Heavenly Homemakers

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Big Family Food and Fun: October 4-10, 2026

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Here’s our Big Family Food and Fun: October 4-10, 2026 post!

Big Family Food and Fun: October 4-10, 2026

Auggie was a super eager helper on Sunday morning as we got ready for church and prepped lunch. We were planning for an extra big crowd that day, so we made a huge pot of Chicken Taco Soup and another pot of Beef Taco Soup.

Of course, we ate a plateful of Breakfast Cookie Bars that morning.

There were 45 of us gathered for lunch that day, and it was incredible!

We ate our Taco Soup with Sliders and lots of fresh Fruit – plus Guacamole that our friend Steve is “famous” for around here.

The weather was gorgeous, so kids played outside and some adults joined them too!

After lunch, we transitioned into a surprise birthday party for our friend, Cindy. This worked out perfectly because while she thought we were all gathered for a regular Sunday Lunch, after we ate, more and more people showed up for dessert!!

We partied until well after 4:00, then baked some Frozen Pizza for dinner while I cleaned the kitchen. The kids were able to play outside until bedtime. After days and days of rain, we are thrilled to enjoy some sunshine!

On Monday while Emma was here with Auggie, Matt and I got to go out for coffee with the Nabbs! We were so glad to soak up every minute with them before they headed back to Texas.

Right after that, I ran to get our grocery shopping done for the week. I loaded up at Sam’s and then grabbed a few things at Wal-Mart.

I had picked up strawberries, so dinner included Strawberry Parfaits, which was a thrill for everyone!

For dinner, I had slow cooked Roast and Cheesy Potatoes all day, then made Green Beans. Matt was home with the kids and ABA team that afternoon/evening while I spent a very long time at the elementary school at Parent Teacher Conferences. I made it to all the kids meetings, which I had been able to schedule back to back (x6). Phew!

Tuesday was just as full with therapies all morning, a friend visiting all afternoon, Hopelyn hanging out with us, then Tuesday Food Distribution.

When we picked up the kids from school that day, Keith was excited to give a gift to Bonus Buddy that he had made in art.

For dinner that night, I’d simply put some Sliced Ham into a small crock pot to warm up. Then Matt warmed up Mashed Potatoes I’d bought at Sam’s plus he made a Salad. We ate fresh Pears or Grapes to round out our meal.

On Wednesday, I made Scrambled Cheesy Eggs for the kids. While they were eating I made Chocolate and Vanilla Pumpkin Cheater Muffins for Brayden to share with his youth group that evening.

It turned out to be an excavator-themed day for Auggie. He wore his excavator shirt, played with his toy excavator, and worked on his excavator puzzle during ABA therapy. :)

I had the amazing gift of going to Eva’s to spend the morning with her and the kids. I have been missing them so much and finally had a free morning to go hang out! I held Phoebe most of the morning and got to catch up with Eva while Arrow played. Eva had made sidewalk paint and Arrow enjoyed it for a good long while. So sweet!

Phoebe napped in my arms, and when she woke up she was sweet and smiley. Arrow gave her some good brotherly squishes, and I was able to snap a picture of the darling squishy-ness. Eee!!

Meanwhile, back at home, Matt had ordered/rented a lift for a week so that he could do work up high on our house and on our trees. Auggie was thrilled when it was dropped off that morning!

Brayden used his own money to buy a Henna Tattoo kit and he’s been enjoying using it on every willing person. It was finally my turn that afternoon! He put a stencil on my hand and got to work!

That afternoon, Brayden had spent a few hours with our friend Becky. Together, they made Chili and Cornbread Muffins for our dinner. I made Hotdogs and Broccoli to go with the meal. This allowed for people to make Chili Cheese Dogs if they wanted, or to just eat a Hotdog, or just Chili. Overall, most everyone in our house ate something from this meal. And the couple of kids who don’t like any of these choices got fruit and cheese. :)

I had a lot of spinach in the fridge that needed to be used up, so naturally, I baked a cake. :) This Spinach Cake is always an exciting snack for the kids.

The kids ate their pieces of cake outside while watching Daddy work on the lift. They got to take turns going up with him and helping with the branches.

Their turn to go up only came if they were willing to help clean up and carry branches to the stick pile. Even our ABA therapists helped out. It was a pretty exciting night!

On Thursday, Hopelyn and Arrow came over to play. Pop took Arrow and Auggie for a ride on the lift while he moved it into the place he needed to work next. Arrow LOVED this!!!

Hopelyn loved it too – while sitting on my lap watching. :) She babysat Arrow’s pet Buddy while we watched.

After school that day, the kids sat down and snacked while we waited for kids to get their bikes and meet back up with us for the walk/ride home.

We hung out on the front porch and Josie taught Hopelyn some letters and letter sounds. So now Hopelyn is practically ready for kindergarten.

Justus and Kelsey had an extra busy evening, so our friend Lydia picked up Hopelyn for the evening. Our girls were so excited to see Lydia!

The evening was full of ABA therapy, but it was beautiful outside so most of our time was spent outside playing/working. I forgot to take a picture of our dinner, which was Hamburgers that I’d frozen after a big meal a few weeks ago. It was so nice to just rewarm them! I air fried some French Fries and Tator Tots, plus we had Pickles and Carrots.

I managed to finally make some Pumpkin Spice Roll-Out Cookies. I’ve had them on my “list” for weeks and finally got it done!

On Friday morning, I served Pumpkin Bars for breakfast!

After we got the kids to school, Matt was able to dedicate the entire day to working on the house with the lift and I took Auggie shopping. It is a rare treat to go shopping with Mom, and this boy was incredibly sweet the entire time we were out. We grabbed diapers and a few essentials at Costco. Note that this will be the last time he rides in the front of the cart. I could barely get him out – so he will now graduate to the large part of the cart. :)

Our next stop was Aldi. He learned how to put in the quarter to release the cart for Mom!

After Aldi, we ran into Wal-Mart to check for meat markdowns. My big score of the day was two huge packages of Pork Steak marked down to just $1.25/pound! I plan to use them in my Smothered Pork Chop recipe.

We got home in time to put all the groceries away, and then got Auggie on the preschool bus. Brayden got home soon after that. After lunch, he did homeschool work and had a long ABA therapy session.

For dinner, we ate leftovers in an effort to clean out the fridge. I also cut up a bunch of Oranges and prepped four pounds of Strawberries. We all munched on these all evening during therapy and play time.

On Saturday morning, I made a big pan of Cheesy Potatoes to serve for lunch on Sunday.

Heartlands hosted a Pumpkin Palooza event for kids, and it was a blast! We invited friends that we’d met at the library a few years ago and it was so fun for them to join us. We painted pumpkins, had a scavenger hunt, made a craft, played in corn, and more. It was so great!

Keith and Bonus Buddy had a soccer game that afternoon.

There is a playground near the soccer fields so we took advantage of that too!

We came home and ate leftovers for dinner, had baths, and watched Husker Volleyball. And that was our week!

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Big Family Food and Fun: September 27-October 3, 2026

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Here’s our Big Family Food and Fun: September 27-October 3, 2026 post!

Big Family Food and Fun: September 27-October 3, 2026

On Sunday morning, we ate Breakfast Cookie Bars as we got ready to go to church.

I had made two huge Lasagnas for Sunday Lunch. Everyone (who eats lasagna) was excited about this because I hadn’t made these throughout the summer. Now that it’s fall? LASAGNA.

There were 21 of us gathered around our tables that day. :)

Matt and I enjoyed time with our Community Group that afternoon while the kids watched a movie. Then I threw together eight sack suppers (meat and cheese sticks, dried fruit, applesauce, yogurt) for the kids as we headed out for a last-minute drive and outing for the evening.

The kids were allowed to trade for what they didn’t want in their sacks, but they weren’t allowed to fight. Overall, this was a “special” enough event that they all handled it very well. We delivered leftover lasagna to two different homes, then met the Case family at a park we hadn’t discovered yet!

 

On Monday, I baked Chocolate Pumpkin Cheater Muffins for breakfast.

Emma came that morning so Matt and I could have time off. We had free coffee coupons for The Mill, so instead of walking at Holmes Lake, we walked from our house to the coffee shop. It was so restful and fun!

After school, we started ABA therapies for the evening. Bonus Buddy entertained himself with cardboard and tape, making himself “armor.” He was very proud!

For dinner we ate an entire extra large Egg Casserole with Hashbrowns. I found Banana Muffins in the freezer to go with our meal, plus we had fruit leftover from Sunday Lunch.

Our housemate was doing laundry and Keith was determined to help him transfer everything from washer to dryer.

At bedtime, Auggie sat with Acacia, “fixing” her hair. He’d never done this before and it was incredibly sweet!

It was Pajama Day at school on Tuesday! We also had extra appointments – but it’s ok to wear pajamas to appointments when you’re a cute little kid. :) Matt headed one direction that morning, Malachi and Lexi handled the home front, and I took the remaining kids to school. It is extremely rare that Anna and Acacia would hold hands on the way. But here they are, jammies and tights and jean jacket and lunch bag – buddies on the trail to school.

Three kids joined me at Tuesday Food Distribution – and yep, some of them were wearing pajamas. :)

We had three bags of clothes to donate to the clothing room there, and all three of my helpers grabbed a bag to take in.

Back at home, I had put together a crock pot full of Cheeseburger Soup – this recipe with hamburger meat instead of ham. It was hot and ready when we got home, though the picture doesn’t do the flavor justice.

Before bed that night, I made a triple recipe of Granola Bars for snacks.

On Wednesday, I got some baking done! I made a double batch of Peanut Butter Snack Bars for school lunches.

And I made a double batch of Breakfast Cookie Bars to freeze for our next two Sunday breakfasts.

Later in the day, I cut the Peanut Butter Bars and individually packaged them and froze them to pull out for lunch bags.

After school, Bonus Buddy had a routine eye doctor appointment. To his absolute disappointment, he did NOT need glasses. :) Acacia and Josie went with us for this appointment so that Matt wasn’t left home alone with quite as many kiddos. The girls were fascinated by the machines.

For dinner, I used a pan of Stick of Butter Rice along with some cooked, shredded chicken from the freezer to make Cheesy Chicken and Rice (this recipe but with chicken instead of beef).

On Thursday morning, Keith was excited to carry a big box of supplies to the basement for me. Was the box bigger than him? Yes.

Hopelyn and Arrow came to spend the morning with us!

This next photo may just look like our dirty mudroom. But in fact, it is a picture of our granddaughter singing and twirling and dancing for Lolli as we got ready to go outside.

Auggie and Arrow were working together with Auggie’s ABA behavior tech to build a very high tower with magnatiles. It was almost as tall as Auggie!

That afternoon, I baked a batch of Crustless Cheesecake to have on hand.

I made a French Toast Casserole with Sausage and Fruit for dinner that night.

At the end of Anna’s ABA therapy session that night, she had earned 5-minutes of time to watch a show. Seven out of eight kids enjoyed this reward. How much do our kids love this therapist??! He works with both Anna and Auggie, so he’s at our house a lot and practically a part of our family now. So sweet.

Meanwhile on the other side of the living room, the grown ups were watching our Husker ladies grab another volleyball win!

On Friday morning after we got the kids to school, I headed out to get a hair cut and to take advantage of weekend grocery sales. Aldi wasn’t on my list of places to shop, but I was right by Aldi, so I went in to grab a few items to get us through the weekend.

Back at home, Auggie had finished his ABA therapy session and was eager to help carry in groceries before his bus came to pick him up.

There had been a Mega Meat Sale at a store where I don’t often shop – but these prices made an extra stop worth it! I bought 30-pounds of hamburger meat and browned them right away to make future meals easier.

I had already started slow cooking Salsa Chicken that morning, so later in the afternoon, I had 10 bags of cooked hamburger meat for the freezer plus cooked chicken for Sunday’s Chicken Taco Soup. This was a huge mess but a huge accomplishment (after I got the big pots washed)!

I put together a few Chicken Burritos for the freezer that afternoon also.

Our dear friends, the Nabbs, are in town!! We had planned to see them Sunday, but they surprised us with a ten-minute pop in that afternoon!!! It was amazing!

For dinner that night, we had Marinated Pork Loin (that I’d also picked up at the Mega Meat Sale), Fries, Salad, Corn, Buttered Rolls, and Grapes.

As we wrapped up our night, I put together three packages of Meat and Cheese Sliders to go with Soup for our upcoming Sunday Lunch. Then I worked on cleaning the kitchen!

We ate cereal for breakfast on Saturday then went to Sensory Storytime at the library. Matt and I decided after this that we needed to take a break from going for a while. It is SUCH a good program, but our kids are too comfortable there and many of them act out a good part of the time. It’s disruptive for the other kids. :( We’ll try it again in a few weeks.

We did have some sweet moments of play after the regular program.

Back at home, we played outside and I was able to get all four boys hair cuts taken care of! They were much needed so that felt like a big accomplishment!

I had made Tuna Salad and Boiled Eggs before leaving for the library that morning. Matt made Mac and Cheese for the kids who don’t like tuna – and that was lunch!

Keith and Bonus Buddy had a soccer game that afternoon.

We came home and had bath time, dinner time (two boxes of Orange Chicken from Costco), some special Sabbath time around our table (or at least we attempted it), then a show before bed. And that was our week!

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Big Family Food and Fun: September 13-19, 2026

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Here’s our Big Family Food and Fun: September 13-19, 2026 post!

Big Family Food and Fun: September 13-19, 2026

I keep forgetting to take a picture of our Sunday morning Breakfast Cookie Bars – probably because getting us all ready to leave for church on time is kind of a big job. :)

Time worshiping with our church family was wonderful, and lunch at our house afterward was lovely. There were 24 of us gathered, and all of it was delightful.

Our meal was so simple. Before church, I dumped frozen Meatballs into our crock pot with barbecue sauce. When we got home, I set out Meatball Sub fixings: buns, sauces, cheeses, and pickles. Friends brought chips and I got out cut watermelon. We finished off almost every bite of food throughout meal time and the conversation was rich.

I served Peanut Butter Brownies for dessert that day, but forgot to take a picture until I was putting leftovers into the freezer that night. Here’s a dark, not-very-appetizing picture of these brownies. But trust me when I say that they looked and tasted much better than this. :)

Matt and I got to enjoy Community Group time that afternoon. Then I made Breakfast-for-Dinner that night: Egg and Hashbrown Casserole, Sausage Patties, and Pancakes.

On Monday, Emma came stayed with Auggie while Matt and I went to Holmes Lake to walk and rest.

That afternoon, I ran to Aldi to grab some basic groceries: milk, eggs, yogurt, fruit/veggie pouches, pasta and sauce, salad kits, greens, strawberries, blueberries, bananas, and crackers.

Matt and Brayden put dinner into a crock pot while I was gone – Tortellini with Sauce and Meat. We ate it with Salad that night but I was in a meeting and forgot to take a picture at dinner time. :/

Tuesday morning, I quickly threw together Pumpkin Vanilla Muffins and Spinach Cake. We got the kids to school, and then from 9:00-12:15 I was in meetings and had appointments for the kids. This past month and a half has been incredibly intense and our time is very consumed because of changes with our kids’ ABA therapists, plus the changes and needs of our precious Bonus Buddy. God is faithful to provide. Our friends are holding us up, caring for some of our extra needs, and praying constantly for us. We are so grateful to experience God so intently through these days.

Do I have time right now to sort through eight kids’ worth of clothing to switch from summer to fall/winter? No I do not. But the morning had forced my hand as one of the girls had needed one specific item that was stuffed somewhere in one of these totes. Therefore, I spent the afternoon sorting through clothes. It’s not a fun job, but I actually loved that it got done! Now I know what we have, know what I need to shop for, and best of all, I was able to bag up to donate six bags of clothing!

There’s a clothing room at the church where the kids and I serve at Tuesday Food Distribution. So we took all the clothing there that afternoon. We were short on volunteers that day, but the four kids I took stepped up and helped in extra ways. I can’t tell you how proud I am of these kids and how grateful I am that God is using this service opportunity to grow and heal our children.

Before leaving for Food Distribution, I had baked a pan of Stick of Butter Rice and steamed some Green Beans. Matt warmed everything up at dinner time, including some Grilled Chicken I’d found tucked in the freezer.

On Wednesday morning, we built Breakfast Sandwiches to eat right away and some to put into the fridge for later.

That afternoon, Acacia helped me make Chocolate Chocolate Chip Muffins.

Dinner that evening was Sliced Ham, Cheesy Potatoes or Mac and Cheese, Peas, Salad, and Clementines.

On Thursday, Hopelyn and Arrow came to spend the morning with us! Our friend Christina came over to drop off some food she had so kindly made to help us get through our extra-hard days (pulled rotisserie chicken, cooked noodles, banana bread!). The little ones were so excited to see “CoCo” and of course, so was I!

Everyone helped get Auggie on the bus at school time!

We had more therapy/appointments that afternoon. That night, our friend Mandy brought dinner. The kids all turned into excited little minions as they followed Mandy into the kitchen with the load of food.

The meal she brought was perfect: Breakfast Casseroles, Muffins, Fruit, and GoGurt.

Breakfast for dinner is a big hit with our crew!

The evening was spent with ABA therapists, plus Brayden and I had worship rehearsal at church while Matt held down the fort at home.

Our morning was actually open on Friday! After we got the oldest seven kids to school, I worked on playing catch up. We got some cleaning done and focused on getting a lot of meat smoked for upcoming meals. Auggie was happy to help Mama clean the living room.

After several hours, we had lots of Smoked Chicken Thighs ready for Sunday Lunch! Since the smoker was already running, I made Burgers and Hotdogs for dinner to make the evening less hectic.

It was hot outside that day, and ice cream sounded good. So I took a few minutes to make a batch of Vanilla Ice Cream to go with my coffee that afternoon.

Dinner was ready when the kids got home from school, and when we were ready to eat, I pulled out condiments, pickles, grapes, and carrots to go with our burgers and hotdogs. We had brought home a bag of coleslaw veggies on Tuesday after Food Distribution, so I added ingredients to turn it into Coleslaw to go with our dinner.

Saturday morning, I baked Breakfast Cookie Bars and Nutella Bars before we left for Sensory Storytime.

Ms. Diane is amazing at making story time so very good.

We left straight from the library to go to Heartlands for the Fall Color Run. The turn out was amazing! We started off with some good stretches…

Then everyone who wanted to participate ran the trail, with adults stationed throughout ready to toss colored/powdered chalk onto the kids!

They started off clean, but ended up very colorful! It was a wonderful time!

We arrived home in time to warm up leftovers for lunch. Malachi has been traveling for work so much lately that the kids have hardly seen him. Everyone jumped into his arms that afternoon!

Keith and Bonus Buddy had a soccer game that afternoon.

While watching the game, I peeled three pounds of clementines for kids to eat. Don’t worry though. They were still starving afterward. :)

We came home and warmed up Chicken Alfredo for dinner, had much needed Color-Run baths, and that was our week!

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Big Family Food and Fun: September 6-12, 2026

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Here’s our Big Family Food and Fun: September 6-12, 2026 post!

Big Family Food and Fun: September 6-12, 2026

On Sunday morning, we ate our traditional get-ready-for-church breakfast of Breakfast Cookie Bars – but I forgot to take a picture. But better than a picture of cookies is this photo that our kids’ Bible class teacher sent. Brayden gets to be a helper once a month in Acacia, Josie, and Auggie’s class. Here he is reading them a book while waiting for class to start!

The Case family, plus our friend Derek, joined us for lunch that day. We had a simple meal of Slider Sandwiches and Sides, with Brayden’s leftover Chocolate Chip Cookies for dessert.

 

After lunch, Elias and Malorie took Acacia out for her “birthday adventure.” This is a special gift they give each kid on their birthday, and it usually involves a little outing and a small treat. The real gift is special time two-on-one with Elias and Malorie and the kids LOVE it!

Our friends had invited us over to swim in their pool that afternoon and the kids could hardly wait! Taking our crew swimming is quite a feat, but with four in life jackets and lots of bigger people in the pool to help out, we were able to make this happen. It was the most fun and Matt and I loved catching up with our friends!

They fed us Pizza, Watermelon, and Cookies after swimming – plus we got to enjoy their pet turtle. It was such a great night!

Monday was a very big day with 19 of us heading to enjoy Vala’s Pumpkin Patch together. We’d heard good things about this place but it is expensive so we hadn’t checked it out. Thanks to finding super cheap tickets online plus a sweet and generous gift from a loved one, we made this happen for our family. The energy and effort it took to enjoy this time with the kids was very well worth it. At one point, Bonus Buddy declared, “This is the best day ever!”

Josie does not like train rides (unlike some of our other kids who live for train rides). So we were very proud of her for sitting with her emotional support sisters-in-law to try it this time. She did great and actually had fun!

We ran into friends from York at the Carousel – what a treat!

There were activities for the youngers and the olders to enjoy, so sometimes we split up to make it all happen. Even though we were at Vala’s for almost eight hours, we still didn’t get to do everything. Part of this is due to how long everything takes with this many kids. And part of it is because Vala’s is huge.

Either way, we all had a wonderful day. As we headed out, I tried to gather everyone by this sign that said, “Please leave with at least as many children as you brought in.” Matt and I felt very accomplished that we had, in fact, started with eight kids and ended with eight kids.

We had eaten all day and had lots of cold drinks too, but we were still hot and hungry when we left. So we stopped at a McDonald’s close by on our way home and picked up 80 nuggets for dinner. I handed out more cold Capri Suns and that was dinner. Back at home, we gave everyone a bath to scrub off sweat and dirt, then watched a show before tucking everyone into bed. What a great day!

On Tuesday, the kids had one more day off of school. We decided to go to the zoo to keep them busy that day.

I baked a batch of Vanilla Pumpkin Cheater Muffins and thawed a loaf of Banana Bread to take with us. I also made some Chicken Salad and packed some Crackers to go with it. We grabbed 3-pound bag of Clementines, Cheese, Raisins, Sunflower Seeds, and Applesauce. Then I cleaned out yesterday’s food wagon to repack it for the day at the zoo.

It was hot that day so the zoo was pretty quiet. This was a welcome change compared to the huge crowd at Vala’s the day before. Counting kids to keep track of them was much easier!

We made it to the Penguins in time to watch them eat their lunch. This made us hungry, so I sat and peeled the ENTIRE bag of clementines, handing them to kids who ate them faster than I could peel them. They were cold, refreshing, and hit the spot – even for the kids who don’t normally like these.

We ate our lunch and played in the water, then ate a ton more food. Mom and Dad were exhausted and needed coffee ;) so we headed home, letting the kids know that they had earned a popsicle once we got back to the house.

That afternoon, Matt stayed home to start ABA therapy sessions while I took four kids to Tuesday Food Distribution. All of them did an amazing job serving and helping that day!

Before leaving, I’d made Taco meat and put it in a crock pot to stay warm plus put Queso into another crock pot to heat. Matt had set out everything else and we enjoyed Nachos or Tacos for dinner.

Kelsey sent me this fun photo of the Real Food “Velveeta” and Rotel Dip she’d made that day. She made a few tweaks based on ingredients they had on hand and it was delicious!

School started back up on Wednesday! I made Nutella Bars while we got everyone ready for school, plus some kids ate Breakfast Sandwiches.

Emma usually comes on Mondays but we switched her to Wednesday this week so that Matt and I could still have a morning off. We headed to Holmes Lake for a walk and to let the beauty of the water calm our nervous systems.

When we got home, Auggie was helping Emma mop the kitchen. He was so sweet!

Brayden was in charge of taking snacks to his youth group that evening. So he helped me clean up our popcorn machine and make popcorn.

For dinner that night, we had Baked Potatoes in the Crock Pot that had slow cooked all day. I had a package of sliced Ham from Aldi that I put into a small crock pot to warm up. Then I made Peas and Green Beans and got out Canned Pineapple. This meal was super tasty -and simple to fix plates throughout the night. Matt and I spent the entire evening doing paperwork and having a big meeting at our living room table from 5:00 until bedtime, all while ABA therapy was also going on. Somehow, everyone got fed that night.

Thursday I had another meeting all morning while Auggie had ABA therapy and Matt hung out with Hopelyn and Arrow. (We are having a lot of extra meetings and appointments these days as we work on important details regarding the needs of our precious Bonus Buddy.) Then we all played outside in the beautiful weather while we watched for Auggie’s bus to come.

I hadn’t had a chance to grocery shop for way too long since the kids had been home from school for two extra days this week. I needed to ration my energy and time, so I put in a Wal-Mart pick-up order for essentials like milk, eggs, and greens. After I picked that up, I went next door to Sam’s to get bulk produce and a few other items. I’m not able to focus right now on shopping my favorite stores for clearance deals and meat mark-downs like I normally do. All my energy is going toward our kids’ needs and I am mentally pretty tired. So I just picked up the basics and headed home.

Brayden had mowed the lawn with Matt while I was gone, then was a great help in getting groceries put away. He read his homeschool assignment for a few minutes longer before we loaded up Hopelyn and picked kids up from school.

Our friend Christina has been taking such good care of us during these past few tougher weeks. She knows what our kids eat (or don’t eat) and has supplied us with food like cooked noodles and cooked hamburger meat to take a major load off my plate. I used her offerings to make Spaghetti that night. Some of us ate the entire meal, and some of the kids only ate noodles with butter and salt. This meal took me only five minutes to make thanks to Christina. Such a gift!

She had also baked some Banana Oatmeal Bars for our kids to snack on and they gobbled them up!

On Friday, I had two more meetings in the morning. After that I was completely worn out and decided to rest as much as I could before the kids came home from school. Brayden and I did his afternoon homeschool work out in the sunshine. Then he headed back to school for a club meeting so I continued to sit in the sun, breathe, pray, and rest. It was a very restorative afternoon and I was so thankful!

For dinner that night, I cut up a watermelon then air fried corn dogs from the freezer plus Burritos that Christina had made. This was a perfect Friday night meal as we worked our way through three kids’ ABA therapy all evening before bed.

On Saturday, we took the kids to the library for Sensory Storytime. We had plans to go to a park afterward, but rain shut down that plan. So instead, we hung out at the library for about 45 minutes before heading home.

Getting home earlier than planned gave me extra time to get work done around the house. We are slowly finding ways to get all the kids more involved in helping with chores and cleaning projects now that they are getting older. Every part of training these kids takes extra time and effort. But after several hours, they had each done something to help – from sweeping to mopping to moving furniture – and they felt good about what they had done.

While we were cleaning in the basement, Anna put a dress on a doll head. She was proud of this and wanted a picture with her “twin.” Were the rest of us freaked out at all by a doll head in a dress? Oh no. This is not at all alarming to see.

I made Mudballs!! After the tough few weeks we’ve had, it felt so good to get this simple need taken care of. Keith and Bonus Buddy live on protein in this form.

The evening was incredible!! Asa and Eva had been given three tickets to that night’s Husker game. They invited Matt to go with them, and then worked to move all the mountains to make it possible for him to go. This included dropping their babies at our house and asking lots of people to come help with ten kids. Elias and Malorie were the MVPs of the night since they knew all the ins and outs of the house and the kids. But Asa had also asked the Baker family to help out, and they showed up in force. As the plans had unfolded, our friend Trent figured out that if he came and helped too, that would free ME to get out of the house for the night also. What an incredible gift!

In short, we left our eight kids plus Arrow and Phoebe at the Castle with Elias, Malorie, Caleb, Klaire, and Trent. Then my friend Robin whisked me out the door and took me to dinner. I snapped this photo of kids snuggled up to Klaire as I snuck out. The kids were in great hands. :)

Asa, Eva, and Matt joined this sea of red at the Husker game and had a blast. Robin and I sat outside at H.F. Crave and enjoyed dinner and beautiful conversation. The night was a gift to all of us and we are so grateful!

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Big Family Food and Fun: August 9-15, 2026

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Here’s our Big Family Food and Fun: August 9-15, 2026 post!

BONUS: August 8

I finished last week’s post in the afternoon, but then we were blessed with a wonderful bonus evening that I wanted to highlight!

Asa and Eva’s family came over so that Asa could hang out and play a game with our friend/housemate, Nathan. That meant that Arrow and our kids had playtime, and all of us got some Phoebe time! She’s old enough now that all of the kids could take a short turn holding her, and everyone LOVED this privilege!

I put 17 Hamburgers and 16 Hotdogs on the smoker that evening, then we ate them with Grapes and Cantaloupe. It was super simple, but how grateful did I feel having so many dear ones around our table again that evening!!!

You might recall that Nathan had to have surgery on his ankle after a fall two weeks ago. So this time with Asa was extra good and it was fun to hear their laughter as they finished up their game.

There are always people coming and going from the table during meals like this, so it’s almost impossible to catch everyone at once. I had the honor of holding Phoebe while everyone ate, and I just took in the scene. What a delight!

Big Family Food and Fun: August 9-15, 2026

Sunday morning, I took advantage of the kids sitting in the living room watching a show and used my time to put muffins into baggies for the freezer. I’ve been trying to do a little bit each day to prepare for packing five school lunches every day. The day before, I had baked batches of Vanilla Pumpkin Muffins and Spinach Cupcakes.

These little bags went into big bags, and then into the freezer to pull out as needed.

We ate a special plate of Breakfast Cookie Bars as we got ready for church. See those little soccer ball shaped chocolate chips in there? I found those on clearance after the World Cup ended. Fun!

There were 25 of us gathered for lunch together after church.

We had a brunch-themed lunch! I made two huge Egg and Hashbrown Casseroles, one with ham and one with sausage. Our friend, Rebecca, brought homemade muffins, plus we had strawberry shortcakes and fruit. It was fun and delicious!

Matt and I enjoyed Community Group time that afternoon. For dinner, we ate food that our friends had dropped off after their mom’s funeral. When people have excess food, they often think of us, knowing that we eat a lot at our house. We are happy and grateful to receive these blessings!

Emma came on Monday morning! All eight kids were home so Matt and I weren’t able to steal away like we had often through the summer when she came. But I did head out to finish up shopping that needed to be done before school started. We were incredibly blessed at Wal-Mart to find one final bike we needed to get all of our kids to and from school – and it was on clearance!

My Sam’s cart didn’t overflow like it usually did, so at this point, I decided to get cases of toilet paper and napkins. THEN it was overflowing. :)

Back at home, everyone took in loads of groceries. The bike brought a lot of excitement – plus there were new shoes for the kids who still needed them. I *think* we are ready for school now!

We had been given a bag of Fish Fillets at a past Tuesday Food Distribution (someone had donated a huge amount of these), so we air fried them for lunch. They were a hit! Friends had given us a loaf of sweet bread that we enjoyed, plus I prepped two pounds of strawberries. We ate every single bite of this lunch before heading outside. I gave three boys a needed hair cut and we let the kids play in water all afternoon.

At 4:30, we all made the trek to our kids’ elementary school for their Open House. Elias and Malorie walked with us to help out. We’ll have seven kids at the elementary school this year – a new record for us!

We made our way to everyone’s classrooms, found their desks, met their teachers if we didn’t know them already, and felt a lot of excitement reuniting with classmates and teachers that we’d missed over the summer.

Auggie wasn’t sure what to think at first as he went to his classroom for the first time. But as soon as he found the play area, he made himself right at home!

I had made dinner before we left for Open House and we were all ready to eat when we got home. We ate our way through three pounds of noodles, a large pan of red sauce with meat, a jar of white sauce, and a pot of steamed broccoli. Plus we ate grapes, fruit/veggie pouches, cheese, and whatever else some of our pickier kids needed to fill up their bellies before bedtime that night.

We spent time on Tuesday morning working again on school lunch prep. First, I made Flourless Chocolate Banana Muffins and Peanut Butter Snack Bars. Just as I was sliding the muffins into the oven, I saw the saucepan of coconut oil that I’d melted for the muffins and failed to add to the muffin batter. Ugh. The hazards of multitasking! (The muffins turned out ok. Not great, but we ate them!)

While those were in the oven, I made a monster-sized recipe of Mudballs. I set aside some to deliver to a friend who had just lost her sister. I planned to take those for her family, along with a few other baked goods.

My last baking endeavor that morning was a double batch of Monster Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars. These turned out super ooey-gooey-good!

Once all the bars had cooled, I cut and individually bagged them and put them into the freezer.

I felt stocked up now for grab-and-go school lunch packing needs. We’ll see how long all of these prepped foods last!

Matt bravely took seven of the kids to the Heartlands church building to help with some cleaning needs. I stayed back with Auggie so he could finish his ABA therapy session, and I used my time to continue food prep in the quiet. I cut two big packages of steak and added frozen peppers and onions to cook for our dinner that night.

When Auggie finished therapy, I gave him a hair cut. He did great and this completed our four younger boys’ hair cuts as we head into the school year!

The kids had earned some freebie coupons from the Library Summer Reading Program. So on the way home from Heartlands, Matt stopped and picked up free kids meals from Slim Chickens. That made for a fun end-of-summer break lunch!

That afternoon, I took Brayden, Kiya, Keith, and Acacia to serve at Tuesday Food Distribution. There is also a clothing giveaway room at this distribution location, so we all took in some bags of clothes to donate before heading to our food giveaway stations.

Back at home, Matt had finished setting out the Steak Fajita bar that I’d started earlier in the day. I got home from Food Distribution just in time to drop off kids and then Brayden and I headed to his Middle School Open House. This time together helped settle his nerves as he saw each classroom, met new teachers, and found his locker.

On Wednesday, I spent almost the entire day prepping for school breakfasts and lunches. We’d brought home a big pile of overripe bananas from Food Distribution the day before, and I had big plans for them!

I started by making a double batch of Angela’s Breakfast Cookies. I froze half and set the other half aside for our first day of school breakfast.

Meanwhile, I baked 24 eggs to turn into Breakfast Sandwiches.

While the oven was hot, I baked a pan of Stick of Butter Rice to use with leftover Steak Fajita meat.

Our two kindergarten girlies had their very first day of school. They were beyond excited and nervous, which is why they packed and repacked their lunches six times.

After dropping off the girls, I put kids to work helping me get our pantry more organized for school lunch packing. Our summer has been so FULL that everything felt messy, cluttered, and disorganized. So I worked on fridge and freezers and pantry shelves to help us feel more settled and ready to be efficient on school mornings.

While Brayden helped me move things in the pantry, I put Kiya to work filling baggies with peanut butter pretzels to have available to grab-and-go.

I made two loaves of bread worth of Uncrustables for the freezer.

We ate leftovers for lunch, then Matt gave each of the older kids a turn mowing. This was Kiya’s first time and she was so proud!

Our evening was very full as we are having some significant transitions with our ABA therapy workers. We are so sad to see some of our wonderful therapists and technicians leaving after all they’ve done for our family. We met three new workers this week and we trust God to use them to continue to do good for our kids.

Dinner needed to be simple that night, so I made Sloppy Joes and Salad to serve as needed. Emotions were running high as not only were we making shifts in ABA therapy, school was to start for everyone the next day. So there was nervous energy filling the house. Bedtime felt good that night (once we finally settled everyone in).

Thursday was everyone’s first day back to school. Organized and prepared as we were, it was still an incredibly hectic morning getting seven kids out the door on time. Brayden did a good job eating a Breakfast Sandwich and heading out by 7:30. Auggie’s ABA therapist arrived at 8:00. And the other anxious kiddos didn’t know what to do with themselves until time to go, so they created a bit of chaos. Therefore, try as I might, I wasn’t able to get a first day of school picture with all of them.

These four lunch bags sat still for me though. So here’s a first day of school lunch bag picture. (Anna had already put her bag into her backpack.) All of the prep I’d done leading up to this day was so helpful in packing good food for our kids!

We made it to school just in time, and I was able to capture a shot of these three: two second graders and a first grader.

Back at home, I used the last of the over ripe bananas to make three loaves of Banana Bread. Arrow and Hopelyn both came to spend the day, which was PERFECT as Matt and I enjoyed some quiet for the first time in months. It’s funny how “only” having a 3-year-old and two 2-year-olds to hang out with is sweet and peaceful. We had such a fun morning!

While we were reading Curious George together, I did my best to get a picture of us. :)

At noon, Brayden came home from school. We are trying a new plan for this awesome 7th grader this year: part time public school and part time home school. Last year, spending a full day at the middle school was too much for him in many ways. We are praying our new plan works to help keep his nervous system more settled.

After he ate lunch, our friend Becky came and picked him up for a special afternoon at her house.

They cooked together, played the piano, and made a special treat to bring home to everyone.

Matt and I put all three little ones down for naps and attempted to have a 32nd Anniversary Date!!! Ice cream and coffee in the sunshine? Uninterrupted conversation with my favorite guy? THE BEST! (This moment lasted exactly five minutes before one of our very struggling neighbors came by with a very big need. So the uninterrupted convo was very much interrupted, but serving together with Matt is what has made our 32 years so special. We spent the next hour helping get our friend some food and water and off to the hospital with another friend. We plan to attempt another date time next week when Emma comes!)

At school pick-up time, we buckled the babes into our big wagon and made our way a few blocks to create a big parade of kids on bikes. Hopelyn thought this was the funniest thing and laughed so hard as we traveled.

We got home in time to start ABA therapy for four kids. Becky dropped off Brayden along with Caramel Corn and Baked Ziti that they had made together. He was SO PROUD of his work and we were proud of him! It was a delicious dinner and we finished the entire pan along with Green Beans and Corn.

After we got the kids to school on Friday morning, our dear friend Donna came for a short but sweet visit. We went to college together and don’t see each other often so we made the most of our catch-up time!

At lunchtime, I made Sloppy Grilled Cheese Sandwiches and Grilled Turkey and Cheese Sandwiches.

After we ate, I introduced Brayden to part of what his homeschool afternoons will look like each day. He read through his assignment list, and we got started on his work together.

After some American History work, a scripture reading time, and a math drill, I took him and Auggie to the library. Brayden had some specific library goals detailed in his assignment notebook and I worked with him there to find all of the specific book sections and work through his list. Meanwhile, Auggie did amazing playing with all of the fun library toys he found.

It was a pretty great afternoon with the two boys and we got home in time to head to school to pick up all the other kids. Our evening was full of ABA therapy and I didn’t get any more pictures on Friday. We ate leftover Steak Fajita meat for dinner with Stick of Butter rice and toppings.

Saturday we took the kids to the Children’s Museum for the morning.

Overall, the outing went very well until the end when several kids had meltdowns. We were grateful for happy kids for the majority of the time we were out!

Brayden and Kiya had an extra good time with a special scavenger hunt that was set up at the museum that day. They did amazing figuring out clues to find each item on the list throughout the morning.

There were also special craft stations set up throughout the building. This along with all the regular features of the museum provided lots of sweet time.

The building zone is a fairly new feature of the museum, and Keith and Bonus Buddy did a great job building a house together!

We had acquired eight free kids’ meal coupons from Raising Cane’s at a summer event a few weeks ago. There’s a Cane’s right across the street from the museum, so we grabbed the grub and ate in a courtyard close by. This was great for about ten minutes – then they all scattered and it was no longer fun. But I do think these kids are making good memories, even if things like this are challenging for Matt and me.

Back at home, we did some cleaning, got muddy, gave baths, had an early dinner, then took the kids to a Salt Dogs baseball game. I’ll share more about that next week!

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Big Family Food and Fun: July 19-25, 2026

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Here’s our Big Family Food and Fun: July 19-25, 2026 post!

Big Family Food and Fun: July 19-25, 2026

Before diving into this week, I had to share this fun hug from the end of the day last Saturday. Arrow had hung out with us all day and he was very excited to see Auggie after he work up from his nap!

Ok, now onto Sunday!

We ate our Breakfast Cookie Bars while getting ready for church. These are such a life saver – no brainer breakfast – as we get so many kids out the door!

Lunch that day was SO.MUCH.FUN.

There were 37 of us that gathered for a fun Mexican Themed Feast. We had smothered Shredded Beef Burritos, Layered Chicken Enchiladas, Spanish Rice (<– new recipe!), Mexican Corn (<– new recipe!), Chips and Salsa or Pico, Oranges, Watermelon, and desserts.

And THEN it was time for the World Cup Final Game where we all gathered in the living room to experience this special time. None of us really cared who won. We just hoped for a good game and fun together. Hosting events like this are a dream come true for me. A good meal, coffee, desserts, friends, family, babies, laughter – it’s the best!

And speaking of babies…

We had turned a movie on for the kids downstairs so we grown-ups could enjoy the game. That meant that Phoebe could come out of her tucked-away-protected spot in Eva’s carrier and Lolli could have a turn loving on her. I liked watching the game. But I LOVED snuggling Phoebe!

Overall, it was an amazing day and we ended the night tired and grateful. Elias and Malorie headed to Kansas that evening to stay with family on their way back to Texas for a couple of weeks before they come back to Nebraska for the school year. We loved our week with them!

Monday morning, Emma came over to stay with kids. Auggie’s ABA therapist came, and we loaded up four kids to take to Day Camp. Acacia got right to work playing with Emma’s dog, Buddy.

Matt and I dropped off the camp kids, then we headed to Holmes Lake to enjoy our kid-free time! It was already getting hot, but we were able to fully enjoy a walk around the lake, then time in the shade on a bench to rest and visit.

We all stayed inside all afternoon at home because the heat was a bit on the dangerous side. Brayden had an early ABA therapy session that afternoon so that he could go to a fun laser tag event that night with Heartlands Youth Ministry. Josie fell asleep and Acacia and Auggie spent some time painting with some dot paints I had picked up last week.

Dinner that night was simple. I browned hamburger meat and stirred in Sunday’s leftover Spanish Rice. I also warmed up leftover corn on the cob and let the kids make cheesy tortillas.

This turned into a nice calming project as they cut tortillas however they liked, sprinkled cheese on top, then melted the cheese.

It was not a good day to bake! And yet, I did it anyway, because I needed to. :) I made a batch of Crustless Cheesecake and a Spinach Cake in an attempt to have more ready-to-grab foods available.

I made Whipped Cream to go on the cake, and Bonus Buddy declared with amazement that it tasted like “actual whipped cream!” Haha, that’s because it is actual whipped cream, my dude!

Tuesday morning, my dear friend, Amy, came to visit from Kansas! We haven’t seen each other in a few years (since before Auggie was born) so spending time catching up with her was incredible! After Auggie’s ABA therapy session, she went with me to take Acacia, Josie, and Auggie to the zoo for a couple of hours. See Acacia there behind that tall grass? No? Well, there she is, leading Amy to our zoo picnic spot.

Taking three kids to the zoo is super easy when you’re used to taking eight kids to the zoo. We had a lunch of Bean and Cheese Salsa Dip, Avocado Cups, Chips, Grapes, and Peanut Butter Brownies.

Then it was water play time! Amy and I were able to sit and visit while the kids played. I ran into my friend, Kimmie, while there, plus my friend, Nancy! What a great zoo trip with lots of bonus hugs from friends!

Before we left the zoo, we knew we had to show Amy our flamingos. Then it was time to head home and transition into our afternoon/evening of ABA therapy and Tuesday Food Distribution.

Brayden, Kiya, and Acacia went with me this time and they all did great!

After we’d handed out all the food, Acacia helped me drag all the rugs to the hallway where they are stored. This girl loves to be a hard worker!

Back at home, I had experimented with putting Cheese Tortellini into a crock pot with cooked ground sausage and sauce. I’d picked up the Tortellini on super clearance at Wal-Mart last week so this was a super cheap meal! We had green beans on the side and it was simple and delicious!

I captured this scene on our way up the stairs to get ready for bed that night. It’s a poor quality photo but I hope you can see the sweetness. Acacia got an ouchie and Auggie was comforting her and helping her up the stairs. This three year old baby brother has come so very far in the past year – in so many ways!

Wednesday morning, I baked an Egg and Hashbrown Casserole that I’d put together the night before. We’d run out of Smoothie, so I made a blender full!

Since the oven was already hot because of baking the casserole, I made a double batch of Bran Muffins to bake also.

Amy came over again that morning to hang out. Arrow was with us and the kids had such a fun time playing together!

He was all kinds of sweetness as I tucked him in upstairs for his afternoon nap at Lolli’s house.

It was rainy that afternoon, so we needed to find some ways to stay quiet and entertained for a few hours in the house. Amy had brought the kids some fun craft projects that I planned to save for a rainy day. Turns out, this very day was that rainy day. These were perfect!

I made a monster-sized batch of Mudballs that afternoon. We got all the kids home early from their Day Camp so we could start ABA therapy sessions by 3:30. Dinner was leftovers – whatever sounded good – as we had a fridge full of food to choose from.

Then we headed off for Popsicles in the Park with our Heartlands church family. It was a chilly evening so the crowd was very small that night. But we had a good visit with our friends and it was good for the kids to run around outside before bedtime.

On Thursday morning, I made some Eggs in a Nest for the kids who like those. Other kids ate Mudballs.

The day was pretty chill with a morning ABA therapy session for Brayden, me getting to have a little writing time at Panera after dropping four kids off at day camp, and the little girls having playtime at home. The weather had cooled off and was lovely! So that afternoon, Acacia and Auggie played with vehicles outside for a long time.

I’d asked kids to each scrub a few potatoes that morning, so for dinner that night we had Baked Potatoes in a Crock Pot with bacon bits, cheese, butter, and sour cream, plus Peas and Fried Zucchini.

During all the kids’ ABA therapy sessions that evening, I had time to make a double recipe of Breakfast Cookie Bars to get us through the next two Sundays.

One of our former neighbors stopped by to say hello and to see if there was any food available out in the Little Free Pantry on our corner. Our conversation helped us learn that he was pretty hungry, so Keith helped me make our friend two sandwiches and fill a sack with other food for him like fruit cups, applesauce, a granola bar, and some chips. I loved to see Keith’s eagerness to help our friend.

At bedtime that night, Auggie climbed up onto Kiya’s lap for a story. Did he need to wear his rainboots so that he could sleep better? Most definitely.

Friday was full and wonderful! It was drizzly outside so we decided to take the kids who weren’t at camp to the Children’s Museum to play. We picked up Arrow on our way so he could play too!

We went home and ate leftovers for lunch. Then we put Arrow down for a nap and I took four kids to Culver’s to meet up with some longtime dear friends. They live in Arkansas now and were on their way to York for a Choir reunion. It was incredible to see them and catch up for a while!

We made it back home just in time to open our front door for more dear friends who were also on their way to York. This Choir Reunion was big, and with all of our kids, I wasn’t able to go. But how wonderful that friends made time to come see us before their big weekend! We had years of life to catch up on, and we shared all we could in the two hours that we had. What a gift this afternoon was!

As our friends loaded up and made their way to York, I started baking pans of bacon for BLTs for our dinner. One of our neighbors had given us fresh tomatoes from their garden, so BLTs were a must!

We all ate our fill and I continued baking bacon until I had lots extra to freeze for future meals.

Saturday was a super full and great day. We started by going to our Sensory Storytime at the library.

From there, we went to Holmes Lake where Big Gumdrop Outdoors hosted a fishing event for families called Cops and Bobbers. There were police officers there to help as well as a lot of Big Gumdrop Outdoor folks. This would have not been possible for our family without so many amazing people out there helping. First, we all practiced using fishing poles in the grass with fake fish.

Then we headed to the water! All eight kids fished for well over an hour, and most of the kids caught at least one fish.

The officers helped untangle fishing lines, put worms on hooks, keep everyone safe, and take fish off hooks once they got caught. There were lots of families there and it was truly a most awesome event!

Lunch was provided, so we washed up and ate hotdogs and fruit cups (or lunch that I had packed for our kids who don’t eat hotdogs).

We loaded up hot, sweaty kids into the van and ate a snack with a cold Capri Sun while I ran into Aldi to grab a bunch of fresh produce plus a few other things for friends.

Back at home, I got to work in the kitchen with a couple of awesome helpers! Two families we love are going through some tough life situations so while prepping for Sunday Lunch the next day, we tripled our efforts to take dinner to them that night. Kiya and I got four loaves of Stir and Pour Bread started, then she took off with Nutella Oat Breakfast Bars on her own.

While she did that, I made Flourless Chocolate Banana Muffins and a pan of Brownies.

While all this was baking, I was also making Smoked Chicken outside. Brayden helped make Spaghetti and Salad for dinner – and our house smelled amazing!

We made some trays of fresh fruit to deliver to our friends along with Smoked Chicken, Baked Beans, Homemade Bread, Brownies, Muffins, and Salad.

We fed the kids dinner, then loaded up all the kids and the food and delivered it to our friend along with hugs.

Back at home, we gave the kids baths, did a lot of dishes, and put all the extra prepped food into the fridge for Sunday Lunch the next day. And that was our week!

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Easy Mexican Corn Recipe

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Here’s a super Easy Mexican Corn Recipe!

This recipe is simple as can be, with just three ingredients that taste really good together and make a great side dish alongside Burritos, Enchiladas, or Tacos. There’s something about sweet corn served with something a little bit spicy that comes together perfectly in a meal. Add cream cheese? Well, now we’re talking.

Want to see what’s inside?

  1. Frozen Corn
  2. Rotel
  3. Cream Cheese

Sea salt to taste. That’s it!

Easy Mexican CornYum

Easy Mexican Corn Recipe
 
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Author:
Serves: 8-10 servings
Ingredients
  • 32-ounces frozen corn
  • 10-ounce can Rotel Diced Tomatoes and Green Chilies
  • 8-ounces softened cream cheese
Instructions
  1. Pour corn and Rotel into a sauce pan along with ⅓ cup water.
  2. Cover and steam until fully cooked.
  3. Stir in cream cheese and continue to cook until cream cheese is melted and evenly distributed.
  4. Sprinkle in sea salt if desired.
  5. Serve right away.

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Easy Side Dishes for Summer

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This Easy Side Dishes for Summer post can be your go-to for Simple Meal inspiration!

I’ve found that meals are easier to put together in the summertime. Why? Because there are so many great fresh side dish options available. Stores and farmer’s markets offer more fresh fruits and veggies compared to cold weather months, making it super easy to set out lots of tasty side dishes without much effort.

I love it when my summer meals look like this:

It truly is so simple to make an easy main dish like grilled chicken, then set out quick, fresh sides. Steamed garden veggies, salad, and/or watermelon – these are no brainers and so refreshing on a hot day!

 

The more colorful the better. Setting out options like this is great for picky eaters. Even if each kid only chooses to eat one or two of these, at least they are getting something nourishing that they like!

Here’s an example of a super simple meal I made recently: Grilled Brats with Grapes, Carrots, and Sliced Cucumbers on the side. So easy! And so family friendly!

Here’s another picture that shares a great example of a simple main dish with easy sides. This was taken on a day that some of our friends gathered after church and worked together to put this meal together. Pulled Pork was the main feature with salad, chips, carrots, oranges, pickles, rolls, and berries on the side.

Easy Side Dishes for SummerYum

In case you feel stumped after a long, hot day and want some easy ideas or reminders for great sides to set out on the counter with your grilled meat or other main dish, look at these lists for inspiration!

No-Work Side Dishes

  • Strawberries
  • Blueberries
  • Raspberries
  • Grapes
  • Cherries
  • Chilled Canned Fruit in 100% Juice (Peaches, Pears, Pineapple, Mandarin Oranges)
  • Pickles
  • Olives
  • Chips
  • Chips and Salsa
  • Chips and Guacamole
  • Sweet Peppers
  • Baby Carrots
  • Sugar Snap Peas
  • Grape or Cherry Tomatoes

Minimal-Work Side Dishes

Salads

Store-Bought Sides

Consider picking these up at the store to have on hand to serve alongside grilled meat or other main dishes you prepare.

  • Bagged Salad Kits (I like to keep these on hand for an easy side dish my kids can make to go with our meals!)
  • Potato Salad
  • Macaroni Salad
  • Bag of Rolls
  • Chips

What easy side dishes would you add to these lists?

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Big Family Food and Fun: May 3-9, 2026

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Here’s our Big Family Food and Fun: May 3-9, 2026 post!

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

May 2

That afternoon while Auggie took his nap, Matt took our washing machine apart to try to get to the bottom of why it wasn’t spinning out. I’m so very thankful for how handy and knowledgeable he is. It takes a lot of house and appliance to run life with 14 of us. And yikes, we need a working washing machine! (We have two, but neither were working great this week.)

The rest of us hung out outside. Brayden was eager to mow the lawn some more. Here’s hoping he doesn’t lose that enthusiasm! Elias and Malachi played some frisbie golf in the yard.

We enjoyed a popsicle while we watched them play.

Keith had a soccer game that afternoon. Then we came home and ate leftovers before having bath time and getting to bed.

Big Family Food and Fun: May 3-9, 2026

Sunday morning we ate  Breakfast Cookie Bars before heading out for church. We had a smaller crowd for lunch that day because, well, May is a busy month! There were still 20 of us gathered though, and the smaller crowd allowed us to visit more with people.

I made three packages of Turkey/Cheese Slider Sandwiches and asked guests to bring sides. We had Salad, Strawberries, Pickles, Olives, Chips, and Pasta Salad. It was a great spring lunch! I’d made three batches of Homemade Ice Cream, which finished our meal off perfectly.

We enjoyed Community Group time that afternoon after lunch. I captured this sweet moment from the corner of our kitchen with Malachi and our friend, Nathan, visiting and two of our Community Group friends grabbing coffee before we sat down together. Scenes like this bring me a lot of joy with people enjoying time together, making themselves at home, and helping themselves to coffee and dessert in our kitchen.

Late in the afternoon, we loaded up food and kids and headed to the best park in Lincoln – Mahoney Park. It has recently been renovated and has incredible features.

We spent two and a half hours there that evening – playing and eating. The weather was absolutely perfect!

Before we’d left home, I had baked a Sam’s-sized box of Taquitos and packed them in an insulated bag to stay warm. The kids ate in shifts as they got hungry, enjoying their Taquitos with Carrots and Strawberries then going back to play.

Emma came on Monday morning and the girls had a lot of fun with her dog, Buddy. This is a big deal for Josie who has always been afraid of animals!

After getting school kids out the door, ABA kids settled with therapists, and everyone settled with Emma – I headed out for the morning. I didn’t have as much shopping to do that day, so I just went to Sam’s and Wal-mart. As I was finishing up at Sam’s, I heard a very sweet, familiar voice. I rounded the corner and guess who I found?

Arrow and his mommy, Eva! Arrow was very confused about seeing Lolli at Sam’s and kept asking me, “Brayden?” Kiya?” “Auggie?” It was hard for him to recognize me in a warehouse and without any other kids with me, ha!

He and I walked around while Eva finished shopping. Man, that made my day!

Back at home, Matt was amazing and pulled chicken off of three rotisserie chickens for our upcoming Mother’s Day lunch. I had not been able to figure out what I wanted to do for the special meal with moms: Eva, Kelsey, our friend Cindy whose family was joining us, and me. I needed our meal to be kid friendly, easy to set out after church so that no one had to do much work, and delicious. Stumped, when I was out shopping I decided to let Sam’s tell me what we were having for our meal that day. And suddenly the idea came: Chicken Wraps – with lots of fun toppings like lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, guacamole, peppers, dressing, and cheese. Everyone would be able to make their wrap however they wanted and it would be a win! Thus the three rotisserie chickens Matt needed to prep. What a guy! The chicken went into the freezer and the work of putting this meal together was basically finished six days in advance.

The kids were all very excited to see that I’d bought our first watermelon of the season! They ate it while I cut it for dinner. Then I used the leftover turkey from a meal last week to make Turkey/Cheese/Spinach Quesadillas. I put diced tomatoes on some of them and they turned out delicious!

The weather was gorgeous so we spent the evening outside walking and having therapies.

Our neighbors were watering their lawn and at the end of the night, the little girls and Auggie decided to run through their sprinkler. This was the sweetest! And good timing because we could transition straight into jammies.

On Tuesday, while Auggie and Josie had ABA therapy, I worked with the therapist who comes into our home to work with two of our kids to help with ARFID and attachment. Anna and I drew pictures together as a way to connect.

Hopelyn had been dropped off and was hanging out with Pop. I took a turn playing with her outside and captured this picture of her fancy hair style. How cute is this?

While the little ones snacked later in the morning, I put together a big Cheeseburger Casserole for dinner that night.

We were in desperate need for easy snacks, so I made a double batch of Honey Sweetened Peanut Butter Cups.

Brayden and Keith went with me to serve at our weekly Food Distribution. Junior volunteers get to pick two foods from the giveaway tables as a “thank you” for helping. Keith chose a full loaf of Italian bread, ha! And then he dug right in.

We ran home right away after giving away food and cleaning up, just in time to grab a quick bite, turn Keith over to his ABA therapist, and go to Kiya’s Ukulele and Choir concert.

Brayden had to leave half-way through to get to his school for his Band Concert. Spring is a busy time filled with concerts and programs!

As we were wrapping up our evening and heading to bed, Auggie joined Malorie in making some cookies.

Wednesday was a very big day for Auggie. It started at 6:15 that morning when he and I climbed into the car to go to the surgery center. He needed some major dental work done and it required that he be put to sleep. So while Matt stayed home to get all six of the other kids squared away for the day, Auggie and I spent the morning being brave. The nurses and doctor were amazing with him!

He handled all of this like a rock star and I was amazed at the peace I felt the entire time. Everything went very well and they wheeled a very sleepy Auggie back to me by 8:30.

When we got home, we stayed as calm as possible so Auggie could continue to recover, then he had a good afternoon nap. By the end of the school day, Auggie was back to normal! He jumped right in to “help” with Keith’s latest project – nailing and drilling random pieces of wood together to build…something.

We weren’t sure that Auggie would be up for ABA therapy that night or if Matt and I would be able to have our Wednesday night date. But all was well, so we fed everyone Cheddar Brats and Beef Hot Dogs with Cucumbers, Carrots, and Grapes. Then we left Elias, Malorie, and Malachi in charge while we headed out for a couple of hours!

After the busyness of Wednesday, Thursday felt restful. We got the kids off to school and Josie and Auggie settled in with their ABA technicians. Auggie spent time with his battery-operated “drill” continuing to work on Keith’s project from the night before.

Arrow and Hopelyn were both with us that morning so they got to have cousin time! When they needed a snack, we had a Peaches Picnic.

Dinner that night was fresh and delicious! We’d been given a cabbage, which isn’t something I buy or cook with much. But I turned it into a bowl of Cole Slaw and it really hit the spot! I made Smoked BBQ Chicken Legs, Stir Fried Veggies, Mac and Cheese, and Strawberry Parfaits. So there was something for every person in our house to enjoy – and some of us enjoyed all of it.

The weather was sunny and gorgeous, so we were outside the entire evening. Malachi was so sweet to spend some time playing volleyball with his brother. Brayden has been taking a special PE class this semester that is more on his level of ability – and watching him play that night showed me that he has really grown in confidence and ability!

On Friday morning, Keith and Auggie were excited to help me make a big pan of Granola Bars.

Did we wait until they set up before we dug into them? Of course we did not. :)

Acacia, Josie, and Auggie helped me make four batches of muffins for an upcoming bridal shower I was hosting on Saturday.

At 8:30, I captured this scene in our living room, which shares what mornings look like as we get ABA therapy started for the day. Acacia claimed Auggie’s RBT as soon as he walked in. He works with Auggie for three hours in the morning and with Anna for three hours in the evening. So he’s practically a part of our family now. :) Josie’s RBT was getting logged into her phone app so she could start recording data during her session. The guy there with the computer is the BCBA for Auggie, Anna, and Keith, so he comes several times a week both in the morning and in the evening. Josie’s BCBA showed up soon after I took this picture, so we had all kinds of awesome professionals working with our kiddos from 8:30-11:30. Notice Anna…not putting her shoes on so she could leave for school on time. This, too, is a regular part of our morning routine. :/

Matt got Keith and Anna to school soon after this once we finally were able to get Anna to somewhat cooperate. Brayden gets himself to school by 8:00 and Kiya had left earlier to get to a student council meeting. Justus dropped Hopelyn off with us so he could get some course work done (he’s working on his masters) – so we got a bonus Hopelyn morning! At 9:40, Acacia and I went to Physical Therapy and Speech Therapy.

We got back just in time for the preschool bus. Look how much these two have grown since they started preschool two years ago!

That afternoon, Brayden got to have a special Walk/Run to Zestos outing with his middle school track team. He has been so blessed to be a part of the Unified Track group this season and we are so thankful for the teachers and coaches who pulled him in. Zestos is a fun ice cream shop about a mile from the school. So it is a tradition for the team to end their season there.

Brayden enjoyed a big hot fudge sundae!

Back at home, I started making Pancakes, Sausage, Eggs, and Hashbrowns. Breakfast for dinner is always a hit for everyone!

After we finished getting everyone fed, while the kids were all outside with our three evening RBTs, Matt and I sat down with our BCBA to discuss progress and programming plans for Keith and Anna. This is so helpful so that we can all make sure we are on the same page as we help our kids learn better calming, social, and adapting skills.

After that, Eva’s parents, Randy and Paula, arrived with a car load of food for our Little Free Pantry. Their church group has been incredible to gather groceries once each month to support this ministry. They brought in load after load of food!

I ended the night by making little Pancake/Sausage Sandwiches for kids to eat for future breakfasts.

Saturday morning, Matt took the kids on an outing – with Asa and Justus meeting them with their babies. I hosted a bridal shower at our house, and I wasn’t able to post more that day. So I’ll share all about it next week!

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Big Family Food and Fun: March 15-21, 2026

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Here’s our Big Family Food and Fun: March 15-21, 2026 post!

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

March 14

We had a very full day on Saturday, starting with Sensory Storytime at the library. Justus, Kelsey, and Hopelyn met us there!

When we got home, Keith helped me make some Monster Cookies with some M&Ms someone had given us. I planned to serve these for Sunday Lunch the next day.

We ate leftovers for an early lunch, then we got our house ready to host a Pie Party because it was Pi Day (March 14, 3.14…Pi Day.)

We had invited neighbors and everyone brought a pie to share!

We filled our dining room with people who live close by and have become our friends. This was a wonderful time of visiting, and no one minded eating pie!

Later that afternoon, we loaded up the kids to run around and get more energy out. Overall, our Spring Break had held some very positive pieces. But we had also had some pretty intense behavior needs to deal with because of the lack of normal routine and some trauma triggers for the kids. Matt and I were feeling pretty weary from parenting difficulties at this point in the week, and this outing seemed to be the right solution. Keith had been begging to go to a “real football field” and Matt found one online that promised to be “open to the public.”

When we arrived, the real football field was not, in fact, open to the public. All the gates were locked – BUT – right across the street was some open grass area and a baseball field. We took advantage of this and Keith decided it was good enough. Phew. Some of the other kids decided to throw fits again because they didn’t want to be there. I’d had enough and chose not to give them the negative attention they were asking for. I simply started to take a long (needed) walk around the outside of the field. Soon, the three little girls joined me, and soon after that, all the kids started to play happily.

Matt had brought our Frisbee Golf gear that we had stashed in our storage room, which was extra fun for Keith and Bonus Buddy.

We made it home in time for dinner, which was Hotdogs that had been cooking in a small crock pot plus Cantaloupe and Chips. Then it was bath and bedtime!

Big Family Food and Fun: March 15-21, 2026

Sunday morning, we ate Breakfast Cookie Bars as we got ready for church.

Hopelyn had turned two a few days prior and we took a little gift to her at church that morning.

We hosted a sweet crew of 29 of us for lunch at our house that day.

We enjoyed a delicious Chipotle-Style Burrito Bar with Salsa Chicken, Seasoned Chopped Steak, Stick of Butter Rice, Queso, Beans, Lettuce, Cheese, Salsa, and Avocado. Friends brought Fruit and Broccoli Bacon Salad to round out the meal.

We had Frozen Pizza for dinner as we reset our kitchen and home for the beginning of a new week.

Kiya has been wanting to learn to sew and I had ordered a simple embroidery kit for us to do together. Behaviors had settled a bit, so we were able to sit down and learn to “back stitch.” She did great!

I had prepped an Egg, Sausage, and Hashbrown Casserole on Sunday evening. I baked it while I had my early morning God time on Monday morning.

While the kids were eating, I made a Smoothie and baked a batch of Crustless Cheesecakes.

We got the kids settled in with ABA therapy or school – then I headed out for the day. My first stop was Aldi, where I got a lot of good deals but forgot to take a picture. Then I went to Walmart, where I didn’t find a lot of good deals, but I did score BIG on Corned Beef Briskets that were being marked down just as I was walking by! They went from $6.28/pound to just $1.99/pound! So I grabbed a cart full of briskets for around $5 each. :)

My last shopping stop was Costco where I got lots of fresh produce, chicken broth, milk, cream, chocolate chips, frozen pizza, snacks, and look at this huge pile of kids’ clothes! Those were all clearanced out at $3.00 per set. Amazing!

I spent the next two hours sitting at Panera writing with a cup of coffee. It was glorious.

Back at home, we unloaded and put away all the groceries – a huge job! Then it was go-time again with kids and therapies. I had used the last of our Chipotle Steak from Sunday’s lunch to make a Steak and Cheesy Potato Casserole, which cooked in the crock pot all day. We had a couple of salad kits that had expired, so I used the packets of add-ins from each kit and some fresh spinach to make salads to go with our casserole.

Tuesday morning was ROUGH with some kids super dysregulated as we tried to get ready for school and therapies. I was in tears by the time our Christian therapist showed up to work with us, which actually was very good timing so that she could see more of the reality that goes on at our house. She took over with the struggling kiddo while I took Anna to do our attachment work. We shared a sparkling water (two straws, hehe) and put a puzzle together. Is this little girl beautiful or what?

Meanwhile, in the living room…

Josie is still getting to know her behavior technician for ABA so they were reading books with Acacia looking on too. Matt had Auggie and Hopelyn engaged in building mega blocks and my body had finally calmed down after the tough morning. With so many kids to help stay regulated, guess who else gets dysregulated? This mama. Phew.

That afternoon, I took Brayden and Kiya to serve at our weekly Food Distribution.

We arrived back home to this scene – a slinky stretched between Matt and one of our ABA techs, the kids jumping over it without getting caught by the “snake” and don’t look now, but I think there was another kid under that big box.

Dinner was as simple as can be. I had slow cooked one of the Beef Briskets that I’d picked up marked down the day before. It was so tender that it cut like butter and all the kids enjoyed it! We ate it with green beans and toasted hoagies.

On Wednesday morning, I baked batches of Flourless Banana Chocolate Blender Muffins and Spinach Cupcakes.

Arrow came for the day and Matt went to York for the day to do some work on our rental property. Josie and Auggie had ABA therapy all morning so Acacia got to spend special time with Arrow. The two of them grocery shopped in our pantry – so cute!

We spent several hours outside because it was sunny and beautiful!

It was definitely picnic weather!

For dinner that night, I baked a Meatloaf that I’d found in the freezer. I had picked up several boxes of Scalloped Potatoes at Aldi that had been marked down super cheap so I made those with our Meatloaf. They were only so-so and definitely tasted processed. What did I expect? Ha. We had steamed peas and grapes to make up for it. :)

It was our date night, so we left our younger kids behind with therapists and older kids. Matt and I took advantage the beautiful weather and spent our time walking around Holmes Lake.

Hopelyn joined us Thursday morning. We were able to be outside almost all day, enjoying wonderful sunshine!

When Kelsey came to pick her up that afternoon, she stuck around for a while helping with kids and helping me make a big batch of Poptarts. Instead of making dough from scratch, I used some pie crust I had in the freezer. This made this come together pretty quickly!

I took advantage of the great weather and smoked Chicken Legs for dinner. Kiya made Caesar Salad to go with our chicken, plus I set out the rest of yesterday’s Spinach Cupcakes for people to grab to round out their meal. This chicken tastes so incredibly good and is very inexpensive!

Kelsey and Hopelyn stayed and had dinner with us while Justus was at worship rehearsal. We had three ABA sessions going on and a major meltdown that lasted four hours. Bed felt good that night.

We ate our Poptarts with milk on Friday morning before school and ABA therapy. Matt and I were triple booked that morning with meetings and appointments. So Malachi was sweet to take Acacia to her Speech and Physical Therapies. Acacia was incredibly excited to get to ride in Malachi’s car and to introduce him to her therapists. Matt stayed home with the ABA kiddos while I headed to school for an important meeting for one of our kids.

Just after lunch and sending Acacia and Josie off on the preschool bus, we loaded up Auggie and went to Asa and Eva’s new house!! They’d had an incredibly full few weeks packing and selling their former house and closing on their new house. We are so excited for them! Justus met us there with Hopelyn so I could take her back to our house for a nap while he helped unload the truck. Matt stayed behind to help also, with Malachi bringing him back home later.

The timing worked out for Auggie and Hopelyn to simply fall asleep on the way home for naptime. Here’s how that went…

They did eventually take naps at the house, and their belly laughs on the way there were priceless.

Dinner that night was a very easy meal of Chicken, Fries, Oranges, and Pickles.

When the adults of our home gather in the kitchen to chat, it’s my favorite.

Saturday was a super full day, so I’ll add those pictures to next week’s post!

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