Here’s our Big Family Food and Fun: December 8-14, 2024 post!
Big Family Food and Fun: December 8-14, 2024
Last Saturday evening, we pulled out our special candles (the battery operated kind that doesn’t involve actual fire) to kick off our Sabbath. We try to use our meal time to teach our kids more scripture and more about God’s love for them.
We ate Chicken Nuggets, Fries, and had special Coconut Cakes that a friend had made. Mealtime, in general, at our house is loud and hectic. Per their usual, the kids didn’t get the memo this week again that Sabbath is supposed to be restful and a time of delight. :/ BUT, we’re going to keep doing this anyway because it’s important to us to set aside this 24-hours to have a work-free mindset and to try and engage with our kids and our community in a different way.
Church on Sunday was wonderful and Spirit-filled. After worship, our kids got to participate in a ministry that was so good for them. A few weeks prior, we’d grabbed some Gift Tags that allowed us to purchase gifts for kids in Lincoln who may not otherwise have anything under their trees. Matt and I pulled enough tags for each of our kids to pick a toy for another child their age. We shopped with them individually online so they could pick their gift. Then this Sunday, they got to hand off their gift to the people facilitating this ministry.
The kids were so proud of the gift they’d chosen and loved handing it over. We have a lot of chaos and frustration with behaviors at our house. But THIS. Involving our kids in ways to serve like this shows that their hearts are loving and good. We will keep finding opportunities for them like this. It is a win.
There was a lunch meeting after church that day that most of our regular Sunday Lunch people were involved with. So we invited a different family that we had been looking forward to spending time with. Our meal was smaller and very simple: A pot of Chili with cheese, sour cream, and Fritos, Muffins, Carrots, and Grapes.
We set out the last of the Coconut Cakes from our friend and a plate of Christmas Spice Cookies for dessert.
There were 18 of us sharing our meal that day. It was lovely and peaceful.
The weather was unusually warm, so the kids played outside most of the afternoon.
Keith and Anna wanted to help me make Pizza that night for our dinner.
Keith was very proud to turn his pepperoni into a happy face.
I only had two crusts in the freezer, so I made a small dish of Crustless Pizza to go with the regular pizza. Brayden declared the crustless version to be the best pizza he’d ever eaten and begged me to please do this every time. :)
Monday was a catch-up day and also a get-ahead day. Our meals consisted entirely of leftovers as we pulled out and warmed up random items all day long as needed. Not cooking meals freed me to make a large Lasagna Casserole to eat Tuesday night before a music concert for Brayden and Kiya.
The girls helped me make a batch of Chocolate Banana Blender Muffins.
Worth noting: Having all this “help” in my kitchen will be great some day. Meanwhile, this day it distracted me and I forgot to add the coconut oil I’d melted on the stove for these muffins. They still tasted ok, but were a bit crumbly. Meh.
That evening, since we just had leftover tidbits, Anna helped everyone choose a (low fat) muffin, ha, to round out our meal.
Malachi came over for a while that evening!
Every once in a while, Elias and Malorie take both Brayden and Kiya out on Mondays for some Big Bro Big Sis time. This is very good for them! A local restaurant offers half-price kids meals on Mondays so that was their destination. The restaurant was packed that night so they brought their food home to eat.
Tuesday mornings, I leave early to take Auggie to Speech Therapy. I scrambled 12 eggs before I left and the kids ate them with Chocolate Banana Blender Muffins. Malorie helped Matt get the other kids to school.
The rest of the day was spent playing, caring for Little Sweetheart, and getting Brayden and Kiya ready for their school concert that night. I baked the Lasagna Casserole for a very early dinner and warmed up leftover green beans, two cans of corn, sliced pears, and made a salad.
We got everyone out the door to enjoy Brayden singing and playing his ukulele on stage.
Then, both Brayden and Kiya sang fun songs together with their friends. It was an awesome evening, with all of our older kids making the effort to be there and support. I wasn’t able to get a picture, but there 20 of us in the fan club. I’m so thankful for our Bigs and how they love the Littles.
Wednesday morning, we ate yogurt and granola for breakfast. I asked Kiya to help me get out the granola options, and as I shared last week, her personality was shining as she got everything set out just so. :)
After we got the elementary kids off to school, we loaded up the other four and headed to Walmart and Aldi for groceries.
Back at home, I made a double recipe of Breakfast Cookies into Bars. I really like having these in the freezer to pull out on Sunday mornings for an effortless breakfast.
Arrow spent the afternoon with us. This was Keith’s reaction when he got home from school and realized that Arrow was hanging out in the kitchen with us.
I got out raspberries to go with our dinner – and the girls discovered them as soon as they got off the school bus. At dinnertime, here’s what I had left to offer. :)
I made a big Taco Bar for dinner with Crusted Tilapia (from Costco) and Seasoned Beef. I made a pan of Stick of Butter Rice to help stretch the meal, plus we had shredded cheese, queso, salsa, cilantro, lettuce, black beans, tortillas, and chips.
After we all ate our fill, I took all the tidbits of leftovers and stirred them together into a Burrito Casserole for a future meal.
Thursday morning, we warmed up some bags of Breakfast Sandwiches that I’d made last week and frozen. This photo doesn’t look like much, just the tail end of some bags of Breakfast Sandwiches, plus oranges and the Salad Matt and I drink every day. :) Mornings are so fancy around here.
Throughout the day, I worked on putting together a triple batch of Spicy Ham and Potato Soup to rewarm for our upcoming Sunday Lunch. It has hard for me not to dip into it because this is my favorite soup. Or maybe this one is. Meh, I love both!
Brayden had another music concert that night – this time for band. We ate an early dinner again of two Rotisserie Chickens (that I’d picked up marked down to just $2.02 at Walmart the day before!) with Mashed Potatoes (instant from Azure Standard), Fried Zucchini, and Stuffing.
These kids just began learning instruments so we were proud of what they’ve learned so far.
Malorie and Elias helped us hold down a row full of restless kids throughout the concert. Thank goodness I’d packed snacks (for the kids, not for M and E). ;)
We got home and rewarded everyone (especially the adults who had survived the second concert of the week managing a row full of littles) with a piece of fudge before bed. Keith had helped me make it that morning and he was proud!
Friday morning the kids ate cold cereal for breakfast. I made a pan of Peanut Butter Honey Rice Krispie Bars to have on hand for easy snacks.
I’ve been needing to give this fella a hair cut but it’s hard to find the time (and honestly, the motivation). He has curls when we get his hair wet, but then it turns to this after playing and putting on hats to go outside. I attempted to take a “before” picture and he refused to smile for me, making for a perfect “please cut my hair because I am pitiful” photo. :)
While he sat at the kitchen counter, I cut off about an inch of hair. He is never impressed with hair cuts, and this time was no exception. But look how sweet!! And how grown up he looks.
I wrapped some presents that afternoon – one of my favorite parts of holiday prep!
For dinner that night, I boiled a pound of noodles and warmed up leftovers from Thursday’s rotisserie chicken. Typically I make homemade Alfredo Sauce but this time I just opened a jar of sauce from Aldi. We had all of this with Steamed Broccoli. Then we put on pajamas and headed to Heartlands church for a Christmas Movie Night for the kids.
The older kids watched the Muppets movie in one room.
And the younger kids watched The Grinch in another room. Everyone enjoyed popcorn and mix-ins. The kids loved this!
Saturday morning was pretty chill as we let the kids watch some Christmas shows while I got some work done in the kitchen. I mixed up a quadruple batch of Cream Cheese Cut-Out Cookies so that we could work on them together throughout the morning.
Reminder if you’re making cookies with kids: DO IT LIKE THIS. Unless you love Christmas cookie stress, of course.
I also made a big batch of Pancake Sausage Muffins to help us through the next week as we finish up getting ready for Christmas. We make lots of Breakfast Sandwiches to make early mornings easier for adults when they head to work. So I thought maybe Pancake Sausage Muffins would be a nice change of pace. Also, at this time, Kiya baked a cake for our Sunday lunch. She’d gotten the mix for her birthday and was excited to use it.
I have no idea what I did wrong on with the Pancake Sausage Muffins, but they did not rise. Did I forget the baking powder? We’ll never know. Either way, they taste fine and I packaged them up for easy breakfasts.
Then I brought the kids in a few at a time to roll and cut out Cream Cheese Cut-Out Cookies. First the girls.
Then the boys.
Phew! Got ’em done! (We’ll decorate another day.)
After the kitchen got cleaned up, we made some Christmas crafts at our living room table.
We cleaned out the fridge to eat leftovers for lunch. Then we spent the rest of the day watching a Christmas movie, picking up the house, and getting ready to move into our time of Sabbath rest.
And that was our week!
