a Rotisserie Chicken for our dinner that night!

As the kids got home from school, they dove into the fresh fruit I’d bought. Acacia and Josie love cherries and put on their aprons to keep their dresses from getting cherry stains.

Keith was my “helper of the day” so he made two bags of Caesar salad to go with our dinner.

We enjoyed an easy meal of Rotisserie Chicken, Salad, Rolls, and Cherries that evening.

I’d picked up three 8-packs of high quality festive kitchen towels at Costco on clearance for $8.00 each – score! That evening, Brayden and Kiya helped me roll them and tie on a ribbon as we put together simple little Teacher Gifts, then we stuck in a candy cane. This isn’t much, but it’s practical and pretty and will allow all of our kids to give their teachers a little something as we head into winter break.

Tuesday morning, the little girls helped me make a pan of Stick of Butter Rice. My goal was to make a big batch of Burritos. The rice is the only thing that got done, but at least I became one step closer!

While Auggie had ABA therapy and Acacia and Josie played, Little Sweetheart helped me finish wrapping presents upstairs. She promised not to tell anyone what was inside their packages.

It was a beautiful day, so we played outside in the sunshine during the late morning until the school bus came.

That afternoon, I took Brayden and Kiya to our weekly Food Distribution. Back at home, Anna and Keith had ABA therapy.

After this, we transitioned quickly to get Brayden to his band concert. It was a full evening, for sure!

Wednesday morning, I baked a batch of Chocolate Banana Blender Muffins.

Since I had the oven on, I decided to quickly put 18 eggs on a cookie sheet and bake them to make Breakfast Sandwiches in an attempt to get ahead.

Keith’s teacher sent me the SWEETEST picture that afternoon. Keith knew that Acacia loves Frozen and all that is associated with Frozen. Olaf had visited his classroom, and he told his teacher, “My sister loves Olaf!” So Ms. Urbanovsky was amazing and asked Acacia and Josie’s teacher if the girls could come have a little Olaf visit. All three kids were overjoyed to have this experience together. Wow, do these kids have great teachers who go above and beyond for them!

For dinner that night, I used leftover chicken to make Chicken and Cheese Melts with Croissants. I made some with honey mustard, some with ranch, and some with barbecue. We had them with grapes, cherries, and pickles. Auggie started evening ABA therapy again that evening with a new RBT (registered behavior technician). So I needed dinner to be simple so that we could help with this transition.

Everything went extremely well that night for Auggie and his new RBT. So that freed me up to finally finish  making the Burritos I’d started making Tuesday morning.

On Thursday morning, both grandbabies were over! Of all the things we did and played together, this one was the best. The kids had turned two boxes into a train and Matt was giving Auggie a ride. Arrow and Little Sweetheart were following it around with complete delight!

I had a tub of Chili in the freezer and simply warmed it up for an easy dinner that night.

I made a quick batch of Christmas Spice Cookies to have in the freezer for the upcoming days.

Then we gathered at our living room table to put together fun and practical Sock Gifts to put into our Little Free Pantry tote. We filled them with toiletry items, candy, a pen, and an orange.

As great as all these activities were, intermixed with all of it was an extreme amount of fighting and meltdowns that left me completely exhausted and discouraged. God is faithful, we know He is in this. But I hate how hard it is so much of the time.

I was encouraged as I went to bed that night with this tasty photo of the Stir and Pour Bread Kelsey made. Isn’t it beautiful!

Friday morning, Kiya requested Eggs in a Nest. We used a snowflake cookie cutter to cut holes in our bread.

Of course, they liked eating the snowflake toast the best. :)

During the quiet of our afternoon, Matt and I brought down the wrapped presents I’d stashed away so that the kids would be excited and surprised when they got home from school.

This was the last day of school before break, so there had been holiday parties and everyone came home so happy.

Anna was so happy with her new scarf that her teachers gave her!

We loaded everyone up and headed to a high school graduation party for one of our dearest Sam. He was graduating at semester because his family is moving (sniff). We went to go celebrate him!

There was a super fun room attached to the party room and the kids had a blast the entire time we were there.

Ms. Christina tried to teach Acacia how to hold a pool stick.

All of our adult kids and grandbabies came throughout the evening too (minus Eva, who was sick, boo).

It was a great night, and took us right into bedtime!

On Saturday, we farmed out all the kids to three different wonderful families. Then all of us grown-ups met at Justus and Kelsey’s for a gift exchange and game day. As a bonus, it was Malachi’s birthday, so we celebrated him! AND, two of our nephews drove up from Kansas and joined us.

It was an amazing day, and I’ll share more about it next week!

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Big Family Food and Fun: December 7-13, 2025

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Here’s our Big Family Food and Fun: December 7-13, 2025 post!

We enjoy a Sabbath rest from Saturday evening through Sunday evening – so I turn off my computer on Saturday afternoons and miss posting some of these pictures. I’ll catch up on our last Saturday activities before launching into our new week!

Saturday, December 6

We had a great day Saturday, starting with a 4-hour long DATE for Matt and me! Three friends from church offered to stay with the kids so we could have some time away. The kids were super excited when Mr. Trent arrived!

While we were out, Matt and I had Sip Club Coffee at Panera and took advantage of a gift card at Red Robin for lunch. Mostly, we enjoyed conversation – uninterrupted!

That evening, three families from York came for a little holiday party. We had planned to eat together and play at our house, then go look at Christmas lights around Lincoln.

I made a Nacho Bar with Chips, Seasoned Meat, Stick of Butter Rice, Tomatoes, Cheese, Spinach, Beans, Salsa, and Guacamole.

For dessert, I made a big pan of Brownies, then frosted them and put on Christmas sprinkles.

After we got everyone fed, the kids played for a while, but guess what? That was CRAZINESS.

We had our seven plus each of the mamas who came had three each. So that made for a total of 16 kids in our dining room, then living room and playroom. Whoa. These kids were having some LOUD FUN! :) We gathered for a picture (a true Christmas miracle), then put coats on everyone and scooted them outside for a few minutes before we loaded up to go look at lights. Look at this fun crowd!

Big Family Food and Fun: December 7-13, 2025

In the middle of the night, Acacia woke up sick. Boooooo. We canceled our Sunday Lunch plans because we didn’t think it would be wise to have guests in our house that day. Acacia was fine when she got up that morning, but we kept her home, just to be safe.

The rest of our household ate through a plate full of Breakfast Cookie Bars – of which I forgot to take a picture until we had exactly two crumbs left.

I’d planned to make a huge pot of Cheeseburger Soup (this recipe, but with hamburger meat) for Sunday Lunch guests. But since we canceled, I decided to save that plan and instead made special individual pizzas that I’d found at Costco. The kids enjoyed this, and we let them watch a movie all afternoon while Matt, Elias, Malachi, and I played a game together.

Heartlands had a big Christmas party that night. We left Acacia home with Malachi and the rest of us headed over.

Keith and Anna were excited to pose in their disguises.

Keith found a way to play with Little Sweetheart that had her belly laughing!! It was the sweetest!

To end the evening, Justus and a couple other Heartlands guys sang us some fun Christmas songs. Our friend Kaitlyn grabbed Auggie to dance, and Anna joined them. Auggie wasn’t sure at first, but then had huge smiles by the end. How could he not?

On Monday, Emma came and took care of the girls for us. Auggie had ABA therapy all morning. I had a zoom meeting as we prepare to get Josie set up with ABA therapy. Then, I took off for the day to finish Christmas shopping and to do our weekly grocery shopping.

Before I left, I’d filled a crock pot with Taco Soup. This was a perfect way to feed everyone after school and as the evening progressed with homework, ABA therapy, and keeping everyone settled. Our friend, Elicia, had made Homemade Rolls that were supposed to have gone with our Sunday Lunch that we’d canceled due to Acacia’s illness. She handed them to those who were at church on Sunday morning, and we enjoyed them with our soup Monday night!

On Tuesday morning, I pulled a plate of Angela’s Banana Chocolate Chip Breakfast Cookies from the freezer to feed the kids before school/therapy.

Acacia, Josie, and Auggie helped me scrub a crock pot full of potatoes for dinner.

The girls played with Little Sweetheart and Auggie had ABA therapy all morning. Then we put on jackets and went outside to play until the bus came. Temps in the 50s in December? Yes, please! They “ice skated” in the alley behind our house.

After Acacia and Josie got on the bus, Auggie and Little Sweetheart had the BEST conversation. Over and over, Little Sweetheart would tell Auggie, “jabber sweetness jibber jabber” and Auggie would look up at her with a big smile and say, “What??” So she’d repeat it, and he’d say, “What??” Over and over. Oh my goodness. It was amazing.

That afternoon/evening was a BIG one. I put together a 3.5 pound Meatloaf and Steamed Green Beans. Plus our Baked Potatoes were cooking in the crock pot. I left all of that to Matt while I took Brayden to our weekly Food Distribution.

We weren’t able to stay long, but we helped for almost an hour before heading home to transition to Kiya’s and Brayden’s music concerts. We left Auggie home with Elias/Malorie/Malachi (who were available at different times to help) and Anna stayed back to do her ABA therapy. The rest of us loaded up for a wild night.

Kiya’s Ukulele and Vocal Music performance was at 6:00 at the elementary school.

Then Brayden’s Vocal Music performance was a few blocks away at 7:00 at the middle school. Kelsey got him there on time, and the rest of us loaded up quickly after Kiya’s concert and made it there barely on time. PHEW. Back at home, much had happened and our grown up kids saved the day. We got the kids to bed late and yet, we all survived.

Wednesday morning, I made our Peppernuts recipe into soft cookies to have on hand during the next couple of weeks.

I also made Uncrustables. We had plans to take all seven younger kids to Children’s for Genetic Testing that morning. I packed Uncrustables, Grapes, and Applesauce for the kids who would miss eating lunch at school.

The team of doctors was great as we were quite the room full that morning! Per our appointments over the summer, one of the specialists we had worked with recommended that we do Genetic Testing for the kids to see if there was more we could learn about their challenges and needs. They were gracious to allow all seven kids to come in at the same time, which wasn’t easy, but it was easier than making seven separate appointments!

As the kids finished each of their appointments, they got to enjoy computer games in the waiting room with Daddy. Then we dropped them all off at school to finish out their day.

For dinner that night, I made a simple meal of Tomato Soup with Meat and Cheese Melts. The sandwiches started to disappear before I could get a picture!

One of our kids was having sensory struggles and insisted on leaving the light off during dinner. Thankfully, everyone cooperated with this and we were able to talk the kids into eating in the dark. :) For the record, it was only 4:45pm.

During the evening, Keith and Brayden helped me make Mini Pumpkin Muffins for upcoming snack needs.

We were able to spend some time playing games in between the kids’ therapy needs. Anna and her RBT came in and joined us for a round of Rack-o as they worked on her skills with taking turns, waiting, and sharing.

On Thursday morning, I made a big pot of  Warm Vanilla Soother to go with our breakfast. The kids LOVED this and the entire pot was empty before they left for school. Oh look, there’s my un-exciting glass of morning smoothie.

I had some spinach in the fridge that was in its final days, so I turned it into Spinach Cupcakes.

The girls wanted to wear their matching Adoption Day dresses (that are almost too small, but now they work like shirts with pants). They also had a fun idea to cut tortillas “like we did at Ms. Kathi’s!” and melt cheese on top. This was a very fun and tasty morning activity.

Both Arrow and Little Sweetheart were over all morning, so playtime was extra special! (Also, we were gifted this amazing dollhouse this week – WOW!)

Arrow was busy shopping, but gave Lolli the obligatory grin she asked for.

I had slow cooked Salsa Chicken all day. So for dinner, we made Chicken Tacos with leftover Stick of Butter Rice, Black Beans, and other topping choices.

The main highlight of the night is that I’d mixed up a quadruple batch of Cream Cheese Sugar Cookie Cut Outs. We took turns rolling and cutting and baking our cookies. Phew, it’s a big job with this many helpers! But the kids love this and it’s a Christmas tradition. This is the best way I’ve learned to make cookies like this with our kids.

On Friday morning, the girls got good morning/goodbye hugs from Malorie as she headed off for work.

I made a monster-sized batch of Mudballs.

Then I took Acacia to her Physical Therapy and Speech Therapy appointments.

We were all incredibly excited that our Bonus Buddy got to come spend the weekend with us! The evening was loud and rowdy, with ABA therapy for Keith and Anna thrown into the mix. Therefore, I forgot to even take a picture of our dinner – Hamburgers, Pickles, Fruit, and Chips.

Kelsey sent me this fun picture of Poppyseed Quick Bread baked in a 9×13 inch dish!

Saturday was full with a Ladies Christmas Brunch at church and family time. I didn’t have time to upload photos and share about the rest of our day, so I’ll add those to next week’s post!

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: November 30-December 6, 2025

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Here’s our Big Family Food and Fun: November 30-December 6, 2025 post!

We enjoy a Sabbath rest from Saturday evening through Sunday evening – so I turn off my computer on Saturday afternoons and miss posting some of these pictures. I’ll catch up on our last Saturday activities before launching into our new week!

Saturday, November 29

The kids were invited to a birthday party Saturday evening, which was held at Heartlands church. They had a great time running around and playing with friends!

Afterward, we helped get the room set up for worship the next day.

Big Family Food and Fun: November 30-December 6, 2025

Sunday morning, we ate our plate of Breakfast Cookie Bars while getting ready for church.

Brayden was on worship team that morning with Justus and Malachi.

Kiya helped with Ministry Updates, and Matt preached.

Our very sweet friend, Kaitlyn, helped me with kids since Matt was unavailable to sit with us during family worship. Auggie has really connected to her, which is a very big deal.

For lunch that day, 22 of us gathered at our house.

I had made Pulled Pork and made a pan of Stick of Butter Rice, and we enjoyed Carnitas.

Dessert was Brownies and Applesauce Bread.

The kids watched a movie that afternoon while Matt and I enjoyed visiting with friends. Then we made a simple dinner of Chicken Nuggets and Fries/Tator Tots. We went through an entire Costco-sized bag of nuggets that night. Wow.

I had picked up a fun Christmas Bingo game a few weeks ago, so we played at the table by our Christmas Tree.

I took exactly zero pictures on Monday. Emma came for several hours, which was perfect because neither Matt nor I felt well. I stayed in bed all day, Malorie and Malachi helped out, and in general, everyone stayed alive on Monday.

I had turned Sunday’s Carnitas into Burritos as we’d put away leftovers the day before, so that was a perfect dinner for Monday night. Matt, Malachi, and the littles made Hot Cocoa as a special treat before bed. Then Kelsey sent me this picture, telling me that she and Little Sweetheart had made Chocolate Banana Blender Muffins and Snickerdoodle Bites for snacks! So this is my one and only picture from Monday, thank you Kelsey!

Tuesday morning when I woke up, I discovered that our second fridge in our pantry was completely warm (and yes, it was completely full), UGH. All of our back up milk, eggs, cheese, cream were warm and stinky. I worried about how we would figure out a solution to this quickly, simply because we truly have the need for extra refrigerators to keep up with our family’s food needs. Later when Matt had a chance to investigate the issue, he discovered that a certain two-year old had just turned the fridge off. Phew. So the fridge is fine – the food inside it was not. Recovering from this was less of a financial hit that we thought it would be, though. Checking the fridge on/off switch will now be a part of the nightly routine before Matt heads to bed.

I was still not feeling great, and was determined to rest as much as possible this week. So I checked as many to-do’s off the list as I could and sat as much as possible on Tuesday. We didn’t go to our weekly Food Distribution to help out this week, which made me sad to miss. But it was the right choice.

I made a crock pot full of Cheeseburger Soup for dinner and it was the most delicious! It was a cross between this recipe and this one, but mostly this one with hamburger meat instead of ham. So, so good and so, so easy.

I felt like my energy was starting to bounce back a little bit, so Kiya and Josie helped me make Applesauce Muffins for snacks. Mini-muffins are really the way to go for our household needs right now!

I’d set out a craft kit full of supplies to make puppets. Keith decided to googly-eye his own eyeballs.

On Wednesday morning, Auggie started ABA therapy with a new technician (RBT). We have had to transition this kid several times to become accustomed to new RBTs and I was dreading this again. BUT, Auggie’s new friend showed up and jumped right in with amazingness. Auggie warmed up to him right away, praise God!

Arrow was visiting that morning, so while he ate plenty of Lolli’s muffins, he also played with balls (his favorite!). During one of Auggie’s ABA therapy breaks, I asked him to teach Arrow how to use a hammer and nails. He understood the assignment.

Kiya had an appointment that afternoon. So before I headed to pick her up from school I made 15 Brats and a small pan of Baked Beans. It was great to come home from the appointment and just rewarm dinner to serve it right away.

When Malachi got home from his office that evening, the kids were a little bit glad to see him.

We’d been given some hand-me-down Christmas jammies and the girls discovered them. They were ready for bed with a few minutes to spare, which gave them Big Bear Snuggling Privileges.

Ah, and Daddy Reading Time Privileges.

On Thursday morning, I made double batches of Breakfast Cookie Bars and Flourless Brownies.

Little Sweetheart hung out with us all day. She likes Lolli’s plastic container cabinet. She also likes Lolli’s breakable dishes cabinet, so we try to redirect her here to avoid dishes breaking onto baby feet.

Kiya got to go on a grand adventure to “Heritage School” that day. All the kids dressed the part, packed a special lunch that was put into a lunch pail, and spent the entire day in a one room school house. She’d been looking forward to this for weeks. Her teacher sent me this – so sweet!

Our friend, Christina, had heard that I wasn’t feeling well earlier in the week. So she offered to bring dinner, and I said, “yes please!” (When people offer to serve you, say yes. This is God at work to take care of your needs.) It was wonderful to know that I didn’t have to worry about dinner that night, so with that in mind, I took a nap that afternoon. Rest was the theme of this week – my body has been exhausted. Thank you, God, for good friends!

Friday morning, Matt took Acacia to her Physical Therapy and Speech Therapy Appointments. Auggie had ABA Therapy and Eva picked up Josie to play at the mall with Arrow. So that freed me up to wrap some presents!

Our friend, Paula, stopped by that morning to drop off a huge load of groceries for us to put into our Little Free Pantry. Their church group has decided to partner with us in this ministry, which is amazing!

For dinner that night, I made two pans of Barbecue Chicken Legs, Mashed Potatoes (from a package of potato flakes from Azure Standard that I keep on hand as back-up potatoes), Peas, and Rolls.

After dinner, we put on Christmas Pajamas and loaded up to head to Heartlands for our Kids’ Ministry Christmas Party.

We played games, decorated cookies, then played more games.

The night was so sweet, and I loved watching Auggie turn into one of the big kids trying to play games the entire evening.

This scene was a favorite too: Watching our friend Saul pour into Brayden as they sat together to eat snacks.

We came home in time to get to bed way past bedtime, which the kids thought was very cool. :)

Saturday morning, I baked a huge pan of Brownies to have on hand for upcoming hosting needs. Then friends came over to hang out with the kids so that Matt and I could have a date for a few hours – how amazing is that!?

I’ll share more about it next week!

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Big Family Grocery Spending for November, 2025

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Here’s our Big Family Grocery Spending for November, 2025 post!

Curious how much we spent during the month of November and what groceries we bought? Here’s the breakdown…

Big Family Grocery Spending for November, 2025

1. Aldi

On November 3, I ran into Aldi for some non-perishables we needed. I grabbed a huge pile of Fruit/Veggie pouches for Auggie and the grandbabies, fritos, crackers, cake mix, salsa, meat sticks, rotel, blueberries, a case of broth, and two boxes of granola bars.

Total for food at Aldi: $86.48

2. Sam’s

On November 5, I loaded up at Sam’s. I bought chicken drumsticks, potatoes, spring mix, sweet peppers, apples, bananas, frozen fruit, yogurt, shredded cheese, 2-pound brick of Colby-jack cheese, sliced Colby-jack cheese, 3 tubs of sour cream, heavy whipping cream, z-bars, Rotel, chicken broth, fruit twists, ranch dressing, salsa, peanut butter, honey, and lunch meat.

I also picked up some packaged items for our kids’ lunches. Because of their autism, they have some extreme food aversions so I’ve been having a hard time figuring out what I can send them to eat at school. I picked up some dried fruit packs, granola bites, Pirate’s Booty, meat sticks, and cheese/cracker packs.

Malachi had requested that I grab a few snack/drink items for him to take to his office. He often has someone there editing videos with him and wanted to fill up a table with snack options.

Last but not least, I got several items to help fill our Little Free Pantry. Somehow I made it out of the store with just one cart!

Total groceries for our household at Sam’s: $333.22

3. Wal-Mart

Several times during the month, we went to Wal-Mart to buy perishable items to add to the small fridge we put outside by our sidewalk for people to take as needed. While there, we picked up what our family needed also. Most of what is in these pictures shares what we put into our Little Free Pantry fridge during the month of November, which came out of a separate budget or was funded by others.

Total for our family’s needs: $217.62

4. Aldi

On November 12, I went to Aldi. About half of what I purchased was food to put into our Little Free Pantry. And for our family, I bought milk, ham, grapes, clementines, apples, chips, lasagna noodles, Clif bars, broccoli, spring mix, zucchini, salsa, granola, half and half, fruit/veggie pouches, cake mix, stuffing mix, and pears.

Total from our grocery budget: $116.93

5. Sam’s

On November 19, I filled a cart at Sam’s with apples, grapes, bananas, butter, sour cream, tomato sauce, tomato soup, smoked sausage, shredded cheese, avocado mash, peanut butter, cereal, whole oats, honey, clif bars, strawberry bars (for $0.91/box!), eggs, meat sticks, pistachios, peanuts, dried strawberries, fruit twists, oatmeal cookie chunks (four bags on clearance), canned chicken, applesauce, granola, hot dogs, pickles, cheese slices, hamburger meat, spring mix, spinach, and pork roast.

Total at Sam’s: $413.38

6. McDonald’s

As we were traveling home from Kansas this month, we stopped and bought 80 chicken nuggets at McDonald’s. Malachi was with us and preferred two cheeseburgers. The total cost for ten of us to eat was ridiculously cheap, and the kids LOVED this special treat! Also, in case you’re wondering how quickly we can eat 80 nuggets – they were gone in twenty minutes.

Total at McDonald’s: $23.09

7. Wal-Mart

On November 24, I went to Wal-Mart and found that 9:30 in the morning is a great time to strike gold on meat markdowns! I got great prices on brats, chicken, hamburger meat, hamburger patties, and tri tip! I also got salad, milk, greens, and bananas.

Total at Wal-Mart: $144.95

8. Costco

Next, I went to Costco to buy necessities plus some special treats for our Thanksgiving day family gathering. I had some Costco credit to use, which made this trip cost very little!

I picked up broccoli, blackberries, blueberries, cherries, pineapple, butter, granola bars, berry bars, flour, cream cheese, chips, guacamole, chicken nuggets, pizza, coffee, eggnog, heavy whipping cream, and some snacks.

Total for food after certificate: $88.67

Total for groceries November, 2025: $1,425.07

Our WIC benefits provide our littles with around $120 worth of groceries each month. You can read here to learn our 2025 Grocery Budget plus look over ways I’m able to keep our budget at this level.

Running Totals for 2025

January spending: $679
February spending: $1,459
March spending: $1,346
April spending: $1,364
May spending: $1374
June spending: $1,127
July spending: $633
August spending: $1,501
September spending: $1,603
October spending: $1,347
November spending: $1,425

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