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!
