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Big Family Food and Fun: June1-7, 2025

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Here’s our Big Family Food and Fun: June1-7, 2025 post!

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

Saturday, May 31

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

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

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

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

Big Family Food and Fun: June1-7, 2025

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The night was loud and lovely.

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

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

And we got through it. God is faithful.

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

The otter was super cool to watch that day.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Here’s our Big Family Food and Fun: May 25-31, 2025 post!

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

Saturday, May 24

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Friends brought all these desserts to share, plus Gelato!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

I took Auggie to Speech Therapy.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Here’s our Big Family Food and Fun: May 18-24, 2025 post!

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

Saturday, May 17

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Here he is receiving his certificate. :)

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

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

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

Happy last day of school, Kids!

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

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

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

Off they go!

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

Brayden graduated from 5th grade that afternoon!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

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

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

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

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

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Big Family Food and Fun: May 11-17, 2025

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Here’s our Big Family Food and Fun: May 11-17, 2025 post!

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

Saturday, May 10

This particular Saturday I needed to turn off my computer before the day really got started because we had an extra full schedule. That morning, we went to our library for the special Sensory Story Time.

I grilled a bunch of Burgers for lunch, then we got ready to company to come over.

Three of the kids and I headed to Omaha for a wedding all that afternoon/evening while Matt stayed back with the other four kids. We rode with our friends, the Brocks, and it was so great to catch up with them. As you can see, I got exactly zero pictures of our time with the Brocks or at the wedding. I was too busy talking to precious friends!

Big Family Food and Fun: May 11-17, 2025

Sunday morning, we enjoyed a plate of Breakfast Cookie Bars before heading out to church.

I took the time to brew an extra pot of coffee to turn into a jar full of Cold Coffee for us to enjoy during the afternoon. I wish I was better at making Cold Brew, but it is yet another thing I’ve checked off my to-do list because of such limited time.

A couple weeks back, I had found sweet navy blue dresses for the girls on clearance at Costco for just $4 each, plus a navy blue shirt for me. It was special for us to match this Mother’s Day! I dressed all the little boys in blue also, but once again, I was talking to people instead of taking pictures. So I only got this one of the girls and me together!

Elias, Malorie, and Malachi stopped at Sam’s on their way home from church and picked up two Rotisserie Chickens. Eva cut the chicken off the bones for us plus made Caesar Salad. We also had Green Beans, Rolls, and Strawberries. Then No-Bake Cheesecake for dessert!

It was a simple, perfect Mother’s Day meal together. Well, perfect except that we were missing both Asa and Kelsey because they were not feeling well. :(

We girls ducked out that afternoon to have a special coffee date together. :) Since Kelsey couldn’t join us, I’ve decided we’ll have to try for a re-do again soon when all four of us can go!

Later that evening, we let the kids put on their swim suits (they’d been begging!). We filled a tub with water, they put the little slide into our little (cracked) pool, and they got out water guns. It was truly a lovely evening.

I brought out a plate of leftover Peanut Butter Rice Krispie Bars for the kids to snack on, then we warmed up leftovers to eat outside for dinner.

Before bed as the kids made their lunches for school the next day, Brayden independently made a bowl of Chicken Salad to pack. :)

Monday morning, I made French Toast for breakfast.

Later, while Auggie was occupied with ABA therapy and the girls were playing outside, I made a huge batch of Mudballs. You guys – go read this post/recipe that I originally wrote in 2008. Nod and smile at how cute I was when I proclaimed that my boys had eaten four double batches of these. Then look at the amounts listed in the recipe. :) Four double batches is actually quite tiny, even for a regular-sized family. SO. I just updated that post with a bonus recipe at the bottom to share how to make monster-sized batches of these snacks!

The kids had played outside all morning, and Auggie had played plus done his three hours of ABA therapy. So they were hot and had earned a treat. I gave them a frozen yogurt tube to enjoy on the front steps while we waited for the bus to come. They were so sweet sitting there together eating.

For dinner that night, I cooked Smoked Beef Sausages on our smoker, plus warmed up leftover veggies and Party Potatoes. We finished off some fresh Strawberries then moved on to Clementines.

Our kids had captured a couple of caterpillars with our neighbor friend, so Kiya spent some time hanging with them and watching them crawl and eat.

Auggie had his evening session of ABA and he did such a good job. We are so thankful to be over the hump (we hope) as the transition into this new schedule was a bit challenging. He is doing such a good job and since our therapists and workers are at our house so much, they are becoming part of our family time while they work.

Tuesday morning, Auggie had his weekly speech therapy. He is making huge progress in communicating!

Back at home, we all played outside the rest of the morning. The kids had some pretty warm, red cheeks by late morning, so I surprised them with cups of cold lemon-flavored sparkling water. They loved this treat!

I didn’t get any more pictures the rest of the day, somehow. I took Brayden, Kiya, and Keith to hand out food and clean at our weekly Food Distribution site. Dinner was leftovers, and we played outside/had ABA therapy for Auggie. :)

Wednesday morning we warmed up Breakfast Sandwiches that I’d made and put into the freezer.

Arrow came and hung out with us during the afternoon.

Dinner that night was a Taco Bar with Seasoned Meat, White Queso, Shredded Cheese, Spinach, Tomatoes, Guacamole, Salsa, Sour Cream, Black Beans, Corn, Chips, and Tortillas.

It was pretty warm outside so we let the kids play with water and they decided to soak themselves. :)

I loved this scene with Matt and two of his girls. Acacia was very giggly.

Thursday morning, Kiya helped me make a double batch of Breakfast Cookie Bars to have for the next two Sunday morning breakfasts. Later, I cut these and froze half of them.

It was a beautiful day with no therapies or appointments so we played outside all morning.

I used the time to grill some chicken for our upcoming Sunday Lunch. (Later in the day, I cut all of this into thin strips to serve in a big Salad Bar.)

For dinner that night, I used Thursday’s leftover Taco Meat to make a double recipe of Skillet Taco Pasta with Salad and Watermelon. I hadn’t made this dish for quite a while and I was grateful that most of the littles ate it pretty well. (We grown ups loved it.)

I needed to leave the next morning and be gone all day in Omaha for doctor evaluations with Brayden and Acacia. So after dinner Thursday, I worked on getting a lunch plus snacks packed for our big day. I made two cans worth of Chicken Salad because it’s one of Brayden’s favorites. Plus, I had learned from past evaluation days that Mama needs protein to get through the very intense questions and doctor conversations. :)

I love that the kids can play outside for hours and hours now. We put the hose away tonight though because Matt and I felt like avoiding the mess of water play. :)

Friday morning, waved Malachi off as he left for a video job in Kansas. Then, Eva and Arrow came to drive some of us to Omaha for another round of appointments with Children’s Developmental Pediatrics. I was bummed that I didn’t get any good pictures of Eva or Arrow the entire day. Truly, they are the rock stars of the day. Eva drove us there and back, then hung out with either Acacia or Brayden in the waiting room while I was in the appointment with the other kid. It was a long, intense day. I’m crying just thinking about what a blessing it was to have Eva and Arrow with me that day.

This is my third trip to Children’s Developmental Pediatrics in the past four months to take five of our kids for evaluations and diagnoses. After two long years of frustration and challenge as we’ve tried figure out what our kids need as we move forward – finally landing at Children’s has been an answer to prayer. They’ve taken such good care of us there and have spent HOURS digging in with us to help with understanding our kids’ brains, hearts, minds, and needs.

Acacia wasn’t sure what to think about her “arm hug” as she was getting checked in, but she was very brave. We had taken her in that day because we’ve been very concerned about her delays and her lack of ability to “connect the dots” when we explain things to her. She’ll still very little, so time will tell if reading and other academics will come harder for her. But as of our appointment this day, her development is tracking at a 3-year old level (she’ll turn 5 this summer).

The doctor recommended moving forward with extra speech therapy for her (she already receives some of this at school) plus adding in OT and PT. She was born with a club foot and while the foot itself has been healing as it needs to during these first four years of her life thanks to all the interventions in place – her right leg is shorter and underdeveloped (you can see this in the photo below). This is causing quite an imbalance in her gait, which could lead to bigger problems down the road – thus the recommendation for OT and PT.

And…the doctor suggested that it’s possible that if her little body can find more balance, her brain might catch up and become more balanced too – which will help her as she starts to learn more academically.

Phew. After a long morning in Acacia’s appointment, we loaded up and went to the same skate park that Malachi and I had discovered with Keith and Anna on their appointment day several weeks ago. Eva, Arrow, and I sat and ate our lunches while Brayden and Acacia ran around to get energy out.

Next up was Brayden’s appointment. Because he’s older, he was much more involved in answering his own questions and going through more intense testing during his evaluation. This kid worked SO HARD that day (he only thought he was getting a day out of school, ha).

Because his assessment was a different level of intensity, the doctor needed more time to work through all of the test results. So she will call me next week with more information, answers, and support suggestions moving forward. However, she was able to confirm what we suspected in that Brayden is also on the Autism Spectrum.

If you’re counting, that means that at this point, we’ve learned that four of our seven littles have ASD. As you can imagine, Matt and I are deep diving into learning everything we can about Autism. Having these diagnoses answers so many questions – but it also presents more questions. Our heads are swimming right now.

Meanwhile, some of our kids will be going on to be assessed for FASD. This will also give us more answers and supports.

Continue to pray that we learn what we need to learn and that we find the right therapies and supports for each of our kids. Beyond these diagnoses, there is much about their trauma that I can’t share here. Navigating their diagnoses mixed in with knowing what all they’ve endured in their lives is excruciating.

And yet, God’s faithfulness is overpowering.

We trust Him as we move forward and we are so thankful that we are finding answers for our kids’ needs.

Back at home, Acacia and Josie made up for lost time since they hadn’t been together all day.

I usually make Frozen Pizza on Sunday nights. But exhaustion won out Friday night, and that’s what we had after our Omaha day.

Saturday morning, Keith got to be in a track meet! I turned a loaf of bread into Uncrustables to pack for lunch at the field.

I had splurged on crackers with Yoda on the box for this special day. Plus I splurged on two containers of cut fruit for a fun treat.

Matt took Brayden, Kiya, and Keith for his field event that morning with plans to come back for the rest of us so we could cheer on his running events. Kelsey and Little Sweetheart came and hung out while they were gone.

Lunch tasted extra good in the stands as we waited for Keith’s races.

I didn’t get great pictures of his races, but his smiles after running told us that the big day was worth the effort. :)

We came home to give Auggie a nap, do some cleaning, and prep for our time of Sabbath rest. And that was our week!

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

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

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

Saturday, May 3

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

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

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

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

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

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

It was a simple, wonderful meal together.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

And that was our week!

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Big Family Food and Fun: April 27-May 3, 2025

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Here’s our Big Family Food and Fun: April 27-May 3, 2025 post!

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

Saturday, April 26

Saturday morning, the kids ate cereal and Anna helped me put together a huge bowl full of Black Bean Salsa for our Sunday Lunch.

One of our neighbors is a UNL student who is studying Botany. She and her classmates are growing food in a greenhouse, so from time to time she drops off fresh veggies. It’s so much fun! This time, she’d provided beautiful fresh tomatoes. So it only made sense that I turn them into this.

I was blessed to have the entire morning off that Saturday. There was a Ladies’ Gathering at church, so Justus and Asa and their babies came to the house to help Matt with the kids while Kelsey and I went to the gathering. (Eva was in Omaha for a photo shoot all day so she didn’t get to join us.)

The time at church was extra sweet because I’d reconnected with a friend from many years ago and as it turns out – now we both live in Lincoln! She hadn’t found a church home yet so I invited her to come to this Ladies Brunch with me. It was a perfect time to introduce her to new friends and I loved catching up with her about all of life since our time together back in York so many years ago.

After we ate and heard a lovely message from our friend Christy, we gathered around tables to make Tie Blankets to donate to Mourning Hope.

From there, Kelsey treated me to lunch out! I hardly knew what to do with myself – eating a hot meal without cutting up anyone’s meat for them or walking around the table to keep kids sitting down. ;) It was a glorious time to just relax and catch up together.

Back at home, all the kids were loving their time with Asa, Justus, Arrow, and Little Sweetheart.

I had found a Breakfast Casserole in our freezer that morning, so I thawed it and it became our dinner that night. This worked out perfectly, because after the brunch that morning, the gal that provided all the food sent us home with leftovers. So we enjoyed cute yogurt cups (that I failed to get a picture of), tasty cake slices, and special juice with our casserole – thanks to our friend Trish.

Big Family Food and Fun: April 27-May 3, 2025

Sunday morning we ate our traditional Breakfast Cookie Bars before church.

Lunch was a fabulous time with a delicious feast featuring Smoked Chicken, Baked Beans, Salad (brought by friends), Black Bean Salsa with Chips, Rice and Oranges (brought by friends), and a variety of Bread/Rolls our friends made. We had Monster Cookie Bars for dessert.

You might remember seeing the five big packs of chicken I had thawed, marinated, and smoked in preparation for this meal. It was around 17 pounds of chicken that I’d found for just under $20, and it fed 36 of us.

These times together fill me with such joy and truly get Matt and me through the week.

We had Frozen Pizza for dinner that night, plus I warmed up the leftovers from my lunch out with Kelsey the day before. I was nice enough to share it with Matt. ;)

I had some extra time that evening (while Matt chased Auggie outside and the other littles played fairly happily). So Anna helped me make a big batch of Peanut Butter Honey Puffs so that we’d have an easy go-to protein snack this week.

Monday morning, I woke up feeling GRATEFUL. Last week was a hard one as we had a big appointment for Keith and Anna and then a lot to process afterward. My brain felt overloaded as a result, but after having time to think, process with friends, discuss with Matt, and worship with our community – Monday felt good. So now I’m ready to share…

Keith and Anna’s diagnoses

The results of Keith’s and Anna’s appointments are similar to Auggie’s: Autism Spectrum Disorder. (Plus ADHD for Keith)

Matt and I were both surprised…and not. Auggie came straight to us from the hospital as a newborn. His ASD is manifesting in a more predictable way (<— if that’s even a thing, seeing as autism is a very wide spectrum and no two people with autism are alike). Keith and Anna, on the other hand, endured a significant amount of trauma before moving in with us. Thus, their behaviors and responses to even day-to-day demands and expectations are extreme.

We’ve long asked ourselves what the root of their behaviors and needs are. We’ve also felt completely crazy because no typical parenting methods work as we try to care for them and help them. AND because at school, at Bible class, and when guests come to our house, the kids are mostly able to keep their behaviors in check. Then when it’s just family? Completely different kids. Demand avoidant. Defiant. Raging. Explosive. Destructive. Impulsive.

Many have said, “Oh, that’s normal. They feel safe with you. So they melt down when it’s just you.”

And that’s why I was so discouraged and afraid of last week’s appointment. What we deal with on a daily basis is NOT NORMAL. I was terrified that they kids would be marvelously behaved (they were) and that even the specialist wouldn’t believe me or hear me. I am so weary of running into dead ends and not being heard.

Bless the doctor who is working with our family. She listened. She observed the kids. She heard me. She believed me. She was shocked by 0% of it. She affirmed our parenting and told us that this wasn’t our fault – that we weren’t doing this wrong.

Just like with Auggie, I didn’t cry because they got an ASD diagnosis. I cried out of gratitude because they got a diagnosis that they needed and now we can move forward with help and resources!

Their cases are tricky because of their trauma. Some doctors might have given them an ODD or RAD label. We certainly would have agreed with those because they absolutely display these trauma-induced behaviors and emotions. But an ASD diagnosis is spot on for explaining why Keith and Anna show such rigidity, have high sensory needs, can’t handle changes in routine, and act out regularly when things don’t go exactly “right.” It’s how their brains are wired. Loving them and seeing through an ASD lens will help us meet more of their needs, and the treatment, resources, and therapies they can now receive is an answer to prayer. Meanwhile, we seek healing for their trauma also.

So many of you pray for us. There are no words to tell you the depth of our gratitude for this. Prayer is effective and we’ve needed to be held up. Thank you.

So, back to Monday

I woke up grateful and refreshed. .

Acacia and Josie had dentist appointments that morning, and Auggie was to be hanging with his ABA technician during the time I was gone. So Matt decided to have some special one-on-one time with Anna in the dining room. We’ve been grabbing time for these two any chance we can get as Anna very much needs to break down some walls and become more attached so she can trust us. I love that Matt will sit with his daughter and color or play with clay. It’s so precious.

Auggie wasn’t a big fan of mommy leaving the house. But he was in good hands with Daddy and his ABA tech, and he was fine exactly 30-seconds after I left.

Acacia and Josie did great at their appointment!

And Anna loved her clay creations with Daddy.

Later that day, after the girls got on the bus for preschool and Auggie was heading down for a nap, I snuck out of the house to sit at Panera and work in my own quiet world for a while. This is so life giving!

From there, I headed to Costco to get what we needed for the week and to take advantage of sales.

The evening was full, so I made a simple meal of Hotdogs, Quesadillas, Cucumbers, Strawberries, and Raspberries.

Keith would like to build things (or destroy things, ha) during every spare minute that he has. Somehow that evening, he came up with a plan to build a table, and his awesome daddy went with it. This led to Brayden and Kiya also wanting to build something, and before I knew it, the tools were out in full force.

Matt taught Brayden a little bit about using a drill.

I supplied popsicles because it was hot outside and popsicles were a fun addition to our evening.

Tuesday morning, Auggie had speech therapy. His language is suddenly exploding and he’s adding more words every week!

Back at home, Anna and Josie helped me make Flourless Chocolate Banana Blender Muffins.

I’d picked up a 10-pound tube of hamburger meat at Costco the day before, so I browned it all that afternoon in an effort to get ahead.

I set some of it aside for our upcoming Sunday lunch, put some in freezer bags to have ready to pull out and use as needed, then made the rest into Sloppy Joes for our dinner that night. I left this out for Matt so he, Elias, and Malorie could feed the kids that evening.

After school, I picked up Brayden, Kiya, and Keith and headed to our weekly Food Distribution site to serve there. Back at home later, Elias and Malorie were holding down the fort because Matt had taken Anna to her Kindergarten orientation. The minute I got home from Food Distribution, I was needed to work with Auggie and his ABA therapist and technician – so the rest of the night was very full and kind of a challenge.

Wednesday morning, Anna helped me get two pans of Stick of Butter Rice into the oven as we prepped for our upcoming Sunday lunch.

Later in the morning, I used some of the hamburger meat I’d cooked on Tuesday and turned the cooked rice into a huge Burrito Casserole with plans to warm it and use it on Sunday.

After school, these four littles all wanted to help me make Breakfast Cookie Bars for our freezer. Many of you have asked how I adapt this recipe to make bars instead of cookies. I finally took the time to update the post to share the details! And yes, it was a little bit nuts having kids ages 3, 4, 5, and 6 all wanting to help at the same time. ;)

Dinner that night was super tasty – though not as kid-friendly as the littles would prefer. Therefore, some of the kids had peanut butter honey sandwiches instead. Those of us who wanted the real meal enjoyed Stew with Carrots and Mashed Potatoes! (I have a lot of frozen potatoes in my freezer that I got from Azure Standard last month. I’ve learned to simply steam those for a few minutes, then mash them with milk, salt, and butter. Easiest mashed potatoes ever! Though they aren’t quite as good as these.)

Later in the evening, I cut the double recipe of Breakfast Cookie Bars I’d made and put them on two separate plates to freeze for upcoming Sunday breakfasts.

Thursday morning, we enjoyed a plate of Angela’s Egg-Free Chocolate Chip Breakfast Cookies that I had made ahead a few weeks ago and tucked into the freezer.

Auggie didn’t have ABA therapy that morning and very much enjoyed his time off by running and playing freely with his sisters. After working on ABA in full force, his therapist agreed to cutting out two morning slots to give the fella a break. This is a huge relief for all of us.

For dinner that night, we ate an entire pot full of Hearty Bean Casserole (that Kiya made that morning before school almost all by herself). I peeled a lot of clementines and cut several apples, then needed to cut more apples later, plus we got out blueberries. We go through a lot of fresh fruit at this house!

Once again, Daddy helped kids with their special wood projects. They are all so excited about this and it is keeping them focused on something positive and “grown up.” All the wood and screws they are using are from salvaged pieces so it isn’t costing anything except for Matt’s time/energy. He’s happy to do this with them.

Malachi had been out for dinner celebrating our friend Allan’s birthday with some of Allan’s college friends. They all showed up after dinner and hung out at the Castle for the evening. It was wonderful.

On Friday morning, I baked a pan of eggs to make a big batch of Breakfast Sandwiches. I have been getting a lot of questions about how I do this, so I just updated this post to explain!

Auggie’s Early Development Network team showed up to our house, plus his ABA therapy team. Matt and I sat down with EDN to update his IFSP while Auggie worked with ABA. (Have I been learning a lot of acronyms the past few years? Oh, so many acronyms. By the way, an IFSP is an Individualized Family Service Plan, typically used for families with kids ages 0-3 who are at risk and/or need extra support.)

Auggie did great that morning, praise God. Some of these ABA sessions have been so hard for him as he adjusts to others taking care of him and not just Mommy and Daddy. But that morning, he played and “worked” cheerfully, which was a huge relief. Meanwhile, the EDN team was very helpful to Matt and me as we updated them on all the latest diagnoses and needs in our home. They are a great resource!

Mid-morning, we loaded all four of the littlest into a wagon and walked to the kids’ school. It was their big Walkathon Day and Field Day, and we were hoping to catch Brayden, Kiya, and Keith outside to cheer them on. Unfortunately, the weather was weird that day and the schedule had changed a bit as a result. So we were only able to catch Brayden’s class during their walk/run time.

All was not lost though – we got to see the Prescott Panther! (As you can see, only Anna was excited about this, oy.)

Brayden had requested Lunchables because it was a special day. I had found a six-pack of something similar to Lunchables at Costco, so everyone got to enjoy this during our outing. (Auggie had to settle for a cheese/cracker pack because a pack of six Lunchables for seven kids is tricky.) They all loved this treat!

Some of Brayden’s classmates were excited to see the little ones!

Back at home, Matt and I finished assembling 24 Breakfast Sandwiches with the eggs I’d baked earlier.

Dinner that night was 24 Slider-Sized Hamburgers with Fries and Pickles. I also sliced up four oranges that the kids enjoyed.

Saturday, we loaded up and went to our favorite library Sensory-Friendly Story Time.

We got to use rhythm sticks this time!

After that, we enjoyed a great big gathering with our church family kids’ ministry: Pizza in the Park.

Lots of families showed up to play and eat together.

After lunch, our children’s minister organized a game of kick ball. It was a great time together!

That afternoon, the kids played outside, I gave the boys haircuts, and then we moved on into our family time of Sabbath rest. And that was our week!

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

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Here’s our Big Family Food and Fun: April 13-19, 2025 post!

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

Saturday, April 12

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Arrow came and hung out that afternoon. :)

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

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

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

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

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

Kiya made two kits worth of Caesar salad.

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

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

It’s such a gift to have everyone together!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Saturday, April 5

I always try to make something simple for our Sabbath Supper, and this time it was Chicken Strips, Tomato Soup, and Canned Pears.

I was able to capture this moment with all seven littles sitting and eating for a time, phew.

Kelsey and Little Sweetheart had come over to eat with us that night because Justus was out of town. It was special to have them join us. :) One of our “treats” for Sabbath is that I open two cans of sparkling water and pour some into fancy plastic cups for the kids. They love this and look forward to it!

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

Sunday morning, we enjoyed a plate of our traditional Breakfast Cookie Bars as we got ready for church. This Sunday morning went much more smoothly compared to last week, thankfully.

Before we left for church, I put Pulled Pork into two crock pots to warm up for lunch. I had prepared it and frozen it two weeks ago, so this made for a very easy meal for this day.

Many of our church family joined us for lunch – 35 of us altogether. I loved this scene as I went to the living room to let everyone know that lunch was ready.

And this shot was extra sweet: Kids at the living room table eating and coloring a special project that Ms. Megan had brought.

We feasted on Pulled Pork, Ham and Cheese Sliders, Cole Slaw and Chips (provided by the Adcocks), Potato Salad (provided by the Phillips), Cream Cheese Salsa Dip with Chips, Veggies, and Sauces for our Sandwiches.

We had set out lots of leftover desserts and brownies from our Friday night neighborhood gathering. Here’s what that looked like at the end of lunch:

All desserts gone.

We enjoyed our traditional Sunday evening meal of Frozen Pizza – a perfect dinner after a very full and wonderful day with our church family.

It was chilly but sunny, so the evening was spent outside playing with neighbors. I caught this scene with all of our girls painting their nails on the back steps plus several of the boys hanging out waiting for them to hurry up and be finished. ;)

I made Breakfast Sandwiches on Monday morning – some to eat right away…

…and some to put into the fridge and eat later.

I was blessed to go to Panera to put my feet up, drink coffee, and write at my computer for a while that afternoon. Costco is right next door, so I headed over to restock some essentials.

I picked up a Rotisserie Chicken at Costco for our dinner that night! Keith helped me make a Caesar Salad, plus I steamed Broccoli and toasted some Buttered Rolls to complete our meal. We had Family Therapy that night and it was a great session that provided hope. God is at work!

Auggie had Speech Therapy Tuesday morning. We got home just in time to begin his very first session of ABA Therapy. We are easing into it this week, then starting next week he will have many hours in therapy each day. This will take place at our home, and will give him very specific help in dealing with his extra needs that come with autism.

The following boring picture of my half eaten Breakfast Sandwich was taken to show you that for about six entire minutes while Auggie’s ABA therapist and Behavior Technician were working with him out in our yard, and all the girls were playing happily, I actually ate a sandwich and enjoyed a fizzy drink all by myself in the quiet. Was I holding Little Sweetheart? Sure. So was I really completely alone? No. But Little Sweetheart was gabbing happily and doesn’t talk back to me. So this was a pleasant 6-minutes of quiet, sandwich eating.

That afternoon, Brayden, Kiya, Keith, and I went to hand out food and clean up at our weekly Food Distribution site.

Back at home, Elias and Matt had made Pulled Pork Sandwich Melts for dinner with Sunday’s leftover meat. I forgot to take a picture until the pan looked like this:

Throughout the evening, kids kept coming in for more to eat, so we kept doling out pickles, strawberries, and bananas. We had brought home a small loaf of Lemon Poppyseed Bread from Food Distribution, so I gave everyone a small slice.

Ope, after all that, the kids were still hungry before bed? Daddy sliced oranges to end our evening.

Wednesday morning, right after we got the elementary kids off to school, we loaded up the youngest four kids and headed to Aldi and Wal-Mart. I was hoping to score some meat markdowns by going as soon as Aldi opened.

Nope. No markdowns today. I did get boneless chicken thighs on sale though!

It’s been a while since we took the kids shopping. They were pretty excited about the entire outing.

Arrow came and hung out with us all afternoon! That evening, Brayden was my Special Helper of the Day, so he helped put together a salad to go with our dinner.

I had made a big Meatloaf, which really hit the spot that night. (Several of the kids had thirds!) I also boiled a pound of whole grain noodles, because all of our littles really like to eat noodles with butter, salt, and parmesan cheese. Whatever fills their bellies, I guess. Malorie had brought home some onions and peppers from a fruit/veggie giveaway at her work, so I chopped them up with some mushrooms and fried it all together. Matt and Brayden especially liked this!

After dinner, Brayden used two Sugar Cookie mixes I’d picked up on sale at Aldi that morning to make some cookies for our upcoming Sunday Lunch.

The kids played outside most of the evening, then at bedtime came in and ate more of our dinnertime noodles plus half of this bag of Flourless Peanut Butter Brownies I’d had in the freezer.

I made French Toast for breakfast on Thursday. I also baked eight pans of bacon – both to eat and to have extra in the fridge for sandwiches.

After they ate breakfast, Brayden and Kiya had time and were determined to make a special lunch for themselves to pack and take to school. They were super cooperative and sweet while doing this. Even so, I will not be able to let them cook a hot lunch to pack very often because the work it takes me to cook breakfast, make plates, clean spills, deal with preschooler/toddler needs AND help walk kids through the process of cooking on a school morning is a bit above my ability level. They sure were proud of their thermoses though. :)

Auggie had a full morning session of ABA therapy at our house. That freed Matt and me to spend time with the girls and get a few other things done. I “enjoyed” making phone calls for an hour and a half to try and deal with frustrating scheduling issues as we are getting referrals to get five more of our kids evaluated and diagnosed so that we can get them more of the therapy and help that they need. I also made a needed phone call to finalize getting Auggie’s AAC Device set up so the company could ship it out. Phew. Those are hard calls to make without distractions on a normal day – so having Auggie spend time with his Behavior Technician all morning was a fantastic help.

Acacia and Josie found themselves some dandelions and were so proud.

Before Malachi headed to his office, he invited Anna to “help” him make a Latte. It was very sweet to see bro and sis work together on this.

Justus had dropped off Little Sweetheart with us mid-morning. Then he came back and had lunch with Matt so they could talk about upcoming sermon needs at church. (Matt’s on the teaching team and Justus is the minister who organizes the sermon series’ and such.) Listening to these two talk through ministries and Biblical teachings over lunch makes my heart swell.

Kiya was my special helper of the day, so she prepped the salads for dinner.

I hadn’t had time to do any meal prep that day, so I threw a four-pound bag of fish sticks into the oven, which are always a hit with the kids. We ate them with salad and grapes – and some of the kids turned their sticks into Fish Sandwiches.

Friday, the kids ate Yogurt with Granola for breakfast. I made a double batch of Peanut Butter Honey Puffs so that we’d have them on hand for snacks.

Malachi biked the elementary kids to school that morning while I stayed back with our four littlest kids and Matt went to go pick up our Azure Standard order.

Once he got back, I spent some time separating/bagging up a 30-pound box of frozen hashbrown potatoes he’d picked up. Wow, that’s a lot of potatoes!

The weather was sunny and beautiful that day, so we spent most of the morning outside.

I was hoping to get ahead on snacks, so along with the Peanut Butter Honey Puffs I had made earlier that day, Acacia and Auggie helped me make a double batch of this recipe to make a bunch of Mini Banana Muffins.

Justus brought Little Sweetheart over so we could watch her while he went upstairs to work on homework. (He’s getting his masters while working full time – and rocking it! But it’s a lot to keep up with, for sure.) We’re so glad we live in the same town with our kids and grandbabies so we can help out as needed. And grandbaby time is THE BEST.

Auggie is a bit obsessed with making sure everyone has their correct water bottle. Look how much JOY he had when Little Sweetheart accepted her water bottle from him!

Somewhere during the morning, I had fired up our smoker and cooked 28 Brats to have ready to serve for our upcoming Sunday lunch. Once they cooled, I refrigerated them with plans to warm them in a crock pot to serve for our big meal.

On the way out the door to get on the preschool bus, Josie took a spill and had to go back in for a band aid. Doctor Daddy took good care of her and walked her to the bus.

I made a bowl of Tuna Salad for dinner to put together Wraps with tuna and spinach. We made Fries and sliced Oranges, then tried to get everyone fed so that we could load up in the van.

Our closest library was hosting an event for families at our kids’ school that evening. This is a pretty small library, and when we arrived, it seemed that all of Prescott Elementary had come to join the fun!

The kids participated in a scavenger hunt, read books, and played with toys. Then once the very long line went down, they got to pick an ice cream cup!

There was a special shelf of books that had been donated and every kid got to pick one to take home. Our kids loved this and read their book in their lap quietly all the way home (miraculous).

Saturday morning, I made a small crock pot of Chili to serve with Brats and Hotdogs the next day for lunch.

The kids ate cereal and muffins while I worked, and Kiya made a batch of Flourless Peanut Butter Cookies for Sunday.

I had some fruit tea bags in my cabinet and decided to make them into fun drink options to go with our Sunday Lunch. The kitchen smelled really good!

Kiya’s cookies turned out great!

Matt took the kids outside to load sticks and branches into the back of our van. He took two trips to dispose of them at a free city-wide clean up location.

Then we loaded everyone up and went to a nearby park. There’s a soccer field there, so Elias, Malorie, and Malachi had made plans to go kick around. Matt and I decided to head over there also so that the kids could run around and play.

We came home and warmed up leftovers for lunch. Brayden and Kiya got to go to a birthday party that afternoon, and we spent the rest of day day preparing for a Sabbath rest and playing outside.

And that was our week!

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Big Family Food and Fun: March 30-April 5, 2025

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Here’s our Big Family Food and Fun: March 30-April 5, 2025 post!

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

Saturday, March 29

You might remember that last week I shared the beginning process of Matt hanging chalkboard paper in the playroom for the kids. The project took way too long and will likely not last long, ha. But the kids are enjoying it a lot for now!

For dinner that night, we had a very simple meal of the kids’ favorite: Mac and Cheese with Peas. I also set out a variety of leftover meat options in case any adults wanted something more substantial. Our friend, Christina, had taken Brayden on a special outing and let him pick out a treat plus fun Minions applesauce pouches – so that became a special part of our Sabbath evening meal.

Big Family Food and Fun: March 30-April 5, 2025

Sunday morning, I was disappointment that I didn’t have a plate of Breakfast Cookie Bars in the freezer for our traditional Sunday morning breakfast. I was just sure there were some tucked away in there! But nope. :)

We moved on to Plan B for breakfast: Yogurt and Granola Bowls or Cereal. Some of the kids did not handle this change of plans very well, yikes. Routine is an extra big deal for many of us. (Mental note: Bake Breakfast Cookie Bars this week!)

The morning was extremely rough (rougher than normal) getting all the kids to cooperate and get out the door for church. I just hate how badly trauma has complicated these kids’ lives.

Weariness and frustration got me, and I cried all the way to church and halfway through the worship service. Crying most of the way through the church service? It’s safe and fine. Friends cried with me and spoke truth into me. We worshiped together, and the focus-turned-toward-Jesus was healing for me.

Brayden had a special role with his friend, Jack, that morning, leading the congregation in scripture reading. We are so proud of him for bravely picking up the microphone and doing this.

There was a prayer of blessing over our new Heartlands children that morning, a follow up to the special dedication celebration the day before.

Acacia had found her way to Ms. Kathi that morning and sat with her the entire time. Kathi’s love for children is so precious.

Lunch that day was a Chipotle-Style Burrito Bar with Salsa Chicken, Taco Meat, Carnitas (made by our friend Christina), and all the toppings from rice and beans (made by our friend Cindy) to cilantro and  salsa.

There were 28 of us gathered to enjoy the feast.

For dessert we enjoyed Homemade Ice Cream, Chocolate Chip Cookie Pies, Apple Berry Pie, and Brownies.

Who needs dinner after all of that? Well, a few hours later, the kids did. :)

Our traditional Sunday night meal has become Frozen Pizza. But this week, I had some small-sized pizza crusts in the freezer and the kids were excited to build their own pizza creations with them.

Doing this in shifts was the right move – with Keith, Acacia, and Anna finishing theirs before the others came in to take their turn.

I put together some regular-sized pizzas for the grown ups, then spent some time getting the kitchen cleaned up after all of our feasting of the day.

Monday morning after we got the elementary-aged kids off to school, Anna helped me stir some of Sunday’s leftover burrito fixings together to make a bunch of Burritos.

A neighbor family we are just getting to know had a new baby born recently. So I made a pan of Burritos to deliver to them. Plus I made two pans for our family to eat for dinner on Tuesday.

I had some hamburger meat in the fridge that needed to be used up, so I browned it and put together two Lasagna Casseroles to give to friends.

That night, we had an early dinner of Noodles, Alfredo, and Leftover Turkey and Bacon stirred together, with Steamed Broccoli.

Keith was my Special Helper of the day. So after dinner, he helped me make a double batch of Breakfast Cookie Bars.

I had baked two loaves of Applesauce Bread earlier that afternoon, trying to get ahead for upcoming breakfasts.

Phew, now we have two weeks’ worth of Breakfast Cookie Bars in the freezer for upcoming Sundays.

Josie was our family’s Special Helper on Tuesday, so she proudly got to work that morning to help me load a dishwasher. (By the way, if you see this dress on Josie over and over and over, it’s because it’s her favorite and she takes off her regular clothes and puts this one on immediately after getting home from school/church. It’s filthy and stained, as every favorite dress should be.)

Auggie had Speech Therapy that morning. His therapist is working on paperwork to get him an AAC Device to help him with communication while he hopefully continues to learn more words verbally. So this particular therapy session, she pulled out a device that they had in the office to show me how it worked and to see how he initially responded to it.

Back at home, Malachi hung out with us for a little while before heading to his office.

Little Sweetheart had been at our house all morning too, and Auggie had fun trying to entertain her on the floor.

After school, Brayden, Kiya, Keith, and I went to serve at our weekly Food Distribution site. We were short on adult volunteers that day, so Kiya got to run the bread table all by herself. She rocked it!

Afterward while I was vacuuming, Keith came and took over for me with a great big smile, giving me some insight into who he is at his core: sweet, caring, hardworking, and loving.

Back at home, Matt and Elias warmed up the Burritos that Anna and I had put together the day before. This was a perfect dinner for them to serve since I was gone at the beginning at dinnertime.

Wednesday, I had an IEP meeting at the school for one of our kids. Then we made a double batch of Angela’s Egg-Free Banana Chocolate Chip Breakfast Cookies.

I hadn’t made these Peanut Butter Cheesecake Balls for quite a while, but decided to put some in the fridge for an easy-to-grab snack option. I skipped adding the chocolate chips to these, and they taste just fine as they are!

Arrow came to hang out that afternoon, as did my friend Charlene from York. Charlene and I talked a mile and minute trying to play catch up, and Arrow added in his thoughts to our conversation too. :) When the kids got home from school, they surrounded their favorite nephew.

I had made a bowl full of Chicken Salad earlier in the day, which made for a very easy dinner that night. We’d brought home a container of Croissants from the Food Distribution on Tuesday, a rare and special bonus! Chicken Salad on Croissants?? So good. Chicken salad on FREE croissants? Extra, extra good.

Brayden was our special helper of the day, so after dinner, he helped me make a big pan full of Brownies for upcoming get-togethers we’d be hosting. Then he did a great job sweeping the kitchen floor.

Thursday morning we enjoyed Angela’s Egg-Free Banana Chocolate Chip Breakfast Cookies for breakfast. I got Brayden’s Brownies cut and put onto plates for upcoming events, then put them away so the kids wouldn’t drool over them (literally).

I didn’t get any pictures taken throughout the day – we just stayed home and enjoyed time with Little Sweetheart and the other kids all day. For dinner that night, we had Spaghetti, Spinach, and Corn.

Then, we left all the littles home with Elias, Malorie, and Kelsey while Matt and I took Brayden to his Middle School Orientation. Whoa!

Brayden is our fifth sixth grader (ehh??), so you’d think we’d we pros at this by now. But, in fact, we’ve never done public school middle school before (because we homeschooled our oldest four boys). So this was new for all of us and we are so glad we went to the orientation. We heard from the Principal during her presentation in the auditorium, then we got to walk all through the school to see the 6th grade floor, the music and band rooms, the library, the cafeteria. Best of all, Brayden got popcorn. :)

We were able to visit with the Special Ed Coordinator, which was a relief to me as I’ll be working with her directly to help meet Brayden’s academic needs. Back at home, we gave everyone a snack before heading up for bedtime.

Acacia was our Special Helper on Friday so she helped Daddy load the dishwasher that morning.

Auggie comes running whenever the vacuum is on, so he spent quite a while on one spot of the rug, making sure it was as clean as possible that morning.

We had invited a bunch of our neighbors to a Finger Food Friday dinner at our house that evening. So in preparation, I made a bowl full of Cream Cheese Salsa Dip.

I had a pan of Crunchy Ranch Chicken Strips in the freezer, so I baked those to serve that night too. Plus I set out a plate of Brownies that Brayden and I had baked earlier in the week.

Everyone who came brought something tasty to share, and we had a true feast of Finger Foods!

I only got a few pictures at the beginning of our party, then got too busy visiting and didn’t take any more. So I missed getting shots of everyone who came – because the neighbors just kept coming and coming! Matt and I were so thrilled with the turnout, 23 neighborhood guests in all (making 35 of us gathered all together). We are so glad to be developing deeper relationships with these great people.

Some have lived here for many years – and we love hearing the history of this neighborhood and even a little bit about our house (which was built in 1914). Kids played outside, and kept coming in for cookies. ;) It was a wonderful, special night.

Saturday morning, we ate cereal for breakfast plus baked a double batch of Bran Muffins for upcoming snack needs.

If you ever need help baking, feel free to call any of our toddler/preschool helpers! See all those blotches of cinnamon? Someone, who really did mean well, sprinkled in a significantly large amount of cinnamon, and her mom dug out as much as she could and then gave up. Said cinnamon mixed together strangely with the coconut oil in the mixing bowl, so there were extra-special cinnamon clumps in the muffins. They taste just fine, and some kids are actually choosing their muffins based on the highest number of clumps they see.

Matt was blessed to go to a Mental Health Training session at church that morning. So Elias and Malorie helped me take kids to the Mall Play Place to get energy out on this 40-ish degree day.

We had the entire place to ourselves for the first few minutes before other kids showed up.

We got home in time to warm up leftovers for a late lunch, then moved into prepping for our time of Sabbath rest. I put several of the Bran Muffins we’d baked into snack-sized bags and then into a freezer bag to freeze and pull out to pack in lunches.

And that was our week!

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Big Family Food and Fun: March 23-29, 2025

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Here’s our Big Family Food and Fun: March 23-29, 2025 post!

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

Saturday, March 22

We typically spend some time on Saturday afternoons cleaning floors as we prepare to move into a time of rest. Anna was excited to help me vacuum (until she wasn’t).

Acacia wanted a turn. Then Auggie was indignant that anyone would dare to use HIS vacuum.

We were blessed with some time with some friends who came over that afternoon. Our kids have so much fun together, and the trampoline was their play place of choice that day.

At dinnertime, the girls finished off the last of a pineapple, using toothpicks to poke and eat it.

I had been cooking a pot of Ham and Potato Soup all afternoon, so at dinnertime, all we had to do was scoop and eat. (I used broth from a turkey I’d baked earlier in the week, which made this soup extra rich and good!)

We gave all the littles their baths and spent time brushing and braiding hair before bed. As we were getting ready to head upstairs for the night, we got to greet a group of college guys who had made plans to spend the night with us. Our long-time friend York Andrew (in the red hoodie) had coordinated with Malachi, who had coordinated with me to make these plans. And here they all were! This is the best.

Big Family Food and Fun: March 23-29, 2025

Sunday morning, we ate our traditional Breakfast Cookie Bars before church. When we got home at lunchtime, we set out a huge buffet of buns/tortillas, meats, cheeses, veggies, and dressings for a Sandwich and Salad Bar. This turned out to be fantastic (especially since it included five of those college guys who had stuck around)!

I’d baked a turkey a few days prior in preparation for this meal, plus I’d baked lots of sheet pans worth of bacon. We had some leftover ham that also got chopped up. Elias and Malorie had picked up four kinds of sliced cheese for people to pick from. The Long family brought perfect salad fixings.

People built a sandwich or wrap however they wanted, then many of them used our Air Fryer to toast it to perfection.

We had huge trays of Chocolate Chip Cookies and Rice Krispie Bars for dessert.

The Perez family supplied lots of fruit to round out our meal.

It was a great feast, with 31 of us gathered together spread throughout the kitchen, dining room, and living room.

For dinner that evening, we got out leftovers – and I forgot to take any pictures because I guess it wasn’t very exciting. :)

Monday morning, we ate Breakfast Sandwiches that I’d made ahead and frozen. We got the first round of kids off to school, played all morning with the others, then I went to Costco during the afternoon. I got stocked back up on diapers and wipes, plus took advantage of sales on clothing as I get everyone all set up for spring and summer. (This was just cart#1. I went back in for cart#2, which I filled with groceries!)

We had planned for Family Therapy that night, but our therapist needed to reschedule. So Matt and I decided to go with Plan B that evening. I quickly threw together a picnic dinner (Chicken Nuggets, spinach, dressings/dips, grapes, and Granola Bar Bites). We loaded up and headed to Pioneers Park, looking forward to a fun picnic in the sunshine, then a walk on the fun trails to the Nature Center.

Whelp.

Everyone screamed all the way to the van (not quite everyone – Matt and I sort of held it together). I handed out apples to curb the hanger on the way there. When we arrived, the sun went behind clouds and the wind was as it always is during March in Nebraska. So it became chilly and our dinner threatened to blow away. One of our kids refused to eat and just screamed during the entire meal. So yay, a family picnic. :/

Oh! And the trails we love and looked forward to were gated off and locked because the Nature Center wasn’t open yet for the season. Ha, ya just have to laugh.

With food in everyone’s bellies (except for the one who refused to eat), we loaded back up in the van and drove to the potties. Then we went to the playground for the rest of the evening. Everything went better at that point, praise God.

We played for almost an hour, getting back home in time to get ready for bed, eat a little bit more, then get settled in for the night. (The one who refused to eat at the park happily ate their fill at this point.)

Tuesday morning, Justus texted this photo with, “Tell me you’ve been spending a lot of time with Lolli, without telling me you’ve been spending a lot of time with Lolli…”

Yeah, girl!!
Some grandmas give their grandbabies cookies and candy. I teach them to love butter.

Auggie had speech therapy that morning, then Anna helped me make Spinach Cupcakes to use up some spinach in the fridge that was expiring.

Hmmm. Did I let her lick the spatula? Yes, I did.

Eva texted this photo of a loaf of Honey Oat Bread that she made that afternoon, along with a precious video of Arrow gobbling in up. :)

That afternoon, I put together two Quiche for Matt to bake for dinner. Then Brayden, Kiya, Keith, and I went to our our weekly Food Distribution site to hand out food to the community and clean up afterward.

Back at home, we enjoyed our Quiche with fruit and spinach.

I had been slow cooking two large Pork Butts all day like this. (I had picked them up at Costco the day before.) They shredded easily, so I finished them up and put them into two gallon-sized freezer bags to use for an upcoming Sunday Lunch.

The kids had been playing outside, and came in hungry before bedtime. They had strawberries and bananas, then grabbed one of the cupcake-muffins I’d baked earlier and headed back outside to play more.

Then they came back again and finished off the last three pieces of Quiche. No leftovers tonight! I am always shocked by Spring appetites! Playing, jumping, and running outside in the fresh air always makes kids extra hungry. I love it!

Wednesday, we met with Auggie’s ABA Therapist to finalize a draft detailing his upcoming therapy program. Malorie was awesome during that two hour meeting to keep track of Auggie and the little girls for us – no easy task.

Arrow came to hang out that afternoon! He enjoyed chewing on plastic broccoli for quite some time. Before I knew it, I was singing the Veggie Tale theme song. I guess we can call this “Silly Songs with Lolli.”

Two families joined us for dinner that night! We’d been wanting to connect because we knew of each other back in both of our early York days many years ago. I didn’t get any pictures of all of us, but I did get this shot of our buffet: Smoked Chicken Legs, Party Potatoes, Salad, Green Beans, and Rolls. I had picked up Gelato at Aldi a couple weeks ago and we enjoyed that treat for dessert.

Very Worth Noting: Our friends, the Case family, heard that we’d be getting together with these friends, and they know how difficult it can be for us to visit while chasing kids at the same time. So some of their family came over to stay with Auggie outside and to monitor the others so that Matt and I could have adult visit and catch up time. What a gift!

Thursday morning, I made a loaf of bread worth of French Toast. It had been a while since I’d made this, and the kids were pretty happy! These two were very excited to help me crack eggs.

Mid-morning, Acacia and Josie had a dentist appointment. They did great!

Thursday after school, I moved immediately into a therapy session with one of our kids. So Matt and Elias held down the fort, plus Kelsey joined the helping crew when she came to pick up Little Sweetheart!

It was dinnertime after that, and Matt warmed up leftover meat and Party Potatoes from the fridge. Kiya put together a couple of salad kits and we all filled plates and ate.

Kiya helped me make a triple batch of Flourless Peanut Butter Brownies. We turned most of them into mini-muffins and made a few regular-sized muffins for our Friday breakfast.

Brownies for breakfast? Yes. When they are made like this!

Special Helpers

Per our Family Therapy homework/instructions, we have been working now on creating a very structured chore system for the kids. Instead of assigning each kid specific chores for each day, Matt and I have decided to experiment with the idea of assigning a kid to a day of the week as a Special Helper. There are seven kids and seven days of the week, so why not try this!?

On any day of the week, all of the kids will have jobs to do – that’s how our family rolls! But on each kids’ Special Helper day, they will be pulled in extra times to do whatever Mom or Dad need. (They might also get extra privileges on their special day – no more fighting over who gets to lick the spatula, right?)

We think the best part of this, besides being able to teach the kids more about life skills, is that they all very much need one-on-one time and very rarely get it. So this will hopefully be an extra benefit for them to meet some emotional needs for positive, healthy attention.

All that to say, Friday was Acacia’s day and she took her job very seriously and worked very eagerly.

We had two appointments that morning for Auggie, first meeting with the Special Ed teacher assigned to him through EDN (early development network). Then after that, we had a meeting with his EDN coordinator. He was pretty tuckered out by the end of the morning!

Later that afternoon, I made a batch of Homemade Ice Cream to tuck away for our upcoming Sunday lunch.

Earlier, I’d browned and seasoned five pounds of Taco Meat for our Chipotle-Style Burrito Bar on Sunday. A few days prior, I slow cooked and shredded Salsa Chicken for another meat choice for Sunday. Both will be warmed and served in crock pots that day!

As the kids were arriving home from school, I put 15 burgers on the grill for dinner and I made a blender full of Smoothie to hold everyone over and cool everyone off since it was a very warm day. This was our fruit and veggie for the night, enjoyed before dinner instead of on the side. :)

Some of our neighbors were out enjoying the sunny weather, so our girls drank their smoothies with Ms. Ashley and Ms. Sarah.

When dinner was ready, we enjoyed Burgers and Fries with Pickles.

Then we gathered everyone (which took forever because we were missing a lot of shoes, ugh) and headed out to walk around the neighborhood. Neighbor Ashley and her son joined us for the walk.

We stopped at several houses to say hello and to drop off invitations to a Neighborhood Party we were planning in our yard for next Friday evening. Even Auggie was excited to go onto people’s porches and participate in this!

Saturday morning, I made another batch of Homemade Ice Cream for Sunday.

Anna was my Special Helper for the day and she helped me load the dishwasher.

Matt and I were blessed to go to a Baby Dedication Celebration for Arrow and Little Sweetheart that morning while Elias and Malorie stayed back with all of our kids. Before leaving, I made a bowl full of Chicken Salad to serve for lunch when we got back.

The morning was incredibly powerful and emotional as we prayed over the babes and dedicated their lives to Christ. What a special morning!

Matt and I arrived home in time for almost all the kids to melt down when we walked in the door, ha. I got out the Chicken Salad and other lunch fixings, and we got them fed.

Since Anna was my Special Helper for the day, she got to help me make Chocolate Chip Cookie Pies for Sunday’s Lunch dessert.

Matt had picked up some Chalkboard Paper for super cheap so the kids “helped” him get it up on the Play Room wall. Of course, it didn’t stick, so the project took all afternoon. Keith was in his happy place, helping Matt use his tools.

We moved into our time of Sabbath rest that evening, so I’ll share the final results and more details about our Saturday next week!

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