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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Spider Monkeys are fascinating to watch. :)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Dinner was leftovers!

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

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

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

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

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

They made some cookies for our dessert…

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Two carts are a must.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Mission accomplished.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

And that was our week!

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Big Family Food and Fun: March 17-23, 2024

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Here’s our Big Family Food and Fun: March 17-23, 2024 post!

Big Family Food and Fun: March 17-23, 2024

We had been gone all day the day before, so this Sunday started off with an easy breakfast of Breakfast Cookies from the freezer.

We were finally able to meet for church back in our own building after many weeks of being displaced due to a frozen pipe bursting situation. It was so good to be there! Sam’s is right on the way home so we grabbed two Rotisserie Chickens for lunch to share. (And I picked up hamburger meat while I was at it.)

I’d made sides in the morning before church so we warmed them up to eat with our Rotisserie Chicken: Cheesy Potatoes, Green Beans, Cream Cheese Corn, Baked Beans, plus Pineapple Fluff.

Our friends Kermit and Caitlyn joined us plus Justus and Kelsey and Asa and Eva came. There were 15 of us altogether. :)

Justus had picked up a turkey super cheap ($0.58/pound!!!!!) but they didn’t have freezer space so it had landed in our freezer. I had been thawing it and decided to get it baked that afternoon.

I do it this way – boring but good. :)

We had leftovers for dinner, random bits of whatever we could find in the fridge. So this freed my time to work on the turkey plus the kids helped me use over-ripe bananas to make a Banana Cake for Monday’s breakfast.

They turkey finished baking and Matt turned on an audio book to listen to while he took all the meat off the bones after the kids went to bed. My hero. :)

Meanwhile the Banana Cake had cooled and I had made a simple Cream Cheese Frosting for it and covered it to have Monday morning.

Monday morning we enjoyed pieces of Banana Cake with bacon. I made quadruple the amount of bacon we would need for that morning so that we would have extra ready for future meals that week.

Matt had saved the turkey bones for me, so I got out our huge stock pot and started a big batch of broth.

Eva arrived to help Matt so Keith and I headed off to help set up food for Tuesday’s Food Distribution. It’s always a bit hard for me to keep him focused on our work, but if I say, “Keith, will you help me take this apart?” he is ON IT.

Monday afternoon I spent some time making some Turkey Bacon Cheese Sandwiches for easy grab and warm up meals.

Elias had taken Brayden out for Bro Time and Kiya wanted to help me in the kitchen. So she put cheese on all of the sandwiches after I assembled them.

We packaged them up for the fridge or freezer, feeling great about having 25 ready-made sandwiches plus 5 wraps!

I used more of our cooked turkey plus the broth that had cooked all morning to make Turkey Noodle Soup for dinner. Oh, this is good stuff! So good that I was excited to eat it and almost forgot to take a picture until we’d already filled our bowls and worked on seconds. (By the way, I shared turkey sandwiches and cooked turkey with Justus and Kelsey since it was their bird, after all.)

Tuesday we stayed home all morning because we had a case worker visit for BabyBoy#11. (We’re working toward adoption!!!!!)

After getting Keith and Anna on the bus for their afternoon preschool, Matt stayed home to put the baby down for his nap and I took Acacia and Josie to Walmart to pick up a lot of our WIC items for the month. This gave Matt an hour and a half of quiet time to get some work done and it gave the girls and I a little outing plus restocked our fruit and veggie supply. :)

We got home in time to put groceries away. Then I left to pick up Brayden and Kiya from school so that we could head over to our Food Distribution to hand out food to the community. We came home with some too:

Remember the van door debacle from last week? The parts came in and Matt was able to get us all fixed up with a working door again. PHEW. That is a relief and now no children are allowed to touch the new door handle. ;) Isn’t she beautiful?

I had put Baked Potatoes into the crock pot to cook all day so we had them for dinner with leftover Rotisserie Chicken from Sunday and cheese dip.

A friend of ours is the principal at Lincoln High School and Matt had been talking to him about trying to watch at least one of their home soccer games. The weather was just right for this so after we fed the kids we loaded everyone up and headed over. We found a perfect spot on the “non-fan” side where we could climb all over the bleachers and not drive everyone crazy.

I sent this photo of the game field to Malachi who had played both teams last year during his senior year of high school soccer. :)

We got home just in time to brush teeth and tuck everyone into bed so Wednesday morning we had a simple breakfast of cereal so that we had more time to clean up and get ready for school.

After Brayden and Kiya got off, we got the other five ready and went to the indoor play area at the Zoo.

The snacks I packed turned into the kids’ lunch because they just kept eating and eating. We had cheese and crackers, applesauce, fruit/veggie pouches, and juice.

Then Anna, who was being very sweet and grown up that morning, took out the clementine she had packed. She peeled it all by herself and enjoyed her dessert.

Subjects not covered and photos not taken to share with you here: One major preschooler fit as we were trying to get out the door to go to the zoo, one baby puking on the zoo indoor play place floor, and one major toddler fit all the out of the zoo and all the way back home. BUT, these outings are super fun and super worth all the effort to get there and get back home. Truly. :)

Back at home, we got Keith and Anna on the bus for preschool then Acacia and Josie went outside to enjoy the sunshine.

Acacia: “I a Mommy!!”

Josie: “I digging! I outside! I not inside. I outside.” :)

Malachi stopped by that afternoon to pick up some of his mail and Acacia promptly put on his shades. :) Note the little sleeping blob on the bean bag beside Acacia. That’s Josie. She “doesn’t need a nap anymore.” Okedokee.

When Brayden and Kiya got home from school, Elias took Brayden out for some Bro Time. (They go out twice each week so Elias can pour into him.) Kiya and Acacia helped me in the kitchen, cleaning out a dishwasher all by themselves. :)

Meanwhile, Josie was making BabyBoy#11 belly laugh with her games.

For dinner that evening, we pulled out leftovers to eat so that nothing went to waste in our fridge. Kiya made a package of Caesar salad to go with our meal.

We finished off the Taco Rice Dinner that I’d made last week – eating it as a dip with chips. Plus we had Kiya’s salad and leftover green beans.

The next morning we got out pre-made Breakfast Sandwiches and Pancake Sausage Muffins for everyone to warm up in the air fryer.

This particular day turned out to be quite amazing for me. We had made arrangements with a dear friend/babysitter in York for Matt to drop off our three youngest with her while he worked on one of our properties for a few hours. That left me at home with only four kids – and part of the day they were all in school. So I had three and a half hours of COMPLETE QUIET TIME in our house that afternoon. Oh, it was life giving and wonderful! And our little ones loved their time with their precious Emma!

I decided to grill burgers for dinner that night because the weather was lovely and because as meal-prep time, I didn’t have any littles underfoot. We had our Burgers with Tator Tots, Cucumbers, Tomatoes, and Pickles.

We decided to go to Costco on Friday morning to grab diapers and ended up turning it into a big stock-up trip. I’d been trying to focus on using up what we had in the pantry and freezers but getting restocked on all of our basics brought a lot of relief to me that day so that meal planning and prep will be easier.

I’d had a first breakfast around 5:30am and a second breakfast around 7:30 but those were small “meals” so by the time we loaded up at 10:00 I was ready for my first lunch, ha. I grabbed the one leftover burger from the night before, chopped it up, and warmed it up with leftover corn to eat on the way to the store. Weird? Sure maybe. But it hit the spot and kept me going!

Matt ended up with four of the five kids in and on his cart on the way in. Anna hung with me until we redistributed kids in our two carts for the actual shopping time.

We got a variety of random items from crackers to berries to applesauce to chicken and hamburger. We got avocado cups, cream, half and half, coffee, sliced cheese, shredded cheese, pistachios, chicken nuggets, and several items we use that were on sale. I love watching the end caps of each aisle to see what is featured at a big discount! (Matt’s cart was full of two more kids, diapers, water bottles, and chips.

We got to enjoy some free samples, the likes of which made a sweet chocolate mess all over Acacia’s face.

We made it home in time to get Keith and Anna on the preschool bus then Elias and Matt brought in all the groceries with Acacia and Josie trying to help them bring in huge, heavy boxes. :)

I dropped off Acacia and Josie to spend time with a friend from church who watches them for two hours each week. They love going there and always have fun adventures. :)

Matt picked them up and brought them home. Again we see evidence that Josie doesn’t need a nap anymore. ;)

For dinner that night we had Orange Chicken with Rice and Spinach. This is one of our favorite splurge meals from Sam’s. We go through two boxes in one meal, which costs $25.96 – much more than our typical homemade meals. But this fed 5 adults and 6 kids on Friday night, which breaks down to $2.36 per person. MUCH cheaper than ordering take-out!

We were able to find the Husker men’s basketball game and watched it, sort of, between chasing kids and changing poop diapers. ;)

Saturday morning I made 15 Scrambled Eggs and cut up leftover Baked Potatoes from Tuesday night. I fried the potatoes in butter with salt and pulled apart several Clementines for us to eat.

After breakfast we loaded up to go to York just like we did last Saturday. We had been invited to a birthday party so we worked out details for Asa and Eva to help us spend the day there (they were already in York for a photo shoot).

I packed up a big bag full of extra “just-in-case” clothes, diapers, wipes, and snacks.

Matt and Asa spent four hours at our rental house working on repairs while Eva hung with the kids and me, first at a Carnival and then at a Birthday Party. We saw so many York friends that day!!

We got home in time to make Grilled Cheese and Tomato Soup for dinner.

Then we got all seven kids through bath time.

And that was our week!

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Big Family Food and Fun: February 4-10, 2024

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Here’s our Big Family Food and Fun: February 4-10, 2024 post!

Big Family Food and Fun: February 4-10, 2024

My brother and his wife had spent the might so Sunday morning we enjoyed a little bit more time with his family before they headed out to join my niece for church in York. I made bacon and set out fruit, yogurt, Bran Muffins, and Lemon Bread.

If you recall, our church is currently meeting in a temporary location on Sunday afternoons while we wait for flood-related repairs to be done at our building. So we spent the rest of the morning giving all seven kids baths and showers. Plus I took a long bath – woot!

We warmed up leftovers for lunch, then enjoyed a Snacky Dinner after church with some of our older kids and some friends coming over to join us.

Matt turned on some soccer highlights to watch and I captured this happy moment of hoopla in our living room. :) :) :)

Monday morning Eva came over to help and I took Keith to our Food Distribution site to help set up to give out food the next day.

When we got home, I discovered that Eva had cleaned my kitchen and made it so shiny! Bliss!

We warmed up leftover Instant Pot Mac and Cheese for lunch and the kids requested frozen peas to be stirred in. Who am I to argue when the kids want veggies?

That night, Elias and Brayden made dinner as part of their weekly Bro Time. They had purchased the groceries during last week’s time, and this night was a great night for them to put it together for us. Hiring Elias for this special task of pouring into Brayden was such a good decision. It’s making a big difference in Brayden’s life, even more than we’d hoped.

They mixed up Brownies to bake before starting dinner.

Then we all feasted on the meal they made: Pasta with both red and white sauces, Garlic Butter Shrimp, Meatballs, Caesar Salad, and Garlic Toast. We all loved it and Brayden beamed with joy.

That afternoon, since I had the night off from making dinner, I put together a batch of Peanut Butter Honey Puffs for snacks.

While the guys were cooking, Kiya spent time with the loom she’d gotten for Christmas to make her sisters bracelets and necklaces.

Tuesday morning we ate Breakfast Cookies that I pulled out of the freezer. While the kids ate those, I made a batch of Warm Vanilla Soother.

Matt walked Brayden and Kiya to school, then our Speech Pathologist came to work with Acacia. Josie joined this morning too, and she was wearing her life jacket – just in case. ;)

Afterward, we loaded everyone up to do some shopping. Matt dropped two girls and me off at Sam’s then took the other three littles with him into Menards. Divide and conquer, right?

It had been a while since I’d been shopping so I over-filled our cart.

I got lots of fresh produce, sparkling water and 100% juice “pop” for our Super Bowl gathering, shredded cheese, applesauce, chips, chicken nuggets, eggs, milk, chicken thighs, hamburger meat, and a few ingredients and condiments we needed.

That afternoon, I picked up Brayden and Kiya from school and we headed to the Food Distribution to help hand out food. Brayden got to give out Runzas and chicken; Kiya gave out boxed side dish options. Over 100 people come through the line each week, giving us lots of opportunity to smile and show love.

We brought home three bags full of food – lots of bread, buns, and bagels and even a container of strawberries!

Back at home, Elias and Matt warmed up Green Beans that I had made that afternoon and baked this Easy Ham and Hashbrown Casserole that I’d put together over the weekend. In the hubbub of getting home, I almost forgot to take a picture. By the time I remembered, the green beans were gone and people were going back for seconds on the casserole. :)

Matt and Elias went to York on Wednesday to work on our properties and Malachi came over to help me with the kids. For breakfast before sending everyone off to school or work, we had toasted bagels/bread/English muffins, and ate them with sausage and grapes.

To keep the kids busy that morning, I filled a container with dry rice then gave everyone a yogurt container and measuring cups.

Was this messy? Yes. But it was a controlled mess and it kept the kids engaged for several minutes. Malachi and Keith decided to go outside and ride their skateboards together so the girls and I continued to measure and scoop.

I had a lot of help sweeping up the floor afterward.

Once the mess was cleaned up, we spotted the boys through the dining room window with their skateboards.

BabyBoy#11 got up from his morning nap so Malachi came in and took care of him while the girls and I went outside to join Keith. His regular bike is missing (might have been taken??) so he’s making do with his old balance bike for now.

Everyone worked up a big appetite so we came in and ate applesauce pouches and finished off a small bowl of leftover Cream Cheese Salsa Dip with chips.

Dinner that night was simple: Grilled Cheese Sandwiches, Tomato Soup, and Stir Fried Veggies.

After kitchen clean-up, one of the kids brought me a book to read. We opened it up and before I knew it there were six kids piled up on and around me. This was perfection!

Thursday morning was apparently not picture-worthy, ha. I had a treasured phone call with one of my cousins while the kids played and Matt took Keith to get a hair cut before school. Then I took BabyBoy#11 to yet another specialist to see if we could get to the bottom of his eating issues. I’m so thankful for everyone at Nebraska Children’s Hospital, and I’m extra thankful that there is a satellite clinic in Lincoln so that our appointment needs with his specialists are more convenient. I came home overwhelmed with information but also hopeful that we are on the right track to meet his needs.

We got the big kids home from school and played outside again since it was so nice!

That morning, I had put Crock Pot Fajitas in to slow cook all day. I fried some corn tortillas that I had tucked away in the freezer so we ate the Fajita meat more like Tostadas. :)

I cut up a fresh pineapple for dessert. So good!

The most exciting part of Thursday was that I found a few minutes to actually find the bottom of two laundry baskets that night! This is no small thing to celebrate.

Friday mornings are a bit more hectic because Brayden has to be at school an hour early for Ukulele class. So I decided to not cook and instead get out cereal and granola choices that morning.

Here’s what our couch looks like each morning after I make my way to our laundry room and bring up outfits so that we can dress the five littlest.

Everyone was dressed and ready for the day when our friend Courtney arrived for a visit!! She’s one of our dear York College friends we become close to during her time as a student a few years ago. It was so good to catch up with her!

We fed the kids a snacky lunch of crackers, cheese, grapes, cucumbers, and sliced turkey or ham before the preschool bus arrived to pick up Keith and Anna.

Then Acacia, Josie, BabyBoy#11, and I walked around outside our house and enjoyed the sunshine for a while.

I dropped the girls off at Ms. Kathi’s house for their special time with her that afternoon. They started off with a tea party which was so cute that I snapped a photo before I headed out. :)

I took the night off for dinner and got out frozen nuggets and fries.

Besides not cooking, the best thing about a meal like this is that everyone eats it without complaint! After dinner, I got to go out by myself to an Adoptive Moms Support Group that meets once-a-month. My time at these meetings is incredibly valuable and helpful to me. Oh how I need the support and understanding that this group offers.

Saturday morning I made Scrambled Egg Sandwiches with fruit.

Then we loaded up and headed to Sensory Friendly Story Time. (Saying it this way makes it seem like it is actually easy to feed everyone breakfast and load up in the van, hahaha. In reality, it takes a solid hour to get everyone ready to leave after we feed them breakfast. Getting out the door doesn’t always bring out the best in me, oy.)

Today the kids got to enjoy waving scarves along with Valentine-themed books, rhymes, and songs.

I love seeing Keith so engaged. :)

After story time, Librarian Diane gets out lots of tubs full of sensory toys for the kids to enjoy for about 20 minutes. Brayden and Josie weren’t able to play though, seeing as they were buried under all the scarves.

That afternoon we worked on Super Bowl Party food. Kiya had helped me make a double batch of Brownies the day before and we got them frosted.

I baked several pans worth of Bacon like this. I needed cooked bacon so that I could make this dip, plus we’ve found that it’s really nice to have pre-cooked bacon in the fridge to pull out for breakfasts or sandwiches. And yes I had just baked several pans worth of bacon on Sunday, but indeed, it was already gone. What can I say? 13 people live here and six of us are adults. Food comes and goes, then comes again, then goes. :)

I cut several pieces of cooked bacon into a bowl and Kiya stirred ingredients together to make Bacon Ranch Chip Dip for our Super Bowl Party.

I had recently made a big jar full of Ranch Dressing Mix, so it’s possible I went a little bit too Ranchy as I made our party food. I was just trying to use what I had and I didn’t feel like getting out a bunch of different seasonings. So Ranch won when I was working on recipes. Bacon Ranch Chip Dip, Spicy Ranch Dressing (to eat with these Potato Wedges), and regular Ranch Dip to eat with veggies. I didn’t put ranch in the brownies though, so I feel like we’re ok. :)

I was in “use up what we have” mode so dinner that night was a little bit of this and that as I cleaned out the fridge. I had olive oil in a cast iron skillet on my stove from Thursday night’s Tostadas, and I had a small bag of pizza dough that Eva had given me. So I baked the dough in the olive oil in the oven then topped it with leftover marinara sauce from the night Elias and Brayden had made dinner. Then added cheese and we had a skillet pizza!

This was obviously too small to feed our entire clan, but we just pieced it together with whatever fruit everyone wanted plus I asked everyone to eat some fresh spinach on the side. We didn’t sit down to eat dinner together that night, just ate in spurts as I kept working in the kitchen.

Acacia crushed some cornflakes for me and we made another batch of Peanut Butter Honey Puffs. (We go through these faster than we go through bacon.)

I also made a small batch of Peanut Butter Honey Rice Krispie Bars. The Puffs and the Bars are just my way of staying on top of everyone’s hunger when kids (or mom) needs a little bit of protein throughout the day.

Super Bowl Dips in the fridge, snacks made, sink full of dirty dishes, and it was time to get everyone ready for bed to wrap up our week!

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Big Family Food and Fun: January 28-February 3, 2024

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It’s time for our Big Family Food and Fun: January 28-February 3 post!

Big Family Food and Fun: January 28-February 3, 2024

Because our church building is undergoing major repairs due to a frozen pipe and flood, we will be meeting for worship with our church family at a different location on Sunday afternoons for the next several weeks. It’s different, but we sure are thankful to be together with our church family again!

With the change in Sunday schedule, I decided to make Pancakes, Eggs, and Sausage for lunch that day before we left. Josie helped me count the cups of water we added to the mix.

Keith helped me whisk it together.

And we had a great feast.

Unfortunately, while trying to get everyone fed, some of our kids had some pretty severe behavior struggles. We can never predict what might trigger these larger melt-downs and this particular day, my heart felt broken to pieces after dealing with them.

Our babies have so many hurt places to deal with and I just hate it. I was so glad to spend time in worship right after this, and I just cried through the songs. Their words were perfect to minister to me, knowing that we serve a Savior who rescues and heals us. He will do this for our children. Oh how I hurt for their hurt.

It was good to hug friends after church that we hadn’t seen for quite a while because of the harsh weather. Then Justus and Kelsey came over to have a Snacky Dinner with us.

We had Cream Cheese Salsa Dip with chips, carrots, pickles, leftover tuna, fruit cups, and cookie bars that I made from a mix we got at Christmastime.

Monday morning we got Brayden and Kiya off to school, then Eva came over to help! Keith and I packed up some snacks for him to eat on the way, then headed to help set up food for the next day’s Food Distribution.

Is he setting up the food or is he building towers? The answer is yes.

We arrived home to find Anna feeding BabyBoy#11 his bottle, while Eva made sure no one dropped any babies off the couch.

Now that Acacia and Josie are 3 1/2 and 2 1/2, they have decided that afternoon naps are for babies and Matt and I have decided to stop fighting the losing battle. Booooo.

So we let them watch a show for a while in the afternoons so that we can at least have a short minute of breathing time, then I took them into the kitchen with me to do some food prep. Acacia crunched up some cornflakes for me while I mixed up Peanut Butter Honey Puff ingredients for a snack.

After everyone got home from school, Kiya started her homework and Elias grabbed Brayden to head off for some “Bro Time.” (I mentioned last week that we’ve hired Elias to spend some very intentional one-on-one time with Brayden to help meet some of his needs. It’s going fabulously.) This particular day, they headed to Barnes and Noble to look around at games and books. Brayden comes home ten feet taller after these outings.

Meanwhile, I’m able to use this time to pour more intentionally into the others. Anna and Acacia were happy to fold kitchen towels and washrags for me.

I wrote out my Easy Egg Casserole recipe for Kiya. She read through it, and I got out measuring cups and spoons to show her more details about how to use them. Then she put the entire casserole together almost completely on her own. She has decided that she loves cooking and can’t wait to learn more!

After she finished putting together the casserole, we set it into the fridge to bake Tuesday morning for breakfast. Then she started to butter hoagie buns for dinner.

For dinner that night I had made a Crock Pot full of Spicy Ham and Potato Soup with leftover ham from last week. 

Then we toasted the buns Kiya had buttered and spread jelly over them for our dessert.

Tuesday morning I was up early and put Kiya’s Egg Casserole into the oven to bake while I had my God time. Once all the kids got up, we ate it with pears and leftover pancakes from Sunday. It tasted great!

For a morning outing, we went to a Music and Movement Library Storytime. Then we played with some of the library learning toys for a while before heading home.

Late that morning, we had a visit from BabyBoy#11’s CASA who has been with us through several of our kids’ cases. She loves seeing all the kids’ progress (and we appreciate hearing her perspective since we are living through the day-to-day and don’t always see progress through the messes). The girls had fun vising with her while they ate avocado cups and applesauce.

It was gorgeous outside so we got to play in the sunshine and get nice and muddy. :)

After school, I took Brayden and Kiya to Food Distribution to hand out food. Before clients started to come through the line, I was able to sneak in a quick photo of the kids setting up their tables so that you can see a little snippet of what the set-up looks like. Brayden got to hand out boxes of crackers this week and Kiya gave out different varieties of meat. I can’t say enough to share how good this service opportunity has been for our kids.

Back at home, Elias and Matt were holding down the fort. Elias warmed up leftover Pizza Casserole from last week for everyone to eat for dinner. We got home and handed out some grapes and berries we’d been given at Food Distribution and the kids acted like they’d never eaten fruit before. :)

Wednesday was GLORIOUS. The beginning of January gave us negative temps and the last day of the month gave us high 50s. Amazing! We got ready to head out for the morning, but before we did, everyone took turns scrubbing potatoes to put into the crock pot for our dinner.

They took their jobs very seriously.

It takes FOR.EV.ER to get out the door any time we go anywhere. Shoes, man. Finding this many shoes (that have a matching pair), and getting everyone a jacket, and packing snacks, not forgetting the baby’s bottle…

Leaving the house is such an ordeal every time. But then it’s always worth it!!! We went to a skateboard park so that we could play outside at a park but avoid mud from all the melting snow. This was perfect! We took Keith’s skateboard, Anna’s bike, and Acacia’s and Josie’s little scooters. But then, of course, they mostly just climbed all over the cement mountains. :)

We got home in time to eat a few bites of lunch before sending Keith and Anna out the door for the preschool bus. Then we cleaned the kitchen and took Acacia and Josie over to our friend Kathi’s house to spend part of the afternoon.

Matt and I have been praying that we’d find a few more people we could call on for babysitting as the girls stopped napping and we are rather exhausted from the pace we keep. It’s been hard to get much work done beyond parenting tantrums and dealing with poop.

God answered with not one, but two different people who are kind and willing to helps us out a few afternoons each week. We are so thankful! As I write this sentence, only BabyBoy#11 is home and he is asleep. The quiet house is life giving and needed!

Meanwhile, this is how I left the girls today. Ms. Kathi had a lovely assortment of activities for them to enjoy.

The weather was so incredible that the kids played outside all afternoon when they all got home while I made Smoked Chicken. We ate it with salad, corn, stir fried veggies, and watermelon. I had made Baked Potatoes in the crock pot but they weren’t done cooking by dinnertime, so we had buttered rolls instead.

Justus and Malachi came over and ate with us (followed by a piano lesson for Brayden by Justus). I plated up some leftovers to send back with each of them for Kelsey and my nephew Troy since they couldn’t come over to join us. We’d eaten most of the food, but at least they got some of the amazing chicken!

Thursday morning for breakfast, I made two loaves of French Toast like this. No need for syrup when it’s this good all by itself. :)

Keith spent some time with gloves and a shovel clearing out more melting snow. He enjoyed this work so much that I could hardly get him inside when it was time to get ready for the bus to come.

After school that day, Elias took Brayden out for some Bro Time so Kiya and I hit the kitchen for more cooking lessons. The little girls joined us too, of course. Today, Kiya learned how to make Chewy Granola Bars. This involved learning to turn on the stove and stay safe with the heat.

They turned out great!

Meanwhile, I made a big jar of Ranch Dressing Mix to use with our dinner.

The Baked Potatoes we attempted the night before got turned into Potato and Bacon Foil Packs for this night’s dinner because it was beautiful enough to grill again.

While they cooked, Kiya helped me make Pineapple Fluff Salad for a side dish.

What is the best part of helping cook? Licking the spatula. Of course.

Josie had been puttering around and found one of our waffle irons. She sat down and started using it as a laptop. It was the CUTEST.

Dinner that night was Potato and Bacon Foil Packs, Green Beans, Salad, and Pineapple Fluff Salad.

Elias sent me this as the two of them headed home from their outing to enjoy dinner with us.

Friday morning I made Eggs in a Nest for breakfast before getting Brayden off to his early morning Ukulele class, Matt off to York for the day, then Kiya off to school. Elias wasn’t feeling well so Malachi came over to help me hold down the fort while they were gone.

We spent some time getting Malachi’s empty room cleaned up for company over the weekend. The kids had too much fun with the extra mattress that kept “accidentally” falling on them.

At noon I had a big IFSP meeting for the two youngest kids (IFSPs are like IEPs for kids under age 3). So we made a couple of Frozen Pizzas for an early lunch then Malachi was a rock star chasing kids while I spent two hours in the meeting. Phew.

With Matt being gone, we kept dinner simple too. I cooked a package of hotdogs and made these smoothies so we’d get some veggies in us. Kiya helped make Baked Beans because she’s enjoying the kitchen so much and wants to help at every meal now. :)

Saturday morning we had cereal, yogurt, and fruit plus leftover Chewy Granola Bars.

We headed to our favorite Sensory Friendly Storytime. Check out Brayden sharing his coat with Keith as they walked in.

Everyone got to pick a special sensory chair to sit in.

Afterward, Ms. Diane, the librarian, pulled out special sensory-friendly hand-on toys. Truly, this is an amazing option we love to take advantage of here in Lincoln!

We spent time in the main area of the library also, thinking we’d just be there a few minutes. But the kids got very involved playing Post Office and we ended up mailing packages for an hour!

On our way home, Matt remembered that we had some Free Kids Meals coupons that we’d been given way back in October. Today was a good day to cash them in! So he bought one adult meal and we got five free kids’ meals. The kids were so excited about this treat!

There was a special showing of Charlotte’s Web at the theatre for only $3 that afternoon, plus someone gave us two free vouchers. So Elias helped us out and took Brayden, Kiya, and Keith there during afternoon rest time. What a day – restaurant food AND a movie at the theatre!

While they were gone and the youngest four were resting, I cleaned. Hello mop. Thank you for your service.

Meanwhile, Anna’s “nap”…

My brother and his family came to visit Troy so they were all here for dinner. Having them all in our living room was pretty great!

Asa and Eva were able to join us for dinner. (Justus and Kelsey came later. Malachi was filming a hockey game and couldn’t make it.)

For dinner I made 3-pounds of Meatballs, a double batch of 10-Minute Instant Pot Mac and Cheese, Cornbread, and Buttered Peas.

 

I had Chocolate Chip Cookies and Brownies in the freezer so we pulled those out for dessert.

And that was our week!

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

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

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

Last week was full of Snow Days, below zero temps, and a bit of going stir crazy while being cooped up day after day with so many littles. Church services on Sunday were canceled. By the day before, the roads were finally starting to be cleared out somewhat. So we decided to text some families to see who might be ready to venture out and make their way to our house for worship and fellowship.

Altogether, there were 28 of us gathered in our living room. It was so very beautiful to enjoy this time together. Kids played and were engaged at the same time. It was awesome.

I had made a roaster full of White Chicken Chili and Applesauce Muffins to share. Plus I put Saturday night’s leftover Spaghetti and baked it with cheese on top for an additional option for people to enjoy. I made 12 Sub Sandwiches with turkey, bacon, and cheese then toasted them and cut them in half. Friends who came brought Pigs in a Blanket, Cookies, Homemade Bread, Crackers, and we all had a wonderful feast!

Several families stuck around for a good part of the afternoon to visit and play games.

Monday the kids didn’t have school because of MLK Day. For breakfast, I baked several pans of bacon, fried leftover baked potatoes, and rewarmed leftover French Toast. I also made a blender full of these smoothies so our kids could be filled with veggies and fruit.

Mid-afternoon, Keith requested Breakfast Cookies. He was so excited to help me, and it was a great idea. So we made a double batch.

They turned out tasty, but for some reason all the cookies I’m making in this oven aren’t turning out pretty. I still feel like I’m getting used to my Castle oven. :)

Eva came over that morning to help with kids. Brayden and Kiya had fun playing games with her. And it was because she was there helping that Keith and I were able to make our Breakfast Cookies. :)

We warmed up leftover mac and cheese and Pizza Chicken Bake for lunch with sliced oranges and cucumbers.

That afternoon, Malachi finished packing and loading up all of his stuff. He and his cousin, Troy, have been making plans to rent an apartment together here in Lincoln. And Monday – cold as it was – was moving day. Snifffffff. I’m super happy for Malachi, just as I was when his three older boys left for college and got to venture out on their own. But I cried just the same, just as I did for his three older brothers. I just really, really like my kids. :)

And yes, he’s just moving across town so I’ll see him often. Which is why he chuckled at my tears.

Currently living at our house right now: Matt and me, Elias, Brayden, Kiya, Keith, Anna, Acacia, Josie, BabyBoy#11, plus three gals who rent our three third floor suites. We frequently have our adult kids coming and going plus lots of friends in and out. This Castle God gave us is such a blessing. :)

Back to our Food and Fun…

That afternoon, Justus and Kelsey came over and they, along with Eva, started doing some freezer cooking. By the end of the afternoon we’d made a huge bunch of Breakfast Sandwiches, Burritos, and four pans of Creamy Salsa Enchiladas.

For dinner that night, I baked our pan of Creamy Salsa Enchiladas and served it with canned fruit, fresh spinach, and buttered corn. We’d gotten a fun M&M Cookie Mix in a Jar for Christmas so we baked those for dessert.

Our kids were going a little bit nuts (Matt and I were fine though, hahaha) because of being copped up in the house for so many days. So we let the kids play in the bathtub until they got wrinkled that night, just because we needed some kind of indoor activity and change of pace. As we pulled them out and jammied them up for bed, Matt made popcorn for a bedtime snack.

Tuesday morning was guess what? Another snow day. We lazed around watching a show that morning, then ate some of the Breakfast Sandwiches that Justus had made the day before plus some of the Breakfast Cookies.

As a way to provide some structure and learning to our day after having SO MANY DAYS away from school, I decided that we would have a “Pretend Homeschool Day.” I pulled out activity books and put together Learning Packets for Brayden, Kiya, and Keith. They loved this!

They spent a full hour and a half on their packets, taking their jobs very seriously. I was thankful God had given me the inspiration to do this that morning.

While the “big kids” were doing their school work, Matt hung out with the littler ones. Magnatiles are the best.

Meanwhile, Kelsey had managed to slowly make the drive over to help us out, praise God. She had stopped at the store for us on her way, picking up much needed formula and milk – plus construction paper and balloons!

 

Just before lunch, I read a Magic School Bus book to the kids for a “science lesson.” After lunch, I found the episode that went along with this book on Netflix so they got to watch that and have fun learning more about the Human Body.

Lunch was leftovers, heated up by Kelsey. We all chose from Beanie Weanies, Taco Soup, and Ham and Potato Soup.

Keith helped me make dinner that night. He was so proud of how he poured the sauce on the chicken all by himself.

He also helped me make a double batch of Flourless Chocolate Banana Muffins. These made a great snack that afternoon plus a great addition to our dinner that night.

The temps were still ridiculously cold, but Kelsey bundled up with the kids and went outside anyway. It had been days and days since they’d been outside and they were needing the fresh air. Most of the kids only lasted a short time, but Brayden hung in there for about an hour. Phew1

Dinner that night was Barbecue Chicken, Green Beans, 10-Minute Mac and Cheese, and Flourless Chocolate Banana Muffins.

It was a loud and crazy mealtime (louder and crazier than normal) because several of the kids had refused naps that day and were cranky. Matt had to go to our church building to help with a frozen pipe flooding mess. <— This has turned into quite an ordeal as the building now has a lot of damage.

A friend had come by for dinner, so she got to help with babies, bless her. Our three housemates helped with babies. Kelsey stayed to help with babies and helped me get them all to bed. It was a pretty crazy evening.

Oh! Also, my brother, Kevin, had come to town from Kansas to help his son Troy move into the apartment he is sharing with Malachi.

It was all good but wow was I happy to see bedtime roll around that night. :)

Wednesday we sent Kevin off and were able to get the kids to school. They were excited to go back! Acacia wanted to help me fold laundry and she actually did it. She was very proud of her work, as she should be!

I knew that this would be the warmest day of the week so during naptime I headed to Walmart and Costco for groceries.

Is it just me, or do we go through a lot of food every week? I’m not sure why this astounds me every single time I fill the back of our huge van with food. :)

I picked up as many of our kids’ WIC items at Walmart that I could that day. But BabyBoy#11 has been put on a special Toddler Formula since he isn’t eating solids yet. I am having a hard time finding it and will have to keep looking around town.

I got home from the store just as Matt was getting home with Brayden and Kiya from school. So they got to help bring in all the groceries. I’m excited to see that while our kids still need so much focused care, some of them are also becoming big helpers. We’re getting there!

I made four pounds worth of Hamburgers plus a big bag of Fries for dinner that night. Plus I cut up a watermelon I’d found at Costco. Watermelon in January? I’ve never bought one in the winter before. But Kiya had been hungry for watermelon and I wanted to surprise her. She was so excited!

I cut it all off the rind and we ate almost all of it with our dinner. Just before bedtime I caught these three stinkers up at the counter stuffing more of it into their mouths and GIGGLING. Oh, the giggling. I swiped the tray of melon away because it was getting destroyed and making a sticky mess. But I also captured this photo because they were still in a fit of giggles. :)

Thursday morning the kids had fun playing dress-up during BabyBoy#11’s naptime.

Josie helped me make Brownies for Elias’ birthday.

Malachi came over to give Elias his birthday gift and to take him out for coffee. :)

That afternoon, it started to snow again. Matt parked our van on the side of our house after picking the kids up from school because he needed to shovel our driveway. The snow had continued to fall so by the time he was ready to move it back to the driveway, the van got stuck. Well. There “just so happened” to be a tow truck driving by. The driver turned around and pulled Matt out, refusing to let Matt pay him anything. Amazing!

We all watched this “show” from our play room windows. :)

It was Elias’ birthday and we’d invited all of our kids to join us for dinner. With the snow falling yet again, some decided just to stay in for the night. But Asa and Eva were able to make their way over after the snow stopped. We’ll have another “official birthday dinner” a different night. But this night we had Elias’ choice of Fish Tacos with the works.

He had requested Frosted Brownies for dessert, and I filled the pan with 22 candles to challenge him to blow them all out in one breath.

Can he do it?

Yes, he can.

 

Friday is a bit of a blur as I tried to get caught up on laundry (4 loads, woot!) and reset for the weekend. Usually I make some sort of fun dinner on Fridays, but this time I decided we just needed to clean out the fridge. So we rewarmed the last of our White Chicken Chili and 10-Minute Mac and Cheese and that was that.

Asa stopped by with a couple of his buddies that we hadn’t seen for a while, so that was awesome. Elias had some friends over to hang out for his birthday, and that was also awesome. We put all the littles to bed after a long week, and that was the most awesome of all, ha. :)

Saturday morning for breakfast I made sausage and Peanut Butter Honey Puffs (the childhood favorite recipe I mentioned here). I’ll share my adapted recipe for these in a post soon. These are so good and our kids love them like I used to!

After breakfast, we prepped to host House Church on Sunday. With the pipe bursting and the subsequent flooding at our building, our elders and ministry staff worked extra hard to organize a Live Stream option and encouraged people to meet in homes to worship together. I haven’t made communion bread for years, but found a recipe online and it came together quickly.

Please take a moment to appreciate how un-uniformly I cut the pieces. Good grief, Laura. :)

Next, I got the kids involved in helping me pack a picnic for after church. There had been a scheduled “Picnic with Pals” with our Kids Ministry Group inviting us all to stay after worship and enjoy together. But with the building being unusable, the new meet up spot became one of our malls in town. Knowing we’d need to leave right after online worship to make it on time, we got our food packed and put into the fridge to grab and take with us.

I was feeling a bit like I needed a kitchen break, so for lunch we had Chicken Nuggets, Spinach with Dip, and Oranges.

Dinner that night was Hotdogs and Peas. And that was our week!

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Big Family Food and Fun: October 1-7, 2023

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Ready for Big Family Food and Fun: October 1-7, 2023?!

Elias had hosted a “Release Party” the night before so we woke up Sunday morning to young adults asleep all over our house, haha. We had prepared some extra rooms and beds, knowing that several would stay over, but it was fun to wake up and see friends scattered in the living room too. Some stayed and joined us for lunch after church too!

Big Family Food and Fun: October 1-7, 2023

I had boiled two pounds of macaroni noodles and stirred in an entire container of white queso from Sam’s. Plus I stirred in chopped up ham. That warmed in the crock pot all morning during church. We ate it with peas and grapes plus Mudballs and Peanut Butter Cookies.

Here’s a few of “the crew” hanging out in the kitchen to eat.

That evening our family got to enjoy a Harvest Party at our church parking lot with many from our church family. There was chili dogs, smores, and face painting!

Matt and Malachi took each other on in ping pong. I never heard who won. :)

Justus was honored to be one who enjoyed “pie in the face” and Brayden got in line multiple times to attempt to throw a shaving cream pie in his face.

Keith too!

Kiya and Acacia played a huge Jenga game with our friend Caitlyn.

And most of our “older littles” tried archery that was set up from Heart Shot Ministry. It was an incredible night!

Monday morning I pulled prepared Pumpkin Donuts from the freezer that we’d made a few weeks before. I air fried them which made it SO EASY. They didn’t turn out pretty but everyone ate them like cookies and it made for an easy breakfast.

We walked Brayden and Kiya to school then Keith and I got ready to head to the Food Distribution site to help set up. He packed himself a snack to eat on the way: a Pumpkin Donut and a bag of granola bites. :)

He takes his work so seriously when helping there. We love this service opportunity!

The kids had captured a caterpillar a few weeks ago and it turned into a cocoon in the jar. We were so excited! Matt noticed Monday morning that it had turned into a butterfly so that evening we all gathered around to admire then release it.

Keith was devastated that we were letting our butterfly go free. He had wanted to keep it forever. Oy.

I had some leftover roast from last week so I cooked rice, shredded the leftover roast, and put together burritos for dinner. Meanwhile, our neighbor had given us three buckets full of apples from his mom’s tree. I finally got around to making a huge pot of applesauce like this.

It made two huge bowls full of applesauce for us to enjoy throughout the week.

Tuesday morning BabyBoy#11 and I left the house at 6:15 to get checked into the hospital for an MRI. We are thankful to finally be referred for this so that maybe we can get some ideas about what his needs are so that we can get ahead of them and get him the resources he needs moving forward.

He was a trooper as we got him prepped – but HUNGRY and mad about it because we couldn’t feed him his regular morning bottle since he would be receiving anesthesia.

All in all, it went very well and we were home much earlier than we thought we would be.

I picked up Brayden and Kiya after school and we went directly to the Food Distribution to hand out food. We were blessed to come home with extra items – lots of breads and bagels again but also some greens, asparagus, peppers, potatoes, and yogurt.

Malachi had baked Chicken Tenders and made Caesar salad for everyone so when we got home, we dug in. Apparently Matt had had to “cut Keith off” on the salad because he loves it so much and kept asking for more and more. :) (Thankfully, I had brought home a bonus package of Caesar salad from the Food Distribution so we opened it up and added it to the bowl!)

Wednesday morning I made a big pot of Warm Vanilla Soother to celebrate Fall weather (and because Food Distribution begged us to take soon-to-expire milk home, ha). We are whole milk people, and this was 1% milk, but it still worked because I added extra eggs and some heavy whipping cream. We enjoyed it with toasted, buttered bagels.

Speaking of having lots of 1% milk on hand that needed to be used up: That afternoon I used several cups of milk to make Pudding Parfaits for dessert after dinner. I had a couple of sweet helpers who had woken up too early from their naps.

I smoked chicken for dinner that night, steamed broccoli, and used the pizza crust we’d been given at Food Distribution to make Garlic Cheese Bread Sticks.

A few of the chicken pieces were pretty thick, and I got a little bit nervous that they weren’t cooked as thoroughly as they should be. So I cut ALL the chicken into bites and put it in a pan with barbecue sauce to cook a little bit more just to be safe.

The Pudding Parfaits were a huge hit!

I had meetings again all morning on Thursday (October is a doozy with its appointments and IEPs. Our calendar is always crazy, but this month seems extra crazy.) So Matt and the older boys took care of food – I believe they pulled leftovers from the fridge.

That afternoon I made a double recipe of these Pumpkin Bars so we could have a quick breakfast food the next morning. (They tasted awesome with my coffee the next morning!)

Dinner that night was a simple Taco Bar. I realized as I was pulling out toppings that I had no greens or tomatoes. So I sliced cucumbers as a veggie side dish. And we had leftover Applesauce that I’d made earlier in the week.

I asked Kiya to pause so I could take a picture of my beautiful girl with her beautiful plate. :)

After dinner we decided to walk to Sunken Gardens. The weather was supposed to turn much colder and I wanted to see the flowers one last time before they froze. I was so thankful that Elias and Malachi joined us too. This photo, featuring 10 of my sweethearts, makes me so happy…

Friday morning was a bit nuts as we were trying to get Brayden out the door an hour early for his school Ukulele class, Matt and Elias out the door to work in York for the day, and some of our housemates out the door for a conference. I was so glad I’d made these Pumpkin Bars the day before so that everyone could grab and go as needed. Ignore the ugly photo. These tasted good so don’t let the picture tell you differently. ;)

Malachi hung out with the other kids and me all day. I had a teacher meeting that morning, the immediately after that we loaded the kids to go to Aldi.

Wait. The plan was to immediately load the kids and head to Aldi. But three kids needed to potty first. Then BabyBoy#11 pooped up the back of his brand new shirt.

So three pees and a poop later, we finally got everyone loaded and headed to the store.

Malachi helped me manage two carts and five kids by handing out veggie straws and feeding the baby his bottle. I threw food into carts as fast as I could so we could make it home in time for Keith and Anna’s preschool bus. And because we didn’t want to be in the store very long with five babies. :)

We got greens, salad kits, pears, cheese, fritos, ham, pasta, granola, cider, and some baby food. (BabyBoy#11 is still not too big on purees or anything solid, but the squeeze type fruit/veggie combos at Aldi work better than other foods so far.) Malachi spotted a Caramel Mocha Iced Coffee so we grabbed that too. :)

The real reason we went to Aldi: Mama was hungry for Spicy Ham and Potato Soup and we didn’t have any pepper jack cheese! It was on the menu for that night so while I could have subbed a different kind of cheese, I knew a trip to Aldi would be helpful anyway.

After we got Keith and Anna off to school, Acacia “helped” me make two crock pots full of soup for dinner. I was so glad I made such a large amount. This soup really hit the spot!

Malachi was craving my Hot Cocoa. It was chilly outside, it was Friday night, and I STILL had milk left from the Food Distribution. :) So it was a perfect time to make a pot of cocoa. The milk was 1% (not our preference) so I added heavy whipping cream to try and make up for the lack of fat in the milk. :)

I left for an Adoptive Moms Support Group so Matt reported back later that everyone under the age of 4 spilled their little cup of Hot Cocoa. Oops. That couldn’t have been fun to deal with. :/

As I was walking out the door, I spotted this scene. This was just before the hot chocolate started to spill left and right. Aren’t they sweet?

Saturday morning Matt and I took the kids to a Sensory Story time at a library. This is such a good offering for our family because several of our kids have sensory needs.

This was my very favorite part of the morning. Josie, our very timid two-year-old, started to finally become comfortable in this setting. Ms. Diane, the storytime leader, is fantastic and so good at making this a safe place for the kids. So there was our Josie girl, acting all grown up and excited, participating in the game with all the big kids. :)

When we got home, Eva joined us to help with the kids. Because of this, I was finally able to get to the basement to sort through all of our clothes for fall and winter. Phew, this was a huge task, and one I kept having a hard time getting around to! I’m so thankful that Eva made it happen. (Also, I finally found my jeans. We moved here in June and I had yet to find my jeans. I have never been so happy to see a pile of jeans.)

I pulled out all of the wonderful hand-me-downs people had given us. And I pulled out all of the clothes I’d picked up on clearance. As I sorted, our laundry room looked like this.

And the hallway outside the laundry room looked like this.

However long and a pile of mom’s jeans later, I got clothes organized into bins and up on the shelves.

Plus I had gathered quite a few clothes that we could donate. I can’t tell you how relieved I am that this job is finished!!

Meanwhile, Malachi made mac and cheese and Elias made a salad for lunch. Then while Eva and Matt put everyone down for naps and rest time, Brayden and I headed out for one-on-one time. We went for hair cuts then to Marshall’s to find clothes for him. (As I sorted clothes, I had found that we had almost nothing that fit him. Plus I needed a few things for the three little girls, plus socks, undies…). This time with Brayden was VERY needed and good.

When we got home, I quickly threw together a hot dog picnic and we loaded everyone up to go to a Hoot and Howl prairie event nearby.

While I handed out food and everyone ate, we got to see super cool owls and hear about what they eat and what they like. It was so neat!

Then we walked around to various booths and areas where there were so many great learning opportunities.

Overall the evening was fun but CRAZY. Wrangling eight kids nine and under (our extra 4-year-old was with us) was not easy with several of the littles running ahead of us – or in different directions. Then we had some behavior struggles as we settled everyone into the van to go home for bed.

These things ARE worth doing, but it is not easy to pull it off. We are thankful for God’s strength and for the sweet times we enjoy with these kids.

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A Day in Our Lives at the Coppinger Castle

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Curious about a day in our lives at the Coppinger Castle? I’ll give you a peek!

Every day can look a little bit different, of course. But here’s what a typical day looks like for us, based on what happened this Wednesday:

A Day in Our Lives at the Coppinger Castle

5:25am I (Laura) rolled out of bed and headed downstairs to enjoy as much quiet time as I could get.

5:35 I made my way to the kitchen to drink water and make myself a cup of coffee. I always find something tasty (like a muffin) to eat with my coffee. Then I sit with my coffee in the living room and spend time talking to God as I wake up. I open my Bible and read wherever God leads me to read that day and journal with Him about what He’s teaching/telling me. Today I read in Deuteronomy and was reminded: Don’t let anything else become a god in my life. Be fully devoted to HIM, and He will bless my obedient heart.

6:20 Keith woke up extra early today and found me in the dark living room. I put my Bible and journal away for some snuggles. BabyBoy#11 woke up too and enjoyed a diaper change and ate some of his bottle. (He has some eating issues so he only eats a little bit of his bottle at a time, all day long). :) I settled him onto the floor to play with Keith.

6:35 I opened my computer to check email and upload/edit some photos for our next weekly Food and Fun post. I try to keep up with this each day so that I can have it ready to post on Sunday afternoons.

6:45 Keith was hungry so we headed into the kitchen to start getting breakfast ready. I poured three sippy cups full of milk for the three littlest girls. (Their milk is like my coffee: gotta have it first thing.)

I started making breakfast to keep kids from becoming hangry as they woke up. This particular day we had Warm Vanilla Soother and Bagels.

I used a dozen eggs to make it extra rich and full of protein.

While I was cooking the soother, I heated Tomato Soup to pack in the kids’ lunchboxes.

And I started a fresh pot of coffee.

7:00 I finished making breakfast and got the kids’ started on eating (all 7 littles were all up now). Usually, while the kids eat, I clean out dishwashers, load dishwashers, plan tonight’s dinner, and finish packing the kids’ lunches for school. Somewhere in there, I ran to the basement to start a load of laundry.

ALL MORNING LONG at least two of our kids have usually been tantruming off and on. We’ve tried everything to get ahead of these fits, but they struggle to regulate their emotions and mornings can be the hardest. 

8:00 From now until 8:40 we are finishing breakfast, brushing teeth, dressing toddlers, finding shoes, settling more tantrums, and trying to get 7 kids out the door so that we can walk Brayden and Kiya to school. Our walk involves two double strollers for our four littlest, plus Keith on his bike. Brayden and Kiya power walk with Matt and me because the truth is, 9:00 is a wonderful late start time but it’s still hard to get all of us out the door every morning. So we are almost always running “just on time – if we hurry.”

8:55 We send them off to their classrooms with a hug and a daily message, “Let God’s light shine through you! Love you!” then Matt and I walk the littlest five home.

9:15 Usually we play outside for a while when we get home, feed everyone a little bit more, give BabyBoy#11 more of his bottle, and Matt finds time to finally eat.

This is often when I make our smoothies because I ate at 5:30 and I’m ready for “second breakfast” now.

Somewhere in there, I wash up some of the bigger pots, pans, and bowls.

10:00 We either have meetings at this time or take the kids on an outing if we don’t have anything scheduled. Meetings happen eight to twelve weekday mornings every month depending on the needs (IEPs, IFSPs, Case Worker visits, Foster Care Specialist visits, Early Development Team visits, and Speech Pathologist visits). This particular morning, I had an IEP meeting for Acacia.

11:30 While I finished my meeting (this one was at our house), Matt gave Keith and Anna something to eat and made sure they have their shoes on and backpacks ready. Their preschool bus comes at 12:00.

12:05 We are left at home with just three kids!! It’s soooo quiet now, haha! But for real. After we get Keith and Anna off to school it is typically much calmer. We play, eat lunch (usually leftovers), and try to sit and read with Acacia, Josie, and BabyBoy#11.

1:15 NAPTIME!!! We work hard to synch up BabyBoy#11’s nap with his sisters’ so that they will all sleep at the same time. Matt catches up on business paperwork, bill paying, or does work that the Castle needs. I get out my laptop and work on posts like these! ;)

2:30 Josie woke up already – BOOOO. This cuts my worktime short but more importantly, she hasn’t slept long enough and is therefore grumpy. I snuggle her a while to see if she’ll rest some more. Nope.

2:40 I head to the kitchen with Josie to get ahead on dinner. She watches with great interest. ;)

2:45 Acacia heard Josie crying so she woke up too. She joined us in the kitchen. I had an abundance of milk – given to us the day before when we were volunteering at the Food Distribution – so I decided to surprise everyone with Pudding Parfaits after dinner so that I could use up some milk.

These little stinkers sure are cute.

3:00 I turned on the smoker to cook the chicken I’d marinated earlier that day. I needed to make dinner early because I had to leave at 3:45 for Parent Teacher Conferences and wouldn’t get back until almost time to eat.

The food we receive at the Food Distribution is typically close to its “sell-by” date so I usually plan our meals based on what we brought home the day before so that it won’t go bad. Thus the Pudding Parfaits I described above. We’d also received some pizza crusts so I spread on olive oil, sprinkled on garlic powder, then topped with mozzarella cheese to make Cheesy Breadsticks to go with our dinner that night. I slid them into the oven to bake right before meal time.

3:30 Matt left to pick up the kids from school and since the two girls were up, he took them with him in a stroller so I could finish kitchen work and head out to conferences.

3:45 Malachi and Elias listened for BabyBoy#11 (who was still napping) and I headed out for Brayden and Kiya’s parent teacher conferences.

4:00 Matt arrived back home with his crew. Keith and Anna got dropped off by the school bus. Kiya had homework (which she can mostly work through on her own). The baby could wake up at any time. Everyone is hungry. Basically – this is just time to survive as we transition into the evening.

4:45 I made it back home from the kids’ school and finished up dinner.

5:15 Everyone was ready to eat. I fixed plates and took them outside since the weather was nice – and so that the mess would fall to the ground instead of onto our dining room floor.

Every night, we can count on there being lots of people around at dinnertime. But we never quite know how many people there will be to feed. Some of our housemates are almost always around to join us. Often, friends of Elias and Malachi are over. We make enough to feed plenty, loving it when it all gets eaten! If fewer are around to eat, then we benefit from having leftovers. Either way, it’s a win! (This particular night, two of our housemates were out and Elias and Malachi had gone to a concert. So there were “only” 12 at home for dinner that night.)

6:00 Everyone who ate a good dinner enjoyed a Pudding Parfait. We played outside the rest of the evening because it was a beautiful night. I stopped taking pictures at this point because keeping everyone alive and safe outside is a bit hectic.

7:10 We headed inside and started the process of getting the kids ready for bed. Of course, Brayden and Kiya do this lovely life hack because it’s the best “get ready for school” trick and I love it.

7:30 We try to gather everyone in the living room for our nightly Singing and Prayer time. But with this many littles, it doesn’t always work and the youngest four can be pretty squirrely. Eventually this will turn back into a precious time. Right now, it’s nuts – with singing and prayer on top.

We managed to make it happen tonight, and ended our time in the living room together by saying all of Psalm 23 together. Brayden, Kiya, and Keith all have it memorized now. Anna knows some of it and our guess is that Acacia and Josie know more than they let on – they just aren’t talking much yet.

—> Since I wasn’t able to get a current picture of our Singing and Prayer Time, here’s an older, precious photo taken at our York house one evening when several college students were hanging out and joined us. Oh look, it’s Baby Keith. And dating couple Justus and Kelsey. This picture brings me joy. <—

8:00 BEDTIME. Acacia wears a brace to bed because she was born with a club foot and needs a brace to help with her ongoing needs. Matt does some very simple ankle manipulation with her before putting on her brace while I brush some toddler teeth, answer my 400millionth question of the day, and as sweetly as I can, beg everyone to go right to sleep without getting up all night. :) Ha. But seriously.

8:30 BabyBoy#11 finishes as much milk as we can give him to help him sleep as long as possible through the night (he usually lasts until 3am, but the past couple of nights have been longer!). We settle him into bed. Matt and I finally have some quiet, uninterrupted conversation time before I PASS OUT.

And that’s a Day in our Lives at the Coppinger Castle. Maybe I’ll write another one of these posts a different day so that we can compare what might be the same or different from day to day!

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What is Matt up to these days?

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Now that we’ve moved to Lincoln many people have asked, “What is Matt up to these days?” Let’s take some time to answer that question now…

What is Matt up to these days?

—-> The short answer is that he gets to be a work-from-home dad now, teamworking with me – a work-from-home-mom – take care of our seven little ones. <—-

But how is that working? Let me share God’s goodness in working out His plans during the past 29 years to make this happen for us!

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

As I was praying over this post, these are the bullet items that came to mind to share first:

  1. Matt is visionary.
  2. Matt and I are both entrepreneurs.
  3. We like to have “a variety of eggs in our basket” so that our financial needs are never dependent on just one source of income.
  4. We are savers, not spenders.
  5. During the past 20 years, we have invested in real estate as God has provided opportunity.
  6. God knew what He would be calling us to in 2023 and He paved the way for this.

And now I’ll go into more detail. :)

Matt is visionary.

This guy gets an idea every five minutes. I can hardly keep up. Some ideas turn into nothing. Some turn into hours of research and then nothing. But some turn into hours of research and then become side hustles. Some turn into work/income that help to meet our family’s needs and the needs of others. Some turn into investments that provide a very good return.

This is the way God made Matt, and it’s fun to be a part of his creativity in finding ways that provide for our family. I love that he is always thinking outside the box and looking for opportunities to serve our family and others.

Matt and I are both entrepreneurs

While Matt is the one who is constantly thinking of ideas for possible streams of income, I also have always been an entrepreneur at heart. All of our married life, I have pursued some sort of money-making adventure while remaining a stay-at-home-mom. Early on, I sold Stampin’ Up! products for a few years, then I baked these incredible soft pretzels and sold them at the Farmer’s Market. Somewhere in there, I did in-home daycare for a short time – and all of these provided a little extra income for our family. This has always been fun for me and being self-employed with Matt also pursuing ventures works well because of the way we think. (It’s not for everyone, but it works for us!)

In 2007, I started this blog as a fun hobby and as a possible way to make some side income. After a few years it turned into a ministry, a beautiful community, a delightful hobby, and income for our family too. I have been doing this now for almost 16 years – can you believe it?

Aww, look at our first four babies back when HeavenlyHomemakers.com began:

We like to have “a variety of eggs in our basket” so that our financial needs are never dependent on just one source of income.

We have very much valued having different streams of income through the years so that if one slows down or goes away, we still have income from other sources. For instance, Matt had a snow removal service with our boys for several years – but of course business was pretty slow in the summer, ha. No worries, they mowed lawns in the summertime. That snow/mowing business didn’t pay all the bills for our family, but it definitely bought some groceries. Meanwhile, he and I had other streams of income coming from a variety of areas of work.

A few years ago, Matt became Certified in Radon Mitigation, installing safety systems in people’s homes. This was hard work but good money. In addition to everything else, through the years, Matt has worked in ministry, been a part time or full time soccer coach, offered handi-man services, and even tried his hand at a Shaved Ice Shack.

Matt’s visionary nature and our mutual entrepreneurial spirits meant that through the years, nothing paid all of the bills but everything added together provided enough.

We are savers, not spenders.

Throughout our married life, we have lived comfortably, but frugally. Neither of us are big spenders and we like to be careful about where our money goes. We’ve appreciated having a cushion in our bank account so that any time something comes up (car repairs, home repairs, kids’ needs, etc.) we have what we need to pay for it.

We’ve also been intentional about paying down debt as quickly as possible so that it doesn’t hang over our heads. When we were newlyweds and had two full time incomes, we lived on one and used the second to pay off student loans. I’m so thankful we did that!

And even though we are frugal by nature, we still find all kinds of ways to have fun as a family. :)

During the past 20 years, we have invested in real estate as God has provided opportunity.

This started back when our boys were little and we had a tiny bit of savings in our bank account. At that time, Matt was approached by someone with an offer to buy their Storage Units. He knew that it would be a great opportunity for mostly passive income through the years – specifically to use for our kids’ college education down the road. I was extremely hesitant! That little bit of extra savings in the bank felt very good and I liked looking at it like a security blanket. Besides, our boys were little and in my head, they were never going to grow up and go to college (bahaha, joke’s on me).

Matt’s visionary mind, detailed research, and financial savvy won me over and we bought the storage units. After a few years, we paid off their loan, making all of the rental fees 100% income for us (minus yearly property tax and insurance). Sure enough, we eventually used that income to help our boys with their college bills. And now? It continues to provide income to help pay some of our other bills.

Having such a good experience with this first real estate investment, a few years after buying the storage units, we used our next pocket of savings to buy a small house to use as a rental property. As the years went on, we continued to save and invest – eventually purchasing a total of four rental houses plus a duplex. We got incredible deals on these because the market was right for buyers looking to invest during those years. The rental income from these houses plus the storage units has been a lovely “egg in our basket” that we have very much appreciated.

God knew what He would be calling us to and He paved the way for this.

Now here we are, 29 years of marriage and 11 kids later.

As we have added children to our family during the past five years, our needs at home have become much, much greater. All of our adopted/foster children are fantastic, precious, and dear – and Matt and I find that we need to pour an incredible amount of energy into caring for them as we help them heal and grow into healthy and secure adults.

Last fall, a few things shifted for us and God made it clear that instead of pursing out-of-the-home work, we should make some simple financial changes so that Matt could work from home and be with our family full time. As it had been, almost all of his outside employment paycheck went toward paying for people to come help me care for our kids (it’s almost impossible to take care of this many littles without help). It makes more sense now that we would keep Matt home and work together. I LOVE THIS SO MUCH. We teamwork life more fully now as we manage our properties, write this blog, and care for our children together to meet their needs in a greater way.

Then God did something we didn’t expect…

Looking ahead last winter, with Matt at home full time and knowing that Elias would soon graduate from college, and that Malachi would graduate from high school we found ourselves looking at an open door. We had thought we’d live in York forever. But God drew our hearts to Lincoln so that we could be closer to our older kids. We need them for this too.

So here we are. 

Right now we are both exactly where we need to be – at home caring for all of these little ones together. God is good and He set us up for this long before we knew we’d need it.

When we moved, we sold and profited on some of our York rental properties to help us pay for the gift of our Coppinger Castle. Thank you, God. Meanwhile, we’ve also kept some of them as an “egg in our basket” to provide income for our needs. In addition, our Castle has three empty suites on the third floor that we rent out. People have come and gone and our renters have all been amazing to live with! Here’s Matt finishing the third room as we prepared for another renter:

We are amazed when we think about how God opened those doors for us so many years ago so that we could move to Lincoln and do what He needs us to do now.

As we look at the past and head into the future, we see clearly that God is faithful and good to care for all His children. While there are always unknowns, we know that we don’t need to worry. He has proven Himself over and over in our lives, and we’ve loved looking back on the past 29 years to see how He’s prepared us for this new journey.

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Big Family Food and Fun: July 23-29, 2023

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This week was a hot one! We still had a lot of fun and we enjoyed a lot of great food. Here’s what our big family enjoyed and ate this week…

Big Family Food and Fun July 23-29

For Sunday’s lunch I followed this Crock Pot Pizza Casserole somewhat loosely. I dumped 16-ounces of dry pasta into each of my large crock pots. I cut pepperoni into one, and added cooked ground sausage to the other. I then added two cans of pizza sauce to each along with some salt and water. This was so fast and easy! The casseroles cooked while we were at church.

When we got home I sautéed sliced sweet peppers and made buttered corn for side dishes. We all sprinkled shredded cheese on our Pizza Pasta – super tasty!

We were blessed to have Justus and Kelsey, Eva, and three more friends join us for our meal that day.

For dessert I had baked a cake in the crock pot. I made a vanilla cake this time, but here’s how to bake a cake in a crock pot – so cool! After it cooled, I poked holes in the cake and dumped vanilla pudding into the holes. Then I Whipped Cream and spread it over the cake. It was fun and delicious! (I used a boxed pudding mix this time but here’s my Homemade Vanilla Pudding recipe that’s extra good.)

Sunday evening I pulled out leftover Burrito Filling and Bean and Cheese Salsa Dip that I’d made last week. I mixed them together, warmed it up, and served it with chips.

I was up super early (4:00) with BabyBoy#11 Monday morning so after getting him back to bed and enjoying a nice long “Coffee with Jesus” time I got some work done in the kitchen before any of the other littles got up. I started by making a triple batch of Snickerdoodle Bites.

I was hungry by 6:30 for my second breakfast, haha, so I made our not-so-famous Salad Smoothie to drink while I worked. :)

Then I washed out our Blendtec and made Peanut Butter Cup Whipped Cream for later.

Some of the kids were up by then and starting to get hungry so I made everyone Scrambled Egg Sandwiches.

Matt and I have decided that outings in the mornings are much better for everyone than trying to wrangle everyone around the house. But it was super hot this week. So we decided to take the kids to the Splash Park. For lunch, I warmed up leftover hotdogs from the fridge and cut them in half because there were only 7 dogs left.

I packed them in an insulated bag to keep them warm. Then in a separate bag I packed peach cups, chips and salsa, cucumbers, Snickerdoodle Bites, and juice.

Long live the Snickerdoodle Bites. Hahaha, here’s what they looked like when we got to the park and pulled them out to serve. Poor little warm, squished bites. We all got a good chuckle over how the heat didn’t let these hold their shape. Then I grabbed a spoon and served blobs to everyone. No harm no foul.

The splash park is the best. Everyone was super hungry after playing. Then after eating, they went back into the water for more play.

Last week I had browned several pounds of hamburger meat, so for dinner on Monday I used some of it to make Sloppy Joes. I sliced home grown squash and zucchini our friends had given us at church and sautéed it. SUCH A TREAT. I warmed up leftover green beans for the non-squash lovers to eat. Plus I got out pickles and mac salad to fill everyone’s bellies.

Then I surprised everyone with Peanut Butter Cup Whipped Cream that I had made earlier in the day. I scooped it out into small bowls and topped it with a few animal crackers. The kids thought it was soooo much fun! The cream treat by itself is super good (and low in sugar) – but the animal crackers with it made it extra good. The crunch maybe? Or maybe eating monkeys and hippos tastes better than any of us realized?

After dinner, we loaded everyone up and went to Scheels for an outing. Why did we go there? Two reasons:

  1. Air
  2. Conditioning

We needed an outing but phew, the heat. Scheels made for a perfect fun outing with its play area, aquarium, animal display, and $1 Ferris wheel! Only three of the littles were tall enough to go and two of the three had to ride with an adult. Rock, paper, scissors – Mom won. Or lost. No one is sure. (Neither Elias or Matt like heights so…)

Brave Brayden rode in a seat by himself.

Mom sat with Kiya and Keith. I think Matt captured this picture when I was screaming with glee. But my face looks like I’m about to eat my young.

It was truly a fantastic way to spend our evening. We spent $5 on some needed badminton birdies and $3.99 on the Ferris wheel for the four riders. Not too shabby for a not-quite-free night out! Oh, and then we walked over to Trader Joe’s since it was next door. I love this store but it’s pricier than other stores I have access to now since I need to buy such large quantities. So we just got lemons and mixed greens. I’ll likely not shop here much, but I will go back for stocking stuffers at Christmas time. :)

Tuesday morning Kelsey came over so that Matt could get some work done on the Castle. (It’s an amazing home for us, but it is over a hundred years old and does require some maintenance. Plus he’s getting some of our top floor bedrooms ready to rent out in the upcoming months. More on that later.)

Kelsey helped me take all the kids to a library for a fun Sparks Fly event (all about static electricity). It was shorter than we realized it would be and we wanted to keep the kids out of the house longer so Matt could work longer. So we ran back home and left the kids buckled and sitting in the van with Kelsey while I ran into the house and filled a picnic bag to take to the park.

I wasn’t even very sure what I grabbed until we unpacked the bag at the park, haha. It wasn’t too bad actually – we discovered cheese and crackers, avocado cups (found at Costco and Sam’s), applesauce pouches, juice boxes, and leftover Peanut Butter Cup Whipped Cream  with animal crackers.

We played until the heat got to us, then headed home for lots of drinks of water and then naps.

That night we loaded up and drove 30 minutes to Mahoney State Park to meet some York friends who were camping there all week. What a blast! They served us burgers, brats, and hotdogs with chips. We contributed grapes, mandarins, and juice pouches.

The kids made smores…

Watching Keith eat his was the best form of entertainment.

After we cleaned up the food, we loaded the girls in the wagon and all of us walked over to the marina to see the fish. It was a lovely visit with our friends – so lovely that I didn’t take many pictures. :)

We got home late and went to bed dirty. The next morning we had showers! Then three of our kids had appointments with their therapist. We had an early lunch then took the kids to play in the play area of one of the Lincoln malls before naptime. (Again, we were looking for an outing that involved air conditioning.) Lunch was leftovers with fresh green beans. <—our gardening friends are spoiling us and we love it!

Since we’d already eaten lunch, the only picnic food I packed to take to the mall was a bottle for BabyBoy#11. :)

We came home for naptime, and I headed out with my computer to work in the quiet for a couple of hours at Panera. Before coming home I ran to Aldi because as usual, we were low on fresh produce and milk. I also picked up some bagels and buns while I was there. Later I sent Elias to pick up meat on sale at a different store. My July Grocery Total: $1185 <— Surprisingly (barely) under budget as the month ends!

Dinner that night was BLT Wraps and clementines. I’d already mixed up the filling so Matt and Elias put together the wraps and fed everyone before I made it home. Meanwhile, Justus and Kelsey ran over to do a load of laundry and hadn’t eaten yet. I love impromptu get-togethers like this. I mixed up more BLT filling (the Costco bacon bits made it possible) so that everyone could have their fill.

Matt and I took the kids outside to play in the water after dinner while Kelsey cut up the watermelon I’d picked up. Good thing she did! Playing in the water made them hungry again so they ate an entire half of the melon!

(Not pictured: kids’ behavior issues during, before, and after all of our fun. I always share about the fun we have. You don’t want to see the fits. I don’t want to dwell on them here. But we sure do appreciate your prayers. Our kids’ needs are high, multiplied by the trauma they’ve experienced. It keeps us on our knees as we are constantly in prayer about how to love them through their hurt and work toward healing.)

Thursday morning we planned to go to a “Learn to Do Magic Tricks” Class at a library. Since we’d already be loaded into the van (it’s kind of a big deal), we decided to pack a picnic to take to the zoo afterward. Then we could eat and let the kids play in the water area there since it was so hot!

For breakfast, I offered bagels, strawberries, and blueberries. Kiya and Keith opted for the remaining smooshed  Snickerdoodle Bites. Keith used a spoon and mashed his like playdough before eating it. Whatever. :) Meanwhile, I made Turkey and Spinach Subs for our picnic lunch.

The magic tricks class was fun (but hectic with all of our littles). I’d forgotten our zoo pass so we ran home to get it and Elias hopped in to join us at the zoo. We enjoyed our subs with applesauce and water or juice.

Then we let the kids get soaked in the water area – the real reason we’d gone to the zoo that day!

We visited the spider monkeys before heading home for naps. These outings are awesome and fun, but let me tell you, by naptime Matt and I are WORN OUT. We usually have an iced coffee “date” at the beginning of naptime so that we can recover before getting work done and tackling the evening with the kids. :)

For dinner I had thawed three packages of chicken from the freezer: one of boneless thighs, one of boneless breasts, and one of drumsticks. I had marinated them in Italian dressing all afternoon, then we smoked them. We got out watermelon and tossed together one of the Aldi’s salad kits we’d bought last week. It all tasted amazing!

Friday morning we enjoyed Cheesy Scrambled eggs, sausage, and strawberries. I used some of the eggs and sausage to make to-go Breakfast Sandwiches for Matt and Elias who were headed to York for the day to work on our properties there.

Mid-morning, Keith discovered our Apple Peeler-Corer-Slicer so I washed it and showed the kids how it worked.

Apples taste so much better when you cut them this way!! This is how you go through five apples in five minutes. :) Hooray for Eva coming over to spend the morning with us so that I wasn’t on my own with eight kids. (Our former foster son, a 4-year-old half-sib to several of our kids, came to visit for the weekend!)

We decided to brave the heat to let the kids go play at the Splash Park again so I packed a meal for us to eat at a picnic table there for lunch. Our visiting Bonus Boy has a pretty limited list of foods he’ll eat so I made our meal based on what I knew he would enjoy. (This post shares ideas for what to feed picky kids, and #5 on that list details what he likes to eat.)

We ate Banana Bread and Butter sandwiches, yogurt, clementines, blueberries, cheese, and juice. (This was the Banana Bread that I’d baked in the crock pot a couple of weeks ago. I had frozen half of it so it was great to pull out and enjoy.)

Late in the afternoon before kids got up from naps, I made a double batch of No Bake Cookies. Why? Because it’s always nice to have goodies on hand to share with people who come over. And because I needed “kitchen therapy.” Praying and breathing while I’m cooking or baking always helps me find peace and calm when I’m feeling a bit out of sorts.

We warmed up leftover hamburgers for dinner and ate them outside with carrots and pickles. We survived the heat that night with water guns and our little splash pools.

Saturday morning we planned to meet friends at the Farmer’s Market but it started to rain heavily so we switched to Plan B and loaded up for the Children’s Museum instead. We have a year-long family pass so this was perfect.

The Surprise

Little did I know that Matt had been cooking up big plans for several weeks and that rain or not, he really just needed to get me out of the house for the morning. :) I thought it was odd that he didn’t want to make any lunch plans for the day, insisting that he and the kids should make lunch at home instead. “It’s good for them to take ownership in what we eat,” he said. “They’ll appreciate your work more this way.”

Ok. But???

We had our Bonus Boy with us so we took all eight kids to the Children’s Museum. Phew. Overall it went well. And look at this sweet picture. They are SO RARELY all easily managed but here we are heading back to our van after playing all morning:

We arrived back home to a HOUSE FULL OF PEOPLE. What had my husband been up to??

Well. Next week I’m turning the big 5.0. So he surprised me a few days early with a sweet party to celebrate. It was everything incredible and I can’t get over it!!

Throughout the afternoon, people kept showing up!!! Every time I turned around, someone else was at the door with a hug, with flowers, with a balloon, or with a card. Truly, what a precious, lovely surprise. I feel so very loved. Matt and the bigs are so amazing to do this for me.

Eva and Kelsey had helped arrange for people to bring dips, then “we” supplied the chips, crackers, and drinks. It was a meal of many of my favorite foods.

Ah, there he is. The guy who pulled this off in the midst of our huge move.

One of the best surprises?? Malachi had been at church camp for two weeks and away for work the week before that. We have missed him!!! I wasn’t expecting him to be home until later in the afternoon. But there he was, after getting up early to drive three hours back to be on time for my surprise. My sweet Malachi.

All said and done, there were 62 of us celebrating together that day. 62!!!!! Many hadn’t seen the Castle yet so we gave lots of tours. This provided much opportunity for us to all praise God together for the gift He gave us when He provided us with this home.

Old friends met new friends. York met Lincoln. I’m still marveling about the beauty of it all.

The party ended at 1:00 but with all the people continuing to come and go, we didn’t say our final goodbyes until after 5:00. That’s when Matt and I realized that we’d hardly eaten all day and we were starving, hahaha.

We cut up the leftover smoked chicken from Thursday and Kelsey made a Caesar salad kit. We tossed it together, got out watermelon, and chowed down.

What a fantastic week!

Now, to be clear, I’m still 49. I won’t be 50 until next week, so I’m going to hold on to my 40’s for four more days, hehehe. Meh, whatever. Looks like the 50’s are going to be pretty great!!

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