Heavenly Homemakers

Encouraging women in homemaking, healthy eating and parenting

My 2026 Grocery Budget Musings, part 2

by 11 Comments

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

Here’s my My 2026 Grocery Budget Musings, part 2. Thank you for putting up with me.

Did you read part 1? Bless your heart. While I wrote that, I was verbally processing – with my fingers – as I typed. Thank you for reading. And as it turns out, my processing continued into this post also. Wowza. Are you ready for more?

My 2026 Grocery Budget Musings, part 2

THE FIRST DRAFT

The summary of we discovered in Part 1 is that I struggle to spend what my brain tells me is “unnecessary money,” therefore, I had to talk myself into increasing our grocery budget for 2026.

Yep, I’m frugal. Matt is too. Yay. That has served us well and brought us to this point. So here’s what’s great about this…We can now be more generous with others and also:

We can be generous to ourselves.

What if I were to “give” myself some extra budget money so that I can breathe a little bit easier as I feed a large household every day? This truly will be a gift.

We can afford it because we are frugal in other areas. We only buy what’s needed. So with that…

What if I could realize that ordering pizza sometimes actually is a NEED?

That’s a hard one for me – because even on the hard days, I can figure out a way to feed us without spending more than necessary. But what about my energy? My time? The needs of our children that take so much of both? I’m going to move forward with a new mindset. Or at least I’m beginning that journey.

Why all this jabber? What’s your new grocery budget, Laura?

I landed on: $1,600/month.

For 14 people; 7 adults, 7 kids.

There you go. The past two years, I’ve budgeted $1,400 and have spent an average of $1,250/month.

Kudos to me, but also…so what?

I guess I’ve taken pride in being able to feed so many people with such a small amount of money. I really, really like saving money. But I also really, really need to alleviate some of the mental load I carry. So I almost decided not to have a grocery budget at all.

Depending on how this year goes, I might do just that – scrap the whole idea of keeping track and just BUY WHAT WE NEED WHEN WE NEED IT, THE END.

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

Take a breath, dear readers. Now you are about to read…

THE UPDATE

I wrote the above DRAFT on January 5 while I was able to have two solid, uninterrupted hours at Panera thinking, pondering, and writing.

I finished the final sentence, tucked away my computer, went to the potty – because…coffee – then planned to run next door to Costco before heading home to jump back into the evening grind with our family.

It was in the Panera bathroom stall (you did not need to know that part) that the words I’d just written spoke very clearly to me:

“…scrap the whole idea of keeping track and just BUY WHAT WE NEED WHEN WE NEED IT, THE END.”

Those words, and the very idea of doing exactly what I’d just written made me feel…

Beautiful Freedom

Imagine not thinking about money: spending, calculating, keeping track, posting about it – well. It suddenly sounded wonderful and I wondered why I’d needed to write almost two thousand words just to come up with it. (<– Because writing is therapeutic for me and God tells me things through my typing fingers, that’s why.)

With new resolve and a heart full of peace, I went next door to Costco. I threw everything I’d just thought about regarding grocery budget numbers out the window, and I simply put everything into our cart that would bless our family and allow me to take care of our large household of dear ones. And while I did, I didn’t overthink any of it. In fact, I felt great about it. I even grabbed a $100 pack of Valentino’s Pizza gift cards for $74.99 to keep on hand for a night I needed a break, and it felt very, very good.

Oh look at that. I got everything I would have normally bought anyway.

How much did I spend on these groceries? I don’t know. I don’t care. I threw away my receipt after leaving Costco because I had decided in the Panera bathroom to stop having a grocery budget.

Huh. How about that?

The day after

On January 6, the day after my writing, revelation, and non-overthinking shopping trip – this still felt great.

The reality is, I will likely still spend between $1,200-$1,600 on groceries for our household every month. I’m still frugal and I’m never going to stop looking for sales, meat markdowns, and great prices on groceries. To me, that’s just wise spending practices and I’ve learned how to be good at this.

But not keeping track of it all takes a little chunk of burden out of my head. Plus “giving myself permission” to order pizza or whatever else we might need on an extra hard day is a generous gift I can give to myself. What a weird form of self care. But I believe that’s what it is!

Ok, one tiny regret

Keeping track of every penny I spend on food, taking pictures of my shopping trips, calculating, documenting, and sharing it with you has been a blog feature here for quite some time. I think it’s been a good one, and if I have any “regret” it’s that for now, I’m leaving that behind.

But the need for a mental load shift for me is vital, and maybe, just maybe alleviating my monthly grocery spending feature will open up time for me to write about something else as God allows.

Also? While I don’t plan to keep specific track of everything I spend on food, I’ll probably throw all kinds of grocery store pictures into our weekly Food and Fun posts. And goodness if I find a great deal, how can I not share about that?!

Moving on…

Who we are feeding

In case you’re wondering where all the food goes, here’s what our home life looks like right now:

  • At the very least, I’m feeding nine people three meals a day plus snacks: Matt, myself, Brayden (12), Kiya (10), Keith (7), Anna (6), Acacia (5), Josie (4), and Auggie (3).
  • Five other adults live at our house: Elias, Malachi, plus three adults that rent rooms from us. All the adults are welcome to eat anything they would like that I buy and make, and most of them appreciate and take advantage of this. Food is included in their rent cost, as I found it easier to feed our wonderful housemates instead of expecting everyone to fend for themselves and try to cook in our kitchen in the midst of me trying to cook for our family. This has been a great arrangement! At the same time, all the adults are welcome to cook or eat out or do whatever they want to. They are adults, after all.
  • We host a houseful of guests (25-40 people) every Sunday Lunch and it is the biggest pleasure of my week to do this. We usually provide the main dish and some sides/desserts. Guests often bring sides/desserts. It’s the most wonderful thing to be a part of this!

Matt and I would love to host more guests in our home during the week, specifically for people in our neighborhood. As of right now though, we’ve not been able to add much more to our evenings because of all the ABA therapy happening in our home.

A huge thank you

Thank you, thank you, for supporting us and caring about our family. It was a blessing for me to write through all of my thoughts as I worked out a new budget – or non-budget – grocery plan for our family.

As time goes on, I’ll keep you posted about what it’s like to not focus on a grocery budget. I think I’m going to enjoy the mental freedom this brings as I do exactly what I’ve done for years but without the extra burden of keeping track of receipts!

How do you work out the grocery budget needs for your family?

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

Big Family Grocery Spending for October, 2025

by 1 Comment

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

Here’s our Big Family Grocery Spending for October, 2025 post!

Curious how much we spent during the month of October and what groceries we bought? Here’s the breakdown…

Big Family Grocery Spending for October, 2025

1. Wal-Mart

On October 2, Matt got a few things for us at Wal-Mart: milk, frozen hashbrowns, spinach, spring mix, and cream. I didn’t get a photo of this. :)

Total for groceries at Wal-Mart: $52.27

2. Freddy’s

On October 4, we took the kids to Freddy’s to enjoy a free ice cream treat that they’d earned during the Summer Library Reading Challenge. We ordered some fries to go with our ice cream, plus we bought Elias and Malorie a treat.

Total out of pocket at Freddy’s: $15.16

3. Costco

On October 6, I went to Costco and got spring mix, bananas, apples, clementines, oranges, pears, potatoes, grapes, raspberries, sweet peppers, shredded cheese, yogurt, taquitos, chicken strips, chicken nuggets, tater tots, sausage links, Fritos, pepperoni, cream cheese, butter, barbecue sauce, ketchup, mandarin orange cups, chicken broth, peanuts, and milk.

Total for food at Costco: $272.36

4. Sam’s

On October 12, I ran into Sam’s on our way home from church. I was almost out of necessities for our daily smoothies, plus I grabbed pancake mix per Kiya’s birthday dinner request. :)

Total at Sam’s: $20.10

5. Costco Lunch

On October 14, we treated the kids to lunch at Costco during their Fall Break. They chose between pizza and hotdogs and we made a fine mess. :)

Total for lunch at Costco: $16.34

6. Aldi

On October 15, I filled a cart at Aldi with many of our needs and favorites. I got milk, sliced cheese, salsa, half and half, heavy whipping cream, hard salami, meat sticks, pear cups, peach cups, fritos, granola, whole milk yogurt, ground sausage, sausage patties, sliced ham, raisins, fruit/veggie pouches, French fries, pretzels, bananas, apples, mixed greens, spinach, grapes, strawberries, pickles, crackers, brownie mix, cake mix, onions, and carrots. I also found a big pork roast for just $1.79/pound so I grabbed it for an upcoming Sunday Lunch.

Total at Aldi: $271.00

7.Wal-Mart

On October 22, I ran into Wal-Mart to get milk, shredded potatoes, diced ham, and frozen fruit. I checked for meat markdowns and scored three packages of hamburger meat!

Total at Wal-Mart: $84.75

8. Sam’s

From Wal-Mart, we went straight to Sam’s. I got pork chops and a roast marked down. Plus I filled the cart with peanut butter, yogurt, spaghetti sauce, spring mix, spinach, grapes, raspberries, bananas, broccoli, golden kiwi, 10-dozen eggs, half and half, heavy whipping cream, avocado cups, shredded cheese, white queso, laughing cow cheese, tomato sauce, bacon, applesauce, applesauce pouches, brown sugar, minced onion, orange chicken, corn dogs, cereal, butter, egg bites, pie crust, turkey lunch meat, ham lunch meat, pickles, coconut oil, olive oil, and yogies.

Total for groceries at Sam’s: $428.23

9. Hy-Vee

On October 23, Eva picked up our WIC order at Hy-Vee on her way over to our house. We got cereal, cheese, eggs, beans, juice, whole wheat noodles, tuna, rice, and several bags of frozen fruits and veggies. This benefit for our kids is such a blessing! Arrow helped us put it away. :)

Total out of pocket: $0

10. Amazon

Our subscribe and save order this month provided us with several boxes of Go-Go Squeeze applesauce and yogurt plus Annie’s mac and cheese and Redmond’s Sea Salt.

Total from Amazon: $59.60

11. Wal-Mart

On October 29, I went to Wal-Mart to finish off the last few WIC items we still needed to pick up for the month. I also got three gallons of milk, 10 dozen eggs, sausage patties, bananas, spring mix, spinach, clementines, lasagna noodles, cottage cheese, cliff bars, coconut flakes, flax seed, a Caesar salad kit, and hamburger meat marked down.

Total out of pocket for food: $116.05

12. Sonic

We discovered a great deal on Halloween night for $0.50 corndogs so we asked Malachi to bring home 20 of them for our dinner that night before we headed out. It’s hard to pass up a deal like that!

Total at Sonic: $11.00

Total for groceries October, 2025: $1,347

Our WIC benefits provide our littles with around $120 worth of groceries each month. You can read here to learn our 2025 Grocery Budget plus look over ways I’m able to keep our budget at this level.

Running Totals for 2025

January spending: $679
February spending: $1,459
March spending: $1,346
April spending: $1,364
May spending: $1374
June spending: $1,127
July spending: $633
August spending: $1,501
September spending: $1,603
October spending: $1,347

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

Big Family Grocery Spending for August, 2025

by 1 Comment

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

Here’s our Big Family Grocery Spending for August, 2025 post!

Curious how much we spent during the month of August and what groceries we bought? Here’s the breakdown!

Big Family Grocery Spending for August, 2025

1. Slim Chickens

On August 5, we took advantage of Free Kid’s Meal Coupons that the kids had earned. My dad and his wife had sent me birthday money, so I used that to pay for Matt’s and my lunches. Yay for a fun, free lunch outing!

Total spent out of pocket at Slim Chickens: $0

2. Aldi

On August 7, we had a big grocery stock up morning! At Aldi, I bought blueberries (x2), cantaloupe (x2), Caesar salad kits (x3), pears, mandarin oranges, baby carrots, 100% juice fruit cups (x9), bags of grapes (x2), boneless chicken thighs (4), corn chips (x2), granola, pure and simple bars (x5), meat sticks (x2), crackers, salami, pasta sauce (x4), salsa (x4), raisin boxes (x2), whole milk yogurt cups (x4), fruit/veggie pouches (x21), ground sausage (x4), sausage patties (x3), veggie straws (x3), and brown sugar (x4).

Total at Aldi: $263.31

3. Costco

Next, we went to Costco. We bought tuna, canned chicken, strawberries (4 pounds), broccoli, parmesan cheese, cream (x2), half and half, milk (x4), bananas, spinach, mixed greens, granola, sausage links, minced onion, tortelloni, cheese/cracker packs, butter (8 pounds), eggs (5 dozen), chicken nuggets, avocado mash (x2), ground beef, fresh sweet corn, corndogs, applesauce cups, beef sticks, peanuts, a few cases of drinks, and several packages of easy-to-pack lunch items that were on sale (like granola bites and clif bars).

Total at Costco: $504.46

4. Costco Pizza

We grabbed a pizza for the kids to eat for lunch when we got home…

Costco Pizza: $10.89

5. Cheddars

We got to have an anniversary date on the 13th! We used what was left on a gift card, then paid the overage out of pocket.

Total after gift card: $8.55

6. Wal-Mart

On August 14, Matt picked up 4 gallons of milk, 10 bananas, and a pound of spring mix. I didn’t get a picture. :)

Total at Wal-Mart: $19.74

7. Hy-Vee Pick-Up

On August 19, we ordered most of our WIC items for the month. (Acacia turns five and will age out after this month. Such a big girl!) I also put four gallons of whole milk in our order, so we paid for that out of pocket.

Total out of pocket from Hy-Vee: $11.52

8. Sam’s

On August 20, I went to Sam’s to get food we needed, but mostly to get our favorite box of bacon. :) I checked for meat markdowns while I was there, and was so happy to find pork chops, steak, and hamburger meat all marked down! I also picked up chicken legs, chicken thighs, carrots, strawberries, bananas, apples, Caesar salad kits, potatoes, clementines, sweet peppers, 5-dozen eggs, fish sticks, sliced cheese, shredded cheese, peanut butter, honey, brown sugar, chocolate chips, beef hot dogs, brats, smoked sausage, deli turkey, deli ham, applesauce, cream, sour cream, coconut oil, and avocado cups.

Total at Sam’s: $401.14

9. Amazon

We get several cases of Go-Go Squeeze items from Amazon through Subscribe and Save for the kids’ lunches and for on-the-go snacks. I forgot to take a picture before we put our order away!

Total from Amazon: $33.81

10. Wal-Mart

I had plans to head to Aldi for a bigger shopping trip, but hadn’t had a chance to get out yet. So I put in a pick-up order at Walmart for some essentials to hold us over until I could do some real shopping. Matt picked these up while he was out getting a hair cut: milk (4 gallons), spring mix, frozen fruit (2 big bags), coconut flakes, baby carrots, and flax seed.

Total at Wal-Mart: $25.50

11. Aldi

I was finally able to get to Aldi at the end of the month. I picked up pizzas, hot dogs, brats, and chips in preparation for Acacia’s big birthday meal. I found incredible deals on boxes of 100% juice freezer pops ($0.21/each!) and bottles of squeeze mayo ($0.55/each!) – all marked down because it was the end of summertime. Plus I got cream, half and half, fruit/veggie pouches, cantaloupe, creamer, Caesar salad kits, boneless chicken thighs, sausage patties, ham, crackers, brown sugar, cake mixes, 100% juice pear cups, and pickles.

Total at Aldi: $219.43

Total for groceries August, 2025: $1,501

I went over budget this month, but I’ve been under the past couple of months, so it all balances out!

Our WIC benefits provide our littles with around $180 worth of groceries each month. You can read here to learn our 2025 Grocery Budget plus look over ways I’m able to keep our budget at this level.

Running Totals for 2025

January spending: $679
February spending: $1,459
March spending: $1,346
April spending: $1,364
May spending: $1374
June spending: $1,127
July spending: $633
August spending: $1,501

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

Big Family Grocery Spending for June, 2025

by Leave a Comment

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

Here’s our Big Family Grocery Spending for June, 2025 post!

Curious how much we spent during the month of June and what groceries we bought? Here’s the breakdown!

Big Family Grocery Spending for June, 2025

1. Costco

I ran into Costco on June 2 so that I could get some paper products we needed, plus fresh produce (apples, sweet peppers, greens, watermelon, bananas, cucumbers) and some items we needed for an upcoming event at our house. I snagged some brats on sale for just $2.97/package – a super markdown! I also got hamburger meat, cheese sticks, shredded cheese, milk, sausage links, and mayo.

We’d been blessed with some EBT cards (our kids qualify for free lunch at school, which qualified them for some SNAP benefits for the summer – a surprise blessing!). I had $155 worth on two cards, so I used it to pay for almost all of these groceries. (Paper products come out of a different budget so I don’t count those in our grocery totals.)

Total out of pocket for food at Costco: $2.78

2. Sam’s/Walmart Pickup

We had big plans to host a large gathering at our house on June 8, so a few days before that, I placed pick-up orders and Sam’s and Wal-Mart for Justus to pick up for me. This included hotdog buns, coffee add-ins, and popsicles.

For our family, I also ordered eggs, yogurt, strawberries, milk, ham, a salad kit, and cocoa powder. This picture only shows a tiny portion of it because at the time Justus got it all to our house, there were 21 people there and our house was very hectic. Everyone was working together to manage kids, bring in groceries, and set out dinner. So I snapped this picture quickly in the midst of it all. :)

Total at Sam’s and Wal-Mart: $122.94

3. Donut Festival

On June 7, we loaded up and drove an hour to Nebraska City to enjoy a Donut Festival at Kimmel Orchard. We bought a dozen of their special Apple Cider Donuts to enjoy that morning. Then at lunchtime, we bought a container of their freshly picked Strawberries!

Total at the Donut Festival: $19.24

4. Wal-Mart

On June 12, we took a Wal-Mart and Sam’s trip. I picked up four gallons of milk, mustard, and a roast marked down (already in the bag). I was happily surprised to find several items of 100% juice fruit cups and pouches on clearance, so I got them super cheap! I also got two cans of pineapple and two jars of mandarins. We are going through a lot of chilled fruit cups and pouches this summer as we try to keep the kids full and nourished. These sales were fun to find!

Total at Wal-Mart: $49.59

5. Sam’s

After Wal-Mart, we headed next door to Sam’s. We got spring mix, broccoli, nectarines, cuties, bananas, grapes, strawberries, blueberries, eggs, cream, fish sticks, orange chicken, mandarin orange cups, frozen pizza, yogurt, ketchup, spaghetti sauce, cheese and cracker packs, ham for sandwiches, cheddar franks, peanut butter (x4), honey, chips, mayo, coffee, and almond butter.

Total at Sam’s: $258.77

6. Wal-mart

On June 17, I went to Wal-Mart to get our WIC items for the month: produce, cereal, cheese, tortillas, eggs, and yogurt. I picked a few items that weren’t covered by WIC while I was there.

Total out of pocket at Wal-Mart: $13.55

7. Amazon

Each month, we get a few subscribe and save items. This time, I remembered to take a picture!

Total from Amazon: $45.23

8. Aldi

On June 19, I took Anna and Auggie to Aldi. We got milk (x4), Caesar salad kits (x3), strawberries (x2), apples, potatoes, ground sausage (x4), sausage patties (x2), pear cups on 100% juice (x6), granola (x3), yogurt (x3), ice cream cones, grass-fed hamburger meat (x4), brown sugar, fruit/veggie pouches (x15), cake mix (x2), large bags of tortilla chips (x2), salsa (x2), and 100% juice popsicles.

Total at Aldi: $184.98

9. Cheddars

We’d been given a gift card to Cheddars and finally had a chance to use it on June 26. Matt and I shared a combo plate, which was plenty of food. Plus we splurged on an appetizer! The gift card covered our entire meal and tip, plus we have a little left over for another date another time.

Total at Cheddars: $0

10. Sam’s

On June 27, we were low on many staples so we went to Sam’s to restock. We got milk, cream, half and half, sour cream, butter, shredded cheese, eggs (10 dozen), yogurt, hamburger meat, chicken legs, tator tots, brown sugar, ketchup, peanut butter, chips, maple syrup, mandarin orange cups, peach cups, applesauce pouches, white queso, orange chicken, chicken nuggets, fish sticks, watermelon, bananas, spring mix, spinach, grapes, apples, strawberries, avocado cups, tortillas, pickles, turkey lunch meat, and pistachios.

Total for groceries at Sam’s: $358.77

I was pleasantly surprised that with the kids home and eating SO MUCH FOOD this summer, we actually came in under budget. The summer EBT cards helped, but that amount wasn’t huge. So, I was surprised because we are keeping the kids very active, which makes them extra hungry! We’ve been feeding them lots of fruit and lots of homemade snacks, which is very cost effective.

And also? Often when I come in under budget one month, I go over the next month (when I restock all that we ate the month before). It all averages out. We’ll see how July goes!

Total for groceries in June, 2025: $1,127

NOTE: Our WIC benefits provide our littles with around $180 worth of groceries each month. You can read here to learn our 2025 Grocery Budget plus look over ways I’m able to keep our budget at this level.

Running Totals for 2025

January spending: $679
February spending: $1,459
March spending: $1,346
April spending: $1,364
May spending: $1374
June spending: $1,127

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

Big Family Food and Fun: May 4-10, 2025

by 1 Comment

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

Here’s our Big Family Food and Fun: May 4-10, 2025 post!

We enjoy a Sabbath rest from Saturday evening through Sunday evening – so I turn off my computer on Saturday afternoons and miss posting some of these pictures. I’ll catch up on our last Saturday activities before launching into our new week!

Saturday, May 3

Late afternoon on May 3, I gave Brayden, Keith, and Auggie much-needed haircuts. I’m always so relieved to get this done. The boys cooperated as well as they could during this, and look how handsome!

I made Spaghetti with Corn and Spinach for our Sabbath dinner that night because everyone eats at least part of this meal without complaint. (Some just eat noodles with butter, but at least they eat.) What I failed to consider is what a mess noodles make – on the floor, on the benches, in their hair. This was not a super restful Sabbath meal. But at least bellies got full. :)

We usually give kids baths then watch a show before bed on Saturday nights. At one point during the show while I was brushing and braiding the girls’ clean hair, we realized that Auggie wasn’t anywhere to be found. (Ducking out to go exploring and then getting fixated on something is a typical Autism symptom  “eloping” – and Auggie and Keith do this often.) Elias and Malorie helped me search for Auggie, outside and inside the house, and we finally found him inside the house on our second floor, happy as can be. He willingly came down with Elias, and I loved how sweet it was that he held his brother’s hand as they made their way to the living room.

Big Family Food and Fun: May 4-10, 2025

We ate Breakfast Cookie Bars for breakfast before church on Sunday. After church, we had a crowd of 27 people in our home to enjoy a meal.

I had made an extra large pan full of Burrito Casserole, which we turned into Burritos and Nachos. Friends brought Watermelon and Desserts.

It was a simple, wonderful meal together.

Later that evening, I turned the leftovers into Burritos for the freezer so that they adults can pack them for lunches or so we can warm them up at home as needed.

We had a freshly cut lawn, thanks to our friend Graham who does his laundry at our house on Saturdays. He mows while his laundry gets washed/dried – isn’t that sweet? So Sunday evening, we played outside in the fresh grass and sunshine, enjoying pretty perfect weather conditions.

Acacia and Josie rolled down a little hill over and over, laughing and laughing. It was so sweet!

Monday morning, I made a big pan of Peanut Butter Honey Rice Krispie Bars for the kids to eat for breakfast. Anna asked if she could cut them and I decided that it wouldn’t hurt any of us if our bars had taken on some “extra special” shapes.

I had plans to be out of the house all afternoon – taking time to rest/work at Panera. Kelsey had loaned me a book, Fostered, and I took that with me and read for a while. It was such a restful afternoon and I praise God for it! That book though? Phew. It’s a really good, tough read.

That morning, I had made a bowl full of Chicken Salad. So when the kids got home from school we were able to have an easy meal of Chicken Salad on tortillas or bread or with crackers plus Spinach and Watermelon.

These two love their oranges, and I’d picked some up while I was out that afternoon. So Acacia and Josie had oranges with their wraps instead of watermelon. (Then they ate huge bowls full of watermelon later while playing outside!)

Auggie’s ABA worker (called an RBT) was here all evening and he had a great night with her. He’s finally settling into the routine of his ABA therapy and we are so thankful. He’s learning that Daddy and Mommy are still here and available while his RBT is “playing/working” with him and that all is well.

A bunch of neighborhood kids showed up and since the temps were over 70, the kids were “hot” enough to play with water guns. We filled a tote full of water so they wouldn’t all keep going back and forth into our house to fill their guns with water. (Pictured you’ll see that we first tried to fill a small pool with water, but it had a leak in it, so we moved on to a tote. That worked much better.)

I happened upon this scene at bedtime, with the three little girls snuggled around Daddy for a story. They’d gotten nice and wet outside, so dry clothes/jammies plus snuggles were perfect.

I had scored some strawberries on sale on Monday while I was out, so Tuesday morning I made Strawberry Parfaits for breakfast.

Some of the kids also had a Breakfast Sandwich with their parfaits.

Auggie had speech therapy that morning, and he led the way into the building like a boss.

Afterward, he and I went up the road to Sam’s to get what we needed there.

After school, I took Brayden, Kiya, and Keith to hand out food and clean at our weekly Food Distribution site. Keith was very excited to pick up some lemons at the end of the evening so he could come home and squeeze them into lemonade. :)

I had grilled two different kinds of giant Hot Dogs before leaving for the afternoon, and they were warm in the crock pot at dinner time when we got home. We ate them with chips/guac and strawberries.

We had brought home some ready-to-be-used bananas from Food Distribution, so on Wednesday morning we used them to make a batch of Flourless Chocolate Banana Blender Muffins.

The most exciting thing we brought home from Food Distribution was this lovely pan of Cinnamon Rolls! Wednesday morning, I scrambled 18 eggs to go with the rolls, plus I baked a lot of pans of Bacon (it was still baking when I took this picture). Malachi had a couple of York buddies spend the night, so it was fun to offer them eggs, bacon, fruit, and cinnamon rolls when they got up.

The weather has been absolutely gorgeous, so we spent the entire morning outside. I lost track of how many clementines I peeled that morning as Anna, Acacia, Josie, and Auggie all ate and ate and kept wanting more. Then they ate some of the fresh muffins we’d made that morning. By the end of summer, with all this fresh air, sunshine, and food – they are going to be taller, no doubt about it.

Arrow came to hang out for the afternoon. Somehow I held back from kissing those cheeks the entire time he was here, but I definitely did get in my fair share of smooches. He puts up with me.

I smoked a bunch of Pork Chops for dinner that I had picked up marked down at Sam’s the day before. All the older kids and grandbabies came for dinner because Brayden and Kiya were in a musical that night! So we had a big feast before heading over to their school to watch the show: Smoked Pork Chops, Party Potatoes, Peas, Croissants (another score from Food Distribution), and Strawberries.

This was a fun moment right after Arrow woke up from his nap! Bless Justus, who stood and cut a bunch of meat for all the littles before we fixed their plates.

The kids have been working on a Pirate Musical for many months. It was absolutely fantastic! Because Brayden is a 5th grader, he got to have a part with lines. He had to work hard to remember what to say and when to say it, and his hard work paid off. He nailed it!

We were all so happy to celebrate with the kids after the show.

Our friends, the Case family, came to support the kids in their show, which is beyond amazing. Here they are, posing as the Fan Club after getting Brayden and Kiya’s autographs. :)

Thursday we ate leftovers all day so that we could clean out the fridges. Keith wasn’t feeling great and had a low fever the night before so we kept him home from school that day. He was better enough during the day to get bored, so he used his time to make Lemonade from the lemons he’d brought home Tuesday evening.

Oofta. Mom didn’t put much sugar in there.

Little Sweetheart came over that day. We spent a lot of time outside enjoying the perfect weather.

Friday morning Keith was home again because his fever had come back Thursday night. I woke up with a migraine so I was sort of just surviving the day. Auggie had two full sessions of ABA therapy. I don’t remember what we ate. :)  Ugh, migraines are not fun.

Malachi spent some of the morning helping Matt with the kids. As he was getting ready to leave for his office, Anna asked him to please read a book. So he set his camera gear down and she snuggled in. So precious.

That evening, I felt well enough to open two boxes of Orange Chicken and steam some broccoli for dinner. This meal is a favorite and much cheaper than ordering take-out.

Saturday was a full day, and I’ll share photos next week. We:

  1. Went to the library for our favorite Sensory Story Time.
  2. We came home and grilled Burgers for lunch.
  3. Our friends, the Brocks, came to spend the afternoon with us.
  4. Some of us went toward Omaha to our friend Makaela’s wedding!

And that was our week!

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

Big Family Grocery Spending for February, 2025

by 4 Comments

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

Here’s our Big Family Grocery Spending for February, 2025 post!

Big Family Grocery Spending for February, 2025

Curious how much we spent during the month of February and what groceries we bought? Here’s the breakdown!

1. Sam’s

I hadn’t done much serious grocery shopping since mid-January so we were out of a lot of staples. Auggie and I went to Sam’s on February 4 and got milk, sour cream, shredded cheese, bacon, eggs, chicken legs, grass-fed hamburger meat, beef roast that had been marked down, coffee, coffee creamer, bananas, pineapple, apples, pears, Caesar salad kits, spinach, mixed greens, lunch meat, sliced cheese, honey, peanut butter, yogurt, white queso, avocado cups, spaghetti sauce, condiments, applesauce and yogurt pouches, applesauce cups, peach cups, graham crackers, minced onion, meat sticks, peanut butter cracker packs, a case of tomato soup, and beef sausage. I ran out of cart space, otherwise I might have picked up even more!

Total at Sam’s: $473.81

2. Runza

We enjoyed a special service project with several families from church on February 8. Afterward, those who wished to join could meet at Runza for dinner together. We almost never eat out and decided that this was a great opportunity to hang out with friends and give our kids a restaurant experience since we knew we’d have lots of adult help there.

Instead of ordering meals, I just ordered several packs of 4-piece chicken strips and some large fries for everyone to share. It didn’t get everyone completely full, but it was enough to have fun and get us by (plus I’d fed everyone some quesadillas a couple hours prior so they wouldn’t be starving at the restaurant).

Kids meals come with a free ice cream cone coupon, and when my niece moved away from Nebraska a few months ago, she gave me an envelope full of them! So we pulled those out and had free ice cream to finish filling our bellies!

Total at Runza: $31.77

3. Wal-Mart

On February 10, we were almost out of milk and there was a possible snow storm on its way. So we ran to Wal-Mart to grab milk, plus I picked up tortillas, apples, and coffee creamer.

Total for food/drink at Wal-Mart: $39.36

4. Aldi

On February 13, we ran to Aldi to get some basics, especially chicken and cream. I was happy to find that boneless chicken thighs were on sale for $2.49/pound so I got four big packages. I also picked up grass fed stew meat on sale, salad kits (x2), bag of apples (x2), granola (x3), whole milk yogurt tubs (x2), whole milk yogurt cups (x5), pear cups in 100% juice (x4), chicken broth (x4), beef broth, sausage (x2), sliced cheese (x5), salami for lunches, frozen fries (x2), frozen tots, frozen onion rings (x2), lasagna noodles (x2), half & half, heavy whipping cream (x2), fruit/veggie pouches for Auggie (x20), salsa (x4), pasta sauce (x2), butter (x2), instant oatmeal (x2), and baby carrots (x2).

Total at Aldi: $229.21

5. Hy-Vee

To save time and effort, I ordered all of our kids’ WIC items through Hy-Vee Pick-Up this month. Malorie went and got it for me which was super helpful. I added three gallons of milk to the order that weren’t covered (we like whole milk and WIC only gives us 1% or skim now), plus I went over the produce limit they offered so I paid a small amount out of pocket for all of this. Such a blessing!

Total out of pocket: $18.56

6. Mall French Fries

We packed a picnic to eat at the Mall Food Court on February 16. Matt bought an order of fries for everyone to enjoy a tiny treat after our meal.

Total for Fries: $3.59

7. Amazon Subscribe and Save

I’m terrible about remembering to take pictures when my S&S boxes come. But as always, I got a few cases of applesauce and yogurt squeeze pouches, plus some Annie’s mac and cheese.

Total from Amazon: $53.41

8. Costco

On February 21, I over-filled a Costco cart to stock up on many needed groceries: potatoes, grapes, pears, blueberries, blackberries, bananas, onions, spinach, spring mix, carrots, hamburger meat, shredded cheese, peanuts, frozen pizza, flour, sugar, milk, cream, half and half, Havarti sliced cheese, frozen mini corn dogs, frozen fish sticks, hot dogs, guacamole, avocado cups, cream cheese, tortilla chips, potato chips, and chicken stock.

Total for food at Costco: $516.61

9. BBQ Restaurant

Matt and our adult sons had the opportunity to go to Kansas City and watch Messi play in a soccer game on February 19. They got BBQ before the game (because you don’t go to KC and not get BBQ)!

Matt’s meal: $14.74

10. Wal-Mart

On February 27, Matt went to Wal-Mart to pick up a car battery. He picked up three gallons of milk and two big tubs of cottage cheese for us while he was there.

Total for milk and cottage cheese: $18.46

Total for groceries in February, 2025: $1,459

Running Totals for 2025

You can read here to learn our 2025 Grocery Budget plus look over ways I’m able to keep our budget at this level.

January spending: $679
February spending: $1,459

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

Big Family Food and Fun: February 9-15, 2025

by 2 Comments

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

Here’s our Big Family Food and Fun: February 9-15, 2025 post!

Before launching into the week’s food and fun, I’ll share the tail end of last week’s fun. It was a fantastic afternoon/evening!

Saturday the 8th, we met up with several other families at church so that we could put together some baskets of goodies for people who are not physically able to come to church any more. For an initial project, some of us stood around two tables tying soft blankets. We completed six of these together.

Meanwhile, our littler kids were in the kitchen baking cookies with Ms. Terra and Ms. Melissa.

Next, we put together some crafts to go into the baskets.

Some grown-ups added homemade soup and bread, plus lotion and other goodies to the baskets along with our crafts, cookies, and blankets. The baskets were beautiful by the time we finished!

We all loaded up to make deliveries. Our family was so blessed to visit a couple we’ve known since before Asa was even born. It was soooo wonderful to catch up with them and share memories. WORTH NOTING: I was nervous to take our seven busy littles into a tiny apartment to visit two people who move slowly and carefully. We didn’t want to disrupt or cause any issues. But as always, GOD IS BIGGER than my worries.

The kids did great (and yes, Auggie did find their TV button and turn it on and off several more than a dozen times – but they didn’t care and thought he was precious because he is). We played with their little doggy, we asked about their grandkids, we listened as they shared some of their health concerns. We filled a lovely hole in their evening and they were beaming when we left. As a matter of fact, WE were also beaming when we left. Will we go back to visit these friends? We most definitely will.

Well now, what did we get to do after that? We got to go to a restaurant! Other families had also made their Basket Deliveries and we all met back up at Runza for dinner.

Our littlest kids have had few if any restaurant experiences (because truly, this is a lot of little ones to take into an eating establishment) and they were fascinated. Everyone else was already there and some had already eaten, so friends were ready and able to help us get our tribe seated and supplied with ketchup and water. I ordered several packs of Chicken Strips and Fries and went back and forth handing them out until everyone was full enough.

Then we enjoyed some ice cream cone tokens that my niece had given us. Here’s Acacia with our church’s children’s minister as they talked through our ice cream cone order. Their relationship is so sweet and we are so thankful for Ms. Mandy.

Was it freezing cold outside? Yes. Did that stop us from eating ice cream? No way.

I have a lot of favorite parts of this night, but this photo shows you one of my favorite favorites. Brayden and Kiya got to sit with some of their big kid friends to eat and they had the time of their lives.

We got home just in time to head to bed! What a great Saturday!

Big Family Food and Fun: February 9-15, 2025

Sunday morning, we ate a plate of Breakfast Cookie Bars before church.

I did a little prep work for our Sunday lunch gathering, making BBQ Chicken-Bacon-Ranch Sliders to heat up after church. (I had slow cooked a bunch of chicken thighs with barbecue sauce ahead of time and shredded it, then spread it onto the buns with the other fillings.)

Three other families joined us that day. We all marveled at how great it was to be together since it had been so long since we’d been able to gather this way (thanks to holidays, sickness, and bad weather). Friends brought Fruit and Veggie Trays, Mac and Cheese, Chips, and Cookies to go with our Sliders. Our food spread was delicious.

There were 28 of us all together and I’m not sure who had the most fun: the kids or the grown ups.

That morning, Keith had tied strings like lasers all throughout the house, making us have to crawl under and over as we went from room to room. Our friends are so gracious about our little quirks. :) And what did the girls do after lunch? Nails, of course.

Our Super Bowl meal that night was as simple as can be: Frozen Pizza, White Queso and Chips, plus Leftover Sandwiches and Veggies from lunch. We went to bed nice and tired that night.

Monday morning, we scrubbed a bunch of potatoes to cook in the crock pot all day for our dinner.

Mid-morning, we took the four littlest on a very boring but needed outing to fill the van with gas and pick up milk since we were almost out of both. I picked up a rose plant to give to a friend who will be celebrating her first Valentine’s Day after the loss of her husband. And I grabbed a couple other things we needed – exciting things like dental floss and apples.

I happened upon a rack full of kid boots marked down on clearance for guess how much?! $1.00! I got ten pairs of boots for $1 each. I was so thankful for this!

After Auggie’s nap that day, he “helped” me make Chocolate Banana Flourless Muffins. We had made a batch of these last week and we went through them so quickly that I hoped another batch so soon would still go over well.

They did. When I pulled them out of the oven that afternoon, we had 21 muffins. At the end of that day, we had eight.

Dinner that night was Baked Potatoes with ham, cheese, butter, sour cream, and peas, plus the above mentioned muffins.

We knew super cold weather was coming in, so we loaded up after dinner and went for a little walk in the mall. Ever tried herding cats…at the mall? There are so many sparkly things in every direction.

We managed to get all seven kids to the play area, which was our ultimate destination.

The effort to get everyone here was well worth it. They jumped and ran and slid and climbed and got hot and sweaty. As we headed back to the van (where being outside in the cold felt really good to all their hot little selves), they all devoured a muffin plus one of the bags of apples I’d bought that day.

Tuesday morning, we ate Breakfast Sandwiches that I had tucked away in the freezer.

SIDE NOTE: I never realized how many eggs we went through. I mean, I did. It was a lot. But now that eggs are scarce and prices are high, I’m rationing them and not scrambling eggs as frequently. Therefore, I’m getting into a bit of a breakfast rut. Time to brainstorm more breakfast ideas for variety. Hmmm….

After we got everyone fed, I dropped kids off at school and took Auggie to his therapy appointment.

He was both nervous and excited to try out the swing.

After we left therapy, we went and picked up Little Sweetheart to come hang out with us.

Late morning, I used leftover BBQ Chicken from Sunday’s lunch to make Chicken Taco Soup. Was this a weird way to use bbq chicken? Maybe. But this is how we use leftovers and save money. (It tasted just fine, by the way.)

Eva texted me this fun photo and told me she was making my Italian Chicken Bake for dinner. Yum! She used her crock pot though – very smart.

I took the kids to our weekly Food Distribution site that afternoon. After that, we met with a new team of Christian therapists that our family is going to start working with. We spent some time getting to know them and they walked me through the therapy plan so I knew what to expect. By the time we got home, Matt, Elias, and Malorie had the littlest four kids fed. Those of us who had been gone all afternoon/evening ate our Chicken Taco Soup and some salad and got ready for bed.

Wednesday was a snow day so kids were home all day. We often feel like we need to be very structured for our crew and keep them busy with parent-led activities so that fights and behaviors are less severe. This particular day, we attempted a mixture of parent-led activities along with times of free play. It worked fairly well. Here’s a photo of us gathered around the table mid-morning for a Bible-focused activity.

Since it was a snow day, we had to make Snowflake Quesadillas for lunch. I was going for a shot of the girls cutting their snowflake tortillas, but Elias was feeling goofy so here he is too. ;)

We ate some Popcorn Chicken and Tomato Soup with our Snowflakes.

After lunch, half of our crew bundled up and headed outside to shovel snow.

Eva was able to make her way to our house to drop off Arrow. Usually he’s here on Wednesday afternoons while kids are at school and Auggie is napping. This time, he had six aunts and uncles to entertain him, so he decided that a nap for him was a silly idea. There was too much fun to be had!! WE ENJOY OUR GRANDBABIES SO MUCH!!!

We made Hot Cocoa during the afternoon.

At dinnertime, Acacia and Josie helped me made salad kits. Sometimes a girl just needs to wear her brother’s protective headphones when working in the kitchen. One can never be too safe.

I had pulled some ham from the freezer that morning and made Ham and Cheese Melts for our dinner that night. We’d been given a special rice dish leftover from Food Distribution on Tuesday, so we warmed that up, and ate the girls’ salads.

Thursday morning, I talked myself into scrambling some eggs for breakfast. I had found some Cheater Cheater Pumpkin Eaters in the freezer the night before, so I thawed them overnight for our breakfast. The vanilla variety got eaten right away (before I took a picture), then the chocolate ones were gone soon after.

The little girls helped me make a quadruple recipe of Brownies that morning in hopes that we could put together Valentine treats for our neighbors.

I needed to do some serious Aldi shopping, so we packed snacks and bundled up kids and headed that way. Matt stayed in the warm van with the kids, handing out snacks and books. I ran through Aldi to shop as fast as I could. Somehow this doesn’t look like much, but it was a full cart of lots of good groceries!

When the three elementary kids got home from school, they helped me mix up dough for Cinnamon Rolls. I think it’s been several years since I made these, but I decided that this would be a perfect treat for a Valentine’s Day breakfast the next day. The kids were very excited! They especially liked re-learning about how yeast works and watching the yeast/water/honey mixture get bubbly once it activated.

The rest of the evening got a bit crazy (good, but crazy) as we let the Cinnamon Roll dough rise, then moved on to cutting hearts out of our brownies. I pulled the kids into the kitchen a few at a time to help with this fun but messy job.

Cute, huh?!

It took a while, but I was mostly successfully able get all the little hearts out of the pan. Everyone was happy that while the heart-shaped brownies were for our neighbors, the plate of scraps was for us. :)

Oh yes, and dinner. Everyone needed dinner in the midst of this. Brayden had helped me brown hamburger meat earlier and I turned it into Sloppy Joes while making five boxes of Mac and Cheese. Dinner was later than usual because of our baking endeavors, so I’d sliced a bunch of fresh pears to hold the kids over. By the time dinner was actually ready, the kids sat down and devoured their food.

I’d had to punch our Cinnamon Roll dough down a few times because it took me forever to get back to it. But after dinner, Kiya and I finally rolled them out and cut them. She was my cinnamon-sugar girl. (By the way, I used unbleached white flour this time because the only whole wheat flour I had was pastry flour, which doesn’t work for yeast bread recipes.)

The goal was to get the rolls prepped and into the fridge to bake fresh on Valentine’s Day. Mission accomplished. Then there was quite a kitchen mess to tackle!

Friday morning, I baked our Cinnamon Rolls plus two pans of Bacon for our Valentine Breakfast. The kids LOVED the rolls. What a special treat.

Auggie wore his overalls that day, and I decided that I needed to feature him because babies and toddlers in overalls are THE.CUTEST.

My friend Meghan came to visit late morning and we visited for several hours. I didn’t get any pictures because we were talking (and crying, because that’s what we do). She lost her husband to cancer exactly one year ago this week, and God has brought her and her kids through so much. We had a lot to celebrate (while still mourning).

When the kids got home from school, they were all very excited to pour out their sacks of Valentines to see what all they got!

The temps outside were bearable that day, so Brayden went outside to build a snowman. Introducing: Johnny…

Matt had been in York all day working on our rental property, and unfortunately he’d had car trouble along the way. At this point, he still hadn’t made it home so I was one-on-seven. I had planned for all of us to walk around delivering the Valentine brownies we’d made the day before, but I didn’t think I could pull that off by myself. So instead, I gave careful instruction and sent a few kids across the street to knock on doors by themselves while Auggie and I watched from our porch. They did such a good job!

I had started Beef Stew in a crock pot that morning with some stew meat I’d picked up on sale the day before. It was only a small portion (for our family size) so at dinner time, I also made a pot of Chili. Just as we were dishing it up, Matt called. He and the broken down car had made it back to Lincoln, but he had pulled into a parking lot about three miles from our house, unable to go any further. So, I loaded up the seven kids and we went to pick him up. Dinner tasted extra good when we got back!

Saturday morning, I put one of my $5 hams into a roaster. Some of our friends had a loss in their family this week, so two other gals and I had teamed up to provide a meal for 25 of their family members that evening.

We baked a double batch of Oatmeal Butterscotch Cookies (<— I did not make homemade butterscotch chips). I planned to give half of them our friends along with their big meal that night, and save the other half for our Sunday lunch the next day.

Since we were preparing such a big meal for friends that evening, we decided to have Sam’s Rotisserie Chickens for our Sunday Lunch the next day. I gathered some of the kids into the kitchen with me to help me make Stir and Pour Bread to go with our chicken the next day.

This recipe is ridiculously easy and these loaves turned out beautiful!!

I had some melted butter left over in a pan so I brushed it over the hot loaves. Then I tortured us by not letting us eat it!

For lunch, we pulled out leftovers. The best part of the meal was this fresh lettuce that one of our neighbors had given us the day before. She is a student at UNL and had grown it in a green house. Fresh lettuce in February tasted SO GOOD.

We spent the rest of the day finishing the evening meal to deliver to our friends, cleaning and doing chores, delivering more of our Valentine’s Day brownies, and getting ready to move into our time of Sabbath.

And that was our week!

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

Big Family Food and Fun: January 26-February 1, 2025

by 6 Comments

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

Here’s our Big Family Food and Fun: January 26-February 1, 2025 post!

On Saturday, January 25, we were all still recovering from a longggggg week of Influenza. Kiya was the only kid who didn’t get hit with it, and she was very helpful since I was laid up on the couch for so many days. She mixed together some Tuna Salad for our lunch on Saturday.

For dinner that night, I slowly managed to make Spaghetti. I’m not much of a fan of pasta, but as my appetite came back after not eating much for days and even weeks (because we’d had a stomach bug before Influenza), Spaghetti sounded really good to me. All of our littlest kids really like noodles, so even if they didn’t want sauce, they gobbled down plates full of noodles with Parmesan cheese along with Green Beans or Corn.

Malorie started her semester of online classes, and I walked into the kitchen that evening to find Acacia learning Anatomy with her. :)

Big Family Food and Fun: January 26-February 1, 2025

Sunday morning, I made a pot of Tapioca Pudding because again, it sounded really good. We stayed home from church that morning because our coughs were pretty bad and we didn’t want our kids to spread germs.

Lunch was easy because a week ago after our Burrito Bar, I’d stirred together this Burrito Casserole. I slid it into the oven to bake the last part of the morning, plus put the last of our White Queso into a small slow cooker to warm up. We all either made Smothered Burritos or enjoyed the casserole as a chip dip. We got out salsa and guacamole to go with this too – I’d just forgotten to get those out yet when I took this picture.

Dinner was fun because at Christmas time, we’d been given a gift certificate to daVinci’s. We used it Sunday night to order pizzas. Plus Matt made a small cheese pizza for the kids who wouldn’t want fancy pizza.

Monday was a refreshing restart. All six school kids were well enough to go back to school – something that hasn’t happened since before Christmas break, phew! As an added bonus, the day was sunny with temps in the 50’s.

My energy was still very low so we didn’t do much that day besides REST after all the kids left for school and Auggie went down for a nap.

I filled a crock pot with Cheeseburger Soup for our dinner, which was a hit with everyone and we finished all of it.

Tuesday morning, Auggie had both a Speech Therapy appointment and a Neurology appointment. It was the first I’d been out of the house in over a week. I ate a Breakfast Sandwich between appointments in an effort to be filled with protein to make it through the morning.

We had a box of bacon in the fridge that we needed to be finished off, so that afternoon, I baked 8 pans of bacon. I wiped out the last of the box, and we ate bacon that night for dinner stirred into Mac and Cheese with either Peas or Steamed Broccoli. This provided us with a lot of cooked bacon in our fridge for grown-ups to warm up for breakfast or lunches as needed.

This week, Malachi moved back in with us! He’s been living across town in an appointment with his cousin. But they both decided to make a shift so Malachi is back. We are all (Malachi included) very excited about this!

Both Little Sweetheart and Arrow have been able to come over this week per their usual schedule of spending time with Lolli and Pop. Here’s Arrow enjoying a (plastic) donut. After all, grandparents are supposed to give their grandkids lots of sweets, or so I hear? ;)

Dinner on Wednesday evening was Meatball Subs with buns and cheese, Pickles, and Pineapple Fluff. All the kids ate very well that night, something I’m so thankful for after our very rough month.

Thursday morning, I made a pan of Peanut Butter Honey Rice Krispie Bars and scrambled a dozen eggs with cheese.

Mashed potatoes sounded good, so the kids took turns “helping me” peel potatoes before leaving for school. They were so excited about this job, but as it turns out, peeling potatoes is harder than they thought. At least they were willing to try. :)

With so many kids’ needs, I finally finished the potatoes mid-morning (took three hours from start to finish, ha) and got them into the crock pot to cook all day. I also pulled out ground chicken from the freezer to make Chicken Cheeseballs for dinner later.

That afternoon, I made two pans of Chicken Cheeseballs. I froze one for another time and baked one for dinner.

This was such a tasty meal: Chicken Cheeseballs, Mashed Potatoes, and Buttered Peas.

Friday morning Anna helped me load the dishwasher. She loved feeling grown up doing this job for me. She even got to push the buttons to run it when she was finished.

It was another gorgeous day outside, so kids played after school and soaked up some sun.

I had picked up a lot of fresh produce at the store that afternoon, so we had a fruit plate with Burgers for dinner that night.

I had found slider-sized burgers marked down at Sam’s a few weeks ago, and they are perfect for our crew since the little ones can’t eat a full-sized burger. We ate 17 out of 18 of these Burgers that night plus Baked Beans, Fruit, and Pickles.

Saturday morning I made Blender Pancakes – a rare treat at our house. I then spent the morning getting ready for the next day’s Sunday Lunch. I planned to bake one of our $10 hams, so I made a big pan of Party Potatoes to go with it. We were hoping for a large crowd, so I also made a small crock pot of Baked Beans and steamed Green Beans. I had Peanut Butter Brownies in the freezer, so I pulled those out for our Sunday dessert.

We ate leftovers for lunch that day in an effort to clean out the fridge. Brayden was excited to help me warm up spaghetti and meatballs.

We spent the rest of the day resting, cleaning, and heading into our Sabbath Saturday/Sunday. And that was our week!

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

Big Family Grocery Spending for December, 2024

by 7 Comments

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

Here’s our Big Family Grocery Spending for December, 2024 post!

Here’s how we spent our grocery budget for our large household during the month of December. We fed 12 people three meals each day, plus a lot of wonderful guests. In fact, because of Christmas and lots of birthdays and other fun get-togethers this month, we had many meals with more than 12 people. It’s been awesome!

Because of the larger meals and crowds, we’ve had more frequent grocery store trips so that we could keep up with food needs. And how did the budget fare? Well, we went over. But only by a little, somehow. :) Read until the end to see how our grocery budgeted averaged out during the entire year!

Big Family Grocery Spending for December, 2024

1. Aldi

On December 2, I ran into Aldi to grab all of our “Aldi essentials.” I got fruit/veggie pouches for Auggie, crackers, a case of salsa, whole milk yogurt, milk, canned corn (because it was on sale for $0.50), Caesar salad kits, blackberries, and sausage.

Total for groceries at Aldi: $116.36

2. Sam’s

December 3, I was halfway to Sam’s while at Speech Therapy for Auggie. So after his appointment, I took him with me to get some of our Sam’s essentials. We stocked up on our favorite peanut butter, plus got chips, potatoes, apples, grapes, pears, cheese sticks, yogurt squeezies, whole milk yogurt, rotel, and coffee creamer. I was excited to find chicken breasts and beef roasts marked down for quick sale so I grabbed those.

Total for groceries at Sam’s $213.59

3. Honest Abe’s

Remember how we used to have Elias take Brayden out for Bro Time? Elias has a new job now that is very intense as he deals with high need kids all day (kind of sounds like what Elias’ parents do all day, huh?). Because of this, we don’t have a regularly scheduled Bro Time any more. But we have started sending both Brayden and Kiya out with Elias and Malorie from time to time on Monday evenings for a special dinner out.

A local restaurant here in Lincoln called Honest Abe’s offers half price kids meals on Monday nights. This gives everyone a burger and fries and drink for right around $4.00! Amazing. On December 9, the four of them headed out to pick up their dinner. Elias and Malorie help the kids figure out what they want and give them the chance to order by themselves (a skill Matt and I don’t/can’t provide for them because eating out as a family with so many littles is too complicated and too expensive.

Overall, this is a WIN and the kids love this time with Elias and Malorie. This night, the restaurant was too crowded so they brought their food home to eat.

Total at Honest Abe’s: $27.35

4. Wal-Mart

On December 11, we took the four youngest kids to Walmart to pick up the girls’ WIC items plus a few other needed groceries. I found day-old (refrigerated) Rotisserie chicken marked down to just $2.02 each so I got two of those. We got lots of fruits and veggies, eggs, rice, pasta, cereal, milk, and cheese, all covered by WIC benefits. And I picked up some Caesar salad kits, pickles, and ham.

Total out of pocket at Wal-Mart: $32.50

5. Aldi

After we left Walmart that day, we went just up the road to Aldi. I ran in and got fruit/veggie pouches for Auggie, raspberries, oranges, zucchini, butter, yogurt, granola, baking items, sausage, deli ham, pasta sauce, fritos, and three large packages of boneless chicken thighs on sale for just $2.49/pound.

Total for food at Aldi: $155.95

6. Walmart 

On December 19, I ran into Walmart to get milk, sour cream, lime juice, a few last minute items for Christmas, plus the last of our WIC benefits. As always, I checked for meat markdowns and scored Boneless Chicken Thighs for just over $2/pound! I bought six packages.

Total out of pocket at Walmart: $57.67

7. Costco

From there, we went to Costco and semi-filled two carts. We needed Christmas celebration food plus regular groceries and produce. We got pears, apples, oranges, grapes, broccoli, blueberries, cream cheese, cream, half and half (marked down to $0.97!!), avocado mash, white queso, guacamole, crackers, two kinds of dips, several kinds of cheese, meatballs, chicken nuggets, tator tots, french fries, fish sticks, yogurt squeezies, applesauce cups, chicken broth, avocado oil spray, and frozen pizza.

Total for food at Costco: $395.59

8. Krispie Kreme

December 20 was Malachi’s 20th birthday. He and a bunch of his buddies spent the night at our house, and he requested donuts for breakfast. I didn’t get a photo of the whole crew, but I got this one when these two got home with the donuts.

Total for Malachi’s donuts: $14.99

9. Sam’s

On December 23, I braved the crowds and went to Sam’s for a few more Christmas food needs, everyday fruit and vegetable needs, and upcoming birthday meals. I got pasta sauce, apple sauce, hamburger meat, sliced cheese, shredded cheese, bacon, cucumbers, bananas, carrots, Caesar salad, mandarin oranges, spinach, veggie straws, coffee creamer, apples, brownie mix, cottage cheese, peanut butter, coffee, orange chicken, oatmeal, gluten free pizza, pickles, brown sugar, fruit strips, and coconut crisps.

Total for food at Sam’s: $310.19

10. Walmart

From Sam’s, I ran to the next parking lot for a few items at Walmart: lasagna noodles, gluten free nuggets, frozen hashbrowns, onion rings, ham, and fake oreos (for birthday brownies).

Total at $54.14

11. Cane’s

Our Christmas tradition has become: make Chicken Strips at home for Christmas lunch after opening gifts, and buy a big container of Raising Cane’s Sauce to go with the chicken. This makes for an easy meal for mom, a perfect meal to accommodate picky kids, and a special way to enjoy our family’s favorite sauce. I picked up a 32-ounce cup of sauce to put in our fridge for the big day.

Total for our Cane’s Sauce: $7.65

12. Arby’s Fries

Matt had some coupons in his wallet for $1 fries at Arby’s, limit 3. So we took advantage one day to treat the kids after an outing to the Children’s Museum.

Total for fries: $3.28

13. Walmart

On December 27, I went to Wal-Mart to check for Ham marked down after Christmas. I found some for $1/pound!! I picked up four, plus found hamburger meat ($3.34/pound) and ground chicken ($2.41/pound) marked down. I also needed Caesar salad, spring mix, and barbecue sauce so I grabbed those.

Total for food at Walmart: $101.77

14. Aldi

I went to Aldi that day also, getting fruit and veggie pouches for Auggie, fresh pineapple on sale, whole milk yogurt, and meat mark-downs. Two packages of boneless chicken thighs were marked down half-price making them just $1.75/pound. Two packages of boneless chicken tenderloins were half-price at $1.99/pound. Plus grass fed hamburger meat was on sale for $4.80/pound. Pork loin was on sale for $1.89/pound so I got one. It was a great meat day and our freezer got filled up!

Total at Aldi: $110.17

15. Wal-mart

Elias and Malorie went to a different Walmart a few days later and I couldn’t resist asking them to check for $0.50/pound hams. Sure enough, they had a bunch so they picked up four more hams for me. It’s hard to pass up such an amazing price for meat that gives us several meals or that will feed thirty people at a Sunday lunch!

Total for four spiral cut hams: $20.20

Total grocery spending for December: $1458

— > Without WIC, our total this month would have been closer to $1658. <—–

If you recall, at the beginning of this year, I decided to keep running totals of everything we spent on groceries each month. I also decided to increase our budget to $1,400/month for food because we feed so many people and my previous $1,200/month average was causing unnecessary stress.

We’ve had adults move in and out of our home all year long. Most of the year, we had 13 people living here, sometimes 14, and now there are 12.

Here’s the breakdown of what we ended up spending each month during 2024…

Summary/Average for groceries during 2024

January: $1,178
February: $849
March: $1,356
April: $1148
May: 1091
June: $1,121
July: $1,190
August: $1,611
September: $1,218
October: $1,345
November: $1,150
December: $1,458

Grand total for 2024: $14,715

That’s a lot of groceries. :)

Grocery Budget Plan for 2025

Watch for a post detailing what we’re planning to change and keep the same for our 2025 grocery budget!

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

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

by 5 Comments

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

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

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

Sunday was incredibly full and so, so good.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Back at home: Shade and Popsicles. Ahhhh.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Two full carts later, we were finished.

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

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

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

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

WORTH. IT.

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

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

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

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

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

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

And that was our week!

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