Here’s our Big Family Food and Fun: March 30-April 5, 2025 post!
We enjoy a Sabbath rest from Saturday evening through Sunday evening – so I turn off my computer on Saturday afternoons and miss posting some of these pictures. I’ll catch up on our last Saturday activities before launching into our new week!
Saturday, March 29
You might remember that last week I shared the beginning process of Matt hanging chalkboard paper in the playroom for the kids. The project took way too long and will likely not last long, ha. But the kids are enjoying it a lot for now!
For dinner that night, we had a very simple meal of the kids’ favorite: Mac and Cheese with Peas. I also set out a variety of leftover meat options in case any adults wanted something more substantial. Our friend, Christina, had taken Brayden on a special outing and let him pick out a treat plus fun Minions applesauce pouches – so that became a special part of our Sabbath evening meal.
Big Family Food and Fun: March 30-April 5, 2025
Sunday morning, I was disappointment that I didn’t have a plate of Breakfast Cookie Bars in the freezer for our traditional Sunday morning breakfast. I was just sure there were some tucked away in there! But nope. :)
We moved on to Plan B for breakfast: Yogurt and Granola Bowls or Cereal. Some of the kids did not handle this change of plans very well, yikes. Routine is an extra big deal for many of us. (Mental note: Bake Breakfast Cookie Bars this week!)
The morning was extremely rough (rougher than normal) getting all the kids to cooperate and get out the door for church. I just hate how badly trauma has complicated these kids’ lives.
Weariness and frustration got me, and I cried all the way to church and halfway through the worship service. Crying most of the way through the church service? It’s safe and fine. Friends cried with me and spoke truth into me. We worshiped together, and the focus-turned-toward-Jesus was healing for me.
Brayden had a special role with his friend, Jack, that morning, leading the congregation in scripture reading. We are so proud of him for bravely picking up the microphone and doing this.
There was a prayer of blessing over our new Heartlands children that morning, a follow up to the special dedication celebration the day before.
Acacia had found her way to Ms. Kathi that morning and sat with her the entire time. Kathi’s love for children is so precious.
Lunch that day was a Chipotle-Style Burrito Bar with Salsa Chicken, Taco Meat, Carnitas (made by our friend Christina), and all the toppings from rice and beans (made by our friend Cindy) to cilantro and salsa.
There were 28 of us gathered to enjoy the feast.
For dessert we enjoyed Homemade Ice Cream, Chocolate Chip Cookie Pies, Apple Berry Pie, and Brownies.
Who needs dinner after all of that? Well, a few hours later, the kids did. :)
Our traditional Sunday night meal has become Frozen Pizza. But this week, I had some small-sized pizza crusts in the freezer and the kids were excited to build their own pizza creations with them.
Doing this in shifts was the right move – with Keith, Acacia, and Anna finishing theirs before the others came in to take their turn.
I put together some regular-sized pizzas for the grown ups, then spent some time getting the kitchen cleaned up after all of our feasting of the day.
Monday morning after we got the elementary-aged kids off to school, Anna helped me stir some of Sunday’s leftover burrito fixings together to make a bunch of Burritos.
A neighbor family we are just getting to know had a new baby born recently. So I made a pan of Burritos to deliver to them. Plus I made two pans for our family to eat for dinner on Tuesday.
I had some hamburger meat in the fridge that needed to be used up, so I browned it and put together two Lasagna Casseroles to give to friends.
That night, we had an early dinner of Noodles, Alfredo, and Leftover Turkey and Bacon stirred together, with Steamed Broccoli.
Keith was my Special Helper of the day. So after dinner, he helped me make a double batch of Breakfast Cookie Bars.
I had baked two loaves of Applesauce Bread earlier that afternoon, trying to get ahead for upcoming breakfasts.
Phew, now we have two weeks’ worth of Breakfast Cookie Bars in the freezer for upcoming Sundays.
Josie was our family’s Special Helper on Tuesday, so she proudly got to work that morning to help me load a dishwasher. (By the way, if you see this dress on Josie over and over and over, it’s because it’s her favorite and she takes off her regular clothes and puts this one on immediately after getting home from school/church. It’s filthy and stained, as every favorite dress should be.)
Auggie had Speech Therapy that morning. His therapist is working on paperwork to get him an AAC Device to help him with communication while he hopefully continues to learn more words verbally. So this particular therapy session, she pulled out a device that they had in the office to show me how it worked and to see how he initially responded to it.
Back at home, Malachi hung out with us for a little while before heading to his office.
Little Sweetheart had been at our house all morning too, and Auggie had fun trying to entertain her on the floor.
After school, Brayden, Kiya, Keith, and I went to serve at our weekly Food Distribution site. We were short on adult volunteers that day, so Kiya got to run the bread table all by herself. She rocked it!
Afterward while I was vacuuming, Keith came and took over for me with a great big smile, giving me some insight into who he is at his core: sweet, caring, hardworking, and loving.
Back at home, Matt and Elias warmed up the Burritos that Anna and I had put together the day before. This was a perfect dinner for them to serve since I was gone at the beginning at dinnertime.
Wednesday, I had an IEP meeting at the school for one of our kids. Then we made a double batch of Angela’s Egg-Free Banana Chocolate Chip Breakfast Cookies.
I hadn’t made these Peanut Butter Cheesecake Balls for quite a while, but decided to put some in the fridge for an easy-to-grab snack option. I skipped adding the chocolate chips to these, and they taste just fine as they are!
Arrow came to hang out that afternoon, as did my friend Charlene from York. Charlene and I talked a mile and minute trying to play catch up, and Arrow added in his thoughts to our conversation too. :) When the kids got home from school, they surrounded their favorite nephew.
I had made a bowl full of Chicken Salad earlier in the day, which made for a very easy dinner that night. We’d brought home a container of Croissants from the Food Distribution on Tuesday, a rare and special bonus! Chicken Salad on Croissants?? So good. Chicken salad on FREE croissants? Extra, extra good.
Brayden was our special helper of the day, so after dinner, he helped me make a big pan full of Brownies for upcoming get-togethers we’d be hosting. Then he did a great job sweeping the kitchen floor.
Thursday morning we enjoyed Angela’s Egg-Free Banana Chocolate Chip Breakfast Cookies for breakfast. I got Brayden’s Brownies cut and put onto plates for upcoming events, then put them away so the kids wouldn’t drool over them (literally).
I didn’t get any pictures taken throughout the day – we just stayed home and enjoyed time with Little Sweetheart and the other kids all day. For dinner that night, we had Spaghetti, Spinach, and Corn.
Then, we left all the littles home with Elias, Malorie, and Kelsey while Matt and I took Brayden to his Middle School Orientation. Whoa!
Brayden is our fifth sixth grader (ehh??), so you’d think we’d we pros at this by now. But, in fact, we’ve never done public school middle school before (because we homeschooled our oldest four boys). So this was new for all of us and we are so glad we went to the orientation. We heard from the Principal during her presentation in the auditorium, then we got to walk all through the school to see the 6th grade floor, the music and band rooms, the library, the cafeteria. Best of all, Brayden got popcorn. :)
We were able to visit with the Special Ed Coordinator, which was a relief to me as I’ll be working with her directly to help meet Brayden’s academic needs. Back at home, we gave everyone a snack before heading up for bedtime.
Acacia was our Special Helper on Friday so she helped Daddy load the dishwasher that morning.
Auggie comes running whenever the vacuum is on, so he spent quite a while on one spot of the rug, making sure it was as clean as possible that morning.
We had invited a bunch of our neighbors to a Finger Food Friday dinner at our house that evening. So in preparation, I made a bowl full of Cream Cheese Salsa Dip.
I had a pan of Crunchy Ranch Chicken Strips in the freezer, so I baked those to serve that night too. Plus I set out a plate of Brownies that Brayden and I had baked earlier in the week.
Everyone who came brought something tasty to share, and we had a true feast of Finger Foods!
I only got a few pictures at the beginning of our party, then got too busy visiting and didn’t take any more. So I missed getting shots of everyone who came – because the neighbors just kept coming and coming! Matt and I were so thrilled with the turnout, 23 neighborhood guests in all (making 35 of us gathered all together). We are so glad to be developing deeper relationships with these great people.
Some have lived here for many years – and we love hearing the history of this neighborhood and even a little bit about our house (which was built in 1914). Kids played outside, and kept coming in for cookies. ;) It was a wonderful, special night.
Saturday morning, we ate cereal for breakfast plus baked a double batch of Bran Muffins for upcoming snack needs.
If you ever need help baking, feel free to call any of our toddler/preschool helpers! See all those blotches of cinnamon? Someone, who really did mean well, sprinkled in a significantly large amount of cinnamon, and her mom dug out as much as she could and then gave up. Said cinnamon mixed together strangely with the coconut oil in the mixing bowl, so there were extra-special cinnamon clumps in the muffins. They taste just fine, and some kids are actually choosing their muffins based on the highest number of clumps they see.
Matt was blessed to go to a Mental Health Training session at church that morning. So Elias and Malorie helped me take kids to the Mall Play Place to get energy out on this 40-ish degree day.
We had the entire place to ourselves for the first few minutes before other kids showed up.
We got home in time to warm up leftovers for a late lunch, then moved into prepping for our time of Sabbath rest. I put several of the Bran Muffins we’d baked into snack-sized bags and then into a freezer bag to freeze and pull out to pack in lunches.
And that was our week!
