Heavenly Homemakers

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Big Family Food and Fun: February 9-15, 2025

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Here’s our Big Family Food and Fun: February 9-15, 2025 post!

Before launching into the week’s food and fun, I’ll share the tail end of last week’s fun. It was a fantastic afternoon/evening!

Saturday the 8th, we met up with several other families at church so that we could put together some baskets of goodies for people who are not physically able to come to church any more. For an initial project, some of us stood around two tables tying soft blankets. We completed six of these together.

Meanwhile, our littler kids were in the kitchen baking cookies with Ms. Terra and Ms. Melissa.

Next, we put together some crafts to go into the baskets.

Some grown-ups added homemade soup and bread, plus lotion and other goodies to the baskets along with our crafts, cookies, and blankets. The baskets were beautiful by the time we finished!

We all loaded up to make deliveries. Our family was so blessed to visit a couple we’ve known since before Asa was even born. It was soooo wonderful to catch up with them and share memories. WORTH NOTING: I was nervous to take our seven busy littles into a tiny apartment to visit two people who move slowly and carefully. We didn’t want to disrupt or cause any issues. But as always, GOD IS BIGGER than my worries.

The kids did great (and yes, Auggie did find their TV button and turn it on and off several more than a dozen times – but they didn’t care and thought he was precious because he is). We played with their little doggy, we asked about their grandkids, we listened as they shared some of their health concerns. We filled a lovely hole in their evening and they were beaming when we left. As a matter of fact, WE were also beaming when we left. Will we go back to visit these friends? We most definitely will.

Well now, what did we get to do after that? We got to go to a restaurant! Other families had also made their Basket Deliveries and we all met back up at Runza for dinner.

Our littlest kids have had few if any restaurant experiences (because truly, this is a lot of little ones to take into an eating establishment) and they were fascinated. Everyone else was already there and some had already eaten, so friends were ready and able to help us get our tribe seated and supplied with ketchup and water. I ordered several packs of Chicken Strips and Fries and went back and forth handing them out until everyone was full enough.

Then we enjoyed some ice cream cone tokens that my niece had given us. Here’s Acacia with our church’s children’s minister as they talked through our ice cream cone order. Their relationship is so sweet and we are so thankful for Ms. Mandy.

Was it freezing cold outside? Yes. Did that stop us from eating ice cream? No way.

I have a lot of favorite parts of this night, but this photo shows you one of my favorite favorites. Brayden and Kiya got to sit with some of their big kid friends to eat and they had the time of their lives.

We got home just in time to head to bed! What a great Saturday!

Big Family Food and Fun: February 9-15, 2025

Sunday morning, we ate a plate of Breakfast Cookie Bars before church.

I did a little prep work for our Sunday lunch gathering, making BBQ Chicken-Bacon-Ranch Sliders to heat up after church. (I had slow cooked a bunch of chicken thighs with barbecue sauce ahead of time and shredded it, then spread it onto the buns with the other fillings.)

Three other families joined us that day. We all marveled at how great it was to be together since it had been so long since we’d been able to gather this way (thanks to holidays, sickness, and bad weather). Friends brought Fruit and Veggie Trays, Mac and Cheese, Chips, and Cookies to go with our Sliders. Our food spread was delicious.

There were 28 of us all together and I’m not sure who had the most fun: the kids or the grown ups.

That morning, Keith had tied strings like lasers all throughout the house, making us have to crawl under and over as we went from room to room. Our friends are so gracious about our little quirks. :) And what did the girls do after lunch? Nails, of course.

Our Super Bowl meal that night was as simple as can be: Frozen Pizza, White Queso and Chips, plus Leftover Sandwiches and Veggies from lunch. We went to bed nice and tired that night.

Monday morning, we scrubbed a bunch of potatoes to cook in the crock pot all day for our dinner.

Mid-morning, we took the four littlest on a very boring but needed outing to fill the van with gas and pick up milk since we were almost out of both. I picked up a rose plant to give to a friend who will be celebrating her first Valentine’s Day after the loss of her husband. And I grabbed a couple other things we needed – exciting things like dental floss and apples.

I happened upon a rack full of kid boots marked down on clearance for guess how much?! $1.00! I got ten pairs of boots for $1 each. I was so thankful for this!

After Auggie’s nap that day, he “helped” me make Chocolate Banana Flourless Muffins. We had made a batch of these last week and we went through them so quickly that I hoped another batch so soon would still go over well.

They did. When I pulled them out of the oven that afternoon, we had 21 muffins. At the end of that day, we had eight.

Dinner that night was Baked Potatoes with ham, cheese, butter, sour cream, and peas, plus the above mentioned muffins.

We knew super cold weather was coming in, so we loaded up after dinner and went for a little walk in the mall. Ever tried herding cats…at the mall? There are so many sparkly things in every direction.

We managed to get all seven kids to the play area, which was our ultimate destination.

The effort to get everyone here was well worth it. They jumped and ran and slid and climbed and got hot and sweaty. As we headed back to the van (where being outside in the cold felt really good to all their hot little selves), they all devoured a muffin plus one of the bags of apples I’d bought that day.

Tuesday morning, we ate Breakfast Sandwiches that I had tucked away in the freezer.

SIDE NOTE: I never realized how many eggs we went through. I mean, I did. It was a lot. But now that eggs are scarce and prices are high, I’m rationing them and not scrambling eggs as frequently. Therefore, I’m getting into a bit of a breakfast rut. Time to brainstorm more breakfast ideas for variety. Hmmm….

After we got everyone fed, I dropped kids off at school and took Auggie to his therapy appointment.

He was both nervous and excited to try out the swing.

After we left therapy, we went and picked up Little Sweetheart to come hang out with us.

Late morning, I used leftover BBQ Chicken from Sunday’s lunch to make Chicken Taco Soup. Was this a weird way to use bbq chicken? Maybe. But this is how we use leftovers and save money. (It tasted just fine, by the way.)

Eva texted me this fun photo and told me she was making my Italian Chicken Bake for dinner. Yum! She used her crock pot though – very smart.

I took the kids to our weekly Food Distribution site that afternoon. After that, we met with a new team of Christian therapists that our family is going to start working with. We spent some time getting to know them and they walked me through the therapy plan so I knew what to expect. By the time we got home, Matt, Elias, and Malorie had the littlest four kids fed. Those of us who had been gone all afternoon/evening ate our Chicken Taco Soup and some salad and got ready for bed.

Wednesday was a snow day so kids were home all day. We often feel like we need to be very structured for our crew and keep them busy with parent-led activities so that fights and behaviors are less severe. This particular day, we attempted a mixture of parent-led activities along with times of free play. It worked fairly well. Here’s a photo of us gathered around the table mid-morning for a Bible-focused activity.

Since it was a snow day, we had to make Snowflake Quesadillas for lunch. I was going for a shot of the girls cutting their snowflake tortillas, but Elias was feeling goofy so here he is too. ;)

We ate some Popcorn Chicken and Tomato Soup with our Snowflakes.

After lunch, half of our crew bundled up and headed outside to shovel snow.

Eva was able to make her way to our house to drop off Arrow. Usually he’s here on Wednesday afternoons while kids are at school and Auggie is napping. This time, he had six aunts and uncles to entertain him, so he decided that a nap for him was a silly idea. There was too much fun to be had!! WE ENJOY OUR GRANDBABIES SO MUCH!!!

We made Hot Cocoa during the afternoon.

At dinnertime, Acacia and Josie helped me made salad kits. Sometimes a girl just needs to wear her brother’s protective headphones when working in the kitchen. One can never be too safe.

I had pulled some ham from the freezer that morning and made Ham and Cheese Melts for our dinner that night. We’d been given a special rice dish leftover from Food Distribution on Tuesday, so we warmed that up, and ate the girls’ salads.

Thursday morning, I talked myself into scrambling some eggs for breakfast. I had found some Cheater Cheater Pumpkin Eaters in the freezer the night before, so I thawed them overnight for our breakfast. The vanilla variety got eaten right away (before I took a picture), then the chocolate ones were gone soon after.

The little girls helped me make a quadruple recipe of Brownies that morning in hopes that we could put together Valentine treats for our neighbors.

I needed to do some serious Aldi shopping, so we packed snacks and bundled up kids and headed that way. Matt stayed in the warm van with the kids, handing out snacks and books. I ran through Aldi to shop as fast as I could. Somehow this doesn’t look like much, but it was a full cart of lots of good groceries!

When the three elementary kids got home from school, they helped me mix up dough for Cinnamon Rolls. I think it’s been several years since I made these, but I decided that this would be a perfect treat for a Valentine’s Day breakfast the next day. The kids were very excited! They especially liked re-learning about how yeast works and watching the yeast/water/honey mixture get bubbly once it activated.

The rest of the evening got a bit crazy (good, but crazy) as we let the Cinnamon Roll dough rise, then moved on to cutting hearts out of our brownies. I pulled the kids into the kitchen a few at a time to help with this fun but messy job.

Cute, huh?!

It took a while, but I was mostly successfully able get all the little hearts out of the pan. Everyone was happy that while the heart-shaped brownies were for our neighbors, the plate of scraps was for us. :)

Oh yes, and dinner. Everyone needed dinner in the midst of this. Brayden had helped me brown hamburger meat earlier and I turned it into Sloppy Joes while making five boxes of Mac and Cheese. Dinner was later than usual because of our baking endeavors, so I’d sliced a bunch of fresh pears to hold the kids over. By the time dinner was actually ready, the kids sat down and devoured their food.

I’d had to punch our Cinnamon Roll dough down a few times because it took me forever to get back to it. But after dinner, Kiya and I finally rolled them out and cut them. She was my cinnamon-sugar girl. (By the way, I used unbleached white flour this time because the only whole wheat flour I had was pastry flour, which doesn’t work for yeast bread recipes.)

The goal was to get the rolls prepped and into the fridge to bake fresh on Valentine’s Day. Mission accomplished. Then there was quite a kitchen mess to tackle!

Friday morning, I baked our Cinnamon Rolls plus two pans of Bacon for our Valentine Breakfast. The kids LOVED the rolls. What a special treat.

Auggie wore his overalls that day, and I decided that I needed to feature him because babies and toddlers in overalls are THE.CUTEST.

My friend Meghan came to visit late morning and we visited for several hours. I didn’t get any pictures because we were talking (and crying, because that’s what we do). She lost her husband to cancer exactly one year ago this week, and God has brought her and her kids through so much. We had a lot to celebrate (while still mourning).

When the kids got home from school, they were all very excited to pour out their sacks of Valentines to see what all they got!

The temps outside were bearable that day, so Brayden went outside to build a snowman. Introducing: Johnny…

Matt had been in York all day working on our rental property, and unfortunately he’d had car trouble along the way. At this point, he still hadn’t made it home so I was one-on-seven. I had planned for all of us to walk around delivering the Valentine brownies we’d made the day before, but I didn’t think I could pull that off by myself. So instead, I gave careful instruction and sent a few kids across the street to knock on doors by themselves while Auggie and I watched from our porch. They did such a good job!

I had started Beef Stew in a crock pot that morning with some stew meat I’d picked up on sale the day before. It was only a small portion (for our family size) so at dinner time, I also made a pot of Chili. Just as we were dishing it up, Matt called. He and the broken down car had made it back to Lincoln, but he had pulled into a parking lot about three miles from our house, unable to go any further. So, I loaded up the seven kids and we went to pick him up. Dinner tasted extra good when we got back!

Saturday morning, I put one of my $5 hams into a roaster. Some of our friends had a loss in their family this week, so two other gals and I had teamed up to provide a meal for 25 of their family members that evening.

We baked a double batch of Oatmeal Butterscotch Cookies (<— I did not make homemade butterscotch chips). I planned to give half of them our friends along with their big meal that night, and save the other half for our Sunday lunch the next day.

Since we were preparing such a big meal for friends that evening, we decided to have Sam’s Rotisserie Chickens for our Sunday Lunch the next day. I gathered some of the kids into the kitchen with me to help me make Stir and Pour Bread to go with our chicken the next day.

This recipe is ridiculously easy and these loaves turned out beautiful!!

I had some melted butter left over in a pan so I brushed it over the hot loaves. Then I tortured us by not letting us eat it!

For lunch, we pulled out leftovers. The best part of the meal was this fresh lettuce that one of our neighbors had given us the day before. She is a student at UNL and had grown it in a green house. Fresh lettuce in February tasted SO GOOD.

We spent the rest of the day finishing the evening meal to deliver to our friends, cleaning and doing chores, delivering more of our Valentine’s Day brownies, and getting ready to move into our time of Sabbath.

And that was our week!

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Big Family Food and Fun: December 1-7, 2024

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Here’s our Big Family Food and Fun: December 1-7, 2024 post!

Big Family Food and Fun: December 1-7, 2024

We had traveled to Kansas over the Thanksgiving weekend to be with my side of the family. I didn’t get to share last week, so I wanted to highlight some of the special times we shared while we were there!

One of the kids’ favorites was that we all met at the Skating Rink on Friday afternoon. We loved that there were plenty of skate training aids for everyone. This made the experience so much fun!

Even Auggie got out there with confidence and loved it!

Malorie was already a pro and Elias picked it up pretty quickly.

Malachi rocked it, with Anna, Acacia, and my nephew coming in behind.

Most of the grown ups sat and watched and visited. I didn’t attempt skates, but I was out on the rink visiting with my sister and helping pick up kids after spills.

Afterward, we met at a church building in town so that there was room for all of us to eat and for the kids to play. Altogether, there were 31 of us. We are so thankful we made the trip!

We made it home Saturday night in time to unpack and get kids to bed. Sunday morning, I got a loaf of Applesauce Bread out of the freezer for breakfast.

While the kids were eating, I got out and washed all of our Christmas mugs so that we can use them this month!

After church, friends joined us for lunch, making 28 of us in all. I had made a big pan of Simple Creamy Layered Enchiladas and frozen it before our trip. I baked it that morning while we were at church. Friends brought chips and dips, refried beans, grapes, and cake to share.

Kiya put make-up on all the girls that afternoon. :)

That evening, Matt took our little boys with him to Menards to pick up a few items. I was left at home with our four girls. This was rare and special for us! First, we did some cleaning so that we could enjoy some game time.

Then we got out games and played together.

The evening was really calm and quiet for most of the time. I was thankful for the chance to actually enjoy playing with the kids. Matt’s time with the boys at Menards went well too, so now we know we can have special times like this occasionally.

The littler girls were starting to scatter game pieces so we put everything away and went into the kitchen to make Peanut Butter Honey Puffs. The boys got home soon after and we got everyone to bed.

Monday morning we were all excited to see a few snow flurries outside. Acacia quickly ran to put on at hat, gloves, and boots so she could build a snowman. Precious darling.

We spent the morning unpacking from our trip and doing laundry. Once the girls got on the bus for school and Auggie went down for a nap, Malachi came over and he and I headed out to do some Christmas shopping!

This was a lovely three hours with him, even if we didn’t check many gifts off of our list. By the time we finished at Marshalls, grabbed groceries at Aldi, and made it to Costco, Malachi was hungry. Did he make a meal off of several little bites of free samples? Yes, he did.

We got home in time for Matt to run pick up school kids. Then Keith went into our boys’ room to “help” Matt figure out the new light they had bought at Menards. (The past few months, our boys have been displaced to a different room while Matt has been replacing their ceiling. I’m so thankful he is so handy with house projects like this!)

For dinner that night, we ate Simple Cheeseburger Casserole with Caesar Salad and Corn.

Kelsey and Little Sweetheart came over for a while that evening. Our housemate/friend Kermit hung out with us too as we played in the living room.

We attempted a game of Headbands before heading upstairs to get everyone to bed. It would have been much better had the little girls not told everyone what was pictured on their card, haha.

Tuesday morning, I had to be out the door with Auggie for Speech Therapy by 7:35. I got out Peanut Butter Honey Puffs with Yogurt and Fruit for kids to eat with Matt after I left.

Auggie’s appointment took us half-way to Walmart/Sam’s so afterward, we went to get some groceries.

Back at home, Justus had dropped off Little Sweetheart while he had a meeting. Auggie tried taking care of her, you know, since he’s so much bigger and older. You can’t see her face, but let’s just say she was not impressed.

After school that day, I took Brayden, Kiya, and Keith to had out food at our weekly Food Distribution site.

Before leaving home, I got a package of Homemade Burritos out of the freezer for Matt and Elias to warm up for dinner. We enjoyed those when we got home.

Wednesday morning was especially sweet. All four girls woke up early and were in pleasant moods. They piled into the kitchen with me and wanted to help with any job I could give them. So we went to work!

I started a Roast like this in the crock pot for our dinner. We all worked together to make both chocolate and vanilla Cheater Cheater Pumpkin Eaters for breakfast.

I got a pot of Warm Vanilla Soother started on the stove for our breakfast. The kids were very excited that they were given the privilege of drinking this in (breakable) Christmas mugs!

Next, the girls crushed cornflakes in bags for me. I had gotten a great deal on chicken breast when I was out shopping the day before, so we used them to make Crunchy Ranch Chicken Strips.

Breakfast was a feast that morning with both Vanilla and Chocolate Pumpkin Eaters (with spinach blended into the chocolate ones). I made sausage links, plus we had our Warm Vanilla Soother. Somewhere in there, I’d made a blender full of Smoothie for Matt and me.

After breakfast, I finished putting together the Crunchy Ranch Chicken Strips, I had enough chicken to make four pans – one for tomorrow’s dinner and the rest for the freezer for easy dinners in the future.

It turned out to be a HUGE kitchen morning for me. I was on a roll and the girls and Auggie were playing nicely in the living room after we got the other kids off to school. I had a lot of eggs on hand, and some ham that needed to be used before it expired. So I made a Simple Egg Casserole for the freezer.

I baked a sheet pan with 24 eggs, then turned them into Breakfast Sandwiches. Our household goes through a lot of these sandwiches so they are great to have in the fridge and freezer!

Arrow spent the afternoon with us. This was the scene in the living room after all the kids got home from school and Eva came to pick up Arrow. Everyone wanted to be with Eva while she was feeding Arrow – so I tried to get everyone to move away from the couch to give them some space so he wouldn’t be distracted. :)

Dinner that night was SOOOOO GOOD – if I do say so myself. I’d slow cooked a Roast all day, so by evening it was falling apart and juicy. We’d also made Mashed Potatoes in the crock pot, and those turned out super tasty. We had Salad and Green Beans to complete our meal and this meat-and-potatoes-girl was very happy!

Thursday morning we baked several pounds of bacon to finish off a box we had in the fridge.

Kiya was ready for school in plenty of time so I asked her to go to our laundry room to get three outfits for her little sisters. She was happy to do that because picking out outfits is fun for her. When I found the clothes in the living room later, they looked like this. Kiya took her job very seriously and had the piles just so. This photo shows her personality!

I made a crock pot full of Chili that afternoon so we could warm it while we are at church on Sunday.

Dinner that night was a pan of the Crunchy Ranch Chicken Strips we’d made the day before. I boiled a pound of noodles, which is boring for the adults but the kids love them plain with butter and salt. (I warmed up some White Queso for adults to drizzle on their noodles.) We  made a salad and that was dinner!

Friday I spent a lot of time in the kitchen working on food for an upcoming “event” here at Heavenly Homemakers. Watch for details in a few days!! We ate some of the results of my recipe experiments for dinner that night, along with sliced pears.

I made a batch of Vanilla Ice Cream to go with one of the desserts for the event. I’m always pleasantly surprised when this ice cream comes together so quickly and easily!

Saturday morning, we made a double batch of Christmas Spice Cookies to enjoy with our Sunday Lunch.

I froze some to pull out and serve throughout the month as Christmas comes.

Mid-morning, Malorie and I left all the kids with the guys and headed to Heartlands Church for a Ladies’ Brunch. It was a wonderful morning!

We got home in time to help feed kids lunch, put Auggie down for a nap, and clean up the kitchen. The kids played outside all afternoon because the weather was beautiful! We cleaned the living room, gave kids baths, then headed into our time of Sabbath rest.

And that was our week!

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Big Family Food and Fun: September 29 – October 5, 2024

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Here’s our Big Family Food and Fun: September 29 – October 5, 2024 post!

Big Family Food and Fun: September 29 – October 5, 2024

Sunday at church we enjoyed Family Worship time. We were blessed to have many of the kids on stage singing (or picking their nose as the case may be with one of ours).

Matt preached that day, and he kept the kids up in front at first to include them at the beginning of his lesson.

Afterward, we gathered at our house for the simplest Sunday Lunch ever: Lasagna and Salad. That’s it. That’s all I made. But it’s all we needed. There were 23 of us that day.

My favorite part of the day was sitting down in the living room after lunch with a cup of coffee and watching all of our people mingling and enjoying time together.

I loved this precious scene in which Little Sweetheart was napping, giving Auntie K two empty arms to enjoy some Arrow snuggles.

We were all surprised to be visited by a penguin during our visit. Should we take her back to the zoo? It’s still a point of discussion.

Late afternoon we regrouped and loaded up to go to Keith’s soccer game. I packed pears, clementines, peanuts, and cheese sticks – plus a fruit/veggie pouch for Auggie.

It was a hot one that day so that fruit tasted extra good to those of us on the sidelines. Meanwhile, Keith played hard – even if his mom is unable to keep up with laundry and he had to wear two different colors of soccer socks.

Back at home, we cleaned out the fridge to eat leftovers for dinner. I had picked up 5-pounds of super cheap ground chicken last week marked down. So I spent some time making it all into Chicken Cheeseballs – one for Monday’s dinner and the other for the freezer.

Monday morning, I made a few cans worth of Tuna Salad for kids to take in their school lunches.

The rest of that day, I spent resting – as much as a person can rest while caring for small children. We’d been in go-go-go mode for weeks, and I was tired.

Typically, in the morning while we only have four kids at home, I get extra food made or I catch up on other family needs. Monday, I just sat with the kids and played with the kids. It was refreshing and needed.

For dinner that night, I baked a pan of the Chicken Cheeseballs I’d made the day before. A few weeks ago, I ordered a bag of Instant Mashed Potatoes from Azure Standard to have on hand for days I needed cooking breaks. They aren’t as tasty as “real mashed potatoes” but they are fast and easy and they made a great side dish for this night’s dinner. I steamed broccoli, and that was our dinner!

A friend had brought us a bunch of tomatoes from her garden and Anna enjoyed them very much that evening. :)

Keith sat with me in the kitchen while I washed some dishes so he could get his homework done. I’m not a fan of kindergarteners having homework, but I did enjoy the one-on-one time with him.

After resting on Monday, Tuesday I felt refreshed and ready to take on a few projects. Acacia helped me make Pumpkin Muffins.

Keith came in and wanted in on the action so he helped me make a huge batch of Mudballs.

While all this was in the works, I baked pan after pan of Bacon. It felt good to get ahead – even if it dirty up a lot of dishes! ;)

For breakfast that morning, I warmed up some leftover Egg and Hashbrown Casserole from last week.

Justus dropped off Little Sweetheart for the morning. Anna and Josie were happy to entertain her for a few minutes while I finished up a few kitchen clean-up chores.

Mid-morning, we were honored to enjoy time with Angela – someone who has been a Heavenly Homemakers reader for years and has prayed over our family during this time. She was visiting family nearby, so coming here worked out perfectly! Our girls LOVED coloring with her, being read to, and playing.

And I loved visiting and learning about her family too. It was a wonderful visit. :)

After school, Brayden, Kiya, Keith, and I went to hand out food at our weekly Food Distribution.

Afterward while we were cleaning up, Brayden was excited to take this picture of Kiya and Keith helping Mr. Jim scrub spots off the floor.

Back at home, we discovered that Elias was working to wrangle the kids while Matt dealt with this:

It was only a matter of time before a window got broken here, right? Ugh.

Elias had managed to get water boiling for dinner, and he and I worked together to finish putting together Tortelloni with Sauce, Salad, Berries, and Tomatoes.

The best part of the day: Malorie arrived after a long drive from Texas! She’s officially moving in and we are all so happy about this! Even Auggie moved in for a hug. :)

Wednesday morning, we enjoyed a special treat of Pumpkin O’s that Angela had brought us the day before (along with some other fun Trader Joe’s treats!). I also scrambled 15 eggs for us to eat that morning. As Angela predicted when she gave them to me, the O’s were gone very quickly. But not to worry, I’d poured myself the first bowl of the morning, so I got some too. :)

I put several pounds worth of Salsa Chicken into a crock pot to slow cook all day for our dinner that night.

It was a very cool morning so I was in the mood to bake! Having treats in the freezer is always a good thing, so I made a big pan of Brownies and a big pan of Butterscotch Bars to cut, plate, bag, and freeze for upcoming Sunday Lunches or other needs.

Mid-morning, our friends showed up to help clean some of our bathrooms. Josie hung with them the entire time, squirting and scrubbing. :)

We are usually blessed to bring home several bags of free bread and rolls from our Tuesday Food Distribution. I usually need to freeze it or use it right away as it is on its final days. I had 12 nice looking hoagie-type rolls so I used them to make Chicken Bacon Sandwiches for easy lunches for the grown-ups. I bagged them individually, then put them in the fridge.

How can we tell that Malorie is here? We just look at the girls’ hair. When I fix their hair, the styles consist of piggies and ponies. But Malorie always does something special and she makes it look effortless. :)

With hair done, fresh clothes and shoes on, we watched for the bus. Auggie has started to get mad that he doesn’t get to go to school with his sisters.

Eva dropped Arrow off for the afternoon while she went to do a photo shoot for some clients. We cracked up when she met me in the living room to say something like, “Arrow is sleeping so I put him in the pantry.” This sounds so wrong unless you know that our pantry is an entire room off the kitchen, giving him plenty of quiet and safety away from potential tiny aunts and uncles who might try to love on him just a little bit too much. :)

Here he is, happily playing in the pantry after he woke up. Yep, Lolli likes this room too, Arrow.

Speaking of tiny aunts… Aunt Acacia and Aunt Josie enjoyed playing with Arrow when they got home from school.

Auntie Anna was excited to help me feed Arrow his bottle.

For dinner that night, we shredded the Salsa Chicken I’d started cooking that morning and had a Chicken Taco Bar. I made a pan of Stick of Butter Rice to stretch our meal, plus warmed up or set out Black Beans, Corn, White Queso, Salsa, Tomatoes, Spinach, Shredded Cheese, Sour Cream, and choices of Tortillas, Chips, or Hard Shells.

Asa and Eva joined us for dinner and we all ate in shifts as we got kids’ plates/bowls fixed and as adults came and went depending on their schedules.

Thursday morning, the girls took turns helping crack eggs to make French Toast. I also baked two pans of eggs to put together Make-Ahead Breakfast Sandwiches.

The eggs were finished baking before we left for school, and I put the sandwiches together after we got the four elementary kids dropped off.

Then I bagged them individually to freeze or refrigerate so that adults could grab them on their way to work as needed.

We had ordered new bikes for our kindergarten boys (both of theirs are falling apart from such hard use, plus they were already hand-me-downs). So we went to pick them up mid-morning. Matt dropped Acacia, Josie, and me at Sam’s on the way so that I could stock up on needed items there. It ended up being a huge load of groceries that day!

After he picked up the bikes, Matt met me at Sam’s with Anna and Auggie and I put overflow items into their cart. I got 10-dozen eggs because they were only $10.98 for a 5-dozen box, which breaks down to just $2.20/dozen! That’s a great price right now!

As if that wasn’t enough food, I had put in a pick-up order from Hy-Vee for some of our girls’ WIC items. Malorie picked that up for me and helped me get it put away. We are well stocked up on groceries now. But how long will it last? That’s the part that always has me chuckle. After a shopping trip, I always think we’ll be good for a while – and of course, there’s always plenty to eat. But somehow I always need to go back to the store to shop again within a week. :)

We were blessed to have both Arrow and Little Sweetheart that afternoon – a gift I’m so thankful for. This is one of the main reasons we moved to Lincoln, and I’m so grateful we can have this time with our grandbabies! I’m not sure what they are chatting about here, but Arrow sure was amazed about what his cousin had to share…

Malorie being here now is such a huge blessing! She helped me with babies so that Matt could get some work done in our boys’ bedroom.

With both babies happy, I finished putting together Burritos for the freezer using Wednesday night’s leftovers. I was thankful for the opportunity to get so many extras made throughout this week:

Our friend, Phyllis, came to visit that afternoon which was perfect timing because she got to meet Little Sweetheart and Arrow, plus she got to see Kelsey and Eva when they came to pick up their babies. It was such a sweet time. And speaking of sweet, Phyllis spoiled us with her delicious cookies too.

We had a fridge full of tidbits of this and that, so we had leftovers for dinner that night. I’d also picked up the kids’ favorite grapes at Sam’s: Cotton Candy Grapes, so we enjoyed those with dinner.

Justus dropped off Little Sweetheart early Friday before he left for a conference. Acacia was excited to hold her but Little Sweetheart liked pulling Acacia’s piggy-tails too much. Ouchie. :)

Before leaving for school, Keith asked if we could make Strawberry Milkshakes to share that evening. It was a sweet request so I was glad that I had time to make a batch of Homemade Vanilla Ice Cream to use for his treats.

It was encouraging to see Auggie walking around with Josie’s banana because of all his eating issues up until now and the progress he’s making. Here he was, taking little bites of banana just like any ol’ toddler. Way to go, Auggie. (He threw it down after just two bites, but two bites is two bites so…)

That afternoon, Matt attempted to put the boys’ new bikes together. He had lots of help, as you can see, which made the process go twice as…slow. ;)

I made a simple dinner of Chicken Nuggets and Fish Sticks, Hashbrowns, Salad, and Grapes.

We used some of the Homemade Vanilla Ice Cream I’d made earlier in the day with frozen strawberries and milk to put together Keith’s requested Strawberry Milkshakes.

We were all very happy to enjoy this, and Keith wanted me to be sure and get a photo of his milkshake mustache.

Our Sabbath Experiment

Before I tell you about our Saturday morning, let me tell you about the church Community Group Matt and I have been a part of for the past several weeks. We’ve been working our way through Practicing the Way resources (highly recommended!), focusing on the practices of Jesus and learning more about how we can be more like Him in His practices.

One of the focuses has been about Sabbath – something Matt and I have tinkered with in the past but never figured out how to make a regular part of our lives. We’ve been challenged to be intentional about incorporating a Sabbath rest into our week, as a way to be a part of life-giving community and as a way to refresh our souls. With all these high need littles, WE NEED REST. But with all these high need littles, how in the world can we spend a day every week resting? That has been the question.

We’ve prayed and discussed this a lot, and we decided to give it a try this week. My goal Saturday morning was to make all food preparations for Sunday so that we can fully enjoy our family, our church/worship time, our Sunday lunch gathering, and the rest of our day.

We turned on a show for the kids to watch as they got up on Saturday, something we only do on weekend mornings. Then I spent the entire morning cooking and baking (without kids – which was refreshing and fun for me in and of itself!).

I baked a double batch of Breakfast Cookies into bars for Sunday’s breakfast.

When they cooled, I cut them into bars, setting aside half for Sunday and freezing the other half for another day.

I made a double batch of Peanut Butter Honey Rice Krispie Bars for easy snacks.

I packaged up some of these for next week’s school lunches.

I mixed together a double batch of Party Potatoes to bake during church for our Sunday lunch.

While all this was going on, I’d put chicken legs and pork chops on the smoker that I’d marinated overnight. I planned to warm these on Sunday morning in a crock pot while we were at church.

I baked a double batch of Pumpkin Bars for our Sunday Lunch dessert. And I steamed Green Beans and made Cream Cheese Corn to warm up in small crock pots while we are at church.

It was super fun to do all of this. Meanwhile, the kids came in and ate bowls of cereal, bananas, or Mudballs for breakfast. Matt took a few at a time to have long, leisurely baths so that we didn’t have to tackle that chore Saturday night.

We went to our friends’ house that evening for a Husker game watch party/birthday party to kick off our Sabbath rest in community. Our goal is to not be legalistic, but to find refreshment for our souls and to figure out ways to be at rest even during this busy season.

I’ll let you know how our first trial run goes!

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Big Family Food and Fun: June 9-15, 2024

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Here’s our Big Family Food and Fun: June 9-15, 2024 post!

Big Family Food and Fun: June 9-15, 2024

Our Sunday started out awesome as we grabbed friends after church to come over and eat lunch with us!

I had made a lot of bacon that morning plus cut Saturday night’s leftover smoked chicken into thin strips. We got out a variety of buns and breads, tortillas, and fresh greens with sauces, cheeses, dressings, and dips so people could build Bacon Chicken Sandwiches, Wraps, or Salads. We had Chips and Dips, Grapes, Watermelon, and Strawberries. It was delicious and fun!

We visited all afternoon, then turned on the sprinkler for the kids and moved our party outside to hang out. I put four frozen pizzas into the oven to bake for dinner. While they were baking, I warmed up last week’s leftover steamed carrots for kids to munch on outside.

Two packages of blackberries didn’t last very long!

Nor did the four pizzas. :)

Monday morning after breakfast, Keith and I went to help set up for Tuesday’s Food Distribution. This one-on-one time with him is so valuable. Plus, of course, it’s great to continue teaching our kids to serve in any way God leads us.

We emptied a lot of boxes off the cart, so Keith got to drive it to the storage room.

When we got back home, we all loaded up to head to the zoo to meet up with friends. We had made sandwiches and packed them with chips, pears, grapes, and coconut rolls. Elias and Malorie joined us too!

We ate our pears right away, just like we did last time we went to the zoo. :)

Giraffes are fascinating!

We came home and rested for a while, then I read a chapter of Little House in the Big Woods to the kids. In this chapter, Ma was making butter and bread and the kids were fascinated. So I got a wild hair and told them we could make butter too. It has been a long time since I’ve made butter, but we headed to the kitchen to make it happen!

When I used to make butter regularly, I made it like this. But so that the kids could be involved, we made it in a jar, taking turns shaking and shaking and shaking until we had butter. It was SO COOL. The kids loved this!!!

Can’t have homemade butter without homemade bread, right? There were still three kids napping so Brayden, Kiya, Keith, Acacia and I stirred together a loaf of Stir-and-Pour Bread. They got to learn about how yeast works while practicing their recipe and measuring skills. Basically, it was amazing. So much of our day is usually hard, and this one had been a doozy with screaming and fits from morning to night in between outings and naps. Having this special time with these four helped bring us all down to earth and remind me that there’s a lot of beauty beyond the trauma.

While the bread baked, I rewarmed leftover pasta from Saturday night and heated up meatballs from Costco. Notice how I burned them. I had attempted to trim BabyBoy#11’s hair while dinner warmed up and this was the result of me doing too much at once. Oh well, we ate them anyway.

Eating outside is the best!

Look how beautiful our Butter Ball and our Homemade Bread turned out!!! The kids were SO PROUD, as they should be!

They loved how it all tasted too. It was a perfect way to finish our day before getting everyone to bed.

On Tuesday morning I baked a batch of Spinach Cupcakes. Meanwhile, I air fried a bunch of Chicken Nuggets to take on a picnic with dips, plus Carrots and Fruit Cups.

The Case family and Kelsey met us at a park to play and picnic!

After some rest time in the afternoon, Brayden, Kiya, Elias, and I went to hand out food at Food Distribution. Malorie stayed back with Matt to help with kids and to make dinner for us.

Malorie’s dinner was Migas, a traditional Mexican family meal she’d learned from her mom. Eggs, bacon, and fried corn tortillas – topped with spinach and cheese. We all loved it!

We played outside after dinner until bedtime and only had one scare for about 10 minutes when we couldn’t find Josie anywhere. (She’d slipped inside somehow and was hanging out happily with Elias and Malorie, phew.)

Wednesday we loaded up and headed to York for the day. The kids and I spent the day at our friends house while Matt did some work on our rental house (it’s on the market now!). Our friends have the best back yard in the world and we had so much fun playing and playing!

For lunch we feasted on Hotdogs, Fruit, Veggies, and Chips.

Then it was time to get wet in their back yard. They fed us a Nacho Bar for dinner (we were much too busy visiting and having fun for me to get more pictures). From there, we went to the York University campus for a night of Soul Quest worship. We saw many more friends there – such a gift to us. We didn’t make it back home until after 10pm, which is crazy late for our crew. But it was worth the Thursday morning crankiness. ;)

Thursday morning Acacia found this mask and had the best time “hiding” from all of us. :)

I took BabyBoy#11 to one of his specialists. He’s making great progress with his eating through OT, so we’ll keep plugging away!

That evening we ate Roast with Carrots. I had slow cooked it all day like this – SUPER EASY. The only issue was that I hadn’t started it early enough and we had plans! So we ate the carrots and left the roast to cook a bit longer. Meanwhile I pulled all kinds of random items from the fridge to fill our bellies before we headed out: cottage cheese, pineapple, pears, and leftover grilled cheese sandwiches. :) (The roast got eaten later by the grown ups!)

Then we ventured out for a super fun outing, parking our van right in front of the Capital Building. We see this from afar all the time so kids were incredibly excited to be right there on the property!

Across the street was the Downtown Trolley bus stop, which only costs $0.25. Matt handed out quarters to the kids and they got to clink it into the money slot as we loaded onto the bus.

What a super fun outing for a quarter per person!!! We had the bus to ourselves and the kids were in awe.

This girl does not hold back on letting us know how she feels. When she is mad, oy. And when she is happy: SHE IS HAPPY. I wish you could hear her giggle as she was full of glee on our bus ride!

Josie wasn’t sure what to think. :)

The kids thought that all we were doing was riding the bus. But then we surprised them with a stop at a downtown ice cream shop, an unexpected and rare treat!

They sat still for a total of four minutes eating ice cream, and then we were reminded why we NEVER take our crew to a restaurant. Yikes, there are so many littles. Washing chocolate off of faces, keeping chairs from being knocked over, wow. And do you see that big plastic ice cream cone in the window? Well, it makes a loud noise when it gets knocked over.

We made our way back to a Trolley Bus Stop to head back to our van and home to bed. They kids were so excited about this delightful outing!!!

Friday we decided to attempt some sort of “Day of Rest.” This feels impossible during this season in our lives. Yet I feel like I am a 7-day-a-week extreme event coordinator for a bunch of screaming people, and I am tired. Truly, if we don’t keep the kids busy, have outings, and provide constant structure and routine – the behaviors become worse. So we go-go-go because it’s necessary.

Friday though, Matt and I experimented to see how we could keep everyone busy without major outings. I decided that all of our meals would come from the freezer that day – no cooking for me. Paper plates x3 meals. No laundry. Minor upkeep in the kitchen.

The day started off with Bran Muffins from the freezer with Apples and Peanut Butter.

We turned the TV on for the kids for a while – something we don’t do every day. (Too much screen time tends to backfire for us, so it’s a rare treat to watch a show.)

We got dressed for the day and played outside. Acacia and Josie were twinning!

Mid-morning we relaxed with popsicles. I sat in a chair in the sunshine, soaking up vitamin D. It felt so good!

Our friend came and took the kids for a walk and Matt and I had an entire hour to ourselves. Amazing!

We made Fish Sticks, Sweet Potato Fries, and Smoothies for lunch.

While the baby napped, Matt kept the older four entertained and I dropped Acacia and Josie off to Ms. Kathi’s for two hours. All by myself, I went to Walmart and Sam’s. This wasn’t necessarily restful, but we were out of fresh produce and milk, plus I was getting ready for Father’s Day. So it needed to happen. And I didn’t have kids with me so that in and of itself is refreshing!

Back at home, everyone helped bring in and put away groceries. I had brought home cherries and Brayden and Keith dug right in!

We went outside and played in the water while dinner was in the oven.

I had found a Green Bean Casserole with Hamburger in the freezer, so it was easy to slide into the oven to bake without effort. We ate it outside with grapes. The kids are constantly hungry this summer so some of them had thirds!

Matt pitched some balls to Brayden, Kiya, and Keith so they could practice using a bat. They were so excited to improve their skills!

We gave everyone a little bit of ice cream to finish off the day. Then brushed teeth and got cleaned up. We took everyone for a little walk, then headed straight upstairs to bed. (I had high hopes of putting weary children easily to bed at this point but shucks. It did not go as smoothly as I’d hoped. Meh.)

Saturday morning after breakfast (oatmeal) we loaded up and met friends at the Farmer’s Market downtown. Kelsey and Little Sweetheart met us there for a while too.

When we got home, Keith and Josie helped me make Apple Pie for Matt’s Father’s Day dessert.

We made Chicken Sandwiches with Spinach for lunch and had Strawberry Shortcake for dessert.

We cleaned out the fridge at dinnertime so we had a variety of leftovers. This is such a great way to save money on groceries – nothing goes to waste!

Our Apple Pie turned out beautiful and we made this Chocolate Fudge Pie too. We’re all ready for Father’s Day!

We had a drama-filled bath time then got everyone to bed. And that was our week!

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Everyone Needs Tuesday People

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What are Tuesday People? They are the people that everyone needs.

How we got our Tuesday People

It all started the week we took in a 17-month old girl and her newborn baby sister. They needed immediate placement and we already had their 2-year-old sibling in our home. So we were the first call. Could we take them? Yes. God said yes. So Matt and I said yes.

The two baby girls were welcomed into our home by our four older sons plus our young adopted and/or foster kids – at the time ages 7, 5, 2, 2, and 9-months. It wasn’t the first time we questioned our sanity, as we cared for so many high-need kids so close in age.

But were we even crazier for taking in two more? The kids would be ages  7, 5, 2, 2, 17-months, 9-months, and 2-days. Did I mention that our oldest, Asa, was getting married six weeks from that day?

Yes. We were crazy.

But have you ever read the Bible? Does God do anything significant for the Kingdom that isn’t weird, extreme, different, shocking, or challenging? Ask Sarah, Joseph, Paul, Esther, Noah, or Mary. It seems that God’s “yes” is always with great purpose, but it is also accompanied by that which seems impossible. We read the Word with confidence, noting that He always came through for the people that He called. He would come through for us.

Our community rallied

Surely our people were also questioning our sanity. But they walked with us anyway. It was only a few days before we had half a room stocked with cases of wipes and diaper boxes of all sizes, a Meal Train filled with meals ready to be delivered, and the best of the best: a Google spreadsheet brimming with people who had signed up to come in the evenings to help us with dinner, baths, and bedtime. Five kids in diapers? A baby with leg braces? Toddlers who struggled to stay out of the street? A freshly traumatized 1-year-old? Sleepless nights for Mom and Dad? The list goes on. We were in need.

God provided. He is good. His people are good.

Our Tuesday People

As we settled in with our new babies, the beloved spreadsheet told us that the Conyers would be coming that Tuesday evening to help. They arrived with a meal for all of us to enjoy. Then they chased kids in the yard, pushed kids on the swings, changed diapers, and read books. They scrubbed dirt off of kids, fed babies bottles, and washed our dishes. We got the kids to bed and thanked them as they headed out the door, surely exhausted from all they’d done for our family during those hours. That’s when they said:

“Can we come again next Tuesday?”

Oh, yes please. If you’re sure that works for you??

The next Tuesday turned into the Tuesday after that. Which turned into the one after that. And then the one after that. We settled into a routine with Aaron and Eryn. They became our Tuesday People. They came right after work on Tuesdays. I always had dinner waiting to feed them when they arrived – because it was the least I could do.

Sometimes they ate with a baby in their arms. Often they ate with a toddler in their lap. Then they didn’t stop moving until after the jammies were on, the nightly family “singing and prayer time” was complete, and the kids were in bed. Often Matt and I would come down the stairs after tucking kids in to see that Aaron and Eryn had the toys picked up and the dishwasher loaded.

During the spring, they’d meet us at the soccer field to help us chase kids while we cheered for Malachi. We sometimes joke that two years ago, we weren’t sure who was the most hesitant in this relationship: the baby girls who weren’t sure what to do with Aaron and his beard, or Aaron, who wasn’t sure what to do with seemingly fragile baby girls. Now, they are all the best of friends.

This Tuesday night thing all started back in June 2021. And here we are two years later, in June 2023.

The Conyers have become so dear to us. They are our Tuesday People. They’ve seen the worst of us, shared their best with us, and prayed us through incredible challenges. We’ve fed them, loved them, and made them a part of our family. They made us a part of theirs.

Saying goodbye to our Tuesday Nights now as we are moving on to Lincoln grieves me more than just about anything we are leaving behind. Oh how we’ve loved and needed our Tuesday People.

Everyone needs Tuesday People.

Church, worship, family, and community can take on many forms and for us, Tuesdays have become a beautiful blending of all of this. We need this. Everyone needs this.

So some questions for you:

  • Do you have Tuesday People?
  • Can you become someone’s Tuesday People?

We all need community. Sometimes we are called to serve and sometimes we are called to be served. As I have learned during our life journey – the need to serve and to be served almost always happens simultaneously. It is beautiful this way.

When we allow ourselves to be served, we are opening ourselves up to experiencing God in a way that we cannot if we choose to “go it alone.” We suffer when we say no to help, because God didn’t make us to do life without His people. We can do so much more for the Kingdom when we work together, serve together, and open our homes and hearts to be served and cared for.

Say yes to this

Prayerfully open your heart to how God can use you in this. Serve and be served. Love and be loved.

Our Tuesday People have changed our lives and we’ll never be the same. It is almost two years to the day from our first Tuesday together that we tearfully enjoy our last.

Thank you, Aaron and Eryn for loving us so well. Our Tuesdays will not be the same without you. We love you. 

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