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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Rend Collective Concert!!!

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

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

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

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

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

A piggy-tail-BUBBLE day.

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

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

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

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

Meanwhile, in the living room…

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

It felt extra special to eat pizza inside the library.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Big Family Food and Fun: April 21-27, 2024

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Here’s our Big Family Food and Fun: April 21-27, 2024 post!

Big Family Food and Fun: April 21-27, 2024

Sunday morning was a bit less intense compared to the past few weeks. Instead of having to pack an entire lunch for our family to eat after church and before Keith’s soccer game, we were planning to enjoy a potluck lunch with our church family. My only responsibility was to take Frosted Brownies, which I had baked and frozen last week.

So while feeding all the kids breakfast, I put BabyBoy#11 into one of our kitchen sinks for his “bath.” A couple of the kids had fun helping me.

We loved spending extra time with so many friends after church while we ate.

Then we loaded up and headed to Keith’s soccer game. I had packed apples and pistachios to snack on at the game because even though we had just eaten lunch, we seem to always still need snacks. ;)

I tried to capture a picture of Keith’s fan club as we all trailed out after the game. We are quite a parade.

I had put a a Pork Roast into a crock pot early that morning for our dinner that night. But it was still not quite done at mealtime. So I left it to continue cooking and pulled out leftovers to fill our bellies.

It was a boring and no-veggie dinner of leftover Smoked Chicken, Mac and Cheese, and Toasted Sourdough Bread.

I had made some Peanut Butter Cup Whipped Cream that afternoon so we all enjoyed it with graham crackers as a treat after dinner.

Monday morning for breakfast I scrambled eggs and the kids made toast for themselves to go with their eggs.

It was a warm day so the girls were so happy to put on new summer-y outfits!

I attempted to take Anna to Food Distribution where Keith and I go on Monday mornings. Once Keith starts Kindergarten next year, Anna will be my Food Distribution sidekick. I instructed Keith to show her how it’s done and he did – sort of. They got pretty distracted by toy donations in the room where we were working, oy.

I just had the two of them for the rest of that morning because Matt and Elias had taken the three youngest kids to York for the day to spend time with our friend Nancy. So I spent my time and energy working extra on some of Keith and Anna’s behavior needs. And I taught them both to help me load the dishwasher.

After school, Kiya set up a nail salon on our back steps. :)

We had lots of visits from friends that afternoon/evening as our dear friend Phyllis came to see us. She showers us with love when she comes and our time with her is such a gift.

Then friends Charlene and Samantha came for the evening. Once our girls discovered Samantha’s purse, it was all over. Thank you, Sam, for letting them use up ALL YOUR LOTION AND CHAPSTICK. All of it. Gone. Plus dental floss. Bless.

I was so busy enjoying friends that evening that I didn’t cook or take pictures of what I didn’t cook. ;)

I asked Elias to throw in four frozen pizzas for us, which he did, and here’s what that looked like at the end of the night:

Tuesday, Matt and I made a plan to run to a couple of stores and then go to a park before heading home. I packed lunch, knowing that we would need to eat through all of these plans.

We had some lunchmeat that needed to be eaten up so I put it on buns with cheese and melted them in our air fryer just before we left for our outing.

Matt stayed in the van with our littles while I ran into Walmart for inner tubes so he could fix bike tires later that day. While in the store, I couldn’t not run over to see if there were any food mark-downs, right? Woo – marked down pizzas!

And a beef roast for $3.08/pound!

Our time at the park was windy! But it was a good outing for the kids so that we could get their energy out.

We dropped Acacia and Josie off at Ms. Kathi’s on our way home for their special time with her that day. Then we got home and put away groceries we’d picked up that afternoon. Here’s what I got at Aldi:

Keith and Anna didn’t have school that day. Anna was excited to help me load the dishwasher, seeing as she’d been taught how the day before and was now an expert.

Keith played in the dirt all afternoon and came in with a mustache.

Justus, Kelsey, and Kelsey’s mom, Nicole, came for dinner that night! Brayden, Kiya, and I had just arrived back from helping at the Food Distribution but I had all the food in crock pots or ready to rewarm on the stove. We had Sunday night’s Pork Roast, Crock Pot Baked Potatoes, Corn, Green Beans, Rolls, and Strawberries with Whipped Cream.

We don’t get to see Nicole very often so it’s a huge treat that she is in town!

Wednesday morning, I made French Toast and Bacon. I also blended up a smoothie full of greens for Matt and me.

It is worth a mention that I do very well keeping children alive. But plants? Not so much. (Water perked these back up, thankfully.)

While the plants were suffering and dehydrated, I also failed to pull the last of our  bacon out of the oven at the right time. I decided to make as much bacon as possible that morning to get ahead. But then I forgot about these pans when I went upstairs to get myself dressed and ready for the day.

Can’t win ’em all.

Matt and Elias spent the day in York working again and they took the youngest three kids to our friend Emma’s for the day. They loved this!

That night for dinner I grilled some Pork Steak I’d picked up on the cheap a few weeks ago.

They turned out amazing! We ate them with strawberries and salad.

Thursday morning I let Brayden and Kiya toast their own bagels or toast in the air fryer (they consider this a huge privilege). We ate them with applesauce or bananas.

Matt needed some items at Menards so he dropped three kids and me at Sam’s while he took the other two kids across the parking lot to Menards to do his shopping. My main goal was to get fruits and veggies because we go through them so quickly. Beyond spinach, spring mix, broccoli, oranges, salad kits, and grapes, I picked up some kleenex, plastic containers, barbecue sauce, pickles, heavy whipping cream, almond butter, hot dogs, milk, eggs, and fig bars.

We dropped Acacia and Josie off at Josalyn’s where they spent some time painting. :)

Late afternoon I handed everyone a box or two of kleenex from the case we’d bought at Sam’s that day and we all paraded up the stairs to put them on our storage shelf.

Kiya is quite the organizer, so she helped everyone put their box in its place.

We had to be at the kids’ school that evening for a special Preschool Family Open House so for an early dinner I baked the Walmart pizzas that I’d picked up earlier in the week.

Keith and Anna were so excited to introduce us to all their friends. Brayden was excited too because he has had the privilege of helping in a preschool classroom a few mornings recently. He felt like a celebrity when he walked in and was swarmed by little ones who were happy to see him!

There were activities set up at tables for us to enjoy.

Of course Anna found the flamingos at the photo booth!

Friday the kids didn’t have school so I made a huge batch of pancakes with sausage.

I was planning to make these Chocolate Cupcakes (with spinach) but discovered that I didn’t have any chocolate cake mixes. Not to worry – I just added a little bit of cocoa powder to the yellow cake mix to cover up the green spinach. :) While I was using greens, I made another batch of these smoothies for Matt and me.

Mid morning I packed up a lunch for us to take on our outing for the day. It was rainy and wet outside so we decided to take everyone to the indoor mall play place to get energy out. For lunch I packed Cheese, Salami, Crackers, Grapes, and the Cupcakes with a container of frosting to surprise the kids.

The mall play area was a big hit!

At lunchtime we took all eight kids (our Bonus Boy was with us again this weekend) to potty and wash hands. Then we sat in the Food Court and handed out the lunch we’d packed. It was both sweet and crazy. :)

Back at home, there were tornado sirens off and on all afternoon, which was a bit nerve-wracking for some of our kids. As many of you heard, there ended up being a lot of tornado-action here in Lincoln and in Omaha and surrounding areas. THANK YOU SO MUCH to all who emailed to check in on us. Thankfully, we are all safe and sound.

Because of the craziness of the afternoon, we stayed in that night and warmed up leftovers for dinner. Kiya was excited to be our food-warmer-upper. :)

While Kiya was working on dinner, I used Sunday’s leftover Pork Roast to get ahead for future meals. I put together a huge pan of Party Potatoes with Pork Roast. Then I turned the rest of the meat into sandwiches like this. All of the adults in our house love having individually wrapped sandwiches on hand to grab and go for work needs.

Saturday morning we had No-Bake Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Bites. (I had intended to make No-Bake Snickerdoodle Bites but realized too late that I didn’t add cinnamon. So I switched to chocolate chip and no one complained!)

While the kids played outside, I prepped our Sunday lunch. We were going to have a fun Sundaes on Sunday event with church friends right after worship service and everyone was to bring their lunch. I made two loaves of bread worth of Uncrustables to take with us. Then I used the crusts to make Easy Bread Pudding for our Sunday breakfast.

I headed outside so Matt could come in and get something done. I discovered that Brayden and Kiya were across the street with our neighbor, John. He is a plant and flower expert and they were helping him and learning as they went. This is so good for them!

Then John came over and started teaching our girls about the weeds in our yard that look like flowers. Note how Acacia has her arms around Josie and Anna. She is such a little mama. :)

The weather was decent so we decided to load up the eight kids and go to the zoo for a few hours. I grabbed a random assortment of whatever was easiest to grab for us to eat for lunch an snacks while we were there.

After we finished eating, the kids lined up on a wall to watch a Porcupine lesson being taught in the exhibit area.

We headed over to look at other animals and were stopped by a Peacock with all its feathers spread wide. Amazing!

We played in the sand area for quite a while before loading up for home. We had a huge afternoon/evening with people stopping by for visits including overnight guests. Our friend Malorie has turned into Elias’ girlfriend Malorie. :) :) :) She graduated from college that day and her family came to spend the evening and night with us. It was a wonderful time getting to know each other better!

For dinner I made a meal similar to this one with Smoked Chicken Legs, Caesar Salad, Corn, Baked Beans, and Rolls.

We got a bunch of dirty, tired kids through the bath and that was our week!

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Big Family Food and Fun: April 14-20, 2024

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Here’s our Big Family Food and Fun: April 14-20, 2024 post!

Before I share about our week, I have to tell you about the end of last week. :)

Saturday, the 13th, we had BIG PLANS. First, I made Crunchy Ranch Chicken with Steamed Broccoli for lunch. But because of our big plans, no one cared much about lunch. (But we did need to eat…)

Two wonderful couples and their kids blocked out the day to come stay with our seven littles. Praise God for such caring friends!

Then Matt and I, along with Asa and Eva, Justus and Kelsey, Elias, Malachi, and our friends Ricky and Cooper climbed into our big van to head to Kansas City for the day.

First stop: IKEA to pick up a crib for Asa and Eva’s baby. :)

Next stop: BBQ. Because when you go to KC you have to eat BBQ.

But the real reason we went to Kansas City: To watch MESSI play soccer.

Now. If you don’t know who Messi is, that’s ok. We can still be friends. Messi is THE BEST SOCCER PLAYER IN THE WORLD. He was coming to play just three hours from us, so we had to make it happen to go see this game.

It was truly incredible – the entire experience. I’m so thankful for the people who stayed with our kids so that we could make this happen.

So what if we didn’t get home until after 2:00 in the morning?? Yikes.

Big Family Food and Fun: April 14-20, 2024

If you can believe it, all of our little kids woke up at their normal time on Sunday morning, ha. Four hours of sleep was not enough. But it was all worth it for this great experience.

We had a huge day ahead of us, so after some coffee and eye drops, we trudged on. :) Keith had his actual first soccer game (the first two got rained out; third time’s a charm) so before heading to church I packed food so that we could eat after church instead of driving all the way home and then driving all the way back.

Some friends joined us at the park, making 15 of us altogether.

We had Sub Sandwiches with Sliced Oranges, Sweet Peppers, Cucumbers, Carrots, and Chips. REMIND ME not to buy the fun individual bags of chips anymore. They were on sale and I thought it would be fun, which is was. But of course the kids only wanted Doritos and getting them to eat anything else was a fight. Who can blame them??

I’m not sure if you can see the little yellow butterfly in this photo. But Josie spotted it and had a marvelous time trying to catch it. :)

One poop diaper change later, we loaded back up and headed to Keith’s game. Would you look at that? He has two of the best coaches around. (How fun to have older brothers who are willing to be your soccer coach!)

Oh, and as it turns out, at this level, if you are a coach, you also get to be a referee. :) Check out that cutie in the orange socks!

The rest of us tried not to get sunburned on the sidelines and I guess it goes without saying that Keith’s cheering committee was rather large that day.

We got home and cooled off in front of the TV with Phineas and Ferb for a little while so that we could recover from our huge weekend. Our friends Ricky and Cooper would be heading back to Texas the next morning so we wanted to gather one more time for a meal together with them that night.

I asked Justus and Kelsey to pick up two Rotisserie Chickens from Sam’s before coming over and I would make some sides. But guess what? Sam’s had NO rotisserie chickens that night. Yikes. Last minute Plan B!!

I directed Justus to the refrigerator section of the store to get some Smoked Sausage that he could quickly grill for us. Meanwhile, I warmed some frozen Meatballs for the kids got them fed while the sausages cooked. We had Salad, Strawberries, Broccoli, and 10-Minute Mac and Cheese with our meat.

We all went to bed early Sunday night and felt much more rested on Monday morning. :) Also on Monday morning? I needed to face this laundry pile. After such a big weekend, I was very behind. This wasn’t even all of it as we still needed to strip beds and gather clothes baskets from the kids’ rooms. :)

I started a load, then Eva came over so Keith and I headed to help set up food at the Food Distribution site. He discovered a pull toy so I loaded it with some of the items we needed to carry to a table because this was a MUCH better way to haul the food. :)

Also, note that this soccer player is still wearing his jersey from Sunday. He was so very excited about it and wanted to show the ladies he sees every Monday at Food Distribution. They oooed and awwed over it appropriately. Then I told him he had to put on clean clothes before the school bus came to pick him up later. :)

Back at home, Justus had come over to smoke a Pork Loin that he was making to share with a few families. Keith helped him prepare the spices.

We spent a lot of time outside that afternoon enjoying the sunshine. These curls tho…

Kiya got to be a part of a Craft Club on Mondays after school this semester. She brought home some clay this time and was sweet enough to share it with her sisters. They had their own little Craft Club at the picnic tables while I finished making dinner.

Meanwhile, Elias and Brayden were having some Bro Time, playing a fancy game of Uno.

Dinner that night was very simple because my brain and body had not yet caught up on rest from all the work and planning it took to execute our fun weekend. I grilled Salmon Burgers that I had tucked away in the freezer from Costco, air fried some French Fries, and got out a jar of Pickles. Do pickles count as a vegetable?? ;)

Here’s how I kept the Salmon Burgers warm after I brought them in. A large cooking pot worked as a great cover for the plate!

Tuesday morning I made a double batch of Peanut Butter Honey Puffs for all of us to snack on as needed.

I used some of the awesome chicken thighs I’d picked up on sale last week to get prepped for dinner that night and for another meal in the future. I put the amount of chicken we needed for that night’s meal into a pot and dumped on some Creamy Italian Dressing I had in the pantry. Then I put the rest into a small crock pot with some Salsa to slow cook all day.

It had rained quite a bit but we were able to go outside later in the morning. Our neighbors are awesome and all of the kids between our house and two other houses play in each other’s yards as if they are our own. That morning, we enjoyed our neighbor’s trampoline. I caught the girls giggling while playing ring-around-the-rosie. Indeed, they did all fall down. :)

The kids didn’t want to come inside, which was fine by us. While we were playing, a friend we hadn’t seen in a while stopped by for a hug. :) Matt and Keith walked to the corner to watch a tree get removed that had fallen in the night. Late morning I took a tray of snacky-lunch outside to eat before the preschool bus came for Keith and Anna.

That afternoon I smoked the chicken that I’d marinated in Creamy Italian Dressing. Brayden, Kiya, and I went to hand out food at the Food Distribution site, so at mealtime, Elias made a salad to go with our meat.

We came home with some treasures from Food Distribution that day.

Bedtime is always a loud and crazy ordeal with this many (tired) littles. I loved being able to capture this calm and quiet moment with Daddy and some of the kids after teeth were brushed and Acacia’s brace put in place.

Brayden saw what Daddy did and wanted to get in on the action. So he had an easel set up with his favorite train book to share with Keith when he came in.

Wednesday morning we took about a hundred years to get our shoes on so that we could go to Walmart to pick up diapers for someone and to get a few items to celebrate Kelsey’s birthday.

BabyBoy#11 has been making progress with his OT and Speech Pathologist so he hasn’t puked in a while. BUT. When I fed him a little snack that should have dissolved in his mouth while we were shopping, well. Let’s just say we needed a lot of paper towels and baby wipes. Poor guy.

Of course, the other four kids sat calmly in the carts while we were cleaning it up. (bahahaha.)

Anyway, people around us were helpful and we made it to check out and home all in one piece.

I made a big pot of Ham and Potato Soup for dinner that night (which was supposed to have been started earlier in the day in the crock pot but I could never get around to it).

One of our kids had my phone for a Zoom call with the therapist during dinner-prep time so this is the only other picture I was able to take of our food that night. I cut up strawberries and whipped some cream plus cut up a watermelon. Then I packaged up soup and fruit to go deliver to a family with a new baby. :)

Thursday morning we ate Toasted Bagels or Bread with Bananas. I made a “blender full of salad” for Matt and me. :)

Matt and Malachi headed to York to work for the day, leaving Elias and our friend Malorie here to help me with the kids. We had signed up to take Frosted Brownies to a potluck on Sunday so the girls and I put those together to bake.

I snapped this shot of Anna getting on the bus at noon. Note that she is wearing her bath robe as a jacket. There was no convincing her to exchange it for an actual jacket. We fight enough actual battles with the kids that I definitely didn’t feel that this was a battle to fight. You want to wear your bathrobe to school? It will be just as warm as a jacket? Alrighty. See you after school!

And speaking of after school, she and her bathrobe barely made it off the bus because of the fun and exhaustion. :)

Malorie and the kids spent some time drawing while we waited for dinner to cook.

What was dinner, you ask? Elias and Brayden had spent some Bro Time putting together Smoked Queso for us to eat. We ate it with cold watermelon on the side and it was TASTY.

They also made a pan of Oreo Brownies as a treat after dinner.

I found a minute to cut the big pan of brownies I’d made earlier in the day to freeze and take to the potluck on Sunday.

Friday afternoon while we played outside, BabyBoy#11 got some walking practice in.

I made a pan of Stick of Butter Rice then got out the Salsa Chicken I’d made earlier in the week to make 24 of these Burritos for the freezer.

We warmed up leftovers for dinner.

Before bed, we played outside. It got a little bit chilly so Daddy got the fire pit going for a few minutes. Everyone LOVED this.

Our Bonus Boy (former foster son and half-sibling to some of our kids) came to visit for the weekend. We all love it when he comes. He and Keith are only 6-weeks apart and BFF.

Saturday morning we took all the kids to the zoo for a couple of hours.

We went during lunch time so I’d given them a snack of applesauce and pretzels before leaving. Then we ate a snack of milk, cookies, and cheese while we were there.

We came home and had a late lunch of leftover Smoked Queso, Olives, and Fruit for lunch.

Dinner that night was leftover Smoked Chicken and Smoked Sausages from the week. Plus I made several boxes of Mac and Cheese (one of the only foods Bonus Boy likes) and a bowl of Salad.

And that was our week!

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Big Family Food and Fun: December 10-16, 2023

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Here’s our Big Family Food and Fun: December 10-16 post!

Big Family Food and Fun: December 10-16, 2023

Sunday we were blessed to have friends join us for lunch after church – a precious family of five that we have known for many years. Living in Lincoln with them now is a huge blessing so that we can worship and spend time together.

I made a Spiral Cut Ham, Cheesy Mashed Potatoes, and Green Beans. Their family brought Salad, Cucumbers, Cornbread Muffins, Brownies, and a Trifle. It was an amazing feast!

When our kitchen looks like this, it is my favorite. I will stare at this photo and praise God for all He’s given.

We visited and the kids played a good part of the afternoon. Then I turned some of the leftovers into casseroles. I used leftover ham to make an Easy Egg Casserole and put it into the freezer for Christmas morning. Then I made two Ham and Hashbrown Casseroles – one for us to eat this week and one to give to a mom who just had her first baby.

At dinnertime, we finished off some of the side dishes from lunch along with Roasted Chicken. After we got the kids to bed, Matt finished getting all the chicken off the bones. Throughout the week, we can have easy chicken meals, plus I can make broth with the bones!

Monday morning Eva came over to help with the kids. I took BabyBoy#11 to a WIC appointment. Then I was blessed to spend two entire hours visiting with my friend Charlene – a rare and awesome treat!

Monday evening, Brayden had a Ukulele Concert so I made a big pan of Cheesy Chicken and Rice (this recipe but with chicken instead of beef) so we could have an early dinner before his performance.

Most of us were able to watch his concert and he was so excited (and nervous) that so many were there!

Justus and Kelsey surprised him with flowers afterward. :)

Here’s our crazy concert crew:

Tuesday after breakfast I used the chicken bones from Sunday night’s chicken to make a big pot of broth.

Keith and Anna had home visits from their preschool teachers that morning. Then as soon as all the littles went down for naps that afternoon, I headed out by myself to shop at Costco. I got a few more Christmas gifts plus milk, fruits and veggies, olive oil, chicken nuggets, diapers, and a few other needed items.

I got home just in time to unload the van and then pick up Brayden and Kiya to head to the Food Distribution where we help hand out food each Tuesday afternoon. I had used the last of Phyllis’ pulled pork to make BBQ Pork Melts, which Matt and Elias baked at dinnertime. So we got home and ate them along with leftover potatoes and fresh spinach.

Wednesday morning I used leftover ham from Sunday to make Ham and Cheesy Eggs and then let the kids choose a bread item. (We almost always bring home quite a bit of bread leftovers from the Tuesday Food Distribution.) That day we had a couple varieties of loaf bread plus bagels and Cranberry Orange Muffins.

Our morning was full of appointments and meetings. As we were getting kids dressed, Keith requested to comb Acacia’s hair for her. I usually let the girls look at pictures on my phone while I brush their hair (to keep them still) and Matt was able to capture this sweet sibling moment. Acacia actually let Keith brush her hair for quite a while!

I had a lot of tortillas from Azure Standard in our freezer and I wanted to make a big batch of these Burritos, so for lunch I made a Burrito Bar so that I could the leftovers to put together freezer burritos.

For dinner that night I used the chicken broth I’d made on Tuesday to make a pot of Chicken Noodle Soup (with spaghetti noodles since that’s what I had on hand). I also made a blender full of these smoothies because I had a lot of greens in the fridge to use up.

Justus had come over to give Brayden a piano lesson so he grabbed a bowl of soup too.

I was going to get out a Christmas craft for the kids to work on that evening, but I discovered a wrestling match that then turned into an I Spy game with Daddy. And before we knew it, it was bedtime. :)

Thursday evening we had signed up to deliver a meal to friends who just had a baby. So we decided that we would eat an early dinner, load everyone up to look at Christmas lights since we needed to head out to drop off food.

Brayden saw what we were having and asked if he could make dinner. Yup! From start to finish, he made our Orange Chicken and Steamed Broccoli. (This may not seem like a big deal for an almost-10-year-old. But for this guy, it is a very big deal and we are so thankful he has come so far as to do something like this.)

Meanwhile, I pulled out some frozen Christmas cookies to frost and decorate for the new parents we were delivering food to. Following these methods of making cookies with kids is sooooo helpful and this night proved it! The cookies were already rolled out, cut out, and baked. All we had to do was frost and sprinkle. Kiya loved helping me with this job and wanted to know who else we could make food for. :)

After we ate Brayden’s delicious dinner, Matt loaded all of the littles while I finished putting together the meal we were going to deliver: Ham and Hashbrown Casserole, Steamed Broccoli, Grapes, and Cream Cheese Cut-Out Cookies.

After we dropped off the food we found fun neighborhoods with lots of Christmas lights to enjoy. When we got home, Elias had pulled up the Husker volleyball game – perfect timing! We won the game just in time to get the kids to bed. :)

Friday morning I made a loaf of bread worth of Eggs in a Nest. Kiya had requested them since I hadn’t made them in a while. Perfect!

That morning I also made a batch of Flourless Chocolate Banana Muffins with some bananas that were turning black.

Putting the muffins into festive paper liners turns them into Christmas muffins!

We loaded all the kids up that morning to run errands. First stop: Trader Joe’s to look for a few gifts to put together for teachers, etc.

Keith got to push a kid-cart, which totally made his day!

After school that afternoon, Keith proudly pulled out an ornament he had made at school and wrapped by himself.

Look at who is learning to write his name!

That evening, we all put on our snuggly-est jammies and headed to church for a Christmas Pajama Party! The children’s ministry team did a wonderful job putting together a super fun evening for the kids. We had a great pizza meal.

We had a dance party.

A grinch and an elf showed up and started a “snowball fight” which was a huge hit!! Well, except for with Acacia and Josie who weren’t so sure what to think about the whole thing, haha.

More dancing!

There were crafts and a bingo game and a chocolate fountain – a WONDERFUL party that we all loved! Best of all, the kids were all jammied up and ready for bed as soon as we got home. :)

Saturday morning I set out the Flourless Chocolate Banana Muffins  I had made the day before. I also baked the remainder of the box of bacon I had bought a few weeks ago. We had a few yogurt cups from Aldi so we finished those off too.

Mid-morning we loaded up snacks and kids and headed to the indoor play place at the zoo.

I had made a big bowl full of Tuna Salad so we could eat right away when we got home.

During naptime that day, we spent time getting ready for a Christmas party with some friends who were coming from out of town. Kiya set out fun Christmas plates and juice pouches.

Then the kids watched as I attempted to put together Santa Bananas. Hahahaha, you got me, Pinterest. We were all giggling the entire time I was putting these together – especially every time I tried squirting the whipped cream onto the Santa hats and into Santa beards. The whipped cream didn’t cooperate very well.

Oh – and then the red M&Ms started to bleed so by the time we served these, Santa had quite the bloody nose. Sorry ol’ fella. It was FUN though and I’m glad we tried these. Good luck if you decide to try too. :) :) :)

We set out a buffet of Hotdogs, veggies, and other fruit to go along with our Santa Bananas.

Justus and Kelsey came over to help, thankfully! Altogether there were 8 adults and 16 kids. Was it loud? Do you even have to ask? But look at this precious, full table…

After dinner, we all loaded up in our cars/vans and drove around to enjoy Christmas lights. When we came home, Matt and Justus had popcorn ready and then Justus and Kelsey helped serve Hot Cocoa to go with it.

What a night! Matt had already bathed four of the kids earlier while I was working on the infamous Santa Bananas. Kelsey threw two of the girls into the tub after Hot Cocoa. Our guests headed out and we tucked everyone into bed after a fun time together!

And that was our week!

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Big Family Food and Fun: December 3-9, 2023

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Here’s our Big Family Food and Fun: December 3-9, 2023 post…

Big Family Food and Fun: December 3-9, 2023

Sunday before we left for church, I put a huge Lasagna  into the oven to bake plus made a pot of buttered corn and buttered hoagie buns to warm up later,  (The day before, I’d made a bunch of lasagnas to try and get ahead.)

We invited another family to come over and eat with us, plus all of our older kids came, plus one of our kids’ friends.

Altogether there were 21 people who ate, which made our pan of Lasagna look like this by the end of the meal. It was an awesome time!

For dinner that night, I made a big pot of Chili. I froze the leftovers so we can have an easy meal another day.

Monday, we had “leftover breakfast.” Leftover Warm Vanilla Soother, leftover Breakfast Sandwiches, and leftover  Flourless Chocolate Banana Muffins. With blueberries and yogurt.

Eva came over to help with kids and I took Keith to the dentist for a checkup. He did awesome!

When we got home, I sliced apples and served them with peanut butter and sprinkled cinnamon for a snack. We ended up going through five apples for four kids. It hit the spot!

Having Eva’s help meant I had extra time and hands! So I took advantage and made Mudballs (x5) and Snickerdoodle Bites (x8). These are some of our favorite snacks.

We were out of baby carrots so in the late afternoon while dinner was cooking, Keith helped peel carrots so I could make carrot sticks.

For dinner that night, I boiled two pounds of whole grain angel hair pasts and stirred in a container of white queso from Costco along with a little bit of milk. Then I added diced ham. It was so good! We ate it with leftover peas.

During the evening we got out some craft kits to keep the kids busy. We started by making Reindeer Hats. Then we wore those while making Sticker Cards with Christmas scenes.

Even this guy got to be a Reindeer!

We gave up on gathering all 9 kids for a picture (our 7 plus two friends). But here’s what we managed to get. You can’t hear it through the screen, but you should know that this picture is LOUD. ;)

Ah, here’s another Reindeer.

Tuesday I didn’t get many pictures. We had Scrambled Cheesy Eggs for breakfast with fruit then cheese/crackers/avocado cups for lunch. I picked Brayden and Kiya up from school and headed to our Food Distribution site to help hand out food.

The kids have become great at helping vacuum after the giveaway ends…

We got to help ourselves to some of the leftover items – mostly bread, rolls, and buns but also some greens, fruit, and sweet potatoes.


One of our housemates treated us all to Costco pizza and salad for dinner that night! (This was all that was left after we all enjoyed four large pizzas.)

Wednesday morning I used some of the biscuits we’d been given at the food distribution and made Sausage Gravy to surprise Matt. (Biscuits and gravy is a favorite meal for him.) The kids had biscuits with butter and jelly plus clementines.

They were still hungry and I didn’t want to fill them with more empty carbs so I got out last week’s Crustless Cheesecakes for them.

In the midst of fixing breakfast plates and taking kids potty, I started a big pot of broth for our dinner that night.

We loaded up all seven littles, dropped Brayden and Kiya at school, then took the other five to Wal-mart for a few essentials. Somewhere between the girl’s clothing and picture frames, one of the girls peed her pants. This picture does not accurately share how much pee was on the cart and floor.

Clean up on aisle nine!

We got it cleaned up, changed her into new leggings that I was planning to buy anyway, got some groceries, and headed back out to the van. PHEW. (Have I mentioned lately that Matt is a rock-star dad??)

Our dear friend Phyllis came all the way to Lincoln to visit us that afternoon. She is one of our biggest prayer warriors, a huge support, and precious encourager. She always spoils us with her delicious cooking and baking when she comes. I texted this picture of our favorite Phyllis cookies to Malachi saying, “Guess who’s here??” He was like, “No way! ON MY WAY!” He loves Phyllis. We all love Phyllis.

Here are some of the littles hanging out in the kitchen later while I finished making dinner.

I used that morning’s broth to make Beef and Noodles (like this except with beef. and store bought noodles). We had loads of veggies in our soup broth – such a great way to guzzle down nourishment!

Thursday morning I made two loaves worth of French Toast like this plus four pans of bacon. Having this big box of bacon that I scored on sale a couple weeks ago has been SO NICE!

I have loved the ease of these Flourless Chocolate Banana Blender Muffins, so I experimented with making Flourless Banana Muffins (without the chocolate). They turned out ok but I’m going to make some tweaks to make them a little bit better. Then I’ll share the recipe with you!

Thursday night we warmed up Pulled Pork that Phyllis had made and brought to us. It was delicious with corn, spinach, and fries.

Friday evening our church had a Christmas party. Then a friend of mine and I snuck out to go to our monthly Adoptive Moms Support Group. THEN, Saturday morning our church hosted a lovely Christmas Brunch for ladies. It was all so much fun and so very good. But I was too busy enjoying it and didn’t get many pictures.

Before leaving for the brunch on Saturday morning, we made pancakes and sausage. I had helpers and a fit thrower, but we got the job done.

Eva dropped off Asa to help Matt with kids, then I hopped in with Eva to head to the brunch. Before leaving I made a bowl of Chicken Salad and Asa was using it to make the kids sandwiches when we got back. I made a blender full of these Smoothies to finish off lunch.

For dinner that night I made 5 Cheese Tortelloni with sauce, plus Garlic Butter Shrimp, steamed broccoli, and Caesar salad. It was a great feast – and super easy to make.

I had an idea to make these cookies with the kids and maybe watch a Christmas show, but then we turned on the Husker Volleyball game and really enjoyed watching that instead. The game ended just in time for us to give kids baths before bed. Here are the three littlest girls with clean and braided hair at bedtime. :)

And that was our week!

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