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Big Family Food and Fun: August 31-September 6, 2025

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Here’s our Big Family Food and Fun: August 31-September 6, 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, August 30

It was rainy that Saturday afternoon, so we had to find indoor activities to keep the kids occupied. Brayden and Kiya asked to see our wedding photos. So we all enjoyed taking a walk down memory lane, seeing so many family members’ pictures from 31 years ago, seeing Mommy in her pretty white dress, seeing Daddy looking like our now adult sons… :)

I pulled out a craft kit to enjoy at the living room table.

Elias and Malorie have a tradition of taking each birthday kid out for a “Special Adventure” to celebrate their birthday. That Saturday afternoon was a good opportunity for them to take Acacia out. They walked around the mall, then got her a special lemonade. She loved every minute of this special time!

Josie helped me make Baked Beans for our Sunday Lunch as we wrapped up our day and headed into our Sabbath evening.

For dinner that night, I used the last of some BBQ Pulled Pork I had in the fridge to make Sandwich Melts.

Big Family Food and Fun: August 31-September 6, 2025

On Sunday morning, we dug into a plate of Breakfast Cookie Bars.

We needed to be an hour early to church that day because Brayden had the honor of being on the Worship Team and they needed to do a run-through of the morning’s songs. Justus had arranged for a mother-daughter combo and a father-daughter combo to be on the team that day along with Brayden/Justus/Kelsey as a brother-brother-sister combo. I was glad we got there an hour early so I get get my happy tears out as I watched them worship. While Brayden struggles mightily with academics and social skills, THIS is a place where Brayden shines so confidently.

Back at home after church, we had 39 people gather for lunch. It was Acacia’s birthday and it was so much fun to have a houseful to celebrate with her!

We enjoyed Acacia’s lunch menu choices: Hotdogs and Cheddar Brats, Chips, Pickles, Grapes, and Carrots. For dessert we had Brownies and several batches of Homemade Ice Cream.

I tried to walk around to take pictures of groups gathered throughout the house, but I missed capturing everyone.

I love watching people enjoy a meal and fellowship. I am so thankful for this home God provided for us!

Because it was a three-day holiday weekend, Kelsey took full advantage of her time at home to get ahead in her kitchen. It was so fun to get texts and pictures from her throughout the weekend, sharing her tasty progress. Sunday evening: Stir-and-Pour Bread!

Meanwhile, I was tapped out and made Aldi Take-and-Bake Pizzas for Acacia’s birthday dinner.

We hadn’t had a chance yet that day to sing and blow out birthday candles or open gifts. So we gathered in the dining room after Pizza to enjoy this time with her.

Note that the boots Acacia was so excited to receive had been purchased on clearance at the end of last winter for an entire $1.00 and stashed away for such a time as this. Five-year-olds are easy to please and don’t need expensive presents. She LOVES these new sparkly boots!

Monday morning was rainy and dreary. We decided to take the kids to the Mall indoor play area to get some energy out since a park or the zoo was out of the question that day. I packed sandwiches, grapes, chips, almonds, and apples to get us through our outing.

The kids played until hunger took over, and we headed to the food court area to find a table.

And who did we discover along the way? Our friends, the Cases, and they had more friends, the Adcock girls, with them. Christina snapped this picture for us to send to the Adcock Mama to hopefully brighten her day.

Running into friends was a HUGE perk to our day and changed some grumpy attitudes around. We are so thankful for these friends!

Somehow we got everyone fed, then to the potty, then to the play area again before heading home for Auggie’s nap.

The Nabb family came over all afternoon so that Cindy and I could work on some paperwork together. The kids played school in the living room (it was still raining outside!), then we talked the Nabbs into staying for dinner! I made an Egg Casserole, Pancakes (from a box, ha – actually two boxes), Sausage Patties, and Fruit.

This was the best. We hadn’t made any Labor Day plans so I loved that this impromptu gathering happened.

Meanwhile, Kelsey had sent me pictures of a big Turkey she’d baked, Broth she made with the bones, and these Snickerdoodle Bites. You go, girl!

Tuesday morning, the teachers had a work day so the kids were home from school again. Somehow, most of the kids slept in and Anna was the only kiddo who joined me downstairs before 7:30. While we don’t get hours of one-on-one time with each of our kids, I find that God does provide small windows of opportunity to give undivided attention to them like this. During our time together, Anna helped me get Breakfast Cookie Bars, Spinach Cake, and Stick of Butter Rice into the oven.

It felt good to get ahead and to make good use of oven heat. (As in, since I had turned the oven on to bake a cake, I wanted to add more to the oven while it was hot to save energy.)

The kids have been very into sitting on skateboards and riding them down the driveway. The rain had stopped so we spent the entire morning outside, much of it on skateboards.

Justus dropped off Little Sweetheart for the day, and she proved herself to be one of the big kids outside walking around and riding the little scooter.

Mid-morning, Keith helped me make Cream Cheese Frosting for our cake.

I browned two pounds of hamburger meat and stirred it into the rice I’d baked earlier to make Taco Rice Dinner. I kept the corn and beans separate to accommodate pickiness. Then I covered it and put it into the fridge for Matt to rewarm at dinnertime.

At lunchtime, we used Sunday’s leftover hotdogs to make Beanie Weanies. Mealtimes seem to somehow turn our kids into screamers, phew. Several of our kids have food-related trauma, so it’s par for the course. Still, it makes me sad. How I long to simply make food, serve food, enjoy food, and then clean up after us. Instead, there’s yelling, fighting, food refusal, arguing, and a lot of “I hate this” even if they ate thirds of the same food last time. Anyway, this lunch time was especially challenging and loud. Parenting this time around is so different!

Note: My intent with sharing some of the challenges in our family isn’t to whine or complain. But I do feel that it’s important that I share the reality of our situation. Matt and I are constantly trying to figure out how to successfully train, discipline, and teach these babes. Mostly, we want them to know that they are loved and that they can trust us. Trust is tricky with kids who have lost so much. We’ll keep loving and being trustworthy, praying and supporting.

That afternoon, I took Brayden, Kiya, and Keith to serve at our weekly Food Distribution.

Matt had warmed the Taco Rice Dinner that I’d made earlier in the day and fed some of the littler ones. ABA therapy was in full force when we got home so the rest of us ate in shifts as the evening went on. Meanwhile, Elias and Malorie did some cooking to pre-make some work lunches to grab and take as they headed out early the rest of this week. Malachi was hanging/working/working out with his friend, Graham, and they ate dinner too. It was a full kitchen all evening long – my favorite!

Wednesday morning, Auggie had ABA therapy and Arrow came to hang out. Grandbaby time is incredibly precious to us.

After we got the girls on their preschool bus around noon, Matt got Auggie down for a nap and I headed out to grocery shop. This might last us for a short while?

I had put a bag of frozen meatballs into our crock pot with barbecue sauce for Meatball Subs for dinner. We had them with Raspberries and Salad.

As we were getting all seven kids down for the night, Keith and Auggie parked themselves in our “Reading Room” with the big bear. I couldn’t believe how long Auggie sat there looking at books. This is a big break-through for a little guy who has had to be taught how to play, sit, and focus. By the way, our “Reading Room” is a sun room just off of our girls’ bedroom. This room has evolved from an extra bedroom to a Lego Room to what is now our Reading Room. There’s a shelf behind the door that you can’t see if this photo, and that’s where the kids can grab their books to calm down with at night in their beds. This great big bear has been a perfect addition to this room (thanks, Burham family, for handing this off to us!).

Wednesday evening, I made yet another double batch of Flourless Peanut Butter Brownies because apparently we are obsessed with these now. They have become a very helpful go-to for snacks and lunches so I will keep making them until we get tired of them. I also made another big batch of Chewy Granola Bars for the same reason. We are eating through them very quickly and they provide a fast protein fix all throughout the day. On Thursday morning, I got them cut and packaged for easy grab-and-go options for everyone.

Kiya is always excited to help with projects like this.

Anna helped me scramble eggs to make French Toast.

We’d brought home a fun loaf of Cinnamon Swirl Bread from Food Distribution on Tuesday, and this makes the best French Toast! When I make it like this, I don’t serve it to the kids with maple syrup. It is sweet enough just as it is and I tell them that they can eat it like cookies. :)

Josie’s teacher sent me this fun photo that afternoon, stating that Josie had declared them to be twins that day with their flower dresses, messy buns, and sandals. :) :) :) She sure does love Ms. Kristine!

Little Sweetheart spent the day with us, and the kids are always so excited when she or Arrow join us for school drop off or pick up!

Dinner that night was the best. I had marinated and Smoked Chicken plus I had cut up 4-pounds of berries for Strawberry Parfaits. I steamed Green Beans, Sautéed Peppers and Onions, and Buttered/Toasted some Buns. We devoured this.

YOU GUYS. All of Auggie’s life we have tried to read books to him. But he would never let us, which was so sad both for snuggles and for his developmental needs. This day was the very first day he sat down and let me read a book to him. AMAZING. Brayden took a picture to document the milestone event. I made it through about a third of Bears on Wheels before Auggie was ready to move on. But wow did it feel good knowing the progress this baby boy has made!

Friday morning is a big morning for Acacia now. After we get Brayden, Kiya, Keith, and Anna off to school, we settle Auggie in with ABA therapy in our living room, and Josie gets one-on-one with Daddy while Acacia and I head off to Children’s Rehab for therapy. She starts with an hour of Speech Therapy.

Then we take a potty break and head in for an hour of Physical Therapy. This week we got home just as the preschool bus was arriving to take her and Josie to school. Phew!

Matt and I spend Friday afternoons together – not working but just being together. If we don’t block out time like this, we’d never have full conversations. :)

Dinner that night was Grilled Turkey and Cheese Sandwiches and Tomato Soup. Plus I cut up a huge Watermelon that we munched on all evening long.

Saturday morning, I made Cream Cheese Salsa Dip and Caramel Apple Dip in preparation for a big Chip/Veggie/Fruit Dip Buffet for Sunday’s lunch.

We loaded up snacks for the morning as we headed out to start with our first outing of the day. Our favorite Sensory-Friendly Library Story Time was starting back up for the fall!

This special library event is such a gift for our family and for several others who we see each time we go. Most of the guests are on the autism spectrum or have other disabilities – and it is such a safe, friendly environment. No one expects the kids to sit perfectly still. Ms. Diane offers lots of opportunities for the kids to move around, to participate or not participate in the simple songs and actions to go with songs/books, to be seen, to be cared for. There are special chairs and special weighted stuffed animals. It’s the most beautiful time and we are so thankful to be a part of this.

Malachi hopped in with us and played with the kids during the sensory toy time after story hour.

Then we loaded back up (ate snacks) and headed to Heartlands for a Color Run with our church’s Kids Ministry. Here’s a shot of everyone running the path getting sprayed with colorful chalk, while Matt and I stayed back with hesitant littles.

By the end, Josie had finally allowed herself to get a little bit “chalked” while Anna had decided to go all in and Kiya and Keith were very well covered. It was such a well-attended event and so much fun!

We went home and ate leftovers for lunch, then loaded back up to go to Keith’s soccer game. Did I pack more snacks, even though we’d snacked all day and just eaten lunch? Yes, snacks are a must. The kids ate their way through 2-pounds of strawberries and a bunch of animal crackers while Keith ran his heart out and even scored a goal.

Late afternoon was spent playing outside, cleaning, then moving into our time of Sabbath. And that was our week!

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Big Family Food and Fun: August 24-30, 2025

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

Here’s our Big Family Food and Fun: August 24-30, 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, August 23

Saturday evening, Malachi treated our entire household to pizza! He’d been in a pickle lately with his vehicle, so this was a thank you to several of us who had helped him out with rides. This was a great Sabbath meal for me as I didn’t have to lift a finger!

After dinner, Malachi mowed the back yard and the kids pretended that he was chasing them with the mower. This was a wonderful seven minutes of entertainment for them. ;)

The kids were extra squirrely that night. Did they not get the message that it was Sabbath and we were supposed to be RESTING?? We managed to get shoes on them all and get them them all to the potty, then we took a walk to Sunken Gardens.

They were squirrely there too, but finally, looking at the fish settled them a bit and the rest of the evening was not so hectic. We got them home in time for bath time and bed.

Big Family Food and Fun: August 24-30, 2025

Sunday morning, we enjoyed half a pan of Breakfast Cookie Bars. I’d baked these on Friday evening and frozen the other half for next week.

When we got home from church that day, our kitchen was already full of friends who were finishing up lunch prep. This scene made me so happy! I love that people feel comfortable to just walk on into our house and kitchen and find what they need – cutting boards, knives, serving spoons, etc.

I had cooked 10-pounds of Bacon for BLTs, and this spread was incredible! (We had eaten two pounds worth of bacon last week, saving 8 pounds for this meal.) We had turkey and cheese for people to add to their sandwiches, plus lots of condiment and pickle options. Christina made potatoes, Cindy brought veggie trays, Christy brought chips, Megan brought pickles, and Terra brought fresh tomatoes – which was the entire reason I’d planned BLTs. These are a must during fresh tomato season!!

Kelsey cooked down frozen strawberries with some sugar to complete our very wonderful dessert of Angel Food Cake with Strawberries and Whipped Cream. So delicious!

There were 35 of us gathered that day.

Worth noting: We started out with about 8-pounds of bacon and there were only six slices left at the end of our meal. Indeed, this meal was a hit.

Our community group usually meets on Sunday afternoons. But we’d heard of a need that a family had, so our guys spent the afternoon working on this project to help care for that family. Meanwhile, we gals stayed back at our house together.

The project ended up taking significantly longer than anticipated. Our friend Robin was gracious to stay through the evening with me to help wrangle kids since Matt wasn’t back yet. I had turned last week’s Spaghetti leftovers into a Spaghetti Bake with Green Beans for dinner and Robin helped me get kids fed.

Arrow wasn’t feeling well so Asa and Eva had stayed home that day. They made Stir and Pour Pizza Crust Pizza for their dinner that night and sent me this sweet photo of Arrow feeling better enough to enjoy his meal. :)

Monday morning was rough. We managed to get all the kids to school on time, but not without a fight to the finish line. We have to make a lot of accommodations to keep our kids’ nervous systems from completely shutting down. This particular morning, that looked like leaving bikes at home and putting both Keith and Anna in the double stroller, then muscling our way to school. (It was a great workout, so yay for good exercise.) Once they were in the school door, they did fine, thankfully. My walk home alone was a mental recovery walk, then I got myself hydrated because mornings like this do break a sweat.

Phew.

Auggie had ABA therapy all morning, so we played catch-up on laundry and dishes while the girls played or “helped” us. During one of Auggie’s breaks, he tried to give his sisters a ride in the wagon. Oof, that wagon was hard to move.

Brayden gets home before the other kids, so he started homework with Matt. Malachi was awesome to walk with Auggie and me to get the elementary kids home from school. Without bikes, I knew I’d need some back up.

This plan worked perfectly as Kiya rode her bike home ahead of us, and Keith and Anna were thrilled with the fact that their big brother had come to walk them home. Keith always finds sticks to carry any time we go on a walk. Anna one-upped him today by finding a big log. Keith was impressed.

For dinner that night, I made Spicy Mac and Cheese with Corn and Peaches. We also ate our way through a container of Golden Kiwi.

Last week, I had made a big batch of Chewy Granola Bars and they were hit with the kids plus many adults in our house. So I made another big batch of them on Monday evening to have for the week along with the Flourless Peanut Butter Brownies I’d prepped for a grab-and-go option. I forgot to take a picture on Monday night, and by Tuesday morning, I discovered that the grown-ups had started to enjoy them while I was sleeping. I love this!

Little Sweetheart came to spend the day with us on Tuesday. The kids took turns pushing her in the swing.

Throughout the morning, they were picking up walnuts that had dropped from a tree in our backyard and filling containers with them. Then they handed them out for everyone to “eat,” then gathered them back up again. This might seem like a small thing to celebrate – but our kids don’t play make-believe very well. So when they do something like this, it feels extra sweet!

That afternoon, I made a huge batch of Peanut Butter Honey Puffs for snacks. I also smoked a big package of Pork Chops and got a batch of Slow Cooker Party Potatoes cooking for dinner.

After school, Brayden, Kiya, Keith, and I went to our weekly Food Distribution to hand out food to the community. Here they all are in the kitchen pretending to be hard at work. Mama had to make some adjustments to their job assignments after this picture. ;)

We got home in time for ABA therapy, plus dinner of Smoked Pork Chops, Slow Cooker Party Potatoes, and Peas.

Arrow came on Wednesday to spend the morning with us! He played and crawled all over the house.

We took a walk outside, and he and Josie played a silly game in the stroller. :)

At preschool bus time, Josie and Auggie posed by the tree so Daddy could take a picture. Cheeeeeese!

I spent the afternoon at Aldi getting ready for Acacia’s birthday/Sunday lunch.

Check these out! Since it’s the end of the season, I found these 100% juice pops marked down to just $0.21/box!! I got twelve boxes, still leaving a lot behind for others to score some too. The total was $2.52 for all of these…

When the kids all got home from school, the girls came back together to marvel again over the fact that they had dressed matchy-matchy that morning. This was such a sweet moment because they were so proud that they had done this.

Anna helped me make a salad for dinner. We got out all the leftovers from the fridge to warm up – parents helping kids and grown-ups fending for themselves. This was so nice because we cleared out a lot of fridge space and ate up a lot of good leftovers! (And it gave me the night off from cooking, woot!)

I made a batch of Peach Ice Cream that night. Acacia wanted Brownies and Ice Cream for her birthday so my plan was to make several batches of ice cream throughout the week to prep for Sunday!

Thursday morning was therapy-free! So we took the kids to a little park that we’d never tried out before.

Little Sweetheart came for the day, my friend Charlene came for the afternoon, and before I knew it the school day was over and it was time for pick-up!

Kiya helped me make dinner. We made extra food because we’d made plans to take a meal to friends who had a lot of health issues hit their family this week. I had Pulled Pork in the freezer that I had thawed, so Kiya warmed that up with barbecue sauce while I fried Zucchini and made Instant Pot Mac and Cheese.

I warmed some Sliced Ham for our family plus Kiya made a Salad.

Brayden, Kiya, and Matt ate their dinner quickly then loaded up to deliver the meal to our friends. We sent a hot meal for them to eat right away: Pulled Pork with Buns, Instant Pot Mac and Cheese, Grapes, Cantaloupe, and Salad. Plus I sent a frozen Lasagna Casserole and some frozen Burritos for them to eat through the weekend as needed.

Brayden and Kiya were excited to help with this delivery! And the others were sad that we didn’t let them go. Some of us needed to stay back for ABA therapy. Plus we didn’t want the little girls to fall asleep in the van during the ride and ruin bedtime. That’s a big deal, am I right?

The rest of the night was filled with therapy, kitchen cleaning, and play time. As we went upstairs to get ready for bed, I caught these two reading and snuggling with our newest friend. This bear had been passed on to us by some family friends and it’s proven so far to be very comforting to our kids. :)

Friday morning, our friend Kay came from York and spent the morning with us. She went with me to take Acacia, Josie, and Auggie to the park. The weather was perfect and the kids were calm – which meant that they played and Kay and I could actually visit. AMAZING!

Josie declared Ms. Kay to be her special person that morning. It was so sweet!

After school that day, our Heartlands Youth Worker dropped a slushy off to Brayden. Blue Razz was a great way to end the week!

Acacia got a birthday hat from her teacher since her birthday was to be over the weekend. She wore it proudly all evening.

I smoked Burgers for dinner with Fries, Clementines, Sweet Peppers, and Fresh Tomatoes.

Saturday morning, I baked a huge pan of Brownies for Acacia’s birthday lunch the next day.

Justus and Kelsey picked up Brayden and Kiya to go to Worship Rehearsal at church. Matt and I took the other five kids to a park for the morning.

Back at home, Elias had put Fish Sticks into the oven for us to eat for lunch. I cut carrots into “coins” to make them taste better, ha. Plus I warmed up the few leftover fries that we had from the night before. The kids had eaten apples, bananas, and buttered bagels on the way to and from the park. So they weren’t super hungry, plus only one other adult was eating lunch with us – making this amount of lunch was enough.

I made round #4 of Ice Cream for the freezer to pull out and serve for Sunday Lunch/Acacia’s birthday.

Then I finished this post and turned off my computer to finish prepping for Sabbath!

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Big Family Food and Fun: August 3-9, 2025

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

Here’s our Big Family Food and Fun: August 3-9, 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, August 2

Dinner on Saturday evening was very simple: I scrambled 20 Eggs and air fried Chocolate Crepes from Costco. We’d already given the kids their baths because…

We had tickets to a Salt Dogs game! The Lincoln Library had given us free tickets as part of their Summer Reading Challenge, and we were finally able to take advantage. Malachi joined us, plus our friend Sam and his friend Angelina met us there.

Had to get a picture with the Saltdog!

The weather was perfect and we were able to stay for about an hour and a half. Did the kids actually watch baseball? I would say no, not even a little bit. Though Keith had his baseball mitt and ran after any balls that came our way in hopes to take one home. (We did not, in fact, take one home.) Our night was lots of fun and we were so happy for the adventure!

Big Family Food and Fun: August 3-9, 2025

Sunday morning we ate a plate full of Breakfast Cookie Bars while getting ready for church.

We had a beautiful houseful of people join us for lunch that day.

We had a big Nacho Bar with Taco Meat, Smoked Chicken, and lots of topping options.

There were 36 of us gathered that day.

I can’t say enough good about days like this. They are my favorite – having a houseful of people sharing a meal and sharing life.

I’d made a double batch of Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars and three batches of Homemade Ice Cream (Vanilla, Peach, and Butterfinger) for dessert. The ice cream was gone by the time lunch ended.

Matt and I normally enjoy Community Group time in the afternoon, but we had rearranged our plans to enjoy dinner with our group for a special time together that evening. So at 4:00, we sent our kids downstairs to watch a movie with Elias and Malorie while our group gathered. We made Pizzas together for dinner. And do you see that beautiful Carrot Cake? Cindy made that for us to enjoy. It just so happened to be my birthday, and the entire day was incredibly rich and sweet. How perfect for her to make her special cake to top off the day!

After we grown ups got our pizza and headed to the living room (and hid the cake), we let Elias and Malorie know that they could feed the kids. We were missing two of our group members. Otherwise, we had the most lovely evening, sharing life and stories that involved both laughter and tears. It was wonderful. What a great birthday!

Monday morning, I ate a piece of Carrot Cake with my morning coffee before the kids got up. Don’t tell.

We spent the morning at home, with Auggie having ABA therapy and the other kids playing. We farmed out the kids all afternoon while Matt and I rested. The only picture I took all day on Monday was this one. Our friends, the Baker family, brought over delicious Lasagna, Fruit, and Bread to share and we had dinner together. It was wonderful!

Tuesday was a very full day. Acacia had speech therapy in the morning, and we loaded up everyone to ride along so that we could make the most of our time.

Matt dropped us off, then he took the other six kids down the road to run around at a park while Acacia had her speech session.

From there, we all went to spend a few hours at the Bee Me Sensory Gym. We’d heard about it through the Lincoln Autism Family Network, and they were offering complimentary family passes. This gym far exceeded our expectations and the kids had such a wonderful time climbing, jumping, running, and rolling – for hours. This place meets all of their sensory needs and then some. Amazing!

This was our last full week of summer break, and our goal was to give the kids lots of fun adventures. So from Bee Me Sensory Gym, we walked over to Slim Chickens for lunch. The kids had earned free kid’s meals from our Library Summer Reading Program and I had birthday money from my dad and his wife to pay for mine and Matt’s lunch. Super fun! ALSO CRAZY. They sat still and ate for the first ten minutes because they were very hungry after a morning full of play. But then they started to scatter and be needy and we vowed never to go into a restaurant ever, ever again. ;)

Later that afternoon, I took Brayden, Kiya, and Keith to serve at our our weekly Food Distribution. I was so proud of all of them for how they worked together and worked hard to clean and hand out food to clients.

We got home just in time to enjoy a family gathering to celebrate my birthday (again!). Not all the kids were available to come to Sunday lunch, so this gave us an excuse to have another dinner together. Elias made our Smoked Chicken, and we had Cream Cheese Corn, Green Beans, Rolls, Mashed Potatoes, and Kelsey’s Cucumber Salad.

I was so glad for this precious time. I don’t know how long all of us will live in the same city, but for as long as we are together, I’m going to love it and be so grateful for it!

Brayden was so sweet when he saw me get up and take a picture of everyone visiting in the dining room. He asked if I’d like to be in the picture, so he washed his hands and took this shot of us…

Every time these guys get together, they bring up memories from childhood that have us all rolling with laughter. I loved that Brayden was sitting here listening and enjoying his awesome big brothers.

Wednesday morning, I put together two large casseroles for our upcoming Sunday Lunch. We had brought home several bonus items from Food Distribution the day before. (There was extra food donated that day, but fewer clients than normal. So we brought home three bags full of food!)

I used some Taco Meat and Spanish Rice that we’d been given, along with some of our own ingredients at home, to put together a casserole like this.

We’d brought home some ham, so I made a big Ham and Potato Casserole. Both of these went into the freezer to pull out, bake, and serve on Sunday.

Arrow came to hang out with us that morning. His aunties were very happy to take over and feed him the tasty breakfast that his mommy had sent over with him.

And then, Uncle Auggie was happy to be his entertainer. :)

We ate leftovers all day for all three meals – which felt great so that nothing went to waste and so that we cleaned out the fridge! When Auggie went down for a nap, we left him home with Malachi (and Justus, who happened to be there for a while) – and we took the other six kids to the pool to enjoy their free passes from the Library Summer Reading Challenge.

Elias and Malorie were able to go with us, thankfully. Four adults per six kids feels much better when there is water involved.

Matt and I hung with the three little girls in the kiddie area while Elias and Malorie took the other three to the bigger pool.

We met up after an hour and a half and had a snack – apples and Little Bites (thank you, Food Distribution, for the treat!).

Then, we took the little ones to join the big ones in the actual pool. Phew, I get nervous with so many littles in the water. Did they have on life jackets? Yes. Were there life guards? Yes. Was I still counting heads constantly? Also yes.

Brayden had an Open House at his middle school that evening while I stayed home with the others. We juggled ABA therapy, dinner, and playing. Some people peed all over the floor, others spilled barbecue sauce, or maybe that was the same person who did both. Either way, we survived the evening and slept well that night.

Thursday morning, we bravely took all seven kids to grocery shop. Our grocery list was long and there wasn’t another good day to go. So we packed water bottles and snacks and off we went!

Matt stayed with the kids in the van while I went through Aldi as fast as I could.

Then we took all of the kids into Costco with us. We put the four littlest kids into two different carts and I filled the carts as fast as possible. My main goal today was to get food we needed to make our transition into the school year as smooth as possible: easy breakfast foods, easy lunchbox foods, lots of fruit…

Thinking ahead, we ordered a Costco pizza to take home and eat for lunch so that we could tackle the huge task of putting away all the groceries while feeding hungry kids.

Here’s a look at the kitchen, and you should have seen the pantry. ;)

Justus dropped off Little Sweetheart for the afternoon.

Then our friend Bruce stopped by for a while. Keith got his “favorite” plastic bag stuck up in a tree and Bruce saved the day by throwing a stick high up in the air toward the bag until it finally came loose!

Before shopping, I’d baked a Spinach Cake. I frosted it and served it for an afternoon snack.

That afternoon, Kiya helped me put together 32 Breakfast Sandwiches for our fridge and freezer. It feels great to have these ready and available for our first week or two of school!

I heard the mower running and peeked outside to see this: Keith mowing with Daddy helping. :)

At Costco and Aldi, I’d picked up a larger than normal amount of ready-to-grab snacks like granola bars, Yoggies, raisins, and veggie straws. We have three adults in the house who are starting up a new school year plus three of our kids who will be packing lunches. I will likely not keep up with this as the year moves forward, but the hope is that this will get us off to a great start as we ease in and settle in with a big new routine. Here’s what our pantry counter looked like as I was getting snacks organized. Of course, the kids wanted to sample all of it and I didn’t let them. Mean.

Since we were bored and didn’t have anything else going on (ha), we decided to shuffle kids’ rooms around. Actually, we had big reasons for this and feel it will be a good move for the kids – putting all four girls in one big room and moving the boys to a different space. They were all so excited about this that they were very willing to help in any way that they could. We had started the process on Monday, slowly but surely, and we were finally ready to move the beds. Thankfully we only needed to move two beds as the other beds could stay where they were and simply change occupants.

Somewhere in there, I smoked Brats and Hotdogs, made Corn on the Cob, and cut Strawberries for dinner. The corn was yellow going in and ended up with a lot of brown spots when it cooked. Weird. And disappointing.

Justus and Little Sweetheart were there and Justus took Brayden with him to Worship Rehearsal for the evening. This was such a gift for Brayden and I heard from Justus later that he was a great help with Little Sweetheart. I love this!

We finished dinner in time to walk/bike to the elementary school for their Open House. All the kids got to meet their teachers and find their desks. This is such a big night with so many kids and so many classrooms to visit. I reflected back to two years ago when we were new to Lincoln, new to the school, new to everything and everyone. Now, we feel so much more settled in and we feel so much more comfortable. I was so thankful that night to recognize the peaceful difference in how I felt compared to two years ago on the same night. Thank you, Jesus.

Back at home, we finished putting clean sheets on every bed so that everyone could sleep in their “new rooms.” There was still more work to be done, but the beds were in place and that’s all that mattered that night. That and the fact that the new blue rug was awesome and fantastic for rolling around.

No surprise – it took everyone a little bit longer to settle in that night. But it was a happy transition, so we were grateful.

Friday morning, I browned the six pounds of hamburger meat I’d purchased the day before. After it cooled, I separated it into four freezer bags for easy future use.

We ate some of the Breakfast Sandwiches we’d made the day before. Keith was being a very good daddy to his animals that morning, making sure they had a nice place to sit and a good breakfast.

Josie and Auggie decided to move outside to eat their Breakfast Sandwiches. We moved the picnic table to the shade because it was already getting hot that morning.

We finished cleaning up the kids new rooms by doing what I was most excited to do: sorting through all the kids’ stuff that they’d accumulated in their rooms and either get rid of it or find a better home for it. Phew, that felt good! This ended up being a very healing experience for our two older littles. There’s a lot of emotion tied to their stuff – from stuffed animals to toys to scraps of paper. Resetting their rooms helped reset their hearts. This was so needed.

Then, a new friend who will be moving in with us arrived and the kids helped take trips into the house with some of her things. They were so excited to help!

That afternoon, we farmed out the kids. Elias is back to work for the school year, so Bro Time has ended for the season. Eva took Brayden, Kiya, and Anna. Then we took Keith, Acacia, and Josie to Ms. Kathi’s. Kathi sent me this fun picture of the cool kids in their shades taking their babies for a walk.

Eva took her crew to the library and I laughed out loud at these photos she sent me!

Back at home later, we made Chicken Nuggets and Tator Tots for dinner, eating in shifts because of ABA therapy needs and hunger levels. The kids helped me prep for a big outing to the zoo on Saturday. We had plans to meet up with another large family so Brayden and I made 18 Uncrustables for a picnic lunch. Then Acacia and Josie helped me make 10 little Turkey and Ham Sandwiches on rolls. Kiya worked on Breakfast Cookie Bars for Sunday. And then I spent a long time washing dishes and getting the kitchen reset for the next day!

Breakfast Cookie Bars fresh out of the oven!

Saturday morning, Kelsey and Little Sweetheart came over for a little while.

Friends from York came mid morning. We’d planned to eat a picnic at the zoo. But an early morning storm had come through town and the zoo needed to wait and open at noon so that they could do some clean up. We rethought our plans, hung out at our house for a while, ate our picnic lunch together in our dining room, and then headed to the zoo!

This was such a sweet time together! Our kids had earned free train tickets thanks to their Library Summer Reading Challenge. So that was an extra great treat this zoo trip!

We came home to give Auggie a late nap, then spent the afternoon getting the house ready for Sunday.

And that was our week!

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Big Family Food and Fun: July 6-12, 2025

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Here’s our Big Family Food and Fun: July 6-12, 2025 post!

We went to Oklahoma at the end of last week to enjoy a family reunion. So before I start sharing about all we did this week, I’ll back up and tell you about our trip!

July 4-5, 2025

Each year, my dad’s side of the family enjoys a reunion together during a weekend close to the 4th of July. It was hosted in Oklahoma this year. While traveling with so many littles isn’t easy, Matt and I decided to make this trip happen so that we could connect with our extended family.

We spent a lot of time last week prepping for this trip, putting together breakfast, lunch, and snacks for the road, plus lots of activities to occupy everyone. Here’s our cooler all packed up and ready to go!

Just before taking off, we handed out the breakfast bags to get us down the road: Yogurt, Freeze Dried Strawberries, and a bag of Cereal to munch on. These kids were so excited for the road trip! (Were mom and dad as excited? Well…)

Overall, the kids did as well as possible on the way there. We were some of the first to arrive at the reunion site and enjoyed playing some pool with Cousin Alex. :)

I knew it would be worth all the effort to make this trip happen just to see these dear people. And it was.

At the end of the evening on Friday, we always have a family worship time. I loved that Acacia snuggled up to her Papa (my dad) during this time.

What’s it like putting eight kids to bed in hotel rooms? Well, it’s special, that’s for sure. We had all the boys in one room with Matt and all the girls in an adjoining room with me. No one could wind down until way past bedtime. Oh how they loved this adventure!

We enjoyed loads of family time from breakfast through lunch on Saturday. A highlight of our reunion each year is the traditional Pinata for the kids. Here we are lining up in age-order to take turns whacking the pinata. Josie was not interested, thank you.

After lunch and lots of hugs, we loaded back up to head home with a van full of tired and happy kids. The drive back to Nebraska was harder than the drive to Oklahoma, but we made it and were so thankful we’d taken the trip. We picked up McDonald’s on our way home, which of course, was another great highlight for our kids!

Big Family Food and Fun: July 6-12, 2025

Thankfully, I had Breakfast Cookie Bars in our freezer for breakfast on Sunday morning.

After church, we had a wonderful crowd of people join us at our house for lunch.

We have a small fridge in our living room full of cold drinks. Anna helped me get some drinks to take to the kitchen to serve. This was a genius way to get them there.

Our meal was simple and good. Elias and Malorie picked up three Rotisserie Chickens from Sam’s on their way home from church. Everyone who joined us brought sides and desserts. And that’s how we hosted lunch after being away on a trip. The only thing I cooked was a pan of Cream Cheese Corn.

Friends and daughters-in-law helped fix little girls’ plates. This is one of our favorite parts of Sunday Lunch – how everyone loves on our kids so wonderfully.

There were 30 of us gathered that day.

As we all dispersed after lunch and visiting, the kids went downstairs to watch a movie while Matt and I enjoyed Community Group time. Then that evening, we made Frozen Pizza for dinner. Emotions were extreme that night for all the kids. We were all extra tired, plus Bonus Buddy got picked up to go back to be with his dad. We knew this was coming, and transitions are never easy. We gave everyone a bath and headed to bed in hopes to rest and regroup.

Monday morning, I made a weird breakfast of Flourless Peanut Butter Brownies. This was a fun way to get protein into our kids in the form of what felt like a treat! I made a blender full of this Smoothie for Matt and me. The two of us go through a blender full of this in two days, which is the best way for us to get lots of greens into our diet!

Auggie had ABA therapy all morning while the other kids played and Matt and I tried to play catch-up after our trip. Late morning, Kiya held a Spa Day in her room. It’s never to early to take care of baby soft skin, hehe.

Lunch was one of champions: Fish Sticks and Tator Tots. Everyone ate Carrots and Pickles on the side, so that at least there was a little bit of nourishment in this meal. :)

We farmed out the kids that afternoon so that Matt and I could have some down time together. ABA therapy started for three of our kids at 4:15. Then, for dinner we ate like kings and queens! We’d brought some leftover Biscuits and Baked Potatoes home from our family reunion. I turned them into Biscuits and Sausage Gravy, Cheesy Eggs, and Fried Potatoes. We also ate Pears and Clementines with our meal.

Tuesday morning, we finished off tidbits of leftover breakfast items like Flourless Peanut Butter Brownies and Eggs/Potatoes. Then I took Acacia to speech therapy. Her time with our SLP, Marissa, is different from Auggie’s since their needs are so different. But Marissa does a good job making the sessions fun, and the swing came in handy for Acacia. :)

Back at home, Matt loaded everyone’s bikes into the van and I made a picnic lunch so that we could head to a park to ride and play. I warmed up leftover hotdogs, then cut them in half and bagged them. They went into an insulated bag to stay warm until lunch time.

Keith had his skates and skateboard ready and spent his entire time at this park in the skateboard area.

Lunch was Hotdogs or Peanut Butter Honey Uncrustables with Apples, Fruit Cups, Chips and Guac, and Caesar Salad.

It’s been a while since I packed a Salad for a Picnic, but this worked very well and we finished the entire bag!

That afternoon, Brayden, Kiya, and Keith got to go to our neighbor’s house to make Lemon Slushies – what a treat!

I took those three kids to our weekly Food Distribution to hand out food and clean coolers as they emptied out.

Then we came home for dinner and ABA therapy for two kids. I’d made a pot of Hearty Bean Casserole before leaving that afternoon, which we had with Rolls/Butter and Canned Fruit.

Wednesday morning, we ate Breakfast Sandwiches. Auggie started his morning ABA session and I left to do some big grocery shopping at Aldi and Costco.

Back at home, all the kids helped carry groceries in from the van and put them away.

Brayden made Chicken Salad for lunch to go on croissants. We ate our sandwiches with fresh Cucumbers from our neighbor’s garden, Greens, Raspberries, Grapes, and Cheese.

As we were finishing lunch, the coolest thing happened! The kids peeked outside and saw a gathering of people staring at our house. I assumed that they were on some sort of “learn the history of Lincoln” tour because our house is a bit of a Lincoln landmark. We went outside to visit with them and as it turns out…

…this group of people has a history with this house and very precious memories! Our house was originally built by Mr. Rogers (no, not that Mr. Rogers) – a well-to-do banker back in the early 1900’s. His maid, Nettie, lived and worked here for several years and THESE are her grandchildren! (Well, except for me. I’m just in the picture because they asked me to be.)

We invited them in to see the house, we learned more of the history of our home, we heard more of their grandmother’s story, and we walked them through many of the rooms of our home. They were thrilled and amazed that we invited them in. But truly, we were the ones extra blessed by this visit.

They went on their way and then Arrow arrived to hang out with us for the afternoon.

Later, while Arrow and Auggie napped, we filled a container with water and the kids played with water guns and a variety of containers, getting themselves nice and soaked.

We ended the water play with GoGurts and Popcorn.

Kelsey and Little Sweetheart came later in the afternoon to hang out. They’d been visiting family and friends in Montana so it was extra special to see them again!

I made Tacos for dinner with Seasoned Meat, Beans, White Queso, Lettuce, Cheese, Tortillas and Chip, Salsa, Guac, and Strawberries on the side.

After dinner, we put on our swimming suits to head to the Splash Park for our church’s Popsicles in the Park evening. While getting everyone ready, I caught Brayden reading a book to Josie. SO SWEET.

Malachi had been at church camp for two weeks, and he sent me this precious gem! My friend Kimmie was cooking in the big camp kitchen, making my recipe for Crunchy Ranch Chicken Strips. I was so honored that they used my recipe, but extra excited to see Kimmie’s servant-hearted smile in the picture Malachi was so thoughtful to take!

Malachi had to leave camp to come home that Wednesday night, only to turn around Thursday morning to fly to Mexico where he was filming a friend’s wedding. I got some big Malachi hugs before he left and snapped this shot from our living room window where he and Matt were loading up to head to the airport at 5:45 Thursday morning.

When the kids got up, Acacia and Josie helped me make a batch of Flourless Chocolate Banana Muffins to take in a picnic lunch for our outing that day.

I made two bags full of Breakfast Sandwiches and put them into the freezer.

We didn’t have any therapies that morning, so we packed a picnic and headed out for the morning. We took our Flourless Chocolate Banana Muffins along with two pounds of Strawberries, Yogurt, Almonds, Hard Salami, and Cheese.

Justus, Kelsey, and Little Sweetheart met us at Morrill Hall. Justus took Brayden around the museum to do “big kid stuff” while the rest of us tried to stay in and around a kid-friendly play area. There are actually lots of hands-on learning areas here, but this room is one of the best for our crew.

We’d worked up big appetites (only Auggie had snacked during our playtime), so we found a picnic table outside and dug into our food. Morrill Hall is on the UNL campus so we enjoyed watching all the action going on around us – mostly groups of middle school or high school students walking by frequently. We are assuming there were some summer camps going on. Either way, people watching is fun. So is eating a picnic lunch. :)

Back at home that afternoon, Matt was awesome to hold down the fort while I was blessed to have a session with MY Christian therapist. Oh how I needed this. God is faithful.

Our kids’ ABA therapy started at 4:15. Some of the kids had extra good sessions and some of the kids displayed some extreme behaviors. Somewhere in there, I made dinner. Our smoker decided not to heat up, so I defaulted to cooking our Pork Chops in a skillet on the stove. Matt spent time cleaning out our very-used-and-loved smoker. Kiya made Caesar Salad, and I steamed Green Beans and made some Mashed Potatoes (from potato flakes I got at Azure Standard a while ago just to have on hand for a quick side dish).

After dinner, while Keith, Anna, and Auggie finished out their ABA therapy sessions, Matt took Brayden, Kiya, Acacia, and Josie down the road to a church nearby who was hosting a Back Yard VBS in their parking lot.

We ate Bagels for breakfast on Friday morning. I’d put two big pork butts into our roasting pan to slow cook all night. That morning, I shredded it and bags it to rewarm easily to serve Pulled Pork for our Sunday Lunch.

A big branch had fallen during the night, so cleaning it up turned into our morning activity. :)

I’d found Corndogs on sale at Costco on Wednesday, so I air fried some for lunch. The kids loved this, and we ate them with Grapes and Cucumbers.

We farmed out the kids all afternoon. Eva took Kiya and Anna to visit our friend, Clara, who was recovering from a major surgery. Together, they made these fun flowers from coffee filters – so cool! Kiya was so proud to show me the one she’d made!

When Brayden and Keith got home from their Bro Time with Elias and Malorie, Keith’s ABA therapy session started. His technician was awesome to work with Keith as he (with permission) destroyed a wood pallet we needed to dispose of.

I made a simple Spaghetti and Meatball meal that night with Steamed Broccoli.

Keith, Anna, and Auggie all had great ABA therapy sessions that evening. Matt took Brayden, Kiya, Acacia, and Josie a few blocks away to the final night of Grace Chapel’s Backyard VBS. Our neighbor friend, Lily, was there to love on our kids.

Saturday morning is Watch a TV Show and Eat Cereal morning at our house. Then we packed up a picnic and headed to meet friends at the Zoo! Here was our best attempt at getting our seven and Stephanie’s three kids in a Tiger Truck photo. :)

After we saw giraffes and tigers, we stopped for an apple break.

Turtles, otters, crocodiles, fish, and flamingos – then lunch. We had an assortment of food to pick from: Applesauce, Fruit Cups, Cheese, Turkey Slices, Flourless Chocolate Banana Muffins, Carrots, Cucumbers, Pistachios, and Chips with Guac. After that, we ate an entire bag of Heavenly Hunks from Costco. Those are such a treat!

After the zoo, we came home and put Auggie down for a nap. We played, cleaned, and got ready for Sunday Lunch and Sabbath.

And that was our week!

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Big Family Food and Fun: June 29-July 5, 2025

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Here’s our Big Family Food and Fun: June 29-July 5, 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, June 28

Malorie’s grandparents were visiting from Texas that Saturday! It was wonderful to get to know them while they were here.

The kids were extra squirrely that afternoon and evening. We think this is because they were extremely tired from the weekend’s events at church which was super fun, but also kept them up later than normal two nights in a row. Typically, when we have guests in our home, our kids tone their behaviors down and “mask” – saving their more extreme behaviors for the safety of when our family is alone. Their tiredness made their masks come off, so even with Malorie’s grandparents visiting, our kids were very loud, screamy, tantrumy, and challenging. Phew.

We took all the kids outside to give Malorie, Elias, and the grandparents some quiet. Matt set up the Slip and Slide, and I cut up a watermelon.

For dinner that night, I made a bunch of Burgers and Brats with Baked Beans, Watermelon, Pickles, Strawberries, and Whipped Cream.

Dinner was loud. Malorie’s grandparents were very gracious.

Big Family Food and Fun: June 29-July 5, 2025

Sunday morning, we sent Malorie’s grandparents on their way back to Texas. I set out our traditional church day Breakfast Cookie Bars for everyone to eat while we got ready to go.

There was a special Family Worship morning that day and Acacia and Keith found themselves being loved on by Ms. Kathi during the service.

At the end of the service, the kids got to share one of the special songs that they had learned during the weekend’s Kids’ Experience. It was so sweet to watch them up on the stage singing and praising God.

For Sunday Lunch, we set out a big Burrito/Nacho Bar with Taco Meat, Salsa Chicken, and all variety of fixings. I made three different kinds of Ice Cream and friends brought Brownies to go with it.

There were 35 of us gathered that day to enjoy time together around our tables.

I usually make Frozen Pizza on Sunday nights, but I didn’t think our kids would eat pizza very well that night (there’s been extra pickiness going on this summer and I’m tired of food fights). So I tried the idea of making them a surprise Snack Tray Dinner to provide something fun and different. I made a bunch of Graham Cracker Peanut Butter Sandwiches then we added Blueberries, Grapes, Clementines, Pickles, Carrots, and GoGurt.

The kids loved this and ate very well – all eight of them!

After they were fed, we sent everyone to potty and put on shoes (this takes at least a half an hour) then headed out for a walk to Sunken Gardens.

The walk there and back was very good for our kids. They were tired from the weekend, and the walk was a positive way to calm them so that they went to bed well that night. Of course, I packed our much needed bag of apples for kids to munch on during our outing.

The kids slept very well that night, praise God!

Monday morning, Brayden and Auggie had doctor appointments for well-checks. So I made 15 scrambled eggs to use on slider rolls for Egg Sandwiches, then the boys and I headed out to the doctor. We were almost late because as we arrived at the clinic, we had to wait for these two-dozen pedestrians…

This boy has gotten taller!

Back at home, we finished putting together a picnic of Uncrustables, Apples, Applesauce, and Pistachios. Nothing fancy here. Mama was tired.

We loaded up and went to a nearby park. I forgot I was a blogger (ha!) and only took one picture the whole time we were there. Keith and Bonus Buddy had brought their skateboards and found a perfectly sloped sidewalk to ride down over and over.

We farmed out the kids for the afternoon and Matt and I had some blessed downtime. The girls got to have a sweet time at Ms. Kathi’s. And Ms. Kathi had an extra special visitor who had brought fun dress-up dresses to share!

That evening, three kids had ABA therapy. Kiya helped me make Breakfast Cookie Bars for the next two upcoming Sunday mornings.

Brayden helped me make a very simple dinner of Chicken Nuggets, Spinach, Grapes, and Watermelon. Dinnertime while all of the ABA therapists are here working with kids can be a bit extra hectic. So the simpler the food, the better.

Tuesday morning, we ate Granola with Yogurt and we got Auggie situation with his ABA technician. Then, I left with Acacia for her Speech Therapy.

When Acacia and I got home, we did some laundry then made an early (and slightly weird) lunch of leftover Taco Meat, Noodles, and leftover Corn. The kids ate a variety of combinations of these three options, topped with shredded cheese. It filled their bellies, and that was the goal of the morning.

I made a batch of Spinach Cupcakes, of which I forgot to add the eggs. Forgot the eggs? Apparently, I have very little baking experience and don’t know how to follow the directions on a box, gooooood grief.

We put Auggie down for a nap and handed the baby monitor to Elias. Then we got everyone else into their swim suits and headed to the Zoo to play in their water area.

Mid-water play, the (Eggless) Spinach Cupcakes came out. I figured this would be a great zoo snack since they were full of spinach. This was true, except that the lack of eggs made these very crumbly and we made a very big chocolate mess by this bench. All 18 cupcakes got eaten though. What a great way to eat salad!

Also, what a great way to take a shower!

We visited the giraffes and tigers while we dried off a little bit before heading home.

Brayden, Kiya, Keith, and I headed to our weekly Food Distribution to hand out food to the community and clean up afterward.

Back at home, Matt warmed up Burrito Casserole we’d put together Sunday after lunch. We rolled the mixture into tortillas for an easy dinner.

We’d picked up some Cinnamon Swirl Bread at the food distribution on Tuesday, so Wednesday morning I used it to make a bunch of French Toast for breakfast.

The three youngest kids had a WIC appointment that morning. We had several errands we needed to run to prep for a fast and furious weekend trip we were planning on taking. So we loaded up all eight kids to make a big outing of it. Matt hung with four kids in the WIC clinic while I took the other four with me into the appointment room.

We loaded back up and made several stops – including one to Aldi where I bought some fun splurges for our road trip.

We topped off the morning with a big lunch treat at Freddy’s. We’d been given 14 Free Kid’s Meal Coupons several weeks ago at our school’s Zoo Night. This day seemed like a good day to use them to reward the kids for hanging in there while we ran all of our errands.

Elias, Malorie, and Kermit met us there. This was fun and super special for the kids!! Because a restaurant is so rare for them and because they were very hungry – and because we had five adults for our eight kids – this outing ended up going pretty smoothly. But will we do this again any time soon? No way, thank you. :)

Back at our house, Eva and Arrow were waiting for us so that we could have our special Arrow afternoon! Look at this boy’s big-kid summer hair cut!! I can’t stop gushing at him.

While Arrow was napping, I organized the snacks and food I’d bought at Aldi for our trip.

Then I called in the kids a few at a time to help pack a sack for their Friday breakfast on the road.

Brayden made Tuna Salad for our dinner that night.

With our Tuna, we ate crackers or bread plus Strawberries, Boiled Eggs, and Pickles. Our three ABA kiddos had their therapy sessions that evening…

…and then we changed everyone into swim gear and headed to the Splash Park. Every Wednesday evening in July, our church is hosting Popsicles in the Park at the Splash Park. We’ll meet together then hand out popsicles to everyone.

A huge highlight of the night for all of us was being surprised by our friend who was recovering from a major surgery. We had no idea they’d be up for joining us all at the park, but there they were!!

Arrow tried the Splash Pad for the first time and loved it!

Thursday morning, I made a big skillet full of Sausage Cheese Eggs. We ate a good portion of it, and with leftovers, Matt made himself some Breakfast Burritos to eat while driving over the weekend.

Auggie had ABA therapy that morning. During one of his breaks, he and I played with a bowl of water outside in the shade.

For lunch, we made four boxes of Mac and Cheese with Peas.

We farmed out the kids with Eva, Elias/Malorie, and Ms. Kathi that afternoon since we’d be gone Friday. Asa was off work that day so he got to join the fun too! He and Eva took the Kiya and Anna to buy fireworks, and Elias and Malorie did the same with the boys. Everyone had THE BEST AFTERNOON EVER!!!

Later in the afternoon once everyone was home, I called the kids in to pack their lunches for our Friday trip. Our drive would only be six hours, but we needed to be very structured about these hours to hopefully make the ride go as smoothly as possible. We had a schedule of when we would eat meals or snacks, when we would draw or read, when we would play with new special hand-held fidgets/games, and the most exciting of all – when we would get to use our tablets. The kids struggle if they have too much screen time. So tablets only come out when we go on a road trip. Matt spent a good part of this week getting these set up and ready.

We had invested in new Uncrustable makers, and the kids had fun making their own special sandwiches to go in their Friday sack lunches.

I couldn’t resist taking this sweet picture of Auggie when I went in to wake him after his nap that afternoon.

We ate leftovers for dinner that night, then it was time to do the majority of the fireworks the boys had picked up that afternoon. This made for an hour and a half of extreme excitement (and a lot of adults saying, “back up!” over and over).

Sweet Josie. She is not a fan of fire, sparks, loud noises, or basically anything that goes along with this holiday. Bless.

We left Friday morning and didn’t get home until late Saturday. So I’ll share about our trip next week!

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Big Family Food and Fun: June 22-28, 2025

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Here’s our Big Family Food and Fun: June 22-28, 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, June 21

We’d had a big emotional morning that Saturday. So that afternoon, we just played outside in the little pool and on the slip-and-slide. We ate popsicles. We ate dinner outside.

Our meal was simple, but a favorite: Orange Chicken. I had leftover Green Beans in the fridge so we finished those off. We went inside for bath time and to clean up the house a bit before we watched a show and headed to bed.

Big Family Food and Fun: June 22-28, 2025

Sunday morning we enjoyed our traditional Breakfast Cookie Bars as we got ready for church.

Look at these matchy-matchy girls! I’d seen these dresses at Wal-Mart and knew the girls would love them, but didn’t want to spend $15 on them. I watched them go on clearance later for $7, but still decided not to buy them. A few days later, Kelsey happened upon them when she was shopping (not knowing I’d looked at them already). They were marked down to $1.00!! So she Facetimed to see, “Did I want some??”

Did I want some?! YES. In every size and in every color multiplied by four girls, please.

The girls were very happy to be matchy and twirly that Sunday. Here they are, heading off to Bible class…

After worship, our church family lined up to fill 75 sack lunches to hand out on Monday as we had committed to feeding a struggling community in our area. We partner with Atlas to do this and we are so grateful to be a part of this together.

It was sweet to capture this moment with the girls huddled around Eva and Arrow.

Back at our house after church, our Sunday Lunch crew put together 75 sandwiches and 75 bags of sweet peppers to go into the lunch bags for Atlas.

Then we cleared the countertops and made way for a big Baked Potato Bar to share together.

I was busier than normal that day since we were making all those sack lunches, so I didn’t get as many group photos. But I tried to walk around while people were fixing plates or eating to grab a few.

There were 33 of us gathered to share a meal that day.

Matt and I sent our kids downstairs to watch a movie that afternoon while we enjoyed time with our Community Group. For dinner, I made Frozen Pizza – only three because all of the grown-up kids in the household had other plans for the night.

Monday morning, I served a big bowl of Vanilla Pudding that I’d made the night before and chilled overnight. I’d added extra eggs to make it extra rich and nourishing for breakfast.

Auggie had ABA therapy all morning, and the other kids took turns having some extra behavior struggles. It felt like an intense morning. But we also got some laundry done and had some fun moments of play too.

Mid-morning, I put together sandwiches for all the kids to eat at noon when we went to deliver the Atlas lunches.

Our friend Becky came at 11:15 and helped us add a cheese stick to each of 75 sack lunches.

Then we loaded all the totes of food into her car so she could get them to Atlas on time.

We loaded up our kids and our sandwiches to head over to Atlas House in time to help hand out sack lunches to the people who lived in that area.

After we finished this great time of service, Kiya and Anna went home with Kelsey, the boys spent the afternoon with Elias, and Acacia and Josie went to Ms. Kathi’s. Matt and I put Auggie down for a nap then sat at our table together eating our lunch in the quiet, catching up on conversation we needed to have. Kelsey sent me some fun photos of her time with the girls.

Kiya was so excited to finish the sewing project she’d started!

That afternoon/evening was EXTRA BIG because we began ABA therapy for Keith and Anna. ABA therapy is for kids with autism, providing them with one-on-one support that is specific for their individual needs. We’ve been at a loss as to how to help Keith and Anna with some of their big, challenging behaviors. So this has been very welcome. (Auggie started his ABA therapy a few months ago, so we have been getting used to how it all works.)

Monday afternoon, all of our kids’ behavior technicians started to show up along with the therapist who is in charge of creating and executing their programs. I didn’t get pictures of the entire “event” for privacy sake and also because THERE WERE THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE EVERYWHERE IN MY HOUSE.

I exaggerate.

But still. Basically, the night was spent helping Keith and Anna become acquainted with their “special person” while simultaneously helping their new technicians become acquainted with our household and our kids’ needs. Can you imagine being one of our ABA Behavior Techs?? Bless their hearts. :) :) :) I’m very sure the therapist gave them some heads up about how many kids we have and some details about our family situation. But nothing can really prepare a person for what it’s really like to be here.

Kids are everywhere. Adults keep popping up out of no where. Then more kids. Then more adults. Also, we needed to eat dinner. :/

Kelsey had brought the girls home after their time at her house and she stuck around to help with the biggness of the night. I turned dinner over to Brayden, who warmed up leftover Chili and cooked 24 Hotdogs.

Acacia and Josie entertained Little Sweetheart.

Matt hung out with Auggie until his ABA technician arrived to take over with his care and training.

We set out cut fruit and peppers to eat with our Chili Dogs. Somehow we got everyone fed that night.

Kelsey took all the non-ABA kiddos on a walk to Sunken Gardens.

To add to the craziness of the night, it started to rain while everyone was outside. Kids were already wet, so we decided to let them dance in the rain and live it up.

Tuesday morning, I made a double recipe of Chocolate Chocolate Chip Muffins, per Josie’s birthday breakfast request. I also scrambled some Cheesy Eggs and made some Sausage Links to go with the muffins.

While the oven was on after baking the muffins, I made a huge pan of Fudge Brownies for Josie’s birthday dessert later that night.

We packed up a picnic lunch and headed to the zoo for the rest of the morning.

It was slightly rainy, but we decided not to let that mess with our plans.

We spent the first hour at the zoo indoors, waiting for the rain to stop. It was fun to watch the worker clean the birds’ cages!

When it stopped raining, we played on an outdoor Climbing Elephant, then found a good table by the train to enjoy our lunch. We had apples, peanut butter crackers, fruit cups, guacamole and chips, hard salami, and coconut rolls. Oh, and a visit from a Peacock. We finished almost every bite of food that I packed.

We’d promised the kids that we would spend time in the Butterfly Pavilion, so we headed there after lunch. On our way, we chatted with the Flamingos. They are practically family by now. ;)

It’s almost impossible to go into the Butterfly Pavilion without first taking a picture on the enormous caterpillar. These faces are screaming, “Happy Birthday, Josie!” per their mama’s request.

Ah, the butterflies. They weren’t super friendly that day so only two of us caught one. This was “not fair” and very disappointing according to those who didn’t catch a butterfly.

That afternoon, I looked through my Azure Standard favorites to put in an order since the deadline was coming up. I was getting low on our Whole Wheat Pastry Flour and needed to stock up! While I was at it, I updated this post to share more specifics about what I like to buy from Azure.

I took Brayden, Kiya, and Keith to our weekly Food Distribution. Well over 100 people came through the line to get food that day!

Back at home, Elias and Malorie had helped finish putting together Josie’s birthday dinner. Josie had requested Mac and Cheese, so Elias made seven boxes. :) Malorie and Josie worked together (though both told me later that Josie did it ALL by herself) to make three bags of Caesar Salad. I’d warmed up Beef Smoked Sausage and Meatballs to serve also.

We only had one hour together because a sweet friend of ours was getting baptized and we wanted to go celebrate this with him! So we ate quickly, then moved on to Birthday Brownies. Bless Josie, she wanted a brownie, but she was NOT interested in candles or being the center of attention while everyone singing to her. Note to self: next year, just skip that part and serve the dessert. This is Josie’s birthday wish.

Thankfully, she was ok with everyone watching while she opened her gifts. This little girl loves dresses! So this is what she got for her birthday!

Right after that, we all loaded up and headed to church to be a part of our friend Sam’s special night. It was a beautiful time with church family.

Sam is going to be a senior in high school, and he and Keith have become sweet buddies. Sam cried when he saw that Keith had come to celebrate his baptism. What a special night!

Wednesday morning, I was very happy that we didn’t have any plans (except for Auggie’s ABA session all morning). Every room of our house felt messy and I wanted to regroup. So we spent the morning picking up toys, sweeping various rooms, doing lots of dishes, wiping down counters and tables, and then of course, playing outside.

I don’t remember what we had for breakfast (no picture, no memory, ha). For lunch, we had a few tidbits of this and that to finish off from the fridge – pizza, fish sticks, chicken bites, pickles, cantaloupe, and strawberries.

By that afternoon, the kids were beginning to show signs of needing more structure. So we set up the pool and had popsicles. Arrow was hanging with us, so we set him up in our little pool (that leaks, but it worked for a while anyway). He kicked and splashed and had a lovely time. The other kids had more fun watching him play than actually playing themselves. :)

Later, Auntie Josie took Arrow on a stroll in our back parking area.

I had cooked 5-pounds of hamburger meat to make Taco Meat for our upcoming Sunday Lunch. So I got that packaged up to put away.

Meanwhile, I made an additional 2-pounds of Taco Meat for our dinner that night. I warmed up Black Beans plus got out Cheese, Salsa, Spinach, Chips, Shells, and Tortillas for a simple Taco Bar.

I had slow cooked Salsa Chicken for a few hours that day – also for Sunday Lunch. So that evening I got it shredded and put away.

That evening, Keith, Anna, and Auggie all had three-hour ABA therapy sessions. This night felt much more calm compared to Monday’s night’s initial session when we were introducing everyone and showing the new technicians the layout of our home and family life. While those kids were occupied, Kiya and Acacia used sour cream and yogurt containers to make drums.

As we got ready for bed that night, Auggie found a dress-up hat and surprised us all by running through the hall with it.

I had some Banana Muffins in the freezer, so we ate those for breakfast on Thursday morning with some Yogurt.

Meanwhile, I baked a pan of Egg Casserole to take to the park for a brunch-type picnic. I haven’t done this before. But had some other fun breakfast-y items that I wanted to surprise the kids with, so I experimented to see if I could transport and serve this at a picnic table. (I covered it and slid it into an insulated bag, and it was still piping hot at lunchtime!)

Justus met us at the park and took Brayden with him to give him some special one-on-one time. They went to a music store to play instruments together for about an hour.

Keith and Bonus Buddy spent over two hours on their skateboards at this park. They had the time of their lives!

I’ve learned to pack a bag of apples to take on many of our outings. The crunch and the time it takes to eat an apple seems to calm our kids’ nervous systems in ways they all need so frequently. Apples to the rescue.

At lunchtime, we ate all but three pieces of that Egg Casserole! We also ate Carrots and Fruit Cups. After everyone ate well, we let them have their own package of Little Bites – a treat we’d been blessed with at Food Distribution that week.

That afternoon, Josie got to go on an “adventure” with Elias and Malorie. This has become their birthday gift to each kid – to take them out to do something simple and special. Josie got a sweet drink to enjoy while walking through Target. She’d been looking forward to this for weeks and it did not disappoint!

We had a very early dinner that night of Quesadillas with Spinach plus leftover Sausages on the side.

Then we loaded up and headed to Heartlands for the first night of their awesome Kids’ Experience event!

We had left Auggie behind with Elias and Malorie so that he could have his evening ABA session. So what did Matt and I do WITHOUT ANY KIDS?!?! We took advantage of a gift card we’d been holding onto for over a year and we had ourselves a date!

Friday morning, Auggie had ABA therapy all morning so we stuck around home to play and get work done. Around 11:00, everyone was hot and hungry so I made Smoothies for the kids.

Earlier that morning, I’d stirred Cheeseburger Casserole into a crockpot to cook and be ready for lunch. This doesn’t look super pretty, but it tastes great and most of the kids ate it well.

The kids spent the afternoon with their special Monday/Friday people. Kiya and Anna got to make Popsicles, play games, and help with the garden, yard, and recycling at Asa and Eva’s. Then they went to the library with Eva! Brayden, Keith, and Bonus Buddy took some donations to Goodwill with Elias, Malachi, and Malorie, then played football in the yard and a video game in the basement (a huge, exciting privilege for them). Acacia and Josie got to play at Ms. Kathi’s, and they always have great adventures there!

Matt and I put Auggie down for a nap and had some quiet time just for us. After Matt left to pick up the girls, Auggie and I made Snickerdoodle Bites to have on hand for snacks.

The kids had another night ahead of them at Heartlands for their Kids’ Experience. So we fed them a dinner of Sandwiches, Oranges, Carrots, and Pickles before we loaded up and headed out.

After we dropped the seven kids at church, Matt, Auggie, and I went to spend some time with an older couple that lives near the church and is unable to get out very often. It was a lovely visit and we pray that they were encouraged. We know that we were.

From there, we went to stock up groceries at Sam’s. Two carts and lots of snacks for Auggie later, we packed everything in coolers with ice packs in the back of the van.

Our kids are not used to being up past 9:00, so two nights in a row of this made for some tired kids. Did that stop Anna from getting up at 6:00 on Saturday morning? No, it did not. Oy.

We dropped our seven back at Heartlands at 9:00am for their final morning at Kids’ Experience. From there we grabbed Little Sweetheart and headed over to hang out at a friends’ house whose kids were also at Heartlands for the morning. We had a great visit with them, and even got to hang out with their turtle for a while. :)

Back at Heartlands, there was a Pizza Lunch to celebrate the end of the kids’ great weekend together.

I’d been making batches of Ice Cream to serve for our upcoming Sunday lunch. That afternoon I made batch number three. :)

Malorie’s grandparents came that afternoon to spend time with her and to stay the night with us. It was wonderful to get to know them!

I got about thirty interruptions from our kids while trying to proof-read this post so I finally gave up and I’m guessing this one is a bit messy! But… I’ll share more about our Saturday evening next week!

 

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Big Family Food and Fun: June1-7, 2025

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Here’s our Big Family Food and Fun: June1-7, 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 31

We spent the entire afternoon playing in a blow-up pool someone had given us.

We were happily surprised by how long this kept the kids entertained. Late in the afternoon, some of the kids were excited to help me shuck corn for dinner.

As the corn cooked, I cut up a watermelon for hungry kids who’d been playing in water for hours. I had accidentally bought a seeded watermelon, and we were concerned that the kids might not like this. So we decided to make a big deal of teaching the kids how to spit watermelon seeds! This worked, plus they were starving, plus the watermelon was a very good one. Therefore, we ate almost an entire watermelon in thirty minutes. :)

Upon finished their watermelon “snack,” they were still hungry. So I started fixing plates of leftover Steak, Corn on the Cob, Green Beans, plus a tiny bit of leftover Mac and Cheese. We had to finish the day off with Peanut Butter Honey Sandwiches because I couldn’t get on top of hunger that day. The hot topic right now between all of my mom-friends with little kids: “How are we going to keep these kids fed this summer??” Yup.

Big Family Food and Fun: June1-7, 2025

I had realized Saturday afternoon that I didn’t have any Breakfast Cookie Bars in the freezer, so I quickly made a double batch. I cut and froze half for next Sunday, then left the rest in the pan for this Sunday morning.

We had a big, wonderful crowd join us at our house for lunch after church that day. Five extra families, 40 people all together, and a house full of conversation and fun. Girls did nails and played with dolls. Look at Little Sweetheart down there playing like a big girl!!! :) :) :)

Kids ran in and out playing in our yard, parents visited – this is all a dream for me, seeing so many gathered in our home.

I had baked two huge Lasagnas (this recipe x6). Everyone who came brought salads, bread, fruit, or desserts.

Here’s the dessert section of our kitchen that day. I pulled Monster Cookies from our freezer. Friends brought delicious Lemon Bread (with glaze!) and a Texas Sheet Cake. I enjoyed a small piece of each, the cake and the bread, with my coffee that afternoon and they were perfect. :)

Asa and Eva weren’t feeling well so they couldn’t join us that day. So I packaged up some Lasagna and sides/desserts to send over to them (Justus and Kelsey live very close to them and were able to drop it off). That left two servings of Lasagna in the second pan after we’d all had our fill. Then, when members of our Community Group showed up at 2:00, they finished it off. BLISS. I love it when food disappears and is enjoyed by so many!

We ate leftovers that night, then took the kids on a walk to Sunken Gardens, which is about six blocks from our house.

While we were there, I happened to look up and see that there was a young man proposing to his girl. :) It was so sweet and I felt like an intruder to watch their special moment. But then, at the risk of being a creeper,  I decided to sneak some pictures of the proposal for them, in case they would enjoy that. Later, I made my way back to them to congratulate them and tell them that I had taken pictures of their special moment. They were THRILLED!! I took a few more “couple shots” for them as if I was a special engagement photographer, ha, and sent them all to the young man’s phone. It was a cool part of our evening. :)

I’ll respect their privacy and not show you their photos, but instead, I’ll show you more of our kids!

Monday morning, we had French Toast and Bacon for breakfast.

Josie helped me make Tuna Salad and Chicken Salad to put into the fridge and pull out for dinner later.

Auggie had ABA therapy that morning while we kept all the others busy playing. We had a simple lunch of Chicken Nuggets, Pickles, and Clementines.

We “farmed the kids out” that afternoon with loved ones so that Matt and I could have some breathing room (our plan for Monday and Friday afternoons this summer).

Then for dinner we pulled out the Tuna Salad and Chicken Salad we’d made earlier. Plus I made a blender full of Smoothie for the kids.

We’d learned of a fun Art on the Bus event just a few blocks away, so after dinner we all headed over, meeting our neighbor John on the way for a fun convo about his flowers.

Alas, the Art on the Bus event had been postponed, but it was still a nice walk that evening. Back at home, the kids ate lots of Bananas and Clementines while they played and before we headed into get ready for bed.

Tuesday morning, Auggie had Speech Therapy. This kid has been working so hard and has made such good progress that we turned in his AAC device that day! When we ordered it just a few months ago, he was hardly talking and we didn’t know if he had the capacity to communicate. Then – the kid exploded with words, praise God!

His therapist anticipates that he’ll continue to meet goals and be able to take a break from Speech Therapy soon(ish).

On Tuesdays this summer, Matt and I have planned to go to the zoo after Speech. But this Tuesday, it was pouring down rain all day long. So we looked online for alternative ideas and found that a library close by was hosting a Music Exploration event. We loaded up our selves and our umbrellas and we headed over! We got to play so many cool instruments that morning, making it well worth going out in the rain! Plus the outing for the kids was very good since we’d been cooped up so much.

For lunch, I made a quick meal of this Nacho Plate recipe. The kids devoured it!

It was still raining, so we did some Summer School at Home during the afternoon followed by watching a animal learning show Matt had found on Disney+.

We read some more also – gotta log those reading minutes so we earn prizes at the library!

I took Brayden, Kiya, Keith, and Acacia to our weekly Food Distribution. Acacia felt so grown up getting to be a part of it this time!

I had discovered a Chicken and Rice Casserole in our freezer, so that baked at home on low while we were gone. Matt pulled it out at dinner time plus steamed Peas and Corn for our meal.

Wednesday was a big day at our house. We had company to get ready for, a big day on Sunday to prep for, and the biggest need: our Bonus Buddy was coming that evening to settle in with us for a few weeks.

One of my goals that day was to make food Bonus Buddy liked (he’s very picky, but then again, so are most of our other kids). I also really wanted to get ahead for Sunday Lunch because we were planning to host a bigger than usual crowd that day. So first thing, I marinated about 65 Chicken Thighs to smoke later in the day.

Acacia and Josie helped me make a batch of Chocolate Banana Blender Muffins, which we made into 48 Mini Muffins.

As you can see, these muffins were a hit right out of the oven.

Between cooking and baking, I spent a good part of the morning creating new spaces for Keith and Bonus Buddy in the boys’ room. These two are best friends, which is both super great and super challenging, especially at bedtime. So we have to be strategic with sleeping arrangements. Auggie was excited to discover Keith’s “new bed.”

We had ABA and some zoom therapy appointments that morning, then ate our lunch outside, finishing off the leftover Tuna Salad and Chicken Salad from Monday.

Matt had been working on some projects outside that included eye and ear protection. So afterward, the kids felt that they definitely also needed ear protection while they played in the yard. :) :) :)

Eva arrived with Arrow and the kids swarmed her because they were so excited!

After naptime, Auggie and Arrow shared a snack and lively conversation.

Throughout the afternoon, I smoked two rounds of chicken to have ready for Sunday. I also brewed several pots of coffee so that we could serve cold coffee to our guests.

Bonus Buddy really likes Mac and Cheese, so I made that for dinner to help positively settle him in. All of our kids like Mac and Cheese, actually, so that’s one meal I can make that all the kids will eat well. Most of the kids eat their mac and cheese with frozen peas stirred in, so that’s a bonus. I fried up some ham to give us protein also.

After dinner, we walked a few blocks from our house to enjoy our city’s Art Bus! (Monday’s event had been postponed to Wednesday.)

This is a free opportunity each week for people to come create art – all we have to do is show up. Today there were easels with canvases, paint and brushes, and aprons to protect clothing. The kids had so much fun with this!

Kelsey and Little Sweetheart had joined us at dinnertime and for our Art Bus experience. There was even pizza to enjoy painting!

On Thursday, we had a chill morning at home, getting a room ready for a house guest and prepping for a family meal that night. It was cool outside, therefore a good day for baking. So Auggie helped me make a batch of Chocolate Spinach Cupcakes. We do whatever we can do to get greens into these kids!!!

That night we had the amazing privilege of hosting a dear friend from our big boys’ growing up years. John grew up a few blocks away from our house in York and our home was his second home. He lives in Australia now, and he was in Lincoln for a wedding, staying with us during the days he was here. He arrived at our house that afternoon, and we invited all of our adult kids to have dinner with him and visit.

Elias and Malorie got back from their 2-weeks in Texas just about the time John arrived! Since our entire family was able to be together and because we’d missed celebrating Malorie’s birthday with her, we doubled this dinner as her birthday dinner.

She requested Cheesy Potatoes and any meat, because Cheesy Potatoes are her favorite. I made Burgers and Brats plus Caesar Salad.

Her birthday dessert request was Strawberries with Whipped Cream. I set out the Spinach Cupcakes Auggie had helped me make earlier to go with the berries and cream for those who wanted it.

The night was loud and lovely.

Ever tried putting a birthday candle into a dollop of whipped cream? It works!

Friday morning, some of our kids had a very emotional zoom meeting that we’d spent two weeks prepping for, crying about, praying through, and processing. Their therapist was awesome and came to our house to facilitate the call and support the kids through it. Many of our adult kids came to stay with the other littles so that Matt and I could be fully focused on the hard needs of the morning. The others were praying us through it. The two weeks leading up to this had been intensely difficult.

And we got through it. God is faithful.

Matt and I had decided to take a trip to the Zoo after the meeting so that we could move forward with something fun after we processed with the therapist. Kelsey, Little Sweetheart, and our friend John went to the zoo with us, making it extra fun.

The otter was super cool to watch that day.

The flamingos were acting in a way we’d never seen before. Fascinating!

And the peacock was amazing, though he refused to turn around to pose for a picture.

We had a good ol’ picnic lunch of sandwiches, chips, carrots, fruit cups, and cheese sticks.

Auggie decided that John was his newest great buddy. It was so sweet.

We farmed the kids out that afternoon to various places during Auggie’s nap: the boys with Elias and Malorie, Kiya and Anna with Kelsey, and Acacia and Josie to Ms. Kathi. Matt and I had time together to process the week and the kids’ needs as we keep trekking through.

We ate leftovers for dinner that night and I worked on packing up food for Saturday. We had big plans to go to Nebraska City to a Donut Festival!

I prepped a cooler full of Drinks plus Meat, Cheese, Crackers, Cucumbers, Apples, Clementines, Almonds, Trail Mix, Chips, Salsa, Avocado, Applesauce, Granola Bars, Veggie Straws, and Dried Apples to take with us.

Saturday I hoped to get home from the Donut Festival and share about all the fun, but nope. The kids had big needs and the afternoon/evening was spent going from one need to the next. So I’ll share our Donut Festival fun next week!

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Big Family Food and Fun: May 25-31, 2025

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Here’s our Big Family Food and Fun: May 25-31, 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 24

That Saturday, we drove to York to enjoy the wedding of one of our sweetest friends. It was such a wonderful day seeing so many people we love and having the chance to visit and catch up!

I tried to capture a picture of all of the kids walking back to the van later that afternoon, but somehow I missed Josie? We are always counting heads to make sure we have all seven kids in tow. ;) No worries, she did make it back to Lincoln with us.

We played outside all evening after we got home, and simply warmed up leftovers to clean out the fridge at dinner time.

Big Family Food and Fun: May 25-31, 2025

We ate a plate of Breakfast Cookie Bars on Sunday morning while we got ready for church. And oh look, there’s my “salad in a glass” that I drank that morning.

After church that morning, Mandy, our children’s minister gathered lots of helpers to load food into the back of our van. We had big plans, as a church family, to host a Memorial Day cookout at Atlas House, which is a ministry located close to our house. Many, many people had signed up to provide the food and it had been collected in the church kitchen. Matt pulled our van up to the door and lots of eager kids helped load it in for us. Look at how Auggie even wanted to be a part of the group of helpers!

When we got back to our house, all of our Sunday Lunch crew helped unload the Atlas House meal groceries into our extra fridge so that we could hold onto it and take it to Atlas the next day. Teamwork is the best. :)

Meanwhile in the kitchen, other friends were pulling out and setting up our big BLT lunch buffet! I had baked lots and lots of Bacon in preparation for this, plus we got out turkey and cheese, condiments, and lots of varieties of bread (which were on a different counter and I didn’t capture in any pictures). Friends brought chips, pasta salads, and oranges, plus we had watermelon. It was such a tasty lunch! (The bacon was in the foil pan you see below – and I had two pans full.)

Friends brought all these desserts to share, plus Gelato!

There were 27 of us gathered that day – such precious fellowship.

I loved catching our friend Steve visiting with Malachi. :)

As our Sunday Lunch crew left, our Community Group friends arrived. Before heading in our living room for Bible study, we found ourselves standing around in the kitchen with cups of coffee and cookies/brownies. I couldn’t get a picture of everyone in one frame, but I loved this scene.

This Sunday felt extra special to me because we’d just been with our York church family the day before at the wedding, and now spent hours with our Lincoln church family. We are so richly blessed with precious community of believers.

After Community Group, all the girls wanted to paint their nails.

That evening, we got to Facetime with Elias and Malorie who were in Texas. I baked our traditional Sunday Night Frozen Pizza.

Then just before bed, Daddy and Auggie decided to make Popcorn. :)

Monday morning, I made a big pan of Chewy Granola Bars for snacks.

We ate Yogurt with Granola or Breakfast Sandwiches. Kiya helped me make some Uncrustables for a to-go lunch. We were planning to leave mid-morning to head over to the Atlas House with all the food from church to get started on the lunch we were serving there.

I prepped the tomatoes, lettuce, and a veggie tray needed for the Atlas Lunch.

Somewhere in there, Brayden noticed that the kitchen ceiling was leaking. UGH.

Matt had to dig into the ceiling to find the root of it and solve the problem. We didn’t have time for this mess that morning, but is there ever really a good time??

Since Matt was a little extra busy tearing apart our kitchen ceiling, some friends came and helped us get all the cold food over to Atlas – plus Malachi drove our van over with the buns, chips, cookies, and condiments.

Meanwhile in the living room… Since we’d just been to a wedding over the weekend, it was fresh on the kids’ minds. They set up a wedding, and even had a sign-in table. :) :) :)

At 11:30, we all headed over to meet our church family at Atlas house. The lunch prep was well underway, thanks to so many dear ones who were working hard to serve. I don’t know how many people went through the food line, but there were a lot and it was awesome to see so many in the community receive a meal.

That afternoon back at home, the kids enjoyed time with friends who came over to play while Matt worked on the kitchen ceiling some more. He found the source of the leak so now he can work on the repair.

I had found some organic chicken marked down at Sam’s a few weeks prior and it had slow cooked all day in a crock pot. So for dinner that night, I boiled a pound of noodles to go with it, opened a jar of Alfredo sauce, and got out some greens. It was simple but tasty.

Tuesday morning, the kids finished off the pan of Granola Bars plus ate two pounds of strawberries.

I took Auggie to Speech Therapy.

Then for the rest of the day, Matt and I worked to keep kids entertained and busy. It was yet another rainy day (so thankful for the rain! but these kids have been cooped up too much!). I had a package of frozen pie crust in our freezer so we turned it into Poptarts for Wednesday’s breakfast.

Matt helped Keith rig up a zip line from our second floor down to our main floor and the kids spent quite a while sending an action figure down the line. :)

Our meals that day were fun and different. Malachi had gone to a friend’s graduation party over the weekend. After the party, the friend’s mom sent home leftover party food home with Malachi. It’s sweet how everyone thinks of us in this way, knowing that we have a lot of mouths to feed and food won’t go to waste at our house! So lunch on Tuesday was a big pan of Party Meatballs with sauce. I sliced up several pears to go with our meal.

We have joined our library’s Summer Reading Challenge and all the kids are anxious to log reading hours. So we piled on the couch after lunch to read Farmer Boy. Brayden and Keith were listening too, but Keith was also busy “cleaning” the living room with wet wipes. Ha, whatever keeps him busy. :)

An outing was needed, but Auggie was napping that afternoon. So Matt stayed home with Brayden, Kiya, and Keith doing “big kid things” while I took the three little girls to the Zoo to play in the indoor play area. This was much needed and very good!

That afternoon, I took Brayden, Kiya, Keith, and Anna to hand out food and clean up at our weekly Food Distribution. Here’s a shot of the room all set up with food to give away before clients started to come through the line. There are usually around 100 people that come through to get food.

Back at home, our dinner was more Party Food that Malachi had brought home: Chips and Dip with fruit.

Wednesday morning, I finally finished putting together Pocket Folders for all of the kids to use during our Summer School at Home. Keith and Anna were excited and insisted on starting in right away. I didn’t argue.

Acacia and Josie had an appointment that morning, and afterward, we ran to Aldi to pick up what we needed there.

Later in the day, I baked a pan of this rice then stirred it into the rest of the pan of Cheese Dip Malachi had brought home from the party he’d been to.

I turned the mixture into 28 Burritos for our freezer. I love having these on hand!

I made a pan of Peanut Butter Honey Rice Krispie Bars for snacks and breakfast.

For dinner, we ate Sloppy Joes, Peas, and Grapes.

Just before we ate, friends texted to share that some of our mutual church friends were going to be playing/singing at a nearby park. Matt and I rearranged our evening so that we could go. Did it start raining just as we were heading out? Yes. But did we decide to go anyway? Also yes.

We all got wet – especially the kids. But it was such a fun night! The band invited everyone to join them under the pavilion to take part in make music together. They had a huge variety of shakers, bells, tambourines, triangles, maracas, and more – and we could all help ourselves to the fun.

I went with Kiya, who was too shy to go by herself. Then eventually, all the kids finally came to join in.

The rain didn’t stop all evening, but that didn’t stop the kids. They had a blast. We headed straight down to our laundry room when we got home, and turned everyone’s clothes into a full, wet pile of laundry while they changed into dry jammies for bed.

Thursday morning, some of the kids weren’t feeling well. (We’d had some extra emotional situations come to the surface this week and by Thursday, it was affecting the kids physically. God be near.) Matt stayed home with some while I took others to meet Eva and Arrow at a cool church/coffee shop/play area in town.

We got to enjoy the outdoor playground also, which was a bonus. And we had the place to ourselves because of the time frame we happened to be there.

Back at home that afternoon, the girls sat at the counter doing their Summer School at Home folders, rewarded by a popsicle – while I made several huge Lasagnas for our upcoming Sunday Lunch.

Dinner that night was very simple: Mac and Cheese with Ham and Peas.

Then we headed to a fun Party in the Park hosted by a local church. There was face painting and bounce houses, which the kids all enjoyed very much!

I got this fun photo and text from Eva telling me that Arrow was really enjoying Lolli’s Chicken Casserole. So sweet!!

Kelsey had been sending me fun photos of Little Sweetheart as they were out of state visiting family and seeing some awesome sites.

Friday morning, we packed all of our bikes plus Chicken Sandwiches, Carrots, Applesauce, Grapes, and Coconut Rolls and headed to our favorite park with a perfect bike trail for kids. We spent most of the morning there, getting lots of sunshine and exercise.

From there, we drove around dropping kids off at three different places for the afternoon. Matt and I recognized that last summer we didn’t have any kid-free breaks, which wasn’t good for us. So this summer, we have made arrangements to “farm them out” during Auggie’s naptime on Monday and Friday afternoons so that Matt and I can have some breathing time.

When we dropped Kiya and Anna off at Eva’s, Malachi met us there to grab Brayden and Keith to take them back to his office. They were all so excited about this! Apparently, the guys had plans to “make a video with Malachi.” I’m not sure how productive they were with this. ;)

Kiya and Anna got to go to a brand new park with Eva and Arrow and spent a lot of time spinning. Back at home while Auggie napped? Matt and I sat outside with coffee and had long conversation while we relaxed. It was wonderful. :)

I grilled Steaks for dinner that night, and my Helper of the Day, Acacia, made a Salad. I sliced Pears and air fried some French Fries and it was a simple but tasty dinner.

Saturday morning, we attempted something I’ve been wanting to do for a very long time (and featured in the Picnic in a Hat ebook in our Summer School at Home curriculum). Every kid got to draw a slip of paper with a picnic lunch category on it (like “fruit,” “protein,” “drinks,” etc). Then we went into Trader Joe’s and each kid got to pick an item to buy that matched the category on their paper.

Why Trader Joe’s? Because we never shop there. (It’s such a fun store, but it isn’t practical for our family.) Also, we received some summer EBT cards in the mail that we weren’t expecting. So we used part of one of the cards to splurge on this fun purchase!

How did our experience go? Well, we won’t do it often, but it was worth the effort this time. Some of our kids’ autism-brains had a very hard time understanding the task, and we had at least three loud meltdowns. This isn’t their fault and they do need to learn how to handle being in a store. But we choose to do things like this infrequently. :)

We put the food we bought into a cooler bag with ice packs, then tried out a new-to-us Library Story Time. (The one we typically go to wasn’t in session that morning.) It was well done, but we learned that this particular setting is not ideal for our crew. The Sensory Friendly Story-Time we usually go to meets our special needs much better. Still, I’m glad we tried this one out!

From the library, we headed a block away to a park we’d been introduced to a few weeks ago. We thought we’d eat our picnic, then play on the playground. Alas, the playground floor was under construction and it was all off limits.

No worries, we enjoyed our picnic and ran around on the tennis courts for a while before heading home. Our Trader Joe’s picnic ended up being Brie Cheese with Crackers, Chomps Meat Sticks, Raspberries, Blueberries, Strawberry Cereal Bars, Chips, Apple Juice, and Sparkling Water.

Back at home, it was finally hot enough to air up and fill up the pool someone had given us a few weeks ago. FUN!

After that, I turned off my computer and we headed into our time of Sabbath rest. And that was our week!

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Big Family Food and Fun: May 18-24, 2025

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Here’s our Big Family Food and Fun: May 18-24, 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 17

Saturday afternoon, I made a double batch of Lemon Muffins. Correction: I TRIED to make a double batch of Lemon Muffins. You guys. How many muffins have I made in my lifetime? We have no idea. SO many muffins. And yet, these turned out super weird and I couldn’t figure out why.

Ah. Come to find out, I had completely forgotten to add salt and baking powder. No baking powder means no fluff. We tried to like them, but we just didn’t. Boo.

For dinner that night, we simply warmed up leftover Skillet Taco Pasta and ate it with fruit. We were all pretty worn out after Keith’s big track meet day and our day in Omaha the day before that. Bedtime felt good that night.

Big Family Food and Fun: May 18-24, 2025

Sunday morning, we enjoyed a plate of Breakfast Cookie Bars as we got ready for church.

Sunday’s lunch was an amazing Salad Bar! I provided three different kinds of greens plus Grilled Chicken and a few other salad fixings. Everyone else who joined us brought salad fixings (or a dessert) and it was incredible! I asked Elias to take a picture of our spread of food, and he caught me in it too. :)

Ah, then I caught him back (at the back). :)

Our salad bar included spring mix, iceberg lettuce, and spinach, Colby jack and feta cheese, Grilled Chicken, sweet peppers, tomatoes, pumpkin seeds, craisins, salad crisps, and a variety of dressings. Our friend, Cindy, made a tasty Cucumber Salad, plus I set out a couple bowls of crackers and some rolls.

There were 27 of us that day enjoying our meal, but I didn’t get any great pictures of all of us together.

We air fried our dinner that night. :) Chicken and Tator Tots from the freezer, plus pineapple, watermelon, and strawberries.

On Monday morning, I scrambled a dozen Eggs. We ate the eggs with a super tasty Coffee Cake a friend had given us.

That afternoon, Keith received an award at school so I got to go watch him receive it.

Dinner that night was Egg Casserole and Pancakes with Strawberries. Everyone ate this meal extremely well. I think Auggie had fifths – a record for him!

ABA therapy was canceled that night, so we took advantage of the free schedule to go play at a nearby park.

Tuesday morning, we ate Breakfast Sandwiches and yogurt. Auggie had speech therapy that morning, then he and I went shopping at Sam’s and Wal-mart to stock up.

That afternoon, I took Brayden, Kiya, and Keith to serve at our weekly Food Distribution. Back at home, Matt warmed up Burritos that I’d made and frozen a couple weeks ago. I didn’t get any pictures of either of those things because we were in a big flurry to go to a really cool event at the Zoo!

All of Prescott Elementary, the kids’ school, was invited to a free zoo night that Tuesday. We have a membership, so getting in free wasn’t the exciting part of the evening. But FREE train rides? Feed the giraffes for free? Plus see our teachers and classmates all night long? This was incredible!

It was so sweet to see our kids see their friends and give hugs all throughout the zoo.

We got in line for the train right away, and didn’t have to wait as long as I thought we’d have to.

The BEST part was that one of the preschool teachers, Ms. Rachel, rode this ride with us!!

Even Auggie fed the giraffes. It was a great night, though exhausting, as all the kids were very hyped up and it was hard to wrangle them all through the zoo. We all slept well that night. :)

Wednesday we started on the second layer of Mudballs from the huge batch I had made last week. Everyone was extra wired and simultaneously extra tired as the school year is winding down. This was about all I could manage for breakfast that morning.

After we got the three elementary school kids off for the day and Auggie got settled in with his ABA technician for the morning, I got some work done in the kitchen to get ahead. I baked about ten pans of bacon like this because I was planning to serve BLTs for our upcoming Sunday Lunch. As you can see, I still make Green Smoothie several times a week so Matt and I can drink our salad every day.

When the final pan of bacon came out of the oven, I used one of the pans to bake eggs so that I could put together Breakfast Sandwiches.

We made 24 sandwiches, freezing some and keeping some in the fridge to warm up quickly and easily as needed.

The girls were being silly as they waited for the school bus at noon time.

Late afternoon, we left sleeping Auggie and Little Sweetheart at home with our friend Char who was visiting, and Matt and I headed to the school for Keith’s Kindergarten graduation celebration.

Here he is receiving his certificate. :)

Brayden was my special helper that day and he was needing some extra attention. So he helped me put together our dinner for the evening. We used the last of the Grilled Chicken leftover from Sunday’s lunch along with some croissants we’d brought home from Tuesday’s Food Distribution to make delicious sandwiches with chicken, cheese, and honey mustard or ranch (one pan of each).

We baked these to melt the cheese and toast the bread, and ate them with Grapes, Raspberries, and Spinach.

Thursday morning I made Strawberry Parfaits for breakfast before sending the kids off for their last day of school.

Happy last day of school, Kids!

That morning, I baked more pans of bacon to prep for Sunday’s Lunch. I also made a batch of Spinach Cupcakes to enjoy with the kids later in the week.

I had planned to smoke chicken legs for dinner, so late morning, I put the chicken into a bag with barbecue sauce to marinate all day.

The girls were excited to wear their swim suits to preschool for their last day so they could do special water activities.

Off they go!

Justus came to drop off Little Sweetheart for the afternoon while he headed to a meeting. But first, Auggie needed to have a chat with his brother.

Brayden graduated from 5th grade that afternoon!

After work that day, Elias and Malorie loaded up to head down to Texas to visit her family. Nothing is quite the same when they are gone and some of us had to give multiple hugs before they left.

For dinner that night, we had Smoked Chicken Legs, Green Beans, Watermelon, and Toasted/Buttered Rolls.

We hung out in our neighbor’s yard part of the evening. I snuck in this sweet photo of Kiya helping our neighbor, Ashley, with her cilantro. I love how Ashley so naturally loves on our kids.

Friday was our kids’ first day of Summer Break. It was rainy and dreary and our kids were extra screamy. Changes in routine are never easy for our kids.

Auggie had ABA that morning and Matt and I had a telehealth meeting to get the ball rolling for Keith to start ABA. So we attempted to get everyone busy with activities, then because it was raining, we caved and turned on a show for the kids to watch while we finished our meeting.

Once our meeting was over, I gave our kids a craft activity to work on at the table while Auggie finished his ABA session in a different room. This kept everyone happy for exactly two seconds. :/

For lunch that day, I made these Smoothies for the kids.

I was going to grill burgers but since it was raining, I ended up just cooking them on the stove inside. They still hit the spot and changed some of the kids dispositions for the better.

What really fixed everyone’s mood was Arrow getting dropped off to play! He was surrounded by aunties and uncles and everyone became just softer and sweeter. Phew. :)

Some of the kids helped me make a batch of Pumpkin Mini Muffins that afternoon.

 

Late afternoon, we needed an outing! So we packed up a picnic and the kids and headed to the mall to run around in their play area.

This was well worth the effort so that we could get some of our energy out.

About an hour in to our time there, we made our way over to tables at the food court to eat our dinner: Salami, Cheese Cubes, Almonds, Applesauce, Grapes, Veggie Straws, and Spinach Cupcakes. After we ate, we had a great adventure to the Family Bathroom (ha), then went back to play more before heading home.

Saturday morning we ate cereal for breakfast then got ready to head to York to celebrate the wedding of one of our favorite people. I wasn’t able to pick up my computer to work and share the day, so I’ll share more next week!

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Big Family Food and Fun: April 13-19, 2025

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Here’s our Big Family Food and Fun: April 13-19, 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, April 12

Saturday evening was spent mostly outside enjoying the heat and sunshine.

I had put some frozen meatballs into a crock pot with bbq sauce that afternoon. So that night, we had a simple Sabbath meal of meatballs (or meatball subs) with leftover broccoli and applesauce cups. We soaked all the kids in the bathtub a long time to get all the dirt off from their day’s adventure before heading to bed.

Big Family Food and Fun: April 13-19, 2025

Sunday morning, we had our traditional Breakfast Cookie Bars as we got ready for church.

A wonderful crowd joined us for lunch that day. I had grilled 42 Brats and 28 Hotdogs in preparation for our lunch, and I simply rewarmed them in big pots before serving time. I had a small crock of Chili to go with these, plus friends brought Mac and Cheese, a bowl of delicious Veggie Salad, Chips, and Watermelon.

This was extra delicious since it was our first “grill out” meal of the season!

We had five additional families join us and the time together was rich. There were 39 of us, and I realized later that I didn’t go outside to take a picture of all the kids playing and eating together, boo.

For fun, I had brewed some fruity herbal tea: Mango Passionfruit and Strawberry Mint. They were nice and chilled by lunch time so we enjoyed fun Iced Teas with our Brats and Dogs. (Do not ask about the intense mess I made while trying to strain the tea bags out of the jars. Oy.)

The dessert section of our kitchen was very fun with Cookie/Brownies some friends brought plus Flourless Peanut Butter Cookies, Sugar Cookies, and Chocolate Chip Cookies.

Anna was wearing a new outfit that day and it came with matching glasses. She was very proud of this.

The kids played and played all evening, enjoying sidewalk chalk they’d been given at church.

I gave Auggie a ride in a stroller, then he decided that he needed to give Josie a ride.

I baked five Frozen Pizzas for dinner. I love this Sunday night tradition. It’s a perfect meal after a great day filled with friends.

Monday morning, four of the kids ate Breakfast Sandwiches, and I made Chocolate Protein Mousse for the others. There were a few Banana Muffins and some Peanut Butter Honey Puffs to eat also.

Starting this week, Auggie was to begin receiving 30-hours a week of ABA therapy , split between three different RBTs (Registered Behavior Technicians) during a 3-hour morning slot and a 3-hour evening slot each weekday. This is intense, and adjusting to this is a lot for all of us. But we anticipate that in a couple of weeks we’ll be settled in to this new routine with new people in our home.

We kicked off his ABA that morning, with his BCBA (the therapist in charge of setting up his program) joining also. Matt and I are taking a crash course in all things Autism and ABA, phew!

Mondays I try to leave the house in the afternoon for a few hours to drink coffee at Panera, work without interruption, and do a little shopping as needed. This week though, I first went to see Malachi’s office space that he rents out for his Sideline Media business – which just so happens to be in the same building where Asa works for Back to the Bible. The three of us had just a few minutes together, and they were precious minutes!

From there I went to Panera for a while to sit by myself and work. I only had an hour, but it was a productive one, and the coffee was tasty! (Their Sip Club makes having a cup of coffee super cheap, by the way. Currently I pay $5/month and can get a coffee there whenever I want/can, which is pretty much only on Mondays, but still.)

Next, I went to Sam’s to get a few items we needed, then to Walmart before heading home.

For dinner that night, I had cooked Baked Potatoes in a Crock Pot all day. I warmed up leftover Chili from Sunday’s lunch to go on our potatoes, plus I steamed some peas and got out cheese and sour cream.

Tuesday morning, Josie was my Special Helper and she was very excited about the task of cleaning out the dishwasher for me.

I took Auggie to Speech Therapy. His AAC Device had arrived and his therapist walked me through more specifics of setting it up for him to use.

When we got home, Auggie moved straight into his ABA Therapy and the girls hung out with me while I made a dozen or so Breakfast Sandwiches. We go through a ton of these every week, and they are so helpful to have on hand!

I had some Salsa Chicken in the freezer leftover from a Sunday Lunch. So I had thawed that plus baked a pan of rice and turned it all into Inexpensive Burritos for our dinner later that day.

Malachi left mid-morning to go to Omaha for a video shoot with a real estate company. He grabbed two freshly made Breakfast Sandwiches for the road, but not before playing for a minute with Acacia while he texted his client. I love how she’s looking up to him here.

After school, I picked up Brayden, Kiya, and Keith and we headed over to hand out food and clean at our our weekly Food Distribution site. The boys cleaned coolers as they got emptied out, but they also joined Kiya and me at the distribution tables to help hand out food as clients came around.

When we arrived back at home at dinner time, things were a little more hectic than normal. Auggie’s newest behavior technician and his ABA therapist had arrived at 5:00 – so he was getting acclimated to them while Matt, Elias, and Malorie were getting the other kids fed. Matt had baked a pan of the Burritos I’d made earlier in the day and the grown ups were fixing plates for kids. There was general mayhem for a while during this time of transition, then everyone settled down and played outside.

I spent some time getting lots of dirty dishes under control after a full day. Then I put together two Egg and Hashbrown Casseroles to have on hand. At bedtime, the kids came inside and ate more burritos plus some bananas before we headed them upstairs for the night.

Wednesday morning, Matt stayed behind at home with Acacia, Josie, and Auggie so that Auggie could have his ABA therapy session. I took Anna with me to Aldi so that she and I could have some one-on-one time while picking up what we needed for our family.

We drove right by Hobby Lobby so it made sense that we stop and pick out some spring craft kits. The kids would be home for Easter break for a few days, and the weather was forecasted to be a little wet and chilly. So getting prepped for this with crafts was perfect. Anna wanted to buy everything in Hobby Lobby (don’t we all).

Arrow came and hung out that afternoon. :)

For dinner that night, we had breakfast: Egg and Hashbrown Casserole with a triple batch of Pancakes and Fruit. The kids gobbled this up – and so did the grown-ups.

Thursday morning, Kiya helped me bake a double batch of Breakfast Cookie Bars for upcoming Sunday breakfasts. Later, I cut them and frozen them on two plates to last us for two Sundays.

After Keith was ready for school, he built a mighty structure with magnatiles. We knew it would get destroyed while he was gone for the day, so I took a picture of him with it so he could remember it forever. ;)

After ABA therapy that morning, Auggie had an appointment that morning with his GI specialist. Because he’s made such progress with eating, he got cleared and we didn’t have to schedule a follow-up visit with them – praise God!

I had marinated three big packages of chicken thighs and late afternoon, I put them on our smoker to prepare for a big dinner.

Kiya made two kits worth of Caesar salad.

The whole family came over and we had a feast to celebrate Kelsey’s birthday!

We ate Smoked Chicken Thighs, Mashed Potatoes, Caesar Salad, and Buttered Rolls.

It’s such a gift to have everyone together!

Kelsey’s birthday dessert request was Angel Food Cake with Strawberries and Whipped Cream. Oh my goodness – this was perfect. We all loved treat this on a warm spring day!

The night was fantastic, with minimal kid behavior struggles and wonderful conversation. :)

Friday the kids were home from school. Acacia was my special helper and we made a great big batch of Mudballs for breakfast.

Acacia and Josie were playing some kind of special game on their kitchen stools and giggling – so sweet.

I baked several pans of bacon that morning to finish off a box in our fridge so we’d have cooked bacon on hand for upcoming meals.

Then we got dressed and ready to go to the indoor play area at the zoo for the morning. I made a loaf of bread worth of PBJs plus packed pears, bananas, and applesauce to snack on while we were there.

Auggie’s RBT joined us at the zoo to continue working with him during his morning session. It was quite a week of adjusting and building relationships with new people, so there was a lot of snuggle time with Mommy and Daddy to help with reassurance and consistency.

For almost two hours, the kids ran and played on the indoor play structure. They occasionally took breaks to watch the monkeys and to go into the small room off the side to see the birds, snakes, and iguana.

 

We ate through the entire container of sandwiches and almost all of the fruit. It was a good morning outing!

We got home to put Auggie down for a nap, then I took Brayden and Kiya out by themselves to shop for something special to wear on Easter. This time with them was so good – letting them learn how to be big kids and having more grown up discussions.

We picked up a Hy-vee Pick-up order before heading home.

I was fighting a migraine so the rest of the evening was pretty chill as we played outside a while then had a simple dinner of Tacos.

Saturday morning, Anna was my special helper. She opened cream cheese boxes for me – with a pretend broken arm – ha.

I made two large Cheesecakes for Easter dessert. Plus I made a pot of Cream Cheese Corn to rewarm after church.

We got jackets and hats, then loaded up the kids to drive a few blocks toward our State Capitol building. There was an event close-by that we wanted to check out, but as we did, we realized it wasn’t very kid friendly. SO, instead we simply parked our van and let the kids walk a few blocks toward the capital building as our morning outing.

Along the way, we saw a blind man who appeared to be lost. So Matt went to find out what his need might be. We found out where he was headed, and it was just a bit past the capitol building, so he joined us on our walk and Matt got him to where he had planned to be. I loved our kids’ reactions to their daddy helping this man. What a gift for them to have Matt as an example of Jesus’ love.

At the capitol building, we climbed the stairs and explored for quite a while.

We had to potty, so we walked to find a bathroom, seeing lots of doors to senator’s offices – so exciting. :)  But truly, the kids were amazed that we got to walk inside the capitol building for five whole minutes!

Back at home, we warmed up a lot of leftovers for a lot of hungry kids. Then, Matt took Anna on a one-on-one outing as prescribed by our Family Therapist. They walked just a few blocks from our house to a free event inviting kids to come paint rocks. Anna loved it!

The rest of the day was spent cleaning and getting ready for Sabbath and Easter. And that was our week!

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