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Big Family Grocery Spending for December, 2024

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Here’s our Big Family Grocery Spending for December, 2024 post!

Here’s how we spent our grocery budget for our large household during the month of December. We fed 12 people three meals each day, plus a lot of wonderful guests. In fact, because of Christmas and lots of birthdays and other fun get-togethers this month, we had many meals with more than 12 people. It’s been awesome!

Because of the larger meals and crowds, we’ve had more frequent grocery store trips so that we could keep up with food needs. And how did the budget fare? Well, we went over. But only by a little, somehow. :) Read until the end to see how our grocery budgeted averaged out during the entire year!

Big Family Grocery Spending for December, 2024

1. Aldi

On December 2, I ran into Aldi to grab all of our “Aldi essentials.” I got fruit/veggie pouches for Auggie, crackers, a case of salsa, whole milk yogurt, milk, canned corn (because it was on sale for $0.50), Caesar salad kits, blackberries, and sausage.

Total for groceries at Aldi: $116.36

2. Sam’s

December 3, I was halfway to Sam’s while at Speech Therapy for Auggie. So after his appointment, I took him with me to get some of our Sam’s essentials. We stocked up on our favorite peanut butter, plus got chips, potatoes, apples, grapes, pears, cheese sticks, yogurt squeezies, whole milk yogurt, rotel, and coffee creamer. I was excited to find chicken breasts and beef roasts marked down for quick sale so I grabbed those.

Total for groceries at Sam’s $213.59

3. Honest Abe’s

Remember how we used to have Elias take Brayden out for Bro Time? Elias has a new job now that is very intense as he deals with high need kids all day (kind of sounds like what Elias’ parents do all day, huh?). Because of this, we don’t have a regularly scheduled Bro Time any more. But we have started sending both Brayden and Kiya out with Elias and Malorie from time to time on Monday evenings for a special dinner out.

A local restaurant here in Lincoln called Honest Abe’s offers half price kids meals on Monday nights. This gives everyone a burger and fries and drink for right around $4.00! Amazing. On December 9, the four of them headed out to pick up their dinner. Elias and Malorie help the kids figure out what they want and give them the chance to order by themselves (a skill Matt and I don’t/can’t provide for them because eating out as a family with so many littles is too complicated and too expensive.

Overall, this is a WIN and the kids love this time with Elias and Malorie. This night, the restaurant was too crowded so they brought their food home to eat.

Total at Honest Abe’s: $27.35

4. Wal-Mart

On December 11, we took the four youngest kids to Walmart to pick up the girls’ WIC items plus a few other needed groceries. I found day-old (refrigerated) Rotisserie chicken marked down to just $2.02 each so I got two of those. We got lots of fruits and veggies, eggs, rice, pasta, cereal, milk, and cheese, all covered by WIC benefits. And I picked up some Caesar salad kits, pickles, and ham.

Total out of pocket at Wal-Mart: $32.50

5. Aldi

After we left Walmart that day, we went just up the road to Aldi. I ran in and got fruit/veggie pouches for Auggie, raspberries, oranges, zucchini, butter, yogurt, granola, baking items, sausage, deli ham, pasta sauce, fritos, and three large packages of boneless chicken thighs on sale for just $2.49/pound.

Total for food at Aldi: $155.95

6. Walmart 

On December 19, I ran into Walmart to get milk, sour cream, lime juice, a few last minute items for Christmas, plus the last of our WIC benefits. As always, I checked for meat markdowns and scored Boneless Chicken Thighs for just over $2/pound! I bought six packages.

Total out of pocket at Walmart: $57.67

7. Costco

From there, we went to Costco and semi-filled two carts. We needed Christmas celebration food plus regular groceries and produce. We got pears, apples, oranges, grapes, broccoli, blueberries, cream cheese, cream, half and half (marked down to $0.97!!), avocado mash, white queso, guacamole, crackers, two kinds of dips, several kinds of cheese, meatballs, chicken nuggets, tator tots, french fries, fish sticks, yogurt squeezies, applesauce cups, chicken broth, avocado oil spray, and frozen pizza.

Total for food at Costco: $395.59

8. Krispie Kreme

December 20 was Malachi’s 20th birthday. He and a bunch of his buddies spent the night at our house, and he requested donuts for breakfast. I didn’t get a photo of the whole crew, but I got this one when these two got home with the donuts.

Total for Malachi’s donuts: $14.99

9. Sam’s

On December 23, I braved the crowds and went to Sam’s for a few more Christmas food needs, everyday fruit and vegetable needs, and upcoming birthday meals. I got pasta sauce, apple sauce, hamburger meat, sliced cheese, shredded cheese, bacon, cucumbers, bananas, carrots, Caesar salad, mandarin oranges, spinach, veggie straws, coffee creamer, apples, brownie mix, cottage cheese, peanut butter, coffee, orange chicken, oatmeal, gluten free pizza, pickles, brown sugar, fruit strips, and coconut crisps.

Total for food at Sam’s: $310.19

10. Walmart

From Sam’s, I ran to the next parking lot for a few items at Walmart: lasagna noodles, gluten free nuggets, frozen hashbrowns, onion rings, ham, and fake oreos (for birthday brownies).

Total at $54.14

11. Cane’s

Our Christmas tradition has become: make Chicken Strips at home for Christmas lunch after opening gifts, and buy a big container of Raising Cane’s Sauce to go with the chicken. This makes for an easy meal for mom, a perfect meal to accommodate picky kids, and a special way to enjoy our family’s favorite sauce. I picked up a 32-ounce cup of sauce to put in our fridge for the big day.

Total for our Cane’s Sauce: $7.65

12. Arby’s Fries

Matt had some coupons in his wallet for $1 fries at Arby’s, limit 3. So we took advantage one day to treat the kids after an outing to the Children’s Museum.

Total for fries: $3.28

13. Walmart

On December 27, I went to Wal-Mart to check for Ham marked down after Christmas. I found some for $1/pound!! I picked up four, plus found hamburger meat ($3.34/pound) and ground chicken ($2.41/pound) marked down. I also needed Caesar salad, spring mix, and barbecue sauce so I grabbed those.

Total for food at Walmart: $101.77

14. Aldi

I went to Aldi that day also, getting fruit and veggie pouches for Auggie, fresh pineapple on sale, whole milk yogurt, and meat mark-downs. Two packages of boneless chicken thighs were marked down half-price making them just $1.75/pound. Two packages of boneless chicken tenderloins were half-price at $1.99/pound. Plus grass fed hamburger meat was on sale for $4.80/pound. Pork loin was on sale for $1.89/pound so I got one. It was a great meat day and our freezer got filled up!

Total at Aldi: $110.17

15. Wal-mart

Elias and Malorie went to a different Walmart a few days later and I couldn’t resist asking them to check for $0.50/pound hams. Sure enough, they had a bunch so they picked up four more hams for me. It’s hard to pass up such an amazing price for meat that gives us several meals or that will feed thirty people at a Sunday lunch!

Total for four spiral cut hams: $20.20

Total grocery spending for December: $1458

— > Without WIC, our total this month would have been closer to $1658. <—–

If you recall, at the beginning of this year, I decided to keep running totals of everything we spent on groceries each month. I also decided to increase our budget to $1,400/month for food because we feed so many people and my previous $1,200/month average was causing unnecessary stress.

We’ve had adults move in and out of our home all year long. Most of the year, we had 13 people living here, sometimes 14, and now there are 12.

Here’s the breakdown of what we ended up spending each month during 2024…

Summary/Average for groceries during 2024

January: $1,178
February: $849
March: $1,356
April: $1148
May: 1091
June: $1,121
July: $1,190
August: $1,611
September: $1,218
October: $1,345
November: $1,150
December: $1,458

Grand total for 2024: $14,715

That’s a lot of groceries. :)

Grocery Budget Plan for 2025

Watch for a post detailing what we’re planning to change and keep the same for our 2025 grocery budget!

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

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Here’s our Big Family Food and Fun: December 15-21, 2024 post!

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

Saturday evening, as part of our Sabbath time of delight, we took the kids out to look at Christmas lights before bed.

Sunday morning, we ate a plate of Breakfast Cookies into Bars that I’d made a few days before.

Pop got to snuggle a sleepy Little Sweetheart during worship time that morning. Anna wasn’t feeling well, poor thing.

We had an amazing full house for lunch that day with 29 of us altogether. I had made a large roaster full of Spicy Ham and Potato Soup last Friday, and simply rewarmed it (with the help of Kelsey who got to the house after church before we did that day). Some friends who joined us brought food also and we had a feast with soup, salads, breads, chips, fruit, and cakes.

I love it when the dining room and the living room tables are full of dear ones.

We had an extra special “Pigmas Party” at Heartlands church that night! It was reverse of the Christmas in July idea with a…Barbecue in December! One church member smoked a bunch of pulled pork for all of us (it was amazing!). Everyone brought desserts. It was a wonderful time of fellowship.

There was an ugly sweater contest and I was definitely in the running with my hideous flamingo sweater with matching (um, clashing) earrings and hair bows!

The kids had fun trying on items from the photo booth.

The evening ended with Justus and two friends entertaining us with some fun Christmas music.

Monday morning, I scrambled a dozen eggs and warmed up bacon I’d baked last week. I got out a jar of Smoothie I’d made the day before for Matt and me.

While the kids were playing that morning, Auggie found Keith’s Husker helmet. It weighed him down, so he didn’t wear it for long. But he did wear it proudly. :)

I wrapped presents that afternoon while drinking cold coffee with cream to power me through. :)

I had to take Keith to an appointment after school, so I got dinner out before I left to make dinnertime easier for Matt, Elias, and Malorie. I had two Quiche (or is it quiches? nope, I looked it up. quiche.) in the freezer from a previous meal, so Matt warmed up individual pieces in our air fryer and it tasted great!

—> By the way, I’d intentionally made extra Quiche a few weeks ago, knowing I’d have leftovers to freeze. If I’m going to get out ingredients to make one meal, I might as well make double the food using the same amount of effort, right? Having pre-made food in the freezer like this saves me on busy nights! <—

With the Quiche, we had Spinach with salad dressing, Oranges, and Pears.

MONDAY NIGHT FUN:

As we were finishing dinner that night, Matt discovered (…wait for it…) a squirrel in our pantry.

We have no idea how it got into our house, though our neighbors had told us they had a similar thing happen a few weeks ago. WHAT?

Have you ever tried keeping seven trauma-kids calm while there’s a squirrel in the pantry? Well.

Malorie helped me keep the kids occupied in the kitchen, dining room, or living room while Elias and Matt did everything they could to trap the squirrel, then set it free outside. It was not an easy task, but there were enticing peanuts involved.

All that to say, getting everyone settled in for the night wasn’t easy (as if it ever is easy?!).

Oy. But there’s more.

Tuesday morning, I had to get Auggie to Speech Therapy in the midst of getting the other kids off to school, so we had a simple breakfast of Yogurt with Granola. I also set out the Pancake Sausage Muffins I’d made last week (that failed to rise) for any of the kids who wanted those. Meanwhile, Kiya made herself a ham sandwich with spinach for lunch and I drank my morning smoothie.

ALSO DURING BREAKFAST

Elias usually leaves for work around 7:20 but walked out and came right back into the house announcing that his car had locked him out somehow. Did I mention that his car was running?!

Our extra car isn’t running right now so I was no help because I needed to van for Auggie’s appointment. So he quickly grabbed Malorie’s keys and took her car (later Malorie took his car to work). He made it to work just in time.

Matt watched a YouTube video in an effort to learn how to break into a car (hahahaha). But he isn’t burglar enough, so it didn’t work. He finally gave in and called a locksmith who had it unlocked very quickly once he arrived. I texted this picture to Elias, letting him know that an hour and twenty minutes later, his car (that had been running that entire time) had most definitely defrosted and was nice and warm.

And then I texted Elias that between the kids’ frequently challenging behavior/needs, the squirrel in our pantry last night, and the hubbub of the morning with the car situation – if we hadn’t scared Malorie off by now, ain’t nothing going to scare her off.

Malorie is a keeper.

All of that was before 8:25, in which I was also trying to get kids ready and off to school plus get Auggie ready to leave for Speech Therapy. Arriving at the clinic with Auggie felt like a vacation for me.

This is his third week, so he warmed up to his therapist much more quickly this morning and was ready to play!

After therapy, he got to pick a sticker. I kid you not, look at what Auggie innocently picked out:

I texted the above picture to Matt, Elias, and Malorie saying,

Of all the stickers Auggie could pick after therapy today, he chose this one. Too soon, buddy, too soon.

PHEW.

Back at home, we worked together to get the girls ready for school. Bubble braids for the win!

Anna still wasn’t feeling well and it had affected her appetite. Mac and Cheese sounded good to her so I made some for the kids’ lunch before the bus came. But, silly as it might sound, I cried when I made it.

Our Bonus Buddy moved out a few weeks ago and we miss him terribly. Mac and cheese is one of the few foods he likes, so I haven’t brought myself to make it since he left. Ugh. Silly mac and cheese. Salted with tears.

We got two out of three little girls on the bus and I tucked Anna and Auggie (and Little Sweetheart, who was hanging with us that morning) in for naps. I took a minute to breathe, then scrubbed potatoes and put them into a crock pot for dinner.

After school, I picked up the three elementary kids and we headed to our weekly Food Distribution site to hand out food and help clean up. At the very end of our time, Keith helped Mr. Jim scrub spots on the carpet.

When we got home, we enjoyed Baked Potatoes with Bacon and Cheese, plus Caesar Salad.

As we finished feeding the kids, Kelsey texted to let us know that some Christmas Carolers might be stopping by. We got the kids ready to meet them outside, not knowing exactly who would be coming. It turned out to be Justus and Kelsey plus two friends we’ve been getting to know and love. Auggie immediately made himself a part of the group. :) I was only able to take a fuzzy picture through my tears. It was so beautiful and precious to be loved on by these four dear ones.

Wednesday, I spent the morning cleaning out two different rooms because when there are this many people living in a house, clutter is not welcome and makes me a little bit crazy. Somewhere during the morning, I found a few chap sticks. So Josie helped Auggie put some on.

Acacia and Josie got a present from their teacher at school that day, and the best place to unwrap it was in the doorway of the kitchen on the floor.

Josie, who apparently didn’t need to take her coat off all day, helped me make salad for dinner that night.

We ate our salad with all the random leftovers we pulled out of our fridge.

Then we loaded up our van with everyone who lives at our house to enjoy a Drive Through Christmas Show. With 12 people in a 12-passenger van that is 9′ tall, we maxed out the limits for who could drive through on one purchased vehicle ticket (12 people with a 10′ height limit, phew).

We got to drive through twice, making it a great outing!

Back at home and ready for bed, Daddy read one of the girls’ new books that their teacher had given them as a gift.

Thursday morning I baked 16 eggs and made 16 Breakfast Sandwiches. Keith helped me stir up the eggs.

We took the four youngest kids to Costco that morning to get stocked up on regular groceries plus everything we needed for Christmas. For a Thursday, we were shocked at how busy Costco was. If it’s that busy on a weekday six days before Christmas, we sure are glad we didn’t wait to go any closer to the 25th!

For dinner that night, we had a double batch of Hearty Bean Casserole with a peeled 3-pound bag of Clementines and Buttered Rolls. It was a super simple meal and everyone gobbled it up.

Friday was Malachi’s 20th birthday! A bunch of his friends came to the Castle Thursday night and they spent the night and day here. It was marvelous.

That morning, I put Chicken Thighs into a crock pot with Italian dressing to slow cook all day for our dinner that night.

Malachi and his friend Allan were the first ones up Friday morning, so they went out to get birthday donuts for the crew. (I vowed to take pictures of all the guys later and got exactly none. Boo.)

Mid-morning, Matt and I took the youngest four kids to the WIC clinic for an appointment.

For the first time ever, Josie and Acacia confidently allowed the nurse to weigh and measure them.

Acacia is barely on the charts for her height (2nd percentile). We call this high spirited girl Tiny-but-Mighty. That’s our Acacia.

Back at home, Justus had dropped Little Sweetheart off with Malorie.

Then Eva dropped off Arrow a few minutes later.

Acacia took over their care until the preschool bus came. :)

That evening, everyone gathered to celebrate Malachi’s birthday. He had requested Chicken Alfredo. I shredded the chicken that had been slow cooking all day, boiled two pounds of noodles, steamed broccoli, made salad, and warmed up a jar of red sauce for those who didn’t want Alfredo. I also set out some fruit to stretch the meal.

 

Malachi’s birthday dessert request was Butterscotch Bars – a family favorite. With the extreme busyness of the week, I was so thankful I had some baked, cut, and already in the freezer! We passed the plate of bars around the table, but first, Malachi blew out his birthday candle.

After dinner the mamas and daddies took their babies home for bed and I put on a Christmas movie for the kids. The rest of the grown ups (and Brayden!) worked upstairs to move and set up furniture. Matt has been working during every free moment of the past few months to redo the boys’ room ceiling. It’s been a major project and the boys have been displaced in the meantime. We are so thankful they can move back into their room! Here the guys are, rebuilding the bunk bed.

Saturday, we spent time cleaning and regrouping after the bedroom transition the night before. The girls also helped me get some baking done so we can deliver goodies to our neighbors!

I loved that all the little girls wanted to help me sweep. Ugh, check out the window blinds that are broken (and there are more not pictured in this photo). This is the room the boys lived in while Matt was repairing theirs. Wayyyyy too many of the blinds got messed up thanks to ADHD and whatever else has yet to be diagnosed. :)

Here’s the final product of our morning baking adventures. We made five loaves of Apple Bread and five loaves of Eggnog Bread. (In case you click over to get this fun recipe, you should know that I cheated and used store-bought eggnog.) We plan to put these loaves in a clear bag and tie them with ribbon, then walk through our neighborhood handing them out.

The rest of the day was spent doing more cleaning, giving baths, getting haircuts, and getting ready for our Sabbath rest. And that was our week!

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Big Family Food and Fun: December 8-14, 2024

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Here’s our Big Family Food and Fun: December 8-14, 2024 post!

Big Family Food and Fun: December 8-14, 2024

Last Saturday evening, we pulled out our special candles (the battery operated kind that doesn’t involve actual fire) to kick off our Sabbath. We try to use our meal time to teach our kids more scripture and more about God’s love for them.

We ate Chicken Nuggets, Fries, and had special Coconut Cakes that a friend had made. Mealtime, in general, at our house is loud and hectic. Per their usual, the kids didn’t get the memo this week again that Sabbath is supposed to be restful and a time of delight. :/ BUT, we’re going to keep doing this anyway because it’s important to us to set aside this 24-hours to have a work-free mindset and to try and engage with our kids and our community in a different way.

Church on Sunday was wonderful and Spirit-filled. After worship, our kids got to participate in a ministry that was so good for them. A few weeks prior, we’d grabbed some Gift Tags that allowed us to purchase gifts for kids in Lincoln who may not otherwise have anything under their trees. Matt and I pulled enough tags for each of our kids to pick a toy for another child their age. We shopped with them individually online so they could pick their gift. Then this Sunday, they got to hand off their gift to the people facilitating this ministry.

The kids were so proud of the gift they’d chosen and loved handing it over. We have a lot of chaos and frustration with behaviors at our house. But THIS. Involving our kids in ways to serve like this shows that their hearts are loving and good. We will keep finding opportunities for them like this. It is a win.

There was a lunch meeting after church that day that most of our regular Sunday Lunch people were involved with. So we invited a different family that we had been looking forward to spending time with. Our meal was smaller and very simple: A pot of Chili with cheese, sour cream, and Fritos, Muffins, Carrots, and Grapes.

We set out the last of the Coconut Cakes from our friend and a plate of Christmas Spice Cookies for dessert.

There were 18 of us sharing our meal that day. It was lovely and peaceful.

The weather was unusually warm, so the kids played outside most of the afternoon.

Keith and Anna wanted to help me make Pizza that night for our dinner.

Keith was very proud to turn his pepperoni into a happy face.

I only had two crusts in the freezer, so I made a small dish of Crustless Pizza to go with the regular pizza. Brayden declared the crustless version to be the best pizza he’d ever eaten and begged me to please do this every time. :)

Monday was a catch-up day and also a get-ahead day. Our meals consisted entirely of leftovers as we pulled out and warmed up random items all day long as needed. Not cooking meals freed me to make a large Lasagna Casserole to eat Tuesday night before a music concert for Brayden and Kiya.

The girls helped me make a batch of Chocolate Banana Blender Muffins.

Worth noting: Having all this “help” in my kitchen will be great some day. Meanwhile, this day it distracted me and I forgot to add the coconut oil I’d melted on the stove for these muffins. They still tasted ok, but were a bit crumbly. Meh.

That evening, since we just had leftover tidbits, Anna helped everyone choose a (low fat) muffin, ha, to round out our meal.

Malachi came over for a while that evening!

Every once in a while, Elias and Malorie take both Brayden and Kiya out on Mondays for some Big Bro Big Sis time. This is very good for them! A local restaurant offers half-price kids meals on Mondays so that was their destination. The restaurant was packed that night so they brought their food home to eat.

Tuesday mornings, I leave early to take Auggie to Speech Therapy. I scrambled 12 eggs before I left and the kids ate them with Chocolate Banana Blender Muffins. Malorie helped Matt get the other kids to school.

The rest of the day was spent playing, caring for Little Sweetheart, and getting Brayden and Kiya ready for their school concert that night. I baked the Lasagna Casserole for a very early dinner and warmed up leftover green beans, two cans of corn, sliced pears, and made a salad.

We got everyone out the door to enjoy Brayden singing and playing his ukulele on stage.

Then, both Brayden and Kiya sang fun songs together with their friends. It was an awesome evening, with all of our older kids making the effort to be there and support. I wasn’t able to get a picture, but there 20 of us in the fan club. I’m so thankful for our Bigs and how they love the Littles.

Wednesday morning, we ate yogurt and granola for breakfast. I asked Kiya to help me get out the granola options, and as I shared last week, her personality was shining as she got everything set out just so. :)

After we got the elementary kids off to school, we loaded up the other four and headed to Walmart and Aldi for groceries.

Back at home, I made a double recipe of Breakfast Cookies into Bars. I really like having these in the freezer to pull out on Sunday mornings for an effortless breakfast.

Arrow spent the afternoon with us. This was Keith’s reaction when he got home from school and realized that Arrow was hanging out in the kitchen with us.

I got out raspberries to go with our dinner – and the girls discovered them as soon as they got off the school bus. At dinnertime, here’s what I had left to offer. :)

I made a big Taco Bar for dinner with Crusted Tilapia (from Costco) and Seasoned Beef. I made a pan of Stick of Butter Rice to help stretch the meal, plus we had shredded cheese, queso, salsa, cilantro, lettuce, black beans, tortillas, and chips.

After we all ate our fill, I took all the tidbits of leftovers and stirred them together into a Burrito Casserole for a future meal.

Thursday morning, we warmed up some bags of Breakfast Sandwiches that I’d made last week and frozen. This photo doesn’t look like much, just the tail end of some bags of Breakfast Sandwiches, plus oranges and the Salad Matt and I drink every day. :) Mornings are so fancy around here.

Throughout the day, I worked on putting together a triple batch of Spicy Ham and Potato Soup to rewarm for our upcoming Sunday Lunch. It has hard for me not to dip into it because this is my favorite soup. Or maybe this one is. Meh, I love both!

Brayden had another music concert that night – this time for band. We ate an early dinner again of two Rotisserie Chickens (that I’d picked up marked down to just $2.02 at Walmart the day before!) with Mashed Potatoes (instant from Azure Standard), Fried Zucchini, and Stuffing.

These kids just began learning instruments so we were proud of what they’ve learned so far.

Malorie and Elias helped us hold down a row full of restless kids throughout the concert. Thank goodness I’d packed snacks (for the kids, not for M and E). ;)

We got home and rewarded everyone (especially the adults who had survived the second concert of the week managing a row full of littles) with a piece of fudge before bed. Keith had helped me make it that morning and he was proud!

Friday morning the kids ate cold cereal for breakfast. I made a pan of Peanut Butter Honey Rice Krispie Bars to have on hand for easy snacks.

I’ve been needing to give this fella a hair cut but it’s hard to find the time (and honestly, the motivation). He has curls when we get his hair wet, but then it turns to this after playing and putting on hats to go outside. I attempted to take a “before” picture and he refused to smile for me, making for a perfect “please cut my hair because I am pitiful” photo. :)

While he sat at the kitchen counter, I cut off about an inch of hair. He is never impressed with hair cuts, and this time was no exception. But look how sweet!! And how grown up he looks.

I wrapped some presents that afternoon – one of my favorite parts of holiday prep!

For dinner that night, I boiled a pound of noodles and warmed up leftovers from Thursday’s rotisserie chicken. Typically I make homemade Alfredo Sauce but this time I just opened a jar of sauce from Aldi. We had all of this with Steamed Broccoli. Then we put on pajamas and headed to Heartlands church for a Christmas Movie Night for the kids.

The older kids watched the Muppets movie in one room.

And the younger kids watched The Grinch in another room. Everyone enjoyed popcorn and mix-ins. The kids loved this!

Saturday morning was pretty chill as we let the kids watch some Christmas shows while I got some work done in the kitchen. I mixed up a quadruple batch of Cream Cheese Cut-Out Cookies so that we could work on them together throughout the morning.

Reminder if you’re making cookies with kids: DO IT LIKE THIS. Unless you love Christmas cookie stress, of course.

I also made a big batch of Pancake Sausage Muffins to help us through the next week as we finish up getting ready for Christmas. We make lots of Breakfast Sandwiches to make early mornings easier for adults when they head to work. So I thought maybe Pancake Sausage Muffins would be a nice change of pace. Also, at this time, Kiya baked a cake for our Sunday lunch. She’d gotten the mix for her birthday and was excited to use it.

I have no idea what I did wrong on with the Pancake Sausage Muffins, but they did not rise. Did I forget the baking powder? We’ll never know. Either way, they taste fine and I packaged them up for easy breakfasts.

Then I brought the kids in a few at a time to roll and cut out Cream Cheese Cut-Out Cookies. First the girls.

Then the boys.

Phew! Got ’em done! (We’ll decorate another day.)

After the kitchen got cleaned up, we made some Christmas crafts at our living room table.

We cleaned out the fridge to eat leftovers for lunch. Then we spent the rest of the day watching a Christmas movie, picking up the house, and getting ready to move into our time of Sabbath rest.

And that was our week!

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Big Family Food and Fun: November 17-23, 2024

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Here’s our Big Family Food and Fun: November 17-23, 2024 post!

Big Family Food and Fun: November 17-23, 2024

On Saturday, November 16, Elias and Malorie took Keith on an outing to celebrate his birthday last week. This is something they’ve started doing for each birthday kid, and it’s so special for them. Here’s Keith at Scheels with a big bear!

Saturday evening, we enjoyed Cheeseburger Soup (this recipe with hamburger instead of ham) and quesadillas.

Malachi happened to be at our house at dinner time, so he got to experience our Sabbath kick-off meal with candles and special prayer time.

We’d made Breakfast Cookie Bars the day before so that all we had to do on Sunday morning was open the package and eat.

Is there anything better than baby-bed-head and footie pajamas?

We had a special Kids Ministry event after church that Sunday. Families brought lunch and we set it out potluck style to eat together.

Then we did THAT WHICH IS CRAZY, but also wonderful: We all went to Walmart together on a Sunday afternoon. Kids and families worked as teams to purchase items from lists that were provided for us. Our goal was to fill several Little Free Pantries around Lincoln.

It was a hectic but absolutely beautiful process to see so many Heartlands kids and families working together to fill carts. Our friends, Matt, Terra, and Mandy all helped our kids and Matt and I were SO GRATEFUL for this. Phew, it takes a village, and ours is so wonderful.

Self-check out went smoothly with our friend Matt…

Then we met up with other families who had finished their lists. Everyone left from Walmart to fill their assigned pantries.

Matt and Terra helped us load our van, but we planned to fill our pantry later in the week because we had to get back home for our Community Group.

Dinner that night was three frozen pizzas (there were only 10 of us eating that night) and a bunch of apples sliced up.

We enjoyed a turkey craft around the living room table that evening.

At bedtime, Josie pretended to play the guitar as she sang her own version of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. So precious.

Monday morning for breakfast, we ate the last of the Breakfast Cookie Bars with a dozen scrambled eggs and a container of applesauce. I spent the morning getting some much needed cleaning done on our second floor. When it was time to watch for the preschool school bus, we had to stay on the front porch because it was pouring down rain.

Auggie and I hung back while Daddy umbrella’d everyone to the bus. You might notice one little girl in a blue jacket who refused to look at the camera (above) and refused to walk under the umbrella (below). No worries, Matt and I are also stubborn and willing to work hard to win the hearts of these children for Jesus.

The rain continued all day and evening. We had Sausage and Cheese Quiche for dinner with Steamed Brocccoli and Clementines. Then we worked hard to keep everyone entertained on a rainy night.

Tuesday morning, I baked four pans of bacon for sandwiches and to have on hand to rewarm easily.

Later that morning, I put together 12 sub sandwiches (similar to this) to toast for our dinner that night.

Brayden, Kiya, Keith, and I went to serve at our weekly Food Distribution site that afternoon after school.

We came home to Toasted Subs and Tomato Soup.

Wednesday morning it was cold enough that we had to finally dig out all of our heavy winter coats. After we got the elementary kids to school, we bundled up the youngest four and headed to the Children’s Museum.

Dinner that night was a fun treat that we’d brought home from Tuesday’s Food Distribution: restaurant chicken patties that had been donated. We air fried them and put them in buns for sandwiches. I warmed up leftover noodles and steamed green beans to go with our meal.

I got out a puzzle to see who might be interested, and these three cooperated and had a blast putting it together THREE TIMES. It’s a puzzle miracle.

Meanwhile, Acacia put together these while Auggie kept taking out the pieces she put in. :)

Thursday morning, we enjoyed a loaf of Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bread that I had in the freezer and thawed the night before. I scrambled 12 eggs to go with it.

We loaded up the four youngest that morning and went to Walmart and Costco. We got restocked on fresh fruits and veggies plus several other Costco essentials.

We were blessed that afternoon with an Arrow visit…

…and one from Little Sweetheart too! Lolli and Pop are so thankful to live close to grandbabies. :)

When the kids got home from school, we got out a container of strawberries that we’d picked up at Costco for them to snack on. Two pounds of strawberries later…

…we loaded up all eight kid and headed a few blocks away to the Little Free Pantry we had planned to fill up. The groceries our group had purchased together on Sunday were still in the back of our van and we finally had a chance to fill the pantry.

As we were filling it, a gentleman came to shop. Perfect timing!! We enjoyed meeting him and vising, then handed him a bag to fill up as we were leaving. If you have any Little Free Pantries in your area, I encourage you to fill them with your family if you are able. It’s a need in our neck of the woods, and it is so great to teach our kids this way of loving our neighbors.

When we got home, we warmed up leftover Hotdogs and ate them with Raspberries and Baked Beans.

Everyone was getting a little too rowdy after dinner, so we gathered them around the living room table for a craft.

Elias and Malorie made something else for their dinner later that evening and Josie wanted to help. This was only made possible with an apron.

After the kids and I went to bed that night, Matt put a Pork Butt into a crock pot to slow cook all night so we could have it ready for our Sunday Lunch. Friday morning, we shredded it and let it cool before refrigerating it.

We had picked up 8-pounds of ground beef at Costco the day before, so I browned it while the kids ate breakfast.

I also made a big pan of Peanut Butter Honey Rice Krispie Bars. These are so fast and easy to make!

Matt took the four elementary kids to school while I stayed back with the youngest four. Auggie had an in-home appointment with an Early Development Special Ed Teacher to help him as we try to get him caught up on speech and social/emotional skills.

Both grandbabies got dropped off that morning and Malorie helped us out as we enjoyed them.

Later that afternoon, I turned some of the cooked beef into a huge pan of Creamy Layered Enchiladas to put into the freezer for a future Sunday Lunch.

I’d picked up a London Broil marked down at the store the day before and cooked it for dinner that night. It turned out tasty! I made six boxes of mac and cheese, which the kids ate with frozen peas. Plus we finished off another two pounds of strawberries.

The kids had been looking forward to our plans to put up the Christmas tree that evening! They all “worked together” to help while Matt and I tried to maintain order.

Brayden and Kiya have helped assemble the tree for the past few years so they did a really good job directing the others in what to do. We didn’t get the project finished that night, but we got the hardest parts finished.

Saturday morning, we finished decorating the tree.

It’s always a relief to have that job done – and now we can just enjoy the beauty. And hopefully we can keep Auggie from taking it all apart. :)

The rest of the day, we cleaned, ate leftovers, and prepared for Sabbath rest. And that was our week!

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Big Family Food and Fun: October 27-November 2, 2024

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Here’s our Big Family Food and Fun: October 27-November 2, 2024 post!

Big Family Food and Fun: October 27-November 2, 2024

We’ve been practicing taking a Sabbath rest from Saturday evening until Sunday evening. Read more about that here. Because of this, I’ve found that I am not able to completely finish sharing about our Saturday because I turn off my computer and focus fully on family time and down time Saturday evening. So here’s a quick recap of last Saturday evening…

We had an early dinner then got all eight kids dressed up like Little House on the Prairie characters. We’ve been reading the books and watching the show, so they were so excited about this!

Kiya is kind of hidden in the above photo, so I took one of her individually so that you can see how much she looks like Laura Ingalls! :)

We had tickets to go to our local Boo at the Zoo that evening. It was a very well-organized and huge event! The kids loved it!

We walked through the zoo, trick-or-treating at various booths. Then we headed home for bed.

On Sunday morning, the kids were excited to wake up to donuts that Elias and Malorie had picked up for them.

As we got ready for church, Malorie taught Josie how to have a thumb war. :) :) :) I found it to be hilarious.

We’d made all of our Sunday Lunch food in the days leading up to Sunday so that we could Sabbath, so we simply warmed everything in crock pots and it worked great! We had made Smoked Chicken and Cream Cheese Corn, Friends who joined us for the meal brought Baked Beans, Mashed Potatoes, Veggies, and Salad. For dessert we sat and drank coffee with Peanut Butter Brownies. Everyone raved over these.

Truly, it was a delightful Sabbath feast. There were 23 of us gathered that day.

The kids watched a movie with Elias and Malorie that afternoon while Matt and I enjoyed Community Group time (where we continued to dig in together to learn more about what it to Sabbath). For dinner, I warmed up leftover Pizza from last week and made a Caesar salad.

On Monday morning, I made a quick quadruple batch of Homemade Chewy Granola Bars. The kids ate over half of them that morning with sliced pears.

After we dropped the four elementary kids off at school, the other four played and played outside until we had no choice but to go inside and get dressed in clean clothes for school.

We still had 15-minutes before the bus came so Acacia helped me crack open 20 eggs for Breakfast Sandwiches.

I finished putting together the sandwiches later that afternoon. I am amazed at how many of these Breakfast Sandwiches we go through at our house. They are so nice to have on hand.

Also worth sharing: A few days before this, our neighbor had brought over two big packages of buns that were leftover from an event at his workplace. People often think of us when there is extra food after an event that they don’t know what to do with. They know leftovers won’t go to waste here! We always say yes because I can always figure out a way to use whatever is given.

All that to say, I saw buns and my first thought was, “Ah, Breakfast Sandwiches.” And there you have it.

Dinner that night was a most amazing Beef Roast that I’d started about 5:30 that morning. I’d gotten the roast as a meat markdown last week, spending a little more per pound than I prefer to spend because I’ve been so hungry for beef roast. This did not disappoint. I’d put a bunch of carrots in with it, and their flavor was also incredible. I buttered and toasted rolls to go with our meal – very simple and very good.

Tuesday morning, Justus dropped off Little Sweetheart as he headed off to a meeting. She is always very entertained by all the action around here. As you can see below, she was having a lively conversation with two little mermaids.

After school that day, I took Brayden, Kiya, and Keith to the Food Distribution site where we serve on Tuesdays. Kiya handed out chicken to people as they came through the line and Keith got to help me hand out treats, toothbrushes, toothpaste, and glow sticks. Brayden worked in the kitchen to scrub out coolers as they emptied out at all of the stations throughout the room.

Back at home, Matt and Elias finished making dinner. I had cut up Sunday’s leftover Smoked Chicken to warm up and we had it with a pound of Noodles, two heads of Broccoli, and a jar of White Sauce (most of the kids like their noodles with only butter and salt. :)

Wednesday morning, I made several pans of Bacon for us to eat at breakfast time and to have on hand for other meals as needed. I scrambled 15 eggs for us to eat also.

I’d gotten an early start that morning so I also baked a batch of Cupcakes with Spinach for school lunches.

It was sprinkling that morning but Auggie didn’t understand why we couldn’t go outside and play. I finally took him out since it wasn’t too bad yet, which helped his scream-y disposition that morning. Here he is, on his little bike, looking up at the sky when the thunder rolled in. After that we headed back inside, ha.

It started pouring late that morning, just at the time Justus and Kelsey dropped off Little Sweetheart. The girls were fascinated and tried very hard to accidentally get wet even though they had been told to stay back out of the rain.

Eva dropped Arrow off for the afternoon, and we were pleased that the babies worked out their naptimes so that they didn’t both need the crib at the same time. When it was time to pick up kids from school – all the babies were awake, including Auggie. So while Matt went to pick up kids (in the rain), Malorie and I took care of Auggie, Little Sweetheart, and Arrow. This is Auggie leaning in to give Little Sweetheart a kiss.

This was mine and Arrow’s view from across the room as I had just finished giving Arrow a bottle. Malorie took Sweetheart out of her chair and Auggie decided to examine it. Better he clobber her chair than her, though, right?

Friends came and picked up Little Sweetheart to help out until Justus and Kelsey got back from a meeting. Eva arrived to get Arrow, then stayed to help through dinnertime. I had put Baked Potatoes in the Crock Pot that morning and Costco Meatballs into another crock pot with barbecue sauce. So dinner prep was easy that night as all I needed to do was steam some Peas and peel about 100 clementines. (The kids ate them faster than I could peel them – a good problem to have!)

Dinner is always lively and honestly, often a challenge as we try to train this many high-need kids to sit and eat. Notice the bottom right corner of this photo in which Keith would rather play with a stick (which isn’t allowed in the house, much less the dining table) than eat. Either way, having an extra adult around our table helped, and dinner that night was less dramatic than most. :)

It was still rainy that evening, so we gathered kids around the living room table for a fall craft after dinner.

I love that all of the kids enjoy doing these (cheap peel-and-stick craft kits from Hobby Lobby for the win!).

Then we told the kids that if they cooperated and got teeth brushed for bed, we could watch an episode of Little House on the Prairie before bed. They are LOVING any opportunity to watch this classic, so as much as eight kids could cooperate and get teeth brushed, they did. ;)

Thursday morning, I let the kids pick between Breakfast Sandwiches or Cereal since not all the kids like the same thing (shocker). I also got out a tub of yogurt that we finished off. Meanwhile, I had a lovely glass of this smoothie.

Mornings have been rough for our kindergarteners because it’s more fun to play than to get dressed. So on Wednesday I created a Morning Routine chart for them. We gave it a try on Thursday morning and Keith was VERY EXCITED. As much as he struggles with behaviors, he also really wants to “shine his light for Jesus.” Here he is, happily coloring in his “shining lights” after he completed the first two tasks. Who cares that his shirt is wrongs-side-out? He put it on. Check!

After we got the kids off to school, I started a huge pot of Chicken Broth.

Here’s the end result later after I blended in the carrots and onions and stirred them back into the broth. So good!

My dear friend Charlene came for the afternoon and we talked a mile a minute to get caught up. Little Sweetheart came too, and she enjoyed the girl talk.

For dinner that night, I pulled out all the odds and ends in the fridge. This practice is so helpful in preventing food waste! Everyone ate whatever leftovers sounded good, then we got all eight kids dressed (in layers) in their Little House on the Prairie clothes for trick-or-treating around our neighborhood.

If you’re familiar with the Little House on the Prairie show, when I say that Acacia running through our yard reminds me of Baby Carrie running through the prairie with her sisters – well. So sweet.

Our neighbors are wonderful, and the kids had so much fun. Matt and I appreciated getting to know some of our neighbors better that evening. And best yet, Malachi came over and walked around with us. Meanwhile, Elias and Malorie and one of our housemates stayed back home to greet Trick-or-Treaters who came to our house.

Friday morning, we made Oatmeal for breakfast before sending kids off to school. Matt and I then took the four youngest kids to Aldi and Costco.

At Aldi, we left the kids in the van with Matt while I ran in and got everything we needed as fast as I could. In my haste, I forgot to take a picture of my cart. Here are two of my three bags when we got home. :/

I picked up eight pounds of hamburger meat at Costco. So as I was putting all the groceries away, I started to brown it to get ahead.

We had plans to host a Pie Party for our neighborhood on Saturday, so I made two Easiest Chocolate Fudge Pies.

That afternoon, I also made 2 huge Lasagnas – one to bake on Sunday morning for our Sunday Lunch, and another for our freezer to enjoy with family over Thanksgiving weekend.

Dinner that night was our traditional French Fry Friday (aka Mom’s night off-ish) with Chicken Sandwiches, Fries, Pickles, Grapes, and Raspberries.

Saturday morning, I made a quick batch of Pumpkin Cheesecake Whip for breakfast.

I also made a double batch of Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bread, which made three big loaves. I froze one and saved two for our Sunday morning breakfast.

That afternoon, we hosted a big neighborhood Pie Party. This was our third get-together with people in our neighborhood. It was FANTASTIC. We had made simple invitations letting people know to bring a pie to share (or just show up) and to come enjoy time together.

People and pies started to arrive and they just kept coming.

There was a huge variety of pie that everyone freely sampled. Plus we had coffee, tea, or apple cider.

We got to know some neighbors that we’d never visited with before, kids ran in and out playing, people connected with each other – it was so, so, wonderful!

I realized afterward that I didn’t capture everyone in the photos. We later counted that 29 people came that afternoon, making 42 of us altogether. God is good.

As the afternoon wound down, I discovered three of our girls in our living room with our neighbor, Sarah, whom they adore. What a gift to have these community gatherings to make connections.

We started our Sabbath family time later that evening, which I’ll share more about next week!

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

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Fall is in the air for sure, and we are loving it! Care to see take a look at the food and fun our big family enjoyed last week?

How did we go from 11 to 14?? Read about that here.

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

In preparation for the new week, on Saturday afternoon during naptime I made a double batch of Banana Bread and quadruple batch of Zucchini Bread/Muffins.

Sunday morning, I packaged up three of the loaves of bread to give (along with a package of diapers) as gifts at a baby shower that was being hosted after church that day for three new babies. I then froze some of the Zucchini Muffins and put the additional loaf of Zucchini Bread and Muffins into our glass containers to enjoy for breakfasts this week.

There was a “young adult” lunch being hosted after church also, and we were asked to provide salad for the group.

Sunday evening, we smoked marinated Chicken Thighs, made Cheesecake Parfait to go with all the strawberries I’d picked up on sale, and steamed green beans. We’d been gifted a big bag of rolls after Sunday’s lunch at church, so we buttered and toasted them to round out our meal.

Asa ad Eva joined us, plus we caught our neighbor John working in his flower garden and he came over and ate with us too. :)

Monday morning after we got Brayden and Kiya off to school, Keith and I headed to the Food Distribution site I shared about here. He and I had a lovely time working together with the other volunteers to set up food for the Tuesday distribution day.

We got home around 11 and had an early lunch/snack outside before Keith and Anna got picked up by the bus for pre-school. We finished off this Bean and Cheese Salsa Dip from the fridge with some chips and grapes.

Monday afternoon during naptime I made a triple batch of Snickerdoodle Bites to have on hand for snacks as needed. It is so helpful to have these available to give to the littles when they need something to hold them over until mealtime.

For dinner that night, we made a huge pile of pancakes with sausage, eggs, strawberries, applesauce, syrup, and whipped cream. This kind of meal always goes over well and it tastes so good at dinnertime! However, I don’t make it often because it’s a bit of a high maintenance meal when fixing plates of firsts, seconds, and thirds according to preference for each kid. (Some want peanut butter, applesauce, syrup and whipped cream on their pancakes. Some want just butter and syrup. And oh yeah, whipped cream please. Some want…) :)

For breakfast on Tuesday, I made 8-cups worth of oatmeal and set out berries to add to bowls if desired.

The problem with having bathrooms in every bedroom

As some of the kids were eating, I began to wonder where Anna and Josie had gone. Suddenly water started pouring through this kitchen light. Ohmygoodness. The two missing girls were running the water in their sink and flooding the bathroom, which came through to the kitchen. Ack.

Matt took care of the water mess in their bathroom while I took care of the water mess in the kitchen (I needed to mop anyway. Heh.)

Look how sweet and innocent she looks just minutes later as she reads a Bible to her baby. :)

We’ve stopped being surprised by the insanity that happens regularly at our house. We are surviving. The kids are learning (hopefully). And seriously, I got my floor mopped (and cabinets wiped down).

We walked Brayden and Kiya to school, then loaded up the other five and went to Menards. Sometimes they run in four different directions in the parking lot. Sometimes they do this:

Like little angel babies.
People in the parking lot were all like, “awwww, aren’t your kids so sweet?
Are they always so well behaved???”
Matt and I start to sob.
Just kidding. I held it together and handed Matt a tissue.
Just kidding. There was no time to cry or hand out tissues. The kids had started to run amok.

We did Matt’s Menards thing, then loaded up again to burn off some energy at a park before Keith and Anna got picked up at home by the bus for preschool. We snacked on cheese, crackers, and grapes while we were there.

Keith had packed his scooter and helmet into the van to enjoy at the park because he’s practically an adult now.

That afternoon after school, Brayden, Kiya, and I went to the Food Distribution to help hand out food to people in the community. This was only our second week doing this and we still have a lot to learn about how it all works. But we are being kindly trained, and aside from knowing how this helps people, the best thing I’m seeing is how good this is for Brayden and Kiya.

A little side encouragement: Find ways for your kids to serve, to look beyond themselves, and to care for others. Serve with them. Let them serve with you. Make this a high priority.

At the end of the day, we came home with many wonderful items that will help stretch our food budget. (As I shared here, I learned last week that volunteers are able to take food home also, as long as there is plenty.) We got several packages of greens, apples, milk, breads and buns, and mineral water.

We didn’t get home until 5:40 and Matt, Elias, and Malachi had been holding down the fort with the rest of the gang. I’d put Creamy Layered Enchiladas into the crock pot before leaving for the afternoon so that dinner would be ready when I got home. I’m not sure where I went wrong, but they only turned out sort of so-so. We ate them, but we didn’t give them a high rating this time like we usually do.

It’s possible that we didn’t really care about dinner anyway because there was too much excitement going on outside! Our neighbor, John, grows an incredible flower garden in his yard that we all get to enjoy. He was honored that night to be featured by an organization showcasing his flowers, so dozens of people were coming over and walking through.

Not only that, but John is very talented with his harmonica and voice, so he was offering musical entertainment while people enjoyed his flowers. We didn’t need an outing that night. The “outing” was right across the street!

John insisted that we all come over for the treats he had laid out, but we waited until the event was almost over so that we didn’t add chaos to his big night. The kids were spoiled with sweets and juice while we listened to more of John’s music and visited with more of our neighbors. We are finding that God landed us in a fantastic neighborhood and we continue to be grateful.

Wednesday morning, I cut some of the huge loves of wheat bread we’d received from the Food Distribution, toasted it, and smothered it with peanut butter and honey. I cut it into chunks and we enjoyed it with applesauce.

Of the 16-pounds of strawberries I bought on Saturday, we were down to 6-pounds and they were getting a bit squishy. So I cut them onto cookie sheets and froze them for smoothies.

Later, after they were frozen, I transferred them to gallon-sized freezer bags.

Wednesday’s big Azure Standard pick-up

As you know, I’ve been involved with Azure Standard in York for years. This is the first month I put in an order for the Lincoln drop. We came home with a very large supply of food because I hadn’t ordered for many months and needed to stock up on several Azure favorites. (Here’s a list of what I like to order from Azure.) I was blessed to have some referral credit to help pay for this haul (thank you!).

We got organic whole wheat pastry flour, yogurt, frozen corn, green beans, and peas, frozen hashbrowns, several varieties of canned fruit, and some boxes of Einkorn cookies as a special treat.

The hashbrowns came in a huge frozen brick so I transferred them to gallon-sized freezer bags – 8 in all! Our freezers are full and we are well stocked up. Very thankful!

For dinner that night we made a bunch of burgers on our smoker. Keith helped me load the smoker with pellets, taking his job very seriously.

Then we packed up our burgers and took them to one of our favorite parks for a picnic with grapes, pineapple, and yep, a salad like this. As good as this meal was, no one cared much about eating because they were too excited to ride their bikes and scooters on the trails. :)

Even little Josie got in on the action. She was the only one I could snap a photo of because everyone else took off so fast!

Thursday morning we made a bunch of Breakfast Sandwiches like this. We warmed them in our air fryer to enjoy then froze the few leftovers.

After we took the kids to school, Matt and I loaded up the five littles and headed to Walmart to pick up some WIC items, pull-ups, and diapers. We got home in time for a meeting with our Case Worker for BabyBoy#11. Then the bus came to pick up Keith and Anna. Phew, it was quite a morning!

I was excited to find cases of tomato sauce on clearance at Walmart. They were so cheap I bought five cases! It’s almost Chili season after all. :)

Matt had made plans with Elias and Malachi to stay with the remaining three little ones so that he could take me to lunch. So sweet! Here’s the most (un)impressive picture of our meal.

For dinner that night, we had Crock Pot Taco Pasta with salad, pineapple, and watermelon. We ate outside, then went for a walk before bedtime.

For breakfast on Friday morning, we ate Yogurt with Granola and berries.

Matt went to work in York that day so Malachi helped me get the kids to school, then we took the youngest five to the zoo.

I loved seeing how Acacia was looking up at her bigger brother here. :)

We stopped for a snack/lunch before loading everyone up to get home in time to meet Keith and Anna’s school bus.

For dinner that night, we pulled everything random out of the fridge to clear it out. No one really ate a balanced meal, but at least we didn’t waste food.

After dinner, I mixed up a double batch of these Pumpkin Donuts. I brought the kids in one at time (well, I tried – it was hard for all the little ones to wait their turn) to help me cut out the donuts as I rolled out the dough. We cut them into apple shapes to celebrate the coming of Fall.

While my hands were covered in flour, Acacia grabbed my phone from my back pocket and snapped dozens of pictures of our kitchen floor. But she also go this burry photo of me cleaning up after our donut mess. Ha!

Saturday morning, we fried the Pumpkin Donuts in coconut oil on the griddle then drizzled a little bit of glaze over each one.

We ate them with scrambled eggs and blueberries.

Then we headed out for what ended up being three full hours of fun.

First, we went to a library story time that was a special “Sensory Story Time.” It had been recommended to us by a specialist because several of our kids have sensory issues and can become overstimulated. We were VERY impressed with the program and hope to go regularly. (Those are weighted puppies the kids are holding.)

When that ended, we headed outside to a Community Garden Party (which happened to be just outside this very library). There were several tables set out with activities and everyone got to choose an apple.

They got to watch some fun plant-themed science experiments.

Then we got to tour the garden with scavenger hunt papers where the kids tried to locate various veggies, flowers, and insects. It was all SO MUCH FUN. We couldn’t believe that they all lasted the entire morning, but we didn’t load up to head home until well past lunchtime.

The apples had only held them off for a short while so we had some very hungry children when we got home. Therefore, there are no pictures to prove my ridiculous lunch. But the minute we got home, I simply grabbed every last leftover from the fridge to fill their hungry bellies. We ate a very weird combination of buttered pancakes, green beans, grapes, and chips with white queso. :) :) :) No one complained – they were all too hungry!

We spent the afternoon getting our final third floor room ready for the renter who was planning to move in that evening. So I took the night off for dinner, baking several frozen pizzas. We ate it with salad and clementines.

Just for fun: The floor in this suite was a gross mess when we moved in. Matt took from nasty to this…

Then this…

Then this…

And the final look is this:

There’s another space in the room large enough for a queen sized bed and night stand. Plus there’s a full bathroom attached to the room (as there is with all of the rooms we’ve rented out). I explained a bit more about our plans for renting out our third floor suites here. As of Saturday night, the rooms are full of wonderful people and we are thankful!

We are only just beginning to learn what God has planned for this Castle He gave us. We thank Him constantly for His provision.

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School Lunches I Packed August 21-25, 2023

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We pack lunches for our kids to take to school each day. Here’s a look at the lunches I packed last week:

School Lunches I Packed August 21-25, 2023

1. Monday: Beanie Weanies

This was so easy as I opened a can of baked beans, cut leftover hotdogs, and put it all into a pan with a squirt of ketchup. I heated it to bubbly, then put it into the kids’ thermoses.

I packed them an applesauce cup, spoon, and an Orange Muffin to go with their Beanie Weanies. They loved this lunch!

2. Tuesday: Cheese and Crackers

I had hoped this would be a cheater lunch, but when I gave the kids a choice of one of these ready-made Cheese and Cracker Packs from Costco, Kiya told me that she didn’t like either of them. I decided not to fight it, even though I knew she could have toughed it out and I put Brayden’s packet choice into his bag and created one for Kiya with our cheese and crackers. I added a baggie of pepperoni to Brayden’s and a rolled up piece of ham in Kiya’s. Then cucumbers for Brayden and pickles for Kiya and a peach cup for both!

3. Wednesday: Meat and Spinach Roll-Up

I slathered two tortillas with mayo, then added cheese, turkey, and spinach to Brayden’s and ham and spinach to Kiya’s. I scooped watermelon chunks into containers and packed it all with a fork.

Ah, and a napkin. The mayo got messy when I rolled up the tortillas so I knew the kids would get extra messy when they ate these. :)

4. Thursday: Chicken Salad and Crackers

I had made chicken salad for a different meal so I put leftover salad into containers for the kids for their lunch. Plus I put crackers into a different container for them to eat with their chicken salad. (If I put crackers into a baggie, they get crushed in their lunch bags.) I packed cucumbers for Brayden, pickles for Kiya, and an applesauce squeezie for both.

5. Fun Friday: Sandwich, Chips, and a Treat

This is the day I pack a sandwich, chips, and a little something sweet for the kids. Today’s sandwiches were PB&J, fritos were the only chips I had on the shelf, and the mini wafer cookies I’d picked up at Costco. I thought the fruit strip would be an extra special treat, but Brayden “didn’t like his but choked it down.” Ha. Alrighty then.

 

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Big Family Food and Fun: August 20-26, 2023

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Our big family food and fun this week revolved around our new school routine and extremely hot temperatures.

First, let’s all be blessed to see these two amazing brothers in the matching outfits I found on clearance at Sam’s. Sweet score!

And now onto the food and fun!

Big Family Food and Fun: August 20-26, 2023

Now, if you recall, last week I forgot to plug in the crockpot when I made dinner to leave for Asa, Eva, Elias, and Malachi to feed all the littles when Matt and I went out for our anniversary. So this week, while making a big Sunday Lunch for guests, I was very intentional about plugging in not one but three crock pots. There, my job is done. Lunch will be perfect. I sent this picture to Eva to show that I’d learned from my mistake.

But alas, when we arrived home from church to finish lunch prep, there sat my smallest crock pot. It had been plugged in. But had its owner turned it on? No she had not.

Well shucks. Can’t win ’em all I guess. Lunch that day was a big Nacho Bar, and the cold crock pot was fully cooked taco meat that was supposed to be warm by the time we got home. Nothing a skillet can’t fix in five minutes, right?!

I forgot to take pictures of our fully set out Nacho Bar with it’s chicken, beef, cheese, tomatoes, cilantro, salsa, sour cream, spinach, and chips. It was a tasty lunch! And here’s a picture of the mess after lunch.

Humidity and temps were high that day (and all week) so dinner that night was leftover burgers from last week, rewarmed on the stove plus bowls of cottage cheese with pineapple.

We ate outside, not because the weather was pleasant, but because the kids were all wet. Matt had set up our little pools and a sprinkler for them. We let them all just get wet in their clothes instead of changing to swimsuits. My laundry pile is big enough as it is. :)

Monday morning I made a griddle full of Eggs in a Nest. These are a favorite of our kids! Except for this particular day, two of my kids declared that they didn’t like them. Ugh. I guess these don’t taste good on Mondays?? (Meanwhile, Kiya ate three of them. No one can predict who will eat what.)

I made Beanie Weanies and packed it in Brayden and Kiya’s thermoses for lunch. I left the remainder of the mixture in the pan to rewarm for the four littles at home for lunch.

For dinner that night, I made simple quesadillas with leftover chicken, cheese, and spinach.

We ate them with grapes and we ate in shifts. Everyone was hot and tired after a big, hot day at school. I finished making the quesadillas but then I needed to feed the baby so I just threw food out on the table and let everyone come eat as they realized it was ready. :)

After everyone ate, Matt got the sprinkler set up again so everyone could cool down.

After they played for a while, I brought out some Go-gurts I had frozen. Now, not only were the kids wet and covered in dirt and grass, they were also sticky. Meh, no biggie. We hosed them all down before heading in for the night. :)

Tuesday morning, we ate yogurt and granola before school. After we delivered Brayden and Kiya to the school door, Matt and I walked back with the five littlest and made a plan to find some kind of air conditioned play place so that we could get the kids out of the house. It was 106 degrees that day, but we were going stir crazy. I packed a snack of animal crackers, cheese sticks, and grapes and we loaded up and headed out.

We checked out a fun play place at a church north of town. It’s open to the public all day long. Very cool!

The kids loved running around and playing! Then we sat them down to “snack” on what sort of become their lunch. (Keith and Anna’s bus picks them up for preschool a little after noon, so we feed them early.)

Once we were home and got Keith and Anna sent off to school, Acacia, Josie, and BabyBoy#11 played in the living room while Matt and I dug into the fridge for leftovers for our own lunch. We’ve been given lots of lovely fresh garden produce from church friends and neighbors, and the tomatoes right now are amazing! I warmed up a leftover burger from last week and cut it up with a fresh tomato. Of course we also had our smoothies. ;)

The thought of cooking was not pleasant since it was 106 that day, so I made Chicken Salad Sandwiches with spinach. I cut up a cold watermelon and that was a very refreshing side dish!

After we ate, we took the kids for a surprise treat. We needed another indoor, air-conditioned outing so we found a McDonald’s with an actual Play Place (remember how we tried this before and got let down?!).

We especially loved the cool interactive light table!

Matt downloaded the McD’s app to see what deals we could get. He paid for two cups of ice cream to share and got a free large fry. The kids LOVED this! This amount was perfect for our littles to share, and I think he spent about $5 for everything. And phew, we made it through another hot night with the kids.

Wednesday morning I made eggs, sausage, and toasted buttered bagels for breakfast. Matt headed to York to work on our properties and Elias became my side-kick for the day.

We got Brayden and Kiya to school. Then while Elias stayed in the house with BabyBoy#11, I (bravely or ridiculously?!) took all four of the others outside to “help” me wash our van. It needed a good scrub and getting wet on this super hot day sounded like a good idea.

Keith (age 4) was put in charge of the hose. The girls got washrags to help me scrub. It actually all went quite well for about half and hour. We were all drenched (thank you, Keith) and the van wasn’t perfect but looked better than it did. So we decided it was a win.

We hosed everyone off, changed into dry clothes, drank lots of water, and ate leftover quesadillas cold out of the fridge. Then we put on shoes and went to the library to play with their learning toys. Why did we do this? Air. Conditioning. Plus toys that are different from the toys at our house.

BabyBoy#11 isn’t yet sitting up but this was a good spot to practice.

Three out of five kids melted down before we got all the toys picked up at the library. “Librarian Diane” was absolutely beautiful in how she came and helped. She magically got all three little girls on board to help her pick up blocks while Elias and I dealt unsuccessfully with Keith who was beyond tired. We made it home and tucked all five in for naps. (Preschool was canceled because of the extreme heat. Good timing as these kids needed make-up naps after their big transition into school.)

Dinner that night was straight from the freezer because Mama was tired. I threw nuggets and fries into the air fryer and made a blender full of these smoothies so the kids could drink some spinach with their processed food. ;)

For breakfast Thursday morning, I made this recipe for Chewy Granola Bars x5. These were a huge hit (though we had to eat them in bowls with spoons because I didn’t make them in time to refrigerate/harden them).

Later in the day, after the bars had been in the fridge for several hours, I cut and transferred them to a Pyrex dish for easy-to-grab breakfasts and snacks.

We spent a good part of our morning with one of our Early Development specialists. Our littlest kids, ages 0-3, are serviced by this team for early intervention so that we can get ahead of some of their extra needs. This has been such a gift for our family. Today Keith, Anna, Acacia, and Josie all hovered around the specialist, Bridgette, who had captured their attention with a game. I snuck this picture of them all because they were all being so sweet and fun!

Right after this meeting ended, I had to run off to the elementary school for yet another meeting for another of our kids. As much as we loved our homeschooling years and are prayerfully open to homeschooling again if God leads us to do it, we are so very thankful for all of the necessary resources that the public schools offer for our family to meet our needs right now. We were so cared for in York and we are now being very well cared for in Lincoln.

I got home in time for lunch, frying leftover baked potatoes and serving it with Sunday’s leftover nacho dip and taco meat. I also got out grapes for the kids to squish all over everything eat to their hearts’ content.

The kids are all home from school by 4:00 or a little after, and we sit at the table to get homework done right away so we can get it over with. :/

I’ve found that everyone is super hungry by 4:30 and snacks aren’t going to cut it. So at this point, I’m making very early dinners and then giving everyone a small snack around 6:30 before we start getting ready for bed.

That night I had planned to make a simple meal of this 3-Cheese Spaghetti. But while looking in my freezer for parmesan cheese to go with the recipe, I came across a package of shrimp. Ah, that would be good with the noodles! So I turned the 3-Cheese Spaghetti over to Elias and I made Garlic Butter Shrimp, which was a pretty exciting addition to our meal! I grabbed out bacon crumbles for people to stir into their cheesy spaghetti if they preferred that instead of shrimp, plus made buttered peas and got out watermelon.

Dinner was over by 5:00, haha, so while I worked on dishes, I sent Brayden out to set up the sprinkler for everyone. Today was supposed to be the last of the 106 degree weather, and we knew water was the only way to make it through.

I had corn on the cob in the fridge that we’d bought over the weekend at the farmer’s market and I was concerned that it would go bad if we didn’t get it prepped to eat soon. So after they’d played in the water for a while and cooled off, I took the corn out and had everyone help me get it shucked.

Not understanding that the corn needed to be cooked, Josie and Acacia got excited and helped themselves. ;)

The kids went back to their water play, a neighbor stopped by for a visit, and I somehow managed to give Brayden a much-needed hair cut before we headed in for the night.

Friday morning we had cereal and some of the  Chewy Granola Bars I had made the day before. Brayden had to be at school early because he gets to take part in a Ukulele Ensemble – so fun! Lunch was PB&J, which I always forget to add to our menu and always wonder why I don’t make them more often. But then again, the girls get super messy when eating them so…

Dinner was extra fun because some dear friends came and joined us for the evening. We made the corn on the cob plus a big pot of Stir Fry. (We’ve been so blessed with friends sharing their garden produce with us!)

We’d picked up a cantaloupe at the Farmer’s Market and it was extra sweet.

Breakfast on Saturday morning was French Toast made like this – always a hit!

The temps had finally cooled down, so I took advantage by doing some much-needed (or much-wanted, ha) baking. I thawed all the bananas I’d stashed in our freezer and made this Banana Bread/Muffin recipe x4. I also baked a quadruple batch of these Brownies to share at a church fellowship lunch.

We had big plans for an outing that morning, but the plans got derailed by some immediate issues Matt needed to work on at our Castle. It’s such a fabulous place, but it is a historic home, so the age of the house brings with it some issues. Good thing Matt’s so handy!

The change of plans did not set well with our kids, so while Matt was dealing with house issues, I was dealing with behavior issues. Blech. I’m so thankful for God’s provision for us. I have to rely on Him constantly.

Three hours of exhaustion later, and an hour later than planned, we were able to load up and get out the door. Matt and I were both a bit frazzled, but the outing needed to happen so that the kids had a change of scenery. We went to a super cool “Wordstock” literacy event at a park – everything revolved around reading and books.

There were games on the lawn, and of course, everyone got to take home a new book.

They also all got a balloon. Somehow we managed to get all the balloons home without one blowing away or popping?!?!

I had cooked – wait – I had burned some hotdogs in a big pot before we left (who burns hotdogs??). It sort of worked to hide the black parts by putting them burnt-side down. ;)

We ate them at the park after enjoying Wordstock.

Naptime/Rest time was a welcome event for the parents after a morning with extra needs. :) That afternoon, Matt and I worked together to finish that morning’s house issue project while the kids rested and napped.

Oh, but were they napping??? Or were they just dangerously quiet?

Ah, the face of “innocence.”

I used a pizza kit I had picked up at Costco, along with some sausage I had browned to make pizza that night.

I had browned three pounds of sausage, because why just cook what you need for one meal when you can dirty the same amount of dishes and get extra food cooked for the future?

We bathed the three little girls (Anna’s marker turned the water blue), jammied them up, then took a walk to the Sunken Gardens before bedtime.

We got everyone to bed (after making sure all the markers and pens were properly hidden from toddlers and preschoolers). What a week! God is good and faithful. Hope your week was a good one!

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What to Buy (Or Avoid) at Costco or Sam’s to Save Your Grocery Budget

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Here’s what I buy at Costco or Sam’s so save my grocery budget. And…here’s what I avoid buying at those stores!

What I Buy at Sam’s and Costco

These are the purchases I make that save me the most money as I strive to keep our big family budget at $1,400. (I’m currently feeding 12 people three meals every day. Plus we have frequent guests.)

Here’s what saves me the most at Costco and Sam’s:

Organic Produce

I typically find organic produce at Costco for the same price as non-organic produce elsewhere. I still sometimes opt for non-organic depending on cost, but it’s nice to get organic options at Costco when I can. I have found that their organic apples, pears, mixed greens, spinach, carrots, and grapes are usually a great price!

Chicken Legs

These are always $0.98/pound, which is a great price per pound for high-quality meat.

Sliced and Shredded Cheese

In my experience, the bulk bags of shredded Colby jack and mozzarella cheese at Costco or Sam’s is less than what I find elsewhere, even Walmart. I also buy big packages of sliced Colby Jack and sliced Pepper Jack for grilled cheese sandwiches, saving quite a bit!

Other Dairy Products

BUTTER!!!! I always buy butter and save at Costco – while watching for loss leader sales at other stores, especially during holiday season. Also on my Costco and Sam’s list: Daisy Sour Cream, Cream Cheese, 4% Milkfat Cottage Cheese, Half and Half, and Heavy Whipping Cream. Sam’s has a large container of Whole Milk Yogurt that we like also.

Rotisserie Chicken

They are always $4.98 and you can eat them as-is for a fantastic convenience meal! Or you can turn it into any of these meals.

Chicken Thighs

I buy the six-pack of boneless chicken thighs at Costco or Sam’s for $3.49/pound. (Worth noting: I can also find these marked down for even less at Walmart so I always check there also.)

Beef Hotdogs

These are a great price at both Sam’s and Costco, and their taste doesn’t compare to any others I’ve found. We especially love the box of 80 beef hotdogs from Sam’s. They are so good!

Frozen Chicken Nuggets

These are a GREAT price at Costco and they taste better than any others we’ve tried.

Applesauce Pouches

If you buy these (with all of our littles, they are a great convenience food for us!) I highly recommend that you pick them up at Sam’s or Costco. They cost much less per pouch at these warehouses. Plus Costco has a Kirkland brand that is priced even better!

Caesar Salad Packs

I actually don’t know or even care how much these cost, ha. There’s something about these that just taste so very good! I always grab a couple from the produce department and we enjoy them with our meals during the next couple of days. Brayden and Keith eat thirds and fourths of this salad!

Frozen Pizza

I used to think of these as a splurge, but as it turns out, buying frozen pizza is actually a frugal option if you think of them this way. In our opinion, the Kirkland frozen pizzas at Costco are the best tasting compared to other brands.

Grass Fed Hamburger Meat

Currently, the best price I’ve found for Organic Ground Beef (Costco) or Grass Fed Ground Beef (Sam’s) is at these warehouses. Occasionally, Sam’s even has some marked down for quick sale, and I grab it up!

What to avoid

Here’s a list of items I typically find for a better price elsewhere…

Hotdog and Hamburger Buns

In the big scheme of things, this isn’t a super big deal or even a big waste of money. But I’ve found that it saves money to pick up hamburger and hotdog buns at Walmart or Aldi instead of at Costco or Sam’s.

Bagels

The same goes for bagels. I can get them at Aldi for much cheaper than those at Sam’s and Costco.

Salsa

We really like the Aldi organic salsa, and it is much cheaper than what I find at the warehouses. I buy a case of salsa at Aldi every time I go in.

Spaghetti Sauce

The Aldi Simple Nature organic spaghetti sauce is a great price and tastes great.

Hamburger Meat and Sausage

I watch other store ads to check for big hamburger meat discounts. And usually, I find sausage at Aldi for just $1.99/pound. So I don’t ever buy these two meat varieties at Sam’s or Costco unless I happen to catch a meat markdown at Sam’s that matches my price point.

Canned Veggies 

I’ve found that canned beans, tomatoes, green beans, and corn are usually more expensive at Sam’s and Costco compared to Aldi. So I typically buy a flat of of 12 cans of black beans, baked beans, and corn when I go to Aldi instead of getting them at the warehouses.

Wow, is that it?

Overall, prices at Costco and Sam’s really are the best, especially for the high-quality foods that they offer. There are just those few items that I tend to look for elsewhere, and sometimes it isn’t worth making an extra trip to another store.

What are your buy and don’t buy suggestions from Costco and Sam’s?

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30 Days of Dollar Dinners!

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Is it possible? Can we make dinner for a dollar after all the price increases we’re seeing in grocery stores? Indeed, all the inflation has challenged me to see what I can do to win at the grocery store. I have come up with 30 Days of Dollar Dinners!

Here’s what we’re getting ready to do:

  1. First, we’re going to give you a 30-Day Dollar Dinner printable so you can see all the meals we can all make for $1/person. We’re also going to give you a complete grocery list plus several other money-saving resources. See them here and get signed up. IT’S FREE!
  2. Then, we’re going to start posting the simple recipes that go along with all the Dollar Dinner suggestions on that printable.
  3. At the end of our series, we’ll have all of our 30 Days of Dollar Dinners recipes compiled into a beautiful new eBook. We’ll offer it at a discount to everyone who sticks with us through this series. Or BETTER YET, we’ll put it into our Club Membership site so that all of our members have access to it for no additional cost.

You’re going to want to be a part of this with us!

Why? Because we want to feed our families well, and we want to see ways we can cut costs without cutting nutrition. Here’s another perk to this packet: While prices have gone up, our time for cooking each day remains the same. Our 30 Days of Dollar Dinners promises to provide you with excellent and delicious real food ideas that don’t take much time to prepare.

This is like a win-win-win-win-win.

Happy New Year!!

30 Days of Dollar Dinners

Ready to get started? First, you’ll need our printables packet. (This is all free – did I mention that?)

Amazing meals we make with $1.00!

Wow, adulting is fun, am I right?

Who is so excited about all of this right now? You know you’re a grown-up when you can’t wait to download an Inexpensive Side Dish List and a calendar that offers 30 Days of Dollar Dinners suggestions.

But for real:

Sign me up!!

Then stay tuned for the recipes we’ll be posting that go along with our 30 Days of Dollar Dinners Calendar. It’s fun, it’s inexpensive, and it’s so delicious!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

NOTE:

The above freebies are for everyone and we are so happy to share them with you! Beyond these resources, in a few weeks will be complete and offer you our brand new 30 Days of Dollar Dinners eCookbook to make creating these meals much easier from here on out. We’ll put it in our shop for purchase ($20) but we think you should do this instead:

Become a Heavenly Homemakers Club Member. You’ll get our new 30 Days of Dollar Dinners eCookbook plus thousands of dollars of other eBooks, eCurriculum, eCourses, printables, menu planning guides and much more. Get more details here and sign up here!

Heavenly Homemaker's Club Members: Access your homepage and all your fantastic resources here! Not a member yet? Please join us!