Heavenly Homemakers

Encouraging women in homemaking, healthy eating and parenting

Introducing BabyBoy#11!

by 25 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see our disclosure policy.

Introducing BabyBoy#11!

We’ve loved him from the beginning. And by beginning, I mean that God turned my heart toward him weeks before we even knew he was on the way.

As soon as God put him on our hearts, we started praying for his protection and health. Even with our hands and hearts and days so full, we were ready to say yes to yet another yes from God.

When I got to go to the hospital to meet this new one for the first time, all I could do is cry and smile and tell him over and over, “We’ve been praying for you. You’ve been so loved from the beginning. God has big plans for you…”

When we brought him home, his brothers and sisters – ten of them plus two sisters-in-law – fell in love right away. Our BabyBoy#11 has never been lacking for snuggles and kisses.

Foster care doesn’t always end in adoption and in fact, the ultimate goal and hope for the first many months is that we can all work together for reunification. We love our kids’ biological parents and pray for them always. This time we were chosen to be our son’s forever family.

On July 31, 2024 more than 30 dear family and friends all headed to the courtroom.

The proceedings were short and sweet and yet, as his new, full name was declared by the judge I was overcome with emotion and gratitude.

Augustine Omega Coppinger

He’s our precious BabyBoy#11.

Auggie is too little to understand all God has done and is doing for him. But there are fifteen of us ready to help him learn the power of God’s plan and ability to heal. And now Auggie is an uncle too. :)

Here’s what Auggie had to say on the way home from his special day in court…

His smile says it all. You can bet the rest of us are wearing one just like it.

We love you, Auggie. We are so thankful to live out God’s plan with you.

Heavenly Homemaker's Club Members: Access your homepage and all your fantastic resources here! Not a member yet? Please join us!

Big Family Food and Fun: July 14-20, 2024

by 3 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see our disclosure policy.

Here’s our Big Family Food and Fun: July 14-20, 2024 post!

Wait. Only 9 people this week?? Yep. One of our housemates moved out because she is getting married! Brayden, Kiya, and our housemate Sarah went to Royal Family Kids Camp for the week. Malorie, Elias’ girlfriend, went to counsel at Nebraska Youth Camp. (She’s been in and out all summer, spending time in TX with her family and spending time with us, I mean, with Elias.) So that left us with just 9 people here most of the week (Matt, me, five littles, Elias, and one housemate, Angela). It was strangely quiet!

Big Family Food and Fun: July 14-20, 2024

My brother, Kevin and his wife, Michele were visiting over the weekend, making for such a lovely time. Michele took this photo of us as I was fixing girls’ hair for church.

This is my overall favorite photo of the weekend. I love how our littles got to know their Uncle Kevin and Aunt Michele better during these days.

Sunday was extra full as Matt preached at church that morning and we had a potluck after. It was all incredible and in short, I was enjoying it all so much that I completely forgot to take any pictures until we got home from church that afternoon. Friends, please admire my empty crock pots from the potluck. Ooh. Ahh.

I had taken one crock pot full of Meatballs and another full of Cream Cheese Corn. Both are always a hit at a potluck.

We spent the afternoon packing and preparing Brayden and Kiya for a week of Royal Family Kids Camp. They hadn’t been away from us or done anything like this so while they were both excited, they were also very nervous as we got ready.

For dinner that night, I made a double batch of BLT Wraps. I made one plate without tomatoes for the kids. I’d forgotten how good these are!

Monday morning after a breakfast of Scrambled Cheese Egg and Applesauce, we loaded everyone up so we could take Brayden and Kiya to their Camp Drop Site. These babies were NERVOUS. There were tears and lots of wonderful adults who gave them love and reassurance as we hugged them goodbye.

On our way back home, we detoured with the five remaining littles to Holmes Lake Park for a couple of hours.

We snacked on cold juice, popcorn, and applesauce pouches before heading to the volleyball sand pit to play and get sand in our diapers, oy.

Oh, and Keith found a perfect stick to “shoot a bear” for our dinner. (We’ve been reading Little House in the Big Woods for our Summer School at Home read-aloud. Pa shot and hung up all their meat for the winter and this has been fascinating for Keith!)

It was incredibly hot that day, so as soon as we got home we drank water and refreshed outside in the shade with a popsicle.

I turned on some water in the yard in hopes that the kids would wash off their sand and popsicle stickiness before heading inside. It worked pretty well, actually.

I warmed up leftover green beans and made Turkey Cheese Melts for lunch.

It was Eva’s birthday so we gathered the family together that evening for her birthday dinner. Her request was Chicken Alfredo with Fruit for dessert.

I smoked Chicken to go with our Alfredo Sauce and Pasta plus steamed Broccoli. We had strawberries, oranges, and watermelon for dessert.

We all loved this meal, but the littles could not get over the fact that THERE WAS NO CAKE. Indeed, kids; fruit is a wonderful dessert. No birthday cake needed. The kids’ conclusion: Adults are weird. Why would you not want a cake?? :) Josie even dug out some candles for me, insisting that there must be a cake around here somewhere. Finally I got some ice cream out of the freezer to give the kids a “real dessert” and then the littles felt much better about it being an actual birthday. :)

Tuesday morning I caught Acacia and Josie having a sweet moment coloring together after breakfast.

We had appointments all morning, then at lunchtime, we air fried some Chicken Patties for Sandwiches. What you see pictured was just round one – we threw in round two after these were cooked. Our air fryer is big, but still not big enough. ;)

We let the kids watch Clifford that afternoon so that they could have down time and Matt and I could get something done. Check out Anna and Keith sharing his blanket. These two are rarely sitting still and rarely able to sit next to each other without issue. So photo documentation of this sweetness was a must. :)

I had a lot of bananas in our freezer so I cleared them out and made a triple batch of Banana Bread. One loaf was gone by the end of the day and I froze the other two.

With Brayden and Kiya gone at camp, I decided to try taking Keith with me to hand out food at Food Distribution this time. He did AMAZING and the one-on-one time with him was extra sweet. The best part was seeing the smiles he put on people’s faces as they came through the line. Involving kids in ministry opportunities is good in every way.

That afternoon, I had put a Hashbrown Casserole in the crock pot for our dinner (this recipe but with shredded pork instead of ham). I steamed two pounds of carrots with butter and salt and apparently Anna and Acacia ate one pound all by themselves. Keith and I were excited to dig in when we got home.

Wednesday morning the kids chose an Oatmeal Packet for breakfast (or in Keith’s case, chose two oatmeal packets). We spent some time rearranging and reorganizing some of our second floor cabinets, then got everyone ready to go to a WIC appointment.

The appointment was right at snack time so I packed a bag with Veggie Straws and Pears, which Keith proudly carried into the clinic for us.

Acacia used to be terrified to have her height and weight checked at any clinic, so the fact that she stepped right up this time was a very big deal!

Anna was a champ too. Josie was our scared one that day, but we were able to make it happen. AND, as suspected, though she is the youngest of the three little girls, she is the tallest by a hair and outweighs them by a couple of pounds. This is why everyone thinks they are triplets. :)

We headed home and fed the kids lunch (leftovers). Then Keith and BabyBoy#11 stayed with Elias while Matt and I took the three little girls to Ms. Kathi’s. Then Matt and I headed to Cheddar’s for a lunch date!! We figured since Brayden and Kiya were at camp and we only had five kids to farm out, we could make a date happen this week.

After lunch, we walked to Scooters to use up a gift card I had. I sat in the sun (my favorite!) and Matt sat across the table from me in the shade (his preferred). We hung out for over an hour relaxing and visiting. We praise God for this rare and treasured down time together.

Back at home, we warmed up leftover carrots and pasta for dinner before getting kids ready to meet our church family at the Splash Park for the evening.

Wednesdays in July are “Popsicles in the Park” nights with Heartlands church – with the goal of spending time with each other and enjoying time visiting with people in the community around the Splash Park.

At popsicle time, this is what the line looked like and it was beautiful.

I got to enjoy a few Little Sweetheart snuggles while Justus pushed the three girls on swings.

Nights like this are some of the best hanging with friends and making new friends too.

I followed my own advice by packing snacks for our kids to eat after playing in the water. Turns out, I should have packed more. Sometimes, I just can’t keep these bellies full. :)

Thursday morning I pulled a bag of Breakfast Cookies from the freezer for the kids to eat for breakfast.

We loaded up and headed to Aldi. Two full carts and no room for groceries!

We somehow made it happen. ;)

We picked up fruit/veggie pouches for BabyBoy#11, lots of fresh fruit and veggies (strawberries were on sale!), meat, spaghetti sauce, and fruit cups/canned fruit.

Back at home, we air fried a Quiche I’d found in the freezer and thawed for lunch (it was already baked). Our neighbor had given us a garden cucumber so we cut that up and had mandarins from Aldi too.

Malachi had been at church camp all week, but he had to come back to Lincoln for the day to do some video work so he stopped by for hugs before heading back to camp.

Matt spent the afternoon working on house projects and I got filthy trying to clean out and reorganize our basement storage room. We’ve lived her a year now and I’ve been anxious to tackle more organization projects to make some of our rooms more functional. Elias took a van full of items to Goodwill for me so that felt extra good!

For dinner that night, I smoked two Pork Loin we’d picked up at Aldi that morning. We made and ate two Caesar Salad Kits and ate our way through two pounds of Strawberries.

On Friday morning we ate random bits of leftover breakfast items. Then we got everyone ready and took a walk to put some canned food in a Little Free Pantry a few blocks away.

The kids love doing this and we try to explain each time how this helps people in our community have enough food to eat.

Keith grabbed a few bites of apple before we started the ride home.

Just a block into our return trip, Keith’s tire popped so he had to walk his bike the rest of the way home. Thankfully, he was a trooper and handled it just fine.

I took BabyBoy#11 to an appointment after that while Matt fed the other kids leftovers for lunch. After rest time, we loaded up to pick up our campers!

Emotions ran high in every way for the entire evening. :( We expected sadness that camp was over and a tough time transitioning back home after a full week away. But the last few hours of our day were very difficult as we tried to help kids unpack and talk about their week.

Thankfully, on our way home from picking up the kids I had texted Elias to get the smoker going and start cooking burgers since we’d be later getting home than I thought we’d be. BLESS ELIAS. He made dinner on his own from start to finish, even buttering and toasting our burger buns. Had he not done this, I don’t know what we would have eaten because Matt and I were in the trenches with the kids’ needs. Best burger I ever ate.

The five littlest kids had shifted that night too and taken on some of the emotions/behaviors of the older two so getting everyone to bed that night was extra challenging. I’m so thankful to teamwork with Matt in this and to know that God is doing His work in all of us.

After we finally had everyone asleep – we thought – we heard a strange noise. Upon investigating, we discovered that Acacia, with her leg braces on, had clomped her way into the hallway and then given up on her mission to fall asleep right on the wooden floor. It was a sweet little comedy relief for our night. :)

Saturday morning I felt grateful that the kids had gotten a good night’s sleep but nervous about what behaviors might greet us as the kids got up. God led me to read Matthew 8 where Jesus healed, then He healed again, and He healed again. I cried and prayed over our children again, knowing that Jesus IS healer and He loves our children. We are not doing this alone but with the authority of Christ and His healing power at work.

Overall the morning went smoothly as we started out with Eggs in a Nest for breakfast to put something good into their bellies right away.

Justus and Kelsey took the time to come over and bless our morning, knowing we could use extra loving-adult backup after last night’s rough transition.

Our former housemate and friend, Abby, was getting married that day. Since the wedding was two and a half hours away we made the decision for Matt to take Brayden, Kiya, Keith, and Anna while I stayed behind with Acacia, Josie, and BabyBoy#11 (the three who don’t travel very well yet).

Brayden and Kiya helped me make “Lunchables” for them to stop and eat on the way, plus I sent along apples and pistachios for any snacking needs on the way.

After we got them off Justus, Kelsey, and Little Sweetheart stayed for a while to help and visit. My friend Charlene came for the afternoon and during naptime we actually got to have full conversations and catch up after a long time of not hanging out! I got the three littles to bed that night while Matt made his way home with the other four. And that was our week!

Heavenly Homemaker's Club Members: Access your homepage and all your fantastic resources here! Not a member yet? Please join us!

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

by 4 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see our disclosure policy.

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

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

Sunday was my favorite as we had plans for family to come eat after church, plus we grabbed several others to join too. I didn’t get great photos of the food because I was too excited to capture the people. There were 25 of us gathered in our kitchen and dining room. Lots of babies and kids. Lots of noise. Lots of awesomeness.

We ate Overnight Roast, Mashed Potatoes, Cream Cheese Corn, Caramelized Sweet Peppers/Onion, Caesar Salad, and Rolls.

For dessert we had Brownies and Homemade Ice Cream. Ever since our friend gave us a Cuisinart Ice Cream Maker, we’ve found that making ice cream is SO EASY. What a treat! (I’ll share details soon about how I make it so easily.)

For dinner that night I simply warmed up Mac and Cheese Leftovers from last week and tossed peas on top.

Later while the kids played outside, I took out three chilled cans of fruit – two of pineapple slices and one of peaches – and handed them out on plastic forks as a snack before bed.

Monday morning I used up some tortillas to make Quesadillas for breakfast. That’s not something we normally eat in the morning, but we’ve ceased to be normal. :)

We were completely out of fresh produce (again) and if you can believe it, we were out of bacon, ha. So we headed to Sam’s with all the kids, armed with shopping snacks and water bottles.

We picked up a delightful $4.98 Rotisserie Chicken and ate it at home as soon as we got the cold groceries put away. As you can see, we also dove right into our newly purchased grapes and blackberries.

I had a migraine and tried to rest that afternoon. Then for dinner we pulled out random bits of meat from the fridge to use up in a Nacho Bar.

We’d splurged on some Fudgesicles a Costco last month and this night was a great night to enjoy them outside after dinner. Pretty much all six fudgesicle eaters had faces like this one after the treat.

Tuesday morning I took BabyBoy#11 to his pediatric neurologist and was soooo encouraged by her expertise and care for him. We are in good hands, praise God.

We got home just in time to enjoy a wonderful visit with my cousins who were visiting from Kansas! I set out a big spread of Sandwich makings so we could put together BLTs or turkey and cheese or any combination we wanted. Plus we had a cucumber from our neighbor’s garden and lots of fresh fruit.

After lunch, we all walked together to “our” Sunken Gardens.

Late afternoon, Brayden, Kiya, and I went to hand out food at our weekly Food Distribution. For the past few weeks, Brayden has been put in charge of picking up coolers as they are emptied out, cleaning them, then lining them up in the hallway to dry. This has been excellent for him and without knowing it, all the other volunteers are pouring such encouragement into him as they offer him praise and appreciation for  his work. He is glowing by the end of our time there each week.

Back at home, I had told Elias to throw Costco Fish Sticks into the air fryer for dinner, which we ate with fruit and salad. I only managed to get a photo of the last plate of fish sticks we made, but…

…it is worth noting and probably chuckling over the fact that we ate THE ENTIRE BAG of 60 fish sticks in this one meal. That’s how we roll, I guess. :) And yes, I did take a moment to snap this photo of the empty fish stick bag in our trash as I was looking to see how many the bag contained at the beginning of the evening.

While I was doing dishes that night, I caught these three having a meeting of the minds. I love that BabyBoy#11 tries to join in with the fun when he can. :)

Wednesday morning I made French Toast, Hashbrowns, and Honey Dew Melon for breakfast.

Brayden, Kiya, Keith, and Anna had dentist appointments that morning so the three littlest stayed home with Daddy and the others headed to the clinic with me.

Wearing sunglasses in the dentist chair is the best!

We made it home after only one major meltdown as the appointments ended, then played outside until lunchtime.

We had brought home a container of croissants from Food Distribution the day before so we used them to make Turkey Bacon Cheese Melts for lunch.

That afternoon, I made a pan of Stick of Butter Rice for our dinner casserole.

I browned meat and turned the rice and beef into Tator Tot Casserole for dinner that night.

Our church had a Popsicles at the Park event that evening so we put on our swim suits and headed out to join the fun. Of all things, the clouds rolled in and gave us a nice downpour while we were there.

Once the rain stopped, the kids all headed back to the water to splash around. Matt and I snuggled with Little Sweetheart and Arrow while Justus hung out with BabyBoy#11.

I had to get a photo of Acacia wearing her match-y hat with her suit. It was a bonus to get a sweet shot of Elias and Malorie in this one too. :)

Thursday morning after breakfast, Malachi called. He’d been serving at church camp the week before and this week was filming/editing video at York University for a special program they had going on. We’d been missing him and guess what? Today he happened to be in Lincoln touring the Capitol Building with the crew he was working with. Would we be able to bring him some coffee, plus some for Bruce, Kenzie, and Chris?

Our Littles demand so much and our Bigs ask so little. So it is my pleasure to drop everything and try to make things like this happen.

We already had plans to load up bikes and kids and go to the park. So I made four coffees too and away we went to the park, detouring to the Capitol.

We were all so excited to squeeze Malachi for a minute before we all headed our separate directions.

At the park, we all spent a good deal of time fighting over who got to ride which bike, even though everyone had chosen one specifically before we left home, oy.

This guy had requested that he also bring his “new” wagon so he could haul it with his bike on the trail. Daddy was extra amazing and said yes.

Later, it turned into this sweetness…

We work up big appetites and while we had plans to eat leftovers for lunch at home, we still had apples, popcorn, and apple sauce for a snack.

I was blessed to go have some Arrow time that afternoon. Oh and guess what? Before I headed over, Asa texted, “If you were able to bring over some tasty coffee when you come, it would be enjoyed…” Hahaha, yep. Seems it was a big coffee-request day for all. Your wish is my command. (Just hand over the baby.)

I had divided last night’s Tator Tot Casserole into meal-sized packages like this for Asa and Eva to eat or freeze as needed.

After I left their house and had an hour to myself to pick up some groceries. I scored chicken thighs marked down!

Back at home, I walked into this scene in which Malorie was helping Keith make salads for dinner and Acacia was helping Matt warm up Hearty Bean Casserole that I’d put together that morning for a quick dinner.

The entire pot of Hearty Bean Casserole and all the salad was gone at the end of our meal. Tasty!

Our treat/snack that night was the Costco Fudgesicles again. This girlie tried to convince me that she hadn’t had one yet and wanted me to go get her one. Good try.

Friday morning we had plans to meet friends at the zoo. They had to cancel, but our family still loaded up a picnic and wagon and headed over!

The day was HOT, so we spent most of our zoo time playing in the water area.

Of course, we had to go say hello to the flamingos. Plus we enjoyed a crocodile, fish, eagle, and turtles along the way.

It was lunch time so we found a shady table area and pulled out all of our food. We were starting to all melt after that, so we headed home to cool off and rest.

I took three of our girls to Ms. Kathi’s for a couple of hours and headed over to snuggle Arrow while they were there.

Back at home, we made a very simple meals of Frozen Pizza with Spinach for dinner.

BabyBoy#11’s hair was getting out of control and down in his eyes so I decided that this evening was a good time to give it a trim outside. Before:

And after:

He didn’t love sitting still while I cut his hair, but he was pretty proud afterward. And yay, now he can see again!

The heat was pretty intense that night so we needed to go inside. But everyone was going a bit nuts inside without some sort of structure. So I got out some fancy paper for the kids to “make quilt squares” like we had seen in the Quilt Museum last week. Mostly they just “made a mess” but at least they stayed busy and calm for a while.

My brother Kevin and his wife Michele came that night to stay for the weekend! Saturday morning I made Sausage Cheese Eggs and served them with Bagels, Yogurt, and Fruit.

I used some of the eggs to put together some Breakfast Sandwiches for the freezer. Then the rest of the eggs all got eaten!

It was precious to see Uncle Kevin and Aunt Michele loving on the littles.

I put our Ice Cream Maker to work again to make a double batch of Oreo Ice Cream for our lunch dessert.

Asa, Eva, and Arrow joined us. Justus, Kelsey, and Little Sweetheart came. My nephew, Austin, came. There were 21 of us altogether and it was awesome.

We Smoked Chicken and ate it with Rolls, Corn on the Cob, Caesar Salad, and Fruit.

Then we enjoyed three varieties of Homemade Ice Cream.

The rest of the day was spent resting then getting ready for Sunday. That was our week!

Heavenly Homemaker's Club Members: Access your homepage and all your fantastic resources here! Not a member yet? Please join us!

Big Family Food and Fun: June 23-29, 2024

by 5 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see our disclosure policy.

Here’s our Big Family Food and Fun: June 23-29, 2024 post!

Big Family Food and Fun: June 23-29, 2024

Sunday was incredibly full and so, so good.

After church, several friends joined us for brunch/lunch with a super easy but tasty buffet of Egg Casserole with Sausage and Hashbrowns, Muffins, Lemon Bread, Fruit, Carrots, and Rice Krispie Treats. Our friend Heather brought a GF/DF Cardamom Cake to share and wow, I’d never had anything like it before. It was so good!

The girls set up chairs in the entry way and wanted to play The Wheels on the Bus so Heather jumped right in to drive them. They loved this so much!

Matt and I were blessed to enjoy two hours of Bible study and fellowship time with friends who came over while the kids all watched a movie downstairs with Elias. This was a life-giving time for us and we’re planning to make it a weekly event.

Afterward, we gave the kids frozen yogurt tubes to eat outside while we transitioned to the NEXT big plan of the day. We moved the vehicles (our back yard is a parking lot because our home used to be a Bed and Breakfast). Then we put away toys and set up tables and chairs for a big neighborhood dinner gathering.

We had invited everyone we could catch from our neighborhood, stating that we would Smoke Chicken and everyone could bring sides to share. This turned out to be such a wonderful time to get to know our neighbors better. We hope to do this once each month.

After we ate, one of our neighbor families brought over their water slide and set it up in our yard. Elias helped the little ones climb up so they could enjoy it too. This was amazing!

Then the same neighbors surprised everyone with a piñata! Another neighbor, Ashley, captured this photo of me trying desperately to keep all the kids ALIVE and not hit in the head with a baseball bat as everyone was so very eager and excited about all of this. ;)

Monday morning I was tired. :) But the show must go on, so we pulled out our Summer School at Home Toolbox and went with a lesson we’d been looking forward to working through. We talked a little bit about money, shopping, and budgeting. Then I set out a “grocery store” and gave the kids “money” to shop for items so that we could fill our church’s Little Free Pantry. The kids LOVED this and filled their backpacks with food that they’d “purchased” to share with the community.

It was a hot day, but we went for a walk to fill the pantry anyway (it’s just a few blocks from our house). I promised popsicles to refresh us when we got back and even with the heat, we found that the outing was beneficial in so many ways. It feels great to share our bounty with others!

Back at home: Shade and Popsicles. Ahhhh.

A few minutes after our popsicle time, we had a meeting with case workers and our lawyer to finish  signing paperwork to prep for BabyBoy#11’s adoption. It won’t be long now, praise the Lord!

Kelsey and Little Sweetheart stopped by to wish Josie a happy birthday! We had a gift for her that included new water toys for the family to enjoy, so we gave them to her at lunchtime.

While the kids and I started to get water set up, Matt brought out our electric skillet and made Quesadillas for lunch.

The kids ate and played on the new Slip and Slide…

I went to the store that afternoon while kids played or rested.

Later that afternoon, we set up the second water toy Josie received, which was quite the labor of love, oy.

Josie’s birthday dinner was an incredibly simple one: Chicken Tenders with Carrots and lots of Fruit options. I kept making more chicken in our air fryer until everyone was full.

Asa and Eva were brave and came over with Arrow for a short time. This was the first all of his little Aunts and Uncles got to meet him and they were excited!

Elias and Malachi had gone in together to buy Asa a gift of “Dad Shoes” now that he’s got a little one of his own. Bring on the knee socks. ;)

Our former housemate, Emma, and her boyfriend joined us also. It was a fun, full night! We continued to make chicken and eat in shifts. I took one for the team and snuggled Arrow so Eva could eat. :) :) :)

It was very hot that day so instead of baking a birthday cake, I decided that Josie’s birthday treat would be Ice Cream Sandwiches. This was perfection.

Josie does NOT like being the center of attention so she hid in my neck while everyone sang to her and refused to blow out candles.

Auntie Kiya had a few minutes of snuggle time with Arrow before Asa and Eva took off for the evening.

We went outside and played in the water until bedtime. Unfortunately, the cool rainbow water sprinkler refused to stand up. But the kids figured out how to have fun anyway.

Tuesday morning we ate leftover Egg Casserole with Sausage and Hashbrowns for breakfast. I hated turning on the oven on a hot day but I had overripe bananas and I knew the kids would enjoy muffins as snacks. So I baked a batch of Chocolate Banana Blender Muffins.

Mid-morning we put everyone in swim suits and got ready to head to the splash park. I made a big pot of Hot Dogs for our lunch, put them on buns, and packed them in an insulated bag. I also packed the muffins I’d baked, cucumbers with ranch, grapes, and applesauce.

At lunchtime, our hotdogs were still hot and perfect for our lunch!

It was so hot that day that it almost wasn’t even fun to be at the splash park. But after lunch the kids got nice and wet so we were able to enjoy a couple of hours there.

That afternoon, Brayden, Kiya, and I left to hand out food at the Food Distribution while Matt and Elias stayed back with the other littles. I never remember to get many photos (plus we aren’t allowed to have phones out while clients are coming through the lines). But Brayden took this one of all the coolers he cleaned as we all handed out food and handed him our empty coolers. :)

Back at home, Elias made Taco Meat and set out a Nacho Bar for everyone at dinnertime. Before bed, I read another chapter of Little House in the Big Woods to Brayden, Kiya, and Keith then a few storybooks to all of the littles. Reading time is both very sweet and very crazy as we all try to actually sit still on the couch together. ;)

Monday morning after breakfast and two appointments, we packed up and went to Pioneers Park. There’s a lot to do at this park, but this time we focused on the area around their Nature Center.

Anna, Acacia, and Josie posed in front of a carved eagle and I LOVE how sweet this photo turned out to be.

Inside the Nature Center there are live animals to enjoy plus several hands-on learning tools. The kids love this (as do I).

We found a nice spot to enjoy our lunch: Hard Salami, Cheese, Crackers, Strawberries, Pears, and Milk.

Back at home, we sat down for some quiet reading to accomplish some of our Summer School at Home goal.

For dinner that night I Grilled Steak and made Stir Fried Veggies and Rice.

We stayed home that evening and played outside until bedtime, enjoying some big wheels someone handed down for us to enjoy.

Thursday morning we headed to Costco to pick up “a few items,” ha. Define “few…” See that fella walking by as we were loading kids into carts? Of course he asked the question we get forty-eleven times any time we go anywhere with the kids: “Are they all yours??”

Two full carts later, we were finished.

We spent the afternoon prepping to leave for a weekend trip. We only had plans to be gone for two days and one night, but it’s amazing how much stuff it takes to make this happen. I had been accumulating snack foods and fun lunch items to take with us to hopefully help keep kids calm in the van.

We had some things to drop off to our older kids plus we really needed some baby kisses before leaving. So we loaded all of our kids up and headed first to Asa and Eva’s to get a quick Arrow snuggle. From there we ran to Justus and Kelsey’s go give Little Sweetheart a bunch of kisses. We captured this sweet moment with Uncle BabyBoy#11 and Arrow – so precious!

Back at home, I made a double batch of Creamy Bacon Spaghetti for dinner.

Friday morning we finished putting together sack lunches for everyone to eat in the van, then packed half of our house so that we could be gone for less than 48 hours. Traveling with our crew is not easy, especially for the littlest four. But when we got there…

WORTH. IT.

We hadn’t seen most of these family members in over two years. This yearly reunion is a treasured time. Over 70 of us gathered that Friday evening and Saturday morning and it was wonderful.

The kids LOVE this event as there are so many fun activities for them plus lots of cousins to play with. Matt and I were so grateful that the kids were sweet and the rough behaviors we often experience with them were kept to a minimum as they got loved on by so many family members.

Malorie drove up from TX to meet us there and hmm, what’s this? I found about six adorable photos like this on my phone while I was scrolling through on our way home. That’s what I get for leaving my phone on the table, I guess. :)

And speaking of on our way home…Acacia almost NEVER sleeps in the car, but after a weekend like this one, even she couldn’t stay awake.

We made a quick stop at McDonald’s to pick up a huge bag of Nuggets for dinner as we traveled home. The kids were so excited about this! Malorie and Elias were caravanning with us so it was nice to have their help on our stop.

The worn out kids had been quiet for the first leg of our trip and then were a bit restless on the last stretch. But we made it in one piece, threw kids in the tub, and then settled everyone into bed.

And that was our week!

Heavenly Homemaker's Club Members: Access your homepage and all your fantastic resources here! Not a member yet? Please join us!

Big Family Food and Fun: June 16-22, 2024

by 5 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see our disclosure policy.

Here’s our Big Family Food and Fun: June 16-22, 2024 post!

Big Family Food and Fun: June 16-22, 2024

What a week we’ve had! Sunday morning we woke up hoping for a text from Asa announcing the birth of their baby because we knew Eva was in labor. But nope, not yet. Bless her heart. Therefore, all day Sunday we were distracted and praying and praying. C’mon baby!

After church we came home and made a big Waffle feast with Cheesy Eggs and Bacon. It was a group effort as our housemate Angela made the eggs, our friend Kermit rewarmed the bacon I’d baked that morning, and I cranked out a bunch of waffles.

It was a Father’s Day feast!

Justus and Kelsey came over that afternoon and then we all gathered at dinnertime for a Father’s Day dinner (all except for Asa and Eva, of course). I smoked Pork Steak and we had Mashed Potatoes in the Crock Pot, Caesar Salad, and Rolls.

We finished our meal with Apple Pie and Chocolate Fudge Pie.

We went to bed that night without any baby news yet, oy. We continued to pray. The next morning Asa texted – praise the Lord!

“At 3:25am we introduced Mr. Arrow Joseph Coppinger to the world…”

Precious Arrow. Oh how we’d been praying.

Not that anyone cares about what we ate – what with the fun baby news – but Monday morning, I made Scrambled Egg Sandwiches with Fruit for breakfast before we got all eight kids loaded up to head out to VBS. (We had our former foster son with us for the week so eight kids instead of seven!)

This VBS was for preschoolers on up, which meant that everyone except for BabyBoy#11 could go. Amazing!

After settling in the kids at VBS, we dropped BabyBoy#11 with Kelsey then we headed to the hospital to meet our new grandson.

Lolli and Pop are overjoyed and grateful!!

When we picked up all the kids and got back home, we fed them a simple Nacho Lunch with Taco Meat, White Queso, Spinach, Salsa, Sour Cream, and Chips. They were excited to see photos of Arrow!

Afterward, Acacia was eager to help me put together a big Pizza Chicken Bake for dinner. She ran to put on an apron and then followed all of my instructions to make this easy dish. :)

At dinnertime, we had Acacia’s delicious Pizza Chicken Bake with Steamed Broccoli and Buttered Corn.

Tuesday morning after we dropped the kids at VBS, I took BabyBoy#11 to Walmart. While we were there, we picked out coordinating outfits for Justus and Kelsey’s Little Sweetheart and for Arrow. It was tooooo much fun!

Kiya had stayed home with Matt because she wasn’t feeling well. When BabyBoy#11 and I arrived home from the store, I spotted Matt and Kiya outside coloring together. Wow, best daddy ever – coloring with his daughter. :) :) :)

The kids have been starving when they come home from VBS so I was ready with five boxes of Mac and Cheese, Peas, and Applesauce. They devoured this!

About an hour later, the kids were hungry again. I pulled some Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars from the freezer for the kids to eat outside.

Kiya still wasn’t feeling well so just Brayden and I went to help at Food Distribution.

Before leaving to hand out food, I’d smoked four Beef Smoked Sausages and Steamed Green Beans for dinner. When we got home, I toasted some Buttered Rolls to complete our simple meal.

Wednesday morning I sliced a loaf of French Bread in half and attempted to make a Breakfast Pizza Boat with eggs, sausage, and cheese.

We dropped the kids at VBS (please admire this horribly fuzzy photo I took while trying to help get kids settled in). Then we took BabyBoy#11 to Kelsey again so Matt and I could go to the hospital to enjoy visiting with Asa and Eva and snuggling with Arrow.

Ah, but while dropping off BabyBoy#11 with Kelsey, Little Sweetheart needed some Lolli time too. Yes, please.

The kids were super hungry after their morning so I texted Elias to make a big bag of Caesar Salad to have ready for us when we got home. Meanwhile, we had some peanuts in the van and handed them out to everyone to keep kids from becoming hangry. But alas, while snacking SOMEONE PUT A PEANUT UP HER NOSE. Good grief.

The “innocent” children ate salad and leftover meat while I attempted some Emergency Peanut Removal on the guilty party. All’s well that ends well and thankfully, we didn’t have to go to Urgent Care.

The zoo is open later on Wednesdays so we packed a picnic to enjoy at the zoo that evening: Tuna Salad Sandwiches with spinach, cheese sticks, fruit cups, popcorn, applesauce, and cookies.

The leopards don’t usually come this close, so we got a nice view of them plus got to watch a couple of them chasing each other.

There was a special sloth exhibit we got to enjoy. Notice Anna hanging like a sloth during the show. After the crowd cleared, we handed out food to the kids while we tried to keep them wrangled on the benches. This was as effective as herding cats, but at least no one put any food up their nose this time.

Thursday morning, with the other kids were at VBS, BabyBoy#11 and I headed to Aldi. We got some treats to celebrate Josie’s birthday next week plus a few other items we needed. It was a pretty calm outing with just one kid, though he started to act like he didn’t feel well and wanted to be held instead of riding in the cart.

After we got home and put groceries away, Matt gave the fussy BabyBoy#11 a bath, which made all the difference for him. I cut up all of Sunday’s leftover Pork Steak to rewarm plus cooked Corn on the Cob. We finished it all plus had another full jar of Applesauce, leftover Mashed Potatoes, and a few other random leftovers.

We had everyone lay down to rest during the afternoon, then had an early dinner before heading out to our church’s Kid’s Experience. I made 2-pounds of Spaghetti Noodles with Meat Sauce and Fried Zucchini.

Heartlands pulled of an amazing first night of celebrating Jesus with the kids!

While the seven kids were there, Matt and I ran to Menards for some needed supplies. BabyBoy#11 loved the section with all the lights and lamps so he and I hung out there while Daddy looked at all the boring stuff. ;)

We handed out Apple Straws and Cheese Sticks to the kids in the van to eat on the way home (because even though they all had dinner plus a snack at VBS, we knew they would STILL need food before bed).

Friday morning I got Breakfast Cookies out of the freezer for an easy breakfast before the kids’ last morning of VBS.

We dropped kids off at VBS then BabyBoy#11 off with Justus and Kelsey, then we went to Asa and Eva’s for a little bit of Arrow snuggle time.

Back at Justus and Kelsey’s, we got to enjoy Little Sweetheart for a while too. This Lolli and Pop gig is the best!

Back at VBS, there was a Pizza Lunch for all kids and families.

Then they featured a special magician who did a good job of talking about how God loves us and works true miracles in our lives.

As we headed out, the VBS crew had a big pile of leftover boxes full of pizza to hand to families. Nice!

At 4:00 I warmed up Chicken Burritos from the freezer for a quick and early dinner before taking kids to Heartlands Kids’ Experience for the evening.

We dropped the kids and took BabyBoy#11 to meet his nephew. :)

Saturday morning the kids had one final morning of Heartlands Kids’ Experience. What a week! Matt dropped them off while BabyBoy#11 and I stayed at home and worked on food for the weekend. I put together a huge Egg Casserole with Sausage and Hashbrowns for Sunday lunch.

Matt brought Justus and Kelsey’s Little Sweetheart back with him for the morning so we took the babies for a walk. We had plans to host a neighborhood dinner on Sunday night so we knocked on some doors to invite neighbors we hadn’t yet met or gotten phone numbers.

Then we headed back to Heartlands to enjoy a Nacho Lunch Finale with the kids and families. The kids had SO MUCH FUN but…

Tell me you’re tired without telling me you’re tired. :)

We came home and rested during the afternoon. Friends stopped by for a visit. We ate leftovers for dinner. And that was our week!

Heavenly Homemaker's Club Members: Access your homepage and all your fantastic resources here! Not a member yet? Please join us!

Big Family Food and Fun: June 9-15, 2024

by Leave a Comment

This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see our disclosure policy.

Here’s our Big Family Food and Fun: June 9-15, 2024 post!

Big Family Food and Fun: June 9-15, 2024

Our Sunday started out awesome as we grabbed friends after church to come over and eat lunch with us!

I had made a lot of bacon that morning plus cut Saturday night’s leftover smoked chicken into thin strips. We got out a variety of buns and breads, tortillas, and fresh greens with sauces, cheeses, dressings, and dips so people could build Bacon Chicken Sandwiches, Wraps, or Salads. We had Chips and Dips, Grapes, Watermelon, and Strawberries. It was delicious and fun!

We visited all afternoon, then turned on the sprinkler for the kids and moved our party outside to hang out. I put four frozen pizzas into the oven to bake for dinner. While they were baking, I warmed up last week’s leftover steamed carrots for kids to munch on outside.

Two packages of blackberries didn’t last very long!

Nor did the four pizzas. :)

Monday morning after breakfast, Keith and I went to help set up for Tuesday’s Food Distribution. This one-on-one time with him is so valuable. Plus, of course, it’s great to continue teaching our kids to serve in any way God leads us.

We emptied a lot of boxes off the cart, so Keith got to drive it to the storage room.

When we got back home, we all loaded up to head to the zoo to meet up with friends. We had made sandwiches and packed them with chips, pears, grapes, and coconut rolls. Elias and Malorie joined us too!

We ate our pears right away, just like we did last time we went to the zoo. :)

Giraffes are fascinating!

We came home and rested for a while, then I read a chapter of Little House in the Big Woods to the kids. In this chapter, Ma was making butter and bread and the kids were fascinated. So I got a wild hair and told them we could make butter too. It has been a long time since I’ve made butter, but we headed to the kitchen to make it happen!

When I used to make butter regularly, I made it like this. But so that the kids could be involved, we made it in a jar, taking turns shaking and shaking and shaking until we had butter. It was SO COOL. The kids loved this!!!

Can’t have homemade butter without homemade bread, right? There were still three kids napping so Brayden, Kiya, Keith, Acacia and I stirred together a loaf of Stir-and-Pour Bread. They got to learn about how yeast works while practicing their recipe and measuring skills. Basically, it was amazing. So much of our day is usually hard, and this one had been a doozy with screaming and fits from morning to night in between outings and naps. Having this special time with these four helped bring us all down to earth and remind me that there’s a lot of beauty beyond the trauma.

While the bread baked, I rewarmed leftover pasta from Saturday night and heated up meatballs from Costco. Notice how I burned them. I had attempted to trim BabyBoy#11’s hair while dinner warmed up and this was the result of me doing too much at once. Oh well, we ate them anyway.

Eating outside is the best!

Look how beautiful our Butter Ball and our Homemade Bread turned out!!! The kids were SO PROUD, as they should be!

They loved how it all tasted too. It was a perfect way to finish our day before getting everyone to bed.

On Tuesday morning I baked a batch of Spinach Cupcakes. Meanwhile, I air fried a bunch of Chicken Nuggets to take on a picnic with dips, plus Carrots and Fruit Cups.

The Case family and Kelsey met us at a park to play and picnic!

After some rest time in the afternoon, Brayden, Kiya, Elias, and I went to hand out food at Food Distribution. Malorie stayed back with Matt to help with kids and to make dinner for us.

Malorie’s dinner was Migas, a traditional Mexican family meal she’d learned from her mom. Eggs, bacon, and fried corn tortillas – topped with spinach and cheese. We all loved it!

We played outside after dinner until bedtime and only had one scare for about 10 minutes when we couldn’t find Josie anywhere. (She’d slipped inside somehow and was hanging out happily with Elias and Malorie, phew.)

Wednesday we loaded up and headed to York for the day. The kids and I spent the day at our friends house while Matt did some work on our rental house (it’s on the market now!). Our friends have the best back yard in the world and we had so much fun playing and playing!

For lunch we feasted on Hotdogs, Fruit, Veggies, and Chips.

Then it was time to get wet in their back yard. They fed us a Nacho Bar for dinner (we were much too busy visiting and having fun for me to get more pictures). From there, we went to the York University campus for a night of Soul Quest worship. We saw many more friends there – such a gift to us. We didn’t make it back home until after 10pm, which is crazy late for our crew. But it was worth the Thursday morning crankiness. ;)

Thursday morning Acacia found this mask and had the best time “hiding” from all of us. :)

I took BabyBoy#11 to one of his specialists. He’s making great progress with his eating through OT, so we’ll keep plugging away!

That evening we ate Roast with Carrots. I had slow cooked it all day like this – SUPER EASY. The only issue was that I hadn’t started it early enough and we had plans! So we ate the carrots and left the roast to cook a bit longer. Meanwhile I pulled all kinds of random items from the fridge to fill our bellies before we headed out: cottage cheese, pineapple, pears, and leftover grilled cheese sandwiches. :) (The roast got eaten later by the grown ups!)

Then we ventured out for a super fun outing, parking our van right in front of the Capital Building. We see this from afar all the time so kids were incredibly excited to be right there on the property!

Across the street was the Downtown Trolley bus stop, which only costs $0.25. Matt handed out quarters to the kids and they got to clink it into the money slot as we loaded onto the bus.

What a super fun outing for a quarter per person!!! We had the bus to ourselves and the kids were in awe.

This girl does not hold back on letting us know how she feels. When she is mad, oy. And when she is happy: SHE IS HAPPY. I wish you could hear her giggle as she was full of glee on our bus ride!

Josie wasn’t sure what to think. :)

The kids thought that all we were doing was riding the bus. But then we surprised them with a stop at a downtown ice cream shop, an unexpected and rare treat!

They sat still for a total of four minutes eating ice cream, and then we were reminded why we NEVER take our crew to a restaurant. Yikes, there are so many littles. Washing chocolate off of faces, keeping chairs from being knocked over, wow. And do you see that big plastic ice cream cone in the window? Well, it makes a loud noise when it gets knocked over.

We made our way back to a Trolley Bus Stop to head back to our van and home to bed. They kids were so excited about this delightful outing!!!

Friday we decided to attempt some sort of “Day of Rest.” This feels impossible during this season in our lives. Yet I feel like I am a 7-day-a-week extreme event coordinator for a bunch of screaming people, and I am tired. Truly, if we don’t keep the kids busy, have outings, and provide constant structure and routine – the behaviors become worse. So we go-go-go because it’s necessary.

Friday though, Matt and I experimented to see how we could keep everyone busy without major outings. I decided that all of our meals would come from the freezer that day – no cooking for me. Paper plates x3 meals. No laundry. Minor upkeep in the kitchen.

The day started off with Bran Muffins from the freezer with Apples and Peanut Butter.

We turned the TV on for the kids for a while – something we don’t do every day. (Too much screen time tends to backfire for us, so it’s a rare treat to watch a show.)

We got dressed for the day and played outside. Acacia and Josie were twinning!

Mid-morning we relaxed with popsicles. I sat in a chair in the sunshine, soaking up vitamin D. It felt so good!

Our friend came and took the kids for a walk and Matt and I had an entire hour to ourselves. Amazing!

We made Fish Sticks, Sweet Potato Fries, and Smoothies for lunch.

While the baby napped, Matt kept the older four entertained and I dropped Acacia and Josie off to Ms. Kathi’s for two hours. All by myself, I went to Walmart and Sam’s. This wasn’t necessarily restful, but we were out of fresh produce and milk, plus I was getting ready for Father’s Day. So it needed to happen. And I didn’t have kids with me so that in and of itself is refreshing!

Back at home, everyone helped bring in and put away groceries. I had brought home cherries and Brayden and Keith dug right in!

We went outside and played in the water while dinner was in the oven.

I had found a Green Bean Casserole with Hamburger in the freezer, so it was easy to slide into the oven to bake without effort. We ate it outside with grapes. The kids are constantly hungry this summer so some of them had thirds!

Matt pitched some balls to Brayden, Kiya, and Keith so they could practice using a bat. They were so excited to improve their skills!

We gave everyone a little bit of ice cream to finish off the day. Then brushed teeth and got cleaned up. We took everyone for a little walk, then headed straight upstairs to bed. (I had high hopes of putting weary children easily to bed at this point but shucks. It did not go as smoothly as I’d hoped. Meh.)

Saturday morning after breakfast (oatmeal) we loaded up and met friends at the Farmer’s Market downtown. Kelsey and Little Sweetheart met us there for a while too.

When we got home, Keith and Josie helped me make Apple Pie for Matt’s Father’s Day dessert.

We made Chicken Sandwiches with Spinach for lunch and had Strawberry Shortcake for dessert.

We cleaned out the fridge at dinnertime so we had a variety of leftovers. This is such a great way to save money on groceries – nothing goes to waste!

Our Apple Pie turned out beautiful and we made this Chocolate Fudge Pie too. We’re all ready for Father’s Day!

We had a drama-filled bath time then got everyone to bed. And that was our week!

Heavenly Homemaker's Club Members: Access your homepage and all your fantastic resources here! Not a member yet? Please join us!

Big Family Food and Fun: June 2-8, 2024

by 1 Comment

This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see our disclosure policy.

Here’s our Big Family Food and Fun: June 2-8, 2024 post!

Big Family Food and Fun: June 2-8, 2024

Saturday I had made a huge batch of Mudballs to snack on in the coming days.

They reminded me of No-Bake Cookies so I decided that I should make a batch four our Sunday Lunch dessert. :)

After weeks and weeks of running to Keith’s soccer games after church, we were excited to actually host Sunday Lunch again at the Castle after church! I made a big pan of Hashbrown Casserole with Shredded Pork, Peas, Veggies with Ranch Dip, Toasted/Buttered Rolls, and No-Bake Cookies.

Having so many gather in our kitchen was so great. I had missed this!

For dinner that night I pulled Burritos out of the freezer to warm up. We had them with fruit and cottage cheese, guacamole, chips, and white queso.

After dinner, I gathered kids in the dining room to start putting together 25 lunches to be handed out at Atlas the next day. We had discovered this ministry in our neighborhood the week before and are excited to see how our family can help meet needs in our community. The kids helped me put one fruit and one snack in each bag – with plans to make sandwiches the next day.

This little one missed the point of our project as she removed an apple from a bag and helped herself. ;)

Monday morning, Brayden, Kiya, Keith, and Anna got to start a week of VBS. I made a breakfast of Scrambled Cheese Eggs with Cinnamon Toast for everyone before they left.

While BabyBoy#11 napped that morning and Little Sweetheart kicked around in her bouncy seat, Acacia and Josie hung out with me while I put together 25 sandwiches to add to the lunches we started the day before.

The girls helped Daddy fill the sacks with sandwiches.

We loaded up the littlest four, went to pick up the older four from VBS, then headed to Atlas to give them the lunches we’d prepared. I packed a few items to keep our crew satisfied until we came home for lunch so that we could hang out and visit with people who stopped by Atlas for lunch.

Back at home, we warmed up leftovers for our own lunch. Then I handed the kids their Pocket Folders for Summer School at Home. Brayden and Kiya were excited that one of their assignments included being the “Teacher” for Keith and Anna for a lesson involving how plants grow.

For dinner that night I made a big batch of Spicy Mac and Cheese. I hadn’t been to the store in a while so we were out of fresh fruits and veggies except for some shriveling greens. So I made these Smoothies so we would have some sort of healthy side dish, plus I got out some canned fruit.

The kids piled onto Daddy for wrestling that evening and BabyBoy#11 was very proud to get in on the action. :)

Tuesday morning we ate Oatmeal for breakfast as we got four kids ready to go to VBS. Before leaving, I had everyone scrub 5 potatoes each for our dinner that night.

Our friends Heather and Josalyn came over to help us with Justus and Kelsey’s Little Sweetheart that morning. Our girls love any time they get with Josalyn!

The day was full of case worker visits, phone calls, and advocating for our littles’ needs. Before taking Brayden and Kiya to Food Distribution that afternoon, I finished dinner prep: Sliced Ham, Baked Potatoes, and Steamed Broccoli. Eva and our friend Hannah came over to help Matt care for the other kids babes while we were gone.

Here’s a shot of Brayden helping with clean-up after we finished handing out food to the community. There was a very large crowd of people that came through the line that day.

Wednesday morning I warmed up Breakfast Burritos that I’d put into the freezer a few weeks back. We ate them with fruit.

Our friend Robin arrived to help out that morning and offered to keep Little Sweetheart PLUS Acacia and Josie while we took the older four to VBS. Therefore, for two and a half hours, Matt and I had only BabyBoy#11 with us while we did some shopping. We hardly knew what to do with only one little sidekick! BabyBoy#11 didn’t mind the two-on-one attention!

Only one cart?? What in the world?

Our first stop was Walmart so we could pick up some WIC items. BabyBoy#11 is making progress with chewing and swallowing, praise God! But most of his sustenance still comes from the Pediasure we can only find at Walmart. While there, it made sense that we stock up on the summertime necessity: ICE CREAM. Walmart brand (Breyer’s knock-off) is our favorite for only $2.78/container. Such huge savings compared to taking our kids out for ice cream treats!

From Walmart we headed to Costco. Diapers were on sale, woot!

Since we didn’t have all the kids with us and because we still had some time before heading to pick up the VBS kids, I made my way through the clothing section at Costco to check for clearance items. I found lots of two-pack of shirts for just $4.97 and some shirt/pant sets for just $2.97! These will be great fall clothes for the kids!

Back at home all the kids helped carry in groceries.

We thanked our friend profusely for the “date” morning she had provided for us, got groceries put away, then warmed up leftovers for lunch. Anna found a shady spot outside to eat her seconds of noodles.

After some rest time, we put on the kids’ swim suits and played in the water in our yard.

While the kids played, I grilled a package of Costco grass-fed Hamburgers.

We ate our burgers with Baked Beans, Strawberries, Pickles, and crumbs of chips. ;)

We spent the rest of the evening working together to clean up our very messy house.

Thursday for breakfast we had Bagels, Fruit, and Cottage Cheese.

I had gotten eight pounds of strawberries the day before so I baked a Strawberry Shortcake to enjoy after lunch.

Matt took the four older littles to VBS. Our friend Katie came to help with Little Sweetheart, but she was sleeping in so instead Katie read books to Acacia, Josie, and BabyBoy#11 while I threw in some laundry.

While Matt mowed our lawn and BabyBoy#11 took a nap, I went outside with the two remaining girls. We discovered that a Balance Bike we’d ordered had been delivered, so we three girls decided to put it together.

Put me in the kitchen any day with random ingredients and I’ll put together a meal. But put me on the porch with pieces, parts, tools, two preschoolers, and instructions for putting together a bike? Well. This is not my skill set. BUT, I was determined and I got that thing assembled. Fist bump!

Oh wait. I spoke too soon. What just happened to the front wheel???

Hahaha, no worries. I just hadn’t tightened the uh…thingy enough to keep it from swiveling. Repair made, and she was off!

Josie grudgingly rode the “old” balance bike and the rest of the morning was spent breaking up arguments about whose turn it was to ride the new one.

Ah, Josie got a turn.

We warmed up leftovers again for lunch, then enjoyed our Strawberry Shortcake.

That night for dinner we made Spaghetti with Steamed Green Beans.

Friday morning I scrambled 18 eggs for breakfast. Some ate them as-is. Some turned them into Breakfast Sandwiches. All 18 eggs got eaten. :)

It was our final day of VBS for the week. The three littles enjoyed time outside before picking up their big siblings from VBS.

I got out the leftover Baked Potatoes we’d made earlier in the week and cut them into fries for lunch.

Potatoes prepped, we went to watch a final assembly for VBS. They had a great week!

Back at home, I tossed the fries with olive oil and salt then put them into our air fryer. They turned out amazing! We ate them with leftover burgers.

We had plans to go to the Splash Park that afternoon and I knew we’d need dinner right away when we got home! So I smoked a big package of Brats, then put them into a crock pot to stay warm.

Our friend Ella came and stayed with Little Sweetheart while we headed to the park with the other seven kids. It was our first visit to the Splash Park this season and we were so excited to be there! So excited, in fact, that none of us remembered to pack towels. Oops.

What I had packed was apples, cheese sticks, and applesauce. It’s a good thing I did because these kids were starving and ate every last bit of the snacks I packed.

We arrived home and ate our Brats with Steamed Buttered Carrots and Strawberries.

Best part of the night: Elias and Malorie made it back after visiting her family in Texas for two weeks!

Keith was extremely proud of the hat Elias brought back for him. :)

Later that night, Justus and Kelsey made it home safely from their trip and were so happy to reunite with Little Sweetheart. Now we were back to “only” seven littles. :)

Saturday morning we ate a very exciting breakfast of Cereal with plans to enjoy the morning with a brand new friend. A former York University student had reached out to share that her friend Richard had moved close-by. She was hoping to connect him to Christians in the area so we invited him to lunch.

Before lunch, we all walked together to enjoy Sunken Gardens.

Keith used my phone to take this photo of the garden. Pretty impressive!

Hungry and hot, we made our way back home.

Matt handed out Costco’s 100% juice popsicles for everyone while I went inside to work on lunch.

We had two loaves of bread worth of Grilled Meat and Cheese Sandwiches with Chips and Dips and Strawberry Parfaits.

We rested that afternoon, then got ready for Asa’s birthday dinner!! He had invited a large crew and had requested Smoked Chicken with Fettuccini Alfredo, Lasagna, Salad, and Butterscotch Bars. There were 29 of us altogether, and it was my favorite way to enjoy our family and our home.

I smoked 12ish pounds of Chicken Thighs that had marinated in Italian dressing, wondering if it was way too much or perhaps not enough. ;)

The Butterscotch Bars were a huge hit. Only two were left on this tray by the end of the evening.

The night was amazing, perfectly ending our week!

Heavenly Homemaker's Club Members: Access your homepage and all your fantastic resources here! Not a member yet? Please join us!

Big Family Food and Fun: May 26-June 1, 2024

by 2 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see our disclosure policy.

Here’s our Big Family Food and Fun: May 26-June 1, 2024 post!

Here are a couple of photos that I didn’t have ready to share yet last week. As we wrapped up our Saturday, I gave myself a night off and made Orange Chicken from Costco, Cilantro Rice, and Steamed Broccoli.

After dinner I surprised the kids with Ice Cream Cones. This was super fun for them and I loved that serving their ice cream in cones meant that I didn’t have extra spoons or bowls to wash. ;)

And now on to the new week…

Big Family Food and Fun: May 26-June 1, 2024

Keith had his final soccer game of the season after church, so once again, I packed a lunch for us to eat between church and soccer so we wouldn’t have to drive all the way home and then all the way back across town.

I packed Salami, Guacamole and Chips, Strawberries, Cheese and Crackers, Veggies, and Hidden-Spinach Cupcakes.

After church and lunch, we headed out to Keith’s final game of the season. Elias had gone to Texas to spend time with Malorie’s family, but thankfully Malachi was back in town (he travels a lot for his work) so he could coach the game.

Justus and Kelsey left for a trip that day and we were given the privilege of caring for their Little Sweetheart while they were gone. Lots of church friends had signed up to come help us since we’d have an extra baby for several days. So Sunday evening was a delight as we got to know our friend Hannah better. And just look at Beautiful Eva and her sweet baby bump. We’ll get to meet that little one soon! Also in this photo is Angela, one of our wonderful housemates. :)

For dinner that night, I stirred together and warmed up all the leftovers from Elias and Brayden’s Pasta Meal from last week. We ate it with salad (made by Kiya), corn, watermelon, and berries.

Monday morning, Asa and Eva came over for a while.

Late morning, we put together sub sandwiches for our lunch. Then we headed out to join church friends at Atlas where they had plans to hand out lunches and serve cold lemonade to people in the neighborhood. We were excited to check out this ministry!

Our crew arrived with wagon and stroller and got to learn how Atlas works. We are thankful to learn more about the opportunities to serve in our city.

Later that afternoon I put water in a pool and took a variety of measuring cups and containers outside. Brayden, Kiya, and I then enjoyed a lesson on measuring based on a fun activity detailed in our Summer School at Home Toolbox. What better way to learn about measuring on a warm day?!

Acacia came out and joined the fun too. :)

I had set out a container of cream cheese to soften so late afternoon I blended up this Easy Bean and Cheese Salsa Dip recipe to have in the fridge.

The Case Family came over to help us with all the kids and Little Sweetheart. Since it was Memorial Day we decided to enjoy a big meal together. Matt and I had tag-teamed on smoking a Pork Loin and I made Baked Beans, Mixed Veggies, Buttered Rolls, and cut up a Watermelon. The Cases brought a tasty Pasta Salad to go with our meal.

We are so thankful for dear friends!

Tuesday morning we warmed up Breakfast Sandwiches I’d premade and put into the freezer.

Our friend Jess came over to help us with the baby and our kids that morning. At one point I walked into the living room to find a bunch of them piled on her watching videos about foxes. :)

Late morning we all grabbed apples and headed out for a walk to Sunken Gardens.

We were hot and hungry when we got back so I got out the Easy Bean and Cheese Salsa Dip I’d made the day before and we ate it with veggies and chips.

That afternoon, the Cases came back over to help with kids while I took Brayden and Kiya to serve at Food Distribution. As I was leaving, Christina had the three little girls engaged in cutting veggies for dinner. :)

Our Food Distribution coordinator texted me last minute to see if any of our adult kids might be available to come help because they were short-handed. Malachi to the rescue! He worked alongside Brayden (or rather Brayden worked alongside Malachi) ;) to clean up coolers as food was handed out.

We arrived back home to a full Taco Dinner made and ready. Christina had put it all together while we were gone and had even fed three of the littles!

We had birthday cake outside after dinner to celebrate one of the Case kids.

Wednesday morning the Perez family came to help out with Little Sweetheart.

We went outside mid-morning and worked together on a project from the Summer School at Home Service Suggestions file. Only one flower pot broke, so I’d consider this a success. ;)

Kiya drew animal faces on most of the kids with her make-up. I took cheese and fruit out for a snack on the porch.

Then we gathered lots of non-perishable food from our pantry and loaded it into backpacks. We headed out for a walk together to distribute the food into some of the Little Free Pantry boxes around our neighborhood.

The kids LOVED unloading their groceries into these boxes as we talked to them about how people could come help themselves to the food as the needed to!

Back at home, we pulled out pasta leftovers from Sunday and Monday plus sandwich fixings.

That afternoon we set up a Twister Water Game in our yard and the kids had a great time running through it!

All this outdoor play and long walks are making our kids HUNGRY. For dinner, I made Sloppy Joes and took them outside on a tray for the kids to eat (my cheater way of avoiding dirty plates). The joes were almost all gone before I remembered to take a picture. I had to cut Brayden off at three Sloppy Joes because he’d been playing so hard and was so hungry!

To end our day, we walked to our nearest library to get our kids signed up for the Lincoln Library Summer Reading Program.

Thursday morning I made a quick batch of Cheater Cheater Pumpkin Eaters and we ate every single one.

We had made plans to go to the zoo with the Perez family that morning, so I gathered lunch and snack items for us to eat there. I made Tuna Salad for us to eat with croissants or crackers plus packed applesauce, pears, peach cups, cucumbers and cookies.

All the kids were hungry the moment we arrived (at 10:35) so the bag of pears was gone before we made it through the gate!

I didn’t get many photos of our time at the zoo because we were too busy enjoying our friends. But I did get a few at the Butterfly Pavilion. It is only open between Memorial Day and Labor day so this was our first time in this season and we were EXCITED.

They have little q-tips with nectar that everyone can pick up to try and attract a butterfly to “hold.” This is so much fun for everyone!

As we headed back to our van after our visit, the peacock met us to say goodbye.

It rained that afternoon so we spent time reading so we could keep on learning this summer add links to our Summer Reading Book Worm. :)

Keith spent some time putting together his fire truck puzzle.

And it was a tough job, but I did a lot of baby snuggling all afternoon… :) :) :)

For dinner, Brayden helped me make four pizzas and Kiya made a salad.

Our friend Maggie and her daughter came over to lend a hand with the baby that evening so we had fun visiting and playing after dinner.

Friday morning Keith helped me make a bunch of Peanut Butter Honey Sandwiches to take to the park.

The Perez family joined us to help again so we played for a long time and ate at one of our favorite parks.

That evening we had “French Fry Friday” with a super fancy dinner of Chicken Nuggets, Sweet Potato Fries, and Fruit. Our friends Heather and Delaney came over to help with the baby, and I realized after they left that I didn’t get any photos of their time with us. :/

Saturday morning, our housemate Angela offered to make Pancakes for our family!

Our neighborhood was hosting yard sales so we walked around for several blocks to try and meet more of our neighbors.

Then we loaded up and went to a park to meet up with the Case family for a music festival.

I packed a snacky lunch so we could play at the park with friends longer: Chips and Guacamole, Cheese and Crackers, Applesauce, Pistachios, Juice, and Yogurt.

When we got home some of the kids were excited to help our neighbor, John, plant more flowers in his yard.

This is a photo John took a few weeks ago when we went over to “help.” He’s been so good to teach the kids about different kinds of flowers and plants.

We had leftovers for dinner, and that was our week!

Heavenly Homemaker's Club Members: Access your homepage and all your fantastic resources here! Not a member yet? Please join us!

Big Family Food and Fun: May 19-25, 2024

by 2 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see our disclosure policy.

Here’s our Big Family Food and Fun: May 19-25, 2024 post!

Big Family Food and Fun: May 19-25, 2024

Our week started off with a precious time of worship with our Lincoln church family. For years now, I have had a difficult time getting through worship without tears. I feel so grateful and humbled by a Savior who knows our needs and cares enough to meet them. This Sunday was especially sweet as I held Justus and Kelsey’s foster babe and saw so many others loving on my babies.

How we all need each other. How we must all be in community. I’ve always known this but while constantly caring for so many special needs kids who struggle to understand their worth – seeing our village love them with us is so touching and precious to me. I was able to capture just a few moments throughout the morning. Acacia spotted her dear Kathi and stood with her to sing.

Josie claimed her spot with Malorie who was here from Texas to visit Elias (and the rest of us, ha!) for a few days.

Acacia made her way over to Elias and spent the rest of her auditorium time with him before she headed to the nursery for Toddler Time. Meanwhile, Brayden was getting loved up on by Kelsey (I wasn’t able to get a photo). I’m so thankful for our village. It is huge and needed. God is faithful.

After church, we headed to a park for a drizzly Picnic with Pals organized by Mandy, our Kids Minister.

Keith had a soccer game but this time we decided to send him off with Elias and Malorie while we took the other kids home for rest time. I had a migraine and went to rest myself. When I came downstairs, I found Matt playing a game at the table with Brayden, Kiya, and Keith. Very sweet!

One of our housemates helped prepare Tortelloni with sauce which we all ate very quickly so that we could head off to a graduation celebration with friends.

Just as we arrived at the party, we were greeted with thunder, lightening, and heavy rain. The party moved inside and the hostess pulled out a fabulous dollhouse for our kids to enjoy. We ended up staying much longer than anticipated because the kids settled in and had such a calm time of play. This meant that we adults got to enjoy a great visit – praise God!

Monday morning I pulled this Pork Roast from the fridge that I’d been thawing. Look at the crazy sale price I got on this! Such a blessing.

I discovered that apparently 8.4 pounds of pork roast is too big for the biggest of crock pots. So I transferred it to my electric roasting pan to slow cook all day. Then I had the kids take turns scrubbing potatoes to cook in a crock pot all day for mashed potatoes that night.

I had several bananas turning black so Anna and Kiya helped me turn them into Banana Bread.

Matt went to York to work for the day, Elias was at work (he’s a special ed para now) so Malorie was my side kick for the day. Is she Elias’ girlfriend? Is she my friend? Is she one of our little kids’ favorite person? The answer is yes. :)

Malorie hadn’t been to “our zoo” (we think we own the place) and we have a Plus One included in our membership. So we loaded up the five littlest kids and headed there, mainly so we could dig in the huge sandbox that morning.

On the way to the sand, we needed to see if our wingspan was as long as an eagle…

I’m not sure what the girls were doing here but wow am I glad I captured their silliness!

Ah. We made it to the sand.

I had grabbed yogurt squeezies, raisins, and graham crackers plus a jar of peanut butter to spread on. They got out of the sand and snacked before we headed back to the van so we’d make it home in time for the preschool bus.

We got some sweet rest that afternoon, then Acacia and Josie and I loaded up to walk to school to pick up Brayden and Kiya.

It was a hot one that day, so cold watermelon tasted extra good when we got home.

Keith was very happy to help me make salad to go with our dinner.

We had Pork Roast, Mashed Potatoes, Caesar Salad, and Buttered Rolls.

Tuesday morning I used two loaves of Cinnamon Bread to make French Toast.

We were privileged to babysit Justus and Kelsey’s Little Sweetheart for a few hours. It had been raining a lot so while the kids wanted to play outside, we didn’t want them to get muddy. Once the rain let up, we loaded them up for a walk – four in our wagon/stroller and two in the double stroller. It worked great and we had a nice long walk through our neighborhood.

That afternoon, I made a double recipe of Creamy Bacon Spaghetti and put it into a crock pot on the “keep warm” setting for our dinner. I planned to pick Brayden and Kiya up from school and head straight over to hand out food to the community at our Food Distribution site. So my goal is to always have dinner ready for everyone before leaving at 3:30 on Tuesdays. I made a pot of green beans also, but didn’t get a photo.

There was an extra big crowd at Food Distribution that day (I wasn’t able to get photos) so we handed food out to well over 100 people. All of this food is donated by grocery stores and restaurants in an effort to avoid food waste. We love this!

Back at home, Elias, Malorie, and Matt had held down the fort. I had been dealing with some “special behaviors” with one of our kids who had gotten triggered by something at Food Distribution so Matt took over with that one. Then I turned right around and got to deal with some behaviors with the other one now that we were home. God is faithful and we continually ask for wisdom as we parent these kids.

Just before bed, I asked Anna and Acacia to help me put some cans of sparkling water into our living room mini fridge and they were very excited to help! (This fridge is usually off limits to them as we keep it full of drinks for guests and the grown-ups in the house. Every once in a while we let the littles pick something special to take to drink for an outing and it is the best thing ever.) :)

Wednesday morning Malorie and I took the five littlest kids to a Music and Movement Library Story Time. We always get excited when we get to dance to music with scarves!

Look who can stand up on his own now! He has been doing this for weeks now, but so far still hasn’t taken steps. He progresses slowly, but he does progress. He’s pretty proud of his standing skills, as he should be. :)

Josie was feeling shy around the big crowd of kids that morning so Malorie took her to the back of the room so she could still enjoy the music and fun.

We got home in time for a case worker visit. After that, we played outside for a while we waited for the bus to come. This kid was high up in a tree before I knew it. There’s never a dull moment with Keith.

It was Keith and Anna’s last day of preschool. The teachers had a water day planned so the kids got to wear their swim suits under their clothes. This was VERY exciting.

The kids’ bus drivers have grown pretty attached to the clan throughout this year. They came bearing gifts at pick up time today.

I had baked a double batch of Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars the day before so when I had a free minute, I cut them, bagged them, and put them into the freezer to have on hand as needed during the next few weeks.

Keith brought home a gift from one of his bus drivers: a tiny wooden airplane kit with five thousand tiny parts. He was so excited to put it together. Notice Elias’ “you’ve got to be kidding me” face when he saw the impossible task before him. :) :) :) Needless to say, the plane never made it off the ground.

Back in the kitchen (my comfort zone, where I know how to put things together and there are no tiny parts with vague instructions) – Acacia put together a salad to go with our dinner. Josie helped by dumping bacon bits onto the floor under her stool.

With our salad, we had a big batch of Lazy Dogs with pickles and carrots.

We played outside most of the evening. At one point, Keith grabbed a sweet pepper from the counter and started eating it like an apple. Who was I to stop him?

Ms. Kathi had given us a bunch of “Hens and Chicks” from her garden for us to attempt to transplant into our yard. I told her that I keep kids alive, not plants. But she declared that we could give it a try and if they didn’t survive (the plants, not the kids) so be it. So the kids had fun planting them all over our yard.

Thursday was Brayden and Kiya’s last day of school for the year!

Matt and I spent the morning with the five littlest stocking up on groceries to kick off the first part of our summer break. First Aldi…

Then Costco.

I captured this sweet photo of Acacia loving on BabyBoy#11 as we unloaded carts into the van. I can’t stop looking at it:

When we got home and started to unload groceries, Keith found a stick/weapon/tool – which definitely did not help him to be more efficient in carrying in food. But it sure was fun.

Late afternoon, Elias and Brayden spent their Bro Time making dinner together for our family. Matt and I loaded the other six kids in strollers or bikes and walked to a nearby garden/park to get out of their way.

When we got home, our neighbors Coleman and Sarah were out so we stopped to visit with them for a while. I love the relationship we are forming and how they love our kids. :)

Back and home, Elias and Brayden had made a feast! Pasta, three kinds of sauce, meatballs, salad, garlic toast, and cookies.

Friday morning we jumped right in to our Summer School at Home fun. After breakfast we started reading Little House in the Big Woods. The littlest didn’t last long on my lap for this book, but Brayden, Kiya, and Keith LOVED it. And oh, so did I. :) :) :)

After we finished a chapter, I spread out different books at their reading levels for them to choose from. I explained how we’d be building Book Worms as we read and challenged them to see how long our Book Worm might be by the end of summer! (Find the specifics for this idea in the Reading Nook folder in the Summer School at Home Toolbox.)

We finished prepping for a morning outing then by packing a picnic (the Surprise Picnic – as described in the Summer School Cooking Corner Picnic in a Hat book). The kids LOVED THIS!!! I had printed Zoo Scavenger Hunt pages from the Summer School Investigation Station folder and we loaded up for a big zoo day with friends!!

Two families joined us at the zoo as we celebrated our first day of summer break together!

Brayden carried the big kids’ scavenger hunt paper and Keith was in charge of the little kids’ version. They had so much fun with this!

Sometimes at the zoo we just hit one or two areas. Today we did just about everything, spending four hours and having a blast. We got to feed the alpacas…

We all sat together and ate the lunches we’d packed.

We saw lots and lots of animals. We played in the sand. We got wet in the splash area. We fed the giraffes.

And we ended our zoo day by taking a train ride. As you can see, no one was excited about this…

We came home tired and satisfied. Of course, the transition from zoo to home caused several kids to melt down. This is typical for us. We have lots of fun at our outings but then we try to sabotage our day by acting out afterward. God is faithful. He will heal. We pray continually for patience and wisdom.

Three kids’ behavior struggles later, we settled some for a nap/rest time then turned on a show for the others. Matt held down the fort while I was blessed with a much-needed-very-good time with my therapist. I haven’t been able to do that for myself for quite a while – focusing more on kids’ therapy appointments instead. I’m thankful God provided this for me!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Side Note: I thought it was funny that as we were loading up for home one of our kids asked, “Can we finally start our Summer School at Home now??” Ha! They hadn’t even realized that the morning read-aloud, the books they’d read on their own, the zoo trip, the picnic they’d helped pack, and the scavenger hunt WERE part of Summer School at Home! I guess they thought we’d be sitting at the table for hours all summer practicing math facts. Nope. Learning looks different at home! Summer School at Home is a party, man. :)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Saturday’s breakfast was simple: Bagels and Strawberry Parfaits.

While the kids ate, I declared it to be Operation Refrigerator Clean-Out Day. We try really hard not to waste food and try to save money by using up what we have before we make more food. I had veggies getting wilt-y in the fridge so I decided to make Stir-Fry for the adults to eat with their breakfast. (The kids were welcome to it too, but shockingly, there were no takers, ha.) Then I used the last of a container of spinach to bake Chocolate Cupcakes.

 

This gave us a great start on eating up items from the fridge before they went bad. The rest of the day we ate more leftovers, got the lawn mowed, caught up on laundry, did some cleaning, and got ready to start a new week!

Heavenly Homemaker's Club Members: Access your homepage and all your fantastic resources here! Not a member yet? Please join us!

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

by 2 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see our disclosure policy.

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. :)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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!

Heavenly Homemaker's Club Members: Access your homepage and all your fantastic resources here! Not a member yet? Please join us!