Heavenly Homemakers

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Big Family Food and Fun: November 26-December 2, 2023

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Here’s our Big Family Food and Fun: November 26-December 2, 2023 post…

Here’s what we ate and what we did this week!

Big Family Food and Fun: November 26-December 2, 2023

Sunday morning we woke up to snow!! The kids were so excited and it was so pretty. They started making plans for sledding and a snowman – even though there was only about an inch of snow on the ground. ;)

I made a big pot of oatmeal to warm us up on a cold morning.

Before we left for church, I used leftovers from Thursday’s Nacho Buffet to make Taco Soup for us to eat for lunch when we got home.

I had made a lot of bacon from the sale I’d taken advantage of last week so I used some to make Turkey Bacon Cheese Subs for dinner. I cut and fried leftover baked potatoes plus warmed up leftover steamed broccoli.

We ate an early dinner that night because everyone started getting hungry early. Therefore, I knew we’d need a snack before bed. Anna and Acacia helped me make Flourless Chocolate Banana Muffins and we set them aside for later.

We’ve found that our evenings can be LONG since it gets dark so early and it’s too cold to go outside to play. If we don’t have a plan and keep our evenings structured, everything can quickly turn to chaos. So we try to plan activities for our evenings to help the kids stay calm (<— this is a loose term, ha).

I had made a run to Hobby Lobby on Saturday and had taken advantage of their 1/2 off Christmas crafts sale. For such a low amount of money, I think we have enough evening projects to last us from now until Christmas!

This particular night, we used a chain kit I had picked up to make a Christmas Countdown Prayer Chain. The littlest five kids mostly just crawled around and tried to destroy the chain, oy. But Brayden and Kiya were engaged in helping. We thought of 30 people or people groups (aunts, uncles, cousins, our church, etc) to pray for and wrote them on our chain pieces. Each day from now until Christmas, we’ll take off the end of the chain and pray for whoever we wrote down.

This was SUCH a good activity for our kids, though it did trigger some sadness, hurt, and tears as we wrote down some of their biological family’s names. We prayed differently that night at bedtime – for continued healing for the ones they miss and for the ones that caused hurt. These precious children are so dear.

We moved on to our muffins before heading up to get ready for bed. As it turns out, we needed to finish all of our clementines too. :)

Monday the kids had a final day off from school before going back after Thanksgiving break. Eva came over to help with the littles and I took Brayden, Kiya, and Keith to our weekly Food Distribution set up to help get ready for the Tuesday giveaway.

Brayden spent most of his time helping Kathleen, the leader of this distribution site, set up a snack table.

Kiya and I used sharpies to mark out the bar codes on products. I took this TERRIBLE picture as I was trying to not waste time with my phone out and as a result, moved my hand while snapping it. I’m posting it here anyway, you know, to prove that Kiya was there too, haha.

When Kiya and I finished marking all the chip bags, Keith helped drive the boxes into the store room.

After naptime that day, the little girls and I made a big batch of Cream Cheese Cut Out Cookies. I put them into the freezer for later in the Christmas season for us to decorate and share with people.

For dinner we had Beef Roast that I’d slow cooked all day with carrots. I made cornbread (from a mix, thank you Costco).

Before bedtime that evening, we all gathered in the dining room to enjoy the first prayer link in our Christmas countdown prayer chain that we’d made the night before. We prayed together for aunts, uncles, and cousins then sang some songs before heading up to bed.

I love that I was able to capture this sweet moment with Anna, Josie, Elias, and Malachi. :)

Tuesday morning the kids headed back to school after a six-day Thanksgiving break. I made Bacon Cheesy Eggs with applesauce for breakfast.

We felt like we could all use an outing, so after we dropped Brayden and Kiya off at school the rest of us went to Aldi for groceries. Right away, I loaded up on salad kits and other produce.

Matt kept his cart on the move so that BabyBoy#11 wouldn’t fuss. We got stocked back up on our Aldi favorites before heading out to run other errands that morning.

That afternoon Brayden, Kiya, and I handed out food and helped clean up at our Food Distribution site. There was quite a bit leftover so we were blessed to bring home some food for our household too. Here’s a fuzzy picture of the kids heading to the van after their great volunteer work.

Back at home, we enjoyed dinner that had been cooking in the crock pots. Smoked Sausages and Party Potatoes with a salad.

We also got out the containers of raspberries we’d picked up at Aldi that morning. They looked like this in exactly four minutes:

Wednesday morning we used fresh greens to make these smoothies to go with our breakfast.

Late morning, all the littles “helped” me make pizza for lunch. BabyBoy#11 entertained himself on the floor crawling around and playing with toys. I choose to ignore how many times the kids licked sauce off their fingers. All the germs baked off in the oven, right? Sure. They did.

Here are the first two pans of pizza. Another pan was still baking, giving us LOTS of pizza to enjoy.

Which is why for dinner that night we ate more pizza. :) Matt and Elias had been gone all day so I was a bit worn out and didn’t feel like making anything else. Brayden learned how to put together salad kits to go with our (cold) pizza, and that was dinner!

We sat at our living room table later that evening and made paper ornaments with stickers. The kids had so much fun with this craft!

The next day I was blessed to take a day off!! Matt, Elias, and Malachi watched the kids all day so that I could have a much-needed day to myself. I Christmas shopped most of the day, which I loved. My final stop was Costco, and Matt and I had decided that their pizza would be our dinner. Did we just have pizza three-meals in a row? Yes. Did all the kids get fed? Yes. This is a win.

Eva had taken new photos for our family on Thanksgiving and I had picked up the prints that day while I was out. So we gathered around on the floor by our “picture wall” so the kids would watch me update their pictures. I couldn’t believe how long they sat still watching me!

Part of the fun was seeing all of the older photos in each frame. (Every year I just add the new photo to the front of the pile. So each time we open up the frame, we can look at all the photos inside to see how much each kid has changed through the years.)

Tada! The updated wall!

Friday morning I made Breakfast Sandwiches.

Mid-morning we took the littlest five to play at one of our libraries. Wow, was it a disaster that morning. We had a lot of rough behaviors while we were there, plus poopy diapers and kids who needed to poop and bleh. Some outings are great, and some are not. This one was not. As always, Matt and I are discussing what might have gone wrong and what we could do differently next time. But some of their behaviors are triggered by who-knows-what and happen who-knows-when. Ugh, God help us. (He is. He always does.)

Naptime was extra good and needed that day. I spent some time baking (which was therapeutic for me!) so that we could have easy snacks on hand. I made a double batch of Lemon Muffins, which only turned out so-so.

Then another batch of Flourless Chocolate Banana Blender Muffins, which have become a favorite!

And then some Crustless Cheesecakes which I personally really like to eat on the run.

We had a super early dinner because we had tickets to go see our Zoo Lights (a wonderful and sweet gift from a dear friend). That morning I had “dumped sauce on chicken” for an easy meal. I rewarmed Tuesday’s potatoes, made a salad, warmed up corn, and made a bowl of Pineapple Fluff. We were nice and full, then got bundled up to walk around the zoo to see the awesome lights.

Here we are at the entrance, putting on our 3-D glasses which made all the lights look like candy canes.

We headed to the train right away so we could hopefully avoid long lines.

After the train ride, we walked through the zoo and had an amazing experience enjoying all the lights. At 7:30, BabyBoy#11 declared that we were FINISHED, poor guy. It was time to get ready for bed anyway, so we headed back to the van to go home and get to bed.

Saturday morning I made French Toast like this, Warm Vanilla Soother, and several pans full of bacon.

Kelsey texted later that morning to share that she’d made my Applesauce Muffins and Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins. So fun!

We had read that Home Depot was offering a free workshop for kids to come and build Gingerbread Houses so we decided to give it a try.

Apparently every single family in Lincoln had decided to try it too. This was only half of the crowd we discovered there! So we took our kits “to-go” knowing with all seven littles, we’d never be able to build and paint our kits there.

Back at home, Matt took the kids to the basement to build their houses.

Brayden was very determined to build his without help and he did a great job!

They were very proud of their finished products. :)

I made a big pot of hotdogs for lunch with sliced pears and a plate of veggies.

That afternoon I made one huge Lasagna plus three regular sized Lasagnas (because if you’re going to make one you might as well make four).

We cleaned out the fridge’s leftovers for dinner that night, got baths, and enjoyed a little bit of Husker volleyball before heading to bed. And that was our week!

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Big Family Food and Fun: November 19-25, 2023

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Here’s our Food and Fun: November 19-25 post!

Here’s what we ate and what we did all week!

Big Family Food and Fun: November 19-25, 2023

Saturday night I started a pork roast in the crock pot to cook overnight to eat after church the next day. Here’s my pork roast recipe. Here’s the overnight cooking method.

To go with our roast, I made a big pan of Party Potatoes. I had intended to make Honey’d Carrots, but left the carrots steaming too long and burned them, ugh. So we steamed some peas instead.

For dinner that night I pulled out some leftover taco meat we had in the fridge and stirred it into a triple batch of Creamy Mac and Cheese. We ate it with baby carrots, easy peasy.

It’s been in my head for weeks to work with the kids to put together Fall Treat Bags for our neighbors. Sickness and the craziness of life has derailed us. But we’re finally finishing our project and packaging up goodies! We had stickers from Delight Design to put on our brownie and muffin bags – so cute!

We had set up our tree with lights the night before and on Sunday night, the kids added ornaments.

Monday morning after Brayden and Kiya got to school, we put BabyBoy#11 down for a nap, left the three little girls with Daddy, and Keith and I headed to the Food Distribution site to help set up for the Tuesday giveaway. Our goal is to help our kids learn to serve and help others. The one-on-one time with Keith is so good too. Here he is, admiring the table of snacks we set up.

For dinner that night we made Tuna Melts with Tomato Soup and fresh pineapple.

I had made a bowl of Easy Pumpkin Whip that I intended to serve for dessert. But I saw several almost-empty containers of ice cream in the freezer that I wanted to get rid of and forgot all about the Easy Pumpkin Whip. Goof. So we had the Whip for breakfast on Tuesday instead. It’s only lightly sweetened, has protein and pumpkin in it – so it made for a good breakfast!

Our friend Paula had dropped off this loaf of Pumpkin Bread and we enjoyed it that morning too! So good!

I had sausage patties and a lot of English muffins, so I scrambled some eggs and put together 14 Breakfast Sandwiches to have on hand.

Three of the kids put on swimming suits that morning, haha. Josie stayed in her jammies. Meh, it was Thanksgiving week and I was extra busy. Regular clothing was optional. The three little girls had a get-together in our playroom saying over and over, “So nice to see you!” “So nice to see you!” in their preschool and toddler language. It was so sweet.

I had two appointments that morning and the second one was right by Sam’s. So I took advantage of being kid-free and ran in to get as many groceries as I could. I got a couple of special items for Thanksgiving – Martinelli’s and fancy whipped cream. Otherwise I got the regular needed items – milk, produce, peanut butter, sliced cheese, grass fed hamburger meat, and our favorite beef smoked sausage.

After school, Brayden, Kiya, and I went to hand out food at the Food Distribution site. When we got home, Matt had started warming up the casserole I’d put together from Sunday’s leftovers plus leftover peas.

Wednesday, Matt and Elias headed to York to work on our properties. Kelsey had the day off so she came over to help with kids and Thanksgiving prep! We had a huge day in the kitchen, getting a lot done for the holiday and then some.

I had picked up this 10-pound box of bacon at Sam’s the day before. It was highly discounted and ended up being just $3.40/pound so I was pretty excited! We baked several cookie sheets worth of it that morning, eating it for breakfast and then putting the rest in the fridge for easy-t0-warm-up breakfasts or sandwiches during the next few days.

Kelsey took the three littlest girls into the living room to color while Kiya, Keith and I worked on Pumpkin Pies.

Kiya did most of the “work” of adding ingredients to the blender and Keith helped push buttons on the blender. ;)

Our pies turned out great! Here’s our easy, real food Pumpkin Pie recipe.

Next, Kelsey got the kids involved in potato scrubbing and carrot peeling/cutting.

So far, we hadn’t let these two use knives, but Kelsey talked them through it and they did great!

Meanwhile, we browned 6-pounds of hamburger meat to use that night and through the weekend.

I used half of the cooked meat to make Sloppy Joes for dinner. We ate them with grapes and salad.

Thursday morning Justus showed up at 5:20 to get the turkey on the smoker. I had coffee and God time, then got mashed potatoes in the crock pot.

Mid-morning I made these rolls – first time I’d made rolls in a long time! Kelsey snagged this photo. :)

We’d FINALLY finished our “take fall treats to neighbors” project and were determined to deliver before our Thanksgiving meal. Our bags were filled with frosted brownies, muffins, and oatmeal cookies.

Matt loaded up all the bags plus six kids and walked around the neighborhood handing them out and wishing people a Happy Thanksgiving!

Meanwhile, guests started to show up and we finished the meal prep. Justus’ turkey turned out amazing!

Here are all of my Thanksgiving meal recipes.

Here’s this year’s crew! It included all of our family plus one of our housemates (who is now part of our family). Plus a dear friend from York and two YU soccer guys we’ve come to know.

After the feast, the guys played a game in the living room and we gals rested for a while on the couches.

I packaged up a plate of food for a friend who wasn’t able to enjoy a Thanksgiving meal that day, then we started getting kids ready for Eva to take our family photos.

UGH. It was then that Anna came down from her “nap” with styrofoam stuffing all over her. Which meant that something had busted open and the filling was also all over her bedroom. Praise God for sweet daughters-in-law who cleaned it all up for their tired mother-in-law.

Eva is a rock star who took individual photos of all of us, plus one big family photo. (I’ll share them with you when we get them!) We came home and put together a Nacho Bar for dinner.

Then, we turned on a Christmas show for the kids to watch while we adults played Stuff Happens before bedtime. THAT was my favorite part of the day!

Friday I got zero pictures, hahaha. I was so tired that day I wasn’t on my top game. We picked up our Bonus Boy for the weekend (age 4, former foster son and half sibling to some of our kids), ate leftovers, we made mac and cheese, I took a nap. That’s about all I remember. :)

Saturday we loaded up all 8 kids and took them to the Children’s Museum for the morning. It was a great and needed outing!

We ended our time at the museum with the kids all “working” at Runza. It was one of the cutest things I’ve ever seen them do as a group. They had on hats and aprons, flipped burgers, took orders, filled drinks, made fries – goodness it was sweet.

Elias had started lunch for us so that we could eat right away when we got home – Cheese and Spinach Quesadillas with Tomato Soup and apples.

For dinner that night, I baked whatever chicken tenders and patties I found in the freezer. Plus I put waffle fries in our air fryer, steamed broccoli, and opened up cans of fruit. It was a fun, easy meal and a great way to end our week!

And now – Christmas time!!!!! Here’s to a great new week!

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Big Family Food and Fun: November 12-18, 2023

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Here’s our Food and Fun: November 12-18 post!

Big Family Food and Fun: November 12-18, 2023

After four weeks of sickness, this week got off to a much better start!

There was a “Friendsgiving” Potluck for our kids ministry after church. We took Pizza Chicken Bake, Cream Cheese Corn, and a Chocolate Fudge Pie. I was too busy getting food ready to remember to take pictures except for this. Impressive, huh?

This was such a sweet and fun event for families!

After the kids ate, there were several tables/stations set up with crafts and activities for them to do. Our kids LOVED this!

We came home for naps and playtime, then got ready for our big birthday dinner. Almost a week late, we were finally able to get all of our older kids over to celebrate Matt’s 50th birthday!! We feasted on some of his favorite foods: Fried Chicken, Mashed Potatoes and Gravy, Peas, Oatmeal Butterscotch Cookies, and Homemade Ice Cream.

My second batch of Homemade Ice Cream didn’t work, so we had to get out store bought ice cream to make up for it. :) This Vanilla batch was pretty tasty though!

Because of all the sickness at our house, we hadn’t been together for over a month. :( I can’t tell you how beautiful it was to have everyone here!

One of Matt’s favorite things to do is play games. But, playing games with this many littles is almost impossible. We plan to try and hire sitters and have a big game day eventually. But for this night, Kelsey had the idea to turn on a show for the kids so that at least all of the adults could play a short game of some sort.

I’m so glad she thought of that! 50-minutes of game time is better than nothing. And how about that – 50 minutes of gaming for a Happy 50th Birthday?! :)

As a very boring but practical side note, I wanted to mention the amazingness of this chicken. I get these drumsticks at Costco (or sometimes Sam’s) for $0.99/pound. This entire package of meat cost only $8.42.

It included around 30 drumsticks and fed 10 adults and 8 kids – with leftovers. This is such an economical way to feed a lot of people!

Monday morning I scrambled 16 eggs with cheese to go with muffins and bagels for breakfast.

Eva came over for the morning to help with kids, praise God. So Keith and I headed to help sort and set up food at the weekly Food Distribution where we volunteer. He was having a rough behavior morning so it wasn’t great. But he did look cute in his ninja jacket and bike helmet (you can never be too safe).

Dinner that night was Lasagna Casserole with green beans and oranges.

Our dear friend Charlene was visiting that evening and I captured this sweet moment when several of the kids were hovered around her to look at pictures.

Tuesday was Keith’s birthday!! He requested birthday pancakes for breakfast. I attempted to make him a special #5 pancake, which worked sort of fine when I first created it.

But not so fine when I tried to flip it, hahaha. #nailedit

We “puzzled” it together onto his plate and it worked just fine.

That afternoon Brayden, Kiya, and I went to the Food Distribution and handed out food to almost 100 people. It is such a joy to do this! We were blessed to come home with a few items also:

We arrived home just in time for Keith’s big birthday dinner. Keith requested pizza and since we had so much going on, Matt and I decided to have some ordered and delivered. It was fun, but we won’t do this again any time soon. (High cost compared to frozen or homemade, delivery fees, then a late delivery and sub-par pizza) But again, it was a fun thing to do for his birthday and he was very excited!

Kelsey captured several of these photos, including this one where three of our little ducks are in a row.

Then it was cake time! I made him a vanilla cake with vanilla pudding and whipped cream. So tasty!

Have I mentioned that birthdays at our house are LOUD? Here’s present time!

Wednesday friends from York came to visit!

We celebrated one of our small housemate’s birthday that evening. YES, it was birthday week! I made burgers on the smoker, baked beans, and fried zucchini and squash.

We sure ate a lot of cake this week!

After present time, the kids gathered around another of our housemates for a special story time.

Thursday was a full day and one of my favorites. A dear York friend was celebrating a birthday and her sister invited me to come surprise her at the dinner party she was arranging. Even though York is only one hour away from our new home in Lincoln, it’s hard for me to get away and I hadn’t been back one time since moving the end of June.

Matt came up with a plan to make it possible for me to join our friends here, and I can’t put into words how wonderful it was to sit around this table with this precious group of ladies:

I love living in Lincoln – but out how I miss our community in York. I praise God for the chance to be with them on Thursday!

Matt and Elias headed to York to work on our properties Friday morning. Malachi helped me out with the littles all morning. We didn’t go on an outing so our morning was pretty chill. While the kids played, I finished bottling the big batch of vanilla I’d been brewing for several months.

Since I knew dinner time would be a bit tricky with Matt and Elias out for the day, I decided to make frozen pizza for dinner. I’ve been determined to have our kids finish making some Fall treats and crafts to take to our new neighbors before Thanksgiving. So I decided to attempt turning our night into a Fall Pizza Party so that we could make it happen.

We baked 8 frozen pizzas altogether, which fed 7 adults and 8 kids (with some slices leftover). Then the “party” started. For the record – one of the real reasons I planned a “party” was so that we wouldn’t have two hours of chaos after dinner before bedtime. Free play time doesn’t work very well for this crew, so I tried to structure the evening so that our kids would know the plan and so that there would be at least some form of order.

One of our housemates had brought back some ears of blue corn from her farm this week, so she did a wonderful job showing our kids that this is where blue corn chips come from. (Then they got to enjoy a blue chip as a treat!)

The evening craft was simple (and NOT MESSY HALELLUJAH). The kids decorated lunch sacks with stickers so that we can hopefully fill them with treats and deliver them to neighbors.

I had picked up a super inexpensive and cute “Build a Turkey” game at Hobby Lobby a few weeks ago, so we had we rolling dice to add turkey feathers to our birds. :)

We gathered on the couch to read some Mother Bruce books – which was sweet but a little bit nuts with so many little ones crawling everywhere. The party was fun though and THEN IT WAS BEDTIME and also Matt was home by then, hallelujah again. :)

Keith found that I’d put these jammies into his container so he put them on. These aren’t just any jammies. My mom (who died of ALS 19 years ago) had given these to Asa (who is now 26) when he was a five year old like Keith is now. So Asa wore them when he was 5, then Justus, Elias, and Malachi. They were special, so I saved them, not knowing there would be more brothers down the road. Brayden wore them. And now Keith. The elastic is completely shot, but are we going to save them for BabyBoy#11? Oh yes we are.

Saturday morning I made a few quick-to-grab foods to hopefully make Thanksgiving week a bit easier – Peanut Butter Rice Krispie Bars and Chocolate Pumpkin Muffins. Of course we’ve already eaten a good part of these. But there are still some left that might help us get through holiday prep?? :)

I made a triple batch of Snickerdoodle Bites to hand the kids as needed. These should last at least through Tuesday.

Our church youth group had plans to hand out Thanksgiving meal kits to families in our neighborhood Sunday evening and we had signed up to provide a kit. So we took all the kids to the store to complete our list of food items. I divided the list into three – one each for Brayden, Kiya, and Keith. We helped them find their food items and tried to help them understand what a blessing this would be for a family to have a wonderful meal on Thanksgiving with all they were picking out.

Keith took his job of picking sweet potatoes very seriously.

Once we got home, we put together our big sack of food to take to church the next day.

The rest of the day was very full of outdoor work for Matt and housework for me. So I was incredibly thankful that last week when Kelsey was here making freezer meals, she had left one for us. I baked it ad dinner time and we ate the entire thing!

Then the crazy fun began. I had told the kids that we could set up our Christmas tree that night if they were willing to work hard and cooperate. They were very willing. :) :) :)

We didn’t decorate it – only set up the tree and put on the lights. THAT was plenty for one night with this many littles. The ornaments will go on Sunday evening.

What a full, wonderful week!

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Big Family Food and Fun: November 5-11, 2023

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Here’s our Big Family Food and Fun: November 5-11 post!

Big Family Food and Fun: November 5-11, 2023

Food and…fun? Not all of it has been fun this week.

Some people get an extra hour of sleep on the night we turn back the clocks. At our house, we got an extra hour to endure a very long morning caring for sick babies. Oy.

For the past three weeks, our family has been passing around viruses and bugs. The latest involved low fevers. The one before that involved puke. We have canceled all plans and have not let our older kids come over to the Castle for fear that they might catch all of our ailments. So Matt and I are a little on the tired side.

We stayed home from church on Sunday, and eventually, Keith had dressed himself in a football helmet, snow boots (three sizes too big), and pajama pants.

Sunday morning I put The Easiest Spicy Ham and Potato Soup into a crock pot for us to enjoy at lunchtime.

We watched church service online, then the healthy kids went outside to play since the weather was so nice. They were playing “school” and I heard them talk about setting up a school cafeteria. So when it was time to eat, I carried their lunch out to be served in their “cafeteria.” :)

Here’s poor Sissy, one of the three littles feeling so crummy all day.

Keith was well, and he had fun making a three story house out of boxes!

For dinner that night, I made a big batch of Breakfast Sandwiches. They were a huge hit and all of them got eaten, along with strawberries and clementines.

Monday morning I made a big pot of oatmeal. I put a chunk of frozen banana into the littlest girls’ bowls of oatmeal so that it would cool off faster.

I surprised Matt with a Peach Cobbler for his birthday. (Not really a surprise since this is what I make for him for every birthday and Father’s Day, ha.)

We had planned on all of our bigger kids coming to join us for a birthday dinner for Matt, but with so much sickness traveling through our house, we postponed our gathering. :( I went ahead and made one of Matt’s favorites that night for those of us who were already at the Castle: Sausage Stromboli! I hadn’t made this for years and it was SO GOOD.

That afternoon the kids helped me make one of Matt’s favorite desserts: Banana Pudding. :)

Instead of 50 candles, I just put 1 candle in the pudding. Birthday celebrations at our house are LOUD, exciting, and pretty tasty. :)

That night was a rough one with a teething BabyBoy#11. We’re finding it a bit tough to catch a break and get enough rest, but we’ll get there!!

Tuesday morning the toddlers were feeling better so we loaded up the five littlest to go to Walmart after we got Brayden and Kiya to school. The outing helped the morning go better! Someone had given us 10 Free Junior Frosty coupons to use at Wendy’s so while we were out, we grabbed all 10 to surprise the kids with after tonight’s dinner.

Brayden, Kiya, and I helped give out food at our local Tuesday Food Distribution that afternoon after school. We were blessed to bring home some food and flowers for our family to enjoy!

Being at the Food Distribution means we get home just in time to eat dinner, so I had smoked Brats and Hotdogs before leaving that afternoon. They were warm in the crock pot when we got home, and we had them along with baked beans, oranges, and carrots.

When we bought this home, we “inherited” a lot of items since it was formerly a Bed and Breakfast. Many of the items we didn’t need and donated. But we love that some of the things left behind include outdoor lights, heaters, and a lovely fire pit! We gathered around the fire pit that night and told stories – so fun (and a little crazy while trying to keep littles from touching the fire).

Justus and Kelsey were over and she captured the above photo before going in to get the fun free Frostys Matt and I had picked up earlier in the day. They made everyone extra shivery, but it sure was a special evening!

Wednesday morning I made these Flourless Chocolate Banana Blender Muffins with cheesy scrambled eggs.

We’d been given a lot of tomatoes at the Food Distribution the day before, so we made BLTs for lunch.

One of our housemates had visited family over the weekend and brought back many dozen farm fresh eggs! So we had Easy Breakfast Casserole for dinner. I taught Brayden how to steam broccoli to go with our meal.

We had a feast of Easy Breakfast Casserole, broccoli, oranges, and muffins. We also warmed up a piece of buttered garlic bread that the kids had chosen at the Food Distribution the day before. (Junior Volunteers like Brayden and Kiya get to choose two items off the tables as a thank you for their help. They usually choose something sweet, but lately Brayden has been choosing things like mashed potatoes and garlic bread, ha.)

Thursday Elias and Malachi picked up our Azure Standard order for me. We got frozen corn, green beans, and hashbrowns (30 pounds!), plus yogurt, tortillas, and palm shortening.

For dinner that night I made Quick Crock Pot Spicy Pasta Dinner with green beans and corn.

Friday morning we dropped the kids off at school then headed to Walmart with the five littlest. We had plenty of time before getting Keith and Anna off to preschool, so we decided to try taking everyone to Great Clips to get Keith’s hair cut. Were we crazy? Sure. But you gotta do what you gotta do.

The three little girls actually sat very well in the waiting area sharing the grapes we had just picked up at Walmart.

The gal was super fast and Keith is as handsome as ever.

Ope. Still eating grapes. :) :) :)

For an extra special treat, we headed to Freddy’s and picked up kids’ meals with free coupons we had been given at a trick-or-treating event a couple of weeks ago. We ate at home though, because restaurants with this many littles is a no-go. :)

For “French Fry Friday” I made ham/cheese and turkey/cheese melts on buns with tator tots and sweet potato fries, plus black berries and grapes. There was spinach hiding in the sandwiches under the cheese, shhhh.

That afternoon I made made a double batch of these Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies, subbing the chocolate for butterscotch chips. These are a favorite of our older boys and we were finally making plans to get together for Matt’s 50th birthday celebration on Sunday!

Saturday morning I had more bananas turning black so I made yet another batch of Flourless Chocolate Banana Blender Muffins. They had gone over so well earlier in the week, I knew they’d be a hit again (I was right)! We finished off the Egg Casserole leftovers and had yogurt too.

Our Saturday outing was to grab jackets and head to the zoo to take advantage of our membership and the indoor play area with the spider monkeys. On our way in, we had the rare treat of seeing the Red Panda playing outside!

I packed juice and peanut butter pretzels for a snack break.

For lunch back at home I made quesadillas and warmed up the last of Sunday’s The Easiest Spicy Ham and Potato Soup.

Kelsey had some freezer cooking plans and came to the Castle to execute them. Spending the afternoon in our kitchen with her was SUCH a treat!!!! Especially since we have had so much sickness and have avoided having anyone over. We’ve missed our bigs!!

She and Justus joined us for a simple dinner, which was leftover chili and sandwiches.

And that was our week!

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Big Family Food and Fun: October 29-November 4, 2023

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It’s our Food and Fun: October 29-November 4 post!

Big Family Food and Fun: October 29-November 4, 2023

Sunday for lunch we had a pot of Chicken Taco Soup, using up the last of our smoked chicken from the week before. This soup is so easy to throw together when your meat is already cooked. Just dump everything in and go!

That evening, our friends Paula and Randy dropped off 10 lunches for Brayden and Kiya to take to school this week. (This is something new they started doing to help us and it is amazing!) They made five with turkey sandwiches and five with ham, and it looks like they had way too much fun labeling them. :) :) :)

Since I’d been sick, it had been quite a while since we’d gone to the store. We had no fresh produce, plus the kids needed an outing. So Matt, Malachi, and I took everyone to Wal-Mart Sunday evening so that we would have fruits and veggies to enjoy. Taking all seven kids to the store is always NUTS, but hey look at that. Now we have fruit.

Dinner that night was one of my favorite “cheater” meals. Orange Chicken from Sam’s with Caesar salad and rice.

Monday morning I got out Peanut Butter Snack Bars from the freezer for the kids to eat for breakfast. Everyone got to pick whatever fruit they wanted to go with it.

Our neighbor had heard that I’d been sick so she made us a pot of Chili for dinner Monday night. This was SO wonderful since my energy was still on the low side.

Tuesday morning I made some very ugly Pumpkin Muffins for breakfast. I think the melted coconut oil hardened back up and the cinnamon didn’t get stirred in well. BUT, they tasted good and got eaten so it was all ok.

I made these Smoothies to go with the muffins and put them into fun Halloween cups someone had given us.

That night I made a Taco Bar for dinner, seasoning the meat this way.

We had plenty of candy after enjoying two big events last week, so our kids had a lot of fun handing out candy to trick-or-treaters who came to our house that night. We had lots of kids stop by so it was great! Then Matt took our three oldest littles out to trick-or-treat in our neighborhood. It was super cold that night so Malachi and I kept the littlest four at home.

Wednesday I made an Aldi run to get stocked back up on milk and yogurt. Here’s a list of groceries I regularly buy at Aldi. This particular day I got milk, whole milk yogurt, crackers, juice, baby food, fritos, fruit cups, granola, canned corn, canned soup, cream cheese, eggs, salad kits, grass-fed hamburger meat, and bananas. My total that day was: $239.

I got home just in time to make this 10-Minute Instant Pot Mac and Cheese for lunch. I made a double batch and it worked great!

We had leftover hotdogs in the fridge so for dinner that night I turned them into Lazy Dogs.

We ate them with kiwi, clementines, and cucumbers.

An unfortunate stomach bug had started traveling through our house – a terrible thing with 16 people living here! So for dinner on Thursday I kept our meal very mild – Baked Potatoes, steamed broccoli, and asparagus.

The weather had warmed up quite a bit, thankfully, so those who felt well enough played outside in the leaves after dinner. :)

Friday morning I used the rest of our homemade applesauce to make a huge batch of Applesauce Bread and Muffins.

After we got Brayden and Kiya to school, we got the other five ready and we loaded up for Costco. I dressed the girls in coordinating outfits – so cute!

Two carts and $410 worth of groceries later, we headed home to put it all away and to get Keith and Anna off to preschool.

I declared it to be French Fry Friday, so for dinner we ate Chicken Nuggets, Fries, Strawberries, and Raspberries.

Saturday morning we ate Applesauce Bread and fried potatoes that I made with Thursday’s leftover baked potatoes. I also took some time to make a triple batch of Snickerdoodle Bites to have on hand for snacks.

We went to our favorite Saturday morning Library Sensory-Friendly Storytime. Then after the regular program we stayed at the library to read books and play with their hands-on learning toys.

Late afternoon I could tell we needed to get ahead of some sibling struggles so I pulled Brayden in to help me made pizza for dinner. He was thrilled with this and at dinnertime, we gave him all the credit for “making dinner.” He was very proud. :)

We had picked up a watermelon at Costco the day before, hoping it would actually taste good in November. It wasn’t too bad! The weather was great so the kids had played outside a good part of the afternoon. Pizza, salad, and watermelon tasted pretty good to hungry kids (and their parents and big sibs).

And that was our week!

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Big Family Food and Fun: October 15-21, 2023

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It’s Big Family Food and Fun: October 15-21!

This week started off with a…bang? Opposite of bang? I’m not sure. I had had a huge day on Saturday, speaking at and enjoying a wonderful Ladies’ Conference in Council Bluffs, Iowa. I’d also come down with a cold so by Sunday I had no voice and very little energy.

Thankfully, the Friday before I’d already put together a huge Lasagna for our Sunday lunch. I slid it into the oven Sunday before we left for church and made steamed green beans and buttered corn. (Extra Buttered Corn, actually because when we got home from church and Kelsey was helping fix kids’ plates I said, “Oh! I don’t think I put butter in the corn yet!” So she added some but I didn’t pay attention to that and so then I went and added some too. Ooops. I mean, can you have too much butter in your corn? You know how I feel about this.)

I thought you’d be super impressed with the dessert platter I worked so hard on for our Sunday lunch this day. Since I didn’t feel well, I pulled out all the stops and arranged a platter of packaged treats we’d been given on various Food Distribution days. See how fancy?

That evening, our neighbor John stopped by with produce from his brother’s garden plus more apples from his family’s trees. Amazing!

We got out leftover Chicken Enchiladas from last week and warmed them up for dinner. Cleaning out the fridge feels good!

The kids were still on Fall Break Monday and Tuesday. Matt took Brayden, Kiya, and Keith to the Food Distribution site on Monday morning to help set up for Tuesday (when people come to pick up food). Mid-morning, I made a double batch of Pineapple Fluff to go with our lunch.

Oh, and do you see that huge can of pineapple? I had picked that up at Sam’s a few weeks ago because it was such a great price. But goodness, even for our family, that’s a lot of pineapple! I added a lot to the Fluff, and had a big bowlful leftover. We’ll see how long it takes us to get through it! (UPDATE: It’s almost gone.)

Our neighbor had given us tomatoes from his brother’s garden, so we HAD NO CHOICE but to make BLTs for lunch. With Pineapple Fluff. :)

Brayden and Keith had an appointment that afternoon, so while they were gone with Matt, Kiya and I teamed up to make a huge batch of Applesauce with apples that our neighbor had brought us. We sure are being well cared for!!

Kiya washed the apples and I cut them into our huge stock pot.

This batch made two gallons of applesauce. Between this and the pineapple, we’re set for a few…days?? :)

That night for dinner we had Sloppy Joes, green beans, and warm applesauce.

We had a birthday girl on Tuesday! One of our housemates set this outside her door to surprise her when she woke up. So sweet!

Our kids get to choose all the meals on their birthdays. Kiya’s birthday breakfast choice was Pumpkin Donut Holes she’d been given when helping at last week’s Food Distribution. I made Scrambled Cheesy Eggs to go with them, plus got out applesauce.

I had to take BabyBoy#11 to an OT appointment so Matt held down the fort while we were gone. Then we loaded everyone up to go see Justus and Kelsey’s new house!!!! They closed on it last week and we were so excited to go see it! (Though they used to live only three blocks from us. How dare they move twelve minutes away??) :)

Kelsey had muffins waiting for the kids. Does she know them or what? We properly initiated their new kitchen with billions of muffin crumbs.

Then she pulled out a puzzle and magnatiles. Kelsey’s mom was visiting to help with the move. When she’s visiting, I always wish she and Kelsey’s dad lived closer to us!!


The kids requested that I take their pictures just outside Justus and Kelsey’s house before we left. :)

We headed home to make Kiya’s birthday lunch. She requested chicken nuggets and fries. But I only had a few nuggets in my bag so I pulled out several large chicken tenders to help make enough food for everyone.

After lunch, Kiya enjoyed a pedicure with one of our housemates and her daughter. Here they are, letting their toes dry while watching a show and drinking sparkling water. :)

Later that afternoon, Malachi, Brayden, Kiya, Keith, and I headed to the Food Distribution site to hand out food. I love this SO MUCH. Seeing people come through the lines to get food they need for their families. Seeing how my children are learning to help and serve. Visiting with the other volunteers and making some conversation with the food recipients. It’s all so good.

Malachi was Keith’s side kick that day and their job was to wash out coolers as they were emptied of their food.

We got home tired and hungry – and ready to celebrate Kiya’s birthday in full force! I had grilled 20 burgers before leaving that afternoon and put them into a crock pot to stay warm. Asa, Eva, and Kelsey arrived just as we made it home so we dug right in!

The birthday girl requested Pudding Parfaits instead of cake – though she was given a cake at Food Distribution that we served to those who wanted some.

An #8 candle fits perfectly into a pudding cup. :)

After dinner, we headed into the living room for present time.

Kiya got several hair accessories, a cup holder for her bike, and a new Bible from Matt and me. She can read now, so we felt she was ready for her first “real” Bible. :)

Wednesday the kids headed back to school after being home for five days on Fall Break. I packed Brayden and Kiya cottage cheese with fruit and a muffin for lunch.

Matt and Elias went to York to work on our houses, so Malachi hung with the kids and me all day. We loaded the five littlest and headed to Walmart. As hard as outings are with this many, they are better than no outings. Staying at home alllllllll day makes everyone a bit grumpy. So to Walmart we went!

During lunchtime, I put The Simplest White Chicken Chili in the crock pot. (This was the final meal from the smoked chicken I’d made.) We ate it with Fritos plus pineapple or Pineapple Fluff.

Thursday morning we woke up to delicious biscuits that one of our housemates had baked the night before to share with everyone. That was an amazing treat (and unfortunately I didn’t get any pictures before they were all gone!).

I packed a quick lunch of yogurt, pistachios, and Peanut Butter Bars for the kids for lunch.

I spent some time putting Roast, Carrots, and Potatoes into our huge roaster so that it could slow cook all day for dinner. All day it smelled so good – but the best part was knowing that the work of prepping dinner was completely done!

Three of our kids had speech therapy that morning so we enjoyed our Bridgette time.

The roast with potatoes and carrots was delicious that night!

I used some of the applesauce I’d made earlier in the week to make four loaves of Apple Bread.

Friday was a pretty chill day and we ended the night with Costco pizza and salad!

After it got dark and we brought the kids inside, we gathered around the table to decorate baby pumpkins. Only a little bit of (washable) marker got on the table. ;)

Saturday, Asa and Eva took Brayden, Kiya, and Keith to a birthday party for our friend Jace! Matt and I kept the littler ones home because of sickness.

That evening we pulled the rest of Thursday’s roast meal from the fridge to warm up. It tasted even better than the first night!

And that was our week!

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Big Family Food and Fun: October 8-14, 2023

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This was a particularly big week as I was preparing for an event on Saturday. Here’s our big family food and fun post: Oct 8-14!

Big Family Food and Fun: October 8-14, 2023

Sunday morning I made two varieties of Taco Soup in our crock pots: This One (beef) and This One (chicken). To go with the soup I set out grapes, pears, and oranges plus Apple Muffins and Banana Bread.

We topped our soup with Fritos, cheese, and sour cream.

I STILL had some milk to use up before it went bad so I made another round of Pudding Parfaits for dessert.

That evening we planned to eat leftovers to help clean out the fridge before we loaded up to go watch Asa and Justus play soccer. As I was pulling out leftover hotdogs and tortillas, I decided to turn them into Lazy Dogs. I haven’t made these in years!! I opened up the griddle on my stove and cranked out 16 of them. They were a huge hit!

Just in case we would need them at the game, I threw some snacks into a bag: pistachios, peanuts, dried blueberries, and Banana Bread.

The evening at the soccer field was amazing – barely cool and all 15 of us out there together to cheer on the bros!

Here’s part of the beautiful cheering section!

After the game, we let the kids all run around a few more minutes. They played their own game of soccer while the sun set.

Monday morning I remembered that the kids’ school was offering a Teacher Appreciation meal after school so I quickly checked the sign up list to see if there was anything left that was still needed. I snagged a dessert slot and made a batch of Flourless Peanut Butter Cookies to drop off when we took the kids to school.

Matt and Elias headed to York that morning to work on our houses, so Malachi helped me get the kids to school. Then we loaded the remaining five to go pants shopping for Malachi. Why are we crazy like this?? Well, because they need outings and Malachi needed pants. So five kids four and under at Marshall’s? Sure, why not?

Malachi tried on some options I held BabyBoy#11, the girls ate a snack, and Keith begged me to buy shoes he didn’t need. What is it with that kid desperately wanting shoes that he definitely doesn’t need??

We got home and sent Keith (with his boring, perfectly fine shoes) and Anna off on their bus for preschool. Josie looked so pretty in her new fall outfit I snagged a photo. See?? I told you I’d dress my kids awesome again in the fall. Remember this??

I captured this sweetness before naptime that day. These two share a room but we have to put them in separate rooms for naps so that they actually sleep. Here they are giving night-night kisses between giggles.

We had been given some corn so I asked our kids to help get it shucked for dinner. We had some neighborhood help with the task!

I had put two chickens on the smoker to cook all afternoon. But I accidentally let the smoker run out of pellets around 4:00. So the process took longer as I waited for the smoker to heat back up and finish cooking the chicken. Therefore, around 5:45 when we could not wait any longer to feed the kids, we all had plates of corn on the cob, green beans, and Caesar salad.

Finally, later we had Smoked Chicken for dessert. :) For the record, it was worth the wait. Smoked chicken is soooo good!

Tuesday morning I mixed up a double recipe of Poptarts. I’ve been wanting to make these for such a long time. It made a HUGE mess, thanks in part to all my helpers. I will probably not make them again for a while. But wow were they good!

Ugly, but good. :)

After we got Brayden and Kiya off to school, we packaged up some of the fresh Poptarts and made three cups of hot apple cider. Then we loaded the five littlest and headed to church where we knew they were having a staff meeting that morning. (Justus is one of the three on staff, so we knew their meeting schedule.) We delivered the treats and prayed over the staff, then headed out so they could have their meeting without kids running around. :)

We had about 45 minutes before we needed to head home to meet the preschool bus, so we found a park for the kids to play. It was such a beautiful fall day!

That afternoon, Brayden, Kiya, and I went to our weekly Food Distribution site to help hand out food. We were amazed at the amount of people who came through the line that day. Our goal is to show love and kindness to each person. (As a bonus, we love how this is helping our kids grow and learn to serve.)

We arrived home at dinnertime, and one of our housemates had made a huge pile of waffles for dinner! They were so delicious!

Wednesday morning I woke up with a migraine, ugh. So that day is a bit of a blur, even while we still went about our regular routine taking care of the kids. I took BabyBoy#11 in for his 9-month check up while Matt and Elias took the other four littles to a park. Otherwise, we hung around the house and enjoyed the nice weather.

That night I used some of the chicken from the smoked chickens we’d made on Monday and put together Creamy Chicken Enchiladas. We ate them with Caesar salad, fresh pineapple, and grapes.

Thursday morning, I made a big pot of Oatmeal for everyone.

For dinner that night, I used croissants we’d gotten at that week’s Food Distribution along with chicken from Monday’s smoked chicken to make Chicken Cheese Melts. Some had Colby jack and some were Pepper jack with ranch. They were delicious with tomato soup and canned fruit (because I had no fresh fruit in the house!)

Matt made popcorn later that evening for a snack and we played a couple of board games before bed. (This sounds so precious, but in actuality it was loud and crazy. This is how they learn though…)

Friday morning the kids were off school for a Fall Break so we took them all to Hobby Lobby so we could pick up some crafts. “Don’t touch anything” was our favorite phrase of the morning. :)

We made Peanut Butter Honey Sandwiches and Smoothies for lunch.

And for dinner, we enjoyed our first pot of Chicken and Noodles of the season!! I had made broth earlier in the week from the bones of the chickens we’d smoked. This soup tasted SO GOOD on a chilly evening! (The kids can’t figure out why we aren’t letting them eat outside like we used to do all the time, boo.)

I had mentioned here that one of our third story housemates is a mama with her two young children. Now that we’re not able to play outside constantly like we did all summer, we are trying to get creative as we keep all 9 of the kids occupied in the evenings. Last night, we played games and had popcorn. Tonight, we set up a craft. Keith helped me get it ready.

The kids made masks from kits, which, as you can see, turned our house into an actual zoo. ;)

Saturday morning Eva, Kelsey, and Kelsey’s mom Nicole picked me up and we drove to Council Bluffs, Iowa for a Ladies Conference where I had been asked to speak. Matt, Elias, and Asa held down the fort at home.

God worked, as He always does, and the day was a great worship-filled day. My favorite part was seeing dozens of friends that I don’t see very often and miss so much. That was such a gift!

I had caught a cold from the kids so by the end of the day after so much talking, I had no voice. :)

We pulled these Burritos from the freezer for dinner before bathtime and bedtime.

And that was our week!

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Big Family Food and Fun: October 1-7, 2023

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Ready for Big Family Food and Fun: October 1-7, 2023?!

Elias had hosted a “Release Party” the night before so we woke up Sunday morning to young adults asleep all over our house, haha. We had prepared some extra rooms and beds, knowing that several would stay over, but it was fun to wake up and see friends scattered in the living room too. Some stayed and joined us for lunch after church too!

Big Family Food and Fun: October 1-7, 2023

I had boiled two pounds of macaroni noodles and stirred in an entire container of white queso from Sam’s. Plus I stirred in chopped up ham. That warmed in the crock pot all morning during church. We ate it with peas and grapes plus Mudballs and Peanut Butter Cookies.

Here’s a few of “the crew” hanging out in the kitchen to eat.

That evening our family got to enjoy a Harvest Party at our church parking lot with many from our church family. There was chili dogs, smores, and face painting!

Matt and Malachi took each other on in ping pong. I never heard who won. :)

Justus was honored to be one who enjoyed “pie in the face” and Brayden got in line multiple times to attempt to throw a shaving cream pie in his face.

Keith too!

Kiya and Acacia played a huge Jenga game with our friend Caitlyn.

And most of our “older littles” tried archery that was set up from Heart Shot Ministry. It was an incredible night!

Monday morning I pulled prepared Pumpkin Donuts from the freezer that we’d made a few weeks before. I air fried them which made it SO EASY. They didn’t turn out pretty but everyone ate them like cookies and it made for an easy breakfast.

We walked Brayden and Kiya to school then Keith and I got ready to head to the Food Distribution site to help set up. He packed himself a snack to eat on the way: a Pumpkin Donut and a bag of granola bites. :)

He takes his work so seriously when helping there. We love this service opportunity!

The kids had captured a caterpillar a few weeks ago and it turned into a cocoon in the jar. We were so excited! Matt noticed Monday morning that it had turned into a butterfly so that evening we all gathered around to admire then release it.

Keith was devastated that we were letting our butterfly go free. He had wanted to keep it forever. Oy.

I had some leftover roast from last week so I cooked rice, shredded the leftover roast, and put together burritos for dinner. Meanwhile, our neighbor had given us three buckets full of apples from his mom’s tree. I finally got around to making a huge pot of applesauce like this.

It made two huge bowls full of applesauce for us to enjoy throughout the week.

Tuesday morning BabyBoy#11 and I left the house at 6:15 to get checked into the hospital for an MRI. We are thankful to finally be referred for this so that maybe we can get some ideas about what his needs are so that we can get ahead of them and get him the resources he needs moving forward.

He was a trooper as we got him prepped – but HUNGRY and mad about it because we couldn’t feed him his regular morning bottle since he would be receiving anesthesia.

All in all, it went very well and we were home much earlier than we thought we would be.

I picked up Brayden and Kiya after school and we went directly to the Food Distribution to hand out food. We were blessed to come home with extra items – lots of breads and bagels again but also some greens, asparagus, peppers, potatoes, and yogurt.

Malachi had baked Chicken Tenders and made Caesar salad for everyone so when we got home, we dug in. Apparently Matt had had to “cut Keith off” on the salad because he loves it so much and kept asking for more and more. :) (Thankfully, I had brought home a bonus package of Caesar salad from the Food Distribution so we opened it up and added it to the bowl!)

Wednesday morning I made a big pot of Warm Vanilla Soother to celebrate Fall weather (and because Food Distribution begged us to take soon-to-expire milk home, ha). We are whole milk people, and this was 1% milk, but it still worked because I added extra eggs and some heavy whipping cream. We enjoyed it with toasted, buttered bagels.

Speaking of having lots of 1% milk on hand that needed to be used up: That afternoon I used several cups of milk to make Pudding Parfaits for dessert after dinner. I had a couple of sweet helpers who had woken up too early from their naps.

I smoked chicken for dinner that night, steamed broccoli, and used the pizza crust we’d been given at Food Distribution to make Garlic Cheese Bread Sticks.

A few of the chicken pieces were pretty thick, and I got a little bit nervous that they weren’t cooked as thoroughly as they should be. So I cut ALL the chicken into bites and put it in a pan with barbecue sauce to cook a little bit more just to be safe.

The Pudding Parfaits were a huge hit!

I had meetings again all morning on Thursday (October is a doozy with its appointments and IEPs. Our calendar is always crazy, but this month seems extra crazy.) So Matt and the older boys took care of food – I believe they pulled leftovers from the fridge.

That afternoon I made a double recipe of these Pumpkin Bars so we could have a quick breakfast food the next morning. (They tasted awesome with my coffee the next morning!)

Dinner that night was a simple Taco Bar. I realized as I was pulling out toppings that I had no greens or tomatoes. So I sliced cucumbers as a veggie side dish. And we had leftover Applesauce that I’d made earlier in the week.

I asked Kiya to pause so I could take a picture of my beautiful girl with her beautiful plate. :)

After dinner we decided to walk to Sunken Gardens. The weather was supposed to turn much colder and I wanted to see the flowers one last time before they froze. I was so thankful that Elias and Malachi joined us too. This photo, featuring 10 of my sweethearts, makes me so happy…

Friday morning was a bit nuts as we were trying to get Brayden out the door an hour early for his school Ukulele class, Matt and Elias out the door to work in York for the day, and some of our housemates out the door for a conference. I was so glad I’d made these Pumpkin Bars the day before so that everyone could grab and go as needed. Ignore the ugly photo. These tasted good so don’t let the picture tell you differently. ;)

Malachi hung out with the other kids and me all day. I had a teacher meeting that morning, the immediately after that we loaded the kids to go to Aldi.

Wait. The plan was to immediately load the kids and head to Aldi. But three kids needed to potty first. Then BabyBoy#11 pooped up the back of his brand new shirt.

So three pees and a poop later, we finally got everyone loaded and headed to the store.

Malachi helped me manage two carts and five kids by handing out veggie straws and feeding the baby his bottle. I threw food into carts as fast as I could so we could make it home in time for Keith and Anna’s preschool bus. And because we didn’t want to be in the store very long with five babies. :)

We got greens, salad kits, pears, cheese, fritos, ham, pasta, granola, cider, and some baby food. (BabyBoy#11 is still not too big on purees or anything solid, but the squeeze type fruit/veggie combos at Aldi work better than other foods so far.) Malachi spotted a Caramel Mocha Iced Coffee so we grabbed that too. :)

The real reason we went to Aldi: Mama was hungry for Spicy Ham and Potato Soup and we didn’t have any pepper jack cheese! It was on the menu for that night so while I could have subbed a different kind of cheese, I knew a trip to Aldi would be helpful anyway.

After we got Keith and Anna off to school, Acacia “helped” me make two crock pots full of soup for dinner. I was so glad I made such a large amount. This soup really hit the spot!

Malachi was craving my Hot Cocoa. It was chilly outside, it was Friday night, and I STILL had milk left from the Food Distribution. :) So it was a perfect time to make a pot of cocoa. The milk was 1% (not our preference) so I added heavy whipping cream to try and make up for the lack of fat in the milk. :)

I left for an Adoptive Moms Support Group so Matt reported back later that everyone under the age of 4 spilled their little cup of Hot Cocoa. Oops. That couldn’t have been fun to deal with. :/

As I was walking out the door, I spotted this scene. This was just before the hot chocolate started to spill left and right. Aren’t they sweet?

Saturday morning Matt and I took the kids to a Sensory Story time at a library. This is such a good offering for our family because several of our kids have sensory needs.

This was my very favorite part of the morning. Josie, our very timid two-year-old, started to finally become comfortable in this setting. Ms. Diane, the storytime leader, is fantastic and so good at making this a safe place for the kids. So there was our Josie girl, acting all grown up and excited, participating in the game with all the big kids. :)

When we got home, Eva joined us to help with the kids. Because of this, I was finally able to get to the basement to sort through all of our clothes for fall and winter. Phew, this was a huge task, and one I kept having a hard time getting around to! I’m so thankful that Eva made it happen. (Also, I finally found my jeans. We moved here in June and I had yet to find my jeans. I have never been so happy to see a pile of jeans.)

I pulled out all of the wonderful hand-me-downs people had given us. And I pulled out all of the clothes I’d picked up on clearance. As I sorted, our laundry room looked like this.

And the hallway outside the laundry room looked like this.

However long and a pile of mom’s jeans later, I got clothes organized into bins and up on the shelves.

Plus I had gathered quite a few clothes that we could donate. I can’t tell you how relieved I am that this job is finished!!

Meanwhile, Malachi made mac and cheese and Elias made a salad for lunch. Then while Eva and Matt put everyone down for naps and rest time, Brayden and I headed out for one-on-one time. We went for hair cuts then to Marshall’s to find clothes for him. (As I sorted clothes, I had found that we had almost nothing that fit him. Plus I needed a few things for the three little girls, plus socks, undies…). This time with Brayden was VERY needed and good.

When we got home, I quickly threw together a hot dog picnic and we loaded everyone up to go to a Hoot and Howl prairie event nearby.

While I handed out food and everyone ate, we got to see super cool owls and hear about what they eat and what they like. It was so neat!

Then we walked around to various booths and areas where there were so many great learning opportunities.

Overall the evening was fun but CRAZY. Wrangling eight kids nine and under (our extra 4-year-old was with us) was not easy with several of the littles running ahead of us – or in different directions. Then we had some behavior struggles as we settled everyone into the van to go home for bed.

These things ARE worth doing, but it is not easy to pull it off. We are thankful for God’s strength and for the sweet times we enjoy with these kids.

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A Day in Our Lives at the Coppinger Castle

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Curious about a day in our lives at the Coppinger Castle? I’ll give you a peek!

Every day can look a little bit different, of course. But here’s what a typical day looks like for us, based on what happened this Wednesday:

A Day in Our Lives at the Coppinger Castle

5:25am I (Laura) rolled out of bed and headed downstairs to enjoy as much quiet time as I could get.

5:35 I made my way to the kitchen to drink water and make myself a cup of coffee. I always find something tasty (like a muffin) to eat with my coffee. Then I sit with my coffee in the living room and spend time talking to God as I wake up. I open my Bible and read wherever God leads me to read that day and journal with Him about what He’s teaching/telling me. Today I read in Deuteronomy and was reminded: Don’t let anything else become a god in my life. Be fully devoted to HIM, and He will bless my obedient heart.

6:20 Keith woke up extra early today and found me in the dark living room. I put my Bible and journal away for some snuggles. BabyBoy#11 woke up too and enjoyed a diaper change and ate some of his bottle. (He has some eating issues so he only eats a little bit of his bottle at a time, all day long). :) I settled him onto the floor to play with Keith.

6:35 I opened my computer to check email and upload/edit some photos for our next weekly Food and Fun post. I try to keep up with this each day so that I can have it ready to post on Sunday afternoons.

6:45 Keith was hungry so we headed into the kitchen to start getting breakfast ready. I poured three sippy cups full of milk for the three littlest girls. (Their milk is like my coffee: gotta have it first thing.)

I started making breakfast to keep kids from becoming hangry as they woke up. This particular day we had Warm Vanilla Soother and Bagels.

I used a dozen eggs to make it extra rich and full of protein.

While I was cooking the soother, I heated Tomato Soup to pack in the kids’ lunchboxes.

And I started a fresh pot of coffee.

7:00 I finished making breakfast and got the kids’ started on eating (all 7 littles were all up now). Usually, while the kids eat, I clean out dishwashers, load dishwashers, plan tonight’s dinner, and finish packing the kids’ lunches for school. Somewhere in there, I ran to the basement to start a load of laundry.

ALL MORNING LONG at least two of our kids have usually been tantruming off and on. We’ve tried everything to get ahead of these fits, but they struggle to regulate their emotions and mornings can be the hardest. 

8:00 From now until 8:40 we are finishing breakfast, brushing teeth, dressing toddlers, finding shoes, settling more tantrums, and trying to get 7 kids out the door so that we can walk Brayden and Kiya to school. Our walk involves two double strollers for our four littlest, plus Keith on his bike. Brayden and Kiya power walk with Matt and me because the truth is, 9:00 is a wonderful late start time but it’s still hard to get all of us out the door every morning. So we are almost always running “just on time – if we hurry.”

8:55 We send them off to their classrooms with a hug and a daily message, “Let God’s light shine through you! Love you!” then Matt and I walk the littlest five home.

9:15 Usually we play outside for a while when we get home, feed everyone a little bit more, give BabyBoy#11 more of his bottle, and Matt finds time to finally eat.

This is often when I make our smoothies because I ate at 5:30 and I’m ready for “second breakfast” now.

Somewhere in there, I wash up some of the bigger pots, pans, and bowls.

10:00 We either have meetings at this time or take the kids on an outing if we don’t have anything scheduled. Meetings happen eight to twelve weekday mornings every month depending on the needs (IEPs, IFSPs, Case Worker visits, Foster Care Specialist visits, Early Development Team visits, and Speech Pathologist visits). This particular morning, I had an IEP meeting for Acacia.

11:30 While I finished my meeting (this one was at our house), Matt gave Keith and Anna something to eat and made sure they have their shoes on and backpacks ready. Their preschool bus comes at 12:00.

12:05 We are left at home with just three kids!! It’s soooo quiet now, haha! But for real. After we get Keith and Anna off to school it is typically much calmer. We play, eat lunch (usually leftovers), and try to sit and read with Acacia, Josie, and BabyBoy#11.

1:15 NAPTIME!!! We work hard to synch up BabyBoy#11’s nap with his sisters’ so that they will all sleep at the same time. Matt catches up on business paperwork, bill paying, or does work that the Castle needs. I get out my laptop and work on posts like these! ;)

2:30 Josie woke up already – BOOOO. This cuts my worktime short but more importantly, she hasn’t slept long enough and is therefore grumpy. I snuggle her a while to see if she’ll rest some more. Nope.

2:40 I head to the kitchen with Josie to get ahead on dinner. She watches with great interest. ;)

2:45 Acacia heard Josie crying so she woke up too. She joined us in the kitchen. I had an abundance of milk – given to us the day before when we were volunteering at the Food Distribution – so I decided to surprise everyone with Pudding Parfaits after dinner so that I could use up some milk.

These little stinkers sure are cute.

3:00 I turned on the smoker to cook the chicken I’d marinated earlier that day. I needed to make dinner early because I had to leave at 3:45 for Parent Teacher Conferences and wouldn’t get back until almost time to eat.

The food we receive at the Food Distribution is typically close to its “sell-by” date so I usually plan our meals based on what we brought home the day before so that it won’t go bad. Thus the Pudding Parfaits I described above. We’d also received some pizza crusts so I spread on olive oil, sprinkled on garlic powder, then topped with mozzarella cheese to make Cheesy Breadsticks to go with our dinner that night. I slid them into the oven to bake right before meal time.

3:30 Matt left to pick up the kids from school and since the two girls were up, he took them with him in a stroller so I could finish kitchen work and head out to conferences.

3:45 Malachi and Elias listened for BabyBoy#11 (who was still napping) and I headed out for Brayden and Kiya’s parent teacher conferences.

4:00 Matt arrived back home with his crew. Keith and Anna got dropped off by the school bus. Kiya had homework (which she can mostly work through on her own). The baby could wake up at any time. Everyone is hungry. Basically – this is just time to survive as we transition into the evening.

4:45 I made it back home from the kids’ school and finished up dinner.

5:15 Everyone was ready to eat. I fixed plates and took them outside since the weather was nice – and so that the mess would fall to the ground instead of onto our dining room floor.

Every night, we can count on there being lots of people around at dinnertime. But we never quite know how many people there will be to feed. Some of our housemates are almost always around to join us. Often, friends of Elias and Malachi are over. We make enough to feed plenty, loving it when it all gets eaten! If fewer are around to eat, then we benefit from having leftovers. Either way, it’s a win! (This particular night, two of our housemates were out and Elias and Malachi had gone to a concert. So there were “only” 12 at home for dinner that night.)

6:00 Everyone who ate a good dinner enjoyed a Pudding Parfait. We played outside the rest of the evening because it was a beautiful night. I stopped taking pictures at this point because keeping everyone alive and safe outside is a bit hectic.

7:10 We headed inside and started the process of getting the kids ready for bed. Of course, Brayden and Kiya do this lovely life hack because it’s the best “get ready for school” trick and I love it.

7:30 We try to gather everyone in the living room for our nightly Singing and Prayer time. But with this many littles, it doesn’t always work and the youngest four can be pretty squirrely. Eventually this will turn back into a precious time. Right now, it’s nuts – with singing and prayer on top.

We managed to make it happen tonight, and ended our time in the living room together by saying all of Psalm 23 together. Brayden, Kiya, and Keith all have it memorized now. Anna knows some of it and our guess is that Acacia and Josie know more than they let on – they just aren’t talking much yet.

—> Since I wasn’t able to get a current picture of our Singing and Prayer Time, here’s an older, precious photo taken at our York house one evening when several college students were hanging out and joined us. Oh look, it’s Baby Keith. And dating couple Justus and Kelsey. This picture brings me joy. <—

8:00 BEDTIME. Acacia wears a brace to bed because she was born with a club foot and needs a brace to help with her ongoing needs. Matt does some very simple ankle manipulation with her before putting on her brace while I brush some toddler teeth, answer my 400millionth question of the day, and as sweetly as I can, beg everyone to go right to sleep without getting up all night. :) Ha. But seriously.

8:30 BabyBoy#11 finishes as much milk as we can give him to help him sleep as long as possible through the night (he usually lasts until 3am, but the past couple of nights have been longer!). We settle him into bed. Matt and I finally have some quiet, uninterrupted conversation time before I PASS OUT.

And that’s a Day in our Lives at the Coppinger Castle. Maybe I’ll write another one of these posts a different day so that we can compare what might be the same or different from day to day!

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Big Family Food and Fun: September 24-30, 2023

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Here’s our post sharing our Big Family Food and Fun: September 24-30…

Big Family Food and Fun: September 24-30, 2023

This week started out with the biggest, best bang! We had heard that our beloved York University Singers were going to be performing in a church just three blocks from our house. So we messaged the director and asked if we could please feed the crew at the Castle that evening after their performance. It was the first we’d hosted something so big here, and it was a dream!! But first, breakfast. And lunch.

Sunday morning’s breakfast was Baked Oatmeal that had been created the night before by one of our housemates.

While everyone was eating, I got a huge batch of White Chicken Chili started in our roaster so that it could slow cook all day and be ready to feed the big crew. I had already made two huge pots of regular Chili so they were ready to warm up at dinner time.

When we left church that morning, we stopped at Sam’s since it’s on the way home so that I could grab last minute food items needed for our huge meal.

For lunch that day, I had put Simple Ham and Hashbrown Casserole in the crock pot. We ate it with green beans before moving full force into dinner mode.

We got tables and chairs set up all over the house and outside. The crew arrived just after 6pm and started making their way through the food lines. Of course, I forgot all about taking pictures of the big buffet of food we’d set out because I was too busy giving hugs. Wow, I’d missed these “kids.”

We set up a Coffee Bar in the living room so Elias could make people Lattes or whatever they requested. :)

Here’s what the buffet looked like by the time I remembered to get a picture. :)

We served two huge pots of Chili, a roaster full of White Chicken Chili, grapes, strawberries, carrots, peppers, cucumbers, plus cinnamon rolls and corn bread (made by a dear friend here in Lincoln whose son is in the choir), plus a table full of desserts.

I had made Frosted Brownies, Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars, Peanut Butter Cookies, and these Cupcakes. One of our housemates had made two beautiful desserts very similar to this Death by Chocolate recipe. It was a huge hit!

Truly, Sunday evening was a dream for me. I loved hosting these young adults!

Monday morning I was…tired. :) For breakfast, I got out yogurt and the Peanut Butter Honey Granola I’d made last week.

I don’t remember what we did all day?? Dishes. Yes, I did wash a lot of big pots from the day before. :)

That night for we enjoyed the last of the whole chicken I’d smoked the week before with pasta and Alfredo sauce. Plus I steamed carrots and warmed up leftover broccoli. I made lots, but we ended up having a beautiful crowd of 18 people at our house that night so it still ended up being barely enough. :)

Therefore, Matt made several rounds of popcorn for a snack before we got the littles ready for bed. It was just what we needed to finish filling everyone’s bellies. :)

Look at the little sweetheart in her princess dress – filthy faced and tired after a long day of play. :)

Tuesday morning I whipped cream to go with strawberries.

Plus I made 12 Sausage-Egg-Cheese Breakfast Sandwiches.

We took our 5 littlest to one of our favorite parks to play for a while that morning. They enjoyed cheese and crackers plus fruit/veggie squeezies while we were there.

That afternoon, the kids got out of school early so Brayden, Kiya, and Keith all got to go to help serve at the Community Food Distribution. I asked Elias if he’d go along with me to help with Keith and he was happy to help. (His muscles got used quite a few times while we were there too!)

Keith and Elias got to hand out bags of snacks during distribution time. Brayden handed out dishwasher soap (which he thought was a little bit silly – but you never know what might get donated for volunteers to hand out). And Kiya and I handed out prepared sandwiches.

We were blessed to come home with two bags full of extra food donations – a wonderfully nice perk that we weren’t expecting when we started helping with this. We got mostly bread products that day, which helps stretch the grocery budget!

Before leaving home that afternoon, I had put Baked Potatoes into the Crock Pot to cook. One of our housemates was kind enough to set out all the toppings at dinnertime since I wouldn’t get home until 5:45ish. We filled our plates with potatoes, leftover chili, ham, cheese, sour cream, butter, and peas. Plus we finished off the Applesauce the kids and I had made last week.

Brayden left to have a piano lesson with Justus. When he came home, I found him doing this:


I wish I could express how amazing it is that he is able to read this book to his siblings. Reading and learning are a struggle for him and he has come so far!!

One of the fun things we came home with from the Food Distribution was a bag of McDonald’s biscuits. So on Wednesday morning I made Sausage Gravy to go with the biscuits. Plus I cut the leftover baked potatoes and cooked them with eggs. It was all so delicious!

Wednesday night, I smoked Chicken Thighs and made Smoothies (so the kids would get spinach in them). I also buttered/toasted some rolls and got out potato salad we’d received at the Food Distribution.

One of our housemates had been gone all day but brought back a delicious Apple Crisp that her cousin had made. It was a perfect dessert that night.

Thursday Matt and Elias went to York to work on our houses. Malachi helped me take the five littlest to Walmart for a few final WIC produce items for the month. As we headed out, he struck up a conversation with the greeter. I thought it was sweet so I snuck a picture. :)

I had slow cooked a roast all day, and we ate it with leftover carrots and peas, plus buttered corn and grapes. Mmmmm, roast!

Friday morning I made a big batch of French toast and let the kids choose toppings: peanut butter, apple jelly, butter, and applesauce.

Our Bonus Boy (4-year-old former foster son who is a biological half brother to some of our kids) was visiting and has a very limited list of foods he’ll eat. I went through this list again to be sure I had food on hand for him. Then I made a huge batch of Mudballs because he loves them (and so do the other kids!).

I had found sausage on sale at Walmart the day before so I browned all 8-pounds that I bought. Then I bagged it up in meal-sized portions for the freezer.

For dinner, I grilled a bunch of Hamburgers and threw Sweet Potato Fries in the air fryer.

Saturday morning we packed a picnic lunch to take to the zoo: hoagie sandwiches, fruit, chips, fruit/veggie pouches, and treats that we’d received from the food distribution.

At the zoo, we watched the zoo keepers feed the penguins.

Then we had lunch with the flamingos. :)

Kiya, Acacia, and Josie had a little conversation with a peacock. :)

We were so exhausted when we got home at naptime. But unfortunately, the toddlers fought sleep. Ack.

Meanwhile, Matt and I had decided the evening before that we could use a bit of a break and had planned to order pizza for dinner that night. We’d never ordered from Costco before but knew that the price was good and that the pizza was tasty so we gave it a try!

10 out of 10, highly recommend. We had a Pizza Picnic at one of our favorite parks, and two of our housemates joined us. One of them even went to Costco and picked up the pizza for all of us so that we wouldn’t have to lug all of the kids there. Fantastic! We ate and the kids road their bikes and scooters until time to get home to bed.

Next, I wanted to show this this fun picture. Grapes? Yes. It’s a picture of grapes. Exciting, yes?

It’s just that Kiya was helping me gather items to take to the park to enjoy with our pizza and she helped get the grapes pulled off their vines and into the bag. Then she asked if she could be the one to take the picture. (I hadn’t planned to take a picture, but she sees me prepare food all the time and then snap a photo, so surely I was going to feature her grapes!?)

You bet I’m going to feature her grapes. I’m so thankful for any one-on-one time I can snag with any of our kids. And small as it sounds, my Kiya-Mom grape prep time was really sweet.

We came home from the park to a party that Elias was hosting. He and his friend Ross just launched their first song and there was a Launch Party happening at the Castle!

It’s Yeti on Ice – Double Jointed if you care to look it up on any music platforms you use (Spotify, Apple Music, etc).

He has a lot of great friends and it was so great to see so many of them milling about the house when we got home!!! Plus all of our older boys were here – a double bonus. :)

We got the kids to bed (somehow, because there was a party going on and no one wanted to get to bed!) and I headed there myself. What a great week!

Oh! Total grocery spending for September: $1220.

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