Here’s our Big Family Food and Fun: October 6-12, 2024 post!
Big Family Food and Fun: October 6-12, 2024
I mentioned in last week’s post that Matt and I were experimenting with how to have a day of rest once each week. You can read more about our intention here. We began our Sabbath on Saturday afternoon/evening at our friends’ house, spending time in community.
There were enough older kids and adults there that helped with our littles that Matt and I did, from time to time, get to just sit and enjoy some downtime.
Keith latched on to Sam that evening, and Sam was so sweet to pour into him.
My goal on Saturday morning had been to make all of our Sunday breakfast and lunch food so that all I had to do on Sunday was set it out or warm it up. This worked perfectly and I hope to do it this way every week!
We ate Breakfast Cookies turned into bars for breakfast. Lunch was Smoked Chicken, Party Potatoes, Cream Cheese Corn, Green Beans, Rolls, and Pumpkin Bars.
We had a small crowd join us that day, but we enjoyed visiting with Asa and Eva about Sabbath and some of their ideas for practicing rest also. There’s still plenty of “work” to do while caring for eight small children all day long, but I tried to keep a mindset of rest throughout the day. After lunch, while we visited, I was able to sit and thoroughly enjoy a cup of coffee with a Pumpkin Bar.
At about 2:45, we needed to make a transition to get all the kids in the van to head to Keith’s soccer game. THIS was not a restful thing, mostly because kids did not want to cooperate to go potty, get shoes, etc. Oy. But we made it to the game (late), and truly, did we expect the entire day to be restful with this many little ones? No, we did not. ;)
From the game, we headed to the Heartlands church parking lot for a wonderful Harvest Festival. There was a meal, face painting, pumpkin painting station, smores, and archery with Heart Shot Ministry.
Brayden, Kiya, Keith, and Bonus Buddy all lined up for archery and it was great. But when Tiny-but-Mighty Acacia got in line like a big kid? Well now. She was one determined kitty cat.
She listened very closely to the instructor and actually hit a few marks on the target. It was the cutest thing we all saw all night.
Keith’s new bestie, Sam, and Sam’s dad, Jason, had worked on this football helmet when we’d been at their house Saturday night to turn it into a Husker hat. Keith slept with it in his bed, got mad when I wouldn’t let him wear it to church, put it on before and after his soccer game, and of course, wore it to the Harvest Festival. Hotdogs taste better and pumpkins paint up nicer when you’re wearing a helmet.
Auggie was fascinated with the music coming from the giant black box in the parking lot. He hosted a small dance party with some of his sisters and our friend Christina.
All of our kids were very proud of their face paint. Washing it off before bed that night was a little bit less sad because we got pictures. :)
All in all, our Sunday was wonderful and full of good friends. So was our Sabbath restful??
Well, part of it. But there’s nothing that takes away the work of caring for eight high need littles, no matter how much we did ahead of time. I didn’t sleep great Sunday night (Auggie still doesn’t sleep through the night consistently, though at least he’s the only one who got up that particular night). So Monday, after attempting to Sabbath on Sunday, I woke up very tired.
Therefore, I decided to also rest on Monday as much as I could while kids were in school. The four at home in the morning played pretty quietly in the playroom (and then fought for an hour before their bus came with hair, clothes, and shoes, oy). But look at the sweetness of their play before the fighting:
I took a nap when Auggie went down for a nap and felt refreshed when I got up. Dinner that night was super simple: Mac and Cheese (with Bacon Bits stirred in for the grown-ups), Green Beans, and Grapes.
Tuesday morning I scrambled a dozen Cheesy Eggs to eat with Mudballs or Peanut Butter Rice Krispie Bars an Applesauce. About every other day, I make a batch of this Smoothie for Matt and me to drink as needed throughout our days.
We are working very hard to completely wean Auggie off his Pediasure supplement drinks as he finally learns to eat regular meals and snacks. Eating is still an extra effort for him, but he’s making incredible progress. Here he is, mid-morning on Wednesday, eating an avocado cup.
Little Sweetheart came for the day. She and Auggie are fascinated with each other, but Auggie doesn’t always understand that she is tiny and we have to be careful not to clobber her.
After school, I took Brayden, Kiya, and Keith to hand out food and clean at our weekly Food Distribution.
I was glad we didn’t come home to any broken windows this week. ;) Before leaving that afternoon, I’d put Sunday’s leftover Party Potatoes into a crock pot with some chopped up ham and prepped Broccoli to be steamed for dinner.
Wednesday morning, I got out Breakfast Sandwiches that I’d made last week for us to warm up and eat with a side of yogurt. Anna practiced her cutting skills at the counter while kids trickled into the kitchen for breakfast.
I’m always a bit frazzled by the time we manage to get eight kids out the door and walk to school to drop off four of them. Have you ever told a kindergarten boy to “hurry up” or “go as fast as you can!”??? These words are pointless. But. All frustration melts away when Acacia insists on hugging her brothers goodbye when they head to their line to go inside. This particular day, they enjoyed a group hug.
Back at home, we enjoyed the risk of giving the three little girls a container of markers with paper. Oy. It all went well until it didn’t, and then I steered them toward a different project. :)
Arrow came to hang out that afternoon. He and Uncle Auggie took a walk with Lolli to pick up Keith and Bonus Buddy after school. Brayden and Kiya got to stay after school that day for a Craft Club.
The kindergarten classes had enjoyed a field trip to a pumpkin patch that day. They were excited about the pumpkins they chose and got right to work decorating them when we got home. If I felt uneasy earlier that morning with three little girls and a container of markers, ask me how I felt about two kindergarten boys with a container of sharpies?? Auggie and I watched them closely, and we got the sharpies put away before the three little girls got off their preschool bus. Phew.
It was a warm day, it’s been very dry, and our little car needed to be washed. So Matt pulled it onto our grass to spray it off before heading to school to pick up Brayden and Kiya. The kids were fascinated by this as Daddy had never driven the car onto the grass before. :)
Dinner that night was super simple and a big hit. I smoked 24 Brats (that I’d picked up marked down to just $1.84/pound at Walmart!). We rewarmed leftover Mac and Cheese, got out Potato Salad and Pickles, and I cut up a bunch of Apples that the boys had brought home from the pumpkin patch. The apples were almost gone by the time dinner started because everyone ate them as I cut them. :)
Thursday morning, the weather was beautiful once again so we spent time outside after getting the four elementary kids off to school. Auggie decided he was big enough to pull his sisters in the wagon. He wasn’t wrong, as he was able to move them at least a solid inch before giving up.
Matt had a lot on his plate as he was helping with a funeral on Friday and preaching on Sunday. So Malorie and I took the four littlest to Hobby Lobby and Aldi so that Matt could have a quiet house to work in. It was a win-win because we got stocked up on groceries that we needed, plus brought home fun fall-themed craft supplies for our upcoming Fall Break.
Here’s what $207 worth of groceries looked like at Aldi that day. This included 12-pounds of grass fed ground beef, two big packages of sausage, a small ham, fresh fruit, a case of organic salsa, four gallons of milk, two tubs of organic yogurt, a huge pile of organic fruit/veggie pouches for Auggie, two packages of granola, eight cans of fruit in 100% juice, and several other items. We’re thankful to be able to stretch our grocery budget this way!
We got home and unloaded just in time to send the girls to school on the bus. As we were unloading the van, I discovered these additional passengers who were safely buckled in with us on our outing.
After girls were sent off to preschool, Auggie was down for a nap, and the groceries were put away – I got out some leftover Homemade Ice Cream and blended it with cold coffee to make this gem for myself.
Justus dropped off Little Sweetheart for the afternoon and she hung out with me in the kitchen while I made a few surprises for our kids’ weekend. Friday through Tuesday was to be their Fall Break and while we didn’t have anything big planned, I did want to make it special.
We had a zoo trip planned for Friday morning, so I made some special Fall Food for a picnic.
I cut two loaves of bread with a pumpkin cookie cutter to make sandwiches. Will I ever do this again? No I probably will not, haha. (Unless I forget by this time next year how much extra work it takes to make sandwiches cute.) I saved all the scraps in hopes to make either Bread Pudding or Pumpkin Spice French Toast Casserole.
My favorite fall picnic project was this: cutting little cheese leaves and acorns with small cookie cutters. THIS was worth the effort. :)
I got all the fun-fall-food hidden away before picking up kids from school. When we got home, a few neighborhood kids joined us and one of them opened up his violin to show us his skills. This, of course, meant that Brayden needed to go get out his trumpet because – well – do I even need to explain this? The concert was loud and special. :/
Meanwhile, Keith ran to his backpack to get out the certificate he’d been given that day. He was SO PROUD of this, as he should be. He’s been in speech therapy since he was 1.5 years old. If you would have told me then that he’d graduate by age 5.5, I would not have believed it. He’s worked so hard and come so far. He put this graduation certificate on the pantry fridge and asked for a picture. You bet, buddy.
All of my fall picnic shenanigans and the after school orchestra/band had set me back on dinner prep. But somehow, we were able to get 20 burgers on the grill and some bacon in the oven to make Bacon Cheeseburgers for dinner. We made two packages of fries in the air fryer, sliced up apples, washed blackberries, and got out pickles and potato salad. It was a feast!
Friday morning, we kicked off the kids’ Fall Break with attempted pumpkin-shaped Pancakes. As it turns out, putting a stem on a circle to make it look like a pumpkin isn’t as easy as it sounds. ;)
Matt headed to Heartlands for the funeral, so Elias and Malorie helped me with kids. We’ve been reading Little House in the Big Woods (slowly but surely), so I found Little House on the Prairie on YouTube for the kids to watch and experience. They were fascinated and had so many questions. Our plan is for all eight kids to dress like characters from this book/time period for Halloween. So we all took note of the hats, dresses, and bonnets. :)
The zoo was to open at 10, so our plan was to wrap up our morning at home and pack up to get to the zoo for an outing. When we got there at 10:04, we discovered that every person in the state of Nebraska had the same idea for their day.
I handed out apples as we stood in line waiting to get to the gate.
Once we made it in, the crowd dispersed and we were able to enjoy animals and play areas.
Everyone was very hungry by lunchtime, and as we sat to eat, I told the kids that all I’d brought for our Fall Break lunch was “pumpkins and leaves.” Most of the kids could tell I was being silly, but Bonus Buddy was NOT IMPRESSED with my announcement. He did not want to eat leaves. Once I pulled out the leaf-shaped-cheese, pumpkin-shaped sandwiches, and jack-o-lantern fruit cups, he realized that Mom was actually not crazy. All the kids enjoyed this surprise lunch very much!
We had some therapy appointments that afternoon, and I was pretty worn out by dinner time. That’s what Costco frozen pizza is for. :)
That evening, we loaded everyone up and took a walk to our church’s Free Little Pantry. As you can see, Keith had traded his Husker helmet that day for a Little House on the Prairie hat. He goes ALL IN with just about everything he does.
We filled the pantry with food for people to come take as needed. Then we headed home for bed time.
Saturday morning, I did some prep work to get ready to take a Sabbath rest starting that evening and through Sunday. I made a large pan of Italian Pasta Bake to put in the oven for Sunday lunch. Check out how I used the scraps of cheese leftover from using cookie cutters to make cheese shapes on Thursday!
We’d been given some fancy mozzarella so I used that too.
I made a batch of Caramel Apple Dip for our Sunday lunch dessert.
We gave the kids their baths, hosted our Small Group, and did some cleaning. And that was our week!
