Here’s our Big Family Food and Fun: April 5-11, 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!
April 4
We had a super full and fun day on Saturday! We started off by going to the library for Sensory Storytime.
Then we left directly from the library to drive to Omaha for an outing. We’d packed lots of food so the kids ate their way through their bags of snacks all the way there. We were excited to check out the Kiewit Luminarium!
We didn’t know what to expect, but we’d heard great things about this museum. Turns out, it’s a super cool science museum, filled with hands-on learning experiences.
The museum kept us entertained for three entire hours!
The kids ate their way through the remains of their food bags all the way home. Matt had packed our blue tooth speaker and we played worship music as we drove, which was a sweet experience with kids who had played hard and were ready to sit calmly on our drive.
Matt and the kids worked together to clean up our yard when we got home while I made a simple dinner of Crusted Tilapia, Mac and Cheese, Cucumbers, and Peas.
I made two loaves of Stir and Pour Bread for our Easter meal. Then it was bath and bedtime.
Big Family Food and Fun: April 5-11, 2026
On Sunday morning, we ate Breakfast Cookie Bars while we got dressed in new outfits for a fun Easter celebration. Worship that morning was so meaningful and special.
After church, 30 people gathered in our home for a big Easter feast. We had Ham, Chicken, Cheesy Potatoes, Cream Cheese Corn, Sweet Potatoes, Roasted Potatoes, Green Beans, Broccoli, Rolls, Homemade Bread, and Fruit Salad.
The dessert section was super fun with Cheesecake, Kringle, Brownies, Ice Cream, and Cookies.
Some watched the end of a big soccer game while eating. Then I sent some of the guys outside to hide eggs for the kids.
Ready with their buckets, the kids headed out!
While it had been windy, chilly, and rainy the past few days, Easter was sunny and beautiful!
The Case and Tabor families stuck around and played a game that afternoon.
That evening, I simply pulled out leftovers and then more leftovers to feed kids outside until they were full.
Matt began a huge project of building new bunk beds for our girls’ room. Keith LOVES projects like this.
Auggie wanted to help too. Matt is so patient to talk them through the process of building.
At the end of the night, our kids had joined some neighbor kids to set up a “Husker Basketball Game.”
The kids were out of school on Monday. Emma came over to help with the kids and she brought her new little puppy. The kids enjoyed this so much!!
We ate leftovers for lunch, then left Auggie home napping while Malachi worked from home instead of at his office. This freed both Matt and me to take the other six kids to a library for a special Create and Construct event. They got to build with all kinds of cool items that had been set out for them.
The girls discovered a flower scavenger hunt, so they took their clip boards and dry erase markers and worked very hard walking through the library until they found all the “hidden” flowers.
Keith found some vehicles and that kept him entertained for a long time.
Anna went to work at the post office while Brayden and Kiya settled in with some of their favorite books. It was a great outing!
Back at home, I grilled burgers for dinner as we launched into ABA therapy for the evening.
Our plans for Tuesday got completely nixed right away in the morning. We got a call from Brayden’s school at 8:05 saying that he had been hit by a car on his bike on his way there that morning. YOWZA.
Thankfully, Justus was at our house to drop off Hopelyn so he stayed a bit longer to help us get all of our other kids squared away. I went to go pick up Brayden and talk to the school nurse and to the police officer who works at the school. Then I took him to the doctor, and then to the ER for X-rays. It was all very intense and pretty scary!
Several hours of talking to doctors and answering questions later, Brayden had calmed down enough to more fully process the details of the accident. A car was backing out of their driveway and didn’t see Brayden. Meanwhile, Brayden got distracted and didn’t see the car. He turned back in time to smack right into the side of the car. So, a car didn’t hit him actually, it just seemed like it at the time before he could fully process what had happened.
Thankfully, he was sore and a bit bruised but there were no broken bones or other injuries. By the end of the day, we were all pretty worn out! I was very thankful that I had Burritos in the freezer to warm up for dinner.
Sleep felt extra good that night, and Wednesday got off to a much better start!
Arrow spent the morning with us. Josie and Auggie had ABA therapy. We played outside in the sunshine (and wind!) all morning.
Auggie had asked for the wagon to be attached to his bike so he rode his “train” around and around that morning.
These three had a Bran Muffin while waiting for the bus to pick up the girls for preschool.
That night for dinner, I smoked a big package Brats and served them with Pickles, leftover Cheesy Potatoes, and Baked Beans.
On Thursday morning, I got out two packages of chicken that had been thawing in the fridge. Check out how cheap this meal is! Chicken legs are already one of the least expensive meats I can find, and I got two of these marked down to just $0.89/pound!
Josie helped me dump barbecue sauce into two bags of chicken to marinate for our dinner that night.
It was chilly that morning, but we played outside as much as we could anyway. Josie and Auggie were riding in the wagon, and when I put Hopelyn in to join them, they all belly laughed for a very long time. Belly laughs are the best!
It was sprinkling outside at dinner time so I baked our BBQ Chicken Legs instead of smoking them like I had planned. I warmed up leftover Cream Cheese Corn and Greens Beans, plus I made Texas Toast on our griddle.
On Friday morning, the girls helped me open four sticks of butter as we got ready to bake.
We got a double batch of Breakfast Cookie Bars ready for the next two Sundays.
I took Acacia to Physical Therapy and Speech Therapy.
She worked extra hard and did some evaluations this time in Speech to see how much progress she’d been making during the past few months. I remember how she answered a lot of these questions the first time around, so I appreciated seeing her growth!
Dinner on Friday night was extra simple: Chicken Nuggets, Mac and Cheese, and Caesar Salad.
While making this “elaborate dinner” I also put together two huge pasta dishes for Sunday Lunch: Cheesy Spaghetti Bake and Italian Cream Cheese Chicken Pasta.
On Saturday morning, we went to Sensory Storytime. Auggie helped Ms. Diane bring out the light machine to play with after story time.
After the library, we loaded up and went to the Children’s Museum. Most of our younger kids went straight for the firetruck.
Asa (with a fresh new hair cut!) and Arrow met us there to play.
Keith loved being an astronaut during the visit!
There was a very cool Music at the Museum event and the kids got to try out a variety of instruments.
Kiya used her newly learned 4th grade viola skills to play Mary Had a Little Lamb. The lady helping her was thrilled!
Auggie enjoyed trying the string instruments so much that he had a hard time giving them up so that other kids could have a turn.
Knowing we’d get home right at lunch time, I’d put several pounds of Taco Meat into a small crock pot to be warm when we got home. I didn’t have lots of topping choices (it’s time to go to the store!) – but we enjoyed lots of meat and cheese tacos or quesadillas.
The rest of the day was spent playing, going to Keith’s soccer game, and getting ready for Sunday!
