Heavenly Homemakers

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Big Family Food and Fun: February 16-22, 2025

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Here’s our Big Family Food and Fun: February 16-22, 2025 post!

Before launching into the week’s food and fun, I’ll share the tail end of last week’s fun. We were home relaxing for Sabbath that evening, enjoying fun treats and family time.

Dinner that night was Fish Sandwiches – or just Fish Sticks for those who didn’t want a bun. We went through an entire Costco-sized bag of sticks, reminding me that almost everyone in our household likes these and it makes an easy meal that is different from our norm. Mental note: add fish sticks to the upcoming Costco list…

Our Sabbath dinner also featured special sparkling water and the kids’ choice of a dessert. We practiced memorizing scripture while we ate and talked through what these verses mean in our lives.

Big Family Food and Fun: February 16-22, 2025

Sunday morning, we ate what has become our traditional, effortless Sabbath Sunday morning breakfast: Breakfast Cookie Bars that I’d made ahead and frozen.

We had a lovely group join us at lunchtime, with 25 of us around the table that day.

We had asked one of the families to please pick up Rotisserie Chicken from Sam’s on their way here, which they were happy to do (plus they brought their traditional Doritos that the kids all love). So our meal that day was three Rotisserie Chickens with Homemade Bread and Butter, Green Beans, Potato Salad, and Oatmeal Butterscotch Cookies. It was all so simple and so good, and a wonderful time of fellowship.

Ms. Megan had brought a Color Wonder kit so many of the kids joined her around the living room table before and after lunch to color. :)

Later that afternoon, we loaded our family up for a Kid Event at the Mall. Our friend Caitlyn had been at our house for lunch and joined us on our outing. Malachi hopped in too, plus our friend/housemate, Kermit. It was great to have so many adult helpers!

The kids got free books, water bottles, games, and bubbles. They got to golf and play instruments.

We had decided to make the most of this outing since we had braved the cold to get to the mall. So when the event ended, we headed over to the play area (as did many of the other families with kids at the event – so it was packed!).

Malachi needed some new business-casual clothes for his work, so while the kids played, some of us went next door into H&M to shop. We scored some great deals from their clearance racks! And Anna made a new friend…

I had packed us a picnic dinner – something we haven’t been able to do all winter long. But this was a great opportunity to enjoy a winter picnic, so we headed to the food court tables and had Peanut Butter Jelly Sandwiches, Salami, Cheese Sticks, Apples, Applesauce, and Carrots.

As we were finishing up our meal, Matt bought an order of fries for everyone to have a small surprise treat before we headed home.

There was no school on Monday or Tuesday of this week (pre-scheduled days off). It snowed all morning and part of the afternoon so we just hung out in the house, trying to keep kids busy.

Brayden and Keith became occupied with Legos for two entire hours, creating the beginnings of a Lego City!

Breakfast and Lunch that day was an assortment of leftovers as we finished up tidbits of Breakfast Cookie Bars, Chili, and Noodles throughout the morning/afternoon.

I made a pot of broth that morning with the leftover chicken bones from the three Rotisserie Chickens the day before. For dinner that night, I used the broth to make Simple Chicken Noodle Soup.

Tuesday was another scheduled day off from school. (With the weather being what it was, likely the kids would have had a snow day anyway!) I made Blender Pancakes for our breakfast that morning.

Being cooped up in the house for the second day in a row was starting to affect everyone. So we tried to keep the kids busy with activities. They’d been listening to “Wavin’ Flag” on Alexa quite a bit, so I looked up the back story to talk through the origin of the song with them. Then we got out supplies to make flags. Was it the most exciting idea I’ve ever come up with? Nope. But did it kill twenty minutes of our day? Yep. So it was a win.

Hahaha, Acacia’s enthusiasm… :)

Brayden was excited to help me make lunch, so he cut up Beef Smoked Sausages to cook.

While the rest of our lunch was cooking, the girls helped me make Breakfast Cookie Bars for upcoming Sabbath Sunday breakfasts.

Lunch was a very exciting offering of Sausages, Mac and Cheese, and Peas.

Mmm, the Breakfast Cookie Bars turned out just right this time.

Matt played a game with Brayden and Kiya that afternoon…

Then our friend, Cindy, and two of her kids came to hang out. This was such a blessing for our evening as our kids love playing with her kids and Cindy poured love into our family the entire time she was here. Brayden and Kiya helped her make little Pigs in a Blanket to go with our dinner.

We enjoyed a fun meal of Chicken Nuggets/Strips, Pigs in a Blanket, Fries, Fruit, and Salad.

Wednesday turned out to be a Snow/Cold Day off from school. Anna helped me make a batch of Flourless Chocolate Banana Blender Muffins that morning.

Did she get to lick a spatula after we got the batter mixed up?

And had Josie made her way into the kitchen and needed a spatula to lick also?

The Flourless Chocolate Banana Blender Muffins turned out great and helped us get through the day as everyone needed something to munch on.

At lunchtime. Acacia helped me prepare leftovers. I was determined to clean out the fridge so we got out jars of pickles to finish off along with our lunch. She felt it was necessary to open the jars with the rubber gripper.

It was a big day for some of the adult Coppingers! Matt, the four older boys, and Malorie had bought tickets to go to KC to watch Messi play. The weather postponed the game, and yet Wednesday’s rescheduled game was still going to be played in freezing cold temps. Did they decide to still go? Yes, they did. Did they realize they were a bit crazy for all of this? Also, yes. Did Arrow fully support their choices??

Everyone gathered at the Castle and we sent off the heavily bundled up soccer fans (Matt, Asa, Justus, Elias, Malorie, Malachi, plus two friends from Lincoln who hopped in). Eva, Kelsey, Arrow, and Little Sweetheart stayed back at the Castle with me to help with kids throughout the afternoon/evening. Eva read lots of books to the littles. At one point I think she had six kids piled around her, but they scattered before I could get a picture of them all.

Kelsey played several games at the table.

We needed something active to do (it day three in a row of not leaving the house, oy!). So I told the kids that if they cleaned up the living room and play room, we’d be able to set up an Obstacle Course like I had done a few weeks ago. Auggie got a turn with the vacuum. :)

Eva captured this shot of me explaining the obstacle course to the kids. It started at the bottom of one set of stairs, went all the way through the living room and playroom, up the other set of stairs, and back. Phew.

It involved masking tape and sour cream lids (fancy!). The kids wound their way around the house over and over.

Meanwhile, Eva and Kelsey took advantage of the kids being occupied to put their babies in the high chairs to feed them. Look at Lolli’s grandbabies eating like big kids. :) :) :)

Knowing the day would be full, I’d put Spicy Ham and Potato Soup in a crock pot that morning. At dinnertime, we served it up – so easy.

I had kind of been dreading the day that Matt and so many other adults would be heading out of town, leaving us behind with kids. But wow was it great having Eva and Kelsey and their babies here! I truly enjoyed the day with them and am so thankful for the gals our boys have chosen. OUR DAUGHTERS-IN-LAW ARE AMAZING!

MEANWHILE, in Kansas City at the game, Messi scored a goal right in front of our crew. AND, while cheering, several of our peeps made it on television. A couple of friends watching the game from home realized, “Hey, that’s the Coppingers!” so they got screen shots and sent them to our boys. It is so much fun to have this shot of Asa, Justus, Elias, and Malorie! For the record, after this moment, everyone determined that it had, in fact, been worth it to drive all the way there and freeze half-way-to-death to be a part of this moment.

Thursday was – guess what? – another Snow/Cold Day off from school. The weather promised to warm up over the weekend, but meanwhile, the temps were still dangerously cold. So, while we considered leaving the house to keep us all from going stir-crazy, we just didn’t want to endure the misery of the cold. So we hunkered down at home, trying to maintain peace while we played.

I’d pulled out a pan of Chicken Cheeseballs from the freezer that I’d made a few weeks ago, so we baked them for lunch. I also made two tortilla packages worth of Quesadillas and opened three cans of fruit for our meal.

After lunch, I baked two pans of rice and browned 2.5 pounds of hamburger meat.

I stirred all of the rice and cooked meat into a large pan and turned it into a form of Taco Rice Skillet for our upcoming Sunday Lunch.

That afternoon, I pulled kids into the kitchen to help me make Peanut Butter Honey Fudge. I had almost forgotten this recipe, but it was a perfect treat to make since we were cooped up and needed an activity.

Brayden got to to do the stove-top part of this.

Then we scooped the mixture into fun molds, then the rest into a dish.

Dinner that night was Costco’s Tortelloni with Sauce plus Steamed Broccoli. A few years ago, I did a price breakdown to share that this entire meal only cost $1.41/person. Want to see what the cost is after inflation 2.5 years later? I did the math!!

After dinner, we ate some Peanut Butter Honey Fudge!

Then we spent the rest of the evening playing Charades.

Oh, and Kelsey sent me this delicious picture of their dinner that night: Simple Pizza Chicken Bake!

With a January full of sickness and a February full of freezing cold temps and a household full of constant intense-kid-needs, I felt like I’d been hanging on for dear life. I have been getting up early each morning to have some glorious time in the Word and in prayer. But otherwise, I’m on the go all day with needs piled on top of each other.

God made it very clear to me on Friday morning that I needed to meet my own needs so that I could effectively care for my family. So as soon as I was able, I packed myself up and headed out the door. (The kids were able to be back in school that day!) I sat at Panera by the fire with a cup of coffee, resting and working. In a setting like this, my work is restful, which is a blessing.

Feeling refreshed and enjoying my alone time, I headed next door to Costco. I looked through clothing for clearance sales, then filled the bottom of my cart with fresh produce.

I then decided that since I was kid-free, I should stock up on everything we’d finished off at home during the past couple of months. Did I need a second cart? Yes. But did I get one? No. I just kept piling my one cart higher and higher. Craziness.

Back at home, Matt and I got groceries brought in and put away before picking up kids from school. I had a smile back on my face again, thanks to the down time I’d enjoyed. Anna washed grapes for our dinner while Brayden and Kiya helped with other parts of our meal.

We had Grilled Cheese Sandwiches, Tomato Soup, Onion Rings, and Grapes.

Saturday morning, Malorie and I left all the kids home with the guys while we headed to church for a Ladies’ Brunch. The speaker was none other than our very dear Kelsey. The morning was incredibly wonderful in so many ways and I’m so thankful we got to do this. Back at home, Asa, Arrow, Justus, and Little Sweetheart had joined our crew so I went home to kids, grandbabies, and big boys. I felt so filled and blessed.

The Italian Cream Cheese Chicken I’d started before the brunch smelled good when we got back! That evening, we were planning to celebrate Justus’ birthday a week late, and this was his dinner choice.

Malachi had made a batch of Hot Cocoa while we were gone. I love that he does this!

Brayden and Kiya helped me make Butterscotch Bars for the night’s birthday celebration.

We slid them into the oven, I finished this post, we got some cleaning done, then the family joined for Justus’ birthday. And that was our week!

 

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Big Family Food and Fun: December 29-January 4, 2025

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Here’s our Big Family Food and Fun: December 29-January 4, 2025 post!

Big Family Food and Fun: December 29-January 4, 2024

I stop working on Saturdays in the afternoon so that we can move into our special time of Sabbath rest that we’ve chosen to practice for our family. Therefore, each week when I begin these posts, I start by backing up to share what the last part of our Saturday looked like. :)

Last Saturday was amazing because we asked some friends to come help with our seven littles so that Matt and I could spend time with all of our adult kids for a few hours. We all met up at Justus and Kelsey’s house, had a Secret Santa gift exchange, ate a super delicious meal courtesy of Famous Dave’s (Justus and Kelsey had gift cards!), then played games for four hours!!

We laughed so hard and had so much fun. Phew, we needed this.

Back at home, we walked into this scene with our kids having the time of their lives with Ms. Kathi and Ms. Terra. The other kids were hanging with Mr. Matt and since the weather was beautiful that day, they’d all been playing outside most of the time we were gone. Our three caregivers rocked it for us and we are sooooo grateful for the gift they gave us that day.

That morning before we headed to Justus and Kelsey’s, I’d put a Melt-in-your-Mouth Beef Roast into a crock pot to cook for our dinner. Kiya had helped me scrub potatoes and we filled another crock pot so we could make these mashed potatoes to go with our roast. When we got home, I realized I’d forgotten to add the carrots I planned to throw in with the roast. So I quickly made peas while Terra mashed the potatoes for us. We got hungry kids fed, bathed, and tucked in for the night after an awesome day!

Sunday was Brayden and Auggie’s birthday! Brayden chose all the meals for the day. (When Auggie gets older, we’ll have to figure out meal choices having two birthday kids in one day!)

We had Scrambled Cheesy Eggs and Hashbrown Patties for breakfast.

Brayden wanted Lasagna for his birthday lunch, and we had some of our normal Sunday crowd join us after church. Friends brought a Pasta Bake and Oranges to help complete our meal. We made Caesar Salad and Corn, plus Oreo Brownies for the birthday dessert.

There were 29 of us gathered that day.

It was fun to celebrate Brayden during this time! Meanwhile, Auggie was having a lovely birthday nap. :)

Two stick candles side by side make an 11, right? ;)

The weather was sunny and gorgeous! Our friend Mandy stopped by and many of us headed out to take a walk together to fill up our church’s Little Free Pantry. It’s just a few blocks from our house.

Back at home, Auggie woke up and shared a hug with his Birthday Bro.

Brayden wanted to make his birthday dinner for the family: Orange Chicken and Onion Rings.

I got out cucumbers and carrots to offer a veggie with dinner. Brayden did a great job!

Then it was Auggie’s turn to blow out candles. He’s the big 2 now!

Elias and Malorie had to run to Walmart and asked if I needed anything. You guys? I am a sucker for these cheap hams. I’d gotten four of them on clearance for a $1.00/pound last week. But just in case, I asked them to look and see if by chance they’d been marked down any more to $0.50/pound.

Sure enough! There was an entire case of them. I asked them to get four for me, then I worked to create freezer space!

See how hard this is to resist??

Present time! Auggie was pretty excited about his magnetic toy set.

Brayden started playing school right away with his new Dry Erase Board. What a great day!

Monday morning, I made a blender full of smoothie for Matt and me. The kids ate yogurt and granola, plus Banana Bread.

I spent quite a bit of time in the kitchen that morning getting ready for company to come. I had chicken bones in the freezer that I’d saved after a Rotisserie Chicken purchase. I used the bones to make Chicken Broth for soup, knowing we’d need it for a big crowd we’d be feeding on Wednesday.

I also put several pounds of boneless chicken thighs into a crock pot with two jars of salsa. I planned to have it ready to turn into Taco Soup.

I also cleaned out one of our dishwashers and was so happy to see this top rack. This is what our dishwasher looks like after a big Sunday Lunch. We eat, we visit, we drink coffee and have dessert together – it’s such a beautiful time. I love a dishwasher full of coffee mugs to remind me of our awesome time of fellowship.

Late in the afternoon, I blended the onions and carrots that had cooked with the chicken bones and stirred the veggies back into the broth. This makes it so rich and extra nourishing.

I shredded the chicken and put it into the fridge with the broth to be ready to make a huge amount of soup on Wednesday!

For dinner that night, I put one of our $5 hams into our large roaster to cook. This created the easiest, cheapest meal on earth. The ham was delicious, and we ate it with leftover mashed potatoes and veggies from the fridge. I also cut up two pineapple, which really hit the spot! (By the way, the spiral cut hams we get so cheap are coated in a brown sugar glaze which we don’t love so I rinse it off before cooking it.)

Tuesday morning we spent time cleaning and making beds as we prepped for our friends to come hang out with us and spend the night. We LOVE it when the Brocks come to visit! They also have a large family (there are eight of them!) and our kids all get along well. They arrived just before lunch and we had the goal to eat quickly then play games all afternoon!

Lunch for our large families was a simple spread of Summer Sausage, Cheese, Crackers, Chips, Dips, Veggies, Fruit, and Zucchini Bread and Banana Bread that the Brocks brought.

I love it when our table is full of Coppingers and Brocks, but the sweetest scene is….

THIS. Their little girls and our little girls like to sit together in these special seats. Meal time is crazy and loud at our house, but when the Brocks are here, everyone is calm and grounded (at least for a time).

We played games all afternoon, then Brayden, Kiya, Keith and I took two from the Brock family to help hand out food and clean at  our weekly Food Distribution site.

This particular week, there were fewer volunteers available, fewer clients who came through the line, but extra food to hand out because of the holiday. Our kids worked very hard and very well and we were so proud of them. Putting our kids in situations like this where they serve is sooooooo beneficial in so many ways.

Brayden wanted to take a picture of Keith scrubbing a cooler. And do you see those strawberries above? Clients who came through the line took as many as they wanted, but at the end of our give away time, there were still many flats worth of berries and they needed to be eaten or frozen right away. We brought home many, many pounds of strawberries that day, and then we all promptly ate many, many pounds of berries as soon as we got home. What a great treat – free strawberries to feed our collective 13 kids!

After everyone ate their fill of berries, we ate our actual dinner: Hawaiian Chicken, two pans of Stick of Butter Rice, Steamed Green Beans, and Rolls.

We had invited our friend, Breck, to join us for dinner because she knows the Brocks too. It was such a great time of visiting before everyone moved into playing more games as we rang in the new year. (Some of us rang in the new year by going to bed before midnight, ehem.)

Wednesday morning we celebrated the first day of the year by eating 28 Eggs and lots of Bacon. (The Brocks had brought six dozen eggs from their chickens!)  The plate of bacon you see below was just a small portion of what we baked as people ate it as fast as it came out of the oven. We finished off all the strawberries we’d brought home the night before from the food distribution plus we ate more of the Zucchini Bread and Banana Bread the Brocks had baked and brought with them.

Kids played and played all morning while the grown ups visited and worked in the kitchen to prep for a huge lunch.

We had invited all of our older kids to come for lunch so that they could catch up with the Brocks, plus we invited another family to come join as they have great connections with the Brocks too. Altogether, there were 30 of us, and it was a great time of visiting and feasting.

We went through at least three pots of coffee that day. Lunch was a huge roaster full of Spicy Ham and Potato Soup, two crock pots full of Chicken Taco Soup, and a big assortment of anything else we could set out to fill everyone up: rolls and croissants, fritos, sliced oranges, carrots and cucumbers, crackers, and cheese.

Take note of Elias wearing Malorie’s shower cap. :) He was doing an oil treatment on his scalp and wasn’t shy about walking around like this most of the day. It was hard to take him seriously, but somehow we managed to have real conversations and play games with his crazy-headed self.

We filled our dining room table.

And spilled over into the living room. Meals and times like these are truly awesome.

The rest of the day was spent playing more games together. In fact, the Brocks intended to head home mid-afternoon but by the time our third game ended, we realized we needed to give them a bite to eat for dinner so that they wouldn’t have to stop and feed all their kids on the way home. So we pulled out all kinds of random leftovers (I forgot to get a picture), rewarmed soup, and got them filled up before sending them on their way. What an amazing visit!

Thursday morning we decided it was a pajama day. We also had a refrigerator that looked like this, so I declared it to be a Leftover Day for all three meals. (I had Lasagna and Soup in our pantry fridge also.)

As I was clearing out food for kids to pick what they wanted for lunch, I pulled out the spinach that was expiring and turned it into these Cupcakes. I find it amazing how much spinach I can manage to stuff into my blender to make these. What a great way to eat greens. ;)

Later in the afternoon, I looked up “ways to use cottage cheese” because I had quite a bit in my fridge that needed to be used. I found a recipe for Chocolate Chip Cookies and the girls and I gave it a try!

I used all whole wheat flour instead of some of the white that the recipe called for. They turned out pretty tasty. I froze most of them for an upcoming Sunday Lunch. And check out the awesome three-tier cooking rack Malorie got me for Christmas!

Bedtime at our house is quite the hectic situation, with so many littles struggling with behaviors or needing attention. Matt put on Acacia’s leg brace and read to the three little girls while I wrestled with Auggie then read to the three older littles. By the time I got into the little girls’ room to tuck them in, Josie and Acacia were already fast asleep. I soaked in their sweetness for a moment.

Friday morning we had a lot of prep work to do so that we could be ready for what we thought would be a full weekend. I put a Pork Loin into a crock pot to cook for Sunday’s lunch. I also put several pounds of boneless chicken thighs into our large roaster with barbecue sauce to shred for Sunday as another meat option. Here’s what it all looked like later in the day when it was finished.

Mid-morning, we loaded up all the kids to burn off energy in the indoor play area at the Zoo. I packed snacks because even though they ate all morning and would eat all afternoon, we need to eat also while we’re out and about.

We came home and finished up a jar full of Ham and Potato Soup leftovers.

Friends came for dinner that night, so I made 9 Pizzas from crusts I had in the freezer. We ate our pizza with Caesar Salad.

One of the reasons we’d arranged for dinner with friends is because they had some toys to hand down that their kids were finished with. A tool set and work bench? Keith was in heaven!

And check out this amazing play kitchen they brought. The little girls got lost in there while we grown ups visited, and Auggie even played for quite a while. Such a cool kitchen!

Saturday we had a meeting out of town, but had some sick kids which changed a lot of our plans. We ate leftovers for all of our meals and tried to catch up on some laundry. And that was our week!

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Big Family Food and Fun: October 20-26, 2024

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Here’s our Big Family Food and Fun: October 20-26, 2024 post!

Big Family Food and Fun: October 20-26, 2024

Last weekend, Matt was in California to be with his family for a memorial service for a dear loved one. So I got a bit behind in sharing photos of our week. I’ll play catch up now. ;)

Saturday, the 19th, I baked four loaves of Banana Bread plus browned four pounds of ground beef so that I could make Taco Soup on Sunday.

Our church Kids’ Ministry was hosting a Fall Fun Color Run that Saturday morning. Elias and Malorie helped me get the eight kids there and Kelsey met us there to help also. It was so much fun to run the trail and have lots of colored powder tossed onto us as we ran!

Everyone loved the end result…

…except for this little one. Acacia was indignant about the entire thing. She kept whimpering and saying, “Messy! Mama, messy!!” So sorry, Buddy.

I guess I should have prepared her more for the fact that we were going to this event to get messy on purpose. ;)

With Matt out of town, we’d arranged for our adult kids to take shifts coming to help me get through the weekend with our little kids. Asa, Eva, Arrow, Kelsey, and Little Sweetheart were with me all Saturday afternoon and into the evening. Elias and Malorie were in and out also. I loved walking into our living room to this scene with our daughters-in-law and grandbabies. What a precious moment, even if Arrow wasn’t appreciating it as much as I was.

I somehow managed to trim Auggie’s hair that afternoon and here’s the photo I sent to Matt:

Matt and I have started to be intentional about setting aside Saturday evening through Sunday evening as Sabbath. (Read more about this here.) I attempted to pull off a special Sabbath Supper without Daddy here. We are learning that Sabbath isn’t all about rest, but also about taking a step back from day to day tasks and delighting in all that we do.

The kids and I gathered around the table that evening enjoying Pizza, Salad, and Sparkling Water (<—a very special treat for them). I asked the kids to share any special memory they could think of, and it was fun to hear what they came up with. I shared with them the special memories I had about the days when I first met each of them.

Eva sent me this sweet photo of Uncle Auggie hanging with Arrow while I was upstairs getting the other seven put to bed that night.

Sunday morning, we ate Breakfast Cookies turned into bars that I’d baked and frozen the week before.

Our Sunday lunch was a huge roaster full of Taco Soup with Fritos, Cheese, and Sour Cream.

We made Quesadillas and enjoyed Brownies that Kiya had made all by herself (on Saturday). :) Friends who joined us for our meal brought Fruit Salad, Chips and Salsa, and Apple Crisp.

When our table is full, my heart is full. Twenty-three of us gathered for our meal that day, and it was truly a DELIGHT.

Matt got home in the middle of the night that night, praise God. It was so good to have him back home! Monday morning, I scrambled 15 eggs and we finished off a loaf of Banana Bread. I made Smoothie for Matt and me.

I was planning to grill Brats for dinner that night, but just about the time I would have turned on our smoker, it started to rain. We were so thankful because we needed rain! I quickly made a Plan B for dinner and decided to make the brats on Tuesday instead. :)

I had some Ham in the fridge so I cut it up and made six boxes of Mac and Cheese with Buttered Peas and Sliced Oranges.

Anna and I made Peanut Butter Honey Puffs that evening for snacks.

 

Then while Keith and Bonus Buddy were hanging with Elias and Malorie and Auggie was with Matt, these five went to the table with me for a rainy-night craft.

Tuesday morning, the kids ate either Breakfast Sandwiches or Oatmeal. Meanwhile, I baked several pans of Bacon to put into the fridge to have on hand for breakfasts and sandwiches. This big box of bacon is a Sam’s favorite!

The kids’ group hug as Keith headed into school that morning was extra precious.

We played outside a good part of the morning after getting the four elementary kids to school. The kids shared snacks while they played.

Later when we came inside, I loved seeing Anna spend time building an animal train and playing calmly. Until just a few months ago, this little one didn’t know how to just play. She fought, ripped books, dumped out and scattered toys – but never actually played with toys. It’s beautiful to see her building, making believe, being creative, and sometimes actually sitting peacefully. God is healer. (<— I’m writing this because with all the continued work we do with all of our kids, it’s so good to take note of all that God HAS DONE already in them.)

We usually wait until about 11:00am to get the preschool girls dressed and ready for school. Otherwise, by the time the bus comes at noon, they are already dirty and their hair needs to be redone. Here’s Acacia, rocking a cute outfit plus a fresh hairdo by Malorie. Note that these camo pants were Keith’s last year. As I was sorting through fall/winter clothes, I realized that the girls might be able to pull off these hand-me-down pants. Oh my goodness, I can’t stop loving how CUTE these are on her.

They all looked especially adorable that day, and we had an extra minute as we were waiting for the bus so…

Little Sweetheart had been with us all morning and into the afternoon. While Auggie napped, she and I had some playtime on the floor. She’d been on a blanket across the room, but little roly-poly here made her way to the other side of the rug.

Sometime in there, I smoked 24 Brats for our dinner that night and put them into a crock pot to stay warm since I’d be gone with the kids for our weekly Food Distribution where we serve. As you can see, I sort of burned 24 brats. Yikes. I’d forgotten that they were out there. Meh, we ate them anyway. I also made a small crock pot of Baked Beans.

I picked up Brayden, Kiya, and Keith from school and we headed straight to the Food Distribution site so that we could hand out food to the community. Over 100 people came through the line! Matt, Elias, and Malorie had fed the other kids by the time we got home.

Here’s a photo I snagged of Kiya and Keith putting away a wagon as we were cleaning up after handing out food.

Wednesday morning, some of our kids had Yogurt with Granola and some had Breakfast Sandwiches. I tell you what, keeping those sandwiches on hand has been so convenient a huge help!

Here’s a great peek into what school mornings look like. Kids in and out working on breakfast, a dishwasher open and being loaded while the kids eat, and Keith there behind the kitchen faucet working on some sort of project that was much more important than eating breakfast or getting dressed.

That day, some dear friends from York came and ate lunch with us. I added more beef, corn, and beans to Sunday’s leftover Taco Soup to help it stretch through our lunch. Our friends brought fruit and cookies to complete the meal. I was bummed later to realize that I didn’t get any pictures of us together. We were too busy catching up on life. :)

That afternoon, I made a batch of Mini Crustless Cheesecakes for snacks. I also put together 15 Chicken Bacon Ranch Sandwiches to have on hand for adults to take for lunches or for us to eat at home as needed.

For dinner that night, we ate a pot of Cheeseburger Soup with sliced Oranges.

Thursday morning, Anna was up early and helped me make a batch of Cheater Cheater Pumpkin Eaters for breakfast.

I scrambled 15 eggs to go with our Cheater Cheater Pumpkin Eaters plus got out canned Mandarin Oranges that I’d gotten from Azure Standard. Somewhere in there, I also made another round of this smoothie for Matt and me to drink during the next couple of days. Kiya asked if she could take the picture of our breakfast, and here it is!

Mid-morning, I took Auggie to Walmart to get the rest of our WIC items for the month plus a few other things we needed.

I always check for meat markdowns at Walmart and am almost never disappointed. Today I scored big on boneless chicken thighs for $2.04 or $1.98/pound! I also got a beef roast marked down. It wasn’t as cheap per pound but it’s hard to find a good price for roast now, so I still took advantage.

One problem with leaving Matt at home with the girls, and me only taking Auggie to the store is that one cart is usually not enough. But then again, having three more kids in a second cart with Matt wouldn’t be much help anyway. SO. I checked out and put the first purchase into our van, then Auggie and I went in for round two: produce.

Was Auggie excited to go back in and shop more? NO HE WAS NOT. I ended up holding him and dragging the cart and then doing self checkout one-handed. Yikes. But, we got what we needed, and then he fell asleep on the way home.

While putting all the groceries away at home, I decided to dump sauce on all the chicken I’d bought that day. That will make a perfect Sunday Lunch this weekend.

For dinner, I put together Potato and Bacon Foil Packs for the Grill then I left to have four parent-teacher conferences at the elementary school. When I got home, I made these spinach-filled Smoothies to go with our dinner.

These Potato Bacon Packs are so good. We fill our plate then top it with cheese and sour cream.

Friday morning the kids had cereal. But I also had a gallon of milk that needed to be finished off, so I made a big pot of Warm Vanilla Soother to serve. I used a sharpie to make the cups fun, which the kids loved. :)

Mid-morning, Anna helped me make a quadruple batch of Low Sugar Peanut Butter Brownies. This girl loves to help me bake. :)

Once those were in the oven, I went outside to turn on our smoker and found these two sweethearts playing in leaves.

Matt and I worked together to smoke all the chicken I’d marinated the day before. We planned to rewarm this on Sunday morning for our big Sunday Lunch gathering.

Malachi stopped by for a while that morning. Justus had dropped off Little Sweetheart and I was holding her. Auggie wasn’t happy to share me at that moment. Thank goodness for Malachi offering his big brother snuggles.

Here’s the end result of the Low Sugar Peanut Butter Brownies I started that morning. Super good!

We made Homemade Pizza for dinner that night with Caesar Salad.

At the store the day before, I had picked up a bag of frozen peppers and onions. It was a little bit weird to put them on a pizza, but it was also EASY because I didn’t have to do any veggie chopping. I had some left, along with some leftover sliced mushrooms, so I sautéed those for an additional side dish.

Saturday, we finished putting together food to serve for our Sunday Lunch so that we could take a Sabbath Rest on Sunday. This has been so amazing, and now that we are starting to get into a rhythm, it’s very doable.

I made Cream Cheese Corn to go with our Smoked Chicken and got out rolls and desserts from the freezer. Friends were planning to join us and bring additional sides.

Saturday evening was a little bit different than our typical Sabbath kick-off because weeks earlier we’d reserved tickets for our local Boo at the Zoo event. We got our kids all dressed up in their costumes for the year and headed out for an evening of fun. Allow me to introduce our Little House on the Prairie clan:

I’ll share more about our evening next week!

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Big Family Food and Fun: October 6-12, 2024

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Here’s our Big Family Food and Fun: October 6-12, 2024 post!

Big Family Food and Fun: October 6-12, 2024

I mentioned in last week’s post that Matt and I were experimenting with how to have a day of rest once each week. You can read more about our intention here. We began our Sabbath on Saturday afternoon/evening at our friends’ house, spending time in community.

There were enough older kids and adults there that helped with our littles that Matt and I did, from time to time, get to just sit and enjoy some downtime.

Keith latched on to Sam that evening, and Sam was so sweet to pour into him.

My goal on Saturday morning had been to make all of our Sunday breakfast and lunch food so that all I had to do on Sunday was set it out or warm it up. This worked perfectly and I hope to do it this way every week!

We ate Breakfast Cookies turned into bars for breakfast. Lunch was Smoked Chicken, Party Potatoes, Cream Cheese Corn, Green Beans, Rolls, and  Pumpkin Bars.

We had a small crowd join us that day, but we enjoyed visiting with Asa and Eva about Sabbath and some of their ideas for practicing rest also. There’s still plenty of “work” to do while caring for eight small children all day long, but I tried to keep a mindset of rest throughout the day. After lunch, while we visited, I was able to sit and thoroughly enjoy a cup of coffee with a Pumpkin Bar.

At about 2:45, we needed to make a transition to get all the kids in the van to head to Keith’s soccer game. THIS was not a restful thing, mostly because kids did not want to cooperate to go potty, get shoes, etc. Oy. But we made it to the game (late), and truly, did we expect the entire day to be restful with this many little ones? No, we did not. ;)

From the game, we headed to the Heartlands church parking lot for a wonderful Harvest Festival. There was a meal, face painting, pumpkin painting station, smores, and archery with Heart Shot Ministry.

Brayden, Kiya, Keith, and Bonus Buddy all lined up for archery and it was great. But when Tiny-but-Mighty Acacia got in line like a big kid? Well now. She was one determined kitty cat.

She listened very closely to the instructor and actually hit a few marks on the target. It was the cutest thing we all saw all night.

Keith’s new bestie, Sam, and Sam’s dad, Jason, had worked on this football helmet when we’d been at their house Saturday night to turn it into a Husker hat. Keith slept with it in his bed, got mad when I wouldn’t let him wear it to church, put it on before and after his soccer game, and of course, wore it to the Harvest Festival. Hotdogs taste better and pumpkins paint up nicer when you’re wearing a helmet.

Auggie was fascinated with the music coming from the giant black box in the parking lot. He hosted a small dance party with some of his sisters and our friend Christina.

All of our kids were very proud of their face paint. Washing it off before bed that night was a little bit less sad because we got pictures. :)

All in all, our Sunday was wonderful and full of good friends. So was our Sabbath restful??

Well, part of it. But there’s nothing that takes away the work of caring for eight high need littles, no matter how much we did ahead of time. I didn’t sleep great Sunday night (Auggie still doesn’t sleep through the night consistently, though at least he’s the only one who got up that particular night). So Monday, after attempting to Sabbath on Sunday, I woke up very tired.

Therefore, I decided to also rest on Monday as much as I could while kids were in school. The four at home in the morning played pretty quietly in the playroom (and then fought for an hour before their bus came with hair, clothes, and shoes, oy). But look at the sweetness of their play before the fighting:

I took a nap when Auggie went down for a nap and felt refreshed when I got up. Dinner that night was super simple: Mac and Cheese (with Bacon Bits stirred in for the grown-ups), Green Beans, and Grapes.

Tuesday morning I scrambled a dozen Cheesy Eggs to eat with Mudballs or Peanut Butter Rice Krispie Bars an Applesauce. About every other day, I make a batch of this Smoothie for Matt and me to drink as needed throughout our days.

We are working very hard to completely wean Auggie off his Pediasure supplement drinks as he finally learns to eat regular meals and snacks. Eating is still an extra effort for him, but he’s making incredible progress. Here he is, mid-morning on Wednesday, eating an avocado cup.

Little Sweetheart came for the day. She and Auggie are fascinated with each other, but Auggie doesn’t always understand that she is tiny and we have to be careful not to clobber her.

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

I was glad we didn’t come home to any broken windows this week. ;) Before leaving that afternoon, I’d put Sunday’s leftover Party Potatoes into a crock pot with some chopped up ham and prepped Broccoli to be steamed for dinner.

Wednesday morning, I got out Breakfast Sandwiches that I’d made last week for us to warm up and eat with a side of yogurt. Anna practiced her cutting skills at the counter while kids trickled into the kitchen for breakfast.

I’m always a bit frazzled by the time we manage to get eight kids out the door and walk to school to drop off four of them. Have you ever told a kindergarten boy to “hurry up” or “go as fast as you can!”??? These words are pointless. But. All frustration melts away when Acacia insists on hugging her brothers goodbye when they head to their line to go inside. This particular day, they enjoyed a group hug.

Back at home, we enjoyed the risk of giving the three little girls a container of markers with paper. Oy. It all went well until it didn’t, and then I steered them toward a different project. :)

Arrow came to hang out that afternoon. He and Uncle Auggie took a walk with Lolli to pick up Keith and Bonus Buddy after school. Brayden and Kiya got to stay after school that day for a Craft Club.

The kindergarten classes had enjoyed a field trip to a pumpkin patch that day. They were excited about the pumpkins they chose and got right to work decorating them when we got home. If I felt uneasy earlier that morning with three little girls and a container of markers, ask me how I felt about two kindergarten boys with a container of sharpies?? Auggie and I watched them closely, and we got the sharpies put away before the three little girls got off their preschool bus. Phew.

It was a warm day, it’s been very dry, and our little car needed to be washed. So Matt pulled it onto our grass to spray it off before heading to school to pick up Brayden and Kiya. The kids were fascinated by this as Daddy had never driven the car onto the grass before. :)

Dinner that night was super simple and a big hit. I smoked 24 Brats (that I’d picked up marked down to just $1.84/pound at Walmart!). We rewarmed leftover Mac and Cheese, got out Potato Salad and Pickles, and I cut up a bunch of Apples that the boys had brought home from the pumpkin patch. The apples were almost gone by the time dinner started because everyone ate them as I cut them. :)

Thursday morning, the weather was beautiful once again so we spent time outside after getting the four elementary kids off to school. Auggie decided he was big enough to pull his sisters in the wagon. He wasn’t wrong, as he was able to move them at least a solid inch before giving up.

Matt had a lot on his plate as he was helping with a funeral on Friday and preaching on Sunday. So Malorie and I took the four littlest to Hobby Lobby and Aldi so that Matt could have a quiet house to work in. It was a win-win because we got stocked up on groceries that we needed, plus brought home fun fall-themed craft supplies for our upcoming Fall Break.

Here’s what $207 worth of groceries looked like at Aldi that day. This included 12-pounds of grass fed ground beef, two big packages of sausage, a small ham, fresh fruit, a case of organic salsa, four gallons of milk, two tubs of organic yogurt, a huge pile of organic fruit/veggie pouches for Auggie, two packages of granola, eight cans of fruit in 100% juice, and several other items. We’re thankful to be able to stretch our grocery budget this way!

We got home and unloaded just in time to send the girls to school on the bus. As we were unloading the van, I discovered these additional passengers who were safely buckled in with us on our outing.

After girls were sent off to preschool, Auggie was down for a nap, and the groceries were put away – I got out some leftover Homemade Ice Cream and blended it with cold coffee to make this gem for myself.

Justus dropped off Little Sweetheart for the afternoon and she hung out with me in the kitchen while I made a few surprises for our kids’ weekend. Friday through Tuesday was to be their Fall Break and while we didn’t have anything big planned, I did want to make it special.

We had a zoo trip planned for Friday morning, so I made some special Fall Food for a picnic.

I cut two loaves of bread with a pumpkin cookie cutter to make sandwiches. Will I ever do this again? No I probably will not, haha. (Unless I forget by this time next year how much extra work it takes to make sandwiches cute.) I saved all the scraps in hopes to make either Bread Pudding or Pumpkin Spice French Toast Casserole.

My favorite fall picnic project was this: cutting little cheese leaves and acorns with small cookie cutters. THIS was worth the effort. :)

I got all the fun-fall-food hidden away before picking up kids from school. When we got home, a few neighborhood kids joined us and one of them opened up his violin to show us his skills. This, of course, meant that Brayden needed to go get out his trumpet because – well – do I even need to explain this? The concert was loud and special. :/

Meanwhile, Keith ran to his backpack to get out the certificate he’d been given that day. He was SO PROUD of this, as he should be. He’s been in speech therapy since he was 1.5 years old. If you would have told me then that he’d graduate by age 5.5, I would not have believed it. He’s worked so hard and come so far. He put this graduation certificate on the pantry fridge and asked for a picture. You bet, buddy.

All of my fall picnic shenanigans and the after school orchestra/band had set me back on dinner prep. But somehow, we were able to get 20 burgers on the grill and some bacon in the oven to make Bacon Cheeseburgers for dinner. We made two packages of fries in the air fryer, sliced up apples, washed blackberries, and got out pickles and potato salad. It was a feast!

Friday morning, we kicked off the kids’ Fall Break with attempted pumpkin-shaped Pancakes. As it turns out, putting a stem on a circle to make it look like a pumpkin isn’t as easy as it sounds. ;)

Matt headed to Heartlands for the funeral, so Elias and Malorie helped me with kids. We’ve been reading Little House in the Big Woods (slowly but surely), so I found Little House on the Prairie on YouTube for the kids to watch and experience. They were fascinated and had so many questions. Our plan is for all eight kids to dress like characters from this book/time period for Halloween. So we all took note of the hats, dresses, and bonnets. :)

The zoo was to open at 10, so our plan was to wrap up our morning at home and pack up to get to the zoo for an outing. When we got there at 10:04, we discovered that every person in the state of Nebraska had the same idea for their day.

I handed out apples as we stood in line waiting to get to the gate.

Once we made it in, the crowd dispersed and we were able to enjoy animals and play areas.

Everyone was very hungry by lunchtime, and as we sat to eat, I told the kids that all I’d brought for our Fall Break lunch was “pumpkins and leaves.” Most of the kids could tell I was being silly, but Bonus Buddy was NOT IMPRESSED with my announcement. He did not want to eat leaves. Once I pulled out the leaf-shaped-cheese, pumpkin-shaped sandwiches, and jack-o-lantern fruit cups, he realized that Mom was actually not crazy. All the kids enjoyed this surprise lunch very much!

We had some therapy appointments that afternoon, and I was pretty worn out by dinner time. That’s what Costco frozen pizza is for. :)

That evening, we loaded everyone up and took a walk to our church’s Free Little Pantry. As you can see, Keith had traded his Husker helmet that day for a Little House on the Prairie hat. He goes ALL IN with just about everything he does.

We filled the pantry with food for people to come take as needed. Then we headed home for bed time.

Saturday morning, I did some prep work to get ready to take a Sabbath rest starting that evening and through Sunday. I made a large pan of Italian Pasta Bake to put in the oven for Sunday lunch. Check out how I used the scraps of cheese leftover from using cookie cutters to make cheese shapes on Thursday!

We’d been given some fancy mozzarella so I used that too.

I made a batch of Caramel Apple Dip for our Sunday lunch dessert.

We gave the kids their baths, hosted our Small Group, and did some cleaning. And that was our week!

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Big Family Food and Fun: August 18-24, 2024

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Here’s our Big Family Food and Fun: August 18-24, 2024 post!

Big Family Food and Fun: August 18-24, 2024

We had a big, wonderful crowd of 31 people for lunch on Sunday. We took advantage of our time together to celebrate the birthday of one of our guests.

Our buffet was Smoked Chicken (that I’d cooked the day before then warmed up in a crock pot with broth), Mashed Potatoes (birthday girl’s request), Cream Cheese Corn, Baked Beans, Tossed Salad (brought by our friends, the Bakers), Steamed Carrots, Stuffing, Rolls, and Carrot Cake (made by our friend Cindy). It was an amazing spread!

I tried to take pictures of everyone who was there that day but kids were scattered around and I wasn’t able to get everyone.

I went on a search for Josie after lunch and found that she’d made her way to one of our calming spaces and fallen asleep in our hammock.

That afternoon there was a baby shower for Eva and Arrow. Eva’s mom hosted it and it was amazing. So many people showed up, showing so much love.

When the girls and I got home from the shower, we discovered Matt and Brayden playing a game together. They’d taken advantage of some rare one-on-one time while we girls were gone. (Keith and Bonus Buddy were hanging with Elias, and Auggie was asleep.)

For dinner that night I made five boxes of Mac and Cheese. This is one of the only foods Bonus Buddy will eat so I will likely be making it once a week for now. All the other kids love it too, so it makes for an easy meal to feed everyone. The grown-ups added some bacon to their bowls!

Monday morning I scrambled 15 eggs, which we ate with toast and yogurt.

After we got the four elementary kids to school, Matt and I were so happy to watch the youngest four playing calmly most of the morning. Anna spent a lot of time on her own playing, being very focused on building a home for plastic animals.

Acacia, Josie, and Auggie played on the slide in our yard for a while until bugs drove us back into the house.

I made several Peanut Butter Graham Cracker Sandwiches for the kids to snack on that morning plus some to have on hand for upcoming needs.

When it was almost time for the preschool bus to arrive, Anna proudly put her shoes on without a fight. This was a big deal worth documenting.

Once the girls were on the bus heading to school, Arrow showed up to babysit Uncle Auggie. (Eva had sweetly offered to come over so that Matt and I could finally go out to celebrate our 30th Anniversary!)

Matt and I headed to Cheddars to use a gift card someone had given us. We shared a combo meal and got to have sweet conversation time.

Before we headed home, we ran to Hy-vee for a pick-up order of some WIC items. We were completely out of fresh vegetables and didn’t have much fruit, so it was great to restock!

At school pick-up time, I handed Keith a bag of pistachios which he dug into right away. This kid is HUNGRY after school.

I love these walks home with the kids as they all share parts of their day with me while the news is fresh on their minds.

We got homework done, played, cleaned out lunch bags, and moved on toward dinner. I had put Salsa Chicken into a crock pot that morning, so I shredded it and we ate Chicken Tacos.

I pulled out a bag of Carrot Chips that I’d gotten at Hy-Vee earlier to package up for school lunches. Keith wanted some and ate and ate, which inspired several others to do the same. Who was I to argue with this bedtime snack?

Tuesday morning we sliced a loaf of Banana Bread that I’d pulled out the the freezer the day before.

I’d also discovered a package of Hashbrown Patties in the freezer and put them into the air fryer. Everyone was pretty excited about these!

We got Brayden, Kiya, Keith, and Bonus Buddy off to school, then Justus dropped off Little Sweetheart to us for the morning. Josie felt like she could handle her care this time. :)

We decided to take all of the littles for a walk so we pulled out our umbrella stroller as we prepared. One of the girls put a baby doll into the stroller and Auggie took her for a ride in the living room.

It had rained that morning so we tried to get everyone directly into the wagon before they got muddy.

Back at home, we pulled out Avocado Mash cups for everyone to eat with Sweet Potato Crackers and Grapes before getting ready for the preschool bus.

I made five cans of Tuna Salad for that night’s dinner.

Malachi texted that afternoon asking how I made my “famous Hot Cocoa” because he was hungry for it. :) I pointed him here and he went to the store to pick up the ingredients. How cute is he???

Just before time to leave to pick up kids and head to our weekly  Food Distribution, I used the Tuna Salad I’d put together to make 14 Tuna Melts for Matt and Elias to bake for dinner.

Serving at Food Distribution is so good for our kids in so many ways. I thank God over and over for this opportunity.

Back at home, the Tuna Melts were ready plus Sloppy Joes (from the freezer) for those who didn’t like tuna. We had them with leftover Steamed Carrots and Spinach.

As we got the kids to bed that night, I snuck this sweet photo of Matt reading to Acacia. Tired as we are at the end of each night, Matt has been sitting with each child individually to read at least two pages of a book that they choose. The kids love this so much. :)

On Wednesday morning I put together 16 Breakfast Sandwiches to have on hand.

Keith had an appointment that morning so Matt took five kids with him to deliver Brayden, Kiya, and Bonus Buddy to school while I took Acacia and Josie with me to Keith’s appointment.

There was a Resident working with our kids’ doctor that day so when he saw the three kids I had with me he said, “Ah, I see you brought the whole gang with you today?” Oof, nope. Only three outa twelve, hahaha.

After everyone got home from school that day we tried to quickly get through homework and a very early dinner so that we could spend some time at the zoo before bed. The zoo is open later on Wednesdays and the weather was lovely, so we wanted to take advantage!

Elias got home from work and helped Brayden finish his homework. Then he pulled the Brats off the smoker that I’d gotten started earlier.

Keith cleaned out his backpack and was so proud to show us how he’s been learning to color within the lines!

We had a simple meal of Smoked Brats with leftover Mac and Cheese and Baked Beans, grapes, and pickles. The kids finished what was left of the sides, so I got out Guacamole and Chips for the grown-ups to eat with their brats as they ate later.

We made it to the zoo by 5:30 and took our time letting the kids roam around and play at various play areas.

Since we’d had such an early dinner, I’d made and packed a big container of Popcorn plus Dried Apples and Juice. We snacked, then played more, then snacked more, then loaded up to head home for bed.

Thursday morning we warmed up some of the Breakfast Sandwiches I’d made the day before. After we got the four elementary kids to school, we got the girls situated with Matt, then I took Auggie to Omaha for an appointment. His Pediatric Neurologist has been wonderfully thorough in helping us give Auggie the best chance at getting ahead of all of his delays. So this referral was to visit with Developmental Pediatrics specialists.

We spent almost three hours at this appointment so that the doctors could observe Auggie and ask questions, then help point us toward more therapies that will benefit him. I’m still processing all of this as it was intense and I heard possible diagnosis options that we’ve suspected but were still hard to hear. Time will tell, and God is good. For now, we’ll just do the next good thing for Auggie.

Auggie and I arrived home just as Matt was getting home with the four elementary kids. The evening was very full as we did homework, made dinner, and needed to pick up our Azure Standard order. Brayden helped me make Shredded Hashbrowns while I worked on the rest of dinner.

We had Biscuits and Sausage Gravy, Sausage Cheese Eggs, Hashbrowns, and Peaches.

Matt, Brayden, and Keith went to pick up our Azure Standard while I stayed home to try to get the other six kids to bed after a full day.

Once the kids were down for the night, I did the bare minimum needed to put our Azure Standard frozen items away before bed.

Friday, Anna had a mid-morning doctor appointment. Afterward, she and I ran across the street to a grocery store/pharmacy to pick up a prescription and discovered a cart full of cookie packages that had been marked down to just $0.50. We picked up six packages, knowing that for a price like that, we’d have some fun treats for picnics or to pull out to share at home with guests.

It was sweet to have this one-on-one time with her and I let her help me with self-checkout, which she loved.

That afternoon I had a grocery shopping marathon while the kids were in school and Auggie napped at home with Matt. I went to Walmart, Aldi, and Costco, phew!

For dinner that night I baked a lot of Chicken Tenders and air fried a bag of Waffle Fries. We ate them with grapes and spinach.

After that, we loaded everyone up along with bikes and skateboards to go ride around at one of our favorite parks.

The weather was perfect and the kids had a blast!

I had prepped two pounds of strawberries, which I handed out as we got back into the van before heading home. The kids devoured these in two minutes and would have eaten more had I brought more. We buckled in and I gave everyone a cookie from one of Anna’s $0.50 packages. ;)

Saturday morning we ate Breakfast Cookies that I’d baked and put into the freezer a few weeks ago.

Then I finally had time to tackle the huge bag of Frozen Diced Potatoes I’d gotten from Azure Standard on Thursday.

I repackaged several gallons of them. Plus I put together a large pan of Party Potatoes to use in the future.

Meanwhile, I browned 4-pounds of hamburger meat that I’d purchased the day before. I seasoned three pounds to serve on Sunday for a Nacho Bar. Then I put the fourth pound into a Cheeseburger Casserole for that night’s dinner.

At 10:00, we loaded up all the kids for a super fun Literacy Festival at a nearby park. They all got to choose a new (used) book.

Then we walked around to enjoy a lot of fun booths that different organizations had set up for the event.

I’d packed Peanut Butter Honey Sandwiches and Fruit Cups for us to eat for an early lunch. I forgot to pack plates or spoons, so the kids had to drink their peaches. ;)

We came home at naptime and I made a batch of Vanilla Ice Cream for Sunday’s lunch.

For dinner that night, we ate our Cheeseburger Casserole with Steamed Green Beans. And that was our week!

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Big Family Food and Fun: March 10-16, 2024

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Here’s our Big Family Food and Fun: March 10-16, 2024 post!

Big Family Food and Fun: March 10-16, 2024

Our friends, the Brock family, had been staying at our house all weekend for a Homeschool Speech and Debate Tournament and we got to enjoy Sunday morning with them before they headed back home. They were exhausted from their very full weekend so we didn’t rush around but instead sat and enjoyed downtime together. (Well, as much downtime as we could have with our seven littles and their six kids, ha.)

I made pan after pan of Sam’s bacon for breakfast plus cut up 4-pounds of strawberries, whipped cream, and got pound cake out of the freezer for Strawberry Shortcake.

Their little girls had a sweet time with our little girls. :) :) :)

We gathered in the living room late morning for a time of worship together. Then had lunch before they took off for home and we headed out for afternoon church service.

Brayden made two bags of Caesar salad with help from our little guest.

I smoked some Chicken, rewarmed last week’s leftover Smoked Pork Loin, and made Corn, Green Beans, and Baked Beans to go with Brayden’s salad. The Brocks had brought back French Bread leftovers from their tournament so I cut, buttered, and toasted it to serve.

Justus and Kelsey had joined us so that they could say hello to the Brocks but Justus had to leave our house early to get to church. So Kelsey stuck around and helped us get out the door with our kids. This was the view in front of me as Matt, Kelsey, and the little girls made their way from the van into the church building.

And this was the view behind me, with Elias and Keith bringing up the rear. Our days are so full and the needs so great. These photos show a glimpse of how our Bigs help make this possible, and we are so grateful.

We stuck around home that evening and played in our yard. I did not feel like cooking, but for some reason, everyone felt like eating. ;)

I made a fruit tray and threw on the leftover pieces of buttered bread from lunch to take outside for the kids to munch on.

Then I boiled a package of Tortelloni that I found in our freezer.

The kids still had room in their bellies after all of this, so some of them had Banana with Peanut Butter, some leftover popcorn, and whatever other random food lurked about the kitchen.

Monday morning warmed several packages of Pancake Sausage Muffins in our air fryer for breakfast. The kids loved them!

Then we spent the morning getting ready for a big outing at the zoo. Since we have a membership, often we just go for an hour or two. But today we planned to take one of Brayden’s friends from school and make a day of it!

I put together a big assortment of food for lunch and snacks to get us through the day. For lunch, we would make our own “lunchables” with crackers, croissants, meat, and cheese. Plus I packed mandarins, applesauce, juice, cereal bars, and fruit snacks for an extra special treat.

We picked up our friend and headed to the zoo, which was packed that day due to the lovely weather and spring break.

Everyone stood on a square – and even Mom got to be in a picture!

Now that the weather is getting nicer, more of the animals that had been “away for the winter” are making an appearance. SO exciting!! Here we are admiring the llamas.

We were nice and hungry by lunchtime and found our favorite sunny table by the flamingos.

The peacocks were back and seemed to really enjoy exploring their territory so we saw them all over the zoo that day. This one wanted to join us for lunch, which most of us loved and some of us didn’t. Josie was not happy that Peacock walked by during her rock climbing expedition.

We walked, we played, we explored, we played some more – and every thirty minutes the kids asked to eat more meat or cheese. We were working up big appetites today! The applesauce tasted real good about 2:00. :)

Meanwhile, Matt and I were starting to drag and I remembered that I had stowed THESE in the bag! Yup. This was a perfect parent pick-me-up as we enjoyed eight kids at the zoo for almost four hours. :)

The kids were mad that we didn’t share with them. Nope, sorry kids. These are only for the parents.

Back at home I hadn’t even thought about dinner so we just pulled leftovers from the fridge to fill our bellies and clean out the fridge. Oh, and I made Kid Smoothies to refresh them after their big day and to give them some greens. (Matt and I already drank ours earlier in the day.)

Tuesday morning, Matt and I turned our crew over to our adult kids and some church friends. We’d made arrangements to have a two day, one night getaway so that we could rest and find refreshment!

Eva came to spend the day with the kids plus we had help throughout Tuesday from Elias, Malachi, and three friends. We knew the kids would be well cared for – we just hoped our caregivers would have the help and energy needed to take this on! We are so thankful for them!

Matt and I headed toward Omaha and enjoyed lunch at Cheesecake Factory thanks to a gift card someone had given us for Valentine’s Day.

I was too “busy” enjoying the rest so I didn’t get any pictures at our retreat center but guess what? We “accidentally” booked a room at Sonlit Retreats, a Christian-based acreage set up to provide rest and refreshment.

We weren’t searching for this, we truly just happened upon it. Matt had done an Airbnb search for something about an hour away, and this came up. It looked good to us so he booked it. BUT WOW. It was so much more than a place to stay. It turned out to be just what we needed – a place to walk around the lake and by the Platte River, a place to sit and talk and reflect, a place to be still and silent, a place to find connection with each other and with God.

We spent all of Tuesday afternoon, evening, and night there and didn’t leave Wednesday until the very last minute before check-out. I’d packed snacks and I was so glad I did because we didn’t want to leave Tuesday to find dinner. We just pulled out our snacks and ate in the quiet. I’m so thankful God led us here.

We had a great night of sleep and I woke up early (because sleeping in isn’t something I can do apparently). I took my Bible, journal, and my leftover cheesecake – because I was there without kids to question my breakfast, ha! – and sat with coffee and Jesus for almost two hours on Wednesday morning.

Matt and I walked around the property enjoying the water and trails for about an hour and a half before heading out for our second day together. We split an Omelet and Hashbrowns for lunch at Good Evans. Super tasty!

Then we went to Nebraska Crossing Outlet Malls for the afternoon. We had so much fun shopping for ourselves and for our kids. Our time away ended at Culvers before heading home to relieve our caregivers. (Asa and Eva had spent Tuesday night at the Castle then Kelsey came to relieve them Wednesday morning with Elias, Malachi, Justus, and church friends coming and going as scheduled.)

We strategically came home just after the kids had been put to bed so that we wouldn’t end our rest time with the hubbub of bedtime. Then we were back to the grind, refreshed and grateful.

Thursday morning Josie and BabyBoy#11 had a visit from our kids’ speech pathologist.

It was rainy that morning so we pulled out playdough and cookie cutters to enjoy for a while.

The kids and I had talked about having a special Costco lunch some time during their spring break. This rainy day seemed like the right time to do it! So we called ahead and ordered a pizza, then picked up a few hotdogs there too for a special lunch out. Elias came, one of our housemates joined us, and we picked up some extra pizza for Malachi and our nephew Troy. $21.65 fed 12 people – thank you Costco!

While some finished eating, I ran through the store with Acacia and Josie to get a few items we needed. We were delighted to run into a dear friend from York while we were there too!

That evening for dinner Brayden made a Caesar salad and we rewarmed some spaghetti leftovers that Eva had made when Matt and I were gone.

Eating leftovers that night freed me to get some extra cooking/baking done! Keith helped me make a batch of Chocolate Banana Blender Muffins.

They turned out beautiful!

While the muffins were baking, I browned two pounds of sausage and scrambled them with 28 eggs. I added cheese and put together six Breakfast Sandwiches and 22 Breakfast Burritos.

We are now set for grab-and-go breakfast options for a while!

Friday morning the kids ate some of the Chocolate Banana Blender Muffins I’d made the night before plus some leftover Pancake Sausage Muffins from the fridge.

I got a batch of Stick of Butter Rice cooking in the oven.

And I browned four pounds of hamburger meat.

Then Anna helped me make a double batch of Taco Rice Dinner.

Acacia helped me use the rest of the cooked hamburger to make a pot of Chili. We packaged some of both dishes up to deliver to a friend the next day. Then we saved some for our lunch that day.

Late morning, we loaded everyone up and went to the Children’s Museum. Matt let us all out at the door then he went to go park the van.

I had managed to get all seven littles situated for playing when GUESS WHAT?? Matt came in from parking the van to show me that the handle of the van’s sliding door had busted off. Nooooooooo.

Ok then. There’s always something, right?

But outside, the van door was wide open and wouldn’t close without the handle to release it. And I was inside with all seven kids by myself in a huge play place. Matt called Elias to bring over special tools he needed. I called Malachi to please drop everything and come help me keep track of all the kids. What would we do without our amazing grown kids?!

Elias got the tools to Matt and he started taking the entire door apart. Wow. What a rock star! Malachi arrived and helped me keep track of everyone.

An hour and a half later, Matt (the rock star) had the door at least functioning until we could order the parts needed to fix it. Malachi (also a rock star) helped us load everyone in the van to go home. The kids were starving so I handed out apples that I’d thankfully grabbed from home to take along “just in case.”

We got home in time to eat a late lunch of the Taco Rice Dinner that I’d made that morning.

It was after 2:00 before we had everyone down for naps or rest time. Matt went back out to take the door apart again, mainly to see what parts he needed to order. Keith loves anything that involves taking things apart, so of course he was right there with Daddy.

Late afternoon I spent some time getting ready for our family to be in York all day Saturday. I made our Saturday lunch and dinner to grab and take with us when we left the next day.

First, I made a loaf of bread worth of Peanut Butter Honey Sandwiches.

Then I made 6 cans worth of Tuna Salad to eat with crackers. I gathered everything I could find to make our day away easier and to keep our kids’ bellies full.

Since I was focused on prepping for Saturday, Friday night’s dinner was three Frozen Pizzas and Spinach.

Saturday morning we loaded up at 8:45 to be in York for the day. I was going to a funeral that morning while Matt took the kids to play at our friends’ house. Then after the funeral, I took over with the kids so that he could go work for the afternoon at the rental house we are getting ready to sell.

The friends’ house where we hung out that day? We got to be with our Tuesday People. Oh how we miss our regular weekly time with them. Having the day with them was so encouraging and good.

The kids had been playing hard all day so mid-afternoon we turned on a movie for them to watch. The sun was glaring onto the TV so Aaron gave them all one of his hats to put on. It was the cutest. :)

At 5:00, Matt came back from working and we loaded up. I handed everyone some Peanut Butter and Honey Sandwiches, applesauce, and juice and we headed back to Lincoln.

And that was our week!

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