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

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

Before I share about our week, I have to tell you about the end of last week. :)

Saturday, the 13th, we had BIG PLANS. First, I made Crunchy Ranch Chicken with Steamed Broccoli for lunch. But because of our big plans, no one cared much about lunch. (But we did need to eat…)

Two wonderful couples and their kids blocked out the day to come stay with our seven littles. Praise God for such caring friends!

Then Matt and I, along with Asa and Eva, Justus and Kelsey, Elias, Malachi, and our friends Ricky and Cooper climbed into our big van to head to Kansas City for the day.

First stop: IKEA to pick up a crib for Asa and Eva’s baby. :)

Next stop: BBQ. Because when you go to KC you have to eat BBQ.

But the real reason we went to Kansas City: To watch MESSI play soccer.

Now. If you don’t know who Messi is, that’s ok. We can still be friends. Messi is THE BEST SOCCER PLAYER IN THE WORLD. He was coming to play just three hours from us, so we had to make it happen to go see this game.

It was truly incredible – the entire experience. I’m so thankful for the people who stayed with our kids so that we could make this happen.

So what if we didn’t get home until after 2:00 in the morning?? Yikes.

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

If you can believe it, all of our little kids woke up at their normal time on Sunday morning, ha. Four hours of sleep was not enough. But it was all worth it for this great experience.

We had a huge day ahead of us, so after some coffee and eye drops, we trudged on. :) Keith had his actual first soccer game (the first two got rained out; third time’s a charm) so before heading to church I packed food so that we could eat after church instead of driving all the way home and then driving all the way back.

Some friends joined us at the park, making 15 of us altogether.

We had Sub Sandwiches with Sliced Oranges, Sweet Peppers, Cucumbers, Carrots, and Chips. REMIND ME not to buy the fun individual bags of chips anymore. They were on sale and I thought it would be fun, which is was. But of course the kids only wanted Doritos and getting them to eat anything else was a fight. Who can blame them??

I’m not sure if you can see the little yellow butterfly in this photo. But Josie spotted it and had a marvelous time trying to catch it. :)

One poop diaper change later, we loaded back up and headed to Keith’s game. Would you look at that? He has two of the best coaches around. (How fun to have older brothers who are willing to be your soccer coach!)

Oh, and as it turns out, at this level, if you are a coach, you also get to be a referee. :) Check out that cutie in the orange socks!

The rest of us tried not to get sunburned on the sidelines and I guess it goes without saying that Keith’s cheering committee was rather large that day.

We got home and cooled off in front of the TV with Phineas and Ferb for a little while so that we could recover from our huge weekend. Our friends Ricky and Cooper would be heading back to Texas the next morning so we wanted to gather one more time for a meal together with them that night.

I asked Justus and Kelsey to pick up two Rotisserie Chickens from Sam’s before coming over and I would make some sides. But guess what? Sam’s had NO rotisserie chickens that night. Yikes. Last minute Plan B!!

I directed Justus to the refrigerator section of the store to get some Smoked Sausage that he could quickly grill for us. Meanwhile, I warmed some frozen Meatballs for the kids got them fed while the sausages cooked. We had Salad, Strawberries, Broccoli, and 10-Minute Mac and Cheese with our meat.

We all went to bed early Sunday night and felt much more rested on Monday morning. :) Also on Monday morning? I needed to face this laundry pile. After such a big weekend, I was very behind. This wasn’t even all of it as we still needed to strip beds and gather clothes baskets from the kids’ rooms. :)

I started a load, then Eva came over so Keith and I headed to help set up food at the Food Distribution site. He discovered a pull toy so I loaded it with some of the items we needed to carry to a table because this was a MUCH better way to haul the food. :)

Also, note that this soccer player is still wearing his jersey from Sunday. He was so very excited about it and wanted to show the ladies he sees every Monday at Food Distribution. They oooed and awwed over it appropriately. Then I told him he had to put on clean clothes before the school bus came to pick him up later. :)

Back at home, Justus had come over to smoke a Pork Loin that he was making to share with a few families. Keith helped him prepare the spices.

We spent a lot of time outside that afternoon enjoying the sunshine. These curls tho…

Kiya got to be a part of a Craft Club on Mondays after school this semester. She brought home some clay this time and was sweet enough to share it with her sisters. They had their own little Craft Club at the picnic tables while I finished making dinner.

Meanwhile, Elias and Brayden were having some Bro Time, playing a fancy game of Uno.

Dinner that night was very simple because my brain and body had not yet caught up on rest from all the work and planning it took to execute our fun weekend. I grilled Salmon Burgers that I had tucked away in the freezer from Costco, air fried some French Fries, and got out a jar of Pickles. Do pickles count as a vegetable?? ;)

Here’s how I kept the Salmon Burgers warm after I brought them in. A large cooking pot worked as a great cover for the plate!

Tuesday morning I made a double batch of Peanut Butter Honey Puffs for all of us to snack on as needed.

I used some of the awesome chicken thighs I’d picked up on sale last week to get prepped for dinner that night and for another meal in the future. I put the amount of chicken we needed for that night’s meal into a pot and dumped on some Creamy Italian Dressing I had in the pantry. Then I put the rest into a small crock pot with some Salsa to slow cook all day.

It had rained quite a bit but we were able to go outside later in the morning. Our neighbors are awesome and all of the kids between our house and two other houses play in each other’s yards as if they are our own. That morning, we enjoyed our neighbor’s trampoline. I caught the girls giggling while playing ring-around-the-rosie. Indeed, they did all fall down. :)

The kids didn’t want to come inside, which was fine by us. While we were playing, a friend we hadn’t seen in a while stopped by for a hug. :) Matt and Keith walked to the corner to watch a tree get removed that had fallen in the night. Late morning I took a tray of snacky-lunch outside to eat before the preschool bus came for Keith and Anna.

That afternoon I smoked the chicken that I’d marinated in Creamy Italian Dressing. Brayden, Kiya, and I went to hand out food at the Food Distribution site, so at mealtime, Elias made a salad to go with our meat.

We came home with some treasures from Food Distribution that day.

Bedtime is always a loud and crazy ordeal with this many (tired) littles. I loved being able to capture this calm and quiet moment with Daddy and some of the kids after teeth were brushed and Acacia’s brace put in place.

Brayden saw what Daddy did and wanted to get in on the action. So he had an easel set up with his favorite train book to share with Keith when he came in.

Wednesday morning we took about a hundred years to get our shoes on so that we could go to Walmart to pick up diapers for someone and to get a few items to celebrate Kelsey’s birthday.

BabyBoy#11 has been making progress with his OT and Speech Pathologist so he hasn’t puked in a while. BUT. When I fed him a little snack that should have dissolved in his mouth while we were shopping, well. Let’s just say we needed a lot of paper towels and baby wipes. Poor guy.

Of course, the other four kids sat calmly in the carts while we were cleaning it up. (bahahaha.)

Anyway, people around us were helpful and we made it to check out and home all in one piece.

I made a big pot of Ham and Potato Soup for dinner that night (which was supposed to have been started earlier in the day in the crock pot but I could never get around to it).

One of our kids had my phone for a Zoom call with the therapist during dinner-prep time so this is the only other picture I was able to take of our food that night. I cut up strawberries and whipped some cream plus cut up a watermelon. Then I packaged up soup and fruit to go deliver to a family with a new baby. :)

Thursday morning we ate Toasted Bagels or Bread with Bananas. I made a “blender full of salad” for Matt and me. :)

Matt and Malachi headed to York to work for the day, leaving Elias and our friend Malorie here to help me with the kids. We had signed up to take Frosted Brownies to a potluck on Sunday so the girls and I put those together to bake.

I snapped this shot of Anna getting on the bus at noon. Note that she is wearing her bath robe as a jacket. There was no convincing her to exchange it for an actual jacket. We fight enough actual battles with the kids that I definitely didn’t feel that this was a battle to fight. You want to wear your bathrobe to school? It will be just as warm as a jacket? Alrighty. See you after school!

And speaking of after school, she and her bathrobe barely made it off the bus because of the fun and exhaustion. :)

Malorie and the kids spent some time drawing while we waited for dinner to cook.

What was dinner, you ask? Elias and Brayden had spent some Bro Time putting together Smoked Queso for us to eat. We ate it with cold watermelon on the side and it was TASTY.

They also made a pan of Oreo Brownies as a treat after dinner.

I found a minute to cut the big pan of brownies I’d made earlier in the day to freeze and take to the potluck on Sunday.

Friday afternoon while we played outside, BabyBoy#11 got some walking practice in.

I made a pan of Stick of Butter Rice then got out the Salsa Chicken I’d made earlier in the week to make 24 of these Burritos for the freezer.

We warmed up leftovers for dinner.

Before bed, we played outside. It got a little bit chilly so Daddy got the fire pit going for a few minutes. Everyone LOVED this.

Our Bonus Boy (former foster son and half-sibling to some of our kids) came to visit for the weekend. We all love it when he comes. He and Keith are only 6-weeks apart and BFF.

Saturday morning we took all the kids to the zoo for a couple of hours.

We went during lunch time so I’d given them a snack of applesauce and pretzels before leaving. Then we ate a snack of milk, cookies, and cheese while we were there.

We came home and had a late lunch of leftover Smoked Queso, Olives, and Fruit for lunch.

Dinner that night was leftover Smoked Chicken and Smoked Sausages from the week. Plus I made several boxes of Mac and Cheese (one of the only foods Bonus Boy likes) and a bowl of Salad.

And that was our week!

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Summer School at Home

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IT’S HERE!

Our Summer School at Home Curriculum is ready for you to grab and enjoy!

But first, the WHY.

There are always many practical and spiritual reasons that I do what I do and create what I create. This particular big project idea came about because:

Summer is coming and…

  1. We want our kids to learn more about thinking of others, serving others, and showing love and care to others.
  2. We want our kids to stay on track academically. If we aren’t intentional about keeping their noses in good books they might back-track and struggle when school starts up again in the fall. Plus we want to focus on teaching life skills like how to read a recipe and shop on a budget. ;)
  3. We want to provide a lot of fun activities for our kids this summer that don’t involve screens.

Also – some of our kids really need what Summer School offers, but our kids’ school isn’t offering it for all ages as we assumed that it would. No problem! I got an idea for how our family could keep our kids’ learning alive throughout the summer. Then, the ideas exploded so my family plans turned into an entire, shareable curriculum!

Summer School at Home

Summer School at Home Toolbox is overflowing with incredibly fun ideas and resources!

The best part is…ok…two best parts. Fine. THREE.

Best Part#1: The kids really won’t know that they are actually learning. Summer School at Home is not really like school at all. No doubt – your kids will be learning. But this particular learning will look to your kids like cool projects, crafts, activities, outings, and picnics – all with intentional learning aspects that won’t hurt even a little bit. It’ll all just feel like a really amazing summer break to them!

Best Part #2: Many of the ideas in each of the folders overlap with ideas in the other folders. For instance, the Math Pack shares an idea for setting a budget as you decide on what picnic food to make, and you can use recipes from the Cooking Corner to make your picnic. Then you can take your picnic somewhere as suggested in the Investigation Station and follow all of it up by journaling about it with a fun template in the Writing Tools packet. Just do some of it, or do it all – whatever works for your family!

You can use ideas from the Craft Kit along with the Serving Suggestions. The Math Pack will direct you to double recipes and divide cookies using recipes from the Cooking Corner. There are some really cool ways to get your kids excited about reading in the Reading Nook. And guess what else???

Best Part #3: None of this is hard for the parents. If these activities were difficult, WOULD I BE DOING THEM?? Goodness no. What in the world?

Summer School at Home Parent Guide

I put together a helpful binder to highlight some of what you’ll be receiving in this curriculum: Summer School at Home Parent Guide. <— open it up to see how this works!

Get all the info you need when you click here to open up a small eBooklet that tells you more about what the Summer School at Home Toolbox includes. BONUS: You will love how affordable all of this is!

What ages and grade levels does this cover?

This curriculum is very adaptable so you can make it work for all ages and academic learning levels through middle school. At our house, I foresee that our kids ages 4, 5, 8, and 10 will get the most from this with our 2 and 3-year-olds tagging along and being very engaged with the activities too. Our 1-year-old will come along for the ride, of course. He’ll love all the outings, playtime, and sunshine.

How can I get the Summer School at Home?

Summer School at Home is available in our Club Membership Portal now!

We felt that it didn’t make sense to offer this as a stand alone package in our shop because of all the other curriculum, printables, cookbooks, and other resources already available to Club Members. Since we’re adding it to our Membership Site, you’ll be able to utilize our full collection of items (worth $1,000s) for your kids and family while you enjoy Summer School at Home. There’s so much here that it’ll truly amaze and excite you!

Join now and get a head start looking through all your family can do this summer. You are going to love this! 

Let me know if you have questions. :)

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: April 7-13, 2024

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

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

We planned to stay after church on Sunday to enjoy a Focus Group meeting as our church family prayerfully considers our mission and vision and how to grow faithfully in the direction God wants us to grow. After the meeting, Keith had a soccer game. So we needed to pack a lunch, snacks, soccer gear, jackets, and oh yeah, don’t forget to pack the kids. :)

The day before, I had put together a 10″x15″ casserole dish full of  Simple Egg Casserole so that I could easily slide it into the oven to bake before leaving for church.

Once it came out of the oven, I cut it into 20 pieces and put it into a crock pot so we could plug it in at church to stay hot for our lunch.

This plan worked great and after church we ate our Casserole with Banana Muffins, Applesauce, and a couple of Pound Cakes we’d been given at last week’s Food Distribution.

Childcare was provided for us during our Focus Group meeting and the kids played hard with their friends. And what about Keith’s soccer game? Ugh. It had been rained out…again. Maybe, maybe he’ll have his first soccer game by the time his third scheduled game rolls around?!

We drove by his soccer field to at least show him where he’d be playing, then we headed home. Some of us couldn’t keep our eyes open.

Later that afternoon, our friend Paula dropped off school lunches for the week and Acacia used all her muscles to drag them into the pantry for me. :)

I made a simple dinner of Chicken Strips and Popcorn Chicken with Fries and Buttered Peas.

When I was cleaning the kitchen that evening and writing tomorrow’s menu on our white board, Anna wanted to practice writing her name. Look at what a great job she is doing!!

We assigned some clean up chores to the kids before bed. Keith used his skateboard to help pick up toys and drive them to the playroom for the night. :)

Monday morning our friend Caitlyn came over to help me all day so that Matt and Elias could go to York and work on a house we’re trying to finish and put on the market. She was amazing and the kids and I loved spending the day with her.

It was beautiful outside that day so we spent a lot of time playing in the fresh air and sunshine.

For dinner that night, I made Spaghetti with Sauce, Meatballs, and Green Beans.

This meal is a huge hit with all the kids. Pasta is one of my least favorites, but I will be making it more often because all the kids eat it very well. I like it when the kids eat well. ;)

Monday we finished off the Banana Muffins along with Scrambled Cheesy Eggs and Apples.

We had almost no fresh fruit or veggies in the house, plus BabyBoy#11 was getting low on his special Pediasure drinks. So after we got Brayden and Kiya off to school, we loaded up the other five and headed to the store to get some WIC items. (Side note, speaking of BabyBoy#11! On Monday I was able to get him to eat five tiny bites of a peach – a huge break through!)

Matt dropped Anna, Acacia, and me off at Walmart, then he took the other three kids to Great Clips so Keith could get a hair cut.

This handsome boy greeted us when we met back up after hair cut and shopping!

That afternoon, Brayden, Kiya, and I went to our weekly Food Distribution to help hand out food to people in the community.

I had made a big bowl of Tuna Salad beforehand. When we got home, I cut up two pounds of strawberries and whipped some cream. It was a super simple meal, but we all loved it.

Malachi surprised us by stopping over and he took kids outside to skateboard for a while. :)

Wednesday morning we had big plans to get Brayden and Kiya off to school, and then Matt, Elias, Acacia, Josie, and BabyBoy#11 off to York. So we just pulled out cereal and fruit for breakfast.

Acacia and Josie were so excited to spend the day at their beloved Emma’s house that when I told them to load up they RAN to the door!

That left just Anna, Keith, and me for the morning. We read some books then Keith had a therapy appointment.

Before the bus arrived, Keith wanted an apple and was excited to try cutting it himself with the special apple cutter.

I had three and a half glorious hours of quiet that afternoon while everyone was away. Thank you, God, for providing what we need!

Once Brayden, Kiya, Keith, and Anna were all home from school we played outside while I grilled burgers for dinner. Brayden practiced his ukulele and everyone enjoyed the concert. :)

Friends were coming over for dinner that night so to go with our Burgers I made Baked Beans and Stir Fry.

When I brought the burgers in from the smoker, I put them into a crock pot to keep them warm.

I cut up 2-pounds of strawberries and whipped some cream to go with two pound cakes for dessert.

Thursday morning I used the leftover hamburger buns to make Breakfast Sandwiches. I cheated and cooked browned sausage right in the eggs and cheese. This worked great for the sandwiches!

I was hoping to get ahead a little bit that morning so I made a double batch of Bran Muffins, made Stick of Butter Rice, and browned three pounds of hamburger meat.

Some friends were coming with their homeschool group to the Lincoln Zoo for the day so we packed up some food to meet them there. I buttered some of the hot muffins to take and they were melty and good when it was time to each later!

With this many kids, I’ve decided that I no longer care if the baby’s socks match so long as he’s actually wearing socks. :)

Not only did we get to see several friends we don’t see very often, we got to enjoy watching the penguins get fed that day.

 

Afterward, our friends came over to hang out at our house. The kids played and played, then ate and ate. :) Malachi wanted to come say hi to everyone before they left so he stopped by.

That evening, Matt needed to exchange something at Menards and I wanted to pick up some items at Walmart and Sam’s. Hadn’t I just been to Walmart, you ask? Indeed I had. But BabyBoy#11 needs 18 6-packs of his Pediasure every month and each Walmart only carries 5-6 packs at a time. So all month long we hit up every Walmart in town to get what he needs. We’re thankful for the provision, even if it does mean we have to shop a little bit extra.

Before we loaded up to shop, I warmed up leftover spaghetti to feed everyone a fast dinner.

Spaghetti Hack: I’ve found that once it’s in bowls for the little ones to eat, I can easily cut the noodles with kitchen shears so that they can easily eat it with a spoon.

Shopping Hack: NEVER take the Coppinger children to the store in the evening after a full day of going to the zoo and/or school. Don’t do it. They can’t handle it. They’re already overstimulated and exhausted and they will not be able to hold themselves together at the store. The fits will be horrible and there will be many fits. You don’t need groceries that badly.

Oy.

So Walmart was a disaster. Kids back in the van, Matt went into Menards by himself to quickly make his exchange. Then I ran into Sam’s by myself while Matt fed the kids a cookie and apples. I really just went in for these few things but I saw a few other items I needed and this was the result:

Every time I shop I think we’ll be stocked up for a while. Hahaha. The groceries go fast at our house. :)

Friday morning I used the hamburger meat I’d browned on Thursday plus the Stick of Butter Rice to make a huge batch of Burritos. I plan to share them with some friends whose kids currently have some major health struggles.

Well. Sure I’d been to Walmart twice that week and Sam’s the day before. But there are certain items I also needed from Costco (diapers!!) so off we went on Friday morning. The shopping trip went much better than the evening before because the kids were rested and we only had five with us this time. ;)

I wasn’t planning to buy boneless chicken thighs, but wowza! They were on sale for $6.00 off per package, which made them only $2.65/pound. Now that we can grill more, you can bet I stocked up big time!

I also picked up some special treats for a picnic we were planning on Sunday. I almost never buy individual bags of chips, but they were highly discounted and will be very fun for the picnic!

Our friend Malorie was visiting, and Acacia sat still for quite a while letting Malorie braid her hair that afternoon. :)

We had a huge weekend planned with friends coming in from Texas and all of the grown-ups going to Kansas City to watch Messi play soccer.

Justus had been over all afternoon and was smoking two racks of ribs for us to enjoy for dinner when our TX friends arrived. I made hotdogs for the kids and Brayden made Caesar salad. For other sides, I simply washed two kinds of grapes and two pounds of strawberries, got out sweet peppers and tomatoes, and set out rolls with butter.

Dinner was going to be later than normal so we fed the kids at their regular time to avoid extra meltdowns.

All of our older kids were able to come over to join us for dinner, plus our friend Ricky and his son Cooper had arrived from TX. Gathering in our kitchen and dining room like this is my favorite.

Justus’ Barbecue Ribs turned out AMAZING.

 

 

Saturday morning I spent getting ready to go on our day trip and getting everything ready for our kids and their sitters while we were gone.

I made Crunchy Ranch Chicken and Steamed Broccoli for lunch, then sitters came and we got out the door. I’ll share photos of our Messi experience next week!!

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Big Family Food and Fun: March 31-April 6, 2024

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Here’s our Big Family Food and Fun: March 31-April 6, 2024 post!

Big Family Food and Fun: March 31-April 6, 2024

Easter Sunday was a perfect way to start a new week, being surrounded by our church family all morning and then continuing our celebration all afternoon at our house. If you recall, last week the kids had made cookies and we packaged them up to hand out on Sunday morning before worship. Here’s Keith handing a cookie to some men at church. :)

The time of worship, celebrating Jesus’ victory over death, was powerful that morning. It was such a gift to be all together that day! And yes, Eva IS the cutest pregnant mama ever.

Back at the Castle, 21 of us gathered in the kitchen and dining room to fellowship and feast.

We had Ham, Baked Potatoes, Green Beans, Cream Cheese Corn, One Hour Yeast Rolls, Fresh Pineapple, and Cheesecake.

Our friend, Caitlyn, was planning to come and she’d put together gifts for all the kids. But she wasn’t feeling well so she just dropped off her goodies and headed home. The kids were thrilled with the baskets and Matt and I were so grateful for her kindness. :)

After we ate our meal, we headed outside for our traditional Easter egg hunt. First the guys headed outside and hid eggs for the gals (hiding hard ones for the adults and easy ones for the kids).

Then the girls got revenge by hiding eggs for the guys. Truth: I will never not love seeing grown men holding Easter baskets. :) :) :)

Our time together was wonderful, and I’m so thankful!

Monday we got our weekly routine started back up. I made Eggs in a Nest for breakfast and the kids chose between canned peaches or canned pears.

I walked Brayden and Kiya to school, then Eva came to help Matt while Keith and I went to the Food Distribution site to set up for Tuesday’s giveaway.

I had baked a pan of Stick of Butter Rice early in the morning so after Keith and I got home, I used the rice, along with meat I’d cooked on Saturday, to put together a big Tator Tot Casserole for our dinner.

Late afternoon, our Foster Care Agency sent someone to our house to work on our Adoption Home Study for BabyBoy#11!! We’re getting closer to adoption day!

For dinner that night we enjoyed our Tator Tot Casserole with leftover Pineapple and Cream Cheese Corn from Sunday. Plus I experimented with our night’s veggie by serving the kids Shredded Carrots. I’d picked them up wondering if eating little tiny sticks of carrots would be a fun change of pace for them. Overall, I’d say the experiment was a success. The kids had fun and most of them ate their carrots (with Keith going back for thirds!).

Tuesday morning, I took Anna to an appointment. She got a “star wand” for being so good there. I was grateful for the one-on-one time with her.

After we got home, we had some time before the preschool bus came for Keith and Anna so we loaded everyone up and went to the indoor play area at the Zoo. Of course Keith was excited to see a “worker truck!” on our way into the zoo.

The Spider Monkeys are fascinating to watch. :)

I had quickly grabbed cheese, meat, and crackers to take with us to the zoo – plus applesauce and juice.

The kids took a play break to enjoy their snack/lunch.

Before leaving, we went to say hi to some Lizards, Snakes, and Cockatoos.

I picked Brayden and Kiya up from school and headed over to the Food Distribution where we helped hand out food to 100ish people.

We were blessed to come home with a huge variety of breads and buns.

Plus we got a nice assortment of other items like fresh spinach, oranges, tuna, sparking water, and biscuits.

For dinner, I had used Sunday’s leftover ham to make a crock pot full of Ham and Potato Soup.

Wednesday was full with an Occupational Therapy appointment for BabyBoy#11 in the morning, Azure Standard pick up in the afternoon, and all the kid/work needs in between. According to the OT, BabyBoy#11 is making progress in his eating skills. We’re thankful for progress, even if it’s slow in coming. :)

Our Azure Standard order this time included a case of yogurt, a case of frozen hashbrowns, 25-pounds of whole wheat flour, a case of tortillas, a bag of whole dry milk, a bag of tapioca pearls, and three boxes of lightly sweetened cookies that are a perfect treat on the go.

For dinner that night, I boiled two pounds of Penne Pasta and warmed up White Sauce, Chicken, and Bacon. We stirred it together into Pasta Bowls and enjoyed it with a side of Spinach.

There are still so many littles around here, but as they get older they are becoming more capable so we are trying to train them all in helping and cleaning. So we spent some time after dinner involving everyone in picking up the house and sweeping some floors.

Then we got teeth brushed and settled everyone in the living room to watch a little bit of Ms. Patty Cake. This is a fun throw-back to when our first set of kids was little. We used to get Ms. Patty Cake videos at the library to watch at home!

Thursday morning, Matt and Malachi headed to York to work and Elias helped me with the kids all day. Keith found a book on our shelves about Native Americans and everyone gathered around on the floor to let me read it. I was amazed at how engaged they were. :)

At lunchtime I pulled out the leftover ham from Sunday and put together Ham/Cheese/Honey Mustard Sandwiches on Rolls. My goal is to always use up what we have in the fridge and it never hurts to get ahead. So I followed this basic idea for these sandwiches, and since I had 24 rolls, I made 24 mini-sandwiches. We ate a few for lunch and I packaged the rest for easy grab-and-go lunches during the next few days.

Keith was determined to mop the kitchen before his bus came, and who was I to stop him?

That afternoon, when Keith and Anna got dropped off by the school bus, Anna made it exactly as far as our front steps before she just couldn’t make it any longer. :) This photo is a pretty accurate description of how our kids handle school and home. They hold it all together beautifully at school, exhibiting kind, sweet, and cooperative behaviors there. Then they get home and immediately let down and let it all go – all they’ve been holding in.

So between 4pm and 8pm, we deal with quite a few meltdowns and behavior struggles. Some days are better than others. And some days, some of us just need to lay down on the cement steps because facing what’s next (the terrible chore of hanging up a coat and backpack) is just.too.much.

Dinner was leftovers!

Then Elias engaged several kids in making a tiny treat. He’d received a Skookie (skillet cookie kit) as a white elephant gift at Christmas time that he needed to use. The kids helped him mix it up and get it into the oven. The littles didn’t understand that it was going to take 17-20 minutes to bake so they sat down to watch (until it got too boring, because you know what they say about a watched oven…).

See? I told you it was tiny. :) :) :) Everyone got one bite of Skookie, and they were thrilled!

Friday morning, Brayden had Ukulele class before school so Matt ran him up there early. I walked Kiya at the regular start time. Then I got back just in time to take BabyBoy#11 to his 15-month well-check. While he’s pretty behind developmentally (though making progress!), the doctor was very pleased with how he looked physically.

When I picked Brayden and Kiya up from school, Brayden announced that he was bringing his ukulele home. His teacher asked him to practice extra for his upcoming concert. When we got home, he showed everyone his skills. :)

It had been such a full week that Elias and Brayden hadn’t had their second Bro Time afternoon, so Elias had made plans for he and Brayden to make dinner together that night. The rest of us played outside (and broke a window, but whatever, heh).

They made some cookies for our dessert…

And they made four fancy pizzas for us that included a variety of meats and cheeses.

Elias had to run off to a youth event at church that he was helping with, so he explained each kind of pizza then headed out.

Then pizza was SOOO good. And having the night off from cooking was pretty great for me (you know so that we could instead deal with a broken window).

Saturday morning I made a fresh pot of coffee, courtesy of my friend Molly. If you live in the St. Louis area, this coffee is a must for you. :) It is goooooood.

Josie was my kitchen helper that morning, cracking eggs so we could make Simple Egg Casserole to eat for lunch on Sunday.

We also made a double batch of Banana Muffins to eat with Sunday’s casserole.

Then we got ready to take the kids to our favorite Library Story Time. We were excited to go because we’d missed so many Saturdays in a row, plus this was the final session for a few weeks. I grabbed some easy food to pack for a picnic to eat at a park afterward. I had Apple Bread in the freezer that I’d set out the night before so I sliced it and packed it with carrots, cheese, salami, fruit, chips, and dip.

Story time was great and we enjoyed playing with all the fun sensory toys afterward.

Then we spent over an hour in the main library area, enjoying some books and learning toys. Last month, they had a Post Office in this area. This time, a Pizza Parlor!

Everyone was hungry when we loaded up to head out, but Matt and I changed our picnic plan because it was too windy and chilly outside to go to a park. Instead, we headed home and had a “picnic” at our dining room table.

After naptime, we decided to go to the park we had planned to go to earlier. It was still windy, but the temps were warm. I made popcorn to take with us, putting it into the last of the popcorn sacks I’d bought for Asa’s high school graduation many years ago.

I had a little bit of cooked hamburger and some leftover pasta from earlier in the week, so for dinner I turned those into Spicy Mac and Cheese. SO GOOD.

We filled our night with bath time and showers and that was our week!

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Big Family Grocery Spending for March 2024

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Curious how much it cost to feed 13 people every day last month? Here’s our Big Family Grocery Spending for March 2024 post!

Big Family Grocery Spending for March 2024

Here are the details to share where we shopped, what we bought, and how much we spent on food during the month of March!

1. Super Saver

The very first day of the month, we went to Super Saver (a store we hadn’t tried out yet) to take advantage of their Mega Meat Sale. We got pork loin for just $1.58/pound, pork roast for only $1.18/pound, pork steak for $1.78/pound, plus hamburger meat marked down that ended up being $2.20/pound.

Matt spotted packages of Chicken Strips and Popcorn Chicken that ended up only costing $2.98 for a 24-ounce package (which breaks down to $1.99/pound). We bought nine packages to enjoy during the next few Friday nights. I also checked the French fries in their freezer section and found some big bags on sale at a fairly decent price so I took advantage so that I could have a night off or two. :)

Overall this store’s non-sale prices were significantly higher than what I pay at my regular stores (Costco, Sam’s, Aldi). But stopping in this time for this meat sale was worth it!!

Total at Super Saver: $108

2. Bro Time Meal

Elias and Brayden planned a meal for our family and went to the store to buy needed items to make the meal. They decided on biscuits and gravy, hashbrowns, eggs, and orange juice.

It turned out amazing and the night off was a gift to me. I had most of the necessary ingredients on hand for them to make this meal, but they did (use my credit card to) pick up biscuits, hashbrowns, and juice at the store.

Their total at the store: $18.17

3. Sam’s

March 5 I went to Sam’s with two of our girls to give them an outing and to pick up a few of the items I can only find at Sam’s plus some other staples. While I was there, I picked up two boxes of our favorite Orange Chicken so that when I needed a night off, we’d have it on hand. Cost for two boxes is a splurge at $25.96. But when compared to needing a night off and ordering take out, this is super savings!!!

Total for food at Sam’s: $204.67

4. Costco

The next day we needed diapers, plus the littles needed an outing, so we headed to Costco. Since we were there anyway and we always need fresh produce, we picked up grapes, oranges, bananas, and peanuts. (We like keeping those peanuts in the van to help with hunger meltdowns and to feed the parents who also sometimes get hungry and need to eat.)

Total for food at Costco: $31.74

5. Aldi

I hadn’t been to Aldi for a while and needed baby food pouches for our littlest plus a few of our Aldi favorites.

Total at Aldi: $76.56

6. Costco

Matt and I had decided to have a two day getaway! So, I ran in to Costco get a few convenience items for our big kids to have on hand to feed our gang while we were gone.

Costco Total: $47.26

7. Eating Out

While Matt and I were on our short getaway, would you believe that we ate out three meals but didn’t have to pay out of pocket for any of them thanks to gift cards we’d saved up for this? So thankful!!

We enjoyed Cheesecake Factory…

Good Evans…

And Culvers.

8. Costco Lunch

We’d made plans with our littles to have a special Costco lunch sometime during their spring break. So we made this happen mid-March, ordering a pizza ahead of time then ordering some hotdogs once we got there. This is about the only way we can make it work to “eat out” with our crew and the breakdown ended up being only $1.80/person for this fun lunch!

Total at Costco: $21.65 for 12 people

9. Costco

While we were there, I ran through and picked up a few items like potatoes, apples, bananas, maple syrup, and juice for picnics.

Costco grocery total: $78.01

10. Sam’s

We decided to pick up some Rotisserie chickens at Sam’s on our way home from church on March 17. Since I was in the meat aisle, I grabbed hamburger meat – the best price for the best quality that I can find in Lincoln.

Total at Sam’s: $42.68

11. Costco Stock-Up Trip

It had been quite a while since we’d done more than pick up a few items here and there during small shopping trips. So on March 22 we took our five littlest kids on a big shopping outing.

We got what we needed up and down each aisle: chicken thighs, chicken breast, organic hamburger meat, strawberries, sliced cheese, shredded cheese, chicken nuggets, fish sticks, applesauce, avocado cups, crackers, hot dogs, sour cream, ketchup, mayo, coconut oil, turkey lunch meat, tuna, cream cheese, tortelloni, butter, crackers, and pistachios.

Total at Costco: $501.69

12. Gallon of Milk

We were getting low on milk toward the end of the month but I didn’t have time to do anything about it. So Elias and Keith make a quick trip to a local grocery store close to our house to get us by until I could go to Aldi. Milk at this store was significantly more expensive than I’m used to paying at Costco, Sam’s, or Aldi so that definitely solidified these as my favorite three money-saving stores here in Lincoln!

Total at Russ’ Market: $5.02

13. Aldi Bro Time Dinner

Elias and Brayden spent another Bro Time afternoon making dinner for us. They had gone to Aldi earlier in the week to decide on what to make and to pick up needed groceries.

They made us a Taco Feast with Cinnamon Rolls for dessert.

We already had most of the needed ingredients at home, but they grabbed limes, cilantro, taco shells, cinnamon rolls, and a few other things when they were shopping.

Total from Aldi: $16.61

14. Aldi Stock Up Trip

On March 28, Matt and I loaded up our five littles and got stocked up on all of our favorite Aldi items. I bought a case each of Organic Spaghetti Sauce, Organic Salsa, and Whole Milk Yogurt. Plus we bought 5 gallons of Milk, about 15 Fruit/Veggie Pouches to try and feed the baby, Organic Spring Mix, Bananas, Blueberries, Apples, 6 containers of 100% Fruit Cups, Tortilla Chips, French Fries, Granola, Cottage Cheese, and Salami.

Total from Aldi: $203.68

Total Grocery Spending for March:

$1,356.

I stayed under budget, but barely. I felt great about this because it had been a while since I’d focused on stocking up fully on all of our staple foods. As of the end of March, we had full freezers, fridges, and pantry to get us kicked off into April!

Running total for 2024:

January: $1,178
February: $849
March: $1,356

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Big Family Food and Fun: March 24-30, 2024

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Here’s our Big Family Food and Fun: March 24-30, 2024 post!

Big Family Food and Fun: March 24-30, 2024

Keith has been counting down the days for his very first soccer game! Sunday afternoon was the big day, and he had his cleats and shin guards ready. :)

The game location is closer to church than home, so we decided to pack lunch to eat at the church building and then go to the game from there. I made a crock pot full of Pasta with Red Sauce, a crock pot full of Smoked Sausage cut into pieces, a small crock pot filled with Costco Meatballs, a container of Carrots and Cucumbers, 4-Pounds of Cut Strawberries along with a dish of Cheesecake Parfait, and a container of Rice Krispie Treats. I also got out a few items to hand out as snacks to the remaining kids during Keith’s game.

As church began, Matt got a text that rain had canceled Keith’s game. Poor Keith. He took the news like a champ as we had prepared him for the possibility of a cancellation. Since we already had all the food at the church building, we decided to go ahead and eat there before heading home.

We were blessed to grab a few extra friends to join us. I loved this kitchen scene which included some of our boys with a bunch of their friends. (All the plates on the floor were left there by our little ones as I had fixed their plates and parked them there to eat before the big guys came in.)

While the adults ate, Brayden led the other littles in worship in the auditorium. Notice our littlest, standing by the stage in his diaper after peeing through his outfit. Hey, Jesus wants us to come as we are, yes?

We came home through the rain (that had canceled Keith’s game) so our afternoon was spent watching a show and then playing games with Daddy.

Our friend Paula dropped off Brayden and Kiya’s school lunches for the week and I put them into a fridge. She and Randy have been doing this since October and it has been incredibly helpful on school mornings!

I pulled out leftovers for dinner and got out a bag of pears to go with them.

Everyone ate a pear before having a random plate of whatever sounded good from our leftover stash. :)

Monday morning I made a double batch of Chocolate Chip Cheesecake Muffins. These were a hit, though once the little girls discovered the chocolate chips on top they only wanted to eat the tops of the muffins and ignore the rest. ;)

We had a rough behavior morning for three of our kids. :( So I changed our plans for the morning, hoping that the change of routine might give us a reboot. Eva came over to help as she does every Monday, which was a huge and needed blessing. We left BabyBoy#11 home to nap with Daddy while Eva and I took the other four out to shop for Easter clothes.

Sure enough, while it isn’t always easy to shop with little ones, the change of pace distracted everyone and behaviors settled (mostly). Keep praying for these kids’ healing. We are seeking answers from professionals and trying to figure out where to turn to help meet all their needs.

Fun side note: One of our neighbors has a tree service business and Keith LOVES watching him work and organize tools in his garage. Coleman has been such a gift to Keith as he allows him to ask thirty-eleven questions and chatter and look at his tools and basically, Keith wants to be like Coleman when he grows up.

While shopping for an Easter shirt, Keith came across this toy chain saw. “I need to get this so I can help Coleman cut down trees!!!” The word “no” isn’t Keith’s favorite, but I was able to help him settle with the promise that while we weren’t going to buy the chain saw, I’d be sure and show this picture to Coleman the next time we see him. :)

The afternoon went smoothly and for dinner I decided to make Pancakes and Bacon. Lots and lots of bacon.

Tuesday morning both of our dishwashers were full and clean from the day before (we run them both at least once each day). Acacia got right to work and cleaned out one dishwasher all by herself (except for the knives and mugs that I grabbed before she got started). She loves doing this job – and watching her reminds me of her capabilities. She’s a very tiny 3.5-year-old. She struggles with speech, so much of what she says doesn’t come out clearly. She delayed in other ways that make learning harder for her. She was born with a club foot, which affects her gate and growth. But she knows nothing about this. She’s a big girl who can clean out the dishwasher for her mommy, while chattering confidently even if I can’t understand most of her words. I love her heart and how she goes all in with everything she does. :)

It was cold and windy that day so we kept the little ones in all day instead of having an outing. To help them get some wiggles out, Matt found some interactive YouTube videos that we all danced and jumped and did jumping jacks with.

Late morning I got out ingredients to make White Chicken Chili, including Homemade Ranch Dressing Mix.

I discovered the three little girls sitting in the pantry singing “The Wheels on the Bus” together.

We didn’t have any leftovers so I baked two frozen pizzas for lunch. Have you tried the Cauliflower Crust Pizzas from Costco? They are pretty tasty! I added some pepperoni to ours since it was a veggie-only pizza.

That afternoon, Brayden, Kiya, and I went to our weekly Food Distribution. We were placed in charge of some “extras” that day so we handed out toothbrushes, toothpaste, and Easter items to over 100 people who went through the line.

Matt and Elias had served all the kids the White Chicken Chili from the crock pot. Then Brayden, Kiya, and I dug in when we got home.

Wednesday morning we had Bagels and Fruit. Kiya is enjoying her newly found freedom in toasting her own bagel in the air fryer.

I made a double batch of Peanut Butter Honey Puffs to have on hand for snacks.

Keith, who is always (always, always, always) rigging something up, taking something apart, or creating some sort of something, had hung a rope with a hook around our second floor banister. He then attached our ball pump to it and used the rope as a pulley to move the pump up and down. Why? Well, why not?

Elias and Brayden had picked up groceries to make a meal for us during their Bro Time on Monday. So Wednesday night, they made a Taco Feast for us with beef, chicken, and shrimp options plus all the taco fixings.

To top off their meal, they made Cinnamon Rolls for dessert.

Thursday morning we loaded up all five littles for a shopping trip to Aldi. Outings like this are both great and hard – but they offer a fun experience for our kids and we get the shopping done that we need so it’s worth the craziness.

Two carts are a must.

This particular trip I bought 5 gallons of milk, 12 jars of spaghetti sauce, 12 cups of yogurt, and 12 jars of salsa -plus all kinds of other needed items I like to get at Aldi. The gal at checkout was like, “Wow, that’s a lot of spaghetti sauce.” and then when she saw our five littles “Wow, that’s a lot of kids.” Should I have told her this wasn’t even half of our kids? Naw. :)

We got home in time to put Keith and Anna on the bus for preschool. Then I blended up a batch of Mini Crustless Cheesecakes to put into the oven.

I also mixed up a big batch of Cream Cheese Cut Out Cookies so the kids could have fun making Easter cookies on Friday.

Acacia was playing dress-up but stopped to help once she saw her opportunity to help me scoop and pour. :)

After school that day, I finally got around to cutting Kiya’s hair. I took off a few inches to get all the dead ends removed so she’ll be fresh and ready for spring!

Meanwhile, I had dumped some barbecue sauce on to a package of chicken legs, so those were on the smoker making us all very hungry. Back in the kitchen, Elias helped Acacia and Josie make Caesar Salad and Chipotle Cheddar Salad to go with our chicken.

I had peeked outside to see that our neighbor Coleman and his wife Sarah were chatting with Matt and the kids so I hollered out to see if they wanted to eat Bbq chicken with us. Elias and I finished putting the meal together, and we had a feast with our neighbors. :)

We had BBQ Chicken Legs, Mac and Cheese (that I’d picked up at Aldi that day), Fried Zucchini, and Salad.

Friday morning, I made a big batch of French Toast for breakfast.

Matt and Elias left to work on our rental house in York so Kelsey came to spend the day with the kids and me. There was no school that day so we had lots of fun plans. I started to roll out the Cream Cheese Cut Out Cookies that I’d mixed up the day before and the kids took turns cutting out cookies to bake. (Ever made cut-out cookies with a bunch of eager children? Oy. This is how I do it and stay sane-ish.)

Mission accomplished.

Then we moved into the dining room to dye Easter Eggs. I’ll admit that this is not one of my favorite activities, but the kids love it so it’s worth it. The best part is seeing the kids’ reaction when I add vinegar to the little dye tablet in a cup. :)

The weather was beautiful so we packed a picnic and walked several blocks to a big park to eat and play.

Justus met us there, which was just the boost we needed after such a full morning with the kids at home.

We played and ate and ate and played, staying at the park for over two hours.

Our lunch was cheese, meat, crackers, artichoke dip, sweet potato chips, pear cups, avocado cups, and some mini-cookies that we’d baked that morning.

Keith is sooooo interested in all things construction so before I knew it he was way across the park visiting with “the workers” and trying to learn about what they were doing.

We were hot, hungry, and thirsty when we got home so I made a blender full of these Smoothies to cool everyone off and to give us nourishment.

Everyone continued to play outside the rest of the day, and look who found the big bottle of bubbles? Eh, they needed a bath anyway.

I cooked 28 hotdogs on our smoker that night, made a small pan of Baked Beans, and got out pickles for dinner. Justus, Kelsey, and I were all pretty tired by the end of this full day so we were all very happy to see Matt and Elias get back home!

Saturday morning Anna and Acacia helped me finish a project for Sunday morning.

The girls put stickers on baggies (I’d picked them up at a sidewalk sale that Delight Design was having last summer and decided that this was a great way to use them!). I put a decorated Easter cookie into each bag and the kids can hand them out at church tomorrow. :)

Our church was planning to walk around to homes in the neighborhood surrounding our building that morning so that we could invite people to join us for Easter. Our family decided to take part in this, hoping it would work with so many kids in tow. Before leaving, we had a simple Cereal and Fruit breakfast then I made Peanut Butter and Honey Sandwiches to take along since I didn’t know how long we’d be gone.

It was a chilly morning but it worked out pretty well for us to take this on. Our littlest four were in strollers and our friend Caitlyn was helping us. The kids took turns putting invitation cards on people’s porches as we walked from house to house.

Back at home, we finished our sandwiches and applesauce then had some Easter fun.

The rest of the evening was spent getting ready for Easter Sunday. I somehow managed to make a double batch of No Knead Yeast Rolls for Sunday’s Easter Dinner.

I browned several pounds of ground beef, saving half of it for another meal and turning the rest of it into Sloppy Joes for our dinner that evening.

And that was our week!

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Big Family Food and Fun: March 17-23, 2024

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Here’s our Big Family Food and Fun: March 17-23, 2024 post!

Big Family Food and Fun: March 17-23, 2024

We had been gone all day the day before, so this Sunday started off with an easy breakfast of Breakfast Cookies from the freezer.

We were finally able to meet for church back in our own building after many weeks of being displaced due to a frozen pipe bursting situation. It was so good to be there! Sam’s is right on the way home so we grabbed two Rotisserie Chickens for lunch to share. (And I picked up hamburger meat while I was at it.)

I’d made sides in the morning before church so we warmed them up to eat with our Rotisserie Chicken: Cheesy Potatoes, Green Beans, Cream Cheese Corn, Baked Beans, plus Pineapple Fluff.

Our friends Kermit and Caitlyn joined us plus Justus and Kelsey and Asa and Eva came. There were 15 of us altogether. :)

Justus had picked up a turkey super cheap ($0.58/pound!!!!!) but they didn’t have freezer space so it had landed in our freezer. I had been thawing it and decided to get it baked that afternoon.

I do it this way – boring but good. :)

We had leftovers for dinner, random bits of whatever we could find in the fridge. So this freed my time to work on the turkey plus the kids helped me use over-ripe bananas to make a Banana Cake for Monday’s breakfast.

They turkey finished baking and Matt turned on an audio book to listen to while he took all the meat off the bones after the kids went to bed. My hero. :)

Meanwhile the Banana Cake had cooled and I had made a simple Cream Cheese Frosting for it and covered it to have Monday morning.

Monday morning we enjoyed pieces of Banana Cake with bacon. I made quadruple the amount of bacon we would need for that morning so that we would have extra ready for future meals that week.

Matt had saved the turkey bones for me, so I got out our huge stock pot and started a big batch of broth.

Eva arrived to help Matt so Keith and I headed off to help set up food for Tuesday’s Food Distribution. It’s always a bit hard for me to keep him focused on our work, but if I say, “Keith, will you help me take this apart?” he is ON IT.

Monday afternoon I spent some time making some Turkey Bacon Cheese Sandwiches for easy grab and warm up meals.

Elias had taken Brayden out for Bro Time and Kiya wanted to help me in the kitchen. So she put cheese on all of the sandwiches after I assembled them.

We packaged them up for the fridge or freezer, feeling great about having 25 ready-made sandwiches plus 5 wraps!

I used more of our cooked turkey plus the broth that had cooked all morning to make Turkey Noodle Soup for dinner. Oh, this is good stuff! So good that I was excited to eat it and almost forgot to take a picture until we’d already filled our bowls and worked on seconds. (By the way, I shared turkey sandwiches and cooked turkey with Justus and Kelsey since it was their bird, after all.)

Tuesday we stayed home all morning because we had a case worker visit for BabyBoy#11. (We’re working toward adoption!!!!!)

After getting Keith and Anna on the bus for their afternoon preschool, Matt stayed home to put the baby down for his nap and I took Acacia and Josie to Walmart to pick up a lot of our WIC items for the month. This gave Matt an hour and a half of quiet time to get some work done and it gave the girls and I a little outing plus restocked our fruit and veggie supply. :)

We got home in time to put groceries away. Then I left to pick up Brayden and Kiya from school so that we could head over to our Food Distribution to hand out food to the community. We came home with some too:

Remember the van door debacle from last week? The parts came in and Matt was able to get us all fixed up with a working door again. PHEW. That is a relief and now no children are allowed to touch the new door handle. ;) Isn’t she beautiful?

I had put Baked Potatoes into the crock pot to cook all day so we had them for dinner with leftover Rotisserie Chicken from Sunday and cheese dip.

A friend of ours is the principal at Lincoln High School and Matt had been talking to him about trying to watch at least one of their home soccer games. The weather was just right for this so after we fed the kids we loaded everyone up and headed over. We found a perfect spot on the “non-fan” side where we could climb all over the bleachers and not drive everyone crazy.

I sent this photo of the game field to Malachi who had played both teams last year during his senior year of high school soccer. :)

We got home just in time to brush teeth and tuck everyone into bed so Wednesday morning we had a simple breakfast of cereal so that we had more time to clean up and get ready for school.

After Brayden and Kiya got off, we got the other five ready and went to the indoor play area at the Zoo.

The snacks I packed turned into the kids’ lunch because they just kept eating and eating. We had cheese and crackers, applesauce, fruit/veggie pouches, and juice.

Then Anna, who was being very sweet and grown up that morning, took out the clementine she had packed. She peeled it all by herself and enjoyed her dessert.

Subjects not covered and photos not taken to share with you here: One major preschooler fit as we were trying to get out the door to go to the zoo, one baby puking on the zoo indoor play place floor, and one major toddler fit all the out of the zoo and all the way back home. BUT, these outings are super fun and super worth all the effort to get there and get back home. Truly. :)

Back at home, we got Keith and Anna on the bus for preschool then Acacia and Josie went outside to enjoy the sunshine.

Acacia: “I a Mommy!!”

Josie: “I digging! I outside! I not inside. I outside.” :)

Malachi stopped by that afternoon to pick up some of his mail and Acacia promptly put on his shades. :) Note the little sleeping blob on the bean bag beside Acacia. That’s Josie. She “doesn’t need a nap anymore.” Okedokee.

When Brayden and Kiya got home from school, Elias took Brayden out for some Bro Time. (They go out twice each week so Elias can pour into him.) Kiya and Acacia helped me in the kitchen, cleaning out a dishwasher all by themselves. :)

Meanwhile, Josie was making BabyBoy#11 belly laugh with her games.

For dinner that evening, we pulled out leftovers to eat so that nothing went to waste in our fridge. Kiya made a package of Caesar salad to go with our meal.

We finished off the Taco Rice Dinner that I’d made last week – eating it as a dip with chips. Plus we had Kiya’s salad and leftover green beans.

The next morning we got out pre-made Breakfast Sandwiches and Pancake Sausage Muffins for everyone to warm up in the air fryer.

This particular day turned out to be quite amazing for me. We had made arrangements with a dear friend/babysitter in York for Matt to drop off our three youngest with her while he worked on one of our properties for a few hours. That left me at home with only four kids – and part of the day they were all in school. So I had three and a half hours of COMPLETE QUIET TIME in our house that afternoon. Oh, it was life giving and wonderful! And our little ones loved their time with their precious Emma!

I decided to grill burgers for dinner that night because the weather was lovely and because as meal-prep time, I didn’t have any littles underfoot. We had our Burgers with Tator Tots, Cucumbers, Tomatoes, and Pickles.

We decided to go to Costco on Friday morning to grab diapers and ended up turning it into a big stock-up trip. I’d been trying to focus on using up what we had in the pantry and freezers but getting restocked on all of our basics brought a lot of relief to me that day so that meal planning and prep will be easier.

I’d had a first breakfast around 5:30am and a second breakfast around 7:30 but those were small “meals” so by the time we loaded up at 10:00 I was ready for my first lunch, ha. I grabbed the one leftover burger from the night before, chopped it up, and warmed it up with leftover corn to eat on the way to the store. Weird? Sure maybe. But it hit the spot and kept me going!

Matt ended up with four of the five kids in and on his cart on the way in. Anna hung with me until we redistributed kids in our two carts for the actual shopping time.

We got a variety of random items from crackers to berries to applesauce to chicken and hamburger. We got avocado cups, cream, half and half, coffee, sliced cheese, shredded cheese, pistachios, chicken nuggets, and several items we use that were on sale. I love watching the end caps of each aisle to see what is featured at a big discount! (Matt’s cart was full of two more kids, diapers, water bottles, and chips.

We got to enjoy some free samples, the likes of which made a sweet chocolate mess all over Acacia’s face.

We made it home in time to get Keith and Anna on the preschool bus then Elias and Matt brought in all the groceries with Acacia and Josie trying to help them bring in huge, heavy boxes. :)

I dropped off Acacia and Josie to spend time with a friend from church who watches them for two hours each week. They love going there and always have fun adventures. :)

Matt picked them up and brought them home. Again we see evidence that Josie doesn’t need a nap anymore. ;)

For dinner that night we had Orange Chicken with Rice and Spinach. This is one of our favorite splurge meals from Sam’s. We go through two boxes in one meal, which costs $25.96 – much more than our typical homemade meals. But this fed 5 adults and 6 kids on Friday night, which breaks down to $2.36 per person. MUCH cheaper than ordering take-out!

We were able to find the Husker men’s basketball game and watched it, sort of, between chasing kids and changing poop diapers. ;)

Saturday morning I made 15 Scrambled Eggs and cut up leftover Baked Potatoes from Tuesday night. I fried the potatoes in butter with salt and pulled apart several Clementines for us to eat.

After breakfast we loaded up to go to York just like we did last Saturday. We had been invited to a birthday party so we worked out details for Asa and Eva to help us spend the day there (they were already in York for a photo shoot).

I packed up a big bag full of extra “just-in-case” clothes, diapers, wipes, and snacks.

Matt and Asa spent four hours at our rental house working on repairs while Eva hung with the kids and me, first at a Carnival and then at a Birthday Party. We saw so many York friends that day!!

We got home in time to make Grilled Cheese and Tomato Soup for dinner.

Then we got all seven kids through bath time.

And that was our week!

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Make-Ahead Chicken Bacon Sandwiches

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Get ready to put some Make-Ahead Chicken Bacon Sandwiches into your fridge or freezer for easy meals!

Last week, Justus had brought over a turkey he’d picked up for super cheap but didn’t have freezer space for storage.

Freezer space or not, it’s hard to pass up meat for $0.58/pound!!

I decided to get it baked and out of the way. Matt spent some time getting all the meat off the bone after we got the kids to bed, and the next day I woke up to a huge pan of cooked turkey and a bag of bones to make broth. How many meals can we get with Justus’ $8.75 investment? SO.MANY.MEALS.

I bagged up and froze some of the meat into meal-sized portions for them to take home and use on busy days. I made broth and then Turkey Noodle Soup for our family to enjoy that evening. Then I used a lot of the cooked turkey along with some cooked bacon to put together a lot of sandwiches for all of us to have on hand for easy grab-and-go meals.

While the title of this post lists Chicken as a main ingredient, clearly Turkey and Chicken can be used interchangeably. Use whatever you have. Do you have leftover turkey? Turn it into these sandwiches. Do you have leftover chicken – maybe even Rotisserie chicken? Turn it into these sandwiches. They go together easily, rewarm easily, and can we go wrong with a combination of turkey/chicken, bacon, and cheese? We cannot. These are fantastic!

Make-Ahead Chicken Bacon SandwichesYum

Make-Ahead Chicken Bacon Sandwiches
 
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Ingredients
  • Leftover chicken or turkey
  • Homemade bacon bits
  • Dressing like ranch or honey mustard
  • Sliced Cheese
  • Buns
Instructions
  1. Cut chicken into bite sized pieces and place in a bowl.
  2. Stir in bacon bits.
  3. Assemble sandwiches with a scoop of meat mixture, sauce, and a slice of cheese.
  4. Wrap individually and place in the fridge or freezer to use as needed.
  5. Warm sandwiches in an air fryer, toaster oven, or the oven to heat through and melt the cheese.

You see there are no exact measurements for these ingredients. This is because you simply use what you have and create these sandwiches the way you like. I had Colby jack cheese and pepper jack cheese on hand so I used that along with ranch and honey mustard to create a nice variety of sandwich choices for all of us.

Some of my girlies helped me and we ended up that day making 25 sandwiches and 5 wraps (because I ran out of buns and moved on to tortillas. :)

This is a great “use what you have” kind of recipe. Nothing goes to waste and you can make sandwiches and wraps according to different preferences!

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Big Family Food and Fun: March 10-16, 2024

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Here’s our Big Family Food and Fun: March 10-16, 2024 post!

Big Family Food and Fun: March 10-16, 2024

Our friends, the Brock family, had been staying at our house all weekend for a Homeschool Speech and Debate Tournament and we got to enjoy Sunday morning with them before they headed back home. They were exhausted from their very full weekend so we didn’t rush around but instead sat and enjoyed downtime together. (Well, as much downtime as we could have with our seven littles and their six kids, ha.)

I made pan after pan of Sam’s bacon for breakfast plus cut up 4-pounds of strawberries, whipped cream, and got pound cake out of the freezer for Strawberry Shortcake.

Their little girls had a sweet time with our little girls. :) :) :)

We gathered in the living room late morning for a time of worship together. Then had lunch before they took off for home and we headed out for afternoon church service.

Brayden made two bags of Caesar salad with help from our little guest.

I smoked some Chicken, rewarmed last week’s leftover Smoked Pork Loin, and made Corn, Green Beans, and Baked Beans to go with Brayden’s salad. The Brocks had brought back French Bread leftovers from their tournament so I cut, buttered, and toasted it to serve.

Justus and Kelsey had joined us so that they could say hello to the Brocks but Justus had to leave our house early to get to church. So Kelsey stuck around and helped us get out the door with our kids. This was the view in front of me as Matt, Kelsey, and the little girls made their way from the van into the church building.

And this was the view behind me, with Elias and Keith bringing up the rear. Our days are so full and the needs so great. These photos show a glimpse of how our Bigs help make this possible, and we are so grateful.

We stuck around home that evening and played in our yard. I did not feel like cooking, but for some reason, everyone felt like eating. ;)

I made a fruit tray and threw on the leftover pieces of buttered bread from lunch to take outside for the kids to munch on.

Then I boiled a package of Tortelloni that I found in our freezer.

The kids still had room in their bellies after all of this, so some of them had Banana with Peanut Butter, some leftover popcorn, and whatever other random food lurked about the kitchen.

Monday morning warmed several packages of Pancake Sausage Muffins in our air fryer for breakfast. The kids loved them!

Then we spent the morning getting ready for a big outing at the zoo. Since we have a membership, often we just go for an hour or two. But today we planned to take one of Brayden’s friends from school and make a day of it!

I put together a big assortment of food for lunch and snacks to get us through the day. For lunch, we would make our own “lunchables” with crackers, croissants, meat, and cheese. Plus I packed mandarins, applesauce, juice, cereal bars, and fruit snacks for an extra special treat.

We picked up our friend and headed to the zoo, which was packed that day due to the lovely weather and spring break.

Everyone stood on a square – and even Mom got to be in a picture!

Now that the weather is getting nicer, more of the animals that had been “away for the winter” are making an appearance. SO exciting!! Here we are admiring the llamas.

We were nice and hungry by lunchtime and found our favorite sunny table by the flamingos.

The peacocks were back and seemed to really enjoy exploring their territory so we saw them all over the zoo that day. This one wanted to join us for lunch, which most of us loved and some of us didn’t. Josie was not happy that Peacock walked by during her rock climbing expedition.

We walked, we played, we explored, we played some more – and every thirty minutes the kids asked to eat more meat or cheese. We were working up big appetites today! The applesauce tasted real good about 2:00. :)

Meanwhile, Matt and I were starting to drag and I remembered that I had stowed THESE in the bag! Yup. This was a perfect parent pick-me-up as we enjoyed eight kids at the zoo for almost four hours. :)

The kids were mad that we didn’t share with them. Nope, sorry kids. These are only for the parents.

Back at home I hadn’t even thought about dinner so we just pulled leftovers from the fridge to fill our bellies and clean out the fridge. Oh, and I made Kid Smoothies to refresh them after their big day and to give them some greens. (Matt and I already drank ours earlier in the day.)

Tuesday morning, Matt and I turned our crew over to our adult kids and some church friends. We’d made arrangements to have a two day, one night getaway so that we could rest and find refreshment!

Eva came to spend the day with the kids plus we had help throughout Tuesday from Elias, Malachi, and three friends. We knew the kids would be well cared for – we just hoped our caregivers would have the help and energy needed to take this on! We are so thankful for them!

Matt and I headed toward Omaha and enjoyed lunch at Cheesecake Factory thanks to a gift card someone had given us for Valentine’s Day.

I was too “busy” enjoying the rest so I didn’t get any pictures at our retreat center but guess what? We “accidentally” booked a room at Sonlit Retreats, a Christian-based acreage set up to provide rest and refreshment.

We weren’t searching for this, we truly just happened upon it. Matt had done an Airbnb search for something about an hour away, and this came up. It looked good to us so he booked it. BUT WOW. It was so much more than a place to stay. It turned out to be just what we needed – a place to walk around the lake and by the Platte River, a place to sit and talk and reflect, a place to be still and silent, a place to find connection with each other and with God.

We spent all of Tuesday afternoon, evening, and night there and didn’t leave Wednesday until the very last minute before check-out. I’d packed snacks and I was so glad I did because we didn’t want to leave Tuesday to find dinner. We just pulled out our snacks and ate in the quiet. I’m so thankful God led us here.

We had a great night of sleep and I woke up early (because sleeping in isn’t something I can do apparently). I took my Bible, journal, and my leftover cheesecake – because I was there without kids to question my breakfast, ha! – and sat with coffee and Jesus for almost two hours on Wednesday morning.

Matt and I walked around the property enjoying the water and trails for about an hour and a half before heading out for our second day together. We split an Omelet and Hashbrowns for lunch at Good Evans. Super tasty!

Then we went to Nebraska Crossing Outlet Malls for the afternoon. We had so much fun shopping for ourselves and for our kids. Our time away ended at Culvers before heading home to relieve our caregivers. (Asa and Eva had spent Tuesday night at the Castle then Kelsey came to relieve them Wednesday morning with Elias, Malachi, Justus, and church friends coming and going as scheduled.)

We strategically came home just after the kids had been put to bed so that we wouldn’t end our rest time with the hubbub of bedtime. Then we were back to the grind, refreshed and grateful.

Thursday morning Josie and BabyBoy#11 had a visit from our kids’ speech pathologist.

It was rainy that morning so we pulled out playdough and cookie cutters to enjoy for a while.

The kids and I had talked about having a special Costco lunch some time during their spring break. This rainy day seemed like the right time to do it! So we called ahead and ordered a pizza, then picked up a few hotdogs there too for a special lunch out. Elias came, one of our housemates joined us, and we picked up some extra pizza for Malachi and our nephew Troy. $21.65 fed 12 people – thank you Costco!

While some finished eating, I ran through the store with Acacia and Josie to get a few items we needed. We were delighted to run into a dear friend from York while we were there too!

That evening for dinner Brayden made a Caesar salad and we rewarmed some spaghetti leftovers that Eva had made when Matt and I were gone.

Eating leftovers that night freed me to get some extra cooking/baking done! Keith helped me make a batch of Chocolate Banana Blender Muffins.

They turned out beautiful!

While the muffins were baking, I browned two pounds of sausage and scrambled them with 28 eggs. I added cheese and put together six Breakfast Sandwiches and 22 Breakfast Burritos.

We are now set for grab-and-go breakfast options for a while!

Friday morning the kids ate some of the Chocolate Banana Blender Muffins I’d made the night before plus some leftover Pancake Sausage Muffins from the fridge.

I got a batch of Stick of Butter Rice cooking in the oven.

And I browned four pounds of hamburger meat.

Then Anna helped me make a double batch of Taco Rice Dinner.

Acacia helped me use the rest of the cooked hamburger to make a pot of Chili. We packaged some of both dishes up to deliver to a friend the next day. Then we saved some for our lunch that day.

Late morning, we loaded everyone up and went to the Children’s Museum. Matt let us all out at the door then he went to go park the van.

I had managed to get all seven littles situated for playing when GUESS WHAT?? Matt came in from parking the van to show me that the handle of the van’s sliding door had busted off. Nooooooooo.

Ok then. There’s always something, right?

But outside, the van door was wide open and wouldn’t close without the handle to release it. And I was inside with all seven kids by myself in a huge play place. Matt called Elias to bring over special tools he needed. I called Malachi to please drop everything and come help me keep track of all the kids. What would we do without our amazing grown kids?!

Elias got the tools to Matt and he started taking the entire door apart. Wow. What a rock star! Malachi arrived and helped me keep track of everyone.

An hour and a half later, Matt (the rock star) had the door at least functioning until we could order the parts needed to fix it. Malachi (also a rock star) helped us load everyone in the van to go home. The kids were starving so I handed out apples that I’d thankfully grabbed from home to take along “just in case.”

We got home in time to eat a late lunch of the Taco Rice Dinner that I’d made that morning.

It was after 2:00 before we had everyone down for naps or rest time. Matt went back out to take the door apart again, mainly to see what parts he needed to order. Keith loves anything that involves taking things apart, so of course he was right there with Daddy.

Late afternoon I spent some time getting ready for our family to be in York all day Saturday. I made our Saturday lunch and dinner to grab and take with us when we left the next day.

First, I made a loaf of bread worth of Peanut Butter Honey Sandwiches.

Then I made 6 cans worth of Tuna Salad to eat with crackers. I gathered everything I could find to make our day away easier and to keep our kids’ bellies full.

Since I was focused on prepping for Saturday, Friday night’s dinner was three Frozen Pizzas and Spinach.

Saturday morning we loaded up at 8:45 to be in York for the day. I was going to a funeral that morning while Matt took the kids to play at our friends’ house. Then after the funeral, I took over with the kids so that he could go work for the afternoon at the rental house we are getting ready to sell.

The friends’ house where we hung out that day? We got to be with our Tuesday People. Oh how we miss our regular weekly time with them. Having the day with them was so encouraging and good.

The kids had been playing hard all day so mid-afternoon we turned on a movie for them to watch. The sun was glaring onto the TV so Aaron gave them all one of his hats to put on. It was the cutest. :)

At 5:00, Matt came back from working and we loaded up. I handed everyone some Peanut Butter and Honey Sandwiches, applesauce, and juice and we headed back to Lincoln.

And that was our week!

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Grab and Go: Pancake Sausage Muffins

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You’ll love these Pancake Sausage Muffins for a quick grab and go breakfast option!

Yum

You may recall my original recipe for these posted way back in 2010. Goodness, a lot of life has happened since then!

Fourteen years, seven more kids, and two daughters-in-law later, I’m re-sharing this recipe with a slight improvement to make these muffins 100% transportable without any mess. Instead of sitting at a table and drizzling maple syrup on top of these muffins, we are adding the syrup into the muffin before baking. Now it’s all ready to go on the way to work or school or on a trip – without a sticky mess!

Grab and Go: Pancake Sausage Muffins

Grab and Go: Pancake Sausage Muffins
 
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Author:
Serves: 24
Ingredients
  • 2 cups whole grain flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • ½ teaspoon sea salt
  • 2 cups milk
  • 3 eggs
  • ½ cup real maple syrup
  • ½ cup melted butter or coconut oil
  • 1 pound cooked sausage crumbles
Instructions
  1. Mix dry ingredients together.
  2. Add milk, eggs, syrup, and melted butter.
  3. Stir in cooked sausage crumbles.
  4. Spoon batter into 24 prepared muffin tins (regular paper liners don't work well for these but I've discovered that If you Care parchment paper liners work well)
  5. Bake at 350° for 15-20 minutes or until the muffins are lightly browned.
  6. These freeze well and can be rewarmed quickly to eat on the go.

Prepare these for the freezer by removing the paper liners then wrapping one or two in foil.

Place your wrapped muffins in a freezer bag and freeze. Thaw and rewarm in the oven or air fryer as needed. If you are warming up just one or two packages at a time, the air fryer works great and has them ready to go in just 4-5 minutes. If you need multiple packages, put them into a 350 degree oven to warm up for 8-10 minutes.

Other great grab-and-go breakfast ideas include:

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