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School Lunches I Packed August 21-25, 2023

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We pack lunches for our kids to take to school each day. Here’s a look at the lunches I packed last week:

School Lunches I Packed August 21-25, 2023

1. Monday: Beanie Weanies

This was so easy as I opened a can of baked beans, cut leftover hotdogs, and put it all into a pan with a squirt of ketchup. I heated it to bubbly, then put it into the kids’ thermoses.

I packed them an applesauce cup, spoon, and an Orange Muffin to go with their Beanie Weanies. They loved this lunch!

2. Tuesday: Cheese and Crackers

I had hoped this would be a cheater lunch, but when I gave the kids a choice of one of these ready-made Cheese and Cracker Packs from Costco, Kiya told me that she didn’t like either of them. I decided not to fight it, even though I knew she could have toughed it out and I put Brayden’s packet choice into his bag and created one for Kiya with our cheese and crackers. I added a baggie of pepperoni to Brayden’s and a rolled up piece of ham in Kiya’s. Then cucumbers for Brayden and pickles for Kiya and a peach cup for both!

3. Wednesday: Meat and Spinach Roll-Up

I slathered two tortillas with mayo, then added cheese, turkey, and spinach to Brayden’s and ham and spinach to Kiya’s. I scooped watermelon chunks into containers and packed it all with a fork.

Ah, and a napkin. The mayo got messy when I rolled up the tortillas so I knew the kids would get extra messy when they ate these. :)

4. Thursday: Chicken Salad and Crackers

I had made chicken salad for a different meal so I put leftover salad into containers for the kids for their lunch. Plus I put crackers into a different container for them to eat with their chicken salad. (If I put crackers into a baggie, they get crushed in their lunch bags.) I packed cucumbers for Brayden, pickles for Kiya, and an applesauce squeezie for both.

5. Fun Friday: Sandwich, Chips, and a Treat

This is the day I pack a sandwich, chips, and a little something sweet for the kids. Today’s sandwiches were PB&J, fritos were the only chips I had on the shelf, and the mini wafer cookies I’d picked up at Costco. I thought the fruit strip would be an extra special treat, but Brayden “didn’t like his but choked it down.” Ha. Alrighty then.

 

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That Time I Didn’t Buy Any Produce at Costco

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What?? I didn’t buy any produce at Costco? How did that happen?

I guess I didn’t need any that day. This is bizarre because I have a terrible time keeping up with fresh produce at our house. We eat fresh greens like crazy (well, we drink them, actually) and we go through fresh veggies and fruit by the ton.

Bananas, berries, grapes, apples, pears, carrots, cucumbers, peppers, salad mixes, spinach, spring mix, kiwi, melon, broccoli, potatoes, oranges  – I always get so much produce that I could almost fill an entire Costco cart with produce every time I go. But then there was…

That Time I Didn’t Buy Any Produce at Costco

Last week, I went into Costco, loaded an orange flat cart with items, and not one of those items was from the fresh produce section. Did I just get a couple of items that day? HAHAHA. No, I wish. My cart looked like this, and I got what I went in for and then some.

I mainly went in for cases of diapers, toilet paper, and other non-food items. But then I kept finding food staples on sale because so much is discounted right now during Back-to-School season. Knowing that I didn’t need most of those items now, but that I could buy them at a discount and freeze them for later – I kept piling up more onto my cart.

Did this make me go over my grocery budget this month? Oh yes it did. But will it save me in the long run? Absolutely it will. Plus, it feels really good to be so stocked up right now. This frees me to focus more on helping our kids as they transition into our new school routine. (Our kids’ past trauma makes every transition more intense. Gimme that frozen pizza.)

So hooray. I’m all stocked up!

Except for the produce.

I already had a lot of fresh produce at our house at the time of this particular shopping trip, so I didn’t think twice. Until two days later when – well of course. We’ve eaten up almost all of our fresh produce. (We do have a beautiful abundance of wonderful tomatoes and squash from friends’ and neighbors’ gardens!)

Looks like I’ll be heading back soon, making my August grocery bill even larger. As of today, I’ve hit a whopping $1553 for the month. (This is the grocery budget we shoot for with 11 people at our house.) I’ve gone way over, but there are other months I’ve been under, so it all evens out. Also? We need to eat. I have to buy food. And I strive to be wise with every purchase. :)

Stay tuned for our final August budget number – and to see what my next cart full of produce looks like!

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Big Family Food and Fun: August 20-26, 2023

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Our big family food and fun this week revolved around our new school routine and extremely hot temperatures.

First, let’s all be blessed to see these two amazing brothers in the matching outfits I found on clearance at Sam’s. Sweet score!

And now onto the food and fun!

Big Family Food and Fun: August 20-26, 2023

Now, if you recall, last week I forgot to plug in the crockpot when I made dinner to leave for Asa, Eva, Elias, and Malachi to feed all the littles when Matt and I went out for our anniversary. So this week, while making a big Sunday Lunch for guests, I was very intentional about plugging in not one but three crock pots. There, my job is done. Lunch will be perfect. I sent this picture to Eva to show that I’d learned from my mistake.

But alas, when we arrived home from church to finish lunch prep, there sat my smallest crock pot. It had been plugged in. But had its owner turned it on? No she had not.

Well shucks. Can’t win ’em all I guess. Lunch that day was a big Nacho Bar, and the cold crock pot was fully cooked taco meat that was supposed to be warm by the time we got home. Nothing a skillet can’t fix in five minutes, right?!

I forgot to take pictures of our fully set out Nacho Bar with it’s chicken, beef, cheese, tomatoes, cilantro, salsa, sour cream, spinach, and chips. It was a tasty lunch! And here’s a picture of the mess after lunch.

Humidity and temps were high that day (and all week) so dinner that night was leftover burgers from last week, rewarmed on the stove plus bowls of cottage cheese with pineapple.

We ate outside, not because the weather was pleasant, but because the kids were all wet. Matt had set up our little pools and a sprinkler for them. We let them all just get wet in their clothes instead of changing to swimsuits. My laundry pile is big enough as it is. :)

Monday morning I made a griddle full of Eggs in a Nest. These are a favorite of our kids! Except for this particular day, two of my kids declared that they didn’t like them. Ugh. I guess these don’t taste good on Mondays?? (Meanwhile, Kiya ate three of them. No one can predict who will eat what.)

I made Beanie Weanies and packed it in Brayden and Kiya’s thermoses for lunch. I left the remainder of the mixture in the pan to rewarm for the four littles at home for lunch.

For dinner that night, I made simple quesadillas with leftover chicken, cheese, and spinach.

We ate them with grapes and we ate in shifts. Everyone was hot and tired after a big, hot day at school. I finished making the quesadillas but then I needed to feed the baby so I just threw food out on the table and let everyone come eat as they realized it was ready. :)

After everyone ate, Matt got the sprinkler set up again so everyone could cool down.

After they played for a while, I brought out some Go-gurts I had frozen. Now, not only were the kids wet and covered in dirt and grass, they were also sticky. Meh, no biggie. We hosed them all down before heading in for the night. :)

Tuesday morning, we ate yogurt and granola before school. After we delivered Brayden and Kiya to the school door, Matt and I walked back with the five littlest and made a plan to find some kind of air conditioned play place so that we could get the kids out of the house. It was 106 degrees that day, but we were going stir crazy. I packed a snack of animal crackers, cheese sticks, and grapes and we loaded up and headed out.

We checked out a fun play place at a church north of town. It’s open to the public all day long. Very cool!

The kids loved running around and playing! Then we sat them down to “snack” on what sort of become their lunch. (Keith and Anna’s bus picks them up for preschool a little after noon, so we feed them early.)

Once we were home and got Keith and Anna sent off to school, Acacia, Josie, and BabyBoy#11 played in the living room while Matt and I dug into the fridge for leftovers for our own lunch. We’ve been given lots of lovely fresh garden produce from church friends and neighbors, and the tomatoes right now are amazing! I warmed up a leftover burger from last week and cut it up with a fresh tomato. Of course we also had our smoothies. ;)

The thought of cooking was not pleasant since it was 106 that day, so I made Chicken Salad Sandwiches with spinach. I cut up a cold watermelon and that was a very refreshing side dish!

After we ate, we took the kids for a surprise treat. We needed another indoor, air-conditioned outing so we found a McDonald’s with an actual Play Place (remember how we tried this before and got let down?!).

We especially loved the cool interactive light table!

Matt downloaded the McD’s app to see what deals we could get. He paid for two cups of ice cream to share and got a free large fry. The kids LOVED this! This amount was perfect for our littles to share, and I think he spent about $5 for everything. And phew, we made it through another hot night with the kids.

Wednesday morning I made eggs, sausage, and toasted buttered bagels for breakfast. Matt headed to York to work on our properties and Elias became my side-kick for the day.

We got Brayden and Kiya to school. Then while Elias stayed in the house with BabyBoy#11, I (bravely or ridiculously?!) took all four of the others outside to “help” me wash our van. It needed a good scrub and getting wet on this super hot day sounded like a good idea.

Keith (age 4) was put in charge of the hose. The girls got washrags to help me scrub. It actually all went quite well for about half and hour. We were all drenched (thank you, Keith) and the van wasn’t perfect but looked better than it did. So we decided it was a win.

We hosed everyone off, changed into dry clothes, drank lots of water, and ate leftover quesadillas cold out of the fridge. Then we put on shoes and went to the library to play with their learning toys. Why did we do this? Air. Conditioning. Plus toys that are different from the toys at our house.

BabyBoy#11 isn’t yet sitting up but this was a good spot to practice.

Three out of five kids melted down before we got all the toys picked up at the library. “Librarian Diane” was absolutely beautiful in how she came and helped. She magically got all three little girls on board to help her pick up blocks while Elias and I dealt unsuccessfully with Keith who was beyond tired. We made it home and tucked all five in for naps. (Preschool was canceled because of the extreme heat. Good timing as these kids needed make-up naps after their big transition into school.)

Dinner that night was straight from the freezer because Mama was tired. I threw nuggets and fries into the air fryer and made a blender full of these smoothies so the kids could drink some spinach with their processed food. ;)

For breakfast Thursday morning, I made this recipe for Chewy Granola Bars x5. These were a huge hit (though we had to eat them in bowls with spoons because I didn’t make them in time to refrigerate/harden them).

Later in the day, after the bars had been in the fridge for several hours, I cut and transferred them to a Pyrex dish for easy-to-grab breakfasts and snacks.

We spent a good part of our morning with one of our Early Development specialists. Our littlest kids, ages 0-3, are serviced by this team for early intervention so that we can get ahead of some of their extra needs. This has been such a gift for our family. Today Keith, Anna, Acacia, and Josie all hovered around the specialist, Bridgette, who had captured their attention with a game. I snuck this picture of them all because they were all being so sweet and fun!

Right after this meeting ended, I had to run off to the elementary school for yet another meeting for another of our kids. As much as we loved our homeschooling years and are prayerfully open to homeschooling again if God leads us to do it, we are so very thankful for all of the necessary resources that the public schools offer for our family to meet our needs right now. We were so cared for in York and we are now being very well cared for in Lincoln.

I got home in time for lunch, frying leftover baked potatoes and serving it with Sunday’s leftover nacho dip and taco meat. I also got out grapes for the kids to squish all over everything eat to their hearts’ content.

The kids are all home from school by 4:00 or a little after, and we sit at the table to get homework done right away so we can get it over with. :/

I’ve found that everyone is super hungry by 4:30 and snacks aren’t going to cut it. So at this point, I’m making very early dinners and then giving everyone a small snack around 6:30 before we start getting ready for bed.

That night I had planned to make a simple meal of this 3-Cheese Spaghetti. But while looking in my freezer for parmesan cheese to go with the recipe, I came across a package of shrimp. Ah, that would be good with the noodles! So I turned the 3-Cheese Spaghetti over to Elias and I made Garlic Butter Shrimp, which was a pretty exciting addition to our meal! I grabbed out bacon crumbles for people to stir into their cheesy spaghetti if they preferred that instead of shrimp, plus made buttered peas and got out watermelon.

Dinner was over by 5:00, haha, so while I worked on dishes, I sent Brayden out to set up the sprinkler for everyone. Today was supposed to be the last of the 106 degree weather, and we knew water was the only way to make it through.

I had corn on the cob in the fridge that we’d bought over the weekend at the farmer’s market and I was concerned that it would go bad if we didn’t get it prepped to eat soon. So after they’d played in the water for a while and cooled off, I took the corn out and had everyone help me get it shucked.

Not understanding that the corn needed to be cooked, Josie and Acacia got excited and helped themselves. ;)

The kids went back to their water play, a neighbor stopped by for a visit, and I somehow managed to give Brayden a much-needed hair cut before we headed in for the night.

Friday morning we had cereal and some of the  Chewy Granola Bars I had made the day before. Brayden had to be at school early because he gets to take part in a Ukulele Ensemble – so fun! Lunch was PB&J, which I always forget to add to our menu and always wonder why I don’t make them more often. But then again, the girls get super messy when eating them so…

Dinner was extra fun because some dear friends came and joined us for the evening. We made the corn on the cob plus a big pot of Stir Fry. (We’ve been so blessed with friends sharing their garden produce with us!)

We’d picked up a cantaloupe at the Farmer’s Market and it was extra sweet.

Breakfast on Saturday morning was French Toast made like this – always a hit!

The temps had finally cooled down, so I took advantage by doing some much-needed (or much-wanted, ha) baking. I thawed all the bananas I’d stashed in our freezer and made this Banana Bread/Muffin recipe x4. I also baked a quadruple batch of these Brownies to share at a church fellowship lunch.

We had big plans for an outing that morning, but the plans got derailed by some immediate issues Matt needed to work on at our Castle. It’s such a fabulous place, but it is a historic home, so the age of the house brings with it some issues. Good thing Matt’s so handy!

The change of plans did not set well with our kids, so while Matt was dealing with house issues, I was dealing with behavior issues. Blech. I’m so thankful for God’s provision for us. I have to rely on Him constantly.

Three hours of exhaustion later, and an hour later than planned, we were able to load up and get out the door. Matt and I were both a bit frazzled, but the outing needed to happen so that the kids had a change of scenery. We went to a super cool “Wordstock” literacy event at a park – everything revolved around reading and books.

There were games on the lawn, and of course, everyone got to take home a new book.

They also all got a balloon. Somehow we managed to get all the balloons home without one blowing away or popping?!?!

I had cooked – wait – I had burned some hotdogs in a big pot before we left (who burns hotdogs??). It sort of worked to hide the black parts by putting them burnt-side down. ;)

We ate them at the park after enjoying Wordstock.

Naptime/Rest time was a welcome event for the parents after a morning with extra needs. :) That afternoon, Matt and I worked together to finish that morning’s house issue project while the kids rested and napped.

Oh, but were they napping??? Or were they just dangerously quiet?

Ah, the face of “innocence.”

I used a pizza kit I had picked up at Costco, along with some sausage I had browned to make pizza that night.

I had browned three pounds of sausage, because why just cook what you need for one meal when you can dirty the same amount of dishes and get extra food cooked for the future?

We bathed the three little girls (Anna’s marker turned the water blue), jammied them up, then took a walk to the Sunken Gardens before bedtime.

We got everyone to bed (after making sure all the markers and pens were properly hidden from toddlers and preschoolers). What a week! God is good and faithful. Hope your week was a good one!

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5 Lunches I Packed for My Kids’ First Week of School

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Since I share all the other food we eat at our house, I thought it might be fun to share the lunches I packed for my kids’ first week of school.

First, here’s why I pack a lunch for my kids to take to school. This works best for us and I feel good about what they are eating each day.

5 Lunches I Packed for My Kids’ First Week of School

Monday I packed them a container of cottage cheese, a peach cup, a baggie of pistachios, and a fun Bobo’s muffin from Costco. This can all be put together ahead of time. In the morning before they put their bags into their backpack, I throw in an ice pack to keep everything cold.

Tuesday they were thrilled to see that I was sending Leftover Mac and Cheese rewarmed and put into thermoses with grapes and a chocolate cupcake with hidden spinach.

Wednesday I made Cream Cheese Salsa Dip which I put into a container and sent along with a baggie of tortilla chips, carrots with dip, and an applesauce squeezie.

Thursday was leftover Tuna Salad that we’d eaten a few evenings before (I made extra that night for this purpose!). I sent a container with crackers for them to eat with their tuna, plus a container of grapes. For Kiya, I sent a chocolate cupcake with hidden spinach. Brayden has become obsessed with cucumbers this summer so I sent him a baggie of sliced cucumbers.

On Fridays last year we started having Fun Friday Lunch. This is the only day I send a sandwich and chips with the kids. Usually I add a sweet treat on Fridays too.

This week, I intended to make Homemade Uncrustables but didn’t get to it. So instead I made a regular PBJ for Kiya and a Turkey and Cheese sandwich for Brayden. I put a few Fritos into snack-sized bags for them, plus sent them a peach cup and a Chocolate Chip Cookie Bar.

It was a fun week of lunches and the kids came home with empty lunch boxes each day! Well, empty except that I ask them to put all their trash back into their bags to bring home so that nothing gets accidentally thrown away (like ice packs and spoons) and so that I can see what they ate and what is working!

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Big Family Food and Fun: August 13-19, 2023

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The kids headed back to school this week so our Big Family Food and Fun needed to be extra nourishing (and easy) as we settled into a new routine. Here’s what we ate all week…

Big Family Food and Fun August 13-19, 2023

Sunday was our anniversary so Matt and I worked it out with Asa, Eva, Elias, and Malachi to stay with all the kids so that we could have a few hours to ourselves. It had been way too long since we’d been able to go out on a date!

Before we headed out, we warmed up leftovers for all of us to eat for lunch after church.

Then I threw two big packs of hotdogs into the crock pot to heat up during the afternoon so that all anyone would have to do at dinner time was to fix plates. This was a GREAT IDEA except that apparently I was a bit too eager to head out the door and forgot one very important step.

Elias sent me this photo when they discovered an unplugged crock pot at dinner time. Ooooooops. Sorry guys.

It was just hotdogs, so they just transferred them to a pot to heat them and dinner was saved.

Meanwhile, Matt and I had discovered a really cool park and had spent a few hours walking its trails and having actual uninterrupted conversations – woot! We decided we MUST bring the family back to this park because it was perfect for all ages (playground, disc golf, biking trails, basketball, and on and on!)

At dinnertime, Matt wasn’t super hungry – and I was hungry but can’t eat a large portion – so we split a burger and fries at Five Guys. Happy Anniversary to us!

Monday morning was Brayden and Kiya’s first day of school so I made them scrambled eggs with spinach to get them off to a good start.

Here’s to fourth grade and second grade!

That morning after dropping off those two, while wrangling the littlest five, we met for two hours with teams of preschool classroom teachers, special ed teachers, and educational specialists working through IEPs our two of our kids. It was long and intense, but necessary.

Afterward, I made five boxes of mac and cheese so that we could enjoy it for lunch and then have leftovers to pack in school lunches. Remember my trick? I stir the littlest kids’ mac and cheese into bowls of frozen peas so that it cools off their noodles and gives them an automatic veggie too.

Brayden and Kiya had an early-out that day so after hearing all about their first day of school we laid them down for an hour of rest time in an effort to keep them from becoming overtired as they transitioned to a new school routine.

That evening we met up with Asa/Eva and Justus/Kelsey at the park that Matt and I had discovered the day before. I baked two bags of chicken strips before heading out and packed up a variety of dips to enjoy with them. I also packed several bags of salad that we made at the park like this. I LOVE this trick.

And I packed buns, clementines, strawberries, a variety of drinks, and Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars.

This ended up being such a fun meal!!! Some of us ate chicken with dips like regular chicken strips. Some of us used the buns to make chicken sandwiches. Some of us chopped the chicken into our salad. Everyone had fun making their plate in whatever way sounded good. If you haven’t tried this make-a-salad-at-a-picnic trick, do it. It’s effortless and fun!

It’s almost impossible to get everyone in one picture but here’s 11 of our 15. :)

The best part of the evening was that we were able to let our 3, 4, 7, and 9 year-olds ride their bikes on one of the trails that was a simple loop around the playground. THEY LOVED THIS SO MUCH and their smiles were huge the entire time. Meanwhile, we put the littlest three babes into the strollers for a walk on the trails. The weather was perfect and the night was magical. We praise God for moments like these.

For breakfast Tuesday morning I made a big pot of Warm Vanilla Soother. I hadn’t made this since last winter so it was a fun treat for the kids and filled their bellies well before school.

I threw some ham into a skillet to warm up to go with it.

Meanwhile, since we didn’t have to leave for school until a little after 8:30, I mixed up these “Hidden Spinach” Cupcakes to bake while the kids ate.

Then I blended up these smoothies for Matt and me. (I do this every other day forever and ever amen, but I don’t always take pictures to show you because I don’t want to bore you with my boring smoothie of boredom. I do actually think it tastes good and it helps keep us healthy so…) :)

Matt and Elias headed to York to work on our properties that day so Malachi and I loaded the kids into strollers and walked the kids to school.

Everyone was happy to play outside for a while when we got home.

Then we set out bananas and a random selection of muffins and breads leftover from last week for them to enjoy for a breakfast picnic in our backyard.

Midway through the morning the kids were “all starting to eat each other” which is my way of saying that everyone was getting grumpy and no one was having fun anymore. This happens every day around 10:30am. So we gathered picnic food, loaded everyone up, and headed to a park nearby to play in the sand.

Keith made “the biggest pile ever” in the sand with his excavator.

Malachi pushed his sisters (<— a precious phrase I’m still not used to) on the swings and I hung out with BabyBoy#11.

We made our way to a picnic table, and of course, by the time we got all five kids over there, Keith and Anna had to go pee. And of course, the bathrooms were all the way on the other side of the park, ha. Malachi started handing out lunch while I took kids to go potty. (Dare I mention that the reason Anna is wearing a jacket in the heat is because when we got to the park and took her jacket off so she could play, we realized she’d never put a shirt on that morning. Oy. This is better than the time we were at the zoo play-place and realized she had failed to put on undies. Good grief.)

Anyhoo, lunch was leftover hotdogs I’d warmed up before we left plus applesauce pouches, yogurt, juice, and a spinach cupcake from the batch I’d baked that morning.

For dinner that night I mixed up a big bowl of Tuna Salad for sandwiches. I had found fresh pineapple on sale, and I knew Brayden would be so excited about it! I finally managed to get them cut up that night. :)

I put fruit in bowls for the kids then took a tray of sandwiches outside for them to eat while they played. (We were watching for Daddy and Elias to get home after working in York all day.)

Since it had just been Malachi and me at home all day with the kids, I got very behind on everything. Here’s what the kitchen looked like at bedtime, and I was too tired to do anything about it.

I did take the time to baggie up the Cupcakes I’d made earlier so that I could freeze them for school lunches. Then I went to bed. :)

I woke up refreshed on Wednesday and made Eggs in a Nest for the kids (in my dirty kitchen).

We got the big kids off to school then Matt and I loaded the littlest five into the van to meet Mandy, someone from our Heavenly Homemakers community. She was kind enough to hand down some baby items we needed for BabyBoy#11. It was great to meet you, Mandy and we appreciate your gifts so much!

Since we were on the north side of town, we headed to Menards to get some things Matt needed for our house. Three kids in one cart, two kids in another, here we go…

Ah, but wait. We got inside and found these amazing carts. PERFECTION!!! We unloaded and reloaded kids into these —>

Menards wins the prize for having these for the kids!

After Menards, we loaded back up and headed to Sam’s. Matt stayed in the van and handed out snacks to the kids while I hurried through the store to get what we needed. Total grocery spending so far in August: $1150. Yep, I’ll be going over budget this month. No worries. We need to eat and we’ve shared food with lots of guests. Plus I went under budget for several months in a row before we moved so I guess I’m just making up for it now. :)

Lunch was leftovers that day. Then I finally had a few minutes to get some dishes done!!!

After lunch, I loaded up a couple of the kids for a doctor appointment while Matt put the littlest kids down for a nap. Once I got home, I made an early dinner of burgers on our smoker. We ate then headed to the zoo to ride the train.

It was a lovely evening and someone was sweet enough to take a picture of all of us on the train car.

We met back up with Daddy and BabyBoy#11 then headed to see the birds in the Aviary. It’s not always open so it was a treat to be able to walk through! Then we found some benches to sit and eat bags of popcorn Matt had made for everyone along with cold juice pouches I’d packed. We headed home in time to get to bed for the night!

The next morning I warmed up the Hashbrown and Egg Nests I had made last week and frozen for an easy breakfast. We ate them with yogurt and granola.

As always, I was feeling like I needed to get ahead on food in some way and I had in mind to bake muffins. But it got hot early in the day so I made two no-bake breakfast/snack foods instead. BabyBoy#11 was napping and Matt had the four other littlest outside so I was able to make Peanut Butter Honey Rice Krispie Bars and No-Bake Cookie Cups. <—They turned out weird because of all things, I ran out of coconut oil. But they were still good.

Again, trying to get ahead so that I’m not constantly scrambling, while the kids ate an early lunch I worked on dinner prep. Keith saw me peeling carrots and wanted a turn. I couldn’t turn him down. (So much for using his carrot for dinner though. He finished peeling it then promptly ate the entire thing.) :)

We threw all the kids into the tub to get cleaned up for Keith and Anna’s first day of pre-school!

And then there were only three babies at home for the rest of the afternoon, whoa!!!!

Before their naps, I got dinner finished up so that I could try to work all afternoon. I smoked chicken legs and put them into a crock pot to stay warm. I also washed potatoes and put them into the crock pot for Mashed Potatoes. I baked a big pan of brownies for a special treat to celebrate everyone’s big day (Keith and Anna’s first day; Brayden and Kiya’s first full day of school). When the babies went down for a nap, I got myself a cup of coffee and a brownie and enjoyed the bit of silence. :)

When Brayden and Kiya got home, we sat at the table to do their homework and watch for Keith and Anna’s bus. They hopped off the bus with excitement. Then Anna, who is used to an afternoon nap, decided that she had held herself up as long as she possibly could. Thank you and goodnight.

I’m so glad I planned the evening the way I had. Dinner was almost ready from earlier prep, and kids were tired and hungry. I had stir-fried the already-prepped veggies and mashed the potatoes that were in the crock pot. We enjoyed a fantastic meal with brownies and ice cream to top it off before heading in for an early bedtime.

Is it Friday yet?

Friday morning for breakfast we enjoyed the Peanut Butter Honey Rice Krispie Bars and No-Bake Cookie Cups I had made the day before. Lunch was leftovers again before sending Keith and Anna onto the bus for Day 2 of Pre-School. We had big plans to do nothing that night after our full week of transitioning back into a school routine. This included “take advantage of the 50% off pizza deal” plus “use the rest of the gift card” we’d been given so just like that, I had the night off. :)

Strangely enough, knowing that I didn’t have to worry about dinner prep made me want to take advantage of the extra time I’d just been given. With school starting and needing to keep up with several new schedules, getting ahead a little bit sounded marvelous to me.

So I took advantage of the night off from cooking to do a little bit of cooking. (It all made sense to me, and now I feel better.)

I made a batch of these Orange Muffins (I left out the poppyseeds because while they are fun, what exactly is their purpose??)

I thawed some cooked meat our friend Phyllis had gifted us with when she came to visit last week and used it to make some meals for next week. It was SO NICE to simply stir the prepped meat into casseroles! I made an extra large Pork and Hashbrown Casserole to bake for an upcoming Sunday Lunch. (I used this recipe, subbing cooked pork for the ham.)

I then stirred some of the cooked chicken she gave us into a container with black beans, corn, Rotel, cheese, and sour cream. I’ll bake this and we’ll enjoy it as a chip dip!

It felt so good to have these extra dishes completed and put into the fridge or freezer for upcoming meals! Then Elias arrived home with our pizzas. The kids (and their parents) were so excited about this treat! We grabbed paper plates and enjoyed our pizza outside in the shade.

Then Matt set up a movie in the living room so everyone could have fun but REST in the evening after our full week. Notice how well the toddlers “rest” while watching a movie…

Meanwhile, I took advantage of everyone being in the living room with Daddy (even BabyBoy#11 was hanging out and playing on his mat for a good long while) and I got to the bottom of some laundry baskets!! Woot! This is a very big deal and it rarely happens.

Saturday morning, we relaxed and ate “whatever the kids wanted” which was their choice of Peanut Butter Honey Rice Krispie Bars, No-Bake Cookie Cups, and Orange Muffins (<— I’d frozen half of what I’d baked for another time). Plus they chose a fruit to go with their breakfast – bananas and blueberries.

We did some cleaning that morning – Brayden and Kiya are getting pretty good at sweeping effectively. And the dining room needed a sweep and a mop very badly! Mid-morning, we loaded up and went to the Farmer’s Market to walk around. We got some sweet corn and a cantaloupe, but that’s all because the heat was making the kids grumpy. We stopped to feed BabyBoy#11 and Matt handed out animal crackers to the preschoolers and toddlers before we headed back to our van.

Brayden, Kiya, and Keith found some benches to play on while the baby ate. They can start a game of make-believe on the spot!

By the time we got home it was already super hot, so I made these smoothies to cool everyone off and to load them up with spinach. :) Everyone guzzled their smoothie down and some even asked for seconds. It was a perfect choice for this hot day.

Meanwhile I warmed up some shredded pork Phyllis had provided (some of the meat I referred to earlier in this post), poured barbecue sauce on top, then turned them into Barbecue Pork Melts in our air fryer. So delicious!

After naps and rest time, that evening we loaded up and went to cool off at our favorite Splash Park. I packed a cold dinner for us to eat there between splashes. We ate crackers, cheese, turkey and ham roll-ups, a bag of picnic salad, applesauce, and juice.

It was miserably hot that evening and all of the available picnic tables were in direct sun, so no one ate much. The cold water of the splash pads was a big hit though, so for the kids’ sake we were glad we’d made the trek out there.

We made our way home and got all the kids through a shower before bedtime. This upcoming week is supposed to be very hot so Matt and I are going to have to get creative in keeping everyone busy without letting us all melt. Stay tuned!

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What I Buy at Costco to Pack in School Lunches

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I realized that there are many items I buy at Costco to pack in school lunches for my kids. These are great money savers, so I wanted to share!

Does it actually save money to pack a lunch?

Last year, if you recall, I did a price breakdown on many of the lunches I pack for my kids to see if it actually saves money to send lunch in a lunchbox vs. buying lunch at school. (It does, in fact, save money.)

But more than that, I found that if my kids eat school lunch, they don’t make good choices (I wouldn’t have either at their age!). They tend to eat the cookie first and not much else because they either run out of time because they were distracted or because they didn’t like the main dish offered. Veggies never happened at school – not because they weren’t offered but because Mom wasn’t there to make them eat them.

Packing lunches for our kids ensures that they eat better, they eat more, and at the end of the day I can talk with them about what they enjoyed and what they would like done differently next time.

What I Buy at Costco to Pack in School Lunches

We only pack sandwiches and chips for a Fun Friday lunch. The other four days of the week, we like to pack a different variety of foods they like. Some lunches are hot, some are cold, and both work very well!

Here’s a big run down at food we get at Costco that works great as we pack school lunches!

Fruits and Veggies

Costco’s Organic Gala apples are the perfect size for a school lunch, plus they are high quality and always priced wonderfully per pound. Their grapes make a great side dish, and I simply buy whichever variety is priced the lowest at that time. Clementines pack well and are easy to peel. I pack fresh Costco pears and bananas occasionally, but those are tricky because they tend to get squished in the lunch box. ;)

When GoGo Squeeze are on sale, I stock up! These are great to throw into a school lunch because they don’t even require a spoon. ;) I get applesauce cups also, and every once in a while I put a GoGo Squeez yogurt into a lunch (that’s usually a special treat that I include in a Fun Friday Lunch).

Peach Cups and Mandarin Orange Cups in 100% juice are great to send with the kids for fruit variety and because we often run low on fresh fruit at home (I buy a ton but we eat a ton, so I struggle to keep up!). Having these cups on the shelf is super convenient and great for lunch boxes. They really like Pear Cups also, but it is hit and miss on finding those.

Baby carrots and cucumbers are great lunchbox options. Brayden discovered this summer that he LOVES cucumbers. :) Kiya isn’t a fan of cucumbers but she does like baby carrots dipped in peanut butter. :)

I’ve found that it’s worth it to splurge on Costco’s Avocado Cups and Guacamole Cups as they pack well and are fun to eat with tortilla chips.

And speaking of tortilla chips…

These huge bags from Costco are our favorite. They are a great price and go a long way, even for our large family.

Often I’ll pack a little baggie of these chips to go with any of these dips I’ve made and put into small containers:

  1. Simple Bean and Cheese Salsa Dip
  2. Cream Cheese Salsa Dip
  3. Bacon Ranch Chip Dip
  4. French Onion Dip
  5. Bacon Tomato Dip
  6. Black Bean Salsa
  7. Healthier Cheese Dip 
  8. Nacho Cheese Pretzel Dip
  9. Easy Guacomole

From the cheese aisle

Big packs of cheese sticks come in handy as something easy to throw into a lunch box to help fill the kids’ bellies. Plus I like to get big packs of sliced Colby jack cheese to use on Friday’s sandwiches or to enjoy with crackers.

Lunchmeat

These Kirkland brand varieties of ham and turkey are our favorite. We don’t just use them on sandwiches for our lunchboxes. Often we’ll roll them up and put them into a bag to eat as-is.

These Cheese and Cracker 12-Packs are a bit of a splurge, but I like to keep them on hand anyway because they are a great lunchbox item that I can fall back on if I don’t have much time to put together anything else. And yep, even though they are a convenience item, the overall cost is still lower than paying for a school lunch.

Mac and Cheese

For a hot lunch option, I buy cases of mac and cheese at Costco. Typically, if I’m making mac and cheese for lunch for the littles, I’ll make extra to warm up and put in a thermos the next day for the elementary-aged kids. It’s perfect! (See how I send hot lunches to school here.)

Costco Frozen Pizza

Remember how I figured out that buying Costco Frozen Pizza is a great frugal meal option? They are also a great school lunchbox option! I’ll bake one, let it cool, cut it, and baggie it up to throw into the kids’ lunchboxes. So easy and they love it!

Packaged Treats

It costs less to bake homemade muffins (40+ recipes here) and other baked goods (huge list of recipes here) to send in a school lunch. But Costco offers big boxes of pre-made treats like this that are nice to add to a lunch box. We like their 100% fruit strips, Nature’s Bakery brand items, and Bobo’s muffins.

What do you like to buy at Costco to pack in school lunches?

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Big Family Food and Fun: August 6-12, 2023

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It was our last week before school starts and we made the most of it!

It all began last Sunday

Getting everyone off to church (or anywhere) is quite a production. But the there’s this sweetness as we were brushing hair and putting on dresses…

We are so blessed to begin each week by hosting whoever God brings to our home for Sunday lunch. Now that we are more settled after our move, we are able to prepare a big meal and fill the house. There were 26 of us this particular Sunday. Our kitchen was full, our dining room spilled over into our living room, and I felt so cared for by God that He would give us this gift.

Big Family Food and Fun

I had made brunch foods for this Sunday Lunch: This Egg Casserole (multiplied to include 36 eggs and 3-pounds of sausage), Chocolate Chip Cheesecake Muffins, Raspberry Oatmeal Bars (made with blueberry jelly instead because that’s what I had in the fridge), strawberries, grapes, and raw veggies.

Remember how I said that I’ve decided to save money by skipping the butter in my Stick of Butter Rice?? (<— it tastes the same with or without it, so…) Well, look how much butter it takes to make this small pan of Raspberry Oatmeal Bars. Hahaha, I will never skimp on the butter in this one, and it’s WORTH IT. These are incredible. Because of the butter. :)

So many dear friends joined us for our Sunday meal, and our friend Cindy brought her delicious Mac and Cheese and Cowboy Caviar (similar to this recipe) with chips to share with everyone.

 

 

We rested in the afternoon after our guests left, and for dinner that evening I made this Creamy Mac and Cheese. Then I warmed up leftover taco meat and opened a can of tuna. What??? Ah, but I had a method to my madness. Whoever wanted to add tuna to their mac and cheese turned their meal into Tuna Casserole. But whoever added taco meat to their mac and cheese turned their meal into Cheeseburger Mac. We ate this with buttered peas and watermelon.

That night the weather was beautiful so we headed out for a walk. We heard live music nearby so we decided to follow our ears to see where they took us!

How fun! There was a church nearby who was hosting a free event for the community. There was live music, a lady making balloon creations for the kids, and Kona Ice. We enjoyed the music and had fun with our balloon creations.

Monday morning I had to take two of our girls to an appointment so I threw bananas, yogurt tubes, and leftover bars onto the table for breakfast.

Late morning Elias made three frozen Costco pizzas and we loaded all the kids into the van to eat at the zoo. (Matt had gone to York for the day.)

We enjoyed our pizza along with peach cups and juice, then we let the kids play in a big play area next to the spider monkeys before heading home for naps.

That night we joined two of our neighbor families for a super fun meal of hotdogs and smores.

Ah, and water balloons!!

We are so very thankful that God provided us with such a wonderful neighborhood full of wonderful people to do life with. We all need this.

In York on Monday, Matt got 10 dozen eggs from our neighbors. It feels good to be stocked up again!

Tuesday morning I mixed up a double recipe of Bran Muffins. Plus I made a double batch of Applesauce Bread and “baked” them in my crock pots. It sort of worked. The outside became a bit overdone while we waited for the middle to finish baking. Then it fell apart as I was taking it out of the crocks. But it still tasted good!

I packed crumbly pieces into a container to take to the zoo for another picnic.

Malachi hadn’t been to the zoo with us yet since so much of the summer he had been away for work and camps. So we were all excited to show him all we’d discovered all summer. We decided that our extra zoo fun for today would be to feed the giraffes.

On our way to have lunch with the flamingos (we love flamingos, plus there’s a perfect picnic table right by them!), we stopped to show Malachi the penguins.

It was well past lunchtime by then and Acacia decided she couldn’t wait. Before I realized it, she had pulled out the Apple Bread – and spilled all of it onto the cement. Then of course all the little girls rushed over to eat off the ground. Yuck. I hated to waste it but we scooped it up into the trash and decided to make our way to the table to actually feed everyone finally.

Lunch that day was crackers with cheese, turkey, and ham plus applesauce or peach cups, dried blueberries, and juice. But no apple bread, ha.

For dinner that night, a new friend joined us and we ate Costco’s tortelloni with sauce and steamed broccoli.

Wednesday morning we ate more of the Bran Muffins, which I cut in half, buttered, and warmed in the air fryer. They are so good this way!

For lunch I made Hashbrown and Egg Nests with ham included. These went over very well!! I made extras on purpose so we could warm them up for quick breakfasts next week before school.

Matt was in York again that day, so Malachi went with me to the mall so the kids could run off some energy in the play area there before naptime.

Justus and Kelsey joined us for dinner that night. I smoked two pork loin, warmed up leftover green beans and broccoli, stir fried some squash and zucchini, and made several boxes of mac and cheese.

I had also baked a cake that afternoon – and of course I had snuck in a bunch of spinach. This was a fun treat for dessert!

Our dear friend Phyllis came to visit us Thursday morning. We showed her around the Castle, took her on a walk to show her the Sunken Gardens, then came home and made grilled cheese sandwiches for lunch.

The way she pours love into our kid is priceless.

By the way, being able to make make grilled cheese or pancakes on this amazing griddle built into our stove is sooooo nice! Also, I used Havarti cheese slices from Costco. WOW. That cheese is a game changer for sandwiches.

Meanwhile, would you believe? Our friend Barbara had read in an email I sent out earlier in the week about our Great Apple Bread Spill at the zoo. She secretly made us a large loaf to replace what we lost and her hubby dropped it off that morning while we were gone. What precious friends. I told our kids: remember this, guys. We can offer special gifts of love to others too. :) :) :)

After we got the kids down for naps and rest time, I ran out the door to get groceries and a few last minute needed school clothes items. I got a lot of produce at Costco (plus jeans for the kids that I found marked down!).

Then I went to Aldi to get yogurt, milk, buns, and rolls.

When I got home, we worked together to unload groceries (which sounds much sweeter than it actually was – after I’ve been gone the kids usually go a little crazy when I get back, oy). Matt had baked frozen pizzas and I made smoothies to go with it so we could have a quick dinner (which sounds much sweeter than it was because the little girls spilled their smoothies and turned dinner into a huge mess, oy).

We cleaned up and rushed out the door for a Walk to School Night so the kids could meet their teachers and see their classrooms. It had been an extra crazy hour of putting away groceries and feeding everyone (and cleaning up smoothie spills) so we were VERY happy that right before we left, Kelsey texted to see if we wanted her help getting to the school that night. YES PLEASE.

Getting ready for company

Friday morning we enjoyed Barbara’s Apple Bread before getting our house ready for our first overnight guests at the Castle!

The family we were getting ready to host is a family of 8, so all of our meals were about to become extra large! I got out this huge bag of chicken thighs and dumped marinade right into the bag so I could smoke it that night for our dinner.

I also baked a double batch of Chocolate Chip Muffins for Saturday’s breakfast.

And made a huge pan of brownies. :)

When the kids started to get squirrely, we packed a picnic, put on their swimsuits, and headed to the splash park.

I had air fried a big box of Taquitos (from Sam’s) for our picnic that day. It worked great! We ate them with clementines, yogurt, and cookies.

During naptime, our friends arrived!!!!! This family is incredibly dear to us. Since the girls were napping, we wasted no time getting out cards to play our mutually favorite game of Nertz. I was ridiculously rusty as I haven’t played in years. So I got a terrible score but it sure was fun!

We smoked the marinated chicken at dinnertime, cut up watermelon and brownies…

….made steamed green beans, buttered corn, and oh yeah. I had washed and thrown a bunch of potatoes into a crock pot before leaving for the Splash Park so that they could bake and be ready for dinner.

Our table was full and it was perfect.

After dinner, we took our friends on a walk to the Sunken Gardens so they could enjoy the beauty with us.

We are a large parade when just our family goes, but adding the Brocks must have been quite a show as we walked from our house to the garden. There were 19 of us out with our strollers, wagon, and kids/adults on foot. :)

We had popsicles when we got back because we had earned them. :) Then we got all the kids showered and to bed, quite the ordeal!!

When I woke up the next morning I was planning in my head how I would take advantage of the extra hands available to give my kitchen floor a much-needed sweep and mop. But look what I woke up to!!!! A beautifully clean kitchen with scrubbed floors. SO SWEET. Thank you, Brocks!!

I set out a breakfast buffet of sausage, bacon, muffins, bread, fruit, Cream Cheese Fruit Dip, and yogurt. It was simple and good.

After breakfast, we packed a sub sandwich lunch and headed out to the zoo for a few hours.

Here are 17 of us (Kelsey joined us too but was the one taking the picture). :)

We found our favorite picnic tables by the flamingos to enjoy our sandwiches, chips, fruit, juice, and brownies. We were our own zoo at the zoo, but it was so great to be together.

We made it home by 1:45 and got the four littlest down for naps. The rest of us cleaned up and got ready to go to a wedding – and from that point on, I got no pictures. Boo. The wedding was for our long-time friend Jacob and his bride Sarah, and it was beautiful.

TODAY is mine and Matt’s 29th anniversary. :) I love going to weddings as a reminder of where we came from, so the timing is perfect. Here’s to a brand new week and a Christ-focused new year of our marriage!

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What is Matt up to these days?

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Now that we’ve moved to Lincoln many people have asked, “What is Matt up to these days?” Let’s take some time to answer that question now…

What is Matt up to these days?

—-> The short answer is that he gets to be a work-from-home dad now, teamworking with me – a work-from-home-mom – take care of our seven little ones. <—-

But how is that working? Let me share God’s goodness in working out His plans during the past 29 years to make this happen for us!

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

As I was praying over this post, these are the bullet items that came to mind to share first:

  1. Matt is visionary.
  2. Matt and I are both entrepreneurs.
  3. We like to have “a variety of eggs in our basket” so that our financial needs are never dependent on just one source of income.
  4. We are savers, not spenders.
  5. During the past 20 years, we have invested in real estate as God has provided opportunity.
  6. God knew what He would be calling us to in 2023 and He paved the way for this.

And now I’ll go into more detail. :)

Matt is visionary.

This guy gets an idea every five minutes. I can hardly keep up. Some ideas turn into nothing. Some turn into hours of research and then nothing. But some turn into hours of research and then become side hustles. Some turn into work/income that help to meet our family’s needs and the needs of others. Some turn into investments that provide a very good return.

This is the way God made Matt, and it’s fun to be a part of his creativity in finding ways that provide for our family. I love that he is always thinking outside the box and looking for opportunities to serve our family and others.

Matt and I are both entrepreneurs

While Matt is the one who is constantly thinking of ideas for possible streams of income, I also have always been an entrepreneur at heart. All of our married life, I have pursued some sort of money-making adventure while remaining a stay-at-home-mom. Early on, I sold Stampin’ Up! products for a few years, then I baked these incredible soft pretzels and sold them at the Farmer’s Market. Somewhere in there, I did in-home daycare for a short time – and all of these provided a little extra income for our family. This has always been fun for me and being self-employed with Matt also pursuing ventures works well because of the way we think. (It’s not for everyone, but it works for us!)

In 2007, I started this blog as a fun hobby and as a possible way to make some side income. After a few years it turned into a ministry, a beautiful community, a delightful hobby, and income for our family too. I have been doing this now for almost 16 years – can you believe it?

Aww, look at our first four babies back when HeavenlyHomemakers.com began:

We like to have “a variety of eggs in our basket” so that our financial needs are never dependent on just one source of income.

We have very much valued having different streams of income through the years so that if one slows down or goes away, we still have income from other sources. For instance, Matt had a snow removal service with our boys for several years – but of course business was pretty slow in the summer, ha. No worries, they mowed lawns in the summertime. That snow/mowing business didn’t pay all the bills for our family, but it definitely bought some groceries. Meanwhile, he and I had other streams of income coming from a variety of areas of work.

A few years ago, Matt became Certified in Radon Mitigation, installing safety systems in people’s homes. This was hard work but good money. In addition to everything else, through the years, Matt has worked in ministry, been a part time or full time soccer coach, offered handi-man services, and even tried his hand at a Shaved Ice Shack.

Matt’s visionary nature and our mutual entrepreneurial spirits meant that through the years, nothing paid all of the bills but everything added together provided enough.

We are savers, not spenders.

Throughout our married life, we have lived comfortably, but frugally. Neither of us are big spenders and we like to be careful about where our money goes. We’ve appreciated having a cushion in our bank account so that any time something comes up (car repairs, home repairs, kids’ needs, etc.) we have what we need to pay for it.

We’ve also been intentional about paying down debt as quickly as possible so that it doesn’t hang over our heads. When we were newlyweds and had two full time incomes, we lived on one and used the second to pay off student loans. I’m so thankful we did that!

And even though we are frugal by nature, we still find all kinds of ways to have fun as a family. :)

During the past 20 years, we have invested in real estate as God has provided opportunity.

This started back when our boys were little and we had a tiny bit of savings in our bank account. At that time, Matt was approached by someone with an offer to buy their Storage Units. He knew that it would be a great opportunity for mostly passive income through the years – specifically to use for our kids’ college education down the road. I was extremely hesitant! That little bit of extra savings in the bank felt very good and I liked looking at it like a security blanket. Besides, our boys were little and in my head, they were never going to grow up and go to college (bahaha, joke’s on me).

Matt’s visionary mind, detailed research, and financial savvy won me over and we bought the storage units. After a few years, we paid off their loan, making all of the rental fees 100% income for us (minus yearly property tax and insurance). Sure enough, we eventually used that income to help our boys with their college bills. And now? It continues to provide income to help pay some of our other bills.

Having such a good experience with this first real estate investment, a few years after buying the storage units, we used our next pocket of savings to buy a small house to use as a rental property. As the years went on, we continued to save and invest – eventually purchasing a total of four rental houses plus a duplex. We got incredible deals on these because the market was right for buyers looking to invest during those years. The rental income from these houses plus the storage units has been a lovely “egg in our basket” that we have very much appreciated.

God knew what He would be calling us to and He paved the way for this.

Now here we are, 29 years of marriage and 11 kids later.

As we have added children to our family during the past five years, our needs at home have become much, much greater. All of our adopted/foster children are fantastic, precious, and dear – and Matt and I find that we need to pour an incredible amount of energy into caring for them as we help them heal and grow into healthy and secure adults.

Last fall, a few things shifted for us and God made it clear that instead of pursing out-of-the-home work, we should make some simple financial changes so that Matt could work from home and be with our family full time. As it had been, almost all of his outside employment paycheck went toward paying for people to come help me care for our kids (it’s almost impossible to take care of this many littles without help). It makes more sense now that we would keep Matt home and work together. I LOVE THIS SO MUCH. We teamwork life more fully now as we manage our properties, write this blog, and care for our children together to meet their needs in a greater way.

Then God did something we didn’t expect…

Looking ahead last winter, with Matt at home full time and knowing that Elias would soon graduate from college, and that Malachi would graduate from high school we found ourselves looking at an open door. We had thought we’d live in York forever. But God drew our hearts to Lincoln so that we could be closer to our older kids. We need them for this too.

So here we are. 

Right now we are both exactly where we need to be – at home caring for all of these little ones together. God is good and He set us up for this long before we knew we’d need it.

When we moved, we sold and profited on some of our York rental properties to help us pay for the gift of our Coppinger Castle. Thank you, God. Meanwhile, we’ve also kept some of them as an “egg in our basket” to provide income for our needs. In addition, our Castle has three empty suites on the third floor that we rent out. People have come and gone and our renters have all been amazing to live with! Here’s Matt finishing the third room as we prepared for another renter:

We are amazed when we think about how God opened those doors for us so many years ago so that we could move to Lincoln and do what He needs us to do now.

As we look at the past and head into the future, we see clearly that God is faithful and good to care for all His children. While there are always unknowns, we know that we don’t need to worry. He has proven Himself over and over in our lives, and we’ve loved looking back on the past 29 years to see how He’s prepared us for this new journey.

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Big Family Food and Fun: July 30-August 5, 2023

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What does our Big Family Food and Fun look like as July ends and August begins?

Before we dive into the week, here are a few more photos that Kelsey took during last week’s surprise birthday party. She was intentional about getting pictures with me in them, since I am usually taking the pictures and therefore not in them. :)

Friends kept showing up to surprise me all day long. Amazing!

The chip and dip buffet:

I had a hard time winding down that night! What a fantastic day!

Big Family Food and Fun: July 30-August 5, 2023

And now for the new week!

Sunday for lunch I tried Pizza Chicken in the crock pot (usually I make it in the oven). It sort of worked??!? I made 8-pounds of chicken thighs at once, so the middle chicken pieces didn’t get thoroughly cooked while we were at church. We ate what was ready and I finished cooking the under-done pieces in a skillet while we ate the rest. We had green beans, corn, bread/butter, and No-Bake Cookies with our Pizza Chicken.

Sunday evening we were invited to swim at our friends’ house and have dinner with them. We had THE BEST TIME!!!!

There were plenty of adults and teens to help with our littles so they got to have fun in the pool too. Then we ate a delicious feast of Sloppy Joes on homemade slider buns, baked beans, grapes, cucumbers, watermelon, salad, pickles, chips, and Peanut Butter Rice Krispie Treats. We felt so spoiled!


Monday morning we enjoyed Pumpkin Bread and Chocolate Chip Zucchini Bread – both made by friends who gifted them to us. So good!

Here’s how Josie felt about it her chocolate bread breakfast. ;)

We needed to go to the bank to both set up an account and to get some paperwork signed/notarized. So  we figured out a way to do it without taking seven babies into the bank, yikes! I packed grapes, animal crackers, and water or juice for everyone and we headed out.

First we stopped at a park to wear them out a little bit. Then we loaded them back into the van and headed to the bank where I stayed with them and handed out snacks while Matt went in to get our account set up. After wayyyyyy to long (it couldn’t be helped), Matt came out and stayed with the kids while I ran in to do my part. We are thankful that the bank people worked with us and that we could get this necessary business done!

Meanwhile, it was past lunchtime because the bank needs took much longer than we anticipated. So I texted Malachi to throw Chicken Strips into the air fryer so we’d have food right away when we got home. At 12:50, we finally made it back and gave them chicken and canned fruit while I warmed up peas to complete the meal. Naptime didn’t happen until almost 2:00 that day but we sure were thankful to finally have our bank account set up and paperwork taken care of!

Dinner that night was Breakfast – pancakes, scrambled cheese eggs, sausage, bacon, blueberries, and applesauce. This is one of our favorite meals! And having a griddle on my stove is INCREDIBLE. I cranked out a huge amount of pancakes in a very short amount of time. Amazing!

The weather was beautiful that evening so we took another walk to the Sunken Gardens before bedtime.

We finished the Chocolate Chip Zucchini Bread on Tuesday morning, plus I got out our apple-peeler-corer-slicer and made apple spirals for the kids. (This is actually faster than slicing them and the kids love it!) They ate the apples with our favorite “caramel cheese” so breakfast seemed like a real treat!

Matt kept all the kids occupied outside of the kitchen after breakfast because after eating chocolate bread – I desperately needed to sweep and mop. Then we packed a lunch and headed to the zoo for our morning outing. I used the rest of our leftover smoked chicken from last week to make Chicken-Ranch-Spinach Melts.

We weren’t sure how this would work since these are hot sandwiches. But I packed our cold side dishes and drinks in one cooler with ice. Then I packed the hot sandwiches in a separate insulated lunch bag. I toasted the sandwiches in our air fryer at 10:30 and at noon when we ate at the park, the sandwiches were still hot. Amazing! Now we know!

Flamingos are our favorite. Watch the video here to learn why.

Each time we go to the zoo (we have a membership and we live six blocks away so we can go as often as we are able), we choose something different to “feature” for the kids so that every trip is special. This time it was the Dino Dig. We chose a table by the digging area so that the kids could play and then eat when they were ready. The hot sandwiches were a hit, plus we had applesauce, chips and salsa, and juice.

We headed home and put littles down for a nap then I headed to Costco. I underestimated how long my shopping would take – and how many carts I would fill. Phew. Every time I’m buying food or clothes I’m struck by the reality of how many kids I have. You’d think I’d be used to it by now, haha.

I needed many basics, plus I was getting items for our kids’ lunchboxes for first couple of weeks back to school. Plus I needed diapers, and the yogurt was on sale, and….

I was an hour later than planned getting home. Matt had fed the kids leftovers for dinner but it didn’t matter. They were screaming and extra needy anyway. We somehow unloaded all the groceries while holding very loud children.

All said and done, I spent $653 for Costco groceries and we are well stocked up, at least for a few days before we run out of fresh produce again. :)

Wednesday morning Matt and and Elias headed to York to work on our houses there. Malachi was my side-kick all day, helping me with littles. I had an at-home 9:00 meeting for our littlest kids. Then at 10:30 we decided that a fun morning outing would be McDonald’s Play Place. Malachi’s app told us that we could buy nuggets for a good deal so I told the kids that everyone would have a fun snack of 2 chicken nuggets each and that we’d play and come home and bake pizzas.

Good idea, Mom.

Except – do McDonald’s Play Places not exist anymore??? It’s a been a long time since I’ve looked for one. My phone told me there was a Play Place so we drove to that location. But in fact, there was no Play Place. Moving on to Plan B…

Malachi still grabbed nuggets, we handed everyone their tiny 2-nugget snack to eat in their car seats, and we headed to the Scheels to enjoy their Play Place. Phew.

Oh but did I mention that our wagon broke while we were in there?! Good grief.

The kids had a great time playing, Malachi grabbed himself some frisbee golf discs, and we headed home – much later than intended. Too late to bake pizzas before having screaming children who had become hangry.

Soooo, when we got home I told the kids to wash hands, get a drink of water, and meet me at the table for fun sliced apples. We scooped out peanut butter for them to eat with their apples, I found leftover pancakes to warm up with butter, and that was lunch. THEN IT WAS NAPTIME, thank you Jesus.

Oh wait. It was not naptime. I had missed the fact that the three little girls had been taking turns smearing their peanut butter in each others’ hair. Oh no they hadn’t. Oh yes they had. I took them to the sink at stuck their head under the water to clean their hair the best I could. And then it was naptime. Wet hair and all.

That afternoon I experienced something new…

Grocery Delivery

After yesterday’s crazy Costco shopping trip I decided to see how I could make grocery shopping easier to meet our family’s needs. So I put in an Aldi order and took advantage of a Free Delivery deal.

Having my groceries delivered to my door? AWESOME. But will I do it again? I’m not sure. Probably not??

While shopping, I noticed that Aldi’s online prices were all higher than in-store prices. This is the case for both pick-up and delivery. With the high volume of items I need to buy, it will not be worth it to pay the extra amount per every item. Anyone have experience with Aldi pick-up or delivery? Any tips for how to save? Or should I skip it and just shop in the store somehow each week?

Is it still only Wednesday?

Thank goodness for afternoon rest times. I enjoyed some down-time (sitting with my feet up  and uploading pictures of all of our food, hehe) then got ready for company. I was so excited about this because friends from York were coming for dinner. Kelsey happened to be free to join us and I’m not sure if you know this, but she is a professional watermelon-cutter-upper. That’s always her job when she comes. ;)

There were 22 of us for dinner that night and it was magical. We smoked two different kinds of brats and ate them with salad, watermelon, grapes, oranges, carrots, chips, No-Bake Cookies, and Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars. (<— awww, I wrote this when Asa was only 15.) We enjoyed our visit so much!!

I was visiting with our guests, the bigger littles were playing outside with their kids and our neighbors, and it was getting close to bedtime. Kelsey grabbed the three little girls and gave them a bath to get the rest of the peanut butter out of their hair. Bless. Then Kelsey, along with guests Julie and Emma put them girls down for the night. This was such a precious scene as they said goodnight and headed to bed…

Thursday was my big birthday. :) Just like the day before, I had meetings all morning for our little ones (The Early Childhood Development team is highly involved with our kids ages 0-3 because they are all at high risk and need early intervention. We met with them frequently in York and now we are getting set up with our new team in Lincoln. Lots of meetings later, we are almost ready to roll!)

While I was in our living room filling out paperwork and answering questions, Matt and the kids made a picnic lunch for us. They made Chicken Salad and put it on croissants for sandwiches, plus packed applesauce and chips. I had splurged on Kirkland’s Organic Chocolate Milk for a special treat for picnics but none of the kids enjoyed them very much. A bummer, but now I know not to buy them again. :)

After we ate, the kids ran around the park and attempted to climb a tree.

After naps, they put together a special show for me for my birthday, hahaha.

Elias cooked and perfectly seasoned the shaved beef steak I had gotten in our Aldi delivery, then everyone else worked together to put together a buffet for Steak Nachos for my birthday dinner. All the Bigs were able to join so all 15 of us were together – just what I wanted for my birthday!

My nacho bowl was so delicious!! Cilantro, white queso, seasoned steak, corn, black beans, garden tomatoes, and chips. It was a perfect birthday meal.

Ah, but then there was cheesecake!!

After we ate, we headed outside to hang out.

Kelsey taught me how to play Cornhole. Super fun!

It was a great birthday!

Friday morning we ate cereal and bananas, then headed to a bookstore that was featuring a Reptile Storytime.

We ended up being there with several families from church which was a fun surprise! Most of our kids were brave enough to pet the snakes. :)

Since we were already out and about, we found a park that we hadn’t tried out yet and ate the rest of the Chicken Salad on croissants and No Bake Cookies with juice and clementines. But oooops. This park didn’t have bathrooms, which is a no-go with this many kids! We cut our picnic short and came home so that we could make a mess of food all over our kitchen floor. I mean, so that some of the kids could potty while we finished lunch in our kitchen. :)

For dinner that night I decided that I wanted NO DIRTY DISHES (or drama), so I threw a bunch of chicken nuggets into the air fryer and made these smoothies. Disposable plastic cups with fun straws for the win!

Malachi had made himself a pizza for lunch and the cardboard circle was still on the counter. So that became my fancy serving tray for the nuggets. Nice, eh? The kids ate outside while playing because the weather was wonderful.

Meanwhile, Justus had been coming back and forth all day working with our smoker to made his delicious ribs for some buddies that night. Brayden was his side-kick, which is good beyond what I can express. Our little kids need our bigger kids pouring into them like this. Thank you, God, for moving us to Lincoln so that we could be together in these ways. We all need this.

Acacia gave up on her straw and went all in, drinking her smoothie like a big girl.

Plan B again

If we’ve learned anything we’ve learned that we can make plans, but they almost always need to change.

Saturday morning we had plans to go to Walmart to get a few school supplies and some of our WIC items for the month, especially formula for BabyBoy#11. But, the roofers we’d been waiting on for over a month to come do repairs FINALLY came that morning. So Matt needed to spend time with them, pushing back our plans.

By 11am we were finally able to get out the door, and we decided we needed to work our plans out differently. I put together a snack of animal crackers, applesauce pouches, and cheese sticks and we made our way to the store. All the kids stayed in the the van with Matt and he handed out snacks while I ran into Walmart and hurried as fast as I could to get everything we needed. It wasn’t a very fun outing for the kids, but at least the necessary shopping got done.

I forgot to take any pictures, sorry! I got formula, cereal, juice, cheese, yogurt, frozen hashbrowns, spring mix, spinach, grapes, pears, bananas, strawberries, plus a few packs of glue sticks, crayons, and pencils. Matt and the kids were hanging in there in the van, bless. We unloaded groceries as fast as we could when we got home then quickly warmed up leftover brats and served them with watermelon before naptime.

We made fresh green beans from our friends’ garden that night plus corn on the cob. I put a bunch of Burritos from our freezer into the air fryer to heat up while the veggies cooked and that was dinner. (By the way, make these burritos to have on hand for nights you don’t feel like or have time for cooking. They are so great!)

This was my view of dinner from the corner of the room where I sat feeding BabyBoy#11.

We just have one more week before school starts. We are both excited and sad that summer break ends and a school year begins. When do your kids start their school year again?

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What to Buy (Or Avoid) at Costco or Sam’s to Save Your Grocery Budget

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Here’s what I buy at Costco or Sam’s so save my grocery budget. And…here’s what I avoid buying at those stores!

What I Buy at Sam’s and Costco

These are the purchases I make that save me the most money as I strive to keep our big family budget at $1,400. (I’m currently feeding 12 people three meals every day. Plus we have frequent guests.)

Here’s what saves me the most at Costco and Sam’s:

Organic Produce

I typically find organic produce at Costco for the same price as non-organic produce elsewhere. I still sometimes opt for non-organic depending on cost, but it’s nice to get organic options at Costco when I can. I have found that their organic apples, pears, mixed greens, spinach, carrots, and grapes are usually a great price!

Chicken Legs

These are always $0.98/pound, which is a great price per pound for high-quality meat.

Sliced and Shredded Cheese

In my experience, the bulk bags of shredded Colby jack and mozzarella cheese at Costco or Sam’s is less than what I find elsewhere, even Walmart. I also buy big packages of sliced Colby Jack and sliced Pepper Jack for grilled cheese sandwiches, saving quite a bit!

Other Dairy Products

BUTTER!!!! I always buy butter and save at Costco – while watching for loss leader sales at other stores, especially during holiday season. Also on my Costco and Sam’s list: Daisy Sour Cream, Cream Cheese, 4% Milkfat Cottage Cheese, Half and Half, and Heavy Whipping Cream. Sam’s has a large container of Whole Milk Yogurt that we like also.

Rotisserie Chicken

They are always $4.98 and you can eat them as-is for a fantastic convenience meal! Or you can turn it into any of these meals.

Chicken Thighs

I buy the six-pack of boneless chicken thighs at Costco or Sam’s for $3.49/pound. (Worth noting: I can also find these marked down for even less at Walmart so I always check there also.)

Beef Hotdogs

These are a great price at both Sam’s and Costco, and their taste doesn’t compare to any others I’ve found. We especially love the box of 80 beef hotdogs from Sam’s. They are so good!

Frozen Chicken Nuggets

These are a GREAT price at Costco and they taste better than any others we’ve tried.

Applesauce Pouches

If you buy these (with all of our littles, they are a great convenience food for us!) I highly recommend that you pick them up at Sam’s or Costco. They cost much less per pouch at these warehouses. Plus Costco has a Kirkland brand that is priced even better!

Caesar Salad Packs

I actually don’t know or even care how much these cost, ha. There’s something about these that just taste so very good! I always grab a couple from the produce department and we enjoy them with our meals during the next couple of days. Brayden and Keith eat thirds and fourths of this salad!

Frozen Pizza

I used to think of these as a splurge, but as it turns out, buying frozen pizza is actually a frugal option if you think of them this way. In our opinion, the Kirkland frozen pizzas at Costco are the best tasting compared to other brands.

Grass Fed Hamburger Meat

Currently, the best price I’ve found for Organic Ground Beef (Costco) or Grass Fed Ground Beef (Sam’s) is at these warehouses. Occasionally, Sam’s even has some marked down for quick sale, and I grab it up!

What to avoid

Here’s a list of items I typically find for a better price elsewhere…

Hotdog and Hamburger Buns

In the big scheme of things, this isn’t a super big deal or even a big waste of money. But I’ve found that it saves money to pick up hamburger and hotdog buns at Walmart or Aldi instead of at Costco or Sam’s.

Bagels

The same goes for bagels. I can get them at Aldi for much cheaper than those at Sam’s and Costco.

Salsa

We really like the Aldi organic salsa, and it is much cheaper than what I find at the warehouses. I buy a case of salsa at Aldi every time I go in.

Spaghetti Sauce

The Aldi Simple Nature organic spaghetti sauce is a great price and tastes great.

Hamburger Meat and Sausage

I watch other store ads to check for big hamburger meat discounts. And usually, I find sausage at Aldi for just $1.99/pound. So I don’t ever buy these two meat varieties at Sam’s or Costco unless I happen to catch a meat markdown at Sam’s that matches my price point.

Canned Veggies 

I’ve found that canned beans, tomatoes, green beans, and corn are usually more expensive at Sam’s and Costco compared to Aldi. So I typically buy a flat of of 12 cans of black beans, baked beans, and corn when I go to Aldi instead of getting them at the warehouses.

Wow, is that it?

Overall, prices at Costco and Sam’s really are the best, especially for the high-quality foods that they offer. There are just those few items that I tend to look for elsewhere, and sometimes it isn’t worth making an extra trip to another store.

What are your buy and don’t buy suggestions from Costco and Sam’s?

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