Heavenly Homemakers

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Big Family Food and Fun: October 25-31, 2026

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Here’s our Big Family Food and Fun: October 25-31, 2026 post!

Big Family Food and Fun: October 25-31, 2026

Sunday morning was a bit more chill because we weren’t planning on hosting lunch that day. We simply ate our Breakfast Cookie Bars and got ready for church. Could we find a matching right and a left shoe for everyone? Of course not. But did we make it to church on time? Ope, no, we didn’t. But we did make it! And that morning, God showed us some incredible work He is doing in a family new to our Heartlands community. They have a child suffering from incredible health issues, and they were able to show up that day. We saw His hand in EVERYTHING. It was so wonderful to experience!

After church, Matt and I had a lunch meeting and arrangements had been made for all the kids to be watched by several teens and adults. Elias was one of these adults, plus several others our kids love. So we felt great about getting their plates fixed (lunch was provided!) and heading into our meeting.

We made it home just in time to start Community Group. Then Brayden got ready and headed off to a Youth Group Halloween Party!

We spent the entire evening playing outside, eating leftovers, and doing various chores. I played volleyball with several of the kids. Then just before bedtime, Matt turned on the firepit for everyone to enjoy. We had to work pretty hard to keep hair, sticks, and fingers out of the fire! Best we could, we went around the circle, asking everyone to share something they were thankful for from the past week.

On Monday morning, Auggie got cold during our walk to school so he borrowed Mommy’s hoodie. :)

Emma came that morning. So Matt and I headed to Holmes Lake to walk and talk all morning.

Matt headed home to be with Brayden that afternoon while I headed to do a little bit of grocery shopping and to get some computer work done at Panera. At Aldi, I got apples, pears, zucchini, grapes, sweet peppers, fruit/veggie pouches, pumpkin, crackers, granola, and salsa. Then at Wal-mart, I found some meat markdowns and a few other random deals. It was fun to take my time looking for discounted items our family could use!

After school, Keith sat with me to get his homework done. He is taking a break from ABA therapy right now as we dig deeper and re-evaluate what he needs.

He was “helper of the day” so he helped make salad for dinner.

I had slow cooked Barbecue Chicken in the crock pot all day. We ate it with Grapes, Keith’s Salad, plus some Rice pouches I’d found at Aldi.

Auggie had picked these overalls to wear that day, and the cuteness was too much for all of us to handle. They are almost too little for him, so he suggested that Arrow could maybe have them next.

On Tuesday morning, I made a pan of Peanut Butter Honey Rice Krispie Bars for a breakfast/snack option.

The morning was full of 9:00, 10:00, and 11:00 therapy appointments and ABA meetings. I finished just in time to see Auggie off on the bus. Hopelyn was over and loves to help watch for the bus.

We had more meetings and therapy that afternoon before picking kids up from school. I had ordered from Azure Standard this month and our friend, Terra, lovingly picked our food up for us since we were unable to be there. She dropped it off for us that afternoon (bless!), so now we are stocked up again on our favorite Azure Oats, White Wheat Flour, and Tortillas!

Right after school, Brayden, Kiya, Bonus Buddy, and Josie and I headed to Tuesday Food Distribution.

Brayden and Kiya take turns each week with cleaning the coolers or working at a give-away table. This week, Kiya got to give away fall and Halloween items instead of food.

Back at home, I had thawed and rewarmed Taco Soup for dinner plus pulled a package of Ham and Cheese Sliders from the freezer to stretch out our meal. I had also thawed a loaf of Banana Bread that was in the freezer. We warmed up each slice with butter in our air fryer and we ate the entire loaf!

Keith and Bonus Buddy were incredibly excited to go to a free Wrestling Clinic that evening. This is what they do in our living room much of the time. So it was perfect that they got to go learn some actual wrestling techniques and skills. :)

On Wednesday morning while the kids were eating breakfast, I put together 8-pounds of Meatballs. Some went into the freezer and some went into the fridge to bake later for dinner that night,

Keith had a doctor appointment that morning, so Matt stayed home with Auggie during his ABA therapy session while I picked up Keith from school. While we were in the waiting room at the doctor’s office, we enjoyed looking at lots of fun decorated pumpkins, voting for our favorite.

Keith was incredibly brave as he needed to have a blood draw done as we dig deeper into some of his needs. (Everything later came back clear, which is good news.)

After school that day, Anna helped me bake Chocolate Banana Blender Muffins.

I had brought home two big bunches of overripe bananas from Food Distribution the day before, so after Anna helped me with her muffins, Brayden helped me make a huge batch of Banana Bread and Muffins.

Meanwhile, dinner was in the oven also. We ate our Meatballs with Mashed Potatoes, Salad, Muffins, and Sliced Oranges.

Our Banana Bread and Muffins finished baking while we ate and cooled off in time to be packaged up before bed time.

Hopelyn and Arrow came over on Thursday! Hopelyn spent time in our Reading Room, looking at many of the books on our shelves.

Arrow chose to play in our very messy Play Room. While he played, I got some toys picked up and organized the room a bit better. This cleaning effort might last for only a day or two, but we can enjoy it while it lasts.

This had been another week full of appointments and meetings, and that afternoon, that is how my time was spent again. So dinner that night was a simple meal of Spaghetti (or just noodles for half of our crew) with Green Beans and Buttered Corn.

Friday morning was a rough one as we tried to get everyone out the door. And then, just like that, everyone snapped into sweetness mode, grabbed a hand, and headed out for our walk to school. Nothing much makes sense, but it’s always good to have moments like this to give us hope. (Bonus Buddy had already gone on a little bit ahead of us on his bike.)

Auggie didn’t have ABA that morning, so he and I got a lot of baking done. He helped me make Breakfast Cookie Bars for the next two Sunday mornings.

Then he helped me with a business project. Ah, which reminds me of what I haven’t mentioned here yet. Malorie and I have started a Coppinger Kitchen and Crafts business here in Lincoln – and we’re going to see where it goes! If you’re in the Lincoln area, check it out and give us a Follow. So far, we are having a lot of fun making plans for how to grow and serve families here.

I had bought a huge container of M&Ms to use for some seasonal Monster Cookies for the business. Auggie was awesome at using a spoon to help me separate colors. He stuck with this project for about 20-minutes and did such a good job.

Brayden helped me finish the job later. He is super interested in helping with our business – which is great because a big part of the idea that Malorie and I had when we started was that this could potentially be something all of our kids could be a part of as they grow. We hope to provide some income opportunities for them, especially for those for whom a regular job might be too challenging. We’ll see what God does!

We finished our baking: Monster Cookies plus our Breakfast Cookie Bars.

After school, a little Penguin did her homework while sitting on the kitchen counter.

We played outside because it was a beautiful day!

Dinner was suuuuuper fancy: a package of Hotdogs cooked on the stove. Thank you for admiring my great skills.

We ended our evening with a walk to Sunken Gardens. This was perfect because the weather was so lovely and the garden was pretty sparce. So we were able to run and get energy out without reservation – then we headed home to bed.

We were excited that the fish were still in the ponds!

And we enjoyed visiting with a very friendly doggie and his owner.

When we got back that night, I finished shredding the chicken in a huge pot of White Chicken Chili that I’d started cooking earlier that day. I planned to serve it for Sunday’s lunch.

On Saturday morning, I took the four youngest kids to the library for Story Time. Matt kept the older four at home and guess what he had them do? Sweep and mop! That was pretty nice to come home to!

I baked several pans of bacon to get ahead for meals.

For lunch, I got “fancy” and made a bunch of Jack-o-dillas. The kids were impressed. :)

We spent the afternoon getting ready for a fun evening! Sonic was offering corn dogs for $0.50 each and we took full advantage of this for our dinner. We bought 30 of them, ate them with fruit, and that helped me a ton as I got 8 kids ready in costumes. Phew, even with simple costumes, this is a huge job.

Here’s our adorable crew, ready to head out for a fun night!

Our friend, Ed, took a picture of all of us on his porch. Brayden was back home handing out candy to trick-or-treaters at our house.

We came home and enjoyed two pieces of candy each. Then the kids had an absolute blast handing out almost all the rest of our candy to trick-or-treaters who came to our house. I loved watching them give all their candy away without thinking twice. It was just too much fun to have so many kids stop by!

What a week!

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Big Family Food and Fun: October 18-24, 2026

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Here’s our Big Family Food and Fun: October 18-24, 2026 post!

Big Family Food and Fun: October 18-24, 2026

I had made a fresh batch of Breakfast Cookie Bars on Saturday,  and we ate them as we got ready for church on Sunday morning.

There were 31 of us gathered for lunch that day. We all worked together to set out a Baked Potato Bar with toppings like bacon, chili, cheese, butter, sour cream, and queso. The kids had helped me scrub potatoes the night before and when I got up early on Sunday, I turned on the crock pots to bake the potatoes. By lunchtime, they were perfect! Our friend, Nancy, made a delicious Apple Cinnamon Cake for dessert. It was a lovely time of fellowship!

Matt and I enjoyed time with our Community Group that afternoon while the kids watched a movie. Then we warmed up leftovers and baked fish sticks for dinner.

Our neighbors across the street have been so sweet to come over and sing to each person in our home who is celebrating a birthday! They came over this evening to sing to Kiya and to give her a card and gift. She was so thrilled!

Monday was our final day of Fall Break. Josie asked if I would make that “hot pudding drink thing” – so I made a big pot of Warm Vanilla Soother that the kids enjoyed very much! I have started to add extra eggs to this recipe to offer extra protein, plus I don’t separate the eggs. I just add in the entire egg and whisk it really well to prevent clumps.

My blender got a work out this morning as I made Smoothie, then Cream Cheese Salsa Dip for our lunch.

Next, I put Spinach Cake into the blender. Then Crustless Cheesecakes. It was a productive morning and easy thanks to the blender. :)

At 10, we loaded up and headed to the Zoo for the day. When we got there, we learned that most of the zoo was closed so that they could set up their Boo at the Zoo event. Yikes! We quickly shifted our plans and figured out how we could spend our time seeing the few animals that were in the open area. Then we played in two play areas for the rest of the time. It was actually pretty restful since we weren’t managing and routing kids throughout the entire zoo all day.

The tiger was active that morning, so we enjoyed watching him take a walk. Also? Somehow every time we walk through the zoo gate, our kids’ appetites become huge. I always have a bag of apples to hand out – which is a test to their true hunger. If they are actually hungry, they’ll eat an apple. If not, they just associate the zoo with eating all day. But in fact, every kid at an apple. Well, ok then. They were actually hungry.

The eating didn’t stop. We moved to the Spider Monkey play area where we played for at least an hour and ate all the applesauce and most of the cheese sticks I had packed.

Then it was lunch time. After all the snacking, would they still be hungry for lunch? Indeed, we ate the entire container of Cream Cheese Salsa Dip that I’d made that morning, plus half the Spinach Cupcakes.

We made our way over to the theater where we learned from a presentation about Porcupines. Then we played in the Elephant Playground area, finished off the Spinach Cupakes, got some sunshine, then finally headed home. It was a great few hours at the zoo!

Back at home, we had ABA therapy for several kids, warmed up leftovers for dinner plus made salad and fried potatoes with leftover baked potatoes.

On Tuesday morning, we started our “back to school” week with Breakfast Sandwiches and Breakfast Burritos.

I made a pan of Nutella Oat Bars and Vanilla Pumpkin Muffins to get us through the next couple of days of snacking.

Hopelyn spent the morning with us and enjoyed the beautiful weather outside!

Auggie was determined to help Daddy carry some heavy branches to the stick pile.

That afternoon, I took four kids with me to Tuesday Food Distribution.

Dinner that night was super delicious! I had taken the time to make Smothered Pork Chops that morning and they had slow cooked all day. This tasted amazing with Mashed Potatoes and Green Beans.

Emma came on Wednesday! Matt and I enjoyed two hours walking and talking at Holmes Lake on a beautiful fall morning!

We ended our time out together by picking up Sam’s and Wal-Mart orders. I haven’t been able to get away to grocery shop for two weeks in a row because of Fall Break. So pick-up orders came to the rescue again!

We spent much of the afternoon and evening getting our house ready for weekend guests. Therefore, dinner that night was simple Chicken Nuggets and Caesar Salad with Grapes.

On Thursday morning, Auggie helped me make Chocolate and Vanilla Pumpkin Muffins to go with our Breakfast-for-Dinner that night.

Arrow and Hopelyn came to spend the morning. While Hopelyn played nearby in the playroom, Arrow played in the living room.

Then they switched! It was very sweet. :)

Late morning, I put together a huge Ham and Egg Casserole with Hashbrowns – plus a tiny one without ham. :) Worth Noting: there are 40 eggs in the huge casserole and Spoiler: we finished the entire casserole later that night at dinner.

Mid-afternoon, (my dad) Papa and Grandma Tacy arrived! We’ve all been so excited about this! Brayden got bonus time with them since he is home in the afternoons.

They walked with us to pick kids up from school, which was very exciting for everyone!

Additionally, our friends, Lisa and Greg, from Arkansas arrived just as we got home from school. They, along with my dad and Tacy, were visiting as they were on their way to York for YU Homecoming that weekend.

Asa’s and Justus’ families came over too, making it one beautiful houseful so that we could all catch up and enjoy one another!

At dinnertime, we ate our way through our Ham and Egg Casserole plus Fruit, Yogurt, Muffins, and Grandma Tacy’s Famous Poppyseed Bread.

It was loud and crazy and wonderful to be together.

Husker Volleyball was on, so we gathered in the living room to watch. Lisa helped the kids make crafts out of cardboard and tape. Can you HEAR this picture??

Early Friday morning, Josie had an appointment with her Eye Specialist. So Grandma Tacy and Lisa helped Matt get the other kids out the door for school while Josie and I headed out by 7:30. She made it to school just on time after that – but with sun glasses since her eyes were dilated.

Justus and Hopelyn came over and Justus worked on his Masters classes while Hopelyn hung out with us. Tacy and Lisa wanted to see our Little Free Pantry, so Hopelyn showed them how it all works.

We walked around outside visiting, then Lisa requested a picture of Lolli and Hopelyn. Notice all of Brayden’s decoration endeavors.

Anna helped make dinner that evening.

I smoked a bunch of Chicken Legs that we ate with Green Beans, Mashed Potatoes, Mac and Cheese, and Corn.

Papa was able to work some magic to get Auggie to actually eat all of his green beans!

Matt and the kids have been building a play house. When Keith requested this, I’m not sure any of us realized that it would actually happen. But Matt is making it happen – and we think it will be a lot of fun!

We ended our evening watching Kiya open a birthday gift from Papa and Grandma Tacy.

She will have a lot of fun working on this sewing project!

On Saturday, we said goodbye to Papa and Grandma Tacy. We stayed home all morning to try and play catch up a little bit. Daddy and the kids continued to work on the Play House.

I gave three of our girls a hair trim, then we had early baths since we had a full evening.

We had three events back to back that evening. First, Keith and Bonus Buddy had a soccer game.

Some of the kids played at the playground during the game. Notice how adorable they look? We had our Halloween costumes on in preparation for going to Boo at the Zoo that night. Below you will see three Husker cheerleaders plus a #1 Husker fan.

 

Next stop: Heartlands Harvest Festival. We ate dinner there, got face paint, played in corn, made smores, and…

…enjoyed archery with Heart Shot Ministries. This is always a highlight of this event!

We left in time to make it to Boo at the Zoo! I only got one picture because our goal once we get here is to keep all eight kids from scattering and that is a full time job. It was fun, well organized, and the kids loved it!

Back at home, we got everyone to bed just a bit past bedtime – and that was our week!

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Big Family Food and Fun: October 11-17, 2026

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Here’s our Big Family Food and Fun: October 11-17, 2026 post!

Big Family Food and Fun: October 11-17, 2026

We started our week with Breakfast Cookie Bars, of course. Then for lunch after church, 25 of us gathered at our house. We had sweet conversation around the table and outside while kids played. Our meal was Spiral Sliced Ham, Cheesy Potatoes, Salad, and Buttered Rolls. Plus our friend Kristin made Blackberry Bars for dessert!

That afternoon, it felt good to put all the leftover ham into a container for a future meal. Plus, Elias and Malorie had picked up a couple of Rotisserie Chickens for me and I got that prepped for the week.

Then we loaded up and headed to an event at Lincoln Symphony that was free for kids that day! They got to make some crafts…

But most exciting was that they got to try out different instruments!

It was the coolest event! We ran into some York friends there, which made our time extra good and special. Then we got to watch an hour-long symphony for kids: Lou the Baby Dinosaur. They didn’t allow pictures to be taken during the performance, but wow was it impressive! Kelsey, Hopelyn, and Kelsey’s parents were there too, and all of the kids enjoyed the entire show so much!

Back at home, I baked five Frozen Pizzas for dinner and we played outside until bedtime. It’s “make a leaf pile” season!

Emma came over on Monday morning, so after we got the kids to school, Matt and I went and walked around Holmes Lake! Then Matt headed home to work the rest of the day on the lift that we’d rented. I headed out to Panera to sit and write. It was so restful and refreshing!

At school pick-up time, I always take a snack to help our kids transition from school to home. This time I took them all a Pumpkin Spice Roll-Out Cookie, which they love! These cookies are made with whole wheat and are lower in sugar, so I consider them to be more of a snack than a dessert. They just think they are eating cookies in the middle of the week! (We usually reserve our sugar/desserts for the weekends.)

Acacia had a hard time making it home, and Keith came to the rescue to offer her support.

That evening, Kelsey and Hopelyn stopped by. Several weeks ago, God gave me the idea to make a Memory Bear for Bonus Buddy. I reached out to Buddy’s grandma and asked if she wouldn’t mind sharing a couple of shirts that had belonged to his daddy. Grandma graciously came through, and I turned the shirts over to Kelsey. Last week when Kelsey’s mom was visiting, the two of them spent hours of time and prayer together to create this precious bear. It is everything I’d hoped it would be and it brought out some needed emotional release and comfort. Buddy and I sat together and cried with the bear for a while before moving on for the evening of dinner and play. What a beautiful gift.

For dinner that night, I had used Rotisserie Chicken to make Chicken Cheese Melts – 12 with ranch and 12 with barbecue sauce. I air fried some Hashbrown Patties and got out Pickles. Everyone chose whatever fruit they wanted, and that was dinner. The evening was extra hectic because Matt was working on the lift most of the time. We had three RBTs with us for ABA therapy, and we all survived!

Daddy gave everyone a ride as he moved the lift to a new spot at the end of the night.

At school drop off that morning, Keith was struggling to want to get in the door. I attempted to distract him from his distress by “noticing” that he and Bonus Buddy were both wearing Star Wars-themed shirts and requesting a picture. This turned Keith’s sadness to smiles and Mom ended up with a fun 2nd grade best buddies picture!

A few of our Tuesday appointments got canceled, which was a bummer but also freed me up to get some other work accomplished. I made a double batch of Monster Cookie Bars for school lunches.

I also made several Breakfast Burritos. Meanwhile, I just got a new phone because my old one was not working well anymore. I got it set up that morning and had fun playing with its camera. Pretty impressive for a phone camera. Check out this beautiful burrito. :)

Hopelyn spent the day with us and helped me get Auggie onto the school bus at noon.

I had a meeting that afternoon during naptime and Brayden’s homeschool time. He did a good job working on his assignments and reading independently while I talked with one of our ABA therapists in details about some big needs. I came away from the meeting both discouraged and encouraged. Discouraged because it seems that for one of our kids, we’re looking at some bigger challenges. But encouraged because our therapist is willing to keep digging and finding answers to help. God is faithful.

I took Brayden, Kiya, Buddy, and Josie to Tuesday Food Distribution.

For dinner that night, we ate Baked Potatoes that had cooked in a crock pot all day. Everyone topped their potato however they wanted – with leftover Ham or Chili to work with.

The evening was a bit overwhelming again as Matt was trying to get as much accomplished as he could on the lift while I held down the fort otherwise. The weeks that Matt rents a lift to work on our house are very necessary! But not my favorite. :)

This though, moments like this are my favorite… Who better to help a six year old brush her teeth than her three year old brother?

On Wednesday morning, I was able to put together a monster-sized batch of Mudballs for the kids to have on hand for protein snacks.

It was a big day as Wednesday was the final day of the quarter and there were award assemblies for different grade levels all throughout the day. At 10:00, Matt stayed home with Auggie and his ABA therapist while I got to go to the school to see Kiya receive an honor.

That afternoon, Acacia got an award and both Matt and I were there for that. Meanwhile, Malorie was awesome and picked up both Sam’s and Wal-mart orders for me. Teamwork is the only way to make this dream work.

My friend Heather sent me this delicious-looking photo of Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bread that she’d made to feed the youth group that night.

Keith has been begging me to teach him to sew – yikes. I had already put him off many times, not because I didn’t want to teach him but because sitting down one-on-one with any kid usually draws in allllll the other kids and this activity required needles and scissors. I finally said yes, and indeed, all the kids eventually joined and created a special variety of chaos. Basically, everyone was able to find a stuffed animal or doll that needed repair and our dining room turned into a hectic hospital emergency room in which many bears, babies, dinosaurs, and puppies were stitched up while kids begged for a turn with the needle.

ABA therapy for three kids was happening during this time, which was both helpful and not helpful. ANYWAY. I don’t want to do that again any time soon, but hooray for all the needed stuffy repairs that we were able to knock out that night! And the kids were thrilled to take a turn at sewing.

Meanwhile, dinner prep got delayed, though Matt did all he could while I put the final stitches in. We had a Taco Bar with Seasoned Meat, Beans, Tomatoes, Spinach, Cheese, Sour Cream, Salsa, and Chips or Tortillas.

I had a pan of Stick of Butter Rice baking to go with this meal, but something went weird with our small oven and it took over two hours to bake. Then it ended up part overdone and part underdone. Ugh. Even with that, it tasted good AND one of my picky kids proved her dominance over the situation and ate four servings. I can’t predict who will eat what when. :)

Thursday launched our kids’ Fall Break! I cut sliced bread with a pumpkin cookie cutter in an attempt to make Fall French Toast. I made two loaves worth and we ran out too quickly. (I put all the scraps into a large pan to make Bread Pudding for later!)

Arrow and Hopelyn came over for the morning, plus Auggie had ABA therapy. It was raining so we had to entertain ourselves in the house. We played games and built with magnatiles…

After lunch, we took the kids to play at the Children’s Museum.

Back at home, two kids started their ABA therapy sessions and Acacia and I did some baking.

I had a lot of bananas that needed to be turned into something tasty, so we made Chocolate Banana Blender Muffins and Banana Cake.

Dinner was super easy as I had used Wednesday’s leftovers to put together Taco Soup in a crock pot that afternoon. We ate it with strawberries and muffins.

Brayden and Kiya entertained themselves with a couple of science experiments that evening. It was messsssssy. But they cleaned it up at bedtime, and the mess was worth it!

Fall Break: Day 2! It was chilly and windy outside, but it wasn’t raining. We started out by going to a library that was new to us. We enjoyed a Magnatile Challenge there, coloring pages, and reading our favorite books.

We had packed lunches, so we all sat in the van with our sacks and ate as we headed over to a Fall Family Fun Day at HobbyTown USA. This event was incredibly generous as everything the kids got to do was free. They all got Lego sets to work on and take home (for free!). Plus they did Foil Art and got to race Remote Control Cars out in the parking lot. We hung out here for several hours and loved it all!

Back at home, we got out coats, hats, and gloves and sent the boys out with Matt to a Men/Boys retreat with Heartlands. Kelsey and Eva and their girl babes came over and we had a GIRLS NIGHT! We started by baking some Zucchini Bread together.

We munched on Chicken Nuggets, Carrots, and Strawberries for dinner and enjoyed time with Phoebe who was wide awake and ready for fun!

Next up: NAIL SALON!!

Hopelyn helped with Phoebe’s diaper change before sending her home with her mama.

Our Zucchini Bread turned out perfect!

At the end of the evening, I pulled out a Pumpkin Sewing Kit as all of the girls have been very determined to learn to use a needle and thread. Kiya has some experience with sewing so she was able to help from time to time. It was fun to see them all work so hard, even if this project was challenging. 45-minutes was just long enough to attempt this before we packed it up and headed to bed.

On Saturday, we took our kids to a Fall Festival at Crossroads Church. They had advertised this event all over the city and wow did the city show up! We were very impressed with all the work that went into this and our kids had so much fun!

There were hayrides, inflatables, playgrounds, a petting zoo, a huge maze, and Keith’s and Bonus Buddy’s favorite: a rock climbing wall.

We spent several hours at this festival and still didn’t get around to every activity.

They served a free lunch to EVERYONE. It truly was incredible.

Our last stop was the “pumpkin patch” where we got to select a pumpkin to take home.

We made it home in time to open the door to our long-time friends who live a couple hours away. Parents visited, kids played, and we all enjoyed catching up! The best part? It was Kiya’s birthday so our birthday dinner time got to be extra special with our special friends!

Kiya requested Hamburgers, Cheese Puffs, Green Beans, and Strawberry Parfaits for her birthday dinner.

Our older kids were all able to join us (except for Malachi, the traveling man, who was in Texas filming an event).

Present time! Then everyone parted ways, we moved on to clean up, bath time, and bedtime.

And that was our week!

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Big Family Food and Fun: September 20-26, 2026

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Here’s our Big Family Food and Fun: September 20-26, 2026 post!

Big Family Food and Fun: September 20-26, 2026

Hooray! I remembered to take a picture of our Sunday morning Breakfast Cookie Bars. Sort of. The kids had already almost wiped out the entire plate by 7:15.

My friend, Kristin, sent me this sweet photo of Kiya and her friends as they traded books after church that morning. These girlies have started a “Book Club” in which they bring books from their own houses that they think each friend would enjoy. Then they read their “new” book throughout the week and exchange/trade for new ones the next Sunday. Thank you, God, for good friends!

We hosted a different kind of Sunday Lunch that day. Justus had asked if we could host a meeting that day with many of Heartlands’ ministry leaders – mens’/womens’ ministry, youth ministry, children’s ministry, community group ministry, etc. So we smoked a bunch of Chicken and everyone brought sides, and we filled our home with ministry leaders.

After we ate, everyone gathered around in the living room to talk about how God was at work and how each ministry works together with other ministries for beautiful cohesiveness. Mostly I managed kids on the outskirts of the meeting. But it was nice to be in the background hearing tidbits of what each person shared.

Matt and I transitioned right into our Community Group after the meeting. Then I baked some pizza for dinner.

We played outside all evening, managed some big behaviors, cared for a neighbor who had a small bike accident, and had a couple of poop situations. So, pretty much a normal evening at the Coppinger house.

Kiya and Bonus Buddy made up a game in the yard that they played together.

On Monday, Emma came so that Matt and I could have the morning off. We tried going to Holmes Lake for our usual walk and rest time. But alas…rain. So we detoured to the Mall so that we could still walk. Was this as peaceful? No. But was it kind of a fun change of pace? It was! And the stores inside weren’t even open until 11:00, so there were only other walkers inside, making it a pretty calm atmosphere.

That afternoon, I did some much needed shopping at Costco. Suffice it to say, I only barely made it out to the van with this load. I should have gotten a second cart, but why would I do that when I could wrestle with a cumbersome mountain of food?

I left Costco and picked up another huge load at Wal-Mart. I miss shopping for special clearance deals and markdowns! But right now, doing simple pick-up orders is really helping me stay afloat with our shopping needs.

After school, a certain penguin helped me with some baking. She helped me make Spinach Cake and Pumpkin Muffins.

Ahh, Penguin Perks…

For dinner that night, we had a Corned Beef Brisket that I’d found tucked away in the freezer and had slow cooked all day. I’d picked up Strawberries and Mashed Potatoes at Costco (we ate our way through two mashed potato containers). Plus I steamed Green Beans. There was exactly nothing left after this meal.

By the time our evening ended, we Spinach Cake and Pumpkin Muffins to snack on plus I’d baked a quadruple batch of Whole Wheat Banana Muffins and a batch of Crustless Cheesecakes.

It felt so good to get ahead a little bit so that I’d have several options for all of us at breakfast and snack times. We all took advantage of this before bedtime that night.

It felt a bit chilly outside on Tuesday morning, so I surprised the kids with a big pot of Warm Vanilla Soother. Seven out of eight kids loved it!

At Costco the day before, I had found these adorable jogging suits on sale for our six youngest kids. The second grade boys were NOT INTERESTED in a picture, thank you. But these four were happy to pose for Mom!

Tuesday has become our busiest day around here, with a morning full of back-to-back therapy appointments and another in the afternoon before we go to Tuesday Food Distribution. This Tuesday, in the midst of it all, Matt had secured a plumber to come over and work on a list of drippy, leaky needs. When the plumber says he’s actually finally available, even it’s your busiest day, you say yes! Hopelyn was over and was very interested in watching the process.

And speaking of Tuesday Food Distribution, Brayden, Kiya, Bonus Buddy, and Josie went with me this time.

There was an extra big crowd that day, well over 100 people walking through the line. Thankfully, there was a lot of food to hand out that day!

Before leaving that afternoon, I had made a lot of Chicken Quesadillas and experimented with the idea of keeping them warm in a crock pot. It worked, and we all gobbled this up at dinnertime.

On Wednesday, I baked two pounds of bacon to have on hand in the fridge.

Auggie and Bonus Buddy helped me scrub a bunch of potatoes for dinner that night.

Matt and I both recognized my need for some extra rest – and that morning was FREE of appointments, which was shocking and amazing! So I headed off to Panera with my computer and attempted to write a little bit. I didn’t accomplish much, but it was still a lovely couple of hours.

Around 11:00, I packed up and decided to head to Aldi and Wal-Mart to check on any meat markdowns and clearance items. It had been many weeks since I’d done any shopping beyond just the “maintenance” level, so it was very therapeutic to calmly roam the aisles in search of deals. I hit the jack-pot at Aldi with 50% off chicken breasts and absolutely filled a cart at Wal-Mart with marked down meat and clearance items. ($3.00 backpacks? Yes please!)

That afternoon, Brayden was blessed to spend the afternoon with our church friend, Rochelle. They created this beautiful pumpkin/flower decoration together and Brayden was so proud!

While shopping that morning, I’d found a perfect tiny bike on clearance for Auggie. He was so excited and practiced all evening until he figured out how to ride it!

We were all very excited to greet Malachi’s girlfriend when she arrived for a visit from Kansas. Poor Malachi had to share her with lots of little siblings who thought that she’d come to visit them specifically. :)

We had a family dinner that night with whoever was available so that we could spend time with Lexi. It was a lovely time.

We had Smoked Chicken Legs with Baked Potatoes, Salad, Peas, and Cantaloupe for dinner.

On Thursday morning, I browned around 12-pounds of hamburger meat. I’d picked up a lot the day before marked down at Walmart. Plus I’d already been thawing some to put together Lasagnas for Sunday. It felt great to get this done!

At school drop-off that morning, these two parked their bikes then walked toward their 2nd grade line like this. Why does Keith sometimes stop jumping and doing flips and instead become snuggly and protective? I’m not sure. But it’s precious and endearing and gives me such hope. Our kids have their struggles, but they love each other deeply.

I was able to use some of the cooked hamburger meat to put together two huge Lasagnas for Sunday’s lunch. I put the rest of the cooked meat into freezer bags to pull out and use as needed.

Arrow and Hopelyn came over! Matt had to leave to take a couple of our kids to dentist appointments. So that left me home with a three-year-old and a two two-year-olds! It was surprisingly chill as these two build a long track of magnatiles together and Hopelyn snuggled me on the couch which we watched.

Malachi and Lexi joined the fun!

And somehow – I took zero more pictures that day. :( My phone has been messing up lately, plus the evening was pretty crazy with ABA therapy, rain, and Matt needing to take Brayden’s bike downtown for a repair. So I guess we all just survived the night. :) Dinner was Sloppy Joes, which Brayden had made with our friend Becky!

On Friday, Kiya got ready for school early and worked on a fun project at the living room table.

I put together two packages of Turkey Cheese Sliders for Saturday.

I had an IEP meeting at a school at 10:00, so Matt got Auggie ready for the day. His new fall ‘fit is the cutest!! Matt and Auggie took Bonus Buddy to an appointment while I was at the meeting. Then it was school time for both boys!

After my meeting, I had the wonderful gift of picking up Malorie to go out for lunch! We talked all about wedding stuff then did a little bit of shopping!

For dinner that night I simply air fried Chicken and Tator Tots. We ate it with fruit and pickles and carrots and while the kids were eating, I finished sorting more fall/winter clothing for everyone. It’s a huge job that I was grateful to complete!

On Saturday morning, we took the kids to Sensory Storytime at the library.

Afterward, we headed home to warm up Turkey Cheese Sliders and pack fruit for lunch at the park. Asa’s and Justus’ families met us there plus we met up with friends. It was a great few hours – so great that I didn’t take many pictures!

From there, we took the kids to the Children’s Museum for a while. We enjoyed some new exhibits!

I had picked up some Lunchables for a super cheap price, thinking that the kids would enjoy those for a Sabbath treat that evening. While we ate, we spent time sharing what we were thankful for about the week, plus we practiced some Bible verses.

Then we took a nice walk for almost a mile to 402 Creamery. The kids had earned free scoops of ice cream during the summer reading program – and their coupons were about to expire! So we had no choice but to go use them that night. ;) The kids truly did well as we walked (ice cream for incentive might have helped).

Everyone got to choose a fun flavor, and we sat for at least five peaceful minutes enjoying our ice cream before walking home for bath time.

Proof that bath time was necessary:

And that was our week!

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Big Family Food and Fun: September 6-12, 2026

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Here’s our Big Family Food and Fun: September 6-12, 2026 post!

Big Family Food and Fun: September 6-12, 2026

On Sunday morning, we ate our traditional get-ready-for-church breakfast of Breakfast Cookie Bars – but I forgot to take a picture. But better than a picture of cookies is this photo that our kids’ Bible class teacher sent. Brayden gets to be a helper once a month in Acacia, Josie, and Auggie’s class. Here he is reading them a book while waiting for class to start!

The Case family, plus our friend Derek, joined us for lunch that day. We had a simple meal of Slider Sandwiches and Sides, with Brayden’s leftover Chocolate Chip Cookies for dessert.

 

After lunch, Elias and Malorie took Acacia out for her “birthday adventure.” This is a special gift they give each kid on their birthday, and it usually involves a little outing and a small treat. The real gift is special time two-on-one with Elias and Malorie and the kids LOVE it!

Our friends had invited us over to swim in their pool that afternoon and the kids could hardly wait! Taking our crew swimming is quite a feat, but with four in life jackets and lots of bigger people in the pool to help out, we were able to make this happen. It was the most fun and Matt and I loved catching up with our friends!

They fed us Pizza, Watermelon, and Cookies after swimming – plus we got to enjoy their pet turtle. It was such a great night!

Monday was a very big day with 19 of us heading to enjoy Vala’s Pumpkin Patch together. We’d heard good things about this place but it is expensive so we hadn’t checked it out. Thanks to finding super cheap tickets online plus a sweet and generous gift from a loved one, we made this happen for our family. The energy and effort it took to enjoy this time with the kids was very well worth it. At one point, Bonus Buddy declared, “This is the best day ever!”

Josie does not like train rides (unlike some of our other kids who live for train rides). So we were very proud of her for sitting with her emotional support sisters-in-law to try it this time. She did great and actually had fun!

We ran into friends from York at the Carousel – what a treat!

There were activities for the youngers and the olders to enjoy, so sometimes we split up to make it all happen. Even though we were at Vala’s for almost eight hours, we still didn’t get to do everything. Part of this is due to how long everything takes with this many kids. And part of it is because Vala’s is huge.

Either way, we all had a wonderful day. As we headed out, I tried to gather everyone by this sign that said, “Please leave with at least as many children as you brought in.” Matt and I felt very accomplished that we had, in fact, started with eight kids and ended with eight kids.

We had eaten all day and had lots of cold drinks too, but we were still hot and hungry when we left. So we stopped at a McDonald’s close by on our way home and picked up 80 nuggets for dinner. I handed out more cold Capri Suns and that was dinner. Back at home, we gave everyone a bath to scrub off sweat and dirt, then watched a show before tucking everyone into bed. What a great day!

On Tuesday, the kids had one more day off of school. We decided to go to the zoo to keep them busy that day.

I baked a batch of Vanilla Pumpkin Cheater Muffins and thawed a loaf of Banana Bread to take with us. I also made some Chicken Salad and packed some Crackers to go with it. We grabbed 3-pound bag of Clementines, Cheese, Raisins, Sunflower Seeds, and Applesauce. Then I cleaned out yesterday’s food wagon to repack it for the day at the zoo.

It was hot that day so the zoo was pretty quiet. This was a welcome change compared to the huge crowd at Vala’s the day before. Counting kids to keep track of them was much easier!

We made it to the Penguins in time to watch them eat their lunch. This made us hungry, so I sat and peeled the ENTIRE bag of clementines, handing them to kids who ate them faster than I could peel them. They were cold, refreshing, and hit the spot – even for the kids who don’t normally like these.

We ate our lunch and played in the water, then ate a ton more food. Mom and Dad were exhausted and needed coffee ;) so we headed home, letting the kids know that they had earned a popsicle once we got back to the house.

That afternoon, Matt stayed home to start ABA therapy sessions while I took four kids to Tuesday Food Distribution. All of them did an amazing job serving and helping that day!

Before leaving, I’d made Taco meat and put it in a crock pot to stay warm plus put Queso into another crock pot to heat. Matt had set out everything else and we enjoyed Nachos or Tacos for dinner.

Kelsey sent me this fun photo of the Real Food “Velveeta” and Rotel Dip she’d made that day. She made a few tweaks based on ingredients they had on hand and it was delicious!

School started back up on Wednesday! I made Nutella Bars while we got everyone ready for school, plus some kids ate Breakfast Sandwiches.

Emma usually comes on Mondays but we switched her to Wednesday this week so that Matt and I could still have a morning off. We headed to Holmes Lake for a walk and to let the beauty of the water calm our nervous systems.

When we got home, Auggie was helping Emma mop the kitchen. He was so sweet!

Brayden was in charge of taking snacks to his youth group that evening. So he helped me clean up our popcorn machine and make popcorn.

For dinner that night, we had Baked Potatoes in the Crock Pot that had slow cooked all day. I had a package of sliced Ham from Aldi that I put into a small crock pot to warm up. Then I made Peas and Green Beans and got out Canned Pineapple. This meal was super tasty -and simple to fix plates throughout the night. Matt and I spent the entire evening doing paperwork and having a big meeting at our living room table from 5:00 until bedtime, all while ABA therapy was also going on. Somehow, everyone got fed that night.

Thursday I had another meeting all morning while Auggie had ABA therapy and Matt hung out with Hopelyn and Arrow. (We are having a lot of extra meetings and appointments these days as we work on important details regarding the needs of our precious Bonus Buddy.) Then we all played outside in the beautiful weather while we watched for Auggie’s bus to come.

I hadn’t had a chance to grocery shop for way too long since the kids had been home from school for two extra days this week. I needed to ration my energy and time, so I put in a Wal-Mart pick-up order for essentials like milk, eggs, and greens. After I picked that up, I went next door to Sam’s to get bulk produce and a few other items. I’m not able to focus right now on shopping my favorite stores for clearance deals and meat mark-downs like I normally do. All my energy is going toward our kids’ needs and I am mentally pretty tired. So I just picked up the basics and headed home.

Brayden had mowed the lawn with Matt while I was gone, then was a great help in getting groceries put away. He read his homeschool assignment for a few minutes longer before we loaded up Hopelyn and picked kids up from school.

Our friend Christina has been taking such good care of us during these past few tougher weeks. She knows what our kids eat (or don’t eat) and has supplied us with food like cooked noodles and cooked hamburger meat to take a major load off my plate. I used her offerings to make Spaghetti that night. Some of us ate the entire meal, and some of the kids only ate noodles with butter and salt. This meal took me only five minutes to make thanks to Christina. Such a gift!

She had also baked some Banana Oatmeal Bars for our kids to snack on and they gobbled them up!

On Friday, I had two more meetings in the morning. After that I was completely worn out and decided to rest as much as I could before the kids came home from school. Brayden and I did his afternoon homeschool work out in the sunshine. Then he headed back to school for a club meeting so I continued to sit in the sun, breathe, pray, and rest. It was a very restorative afternoon and I was so thankful!

For dinner that night, I cut up a watermelon then air fried corn dogs from the freezer plus Burritos that Christina had made. This was a perfect Friday night meal as we worked our way through three kids’ ABA therapy all evening before bed.

On Saturday, we took the kids to the library for Sensory Storytime. We had plans to go to a park afterward, but rain shut down that plan. So instead, we hung out at the library for about 45 minutes before heading home.

Getting home earlier than planned gave me extra time to get work done around the house. We are slowly finding ways to get all the kids more involved in helping with chores and cleaning projects now that they are getting older. Every part of training these kids takes extra time and effort. But after several hours, they had each done something to help – from sweeping to mopping to moving furniture – and they felt good about what they had done.

While we were cleaning in the basement, Anna put a dress on a doll head. She was proud of this and wanted a picture with her “twin.” Were the rest of us freaked out at all by a doll head in a dress? Oh no. This is not at all alarming to see.

I made Mudballs!! After the tough few weeks we’ve had, it felt so good to get this simple need taken care of. Keith and Bonus Buddy live on protein in this form.

The evening was incredible!! Asa and Eva had been given three tickets to that night’s Husker game. They invited Matt to go with them, and then worked to move all the mountains to make it possible for him to go. This included dropping their babies at our house and asking lots of people to come help with ten kids. Elias and Malorie were the MVPs of the night since they knew all the ins and outs of the house and the kids. But Asa had also asked the Baker family to help out, and they showed up in force. As the plans had unfolded, our friend Trent figured out that if he came and helped too, that would free ME to get out of the house for the night also. What an incredible gift!

In short, we left our eight kids plus Arrow and Phoebe at the Castle with Elias, Malorie, Caleb, Klaire, and Trent. Then my friend Robin whisked me out the door and took me to dinner. I snapped this photo of kids snuggled up to Klaire as I snuck out. The kids were in great hands. :)

Asa, Eva, and Matt joined this sea of red at the Husker game and had a blast. Robin and I sat outside at H.F. Crave and enjoyed dinner and beautiful conversation. The night was a gift to all of us and we are so grateful!

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Big Family Food and Fun: August 23-29, 2026

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Here’s our Big Family Food and Fun: August 23-29, 2026 post!

Big Family Food and Fun: August 23-29, 2026

On Sunday morning, I was grateful to have a plate of Breakfast Cookie Bars in the freezer to serve as we got ready for church.

Last week had been so very hard as we waded through the challenges of the death of one of our kids’ biological dad. By Sunday, I was feeling so stretched thin – but I was also able to experience how God continues to stretch out our support system needs too. HE IS SO GOOD. Our York family had been reaching out and praying. Our Lincoln family has been showing up and praying. Truly we are so cared for.

I didn’t have energy to put together our regular Sunday Lunch this week. But we also knew that fellowship with our church family in this way is so life giving that we didn’t want to skip it either. And, our kids LOVE Sunday Lunch. So we decided to reach out to as many as possible and to have a simple Potluck. We wanted to show our sad kiddo so much love and after such a hard week, and more importantly, we wanted to celebrate how good God is!

The people showed up. As did the crock pots and pizza and rotisserie chickens and boxes of donuts and fruit and salads. I mostly just stood in the kitchen and marveled at it all.

A beautiful crowd of 44 showed up to love our family that day. We felt so very grateful  for this. There was so much food that it took up every countertop we had. Amazing!!

Ope. Justus has rolled his ankle the day before so he had to sit propped up with ice. This was not a great way to end what had already been a tough week. :(

Our house was so loud from fellowship that it showed us another beautiful form of worship.

Caleb and Klaire graciously enjoyed Keith’s blanket with him what with the temperatures outside cooling off to…not cool at all.

That afternoon after lunch, we sent our kids downstairs with Malachi, Elias, and Malorie while Matt and I enjoyed our Community Group. This time was also life giving as we all shared challenges and praises with each other.

That evening, we ate leftover Tator Tot Casserole for dinner and finished off our evening with Chocolate Spinach Muffins that our dear friend Ms. Kathi made for us.

On Monday, Acacia and Anna helped me scrub potatoes to cook all day for dinner.

Emma arrived after we got home from taking kids to school. She stayed home with Auggie all morning while Matt and I went to walk together at Holmes Lake. Oh this time is so needed and good.

Brayden got home at noon from school and ate lunch, helped Matt mow the lawn, and did homeschool work. I made phone calls all afternoon as we were trying to figure out some very important details about the needs of our Bonus Buddy.

For dinner that night, we ate our way through a crock pot full of Baked Potatoes topped with chicken, bacon, cheese, salsa, sour cream, and peas.

Three of our kids had ABA therapy that evening. I captured this sweet shot of one of our RBTs going above and beyond to include three kids in a train. Or was it an ambulance? A fire truck? I’m not sure.

On Tuesday, we had several therapy appointments throughout the day and more phone calls to navigate. Hopelyn came over and we played outside when we could!

Some friends from church had asked how they could help our family during this time as we spend much of our time with our grieving kiddo and our other kids’ needs. While it isn’t easy to provide complete meals for our family due to pickiness, ARFID, and other eating struggles – I was able to come up with a list of foods that would be helpful for people to provide. Two families texted on Tuesday letting us know that they had some items from our list to drop off. Oh, how helpful all of this is!!

Christina brought cooked hamburger meat, cooked noodles, protein balls, chicken nuggets, strawberries, juice, and Zbars. Later, Katie brought two more packages of cooked hamburger meat. Having these prepped foods were to help me put together meals super quickly as needed. Their care helped me feel so loved and cared for.

After Hopelyn woke up from her nap, she and Pop vacuumed our second floor.

Four kids got to go with me to Tuesday Food Distribution that afternoon. Brayden helped me at the food tables while these three washed coolers. I was so proud of how hard they all worked that day!

I hadn’t had time to make a “real dinner” that night because of all the appointments and phone calls. But I had Polish Sausage in the freezer and threw them into a crock pot in the early afternoon. I prepped Christina’s strawberries and that was our dinner that night amidst ABA therapy happening throughout our home.

On Wednesday, we had a rough start getting everyone out the door to school. Once we got there, Keith was able to calm himself enough to help Acacia get into her Kindergarten line. It was very sweet and gave me hope.

Back at home, it was an incredibly peaceful day. We only had Auggie home in the morning, and he and I worked together to clean the playroom and living room while Matt worked on a project in our boys’ room. Auggie got on the bus at noon, and Brayden arrived home from school a little while after that. He ate his lunch then our friend Paula picked him up for Art Lessons. He LOVED this! Matt continued his project and I cleaned upstairs all afternoon. It’s so hard to find time and energy to do anything but care for our children. So cleaning that day felt amazing!

When the kids got home from school, Keith mowed his section of the yard before he started ABA therapy.

Brayden helped Bonus Buddy with math homework.

Acacia helped me make salad for dinner.

Christina had brought cooked noodles and cooked hamburger meat on Tuesday, so putting this meal together was so easy and wonderful. I felt so thankful to be so cared for.

Our evening was rough, with a lot of very long meltdowns from several kids. Somewhere in there, I managed to make Life-Giving-Juice – because can we really just call this a smoothie?

I had spinach that needed to be used, so I took time to make a Spinach Cake. The kids were very excited to eat this as a bedtime snack.

Hopelyn and Arrow came over Thursday morning!

For homeschool that afternoon, Brayden went over to our friend Becky’s house. Together, they made Egg Casserole and Banana Muffins.

I dropped Arrow off at his house for his nap and grabbed up Phoebe for snuggle time. It was great to catch up with Eva and spend time at their house that afternoon!

For dinner that night, we enjoyed the feast Brayden had made with Ms. Becky!

Kelsey texted me this picture of the Flourless Chocolate Banana Muffins she’d made that afternoon. Those are a favorite, for sure!

On Friday, I had a meeting for Brayden at the middle school. Matt and I continued to do house projects off and on as we could that day. Matt took Brayden to an appointment that afternoon. I used a package of Katie’s cooked hamburger meat to make this awesome Real Food “Velveeta” and Rotel Dip. We ate it over tator tots with salad and fruit.

At bedtime that night, Josie needed to be re-directed so I gave her the job of setting out cereal for our Saturday breakfast. She took her job very seriously.

I captured this precious moment at bedtime with Bonus Buddy brushing Kiya’s hair as we were tucking in the younger kids. Amidst all the chaos, there are such sweet times too.

On Saturday morning, I made two rounds of Homemade Ice Cream for the next day’s Sunday Lunch.

The weather was lovely that morning so we played outside for a couple of hours while I smoked a bunch of Chicken Thighs for Sunday Lunch.

Keith and Bonus Buddy had a soccer game at noon. So I packed sandwiches, fruit, chips, and juice for us to eat for lunch while the boys played.

On our way home, Auggie wanted to hold Kiya’s hand. She was gracious to reach up and let him hold on until her arm fell asleep. :)

We had more Salt Dog Baseball game tickets to use that evening, so we had early baths and early dinner, then we headed to the game. I’ll share more about that next week!

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Big Family Food and Fun: July 19-25, 2026

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Here’s our Big Family Food and Fun: July 19-25, 2026 post!

Big Family Food and Fun: July 19-25, 2026

Before diving into this week, I had to share this fun hug from the end of the day last Saturday. Arrow had hung out with us all day and he was very excited to see Auggie after he work up from his nap!

Ok, now onto Sunday!

We ate our Breakfast Cookie Bars while getting ready for church. These are such a life saver – no brainer breakfast – as we get so many kids out the door!

Lunch that day was SO.MUCH.FUN.

There were 37 of us that gathered for a fun Mexican Themed Feast. We had smothered Shredded Beef Burritos, Layered Chicken Enchiladas, Spanish Rice (<– new recipe!), Mexican Corn (<– new recipe!), Chips and Salsa or Pico, Oranges, Watermelon, and desserts.

And THEN it was time for the World Cup Final Game where we all gathered in the living room to experience this special time. None of us really cared who won. We just hoped for a good game and fun together. Hosting events like this are a dream come true for me. A good meal, coffee, desserts, friends, family, babies, laughter – it’s the best!

And speaking of babies…

We had turned a movie on for the kids downstairs so we grown-ups could enjoy the game. That meant that Phoebe could come out of her tucked-away-protected spot in Eva’s carrier and Lolli could have a turn loving on her. I liked watching the game. But I LOVED snuggling Phoebe!

Overall, it was an amazing day and we ended the night tired and grateful. Elias and Malorie headed to Kansas that evening to stay with family on their way back to Texas for a couple of weeks before they come back to Nebraska for the school year. We loved our week with them!

Monday morning, Emma came over to stay with kids. Auggie’s ABA therapist came, and we loaded up four kids to take to Day Camp. Acacia got right to work playing with Emma’s dog, Buddy.

Matt and I dropped off the camp kids, then we headed to Holmes Lake to enjoy our kid-free time! It was already getting hot, but we were able to fully enjoy a walk around the lake, then time in the shade on a bench to rest and visit.

We all stayed inside all afternoon at home because the heat was a bit on the dangerous side. Brayden had an early ABA therapy session that afternoon so that he could go to a fun laser tag event that night with Heartlands Youth Ministry. Josie fell asleep and Acacia and Auggie spent some time painting with some dot paints I had picked up last week.

Dinner that night was simple. I browned hamburger meat and stirred in Sunday’s leftover Spanish Rice. I also warmed up leftover corn on the cob and let the kids make cheesy tortillas.

This turned into a nice calming project as they cut tortillas however they liked, sprinkled cheese on top, then melted the cheese.

It was not a good day to bake! And yet, I did it anyway, because I needed to. :) I made a batch of Crustless Cheesecake and a Spinach Cake in an attempt to have more ready-to-grab foods available.

I made Whipped Cream to go on the cake, and Bonus Buddy declared with amazement that it tasted like “actual whipped cream!” Haha, that’s because it is actual whipped cream, my dude!

Tuesday morning, my dear friend, Amy, came to visit from Kansas! We haven’t seen each other in a few years (since before Auggie was born) so spending time catching up with her was incredible! After Auggie’s ABA therapy session, she went with me to take Acacia, Josie, and Auggie to the zoo for a couple of hours. See Acacia there behind that tall grass? No? Well, there she is, leading Amy to our zoo picnic spot.

Taking three kids to the zoo is super easy when you’re used to taking eight kids to the zoo. We had a lunch of Bean and Cheese Salsa Dip, Avocado Cups, Chips, Grapes, and Peanut Butter Brownies.

Then it was water play time! Amy and I were able to sit and visit while the kids played. I ran into my friend, Kimmie, while there, plus my friend, Nancy! What a great zoo trip with lots of bonus hugs from friends!

Before we left the zoo, we knew we had to show Amy our flamingos. Then it was time to head home and transition into our afternoon/evening of ABA therapy and Tuesday Food Distribution.

Brayden, Kiya, and Acacia went with me this time and they all did great!

After we’d handed out all the food, Acacia helped me drag all the rugs to the hallway where they are stored. This girl loves to be a hard worker!

Back at home, I had experimented with putting Cheese Tortellini into a crock pot with cooked ground sausage and sauce. I’d picked up the Tortellini on super clearance at Wal-Mart last week so this was a super cheap meal! We had green beans on the side and it was simple and delicious!

I captured this scene on our way up the stairs to get ready for bed that night. It’s a poor quality photo but I hope you can see the sweetness. Acacia got an ouchie and Auggie was comforting her and helping her up the stairs. This three year old baby brother has come so very far in the past year – in so many ways!

Wednesday morning, I baked an Egg and Hashbrown Casserole that I’d put together the night before. We’d run out of Smoothie, so I made a blender full!

Since the oven was already hot because of baking the casserole, I made a double batch of Bran Muffins to bake also.

Amy came over again that morning to hang out. Arrow was with us and the kids had such a fun time playing together!

He was all kinds of sweetness as I tucked him in upstairs for his afternoon nap at Lolli’s house.

It was rainy that afternoon, so we needed to find some ways to stay quiet and entertained for a few hours in the house. Amy had brought the kids some fun craft projects that I planned to save for a rainy day. Turns out, this very day was that rainy day. These were perfect!

I made a monster-sized batch of Mudballs that afternoon. We got all the kids home early from their Day Camp so we could start ABA therapy sessions by 3:30. Dinner was leftovers – whatever sounded good – as we had a fridge full of food to choose from.

Then we headed off for Popsicles in the Park with our Heartlands church family. It was a chilly evening so the crowd was very small that night. But we had a good visit with our friends and it was good for the kids to run around outside before bedtime.

On Thursday morning, I made some Eggs in a Nest for the kids who like those. Other kids ate Mudballs.

The day was pretty chill with a morning ABA therapy session for Brayden, me getting to have a little writing time at Panera after dropping four kids off at day camp, and the little girls having playtime at home. The weather had cooled off and was lovely! So that afternoon, Acacia and Auggie played with vehicles outside for a long time.

I’d asked kids to each scrub a few potatoes that morning, so for dinner that night we had Baked Potatoes in a Crock Pot with bacon bits, cheese, butter, and sour cream, plus Peas and Fried Zucchini.

During all the kids’ ABA therapy sessions that evening, I had time to make a double recipe of Breakfast Cookie Bars to get us through the next two Sundays.

One of our former neighbors stopped by to say hello and to see if there was any food available out in the Little Free Pantry on our corner. Our conversation helped us learn that he was pretty hungry, so Keith helped me make our friend two sandwiches and fill a sack with other food for him like fruit cups, applesauce, a granola bar, and some chips. I loved to see Keith’s eagerness to help our friend.

At bedtime that night, Auggie climbed up onto Kiya’s lap for a story. Did he need to wear his rainboots so that he could sleep better? Most definitely.

Friday was full and wonderful! It was drizzly outside so we decided to take the kids who weren’t at camp to the Children’s Museum to play. We picked up Arrow on our way so he could play too!

We went home and ate leftovers for lunch. Then we put Arrow down for a nap and I took four kids to Culver’s to meet up with some longtime dear friends. They live in Arkansas now and were on their way to York for a Choir reunion. It was incredible to see them and catch up for a while!

We made it back home just in time to open our front door for more dear friends who were also on their way to York. This Choir Reunion was big, and with all of our kids, I wasn’t able to go. But how wonderful that friends made time to come see us before their big weekend! We had years of life to catch up on, and we shared all we could in the two hours that we had. What a gift this afternoon was!

As our friends loaded up and made their way to York, I started baking pans of bacon for BLTs for our dinner. One of our neighbors had given us fresh tomatoes from their garden, so BLTs were a must!

We all ate our fill and I continued baking bacon until I had lots extra to freeze for future meals.

Saturday was a super full and great day. We started by going to our Sensory Storytime at the library.

From there, we went to Holmes Lake where Big Gumdrop Outdoors hosted a fishing event for families called Cops and Bobbers. There were police officers there to help as well as a lot of Big Gumdrop Outdoor folks. This would have not been possible for our family without so many amazing people out there helping. First, we all practiced using fishing poles in the grass with fake fish.

Then we headed to the water! All eight kids fished for well over an hour, and most of the kids caught at least one fish.

The officers helped untangle fishing lines, put worms on hooks, keep everyone safe, and take fish off hooks once they got caught. There were lots of families there and it was truly a most awesome event!

Lunch was provided, so we washed up and ate hotdogs and fruit cups (or lunch that I had packed for our kids who don’t eat hotdogs).

We loaded up hot, sweaty kids into the van and ate a snack with a cold Capri Sun while I ran into Aldi to grab a bunch of fresh produce plus a few other things for friends.

Back at home, I got to work in the kitchen with a couple of awesome helpers! Two families we love are going through some tough life situations so while prepping for Sunday Lunch the next day, we tripled our efforts to take dinner to them that night. Kiya and I got four loaves of Stir and Pour Bread started, then she took off with Nutella Oat Breakfast Bars on her own.

While she did that, I made Flourless Chocolate Banana Muffins and a pan of Brownies.

While all this was baking, I was also making Smoked Chicken outside. Brayden helped make Spaghetti and Salad for dinner – and our house smelled amazing!

We made some trays of fresh fruit to deliver to our friends along with Smoked Chicken, Baked Beans, Homemade Bread, Brownies, Muffins, and Salad.

We fed the kids dinner, then loaded up all the kids and the food and delivered it to our friend along with hugs.

Back at home, we gave the kids baths, did a lot of dishes, and put all the extra prepped food into the fridge for Sunday Lunch the next day. And that was our week!

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Big Family Food and Fun: June 14-20, 2026

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Here’s our Big Family Food and Fun: June 14-20, 2026 post!

Big Family Food and Fun: June 14-20, 2026

Our week started with Breakfast Cookie Bars, of course. :)

We had a wonderful morning of worship, followed by a big gathering of 35 people at our house for lunch.

We feasted on Smoked Pork Loin, Beef Sausage, and Rotisserie Chicken along with a buffet of wonderful sides.

Friends brought a variety of cookies and desserts, and we ate them with Homemade Ice Cream.

Our Community Group wasn’t able to meet that afternoon. The weather was gorgeous, so we took our kids to a nearby park. After about an hour of playing there, much to our surprise, friends from church showed up to play too! We ended up staying and visiting for over three hours. It was so much fun!

We got home in time to bake some pizza then get to bed.

On Monday morning, Matt stayed home with Auggie for ABA therapy while I drove all the other kids to the first day of this week’s activities. Brayden got to go to an Archery Camp at Turpin Outdoor Education Center. He has been so brave this summer going to new places where he doesn’t know anyone yet. We are very proud of him!

I drove the other six kids to a VBS that they’d attended last year and loved. Finding everyone’s groups in a big room full of people? Phew. But with help from volunteers, we figured it out!

Sam’s and Wal-Mart were close by, so I used the time by myself to grocery shop. Every week as I fill our cart, I think that surely I won’t need to buy as much food next week. Silly me. I truly love that I get to feed so many people every day. :)

The kids had made bird feeders at VBS and Acacia hopped out of the van right away when we got home and found a tree so she could hang hers up. She was so proud!

We ate Meat and Cheese Burritos for lunch, then took the kids to Mahoney Park for about an hour before time to pick up Brayden from his camp.

I had packed applesauce for kids to snack on at the park, plus grabbed peanut butter and graham crackers to make little sandwiches. Had I just fed them lunch? Yes. Did they still need snacks? Yes. Hearty ones.

We made it home with everyone in time for four kids to have ABA therapy sessions all evening. We made two Sam’s sized boxes of Orange Chicken for dinner with Broccoli and Watermelon.

We were out of easy-to-grab protein snacks, so I made a double batch of Honey Sweetened Peanut Butter Cups to get us through the next few days.

Keith got to try something super fun that night! Knowing his love for our marine friend Sam – Christina had brought over two MREs for Keith to try so that he’d understand more about what Sam had eaten while he was at Boot Camp. Matt and Keith’s ABA therapy technician helped him read through the package and prepare some of the food. It was very sweet to watch him experience this! Notice that he had to put on the correct attire for this project.

On Tuesday morning, Matt took kids to camp and VBS. That left me at home with Auggie and his ABA therapist. So I took advantage of the couple hours of work time and baked 6-pounds of Bacon plus Nutella Oat Breakfast Bars and Banana Bread.

When we got all the kids home from VBS, we had leftovers for lunch. This photo shows that there was peaceful chaos in the kitchen during that time. The chaos is not always peaceful. But this moment was sweet while everyone filled their bellies.

We played outside for a while, then loaded up for an adventure.

We took the kids to a nearby school playground that was open for public play. This was fun and different than going to a “regular park” so the kids were very excited about this!

Keith and Bonus Buddy took advantage of time on the turf with a soccer ball.

We dropped everyone at home, then Kiya, Acacia, and I went to pick up Brayden from his Archery Camp. We headed directly over to our weekly Food Distribution to hand out food to the community and wash coolers as they emptied out. Acacia was so very happy to take a turn going with us! She took her job very seriously as clients came through the line.

Matt held down the fort at home with ABA therapy sessions and dinner (leftover Smoked Pork Loin from Sunday). We were outside most of the evening before bedtime. The boys have been smashing empty water bottles to put into their bike tires so that when they ride, it sounds like a motor. Auggie is now a big boy, so he needed to do it too. Big Brother Keith helped get Auggie’s water bottle situated for him. :)

Matt drove Brayden to Archery Camp and the other kids to VBS on Wednesday morning. Auggie started his ABA therapy session and I got some baking done to try and get ahead. But wait, you say. Didn’t you just bake Nutella Oat Breakfast Bars and Banana Bread the day before plus Crustless Cheesecakes and Spinach Cupcakes last week? Yes, indeed I did. And we’d eaten our way through much of it already. Therefore, we needed another round of baking done while I had time. :)

We needed a sack lunch for the kids that day, so after baking I worked on bagging up grapes, carrots, and cheese cubes and started to prep sacks. I put together a few Meat and Cheese Burritos to warm up just before heading out, and added meat sticks to bags of the kids who wouldn’t eat the burritos.

Then Arrow got dropped off and we went outside to play!

No matter how much he mows, that grass keeps growing.

At 11:40, we loaded up Auggie and Arrow and went to pick up six kids from VBS. They ate their sack lunches in the car as we drove across town to drop them off at Eva’s and Kelsey’s for the afternoon. We have the BEST daughters-in-law who are willing to give Matt and me a chance for respite. The kids all had such a fun time!

We picked up all the kids and headed home for four ABA therapy sessions, playtime, and dinner. We ate Smoked Sausages, Pineapple Fluff, Baked Beans, and Pickles – plus Spinach Cupcakes throughout the night when kids needed snacks.

On Thursday morning, we got kids settled in with camp, VBS, and ABA therapy – then I got to work in the kitchen again. I packed both lunch and dinner for a big day ahead.

We kept seven out of eight of the kids busy after VBS by going straight to a park to have a picnic lunch and play for the afternoon.

Lunch was simple: meat sticks, fruit cups, spinach cupcakes, avocado cups, and almonds.

Then we picked up Brayden from his final day at Archery Camp and drove to York for the evening. Everyone munched on their sack dinner on the way there: turkey sandwiches, chips, applesauce, and a variety of other things based on what each kid eats well.

We spent several hours at Soul Quest, a camp on the York University campus that we have enjoyed for years and years. Malachi had been there all week with his Sideline Media crew filming and editing videos to feature each night after worship. It was great to see him and give him big hugs – and we were so blessed to see so many people that we know and love!

We didn’t load up to head home until long after our kids’ normal bedtime. But staying long enough to watch Malachi’s video feature was worth it!

Friday morning was fun! I dropped six kids at their final morning of VBS. Then Brayden, Auggie and I went to Michaels for some craft supplies and to Trader Joes to pick up a special snack.

We had two and a half hours before we needed to be back for VBS pick up, so we took our time and enjoyed the outing.

We took our snack to Holmes Lake where we enjoyed walking, playing, and talking to the ducks. It was truly lovely.

Matt had lunch ready for all of us when we got home. Then we attempted to watch the USA vs. Australia World Cup game.

Dinner that night was Slider Burgers with Tator Tots and Cucumbers.

Daddy spent time outside that evening pitching balls to kids who took turns at bat.

We packed a big picnic plus snacks on Saturday morning before heading out.

Our first stop was Library Storytime. I was completely distracted the entire time we were there because a friend we met at this storytime over a year ago was there this time with her baby twins!! I had no choice but to snuggle one of them.

After this, we loaded up and went to Prairie Pines Nature Preserve for a special event. Friends had let us know about this great nature center and we will definitely go back sometime! We learned about plants and pollination, then we walked to various other areas to explore.

Besides the friends we met up with there, Asa, Arrow, Kelsey, and Hopelyn joined us!

A favorite area of the park was a ninja course that the kids all enjoyed!

We ate our picnic lunch of Tuna Salad or Cheese with Crackers plus lots of Fruit options – just in time to beat the rain that started to fall. After being there for about three hours, we headed home.

That afternoon, we watched some soccer, cleaned, ate leftovers, and gave everyone baths – AFTER giving everyone a thorough tick check after being at the nature center!

And that was our week!

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Big Family Food and Fun: May 31-June 6, 2026

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Here’s our Big Family Food and Fun: May 31-June 6, 2026 post!

Big Family Food and Fun: May 31-June 6, 2026

Of course we started our Sunday with a plate of Breakfast Cookie Bars. Routine and predictability is best for our kids. And it helps my brain, too, so I don’t have to think as hard about every single meal and detail of the day. :)

There were 27 of us gathered at lunchtime that day after church.

We set out a Burrito Bar with Salsa Chicken, Taco Meat, Stick of Butter Rice, Beans, Tomatoes, Spinach, Cheese, Sour Cream, Guacamole, Salsa, Chips, and Fresh Fruit.

The food and fellowship was beautiful. And look at Eva’s wonderfully beautiful baby bump! :) :) :) Only a few more weeks before we get to meet that sweet baby girl!

Christina had brought a big bucket of sidewalk chalk and all the kids took full advantage after lunch.

Matt and I enjoyed Community Group time that afternoon. We had a Facetime call with Elias and Malorie that evening. It was so good to see their faces and catch up with them! I made two pans of Taquitos for dinner and we ate more fresh fruit. Then we hung out outside until bedtime.

Monday morning’s parenting challenges started very early when at 5:45 this dear one met me in the living room where I was trying to enjoy a few minutes of quiet Bible and prayer time. She had snuck gum the night before and learned the hard way what happens when we chew gum as we are falling asleep. Peanut butter to the rescue. :/

The rest of the day was full of VBS, camps, a new friend moving into our house, and ABA therapy – so I only got one more picture that day. I made a last minute, super quick dinner of Tuna Salad and set out spinach, carrots, peppers, tomatoes, blueberries, pickles, chips, and guacamole for people to choose from as they made their plate.

On Tuesday morning, we ate Sausage Links and Peanut Butter Honey Rice Krispie Bars as we got ready to head out to VBS and Camps.

Everyone took turns scrubbing potatoes for dinner.

We put them in to slow cook all day to turn into Crock Pot Backed Potatoes.

I remembered to get a VBS picture that morning before I dropped off the girls!

It’s a great crew!

Back at home, I baked a batch of Crustless Cheesecakes for snacks.

Keith needed a camp break to calm his nervous system. So he stayed home that afternoon and helped me make Parfait for dinner.

We had a popsicle to cool off that afternoon.

For dinner that night, we had Crock Pot Backed Potatoes with leftover Taco Meat and toppings plus Strawberry Parfaits!

Wednesday morning, I made a blender full of this Smoothie. I make this several times each week, but every once in a while I feel like taking time to snap a picture of it. This right here is a great way to eat salad…

I scrambled a dozen eggs for the kids, which they ate with Nutella Oat Bars.

Arrow hung out with us all morning!

Kiya was supposed to go to a Volleyball Clinic this week, but at the last minute we learned that it had been cancelled. We were so disappointed! To provide something structured and fun for her, I opened up my Kids Cooking Camp for her to enjoy this week. On this particular day, I told her to look through all the listed recipe links to make both a snack and something for lunch for everyone. She LOVED this!

She chose to make Strawberry Cream Muffins for a snack and got right to work. She made these with almost no help from me. I loved watching her be independent and capable with a recipe!

While the muffins were baking, she chose to make Pizza Boats for lunch. We didn’t have any French or Italian bread, so she used hamburger buns instead.

She made 15 little Pizza Boats – and look how pretty her Strawberry Cream Muffins turned out!

When the other kids got home from VBS and camp, they all dug in to the boats, muffins, plus a package of grapes. They were a big hit!

Dinner that night was chopped Grilled Chicken, Caesar Salad, and Oranges. The chicken stirred into the salad was super good and a perfect summer evening meal!

On Thursday morning, I made French Toast and Sausage before we got three kids to VBS and three kids to two different camps.

I used the morning to stock up at Costco. I got lots of fresh produce, super cheap pork loin, frozen pizza, yogurt, cream, butter, tuna, bacon bits, 100% juice popsicles, kombucha, protein bars, cream cheese, and chips.

Matt was at home with Kiya and Auggie. This picture shows Kiya’s feet and her chalk drawing of Auggie. :)

That afternoon, five kids went to an Art Camp, Auggie napped, and Acacia and Josie got to go to Eva’s for the afternoon. This provided Matt and me a few hours to ourselves to rest and regroup! Eva later sent us these pictures sharing all the fun activities the girls enjoyed, including painting nails and using water squirters.

Look at Arrow enjoying all the fun with the big kids!

We had Hamburgers and Hotdogs for dinner that night with Berries, Cucumbers, and Carrots.

I made a Spinach Cake for a bedtime snack.

After we got six out of eight kids to VBS or camps on Friday morning, Kiya helped me make 20 Uncrustables for an outing on Saturday.

We had just finished when our friend Paula showed up with a trunk full of grocery items for us to put in our Little Free Pantry.

Kiya was a great helper taking food in with Paula while I took some directly to the outside pantry for our neighbors.

As soon as we got the groceries unloaded, Kiya and I headed to the finale of Brayden’s Choir Camp to enjoy their performance.

His friend, Clara, took part in this camp too and she and Brayden got to be in the same small group!

Next, we drove over to Anna, Acacia, and Josie’s VBS where we enjoyed their Friday program.

Do you see the little girls there on the left in the photo? Their mom didn’t get the memo that everyone was to wear their yellow VBS shirts. Honestly, their mom was just glad that they made it to VBS that day wearing…shirts. Any shirts. This alone was a win. ;)

That evening, I made Spaghetti with Green Beans, Corn, and Cantaloupe.

We had a very big day on Saturday and loaded up to leave for York at 7:30 in the morning. After an important meeting, we took advantage of being in York and met up with some of our kids’ extended biological family. We hung out together at one of the parks we used to love when we lived there. I had packed a picnic for all of us with the Uncrustables that Kiya had helped me make the day before plus grapes, apples, applesauce, oranges, popcorn, veggie straws, cheese, and cold drinks. We enjoyed our picnic and played more before heading home.

When we got back to Lincoln, we sent Brayden off to a pool party with Heartlands Youth Group. Then the rest of us changed and headed to the Splash Park.

Eva and Kelsey met us there with their babies. It’s pretty awesome to watch the two mommies teamwork together – Kelsey helping with  Arrow and Eva helping with Hopelyn. And both of them helping with our kids. :)

We came home to enjoy a Roast that I’d started in the slow cooker early in the morning before we started our big day. I warmed up Mashed Potatoes from Costco, Fried Zucchini and got out Fruit. It was a great meal to end our day!

And that was our week!

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Big Family Food and Fun: May 17-23, 2026

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Here’s our Big Family Food and Fun: May 17-23, 2026 post!

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

May 16

Keith got to be involved in a Track Meet on Saturday! He did a softball throw, then 50-meter dash, then felt too intimidated to do the final race he’d signed up for, the 200-meter dash. We were proud that he was willing to do any of it at all as events like this stretch him quite a bit. Plus, as a 7-year-old with a birthday that fell weird, he was competing with 8-9 year-olds. That, along with the heat made for a boy who was not able to keep pushing after the first race.

Either way, it was a pretty fun family outing that day. We had a tasty packed lunch of cheese, meat, crackers, frozen go-gurt, applesauce, muffins, and juice pouches.

And it was fun to watch the races and cheer while we ate!

We went from a meeeet to….Buresh Meats. It’s a super cool store that’s far from our house – but close to the high school where the track meet was held. So of course, we headed over so I could run through as fast as I could to look for the best deals. Man, this place is awesome! Organic grass-fed hamburger meat for $4.50/pound, boneless chicken thighs and tenderloins for $2.20/pound when bought in bulk, and eggs for just $0.85/dozen!

Back at home, I made a second round of Crunchy Ranch Chicken for our Sunday lunch (I’d made round one a few days prior).

Then I practiced 20-pounds worth of my “Just Dump Sauce on Some Chicken” trick. The thighs I had bought that day made their way into the freezer, all marinated and ready to go!

Earlier in the day, knowing I’d probably pick up more eggs at Buresh Meats, I had boiled 17 eggs to make Angeled Eggs. The kids were amazed by cracking hard boiled eggs and not getting messy yolk everywhere! They were actually very helpful in taking shells off all the eggs as we moved forward with our project.

Anna stuck with me for the whole process, smashing the yolks for me before I filled the whites. We were very proud of our results!

After I put away the eggs and cleaned the kitchen, I warmed up leftovers to feed us quickly for dinner. Then we headed to a graduation party where we were treated to a cupcake!

Back at home, we had bath time and watched a show before bed. Phew – big day!

Big Family Food and Fun: May 17-23, 2026

On Sunday after church, a fabulous crowd of 37 people gathered in our home to share lunch. I had made around 11-pounds of Crunchy Ranch Chicken and 17 eggs worth of Angeled Eggs. Friends brought chips, dips, salad, corn on the cob, and fruit. I made a quick blender full of Cream Cheese Salsa Dip to contribute to the chip/dip section of our buffet.

I’d made the chicken ahead of time and had a bit of a hard time getting it re-warmed fast enough to get us all fed. So I air fried some of it to get kids going through the line. Then, I was finally able to pull out two huge pans of it to serve to everyone (70-ish chicken strips). The meal was a big hit, with only a few Chicken Strips left over afterward!

The best part of Sunday Lunch is seeing so many dear ones crowded around our tables, visiting and sharing life.

We had a birthday girl among us, so we got to end our meal with a huge Ice Cream Cake!

On Monday morning, I felt super tired. For three days in a row, kids had gotten up reallllllly early (like 4:00 early) and the short nights and lack of down time in the morning was catching up to me. Emma came that morning, and I went and wondered around several stores: Trader Joes, Target, Walmart, and Costco. Then I went home and napped all afternoon!

Bonus Buddy helped unload groceries when I got home.

After a nap, I felt better and grateful to have had the down time. Refreshed, I got a few extra food items put together for us to eat. Dinner was a weird casserole that included leftover taco meat and hamburgers chopped up, the leftover dips from Sunday Lunch, and frozen hashbrowns. We adults liked it just fine. The kids mostly ate a dinner of Strawberry Parfait.

Josie was eager to be a helper that evening!

We made a batch of Angela’s Egg Free Banana Chocolate Chip Breakfast Cookies…

…and a pan of Nutella Oat Breakfast Bars. It felt good to have prepared a fresh batch of quick-to-eat breakfast items to get us through the next couple of days!

We had to stay in the house all evening because it was raining. The rain was so very needed and we were grateful, even if the evening did feel a bit long since we were cooped up in the house. Anna’s ABA therapist played chess with her (an activity that always cracks me up because of all things to play, this little girl wants to place chess?? It’s awesome). Naturally, Acacia, who doesn’t understand the game at all, wanted to set up a board and teach Bonus Buddy how it worked. Ha!

For a bedtime snack that night, Keith and Josie at an entire package of raspberries – just the two of them.

On Tuesday morning, I made two packages of Meat and Cheese Sliders for Matt to warm up for dinner that night. We had a full day/evening ahead of us!

Hopelyn and Arrow both spent the day with us. We don’t know for sure what this Cousin Conversation was about, but we are guessing it had something to do with Muffins or Blueberries.

Bonus Buddy led everyone in a sweet game of The Floor is Lava.

After school that day, Kiya went with me to our weekly Food Distribution. Back at home, Matt got everyone fed and ready for an evening outing. Our kids’ elementary school had secured a grant that offered the entire school and their families to have a Zoo Night!

Our kids’ ABA therapists met us at the zoo, which was super helpful as we navigated eight VERY EXCITED KIDS through the zoo with their classmates and teachers.

Everything was free that night, including train rides and feeding the giraffes! Josie doesn’t like the train (everyone screams too loud while going through the tunnel), so she and I stayed back and waved as the train went by. :)

As it turns out, Brayden speaks “giraffe.”

We got completely overstimulated and dysregulated over the entire event. Was it worth it? Yes. But bedtime was a relief that night.

We had a regular and fairly calm morning on Wednesday, with ABA therapy for Josie and Auggie and with Acacia and Bonus Buddy playing outside. Our friends who help us clean once a week came over late in the morning and Auggie was excited to use the spray bottle while Ms. Rebecca wiped down the door. :)

That afternoon, Anna had kindergarten graduation! Kiya is in Student Council at the elementary school, so she got to help check in families when they arrived. She did a great job!

We started in the auditorium where the Kinders sang us some fun songs they’d been working on.

Then we went to the cafeteria where each child’s name was called and they received their diploma. :)

Last, we got to have a bag of popcorn. Here’s how Anna felt about looking at me and smiling for a picture. :)

Back at home, a friend of Malachi’s had arrived and moved in for part of the summer. I had slow cooked a Beef Roast with Carrots all day, which we ate with Mashed Potatoes, Rolls, and Strawberries.

Brayden and Buddy had a contest while they ate their dinner to see who could eat the most sour blueberry.

Thursday was our last day of school. I didn’t get “last day” pictures of our kids before they left. Why? Because we had ABA therapy as normal and a house full of autism and trauma and Mama is tired. :/ I did give everyone an extra squeeze as they headed out for the day. :)

Kiya helped me make a Spinach Cake before she left. She loved being mostly independent with this!

I baked several pans of Bacon that morning.

This was a fun scene in our living room at the end of our ABA sessions that morning. Lots were gathered, including Justus and Hopelyn.

Acacia and Hopelyn took a ride around the block.

Ah! Some of the Coppingers were able to take a “Last Day of School” picture! This bro-and-sis-in-law shot was pretty sweet to receive. These two work hard at the same elementary school in the special ed department. We are very proud of them for how they help their students!

I did get a shot of these girlies as they headed out for their final day of Pre-K. Next year: Kindergarten!

While we waited for their bus, we watched “the mowers” across the street get their job done.

I took this picture of Bonus Buddy’s lunch that day. He has a pretty slim list of foods he’ll eat (like many of our kids), but he ate all of these happily, and enjoyed that his container looked like a Lunchable.

For dinner that night, I made Turkey Bacon Cheese Croissants with Watermelon.

We enjoyed Kiya’s Spinach Cake that evening. I had made Cream Cheese Frosting for the top – this recipe but with a tiny bit of sugar instead of stevia so the kids would eat it.

Friday morning started out rough. We knew that it might as we transitioned into a new routine with Summer Break. Nobody wanted the breakfast I offered. Nobody wanted to do what we suggested. And it was raining so we weren’t able to go outside and run out their aggression.

Eventually we were able to talk kids into eating apples with peanut butter and cinnamon. Then Matt stayed home with seven kids plus two ABA therapists while I took Acacia to Physical Therapy and Speech Therapy.

We’d been talking to Acacia’s therapists about taking a break now that it’s summer time. This was a tough decision because while she has made a lot of progress, she has a long way to go. But we all decided to take a break, which we think will be good for her for now. This way she can spend her summer playing outside, going to VBS, and enjoying our family outings. Her therapists have been so good to us!

Back at home, Matt air-fried an entire bag of Chicken Bites and sliced a loaf of Apple Bread that had tucked away in the freezer. We served it with baby carrots, then got everyone loaded into the van.

We headed to the Children’s Museum and spent two hours having fun there!

We started in the basement where kids put on costumes and performed on the stage.

On the main floor, I ate my weight in plastic Runza burgers, fries, and chicken strips.

Auggie wants to live in this fire truck and has a hard time when, if you can believe it, other children at the museum also want to play in there so he has to share.

We had a pile of free Dairy Queen ice cream coupons so we went to a location close to our house to treat the kids. They waited on these cool swings – only to find out that this particular DQ doesn’t accept coupons like this.

So we loaded up for home where I saved the day by making the kids ice cream cones.

Evening ABA therapy started soon after this, and I grilled Steak for dinner with Fries and Salad.

Food is a huge challenge for several of our kids, but extra, extra hard for one of them. I took this picture of what often happens at mealtime, even with all our effort to provide accommodations to avoid the fights, the food throwing, and the mess. But still something went “wrong” and food flew off the plate…again. Paper got torn too, which is also normal around here. Notice the book sitting beside the mess: Put Me in the Zoo. Yep, that sounds about right. Our ABA therapists were available to work through this situation with us, which is incredibly helpful!

All throughout the evening, I smoked several rounds of Chicken Thighs for Sunday Lunch.

Matt did some yard work with the help of Acacia and Auggie.

On Saturday morning, we got to go to a birthday party! It started out with donuts and playground…

Then we all went fishing! Most of our kids haven’t had a chance to do this, and it was a hit!

Keith caught not one, but two fish. The rest of us just had fun trying. What a great morning!

We had leftovers for lunch at home, then loaded up for another big outing that afternoon. I’ll share more about that next week!

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