Heavenly Homemakers

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Big Family Food and Fun: May 5-11, 2024

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Here’s our Big Family Food and Fun: May 5-11, 2024 post!

Big Family Food and Fun: May 5-11, 2024

Keith had a soccer game right after church on Sunday, so once again, we packed a lunch to eat since his game was on the side of town where our church meets. :)

I had made two loaves of Stir-and-Pour Bread the day before so I sliced it and took a container of butter.

I had also marinated chicken thighs and smoked them on Saturday. When I got up on Sunday, I put the chicken into crock pots to rewarm and by lunch time after church, they were perfect and ready to eat! I had cut a watermelon to go with our meal, plus some friends joined us and brought salad, clementines, and drinks. It was a simple but delicious feast!

Keith had a nice cheering section for his game as we all loaded up in our new stroller/wagon to get ourselves settled in.

Coach Elias is doing such a good job. Poor guy had a sinus infection so he was drinking tea, coaching, and reffing all at the same time. :)

Back at home that afternoon, we had all the kids take a rest time with books. Then some went outside to play while Acacia and Josie “helped” me make pizzas for dinner. They were just in it for the cheese. ;)

Monday morning I baked several pans worth of bacon, scrambled some eggs, and got out fruit for breakfast. We also toasted and buttered the last of Sunday’s Stir-and-Pour Bread.

Matt took our three littlest with him that morning to York to drop off with a friend so he could work on the final property that we are almost ready to put on the market. Eva came over and hung out with Keith and Anna and I spent some time working. It was a great morning, then once Keith and Anna got on the bus for preschool, I had time all alone to get something done.

I decided to go shopping all by myself, which almost never happens! I took my time walking through Costco aisles, getting diapers and a few random items we needed. Ah, and I grabbed a Rotisserie Chicken for dinner. Boom. Dinner is ready. :)

I then headed to Walmart for some things we needed and checked for markdowns – of course. I scored Free Range Chicken Thighs for just $1.98/pound!!! I also grabbed two chocolate cake mixes for $1.00 each (their regular price) so I could make our infamous Spinach Cake.

I had picked up a big Caesar Salad kit while shopping and Keith was excited to make it all by himself to go with our dinner. I don’t think Josie was very happy that Keith was on the stool she wanted to sit on. :(

I had the idea to purchase large containers like this for ease in letting the kids make these salads. I found some at Sam’s a few weeks ago and they are working like I hoped they would. We put the lid on and give them a shake!

Dinner was delicious and easy. I had put our Costco Rotisserie Chicken into a crock pot on “Keep Warm”  setting when I got home that afternoon so it was still great at dinner time. We ate it with Keith’s Salad plus Green Beans and Watermelon. Soooooo good.

After dinner the kids played and played outside even though it was a bit drizzly off and on. They were a little bit soggy when they came in, but they sure did settle in for sleep well after playing so hard and eating so well.

Tuesday morning I made Eggs in a Nest and prepped some Strawberries.

We are very close to getting our final rental house on the market in York. So once again, we loaded up the kids and headed to Menards for supplies so Matt would have what he needed when he headed back there to work. They only had one of the special carts so we had to take turns. That went…sort of okay. ;)

Back at home, we played outside while we waited for the preschool bus to come pick up Keith and Anna. This sweetheart found a dolly and put a size 5 diaper on her. She was a very proud and sweet mommy.

I picked up Brayden and Kiya from school that afternoon and headed to the Food Distribution site so we could help hand out food. We missed last week because of Keith’s Kindergarten Roundup, so it was great to be back there helping.

Before leaving, I had put some shredded pork into a crock pot with some seasonings so that we could have Shredded Pork Tacos for dinner. Matt and Elias had already fed some of the littles when we got back from Food Distribution then the rest of us ate in shifts. Keith was hanging out with our neighbors, Coleman and Sarah, so I asked them to come over and grab tacos. I love it when they say yes!

Here’s what our kitchen looked like that evening.

We’d brought back some bread and miscellaneous items leftover from Food Distribution so that was all over the island. Plus dirty dishes, packs of baby wipes, kids’ school lunch bags, and who knows what else. I knew what it looked like when I invited our neighbors to come eat with us, and I did hesitate for a few seconds because the messes at our house can sometimes be embarrassing.

But relationships matter more than messes and I invited them anyway. Coleman and Sarah are becoming a part of us and they are understanding about our crazy life with so many kids and so many needs. We chatted around this mess. I put items away as I could. Everyone filled their plates with tacos. It was a wonderful evening. :)

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Wednesday morning I threw out lots of Oatmeal Packets for the kids to pick from plus cut up a Cantaloupe and some Strawberries.

While the kids ate, the little girls helped me crack 48 eggs to bake in sheet pans. When the eggs came out of the oven, I sprinkled cheese on top to melt. Later in the morning, I cut the eggs into rectangles and squares and put together 29 Breakfast Sandwiches. Some of the kids enjoyed a square of Cheesy Eggs while I built sandwiches.

After I assembled the sandwiches, I put some into the fridge to warm up the next morning. Then I wrapped the others in foil so that people could pull them out and warm them in the air fryer as needed.

The weather was gorgeous so we played outside the rest of the morning and early afternoon.

Malachi came by and Acacia insisted that she give him a ride on her little car.

For dinner that night, Matt grilled 18 burgers. While they were cooking, I made these smoothies for the kids to sip on while they played outside.

Since there are so many of us, and because the adults in the house get home from work at all different times, I’ve started putting the meat that we grill into a crock pot on the “keep warm” setting. This has worked great to feed everyone from early to late!

Matt took the littlest four on a wagon ride after the burgers were finished.

Then we fixed burgers for everyone and got out pickles. Some of the kids wanted to try pickle juice. Why?? Because they like juice and figured it would surely be tasty. One child who shall remain nameless definitely didn’t like hers but asked for seconds anyway because of stubbornness. :)

Thursday morning before school I sliced up several pears and warmed up some of the Breakfast Sandwiches I had made the day before.

We were almost completely out of coffee creamer, which forced my hand at attempting homemade. I’ve definitely wanted to avoid the less-than-ideal-ingredient options from the store but haven’t made the time. The Mocha Creamer I attempted turned out good according to Matt and not quite sweet enough according to Malachi. I’ll keep tweaking and then share the recipe!

Matt headed out the door to work in York for the day and Malachi came to help me with the kids. I had a phone appointment as this transition was happening so I turned on a show so that I could talk on the phone with fewer interruptions. Keith was excited to tackle Malachi when he arrived. :)

We played outside the rest of the morning with Malachi making four boxes of mac and cheese for lunch. Frozen peas are their garnish as they cool off the mac and cheese and taste great to the kids!

For dinner that night we were still waiting on Matt to get back so we kept it simple and warmed up leftovers from the fridge. We started with tidbits of Green Beans, Salad, and Chicken. Then we kept getting out more and more food as needed for the rest of the evening.

I took out the remainder of a container of watermelon and let the kids poke pieces with toothpicks. That way I didn’t have to worry about plates or forks!

Daddy got home!! We were all still playing outside – and still hungry – so I sliced several oranges. Those got eaten in about five minutes so I cut up some fresh pears for Matt to hand out.

Friday morning I had an appointment for one of the kids and didn’t get any pictures of our day until the afternoon. We had a very full weekend ahead of us so I pulled kids in to do Mother’s Day prep. We decided that this year we’d make food ahead of Sunday with Mom’s help so that Mother’s Day would be as restful as possible (while still trying to get seven kids off to church, and then to a soccer game…)

Josie helped me make a big Cheeseburger Casserole for Sunday evening’s gathering so that all we had to do was slide it into the oven to bake. The container full of frozen potatoes looked like SUCH a fun thing to play in!! “Josie, don’t touch please…”

“ooh, but I really want to…”

“Ok. Pulling my hands back now…”

Precious girlie. She did a great job and our casserole was put together in just a few minutes.

I had cooked several pounds of hamburger that morning, some of which we used for the casserole. Then I put the rest into a bag to keep in the fridge for a meal or two next week.

Next, Brayden came in and made a big bowl full of Tuna Salad for a quick Sunday lunch between church and soccer game.

Acacia got to help me make Pineapple Fluff for Sunday lunch (while munching on a slice of pear).

That container went into the fridge with the Tuna Salad, all ready for Sunday.

Meanwhile, Matt grilled 12 Cheddar Franks and 12 regular Beef Hotdogs for our dinner.

Saturday morning I made Sausage Gravy and Eggs to go with some biscuits that we came home with from Tuesday’s Food Distribution.

Kelsey and their Little Sweetheart came over for a little while so we got to enjoy some snuggle time.

We were planning to be in York most of the day for some Graduation Parties so we worked out details to meet friends at the park to hang out while Matt spent more time finishing the bathroom on the house we are trying to finish to put on the market. Before we left, I gathered a big variety of food items for us to take to eat all day.

Our friends Pam and Audrey met us at the park, plus later Katie and Bella. It was SO GOOD to catch up with them! A few hours later, we took seven tired, dirty kids to the Grad Party and got to see many more people we love and cherish.


Back at home, we warmed up leftovers and gave thorough baths to all the kids to get sand and grit out of their hair. :) We tucked them into bed, and that was our week!

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Big Family Food and Fun: April 28-May 4, 2024

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Here’s our Big Family Food and Fun: April 28-May 4, 2024 post!

Big Family Food and Fun: April 28-May 4, 2024

I had put together an Easy Bread Pudding the day before when I was making a big batch of Uncrustables so I baked it for our Sunday morning breakfast!

I packed lunch for us to eat after church with other families who were staying for a fun Sundaes on Sunday event! I had two loaves of bread worth of Uncrustables, four cans worth of Tuna Salad, and a batch of Cream Cheese Salsa Dip. Plus I packed grapes, chips, bread/buns, and sweet peppers.

Keith was supposed to have a soccer game mid-afternoon also, so I packed oranges for us to eat during the game and juice for the kids to drink on the way home.

Keith was prepared to fight a fire that morning but we packed his soccer gear just in hopes that his Fire Chief duties allowed him to play in his game. :)

During church, we got the inevitable “Your child’s game is canceled due to wet field conditions.” I think he’s had more cancelations than actual games at this point. But that did mean that we could stay longer at our church fellowship event.

Our awesome children’s minister had Sundae supplies set up after lunch for everyone!

Those oranges I cut up for the kids to eat during Keith’s (canceled) game? Not to worry – those got eaten right on our kitchen floor when we got home. BabyBoy#11 even got in on the action – sucking out some juice while his sisters gobbled down the fruit.

For about an hour that afternoon, I got all the kids involved in doing some much-needed house cleaning. Were they excited and did they have good attitudes about this? Not really. But did they learn some life skills and life lessons about working as a family team? Yes.

Keith had the privilege of running our steam mop, so he actually LOVED his job. The kitchen floor looked much better after he was finished!

I warmed up leftover pancakes and sausage for dinner that night. Then, our friends, the Bakers, came over to watch the seven littles for us. We grown-ups all loaded up at met up at a nearby church for a…

Rend Collective Concert!!!

This was a Christmas gift we gave our adult kids and we finally got to enjoy it together!

The entire night was full of powerful worship! While the entire group is extremely talented, we were all especially impressed with the fiddler. And look! We found the fiddler and got a photo with him during intermission!! :)

Ah, but you might not have noticed the fiddler in the above photo because Kelsey is holding a tiny babe. :) Indeed. Justus and Kelsey have recently started to foster this sweetheart. She is beyond precious. :)

Monday morning, I packed the BBQ Pork/Cheese Sandwiches I’d put together the week before plus some bags of chips to send with Matt as he headed to York. Malachi and some friends were meeting up at our old house to clean it out one last time before the new owners started to move in.

Elias and Malorie helped me with the kids all day while Matt was gone. I decided it was a piggy-tail day.

A piggy-tail-BUBBLE day.

I had a big meeting with our Case Worker, Casa, and Foster Care Support Person that morning. BabyBoy#11’s adoption is coming up soon and we got more paperwork completed!

That evening, I smoked 14 Brats and 24 Hotdogs for dinner. I threw out Pickles, Fruit Cups, and Chips plus warmed up leftover Baked Beans. We ate as fast as we could then headed out for Brayden’s Ukulele Concert at school.

I could not stop smiling while he performed. Music brings out the best in him, 100%, and I was praising God the entire time for giving Brayden this area of success. I didn’t get any pictures of his fan club, but there were 14 of us sitting in the crowd cheering him on. :)

Tuesday morning Keith took on the task of washing some dishes. These dishes got very, very clean and also very wet.

Meanwhile, in the living room…

Just before taking them to school, I had Brayden and Kiya come in to the kitchen to scrub potatoes for our dinner that night. I’m working very hard to train the kids to serve our family in various ways.

The day before I had discovered a Lilac Bush in our yard that I didn’t know existed. It reminds me of the lane leading up to  grandparent’s house and the scent took me back to my childhood. I’m so excited we have this! I put some lilacs into a vase and took it into our kitchen for us to enjoy!

Late afternoon, Acacia and Josie snacked on grapes outside at their picnic table.

Dinner that evening was leftover BBQ Chicken from Saturday night plus Crock Pot Baked Potatoes and Steamed Broccoli. I also warmed up leftover Corn from the fridge. I needed to be out the door by 5:00 because Keith had Kindergarten Roundup. So dinner was ready by 4:30 and we started feeding kids in shifts.

In an effort to divide and conquer, Matt stayed home with four kids and I took Keith, Anna, and BabyBoy#11 with me to the elementary school. Keith was very excited and has declared that he is already a kindergartener. :)

We got to meet the kindergarten teachers and Keith made a hat in what might be his classroom next year. Anna made one too, because, why not? And BabyBoy#11 ate some magnatiles. :)

It was still early evening when we got home and everyone was hungry again because we’d had such an early dinner. The snack this tired mom decided to provide for her hungry children? Spoon after spoon of Peanut Butter. It was easy and it filled their bellies!

Matt attempted to mow part of our lawn while the kids played before bedtime. Everything went fine until it was time for me to transition everyone into the house to get ready for bed. That’s when kids started to put grass clippings in each other’s hair and then they all rubbed fresh grass onto their hands, creating grass-stained hands. Things can, and often do, go from calm to crazy in the span of five seconds. But hey, the lawn looks nice and we all survived.

Wednesday morning I baked a batch of Bran Muffins. Notice how I didn’t get the cinnamon stirred in well? That actually ended up being a pretty tasty mistake. :)

Keith had been asking for Breakfast Cookies so late morning, he helped me make a double batch. Having muffins and breakfast cookies in our freezer is so helpful!

In the afternoon I bagged up the Muffins and Cookies for the freezer. I also baked several pans of Bacon to have on hand and to share.

I had the little girls help me crack 2+ dozen eggs, then I made two Breakfast Casseroles in an attempt to get ahead.

For dinner that night, we made a simple meals of Boiled Elbow Noodles, Spaghetti Sauce with Meat, and Steamed Broccoli. Brayden helped make most of this meal, taking big pride in already knowing how to do most of it. :)

Most of the littles prefer their noodles without sauce but with butter and cheese.

With so many littles to chase, it is very rare for us all to actually SIT an enjoy a meal. But here we are, sitting. For two minutes. We attempted to practice some Bible verses with the kids, which is something we like to do at meal time if we can possibly get everyone seated and quiet.

Thursday morning, Matt headed back to York to work. Elias has started a new job as a Special Ed Para (such a great fit for him!) so he got out the door early. Malachi had video work to do so we called our dear friend Christina to come help us this morning!

I captured this photo of the girls enjoying a rare moment of quiet coloring as the adults were trying to get out the door.

Meanwhile, Keith had gotten out string, scissors, glue, paper, and a hole punch to make…a mask?

His creativity was flowing so next he made a light saber!

Christina is the best with our kids! She helped make our morning go very smoothly. :)

For dinner that night, we stirred together Wednesday night’s leftovers and Elias topped it with cheese to bake.

I decided to go with paper boats that night so that I didn’t add extra dishes to our needs of the day.

And we ate outside so that the mess would fall to the ground! After playing more, we ate some fruit cups to refresh us before bedtime.

We had refrigerated Wednesday’s Egg Casseroles so Friday morning, I cut them and warmed some up for our breakfast. Then I put the remaining pieces into baggies, and then into freezer bags for easy packed lunches (adults) and easy breakfasts (everyone).

We ran to Sam’s that morning where I grabbed milk, fruit, and veggies.

But the real reason we went to Sam’s is because I’d been researching the best Wagon/Stroller for our outings and they had a great one! We wanted to pick it up and get it ready for the season. Of course, putting it together was a BIG EVENT when we got home and Daddy could not have done it without all of this great help. :)

We loaded up and took it for a test drive all the way to the kids’ school where they were having a special Walkathon outside that day.

It’s going to be great to have, but it was a bit heavy for me once we put 100+ pounds of children inside. :) At the zoo, soccer games, parks, and other events, it will be fabulous!

To celebrate our kids’ school’s Walkathon that evening, our closest community library hosted a gathering for the students. They had a scavenger hunt, activities, crafts and PIZZA.

BabyBoy#11 was all in for this event. ;)

It felt extra special to eat pizza inside the library.

But the best part of the night was interacting with people from our community. Many are still new to us and this was a great gift to be with them in this way.

Saturday morning we ate odds and ends to finish off Breakfast Cookies and Muffins.

Meanwhile, I cut up the great big watermelon I’d gotten at Sam’s the day before. (I spent just under $8 on this. Read here to learn why I think this is a GREAT PRICE.)

We got to go to our favorite Sensory Friendly Library Storytime that morning.

We came home and warmed up leftovers for lunch. I used leftover baked potatoes and bacon to make a skillet full of something similar to what is described here. Wow was it good! Brayden and Kiya helped warm up veggies.

In preparation for our Sunday lunch, I dumped two kinds of sauces on chicken to marinate. Later that evening I smoked the chicken. I planned to rewarm it and put it into crock pots Sunday morning to take to church for lunch since once again, Keith had a soccer game right after lunch (if it doesn’t get canceled).

The rest of the afternoon was spent playing outside, moving a new housemate into our third floor, and getting ready for Sunday.

Our neighbor, John, was planting more flowers into his gorgeous flower garden. He has been so gracious to teach our kids and let them help. This is big for any kid – but for our kids – the time, energy, and love he is pouring in has been beyond big. Brayden was out having Bro Time with Elias, BabyBoy#11 was napping, and the other five kids and I went across the street to plant flowers with John.

He talked us through how he does things, why he does them, and he let the kids do all the work. It was amazing. When we got back to our yard, our kids used their new skills to plant fake flowers in our dirt while I smoked the chicken I had marinated earlier.

I also mixed up two loaves worth of Stir-and-Pour Bread to go with our Sunday lunch chicken. I haven’t made bread in a very long time, and my intent was to pull kids inside to make it with me. But they were playing so well outside and having so much fun I just let them be. They can make bread with me 100 other times or more. :)

I realized I only had whole wheat pastry flour, which doesn’t work for yeast breads. So I used unbleached white flour and the bread turned out great. Truly, anyone can make this bread. It’s so easy and requires no kneading!

The smell of smoked chicken and freshly baked bread teased us as I saved it for our Sunday lunch and instead pulled out leftovers for our Saturday dinner. This was the last of the leftovers in our fridge and it felt so good to get them all cleaned out! I turned the remaining leftover noodles into Mac and Cheese by making a white sauce. Keith grated cheese for this project and was so proud. Then I cut up the leftover hotdogs I’d smoked earlier in the week and stirred them in. We ate it with peas and the kids gobbled it up!

We put a lot of dirty, tired kids into the bathtub, and that was our week!

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Big Family Food and Fun: April 21-27, 2024

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Here’s our Big Family Food and Fun: April 21-27, 2024 post!

Big Family Food and Fun: April 21-27, 2024

Sunday morning was a bit less intense compared to the past few weeks. Instead of having to pack an entire lunch for our family to eat after church and before Keith’s soccer game, we were planning to enjoy a potluck lunch with our church family. My only responsibility was to take Frosted Brownies, which I had baked and frozen last week.

So while feeding all the kids breakfast, I put BabyBoy#11 into one of our kitchen sinks for his “bath.” A couple of the kids had fun helping me.

We loved spending extra time with so many friends after church while we ate.

Then we loaded up and headed to Keith’s soccer game. I had packed apples and pistachios to snack on at the game because even though we had just eaten lunch, we seem to always still need snacks. ;)

I tried to capture a picture of Keith’s fan club as we all trailed out after the game. We are quite a parade.

I had put a a Pork Roast into a crock pot early that morning for our dinner that night. But it was still not quite done at mealtime. So I left it to continue cooking and pulled out leftovers to fill our bellies.

It was a boring and no-veggie dinner of leftover Smoked Chicken, Mac and Cheese, and Toasted Sourdough Bread.

I had made some Peanut Butter Cup Whipped Cream that afternoon so we all enjoyed it with graham crackers as a treat after dinner.

Monday morning for breakfast I scrambled eggs and the kids made toast for themselves to go with their eggs.

It was a warm day so the girls were so happy to put on new summer-y outfits!

I attempted to take Anna to Food Distribution where Keith and I go on Monday mornings. Once Keith starts Kindergarten next year, Anna will be my Food Distribution sidekick. I instructed Keith to show her how it’s done and he did – sort of. They got pretty distracted by toy donations in the room where we were working, oy.

I just had the two of them for the rest of that morning because Matt and Elias had taken the three youngest kids to York for the day to spend time with our friend Nancy. So I spent my time and energy working extra on some of Keith and Anna’s behavior needs. And I taught them both to help me load the dishwasher.

After school, Kiya set up a nail salon on our back steps. :)

We had lots of visits from friends that afternoon/evening as our dear friend Phyllis came to see us. She showers us with love when she comes and our time with her is such a gift.

Then friends Charlene and Samantha came for the evening. Once our girls discovered Samantha’s purse, it was all over. Thank you, Sam, for letting them use up ALL YOUR LOTION AND CHAPSTICK. All of it. Gone. Plus dental floss. Bless.

I was so busy enjoying friends that evening that I didn’t cook or take pictures of what I didn’t cook. ;)

I asked Elias to throw in four frozen pizzas for us, which he did, and here’s what that looked like at the end of the night:

Tuesday, Matt and I made a plan to run to a couple of stores and then go to a park before heading home. I packed lunch, knowing that we would need to eat through all of these plans.

We had some lunchmeat that needed to be eaten up so I put it on buns with cheese and melted them in our air fryer just before we left for our outing.

Matt stayed in the van with our littles while I ran into Walmart for inner tubes so he could fix bike tires later that day. While in the store, I couldn’t not run over to see if there were any food mark-downs, right? Woo – marked down pizzas!

And a beef roast for $3.08/pound!

Our time at the park was windy! But it was a good outing for the kids so that we could get their energy out.

We dropped Acacia and Josie off at Ms. Kathi’s on our way home for their special time with her that day. Then we got home and put away groceries we’d picked up that afternoon. Here’s what I got at Aldi:

Keith and Anna didn’t have school that day. Anna was excited to help me load the dishwasher, seeing as she’d been taught how the day before and was now an expert.

Keith played in the dirt all afternoon and came in with a mustache.

Justus, Kelsey, and Kelsey’s mom, Nicole, came for dinner that night! Brayden, Kiya, and I had just arrived back from helping at the Food Distribution but I had all the food in crock pots or ready to rewarm on the stove. We had Sunday night’s Pork Roast, Crock Pot Baked Potatoes, Corn, Green Beans, Rolls, and Strawberries with Whipped Cream.

We don’t get to see Nicole very often so it’s a huge treat that she is in town!

Wednesday morning, I made French Toast and Bacon. I also blended up a smoothie full of greens for Matt and me.

It is worth a mention that I do very well keeping children alive. But plants? Not so much. (Water perked these back up, thankfully.)

While the plants were suffering and dehydrated, I also failed to pull the last of our  bacon out of the oven at the right time. I decided to make as much bacon as possible that morning to get ahead. But then I forgot about these pans when I went upstairs to get myself dressed and ready for the day.

Can’t win ’em all.

Matt and Elias spent the day in York working again and they took the youngest three kids to our friend Emma’s for the day. They loved this!

That night for dinner I grilled some Pork Steak I’d picked up on the cheap a few weeks ago.

They turned out amazing! We ate them with strawberries and salad.

Thursday morning I let Brayden and Kiya toast their own bagels or toast in the air fryer (they consider this a huge privilege). We ate them with applesauce or bananas.

Matt needed some items at Menards so he dropped three kids and me at Sam’s while he took the other two kids across the parking lot to Menards to do his shopping. My main goal was to get fruits and veggies because we go through them so quickly. Beyond spinach, spring mix, broccoli, oranges, salad kits, and grapes, I picked up some kleenex, plastic containers, barbecue sauce, pickles, heavy whipping cream, almond butter, hot dogs, milk, eggs, and fig bars.

We dropped Acacia and Josie off at Josalyn’s where they spent some time painting. :)

Late afternoon I handed everyone a box or two of kleenex from the case we’d bought at Sam’s that day and we all paraded up the stairs to put them on our storage shelf.

Kiya is quite the organizer, so she helped everyone put their box in its place.

We had to be at the kids’ school that evening for a special Preschool Family Open House so for an early dinner I baked the Walmart pizzas that I’d picked up earlier in the week.

Keith and Anna were so excited to introduce us to all their friends. Brayden was excited too because he has had the privilege of helping in a preschool classroom a few mornings recently. He felt like a celebrity when he walked in and was swarmed by little ones who were happy to see him!

There were activities set up at tables for us to enjoy.

Of course Anna found the flamingos at the photo booth!

Friday the kids didn’t have school so I made a huge batch of pancakes with sausage.

I was planning to make these Chocolate Cupcakes (with spinach) but discovered that I didn’t have any chocolate cake mixes. Not to worry – I just added a little bit of cocoa powder to the yellow cake mix to cover up the green spinach. :) While I was using greens, I made another batch of these smoothies for Matt and me.

Mid morning I packed up a lunch for us to take on our outing for the day. It was rainy and wet outside so we decided to take everyone to the indoor mall play place to get energy out. For lunch I packed Cheese, Salami, Crackers, Grapes, and the Cupcakes with a container of frosting to surprise the kids.

The mall play area was a big hit!

At lunchtime we took all eight kids (our Bonus Boy was with us again this weekend) to potty and wash hands. Then we sat in the Food Court and handed out the lunch we’d packed. It was both sweet and crazy. :)

Back at home, there were tornado sirens off and on all afternoon, which was a bit nerve-wracking for some of our kids. As many of you heard, there ended up being a lot of tornado-action here in Lincoln and in Omaha and surrounding areas. THANK YOU SO MUCH to all who emailed to check in on us. Thankfully, we are all safe and sound.

Because of the craziness of the afternoon, we stayed in that night and warmed up leftovers for dinner. Kiya was excited to be our food-warmer-upper. :)

While Kiya was working on dinner, I used Sunday’s leftover Pork Roast to get ahead for future meals. I put together a huge pan of Party Potatoes with Pork Roast. Then I turned the rest of the meat into sandwiches like this. All of the adults in our house love having individually wrapped sandwiches on hand to grab and go for work needs.

Saturday morning we had No-Bake Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Bites. (I had intended to make No-Bake Snickerdoodle Bites but realized too late that I didn’t add cinnamon. So I switched to chocolate chip and no one complained!)

While the kids played outside, I prepped our Sunday lunch. We were going to have a fun Sundaes on Sunday event with church friends right after worship service and everyone was to bring their lunch. I made two loaves of bread worth of Uncrustables to take with us. Then I used the crusts to make Easy Bread Pudding for our Sunday breakfast.

I headed outside so Matt could come in and get something done. I discovered that Brayden and Kiya were across the street with our neighbor, John. He is a plant and flower expert and they were helping him and learning as they went. This is so good for them!

Then John came over and started teaching our girls about the weeds in our yard that look like flowers. Note how Acacia has her arms around Josie and Anna. She is such a little mama. :)

The weather was decent so we decided to load up the eight kids and go to the zoo for a few hours. I grabbed a random assortment of whatever was easiest to grab for us to eat for lunch an snacks while we were there.

After we finished eating, the kids lined up on a wall to watch a Porcupine lesson being taught in the exhibit area.

We headed over to look at other animals and were stopped by a Peacock with all its feathers spread wide. Amazing!

We played in the sand area for quite a while before loading up for home. We had a huge afternoon/evening with people stopping by for visits including overnight guests. Our friend Malorie has turned into Elias’ girlfriend Malorie. :) :) :) She graduated from college that day and her family came to spend the evening and night with us. It was a wonderful time getting to know each other better!

For dinner I made a meal similar to this one with Smoked Chicken Legs, Caesar Salad, Corn, Baked Beans, and Rolls.

We got a bunch of dirty, tired kids through the bath and that was our week!

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Big Family Food and Fun: April 7-13, 2024

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Here’s our Big Family Food and Fun: April 7-13, 2024 post!

Big Family Food and Fun: April 7-13, 2024

We planned to stay after church on Sunday to enjoy a Focus Group meeting as our church family prayerfully considers our mission and vision and how to grow faithfully in the direction God wants us to grow. After the meeting, Keith had a soccer game. So we needed to pack a lunch, snacks, soccer gear, jackets, and oh yeah, don’t forget to pack the kids. :)

The day before, I had put together a 10″x15″ casserole dish full of  Simple Egg Casserole so that I could easily slide it into the oven to bake before leaving for church.

Once it came out of the oven, I cut it into 20 pieces and put it into a crock pot so we could plug it in at church to stay hot for our lunch.

This plan worked great and after church we ate our Casserole with Banana Muffins, Applesauce, and a couple of Pound Cakes we’d been given at last week’s Food Distribution.

Childcare was provided for us during our Focus Group meeting and the kids played hard with their friends. And what about Keith’s soccer game? Ugh. It had been rained out…again. Maybe, maybe he’ll have his first soccer game by the time his third scheduled game rolls around?!

We drove by his soccer field to at least show him where he’d be playing, then we headed home. Some of us couldn’t keep our eyes open.

Later that afternoon, our friend Paula dropped off school lunches for the week and Acacia used all her muscles to drag them into the pantry for me. :)

I made a simple dinner of Chicken Strips and Popcorn Chicken with Fries and Buttered Peas.

When I was cleaning the kitchen that evening and writing tomorrow’s menu on our white board, Anna wanted to practice writing her name. Look at what a great job she is doing!!

We assigned some clean up chores to the kids before bed. Keith used his skateboard to help pick up toys and drive them to the playroom for the night. :)

Monday morning our friend Caitlyn came over to help me all day so that Matt and Elias could go to York and work on a house we’re trying to finish and put on the market. She was amazing and the kids and I loved spending the day with her.

It was beautiful outside that day so we spent a lot of time playing in the fresh air and sunshine.

For dinner that night, I made Spaghetti with Sauce, Meatballs, and Green Beans.

This meal is a huge hit with all the kids. Pasta is one of my least favorites, but I will be making it more often because all the kids eat it very well. I like it when the kids eat well. ;)

Monday we finished off the Banana Muffins along with Scrambled Cheesy Eggs and Apples.

We had almost no fresh fruit or veggies in the house, plus BabyBoy#11 was getting low on his special Pediasure drinks. So after we got Brayden and Kiya off to school, we loaded up the other five and headed to the store to get some WIC items. (Side note, speaking of BabyBoy#11! On Monday I was able to get him to eat five tiny bites of a peach – a huge break through!)

Matt dropped Anna, Acacia, and me off at Walmart, then he took the other three kids to Great Clips so Keith could get a hair cut.

This handsome boy greeted us when we met back up after hair cut and shopping!

That afternoon, Brayden, Kiya, and I went to our weekly Food Distribution to help hand out food to people in the community.

I had made a big bowl of Tuna Salad beforehand. When we got home, I cut up two pounds of strawberries and whipped some cream. It was a super simple meal, but we all loved it.

Malachi surprised us by stopping over and he took kids outside to skateboard for a while. :)

Wednesday morning we had big plans to get Brayden and Kiya off to school, and then Matt, Elias, Acacia, Josie, and BabyBoy#11 off to York. So we just pulled out cereal and fruit for breakfast.

Acacia and Josie were so excited to spend the day at their beloved Emma’s house that when I told them to load up they RAN to the door!

That left just Anna, Keith, and me for the morning. We read some books then Keith had a therapy appointment.

Before the bus arrived, Keith wanted an apple and was excited to try cutting it himself with the special apple cutter.

I had three and a half glorious hours of quiet that afternoon while everyone was away. Thank you, God, for providing what we need!

Once Brayden, Kiya, Keith, and Anna were all home from school we played outside while I grilled burgers for dinner. Brayden practiced his ukulele and everyone enjoyed the concert. :)

Friends were coming over for dinner that night so to go with our Burgers I made Baked Beans and Stir Fry.

When I brought the burgers in from the smoker, I put them into a crock pot to keep them warm.

I cut up 2-pounds of strawberries and whipped some cream to go with two pound cakes for dessert.

Thursday morning I used the leftover hamburger buns to make Breakfast Sandwiches. I cheated and cooked browned sausage right in the eggs and cheese. This worked great for the sandwiches!

I was hoping to get ahead a little bit that morning so I made a double batch of Bran Muffins, made Stick of Butter Rice, and browned three pounds of hamburger meat.

Some friends were coming with their homeschool group to the Lincoln Zoo for the day so we packed up some food to meet them there. I buttered some of the hot muffins to take and they were melty and good when it was time to each later!

With this many kids, I’ve decided that I no longer care if the baby’s socks match so long as he’s actually wearing socks. :)

Not only did we get to see several friends we don’t see very often, we got to enjoy watching the penguins get fed that day.

 

Afterward, our friends came over to hang out at our house. The kids played and played, then ate and ate. :) Malachi wanted to come say hi to everyone before they left so he stopped by.

That evening, Matt needed to exchange something at Menards and I wanted to pick up some items at Walmart and Sam’s. Hadn’t I just been to Walmart, you ask? Indeed I had. But BabyBoy#11 needs 18 6-packs of his Pediasure every month and each Walmart only carries 5-6 packs at a time. So all month long we hit up every Walmart in town to get what he needs. We’re thankful for the provision, even if it does mean we have to shop a little bit extra.

Before we loaded up to shop, I warmed up leftover spaghetti to feed everyone a fast dinner.

Spaghetti Hack: I’ve found that once it’s in bowls for the little ones to eat, I can easily cut the noodles with kitchen shears so that they can easily eat it with a spoon.

Shopping Hack: NEVER take the Coppinger children to the store in the evening after a full day of going to the zoo and/or school. Don’t do it. They can’t handle it. They’re already overstimulated and exhausted and they will not be able to hold themselves together at the store. The fits will be horrible and there will be many fits. You don’t need groceries that badly.

Oy.

So Walmart was a disaster. Kids back in the van, Matt went into Menards by himself to quickly make his exchange. Then I ran into Sam’s by myself while Matt fed the kids a cookie and apples. I really just went in for these few things but I saw a few other items I needed and this was the result:

Every time I shop I think we’ll be stocked up for a while. Hahaha. The groceries go fast at our house. :)

Friday morning I used the hamburger meat I’d browned on Thursday plus the Stick of Butter Rice to make a huge batch of Burritos. I plan to share them with some friends whose kids currently have some major health struggles.

Well. Sure I’d been to Walmart twice that week and Sam’s the day before. But there are certain items I also needed from Costco (diapers!!) so off we went on Friday morning. The shopping trip went much better than the evening before because the kids were rested and we only had five with us this time. ;)

I wasn’t planning to buy boneless chicken thighs, but wowza! They were on sale for $6.00 off per package, which made them only $2.65/pound. Now that we can grill more, you can bet I stocked up big time!

I also picked up some special treats for a picnic we were planning on Sunday. I almost never buy individual bags of chips, but they were highly discounted and will be very fun for the picnic!

Our friend Malorie was visiting, and Acacia sat still for quite a while letting Malorie braid her hair that afternoon. :)

We had a huge weekend planned with friends coming in from Texas and all of the grown-ups going to Kansas City to watch Messi play soccer.

Justus had been over all afternoon and was smoking two racks of ribs for us to enjoy for dinner when our TX friends arrived. I made hotdogs for the kids and Brayden made Caesar salad. For other sides, I simply washed two kinds of grapes and two pounds of strawberries, got out sweet peppers and tomatoes, and set out rolls with butter.

Dinner was going to be later than normal so we fed the kids at their regular time to avoid extra meltdowns.

All of our older kids were able to come over to join us for dinner, plus our friend Ricky and his son Cooper had arrived from TX. Gathering in our kitchen and dining room like this is my favorite.

Justus’ Barbecue Ribs turned out AMAZING.

 

 

Saturday morning I spent getting ready to go on our day trip and getting everything ready for our kids and their sitters while we were gone.

I made Crunchy Ranch Chicken and Steamed Broccoli for lunch, then sitters came and we got out the door. I’ll share photos of our Messi experience next week!!

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Big Family Food and Fun: March 31-April 6, 2024

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Here’s our Big Family Food and Fun: March 31-April 6, 2024 post!

Big Family Food and Fun: March 31-April 6, 2024

Easter Sunday was a perfect way to start a new week, being surrounded by our church family all morning and then continuing our celebration all afternoon at our house. If you recall, last week the kids had made cookies and we packaged them up to hand out on Sunday morning before worship. Here’s Keith handing a cookie to some men at church. :)

The time of worship, celebrating Jesus’ victory over death, was powerful that morning. It was such a gift to be all together that day! And yes, Eva IS the cutest pregnant mama ever.

Back at the Castle, 21 of us gathered in the kitchen and dining room to fellowship and feast.

We had Ham, Baked Potatoes, Green Beans, Cream Cheese Corn, One Hour Yeast Rolls, Fresh Pineapple, and Cheesecake.

Our friend, Caitlyn, was planning to come and she’d put together gifts for all the kids. But she wasn’t feeling well so she just dropped off her goodies and headed home. The kids were thrilled with the baskets and Matt and I were so grateful for her kindness. :)

After we ate our meal, we headed outside for our traditional Easter egg hunt. First the guys headed outside and hid eggs for the gals (hiding hard ones for the adults and easy ones for the kids).

Then the girls got revenge by hiding eggs for the guys. Truth: I will never not love seeing grown men holding Easter baskets. :) :) :)

Our time together was wonderful, and I’m so thankful!

Monday we got our weekly routine started back up. I made Eggs in a Nest for breakfast and the kids chose between canned peaches or canned pears.

I walked Brayden and Kiya to school, then Eva came to help Matt while Keith and I went to the Food Distribution site to set up for Tuesday’s giveaway.

I had baked a pan of Stick of Butter Rice early in the morning so after Keith and I got home, I used the rice, along with meat I’d cooked on Saturday, to put together a big Tator Tot Casserole for our dinner.

Late afternoon, our Foster Care Agency sent someone to our house to work on our Adoption Home Study for BabyBoy#11!! We’re getting closer to adoption day!

For dinner that night we enjoyed our Tator Tot Casserole with leftover Pineapple and Cream Cheese Corn from Sunday. Plus I experimented with our night’s veggie by serving the kids Shredded Carrots. I’d picked them up wondering if eating little tiny sticks of carrots would be a fun change of pace for them. Overall, I’d say the experiment was a success. The kids had fun and most of them ate their carrots (with Keith going back for thirds!).

Tuesday morning, I took Anna to an appointment. She got a “star wand” for being so good there. I was grateful for the one-on-one time with her.

After we got home, we had some time before the preschool bus came for Keith and Anna so we loaded everyone up and went to the indoor play area at the Zoo. Of course Keith was excited to see a “worker truck!” on our way into the zoo.

The Spider Monkeys are fascinating to watch. :)

I had quickly grabbed cheese, meat, and crackers to take with us to the zoo – plus applesauce and juice.

The kids took a play break to enjoy their snack/lunch.

Before leaving, we went to say hi to some Lizards, Snakes, and Cockatoos.

I picked Brayden and Kiya up from school and headed over to the Food Distribution where we helped hand out food to 100ish people.

We were blessed to come home with a huge variety of breads and buns.

Plus we got a nice assortment of other items like fresh spinach, oranges, tuna, sparking water, and biscuits.

For dinner, I had used Sunday’s leftover ham to make a crock pot full of Ham and Potato Soup.

Wednesday was full with an Occupational Therapy appointment for BabyBoy#11 in the morning, Azure Standard pick up in the afternoon, and all the kid/work needs in between. According to the OT, BabyBoy#11 is making progress in his eating skills. We’re thankful for progress, even if it’s slow in coming. :)

Our Azure Standard order this time included a case of yogurt, a case of frozen hashbrowns, 25-pounds of whole wheat flour, a case of tortillas, a bag of whole dry milk, a bag of tapioca pearls, and three boxes of lightly sweetened cookies that are a perfect treat on the go.

For dinner that night, I boiled two pounds of Penne Pasta and warmed up White Sauce, Chicken, and Bacon. We stirred it together into Pasta Bowls and enjoyed it with a side of Spinach.

There are still so many littles around here, but as they get older they are becoming more capable so we are trying to train them all in helping and cleaning. So we spent some time after dinner involving everyone in picking up the house and sweeping some floors.

Then we got teeth brushed and settled everyone in the living room to watch a little bit of Ms. Patty Cake. This is a fun throw-back to when our first set of kids was little. We used to get Ms. Patty Cake videos at the library to watch at home!

Thursday morning, Matt and Malachi headed to York to work and Elias helped me with the kids all day. Keith found a book on our shelves about Native Americans and everyone gathered around on the floor to let me read it. I was amazed at how engaged they were. :)

At lunchtime I pulled out the leftover ham from Sunday and put together Ham/Cheese/Honey Mustard Sandwiches on Rolls. My goal is to always use up what we have in the fridge and it never hurts to get ahead. So I followed this basic idea for these sandwiches, and since I had 24 rolls, I made 24 mini-sandwiches. We ate a few for lunch and I packaged the rest for easy grab-and-go lunches during the next few days.

Keith was determined to mop the kitchen before his bus came, and who was I to stop him?

That afternoon, when Keith and Anna got dropped off by the school bus, Anna made it exactly as far as our front steps before she just couldn’t make it any longer. :) This photo is a pretty accurate description of how our kids handle school and home. They hold it all together beautifully at school, exhibiting kind, sweet, and cooperative behaviors there. Then they get home and immediately let down and let it all go – all they’ve been holding in.

So between 4pm and 8pm, we deal with quite a few meltdowns and behavior struggles. Some days are better than others. And some days, some of us just need to lay down on the cement steps because facing what’s next (the terrible chore of hanging up a coat and backpack) is just.too.much.

Dinner was leftovers!

Then Elias engaged several kids in making a tiny treat. He’d received a Skookie (skillet cookie kit) as a white elephant gift at Christmas time that he needed to use. The kids helped him mix it up and get it into the oven. The littles didn’t understand that it was going to take 17-20 minutes to bake so they sat down to watch (until it got too boring, because you know what they say about a watched oven…).

See? I told you it was tiny. :) :) :) Everyone got one bite of Skookie, and they were thrilled!

Friday morning, Brayden had Ukulele class before school so Matt ran him up there early. I walked Kiya at the regular start time. Then I got back just in time to take BabyBoy#11 to his 15-month well-check. While he’s pretty behind developmentally (though making progress!), the doctor was very pleased with how he looked physically.

When I picked Brayden and Kiya up from school, Brayden announced that he was bringing his ukulele home. His teacher asked him to practice extra for his upcoming concert. When we got home, he showed everyone his skills. :)

It had been such a full week that Elias and Brayden hadn’t had their second Bro Time afternoon, so Elias had made plans for he and Brayden to make dinner together that night. The rest of us played outside (and broke a window, but whatever, heh).

They made some cookies for our dessert…

And they made four fancy pizzas for us that included a variety of meats and cheeses.

Elias had to run off to a youth event at church that he was helping with, so he explained each kind of pizza then headed out.

Then pizza was SOOO good. And having the night off from cooking was pretty great for me (you know so that we could instead deal with a broken window).

Saturday morning I made a fresh pot of coffee, courtesy of my friend Molly. If you live in the St. Louis area, this coffee is a must for you. :) It is goooooood.

Josie was my kitchen helper that morning, cracking eggs so we could make Simple Egg Casserole to eat for lunch on Sunday.

We also made a double batch of Banana Muffins to eat with Sunday’s casserole.

Then we got ready to take the kids to our favorite Library Story Time. We were excited to go because we’d missed so many Saturdays in a row, plus this was the final session for a few weeks. I grabbed some easy food to pack for a picnic to eat at a park afterward. I had Apple Bread in the freezer that I’d set out the night before so I sliced it and packed it with carrots, cheese, salami, fruit, chips, and dip.

Story time was great and we enjoyed playing with all the fun sensory toys afterward.

Then we spent over an hour in the main library area, enjoying some books and learning toys. Last month, they had a Post Office in this area. This time, a Pizza Parlor!

Everyone was hungry when we loaded up to head out, but Matt and I changed our picnic plan because it was too windy and chilly outside to go to a park. Instead, we headed home and had a “picnic” at our dining room table.

After naptime, we decided to go to the park we had planned to go to earlier. It was still windy, but the temps were warm. I made popcorn to take with us, putting it into the last of the popcorn sacks I’d bought for Asa’s high school graduation many years ago.

I had a little bit of cooked hamburger and some leftover pasta from earlier in the week, so for dinner I turned those into Spicy Mac and Cheese. SO GOOD.

We filled our night with bath time and showers and that was our week!

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Big Family Food and Fun: March 24-30, 2024

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Here’s our Big Family Food and Fun: March 24-30, 2024 post!

Big Family Food and Fun: March 24-30, 2024

Keith has been counting down the days for his very first soccer game! Sunday afternoon was the big day, and he had his cleats and shin guards ready. :)

The game location is closer to church than home, so we decided to pack lunch to eat at the church building and then go to the game from there. I made a crock pot full of Pasta with Red Sauce, a crock pot full of Smoked Sausage cut into pieces, a small crock pot filled with Costco Meatballs, a container of Carrots and Cucumbers, 4-Pounds of Cut Strawberries along with a dish of Cheesecake Parfait, and a container of Rice Krispie Treats. I also got out a few items to hand out as snacks to the remaining kids during Keith’s game.

As church began, Matt got a text that rain had canceled Keith’s game. Poor Keith. He took the news like a champ as we had prepared him for the possibility of a cancellation. Since we already had all the food at the church building, we decided to go ahead and eat there before heading home.

We were blessed to grab a few extra friends to join us. I loved this kitchen scene which included some of our boys with a bunch of their friends. (All the plates on the floor were left there by our little ones as I had fixed their plates and parked them there to eat before the big guys came in.)

While the adults ate, Brayden led the other littles in worship in the auditorium. Notice our littlest, standing by the stage in his diaper after peeing through his outfit. Hey, Jesus wants us to come as we are, yes?

We came home through the rain (that had canceled Keith’s game) so our afternoon was spent watching a show and then playing games with Daddy.

Our friend Paula dropped off Brayden and Kiya’s school lunches for the week and I put them into a fridge. She and Randy have been doing this since October and it has been incredibly helpful on school mornings!

I pulled out leftovers for dinner and got out a bag of pears to go with them.

Everyone ate a pear before having a random plate of whatever sounded good from our leftover stash. :)

Monday morning I made a double batch of Chocolate Chip Cheesecake Muffins. These were a hit, though once the little girls discovered the chocolate chips on top they only wanted to eat the tops of the muffins and ignore the rest. ;)

We had a rough behavior morning for three of our kids. :( So I changed our plans for the morning, hoping that the change of routine might give us a reboot. Eva came over to help as she does every Monday, which was a huge and needed blessing. We left BabyBoy#11 home to nap with Daddy while Eva and I took the other four out to shop for Easter clothes.

Sure enough, while it isn’t always easy to shop with little ones, the change of pace distracted everyone and behaviors settled (mostly). Keep praying for these kids’ healing. We are seeking answers from professionals and trying to figure out where to turn to help meet all their needs.

Fun side note: One of our neighbors has a tree service business and Keith LOVES watching him work and organize tools in his garage. Coleman has been such a gift to Keith as he allows him to ask thirty-eleven questions and chatter and look at his tools and basically, Keith wants to be like Coleman when he grows up.

While shopping for an Easter shirt, Keith came across this toy chain saw. “I need to get this so I can help Coleman cut down trees!!!” The word “no” isn’t Keith’s favorite, but I was able to help him settle with the promise that while we weren’t going to buy the chain saw, I’d be sure and show this picture to Coleman the next time we see him. :)

The afternoon went smoothly and for dinner I decided to make Pancakes and Bacon. Lots and lots of bacon.

Tuesday morning both of our dishwashers were full and clean from the day before (we run them both at least once each day). Acacia got right to work and cleaned out one dishwasher all by herself (except for the knives and mugs that I grabbed before she got started). She loves doing this job – and watching her reminds me of her capabilities. She’s a very tiny 3.5-year-old. She struggles with speech, so much of what she says doesn’t come out clearly. She delayed in other ways that make learning harder for her. She was born with a club foot, which affects her gate and growth. But she knows nothing about this. She’s a big girl who can clean out the dishwasher for her mommy, while chattering confidently even if I can’t understand most of her words. I love her heart and how she goes all in with everything she does. :)

It was cold and windy that day so we kept the little ones in all day instead of having an outing. To help them get some wiggles out, Matt found some interactive YouTube videos that we all danced and jumped and did jumping jacks with.

Late morning I got out ingredients to make White Chicken Chili, including Homemade Ranch Dressing Mix.

I discovered the three little girls sitting in the pantry singing “The Wheels on the Bus” together.

We didn’t have any leftovers so I baked two frozen pizzas for lunch. Have you tried the Cauliflower Crust Pizzas from Costco? They are pretty tasty! I added some pepperoni to ours since it was a veggie-only pizza.

That afternoon, Brayden, Kiya, and I went to our weekly Food Distribution. We were placed in charge of some “extras” that day so we handed out toothbrushes, toothpaste, and Easter items to over 100 people who went through the line.

Matt and Elias had served all the kids the White Chicken Chili from the crock pot. Then Brayden, Kiya, and I dug in when we got home.

Wednesday morning we had Bagels and Fruit. Kiya is enjoying her newly found freedom in toasting her own bagel in the air fryer.

I made a double batch of Peanut Butter Honey Puffs to have on hand for snacks.

Keith, who is always (always, always, always) rigging something up, taking something apart, or creating some sort of something, had hung a rope with a hook around our second floor banister. He then attached our ball pump to it and used the rope as a pulley to move the pump up and down. Why? Well, why not?

Elias and Brayden had picked up groceries to make a meal for us during their Bro Time on Monday. So Wednesday night, they made a Taco Feast for us with beef, chicken, and shrimp options plus all the taco fixings.

To top off their meal, they made Cinnamon Rolls for dessert.

Thursday morning we loaded up all five littles for a shopping trip to Aldi. Outings like this are both great and hard – but they offer a fun experience for our kids and we get the shopping done that we need so it’s worth the craziness.

Two carts are a must.

This particular trip I bought 5 gallons of milk, 12 jars of spaghetti sauce, 12 cups of yogurt, and 12 jars of salsa -plus all kinds of other needed items I like to get at Aldi. The gal at checkout was like, “Wow, that’s a lot of spaghetti sauce.” and then when she saw our five littles “Wow, that’s a lot of kids.” Should I have told her this wasn’t even half of our kids? Naw. :)

We got home in time to put Keith and Anna on the bus for preschool. Then I blended up a batch of Mini Crustless Cheesecakes to put into the oven.

I also mixed up a big batch of Cream Cheese Cut Out Cookies so the kids could have fun making Easter cookies on Friday.

Acacia was playing dress-up but stopped to help once she saw her opportunity to help me scoop and pour. :)

After school that day, I finally got around to cutting Kiya’s hair. I took off a few inches to get all the dead ends removed so she’ll be fresh and ready for spring!

Meanwhile, I had dumped some barbecue sauce on to a package of chicken legs, so those were on the smoker making us all very hungry. Back in the kitchen, Elias helped Acacia and Josie make Caesar Salad and Chipotle Cheddar Salad to go with our chicken.

I had peeked outside to see that our neighbor Coleman and his wife Sarah were chatting with Matt and the kids so I hollered out to see if they wanted to eat Bbq chicken with us. Elias and I finished putting the meal together, and we had a feast with our neighbors. :)

We had BBQ Chicken Legs, Mac and Cheese (that I’d picked up at Aldi that day), Fried Zucchini, and Salad.

Friday morning, I made a big batch of French Toast for breakfast.

Matt and Elias left to work on our rental house in York so Kelsey came to spend the day with the kids and me. There was no school that day so we had lots of fun plans. I started to roll out the Cream Cheese Cut Out Cookies that I’d mixed up the day before and the kids took turns cutting out cookies to bake. (Ever made cut-out cookies with a bunch of eager children? Oy. This is how I do it and stay sane-ish.)

Mission accomplished.

Then we moved into the dining room to dye Easter Eggs. I’ll admit that this is not one of my favorite activities, but the kids love it so it’s worth it. The best part is seeing the kids’ reaction when I add vinegar to the little dye tablet in a cup. :)

The weather was beautiful so we packed a picnic and walked several blocks to a big park to eat and play.

Justus met us there, which was just the boost we needed after such a full morning with the kids at home.

We played and ate and ate and played, staying at the park for over two hours.

Our lunch was cheese, meat, crackers, artichoke dip, sweet potato chips, pear cups, avocado cups, and some mini-cookies that we’d baked that morning.

Keith is sooooo interested in all things construction so before I knew it he was way across the park visiting with “the workers” and trying to learn about what they were doing.

We were hot, hungry, and thirsty when we got home so I made a blender full of these Smoothies to cool everyone off and to give us nourishment.

Everyone continued to play outside the rest of the day, and look who found the big bottle of bubbles? Eh, they needed a bath anyway.

I cooked 28 hotdogs on our smoker that night, made a small pan of Baked Beans, and got out pickles for dinner. Justus, Kelsey, and I were all pretty tired by the end of this full day so we were all very happy to see Matt and Elias get back home!

Saturday morning Anna and Acacia helped me finish a project for Sunday morning.

The girls put stickers on baggies (I’d picked them up at a sidewalk sale that Delight Design was having last summer and decided that this was a great way to use them!). I put a decorated Easter cookie into each bag and the kids can hand them out at church tomorrow. :)

Our church was planning to walk around to homes in the neighborhood surrounding our building that morning so that we could invite people to join us for Easter. Our family decided to take part in this, hoping it would work with so many kids in tow. Before leaving, we had a simple Cereal and Fruit breakfast then I made Peanut Butter and Honey Sandwiches to take along since I didn’t know how long we’d be gone.

It was a chilly morning but it worked out pretty well for us to take this on. Our littlest four were in strollers and our friend Caitlyn was helping us. The kids took turns putting invitation cards on people’s porches as we walked from house to house.

Back at home, we finished our sandwiches and applesauce then had some Easter fun.

The rest of the evening was spent getting ready for Easter Sunday. I somehow managed to make a double batch of No Knead Yeast Rolls for Sunday’s Easter Dinner.

I browned several pounds of ground beef, saving half of it for another meal and turning the rest of it into Sloppy Joes for our dinner that evening.

And that was our week!

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Big Family Food and Fun: March 3-9, 2024

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Here’s our Big Family Food and Fun: March 3-9, 2024 post for this week…

Big Family Food and Fun: March 3-9, 2024

Our church building has been having major repairs done following a frozen pipe incident in January. Therefore, we’ve been meeting in a different location in the afternoons on Sundays. We’ve adjusted to this different Sunday schedule, grateful simply to still be able to meet together! Just a couple more weeks until we can meet back at our church building, so that’s exciting.

Meanwhile, Matt and I have been spending Sunday mornings at a slower pace getting kids ready for church. Instead of trudging through Saturday evening baths, Sunday morning bath time can be drawn out to two hours, letting the kids splash and play longer in the tub. The love this.

This sweet babe’s curls after a bath are nothing short of amazing…

This Sunday we cleaned out the fridge of leftovers for lunch after baths.

We had invited a few families to join us at a park after church for play time and potluck picnic. So that morning, between baths, I tinkered around putting some easy food together to pack and take. We had Cinnamon Swirl Bagels so I spread cream cheese on them and cut them into fourths to take with us.

I also made several Ham and Cheese Quesadillas. Then I just grabbed food off the shelves in our pantry like Peanut Butter Pretzels, Sweet Potato Crackers, Applesauce, and Clementines. I had some Chocolate Chip Cookies in the freezer so I grabbed those too.

At church, Josie grabbed Malachi’s sunglasses and Kelsey snapped this sweet photo. :)

The park was amazing and the fellowship was what we all needed.

Friends brought Tuna Salad and Chicken Salad on Croissants and a wonderful assortment of other goodies. We feasted together before the temps started to get a little bit chilly. :)

We let the kids play a little bit more before loading up. They were playing so hard that they didn’t notice the cold as much as we grown ups. :)

Monday morning we had a random assortment of leftover breakfast food as I had a little bit of this and a little bit of that: Apple Bread, a few slices of French Toast, and what was left of the Bagel Triangles from the picnic. I made some sausage links to go with these and everyone got enough to eat.

Eva came by at 9 and Keith and I headed to set up food for Tuesday’s Food Distribution.

For dinner that night, Elias and Brayden used their Bro Time to make dinner for all of us! Biscuits and sausage gravy, scrambled eggs, hashbrowns, and orange juice.

Hey Brayden, look at me and say, “Elias and I made dinner!”

The best part of the day was that our dear friend Charlene came to visit from York. Her daughter has dance class in Lincoln on Mondays so we get to hang out during that time. Anna loves how Char pours love into her. We love it too. :)

Tuesday morning after breakfast (I don’t remember what we ate that day!) I made a batch of Peanut Butter Honey Puffs to have on hand.

Our little ones’ Speech Pathologist came to work with Acacia and all five kids gathered ’round for the lesson. :)

At lunchtime I seasoned the big pork loin I’d gotten for cheap last week and got it cooking on the smoker for the afternoon.

Matt got BabyBoy#11 down for a nap and I took Acacia and Josie to Sam’s to pick up a few items we needed.

Brayden, Kiya, and I went to give out food at the Food Distribution after school while Elias helped Matt at home with the littlest five kids. At dinnertime, Elias baked the Cheesy Potatoes I’d made ahead, pulled the Pork Loin off the smoker, and made Caesar Salad that I’d picked up at Sam’s.

We got home from Food Distribution with a container of berries which the little girls dug into right away. :)

Justus and Kelsey joined us for dinner so that Justus could give Brayden his weekly piano lesson. Let me just say again how much I love living close to our older kids!!

Mid-morning on Wednesday we took the five littlest to Costco so that we could pick up diapers. We grabbed peanuts and fresh fruit while we were there.

Since we had so few items, we attempted self-check out. This went especially well since we had so many little helpers. Oy.

That afternoon we prepped to fill up the Castle with guests for the weekend. Our friends, the Brock family, were hosting a Homeschool Speech and Debate tournament close to Lincoln and we had their family plus one other family staying with us. Asa/Eva and Justus/Kelsey hosted some families also. We’ve all been so excited about this weekend!

For the most part, we were just needed to provide beds and showers. But Wednesday night we got to spend several hours with the Brocks before the tournament started the next day. There are eight of them so I thawed 14 Brats and 28 Hotdogs for dinner.

When they arrived, several of us hung out in the kitchen making a pile of 20 Breakfast Sandwiches that they could grab and take to the tournament the next morning. We wrapped them in foil to make them easier to warm and go.

Their two little girls and our three little girls played and played and played all afternoon and evening. Never have we had so many hours in our house without someone throwing a fit. It was glorious.


Meanwhile, several gathered around our living room table to play a game. :)

Matt smoked the brats and hotdogs while I prepped the rest of dinner.

It was a simple meal with the Brats and Hot Dogs plus Baked Beans, Grapes, Carrots, Olives, Pickles, Sweet Pepper, and Chips.

I sliced an Angel Food Cake we’d brought home from Food Distribution on Tuesday and I pulled Brownies from the freezer that I’d baked another time.

Truly, the night was magical. After visiting and playing, we all worked together to get mattresses set up for the kids all over the house. The other family that stayed with us showed up after bedtime and Matt helped them get settled in. We are so thankful for this house God provided for us so that we could comfortably add 12 extra people for five days!

Here’s a peek at our little boys’ room where we set up mattresses. Was it a mess? Sure. But six boys slept comfortably while we had girls in a different room and parents in their own rooms.

Thursday morning Brayden helped me put 13 of the Breakfast Sandwiches into the oven to warm up. Our guests needed to be out the door around 7:45 to get to their tournament and they’d be gone all day.

We set out fruit, bagels, and yogurt plus made a pot of coffee. Our guests all got out the door and we got Brayden and Kiya to school. Then Matt left for York to work. Malachi had to be in York for video work so they met up there and Elias stayed home to help me with kids.

During the baby’s nap, the other four helped me crack eggs to make Breakfast Burritos. Only one egg smashed onto the floor, so I’d say this project went pretty well. ;)

I cooked two pounds of sausage, then we made 20 Breakfast Burritos and a batch of Pancake Sausage Muffins for grab-and-go breakfast options during the next two days.

I was somehow on an egg and sausage kick, so for dinner that night we had Quiche with Spinach and Oranges.

On Friday I decided our meals would not involve eggs or sausage. Well, except for the breakfast options we’d already made. :)

For dinner that night we had a cheat meal of Chicken Nuggets and Tator Tots with Grapes. Bliss.

Breakfast on Saturday was more of the same as our guests headed out for one final day of their Speech and Debate Tournament.

Our former foster son was visiting this weekend so we had eight littles. It made sense, then, that we would take them all to Walmart. ;) What can I say? We were out of greens and apples, plus we needed an outing. Daddy had a cart of boys and and I had a cart of girls. (Sorry, Kiya. I tried to snag a quick photo but I didn’t capture your best facial expression.)

We got our needed WIC items, checked out, then a few kids had to potty before getting back into the van. Those of us waiting by the bathroom had an apple to help the wait time go faster. :)

From there, we headed to Aldi. Matt kept all the kids in the van with a snack while I ran through the store as fast as I could. I grabbed lots of fruit/veggie pouches for the baby and littlest kids, salad kits, granola, milk, yogurt, berries, mandarins, and pear cups. Plus I grabbed crackers and meat for a picnic next week.

It was lunch time by then so I texted Elias and asked if he would get Mac and Cheese started for us so we wouldn’t have any hunger meltdowns.

We had lunch and naptime, then headed to the zoo for a couple of hours.

I had popped some popcorn to take with us so the kids sat on a bench and snacked on it before playing more and heading home.

The rest of the evening was full of bath time and leftovers for dinner. And that was our week!

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Big Family Food and Fun: February 25-March 2, 2024

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Here’s our Big Family Food and Fun: February 25-March 2, 2024 post…

Big Family Food and Fun: February 25-March 2, 2024

Before sharing all about this week, I’ll back track to Saturday afternoon, Feb 24 as I spent a little bit of time getting ahead in the kitchen but didn’t have time to add these photos to this post.

While the baby was napping I made:

I had some really good help making the muffins. :)

There were a few Uncrustables leftover from our Saturday picnic so I baggied them up individually to grab and go as needed.

For lunch on Sunday, I baked one pan of the Crunchy Ranch Chicken Strips I’d made the day before. We ate them with steamed broccoli and sweet potato crackers. :)

Meanwhile I’d been working to pack a bunch of picnic food for us to eat at a park after church that afternoon. (Just a few more weeks until we should be able to meet again in the mornings back at our repaired church building!)

This along with quite a few drinks (juice and sparkling water) that I packed filled three bags!

It was a piggy tail day for our four girls. :)

There were 24 of us that met at the park that day after church. It was so great that I want to do it every single Sunday that the weather allows. Post-church-potluck-picnics for the win!

Together we enjoyed turkey/ham/tuna sandwich options, oranges and apples, avocado and salsa, chips, drinks, and rice krispie bars.

Monday morning I cut our Simple Bran Muffins open, buttered them, then melted them in our air fryer. They are SO GOOD this way! We had them with yogurt and bananas.

Eva came over to help Matt, and Keith and I went to the Food Distribution site to help set up for the next day. Keith got to use a sharpie to make marks on all the UPC codes. Phew, if you give a kid a sharpie…

We came home and played outside with everyone before the preschool bus came for Anna and Keith. Eva snapped this photo of the little girlies. Yep, I had just redone yesterday’s pigtails for today…

It was so gorgeous that I carried plates of Corndog Bites (from Costco, a great find!), apples, and olives to the picnic table for the kids.

For dinner that night I made 2-pounds of whole wheat elbow noodles with 2-pounds of hamburger meat spaghetti sauce and served it with corn and spinach. I’ve found that elbow noodles are so much easier for our little ones to eat (compared to spaghetti noodles) and when I make them, they eat a ton (with butter and salt).

We ate outside and some of us ate with ear protection. ;)

Elias and Brayden had been out for their Bro Time and everyone was excited to see them when they pulled up!

Later that evening, the neighbors who had hosted a 50th Anniversary party Saturday stopped by with leftover fresh fruit and veggies that needed to get eaten quickly. They guessed we could probably help them out and they guessed correctly! (They also gave us a lovely package of ground sausage that she’d ordered by accident. Yep, we’ll eat that too.) So sweet that they thought of us!

For breakfast Tuesday morning I set out the pretty tray of fruit with sausage links and cottage cheese.

Brayden, Kiya, and I went to hand out food at the Food Distribution that afternoon so Elias and Matt warmed up Burritos from the freezer plus some Burrito Filling to eat with chips.

They sliced some avocado to go with it. This girl LOVES her avocado.

Matt had hung a hammock in our basement for the kids because we wanted to see if it would help with their sensory needs. So far so good, now that the initial excitement is over and we are no longer fighting over it. :/

Wednesday morning I scrambled 15 eggs and warmed up bacon I’d baked last week. Mid morning, I put what was left of the eggs plus two pieces of bacon into a sandwich for my “third breakfast” and it was SO GOOD. (My “first breakfast” was a Peanut Butter Honey Puff with coffee at 4:30 during my quiet time with God before all the hubbub of the day began. Around 7:00 I had a glass of Smoothie for my “second breakfast.” And by 10:00 I needed bacon, apparently.)

We got out a few hidden containers of toys this morning which was fun and engaging. It’s worth a mention that our days can be so long and challenging with this many littles who struggle to regulate (read: there’s a lot of screaming and tough behavior in our house every day). So when I upload these photos and look back at our days, I see a lot of goodness too. It’s hard to remember the good when we’re working so hard against the struggles. Thank you, God, for these sweet moments captured.

If you see anyone pouting in this photo, it’s because I insisted that she put on shoes to wear to school. Sometimes I can be entirely unreasonable. ;)

Brayden and Kiya had discovered the Tie Quilt Kits they’d gotten for Christmas last year and were excited to work on them after school.

For dinner that night, I made 5 cans worth of Tuna Salad and spread it onto 19 rolls. Brayden topped them with cheese and we put them into the oven to create Tuna Melts.

We had our Tuna Melts with Mixed Veggies, Tomato Soup, Strawberries with Chocolate Cream, and Chips with dip.

Justus joined us for dinner so he could give Brayden a piano lesson. Plus our friend Bruce was in town and joined us.

Thursday morning we were sending Matt and Malachi off to York to work on our properties for the day. So I declared it a cereal morning, plus I cut some apples to eat with peanut butter.

Since Malachi went to York (he had other business to take care of there so it made sense for him to work with Matt this time), Elias stayed behind to help me with the little ones. We stayed home all day (because Matt had our van in York), and I took advantage of the time to get caught up on three loads of laundry.

Keith had been asking to make Breakfast Cookies and this morning was a good time to make it happen. We doubled the recipe so we could freeze some.

He was having a very calm behavior day and I was able to keep him engaged in the kitchen with me for quite a while. He took pride in refilling my Oatmeal Container for me from our bulk package.

Then he helped me make a Chocolate Cake because I had spinach that needed to be used up.

Our Breakfast Cookies turned out great, though some of them crumbled because I didn’t have time to let them cool properly on the pan before transferring them. I needed my pans so I could make our pizzas for lunch!

We finished our baking projects and baked some pizzas in time to eat before the school bus came for Keith and Anna.

Once the Breakfast Cookies cooled I put half of them into our covered dish to serve for tomorrow’s breakfast. Then I put the other half into the freezer for another time.

After school that day, Kiya and Anna helped me turn our Spinach Cake into what was supposed to be a layered pudding cake.

Ah well. My idea didn’t go so well and it all fell apart. Somehow we still ate it though. ;)

Dinner before cake was Monday’s leftover spaghetti meal turned into a Casserole topped with cheese plus Steamed Broccoli.

Friday morning we followed a tip by reader Julie and went to a store here called Super Saver to check out the Mega Meat Sale they were advertising. Woot! We got some amazing prices on meat!

We discovered Popcorn Chicken and French Fries on sale there too. So Friday night that’s what we had for dinner for a “Mom’s Night Off.” I sliced some nectarines and pears to go with our two pans of chicken and three plates of fries (with meals like this we just keep making more in our air fryer until we’re all full). :)

Malachi had told me he would run over for dinner after the game he was filming. But I forgot, ha. So when he showed up it was a fun surprise!

Saturday morning I scrambled 15 eggs for breakfast and served them with fruit and Apple Bread that I’d pulled out of the freezer the night before. While I was at it, I put together the smoothie Matt and I drink every day so that we get enough greens without having to take time to eat salad. ;)

Justus and Kelsey came over and took six kids to Sensory Storytime at the library – joined by a friend of ours who had come to spend the weekend – while Matt and I took BabyBoy#11 to church for a special Child Dedication Brunch for the newest little ones.

Asa and Eva met us there to pray with us for our little guy. It was a beautiful, rich morning. And it was super relaxing because we only had one kiddo with us – wow. How great was it for us to share a table with our youngest and our oldest (and with the sweet mama with our grandbaby on the way). Sure, I cried. Most of the morning, actually. :)

Back at home, Justus, Kelsey, and our friend Kermit had fed the kids Sloppy Joes, Mac and Cheese, and Peas. Matt and I got home in time for me to turn right around and head out to watch some dear friends in a Homeschool Melodrama. Malachi had been a part of this during his last years in high school and oh how we’ve missed it! I got to enjoy the entire afternoon by myself, which was very much needed. Plus I got to see all kinds of wonderful friends and grab lots of hugs. Praise God for this!

I didn’t get any pictures yesterday, but here’s a flashback of “old man Malachi” in last year’s Melodrama.

Elias and Matt held down the fort while I was gone, played outside with the kids, and made frozen pizza for dinner.

And that was our week!

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Big Family Food and Fun: December 24-30, 2023

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Here’s our Food and Fun: December 24-30 post!

Big Family Food and Fun: December 24-30, 2023

We enjoyed a beautiful Christmas Eve service at church Sunday morning, then came home and set out a simple but fun Sub Sandwich Station. We had a variety of breads, meats, cheeses, and chips. After we built our sandwiches, we toasted them in our Air Fryer to melt the cheese and crisp up the bread. So good!

After lunch, we exchanged Christmas gifts with one of our housemates. She gave the kids soft blankets and fun snacks for a movie night. :)

After we put the littlest kids down for naps and older-littles downstairs for a movie, Elias, Malachi, and I surprised Matt with a brand new Settlers of Catan game. We all love this game and hardly get a chance to play because of lack of time. This was a perfect way to enjoy Christmas Eve afternoon! (P.S. I was sooooo close to winning, but then Elias snuck in the win. Stinker.)

Asa and Eva were enjoying Christmas Eve with her family, and Justus and Kelsey came over that evening after they were finished with their responsibilities at church where Justus is worship minister. We had a simple meal of Nachos and would you look at that? Matt and I got to actually sit down together to eat!

Kelsey made her family’s traditional Christmas Eve Hot Fudge for us to enjoy on ice cream after dinner!

We found some interactive Christmas Dance Party videos on Youtube and Justus led the kids in getting lots of wiggles out before bed.

Everyone settled in surprisingly well that night, then Kelsey helped me stuff stockings and set up everything for Christmas morning. “Santa” got the kids new coats or a new outfit, clocks for their bedrooms, and a weighted stuffed animal to help them with calming needs. (The kids have no idea that their awesome new animals are therapeutic. They just think they got an adorable new friend.) :)

The next morning, I stuffed stockings and set out a few extra gifts for all the older kids too. :)

We ate Egg Casserole and Monkey Bread (<—that our neighbor had made!) as everyone woke up that morning. Asa and Eva came over around 8:15 to enjoy the day with us.

We had pulled the living room doors closed and put wrapping paper on them so that the kids wouldn’t see into the room before we were all gathered to enjoy our Christmas morning together!

Then the doors opened to reveal all the treasures!

It snowed all day long, creating a feeling of special Christmas magic!

We took turns opening gifts from each other while the snow fell outside.

Keith got ear protective headphones (that we found used at a Restore and knew he’d love because working with Daddy is his favorite!) and a hat with built in light. If those were his only two gifts, he would have been as happy as can be.

We made Chicken Strips and Fries for lunch. Asa and Eva had picked up a huge cup of Cane’s Sauce for us – a family favorite. I made a couple bowls of salad, some buttered toast, and we had a Costco cheesecake for dessert. Everyone loved this meal for Christmas!

Asa went outside during the afternoon and took this photo of our snowy Castle.

For dinner that evening I set out a variety of meats, cheeses, crackers, chips, and dips that I’d picked up at Costco, Sam’s, or Aldi. It was a perfectly easy meal we could all snack on that evening.

Tuesday morning we warmed up leftover Egg Casserole. Then at lunch I felt the big need to give us some vegetables so I made these spinach-filled smoothies for the kids and these for the grown-ups. The kids had gotten oatmeal packets in their stockings so they requested those also. A weird lunch? Yes. But it filled their bellies and we got lots of greens into our systems.

Brayden, Kiya, and I went to hand out food at our weekly Food Distribution that afternoon. Before we got home, Elias warmed up leftover Lasagna for dinner that night plus steamed some broccoli.

Food Distribution was different that week because of the holiday. There was extra food but fewer people to go through the line. The lady in charge let everyone go through twice, which I loved to see as everyone was able to go home with a lot of free food for their families. When that was finished, there was still plenty leftover so all of the volunteers took home quite a bit too.

We brought home a lot of organic greens, several bunches of bananas, a large selection of breads/rolls/buns, and a few other miscellaneous items.

Wednesday morning we warmed up more Egg Casserole leftovers and ate it with some muffins we’d brought home from the Food Distribution. (I cut them in half so everyone could have a little bit.)

I cut up all the bananas from Food Distribution because they were on their last leg. They went into the freezer to be used for smoothies or Banana Bread.

Anna had a dentist appointment that morning so she and I enjoyed reading some books together in the waiting room. Any one-on-one time with our kids is rare and special.

Picking out a new toothbrush is so fun, but also, making decisions is hard, ha.

For lunch we warmed up leftover Roast and Carrots from the week before plus leftover green beans and corn. It felt good to be slowly getting the fridge cleaned out!

We had a lot of bread from Food Distribution plus several bits of lunchmeat from last week’s Sub Sandwiches. So for dinner I made a big pile of Grilled Meat and Cheese Sandwiches with Tomato Soup.

Thursday morning I baked several sheet pans worth of bacon to enjoy with breakfast and to have leftovers for upcoming meals. I also made a lot of French Toast and we ate it with syrup or applesauce.

A couple of the kids had appointments that morning so while I was with them for those, Matt and Malachi held down the fort. At lunchtime, Malachi made six boxes of mac and cheese and a pan of peas. (Someone who shall remain nameless put a pea up her nose during lunch. Never a dull moment.)

That afternoon during nap/rest time, I ran to Walmart and Sam’s to pick up some items for an upcoming birthday meal. While I was at Walmart, I checked for clearance items and I HIT THE JACKPOT. Their spiral cut hams were marked down to $0.50/pound!!!! I’ve never seen anything like this. I decided to “only” buy eight hams, ha. They were 10ish-pound hams for just $5.00. Crazy good. We have a freezer full now and I can share with our married kids plus anyone else who might need or want one.

At Sam’s I found chicken tenderloins marked down so I picked up two packages. I plan to use these for Pizza Chicken Bake and Crunchy Ranch Chicken Strips.

Later that afternoon, the kids were acting hungry so I made everyone a big cup of Smoothie using some of the greens I’d gotten at the Food Distribution that week.

While I had the spinach out, and because I really had a lot in the fridge and didn’t want it to go bad, I made these muffins with both spinach and pumpkin. Hooray for sneaking in veggies!

I can’t remember what we ate for dinner that night, and I can’t find any pictures so that must mean that we ate leftovers and I didn’t think about documenting it. :)

For breakfast on Friday morning we enjoyed Brayden’s birthday request of biscuits (that we’d gotten at Food Distribution) plus sausage links, muffins, and fruit.

I mixed up a double batch of Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies that morning so we could put together and deliver Happy New Year gifts for our neighbors.

We knew an outing would benefit the kids after being cooped up for so many days in a row, so we loaded up and headed to The Front Porch, which is a coffee shop/play area at a church here in Lincoln.

I packed Capri Sun and cracker/cheese packs for the kids to snack on during a play break.

When we got home, Brayden, Keith, Anna, and I worked together to make Brownies for his birthday dessert that night.

Malachi had put pizzas in the oven to bake for us so we took those out, slid the brownies in, and had our lunch.

That evening we planned to have a big birthday dinner for not one, but two birthday boys! Yep, Brayden and BabyBoy#11 share a birthday. Kiya used salad kits to put together two bowls of salad for us. I love that I can turn this job over to her (or to Brayden) now!

BabyBoy#11 didn’t have any opinions about the meal choices for the day. :) But Brayden requested Orange Chicken (the boxed kind from Sam’s) for dinner. I baked a dish of Stick of Butter Rice to go with it and of course, we had Kiya’s salads.

Dinner was awesome, with Asa and Eva plus our friend Allan joining us.

BabyBoy#11 is battling eating challenges so he enjoyed his bottle for dinner. (And then puked up his bottle, the poor dear. Pray that we can find the right specialist for him and get to the bottom of his eating needs.) We still put a candle in the Birthday Brownies for him to “blow out” even though food is a no-go.

Then, per Brayden’s request, we added the 0 candle to turn the one candle into a 10!

After brownies, we all headed into the living room for present time. Of course, BabyBoy#11 mostly loved the tags on his new sweatshirt. :)

Saturday morning we packaged up the cookies we’d made for neighbors along with some others goodies, tea, hot cocoa, and chocolates.

I’d saved the Trader Joe’s bags we’d gotten while Christmas shopping and these made perfect gift bags.

It was sunny and 40 degrees so a perfect day to take a walk around the neighborhood delivering packages.

Whenever we try to do anything like this, I do question my sanity. It’s hard enough to keep up with laundry, dishes, and keeping everyone fed and happy. To get anything extra accomplished and then head out the door with this many little ones (stopping every few minutes to deal with a behavior issue or an ouchie or a diaper need or…) – well. I always wonder if it’s worth it.

Yes. It’s worth it.

The kids LOVED this. They took turns ringing doorbells, handing over gifts, and whenever we caught someone at home, the kids felt so loved and appreciated by our neighbors who gushed over the gift. It was also fun to leave surprises on the porches of neighbors who weren’t home at the time. :)

Lunch was a tasty but simple meal of Croissants with Turkey, Bacon, and Cheese (with snuck in spinach) melted in the oven.

We all had an afternoon rest time and then it was Birthday Party time! We had invited a few York friends to come for the afternoon/evening to celebrate Brayden’s 10th. We usually just have family birthday time (which we’d had the night before), but since it was a significant year for Brayden, we told him he could have a party. The kids played, the adults caught up and visited. It was wonderful.

We ate Brayden’s birthday choice of Chicken Nuggets and Fries along with a tray of fresh fruit and a plate of veggies.

There was cake, there were cookies, there was a lot of laughing and joy.

After all the excitement of Christmas along with three birthdays within the past nine days, I felt some relief that we could maybe settle down for a while. Ha. And then I remembered that we have two more birthdays coming up in January. Party on!

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Big Family Food and Fun: December 17-23, 2023

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Here’s our Big Family Food and Fun: December 17-23 post!

Big Family Food and Fun: December 17-23, 2023

As you can imagine, Sunday mornings are a bit hectic at our house as we try to get out the door to church with so many little ones. I’d get more done ahead of time on Saturday night if I wasn’t already just trying to survive the regular needs of Saturday night. Phew.

At one point in the morning this Sunday, I was able to run to our laundry room to gather outfits for our five littlest. I laid them on the back of our living room couch like this so that Matt and I could work together to get everyone dressed.

Our Sunday lunch that day included 23 lovely people and it was marvelous! I set up a big Baked Potato Bar and our friends brought salads and desserts.

I usually bake potatoes like this in a crock pot. But I needed my crock pots for other things, plus 10 pounds of potatoes don’t fit into one crock pot. So I “baked” them in our large roaster, hoping it would work well to do the job I needed it to do while we were at church. Phew, it worked!

Our potato bar included Chili, white queso, bacon, shredded cheese, butter, sour cream, salsa, ranch, guacamole, and olives. At the last minute, before leaving for church, I also threw 24 hotdogs into a crock pot to cook all morning. I knew we’d have a large crowd and I wanted to make sure we had enough food. AND I realized that a lot of baked potato toppings can double as hot dog toppings (chili dog, anyone??).

We went through all 24 hotdogs plus almost 10 pounds of potatoes this meal. It was awesome!

Here’s our drink station filled with coffee options, hot cocoa, and tea:

The selection of desserts our friends brought was so good. Those frosted bars there look like brownies but take one bite and you realize they are a delightful Ginger Snap bar. Wow. So good. I’m not going to tell you how many I ate with my coffee that afternoon. And the next day. :)

Our friends trickled away for the afternoon and our family pulled up the Husker volleyball final match to enjoy together. This photo is a peek into why we love living in Lincoln. Being able to enjoy time with our adult kids is a gift I can’t put words to. (Even if the Huskers did choke and forget how to play their sport, bless ’em.)

After the game, we got the kitchen cleaned up from lunch and I decided that there would be no more cooking or dishes that day. Anna finished off the can of our lunch olives while I put five frozen pizzas into the oven for dinner.

I only burned one of them. Ack.

Some friends of ours had been sick all week so we decided to put together a surprise package for them and deliver it to their porch. Brayden, Kiya, and Keith made cards…

And we put together a box filled with treats and crafts. Look at these adorable ornaments from Delight Design! I have a stash of them for our kids to color or paint so I put some in for our friends to color.

I had a couple of frozen Lasagnas in our freezer so I put one in a large gift box to go along with our surprise box along with the cards our kids had made. Then we loaded everyone up to go make our delivery.

We had some disposable cups with lids leftover from our Christmas party the night before, so we put some hot cocoa into them and told the kids they could have one for the road after they buckled in. This was a GREAT idea that we will probably not do again any time soon because giving kids sugar while confining them to car seats made for an extra-crazy van ride home, oy!

Someone gave us the gift of this delicious loaf of cinnamon-y bread at church on Sunday so Monday morning we enjoyed it with our breakfast.

Eva came over and helped Matt with the littles while Keith and I headed to our  Food Distribution set up to help get food ready to give away on Tuesday. Mid-morning, Eva sent me this “Mini-Laura” photo of Acacia. :)

There was a Sam’s close-by so after Keith and I finished helping at Food Distribution, he and I headed to Sam’s to pick up a few necessary food items as we get ready for Christmas.

That afternoon, I browned 4-pounds of sausage and 6-pounds of hamburger meat to get meals ready for the upcoming days.

I used a combination of cooked hamburger and cooked sausage to make a huge Lasagna for Friday night. My dad and his wife were coming for a visit and we were planning a fun evening with all of our big kids coming to see them.

I then used some of the cooked sausage to make four pans of Quiche for our dinner that night. Brayden was happy to mix up a big bowl of Caesar salad to go with them, plus we had some strawberries.

I had planned for us to make these Reindeer Cookies for a couple of weeks and we finally made it happen Monday night!

Our little Josie-girl had fun trying to put antlers and a nose on her cookie. Turned out pretty good, don’t you think?

Anna was very proud of her cookie creation!

While the cookies were baking, the kids watched part of Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer since it matched the theme of the evening.

And then they ate their cookies before getting ready for bed!

Tuesday morning Keith decided that pancakes sounded really good. :) I had a Kodiak mix from Costco so he helped me mix it up and I made a huge batch of pancakes on our griddle for breakfast.

A dear lady at church had told us on Sunday that she had the week off and to “go out for some time to yourselves before Christmas!” while she came to babysit. Ohhhhh such a sweet offer!

So Tuesday mid-morning we left the youngest five with Kathi, Elias, and Malachi while Matt and I had an early lunch at Cheddar’s. I took this picture to send to another friend who had given us a gift card to use on a date sometime. Great food and uninterrupted conversation!

I wrapped presents all afternoon during naptime, then picked up Brayden and Kiya to head to the Food Distribution to give out food. This service opportunity really stretches them and is teaching them so much about seeing others and showing love. It also sometimes triggers some tough emotions as sometimes they see someone that reminds them of a person from their past. We tend to have a few things to work through as we drive home on these days.

This particular day, they had been given an excess of donations from various grocery stores so we brought home two bags of food like potatoes, salad kits, canned soup, buns, rolls, and bread.

I had put White Chicken Chili into the crock pot earlier in the day so that dinner would be ready to serve without me being there to make it. I forgot to take a picture that evening but here are the lovely leftovers in the fridge. ;)

Wednesday morning after we got Brayden and Kiya off to school, Matt and I loaded up the youngest five to run final errands before Christmas. We went to Aldi because butter and cream cheese were on sale. I got a case of both – woot!

Then we headed to Costco, putting two kids in my cart and three in Matt’s.

I felt a little bit like a crazy woman, but that afternoon I also went to Sam’s. I’d gone to a different Sam’s with Keith earlier in the week but they didn’t have the bacon I wanted and we must have our bacon, mustn’t we? This Sam’s had it and it was still hugely discounted! I got two boxes, which equals 20 pounds. I feel no regret. :) :) :) I am now FULLY stocked up on groceries and ready for Christmas!

When Anna got off the bus from preschool that afternoon she was excited to open a gift from her teacher. It was so sweet to watch her delight as she pulled the little items out of her package!

Have I mentioned that we have not one but FOUR birthdays in our family in December? This particular day, we were celebrating Malachi turning 19! Per his request, we had a junk food buffet, ha. I couldn’t handle only serving pizza rolls and corndogs so I included grapes, berries, and carrots in the food line.

Several off his friends came to Lincoln to celebrate with him plus his cousin from Kansas. SO special! Asa and Eva came too (Justus and Kelsey weren’t able to join). It was a great evening!

I could only scrounge up 10 candles for our 19-year-old. I need to put candles on my Walmart list. :)

We had “present time” in the living room, giving Malachi some very adulty gifts like dishes and boxes of mac-and-cheese. He and his cousin are planning to get an apartment together soon so he’s starting to collect needed items.

Somewhere in there, I managed to get Brayden, Kiya, Keith, and Anna to join me in putting together little gifts for their teachers. Phew, what a busy (but great!) time of year.

Acacia wanted to get in on the action, the little sweetheart. She put together a teacher gift for the teacher she doesn’t have, haha.

Thursday morning I made our daily smoothie, then put a roast and carrots into the crock pot to slow cook all day for that night’s dinner. (Note to self: Put the carrots on the bottom next time so that they can cook in the juices and turn out to be more tender.)

My dad and his wife, Tacy, arrived early in the afternoon – such a treat to see them! (We hadn’t seen them since Adoption Day in May.) We visited all afternoon, then for dinner enjoyed the Roast and Carrots plus Buttered Corn and Rolls.

Our nephew, Troy, was still here visiting too – so much fun to have family in town!

We finished off dinner with Christmas Cookie Cut-Outs, which we’d made like this. So I gave each kid a cookie with some frosting and sprinkles so that they could decorate their treat before eating it.

Friday morning it was fun to make several pans of bacon with the big box I’d picked up on sale earlier in the week. We had it with Cheesy Scrambled Eggs and Grandma Tacy’s Banana Muffins that she’d made and brought for us.

Papa walked to school with Matt, Brayden, and Kiya. Then he and Grandma Tacy were excited to walk Keith and Anna to their bus when it came to pick them up at noon. :)

We set out a fun Sub Sandwich bar for lunch with a variety of breads, meats, and cheeses plus avocado, spinach, and condiments. We had chips and carrots on the side and we were nice and full afterward.

Acacia and Josie ate their lunch at a little table Papa and Grandma Tacy had brought for them. It’s soooo cute.

When Keith and Anna got home from preschool that day, they were excited to pull everything out of their backpacks and tell us about their Pajama Day – Gingerbread Party. :)

Kiya and Brayden made crafts at the table with Grandma.

We ate a huge Lasagna for dinner with Caesar Salad and Green Beans.

Plus we enjoyed Christmas Cut Out Cookies and Frosted Brownies.

All of the older kids were able to be there to enjoy some Papa and Grandma Tacy time. :)

I happened upon this scene in the kitchen and while I had to keep up with littles and couldn’t hang out with them, it was delightful to me to see all of our Bigs enjoying each other in our kitchen. :)

We gathered in the living room after dinner for a little bit of Christmas gift exchange time.

And then we attempted to put some VERY HYPER CHILDREN to bed. They are all a little bit extra-emotional because of the holidays. Having extras at our house is so exciting – but makes it hard for them to regulate. Which makes it hard for me to regulate as I work with Matt to settle everyone. This was the third night in a row of crazy bedtime behavior (it started on Malachi’s birthday evening) and I was in tears by the time we finally got them calm and into their beds.

Ugh. This life is so, so good. And also very much hard. It is everything all at once. God led me to read Psalm 18 on Saturday morning and the Truth from it is so good and was so needed. He is our strength. He is our rock. He delights in me and loves me. This is how we can walk through these days. Breathing all this in changed Saturday for me.

My dad loves to buy donuts for us when he comes to visit so we enjoyed those with an Easy Egg Casserole and fruit.

We had gifted my dad a Big Boggle game for Christmas and I reallllllly wanted to play it with him. So we decided to let the kids open a gift from their CASA that she’d delivered that week. I knew that the gift was a huge set of Magnatiles and thought the kids might spend some timing enjoying them so that I could have some good grown-up game-playing time. This plan worked out about as good as it could work, haha. Dad, Tacy, and I played several rounds of Big Boggle even while there was a bit of chaos behind and around us. :)

I had started a full crock pot of Ham and Potato Soup that morning and it was ready for us to eat at 12:30. I buttered and warmed up some rolls we’d been given at the Food Distribution to help stretch the meal. We had a few additional friends hanging out that morning and Justus and Kelsey stopped by too. So altogether there were 20 of us and we finished the entire pot plus all the rolls! (And some clementines and cookies.)

I rested that afternoon after Dad and Tacy headed home. Then I went to the kitchen, turned on Christmas music, and did some baking as the girls were waking up. I mixed up my Peppernut recipe but made them into regular cookies instead of a billion tiny bites like my grandma used to make. They taste delicious like this and of course take much less time.

I also made Fudge and Shortbread.

After all of that, I didn’t feel like making dinner, ha. So we made popcorn and got out fruit, cottage cheese, peanut butter pretzels, and yogurt.

While Matt and I started our Saturday night bath process, Malachi and the boys set up our new Corn Hole game that Papa and Grandma Tacy had gifted us. :)

Then the best thing happened! We settled all of our clean, jammied kids into the living room for Singing and Prayer time. Just before time to head upstairs, the doorbell rang. Who could it be??

The kids were AMAZED by this special visitor and each one of us received a beautiful handmade (by Mrs. Claus) gift. It was incredible and sweet and well, we have some pretty great neighbors. ;)

And that was our week! Merry Christmas!

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