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

March 16, 2025 by Laura 4 Comments

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

First, the tail end of last week…

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!

We were prepping for an extra fun Sunday Lunch time in which we were having a breakfast themed meal! Brayden, Kiya, and Anna were excited to help me bake on Saturday afternoon. We got out cake mixes and cans of pumpkin to make this super simple recipe. Are they cupcakes or are they muffins? The answer is yes. They are a treat and perfect to go with a brunch!

They turned out fun and made a nice display!

We also made a batch of these Chocolate Banana Blender Muffins, and made them in our mini muffin pan.

Dinner that night was a simple meal of Spaghetti with Corn and Spinach. Then we spent the evening having special prayer time as we reflected on our week.

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

While Sunday Lunches are BIG, you may notice that our Sunday breakfast and dinner have become routine – the exact same every single week. This has been a perfect way for me to streamline and save brain energy (and more fully enjoy Sunday Lunches). Plus the kids love our breakfast and dinner choice, so that’s helpful too (no food fights during these meals, yay!). Because we are trying to Sabbath during this time, having Breakfast Cookie Bars made ahead and in the freezer for Sunday mornings is perfect and easy.

Note that Sabbath for us doesn’t mean curl up in a blanket and do nothing for hours. This isn’t possible during this season of our lives. For us, Sabbath has become a full day’s break from routine work. We use paper plates, I make food ahead of time, I don’t do laundry, and I don’t think about upcoming needs. We choose to be in the moment during this 24-hour period of time.

We enjoy community – the best part of our Sabbath rest. We worship together at church and visit all morning, connecting with our church family and meeting visitors. Our older kids and many friends come to enjoy lunch with us at our house. Then at 2:00, Matt and I send the kids downstairs to watch a movie with a big brother while we have Community Group in the afternoon – a group of four couples loving on each other and sharpening each other in the Word.

By the end of Sunday, I’m both tired and so, so refreshed by the goodness God has brought through delighting in community. This has been an amazing practice that we hope to continue forever.

Sunday Lunch

So back to Sunday. I had in mind that we’d all enjoy a breakfast-themed meal. I made Biscuits and Sausage Gravy, Egg and Hashbrown Casserole and lots of Muffins. Friends brought Grapes and Berries, Coffeecake, Pastry, and “Baby Jesus in a Blanket” (you might know them as pigs-in-a-blanket but my friend taught me their real name because that’s what they have at Christmastime and I’ll never call them anything else from here on out).

It was an incredible feast! This meal far surpassed my vision for what it could be, and we were all delighted as we enjoyed eating together. We’ve learned that DELIGHT is a big part of Sabbath – fully enjoying every bite of food, savoring a sweet treat with coffee, enjoying wonderful conversation.

I didn’t get great pictures of everyone around our tables (as in, I did get some pictures but I caught some people with mouths open and they wouldn’t appreciate me posting them here, ha). But both our dining and living room tables were full and precious – with 28 of us gathered and sharing life.

Dinner that night was our regularly scheduled Sunday night Frozen Pizza.

We ate and played outside all that evening as the weather was absolutely gorgeous! Matt, Keith, and Malachi were kicking a ball in the yard. Then Keith ran off to play with a neighbor while Auggie got in on the action.

Josie was so excited to discover day lilies poking up out of the ground! Fresh green growth after a long, cold winter – We are all excited for this!

To end our day, we loaded up four bags of food and headed for a walk to fill one of our neighborhood Little Free Pantry boxes.

Monday morning we ate Yogurt with Granola then dug out some short sleeved shirts and shorts because the temps were supposed to be warm! We packed a picnic (tortillas, meat, cheese, and spinach for wraps plus apples, clementines, applesauce and Chocolate Banana Blender Muffins. Then we loaded up and headed to the zoo.

Eva and Arrow met us there – Arrow’s first zoo experience!

We watched a special Cheetah run and listened and learned more about Cheetahs.

As is our zoo tradition, I packed a bag of apples because the minute we walk into the zoo, everyone is somehow starving. Several kids chomped on an apple while we sat at the Cheetah presentation – even Auggie!

We continued on, seeing the animals along the chosen path of the day. Then we stopped to feel some animal furs. Arrow wasn’t sure what to think, but he reached out and gave it a try too. (His hat though!!)

The zoo was pretty packed that day, but at lunchtime we found a picnic table right by the Dino Dig – the best sandbox ever.

The kids played and played, getting soaked in sand and sunshine. Bath night after days like this are the best. Bring on the bathtub sludge!

We went home to get Auggie a nap and the rest of the kids continued to play outside all afternoon. Eva had told us that Chick-fil-a was offering free kids meals that day with purchase of an adult meal. Matt and I went back and forth and couldn’t decide if the free meal was really worth the effort, ha. There’s a reason we don’t take our kids to restaurants. Well, many reasons, but managing this many at an eating establishment is something special.

In case you’re wondering, we decided to go for it. It was spring break after all, and we wanted the kids to make fun memories.

They actually did very well and even got to enjoy the play area for a little while. How many trips did I take to the potty with little girls? I lost track. Also, how many napkins did we go through? Eh.

Everyone slept well that night!!! Tuesday morning, I made a big pan of Rice Krispie Peanut Butter Bars for breakfast.

Six kids stayed behind with Matt while I took Auggie to his Tuesday Speech Therapy appointment. He surprised us both by saying “bubble!” It was a good session. :)

When I got home, everyone was trying to play outside but it was still too chilly. So several of the kids joined me to make two loaves of Apple Bread with some bruised apples.

At lunchtime, I seasoned some hamburger meat I had in the fridge to feed everyone Tacos. Then the temps were warm enough that everyone could play outside all afternoon.

Before I left to take kids to our weekly Food Distribution site, I fired up our smoker for the first time this season! I made our favorite marinated Smoked Chicken and put it in a crock pot to stay warm until dinner time.

Anna was privileged to go with us to Food Distribution this time. (Matt was going to be home without help, so we decided that if I took Anna and he was at home with the youngest three kids, it would be manageable.) She did great and the big kids were eager to teach her how to do the volunteer work.

Back at home, we devoured our Smoked Chicken with Steamed Broccoli, then the kids played outside again until bedtime. This is one of my favorite times of the year – when the weather gets nicer and the kids want to be outside for hours. Why did I not get any pictures of this fun? I guess because we were all enjoying the fun and I wasn’t in picture mode. :)

Wednesday morning, I put a Roast in the crock pot at 6:00am so it could slow cook all day. Later, I put potatoes in another crock pot for Mashed Potatoes. And I made a blender full of “salad” for Matt and me.

After breakfast, we loaded up all the kids and met Eva and Arrow at Morrill Hall, a museum on the UNL campus. Brayden and Kiya had been before, but this was a new outing for the rest of us.

It wasn’t super easy wrangling three preschoolers and a toddler through the museum, but we managed to find some fun play areas that kids of all ages could enjoy.

I spy two Coppinger astronauts.

Arrow and I were pretty fascinated by this cool water shaping table.

Back at home later, we ate leftovers for lunch, then played outside all afternoon with a brief run to Hy-Vee to grab our WIC pick up order.

Elias and Malorie had gone to Texas to visit her family for a few days. We excitedly welcomed them back and the kids helped unload Malorie’s car.

Meanwhile, Auggie has been having the time of his life outside in this nice weather. His two favorite things to do are ride this little bike and push a little stroller. He goes back and forth from bike to stroller. Now that we have a diagnosis for him, it has been very interesting to watch his behaviors with a more clear understanding about they way his brain processes. We still have much to learn.

And who is this?? Malorie brought some Star Wars costumes for the kids that her brother was happy to pass down. I truly wasn’t sure which little girl this was coming around the corner!

Aha! It’s Sissy (Acacia). :)

I finished up dinner by shredding the Roast in the crock pot and mashing the potatoes. We were expecting guests to arrive at this point in the evening, so I got out extra plates. A mom and two teenage sons had arranged to stay with us for a few days while they were in the area for a Homeschool Speech/Debate Tournament. We were so glad to meet and host them – such a delightful family. We ate together, got to know each other, then got everyone settled in for the night.

Thursday morning, we headed to the Children’s Museum for a morning outing. Eva and Arrow met us there, then Kelsey and Little Sweetheart plus Kelsey’s mom, Nicole came too. SO MUCH FUN!

Nicole and I have been friends since college so it’s always extra fun to see her when she visits!

Kelsey and Eva took their babies to the “Ages 3 and Under” room so that Arrow and Little Sweetheart could talk about their plans for the day. I love doing life with our kids in Lincoln!!

We ate apples and pears on our way home, then warmed up chicken and ate spinach for lunch.

Auggie napped, everyone else played outside, and I baked some Crustless Cheesecakes to have on hand for snacks.

We were taking full advantage of the gorgeous weather that day, so Matt loaded up everyone’s bikes into our van and I loaded up a picnic. We all, including Elias and Malorie, headed over to our favorite park that has running/walking/baking trails, a skateboard area, basketball court, playground, and disc golf. Our kids love this park!

Kids played, Elias took a jog, Malorie walked, kids biked and ran – we all soaked up Vitamin D. This kind of outing is my favorite! OH! And a long time reader, Suzy, was at the park that day too. She recognized us from our photos so we got to meet and chat!

I’d packed Mini Corn Dogs, Carrots, Peppers, Apples, Clementines, and Chips for dinner so kids ate as they got hungry.

Then we drove over to Freddy’s to finally use some free ice cream coupons we’d been given back in October during a Zoo event. This was a perfect Spring Break treat to enjoy after playing hard all day!

We took the ice cream home to enjoy because taking all the kids back into a restaurant like we’d done a few days prior did not sound like a wise choice. Plus, the ice cream cups were huge and we wanted to portion it out better at home. Nobody needed to eat THAT MUCH ICE CREAM in one sitting. :)

Friday morning, I let the kids eat cereal for breakfast so that I could focus my kitchen attention on prepping for our upcoming Sunday lunch. I had also reconnected with a friend from York who had also moved to Lincoln – and she had a baby this week. We arranged for us to take a meal to her family that night.

Some of the kids helped me make a quadruple batch of Brownies.

I got some chicken marinating for the smoker later. And I made two pots of Baked beans – one for our Sunday lunch, and the other to take to our friend that night. Last but not least, we got some mini Chocolate Banana Blender Muffins out of the freezer to take the the park.

We loaded up the kids and headed to a park to meet up with family for a fun birthday celebration for Little Sweetheart. Justus and Kelsey brought two Rotisserie Chickens for lunch, Eva brought Strawberries, and we contributed the Chocolate Banana Blender Muffins. What a sweet celebration for such a sweet girl.

Back at home, I had been smoking a Pork Loin for Sunday lunch, and added the marinated chicken to the smoker. Once this round was finished, more chicken went onto the smoker to cook. My plan was to take some of the chicken to our friends for their night’s dinner and to save the rest to be rewarmed for Sunday lunch.

Late afternoon, I packed up Smoked Chicken, Party Potatoes, Baked Beans, Green Beans, Rolls, and Brownies and headed out to deliver them to my friend. I got to hold/feed her newborn – oh so sweet!

Meanwhile, Elias had asked to make dinner that night. He started out on the smoker (yes, our smoker got a workout that day!) with a big pan full of Smoked Queso that he’d put together. Around 4:00, a storm rolled in and we decided we better move everything inside. So he transferred his dip into a glass dish and finished it off in the oven. He and Malorie and Matt had started to feed the kids while I was delivering dinner to our friends, and they were chowing down. This was such a good, fun Friday evening meal!

I was hosting an Adoptive Moms Support Group that evening, so as my friends were arriving, Elias and Malorie helped Matt get kids to bed. Bonus Buddy was here visiting for the weekend and to say that everyone was WOUND UP would be an understatement.

Saturday morning we got ready and headed to our favorite Sensory Library Storytime.

We played in the main library area for a while after story time. They had a new Construction Zone set up, which of course was Keith’s favorite!

We came home and ate leftovers for lunch, plus made Chocolate Chip Mini Muffins to have on hand for snacks.

We put Auggie down for a nap, then handed Elias and Malorie the baby monitor to listen for him while we took the other kids to the Children’s Museum for a couple of hours.

Back at home, we cleaned a little and moved forward into our Sabbath. And that was our week!

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Big Family Food and Fun: December 29-January 4, 2025

January 5, 2025 by Laura 1 Comment

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Here’s our Big Family Food and Fun: December 29-January 4, 2025 post!

Big Family Food and Fun: December 29-January 4, 2024

I stop working on Saturdays in the afternoon so that we can move into our special time of Sabbath rest that we’ve chosen to practice for our family. Therefore, each week when I begin these posts, I start by backing up to share what the last part of our Saturday looked like. :)

Last Saturday was amazing because we asked some friends to come help with our seven littles so that Matt and I could spend time with all of our adult kids for a few hours. We all met up at Justus and Kelsey’s house, had a Secret Santa gift exchange, ate a super delicious meal courtesy of Famous Dave’s (Justus and Kelsey had gift cards!), then played games for four hours!!

We laughed so hard and had so much fun. Phew, we needed this.

Back at home, we walked into this scene with our kids having the time of their lives with Ms. Kathi and Ms. Terra. The other kids were hanging with Mr. Matt and since the weather was beautiful that day, they’d all been playing outside most of the time we were gone. Our three caregivers rocked it for us and we are sooooo grateful for the gift they gave us that day.

That morning before we headed to Justus and Kelsey’s, I’d put a Melt-in-your-Mouth Beef Roast into a crock pot to cook for our dinner. Kiya had helped me scrub potatoes and we filled another crock pot so we could make these mashed potatoes to go with our roast. When we got home, I realized I’d forgotten to add the carrots I planned to throw in with the roast. So I quickly made peas while Terra mashed the potatoes for us. We got hungry kids fed, bathed, and tucked in for the night after an awesome day!

Sunday was Brayden and Auggie’s birthday! Brayden chose all the meals for the day. (When Auggie gets older, we’ll have to figure out meal choices having two birthday kids in one day!)

We had Scrambled Cheesy Eggs and Hashbrown Patties for breakfast.

Brayden wanted Lasagna for his birthday lunch, and we had some of our normal Sunday crowd join us after church. Friends brought a Pasta Bake and Oranges to help complete our meal. We made Caesar Salad and Corn, plus Oreo Brownies for the birthday dessert.

There were 29 of us gathered that day.

It was fun to celebrate Brayden during this time! Meanwhile, Auggie was having a lovely birthday nap. :)

Two stick candles side by side make an 11, right? ;)

The weather was sunny and gorgeous! Our friend Mandy stopped by and many of us headed out to take a walk together to fill up our church’s Little Free Pantry. It’s just a few blocks from our house.

Back at home, Auggie woke up and shared a hug with his Birthday Bro.

Brayden wanted to make his birthday dinner for the family: Orange Chicken and Onion Rings.

I got out cucumbers and carrots to offer a veggie with dinner. Brayden did a great job!

Then it was Auggie’s turn to blow out candles. He’s the big 2 now!

Elias and Malorie had to run to Walmart and asked if I needed anything. You guys? I am a sucker for these cheap hams. I’d gotten four of them on clearance for a $1.00/pound last week. But just in case, I asked them to look and see if by chance they’d been marked down any more to $0.50/pound.

Sure enough! There was an entire case of them. I asked them to get four for me, then I worked to create freezer space!

See how hard this is to resist??

Present time! Auggie was pretty excited about his magnetic toy set.

Brayden started playing school right away with his new Dry Erase Board. What a great day!

Monday morning, I made a blender full of smoothie for Matt and me. The kids ate yogurt and granola, plus Banana Bread.

I spent quite a bit of time in the kitchen that morning getting ready for company to come. I had chicken bones in the freezer that I’d saved after a Rotisserie Chicken purchase. I used the bones to make Chicken Broth for soup, knowing we’d need it for a big crowd we’d be feeding on Wednesday.

I also put several pounds of boneless chicken thighs into a crock pot with two jars of salsa. I planned to have it ready to turn into Taco Soup.

I also cleaned out one of our dishwashers and was so happy to see this top rack. This is what our dishwasher looks like after a big Sunday Lunch. We eat, we visit, we drink coffee and have dessert together – it’s such a beautiful time. I love a dishwasher full of coffee mugs to remind me of our awesome time of fellowship.

Late in the afternoon, I blended the onions and carrots that had cooked with the chicken bones and stirred the veggies back into the broth. This makes it so rich and extra nourishing.

I shredded the chicken and put it into the fridge with the broth to be ready to make a huge amount of soup on Wednesday!

For dinner that night, I put one of our $5 hams into our large roaster to cook. This created the easiest, cheapest meal on earth. The ham was delicious, and we ate it with leftover mashed potatoes and veggies from the fridge. I also cut up two pineapple, which really hit the spot! (By the way, the spiral cut hams we get so cheap are coated in a brown sugar glaze which we don’t love so I rinse it off before cooking it.)

Tuesday morning we spent time cleaning and making beds as we prepped for our friends to come hang out with us and spend the night. We LOVE it when the Brocks come to visit! They also have a large family (there are eight of them!) and our kids all get along well. They arrived just before lunch and we had the goal to eat quickly then play games all afternoon!

Lunch for our large families was a simple spread of Summer Sausage, Cheese, Crackers, Chips, Dips, Veggies, Fruit, and Zucchini Bread and Banana Bread that the Brocks brought.

I love it when our table is full of Coppingers and Brocks, but the sweetest scene is….

THIS. Their little girls and our little girls like to sit together in these special seats. Meal time is crazy and loud at our house, but when the Brocks are here, everyone is calm and grounded (at least for a time).

We played games all afternoon, then Brayden, Kiya, Keith and I took two from the Brock family to help hand out food and clean at our weekly Food Distribution site.

This particular week, there were fewer volunteers available, fewer clients who came through the line, but extra food to hand out because of the holiday. Our kids worked very hard and very well and we were so proud of them. Putting our kids in situations like this where they serve is sooooooo beneficial in so many ways.

Brayden wanted to take a picture of Keith scrubbing a cooler. And do you see those strawberries above? Clients who came through the line took as many as they wanted, but at the end of our give away time, there were still many flats worth of berries and they needed to be eaten or frozen right away. We brought home many, many pounds of strawberries that day, and then we all promptly ate many, many pounds of berries as soon as we got home. What a great treat – free strawberries to feed our collective 13 kids!

After everyone ate their fill of berries, we ate our actual dinner: Hawaiian Chicken, two pans of Stick of Butter Rice, Steamed Green Beans, and Rolls.

We had invited our friend, Breck, to join us for dinner because she knows the Brocks too. It was such a great time of visiting before everyone moved into playing more games as we rang in the new year. (Some of us rang in the new year by going to bed before midnight, ehem.)

Wednesday morning we celebrated the first day of the year by eating 28 Eggs and lots of Bacon. (The Brocks had brought six dozen eggs from their chickens!) The plate of bacon you see below was just a small portion of what we baked as people ate it as fast as it came out of the oven. We finished off all the strawberries we’d brought home the night before from the food distribution plus we ate more of the Zucchini Bread and Banana Bread the Brocks had baked and brought with them.

Kids played and played all morning while the grown ups visited and worked in the kitchen to prep for a huge lunch.

We had invited all of our older kids to come for lunch so that they could catch up with the Brocks, plus we invited another family to come join as they have great connections with the Brocks too. Altogether, there were 30 of us, and it was a great time of visiting and feasting.

We went through at least three pots of coffee that day. Lunch was a huge roaster full of Spicy Ham and Potato Soup, two crock pots full of Chicken Taco Soup, and a big assortment of anything else we could set out to fill everyone up: rolls and croissants, fritos, sliced oranges, carrots and cucumbers, crackers, and cheese.

Take note of Elias wearing Malorie’s shower cap. :) He was doing an oil treatment on his scalp and wasn’t shy about walking around like this most of the day. It was hard to take him seriously, but somehow we managed to have real conversations and play games with his crazy-headed self.

We filled our dining room table.

And spilled over into the living room. Meals and times like these are truly awesome.

The rest of the day was spent playing more games together. In fact, the Brocks intended to head home mid-afternoon but by the time our third game ended, we realized we needed to give them a bite to eat for dinner so that they wouldn’t have to stop and feed all their kids on the way home. So we pulled out all kinds of random leftovers (I forgot to get a picture), rewarmed soup, and got them filled up before sending them on their way. What an amazing visit!

Thursday morning we decided it was a pajama day. We also had a refrigerator that looked like this, so I declared it to be a Leftover Day for all three meals. (I had Lasagna and Soup in our pantry fridge also.)

As I was clearing out food for kids to pick what they wanted for lunch, I pulled out the spinach that was expiring and turned it into these Cupcakes. I find it amazing how much spinach I can manage to stuff into my blender to make these. What a great way to eat greens. ;)

Later in the afternoon, I looked up “ways to use cottage cheese” because I had quite a bit in my fridge that needed to be used. I found a recipe for Chocolate Chip Cookies and the girls and I gave it a try!

I used all whole wheat flour instead of some of the white that the recipe called for. They turned out pretty tasty. I froze most of them for an upcoming Sunday Lunch. And check out the awesome three-tier cooking rack Malorie got me for Christmas!

Bedtime at our house is quite the hectic situation, with so many littles struggling with behaviors or needing attention. Matt put on Acacia’s leg brace and read to the three little girls while I wrestled with Auggie then read to the three older littles. By the time I got into the little girls’ room to tuck them in, Josie and Acacia were already fast asleep. I soaked in their sweetness for a moment.

Friday morning we had a lot of prep work to do so that we could be ready for what we thought would be a full weekend. I put a Pork Loin into a crock pot to cook for Sunday’s lunch. I also put several pounds of boneless chicken thighs into our large roaster with barbecue sauce to shred for Sunday as another meat option. Here’s what it all looked like later in the day when it was finished.

Mid-morning, we loaded up all the kids to burn off energy in the indoor play area at the Zoo. I packed snacks because even though they ate all morning and would eat all afternoon, we need to eat also while we’re out and about.

We came home and finished up a jar full of Ham and Potato Soup leftovers.

Friends came for dinner that night, so I made 9 Pizzas from crusts I had in the freezer. We ate our pizza with Caesar Salad.

One of the reasons we’d arranged for dinner with friends is because they had some toys to hand down that their kids were finished with. A tool set and work bench? Keith was in heaven!

And check out this amazing play kitchen they brought. The little girls got lost in there while we grown ups visited, and Auggie even played for quite a while. Such a cool kitchen!

Saturday we had a meeting out of town, but had some sick kids which changed a lot of our plans. We ate leftovers for all of our meals and tried to catch up on some laundry. And that was our week!

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Big Family Food and Fun: December 22-28, 2024

December 29, 2024 by Laura 2 Comments

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Here’s our Big Family Food and Fun: December 22-28, 2024 post!

Big Family Food and Fun: December 22-28, 2024

Saturday evening as we kicked off our Sabbath time of rest, I baked a pan of Crunchy Ranch Chicken that had been prepped ahead and in the freezer. The kids all love this chicken so they eat it well (something I can’t say about most main dishes). We served this with Tator Tots, Spinach, and Canned Pineapple – all super simple and fun! (And yes, this pan of chicken wasn’t enough for all of us, but we each had a little and filled up on the rest of the food.)

Sunday morning, I put an entire bag of frozen meatballs from Costco into two crock pots. I poured a jar of spaghetti sauce over one pot and barbecue sauce over the other. They cooked while we were at church. So easy!

We came home and set out fixings for Meatball Subs and Sliders with a variety of rolls/buns, sliced cheese, and banana peppers. This was a huge hit! I had leftover chips from Malachi’s birthday gathering last weekend, so I set those out too (which, of course, was all our little kids wanted to eat – a reminder of why I don’t serve chips very often, ha). Friends brought salad and a veggie tray, plus we had grapes and desserts.

28 of us gathered that day for this feast. Sundays are my favorite!!!!

One of our guests was a friend from our older boys’ childhood and he brought his girlfriend so we could meet her. These guys grew up playing soccer together and it was a beautiful day. So what did all the guys do after lunch? They headed to the yard to juggle a soccer ball. We gals hung in the living room with babies and visited. This was a delight.

Late in the afternoon, we gathered all of our kids plus the loaves of Apple Bread and Eggnog Bread that we had baked on Saturday so that we could deliver them to our neighbors for Christmas. The temps outside were amazing, making this outing extra fun.

We knocked on doors and had such a great time handing out loaves of Christmas Bread and visiting with neighbors.

One particular stop is always a favorite because these neighbors go ALL OUT with decorations. They invited us all inside to see their special Christmas displays. We stood and watched their train go around and around the tree for quite some time!

At one of our final stops, we discovered the most incredible porch swing of all time. Getting a picture of the kids on a moving swing is next to impossible, so here is the least blurry of all I attempted. :)

Back at home with lots of hungry kids, we warmed up leftover noodles and chicken from Malachi’s birthday dinner Chicken Alfredo night. Brayden requested mashed potatoes, which did sound good with the leftover chicken. So I quickly made some with instant mashed potatoes I’d gotten from Azure Standard to have on hand for meals like this.

Last week at Costco, I scored four quarts of half and half for just $0.97 each. They were marked down because they are close to expiring. So on Monday morning, I used some of it to make a really rich version of Warm Vanilla Soother. My goal was to get some good nourishment into Anna because she’d been sick and not eaten well for a week and a half. However, that morning, everyone liked this treat except for Anna. Boo.

Either way, we drew fun faces on plastic cups to enjoy our Warm Vanilla Soother, plus I made some sausage links.

The temperature was in the low 50s that day, so we headed to the zoo to play in their indoor play area with the Spider Monkeys. We were all so excited that the Red Pandas were out that day – a rare treat for sure!

The Red Pandas are the most adorable creatures at the zoo, and there were four out playing that day.

We made our way to the indoor play area, admired the monkeys – including a baby monkey – and then played hard on the climbing jungle for over an hour.

We put coats back on and went to visit the giraffes before heading home.

I had put Hearty Bean Casserole in a crock pot before we left so that we’d have lunch ready right when we walked in the door. I was so glad I had done this because everyone had played hard and was hungry when we got back. We sliced apples to eat with our beans and everything tasted extra good after our morning outing.

I put Auggie down for a nap, then headed to Sam’s and Walmart. I did not want to join the crazy crowds at the store on December 23, but I needed to seize my opportunity to pick up a few more needed items for Christmas and upcoming birthdays. Oy, having THREE birthdays in our family between December 20 and 29 adds a lot to the holiday season. I wanted to be sure our birthday babes felt celebrated.

So I got all the food needed to meet their birthday meal requests, plus got more fruits and veggies to fill everyone’s bellies throughout Christmas break.

Back at home, Kelsey and Little Sweetheart had come over to help Matt with all the kids. The boys played outside while three of the girls had fun playing a game at the table with Kelsey. So sweet!

My final stop on the way home from shopping was Raising Cane’s for a huge cup of sauce for our Christmas dinner. :) I texted this picture to all of the adults in the family, letting them know that I’d acquired the sauce, so Christmas could now happen. (We started this tradition last year, eating Chicken Strips with our favorite Cane’s sauce for lunch after we open gifts. It’s fun, easy, and a great way to feed this many people, especially picky kids on a special day.)

For dinner Monday night, I made 18 mini hamburgers with pre-made patties I’d picked up marked down at Sam’s that day. We ate them with fries and pickles, making for a simple meal before watching a Christmas movie that night.

Just as we were settling into the living room for our movie, our neighbor dropped by with a gift for the kids. SO SWEET.

Christmas Eve day was a bit nuts all morning and early afternoon because the kids were so anxious for Christmas! We tried to keep the kids occupied in good ways so that they didn’t eat each other, oy.

I had picked up small items for Matt for Christmas, so I called the kids in one at a time to each wrap a present for Daddy to put under the tree.

They worked together to set up School in the pantry and played for a while. But as it turns out, having your 9-year-old sister for a teacher isn’t as much fun as one would think. ;) Nor is being a 9-year-old teacher to students who are also your siblings and who also don’t want to gather around you for Circle Time. So…

I called off school and invited everyone into the dining room to frost and decorate a cookie. We’d rolled, cut, and baked these a couple of weeks ago, then froze them for Christmas time. With the big mess out of the way, it was great to simply hand everyone a knife with frosting and a few sprinkles and let them enjoy their cookie. I have yet to taste a sugar cookie as good as Cream Cheese Cut-Out Cookies. So good.

After this, we got everyone dressed and ready for our Christmas Eve Candle Light service at Heartlands church.

We came home to a simple but special dinner of Nachos with Apples and Martinelli’s (sparkling apple cider).

After we got the kids to bed that night, Matt and I got the living room all set up for Christmas morning.

We had Egg Casserole for breakfast on Christmas morning with Monkey Bread that our neighbor made plus fresh fruit.

Justus, Kelsey, and Little Sweetheart arrived a little before 8:00. We wished our housemate/friend Kermit a Merry Christmas before sending him off to visit family for a few days.

Asa, Eva, and Arrow joined us a while later, plus our friend Kayla. (Elias and Malorie were visiting her family in TX so we FaceTimed them later.) The morning was crazy and fun as we opened gifts.

These three were very proud of their new dresses, hats, and gloves. :)

With this many people, opening gifts and stockings took all morning long.

Keith has been wanting roller skates since our time skating with family in Kansas in November. When he opened his gift, he put these on and skated throughout the house most of the day.

It was beyond awesome to have our two grandbabies with us for their first Christmas!

We enjoyed our second annual tradition for Christmas lunch: Chicken Strips with Cane’s Sauce. It’s the simplest, allowing us to eat something fun without having to work so that we can continue to enjoy our time together. We had chips and dips from Costco, plus veggies and cookies.

During the afternoon, we turned on a movie for the kids so that the adults could play a game together. It was the first time in several years that Matt and I actually got to enjoy game time with our grown kids!!

We’d surprised them with decks of the game Jibber Jabble in their stockings – a game created by a friend of ours. We had SO MUCH FUN playing this for over two hours! It was super cool knowing that our kids grew up with the creator of this game. And truly, what a great group game. Check it out here.

Later, Asa and Malachi spent a long time putting together our big family gift: a ping pong table. We’ve been wanting to put one in the basement for a while and this Christmas the time was right. Everyone is pretty excited about this!

The rest of us hung out with babies and kids while the ping pong table construction was underway.

Dinner that night was more of the same from previous meals, with Little Smokies, Cheese and Crackers, and Pickles added to the mix. The entire days’ food was super simple and fun.

Kiya was excited to try out her new Dominos game, so Eva and I played with her and taught Brayden and Anna to play also.

Thursday morning we were all feeling the let down after the Christmas hype, so some of the kids’ behaviors were pretty challenging. We took them to the Children’s Museum to burn off some energy.

Eva and Arrow met us there for a while. Auggie, as the much older kid, decided that he needed to explain some of the features of the museum to Arrow.

On our way home, Matt surprised the kids with a rare drive through to Arby’s. He had a coupon for three $1.00 fries so we took those home to share with our lunch. Meanwhile, I texted Malachi to please warm up leftover chicken so that it would be ready to feed hungry kids when we got back.

I got out spinach to offer some sort of nourishment with this meal. Everyone had about five fries, haha. It was still a treat for them that they appreciated.

Late that afternoon, some of the kids played school while others hung out in the basement trying to learn to play ping pong. On skates. ;)

For dinner that night, I made a big pot of spaghetti sauce with boiled noodles, green beans, and corn. I also warmed up some leftover Alfredo sauce with chicken for those who wanted white sauce on their noodles.

After dinner, I used the rest of the red sauce to put together a huge Lasagna for our Sunday lunch. We will celebrate Brayden and Auggie’s birthdays that day, and this meal was Brayden’s request.

We got the kids ready for bed, knowing that soon, Elias and Malorie would be back from their trip to TX to see Malorie’s family. There was a lot of excitement when they walked into the room!

We had some present time with Elias and Malorie since they’d missed our Christmas gathering the day before. Then Malachi took the girls for a ride through the living room before we headed upstairs to tuck everyone in. :)

Friday morning, I remembered that this time last year, I’d gotten ham marked down to $0.50/pound post-Christmas. Matt was SUPER DAD and took care of all seven kids by himself while I ran out to see if I could score the same deal. Indeed, spiral cut hams were marked down. They were $1.00/pound instead of $0.50/pound, but I wasn’t going to complain. I grabbed four then went to see what else I could find.

I picked up ground chicken for $2.51/pound (to make Chicken Cheeseballs) and hamburger meat for $3.34/pound. I also ran to Aldi to get fruit/veggie pouches for Auggie and got some meat deals there too!

Back at home, everyone had shoes on and we loaded up to drive 30-minutes to visit our dear friend, Elina. The kids ate bananas, applesauce, and cheese sticks all the way there. We got to meet several of her friends and some people who work with her each day. Then we gave her the Christmas gift we’d brought.

Elina’s friend was kind enough to take a picture of all of us together.

Back at home, Brayden put together a Caesar salad for us, which we ate with leftover chicken and Banana Muffins.

The afternoon was spent playing and cleaning. Matt turned a table over to repair it and had lots of help.

Dinner that night was Grilled Cheese Sandwiches with Tomato Soup and Clementines.

Then we gathered in the living room to work on a fun craft that Malorie’s mom had sent back for the kids as a Christmas gift. So fun!

Saturday morning, I put a Melt-in-your-Mouth Beef Roast into the crock pot for our dinner plus got Crock Pot Mashed Potatoes started.

The rest of the morning was spent getting ready for sitters to come hang out with the kids so that Matt and I could spend the entire afternoon with all of our adult kids at Justus and Kelsey’s. This was much needed and our sitters were so awesome to do this for us. I’ll share more about this next week!

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Big Family Food and Fun: September 22-28, 2024

September 29, 2024 by Laura Leave a Comment

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Here’s our Big Family Food and Fun: September 22-28, 2024 post!

Big Family Food and Fun: September 22-28, 2024

Sunday morning was extra sweet as we woke up to our first day of fall weather. Thankfully, I’d spent some time on Saturday digging out the kids’ jackets and long pants so that we were prepared. These two were so proud of their matching outfits that I’d found on clearance at the end of last winter. I love how grown up Auggie looks now.

Elias hopped in with us on the way to church and Acacia insisted on holding his hand a good part of the way. He was sweet to oblige.

And if those photos aren’t sweet enough, this conversation between Auggie and Little Sweetheart happened at church.

Then Brayden, who isn’t always interested in holding babies, asked for a turn with Little Sweetheart. It was precious.

Yes, we were also focused on worshiping Jesus during all of this. But if these aren’t pictures of Jesus at work, I’m not sure what is. :)

Back at home, we had just a couple friends join us as many of our usual Sunday Lunch crowd had other plans for the day. I had made Pulled Pork, Baked Potatoes, Baked Beans, Watermelon, Rolls, plus Chips and Guac.

For dessert we had No-Bake Chocolate Peanut Butter Oatmeal Bars. These are tasty (and messy, ha).

Keith had soccer that afternoon, so I packed sliced oranges, cheese sticks, and the last of these muffins from Saturday for the kids to snack on during his game.

It was a bit breezy and we were grateful for our jackets out there.

The oranges hit the spot – but more importantly, we could make silly faces while eating them.

Back at home, I pulled out broth that had been in the freezer all summer and thawed it in hot water. Then I used spaghetti noodles and canned chicken to make this Simple Noodle Soup. It hit the spot! I sliced a loaf of Applesauce Bread to go with it, plus got out a can of Pineapple and cans of Mandarin Oranges.

Monday morning I made Ham and Cheese Quesadillas for breakfast.

Matt’s dad was flying in from California that day so we had big plans for all of our kids to come for dinner to spend time with him. I decided to make Breakfast for Dinner and I started working on the food that morning after we got our elementary kids off to school and I’d taken Auggie to the chiropractor.

Anna helped me crack 30 eggs into a big casserole dish.

We turned the eggs into a large Egg and Hashbrown Casserole to bake at dinner time.

Meanwhile, I cooked some frozen berries to make Berry Syrup to go with pancakes.

We got the girls changed into school clothes, fixed their hair, and put on shoes – an ordeal that takes at least an hour. They waited for the bus like this, which was rare sweetness Matt was able to capture on his phone.

When Grandpa arrived, he was exhausted from flight delays and a very long day. Justus, Kelsey, and Little Sweetheart were the first to arrive and read books to the kids while I finished making pancakes.

We were all excited about this huge breakfast spread: Pancakes, Egg and Hashbrown Casserole, Bacon, Sausage, Berry Syrup, and Homemade Applesauce.

Malachi arrived and he and Grandpa looked together at photos on Malachi’s phone. They share a love of photography, which is a sweet part of their relationship.

Grandpa had met Little Sweetheart in July when Kelsey and I had gone to California for a few days and taken her. But he hadn’t met Arrow yet. It was fun to capture this moment when Asa and Eva arrived with Arrow.

Tuesday morning our friend Christina came over for a few hours to hang out. She brought some hand-me-downs from her daughter so immediately the box of clothes got dumped out and a fashion show began.

Tuesday afternoon, I took Brayden, Kiya, and Keith to help at our weekly Food Distribution. Kiya and Keith started out sitting with me, handing out food.

Then Keith went to help Brayden and Mr. Jim clean coolers.

Brayden really shines here.

For dinner that night, I had pulled out a package of prepared Teriyaki Chicken I’d gotten on sale at Sam’s a few weeks ago. I put them in a crock pot and they were ready at dinner time.

Before leaving for Food Distribution, I’d also put a pan of Stick of Butter Rice into the oven to bake and gotten Broccoli ready to steam. Matt and Elias finished the meal and started serving it before I got home with the other kids.

Wednesday when we dropped the elementary kids off at school, I captured this hug. Acacia has insisted on giving Keith and Bonus Buddy a squeeze before they head in for the day. Keith only had time for a quick side-hug today. He had to go be a big kindergartener.

We loaded everyone up at home so that we could take Grandpa to see Sunken Gardens. We knew he’d love it and that he’s want to take some photos. Josie took his hand to lead him to the van – so sweet.

We only had four kids with us and we weren’t in a rush, so we were able to really enjoy the garden that day.

We stopped and had a snack with the fish to hold us over until lunchtime.

Arrow came to hang out for the afternoon and got to know his great-grandpa better.

Then, Malachi came over to visit with Grandpa too.

I went to pick the kids up from school, taking Applesauce Bread for them to snack on before we headed home.

Most of the older kids were coming over for dinner that night to spend more time with Grandpa since he was leaving the next day. I made a big pot of Spaghetti Sauce with two different kinds of Pasta, Salad, leftover Green Beans, and Clementines. I also used our griddle to make Texas Toast.

We all played outside for a while and visited before the kids loaded up to leave.

This scene was a favorite:

Thursday Little Sweetheart came over. She and I assessed the situation in our play room in which someone had (once again) dumped out one of our toy boxes. I decided to throw out and give away most of its contents because if all we’re going to do is dump out toys and not actually play with them, what even is the point? Little Sweetheart signed off on this and we spent some time cleaning it all out/up before the kids came home.

Auggie and Little Sweetheart walked with me to pick kids up from school. We left just as Malachi arrived to take Grandpa to the airport to head home.

Keith cleaned out his backpack at home to reveal a sailor hat he’d made during center time at school. I asked him how he’d put it together and he proudly said, “I used a cantaloupe!” Oh baby. He’d used an envelope. We can all see how he’d get those words mixed up. Cutest thing I’d heard all month.

For dinner that evening, I used the leftover Pulled Pork from Sunday to make Meat and Cheese Melts.

I also made two plates full of Grilled Cheese Sandwiches and four cans of Tomato Soup.

Friday morning, Acacia had an appointment with her Orthopedic Specialist to check in about her club foot. She got fitted for new braces (she’s slept in braces since she was a newborn – well, after a series of casts and a surgery and…). The doctor felt good about how her leg is doing and told us to keep doing what we’re doing.

We came home and made a triple batch of Banana Muffins for snacks.

After we got the girls on the preschool bus and Auggie down for a nap, I ran out to grocery shop. I scored some incredible deals on meat mark-downs at Walmart!

Then I went to Aldi to get restocked on milk, yogurt, fruit/veggie pouches for Auggie, and other needed items that I buy there.

For dinner Friday night, I went all out and made several rounds of Chicken Nuggets and Tator Tots in our air fryer. The kids ate bananas also, and the entire evening was spent playing outside with neighbor friends.

Saturday was super full as:

We met friends from York at the zoo for the morning.
Our church Community Group met at our house during the afternoon for fellowship and Bible study.
My brother and his family were in town and stayed with us to visit my nephew.

Therefore, I was so busy enjoying people that I didn’t get a lot of pictures to share. This is what I packed for our lunch and snacks at the zoo:

Here are a couple photos from the zoo with all the kids:

All my brother’s family joined us for dinner that night plus Justus, Kelsey, and Little Sweetheart. I’d put a Pork Loin on the smoker all afternoon then Matt sliced it and put it in a crock pot to stay warm until we ate together. I’d also made Baked Potatoes in the crock pot, Green Beans, Cream Cheese Corn, Buttered Rolls, and Rice Krispie Treats.

It was a full week and a great one!

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Big Family Food and Fun: September 15-21, 2024

September 22, 2024 by Laura Leave a Comment

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Here’s our Big Family Food and Fun: September 15-21, 2024 post!

Big Family Food and Fun: September 15-21, 2024

Our Sunday Lunch crowd after church always brings me so much joy. This week, 27 people gathered. The day before, I had smoked Marinated Chicken and a package of Brats. I cut the chicken into small bites to toss into huge bowls of Caesar Salad. I warmed the Brats in a crock pot for an additional meat choice. We had grapes, watermelon, rolls with butter, and pickles. Some friends who joined us brought mandarins and other friends brought Ice Cream. It was a feast!

This was the only photo I managed to get because visiting with these dear ones was more fun. :)

The kids set up a bus in the entryway after lunch. Notice the masks they made at Bible class that morning, none of them willing to take them off, but none of them wearing them over their eyes either. :)

Keith had a soccer game later that afternoon.

The best part of this outing was that we had a friend playing on the field next to ours. All of their family was there to watch so basically our kids sat with them and their kids sat with us. We all shared snacks and as we were gathering ourselves to leave after games and I was counting heads, I accidently included one of their kids’ heads in my count. It was all very sweet.

Oh, and also Auggie. He found the best chair.

We came home hot and tired and ready for dinner (because apparently snacking the entire game wasn’t enough sustenance). I threw Chicken Nuggets into the air fryer, peeled about 10 Clementines, and sliced a Cucumber for dinner.

Monday morning I scrambled 18 eggs for breakfast. I used the last of our Homemade Applesauce from last week to make a quadruple batch of Applesauce Bread.

Our route to and from school has us walking in front of a nursing home. Our friend, Emma, works there and she had texted that afternoon to let me know that they’d be giving out lemonade and goody bags after school. What a sweet idea! We engaged with the residents as much as we could while the kids sipped their lemonade. :)

When we got home, Kiya worked on her homework in the living room while Brayden used my menu planning markerboard to work on his math equations in the kitchen while I started dinner.

We had a Burrito Bar, which is a favorite because everyone can eat whatever they like. (And for some kids, that means chips and shredded cheese. That’s it. Meh.)

It had been an extra loud screamy afternoon/evening, so when Josie and Auggie got silly and kept hugging each other on the sidewalk, I really appreciated the moment of sweetness.

Our neighbor, Mr. John, came over to chat with the kids. Not that he can usually understand much of what the girls are saying, but they sure do love talking to him. Josie asked if she could go see his flowers so he helped her find her shoes to make this happen.

Acacia and Josie walked around with John while he explained each flower. Meanwhile, I walked with Auggie to keep him from DESTROYING John’s flowers. Toddlers, man.

Tuesday morning, Justus dropped off Little Sweetheart on his way to a meeting and was greeted by a very eager Auggie who wasn’t going to let him leave easily. I had two IEP meetings to go to, so Malachi came over to help Matt take care of all five littles while I was gone.

That afternoon after school, Keith ate his way through about three clementines, then helped me put together our dinner casserole.

Just before serving time, Acacia helped me make a Caesar Salad.

Josie insisted on getting in on it too. I never say no to good help.

We had Frito Pie (which was pretty ok but I’m not sure I’ll make it again), Caesar Salad, Corn, and Clementines.

Elias was on Facetime with Malorie, so naturally all of the kids needed a turn talking to her too!

Wednesday morning, friends came over to help us clean bathrooms. The girls LOVE it when they come and always want to help.

Eva dropped Arrow off for the afternoon, and I asked if she would mind picking up a Hy-Vee order for me on her way. This was so helpful, and it provided two ingredients I needed to finish that night’s dinner.

When the kids got home from school, they were all so eager to help feed Arrow. Auntie Anna took her turn, then Aunt Acacia, then… :)

Eva and Asa joined us for dinner plus our friends, the Walkers. I made two big pans full of Crunchy Ranch Chicken Strips from several packages of chicken breast tenderloins I’d picked up a few weeks ago marked down to half price. I made Steamed Buttered Peas plus warmed up leftover Potatoes and leftover Rice from the fridge. I also set out a bag of Clementines to stretch the meal and they were perfect for a bit of sweetness after the chicken.

The kids ate in shifts, which tends to work better with so many needs, so much pickiness, and certain behaviors we are trying to work through. Altogether there were 19 of us that night.

Thursday morning I scrambled 16 eggs and we ate them with toasted bagels. I made a blender full of smoothie for Matt and me, and for some reason it tasted extra good.

After we got the four elementary kids off to school, we loaded up the youngest four and went to Costco.

Acacia was struggling that morning, in particular with this beach towel we found on clearance. She was concerned that someone else would touch it. Yikes.

As we got groceries pot away and girls on the Preschool Bus, I put Chicken Thighs into bags with Italian Dressing to marinate for Friday night’s dinner.

Justus dropped off Little Sweetheart for the afternoon. She and I hung out and had some good girl talk, then she helped me put away some more groceries in our pantry and get it organized.

We were headed out for the night, so right when the kids got home from school we ate a very early snacky dinner of Chicken Strips, Spinach, and Raspberries.

Then we loaded everyone up and headed a few blocks away to a carnival that was held at a nursing home close by (the one where we stopped for lemonade on Monday). The kids enjoyed games, face paint, balloon art, a bounce house, and fun food.

Auggie was determined to use a rubber mallet to catapult a frog onto a lily pad.

Acacia, who only weighs about a half pound more than Auggie and is barely taller, decided to show him how it’s actually done.

We were very impressed with this event and how so many of the residents and their families were there to eat and spend time together.

We knew there was a free meal there, but we also knew that feeding our kids before heading over was the right thing. After they played and sweated and played some more, we let them get something cold to drink and go through the food line. They even had Funnel Cake as a fun treat!

While the kids were eating, Auggie found a water puddle. We gladly let him splash in it because he didn’t have shoes on and it was only water. A lot of people enjoyed watching him play!

Back at home, we worked to get eight hot, sweaty, and tired kids to bed. Just like magic, Malachi showed up and saved the day. He brought joy and energy to two parents who were exhausted from parenting and chasing and managing kids all day.

Bonus Buddy got to spend one-on-one time with Malachi while we finished with the girls and got the other boys down. (The boys all share a room, but we have to separate them at first so that they calm down before joining together to sleep.)

Friday we spent a good part of the day getting ready for overnight guests. Keith was happy to use our “fancy mop” to help clean the kitchen floor after school.

For dinner with our guests, we enjoyed 9-pounds of Smoked Chicken Thighs, Green Beans, Cream Cheese Corn, Watermelon, Grapes, Strawberries, and Rolls.

I had also baked a Chocolate Cake (with spinach, don’t tell), and made a double batch of Homemade Ice Cream for dessert. For the record, I did tell our friends about the hidden spinach. Everyone was shocked because you really can’t tell that you’re eating a salad when you’re eating this cake. :)

We enjoyed talking for hours that evening and the next morning. What a gift it was to spend time with these friends! Breakfast Saturday was Simple Egg Casserole with Yogurt, Fruit, Cinnamon Toast, and a batch of Cheater Cheater Pumpkin Eaters made into mini-muffins.

After our guests left, Keith helped me make a double batch of No-Bake Chocolate Peanut Butter Oatmeal Bars for our Sunday Lunch.

Meanwhile, we made five boxes of Mac and Cheese with Fish Sticks, Peas, and Sliced Pears for Saturday’s lunch.

Dinner was leftovers and that was our week!

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Big Family Food and Fun: September 8-14, 2024

September 15, 2024 by Laura 4 Comments

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Here’s our Big Family Food and Fun: September 8-14, 2024 post!

Big Family Food and Fun: September 8-14, 2024

Getting eight kids ready for church on Sundays is quite the ordeal, but here we are ready and loading up into our van. Everyone was cooperating that morning so it was worth documenting. :)

We had a smaller crowd for lunch that day, or at least it felt smaller. Actually, there were still 22 of us, but here’s why it felt small: We’d met new friends at church who came over and joined us. Those friends have three kids and from the moment their kids and our kids met, there was instant friendship. All the kids took their plates outside to eat, leaving all the grown-ups eating and visiting in a quiet dining room. Amazing!

We had bought two Costco Rotisserie Chickens the Friday before, prepped them, and simply rewarmed them that Sunday for lunch. We ate it on buns with a variety of sauce options, plus Party Potatoes, Green Beans, Spinach, Stuffing, Watermelon, and Strawberries. When our new friends arrived, they brought fresh pineapple which was a perfect addition to this spread!

I had experimented the day before to make an Ice Cream Cake, which turned out to be a hit! I made this Chocolate Cake in a sheet pan so that it was thin. Then I made a batch of this Vanilla Ice Cream and layered it with the cake in a dish. I topped it with frosting blended with heavy whipping cream. Then squirted on some whipped cream. It was fun! But…

It should be noted that when I sneak spinach into Chocolate Cake it is usually well hidden and no one can tell. BUT, apparently when frozen, the green from the spinach pops vibrantly. So Malachi took the first slice and was like, “Mom this cake is green!?” Oh shoot. I had to come clean with everyone and tell them they were actually eating salad for dessert.

No one minded and in fact, some used this as an excuse to get seconds. Ok then.

While everyone was eating, I was delighted to be tucked into the chair in the corner of our dining room feeding Arrow and snuggling him to sleep. He is getting chubby and squishy and somehow even more delightful.

Later that afternoon, Brayden and Kiya went to a birthday party and we took the other six kids to Keith’s soccer game.

We came home and ate leftovers for dinner and I gave two more hair cuts (I’d given two boys cuts the day before plus trimmed two little girls hair to make it healthier). Sunday night it was Auggie and Bonus Buddy’s turn. Phew, six hair cuts in one weekend was a huge accomplishment. I was glad to have that out of the way.

Just before we took all the kids in for the night, I found these two having a dinner date by the fire pit so I snuck this picture for them.

Malorie headed back to Texas Monday morning as Elias was leaving for work. I got out a simple breakfast of Yogurt and Granola for the kids to eat before school.

Mid-morning the four littlest and I had a snack of Avocado and Chips. The weather was so beautiful we spent all morning outside.

The cuteness is overwhelming as the preschool girls climb on the bus at noon.

Crazy as it sounds, I’ve started having dinner ready by 4:30 or 4:45 every afternoon. I do this because once the kids are all home from school, everything gets very hectic. Part of the craziness is the result of the fact that they are all hungry, so I might as well get dinner made before they all come home from school AND get them fed right away to keep the meltdowns to a minimum.

Monday night, our Spaghetti Dinner was ready and we were at the table digging in at 4:45. All the adults in the house came and ate later when they were available.

Then we had a wedding, no big deal.

Acacia is usually our bride and Brayden sang and danced as he walked her down the aisle. The way Acacia is looking at Brayden with amusement and admiration at his antics – well, it’s pretty sweet.

We gave everyone who had cooperated during the evening, played nicely, and helped clean up toys a special treat of leftover Ice Cream Cake from Sunday before getting everyone to bed.

Tuesday morning, everyone chose Oatmeal packets for their breakfast. It’s cheaper to make these and I can do it, but not right now. Letting everyone choose their packet on oatmeal days is one more good thing for them because while so much of the time our kids are trying to be in control, choosing their oatmeal lets them have some control. Sound weird? Probably. This is our world now.

Mid-morning I decided to tackle a huge applesauce project. Our neighbor had brought us a bucket and a half of organic apples from his family farm – so nice. I don’t know that I’ll take on any more apples this year after this (we’ll see though, it’s hard to pass up free organic apples). But this particular morning, I channeled my 2008-Heavenly-Homemaker-Self and went full applesauce mode.

I got them all washed and left them in one of our sinks until a good time to get them cut and cooked.

Eventually, Matt was at a good point with the kids outside, plus Acacia came in to help me so I went for it on the next step. I was putting on an apron and Acacia needed one too. :)

An hour later, this huge pot of apples was on the stove cooking.

Here and there, kids had come in the snack on apples. Auggie didn’t really eat his, but he enjoyed sucking on his chunk.

After the girls left for preschool, the apples were cooked and I ran them all through my Blendtec to get it smooth. Phew! This is by far the fastest way I’ve found to make applesauce. And I’ve made gallons and gallons of it through the years.

Before leaving to pick up kids from school, I put leftover Party Potatoes on the stove, plus cut Beef Smoked Sausage in a pan – all ready to heat up for dinner. We had a couple containers of leftover Broccoli and Green Beans to go with it all.

Matt and Elias held down the fort at home and got dinner ready while Brayden, Kiya, Keith, and I went to hand out food and help at our weekly Food Distribution. Keith helped me hand out chicken most of the afternoon, but toward the end, he went to help Brayden clean out coolers in the kitchen. Brayden was sweet and thrilled to teach his little brother how his job worked and Keith was thrilled to be a big guy in the kitchen doing this job. :)

Every Tuesday at Food Distribution I am reminded about the importance of saying yes to opportunities for our kids to look beyond themselves and serve others. They really rise to the occasion in settings like this, and it is changing their hearts for good.

What the adult volunteers at Food Distribution don’t realize is how much they are pouring into our kids and blessing them. The adults allow our kids to serve along side them, telling them what a great job they are doing and what a great help they are. The kids need this – and Matt and I need this. We are weary. Other adults who pour into our kids are a beautiful gift to us all.

Anyway…here’s Kiya and Keith helping Mr. Jim scrub some spots off the carpet after we’d handed out food and it was clean up time.

Back at home, there was general chaos as the littles got fed dinner. But across the street! Our neighbor, John, and his beautiful flowers were on display for the evening. As people came to enjoy his yard and flowers, he and his friend were singing and making for a wonderfully fun experience. We enjoyed it from across the street in our yard at first.

Then we were able to head over and dance around on John’s porch during some of his live music performances. Mr. John is soooo good to our kids, and in fact, he’d taught Brayden, Kiya, and Keith how to plant with him in the spring so some of these flowers they had helped grow. What a special evening.

Wednesday morning I made French Toast like this to serve with our chilled Applesauce.

Mid-morning I took Auggie to the chiropractor to help him with over all health, specifically to help with some ear infections he’s been having.

Anna helped me get some eggs started so that I could make a big batch of Breakfast Sandwiches to have on hand.

That afternoon, I got to hang out with Arrow for a few hours. He is such a happy boy!

The zoo had a special “for members only” evening hours opening, so we took advantage that night. Right when the kids got home from school, we fed them leftovers for an early dinner then loaded up.

The zoo handed out big Runza Chocolate Chip Cookies to us as we headed in and I had packed milk. So we took a break with the Penguins to have milk and cookies.

We visited with our friend, Elliot, the Macaw.

By the time we headed back to the van to make our way home, Matt and I had regretted our outing. The kids were beyond tired and just about all of them were melting down. We managed to get a lot of screaming kids home, upstairs to get ready for bed, and right at that time, Malachi showed up unannounced.

He had no idea that this is just what we needed, but he started making his way from room to room, having little conversations, giving hugs, and snuggling. He helped make the night more manageable, and an hour and half after we started bedtime routines, the kids were all finally settled.

Thursday morning we ate several of the Breakfast Sandwiches I’d made the day before. I put together a double batch of Applesauce Muffins to share with some friends and to have on hand for snacks and breakfasts.

Anna had an appointment that morning, so I quickly put together Peanut Butter Tortillas for Matt to feed the others if he needed something fast. I made quite a few, as I thought that might be a good snack to take to school that afternoon for the kids to eat on their way home.

Just before noon, we headed outside to watch for the preschool bus.

I took the muffin liners off the mini-muffins and put three each into snack-sized baggies. (This is my way of re-creating boxed Little Bites.) I put the little baggies into a gallon-sized freezer bag and labeled it, then put it into the freezer. Then I put the remaining muffins in a container for easy access the next couple of days.

Justus dropped off Little Sweetheart to spend the afternoon with us. She helped me clean out our dishwashers, played, drank 5-ounces, then fell asleep in my arms. Bliss.

Kelsey had arrived at our house to pick up Little Sweetheart by the time we got home from school with the elementary kids. She and Auggie helped Brayden with his homework while Uncle Elias held Little Sweetheart. Family Teamwork is the best.

I’d been fighting a cold, so dinner that night was the rest of a bag of Fish Sticks, five boxes of Mac and Cheese, and leftover veggies.

Friday morning, I made a batch of Chocolate Banana Blender Muffins.

Auggie had a follow-up chiropractor appointment right after we got the kids to school. He enjoyed some light reading before Dr. Bo called him back.

When we got home, I finished putting together a huge batch of Peanut Butter Honey Puffs. I had started them at 7:15 that morning, but kept getting interrupted with other needs so I finished them three hours later. ;)

Meanwhile, the Chocolate Banana Blender Muffins had cooled so I packaged them for school lunches plus some to share with a friend.

That afternoon after we got the girls on the Preschool bus and Auggie down for a nap, I headed out by myself to restock groceries at Walmart and Sam’s.

The price of eggs has gone up again, but Sam’s still had their boxes of 5-dozen at the old price so I grabbed two boxes. Can we go through 10-dozen eggs by their expiration date in October? Yes, no problem.

Back at home, Matt and Auggie had picked up the kids from school and some big plans for our neighborhood had begun. Several of our neighbors had worked together to put together a Block Party that night. Our boys LOVED help setting up the Road Blocks.

But what everyone LOVED LOVED was getting to ride their bikes and play in the street all evening. One of our neighbors got out a little police car that our kids loved driving around.

So many showed up to share a meal and time together.

We met a lot of new people and got to know others better.

Some of the young adults kicked a ball around, and were gracious to let Keith and Bonus Buddy join their game.

The worst part of the evening was taking all the kids in for the night. They had had so much fun and were overtired. They did not want all the fun to end!

Saturday morning, we walked a block over to a neighbor’s yard to get a haul of dirt they wanted to get rid of. Everyone had fun helping dad unload it.

Then we loaded up a basket full of freezer foods to take to a friend who’s mom has been having severe health issues. Hopefully this food will make a few meals easier for their family.

Late morning, I smoked chicken and brats for our Sunday lunch.

We baked a Tator Tot Casserole for lunch and ate it with Steamed Broccoli and Carrots.

We enjoyed our church’s Small Group that afternoon, ate leftovers for dinner, gave everyone baths, and got everyone to bed.

And that was our week!

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Big Family Food and Fun: August 25-31, 2024

September 1, 2024 by Laura 2 Comments

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Here’s our Big Family Food and Fun: August 25-31, 2024 post!

First, a quick photo from last Saturday that didn’t make it into last week’s post. As I was prepping small baggies of cheese cubes, meat circles, and peanuts for upcoming lunches, our friend Paula texted to let us know she was on her way to drop off some Sam’s goodies for lunches as needed. Two boxes of Uncrustables and two boxes of Mandarin Oranges later, we were set! Thank you, Paula!

Big Family Food and Fun: August 25-31, 2024

24 of us gathered for lunch after church on Sunday! I made a big Nacho/Burrito Bar which was a huge hit.

I set out 3-pounds of cooked seasoned Taco Meat, 2-pounds of Salsa Chicken, Chips, Tortillas, Black Beans, Corn, Rice, Tomatoes, Spinach, Sour Cream, Shredded Cheese, Nacho Cheese, Salsa, Guacamole, and Olives. Actually, I was holding Arrow and our adult kids set it all out for me. ;)

For dessert, I had made three rounds of Vanilla Ice Cream and prepped some toppings. I hadn’t made Homemade Hot Fudge in a very long time so that was a fun addition to our ice cream topping choices!

Later that afternoon, I stirred together the leftover chicken, rice, salsa, cheese, and beans from our lunch buffet made Burritos for upcoming lunches for the grown-ups.

Monday was incredibly hot again – so hot that our girls’ preschool was canceled. Not all of the school buses are air conditioned, so they couldn’t take risks with putting littles on the hot buses.

We spent a good part of the day playing in water in the shade.

After school, Anna and Auggie were napping but Acacia and Josie hopped into a stroller with me for a very hot ride to pick up the four elementary kids. We had popcorn and water bottles for everyone to help us make it home.

But wait, what is this? As a privileged fifth grader, Brayden is the proud borrower of a trumpet.

He had been taught three notes at school that day, so he attempted to practice them on the front porch. (Thank you, neighbors, for loving us through all of our noise.)

I made a quick double batch of Peanut Butter Honey Rice Krispie Bars for snacks, breakfasts, and lunches.

While I made Skillet Taco Pasta for dinner, the little girls helped Matt make Caesar salad.

I boiled a pound of whole wheat elbow noodles for the kids who didn’t want the Skillet Taco Pasta, and we ate it all with our salad, plus choice of corn, grapes, or peaches.

After dinner, while Kiya helped me clean the kitchen, Brayden made two cans of Chicken Salad for his upcoming school lunches.

Tuesday morning, we ate Peanut Butter Honey Rice Krispie Bars and Applesauce for breakfast. Matt took the elementary kids to school while I stayed back so that Auggie could have a session with the Early Development Speech Pathologist that comes to work with him.

Later that morning, Anna helped me make a batch of Chocolate Banana Muffins.

I love the simplicity of putting all the ingredients into a blender to mix then pour into muffin tins.

The girls took a fresh Chocolate Banana Muffins outside to snack on as we played and watched for their preschool bus to arrive.

Much to our delight, when we went outside we discovered our neighbors Coleman and Sarah getting all set up to go work their tree service business. These two are some of the best in how they love our kids!

After we got the girls on the bus, I packaged up some of our Peanut Butter Honey Rice Krispie Bars to have on hand for school lunches.

That afternoon, I put together four pizzas for our dinner that night.

I showed up to school to pick up kids and Keith dove into his after school snack immediately.

Brayden, Kiya, and I headed to our weekly Food Distribution. Kiya got to hand out boxes of potatoes this week, Brayden cleaned out coolers as they got emptied out, and I gave away bags of prepped chicken. Afterward we stayed until the very end to help clean up the distribution rooms.

I didn’t get any pictures the rest of the evening because it’s always hectic when we get back from food distribution. Matt and Elias had baked the pizzas plus made a salad. So we ate Pizza, Salad, and Blueberries, then cleaned up and got everyone ready for bed.

Wednesday morning, we ate Chocolate Banana Muffins with Scrambled Cheesy Eggs.

Once the elementary kids were at school, we loaded the other four kids and headed to Walmart and Menards. Back at home, we hung out outside waiting for the preschool bus. Acacia, the tiny little Mommy, happily took all three girls’ backpacks outside so we’d have them ready when needed.

Matt was spraying the lawn, which the kids thoroughly enjoyed. Auggie was giving the best belly laughs each time he reached up and touched the water.

After the girls got picked up and we put Auggie down for his nap, I headed over to Asa and Eva’s to hang with my favorite grandson for a while. It was blissssssss.

When school got out, we picked everyone up and loaded them into the van for a short drive out of town to visit Elina, someone we claim as part of our family.

We then headed to a soccer field close to Elina’s house in hopes to meet up with the YU women’s soccer team to say hello before they started warm-ups for their game. All throughout this afternoon/evening, I was handing out Uncrustables, apples, bananas, applesauce, chips, and juice.

Before driving home for the night, we unloaded everyone for a few minutes to play for a while. There are three kids in this tree. Four maybe.

The trip was slightly on the crazy side, but worth it and good.

Thursday morning, I made French Toast for breakfast. Bonus Buddy loved this and ate two pieces, so please don’t tell him that French Toast is made with eggs. ;)

That afternoon, Malachi stopped by for a few hours and we talked non-stop. Drinking coffee and visiting with our older kids is one of my greatest delights. He was describing a particular coffee selection he likes to get at coffee shops, and I was able to pull out everything he needed (maple syrup, cinnamon, whipped cream) to make it happen at our house.

Beautiful!

Meanwhile, I was getting some wonderful snuggles from Little Sweetheart before I laid her down for a nap.

I grabbed some Snickerdoodle Bites from the fridge as I headed out the door to pick up kids from school that afternoon. All four kids ate them eagerly on the way home.

Matt helped me get Sweet and Sour Chicken Legs on the smoker for dinner and we ate them with Steamed Broccoli, a little bit of Sweet Corn someone had given us, and Toasted Bread.

Just when we thought we’d start the bedtime process, things changed and we thought that instead we might need to take this guy in for stitches in his head. Be grateful I’m not posting photos of what is under that wrap. Once we got the bleeding under control, we determined that stitches weren’t going to be needed. But to bandage something with all that hair is tricky. So Dr. Daddy put a nice piece of gauze in place and wrapped Keith’s head with this to keep it intact for the night. Just a day in the life…

Friday morning I baked these Peanut Butter Cookies x7 for a big event coming up next week.

We played for a while outside with Acacia pausing every few minutes to love on her baby brother.

Then we took the four littlest to Sam’s to pick up some items for the above mentioned event plus to get more fresh produce and a few other items our family needed. There was a “big show” in the parking lot as we were loading up after shopping so we had a great time watching the carts get lined up in a big long train to head back inside for other shoppers.

Back at home, I made this Brownie recipe x4 plus this Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe x2 for the event we are working on for next week.

From the time we got the kids home from school until they all finally went to sleep, the night was full of challenge. There was a lot of screaming and defiance, mixed in with a couple of appointments and dinner. As fast as I could boil water, I made five boxes of Mac and Cheese which we ate with peas and grapes.

Somewhere in there I baked Chocolate Cupcakes for Acacia’s birthday on Saturday.

Then we loaded everyone up to take a walk in hopes that the outing, exercise, and fresh air would calm us all. It didn’t, but at least it was bedtime when we got home. Some days are just harder than others. God is still good and He is in this.

Saturday morning I made a huge Egg and Hashbrown Casserole to bake for our Sunday lunch.

I also baked a lot of sheets of bacon to have on hand for the upcoming week.

Auggie got ahold of one of his sister’s bowl of yogurt. Tasty!

It was Acacia’s birthday so I packed a picnic so we could go to the park for her birthday lunch. I made four cans worth of Tuna Salad, plus packed Strawberries, Crackers, Cheese Cubes, Chocolate Cupcakes (with spinach, because well, she chose chocolate cake so…) and toppings for everyone to decorate their cupcake after lunch.

At the park, we unloaded eight bikes and scooters for the kids to ride on the trails.

Everyone was very hungry at lunchtime!

I’m not gifted at decorating cakes, so instead, everyone got to choose which sprinkles they wanted on their birthday cupcake. They loved this, and the fun makes up for my non-fancy cake skills.

Acacia blew her candles out before we finished singing to her. Hey, she’s done this four times now. She knows how it works.

Everyone was fascinated watching Daddy decorate each cupcake according to sprinkle preferences.

We came home for rest time, then warmed up leftovers for a very early dinner to clean out the fridge. Then we got everyone changed into swimsuits so that we could go to the Splash Park before bedtime. This park will close on Labor Day so we wanted to go one last time for the season. Acacia’s birthday seemed to be the perfect day to go!

I had packed eight cheese sticks, eight applesauce pouches, and a box of cookies from Azure Standard that were low in sugar – and the kids were still hungry when we were finished. We had a container of peanuts in the van so they ate several handfuls before we headed home and put them to bed.

And that was our week!

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Big Family Food and Fun: April 28-May 4, 2024

May 5, 2024 by Laura 5 Comments

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

Here’s our Big Family Food and Fun: April 28-May 4, 2024 post!

Big Family Food and Fun: April 28-May 4, 2024

I had put together an Easy Bread Pudding the day before when I was making a big batch of Uncrustables so I baked it for our Sunday morning breakfast!

I packed lunch for us to eat after church with other families who were staying for a fun Sundaes on Sunday event! I had two loaves of bread worth of Uncrustables, four cans worth of Tuna Salad, and a batch of Cream Cheese Salsa Dip. Plus I packed grapes, chips, bread/buns, and sweet peppers.

Keith was supposed to have a soccer game mid-afternoon also, so I packed oranges for us to eat during the game and juice for the kids to drink on the way home.

Keith was prepared to fight a fire that morning but we packed his soccer gear just in hopes that his Fire Chief duties allowed him to play in his game. :)

During church, we got the inevitable “Your child’s game is canceled due to wet field conditions.” I think he’s had more cancelations than actual games at this point. But that did mean that we could stay longer at our church fellowship event.

Our awesome children’s minister had Sundae supplies set up after lunch for everyone!

Those oranges I cut up for the kids to eat during Keith’s (canceled) game? Not to worry – those got eaten right on our kitchen floor when we got home. BabyBoy#11 even got in on the action – sucking out some juice while his sisters gobbled down the fruit.

For about an hour that afternoon, I got all the kids involved in doing some much-needed house cleaning. Were they excited and did they have good attitudes about this? Not really. But did they learn some life skills and life lessons about working as a family team? Yes.

Keith had the privilege of running our steam mop, so he actually LOVED his job. The kitchen floor looked much better after he was finished!

I warmed up leftover pancakes and sausage for dinner that night. Then, our friends, the Bakers, came over to watch the seven littles for us. We grown-ups all loaded up at met up at a nearby church for a…

Rend Collective Concert!!!

This was a Christmas gift we gave our adult kids and we finally got to enjoy it together!

The entire night was full of powerful worship! While the entire group is extremely talented, we were all especially impressed with the fiddler. And look! We found the fiddler and got a photo with him during intermission!! :)

Ah, but you might not have noticed the fiddler in the above photo because Kelsey is holding a tiny babe. :) Indeed. Justus and Kelsey have recently started to foster this sweetheart. She is beyond precious. :)

Monday morning, I packed the BBQ Pork/Cheese Sandwiches I’d put together the week before plus some bags of chips to send with Matt as he headed to York. Malachi and some friends were meeting up at our old house to clean it out one last time before the new owners started to move in.

Elias and Malorie helped me with the kids all day while Matt was gone. I decided it was a piggy-tail day.

A piggy-tail-BUBBLE day.

I had a big meeting with our Case Worker, Casa, and Foster Care Support Person that morning. BabyBoy#11’s adoption is coming up soon and we got more paperwork completed!

That evening, I smoked 14 Brats and 24 Hotdogs for dinner. I threw out Pickles, Fruit Cups, and Chips plus warmed up leftover Baked Beans. We ate as fast as we could then headed out for Brayden’s Ukulele Concert at school.

I could not stop smiling while he performed. Music brings out the best in him, 100%, and I was praising God the entire time for giving Brayden this area of success. I didn’t get any pictures of his fan club, but there were 14 of us sitting in the crowd cheering him on. :)

Tuesday morning Keith took on the task of washing some dishes. These dishes got very, very clean and also very wet.

Meanwhile, in the living room…

Just before taking them to school, I had Brayden and Kiya come in to the kitchen to scrub potatoes for our dinner that night. I’m working very hard to train the kids to serve our family in various ways.

The day before I had discovered a Lilac Bush in our yard that I didn’t know existed. It reminds me of the lane leading up to grandparent’s house and the scent took me back to my childhood. I’m so excited we have this! I put some lilacs into a vase and took it into our kitchen for us to enjoy!

Late afternoon, Acacia and Josie snacked on grapes outside at their picnic table.

Dinner that evening was leftover BBQ Chicken from Saturday night plus Crock Pot Baked Potatoes and Steamed Broccoli. I also warmed up leftover Corn from the fridge. I needed to be out the door by 5:00 because Keith had Kindergarten Roundup. So dinner was ready by 4:30 and we started feeding kids in shifts.

In an effort to divide and conquer, Matt stayed home with four kids and I took Keith, Anna, and BabyBoy#11 with me to the elementary school. Keith was very excited and has declared that he is already a kindergartener. :)

We got to meet the kindergarten teachers and Keith made a hat in what might be his classroom next year. Anna made one too, because, why not? And BabyBoy#11 ate some magnatiles. :)

It was still early evening when we got home and everyone was hungry again because we’d had such an early dinner. The snack this tired mom decided to provide for her hungry children? Spoon after spoon of Peanut Butter. It was easy and it filled their bellies!

Matt attempted to mow part of our lawn while the kids played before bedtime. Everything went fine until it was time for me to transition everyone into the house to get ready for bed. That’s when kids started to put grass clippings in each other’s hair and then they all rubbed fresh grass onto their hands, creating grass-stained hands. Things can, and often do, go from calm to crazy in the span of five seconds. But hey, the lawn looks nice and we all survived.

Wednesday morning I baked a batch of Bran Muffins. Notice how I didn’t get the cinnamon stirred in well? That actually ended up being a pretty tasty mistake. :)

Keith had been asking for Breakfast Cookies so late morning, he helped me make a double batch. Having muffins and breakfast cookies in our freezer is so helpful!

In the afternoon I bagged up the Muffins and Cookies for the freezer. I also baked several pans of Bacon to have on hand and to share.

I had the little girls help me crack 2+ dozen eggs, then I made two Breakfast Casseroles in an attempt to get ahead.

For dinner that night, we made a simple meals of Boiled Elbow Noodles, Spaghetti Sauce with Meat, and Steamed Broccoli. Brayden helped make most of this meal, taking big pride in already knowing how to do most of it. :)

Most of the littles prefer their noodles without sauce but with butter and cheese.

With so many littles to chase, it is very rare for us all to actually SIT an enjoy a meal. But here we are, sitting. For two minutes. We attempted to practice some Bible verses with the kids, which is something we like to do at meal time if we can possibly get everyone seated and quiet.

Thursday morning, Matt headed back to York to work. Elias has started a new job as a Special Ed Para (such a great fit for him!) so he got out the door early. Malachi had video work to do so we called our dear friend Christina to come help us this morning!

I captured this photo of the girls enjoying a rare moment of quiet coloring as the adults were trying to get out the door.

Meanwhile, Keith had gotten out string, scissors, glue, paper, and a hole punch to make…a mask?

His creativity was flowing so next he made a light saber!

Christina is the best with our kids! She helped make our morning go very smoothly. :)

For dinner that night, we stirred together Wednesday night’s leftovers and Elias topped it with cheese to bake.

I decided to go with paper boats that night so that I didn’t add extra dishes to our needs of the day.

And we ate outside so that the mess would fall to the ground! After playing more, we ate some fruit cups to refresh us before bedtime.

We had refrigerated Wednesday’s Egg Casseroles so Friday morning, I cut them and warmed some up for our breakfast. Then I put the remaining pieces into baggies, and then into freezer bags for easy packed lunches (adults) and easy breakfasts (everyone).

We ran to Sam’s that morning where I grabbed milk, fruit, and veggies.

But the real reason we went to Sam’s is because I’d been researching the best Wagon/Stroller for our outings and they had a great one! We wanted to pick it up and get it ready for the season. Of course, putting it together was a BIG EVENT when we got home and Daddy could not have done it without all of this great help. :)

We loaded up and took it for a test drive all the way to the kids’ school where they were having a special Walkathon outside that day.

It’s going to be great to have, but it was a bit heavy for me once we put 100+ pounds of children inside. :) At the zoo, soccer games, parks, and other events, it will be fabulous!

To celebrate our kids’ school’s Walkathon that evening, our closest community library hosted a gathering for the students. They had a scavenger hunt, activities, crafts and PIZZA.

BabyBoy#11 was all in for this event. ;)

It felt extra special to eat pizza inside the library.

But the best part of the night was interacting with people from our community. Many are still new to us and this was a great gift to be with them in this way.

Saturday morning we ate odds and ends to finish off Breakfast Cookies and Muffins.

Meanwhile, I cut up the great big watermelon I’d gotten at Sam’s the day before. (I spent just under $8 on this. Read here to learn why I think this is a GREAT PRICE.)

We got to go to our favorite Sensory Friendly Library Storytime that morning.

We came home and warmed up leftovers for lunch. I used leftover baked potatoes and bacon to make a skillet full of something similar to what is described here. Wow was it good! Brayden and Kiya helped warm up veggies.

In preparation for our Sunday lunch, I dumped two kinds of sauces on chicken to marinate. Later that evening I smoked the chicken. I planned to rewarm it and put it into crock pots Sunday morning to take to church for lunch since once again, Keith had a soccer game right after lunch (if it doesn’t get canceled).

The rest of the afternoon was spent playing outside, moving a new housemate into our third floor, and getting ready for Sunday.

Our neighbor, John, was planting more flowers into his gorgeous flower garden. He has been so gracious to teach our kids and let them help. This is big for any kid – but for our kids – the time, energy, and love he is pouring in has been beyond big. Brayden was out having Bro Time with Elias, BabyBoy#11 was napping, and the other five kids and I went across the street to plant flowers with John.

He talked us through how he does things, why he does them, and he let the kids do all the work. It was amazing. When we got back to our yard, our kids used their new skills to plant fake flowers in our dirt while I smoked the chicken I had marinated earlier.

I also mixed up two loaves worth of Stir-and-Pour Bread to go with our Sunday lunch chicken. I haven’t made bread in a very long time, and my intent was to pull kids inside to make it with me. But they were playing so well outside and having so much fun I just let them be. They can make bread with me 100 other times or more. :)

I realized I only had whole wheat pastry flour, which doesn’t work for yeast breads. So I used unbleached white flour and the bread turned out great. Truly, anyone can make this bread. It’s so easy and requires no kneading!

The smell of smoked chicken and freshly baked bread teased us as I saved it for our Sunday lunch and instead pulled out leftovers for our Saturday dinner. This was the last of the leftovers in our fridge and it felt so good to get them all cleaned out! I turned the remaining leftover noodles into Mac and Cheese by making a white sauce. Keith grated cheese for this project and was so proud. Then I cut up the leftover hotdogs I’d smoked earlier in the week and stirred them in. We ate it with peas and the kids gobbled it up!

We put a lot of dirty, tired kids into the bathtub, and that was our week!

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40+ Pumpkin, Apple, & Cinnamon Recipes! {How I’m Stock-Piling for Fall}

October 1, 2015 by Laura 1 Comment

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

I’ll give you one guess as to my favorite thing about fall.

Yep! Food, food, food, food, food. Different seasons bring on different foods, as do different special events and holidays. This should, by the way, make us super appreciate how blessed we are to have such variety and bounty. I can’t even imagine what it’s like to eat the same two or three foods day after day, all year long, because those are my only meager options. We are spoiled by our vast food choices and we often still complain. If you ever hear me say, “Oh I’m so overwhelmed because I have so many apples and tomatoes that I need to put up” just shake me.

(This perspective seeking heart-check is brought to you by yours truly – after I spent an evening at our local mission with a homeless single mama and her 3 year old twins and 2 year old. It reminded me that I have soooo much! Also, my boys and I are reading Louis Zamperini, who, among other things, was lost at sea for 28 days then a tortured prisoner of war for a year and a half – so I vow to never complain again. Also, there’s Gladis. I have absolutely nothing to complain about. But if/when I slip up and do it anyway – call me out on it. I’m serious.)

So back to fall food and all the happiness that comes with it. My kitchen is spilling over with amazing foods and it makes me so excited. I love summer like you wouldn’t believe, so fall with its cinnamon deliciousness certainly softens the blow of “brace yourself, winter is coming!” (Not that I’m going to complain. Do I or do I not have closets full of blankets and sweaters? I do.)

Right now, I am in fall food stock-piling mode. We’ve been picking raspberries as much as we can. Apples are everywhere. It’s pumpkin time. I guess I’m finding myself shifting in thought as to what foods I want to keep on hand for fall, winter, and holiday cooking. Here are my top priorities:

Fall Foods To Stock Up OnYum

Tomato Soup

Our favorite Tomato Soup recipe is easy and super good. When we run out of my homemade soup, I’ll buy a case of Pacific Organic Tomato Soup because I really love having it on hand for casseroles or simply to warm up to eat with grilled cheese sandwiches. So yum!

Tomato Soup for the Freezer

Pumpkin Puree

This is how I easily cook whole pumpkins to have inexpensive pumpkin puree on hand. Sometimes I buy a case of Organic Pumpkin Puree through Amazon when the price is right. See list below of our favorite pumpkin recipes!

pumpkin_12

Cinnamon

Of course. This is a fall must-have. I buy a one-pound package from Azure Standard. I also love the Cinnamon Sticks from Olive Nation.

cinnamon_swirl_bread
That thar is Cinnamon Swirl Bread – a delicious part of this complete fall breakfast.

Apple Pie Filling

I almost always have great sources each fall for free or inexpensive apples. One of my favorite ways to preserve apples is to prepare pie filling then freeze it. If I have time or a full freezer, I will instead can the apple pie filling. I can then easily dump the prepared filling into a Whole Wheat Pie Crust or easier yet – make Apple Crisp.

apple_pie_filling_5

Applesauce

Having plenty of applesauce on hand is awesome for so many reasons. It’s a great side dish or snack, and it’s also great to bake with. If you haven’t tried Applesauce Bread, well, it’s fall. You need to make Applesauce Bread.

My favorite (and easiest) way to make applesauce is with a Victorio. That tool makes my work so much less work-ish!

Chicken and Beef Broth

It’s soup time, so having veggie loaded broth prepped and in my freezer is so helpful. Must reads: How to Make Beef Broth and How to Make Chicken Broth.

turkey carcass and broth

And now, over 40 of my favorite fall recipes using these foods! There is some overlap since almost all pumpkin and apple recipes also call for cinnamon(but don’t worry, none of them call for broth).

What to Make With Cinnamon

14 Recipes With Cinnamon

What to Make with Apples

11 Apple Recipes

Applesauce
Baked Apple Pancake
Apple Pie Filling
Salted Caramel Apple Crisp
Cream Cheese Fruit Dip (to go with your apples)
Applesauce Bread
Apple Fruit Leather
Build a Fruit Salad Bar
Apple Crisp
Apple Butter
Apple Nachos

What to Make with Pumpkin Puree

12 Pumpkin Recipes

What to Do with Beef Bone Broth or Chicken Broth

11 Ways to Use Beef and Chicken Broth

Cook brown rice in it (instead of water) for delicious flavor and added nutrients
Drink it as-is
Make Beefy Vegetable Soup
Make Cheeseburger Soup
Make Chicken Noodle Soup (or use the same idea for Beef and Noodle Soup)
Cook rice in it for Cheesy Beef and Rice
Use it in Chicken Pot Pie
Make Chicken Tortilla Soup
Cook rice in it for Creamy Chicken and Rice Casserole
Make Pizza Soup
Make Potato Soup

What is on your fall stock-pile list? What are your favorite fall foods?

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Menu Plan for the Week

December 15, 2013 by Laura 2 Comments

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It’s official – I don’t have any prepared food in my freezer as of right now. How did this happen? Well, it would appear that we ate all I had prepared, which is, after all, what freezer food is for. This week, I’m hoping to find a little extra time to make a few items to freeze for upcoming busy days. Here’s what I’m thinking of making:

Bacon Cheeseburger Casserole and Cheesy Beef and Pasta Casserole from the {Healthy} Make-Ahead Meals and Snacks eBook
Instant Oatmeal Packets (not for the freezer, but to get ahead nonetheless)
A variety of frozen muffin batter (can you believe I actually ran out!?!??!)

On another note, have you tried this Ranch Cheese Ball yet? It’s such an easy recipe, and a great snack to share at a holiday get-together. I’ll be making it at the end of the week!

Here’s what we’ll be eating this week:

Sunday, December 15
Raspberry oatmeal bars, bananas
Potato soup, carrots
Small group fellowship: I’m making Italian Pasta Bake, everyone else is bringing sides

Monday, December 16
Peanut butter Snack bars, apples
Rice and veggie stir fry with broccoli and carrots
Chicken tortilla soup, tossed salad

Tuesday, December 17
Peanut butter pancakes, applesauce
Meat and cheese burritos, cherry tomatoes, olives
Shepherds pie, tossed salad

Wednesday, December 18
Easy breakfast casserole, oranges
Snowflake quesadillas, fruit salad, carrots
Three cheese garlic chicken pasta, tossed salad, green beans

Thursday, December 19
Sweet Potato Streusel Muffins, bananas
Sloppy joes, fried potatoes, peas
Turkey sausage and red bean stew, tossed salad

Friday, December 20 (Malachi’s 9th Birthday – he chooses the day’s menu!)
Chocolate chip pancakes
Pizza, fruit
Hot dogs, chips, carrots

Saturday, December 21
Peanut butter chocolate chip muffins, clementines
Hoagie sandwiches, apples, carrots, olives
Eating with Asa and Justus’ basketball team

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