Heavenly Homemakers

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

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Here’s our Big Family Food and Fun: January 18-24, 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!

Saturday, January 17

On Saturday afternoon, my Helper of the Day, Anna, helped me put together an Egg Casserole for our dinner that night.

We left a napping Auggie at home with Elias and Malorie, then we took our kids to the library for an afternoon Puppet Show. First, we found some animals in the “vet clinic” that the library had set up. :)

The Puppet Show was way cooler than we realized it would be, with a presenter from What If Puppets out of Kansas City. The kids laughed and laughed and we were so glad we’d gone to be a part of this.

The rest of the night was very stressful with some extreme behaviors. We baked our Egg Casserole and made Pancakes, gave baths and watched part of The Sound of Music with the kids. Brayden is learning Do Ray Me in choir so we wanted to show him that song’s origins! I went to bed very discouraged that night because as hard as we try to show these kids how loved they are, the push back is extreme. God is faithful. We hold on to this Truth.

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

We ate a plate of Breakfast Cookies on Sunday morning, and the fighting with the kids continued. At church that morning, it felt so good to be loved by God and surrounded by his people. We could not do this without the love, support, and prayers from so many.

We loved, loved, loved our afternoon. It was Elias’ birthday, plus our friend Christina had a birthday the day before. So lunch was a big time of celebration!

Elias had requested Shrimp Tacos, so we had a big Taco Bar with Shrimp, Salsa Chicken, and Seasoned Beef.

I made a big pan of Brownies and some Hot Fudge for Brownie Fudge Sundaes per Elias’ request. Friends brought Cake and Tiramisu – what a feast!

There were people scattered all throughout our main floor eating, visiting, and sharing life.

There were 41 of us gathered that day. Matt and I went from so very discouraged to incredibly encouraged by our time with these dear people.

As the crowd cleared, we sent our kids downstairs to watch a movie while Matt and I enjoyed our Community Group. I baked Frozen Pizza for dinner and went to bed tired but refreshed from all God is doing in and for us.

Monday was a very full day with all the kids home from school, appointments, and company. Emma came over as normal, which was very helpful so I could run to Aldi and Walmart for grocery shopping.

I got home from shopping in time to make a quick lunch of Grilled Cheese Sandwiches and Raspberries. Then I took two kids to meet with a new therapist based on yet some new diagnoses that we’ve received. (I’ll share about the new needs we’ve discovered another time after we process this and work out more of the details.)

This appointment time might have been the most encouraging moment that has happened since the day we started taking in foster kids. We have had to go through everything else in order to lead up to this – no doubt. God’s timing is perfect, and meeting this team of professionals any time before Monday might not have served the purpose we needed before now. But now – the timing is right and we all felt God so perfectly in this.

Also? This Christian therapist and this special clinic is five minutes from our house. We’ve looked high and low and far and wide for some specific therapy help. This clinic is five minutes from us? Five.

I was sobbing as I told Matt more about it when I got home. What a good and faithful God we serve. It is worth noting that when I had a few minutes alone with the therapist – who is Spirit filled and listening to His direction – I was able to tell her more candidly what all we go through at our house due to the trauma our kids have endured. She immediately set me up with a regular appointment schedule with her because she recognized right away that no one can do what we are doing without professional support from someone who understands what it’s like to live with and care for so many traumatized kids.

Well anyway. What an afternoon.

We arrived home to find that Keith and Acacia were getting married. Already emotional, I fully delighted in this sweet scene.

That evening, we invited friends to come have dinner with us. We’d been missing them and wanted to connect, and thankfully we were all able to make this happen. We had a simple meal of Ham and Potato Soup with rolls, then spent time together catching up on life.

Tuesday morning, Little Sweetheart joined us for the day. Here’s a scene I like to call Laundry with Lolli. The poor dear. What must she think about all of Lolli’s laundry piles that seem to always be there?

Brayden was the only kiddo able to go with me to our weekly Food Distribution that day. We were short on volunteers, so Brayden needed to fill in at a different spot. He rocked it!

When we arrived back at home, we discovered that Anna, Josie, and Auggie had found a picnic table cloth and were making a fun plastic feast on the living room floor. Watching them play make-believe is a very big deal because that doesn’t come naturally to any of them. This was so sweet!! (…for five minutes, until they all started to scatter and throw all the plastic food, which is more like how they usually play, oy.)

The evening was so full that I almost forgot to take a picture of our dinner until we were putting it away. I’d used Sunday’s lunch leftovers to put together Chicken Burritos. These are simple and almost everyone in our household will eat these without argument.

Wednesday was a big day!

Arrow came to join us to play in the morning and we did a lot of baking. Auggie helped me make Spinach Cupcakes.

At the same time, we baked a bunch of mini Bran Muffins for snacks.

Last, we made Flourless Chocolate Banana Muffins.

Late morning, my dad and his wife, Tacy, arrived. We were pretty tickled to see that as we were warming up lunch, Dad and Tacy tried out our new air hockey table, hehe.

And then the BEST part of the day! We headed to the courthouse for the final adoption of Little Sweetheart!!!!

Justus and Kelsey have asked that I continue to put hearts over her sweet face for now. But I am so happy to introduce our precious and prayed for granddaughter: Hopelyn Coppinger!

Perhaps this is a good time to share additional grandbaby news? Arrow is excited to share that he’s going to have a baby sister this summer!! Lolli and Pop have hearts full of gratitude and joy!

We met up at the Castle for coffee and treats as we left the courthouse after Hopelyn’s adoption.

There was so much joy in this celebration!

We gathered around our living room to pray for Hopelyn and her parents.

The fellowship was sweet as we wrapped up our time together and moved into our evening.

We started our regular ABA therapy for the kids. At dinner time, we had a simple meals of Chili with Ham and Cheese Sliders.

Dad and Tacy left to head back to Kansas as we were getting kids off to school on Thursday morning. We got Auggie settled in with his ABA therapist and the little girls with Daddy, then I was able to sneak off and have a morning outing with Kelsey and her mom and sister from Montana. What a treat!

I had meatballs frozen and tucked away, so I thawed those for our dinner that night. We ate Sweet Sauce Meatballs, Tator Tots, and Green Beans. Then Matt and I left the kids behind with Elias, Malorie, and Malachi and we went to Panera to sit together and visit for a couple of hours.

When we got home, Malorie had the little girls in jammies and with teeth brushed. It was so nice to only have to tuck them in instead of doing the challenging night time routine. God bless our big kids!

Anna was very excited about how she had fixed her own hair and begged me to take her picture. (Note the wallpaper that has been ripped off the wall behind her. We had to give up on preventing this. Did you know that tearing paper helps calm kids who have autism and/or trauma? In this case, she’s been tearing the paper off the wall, slowly but surely. Meh, it’s just a wall and can be fixed later.)

Acacia needed her picture taken too…

The kids were all very excited because school was canceled on Friday due to extremely cold temps. Auggie and Anna helped me put together a big pot of Taco Soup for Sunday’s lunch.

We also made two huge Lasagnas for a party that night. I forgot to take a picture of the lasagnas until they were tucked away in our fridge. So here’s a non-exciting photo of how I was able to rearrange everything and stuff the lasagnas inside.

We were hoping to get a family photo during our party that evening, and the girls asked if I could curl their hair. I’ve never done all four girls’ hair like this before, but we had a little extra time since they were home from school. So we got it done. Wow, they are beautiful little girls!

Our friends, the Brocks, came from out of town to join us at the party that night. We spent a couple of hours playing games together!

Party time! Justus and Kelsey had organized a wonderful adoption celebration for Hopelyn!

We added my Lasagnas to the buffet, and Kelsey and her family had put together a most beautiful table of pastas, veggies, and fruit. Friends brought cookies and we all feasted together.

Phew, what a great week! Saturday was full in other ways, but I wasn’t able to get on my computer to share about it. So we’ll save that for next week!

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Big Family Food and Fun: August 17-23, 2025

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Here’s our Big Family Food and Fun: August 17-23, 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, August 16

In last week’s post, I shared a little bit about swimming at our friends’ house last Saturday afternoon. We all loved this so much! Here’s a shot Justus got of all of us in the pool. Our kids came home tired and hungry that day!

Keith had played his first soccer game of the season that morning, and he was excited to help me made a batch of Gatorade that afternoon. It turned out pretty tasty, and he was so proud!

Big Family Food and Fun: August 17-23, 2025

Sunday morning, we ate our way through a plate of Breakfast Cookie Bars.

Brayden is a 6th grader now, which means he has joined Heartland’s Youth Ministry! There was an HYM parent meeting right after worship that morning, so we didn’t get to host lunch at our house. Instead, I packed Tuna Salad, Cheese, Crackers, Boiled Eggs, and Fruit Cups for all of us to eat at the church building during the meeting. :)

We got home in time for the kids to go downstairs and watch a movie with Elias and Malorie. Matt and I enjoyed Community Group time – one of our favorite parts of the week. Afterward, I baked three frozen pizzas for dinner, and we spent the evening getting ourselves reset for a new school week!

Monday morning, Auggie had ABA therapy and I had a meeting at the school for Keith. Getting everyone to school was a little bit hairy because of this, but our neighbor came to the rescue to help us be in three places at once!

It was a pretty chill morning after that, and we played outside until it was time to watch for the preschool bus.

These girls love heading off to preschool at noontime!

That afternoon, Brayden and Keith had their first homework assignments after school. Keith’s ABA tech helped with his and Matt sat with Brayden. I helped Kiya work on her homework in the kitchen and we all got done before dinner. Phew!

For dinner that night, I’d cooked Black Bean Chicken Nachos in the slow cooker all day. We enjoyed it with all the fixin’s on chips or in tortillas.

Auggie was excited to vacuum with Elias’ small hand-held Bissel. He’s getting so big!

Brayden played a game with his little sisters just before bedtime.

Tuesday morning, I made Chewy Granola Barsx4 plus a Smoothie for Matt and me.

Little Sweetheart came to spend the day with us, plus a friend came to visit that morning.

We were almost out of fresh produce (again!) so I’d put in a Hy-Vee order for our WIC items for the month. Matt picked it up that afternoon while Auggie and Little Sweetheart were napping.

After school, I took Brayden, Kiya, and Keith to our weekly Food Distribution. Here’s the view from our station where we handed out bags of donated chicken or seasoned beef.

Keith was having a very hard time with his emotions while we were there. Adjusting to a new school year has been pretty rough for him. I hoped food might help, so I finally gave him a loaf of bread that we’d picked up on a donation table. He laid down on the kitchen floor to rest and fill his belly while we cleaned up before heading home. Poor guy.

Our friend, Paula, had been given these goodies by her neighbor and she brought them over that evening to share with our family. What a score! I thawed the drumsticks to marinate and smoke the next day for dinner.

Meanwhile, Matt had finished making a Spaghetti dinner for everyone.

Later when I had time to check email, I discovered that Acacia and Josie’s teacher had sent this gem from their reading time at school that day!

Wednesday morning, Auggie had ABA therapy and I played catch-up after a full afternoon/evening the day before! Matt and I had a lengthy meeting with our kids’ ABA therapist to go over progress made, needs each kid has, and future goals.

We’d brought home overripe bananas from Food Distribution, so I made a batch of Chocolate Banana Blender Muffins for breakfast and snacks.

I had made a couple of boxes of mac and cheese for the school kids to take in their lunches that day. These three were excited to finish off the leftovers before the bus came.

I went to Sam’s that afternoon to restock a lot of essentials and to get more fresh produce. Our freezer was pretty low on meat, so I was very excited to find several meat markdowns that day to help restock the freezer!

The lighting in the following picture isn’t great. But here’s a look at the counter in our dining room where I keep all of our fresh fruit. After all the latest shopping trips plus with the peaches Paula dropped off, our counter was overflowing with oranges, clementines, apples, bananas, and peaches – ready for everyone in the household to grab and enjoy as needed. This brings me a lot of joy, and a lot of comfort knowing that I don’t have to work hard/think hard to figure out snacks or side dishes for the next few days.

For dinner on Wednesday night, I used zucchini and summer squash that Paula had brought over plus okra from our neighbor and carrots from the store to make Stir-Fried Veggies. I smoked the 10 large marinated Drumsticks from the night before plus threw on 12 Steaks I’d picked up marked down at Sam’s that day. Plus I set out Grapes, steamed Corn, offered the Chocolate Banana Blender Muffins, and thawed some Rolls from the freezer.

At the last minute, to make sure this meal would stretch far enough for all of us, I got out and made some Instant Mashed Potatoes that I’ve had on hand from Azure Standard (much better quality than store-bought and sooo nice to have in a pinch).

Malachi had arrived back home after working several days in York. His friend Jordan, a York University student, was with him and joined us for dinner. Our friend, Elizabeth, had finished moving into our house this week and everyone was home to eat that night. So we fed nine adults and seven kids that night – and now you know why I made those last minute potatoes. :)

People were in and out of the kitchen all evening, fixing their plates and hanging out to visit. THIS IS THE BEST. I love being a part of conversations like this with our kids, our friends, and anyone who will fill their plate in our home and spend time being a part of life with us.

The next morning, we warmed up Breakfast Sandwiches to eat before school. Mornings are hectic around here as we try to get so many kids out of the door, yikes. I’ve found that so far this school year, I don’t much ability to do anything but warm up pre-made food or serve a bar or muffin made ahead of time. Therefore, any time I have a minute at another time of the day, I’m trying to prep easy breakfast food!

Arrow came to spend the morning with us! He got to join us as we dropped off the elementary school kids. I’d packed the last of the Chocolate Banana Blender Muffins for the littles to eat while we got everyone situated in their class lines before the bell rang.

Back at home, I turned the last of Monday night’s Chicken Nacho fixings into a bag of Burritos to put into the freezer for another meal.

Elizabeth (our lovely new housemate) had set up her coffee grinder and espresso machine so she showed Acacia and Josie how to make a Latte. They loved this!

I had picked up a 10-pound tube of hamburger meat marked down at the store the day before, so late morning, I turned it all into patties for dinner and for the freezer.

Dinner that night was Burgers with Caesar Salad, Pickles, and a variety of Fruit options.

On Friday morning, Anna helped me shake together a jar full of Ranch Dressing Mix.

Acacia had Speech Therapy that morning and showed some real signs of improvement in putting together complete sentences.

We’ve been on a wait list for Physical Therapy for her, and today was the day we finally got to start. Not only that, the therapists at the rehab clinic where we go had communicated with one another and found slots side-by-side so that we could go to the clinic once for both appointments instead of driving there twice each week.

Acacia was born with a club foot. After intensive treatments for the first six months of her life, she has continued to sleep in a leg brace every night. She will finally graduate from her brace in a few weeks! Meanwhile, we need to work on her balance and leg strength because her right foot/leg are much smaller than her left.

Back at home, we made it just in time for Acacia to get on the preschool bus with Josie. I then spent time getting ready for our upcoming Sunday lunch, baking pans of Bacon. I made my way through an entire 10-pound box!

Acacia was my “helper of the day” so she got to make the salad to go with dinner that evening.

I used some of the bacon I’d made earlier to make Potato and Bacon Foil Packs for the Grill. I realized as I was prepping dinner that afternoon that instead of making lots of small packets as the recipe says, I should just make one huge foil container. This was a great move! I can’t say enough good about this recipe. It is sooooo good! We enjoyed it with Acacia’s Salad plus Oranges and Slice Peaches.

After dinner while kids had ABA therapy, Kiya and Acacia helped me get some baking done. We’ve gone through two double batches of Flourless Peanut Butter Brownies in the past two weeks. So we made another double batch to get ahead for next week’s breakfasts and lunches. While I was putting those together, Kiya and Acacia worked on a double batch of Breakfast Cookie Bars for our next two Sunday breakfasts.

We baked them in our large oven at the same time. Then I worked on all the dishes before bed!

Saturday morning, I cut the Flourless Peanut Butter Brownies into 18 pieces, individually wrapped them, then put them into our pantry fridge for an easy grab-and-go option for the upcoming week.

We packed up the crew and headed out to Keith’s soccer game. The weather was perfect, and the kids ran and played in a big field while Keith warmed up for his game.

There were no subs that day, so Keith and his teammates happily played the entire game without sitting out.

I packed Ham and Turkey Sandwiches, Clementines, and Cashew Clusters (from Costco) for everyone to eat on a blanket for lunch during the game.

We came home in time for Auggie’s nap. The kids played outside, Matt mowed the lawn, we did some cleaning, and we moved into our Sabbath time of rest. And that was our week!

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Big Family Food and Fun: June 22-28, 2025

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Here’s our Big Family Food and Fun: June 22-28, 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, June 21

We’d had a big emotional morning that Saturday. So that afternoon, we just played outside in the little pool and on the slip-and-slide. We ate popsicles. We ate dinner outside.

Our meal was simple, but a favorite: Orange Chicken. I had leftover Green Beans in the fridge so we finished those off. We went inside for bath time and to clean up the house a bit before we watched a show and headed to bed.

Big Family Food and Fun: June 22-28, 2025

Sunday morning we enjoyed our traditional Breakfast Cookie Bars as we got ready for church.

Look at these matchy-matchy girls! I’d seen these dresses at Wal-Mart and knew the girls would love them, but didn’t want to spend $15 on them. I watched them go on clearance later for $7, but still decided not to buy them. A few days later, Kelsey happened upon them when she was shopping (not knowing I’d looked at them already). They were marked down to $1.00!! So she Facetimed to see, “Did I want some??”

Did I want some?! YES. In every size and in every color multiplied by four girls, please.

The girls were very happy to be matchy and twirly that Sunday. Here they are, heading off to Bible class…

After worship, our church family lined up to fill 75 sack lunches to hand out on Monday as we had committed to feeding a struggling community in our area. We partner with Atlas to do this and we are so grateful to be a part of this together.

It was sweet to capture this moment with the girls huddled around Eva and Arrow.

Back at our house after church, our Sunday Lunch crew put together 75 sandwiches and 75 bags of sweet peppers to go into the lunch bags for Atlas.

Then we cleared the countertops and made way for a big Baked Potato Bar to share together.

I was busier than normal that day since we were making all those sack lunches, so I didn’t get as many group photos. But I tried to walk around while people were fixing plates or eating to grab a few.

There were 33 of us gathered to share a meal that day.

Matt and I sent our kids downstairs to watch a movie that afternoon while we enjoyed time with our Community Group. For dinner, I made Frozen Pizza – only three because all of the grown-up kids in the household had other plans for the night.

Monday morning, I served a big bowl of Vanilla Pudding that I’d made the night before and chilled overnight. I’d added extra eggs to make it extra rich and nourishing for breakfast.

Auggie had ABA therapy all morning, and the other kids took turns having some extra behavior struggles. It felt like an intense morning. But we also got some laundry done and had some fun moments of play too.

Mid-morning, I put together sandwiches for all the kids to eat at noon when we went to deliver the Atlas lunches.

Our friend Becky came at 11:15 and helped us add a cheese stick to each of 75 sack lunches.

Then we loaded all the totes of food into her car so she could get them to Atlas on time.

We loaded up our kids and our sandwiches to head over to Atlas House in time to help hand out sack lunches to the people who lived in that area.

After we finished this great time of service, Kiya and Anna went home with Kelsey, the boys spent the afternoon with Elias, and Acacia and Josie went to Ms. Kathi’s. Matt and I put Auggie down for a nap then sat at our table together eating our lunch in the quiet, catching up on conversation we needed to have. Kelsey sent me some fun photos of her time with the girls.

Kiya was so excited to finish the sewing project she’d started!

That afternoon/evening was EXTRA BIG because we began ABA therapy for Keith and Anna. ABA therapy is for kids with autism, providing them with one-on-one support that is specific for their individual needs. We’ve been at a loss as to how to help Keith and Anna with some of their big, challenging behaviors. So this has been very welcome. (Auggie started his ABA therapy a few months ago, so we have been getting used to how it all works.)

Monday afternoon, all of our kids’ behavior technicians started to show up along with the therapist who is in charge of creating and executing their programs. I didn’t get pictures of the entire “event” for privacy sake and also because THERE WERE THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE EVERYWHERE IN MY HOUSE.

I exaggerate.

But still. Basically, the night was spent helping Keith and Anna become acquainted with their “special person” while simultaneously helping their new technicians become acquainted with our household and our kids’ needs. Can you imagine being one of our ABA Behavior Techs?? Bless their hearts. :) :) :) I’m very sure the therapist gave them some heads up about how many kids we have and some details about our family situation. But nothing can really prepare a person for what it’s really like to be here.

Kids are everywhere. Adults keep popping up out of no where. Then more kids. Then more adults. Also, we needed to eat dinner. :/

Kelsey had brought the girls home after their time at her house and she stuck around to help with the biggness of the night. I turned dinner over to Brayden, who warmed up leftover Chili and cooked 24 Hotdogs.

Acacia and Josie entertained Little Sweetheart.

Matt hung out with Auggie until his ABA technician arrived to take over with his care and training.

We set out cut fruit and peppers to eat with our Chili Dogs. Somehow we got everyone fed that night.

Kelsey took all the non-ABA kiddos on a walk to Sunken Gardens.

To add to the craziness of the night, it started to rain while everyone was outside. Kids were already wet, so we decided to let them dance in the rain and live it up.

Tuesday morning, I made a double recipe of Chocolate Chocolate Chip Muffins, per Josie’s birthday breakfast request. I also scrambled some Cheesy Eggs and made some Sausage Links to go with the muffins.

While the oven was on after baking the muffins, I made a huge pan of Fudge Brownies for Josie’s birthday dessert later that night.

We packed up a picnic lunch and headed to the zoo for the rest of the morning.

It was slightly rainy, but we decided not to let that mess with our plans.

We spent the first hour at the zoo indoors, waiting for the rain to stop. It was fun to watch the worker clean the birds’ cages!

When it stopped raining, we played on an outdoor Climbing Elephant, then found a good table by the train to enjoy our lunch. We had apples, peanut butter crackers, fruit cups, guacamole and chips, hard salami, and coconut rolls. Oh, and a visit from a Peacock. We finished almost every bite of food that I packed.

We’d promised the kids that we would spend time in the Butterfly Pavilion, so we headed there after lunch. On our way, we chatted with the Flamingos. They are practically family by now. ;)

It’s almost impossible to go into the Butterfly Pavilion without first taking a picture on the enormous caterpillar. These faces are screaming, “Happy Birthday, Josie!” per their mama’s request.

Ah, the butterflies. They weren’t super friendly that day so only two of us caught one. This was “not fair” and very disappointing according to those who didn’t catch a butterfly.

That afternoon, I looked through my Azure Standard favorites to put in an order since the deadline was coming up. I was getting low on our Whole Wheat Pastry Flour and needed to stock up! While I was at it, I updated this post to share more specifics about what I like to buy from Azure.

I took Brayden, Kiya, and Keith to our weekly Food Distribution. Well over 100 people came through the line to get food that day!

Back at home, Elias and Malorie had helped finish putting together Josie’s birthday dinner. Josie had requested Mac and Cheese, so Elias made seven boxes. :) Malorie and Josie worked together (though both told me later that Josie did it ALL by herself) to make three bags of Caesar Salad. I’d warmed up Beef Smoked Sausage and Meatballs to serve also.

We only had one hour together because a sweet friend of ours was getting baptized and we wanted to go celebrate this with him! So we ate quickly, then moved on to Birthday Brownies. Bless Josie, she wanted a brownie, but she was NOT interested in candles or being the center of attention while everyone singing to her. Note to self: next year, just skip that part and serve the dessert. This is Josie’s birthday wish.

Thankfully, she was ok with everyone watching while she opened her gifts. This little girl loves dresses! So this is what she got for her birthday!

Right after that, we all loaded up and headed to church to be a part of our friend Sam’s special night. It was a beautiful time with church family.

Sam is going to be a senior in high school, and he and Keith have become sweet buddies. Sam cried when he saw that Keith had come to celebrate his baptism. What a special night!

Wednesday morning, I was very happy that we didn’t have any plans (except for Auggie’s ABA session all morning). Every room of our house felt messy and I wanted to regroup. So we spent the morning picking up toys, sweeping various rooms, doing lots of dishes, wiping down counters and tables, and then of course, playing outside.

I don’t remember what we had for breakfast (no picture, no memory, ha). For lunch, we had a few tidbits of this and that to finish off from the fridge – pizza, fish sticks, chicken bites, pickles, cantaloupe, and strawberries.

By that afternoon, the kids were beginning to show signs of needing more structure. So we set up the pool and had popsicles. Arrow was hanging with us, so we set him up in our little pool (that leaks, but it worked for a while anyway). He kicked and splashed and had a lovely time. The other kids had more fun watching him play than actually playing themselves. :)

Later, Auntie Josie took Arrow on a stroll in our back parking area.

I had cooked 5-pounds of hamburger meat to make Taco Meat for our upcoming Sunday Lunch. So I got that packaged up to put away.

Meanwhile, I made an additional 2-pounds of Taco Meat for our dinner that night. I warmed up Black Beans plus got out Cheese, Salsa, Spinach, Chips, Shells, and Tortillas for a simple Taco Bar.

I had slow cooked Salsa Chicken for a few hours that day – also for Sunday Lunch. So that evening I got it shredded and put away.

That evening, Keith, Anna, and Auggie all had three-hour ABA therapy sessions. This night felt much more calm compared to Monday’s night’s initial session when we were introducing everyone and showing the new technicians the layout of our home and family life. While those kids were occupied, Kiya and Acacia used sour cream and yogurt containers to make drums.

As we got ready for bed that night, Auggie found a dress-up hat and surprised us all by running through the hall with it.

I had some Banana Muffins in the freezer, so we ate those for breakfast on Thursday morning with some Yogurt.

Meanwhile, I baked a pan of Egg Casserole to take to the park for a brunch-type picnic. I haven’t done this before. But had some other fun breakfast-y items that I wanted to surprise the kids with, so I experimented to see if I could transport and serve this at a picnic table. (I covered it and slid it into an insulated bag, and it was still piping hot at lunchtime!)

Justus met us at the park and took Brayden with him to give him some special one-on-one time. They went to a music store to play instruments together for about an hour.

Keith and Bonus Buddy spent over two hours on their skateboards at this park. They had the time of their lives!

I’ve learned to pack a bag of apples to take on many of our outings. The crunch and the time it takes to eat an apple seems to calm our kids’ nervous systems in ways they all need so frequently. Apples to the rescue.

At lunchtime, we ate all but three pieces of that Egg Casserole! We also ate Carrots and Fruit Cups. After everyone ate well, we let them have their own package of Little Bites – a treat we’d been blessed with at Food Distribution that week.

That afternoon, Josie got to go on an “adventure” with Elias and Malorie. This has become their birthday gift to each kid – to take them out to do something simple and special. Josie got a sweet drink to enjoy while walking through Target. She’d been looking forward to this for weeks and it did not disappoint!

We had a very early dinner that night of Quesadillas with Spinach plus leftover Sausages on the side.

Then we loaded up and headed to Heartlands for the first night of their awesome Kids’ Experience event!

We had left Auggie behind with Elias and Malorie so that he could have his evening ABA session. So what did Matt and I do WITHOUT ANY KIDS?!?! We took advantage of a gift card we’d been holding onto for over a year and we had ourselves a date!

Friday morning, Auggie had ABA therapy all morning so we stuck around home to play and get work done. Around 11:00, everyone was hot and hungry so I made Smoothies for the kids.

Earlier that morning, I’d stirred Cheeseburger Casserole into a crockpot to cook and be ready for lunch. This doesn’t look super pretty, but it tastes great and most of the kids ate it well.

The kids spent the afternoon with their special Monday/Friday people. Kiya and Anna got to make Popsicles, play games, and help with the garden, yard, and recycling at Asa and Eva’s. Then they went to the library with Eva! Brayden, Keith, and Bonus Buddy took some donations to Goodwill with Elias, Malachi, and Malorie, then played football in the yard and a video game in the basement (a huge, exciting privilege for them). Acacia and Josie got to play at Ms. Kathi’s, and they always have great adventures there!

Matt and I put Auggie down for a nap and had some quiet time just for us. After Matt left to pick up the girls, Auggie and I made Snickerdoodle Bites to have on hand for snacks.

The kids had another night ahead of them at Heartlands for their Kids’ Experience. So we fed them a dinner of Sandwiches, Oranges, Carrots, and Pickles before we loaded up and headed out.

After we dropped the seven kids at church, Matt, Auggie, and I went to spend some time with an older couple that lives near the church and is unable to get out very often. It was a lovely visit and we pray that they were encouraged. We know that we were.

From there, we went to stock up groceries at Sam’s. Two carts and lots of snacks for Auggie later, we packed everything in coolers with ice packs in the back of the van.

Our kids are not used to being up past 9:00, so two nights in a row of this made for some tired kids. Did that stop Anna from getting up at 6:00 on Saturday morning? No, it did not. Oy.

We dropped our seven back at Heartlands at 9:00am for their final morning at Kids’ Experience. From there we grabbed Little Sweetheart and headed over to hang out at a friends’ house whose kids were also at Heartlands for the morning. We had a great visit with them, and even got to hang out with their turtle for a while. :)

Back at Heartlands, there was a Pizza Lunch to celebrate the end of the kids’ great weekend together.

I’d been making batches of Ice Cream to serve for our upcoming Sunday lunch. That afternoon I made batch number three. :)

Malorie’s grandparents came that afternoon to spend time with her and to stay the night with us. It was wonderful to get to know them!

I got about thirty interruptions from our kids while trying to proof-read this post so I finally gave up and I’m guessing this one is a bit messy! But… I’ll share more about our Saturday evening next week!

 

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Big Family Food and Fun: April 27-May 3, 2025

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Here’s our Big Family Food and Fun: April 27-May 3, 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, April 26

Saturday morning, the kids ate cereal and Anna helped me put together a huge bowl full of Black Bean Salsa for our Sunday Lunch.

One of our neighbors is a UNL student who is studying Botany. She and her classmates are growing food in a greenhouse, so from time to time she drops off fresh veggies. It’s so much fun! This time, she’d provided beautiful fresh tomatoes. So it only made sense that I turn them into this.

I was blessed to have the entire morning off that Saturday. There was a Ladies’ Gathering at church, so Justus and Asa and their babies came to the house to help Matt with the kids while Kelsey and I went to the gathering. (Eva was in Omaha for a photo shoot all day so she didn’t get to join us.)

The time at church was extra sweet because I’d reconnected with a friend from many years ago and as it turns out – now we both live in Lincoln! She hadn’t found a church home yet so I invited her to come to this Ladies Brunch with me. It was a perfect time to introduce her to new friends and I loved catching up with her about all of life since our time together back in York so many years ago.

After we ate and heard a lovely message from our friend Christy, we gathered around tables to make Tie Blankets to donate to Mourning Hope.

From there, Kelsey treated me to lunch out! I hardly knew what to do with myself – eating a hot meal without cutting up anyone’s meat for them or walking around the table to keep kids sitting down. ;) It was a glorious time to just relax and catch up together.

Back at home, all the kids were loving their time with Asa, Justus, Arrow, and Little Sweetheart.

I had found a Breakfast Casserole in our freezer that morning, so I thawed it and it became our dinner that night. This worked out perfectly, because after the brunch that morning, the gal that provided all the food sent us home with leftovers. So we enjoyed cute yogurt cups (that I failed to get a picture of), tasty cake slices, and special juice with our casserole – thanks to our friend Trish.

Big Family Food and Fun: April 27-May 3, 2025

Sunday morning we ate our traditional Breakfast Cookie Bars before church.

Lunch was a fabulous time with a delicious feast featuring Smoked Chicken, Baked Beans, Salad (brought by friends), Black Bean Salsa with Chips, Rice and Oranges (brought by friends), and a variety of Bread/Rolls our friends made. We had Monster Cookie Bars for dessert.

You might remember seeing the five big packs of chicken I had thawed, marinated, and smoked in preparation for this meal. It was around 17 pounds of chicken that I’d found for just under $20, and it fed 36 of us.

These times together fill me with such joy and truly get Matt and me through the week.

We had Frozen Pizza for dinner that night, plus I warmed up the leftovers from my lunch out with Kelsey the day before. I was nice enough to share it with Matt. ;)

I had some extra time that evening (while Matt chased Auggie outside and the other littles played fairly happily). So Anna helped me make a big batch of Peanut Butter Honey Puffs so that we’d have an easy go-to protein snack this week.

Monday morning, I woke up feeling GRATEFUL. Last week was a hard one as we had a big appointment for Keith and Anna and then a lot to process afterward. My brain felt overloaded as a result, but after having time to think, process with friends, discuss with Matt, and worship with our community – Monday felt good. So now I’m ready to share…

Keith and Anna’s diagnoses

The results of Keith’s and Anna’s appointments are similar to Auggie’s: Autism Spectrum Disorder. (Plus ADHD for Keith)

Matt and I were both surprised…and not. Auggie came straight to us from the hospital as a newborn. His ASD is manifesting in a more predictable way (<— if that’s even a thing, seeing as autism is a very wide spectrum and no two people with autism are alike). Keith and Anna, on the other hand, endured a significant amount of trauma before moving in with us. Thus, their behaviors and responses to even day-to-day demands and expectations are extreme.

We’ve long asked ourselves what the root of their behaviors and needs are. We’ve also felt completely crazy because no typical parenting methods work as we try to care for them and help them. AND because at school, at Bible class, and when guests come to our house, the kids are mostly able to keep their behaviors in check. Then when it’s just family? Completely different kids. Demand avoidant. Defiant. Raging. Explosive. Destructive. Impulsive.

Many have said, “Oh, that’s normal. They feel safe with you. So they melt down when it’s just you.”

And that’s why I was so discouraged and afraid of last week’s appointment. What we deal with on a daily basis is NOT NORMAL. I was terrified that they kids would be marvelously behaved (they were) and that even the specialist wouldn’t believe me or hear me. I am so weary of running into dead ends and not being heard.

Bless the doctor who is working with our family. She listened. She observed the kids. She heard me. She believed me. She was shocked by 0% of it. She affirmed our parenting and told us that this wasn’t our fault – that we weren’t doing this wrong.

Just like with Auggie, I didn’t cry because they got an ASD diagnosis. I cried out of gratitude because they got a diagnosis that they needed and now we can move forward with help and resources!

Their cases are tricky because of their trauma. Some doctors might have given them an ODD or RAD label. We certainly would have agreed with those because they absolutely display these trauma-induced behaviors and emotions. But an ASD diagnosis is spot on for explaining why Keith and Anna show such rigidity, have high sensory needs, can’t handle changes in routine, and act out regularly when things don’t go exactly “right.” It’s how their brains are wired. Loving them and seeing through an ASD lens will help us meet more of their needs, and the treatment, resources, and therapies they can now receive is an answer to prayer. Meanwhile, we seek healing for their trauma also.

So many of you pray for us. There are no words to tell you the depth of our gratitude for this. Prayer is effective and we’ve needed to be held up. Thank you.

So, back to Monday

I woke up grateful and refreshed. .

Acacia and Josie had dentist appointments that morning, and Auggie was to be hanging with his ABA technician during the time I was gone. So Matt decided to have some special one-on-one time with Anna in the dining room. We’ve been grabbing time for these two any chance we can get as Anna very much needs to break down some walls and become more attached so she can trust us. I love that Matt will sit with his daughter and color or play with clay. It’s so precious.

Auggie wasn’t a big fan of mommy leaving the house. But he was in good hands with Daddy and his ABA tech, and he was fine exactly 30-seconds after I left.

Acacia and Josie did great at their appointment!

And Anna loved her clay creations with Daddy.

Later that day, after the girls got on the bus for preschool and Auggie was heading down for a nap, I snuck out of the house to sit at Panera and work in my own quiet world for a while. This is so life giving!

From there, I headed to Costco to get what we needed for the week and to take advantage of sales.

The evening was full, so I made a simple meal of Hotdogs, Quesadillas, Cucumbers, Strawberries, and Raspberries.

Keith would like to build things (or destroy things, ha) during every spare minute that he has. Somehow that evening, he came up with a plan to build a table, and his awesome daddy went with it. This led to Brayden and Kiya also wanting to build something, and before I knew it, the tools were out in full force.

Matt taught Brayden a little bit about using a drill.

I supplied popsicles because it was hot outside and popsicles were a fun addition to our evening.

Tuesday morning, Auggie had speech therapy. His language is suddenly exploding and he’s adding more words every week!

Back at home, Anna and Josie helped me make Flourless Chocolate Banana Blender Muffins.

I’d picked up a 10-pound tube of hamburger meat at Costco the day before, so I browned it all that afternoon in an effort to get ahead.

I set some of it aside for our upcoming Sunday lunch, put some in freezer bags to have ready to pull out and use as needed, then made the rest into Sloppy Joes for our dinner that night. I left this out for Matt so he, Elias, and Malorie could feed the kids that evening.

After school, I picked up Brayden, Kiya, and Keith and headed to our weekly Food Distribution site to serve there. Back at home later, Elias and Malorie were holding down the fort because Matt had taken Anna to her Kindergarten orientation. The minute I got home from Food Distribution, I was needed to work with Auggie and his ABA therapist and technician – so the rest of the night was very full and kind of a challenge.

Wednesday morning, Anna helped me get two pans of Stick of Butter Rice into the oven as we prepped for our upcoming Sunday lunch.

Later in the morning, I used some of the hamburger meat I’d cooked on Tuesday and turned the cooked rice into a huge Burrito Casserole with plans to warm it and use it on Sunday.

After school, these four littles all wanted to help me make Breakfast Cookie Bars for our freezer. Many of you have asked how I adapt this recipe to make bars instead of cookies. I finally took the time to update the post to share the details! And yes, it was a little bit nuts having kids ages 3, 4, 5, and 6 all wanting to help at the same time. ;)

Dinner that night was super tasty – though not as kid-friendly as the littles would prefer. Therefore, some of the kids had peanut butter honey sandwiches instead. Those of us who wanted the real meal enjoyed Stew with Carrots and Mashed Potatoes! (I have a lot of frozen potatoes in my freezer that I got from Azure Standard last month. I’ve learned to simply steam those for a few minutes, then mash them with milk, salt, and butter. Easiest mashed potatoes ever! Though they aren’t quite as good as these.)

Later in the evening, I cut the double recipe of Breakfast Cookie Bars I’d made and put them on two separate plates to freeze for upcoming Sunday breakfasts.

Thursday morning, we enjoyed a plate of Angela’s Egg-Free Chocolate Chip Breakfast Cookies that I had made ahead a few weeks ago and tucked into the freezer.

Auggie didn’t have ABA therapy that morning and very much enjoyed his time off by running and playing freely with his sisters. After working on ABA in full force, his therapist agreed to cutting out two morning slots to give the fella a break. This is a huge relief for all of us.

For dinner that night, we ate an entire pot full of Hearty Bean Casserole (that Kiya made that morning before school almost all by herself). I peeled a lot of clementines and cut several apples, then needed to cut more apples later, plus we got out blueberries. We go through a lot of fresh fruit at this house!

Once again, Daddy helped kids with their special wood projects. They are all so excited about this and it is keeping them focused on something positive and “grown up.” All the wood and screws they are using are from salvaged pieces so it isn’t costing anything except for Matt’s time/energy. He’s happy to do this with them.

Malachi had been out for dinner celebrating our friend Allan’s birthday with some of Allan’s college friends. They all showed up after dinner and hung out at the Castle for the evening. It was wonderful.

On Friday morning, I baked a pan of eggs to make a big batch of Breakfast Sandwiches. I have been getting a lot of questions about how I do this, so I just updated this post to explain!

Auggie’s Early Development Network team showed up to our house, plus his ABA therapy team. Matt and I sat down with EDN to update his IFSP while Auggie worked with ABA. (Have I been learning a lot of acronyms the past few years? Oh, so many acronyms. By the way, an IFSP is an Individualized Family Service Plan, typically used for families with kids ages 0-3 who are at risk and/or need extra support.)

Auggie did great that morning, praise God. Some of these ABA sessions have been so hard for him as he adjusts to others taking care of him and not just Mommy and Daddy. But that morning, he played and “worked” cheerfully, which was a huge relief. Meanwhile, the EDN team was very helpful to Matt and me as we updated them on all the latest diagnoses and needs in our home. They are a great resource!

Mid-morning, we loaded all four of the littlest into a wagon and walked to the kids’ school. It was their big Walkathon Day and Field Day, and we were hoping to catch Brayden, Kiya, and Keith outside to cheer them on. Unfortunately, the weather was weird that day and the schedule had changed a bit as a result. So we were only able to catch Brayden’s class during their walk/run time.

All was not lost though – we got to see the Prescott Panther! (As you can see, only Anna was excited about this, oy.)

Brayden had requested Lunchables because it was a special day. I had found a six-pack of something similar to Lunchables at Costco, so everyone got to enjoy this during our outing. (Auggie had to settle for a cheese/cracker pack because a pack of six Lunchables for seven kids is tricky.) They all loved this treat!

Some of Brayden’s classmates were excited to see the little ones!

Back at home, Matt and I finished assembling 24 Breakfast Sandwiches with the eggs I’d baked earlier.

Dinner that night was 24 Slider-Sized Hamburgers with Fries and Pickles. I also sliced up four oranges that the kids enjoyed.

Saturday, we loaded up and went to our favorite library Sensory-Friendly Story Time.

We got to use rhythm sticks this time!

After that, we enjoyed a great big gathering with our church family kids’ ministry: Pizza in the Park.

Lots of families showed up to play and eat together.

After lunch, our children’s minister organized a game of kick ball. It was a great time together!

That afternoon, the kids played outside, I gave the boys haircuts, and then we moved on into our family time of Sabbath rest. And that was our week!

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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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What to Make for a Potluck

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Need suggestions for what to make for a potluck? Here’s a great list of ideas!

Potlucks are the best, aren’t they? Tables are filled with amazing dishes full of old favorites plus new foods to try. The dessert section is usually ridiculously overloaded and the choices are so much fun.

I usually take a main dish, a side dish, and a dessert to every potluck I go to. Taking this many items isn’t always necessary for everyone. But we are a large family, so I want to be sure and take plenty of food to be sure we are supplying more than our fair share (since for most definitely eat our fair share)!

What to Make for a Potluck

I’ve been participating in potlucks for many years, and here’s what I’ve found to be the best dishes and desserts to take…

Main Dishes

Side Dishes

Desserts

No time to cook?

Here’s a quick list of ideas you can run and grab from the store to take and share:

  • Frozen Meatballs (cooked in a crock pot with bbq sauce)
  • Veggie Platter
  • Rotisserie Chicken
  • Package of Dinner Rolls
  • Package of Cookies
  • Potato Salad
  • Macaroni Salad
  • Caesar Salad Kits (dumped into a bowl and stirred to serve)

What are your favorite dishes to take to a potluck?

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Big Family Food and Fun: January 5-11, 2025

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Here’s our Big Family Food and Fun: January 5-11, 2025 post!

Big Family Food and Fun: January 5-11, 2025

WHAT A WEEK.

On Saturday afternoon, we learned that church was canceled on Sunday because of snow and ice. So I froze the Shredded BBQ Chicken I’d made on Friday for our Sunday Lunch and will use it on a future Sunday.

We had our regularly scheduled special Sabbath Supper on Saturday evening – Biscuits, Sausage Gravy, Sausage Patties, Scrambled Cheesy Eggs, and Hashbrowns.

The new week got off to a rough start. We’d had a few kids go down with a stomach bug last week, but it was short and only a few were hit. OR SO WE THOUGHT.

I went down with it on Saturday night, more kids got sick after that, and by the time all was said and done, all seven kids ended up with it, plus Elias and me. Whichever adult was healthy at the time helped with the care of the kids.

Anyway, all that to say, I didn’t cook anything until Tuesday of this week. And I only took a couple pictures from my spot on the couch on Monday.

With appetites being low, the adults in the house made do with leftovers, prepped food from the freezer, or sandwich fixings while I was sick. We survived, and feeling good always feels so good after not feeling good, right?

Back to School

The kids’ first day back to school was Monday, so we got Brayden, Kiya, and Keith out the door. The other four kids played in the living room most of the morning. Notice Josie trying on Keith’s Christmas skates.

Hmm, skating is harder than it looks.

Anna somehow got a blue dot on her nose. She didn’t believe me so I took a picture to prove it to her.

After school that afternoon, Keith stayed outside to play. From my warm spot in the living room where I was resting, I had fun watching him delight in the snow.

Snow angel baby:

Brayden wanted to warm up dinner that night, so we pulled out more odds and ends from the fridge for those who had an appetite.

Tuesday morning I felt like a human again and wanted to get nourishment into myself. I made a blender full of this smoothie and it tasted very good. Yes, for real. :)

Did I try to make up for lost time in the kitchen on Tuesday morning? And did I perhaps overdo it a little bit? Yes, and yes. But cooking and getting caught up felt good after being sick. :)

Matt actually fell asleep on the couch for part of the morning, which made me concerned that he was getting sick too. But no. Poor guy was EXHAUSTED from taking care of all of us. While he slept, the littlest kids played and kept coming into the kitchen for snacks. Ah, their appetites were returning!

I browned two pounds of hamburger meat that I’d thawed over the weekend. I don’t even remember what I was planning to make, but I knew it needed to be cooked so I got it done.

I also baked several sheets of bacon and baked a pan of eggs to put together Breakfast Sandwiches. With the young adults in the house heading back to work and needing to pack breakfasts, lunches, or both, they ALL appreciate having these sandwiches on hand. Brayden, Kiya, Keith, Matt, and I really like them too.

14 Breakfast Sandwiches won’t go far, but that’s all the buns I had on hand, so 14 sandwiches is what I made.

I turned the browned hamburger meat that I’d just made into The Easiest Chili, then I put that into the fridge for a meal later this week.

Kiya was home from school after becoming sick the day before, and Keith had gotten sick at bedtime Monday, so while they felt pretty good on Tuesday, we tried to give them calm activities. It was sweet to watch them dig into our containers of Legos together – something we are just now pulling out for them after stashing them away for many years after our big boys had finished playing with them.

That afternoon, I baked a double batch of Bran Muffins to use up some bran cereal before it got stale. These really hit the spot as an afternoon snack for everyone whose appetites were coming back!

For dinner that night, I warmed up the small Pork Loin I’d made last week and had planned to serve on Sunday. I baked some frozen Mac and Cheese we’d been given at food distribution last week, plus made Buttered Peas. (Some of our kids prefer frozen peas stirred into their mac and cheese.)

That evening I made a triple batch of Peanut Butter Honey Puffs for upcoming snack needs. As of this day, most appetites were back and in FULL FORCE. I hadn’t been to the store in a long while, which was just fine because we had plenty of food to work with. I just needed to spend time that day prepping snacks with the ingredients we had on hand. Ending the day with Peanut Butter Honey Puffs and Bran Muffins ready to grab and feed kids felt really good.

Wednesday morning was uneventful, then Arrow came to visit for the afternoon!

He helped me make Gatorade – something I’ve wanted to try with the kids for a long time. Having so many recover from illness pushed me to do it. I was reminded about how easy it was!

This batch didn’t turn out very pretty because of the variety of juice I used. A darker red juice would have been nicer I think.

Three of the kids gave it a try later and two out of three liked it. :)

When Auggie got up from his nap, he laid down by Arrow for some guy talk.

I had made a pan of Stick of Butter Rice earlier in the day to go with our dinner that night.


I turned the rice into Taco Rice Skillet, plus sliced oranges, warmed up some corn, and got out fresh spinach.

Thursday morning, I used up some almost-expired milk to make Warm Vanilla Soother. Some of the kids also wanted a toasted bagel so I made a few of those too. And Keith? He opened the container of Peanut Butter Honey Puffs and ate four of them for his breakfast.

After we got the three elementary kids to school, we loaded up the youngest four to go grocery shopping. The kids stayed in the van with Matt while I quickly ran through Aldi to get our favorites.

Then we headed to Costco, grabbed two carts, handed out snacks, and picked up a huge amount of food (plus diapers and a couple items of clothes we found on sale).

Back at home, Matt unloaded the van while I worked to get groceries put away. It makes me soooo happy to have so many fruit and vegetable options to feed us during the upcoming days.

Acacia and Josie shared a banana before the preschool bus came.

Then we got Auggie down for his nap and Justus dropped off Little Sweetheart for the afternoon!

When the kids got home from school, they decided they wanted to play outside. So they dug out their snow suits and boots and got their gear on. I was grateful that almost all of them can dress themselves now – a huge change even from last year when putting all of this on them would be a huge amount of effort.

It had been days and days since they’d played outside so even though it was cold, we could see that they were loving life in the snowy mud.

Brayden attempted sledding down a slope in our front yard and it worked!

When they came back in, they were very ready to eat! I’d put The Easiest Chili that I’d made earlier in the week into a crock pot to heat up all afternoon, which was a perfect meal after playing in the snow. We washed two containers of Raspberries and one of Blackberries that we’d gotten at Costco that day to go with our meal.

After dinner, the kids played in the living room while I did dishes.

Then we attempted to play a game for the entire evening. The little ones are finally, sort of, almost able to play games and we are trying so hard to fill everyone’s time productively to help them all stay regulated. This night we played a variety of Picture Charades, with Daddy working to keep the “audience” on the couch and with Mommy coaching each “actor” on how to get the audience to guess what picture was on their card. This game actually worked pretty well and the kids had fun. Phew!

The thing about meals and snacks

I am trying something new with our routine, which might sound obvious, but with this many little kids who have so many extra needs, just because it’s obvious doesn’t mean it works for us. :/ Some of our kids have food insecurity resulting from their past trauma and as they’ve gotten older, their challenges have gotten louder and heavier.

Mealtime has been basic mayhem as we’re working to train the kids to be at peace at the table while they trust us to care for their needs. Those with food trauma are often fighting us and melting down – begging for specific food, then refusing to eat the food – ugh.

At the end of every day, I have felt like all I did was attempt to feed kids and ultimately fight major battles over food.

ANYWAY – I’ve been restructuring our evenings, starting our Dinnertime around 4:45 when they are all home from school and hungry. They can eat or not eat, but the food is there. There are choices to accommodate pickiness and to give them the sense of control that they need. And then, around 5:45, dinner is over and we are moving on (my mental health needs this rule).

Not to worry though – we assure them that there’s a bedtime snack coming at 7:00. So if they get hungry before that, they can wait, but know that they will be fed again before bed.

This tiny change for the kids has been a huge help to me so that I can streamline our kitchen/food needs and take pressure off of myself to constantly be thinking of what to offer each child (that they may or may not eat without a fight).

On Wednesday night, at our new 7:00 bedtime snack time I stood at the kitchen making little Peanut Butter Cracker Sandwiches to hand out to kids before they headed upstairs for bed. On Thursday, I buttered and warmed up muffin halves for them to eat along with a third of a banana each. (Poor Acacia had bitten her tongue right before I snapped this picture.)

None of this may feel profound, but for me it is. Matt and I are constantly trying to figure out what systems, responses, and methods help our kids the most. This has proven to be quite difficult with so many kids and so many different needs – and I’m not sure if you’ve noticed but Matt and I are quite outnumbered. ;)

Back to our week…

On Friday morning, Auggie’s early development special education teacher came to spend time working with him. Look how sunny it was!

For dinner that night, we had a random assortment of leftovers – BBQ Pork Loin and Noodles – plus Brayden made a Caesar salad and heated Tater Tots in the air fryer.

For an evening activity, we had the MOST FUN. I’d been seeing ideas online for a Sensory Input Obstacle Course, which engages the kids’ brains in a way that so many of our kids need. As I set this up, all seven of the kids followed me around, wondering what in the world I was doing putting tape down on the floor throughout the house. (Watching the set up might have been as fun for them as the execution.)

I showed them the specifics of what they were supposed to do throughout each section, helped them understand that this wasn’t a race (yikes), and told them to be extra careful around littles and on the stairs (yikes again).

They jumped, they balanced, they marched, they focused – they did so great.

The littlest kids didn’t understand all of the specifics, but that didn’t matter because they had fun trying.

Even Auggie got in on it.

I think they went around and around and up and down throughout the course for 45 entire minutes. They got hot and sweaty, and guess what? THERE WAS NO SCREAMING during that entire time. Thank you, Lord.

We all met up in the dining room with water bottles for bedtime snack time where Matt was making popcorn in our cool popcorn maker. They chugged water and ate about three clementines each, ha, along with their popcorn. Food tastes really good after you’ve worked hard.

The kids slept well, and we woke on on Saturday ready to celebrate Anna’s 5th birthday! Oof, it was a very rough behavior morning for a couple of the kids, but we were able to get everyone ready and out the door to go to our favorite Sensory-Friendly Library Story Time. It’s been months since we were able to go to this and it was a very helpful place to be to get all of the kids regulated again. After the story time, the librarian brought out all the fun sensory toys.

Back at home, Anna helped me finish her birthday cake. Before leaving for the library, I had baked her requested Chocolate Cake. She wanted chocolate frosting and sprinkles!

For Anna’s birthday lunch, we made seven boxes of Mac and Cheese and 14 hotdogs, then sprinkled frozen peas into the kids’ mac and cheese, plus we had grapes on the side,

I used an additional 14 hotdogs to make Beanie Weanies for a potluck at church the next day.

We spent the rest of the afternoon enjoying time with Arrow while Asa and Eva were doing a video shoot, then we celebrated Anna’s birthday that evening. We also headed into our time of Sabbath rest.

And that was our week!

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Easy Blender Pancakes

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Blender Pancakes save a step or two. Anything that makes cooking easier is a win!

With so many little ones in our house, I find that I’m often stopping to pick up a baby or toddler while making our meals. So recently, instead of mixing up our Pancake Batter in a bowl with a whisk, I put everything into our blender so that I could use just one hand instead of two!

I love how easy this is and how the blender does the work of mixing the ingredients. I also love pouring the batter directly onto our griddle instead of scooping out batter with an additional utensil. Fewer steps, fewer dirty dishes! And tasty pancakes. :)

This particular day, we turned our pancakes into snowmen because we were enjoying a beautiful snow fall!

You can use any recipe you want to make your pancakes – simply mix them in your blender instead of in a bowl with a whisk. But here’s our favorite whole wheat recipe:

Easy Blender PancakesYum

Easy Blender Pancakes
 
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Author:
Serves: 6-8
Ingredients
  • 2 cups milk
  • 2 eggs
  • 2 cups whole wheat flour (or whatever grain you want)
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • ½ teaspoon sea salt
Instructions
  1. Put ingredients into a blender, liquids first.
  2. Blend until smooth.
  3. Pour batter from blender onto a buttered griddle or skillet.
  4. Flip cakes once they begin to bubble.

Here are more tasty pancake recipe varieties:

Mix any of these in your blender too:

Whipped Cream Recipes:

Ever topped your pancakes with whipped cream? Oooh, you should!

Bonus Pancake Topping Recipes:

Sometimes we just spread butter on our pancakes and eat them as-is. Other times we dribble on some Real Maple Syrup or Honey. Other times, Peanut Butter and Applesauce. Here are more ideas…

Every tried Blender Pancakes?

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Big Family Food and Fun: November 5-11, 2023

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Here’s our Big Family Food and Fun: November 5-11 post!

Big Family Food and Fun: November 5-11, 2023

Food and…fun? Not all of it has been fun this week.

Some people get an extra hour of sleep on the night we turn back the clocks. At our house, we got an extra hour to endure a very long morning caring for sick babies. Oy.

For the past three weeks, our family has been passing around viruses and bugs. The latest involved low fevers. The one before that involved puke. We have canceled all plans and have not let our older kids come over to the Castle for fear that they might catch all of our ailments. So Matt and I are a little on the tired side.

We stayed home from church on Sunday, and eventually, Keith had dressed himself in a football helmet, snow boots (three sizes too big), and pajama pants.

Sunday morning I put The Easiest Spicy Ham and Potato Soup into a crock pot for us to enjoy at lunchtime.

We watched church service online, then the healthy kids went outside to play since the weather was so nice. They were playing “school” and I heard them talk about setting up a school cafeteria. So when it was time to eat, I carried their lunch out to be served in their “cafeteria.” :)

Here’s poor Sissy, one of the three littles feeling so crummy all day.

Keith was well, and he had fun making a three story house out of boxes!

For dinner that night, I made a big batch of Breakfast Sandwiches. They were a huge hit and all of them got eaten, along with strawberries and clementines.

Monday morning I made a big pot of oatmeal. I put a chunk of frozen banana into the littlest girls’ bowls of oatmeal so that it would cool off faster.

I surprised Matt with a Peach Cobbler for his birthday. (Not really a surprise since this is what I make for him for every birthday and Father’s Day, ha.)

We had planned on all of our bigger kids coming to join us for a birthday dinner for Matt, but with so much sickness traveling through our house, we postponed our gathering. :( I went ahead and made one of Matt’s favorites that night for those of us who were already at the Castle: Sausage Stromboli! I hadn’t made this for years and it was SO GOOD.

That afternoon the kids helped me make one of Matt’s favorite desserts: Banana Pudding. :)

Instead of 50 candles, I just put 1 candle in the pudding. Birthday celebrations at our house are LOUD, exciting, and pretty tasty. :)

That night was a rough one with a teething BabyBoy#11. We’re finding it a bit tough to catch a break and get enough rest, but we’ll get there!!

Tuesday morning the toddlers were feeling better so we loaded up the five littlest to go to Walmart after we got Brayden and Kiya to school. The outing helped the morning go better! Someone had given us 10 Free Junior Frosty coupons to use at Wendy’s so while we were out, we grabbed all 10 to surprise the kids with after tonight’s dinner.

Brayden, Kiya, and I helped give out food at our local Tuesday Food Distribution that afternoon after school. We were blessed to bring home some food and flowers for our family to enjoy!

Being at the Food Distribution means we get home just in time to eat dinner, so I had smoked Brats and Hotdogs before leaving that afternoon. They were warm in the crock pot when we got home, and we had them along with baked beans, oranges, and carrots.

When we bought this home, we “inherited” a lot of items since it was formerly a Bed and Breakfast. Many of the items we didn’t need and donated. But we love that some of the things left behind include outdoor lights, heaters, and a lovely fire pit! We gathered around the fire pit that night and told stories – so fun (and a little crazy while trying to keep littles from touching the fire).

Justus and Kelsey were over and she captured the above photo before going in to get the fun free Frostys Matt and I had picked up earlier in the day. They made everyone extra shivery, but it sure was a special evening!

Wednesday morning I made these Flourless Chocolate Banana Blender Muffins with cheesy scrambled eggs.

We’d been given a lot of tomatoes at the Food Distribution the day before, so we made BLTs for lunch.

One of our housemates had visited family over the weekend and brought back many dozen farm fresh eggs! So we had Easy Breakfast Casserole for dinner. I taught Brayden how to steam broccoli to go with our meal.

We had a feast of Easy Breakfast Casserole, broccoli, oranges, and muffins. We also warmed up a piece of buttered garlic bread that the kids had chosen at the Food Distribution the day before. (Junior Volunteers like Brayden and Kiya get to choose two items off the tables as a thank you for their help. They usually choose something sweet, but lately Brayden has been choosing things like mashed potatoes and garlic bread, ha.)

Thursday Elias and Malachi picked up our Azure Standard order for me. We got frozen corn, green beans, and hashbrowns (30 pounds!), plus yogurt, tortillas, and palm shortening.

For dinner that night I made Quick Crock Pot Spicy Pasta Dinner with green beans and corn.

Friday morning we dropped the kids off at school then headed to Walmart with the five littlest. We had plenty of time before getting Keith and Anna off to preschool, so we decided to try taking everyone to Great Clips to get Keith’s hair cut. Were we crazy? Sure. But you gotta do what you gotta do.

The three little girls actually sat very well in the waiting area sharing the grapes we had just picked up at Walmart.

The gal was super fast and Keith is as handsome as ever.

Ope. Still eating grapes. :) :) :)

For an extra special treat, we headed to Freddy’s and picked up kids’ meals with free coupons we had been given at a trick-or-treating event a couple of weeks ago. We ate at home though, because restaurants with this many littles is a no-go. :)

For “French Fry Friday” I made ham/cheese and turkey/cheese melts on buns with tator tots and sweet potato fries, plus black berries and grapes. There was spinach hiding in the sandwiches under the cheese, shhhh.

That afternoon I made made a double batch of these Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies, subbing the chocolate for butterscotch chips. These are a favorite of our older boys and we were finally making plans to get together for Matt’s 50th birthday celebration on Sunday!

Saturday morning I had more bananas turning black so I made yet another batch of Flourless Chocolate Banana Blender Muffins. They had gone over so well earlier in the week, I knew they’d be a hit again (I was right)! We finished off the Egg Casserole leftovers and had yogurt too.

Our Saturday outing was to grab jackets and head to the zoo to take advantage of our membership and the indoor play area with the spider monkeys. On our way in, we had the rare treat of seeing the Red Panda playing outside!

I packed juice and peanut butter pretzels for a snack break.

For lunch back at home I made quesadillas and warmed up the last of Sunday’s The Easiest Spicy Ham and Potato Soup.

Kelsey had some freezer cooking plans and came to the Castle to execute them. Spending the afternoon in our kitchen with her was SUCH a treat!!!! Especially since we have had so much sickness and have avoided having anyone over. We’ve missed our bigs!!

She and Justus joined us for a simple dinner, which was leftover chili and sandwiches.

And that was our week!

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6 Meals I Made with Two Whole Chickens

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I made six family-friendly meals with two whole chickens. THIS is such a money-saving method of cooking!

Full Disclosure: The two chickens I used were extra large. But so is the size of our family – extra large. There are 11 of our family at home right now (four adults and seven kids). Plus we currently have five housemates (three adults and two kids). We feed a lot of people each day (11-20 per meal). If you know me very well, you know that I love this. Feeding people is one of my favorite things to do.

Finding ways to stretch the food and creatively use what we have is also a lot of fun for me. :) Here’s how I made two whole chickens stretch into some wonderful meals for all of us.

6 Meals I Made with Two Whole Chickens

First, I thawed, then seasoned and smoked the chickens all afternoon.

Both chickens easily fit in our smoker, so I made good use of the space and the pellets to smoke both chickens at once.

We enjoyed chicken straight off of the smoker that night. SO GOOD. We ate it with these sides:

Matt is our designated chicken de-boner. He turns on an audio book, listens, and works to get all the meat off the bones for me. It’s one of my least favorite jobs but he does it happily.

We ended up with two 9×13 inch dishes full of meat after we ate all we wanted the first night!

Time for Broth

We put the bones into a pot of water to turn into broth the next day. I added several pounds of carrots and onions to make it extra nourishing. After several hours, I strained it and blended the veggies to pour back in.

The next day, I used some of the chicken to make a bunch of Chicken Cheese Melts on croissants. Half of them were just chicken and Colby jack cheese – for the kids. The other half was chicken with pepper jack cheese and ranch – for the adults who wanted a little spice. These sandwiches were perfect with Tomato Soup! And we got out canned fruit to help spread out the meal (because I was out of fresh fruit).

Note: I cut the twelve sandwiches in half for kids who needed smaller portions. This was the only way to make this meal stretch far enough for all of us.

The day after that, I used more of the chicken to make a large pan plus a small dish of Creamy Chicken Enchiladas.

The weather turned cold, so the next day we were very excited to use the broth I’d made a few days earlier and more of the chicken to make Chicken and Noodles. Wow, did that hit the spot!


Two days later, we pulled out the leftover Creamy Chicken Enchiladas to warm up for dinner.

Finally, we used the last of the chicken to make The Simplest White Chicken Chili in the crock pot.

So let’s review.

Two large chickens made these meals:

  1. Smoked chicken with sides (16 people)
  2. Chicken Cheese Melts on Croissants (13 people)
  3. Creamy Chicken Enchiladas (11 people)
  4. Chicken and Noodles (16 people)
  5. Creamy Chicken Enchilada leftovers (10 people)
  6. The Simplest White Chicken Chili (14 people)

Using whole chickens like this can really help stretch a food budget! And when you stretch the meal even further, pulling out easy side dishes like this, you can feed a lot of people these great meals! <— this is my favorite way to make a meal fill many people at once – add plenty of fruit and veggie side dishes to make the meal go as far as needed!

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