Heavenly Homemakers

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Big Family Food and Fun: October 20-26, 2024

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Here’s our Big Family Food and Fun: October 20-26, 2024 post!

Big Family Food and Fun: October 20-26, 2024

Last weekend, Matt was in California to be with his family for a memorial service for a dear loved one. So I got a bit behind in sharing photos of our week. I’ll play catch up now. ;)

Saturday, the 19th, I baked four loaves of Banana Bread plus browned four pounds of ground beef so that I could make Taco Soup on Sunday.

Our church Kids’ Ministry was hosting a Fall Fun Color Run that Saturday morning. Elias and Malorie helped me get the eight kids there and Kelsey met us there to help also. It was so much fun to run the trail and have lots of colored powder tossed onto us as we ran!

Everyone loved the end result…

…except for this little one. Acacia was indignant about the entire thing. She kept whimpering and saying, “Messy! Mama, messy!!” So sorry, Buddy.

I guess I should have prepared her more for the fact that we were going to this event to get messy on purpose. ;)

With Matt out of town, we’d arranged for our adult kids to take shifts coming to help me get through the weekend with our little kids. Asa, Eva, Arrow, Kelsey, and Little Sweetheart were with me all Saturday afternoon and into the evening. Elias and Malorie were in and out also. I loved walking into our living room to this scene with our daughters-in-law and grandbabies. What a precious moment, even if Arrow wasn’t appreciating it as much as I was.

I somehow managed to trim Auggie’s hair that afternoon and here’s the photo I sent to Matt:

Matt and I have started to be intentional about setting aside Saturday evening through Sunday evening as Sabbath. (Read more about this here.) I attempted to pull off a special Sabbath Supper without Daddy here. We are learning that Sabbath isn’t all about rest, but also about taking a step back from day to day tasks and delighting in all that we do.

The kids and I gathered around the table that evening enjoying Pizza, Salad, and Sparkling Water (<—a very special treat for them). I asked the kids to share any special memory they could think of, and it was fun to hear what they came up with. I shared with them the special memories I had about the days when I first met each of them.

Eva sent me this sweet photo of Uncle Auggie hanging with Arrow while I was upstairs getting the other seven put to bed that night.

Sunday morning, we ate Breakfast Cookies turned into bars that I’d baked and frozen the week before.

Our Sunday lunch was a huge roaster full of Taco Soup with Fritos, Cheese, and Sour Cream.

We made Quesadillas and enjoyed Brownies that Kiya had made all by herself (on Saturday). :) Friends who joined us for our meal brought Fruit Salad, Chips and Salsa, and Apple Crisp.

When our table is full, my heart is full. Twenty-three of us gathered for our meal that day, and it was truly a DELIGHT.

Matt got home in the middle of the night that night, praise God. It was so good to have him back home! Monday morning, I scrambled 15 eggs and we finished off a loaf of Banana Bread. I made Smoothie for Matt and me.

I was planning to grill Brats for dinner that night, but just about the time I would have turned on our smoker, it started to rain. We were so thankful because we needed rain! I quickly made a Plan B for dinner and decided to make the brats on Tuesday instead. :)

I had some Ham in the fridge so I cut it up and made six boxes of Mac and Cheese with Buttered Peas and Sliced Oranges.

Anna and I made Peanut Butter Honey Puffs that evening for snacks.

 

Then while Keith and Bonus Buddy were hanging with Elias and Malorie and Auggie was with Matt, these five went to the table with me for a rainy-night craft.

Tuesday morning, the kids ate either Breakfast Sandwiches or Oatmeal. Meanwhile, I baked several pans of Bacon to put into the fridge to have on hand for breakfasts and sandwiches. This big box of bacon is a Sam’s favorite!

The kids’ group hug as Keith headed into school that morning was extra precious.

We played outside a good part of the morning after getting the four elementary kids to school. The kids shared snacks while they played.

Later when we came inside, I loved seeing Anna spend time building an animal train and playing calmly. Until just a few months ago, this little one didn’t know how to just play. She fought, ripped books, dumped out and scattered toys – but never actually played with toys. It’s beautiful to see her building, making believe, being creative, and sometimes actually sitting peacefully. God is healer. (<— I’m writing this because with all the continued work we do with all of our kids, it’s so good to take note of all that God HAS DONE already in them.)

We usually wait until about 11:00am to get the preschool girls dressed and ready for school. Otherwise, by the time the bus comes at noon, they are already dirty and their hair needs to be redone. Here’s Acacia, rocking a cute outfit plus a fresh hairdo by Malorie. Note that these camo pants were Keith’s last year. As I was sorting through fall/winter clothes, I realized that the girls might be able to pull off these hand-me-down pants. Oh my goodness, I can’t stop loving how CUTE these are on her.

They all looked especially adorable that day, and we had an extra minute as we were waiting for the bus so…

Little Sweetheart had been with us all morning and into the afternoon. While Auggie napped, she and I had some playtime on the floor. She’d been on a blanket across the room, but little roly-poly here made her way to the other side of the rug.

Sometime in there, I smoked 24 Brats for our dinner that night and put them into a crock pot to stay warm since I’d be gone with the kids for our weekly Food Distribution where we serve. As you can see, I sort of burned 24 brats. Yikes. I’d forgotten that they were out there. Meh, we ate them anyway. I also made a small crock pot of Baked Beans.

I picked up Brayden, Kiya, and Keith from school and we headed straight to the Food Distribution site so that we could hand out food to the community. Over 100 people came through the line! Matt, Elias, and Malorie had fed the other kids by the time we got home.

Here’s a photo I snagged of Kiya and Keith putting away a wagon as we were cleaning up after handing out food.

Wednesday morning, some of our kids had Yogurt with Granola and some had Breakfast Sandwiches. I tell you what, keeping those sandwiches on hand has been so convenient a huge help!

Here’s a great peek into what school mornings look like. Kids in and out working on breakfast, a dishwasher open and being loaded while the kids eat, and Keith there behind the kitchen faucet working on some sort of project that was much more important than eating breakfast or getting dressed.

That day, some dear friends from York came and ate lunch with us. I added more beef, corn, and beans to Sunday’s leftover Taco Soup to help it stretch through our lunch. Our friends brought fruit and cookies to complete the meal. I was bummed later to realize that I didn’t get any pictures of us together. We were too busy catching up on life. :)

That afternoon, I made a batch of Mini Crustless Cheesecakes for snacks. I also put together 15 Chicken Bacon Ranch Sandwiches to have on hand for adults to take for lunches or for us to eat at home as needed.

For dinner that night, we ate a pot of Cheeseburger Soup with sliced Oranges.

Thursday morning, Anna was up early and helped me make a batch of Cheater Cheater Pumpkin Eaters for breakfast.

I scrambled 15 eggs to go with our Cheater Cheater Pumpkin Eaters plus got out canned Mandarin Oranges that I’d gotten from Azure Standard. Somewhere in there, I also made another round of this smoothie for Matt and me to drink during the next couple of days. Kiya asked if she could take the picture of our breakfast, and here it is!

Mid-morning, I took Auggie to Walmart to get the rest of our WIC items for the month plus a few other things we needed.

I always check for meat markdowns at Walmart and am almost never disappointed. Today I scored big on boneless chicken thighs for $2.04 or $1.98/pound! I also got a beef roast marked down. It wasn’t as cheap per pound but it’s hard to find a good price for roast now, so I still took advantage.

One problem with leaving Matt at home with the girls, and me only taking Auggie to the store is that one cart is usually not enough. But then again, having three more kids in a second cart with Matt wouldn’t be much help anyway. SO. I checked out and put the first purchase into our van, then Auggie and I went in for round two: produce.

Was Auggie excited to go back in and shop more? NO HE WAS NOT. I ended up holding him and dragging the cart and then doing self checkout one-handed. Yikes. But, we got what we needed, and then he fell asleep on the way home.

While putting all the groceries away at home, I decided to dump sauce on all the chicken I’d bought that day. That will make a perfect Sunday Lunch this weekend.

For dinner, I put together Potato and Bacon Foil Packs for the Grill then I left to have four parent-teacher conferences at the elementary school. When I got home, I made these spinach-filled Smoothies to go with our dinner.

These Potato Bacon Packs are so good. We fill our plate then top it with cheese and sour cream.

Friday morning the kids had cereal. But I also had a gallon of milk that needed to be finished off, so I made a big pot of Warm Vanilla Soother to serve. I used a sharpie to make the cups fun, which the kids loved. :)

Mid-morning, Anna helped me make a quadruple batch of Low Sugar Peanut Butter Brownies. This girl loves to help me bake. :)

Once those were in the oven, I went outside to turn on our smoker and found these two sweethearts playing in leaves.

Matt and I worked together to smoke all the chicken I’d marinated the day before. We planned to rewarm this on Sunday morning for our big Sunday Lunch gathering.

Malachi stopped by for a while that morning. Justus had dropped off Little Sweetheart and I was holding her. Auggie wasn’t happy to share me at that moment. Thank goodness for Malachi offering his big brother snuggles.

Here’s the end result of the Low Sugar Peanut Butter Brownies I started that morning. Super good!

We made Homemade Pizza for dinner that night with Caesar Salad.

At the store the day before, I had picked up a bag of frozen peppers and onions. It was a little bit weird to put them on a pizza, but it was also EASY because I didn’t have to do any veggie chopping. I had some left, along with some leftover sliced mushrooms, so I sautéed those for an additional side dish.

Saturday, we finished putting together food to serve for our Sunday Lunch so that we could take a Sabbath Rest on Sunday. This has been so amazing, and now that we are starting to get into a rhythm, it’s very doable.

I made Cream Cheese Corn to go with our Smoked Chicken and got out rolls and desserts from the freezer. Friends were planning to join us and bring additional sides.

Saturday evening was a little bit different than our typical Sabbath kick-off because weeks earlier we’d reserved tickets for our local Boo at the Zoo event. We got our kids all dressed up in their costumes for the year and headed out for an evening of fun. Allow me to introduce our Little House on the Prairie clan:

I’ll share more about our evening next week!

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Big Family Food and Fun: October 13-19, 2024

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Here’s our Big Family Food and Fun: October 13-19, 2024 post!

Big Family Food and Fun: October 13-19, 2024

Matt and I are prayerfully trying to take a Sabbath rest each week, starting Saturday evening and into most of the day on Sunday. Read more about this here.

As we learn about this ourselves, and try to teach our kids about taking time to refresh our souls, we planned a special evening Saturday to kick off our Sabbath. I ordered these rechargeable candles from Amazon to help communicate: This is a time set apart for something special. We had fruit cups and chicken strips on paper plates, and the kids all got to drink sparkling water with dinner.

Then we popped corn in our popcorn machine. We prayed, involving all the kids in sharing something they were thankful for that week.

Was this kick-off restful? Ultimately, Mom and Dad still have to work pretty hard to meet the needs of this many kids. But it’s a Sabbath mind-set we’re going for. So no, it wasn’t particularly restful. But it was joyful. So that’s a win.

To give me the day off from cooking on Sunday, I’d planned these Breakfast Cookie Bars that I’d made ahead and frozen for our morning meal.

Saturday morning, I’d made a huge Italian Pasta Bake with three different kinds of cheese and simply baked it Sunday morning on low while we were at church. I’d also made a bowl of Caramel Apple Dip for our dessert.

Along with some of our regular Sunday guests, the Nabb family joined us as they are also seeking to learn to Sabbath. They brought rolls, salad, and a Rotisserie chicken to add to our meal and together we enjoyed precious community. When our kitchen and dining room are full, this is my favorite. There were 25 of us gathered that day.

We transitioned back into “normal life” when late in the afternoon, we headed to Keith’s final soccer game of the season.

Auggie was wearing his new jeans and jacket, and I couldn’t stop loving how CUTE he is.

I had Burritos in the freezer so we warmed those up for dinner and got out cans of fruit as a simple side.

Most of us smothered our burritos with White Queso that I’d picked up at Sam’s. We also had fresh tomatoes our friends had given us, which made these burritos incredible.

Malorie and Elias experimented with making Fried Rice for part of their dinner and for Elias’ upcoming packed school lunches.

Monday morning, Acacia and Josie helped Chocolate Banana Blender Muffins.

This is the best kind of helping.

I scrambled 18 eggs to go with our muffins that morning.

Anna had a dentist appointment and Acacia went with us for moral support.

When we got home, we were blessed with a visit from our former housemate, Sarah. As you can see, the kids were VERY excited to see her.

We ate leftovers for lunch, then I put together a pot of Chicken Noodle Soup for us to eat for our dinner that night.

After Auggie’s nap, we loaded up eight bikes and eight kids and headed to our favorite Tierra Park to ride their trails. I knew we’d need a snack, so I packed the leftover Chocolate Banana Blender Muffins from breakfast plus clementines, pears, and applesauce.

As we were getting ready to leave, I realized how hungry I was. So I grabbed a to-go coffee cup and filled it with soup so that I could eat on the way.

Loading up that many kids and bikes is a huge effort, but it’s always worth it once we get there and the kids have so much fun playing and riding in the sunshine.

They ate all the snacks, then we gobbled down the entire pot of soup when we got home. They’d worked up an appetite!

Tuesday was the final day of our kids’ Fall Break from school. That morning, I started a big pot of Beef Broth to use in our soup for dinner that evening.

I also baked a Lemon Pound Cake just for fun since it was chilly outside and a good day for baking.

It wasn’t warm enough to play outside comfortably that morning, so I got out a fall craft for the kids to work on at the table.

When the broth had been simmering for several hours, I blended up the veggies to stir back in. This is such a great way to add veggies to our meals.

At lunchtime, I made several cans worth of Tomato Soup plus Chicken Salad Melts.

Little Sweetheart had been with us all morning and Acacia had fun playing with her after I finished changing her diaper.

I started a crock pot full of Spicy Ham and Potato Soup in the early afternoon, then took Brayden, Kiya, and Keith to our weekly Food Distribution.

This Spicy Ham and Potato Soup is my very favorite and with the rich broth I’d made earlier in the day, it was extra good.

Wednesday morning, the kids ate Oatmeal and I baked a double batch of Breakfast Cookies turned into bars to put into the freezer for upcoming needs.

We had intentions of taking all four of our littlest to Costco that morning, but by the time we had everyone ready, there was no way we’d make it there and back in time for the preschool bus. So I grabbed Auggie and headed there while Matt stayed back to get the girls off to school.

Auggie and I had some lovely one-on-one time as we stocked up on fruit, veggies, and many Costco needs/favorites.

Arrow came to hang out for the afternoon, so he bundled up with Auggie and me to go pick up kids from school.

Eva arrived as we were getting home and stayed and helped with kids. Then Asa and Eva joined us for dinner! We’d been given a Rack of Ribs at Food Distribution (a rare and wonderful bonus item they were handing out that day and had plenty of) so I smoked it for dinner. I also Baked Potatoes – in the oven like normal people do, ha! I’ve done it in the crock pot for so long, that I almost forgot that baked potatoes can be baked in an actual oven. We also had Baked Beans, Peas, Grapes, and Raspberries.

Kiya’s birthday was Thursday! She requested Pancakes for breakfast. Happy 9th Kiya!

Anna and Josie set up a Costco box from my grocery run the day before to use as a table for their applesauce that morning.

Mid-morning I quickly put together 12 Breakfast Sandwiches to have on hand through the upcoming days.

I’ve been working on and off for the past several days to get all of our kids’ summer clothes switched out to fall/winter clothes. This is a HUGE job, and thanks to Malorie’s help with the kids, I got our final bin sorted Thursday morning.

Auggie had an appointment with his eating specialist that day. After so many months of frustration and hard work, it was so great to walk in and report how well he is doing with eating and chewing. We praise God for this!

Several of the family were coming over for Kiya’s birthday dinner that night, so that afternoon I worked on her cake request. She asked for a cake in the shape of a Z for her name (her full name is Zakiya). I had baked a sheet cake that morning and attempted to cut it into a Z…not to shabby!

The final result was cute and I was excited to show her when she got home from school that day.

We had her birthday requested meal for dinner that night: Chicken Nuggets, Fries, Pickles – and I threw in Strawberries and Grapes for good measure. The older kids trickled in all evening for the celebration so I just kept putting in more rounds of chicken and fries. If you’re curious, we fed 18 people (10 adults and 8 kids)  and went through 5 pounds of chicken, 4 pounds of fries, and 3 pounds of strawberries that night.

Zakiya was very excited about her cake!

After dinner and cake (<— that was a two hour ordeal, ha), we gathered in the living room (<—also very eventful) for present time.

As we transitioned to bedtime, Josie was excited that the color of her jammies matched Malachi’s hoodie, but she would not be still for a picture. She kept giggling and squirming out of his arms, then asking to see the picture. These are a no-go, girl.

Matt left early Friday morning to head to the airport to be with his family in California for a funeral. We had a detailed schedule for all of our older kids/wives/girlfriend to come help throughout the weekend so that I would survive. Malorie was my all-day-Friday help and truly, she made the day go so smoothly.

We were pleased to make it all the way to 11:00 am without any screaming meltdowns. Score.

At that point, we headed outside to play. The girls had found and grabbed Auggie’s unused baby food puree to snack on. Sure, why not?

I loved that I was able to capture this while the kids were playing on the slide.

We ate Meatballs, Buttered Noodles, Salad, and Fruit for dinner that night.

Malachi came over to help with kids and we took a walk to Sunken Gardens. Kelsey and Little Sweetheart came later that evening and everyone worked together to get all eight little kids to bed (a process that took about an hour and a half).

Kelsey swept and mopped our kitchen and did dishes while Malachi held Little Sweetheart. Elias helped manage the 5-year-old boys as they had a hard time settling. Auggie wasn’t ready for bed yet so he enjoyed time in the kitchen learning how to be an awesome grown-up. I felt incredibly grateful for and supported by all of our precious adult kids.

Saturday morning, Elias and Malorie helped me get the kids to Heartlands for a Color Run with their friends from church. Kelsey met us there to help too. I packed a bunch of Peanut Butter Honey Sandwiches with Cheese Sticks and Apples for them to eat on the way home.

Kelsey, Asa, Eva, and Arrow came for the afternoon and evening to help out. Elias and Malorie helped a good part of the time too. Our adult children amaze me and I am so grateful for them.

As of Saturday morning, I decided to focus on surviving and didn’t upload pictures or write any more about our week. :) I’ll share photos next week of our weekend fun!

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Big Family Food and Fun: September 29 – October 5, 2024

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Here’s our Big Family Food and Fun: September 29 – October 5, 2024 post!

Big Family Food and Fun: September 29 – October 5, 2024

Sunday at church we enjoyed Family Worship time. We were blessed to have many of the kids on stage singing (or picking their nose as the case may be with one of ours).

Matt preached that day, and he kept the kids up in front at first to include them at the beginning of his lesson.

Afterward, we gathered at our house for the simplest Sunday Lunch ever: Lasagna and Salad. That’s it. That’s all I made. But it’s all we needed. There were 23 of us that day.

My favorite part of the day was sitting down in the living room after lunch with a cup of coffee and watching all of our people mingling and enjoying time together.

I loved this precious scene in which Little Sweetheart was napping, giving Auntie K two empty arms to enjoy some Arrow snuggles.

We were all surprised to be visited by a penguin during our visit. Should we take her back to the zoo? It’s still a point of discussion.

Late afternoon we regrouped and loaded up to go to Keith’s soccer game. I packed pears, clementines, peanuts, and cheese sticks – plus a fruit/veggie pouch for Auggie.

It was a hot one that day so that fruit tasted extra good to those of us on the sidelines. Meanwhile, Keith played hard – even if his mom is unable to keep up with laundry and he had to wear two different colors of soccer socks.

Back at home, we cleaned out the fridge to eat leftovers for dinner. I had picked up 5-pounds of super cheap ground chicken last week marked down. So I spent some time making it all into Chicken Cheeseballs – one for Monday’s dinner and the other for the freezer.

Monday morning, I made a few cans worth of Tuna Salad for kids to take in their school lunches.

The rest of that day, I spent resting – as much as a person can rest while caring for small children. We’d been in go-go-go mode for weeks, and I was tired.

Typically, in the morning while we only have four kids at home, I get extra food made or I catch up on other family needs. Monday, I just sat with the kids and played with the kids. It was refreshing and needed.

For dinner that night, I baked a pan of the Chicken Cheeseballs I’d made the day before. A few weeks ago, I ordered a bag of Instant Mashed Potatoes from Azure Standard to have on hand for days I needed cooking breaks. They aren’t as tasty as “real mashed potatoes” but they are fast and easy and they made a great side dish for this night’s dinner. I steamed broccoli, and that was our dinner!

A friend had brought us a bunch of tomatoes from her garden and Anna enjoyed them very much that evening. :)

Keith sat with me in the kitchen while I washed some dishes so he could get his homework done. I’m not a fan of kindergarteners having homework, but I did enjoy the one-on-one time with him.

After resting on Monday, Tuesday I felt refreshed and ready to take on a few projects. Acacia helped me make Pumpkin Muffins.

Keith came in and wanted in on the action so he helped me make a huge batch of Mudballs.

While all this was in the works, I baked pan after pan of Bacon. It felt good to get ahead – even if it dirty up a lot of dishes! ;)

For breakfast that morning, I warmed up some leftover Egg and Hashbrown Casserole from last week.

Justus dropped off Little Sweetheart for the morning. Anna and Josie were happy to entertain her for a few minutes while I finished up a few kitchen clean-up chores.

Mid-morning, we were honored to enjoy time with Angela – someone who has been a Heavenly Homemakers reader for years and has prayed over our family during this time. She was visiting family nearby, so coming here worked out perfectly! Our girls LOVED coloring with her, being read to, and playing.

And I loved visiting and learning about her family too. It was a wonderful visit. :)

After school, Brayden, Kiya, Keith, and I went to hand out food at our weekly Food Distribution.

Afterward while we were cleaning up, Brayden was excited to take this picture of Kiya and Keith helping Mr. Jim scrub spots off the floor.

Back at home, we discovered that Elias was working to wrangle the kids while Matt dealt with this:

It was only a matter of time before a window got broken here, right? Ugh.

Elias had managed to get water boiling for dinner, and he and I worked together to finish putting together Tortelloni with Sauce, Salad, Berries, and Tomatoes.

The best part of the day: Malorie arrived after a long drive from Texas! She’s officially moving in and we are all so happy about this! Even Auggie moved in for a hug. :)

Wednesday morning, we enjoyed a special treat of Pumpkin O’s that Angela had brought us the day before (along with some other fun Trader Joe’s treats!). I also scrambled 15 eggs for us to eat that morning. As Angela predicted when she gave them to me, the O’s were gone very quickly. But not to worry, I’d poured myself the first bowl of the morning, so I got some too. :)

I put several pounds worth of Salsa Chicken into a crock pot to slow cook all day for our dinner that night.

It was a very cool morning so I was in the mood to bake! Having treats in the freezer is always a good thing, so I made a big pan of Brownies and a big pan of Butterscotch Bars to cut, plate, bag, and freeze for upcoming Sunday Lunches or other needs.

Mid-morning, our friends showed up to help clean some of our bathrooms. Josie hung with them the entire time, squirting and scrubbing. :)

We are usually blessed to bring home several bags of free bread and rolls from our Tuesday Food Distribution. I usually need to freeze it or use it right away as it is on its final days. I had 12 nice looking hoagie-type rolls so I used them to make Chicken Bacon Sandwiches for easy lunches for the grown-ups. I bagged them individually, then put them in the fridge.

How can we tell that Malorie is here? We just look at the girls’ hair. When I fix their hair, the styles consist of piggies and ponies. But Malorie always does something special and she makes it look effortless. :)

With hair done, fresh clothes and shoes on, we watched for the bus. Auggie has started to get mad that he doesn’t get to go to school with his sisters.

Eva dropped Arrow off for the afternoon while she went to do a photo shoot for some clients. We cracked up when she met me in the living room to say something like, “Arrow is sleeping so I put him in the pantry.” This sounds so wrong unless you know that our pantry is an entire room off the kitchen, giving him plenty of quiet and safety away from potential tiny aunts and uncles who might try to love on him just a little bit too much. :)

Here he is, happily playing in the pantry after he woke up. Yep, Lolli likes this room too, Arrow.

Speaking of tiny aunts… Aunt Acacia and Aunt Josie enjoyed playing with Arrow when they got home from school.

Auntie Anna was excited to help me feed Arrow his bottle.

For dinner that night, we shredded the Salsa Chicken I’d started cooking that morning and had a Chicken Taco Bar. I made a pan of Stick of Butter Rice to stretch our meal, plus warmed up or set out Black Beans, Corn, White Queso, Salsa, Tomatoes, Spinach, Shredded Cheese, Sour Cream, and choices of Tortillas, Chips, or Hard Shells.

Asa and Eva joined us for dinner and we all ate in shifts as we got kids’ plates/bowls fixed and as adults came and went depending on their schedules.

Thursday morning, the girls took turns helping crack eggs to make French Toast. I also baked two pans of eggs to put together Make-Ahead Breakfast Sandwiches.

The eggs were finished baking before we left for school, and I put the sandwiches together after we got the four elementary kids dropped off.

Then I bagged them individually to freeze or refrigerate so that adults could grab them on their way to work as needed.

We had ordered new bikes for our kindergarten boys (both of theirs are falling apart from such hard use, plus they were already hand-me-downs). So we went to pick them up mid-morning. Matt dropped Acacia, Josie, and me at Sam’s on the way so that I could stock up on needed items there. It ended up being a huge load of groceries that day!

After he picked up the bikes, Matt met me at Sam’s with Anna and Auggie and I put overflow items into their cart. I got 10-dozen eggs because they were only $10.98 for a 5-dozen box, which breaks down to just $2.20/dozen! That’s a great price right now!

As if that wasn’t enough food, I had put in a pick-up order from Hy-Vee for some of our girls’ WIC items. Malorie picked that up for me and helped me get it put away. We are well stocked up on groceries now. But how long will it last? That’s the part that always has me chuckle. After a shopping trip, I always think we’ll be good for a while – and of course, there’s always plenty to eat. But somehow I always need to go back to the store to shop again within a week. :)

We were blessed to have both Arrow and Little Sweetheart that afternoon – a gift I’m so thankful for. This is one of the main reasons we moved to Lincoln, and I’m so grateful we can have this time with our grandbabies! I’m not sure what they are chatting about here, but Arrow sure was amazed about what his cousin had to share…

Malorie being here now is such a huge blessing! She helped me with babies so that Matt could get some work done in our boys’ bedroom.

With both babies happy, I finished putting together Burritos for the freezer using Wednesday night’s leftovers. I was thankful for the opportunity to get so many extras made throughout this week:

Our friend, Phyllis, came to visit that afternoon which was perfect timing because she got to meet Little Sweetheart and Arrow, plus she got to see Kelsey and Eva when they came to pick up their babies. It was such a sweet time. And speaking of sweet, Phyllis spoiled us with her delicious cookies too.

We had a fridge full of tidbits of this and that, so we had leftovers for dinner that night. I’d also picked up the kids’ favorite grapes at Sam’s: Cotton Candy Grapes, so we enjoyed those with dinner.

Justus dropped off Little Sweetheart early Friday before he left for a conference. Acacia was excited to hold her but Little Sweetheart liked pulling Acacia’s piggy-tails too much. Ouchie. :)

Before leaving for school, Keith asked if we could make Strawberry Milkshakes to share that evening. It was a sweet request so I was glad that I had time to make a batch of Homemade Vanilla Ice Cream to use for his treats.

It was encouraging to see Auggie walking around with Josie’s banana because of all his eating issues up until now and the progress he’s making. Here he was, taking little bites of banana just like any ol’ toddler. Way to go, Auggie. (He threw it down after just two bites, but two bites is two bites so…)

That afternoon, Matt attempted to put the boys’ new bikes together. He had lots of help, as you can see, which made the process go twice as…slow. ;)

I made a simple dinner of Chicken Nuggets and Fish Sticks, Hashbrowns, Salad, and Grapes.

We used some of the Homemade Vanilla Ice Cream I’d made earlier in the day with frozen strawberries and milk to put together Keith’s requested Strawberry Milkshakes.

We were all very happy to enjoy this, and Keith wanted me to be sure and get a photo of his milkshake mustache.

Our Sabbath Experiment

Before I tell you about our Saturday morning, let me tell you about the church Community Group Matt and I have been a part of for the past several weeks. We’ve been working our way through Practicing the Way resources (highly recommended!), focusing on the practices of Jesus and learning more about how we can be more like Him in His practices.

One of the focuses has been about Sabbath – something Matt and I have tinkered with in the past but never figured out how to make a regular part of our lives. We’ve been challenged to be intentional about incorporating a Sabbath rest into our week, as a way to be a part of life-giving community and as a way to refresh our souls. With all these high need littles, WE NEED REST. But with all these high need littles, how in the world can we spend a day every week resting? That has been the question.

We’ve prayed and discussed this a lot, and we decided to give it a try this week. My goal Saturday morning was to make all food preparations for Sunday so that we can fully enjoy our family, our church/worship time, our Sunday lunch gathering, and the rest of our day.

We turned on a show for the kids to watch as they got up on Saturday, something we only do on weekend mornings. Then I spent the entire morning cooking and baking (without kids – which was refreshing and fun for me in and of itself!).

I baked a double batch of Breakfast Cookies into bars for Sunday’s breakfast.

When they cooled, I cut them into bars, setting aside half for Sunday and freezing the other half for another day.

I made a double batch of Peanut Butter Honey Rice Krispie Bars for easy snacks.

I packaged up some of these for next week’s school lunches.

I mixed together a double batch of Party Potatoes to bake during church for our Sunday lunch.

While all this was going on, I’d put chicken legs and pork chops on the smoker that I’d marinated overnight. I planned to warm these on Sunday morning in a crock pot while we were at church.

I baked a double batch of Pumpkin Bars for our Sunday Lunch dessert. And I steamed Green Beans and made Cream Cheese Corn to warm up in small crock pots while we are at church.

It was super fun to do all of this. Meanwhile, the kids came in and ate bowls of cereal, bananas, or Mudballs for breakfast. Matt took a few at a time to have long, leisurely baths so that we didn’t have to tackle that chore Saturday night.

We went to our friends’ house that evening for a Husker game watch party/birthday party to kick off our Sabbath rest in community. Our goal is to not be legalistic, but to find refreshment for our souls and to figure out ways to be at rest even during this busy season.

I’ll let you know how our first trial run goes!

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

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

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

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

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

Keith had a soccer game later that afternoon.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Dinner was leftovers and that was our week!

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Big Family Food and Fun: September 1-7, 2024

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Here’s our Big Family Food and Fun: September 1-7, 2024 post!

Big Family Food and Fun: September 1-7, 2024

This week’s Sunday lunch was Brunch themed with Egg and Hashbrown Casserole, Bacon and Cheese Sliders, Muffins, Yogurt, Granola, Berries, Grapes, and Pineapple Fluff.

There were 21 of us that day…

We moved from Sunday Lunch right into a Small Group Bible Study time in our living room with our lunch crowd heading home and other friends showing up at 2:00 for study. Elias takes all the kids down to his living room in the basement where they get to watch a movie while Matt and I have precious grown-up fellowship.

We had to be really on the ball today because Keith had a soccer game at 3:30. So before 2:00, I packed up a cooler bag full of game snacks and drinks.

We left our Small Group behind to finish without us, and loaded all eight kids into the van for the game. That’s when we realized that there WAS NO GAME because it was Labor Day weekend. Good grief.

To help with the disappointment of the change of plans, we quickly texted Justus and Kelsey to see if it was too early to stop by. We had planned to head over after the game to visit with Kelsey’s parents – and to enjoy their dog, Lady, who had traveled with them from Montana.

We had a lovely visit in their back yard while we ate our soccer snacks – pears, apples, and peanuts.

Justus and Kelsey had leftover popsicles from one of Heartlands Church’s Popsicles in the Park nights so everyone enjoyed that treat before we headed back home.

Much to our delight, our Small Group friends had cleaned our kitchen after we left for Keith’s “game” so everything was a shiny, wonderful surprise when we got home. I baked five Costco pizzas and cut up a watermelon for dinner.

That evening, we gathered the kids in the living room so that Acacia could open one final birthday gift we’d forgotten to give her the day before. This was from Papa and Grandma Tacy and she was so thrilled. “Oh!! A jacket!!!”

Why yes, she did sleep in her new jacket that night…

Monday morning I made several rounds of pancakes, putting them into a pan in a warm oven to pull out as kids got up to eat.

Elias’ girlfriend Malorie had made the drive back from TX for the week, and while sure, Elias was really happy to see her, I’m pretty sure the rest of us were all just as excited. All the kids helped her unload her car.

Acacia and Josie made their way to our neighbor’s driveway and Sarah sent me this of the girls trying on their hats…

Our friends, the Nabbs, came for lunch that day since it was Labor Day. Cindy brought Korean BBQ Pork, Rice, and Cole Slaw, which was incredible. I made more Rice plus steamed lots of veggies, warmed up rolls, and got out fruit to add to our meal.

They have a large family too so altogether there were 28 of us gathered that day!

I had made a couple batches of Homemade Ice Cream and pulled some of these Brownies out of the freezer for dessert.

Later that afternoon, Elias and Malorie took Acacia on a special outing for her birthday. She LOVED this treat – I mean, the drink yes. But the special time with her special people was the best treat.

We had borrowed someone’s truck so that we could load up a big pile of branches we had gathered after a storm late July. So that evening, we all worked together on this project. It was a bit of an “event” to do this job with so many tiny helpers and it took three trips to the dump site to get it all done.

Our friend, Trent, stopped by to drop something off and was amazing to spend over two spontaneous hours with us, helping with kids and helping with branches. Kermit, one of our housemates, arrived home and jumped in to help too.

One branch needed to be sawed into pieces and Keith had the privilege of using the saw while the grown-ups held the branch for him.

Dinner that night was super lame as I was mostly trying to keep Auggie out of the street and preschoolers from getting hit in the head with moving branches. I pulled a bag of leftover pizza from the fridge and the kids ate it cold in the backyard. Grown-ups warmed up their own leftovers whenever they had a chance, and that was dinner.

Tuesday morning the kids had an extra day of school off because it was a Teacher Workday. I let them watch a show that morning since we were on our fourth day out of school and I needed a bit of a break. While they watched, I made Snickerdoodle Bites for snacks and lunches. I also made a batch of this Smoothie, but that’s not terribly exciting because I make this every other day as Matt and I drink it every morning.

I spent some time packaging up some lunch box items for the upcoming days: crackers, peanuts, sweet potato crackers, and veggie straws.

Little Sweetheart came for the morning and since Malorie was visiting, we decided we weren’t too crazy to take nine kids on a walk to Sunken Gardens. It was a gorgeous morning!

For lunch, I air fried fish sticks and we turned them into Fish Sandwiches.

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

Right after that, we went home and grabbed hotdogs that I’d made before leaving for Food Distribution. Then we headed over to meet up with Matt, Elias, Malorie, Kermit and the rest of our kids at Atlas. Our church had partnered with them to feed around 150 people in the community that evening.

Heartlands Church provided all the food plus cooked and served the meal so that the staff and volunteers at Atlas could share with the people more about the services they offer. It was an amazing night.

A police officer was there for the event, and Keith spent at least twenty minutes chatting with him. It was so sweet to see.

Wednesday morning, after a four-day weekend, we were all excited to settle back into a school routine. We packed lunches, ate scrambled eggs, and walked kids to school. I didn’t get any photos of our day until Arrow came to hang out that afternoon. Then, of course, I took at least thirty pictures. It’s what grandparents do.

For dinner that evening, we had Burrito Bowls (like Chipotle). So good!

We pulled out random tid-bits from the fridge for Thursday morning’s breakfast: Yogurt, Sausage, Breakfast Casserole, a Biscuit, Bread for toast. I felt like everyone got enough to eat, but just in case, I made a quick snack of Peanut Butter Graham Cracker Sandwiches for the kids to eat on the way to school. (Some of the kids eat as early as 6:30am so by 8:40 when we head to school, they need something more to eat.)

Without fail, this is how Keith and Bonus Buddy walk into school together every day.

We played outside when we got home that morning. I can’t remember what Anna was doing here, but I do know that this was a happy yell, whatever it was.

That morning, I got laundry as caught up as possible plus got some phone calls made. This felt so good as both laundry and phone calls are tricky around here. Little Sweetheart came to hang out for the afternoon, and she helped me cut a watermelon for dinner.

Matt and I had marinated some chicken that afternoon, so I put it on the smoker before picking kids up from school. We helped kids with homework, got lunch bags and back packs put away, and had a lot of post school meltdowns. Eek.

For dinner, we had Smoked Chicken, Scalloped Potatoes (boxed, given to us at Food Distribution last week), Steamed Green Beans, Steamed Carrots (leftover from Sunday), and Watermelon.

Friday morning, the girls hopped out of their strollers and climbed on the bike racks as we were getting Keith and Bonus Buddy’s bikes locked into place for the day.

Once we got home, we loaded up the youngest four and headed out to grocery shop. Matt stayed with the kids in the van at Aldi while I ran in and grabbed everything we needed. Strawberries were on sale again!

At Costco, these two sat in my cart with Acacia and Josie in Matt’s. Notice that Anna had found an orange marker the night before and had drawn all over her arms, legs, and forehead. Nice.

Back at home, we worked together to unload the groceries and keep kids from running into the street (Auggie). Then we got girls on the school bus and Auggie down for a nap, finished putting away the groceries, and ate lunch in SILENCE. How about that?

I had decided to pick up Rotisserie Chicken at Costco for our Sunday lunch and that afternoon, I tried a trick one reader, Elaine, sent to me last month: “I saw a rotisserie chicken hack I think you would love for de-boning a chicken…. Put the hot rotisserie chicken (must be hot) in a ziploc freeezer bag and massage. All the meat comes off the bones!”

It worked, and now we have meat ready for Sunday!

Malorie, Auggie, and I walked together to pick up the kids from school that afternoon, but first I peeled eight clementines for them to eat on the way home.

We played outside while Matt and I worked together to grill burgers for dinner. Our neighbor, Coleman, was out working and Keith and Auggie were frozen while watching him lift a huge log from the back of his truck.

This kindergartener came home with his very first homework on Friday, and he was so diligent to get it done. (We won’t talk about how just a few minutes before this, I was trying to help our fifth grader with his much harder homework while three girls were melting down loudly all over the kitchen floor.)

We’ve learned that once it’s 4:25 and everyone is home – this is not the time to cook dinner. The girls are tired and overstimulated from preschool, Brayden and Kiya have homework and need help, Keith is hungry and needs food asap to help him stay regulated, Auggie is awake and wanting to be held – it’s all basically nuts.

All that to say – we had the burgers finished and staying warm in the crock pot before the girls got off the bus. At mealtime, we air fried the French fries and pulled watermelon out of the fridge. This system of putting grilled meat in the crock pot to stay warm works very well for all the adults in the house too as all of us eat at different times depending on ability and work schedules – so grown-ups can come get their food during the evening whenever it works for them.

Feeding the kids super early is a must – but then it also means that as soon as I wash dishes from dinner I need to start figuring out a substantial bedtime snack for them to eat because they are hungry again by 6:30. While I was doing this, Elias brought up some Sushi he’d picked up and Josie wanted to try it. One bite in she said very slowly and sweetly, “I. Don’t. Wike. It.” Same, girl.

Saturday morning Matt needed to get out the door to head to church for a meeting. Justus, Kelsey, and Little Sweetheart came over to help us while he was gone. In case you can’t see him in this photo, Justus is in there under a pile of brothers and sisters…

I cooked two pounds of sausage that morning, putting most of it into a jar of spaghetti sauce for a future dinner. Then I used the rest along with 18 eggs to make Scrambled Cheesy Eggs for breakfast with two pounds of strawberries.

This picture of Auggie is a BIG DEAL. Here he is, confidently poking bites of strawberry all by himself, putting them in his mouth, and chewing them to swallow without choking. He’s come so far – and still has a ways to go – but he’s making such good progress!

Justus joined him for some breakfast, and I loved the image of side-by-side brothers, 23 years apart in age.

I had baked a Chocolate Cake (with spinach, don’t tell) the night before. Then Saturday morning, I made a batch of Vanilla Ice Cream to layer with it and turn it into an Ice Cream Cake for our Sunday Lunch.

Next, we loaded all the kids up in strollers and headed to our Heartlands Little Free Pantry to add to it. We were so happy to see a lot of our friends there when we arrived – and they had already filled it! Hopefully this will be a blessing to a lot in the community during the coming days.

From there, we stopped at a small park to play for a while before heading home for lunch.

I turned leftover hotdogs into Beanie Weanies for lunch with a side of Watermelon. Then Auggie went down for a nap and I gave Brayden and Keith hair cuts.

The rest of the afternoon and evening was spent giving kids baths and knocking out a few more hair cuts. I smoked two small Pork Loin that I’d picked up at Aldi the day before. We ate it with potatoes and peas.

And that was our week!

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Big Family Food and Fun: July 7-13, 2024

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Here’s our Big Family Food and Fun: July 7-13, 2024 post!

Big Family Food and Fun: July 7-13, 2024

Sunday was my favorite as we had plans for family to come eat after church, plus we grabbed several others to join too. I didn’t get great photos of the food because I was too excited to capture the people. There were 25 of us gathered in our kitchen and dining room. Lots of babies and kids. Lots of noise. Lots of awesomeness.

We ate Overnight Roast, Mashed Potatoes, Cream Cheese Corn, Caramelized Sweet Peppers/Onion, Caesar Salad, and Rolls.

For dessert we had Brownies and Homemade Ice Cream. Ever since our friend gave us a Cuisinart Ice Cream Maker, we’ve found that making ice cream is SO EASY. What a treat! (I’ll share details soon about how I make it so easily.)

For dinner that night I simply warmed up Mac and Cheese Leftovers from last week and tossed peas on top.

Later while the kids played outside, I took out three chilled cans of fruit – two of pineapple slices and one of peaches – and handed them out on plastic forks as a snack before bed.

Monday morning I used up some tortillas to make Quesadillas for breakfast. That’s not something we normally eat in the morning, but we’ve ceased to be normal. :)

We were completely out of fresh produce (again) and if you can believe it, we were out of bacon, ha. So we headed to Sam’s with all the kids, armed with shopping snacks and water bottles.

We picked up a delightful $4.98 Rotisserie Chicken and ate it at home as soon as we got the cold groceries put away. As you can see, we also dove right into our newly purchased grapes and blackberries.

I had a migraine and tried to rest that afternoon. Then for dinner we pulled out random bits of meat from the fridge to use up in a Nacho Bar.

We’d splurged on some Fudgesicles a Costco last month and this night was a great night to enjoy them outside after dinner. Pretty much all six fudgesicle eaters had faces like this one after the treat.

Tuesday morning I took BabyBoy#11 to his pediatric neurologist and was soooo encouraged by her expertise and care for him. We are in good hands, praise God.

We got home just in time to enjoy a wonderful visit with my cousins who were visiting from Kansas! I set out a big spread of Sandwich makings so we could put together BLTs or turkey and cheese or any combination we wanted. Plus we had a cucumber from our neighbor’s garden and lots of fresh fruit.

After lunch, we all walked together to “our” Sunken Gardens.

Late afternoon, Brayden, Kiya, and I went to hand out food at our weekly Food Distribution. For the past few weeks, Brayden has been put in charge of picking up coolers as they are emptied out, cleaning them, then lining them up in the hallway to dry. This has been excellent for him and without knowing it, all the other volunteers are pouring such encouragement into him as they offer him praise and appreciation for  his work. He is glowing by the end of our time there each week.

Back at home, I had told Elias to throw Costco Fish Sticks into the air fryer for dinner, which we ate with fruit and salad. I only managed to get a photo of the last plate of fish sticks we made, but…

…it is worth noting and probably chuckling over the fact that we ate THE ENTIRE BAG of 60 fish sticks in this one meal. That’s how we roll, I guess. :) And yes, I did take a moment to snap this photo of the empty fish stick bag in our trash as I was looking to see how many the bag contained at the beginning of the evening.

While I was doing dishes that night, I caught these three having a meeting of the minds. I love that BabyBoy#11 tries to join in with the fun when he can. :)

Wednesday morning I made French Toast, Hashbrowns, and Honey Dew Melon for breakfast.

Brayden, Kiya, Keith, and Anna had dentist appointments that morning so the three littlest stayed home with Daddy and the others headed to the clinic with me.

Wearing sunglasses in the dentist chair is the best!

We made it home after only one major meltdown as the appointments ended, then played outside until lunchtime.

We had brought home a container of croissants from Food Distribution the day before so we used them to make Turkey Bacon Cheese Melts for lunch.

That afternoon, I made a pan of Stick of Butter Rice for our dinner casserole.

I browned meat and turned the rice and beef into Tator Tot Casserole for dinner that night.

Our church had a Popsicles at the Park event that evening so we put on our swim suits and headed out to join the fun. Of all things, the clouds rolled in and gave us a nice downpour while we were there.

Once the rain stopped, the kids all headed back to the water to splash around. Matt and I snuggled with Little Sweetheart and Arrow while Justus hung out with BabyBoy#11.

I had to get a photo of Acacia wearing her match-y hat with her suit. It was a bonus to get a sweet shot of Elias and Malorie in this one too. :)

Thursday morning after breakfast, Malachi called. He’d been serving at church camp the week before and this week was filming/editing video at York University for a special program they had going on. We’d been missing him and guess what? Today he happened to be in Lincoln touring the Capitol Building with the crew he was working with. Would we be able to bring him some coffee, plus some for Bruce, Kenzie, and Chris?

Our Littles demand so much and our Bigs ask so little. So it is my pleasure to drop everything and try to make things like this happen.

We already had plans to load up bikes and kids and go to the park. So I made four coffees too and away we went to the park, detouring to the Capitol.

We were all so excited to squeeze Malachi for a minute before we all headed our separate directions.

At the park, we all spent a good deal of time fighting over who got to ride which bike, even though everyone had chosen one specifically before we left home, oy.

This guy had requested that he also bring his “new” wagon so he could haul it with his bike on the trail. Daddy was extra amazing and said yes.

Later, it turned into this sweetness…

We work up big appetites and while we had plans to eat leftovers for lunch at home, we still had apples, popcorn, and apple sauce for a snack.

I was blessed to go have some Arrow time that afternoon. Oh and guess what? Before I headed over, Asa texted, “If you were able to bring over some tasty coffee when you come, it would be enjoyed…” Hahaha, yep. Seems it was a big coffee-request day for all. Your wish is my command. (Just hand over the baby.)

I had divided last night’s Tator Tot Casserole into meal-sized packages like this for Asa and Eva to eat or freeze as needed.

After I left their house and had an hour to myself to pick up some groceries. I scored chicken thighs marked down!

Back at home, I walked into this scene in which Malorie was helping Keith make salads for dinner and Acacia was helping Matt warm up Hearty Bean Casserole that I’d put together that morning for a quick dinner.

The entire pot of Hearty Bean Casserole and all the salad was gone at the end of our meal. Tasty!

Our treat/snack that night was the Costco Fudgesicles again. This girlie tried to convince me that she hadn’t had one yet and wanted me to go get her one. Good try.

Friday morning we had plans to meet friends at the zoo. They had to cancel, but our family still loaded up a picnic and wagon and headed over!

The day was HOT, so we spent most of our zoo time playing in the water area.

Of course, we had to go say hello to the flamingos. Plus we enjoyed a crocodile, fish, eagle, and turtles along the way.

It was lunch time so we found a shady table area and pulled out all of our food. We were starting to all melt after that, so we headed home to cool off and rest.

I took three of our girls to Ms. Kathi’s for a couple of hours and headed over to snuggle Arrow while they were there.

Back at home, we made a very simple meals of Frozen Pizza with Spinach for dinner.

BabyBoy#11’s hair was getting out of control and down in his eyes so I decided that this evening was a good time to give it a trim outside. Before:

And after:

He didn’t love sitting still while I cut his hair, but he was pretty proud afterward. And yay, now he can see again!

The heat was pretty intense that night so we needed to go inside. But everyone was going a bit nuts inside without some sort of structure. So I got out some fancy paper for the kids to “make quilt squares” like we had seen in the Quilt Museum last week. Mostly they just “made a mess” but at least they stayed busy and calm for a while.

My brother Kevin and his wife Michele came that night to stay for the weekend! Saturday morning I made Sausage Cheese Eggs and served them with Bagels, Yogurt, and Fruit.

I used some of the eggs to put together some Breakfast Sandwiches for the freezer. Then the rest of the eggs all got eaten!

It was precious to see Uncle Kevin and Aunt Michele loving on the littles.

I put our Ice Cream Maker to work again to make a double batch of Oreo Ice Cream for our lunch dessert.

Asa, Eva, and Arrow joined us. Justus, Kelsey, and Little Sweetheart came. My nephew, Austin, came. There were 21 of us altogether and it was awesome.

We Smoked Chicken and ate it with Rolls, Corn on the Cob, Caesar Salad, and Fruit.

Then we enjoyed three varieties of Homemade Ice Cream.

The rest of the day was spent resting then getting ready for Sunday. That was our week!

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Big Family Food and Fun: June 23-29, 2024

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Here’s our Big Family Food and Fun: June 23-29, 2024 post!

Big Family Food and Fun: June 23-29, 2024

Sunday was incredibly full and so, so good.

After church, several friends joined us for brunch/lunch with a super easy but tasty buffet of Egg Casserole with Sausage and Hashbrowns, Muffins, Lemon Bread, Fruit, Carrots, and Rice Krispie Treats. Our friend Heather brought a GF/DF Cardamom Cake to share and wow, I’d never had anything like it before. It was so good!

The girls set up chairs in the entry way and wanted to play The Wheels on the Bus so Heather jumped right in to drive them. They loved this so much!

Matt and I were blessed to enjoy two hours of Bible study and fellowship time with friends who came over while the kids all watched a movie downstairs with Elias. This was a life-giving time for us and we’re planning to make it a weekly event.

Afterward, we gave the kids frozen yogurt tubes to eat outside while we transitioned to the NEXT big plan of the day. We moved the vehicles (our back yard is a parking lot because our home used to be a Bed and Breakfast). Then we put away toys and set up tables and chairs for a big neighborhood dinner gathering.

We had invited everyone we could catch from our neighborhood, stating that we would Smoke Chicken and everyone could bring sides to share. This turned out to be such a wonderful time to get to know our neighbors better. We hope to do this once each month.

After we ate, one of our neighbor families brought over their water slide and set it up in our yard. Elias helped the little ones climb up so they could enjoy it too. This was amazing!

Then the same neighbors surprised everyone with a piñata! Another neighbor, Ashley, captured this photo of me trying desperately to keep all the kids ALIVE and not hit in the head with a baseball bat as everyone was so very eager and excited about all of this. ;)

Monday morning I was tired. :) But the show must go on, so we pulled out our Summer School at Home Toolbox and went with a lesson we’d been looking forward to working through. We talked a little bit about money, shopping, and budgeting. Then I set out a “grocery store” and gave the kids “money” to shop for items so that we could fill our church’s Little Free Pantry. The kids LOVED this and filled their backpacks with food that they’d “purchased” to share with the community.

It was a hot day, but we went for a walk to fill the pantry anyway (it’s just a few blocks from our house). I promised popsicles to refresh us when we got back and even with the heat, we found that the outing was beneficial in so many ways. It feels great to share our bounty with others!

Back at home: Shade and Popsicles. Ahhhh.

A few minutes after our popsicle time, we had a meeting with case workers and our lawyer to finish  signing paperwork to prep for BabyBoy#11’s adoption. It won’t be long now, praise the Lord!

Kelsey and Little Sweetheart stopped by to wish Josie a happy birthday! We had a gift for her that included new water toys for the family to enjoy, so we gave them to her at lunchtime.

While the kids and I started to get water set up, Matt brought out our electric skillet and made Quesadillas for lunch.

The kids ate and played on the new Slip and Slide…

I went to the store that afternoon while kids played or rested.

Later that afternoon, we set up the second water toy Josie received, which was quite the labor of love, oy.

Josie’s birthday dinner was an incredibly simple one: Chicken Tenders with Carrots and lots of Fruit options. I kept making more chicken in our air fryer until everyone was full.

Asa and Eva were brave and came over with Arrow for a short time. This was the first all of his little Aunts and Uncles got to meet him and they were excited!

Elias and Malachi had gone in together to buy Asa a gift of “Dad Shoes” now that he’s got a little one of his own. Bring on the knee socks. ;)

Our former housemate, Emma, and her boyfriend joined us also. It was a fun, full night! We continued to make chicken and eat in shifts. I took one for the team and snuggled Arrow so Eva could eat. :) :) :)

It was very hot that day so instead of baking a birthday cake, I decided that Josie’s birthday treat would be Ice Cream Sandwiches. This was perfection.

Josie does NOT like being the center of attention so she hid in my neck while everyone sang to her and refused to blow out candles.

Auntie Kiya had a few minutes of snuggle time with Arrow before Asa and Eva took off for the evening.

We went outside and played in the water until bedtime. Unfortunately, the cool rainbow water sprinkler refused to stand up. But the kids figured out how to have fun anyway.

Tuesday morning we ate leftover Egg Casserole with Sausage and Hashbrowns for breakfast. I hated turning on the oven on a hot day but I had overripe bananas and I knew the kids would enjoy muffins as snacks. So I baked a batch of Chocolate Banana Blender Muffins.

Mid-morning we put everyone in swim suits and got ready to head to the splash park. I made a big pot of Hot Dogs for our lunch, put them on buns, and packed them in an insulated bag. I also packed the muffins I’d baked, cucumbers with ranch, grapes, and applesauce.

At lunchtime, our hotdogs were still hot and perfect for our lunch!

It was so hot that day that it almost wasn’t even fun to be at the splash park. But after lunch the kids got nice and wet so we were able to enjoy a couple of hours there.

That afternoon, Brayden, Kiya, and I left to hand out food at the Food Distribution while Matt and Elias stayed back with the other littles. I never remember to get many photos (plus we aren’t allowed to have phones out while clients are coming through the lines). But Brayden took this one of all the coolers he cleaned as we all handed out food and handed him our empty coolers. :)

Back at home, Elias made Taco Meat and set out a Nacho Bar for everyone at dinnertime. Before bed, I read another chapter of Little House in the Big Woods to Brayden, Kiya, and Keith then a few storybooks to all of the littles. Reading time is both very sweet and very crazy as we all try to actually sit still on the couch together. ;)

Monday morning after breakfast and two appointments, we packed up and went to Pioneers Park. There’s a lot to do at this park, but this time we focused on the area around their Nature Center.

Anna, Acacia, and Josie posed in front of a carved eagle and I LOVE how sweet this photo turned out to be.

Inside the Nature Center there are live animals to enjoy plus several hands-on learning tools. The kids love this (as do I).

We found a nice spot to enjoy our lunch: Hard Salami, Cheese, Crackers, Strawberries, Pears, and Milk.

Back at home, we sat down for some quiet reading to accomplish some of our Summer School at Home goal.

For dinner that night I Grilled Steak and made Stir Fried Veggies and Rice.

We stayed home that evening and played outside until bedtime, enjoying some big wheels someone handed down for us to enjoy.

Thursday morning we headed to Costco to pick up “a few items,” ha. Define “few…” See that fella walking by as we were loading kids into carts? Of course he asked the question we get forty-eleven times any time we go anywhere with the kids: “Are they all yours??”

Two full carts later, we were finished.

We spent the afternoon prepping to leave for a weekend trip. We only had plans to be gone for two days and one night, but it’s amazing how much stuff it takes to make this happen. I had been accumulating snack foods and fun lunch items to take with us to hopefully help keep kids calm in the van.

We had some things to drop off to our older kids plus we really needed some baby kisses before leaving. So we loaded all of our kids up and headed first to Asa and Eva’s to get a quick Arrow snuggle. From there we ran to Justus and Kelsey’s go give Little Sweetheart a bunch of kisses. We captured this sweet moment with Uncle BabyBoy#11 and Arrow – so precious!

Back at home, I made a double batch of Creamy Bacon Spaghetti for dinner.

Friday morning we finished putting together sack lunches for everyone to eat in the van, then packed half of our house so that we could be gone for less than 48 hours. Traveling with our crew is not easy, especially for the littlest four. But when we got there…

WORTH. IT.

We hadn’t seen most of these family members in over two years. This yearly reunion is a treasured time. Over 70 of us gathered that Friday evening and Saturday morning and it was wonderful.

The kids LOVE this event as there are so many fun activities for them plus lots of cousins to play with. Matt and I were so grateful that the kids were sweet and the rough behaviors we often experience with them were kept to a minimum as they got loved on by so many family members.

Malorie drove up from TX to meet us there and hmm, what’s this? I found about six adorable photos like this on my phone while I was scrolling through on our way home. That’s what I get for leaving my phone on the table, I guess. :)

And speaking of on our way home…Acacia almost NEVER sleeps in the car, but after a weekend like this one, even she couldn’t stay awake.

We made a quick stop at McDonald’s to pick up a huge bag of Nuggets for dinner as we traveled home. The kids were so excited about this! Malorie and Elias were caravanning with us so it was nice to have their help on our stop.

The worn out kids had been quiet for the first leg of our trip and then were a bit restless on the last stretch. But we made it in one piece, threw kids in the tub, and then settled everyone into bed.

And that was our week!

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Big Family Food and Fun: June 16-22, 2024

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Here’s our Big Family Food and Fun: June 16-22, 2024 post!

Big Family Food and Fun: June 16-22, 2024

What a week we’ve had! Sunday morning we woke up hoping for a text from Asa announcing the birth of their baby because we knew Eva was in labor. But nope, not yet. Bless her heart. Therefore, all day Sunday we were distracted and praying and praying. C’mon baby!

After church we came home and made a big Waffle feast with Cheesy Eggs and Bacon. It was a group effort as our housemate Angela made the eggs, our friend Kermit rewarmed the bacon I’d baked that morning, and I cranked out a bunch of waffles.

It was a Father’s Day feast!

Justus and Kelsey came over that afternoon and then we all gathered at dinnertime for a Father’s Day dinner (all except for Asa and Eva, of course). I smoked Pork Steak and we had Mashed Potatoes in the Crock Pot, Caesar Salad, and Rolls.

We finished our meal with Apple Pie and Chocolate Fudge Pie.

We went to bed that night without any baby news yet, oy. We continued to pray. The next morning Asa texted – praise the Lord!

“At 3:25am we introduced Mr. Arrow Joseph Coppinger to the world…”

Precious Arrow. Oh how we’d been praying.

Not that anyone cares about what we ate – what with the fun baby news – but Monday morning, I made Scrambled Egg Sandwiches with Fruit for breakfast before we got all eight kids loaded up to head out to VBS. (We had our former foster son with us for the week so eight kids instead of seven!)

This VBS was for preschoolers on up, which meant that everyone except for BabyBoy#11 could go. Amazing!

After settling in the kids at VBS, we dropped BabyBoy#11 with Kelsey then we headed to the hospital to meet our new grandson.

Lolli and Pop are overjoyed and grateful!!

When we picked up all the kids and got back home, we fed them a simple Nacho Lunch with Taco Meat, White Queso, Spinach, Salsa, Sour Cream, and Chips. They were excited to see photos of Arrow!

Afterward, Acacia was eager to help me put together a big Pizza Chicken Bake for dinner. She ran to put on an apron and then followed all of my instructions to make this easy dish. :)

At dinnertime, we had Acacia’s delicious Pizza Chicken Bake with Steamed Broccoli and Buttered Corn.

Tuesday morning after we dropped the kids at VBS, I took BabyBoy#11 to Walmart. While we were there, we picked out coordinating outfits for Justus and Kelsey’s Little Sweetheart and for Arrow. It was tooooo much fun!

Kiya had stayed home with Matt because she wasn’t feeling well. When BabyBoy#11 and I arrived home from the store, I spotted Matt and Kiya outside coloring together. Wow, best daddy ever – coloring with his daughter. :) :) :)

The kids have been starving when they come home from VBS so I was ready with five boxes of Mac and Cheese, Peas, and Applesauce. They devoured this!

About an hour later, the kids were hungry again. I pulled some Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars from the freezer for the kids to eat outside.

Kiya still wasn’t feeling well so just Brayden and I went to help at Food Distribution.

Before leaving to hand out food, I’d smoked four Beef Smoked Sausages and Steamed Green Beans for dinner. When we got home, I toasted some Buttered Rolls to complete our simple meal.

Wednesday morning I sliced a loaf of French Bread in half and attempted to make a Breakfast Pizza Boat with eggs, sausage, and cheese.

We dropped the kids at VBS (please admire this horribly fuzzy photo I took while trying to help get kids settled in). Then we took BabyBoy#11 to Kelsey again so Matt and I could go to the hospital to enjoy visiting with Asa and Eva and snuggling with Arrow.

Ah, but while dropping off BabyBoy#11 with Kelsey, Little Sweetheart needed some Lolli time too. Yes, please.

The kids were super hungry after their morning so I texted Elias to make a big bag of Caesar Salad to have ready for us when we got home. Meanwhile, we had some peanuts in the van and handed them out to everyone to keep kids from becoming hangry. But alas, while snacking SOMEONE PUT A PEANUT UP HER NOSE. Good grief.

The “innocent” children ate salad and leftover meat while I attempted some Emergency Peanut Removal on the guilty party. All’s well that ends well and thankfully, we didn’t have to go to Urgent Care.

The zoo is open later on Wednesdays so we packed a picnic to enjoy at the zoo that evening: Tuna Salad Sandwiches with spinach, cheese sticks, fruit cups, popcorn, applesauce, and cookies.

The leopards don’t usually come this close, so we got a nice view of them plus got to watch a couple of them chasing each other.

There was a special sloth exhibit we got to enjoy. Notice Anna hanging like a sloth during the show. After the crowd cleared, we handed out food to the kids while we tried to keep them wrangled on the benches. This was as effective as herding cats, but at least no one put any food up their nose this time.

Thursday morning, with the other kids were at VBS, BabyBoy#11 and I headed to Aldi. We got some treats to celebrate Josie’s birthday next week plus a few other items we needed. It was a pretty calm outing with just one kid, though he started to act like he didn’t feel well and wanted to be held instead of riding in the cart.

After we got home and put groceries away, Matt gave the fussy BabyBoy#11 a bath, which made all the difference for him. I cut up all of Sunday’s leftover Pork Steak to rewarm plus cooked Corn on the Cob. We finished it all plus had another full jar of Applesauce, leftover Mashed Potatoes, and a few other random leftovers.

We had everyone lay down to rest during the afternoon, then had an early dinner before heading out to our church’s Kid’s Experience. I made 2-pounds of Spaghetti Noodles with Meat Sauce and Fried Zucchini.

Heartlands pulled of an amazing first night of celebrating Jesus with the kids!

While the seven kids were there, Matt and I ran to Menards for some needed supplies. BabyBoy#11 loved the section with all the lights and lamps so he and I hung out there while Daddy looked at all the boring stuff. ;)

We handed out Apple Straws and Cheese Sticks to the kids in the van to eat on the way home (because even though they all had dinner plus a snack at VBS, we knew they would STILL need food before bed).

Friday morning I got Breakfast Cookies out of the freezer for an easy breakfast before the kids’ last morning of VBS.

We dropped kids off at VBS then BabyBoy#11 off with Justus and Kelsey, then we went to Asa and Eva’s for a little bit of Arrow snuggle time.

Back at Justus and Kelsey’s, we got to enjoy Little Sweetheart for a while too. This Lolli and Pop gig is the best!

Back at VBS, there was a Pizza Lunch for all kids and families.

Then they featured a special magician who did a good job of talking about how God loves us and works true miracles in our lives.

As we headed out, the VBS crew had a big pile of leftover boxes full of pizza to hand to families. Nice!

At 4:00 I warmed up Chicken Burritos from the freezer for a quick and early dinner before taking kids to Heartlands Kids’ Experience for the evening.

We dropped the kids and took BabyBoy#11 to meet his nephew. :)

Saturday morning the kids had one final morning of Heartlands Kids’ Experience. What a week! Matt dropped them off while BabyBoy#11 and I stayed at home and worked on food for the weekend. I put together a huge Egg Casserole with Sausage and Hashbrowns for Sunday lunch.

Matt brought Justus and Kelsey’s Little Sweetheart back with him for the morning so we took the babies for a walk. We had plans to host a neighborhood dinner on Sunday night so we knocked on some doors to invite neighbors we hadn’t yet met or gotten phone numbers.

Then we headed back to Heartlands to enjoy a Nacho Lunch Finale with the kids and families. The kids had SO MUCH FUN but…

Tell me you’re tired without telling me you’re tired. :)

We came home and rested during the afternoon. Friends stopped by for a visit. We ate leftovers for dinner. And that was our week!

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Big Family Food and Fun: June 9-15, 2024

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Here’s our Big Family Food and Fun: June 9-15, 2024 post!

Big Family Food and Fun: June 9-15, 2024

Our Sunday started out awesome as we grabbed friends after church to come over and eat lunch with us!

I had made a lot of bacon that morning plus cut Saturday night’s leftover smoked chicken into thin strips. We got out a variety of buns and breads, tortillas, and fresh greens with sauces, cheeses, dressings, and dips so people could build Bacon Chicken Sandwiches, Wraps, or Salads. We had Chips and Dips, Grapes, Watermelon, and Strawberries. It was delicious and fun!

We visited all afternoon, then turned on the sprinkler for the kids and moved our party outside to hang out. I put four frozen pizzas into the oven to bake for dinner. While they were baking, I warmed up last week’s leftover steamed carrots for kids to munch on outside.

Two packages of blackberries didn’t last very long!

Nor did the four pizzas. :)

Monday morning after breakfast, Keith and I went to help set up for Tuesday’s Food Distribution. This one-on-one time with him is so valuable. Plus, of course, it’s great to continue teaching our kids to serve in any way God leads us.

We emptied a lot of boxes off the cart, so Keith got to drive it to the storage room.

When we got back home, we all loaded up to head to the zoo to meet up with friends. We had made sandwiches and packed them with chips, pears, grapes, and coconut rolls. Elias and Malorie joined us too!

We ate our pears right away, just like we did last time we went to the zoo. :)

Giraffes are fascinating!

We came home and rested for a while, then I read a chapter of Little House in the Big Woods to the kids. In this chapter, Ma was making butter and bread and the kids were fascinated. So I got a wild hair and told them we could make butter too. It has been a long time since I’ve made butter, but we headed to the kitchen to make it happen!

When I used to make butter regularly, I made it like this. But so that the kids could be involved, we made it in a jar, taking turns shaking and shaking and shaking until we had butter. It was SO COOL. The kids loved this!!!

Can’t have homemade butter without homemade bread, right? There were still three kids napping so Brayden, Kiya, Keith, Acacia and I stirred together a loaf of Stir-and-Pour Bread. They got to learn about how yeast works while practicing their recipe and measuring skills. Basically, it was amazing. So much of our day is usually hard, and this one had been a doozy with screaming and fits from morning to night in between outings and naps. Having this special time with these four helped bring us all down to earth and remind me that there’s a lot of beauty beyond the trauma.

While the bread baked, I rewarmed leftover pasta from Saturday night and heated up meatballs from Costco. Notice how I burned them. I had attempted to trim BabyBoy#11’s hair while dinner warmed up and this was the result of me doing too much at once. Oh well, we ate them anyway.

Eating outside is the best!

Look how beautiful our Butter Ball and our Homemade Bread turned out!!! The kids were SO PROUD, as they should be!

They loved how it all tasted too. It was a perfect way to finish our day before getting everyone to bed.

On Tuesday morning I baked a batch of Spinach Cupcakes. Meanwhile, I air fried a bunch of Chicken Nuggets to take on a picnic with dips, plus Carrots and Fruit Cups.

The Case family and Kelsey met us at a park to play and picnic!

After some rest time in the afternoon, Brayden, Kiya, Elias, and I went to hand out food at Food Distribution. Malorie stayed back with Matt to help with kids and to make dinner for us.

Malorie’s dinner was Migas, a traditional Mexican family meal she’d learned from her mom. Eggs, bacon, and fried corn tortillas – topped with spinach and cheese. We all loved it!

We played outside after dinner until bedtime and only had one scare for about 10 minutes when we couldn’t find Josie anywhere. (She’d slipped inside somehow and was hanging out happily with Elias and Malorie, phew.)

Wednesday we loaded up and headed to York for the day. The kids and I spent the day at our friends house while Matt did some work on our rental house (it’s on the market now!). Our friends have the best back yard in the world and we had so much fun playing and playing!

For lunch we feasted on Hotdogs, Fruit, Veggies, and Chips.

Then it was time to get wet in their back yard. They fed us a Nacho Bar for dinner (we were much too busy visiting and having fun for me to get more pictures). From there, we went to the York University campus for a night of Soul Quest worship. We saw many more friends there – such a gift to us. We didn’t make it back home until after 10pm, which is crazy late for our crew. But it was worth the Thursday morning crankiness. ;)

Thursday morning Acacia found this mask and had the best time “hiding” from all of us. :)

I took BabyBoy#11 to one of his specialists. He’s making great progress with his eating through OT, so we’ll keep plugging away!

That evening we ate Roast with Carrots. I had slow cooked it all day like this – SUPER EASY. The only issue was that I hadn’t started it early enough and we had plans! So we ate the carrots and left the roast to cook a bit longer. Meanwhile I pulled all kinds of random items from the fridge to fill our bellies before we headed out: cottage cheese, pineapple, pears, and leftover grilled cheese sandwiches. :) (The roast got eaten later by the grown ups!)

Then we ventured out for a super fun outing, parking our van right in front of the Capital Building. We see this from afar all the time so kids were incredibly excited to be right there on the property!

Across the street was the Downtown Trolley bus stop, which only costs $0.25. Matt handed out quarters to the kids and they got to clink it into the money slot as we loaded onto the bus.

What a super fun outing for a quarter per person!!! We had the bus to ourselves and the kids were in awe.

This girl does not hold back on letting us know how she feels. When she is mad, oy. And when she is happy: SHE IS HAPPY. I wish you could hear her giggle as she was full of glee on our bus ride!

Josie wasn’t sure what to think. :)

The kids thought that all we were doing was riding the bus. But then we surprised them with a stop at a downtown ice cream shop, an unexpected and rare treat!

They sat still for a total of four minutes eating ice cream, and then we were reminded why we NEVER take our crew to a restaurant. Yikes, there are so many littles. Washing chocolate off of faces, keeping chairs from being knocked over, wow. And do you see that big plastic ice cream cone in the window? Well, it makes a loud noise when it gets knocked over.

We made our way back to a Trolley Bus Stop to head back to our van and home to bed. They kids were so excited about this delightful outing!!!

Friday we decided to attempt some sort of “Day of Rest.” This feels impossible during this season in our lives. Yet I feel like I am a 7-day-a-week extreme event coordinator for a bunch of screaming people, and I am tired. Truly, if we don’t keep the kids busy, have outings, and provide constant structure and routine – the behaviors become worse. So we go-go-go because it’s necessary.

Friday though, Matt and I experimented to see how we could keep everyone busy without major outings. I decided that all of our meals would come from the freezer that day – no cooking for me. Paper plates x3 meals. No laundry. Minor upkeep in the kitchen.

The day started off with Bran Muffins from the freezer with Apples and Peanut Butter.

We turned the TV on for the kids for a while – something we don’t do every day. (Too much screen time tends to backfire for us, so it’s a rare treat to watch a show.)

We got dressed for the day and played outside. Acacia and Josie were twinning!

Mid-morning we relaxed with popsicles. I sat in a chair in the sunshine, soaking up vitamin D. It felt so good!

Our friend came and took the kids for a walk and Matt and I had an entire hour to ourselves. Amazing!

We made Fish Sticks, Sweet Potato Fries, and Smoothies for lunch.

While the baby napped, Matt kept the older four entertained and I dropped Acacia and Josie off to Ms. Kathi’s for two hours. All by myself, I went to Walmart and Sam’s. This wasn’t necessarily restful, but we were out of fresh produce and milk, plus I was getting ready for Father’s Day. So it needed to happen. And I didn’t have kids with me so that in and of itself is refreshing!

Back at home, everyone helped bring in and put away groceries. I had brought home cherries and Brayden and Keith dug right in!

We went outside and played in the water while dinner was in the oven.

I had found a Green Bean Casserole with Hamburger in the freezer, so it was easy to slide into the oven to bake without effort. We ate it outside with grapes. The kids are constantly hungry this summer so some of them had thirds!

Matt pitched some balls to Brayden, Kiya, and Keith so they could practice using a bat. They were so excited to improve their skills!

We gave everyone a little bit of ice cream to finish off the day. Then brushed teeth and got cleaned up. We took everyone for a little walk, then headed straight upstairs to bed. (I had high hopes of putting weary children easily to bed at this point but shucks. It did not go as smoothly as I’d hoped. Meh.)

Saturday morning after breakfast (oatmeal) we loaded up and met friends at the Farmer’s Market downtown. Kelsey and Little Sweetheart met us there for a while too.

When we got home, Keith and Josie helped me make Apple Pie for Matt’s Father’s Day dessert.

We made Chicken Sandwiches with Spinach for lunch and had Strawberry Shortcake for dessert.

We cleaned out the fridge at dinnertime so we had a variety of leftovers. This is such a great way to save money on groceries – nothing goes to waste!

Our Apple Pie turned out beautiful and we made this Chocolate Fudge Pie too. We’re all ready for Father’s Day!

We had a drama-filled bath time then got everyone to bed. And that was our week!

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Big Family Food and Fun: May 12-18, 2024

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Here’s our Big Family Food and Fun: May 12-18, 2024 post!

Big Family Food and Fun: May 12-18, 2024

With this many littles, Mother’s Day doesn’t tend to provide pampering and calm, BUT thankfully the kids had helped me do some celebration prep work on the days leading up to our special day. My main goal for Mother’s Day: Enjoy time in some form with all of our kids. Could it happen with this many of us?

Our morning started off with the very special breakfast of boxed cereal, ha. Then we got ready for church, packing up a picnic lunch to stuff down quickly between worship service and Keith’s soccer game. Brayden had helped me make Tuna Salad  for this last Friday and Acacia had helped make Pineapple Fluff. So we pulled those out to pack along with bread, crackers, avocado, and applesauce.

We set out our lunch fixin’s after church in the kitchen and dug in.

The girls and I wore our matching Adoption Day Dresses from the year before. It sounded like a great option for Mother’s Day, and then I realized that Mother’s Day marked exactly 1-year since their adoption day. How perfect!

So there we were at Keith’s soccer game, with all of us girls in our matching dresses. It was fun to see people’s delighted faces as they saw how sweet the girls looked!

Afterward, we ran into Walmart and Sam’s to get some fresh produce and bacon for the week but especially for our Mother’s Day dinner that night.

When we got home, Matt started cooking bacon for the Bacon Cheeseburger Casserole we’d made for that night.

Elias had picked out a very sweet bouquet of flowers for me at Trader Joe’s the day before. Then at church, the kids and some special friends gave me this lovely carnation bouquet.

Ok, but now check out this amazing gift from my friend Charlene!!! She makes these custom Birth Flower Bouquet Signs and surprised me with one featuring all of our kids! What’s extra special about these is that the flowers that go into the bouquet are all of our kids’ birth-month flowers. Isn’t that amazing?! She even included our Bonus Boy (because he lived with us for 18-months and is 100% a part of my heart). I can’t stop staring at this!

Elias and Keith put together a big Caesar Salad to go with our dinner and the girls and I made Cheesecake Parfait for dessert.

Justus and Kelsey plus Asa and Eva joined us. Malachi was out of state working all weekend so I didn’t plan on him being able to join us. :(

But then, look who arrived a half hour later?? Aw, Malachi. He left work early and drove several hours to be here for our time together. :) Dinner was a loud, scream-y event as we had some sick babies, tantruming babies, and in general, a lot of babies. But it was a gift to be all together. Ooh, and take a peek at Eva’s growing baby belly. Incredibly precious!

Monday morning I used some blackened bananas to make a three loaves of Banana Bread.

We’ve discovered that one of our favorite snacks is Peanut Butter Spread on Graham Crackers. Little Miss Independent made her own snack that day. I love how grown up she’s becoming.

Matt got his weed eater working and guess who stopped everything to watch the entire process? Oh how Keith loves all things mechanical and machinery. :)

Josie and Acacia took a few trips back and forth on the sidewalk. Their matching dresses (that I’d picked up at crazy clearance prices at the end of season last year) were too adorable.

I made a double batch of Creamy Bacon Spaghetti with Steamed/Buttered Carrots for dinner that night and it was a hit with everyone! (Truly that is such a big deal – making food that all seven littles will eat. The adults in the house are easy. But the kids? Well…)

Oh look, Anna had a matching dress too. :) I think Acacia ate half the pot of carrots all by her three-year-old self. She just kept coming back for more.

Monday afternoon I pulled some Breakfast Sandwiches from the freezer so that we could easily warm them in our air fryer on Tuesday morning. Not pictured: most of the sandwiches because they were warming up as I got out fruit.

We got Brayden and Kiya off to school just as our little ones’ Speech Pathologist arrived. She was there to work with Josie and BabyBoy#11 this morning, but as always, all three little girls swarmed her. She doesn’t mind at all and gives them all attention at the same time.

As soon as we wrapped up that session, Keith and I headed over to help set up for that night’s Food Distribution. We were put in charge of marking out UPCs with a sharpie, then setting up the bread table.

When we got back home, we had a few minutes before the bus came. Keith found a caterpillar and realllllly wanted to take it to school to show his teacher. I talked him into just taking a picture for me to send to his teacher. You’re welcome, Ms. Kristine. ;)

After school that day, Brayden, Kiya, and I got to go hand out food to about 100 people at the Food Distribution.

Elias and Matt had started warming up leftovers at home so when we got back, we continued to help get everyone fed. Then we took a bowl of grapes outside to munch on while the kids played and Daddy mowed.

 

Kiya had the privilege of planting grass seeds in Bible class a few weeks ago to learn patience as she waited for her seeds to grow. Well, grow they did! She has given this guy a “hair cut” at least four times and he’s not slowing down. I took this photo to send to our fabulous Children’s Minister and teachers.

Wednesday morning, we sliced up what was left of the Banana Bread and ate it with yogurt, hard salami, and oranges. While the kids ate, I made a double batch of Peanut Butter Honey Puffs.

Oh look, the Banana Bread was gone by the time I got around to taking this. :)

Sometime later that morning, I was delighted to discover that the kids dumped a bunch of puzzles all over the floor. Note that Acacia’s face looks angry, but she was, in fact, exclaiming happily that she’d found a match! My face on the other hand… :/

Matt went to York for the day to work, so Malachi came that morning to help me. Then that afternoon our friends came over to help get us through until Matt could get back. The Case family has become a part of us here and it is good in every way. Here, Christina is reading a book about Nanette and a Baguette, which she followed with treating all the kids to toasted baguette and Nutella!!

The girls painted their nails about 25 times – a special thing they like to do with Ms. Christina.

Clara and the kids always come up with something creative to do together!

The Cases took all the kids for a walk so that Elias and I could finish putting dinner together. Keith stayed back with us and helped me crack two dozen eggs.

Oh! And they had brought over a couple totes of hand-me-downs for the girls so we had a fashion show with some very proud models.

Dinner that night was a feast! Breakfast for dinner included Cheesy Eggs, Bacon (of course), Yogurt/Granola/Berry Parfaits, Cinnamon Rolls, and Hashbrowns.

Brayden’s food looked so good I asked if I could get a picture. But just look at how grown up he’s looking.

Breakfast on Thursday morning was more of the same from the night before. Then Matt and I loaded the five littles up for a quick (haha, quick isn’t really a thing) Walmart run. We needed some bike inner tubes and milk, plus grabbed a few WIC items while we were there.

Sam’s is right next door to Walmart and I knew of a couple sale items I wanted to take advantage of. The other kids stayed in the van with Matt, but Keith has been wanting to join me for a Sam’s run. So we told him that if he was sweet and calm in Walmart, he could go into Sam’s with me. Look who earned his place in my Sam’s cart! And look who got a sample of pizza. And look how I bought Lunchables…what?

Yep, Brayden and Kiya have fond memories of Lunchables from their time before coming to live with us. They ask for them regularly, and since they were on sale and we have a special church picnic coming up, I decided to surprise them with these!

That afternoon, the girls got into the “new” dresses again and started playing dress up.

Brayden helped me put the dinner salad together. These salad kits may not be the healthiest, but our kids gobble them up and I feel grateful that they are getting some sort of greens in them this way.

To go with our salad, I had pulled out several items of leftovers from our fridge: rice, corn, cooked hamburger meat, and three different containers of half-used salsa. I stirred it all together with a can of beans to warm up and make burritos for dinner. I LOVE doing things like this to avoid food waste and to clean out our fridge to create a brand new meal!

Dinner was a frustrating one that night. :( By the end of the evening, our kids have held it together about as long as they can – so mealtime can often be a time full of screaming and fits. This particular night was extra discouraging. We finally got everyone fed, through fights and consequences and teaching and belly breaths. Then we loaded everyone up and took a walk to Sunken Gardens to end the day.

It was our first trip there for the season and the walk calmed everyone. There aren’t many flowers there yet so it will be fun to continue our walks and watch the progress as spring and summer unfold!

I had cut up a watermelon and put it into the fridge, so we all had a chilled bowlful when we got home – a perfect snack to end the long day.

Friday morning we ate up bits and pieces of odds and ends from the fridge for breakfast. I hadn’t made Peanut Butter Honey Granola in a very long time and decided to make a double batch to have on hand for future breakfasts and snacks.

While the kids were playing, I made a loaf and a half of bread worth of Uncrustables for our busy weekend on the go.

Dinner that night was “French Fry Friday” aka “Mom’s Night Off.” We air fried Chicken Strips, Popcorn Chicken, and Fries. Plus I buttered some bread we’d brought home from Food Distribution for the kids to eat up while the food was cooking.

We ate outside and played until bedtime.

Saturday was a huge, full day. After my quiet God time, I started putting together the day’s food because we were going to leave right after breakfast and not get home until bedtime. For breakfast, I pulled out yogurt and fruit to go with the Peanut Butter Honey Granola I’d made the day before. Then I started making lunch for everyone to eat in the van: Tortilla Wraps with mayo, turkey, and spinach.

I ran out of turkey but decided that Matt and I should have special ones anyway. ;) So I got out Friday night’s leftover popcorn chicken for our Wraps and added some Honey Mustard!

As we were getting everyone ready to go, I was thrilled to see two sisters cooperating to get hair fixed for the day. (Sweet as our kids are, we have a lot of tough behaviors at our house – all day long. So any time the kids are being kind, sharing, cooperating, talking nicely – we really praise them so that we can enforce the positive behaviors we want for them.)

Our first stop for the day: Keith’s soccer game. I had packed bananas for the kids to eat while we watched.

No one sat still for too long. I had dressed the three littlest girls alike to make our day easier as I chased them at an event later that day. Seeing them SO CUTE in their dresses and then like this… Awwww.

After Keith’s game we piled back into the van, handed out our Tortilla Wraps and juice, and drove to York for the rest of the day. We dropped Matt off to work at our rental house, then the kids and I headed to Aaron and Eryn’s.

After playing there for a while, we loaded back into the van to go to a Kids’ Event at a park in York. This ended up being extra fun because we ran into so many friends while we were there!

If you look closely for a kid with red shirt and orange socks up on the stage, you’ll see Keith attempting to play a game he’d volunteered for… :)

Eryn captured this photo of me watching. :)

We were hot and tired by the end of the event and wanted to give Matt a little more work time. So we headed back to Aaron and Eryn’s to kick back for a while. I sliced oranges I had packed and spread peanut butter on graham crackers. Did I mention everyone had been served hotdogs and chips at the park? No matter. When we are outside all day, we EAT ALL DAY.

They have the most magical tree in their front yard to play in!

At dinnertime, we loaded up and went to pick up Matt so we could head home for the night. I handed out the Uncrustables I’d made on Friday plus Applesauce and these special individual milks I’d picked up on clearance a few weeks ago. Those sure have been coming in handy!

Matt gave the three boys a bath before bed but we decided to skip the girls and bathe them Sunday because I was too worn out, ha. And that was our week!

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