Here’s our Big Family Food and Fun: July 6-12, 2025 post!

We went to Oklahoma at the end of last week to enjoy a family reunion. So before I start sharing about all we did this week, I’ll back up and tell you about our trip!

July 4-5, 2025

Each year, my dad’s side of the family enjoys a reunion together during a weekend close to the 4th of July. It was hosted in Oklahoma this year. While traveling with so many littles isn’t easy, Matt and I decided to make this trip happen so that we could connect with our extended family.

We spent a lot of time last week prepping for this trip, putting together breakfast, lunch, and snacks for the road, plus lots of activities to occupy everyone. Here’s our cooler all packed up and ready to go!

Just before taking off, we handed out the breakfast bags to get us down the road: Yogurt, Freeze Dried Strawberries, and a bag of Cereal to munch on. These kids were so excited for the road trip! (Were mom and dad as excited? Well…)

Overall, the kids did as well as possible on the way there. We were some of the first to arrive at the reunion site and enjoyed playing some pool with Cousin Alex. :)

I knew it would be worth all the effort to make this trip happen just to see these dear people. And it was.

At the end of the evening on Friday, we always have a family worship time. I loved that Acacia snuggled up to her Papa (my dad) during this time.

What’s it like putting eight kids to bed in hotel rooms? Well, it’s special, that’s for sure. We had all the boys in one room with Matt and all the girls in an adjoining room with me. No one could wind down until way past bedtime. Oh how they loved this adventure!

We enjoyed loads of family time from breakfast through lunch on Saturday. A highlight of our reunion each year is the traditional Pinata for the kids. Here we are lining up in age-order to take turns whacking the pinata. Josie was not interested, thank you.

After lunch and lots of hugs, we loaded back up to head home with a van full of tired and happy kids. The drive back to Nebraska was harder than the drive to Oklahoma, but we made it and were so thankful we’d taken the trip. We picked up McDonald’s on our way home, which of course, was another great highlight for our kids!

Big Family Food and Fun: July 6-12, 2025

Thankfully, I had Breakfast Cookie Bars in our freezer for breakfast on Sunday morning.

After church, we had a wonderful crowd of people join us at our house for lunch.

We have a small fridge in our living room full of cold drinks. Anna helped me get some drinks to take to the kitchen to serve. This was a genius way to get them there.

Our meal was simple and good. Elias and Malorie picked up three Rotisserie Chickens from Sam’s on their way home from church. Everyone who joined us brought sides and desserts. And that’s how we hosted lunch after being away on a trip. The only thing I cooked was a pan of Cream Cheese Corn.

Friends and daughters-in-law helped fix little girls’ plates. This is one of our favorite parts of Sunday Lunch – how everyone loves on our kids so wonderfully.

There were 30 of us gathered that day.

As we all dispersed after lunch and visiting, the kids went downstairs to watch a movie while Matt and I enjoyed Community Group time. Then that evening, we made Frozen Pizza for dinner. Emotions were extreme that night for all the kids. We were all extra tired, plus Bonus Buddy got picked up to go back to be with his dad. We knew this was coming, and transitions are never easy. We gave everyone a bath and headed to bed in hopes to rest and regroup.

Monday morning, I made a weird breakfast of Flourless Peanut Butter Brownies. This was a fun way to get protein into our kids in the form of what felt like a treat! I made a blender full of this Smoothie for Matt and me. The two of us go through a blender full of this in two days, which is the best way for us to get lots of greens into our diet!

Auggie had ABA therapy all morning while the other kids played and Matt and I tried to play catch-up after our trip. Late morning, Kiya held a Spa Day in her room. It’s never to early to take care of baby soft skin, hehe.

Lunch was one of champions: Fish Sticks and Tator Tots. Everyone ate Carrots and Pickles on the side, so that at least there was a little bit of nourishment in this meal. :)

We farmed out the kids that afternoon so that Matt and I could have some down time together. ABA therapy started for three of our kids at 4:15. Then, for dinner we ate like kings and queens! We’d brought some leftover Biscuits and Baked Potatoes home from our family reunion. I turned them into Biscuits and Sausage Gravy, Cheesy Eggs, and Fried Potatoes. We also ate Pears and Clementines with our meal.

Tuesday morning, we finished off tidbits of leftover breakfast items like Flourless Peanut Butter Brownies and Eggs/Potatoes. Then I took Acacia to speech therapy. Her time with our SLP, Marissa, is different from Auggie’s since their needs are so different. But Marissa does a good job making the sessions fun, and the swing came in handy for Acacia. :)

Back at home, Matt loaded everyone’s bikes into the van and I made a picnic lunch so that we could head to a park to ride and play. I warmed up leftover hotdogs, then cut them in half and bagged them. They went into an insulated bag to stay warm until lunch time.

Keith had his skates and skateboard ready and spent his entire time at this park in the skateboard area.

Lunch was Hotdogs or Peanut Butter Honey Uncrustables with Apples, Fruit Cups, Chips and Guac, and Caesar Salad.

It’s been a while since I packed a Salad for a Picnic, but this worked very well and we finished the entire bag!

That afternoon, Brayden, Kiya, and Keith got to go to our neighbor’s house to make Lemon Slushies – what a treat!

I took those three kids to our weekly Food Distribution to hand out food and clean coolers as they emptied out.

Then we came home for dinner and ABA therapy for two kids. I’d made a pot of Hearty Bean Casserole before leaving that afternoon, which we had with Rolls/Butter and Canned Fruit.

Wednesday morning, we ate Breakfast Sandwiches. Auggie started his morning ABA session and I left to do some big grocery shopping at Aldi and Costco.

Back at home, all the kids helped carry groceries in from the van and put them away.

Brayden made Chicken Salad for lunch to go on croissants. We ate our sandwiches with fresh Cucumbers from our neighbor’s garden, Greens, Raspberries, Grapes, and Cheese.

As we were finishing lunch, the coolest thing happened! The kids peeked outside and saw a gathering of people staring at our house. I assumed that they were on some sort of “learn the history of Lincoln” tour because our house is a bit of a Lincoln landmark. We went outside to visit with them and as it turns out…

…this group of people has a history with this house and very precious memories! Our house was originally built by Mr. Rogers (no, not that Mr. Rogers) – a well-to-do banker back in the early 1900’s. His maid, Nettie, lived and worked here for several years and THESE are her grandchildren! (Well, except for me. I’m just in the picture because they asked me to be.)

We invited them in to see the house, we learned more of the history of our home, we heard more of their grandmother’s story, and we walked them through many of the rooms of our home. They were thrilled and amazed that we invited them in. But truly, we were the ones extra blessed by this visit.

They went on their way and then Arrow arrived to hang out with us for the afternoon.

Later, while Arrow and Auggie napped, we filled a container with water and the kids played with water guns and a variety of containers, getting themselves nice and soaked.

We ended the water play with GoGurts and Popcorn.

Kelsey and Little Sweetheart came later in the afternoon to hang out. They’d been visiting family and friends in Montana so it was extra special to see them again!

I made Tacos for dinner with Seasoned Meat, Beans, White Queso, Lettuce, Cheese, Tortillas and Chip, Salsa, Guac, and Strawberries on the side.

After dinner, we put on our swimming suits to head to the Splash Park for our church’s Popsicles in the Park evening. While getting everyone ready, I caught Brayden reading a book to Josie. SO SWEET.

Malachi had been at church camp for two weeks, and he sent me this precious gem! My friend Kimmie was cooking in the big camp kitchen, making my recipe for Crunchy Ranch Chicken Strips. I was so honored that they used my recipe, but extra excited to see Kimmie’s servant-hearted smile in the picture Malachi was so thoughtful to take!

Malachi had to leave camp to come home that Wednesday night, only to turn around Thursday morning to fly to Mexico where he was filming a friend’s wedding. I got some big Malachi hugs before he left and snapped this shot from our living room window where he and Matt were loading up to head to the airport at 5:45 Thursday morning.

When the kids got up, Acacia and Josie helped me make a batch of Flourless Chocolate Banana Muffins to take in a picnic lunch for our outing that day.

I made two bags full of Breakfast Sandwiches and put them into the freezer.

We didn’t have any therapies that morning, so we packed a picnic and headed out for the morning. We took our Flourless Chocolate Banana Muffins along with two pounds of Strawberries, Yogurt, Almonds, Hard Salami, and Cheese.

Justus, Kelsey, and Little Sweetheart met us at Morrill Hall. Justus took Brayden around the museum to do “big kid stuff” while the rest of us tried to stay in and around a kid-friendly play area. There are actually lots of hands-on learning areas here, but this room is one of the best for our crew.

We’d worked up big appetites (only Auggie had snacked during our playtime), so we found a picnic table outside and dug into our food. Morrill Hall is on the UNL campus so we enjoyed watching all the action going on around us – mostly groups of middle school or high school students walking by frequently. We are assuming there were some summer camps going on. Either way, people watching is fun. So is eating a picnic lunch. :)

Back at home that afternoon, Matt was awesome to hold down the fort while I was blessed to have a session with MY Christian therapist. Oh how I needed this. God is faithful.

Our kids’ ABA therapy started at 4:15. Some of the kids had extra good sessions and some of the kids displayed some extreme behaviors. Somewhere in there, I made dinner. Our smoker decided not to heat up, so I defaulted to cooking our Pork Chops in a skillet on the stove. Matt spent time cleaning out our very-used-and-loved smoker. Kiya made Caesar Salad, and I steamed Green Beans and made some Mashed Potatoes (from potato flakes I got at Azure Standard a while ago just to have on hand for a quick side dish).

After dinner, while Keith, Anna, and Auggie finished out their ABA therapy sessions, Matt took Brayden, Kiya, Acacia, and Josie down the road to a church nearby who was hosting a Back Yard VBS in their parking lot.

We ate Bagels for breakfast on Friday morning. I’d put two big pork butts into our roasting pan to slow cook all night. That morning, I shredded it and bags it to rewarm easily to serve Pulled Pork for our Sunday Lunch.

A big branch had fallen during the night, so cleaning it up turned into our morning activity. :)

I’d found Corndogs on sale at Costco on Wednesday, so I air fried some for lunch. The kids loved this, and we ate them with Grapes and Cucumbers.

We farmed out the kids all afternoon. Eva took Kiya and Anna to visit our friend, Clara, who was recovering from a major surgery. Together, they made these fun flowers from coffee filters – so cool! Kiya was so proud to show me the one she’d made!

When Brayden and Keith got home from their Bro Time with Elias and Malorie, Keith’s ABA therapy session started. His technician was awesome to work with Keith as he (with permission) destroyed a wood pallet we needed to dispose of.

I made a simple Spaghetti and Meatball meal that night with Steamed Broccoli.

Keith, Anna, and Auggie all had great ABA therapy sessions that evening. Matt took Brayden, Kiya, Acacia, and Josie a few blocks away to the final night of Grace Chapel’s Backyard VBS. Our neighbor friend, Lily, was there to love on our kids.

Saturday morning is Watch a TV Show and Eat Cereal morning at our house. Then we packed up a picnic and headed to meet friends at the Zoo! Here was our best attempt at getting our seven and Stephanie’s three kids in a Tiger Truck photo. :)

After we saw giraffes and tigers, we stopped for an apple break.

Turtles, otters, crocodiles, fish, and flamingos – then lunch. We had an assortment of food to pick from: Applesauce, Fruit Cups, Cheese, Turkey Slices, Flourless Chocolate Banana Muffins, Carrots, Cucumbers, Pistachios, and Chips with Guac. After that, we ate an entire bag of Heavenly Hunks from Costco. Those are such a treat!

After the zoo, we came home and put Auggie down for a nap. We played, cleaned, and got ready for Sunday Lunch and Sabbath.

And that was our week!