Heavenly Homemakers

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Big Family Food and Fun: January 5-11, 2025

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Here’s our Big Family Food and Fun: January 5-11, 2025 post!

Big Family Food and Fun: January 5-11, 2025

WHAT A WEEK.

On Saturday afternoon, we learned that church was canceled on Sunday because of snow and ice. So I froze the Shredded BBQ Chicken I’d made on Friday for our Sunday Lunch and will use it on a future Sunday.

We had our regularly scheduled special Sabbath Supper on Saturday evening – Biscuits, Sausage Gravy, Sausage Patties, Scrambled Cheesy Eggs, and Hashbrowns.

The new week got off to a rough start. We’d had a few kids go down with a stomach bug last week, but it was short and only a few were hit. OR SO WE THOUGHT.

I went down with it on Saturday night, more kids got sick after that, and by the time all was said and done, all seven kids ended up with it, plus Elias and me. Whichever adult was healthy at the time helped with the care of the kids.

Anyway, all that to say, I didn’t cook anything until Tuesday of this week. And I only took a couple pictures from my spot on the couch on Monday.

With appetites being low, the adults in the house made do with leftovers, prepped food from the freezer, or sandwich fixings while I was sick. We survived, and feeling good always feels so good after not feeling good, right?

Back to School

The kids’ first day back to school was Monday, so we got Brayden, Kiya, and Keith out the door. The other four kids played in the living room most of the morning. Notice Josie trying on Keith’s Christmas skates.

Hmm, skating is harder than it looks.

Anna somehow got a blue dot on her nose. She didn’t believe me so I took a picture to prove it to her.

After school that afternoon, Keith stayed outside to play. From my warm spot in the living room where I was resting, I had fun watching him delight in the snow.

Snow angel baby:

Brayden wanted to warm up dinner that night, so we pulled out more odds and ends from the fridge for those who had an appetite.

Tuesday morning I felt like a human again and wanted to get nourishment into myself. I made a blender full of this smoothie and it tasted very good. Yes, for real. :)

Did I try to make up for lost time in the kitchen on Tuesday morning? And did I perhaps overdo it a little bit? Yes, and yes. But cooking and getting caught up felt good after being sick. :)

Matt actually fell asleep on the couch for part of the morning, which made me concerned that he was getting sick too. But no. Poor guy was EXHAUSTED from taking care of all of us. While he slept, the littlest kids played and kept coming into the kitchen for snacks. Ah, their appetites were returning!

I browned two pounds of hamburger meat that I’d thawed over the weekend. I don’t even remember what I was planning to make, but I knew it needed to be cooked so I got it done.

I also baked several sheets of bacon and baked a pan of eggs to put together Breakfast Sandwiches. With the young adults in the house heading back to work and needing to pack breakfasts, lunches, or both, they ALL appreciate having these sandwiches on hand. Brayden, Kiya, Keith, Matt, and I really like them too.

14 Breakfast Sandwiches won’t go far, but that’s all the buns I had on hand, so 14 sandwiches is what I made.

I turned the browned hamburger meat that I’d just made into The Easiest Chili, then I put that into the fridge for a meal later this week.

Kiya was home from school after becoming sick the day before, and Keith had gotten sick at bedtime Monday, so while they felt pretty good on Tuesday, we tried to give them calm activities. It was sweet to watch them dig into our containers of Legos together – something we are just now pulling out for them after stashing them away for many years after our big boys had finished playing with them.

That afternoon, I baked a double batch of Bran Muffins to use up some bran cereal before it got stale. These really hit the spot as an afternoon snack for everyone whose appetites were coming back!

For dinner that night, I warmed up the small Pork Loin I’d made last week and had planned to serve on Sunday. I baked some frozen Mac and Cheese we’d been given at food distribution last week, plus made Buttered Peas. (Some of our kids prefer frozen peas stirred into their mac and cheese.)

That evening I made a triple batch of Peanut Butter Honey Puffs for upcoming snack needs. As of this day, most appetites were back and in FULL FORCE. I hadn’t been to the store in a long while, which was just fine because we had plenty of food to work with. I just needed to spend time that day prepping snacks with the ingredients we had on hand. Ending the day with Peanut Butter Honey Puffs and Bran Muffins ready to grab and feed kids felt really good.

Wednesday morning was uneventful, then Arrow came to visit for the afternoon!

He helped me make Gatorade – something I’ve wanted to try with the kids for a long time. Having so many recover from illness pushed me to do it. I was reminded about how easy it was!

This batch didn’t turn out very pretty because of the variety of juice I used. A darker red juice would have been nicer I think.

Three of the kids gave it a try later and two out of three liked it. :)

When Auggie got up from his nap, he laid down by Arrow for some guy talk.

I had made a pan of Stick of Butter Rice earlier in the day to go with our dinner that night.


I turned the rice into Taco Rice Skillet, plus sliced oranges, warmed up some corn, and got out fresh spinach.

Thursday morning, I used up some almost-expired milk to make Warm Vanilla Soother. Some of the kids also wanted a toasted bagel so I made a few of those too. And Keith? He opened the container of Peanut Butter Honey Puffs and ate four of them for his breakfast.

After we got the three elementary kids to school, we loaded up the youngest four to go grocery shopping. The kids stayed in the van with Matt while I quickly ran through Aldi to get our favorites.

Then we headed to Costco, grabbed two carts, handed out snacks, and picked up a huge amount of food (plus diapers and a couple items of clothes we found on sale).

Back at home, Matt unloaded the van while I worked to get groceries put away. It makes me soooo happy to have so many fruit and vegetable options to feed us during the upcoming days.

Acacia and Josie shared a banana before the preschool bus came.

Then we got Auggie down for his nap and Justus dropped off Little Sweetheart for the afternoon!

When the kids got home from school, they decided they wanted to play outside. So they dug out their snow suits and boots and got their gear on. I was grateful that almost all of them can dress themselves now – a huge change even from last year when putting all of this on them would be a huge amount of effort.

It had been days and days since they’d played outside so even though it was cold, we could see that they were loving life in the snowy mud.

Brayden attempted sledding down a slope in our front yard and it worked!

When they came back in, they were very ready to eat! I’d put The Easiest Chili that I’d made earlier in the week into a crock pot to heat up all afternoon, which was a perfect meal after playing in the snow. We washed two containers of Raspberries and one of Blackberries that we’d gotten at Costco that day to go with our meal.

After dinner, the kids played in the living room while I did dishes.

Then we attempted to play a game for the entire evening. The little ones are finally, sort of, almost able to play games and we are trying so hard to fill everyone’s time productively to help them all stay regulated. This night we played a variety of Picture Charades, with Daddy working to keep the “audience” on the couch and with Mommy coaching each “actor” on how to get the audience to guess what picture was on their card. This game actually worked pretty well and the kids had fun. Phew!

The thing about meals and snacks

I am trying something new with our routine, which might sound obvious, but with this many little kids who have so many extra needs, just because it’s obvious doesn’t mean it works for us. :/ Some of our kids have food insecurity resulting from their past trauma and as they’ve gotten older, their challenges have gotten louder and heavier.

Mealtime has been basic mayhem as we’re working to train the kids to be at peace at the table while they trust us to care for their needs. Those with food trauma are often fighting us and melting down – begging for specific food, then refusing to eat the food – ugh.

At the end of every day, I have felt like all I did was attempt to feed kids and ultimately fight major battles over food.

ANYWAY – I’ve been restructuring our evenings, starting our Dinnertime around 4:45 when they are all home from school and hungry. They can eat or not eat, but the food is there. There are choices to accommodate pickiness and to give them the sense of control that they need. And then, around 5:45, dinner is over and we are moving on (my mental health needs this rule).

Not to worry though – we assure them that there’s a bedtime snack coming at 7:00. So if they get hungry before that, they can wait, but know that they will be fed again before bed.

This tiny change for the kids has been a huge help to me so that I can streamline our kitchen/food needs and take pressure off of myself to constantly be thinking of what to offer each child (that they may or may not eat without a fight).

On Wednesday night, at our new 7:00 bedtime snack time I stood at the kitchen making little Peanut Butter Cracker Sandwiches to hand out to kids before they headed upstairs for bed. On Thursday, I buttered and warmed up muffin halves for them to eat along with a third of a banana each. (Poor Acacia had bitten her tongue right before I snapped this picture.)

None of this may feel profound, but for me it is. Matt and I are constantly trying to figure out what systems, responses, and methods help our kids the most. This has proven to be quite difficult with so many kids and so many different needs – and I’m not sure if you’ve noticed but Matt and I are quite outnumbered. ;)

Back to our week…

On Friday morning, Auggie’s early development special education teacher came to spend time working with him. Look how sunny it was!

For dinner that night, we had a random assortment of leftovers – BBQ Pork Loin and Noodles – plus Brayden made a Caesar salad and heated Tater Tots in the air fryer.

For an evening activity, we had the MOST FUN. I’d been seeing ideas online for a Sensory Input Obstacle Course, which engages the kids’ brains in a way that so many of our kids need. As I set this up, all seven of the kids followed me around, wondering what in the world I was doing putting tape down on the floor throughout the house. (Watching the set up might have been as fun for them as the execution.)

I showed them the specifics of what they were supposed to do throughout each section, helped them understand that this wasn’t a race (yikes), and told them to be extra careful around littles and on the stairs (yikes again).

They jumped, they balanced, they marched, they focused – they did so great.

The littlest kids didn’t understand all of the specifics, but that didn’t matter because they had fun trying.

Even Auggie got in on it.

I think they went around and around and up and down throughout the course for 45 entire minutes. They got hot and sweaty, and guess what? THERE WAS NO SCREAMING during that entire time. Thank you, Lord.

We all met up in the dining room with water bottles for bedtime snack time where Matt was making popcorn in our cool popcorn maker. They chugged water and ate about three clementines each, ha, along with their popcorn. Food tastes really good after you’ve worked hard.

The kids slept well, and we woke on on Saturday ready to celebrate Anna’s 5th birthday! Oof, it was a very rough behavior morning for a couple of the kids, but we were able to get everyone ready and out the door to go to our favorite Sensory-Friendly Library Story Time. It’s been months since we were able to go to this and it was a very helpful place to be to get all of the kids regulated again. After the story time, the librarian brought out all the fun sensory toys.

Back at home, Anna helped me finish her birthday cake. Before leaving for the library, I had baked her requested Chocolate Cake. She wanted chocolate frosting and sprinkles!

For Anna’s birthday lunch, we made seven boxes of Mac and Cheese and 14 hotdogs, then sprinkled frozen peas into the kids’ mac and cheese, plus we had grapes on the side,

I used an additional 14 hotdogs to make Beanie Weanies for a potluck at church the next day.

We spent the rest of the afternoon enjoying time with Arrow while Asa and Eva were doing a video shoot, then we celebrated Anna’s birthday that evening. We also headed into our time of Sabbath rest.

And that was our week!

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Easiest Chili Recipe

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Looking for the Easiest Chili Recipe? This has to be it.

I’ve shared other chili recipes with you through the years…

But after 30 years of marriage, feeding kids, feeding company, and making chili hundreds of times, I realized recently that I now have a favorite go-to chili recipe and it has yet to be shared here. Let’s solve that now!

Why is this my favorite chili recipe?

  1. Because there’s hamburger meat in it. This girl does like her beef.
  2. Because it comes together very quickly and with almost no effort.
  3. Because we can make it ahead of time and rewarm it when we want to serve it.
  4. Because it’s a perfect recipe to dump into a crock pot and have ready at dinner time.
  5. Because it freezes well. Might as well make a bunch and freeze some for another meal another time.

By the way. Have I talked about how much I love Rotel?

Probably not. But shucks if cans of Rotel haven’t become a buy-by-the-case-at-Costco-or-Sam’s ingredient that I must have in my pantry at all times.

There’s something about the flavor combination that makes food taste better. Like Rotel in this Spicy Ham and Potato Soup? I COULD EAT IT EVERY DAY.

And Rotel in this Easiest Chili Recipe? Yes, two cans please.

Look how easy it is to make this Chili:

  1. Brown hamburger meat.
  2. Stir in canned tomatoes and beans.
  3. Add spices.
  4. Simmer, slow cook, fast cook, freeze it, do whatever you need.

And after all that, serve it with Shredded Cheese, Sour Cream, and Fritos. See? The Easiest Chili Recipe.

Easiest Chili RecipeYum

Easiest Chili Recipe
 
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Author:
Serves: 10-12 servings
Ingredients
  • 2 pounds ground hamburger meat
  • 3 15-ounce cans beans (any combo you like and have on hand: pinto, red, kidney)
  • 3 15-ounce cans tomato sauce
  • 2 cans Rotel diced tomatoes and green chilies
  • 2 teaspoons onion powder
  • 2 Tablespoons chili powder (more if you like it spicier)
  • 1 teaspoon garlic powder
  • 1 teaspoon sea salt
Instructions
  1. Brown hamburger meat and drain excess grease if needed.
  2. Add all other ingredients with the cooked meat into a pot or crock pot and heat until bubbly (Crock pot: low for 4-6 hours or high for 2-3 hours)

 

Want to make this chili stretch into several meals? Serve it with Baked Potatoes or Hot Dogs for Chili Cheese Dogs.

You are going to love how easy this is to make!

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How I Keep our Big Family Grocery Budget Low

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This is how I keep our big family grocery budget low…

Perhaps when you see our large grocery budget number, you don’t see it as a low number. It’s all relative, right? It is large for a regular-sized family. But for our big family? I think we do a pretty good job of keeping it as low as we can.

So first: Who are we feeding?

  • Right now there are 12 people living in our house. But in a few weeks, we’ll be back up to 13 people living in our house – 6 adults, 7 kids. (Our household number fluctuates depending on who is living on our third floor or which of our adult children are living here.)
  • Some of the adults in our house grab fast food (on their own dime) from time to time, but in general, we are feeding all 13 people three meals a day.
  • All the adults who work outside the home, plus our school-age kids, pack lunches for work/school.
  • We have extras at our house for meals frequently. We love getting together with our adult children when we can. Our biggest meal is usually our Sunday Lunch in which we often have around 30 people here including our adult kids plus friends from church. Sometimes people bring food to add to our feast on these days.

Aww, a look at our beloved 19:

We are so grateful to live close to Asa, Eva, and Arrow and Justus, Kelsey, and Little Sweetheart!

What is my projected grocery budget for 2025?

Our budget for 2024 was $1,400/month. You can see the total numbers here sharing what each month looked like. You might notice if you divide my total 2024 spending amount by 12 months that I actually averaged a bit lower per-month amount than I budgeted.

As I look ahead to 2025, I’m looking at how it worked to maintain that budget plus I’m considering these…

  • Anna will age out of the WIC program (her benefits gave us about $50/month worth of food).
  • Malachi will move back in at the end of January (yay!) so we’re adding one more adult, putting us back up at 13 household members. So with these two changes:

I still plan to keep our grocery budget at $1,400/month right now and see how long that works for us.

I will make adjustments during the year if this doesn’t work or if it is causing stress. Our energy and mental space needs to be used to care for our family and others – not for crunching numbers and worrying over nickels and dimes.

How I Keep our Big Family Grocery Budget Low

I’ve been thinking about all that is working for me as I try to stick to a healthy grocery budget for our household and I came up with a lot of details to share!

After settling into our new Lincoln home and finding my way with new-to-me grocery stores and a new shopping system that works for our needs, this is what I’ve found that works to feed 13 of us with a $1,400/month budget.

1. I always look for meat markdowns.

Buying discounted meat is probably what saves our family the most money on groceries. I settled on this price point for meat, and I am determined to almost never go over. See the exception here.

But with this in mind, I have found that if I look for meat that has been marked down for quick sale – specifically at Aldi, Walmart, or Sam’s – I can almost always buy meat for our family marked down to $2.50/pound or less. This is even less than my price point, and the savings are huge!

These yellow stickers are my favorite! And I’ve found that if I shop in the mornings, that’s when there are the most yellow stickers as the stores clear out their packages of meat that are nearing the “best by” date. I grab them up and freeze them to use as needed. HUGE SAVINGS.

The best mark down I’ve found: for two years in a row, we’ve scored $0.50/pound ham after Christmas. We fill our freezers. One ham goes a long way, even for a large family!

Every once in a while, other stores in town (that I don’t frequent regularly) will offer a big meat sale. If the deals are good, I find it worth it to make an extra stop to take advantage.

2. We shop in bulk.

Having a Sam’s or Costco membership may not pay for itself for some families. But for us? The savings are big and very worth it. I now know which items are priced best at Sam’s, which are best at Costco, and which are better at other stores. Buying large quantities of many of our staples cuts down our cost and is also helpful for my planning needs. It takes a lot of mental pressure off my brain if I know that I have twelve of something in my pantry ready to grab as needed.

It usually takes two carts to get everything we need at Costco or Sam’s each month.

3. I have learned what items are cheapest at which stores.

After living in Lincoln for a year-and-a-half, I’ve learned which prices are best at which store for the products we use and need. My favorite places to shop are Sam’s, Costco, and Aldi with a little Walmart thrown in for those awesome meat markdowns!

Typically, I keep running lists on my phone of what I need at each store. I shop once each week, but go to a different store each time. So usually we hit Costco and Sam’s just once in a month, Aldi twice and Walmart twice. This works well for our budget and plans!

4. We eat as many fruits and veggies as we can.

People don’t believe me when I say that fruits and veggies save money because everyone thinks “healthy food is expensive.” I disagree when it comes to fruits and veggies. Where we shop, apples, bananas, carrots, pears, grapes, fresh spinach, mixed greens, and potatoes are all consistently low in price per pound. Frozen fruits and veggies cost the same all year round. And we buy everything else in season when their prices are the lowest and featured in a sale.

Kids need something to hold them over until lunch? Here’s an apple:

Also, I’ve found that it’s easiest to feed a large crowd of people (which for us is 13 to 30 or more people per meal) when I set out the main dish and a variety of fruit and/or veggie side dish options. This stretches the meal to feed a lot of people, plus offers variety, gives people choices, and overall saves money.

5. I say yes to offers of free food that would otherwise go to waste.

Say what? Well, we stand out as a large family with “a lot of mouths to feed.” Therefore, people often think of us when there is extra food that will get thrown away after an event at church or at people’s places of work. Our neighbor is often stopping by with something from his work’s break room that is perfectly good to eat but is about to get tossed because no one wants it. “Wait! I’ll take it to the Coppingers!” says he, and he does.

After a potluck or church event? People hand us leftovers. “Here, use this for your next Sunday lunch,” they’ll say. Or, “Will your family eat this? We hate to throw it away.” YEP. We say yes to most offers like this because we don’t like food going in the trash and because I can make a meal with just about anything if I get creative.

In addition, we bring home food from the Food Distribution site where we volunteer each week. All the food there is donated by grocery stores and restaurants if it is an item close to its expiration date or otherwise unable to be sold. This food is going to be thrown away if not given to the community! I can’t tell you how grateful we are that Lincoln has the FoodNet program to cut down on food waste and to provide for the community instead.

Typically each week at the location where we serve, over 100 families go through the line to get food. We, as volunteers, get to pick out some of the food too if there is enough. And at the end of the hour when all of the clients have gone through the line, if there is anything left, volunteers can go through the line again.

We bring home a random assortment of food each week – sometimes just a little and sometimes several bags worth. I usually need to find ways to use up this food or freeze it pretty quickly because it’s food that is on its last leg. But it was free and it’s fun and it didn’t go into a grocery store dumpster.

Worth noting: sometimes I say yes to food handouts even if I know our family won’t eat it because I know people who will eat it. We regularly buy extra or stockpile food we’ve been given to take to our church’s Little Free Pantry. It’s so good for our kids to be a part of the ministry of caring for others and loving people in our neighborhood. Almost every time we are at the pantry filling it up, we meet up with someone who is coming there to check for food to use for their next meal. It’s amazing and we love visiting with these new friends.

6. WIC

Our three youngest kids qualify for WIC through their adoption subsidy (and will until they turn five). This gives them fresh produce, cheese, eggs, milk, rice/pasta/bread, and beans and totals around $150/month in benefits. This is a lovely resource we are thankful to enjoy for our kids.

7. I only buy organic if it fits into the budget.

I used to overthink this and feel guilty. But God has taken this guilt away though because He’s taught me that loving people is much more important than obsessing over food.

Yes, I want to take good care of our bodies. I absolutely try to fill us all with nourishing foods every day. But my focus is more on meeting our kids’ emotional needs than worrying over an organic label on our food.

We also want to continue to fill our home and tables with dear friends who join us for meals frequently. We want to feed our guests well, but spending extra to be sure everything is organic would not work for our budget. I won’t trade an organic label for inviting people into our home to share our food.

I’m thankful that many organic foods DON’T cost more – like apples, spinach, mixed greens, salsa, pasta sauce, and carrots. I get them regularly and other organic items if I can. But if I buy pears that aren’t organic, I’m no longer worried. We’re still eating pears. Pears are healthy. God takes care of the rest.

8. We always eat at home or pack food if we’re on the road.

Buying restaurant food is not an option for us right now, and we are very ok with that. ( Think eating out would double our grocery budget. Plus can you imagine taking this many high-need kids into a restaurant? Phew.)

Instead, we’ve found all kinds of other ways to make food fun, to offer all of us treats, and to even pretend we are having fast food. (Bulk bags of chicken nuggets and fries from Costco are crazy cheap compared to feeding 13 people at Wendy’s – and they taste better too.)

I’ve found so many ways to make food prep simple that I never feel like I want to order take-out. If I ever need a night off from cooking (which, of course, I do), we bake Costco frozen pizzas. They are super cheap compared to ordering pizza and we love how they taste.

Costco or Sam’s $5 Rotisserie Chicken is also a great fast food option that goes a long way!

Exception to never eating out: There are a few times each year that we find ourselves on the road with the need to stop and get a bunch of McDonald’s nuggets or something like this. We aren’t legalistic about not eating out. We just choose not to most of the time and enjoy coming up with all kinds of other fun options to eat or pack instead!

9. We eat leftovers.

I mentioned above that we don’t like it when food goes to waste. Therefore, we put all of our leftovers from meals into our fridge to warm up another time. Matt and I are stay at home /work from home parents, and we almost always warm up leftovers for our lunch. Elias often packs leftovers to take to work for lunch. And whenever our fridge starts to get over full, instead of cooking something new, we have a meal in which we pull out all the leftovers and warm them up for people to help themselves to whatever sounds good.

I’ve also found creative ways to turn leftover food into a brand new meal: like turning a Taco Bar into a casserole or a bunch of burritos for the freezer, taking leftover ham to make Ham and Potato Casserole or Breakfast Casserole. It’s pretty easy to turn leftovers into something new.

10. I make good use of our freezers.

If there’s a good sale (or a good deal on meat, as if I haven’t talked about that enough, ha), I stock up and fill the freezer. If I’m making one casserole or batch of muffins, I often make two or three while I’m at it to get more meals prepped for the same amount of work. I put the extras into the freezer for a convenient fast food another day. Frozen casseroles/muffins/breads also give me the option of providing others with meals if I find out of a need – a sick friend, a new mama, or a hurting friend.

11. I use credit for Azure Standard purchases.

This is only worth a tiny mention as it doesn’t affect our budget much. But I do accrue a small amount of referral credit to Azure Standard when any of you sign up for an account and/or take advantage of what Azure has to offer. About twice a year, the credit number adds up to enough for me to put in an order that is mostly covered by the credit. Their food is great and some of it I can only find through Azure, so these are the items I stock up on when I can!

Our grocery spending for 2025

Stay tuned for our weekly posts to see what we’re eating and who we’re feeding. And watch for our monthly posts sharing what we buy and how much we spend. We’ll see if our monthly $1,400/month budget holds!

What are the best ways you’ve found to save money at the grocery stores where you live?

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Big Family Food and Fun: December 29-January 4, 2025

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Here’s our Big Family Food and Fun: December 29-January 4, 2025 post!

Big Family Food and Fun: December 29-January 4, 2024

I stop working on Saturdays in the afternoon so that we can move into our special time of Sabbath rest that we’ve chosen to practice for our family. Therefore, each week when I begin these posts, I start by backing up to share what the last part of our Saturday looked like. :)

Last Saturday was amazing because we asked some friends to come help with our seven littles so that Matt and I could spend time with all of our adult kids for a few hours. We all met up at Justus and Kelsey’s house, had a Secret Santa gift exchange, ate a super delicious meal courtesy of Famous Dave’s (Justus and Kelsey had gift cards!), then played games for four hours!!

We laughed so hard and had so much fun. Phew, we needed this.

Back at home, we walked into this scene with our kids having the time of their lives with Ms. Kathi and Ms. Terra. The other kids were hanging with Mr. Matt and since the weather was beautiful that day, they’d all been playing outside most of the time we were gone. Our three caregivers rocked it for us and we are sooooo grateful for the gift they gave us that day.

That morning before we headed to Justus and Kelsey’s, I’d put a Melt-in-your-Mouth Beef Roast into a crock pot to cook for our dinner. Kiya had helped me scrub potatoes and we filled another crock pot so we could make these mashed potatoes to go with our roast. When we got home, I realized I’d forgotten to add the carrots I planned to throw in with the roast. So I quickly made peas while Terra mashed the potatoes for us. We got hungry kids fed, bathed, and tucked in for the night after an awesome day!

Sunday was Brayden and Auggie’s birthday! Brayden chose all the meals for the day. (When Auggie gets older, we’ll have to figure out meal choices having two birthday kids in one day!)

We had Scrambled Cheesy Eggs and Hashbrown Patties for breakfast.

Brayden wanted Lasagna for his birthday lunch, and we had some of our normal Sunday crowd join us after church. Friends brought a Pasta Bake and Oranges to help complete our meal. We made Caesar Salad and Corn, plus Oreo Brownies for the birthday dessert.

There were 29 of us gathered that day.

It was fun to celebrate Brayden during this time! Meanwhile, Auggie was having a lovely birthday nap. :)

Two stick candles side by side make an 11, right? ;)

The weather was sunny and gorgeous! Our friend Mandy stopped by and many of us headed out to take a walk together to fill up our church’s Little Free Pantry. It’s just a few blocks from our house.

Back at home, Auggie woke up and shared a hug with his Birthday Bro.

Brayden wanted to make his birthday dinner for the family: Orange Chicken and Onion Rings.

I got out cucumbers and carrots to offer a veggie with dinner. Brayden did a great job!

Then it was Auggie’s turn to blow out candles. He’s the big 2 now!

Elias and Malorie had to run to Walmart and asked if I needed anything. You guys? I am a sucker for these cheap hams. I’d gotten four of them on clearance for a $1.00/pound last week. But just in case, I asked them to look and see if by chance they’d been marked down any more to $0.50/pound.

Sure enough! There was an entire case of them. I asked them to get four for me, then I worked to create freezer space!

See how hard this is to resist??

Present time! Auggie was pretty excited about his magnetic toy set.

Brayden started playing school right away with his new Dry Erase Board. What a great day!

Monday morning, I made a blender full of smoothie for Matt and me. The kids ate yogurt and granola, plus Banana Bread.

I spent quite a bit of time in the kitchen that morning getting ready for company to come. I had chicken bones in the freezer that I’d saved after a Rotisserie Chicken purchase. I used the bones to make Chicken Broth for soup, knowing we’d need it for a big crowd we’d be feeding on Wednesday.

I also put several pounds of boneless chicken thighs into a crock pot with two jars of salsa. I planned to have it ready to turn into Taco Soup.

I also cleaned out one of our dishwashers and was so happy to see this top rack. This is what our dishwasher looks like after a big Sunday Lunch. We eat, we visit, we drink coffee and have dessert together – it’s such a beautiful time. I love a dishwasher full of coffee mugs to remind me of our awesome time of fellowship.

Late in the afternoon, I blended the onions and carrots that had cooked with the chicken bones and stirred the veggies back into the broth. This makes it so rich and extra nourishing.

I shredded the chicken and put it into the fridge with the broth to be ready to make a huge amount of soup on Wednesday!

For dinner that night, I put one of our $5 hams into our large roaster to cook. This created the easiest, cheapest meal on earth. The ham was delicious, and we ate it with leftover mashed potatoes and veggies from the fridge. I also cut up two pineapple, which really hit the spot! (By the way, the spiral cut hams we get so cheap are coated in a brown sugar glaze which we don’t love so I rinse it off before cooking it.)

Tuesday morning we spent time cleaning and making beds as we prepped for our friends to come hang out with us and spend the night. We LOVE it when the Brocks come to visit! They also have a large family (there are eight of them!) and our kids all get along well. They arrived just before lunch and we had the goal to eat quickly then play games all afternoon!

Lunch for our large families was a simple spread of Summer Sausage, Cheese, Crackers, Chips, Dips, Veggies, Fruit, and Zucchini Bread and Banana Bread that the Brocks brought.

I love it when our table is full of Coppingers and Brocks, but the sweetest scene is….

THIS. Their little girls and our little girls like to sit together in these special seats. Meal time is crazy and loud at our house, but when the Brocks are here, everyone is calm and grounded (at least for a time).

We played games all afternoon, then Brayden, Kiya, Keith and I took two from the Brock family to help hand out food and clean at  our weekly Food Distribution site.

This particular week, there were fewer volunteers available, fewer clients who came through the line, but extra food to hand out because of the holiday. Our kids worked very hard and very well and we were so proud of them. Putting our kids in situations like this where they serve is sooooooo beneficial in so many ways.

Brayden wanted to take a picture of Keith scrubbing a cooler. And do you see those strawberries above? Clients who came through the line took as many as they wanted, but at the end of our give away time, there were still many flats worth of berries and they needed to be eaten or frozen right away. We brought home many, many pounds of strawberries that day, and then we all promptly ate many, many pounds of berries as soon as we got home. What a great treat – free strawberries to feed our collective 13 kids!

After everyone ate their fill of berries, we ate our actual dinner: Hawaiian Chicken, two pans of Stick of Butter Rice, Steamed Green Beans, and Rolls.

We had invited our friend, Breck, to join us for dinner because she knows the Brocks too. It was such a great time of visiting before everyone moved into playing more games as we rang in the new year. (Some of us rang in the new year by going to bed before midnight, ehem.)

Wednesday morning we celebrated the first day of the year by eating 28 Eggs and lots of Bacon. (The Brocks had brought six dozen eggs from their chickens!)  The plate of bacon you see below was just a small portion of what we baked as people ate it as fast as it came out of the oven. We finished off all the strawberries we’d brought home the night before from the food distribution plus we ate more of the Zucchini Bread and Banana Bread the Brocks had baked and brought with them.

Kids played and played all morning while the grown ups visited and worked in the kitchen to prep for a huge lunch.

We had invited all of our older kids to come for lunch so that they could catch up with the Brocks, plus we invited another family to come join as they have great connections with the Brocks too. Altogether, there were 30 of us, and it was a great time of visiting and feasting.

We went through at least three pots of coffee that day. Lunch was a huge roaster full of Spicy Ham and Potato Soup, two crock pots full of Chicken Taco Soup, and a big assortment of anything else we could set out to fill everyone up: rolls and croissants, fritos, sliced oranges, carrots and cucumbers, crackers, and cheese.

Take note of Elias wearing Malorie’s shower cap. :) He was doing an oil treatment on his scalp and wasn’t shy about walking around like this most of the day. It was hard to take him seriously, but somehow we managed to have real conversations and play games with his crazy-headed self.

We filled our dining room table.

And spilled over into the living room. Meals and times like these are truly awesome.

The rest of the day was spent playing more games together. In fact, the Brocks intended to head home mid-afternoon but by the time our third game ended, we realized we needed to give them a bite to eat for dinner so that they wouldn’t have to stop and feed all their kids on the way home. So we pulled out all kinds of random leftovers (I forgot to get a picture), rewarmed soup, and got them filled up before sending them on their way. What an amazing visit!

Thursday morning we decided it was a pajama day. We also had a refrigerator that looked like this, so I declared it to be a Leftover Day for all three meals. (I had Lasagna and Soup in our pantry fridge also.)

As I was clearing out food for kids to pick what they wanted for lunch, I pulled out the spinach that was expiring and turned it into these Cupcakes. I find it amazing how much spinach I can manage to stuff into my blender to make these. What a great way to eat greens. ;)

Later in the afternoon, I looked up “ways to use cottage cheese” because I had quite a bit in my fridge that needed to be used. I found a recipe for Chocolate Chip Cookies and the girls and I gave it a try!

I used all whole wheat flour instead of some of the white that the recipe called for. They turned out pretty tasty. I froze most of them for an upcoming Sunday Lunch. And check out the awesome three-tier cooking rack Malorie got me for Christmas!

Bedtime at our house is quite the hectic situation, with so many littles struggling with behaviors or needing attention. Matt put on Acacia’s leg brace and read to the three little girls while I wrestled with Auggie then read to the three older littles. By the time I got into the little girls’ room to tuck them in, Josie and Acacia were already fast asleep. I soaked in their sweetness for a moment.

Friday morning we had a lot of prep work to do so that we could be ready for what we thought would be a full weekend. I put a Pork Loin into a crock pot to cook for Sunday’s lunch. I also put several pounds of boneless chicken thighs into our large roaster with barbecue sauce to shred for Sunday as another meat option. Here’s what it all looked like later in the day when it was finished.

Mid-morning, we loaded up all the kids to burn off energy in the indoor play area at the Zoo. I packed snacks because even though they ate all morning and would eat all afternoon, we need to eat also while we’re out and about.

We came home and finished up a jar full of Ham and Potato Soup leftovers.

Friends came for dinner that night, so I made 9 Pizzas from crusts I had in the freezer. We ate our pizza with Caesar Salad.

One of the reasons we’d arranged for dinner with friends is because they had some toys to hand down that their kids were finished with. A tool set and work bench? Keith was in heaven!

And check out this amazing play kitchen they brought. The little girls got lost in there while we grown ups visited, and Auggie even played for quite a while. Such a cool kitchen!

Saturday we had a meeting out of town, but had some sick kids which changed a lot of our plans. We ate leftovers for all of our meals and tried to catch up on some laundry. And that was our week!

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Big Family Grocery Spending for December, 2024

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Here’s our Big Family Grocery Spending for December, 2024 post!

Here’s how we spent our grocery budget for our large household during the month of December. We fed 12 people three meals each day, plus a lot of wonderful guests. In fact, because of Christmas and lots of birthdays and other fun get-togethers this month, we had many meals with more than 12 people. It’s been awesome!

Because of the larger meals and crowds, we’ve had more frequent grocery store trips so that we could keep up with food needs. And how did the budget fare? Well, we went over. But only by a little, somehow. :) Read until the end to see how our grocery budgeted averaged out during the entire year!

Big Family Grocery Spending for December, 2024

1. Aldi

On December 2, I ran into Aldi to grab all of our “Aldi essentials.” I got fruit/veggie pouches for Auggie, crackers, a case of salsa, whole milk yogurt, milk, canned corn (because it was on sale for $0.50), Caesar salad kits, blackberries, and sausage.

Total for groceries at Aldi: $116.36

2. Sam’s

December 3, I was halfway to Sam’s while at Speech Therapy for Auggie. So after his appointment, I took him with me to get some of our Sam’s essentials. We stocked up on our favorite peanut butter, plus got chips, potatoes, apples, grapes, pears, cheese sticks, yogurt squeezies, whole milk yogurt, rotel, and coffee creamer. I was excited to find chicken breasts and beef roasts marked down for quick sale so I grabbed those.

Total for groceries at Sam’s $213.59

3. Honest Abe’s

Remember how we used to have Elias take Brayden out for Bro Time? Elias has a new job now that is very intense as he deals with high need kids all day (kind of sounds like what Elias’ parents do all day, huh?). Because of this, we don’t have a regularly scheduled Bro Time any more. But we have started sending both Brayden and Kiya out with Elias and Malorie from time to time on Monday evenings for a special dinner out.

A local restaurant here in Lincoln called Honest Abe’s offers half price kids meals on Monday nights. This gives everyone a burger and fries and drink for right around $4.00! Amazing. On December 9, the four of them headed out to pick up their dinner. Elias and Malorie help the kids figure out what they want and give them the chance to order by themselves (a skill Matt and I don’t/can’t provide for them because eating out as a family with so many littles is too complicated and too expensive.

Overall, this is a WIN and the kids love this time with Elias and Malorie. This night, the restaurant was too crowded so they brought their food home to eat.

Total at Honest Abe’s: $27.35

4. Wal-Mart

On December 11, we took the four youngest kids to Walmart to pick up the girls’ WIC items plus a few other needed groceries. I found day-old (refrigerated) Rotisserie chicken marked down to just $2.02 each so I got two of those. We got lots of fruits and veggies, eggs, rice, pasta, cereal, milk, and cheese, all covered by WIC benefits. And I picked up some Caesar salad kits, pickles, and ham.

Total out of pocket at Wal-Mart: $32.50

5. Aldi

After we left Walmart that day, we went just up the road to Aldi. I ran in and got fruit/veggie pouches for Auggie, raspberries, oranges, zucchini, butter, yogurt, granola, baking items, sausage, deli ham, pasta sauce, fritos, and three large packages of boneless chicken thighs on sale for just $2.49/pound.

Total for food at Aldi: $155.95

6. Walmart 

On December 19, I ran into Walmart to get milk, sour cream, lime juice, a few last minute items for Christmas, plus the last of our WIC benefits. As always, I checked for meat markdowns and scored Boneless Chicken Thighs for just over $2/pound! I bought six packages.

Total out of pocket at Walmart: $57.67

7. Costco

From there, we went to Costco and semi-filled two carts. We needed Christmas celebration food plus regular groceries and produce. We got pears, apples, oranges, grapes, broccoli, blueberries, cream cheese, cream, half and half (marked down to $0.97!!), avocado mash, white queso, guacamole, crackers, two kinds of dips, several kinds of cheese, meatballs, chicken nuggets, tator tots, french fries, fish sticks, yogurt squeezies, applesauce cups, chicken broth, avocado oil spray, and frozen pizza.

Total for food at Costco: $395.59

8. Krispie Kreme

December 20 was Malachi’s 20th birthday. He and a bunch of his buddies spent the night at our house, and he requested donuts for breakfast. I didn’t get a photo of the whole crew, but I got this one when these two got home with the donuts.

Total for Malachi’s donuts: $14.99

9. Sam’s

On December 23, I braved the crowds and went to Sam’s for a few more Christmas food needs, everyday fruit and vegetable needs, and upcoming birthday meals. I got pasta sauce, apple sauce, hamburger meat, sliced cheese, shredded cheese, bacon, cucumbers, bananas, carrots, Caesar salad, mandarin oranges, spinach, veggie straws, coffee creamer, apples, brownie mix, cottage cheese, peanut butter, coffee, orange chicken, oatmeal, gluten free pizza, pickles, brown sugar, fruit strips, and coconut crisps.

Total for food at Sam’s: $310.19

10. Walmart

From Sam’s, I ran to the next parking lot for a few items at Walmart: lasagna noodles, gluten free nuggets, frozen hashbrowns, onion rings, ham, and fake oreos (for birthday brownies).

Total at $54.14

11. Cane’s

Our Christmas tradition has become: make Chicken Strips at home for Christmas lunch after opening gifts, and buy a big container of Raising Cane’s Sauce to go with the chicken. This makes for an easy meal for mom, a perfect meal to accommodate picky kids, and a special way to enjoy our family’s favorite sauce. I picked up a 32-ounce cup of sauce to put in our fridge for the big day.

Total for our Cane’s Sauce: $7.65

12. Arby’s Fries

Matt had some coupons in his wallet for $1 fries at Arby’s, limit 3. So we took advantage one day to treat the kids after an outing to the Children’s Museum.

Total for fries: $3.28

13. Walmart

On December 27, I went to Wal-Mart to check for Ham marked down after Christmas. I found some for $1/pound!! I picked up four, plus found hamburger meat ($3.34/pound) and ground chicken ($2.41/pound) marked down. I also needed Caesar salad, spring mix, and barbecue sauce so I grabbed those.

Total for food at Walmart: $101.77

14. Aldi

I went to Aldi that day also, getting fruit and veggie pouches for Auggie, fresh pineapple on sale, whole milk yogurt, and meat mark-downs. Two packages of boneless chicken thighs were marked down half-price making them just $1.75/pound. Two packages of boneless chicken tenderloins were half-price at $1.99/pound. Plus grass fed hamburger meat was on sale for $4.80/pound. Pork loin was on sale for $1.89/pound so I got one. It was a great meat day and our freezer got filled up!

Total at Aldi: $110.17

15. Wal-mart

Elias and Malorie went to a different Walmart a few days later and I couldn’t resist asking them to check for $0.50/pound hams. Sure enough, they had a bunch so they picked up four more hams for me. It’s hard to pass up such an amazing price for meat that gives us several meals or that will feed thirty people at a Sunday lunch!

Total for four spiral cut hams: $20.20

Total grocery spending for December: $1458

— > Without WIC, our total this month would have been closer to $1658. <—–

If you recall, at the beginning of this year, I decided to keep running totals of everything we spent on groceries each month. I also decided to increase our budget to $1,400/month for food because we feed so many people and my previous $1,200/month average was causing unnecessary stress.

We’ve had adults move in and out of our home all year long. Most of the year, we had 13 people living here, sometimes 14, and now there are 12.

Here’s the breakdown of what we ended up spending each month during 2024…

Summary/Average for groceries during 2024

January: $1,178
February: $849
March: $1,356
April: $1148
May: 1091
June: $1,121
July: $1,190
August: $1,611
September: $1,218
October: $1,345
November: $1,150
December: $1,458

Grand total for 2024: $14,715

That’s a lot of groceries. :)

Grocery Budget Plan for 2025

Watch for a post detailing what we’re planning to change and keep the same for our 2025 grocery budget!

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Easy Crock Pot Meals and Desserts

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Need Easy Crock Pot Meals and Desserts ideas?

I’ve found that lately, I’ve needed more crock pot meal ideas so that I can have our lunch or dinner ready when we plan to be out for the morning or afternoon.

Outings with these kids? They are a must. We’ve found that if we don’t keep our kids’ days very structured, the behaviors are a bigger struggle. Loading everyone up to use their energy in a productive way makes our days much better. It’s trickier in the cold weather months, but we find ways to still get out if possible.

We love the zoo, parks, children’s museum, and the library. We take walks, find ways to serve, and have lots of appointments.

I always pack snacks so that we don’t have as many hanger meltdowns while we are out. But always after any of these outings, we need lunch or dinner ready as soon as possible when we get home so we can sit right down and eat.

Easy Crock Pot Meals and DessertsYum

With all of this in mind, I needed an updated list of all of our crock pot meal, snack, and dessert ideas. I thought you might appreciate it too! So many meals can be made in the crock pot so that all we have to do is wash hands and eat when we get home from being out.

Keep this list handy. These meals are so helpful for so many reasons!

Also, fun fact: with our family becoming the large size that it is, I’ve found that often I have to move from a crock pot to our huge roaster! This is especially true when on Sundays when our adult kids come for lunch plus lots of guests!

And now the lists!

Main Dishes in the Crock Pot

  1. Simple Crock Pot Chicken Soup with a Kick
  2. Simple Creamy Chicken Stew in the Crock Pot
  3. Simple Hawaiian Crock Pot Chicken
  4. Simple Crock Pot BBQ Spareribs
  5. Simple Overnight Saucy Crock Pot Chicken
  6. Simple Overnight Melt-in-Your-Mouth Beef Roast
  7. Simple 3-Cheese Crock Pot Pasta
  8. Simple Crock Pot Shredded Ranch Chicken (for salad or tacos)
  9. Simple Crock Pot Pizza Casserole
  10. Simple Barbecue Beef Roast
  11. Simple Crock Pot Taco Pasta
  12. Simple Hawaiian Beef Roast
  13. Simple Hashbrown Casserole
  14. Simple Lasagna Casserole
  15. The Simplest White Chicken Chili
  16. Simple Crock Pot Applesauce BBQ Chicken
  17. Simple Three Cheese Spaghetti
  18. Simple Crock Pot Salsa Shredded Beef
  19. Easiest Beef Roast in the Instant Pot
  20. Simple One-Dish Chicken Florentine
  21. Simple Creamy Layered Enchiladas
  22. Simple Creamy Chicken Soup
  23. Simple Cheesy Salsa Chicken
  24. Simple Cheeseburger Noodle Crock Pot Dinner
  25. Simple Creamy Layered Enchiladas (Crock Pot or Oven)
  26. Simple 5-Minute Shredded Chicken
  27. Simple Crock Pot White Chicken Chili
  28. Simple Chili Mac
  29. Simple Crock Pot Creamy Stew Meat
  30. Simple 5-Minute Cheesy Hamburger and Potatoes
  31. Crock Pot Barbecue Chicken
  32. Breakfast Crock Pot Casserole
  33. Baked Potatoes in the Crock Pot
  34. Crock Pot Chicken Tacos
  35. Crock Pot Beef Stew
  36. Fiesta Chicken
  37. Creamy Crock Pot Chicken and Rice
  38. Italian Cream Cheese Chicken
  39. Turkey Sausage and Red Bean Stew
  40. 5-Minute Crock Pot Pasta
  41. Bacon in a Crock Pot
  42. Spicy Pasta Dinner
  43. The Easiest Pulled Pork
  44. Easy Ham and Potato Soup with a Kick
  45. Honey Glazed Pork Tenderloin or Pork Roast
  46. 5-Minute Crock Pot Chicken
  47. Taco Soup for a Crowd
  48. Make 5 Meals with 1 Pork Roast


Snacks and Side Dishes in the Crock Pot

  1. Hot Spinach and Artichoke Dip
  2. Calico Beans
  3. Crock Pot Mashed Potatoes
  4. Crock Pot Beans
  5. Hamburger Sauerkraut Dip
  6. Hamburger Cream Cheese Dip
  7. Apple Butter


I don’t often use these recipes in the winter, but in the summer, baking in a crock pot is fun!

Desserts in the Crock Pot

  1. Simple Crock Pot Chocolate Peanut Butter Lava Cake
  2. Crock Pot Cheesecake
  3. Crock Pot Chocolate Peanut Butter Pudding Cake
  4. Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Cake
  5. How to Bake a Cake in a Crock Pot
  6. Strawberry Shortcake in a Crock Pot

What are your favorite crock pot recipes?

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Big Family Food and Fun: December 22-28, 2024

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Here’s our Big Family Food and Fun: December 22-28, 2024 post!

Big Family Food and Fun: December 22-28, 2024

Saturday evening as we kicked off our Sabbath time of rest, I baked a pan of Crunchy Ranch Chicken that had been prepped ahead and in the freezer. The kids all love this chicken so they eat it well (something I can’t say about most main dishes). We served this with Tator Tots, Spinach, and Canned Pineapple – all super simple and fun! (And yes, this pan of chicken wasn’t enough for all of us, but we each had a little and filled up on the rest of the food.)

Sunday morning, I put an entire bag of frozen meatballs from Costco into two crock pots. I poured a jar of spaghetti sauce over one pot and barbecue sauce over the other. They cooked while we were at church. So easy!

We came home and set out fixings for Meatball Subs and Sliders with a variety of rolls/buns, sliced cheese, and banana peppers. This was a huge hit! I had leftover chips from Malachi’s birthday gathering last weekend, so I set those out too (which, of course, was all our little kids wanted to eat – a reminder of why I don’t serve chips very often, ha). Friends brought salad and a veggie tray, plus we had grapes and desserts.

28 of us gathered that day for this feast. Sundays are my favorite!!!!

One of our guests was a friend from our older boys’ childhood and he brought his girlfriend so we could meet her. These guys grew up playing soccer together and it was a beautiful day. So what did all the guys do after lunch? They headed to the yard to juggle a soccer ball. We gals hung in the living room with babies and visited. This was a delight.

Late in the afternoon, we gathered all of our kids plus the loaves of Apple Bread and Eggnog Bread that we had baked on Saturday so that we could deliver them to our neighbors for Christmas. The temps outside were amazing, making this outing extra fun.

We knocked on doors and had such a great time handing out loaves of Christmas Bread and visiting with neighbors.

One particular stop is always a favorite because these neighbors go ALL OUT with decorations. They invited us all inside to see their special Christmas displays. We stood and watched their train go around and around the tree for quite some time!

At one of our final stops, we discovered the most incredible porch swing of all time. Getting a picture of the kids on a moving swing is next to impossible, so here is the least blurry of all I attempted. :)

Back at home with lots of hungry kids, we warmed up leftover noodles and chicken from Malachi’s birthday dinner Chicken Alfredo night. Brayden requested mashed potatoes, which did sound good with the leftover chicken. So I quickly made some with instant mashed potatoes I’d gotten from Azure Standard to have on hand for meals like this.

Last week at Costco, I scored four quarts of half and half for just $0.97 each. They were marked down because they are close to expiring. So on Monday morning, I used some of it to make a really rich version of Warm Vanilla Soother. My goal was to get some good nourishment into Anna because she’d been sick and not eaten well for a week and a half. However, that morning, everyone liked this treat except for Anna. Boo.

Either way, we drew fun faces on plastic cups to enjoy our Warm Vanilla Soother, plus I made some sausage links.

The temperature was in the low 50s that day, so we headed to the zoo to play in their indoor play area with the Spider Monkeys. We were all so excited that the Red Pandas were out that day – a rare treat for sure!

The Red Pandas are the most adorable creatures at the zoo, and there were four out playing that day.

We made our way to the indoor play area, admired the monkeys – including a baby monkey – and then played hard on the climbing jungle for over an hour.

We put coats back on and went to visit the giraffes before heading home.

I had put Hearty Bean Casserole in a crock pot before we left so that we’d have lunch ready right when we walked in the door. I was so glad I had done this because everyone had played hard and was hungry when we got back. We sliced apples to eat with our beans and everything tasted extra good after our morning outing.

I put Auggie down for a nap, then headed to Sam’s and Walmart. I did not want to join the crazy crowds at the store on December 23, but I needed to seize my opportunity to pick up a few more needed items for Christmas and upcoming birthdays. Oy, having THREE birthdays in our family between December 20 and 29 adds a lot to the holiday season. I wanted to be sure our birthday babes felt celebrated.

So I got all the food needed to meet their birthday meal requests, plus got more fruits and veggies to fill everyone’s bellies throughout Christmas break.

Back at home, Kelsey and Little Sweetheart had come over to help Matt with all the kids. The boys played outside while three of the girls had fun playing a game at the table with Kelsey. So sweet!

My final stop on the way home from shopping was Raising Cane’s for a huge cup of sauce for our Christmas dinner. :) I texted this picture to all of the adults in the family, letting them know that I’d acquired the sauce, so Christmas could now happen. (We started this tradition last year, eating Chicken Strips with our favorite Cane’s sauce for lunch after we open gifts. It’s fun, easy, and a great way to feed this many people, especially picky kids on a special day.)

For dinner Monday night, I made 18 mini hamburgers with pre-made patties I’d picked up marked down at Sam’s that day. We ate them with fries and pickles, making for a simple meal before watching a Christmas movie that night.

Just as we were settling into the living room for our movie, our neighbor dropped by with a gift for the kids. SO SWEET.

Christmas Eve day was a bit nuts all morning and early afternoon because the kids were so anxious for Christmas! We tried to keep the kids occupied in good ways so that they didn’t eat each other, oy.

I had picked up small items for Matt for Christmas, so I called the kids in one at a time to each wrap a present for Daddy to put under the tree.

They worked together to set up School in the pantry and played for a while. But as it turns out, having your 9-year-old sister for a teacher isn’t as much fun as one would think. ;) Nor is being a 9-year-old teacher to students who are also your siblings and who also don’t want to gather around you for Circle Time. So…

I called off school and invited everyone into the dining room to frost and decorate a cookie. We’d rolled, cut, and baked these a couple of weeks ago, then froze them for Christmas time. With the big mess out of the way, it was great to simply hand everyone a knife with frosting and a few sprinkles and let them enjoy their cookie. I have yet to taste a sugar cookie as good as Cream Cheese Cut-Out Cookies. So good.

After this, we got everyone dressed and ready for our Christmas Eve Candle Light service at Heartlands church.

We came home to a simple but special dinner of Nachos with Apples and Martinelli’s (sparkling apple cider).

After we got the kids to bed that night, Matt and I got the living room all set up for Christmas morning.

We had Egg Casserole for breakfast on Christmas morning with Monkey Bread that our neighbor made plus fresh fruit.

Justus, Kelsey, and Little Sweetheart arrived a little before 8:00. We wished our housemate/friend Kermit a Merry Christmas before sending him off to visit family for a few days.

Asa, Eva, and Arrow joined us a while later, plus our friend Kayla. (Elias and Malorie were visiting her family in TX so we FaceTimed them later.) The morning was crazy and fun as we opened gifts.

These three were very proud of their new dresses, hats, and gloves. :)

With this many people, opening gifts and stockings took all morning long.

Keith has been wanting roller skates since our time skating with family in Kansas in November. When he opened his gift, he put these on and skated throughout the house most of the day.

It was beyond awesome to have our two grandbabies with us for their first Christmas!

We enjoyed our second annual tradition for Christmas lunch: Chicken Strips with Cane’s Sauce. It’s the simplest, allowing us to eat something fun without having to work so that we can continue to enjoy our time together. We had chips and dips from Costco, plus veggies and cookies.

During the afternoon, we turned on a movie for the kids so that the adults could play a game together. It was the first time in several years that Matt and I actually got to enjoy game time with our grown kids!!

We’d surprised them with decks of the game Jibber Jabble in their stockings – a game created by a friend of ours. We had SO MUCH FUN playing this for over two hours! It was super cool knowing that our kids grew up with the creator of this game. And truly, what a great group game. Check it out here.

Later, Asa and Malachi spent a long time putting together our big family gift: a ping pong table. We’ve been wanting to put one in the basement for a while and this Christmas the time was right. Everyone is pretty excited about this!

The rest of us hung out with babies and kids while the ping pong table construction was underway.

Dinner that night was more of the same from previous meals, with Little Smokies, Cheese and Crackers, and Pickles added to the mix. The entire days’ food was super simple and fun.

Kiya was excited to try out her new Dominos game, so Eva and I played with her and taught Brayden and Anna to play also.

Thursday morning we were all feeling the let down after the Christmas hype, so some of the kids’ behaviors were pretty challenging. We took them to the Children’s Museum to burn off some energy.

Eva and Arrow met us there for a while. Auggie, as the much older kid, decided that he needed to explain some of the features of the museum to Arrow.

On our way home, Matt surprised the kids with a rare drive through to Arby’s. He had a coupon for three $1.00 fries so we took those home to share with our lunch. Meanwhile, I texted Malachi to please warm up leftover chicken so that it would be ready to feed hungry kids when we got back.

I got out spinach to offer some sort of nourishment with this meal. Everyone had about five fries, haha. It was still a treat for them that they appreciated.

Late that afternoon, some of the kids played school while others hung out in the basement trying to learn to play ping pong. On skates. ;)

For dinner that night, I made a big pot of spaghetti sauce with boiled noodles, green beans, and corn. I also warmed up some leftover Alfredo sauce with chicken for those who wanted white sauce on their noodles.

After dinner, I used the rest of the red sauce to put together a huge Lasagna for our Sunday lunch. We will celebrate Brayden and Auggie’s birthdays that day, and this meal was Brayden’s request.

We got the kids ready for bed, knowing that soon, Elias and Malorie would be back from their trip to TX to see Malorie’s family. There was a lot of excitement when they walked into the room!

We had some present time with Elias and Malorie since they’d missed our Christmas gathering the day before. Then Malachi took the girls for a ride through the living room before we headed upstairs to tuck everyone in. :)

Friday morning, I remembered that this time last year, I’d gotten ham marked down to $0.50/pound post-Christmas. Matt was SUPER DAD and took care of all seven kids by himself while I ran out to see if I could score the same deal. Indeed, spiral cut hams were marked down. They were $1.00/pound instead of $0.50/pound, but I wasn’t going to complain. I grabbed four then went to see what else I could find.

I picked up ground chicken for $2.51/pound (to make Chicken Cheeseballs) and hamburger meat for $3.34/pound. I also ran to Aldi to get fruit/veggie pouches for Auggie and got some meat deals there too!

Back at home, everyone had shoes on and we loaded up to drive 30-minutes to visit our dear friend, Elina. The kids ate bananas, applesauce, and cheese sticks all the way there. We got to meet several of her friends and some people who work with her each day. Then we gave her the Christmas gift we’d brought.

Elina’s friend was kind enough to take a picture of all of us together.

Back at home, Brayden put together a Caesar salad for us, which we ate with leftover chicken and Banana Muffins.

The afternoon was spent playing and cleaning. Matt turned a table over to repair it and had lots of help.

Dinner that night was Grilled Cheese Sandwiches with Tomato Soup and Clementines.

Then we gathered in the living room to work on a fun craft that Malorie’s mom had sent back for the kids as a Christmas gift. So fun!

Saturday morning, I put a Melt-in-your-Mouth Beef Roast into the crock pot for our dinner plus got Crock Pot Mashed Potatoes started.

The rest of the morning was spent getting ready for sitters to come hang out with the kids so that Matt and I could spend the entire afternoon with all of our adult kids at Justus and Kelsey’s. This was much needed and our sitters were so awesome to do this for us. I’ll share more about this next week!

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Merry Christmas 2024 from the Coppinger Family!

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From our house to yours…

Merry, Merry Christmas!

John 1:1-5

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  He was with God in the beginning.  Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.  In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

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Big Family Food and Fun: December 15-21, 2024

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Here’s our Big Family Food and Fun: December 15-21, 2024 post!

Big Family Food and Fun: December 15-21, 2024

Saturday evening, as part of our Sabbath time of delight, we took the kids out to look at Christmas lights before bed.

Sunday morning, we ate a plate of Breakfast Cookies into Bars that I’d made a few days before.

Pop got to snuggle a sleepy Little Sweetheart during worship time that morning. Anna wasn’t feeling well, poor thing.

We had an amazing full house for lunch that day with 29 of us altogether. I had made a large roaster full of Spicy Ham and Potato Soup last Friday, and simply rewarmed it (with the help of Kelsey who got to the house after church before we did that day). Some friends who joined us brought food also and we had a feast with soup, salads, breads, chips, fruit, and cakes.

I love it when the dining room and the living room tables are full of dear ones.

We had an extra special “Pigmas Party” at Heartlands church that night! It was reverse of the Christmas in July idea with a…Barbecue in December! One church member smoked a bunch of pulled pork for all of us (it was amazing!). Everyone brought desserts. It was a wonderful time of fellowship.

There was an ugly sweater contest and I was definitely in the running with my hideous flamingo sweater with matching (um, clashing) earrings and hair bows!

The kids had fun trying on items from the photo booth.

The evening ended with Justus and two friends entertaining us with some fun Christmas music.

Monday morning, I scrambled a dozen eggs and warmed up bacon I’d baked last week. I got out a jar of Smoothie I’d made the day before for Matt and me.

While the kids were playing that morning, Auggie found Keith’s Husker helmet. It weighed him down, so he didn’t wear it for long. But he did wear it proudly. :)

I wrapped presents that afternoon while drinking cold coffee with cream to power me through. :)

I had to take Keith to an appointment after school, so I got dinner out before I left to make dinnertime easier for Matt, Elias, and Malorie. I had two Quiche (or is it quiches? nope, I looked it up. quiche.) in the freezer from a previous meal, so Matt warmed up individual pieces in our air fryer and it tasted great!

—> By the way, I’d intentionally made extra Quiche a few weeks ago, knowing I’d have leftovers to freeze. If I’m going to get out ingredients to make one meal, I might as well make double the food using the same amount of effort, right? Having pre-made food in the freezer like this saves me on busy nights! <—

With the Quiche, we had Spinach with salad dressing, Oranges, and Pears.

MONDAY NIGHT FUN:

As we were finishing dinner that night, Matt discovered (…wait for it…) a squirrel in our pantry.

We have no idea how it got into our house, though our neighbors had told us they had a similar thing happen a few weeks ago. WHAT?

Have you ever tried keeping seven trauma-kids calm while there’s a squirrel in the pantry? Well.

Malorie helped me keep the kids occupied in the kitchen, dining room, or living room while Elias and Matt did everything they could to trap the squirrel, then set it free outside. It was not an easy task, but there were enticing peanuts involved.

All that to say, getting everyone settled in for the night wasn’t easy (as if it ever is easy?!).

Oy. But there’s more.

Tuesday morning, I had to get Auggie to Speech Therapy in the midst of getting the other kids off to school, so we had a simple breakfast of Yogurt with Granola. I also set out the Pancake Sausage Muffins I’d made last week (that failed to rise) for any of the kids who wanted those. Meanwhile, Kiya made herself a ham sandwich with spinach for lunch and I drank my morning smoothie.

ALSO DURING BREAKFAST

Elias usually leaves for work around 7:20 but walked out and came right back into the house announcing that his car had locked him out somehow. Did I mention that his car was running?!

Our extra car isn’t running right now so I was no help because I needed to van for Auggie’s appointment. So he quickly grabbed Malorie’s keys and took her car (later Malorie took his car to work). He made it to work just in time.

Matt watched a YouTube video in an effort to learn how to break into a car (hahahaha). But he isn’t burglar enough, so it didn’t work. He finally gave in and called a locksmith who had it unlocked very quickly once he arrived. I texted this picture to Elias, letting him know that an hour and twenty minutes later, his car (that had been running that entire time) had most definitely defrosted and was nice and warm.

And then I texted Elias that between the kids’ frequently challenging behavior/needs, the squirrel in our pantry last night, and the hubbub of the morning with the car situation – if we hadn’t scared Malorie off by now, ain’t nothing going to scare her off.

Malorie is a keeper.

All of that was before 8:25, in which I was also trying to get kids ready and off to school plus get Auggie ready to leave for Speech Therapy. Arriving at the clinic with Auggie felt like a vacation for me.

This is his third week, so he warmed up to his therapist much more quickly this morning and was ready to play!

After therapy, he got to pick a sticker. I kid you not, look at what Auggie innocently picked out:

I texted the above picture to Matt, Elias, and Malorie saying,

Of all the stickers Auggie could pick after therapy today, he chose this one. Too soon, buddy, too soon.

PHEW.

Back at home, we worked together to get the girls ready for school. Bubble braids for the win!

Anna still wasn’t feeling well and it had affected her appetite. Mac and Cheese sounded good to her so I made some for the kids’ lunch before the bus came. But, silly as it might sound, I cried when I made it.

Our Bonus Buddy moved out a few weeks ago and we miss him terribly. Mac and cheese is one of the few foods he likes, so I haven’t brought myself to make it since he left. Ugh. Silly mac and cheese. Salted with tears.

We got two out of three little girls on the bus and I tucked Anna and Auggie (and Little Sweetheart, who was hanging with us that morning) in for naps. I took a minute to breathe, then scrubbed potatoes and put them into a crock pot for dinner.

After school, I picked up the three elementary kids and we headed to our weekly Food Distribution site to hand out food and help clean up. At the very end of our time, Keith helped Mr. Jim scrub spots on the carpet.

When we got home, we enjoyed Baked Potatoes with Bacon and Cheese, plus Caesar Salad.

As we finished feeding the kids, Kelsey texted to let us know that some Christmas Carolers might be stopping by. We got the kids ready to meet them outside, not knowing exactly who would be coming. It turned out to be Justus and Kelsey plus two friends we’ve been getting to know and love. Auggie immediately made himself a part of the group. :) I was only able to take a fuzzy picture through my tears. It was so beautiful and precious to be loved on by these four dear ones.

Wednesday, I spent the morning cleaning out two different rooms because when there are this many people living in a house, clutter is not welcome and makes me a little bit crazy. Somewhere during the morning, I found a few chap sticks. So Josie helped Auggie put some on.

Acacia and Josie got a present from their teacher at school that day, and the best place to unwrap it was in the doorway of the kitchen on the floor.

Josie, who apparently didn’t need to take her coat off all day, helped me make salad for dinner that night.

We ate our salad with all the random leftovers we pulled out of our fridge.

Then we loaded up our van with everyone who lives at our house to enjoy a Drive Through Christmas Show. With 12 people in a 12-passenger van that is 9′ tall, we maxed out the limits for who could drive through on one purchased vehicle ticket (12 people with a 10′ height limit, phew).

We got to drive through twice, making it a great outing!

Back at home and ready for bed, Daddy read one of the girls’ new books that their teacher had given them as a gift.

Thursday morning I baked 16 eggs and made 16 Breakfast Sandwiches. Keith helped me stir up the eggs.

We took the four youngest kids to Costco that morning to get stocked up on regular groceries plus everything we needed for Christmas. For a Thursday, we were shocked at how busy Costco was. If it’s that busy on a weekday six days before Christmas, we sure are glad we didn’t wait to go any closer to the 25th!

For dinner that night, we had a double batch of Hearty Bean Casserole with a peeled 3-pound bag of Clementines and Buttered Rolls. It was a super simple meal and everyone gobbled it up.

Friday was Malachi’s 20th birthday! A bunch of his friends came to the Castle Thursday night and they spent the night and day here. It was marvelous.

That morning, I put Chicken Thighs into a crock pot with Italian dressing to slow cook all day for our dinner that night.

Malachi and his friend Allan were the first ones up Friday morning, so they went out to get birthday donuts for the crew. (I vowed to take pictures of all the guys later and got exactly none. Boo.)

Mid-morning, Matt and I took the youngest four kids to the WIC clinic for an appointment.

For the first time ever, Josie and Acacia confidently allowed the nurse to weigh and measure them.

Acacia is barely on the charts for her height (2nd percentile). We call this high spirited girl Tiny-but-Mighty. That’s our Acacia.

Back at home, Justus had dropped Little Sweetheart off with Malorie.

Then Eva dropped off Arrow a few minutes later.

Acacia took over their care until the preschool bus came. :)

That evening, everyone gathered to celebrate Malachi’s birthday. He had requested Chicken Alfredo. I shredded the chicken that had been slow cooking all day, boiled two pounds of noodles, steamed broccoli, made salad, and warmed up a jar of red sauce for those who didn’t want Alfredo. I also set out some fruit to stretch the meal.

 

Malachi’s birthday dessert request was Butterscotch Bars – a family favorite. With the extreme busyness of the week, I was so thankful I had some baked, cut, and already in the freezer! We passed the plate of bars around the table, but first, Malachi blew out his birthday candle.

After dinner the mamas and daddies took their babies home for bed and I put on a Christmas movie for the kids. The rest of the grown ups (and Brayden!) worked upstairs to move and set up furniture. Matt has been working during every free moment of the past few months to redo the boys’ room ceiling. It’s been a major project and the boys have been displaced in the meantime. We are so thankful they can move back into their room! Here the guys are, rebuilding the bunk bed.

Saturday, we spent time cleaning and regrouping after the bedroom transition the night before. The girls also helped me get some baking done so we can deliver goodies to our neighbors!

I loved that all the little girls wanted to help me sweep. Ugh, check out the window blinds that are broken (and there are more not pictured in this photo). This is the room the boys lived in while Matt was repairing theirs. Wayyyyy too many of the blinds got messed up thanks to ADHD and whatever else has yet to be diagnosed. :)

Here’s the final product of our morning baking adventures. We made five loaves of Apple Bread and five loaves of Eggnog Bread. (In case you click over to get this fun recipe, you should know that I cheated and used store-bought eggnog.) We plan to put these loaves in a clear bag and tie them with ribbon, then walk through our neighborhood handing them out.

The rest of the day was spent doing more cleaning, giving baths, getting haircuts, and getting ready for our Sabbath rest. And that was our week!

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Our Christmas Brunch gift for you!

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Here’s your Christmas Brunch gift! WE LOVE YOU!

This year, our family has been learning more about what it means to DELIGHT. Delight in each other, delight in the quiet with Jesus, delight in each bite of food we take, delight in community, delight in worship…

It’s been, well, delightful.

With this word at the forefront of my mind, as I was creating the gift I wanted to give all of you this year, I realized that our Christmas Brunch together has been just that: delightful.

Beyond the fellowship and the food, recognizing that the LIGHT of Jesus makes everything in life – even the hard parts – absolutely delightful.

Your Gift

We put this little book for you. Not only does it include all of the recipes we enjoyed during our 2024 Christmas Brunch, we added a few extras too. And, the best part: A Delightful Devotional for you and your dear ones to enjoy.

This devotional section of the book will walk you through spending time reflecting on the past 12 months and how God’s light radiated into every part – yes even and especially in the challenges.

I’m so thankful for all of you. I love that you regularly send me encouragement – I need it. The community built together here is one of a kind, and I thank you for the gift you are to me.

You are a delight.

To enjoy your Delightful Christmas Brunch eBook, simply click on the link below and it’ll be yours. God bless you with a very Merry Christmas!

Get your free gift here.

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