Heavenly Homemakers

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Big Family Food and Fun: February 2-8, 2025

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Here’s our Big Family Food and Fun: February 2-8, 2025 post!

I turn off my computer on Saturday afternoons as we head into a time of Sabbath rest. So before I launch into our new week’s photos, I’ll back up and share about our Saturday evening!

I made a simple meal of Quesadillas with ham and turkey for dinner that night with Tomato Soup. Elias had a friend visiting so there was seven kids and seven adults eating that night. This picture doesn’t show you much compared to what we actually ate because I forgot to take a picture before everyone went through the line the first time. We went through three entire packages of tortillas as the quesadillas were a huge hit for everyone!

I have found that it’s easiest to give the kids straws to use when they eat/drink their Tomato Soup. There’s still usually a mess left behind at the table, but straws make the messes smaller, plus they manage to get the soup to their mouths more easily so that they don’t mess up their shirts.

We’ve cut way back on sugar at our house this year, but on Sabbath, we get treats! I had a few brownies that some of the kids chose. But Malachi decided to make a pot of homemade Hot Cocoa, and some of the kids opted for this treat instead. It was so sweet to watch Brayden and Kiya make it with him. Have I mentioned how happy we all are for Malachi to be back at the Castle with us?! :)

This recipe makes such good Hot Cocoa!

Big Family Food and Fun: February 2-8, 2025

Sunday morning we ate a loaf of Banana Bread from our freezer that our friend BryAnna had made.

It was a true delight to host Sunday Lunch after so many weeks of dealing with sickness in our household. We’ve missed our church family! I baked a Ham and made Baked Beans, Party Potatoes, Corn, and Green Beans with Peanut Butter Brownies for dessert.

We hosted our Community Group later that afternoon, then Anna helped me put together an Egg Casserole with some of the leftover ham from lunch.

Josie (aka Wonder Woman) joined us later and they helped me make Pizza for dinner.

We made five pizzas altogether plus a Crustless Pizza per Brayden’s request.

I served no veggies with this meal (unless you count the peppers on one of the pizzas) because at this point in the day, I was tired and that’s that.

Monday morning, we baked the Egg Casserole Anna and I had made the day before. It was a great breakfast to start off our school week.

The morning with the four littlest felt long, but we kept getting out activities for them and before I knew it, it was time to get the girls ready for their noon bus. Here they are enjoying Water Wonder books for a few minutes.

I had leftover green beans and corn from Sunday Lunch, so I used those to put together a Shepherd’s Pie for our dinner that night. At dinnertime, I slid it into the oven to bake while the kids did homework.

Let it go on record that last time I made Shepherd’s Pie, all the kids ate it right up, giving me great encouragement. This time?? Good grief, the fighting. It was ridiculous and not fun. And it made no sense. Why do kids love food one time and hate it two weeks later? After all these years of parenting, I still haven’t figured that one out. Anyway…

Earlier, Matt and I had decided that we were crazy enough to take all the kids to Hobby Lobby that night to pick out their Valentine cards for their classmates. Then after the dinner fights, we almost decided not to go because we were worried that fits would happen in the aisle full of breakable Valentine decor.

At the last minute, we landed on “we’re crazy anyway, let’s just do it” so we loaded them up and went. All the way there, I was talking them through the plan of choosing a box of cards, sitting in the carts (for the youngest four), not touching anything…

Matt and I did not have high expectations for our time inside the store (it’s better this way). But would you believe, all seven kids were precious angels at Hobby Lobby that night? I’m not sure we’ve ever pulled off such an amazing endeavor. We went into the store at 7:00, the kids all easily chose their cards, we checked out, and we were back in the van buckling up the kids to head home by 7:20. It was a Valentine miracle.

The outing was good for everyone’s spirits, and we got home just in time to get everyone ready for bed. Malachi came down and helped out, holding Auggie for us and then obviously playing a game of soccer with Keith because getting rowdy is how Keith calms down for the night. I can’t explain it. It’s an ADHD thing.

Tuesday morning, I made Eggs in a Nest for breakfast per Kiya’s request. (She proceeded to eat three – yes THREE – of them.)

Auggie had Speech Therapy that morning, then he and I made a trip to Sam’s because his therapy location was close-by. It was a huge stock-up trip because I hadn’t done any serious grocery shopping in several weeks.

Auggie and I got home in time to help finish getting the girls ready for their preschool bus. I’m not sure why I bothered to fix their hair because it was freezing outside and hats were needed. Good thing they are cute with fixed hair AND with sweet winter hats.

After school, Brayden, Kiya, Keith, and I headed to our weekly Food Distribution site to hand out food to the community and to help clean up afterward. We’ve missed this for several weeks because of all the sickness at our house, so it was extra wonderful to be there and see people. Keith discovered a small white board with a marker and spent the entire time drawing on it instead of helping. But it was still a win because it kept him calm.

Here’s Kiya at the end of our distribution time as we were putting away the few leftovers before vacuuming.

We came home to a crock pot full of Ham and Potato Soup that I’d made earlier in the day. Matt made a bowl of Caesar salad and we all dug in.

Wednesday morning, the kids spotted their Valentines that we’d purchased on Monday evening and they reallllllly wanted to work on them. I reassured them that their school parties weren’t for nine more days, but I also allowed Keith to get started on his after he was completely ready for school since we had 20-minutes until time to leave.

Once we got the three oldest out the door, I let the little girls work on their Valentines. Anna can write her name by herself and got through four entire cards before getting tired. ;) Acacia and Josie tried to write their names but as of now, their signatures are much like a doctor’s. ;)

It was our housemate, Kermit’s, birthday so we spent some time prepping a family dinner for that night. Anna helped me crush graham crackers for an Easy No-Bake Cheesecake.

I also baked several pans worth of Bacon to go with Cheeseburgers.

We got the girls out the door for preschool and Auggie down for a nap. Then Eva dropped off Arrow for some Lolli and Pop time! We played for a solid hour and Arrow jabbered the entire time. :)

During his nap, I prepped and baked 16 hamburger patties for dinner. My goal was to have our burgers and bacon almost ready so that I could simply finish them up once it was time to eat – as opposed to making a bunch of bacon and burgers right at meal time when all of the kids were home from school and hungrily whining at my feet.

I cut up several “Raspberry Oranges” to go with our dinner and Josie ate half the plate while waiting for dinner. Kelsey and I tried to get a good picture of her very red mouth, surrounded by the mountain of orange peels she left behind. Josie wasn’t super interested in letting us get a picture, but Kelsey snuck one in. :)

I finished off the burgers in a skillet a little before 5:00, then transferred them to a crock pot to stay warm. Just before serving time, I rewarmed the bacon in a skillet so that it would be hot and crisp. And with that, we had fresh Bacon Cheeseburger fixings all ready to go at 5:30. I also cut up two Beef Smoked Sausages and cooked them so that we’d have enough meat to feed our crowd that night.

The sides were simple with our meal: Leftover Baked Beans, Pickles, Chips, Veggies with Ranch, and Fresh Fruit.

Birthday Cheesecake time!

All of our family plus a few extras were able to join us that night, putting 21 around our table. Nights like this are my favorite.

Thursday morning, we ate a random assortment of breakfast items from the fridge: leftover Breakfast Casserole, Breakfast Sandwiches, and Yogurt. Meanwhile, the girls helped me open sticks of butter to make Breakfast Cookies.

I baked a double batch of Breakfast Cookies, spreading the dough into a pan to make bars to save time.

After we got the three elementary kids off to school, we got the youngest four ready and loaded up to play at the indoor play area at the zoo. An outing was needed!

There’s a ball shoot that is lots of fun here, so Anna used her hat and the kids filled it with balls to put into the monkey’s mouth. The balls get sucked up through tubes, then are released every ten minutes, showering back down onto the floor.

Today, however, something was stuck in the ball shoot. We had a wonderful time watching a zoo worker climb a very tall ladder to try and fix the ball release.

We took bananas and peanut butter honey sandwiches to snack on during our time there.

We got home in time to get the girls ready for their preschool bus and put Auggie down for a nap. Justus dropped off Little Sweetheart and she went directly down for a nap.

I had pulled out bananas to thaw while we were at the zoo, so I quickly mixed up a batch of Flourless Chocolate Banana Blender Muffins for the oven.

When the babies got up from their naps, we had a delightful tea party in the play room.

Dinner that night was more involved than usual, but WORTH IT. I made Chicken with Cream Cheese Sauce with a pan of Rice and Steamed Broccoli. Super tasty!

That evening, I followed my own advice for making cookies with kids and we made Cream Cheese Cut-Out Cookies.

Worth noting: I used my wonderful Bosch Mixer to mix up the dough for these cookies, and I just re-read the reason I invested in it. I found it so precious to read this and to re-visit part of the beginning of our foster-adoption journey. At the time of that writing, we had only added three extra boys and one daughter-in-law. We’ve since added FIVE more kids, another daughter-in-law, and a very serious girlfriend. I had no idea when I bought that Bosch Mixer in 2020 how much I’d need it now. I’m so thankful my friend Rhonda encouraged me to do it. Anyway, why am I over here crying over my Bosch? Because this.

Anyway…Thursday night we made heart-shaped cookies, hahaha.

That night, all we did was roll/cut/bake. We’ll save the frosting and decorating for another time.

Friday morning we finished off our Flourless Chocolate Banana Blender Muffins from the day before. Eva and Arrow came by for a couple of hours and the Aunties had a good time being helpful. :)

Auggie had been needing a haircut for quite a while and I finally got that done Friday morning! Phew. Here he is, so handsome after his nap…

For dinner that night, I warmed up leftover rice from the day before, made some Taco Meat, and got out other fixings for a Burrito Bar.

After dinner, I was able to give Brayden and Keith much-needed hair cuts. So all three little boys went to bed with fresh heads!

Saturday morning we took our kids to our favorite Sensory-Friendly Storytime.

It was especially fun to see Auggie willing to participate in some of the song/activities.

After story time, Ms. Diane pulled out all kinds of special sensory toys for kids to play with for a half hour or so.

We had a free morning, so next we headed into the main area of the library to play and read for about an hour. Acacia and Josie worked at the post office for a while. :)

Kiya was able to keep Auggie engaged in a book for a couple of minutes before he was ready to move on.

The most special part of the morning was that we let the three older kids check out one book each. This shouldn’t be a big deal at their ages. But with our family dynamics, we’ve not felt comfortable checking out books up until now. There are too many tantrums and impulse control issues at our house, which can lead to destroyed books. And in general, with this many kids, we’ve not been sure we could keep from losing library books in our house. But today, they each got one, and we set out some guidelines for where the books would be kept in the house if they were not being read. We’ll see how this goes!

Back at home, we warmed up leftovers for lunch. Then we sat down to complete everyone’s Valentine cards. This job was NO JOKE. The kids all needed help with several aspects of assembling their cards, and hey all wanted help at the same time. So 90+ cards later, my nervous system was a little wrecked. (And I still needed to help Keith make his. Not today though. Mama needed a break.)

They were all so happy to have their cards ready for their parties, and our time together ended well. We did some cleaning and then I turned on a movie for them so I could finish this post. :)

We had a fun night with church family later, but we also headed into our time of Sabbath for the week, so I’ll share more about that next week!

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Big Family Food and Fun: November 10-16, 2024

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Here’s our Big Family Food and Fun: November 10-16, 2024 post!

Big Family Food and Fun: November 10-16, 2024

Saturday evening, November 9, we enjoyed a wonderful meal prepared FOR our family as a thank you gift. Friends dropped off Chili, Veggie Tray, Fresh Fruit, and Cinnamon Rolls. It was all wonderful!

On Sunday morning before church, we enjoyed Breakfast Cookies that I’d baked into bars.

After church, all of our kids came for lunch plus several friends, making 26 of us altogether. Justus was feeding Little Sweetheart some puree, but of course, he couldn’t have done it without Anna and Josie helping him.

We had a wonderful lunch buffet of White Chicken Chili, Veggies, Fruit, and Toasted Meat and Cheese Subs.

My Lolli hands were full feeding Arrow, so Kelsey grabbed a few shots of our gathering.

Then Eva snagged this one of Kelsey!

Sunday Lunches are such a gift!

That evening, we had a simple meal of Mac and Cheese with Frozen Peas stirred in, plus Berries.

Monday was a pretty chill day so I didn’t get many photos. We enjoyed Eggs and Oatmeal for breakfast, Leftovers for lunch, then Grilled Cheese, Tomato Soup, and Grapes for dinner.

Matt turned on our fire pit a few minutes before bedtime, so we all huddled around it before heading in for the night. All of the pictures I took turned out terrible, and if you can imagine, this was turned out the best of them all. Oy.

Tuesday morning, I buttered and warmed up Bran Muffins that had been tucked away in the freezer. We ate them with fruit and yogurt, finishing off the entire bag of muffins.

Little Sweetheart came over for the morning. She is rolling and scooting, and she made her way off the rug, scooting backwards on our wooden floor. She was very proud.

That afternoon, I took Brayden, Kiya, and Keith to hand out food at our weekly Food Distribution. The kids get to choose two items from the tables since they are “Junior Volunteers.” Keith chose a bottle of milk, and promptly drank the entire thing (while sitting on top of a cooler full of chicken). :)

Matt warmed up leftover Chicken and Noodles for dinner. We finished it, then pulled out more leftovers to fill us all. It feels good to clean out the fridge!

Kelsey texted this photo to me that evening. They had made Crunchy Ranch Chicken with whole boneless chicken thighs to eat as sandwiches at their house that night. Brilliant!

As we were starting to head the kids upstairs for bed that night, Elias was working on his school lunch prep for the week. Keith realized that the letter sound skills he’s been learning actually work in other contexts beyond school worksheets. He was SO PROUD to try and read the food packages on the countertop. It was so sweet.

Wednesday morning, after we got the others off to school, Matt and I took the youngest four kids to the Children’s Museum to play.

It was a lovely morning as they played so nicely and had a great time exploring and learning.

That afternoon, Acacia’s new specs arrived! Eva was here and captured this shot of me putting them on her for the first time.

Just when we thought this little girl couldn’t get any cuter…

Pop and Auggie were entertaining Arrow, but as you can see, he only has eyes for his pretty Mommy.

Keith was starving at 4:30, so he helped me make the Caesar Salad for dinner. Then I had to hold him back from eating the entire bowl.

I had made Baked Potatoes in the Crock Pot for dinner. We had a variety of add-ons and toppings including two kinds of chicken, two kinds of cheese, and broccoli.

Anna had come home from school not feeling well, and slept on the couch for three hours. Then she got up and made it as far as the floor before falling back to sleep, the poor thing. Not long after that, I started to feel chilled and found that I had a fever also. Boo. We all headed to bed.

Thursday morning Anna and I woke up fever free, but tired. It was Keith’s birthday, so I pushed through the morning, then rested all afternoon. We had Scrambled Cheesy Eggs, Applesauce, and Donut Holes for his birthday breakfast.

He had requested a cake in the shape of a K for his birthday. It turned out great (if I do say so myself). ;)

That morning, I also made a batch of Flourless Peanut Butter Brownies. I hadn’t made them for several months, and they sounded good. They turned out great because I got them out of the oven before they appeared to be done. That is the trick to making these turn out moist and good!

Most of the family was able to come over for Keith’s birthday dinner that night. He and Asa shared their secret bro hand shake when Asa, Eva, and Arrow arrived.

The birthday boy or girl always gets to pick the menu for the day. Keith requested, “Noodles and Beef Sticks.” Hehehe. Why not? I asked him if it was alright that I make additional food to go with his noodles and beef sticks, and he was ok with that. :)

We had Noodles, Beef Sticks, Buttered Rolls, Steamed Carrots, Smoked Sausage, and Watermelon.

After dinner, we gathered in the living room for Keith to open his gifts: Shirts, Soccer Ball, and a Remote Control Car.

Then we headed back to the dining room for cake time!

Phew, birthdays are a loud (emotional) circus around here. But Keith loved it all and drove his remote control car until it died and needed to be recharged.

Friday morning, I loved seeing Auggie join Acacia in their play kitchen.

After school that day, Keith went directly for his remote control car. He played with it until both batteries had to be recharged. Then he turned to his new soccer ball and played with that for the rest of the evening.

Josie was having a pretty emotional day. She finally discovered some oranges sitting on our counter and asked me to cut one for her. I was happy to. Three oranges later, she was satisfied. Remind me to always keep oranges on hand for cranky kids.

For dinner that night, I air fried two boxes worth of Orange Chicken. (Our favorite is from Sam’s, so I should add it to this list.) I made a pan of Stick of Butter Rice to go with the chicken, plus we ate spinach and finished Thursday night’s watermelon. Total cost for both boxes of chicken was $25.96 – more expensive than a typical meal at our house. But this is how we “eat out” or “order take out” at our house. Not too bad a price for feeding 11 people that night.

Saturday morning, I spent time getting ready for our Sabbath rest time. I made a double batch of Breakfast Cookies as those are great to eat on Sunday mornings. We planned to eat at the church building after worship as there was a special Kids Ministry event that day. So I gathered everything we needed for that.

Acacia helped me with the Breakfast Cookies. Oh, and those glasses she got this week? As expected, keeping them on her sweet little face is not easy. Any time you see a photo with her specs on, rejoice with us that they are where they are supposed to be.

Anna and Josie didn’t want to feel left out, so they got to add the chocolate chips to our cookies.

I decided that I was crazy enough that morning (actually, I was in a funk and needed more baking therapy), so we made Pumpkin Spice Roll Out Cookies.

Kiya had gotten some cake and cookie mixes for her birthday and she’s been itching to make another one. So after I cleaned up our Pumpkin Spice Roll Out Cookies, I let her make Sugar Cookies for our Sunday lunch.

Our Pumpkin Spice Roll Out Cookies turned out cute, and the mess got cleaned up easily enough.

I managed to pull out the Breakfast Cookies, which I turned into bars, in time to keep them gooey instead of dry.

After they cooled, I cut them and transferred them to two plates: one for the freezer and another for Sunday morning.

Our housemate, Kermit, needed to take soup for a teacher/staff meal on Monday. So he did a Hy-Vee pick up for me to get our WIC items and the remaining ingredients we needed for soup.

Then we worked together to put together soup. Everyone loves this Cheeseburger Soup. But I will say that I’ve been cheating and simply adding hamburger meat (instead of ham) to this recipe and calling it Cheeseburger Soup. It’s easier and I like the rotel kick. We made enough for that night’s dinner plus plenty for Kermit to take to work on Monday.

For lunch that day, we used some Goodcents Free Kid Meal vouchers we’d been given at Boo at the Zoo. It was a super fun treat to enjoy little subs, cookies, and lemonade for lunch! (For the record, Matt and were reminded again about why we don’t eat out with this crew. It’s not just about the cost – though it was free this time. The pickiness, and the MESSSSSSSSS. Shredded lettuce shouldn’t have landed all the places where it did. And how many ways can a kid get lemonade drips on every floor of the house – when food and drink are not allowed outside the dining room or kitchen? So many ways.)

Truly though, we were thankful for the special treat!

We spent the rest of the day cleaning, giving baths, and prepping for Sunday. Then we ate soup for dinner and kicked off our Sabbath rest time together.

And that was our week!

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Big Family Food and Fun: November 3-9, 2024

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Here’s our Big Family Food and Fun: November 3-9, 2024 post!

Big Family Food and Fun: November 3-9, 2024

Saturday evening, November 2, we kicked of our weekly practice of Sabbath. For our Sabbath dinner Saturday evening, we made a very simple (but special to us) meal of Costco Pizzas and Caesar Salad with Sparkling Water.

We brought out our special “Sabbath Candles” which we hope gives our kids the idea that this time of the week is set apart and special. We celebrate God’s goodness together, sharing around the table ways God worked in our lives during the past week. After dinner, we let the kids hold a candle while we took a short walk outside together. They loved that!

Sunday morning’s breakfast was Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bread that I’d baked the day before. We also had bowls full of applesauce with our bread.

Our Sunday Lunch has turned into a Sabbath Feast as several families have decided to make this time a part of their Sabbath celebration also. And of course, we always grab as many others from church as we can to join us for lunch.

30 of us gathered that day and it was glorious. God’s power was evident around our tables.

Malachi and some of his buddies sat at the living room to eat because our dining room was full.

We enjoyed pie for dessert (leftover from Saturday’s big pie party) – but I forgot to get a picture of that part of our kitchen. Then we enjoyed time with friends all afternoon.

For dinner that evening, I made a simple meal of Mac and Cheese (six boxes) with Frozen Peas sprinkled in plus Clementines.

Brayden and Kiya made their school lunches for Monday as I washed dishes on Sunday evening. Brayden decided that he wanted Chicken Salad. I was so proud of him for making it entirely on his own without any reminders or instruction about how to do it.

Alas, it was dark outside so we couldn’t go play like we were used to doing after dinner. So I gathered the kids at the living room table for craft time. I am always surprised at how much even our 5-year-old boys enjoy this.

We finished one and moved on to another. Getting used to the time change was tough, but we made it until bedtime at 8:00!

Monday morning, I scrambled 12 eggs for our breakfast. We ate them with Toasted Bagels and Sliced Pears. Meanwhile, I put a pan of Stick of Butter Rice into the oven to use in our dinner that night.

Mid-morning, Anna and Acacia hung out in the kitchen with me while we made Snickerdoodle Bitesx3. Having these on hand to fill bellies is very helpful.

That afternoon, I took a much needed nap. Changing our clocks over the weekend (which is never easy with the kids), which was followed by a few rough nights being up with kids, had provided me with several nights/mornings in a row without enough sleep. I was so thankful that the afternoon allowed me to rest. I felt much better after the down time.

For dinner that night, I used the Stick of Butter Rice I’d made that morning to create Taco Rice Skillet. I warmed corn in a pan separately to accommodate those who don’t like corn. We topped our Taco Rice with cheese and sour cream (and corn), plus ate a side of Spinach. I got out some canned fruit to stretch the meal, but we ended up not needing those.

It was raining and dark, so I told the kids we’d play a game while a special dessert was baking in the oven. Our blue rug turned into a stage as we used the Picture Charades Game to let everyone take turns acting out a person, animal, or thing to see if they could make everyone guess what they were. This time together was both fun and cRaZy. Meanwhile…

…the timer went off and we enjoyed this treat. I’d picked up Annie’s cinnamon rolls for my nephew’s birthday last week, and we had some leftover. The kids loved this!

Tuesday, the kids school was closed so that they could use some of the facilities associated with the schools for the election. It was wet and rainy all day, so going outside wasn’t possible. Yowza.

I made Pancakes and Sausage for breakfast, something I don’t usually take time to make on school days. The kids gobbled this up! Auggie enjoyed some of my smoothie that morning, and I loved getting all that nourishment into him.

Kiya set up a school in our dining room and was teacher to whatever kids’ attention she could keep.

Brayden set up his school in our pantry, using our cases of water as desks. :)

Keith and Bonus Buddy worked for a while at our living room table, mostly cutting paper and making a mess. I don’t care about messes as long as the kids are being sweet.

That part of the morning went smoothly, and I was grateful. Then I looked at the clock and saw that it was only 9:30. Oy. It was going to be a LONG DAY.

I made a fruit plate for the kids to snack on at 10:30.

The bigger littles and I have been reading Little House in the Big Woods, and just finished the chapter about harvesting maple syrup from the trees. So Matt found a YouTube video that showed the process of extracting maple syrup so the kids could see how it worked. They are now determined to get syrup out of our trees. Hmmmm….

Anna needed a project, so she helped me make Chocolate Chip Cookies.

It’s been a few months over a year since we moved into this house, and I still can’t figure out how to make cookies in this oven. I continue to make adjustments, but they turn out weird every time. I’M NOT GIVING UP. Though I usually just save time anyway and turn them into Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars. Anyway, our cookies were thin and ugly, but no worries, we ate them anyway.

We ate leftovers for lunch (before we ate cookies), had therapy appointments in the afternoon, watched too many shows on TV, and then finally were able to go outside and play because the sun came out. Somewhere in there, Matt and I took turns running out to go vote.

I took Brayden and Kiya to our weekly Food Distribution to hand out food to clients who came through the line.

Brayden kept up with cleaning coolers as they got emptied out.

That morning, I had made a crock pot full of Cheeseburger Soup. We ate the entire pot on Tuesday night, along with two pounds of strawberries.

Wednesday was Matt’s birthday! We ate Egg Casserole for breakfast with Blueberry Toast and Cantaloupe. I had the Egg Casserole in the freezer, already baked and cut. So we just put pieces of casserole into our Air Fryer to warm up, along with more pieces of bread to toast as needed until we finished both the casserole and most of the loaf of bread.

I made a Berry Cobbler for Matt’s birthday dessert later that night.

I also made a quick batch of Vanilla Ice Cream to go with the Cobbler.

Before the girls left for school, they each had an Avocado Cup with Tortilla Chips.

Arrow came to hang out that afternoon!

When Eva came back later, she stayed to help with the late afternoon craziness and dinner prep time. Josie was honored with a turn holding Arrow.

Matt had requested Shrimp for his birthday dinner, something I almost never make. We found some at Costco, plus I warmed up some chicken for those who didn’t like shrimp. I made a huge pot of Easy Noodle Stir Fry to go with our meat, plus prepped some grapes to round out the meal.

Our family gathered around our kitchen is my very favorite.

With family gathered around the table being my close second favorite.

Then it was Berry Cobbler and Vanilla Ice Cream time – a great birthday celebration night!

Thursday morning, the kids ate Yogurt with Granola for breakfast before school.

Matt and I took the youngest four to grocery shop that morning. We went to Walmart and Sam’s. Why Sam’s? Well, we were out of BACON. Yikes.

Did I forget to take a picture at Sam’s? Yes, I did. Four kids in two carts is a thing, man. So we survived Sam’s, but I didn’t take a picture of our food until we were unloading and filling our kitchen with groceries.

Meanwhile, Anna spent some time on a new swing our neighbor, Coleman, and rigged up. Is this a sweet picture of fall or what?

Little Sweetheart came that afternoon, plus I had an Early Development Network meeting for Auggie. I’d put Salsa Chicken into the crock pot that morning for our dinner. Before leaving to pick up kids from school, I put a pan of Stick of Butter Rice into the oven. We enjoyed a Chicken Taco Buffet that evening along with fresh raspberries, grapes, or cantaloupe.

I like to stir together leftovers after a Taco/Burrito Buffet and turn it all into Burritos like this. Kiya and Anna wanted to help me, so they stirred as I dumped in bits of chicken, rice, guac, salsa, sour cream, and cheese.

Then I rolled the mixture into tortillas, giving us 17 Frozen Burritos for adults to take in their work lunches!

NOTE: This meal was incredibly inexpensive! I used just one large package of chicken thighs that I’d picked up after it was marked down to just $6.65. I did a little rough math and estimated that the entire Taco Bar cost around $22.00. This fed 14 of us (6 adults, 8 kids) plus made 17 frozen burritos for future meals.

How was it this cheap?

  1. Marked down meat saves a great amount of money.
  2. Rice stretches a meal.

If we’d just made meat and cheese burritos, we would have run out of meat long before the adults went through the line. But having rice and meat, with tortillas or hard shells means that the meat can go a long way.

Anyway, hooray for inexpensive meals that everyone loves! Now back to our regularly scheduled Food and Fun post…

Friday morning Little Sweetheart came over and helped me make Meat and Cheese Sandwiches for our upcoming Sunday lunch. We wrapped them up so that we could warm them up to serve them toasted with White Chicken Chili.

While finding clothes for the day, the girls discovered their robes and wore them all morning before the bus came.

For dinner that night, I made a big pot of Chicken Noodle Soup.

Saturday morning, Asa and Justus came over to help Matt and Elias with the kids. Malorie and I headed to Heartlands Church for a Ladies’ Brunch, and Eva, Kelsey, and their babies met us there. I was blessed to share with the ladies some of the ways God has taught me to find peace in Him. It was a wonderful morning of fellowship together. (Photo cred: my friend Heather —>)

Malorie and I arrived home to find that the guys had fed the kids salad and sandwiches and everyone was happy. We moved forward with our afternoon, preparing our home and hearts for another Sabbath day of rest, which I’ll share about next 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: October 20-26, 2024

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Here’s our Big Family Food and Fun: October 20-26, 2024 post!

Big Family Food and Fun: October 20-26, 2024

Last weekend, Matt was in California to be with his family for a memorial service for a dear loved one. So I got a bit behind in sharing photos of our week. I’ll play catch up now. ;)

Saturday, the 19th, I baked four loaves of Banana Bread plus browned four pounds of ground beef so that I could make Taco Soup on Sunday.

Our church Kids’ Ministry was hosting a Fall Fun Color Run that Saturday morning. Elias and Malorie helped me get the eight kids there and Kelsey met us there to help also. It was so much fun to run the trail and have lots of colored powder tossed onto us as we ran!

Everyone loved the end result…

…except for this little one. Acacia was indignant about the entire thing. She kept whimpering and saying, “Messy! Mama, messy!!” So sorry, Buddy.

I guess I should have prepared her more for the fact that we were going to this event to get messy on purpose. ;)

With Matt out of town, we’d arranged for our adult kids to take shifts coming to help me get through the weekend with our little kids. Asa, Eva, Arrow, Kelsey, and Little Sweetheart were with me all Saturday afternoon and into the evening. Elias and Malorie were in and out also. I loved walking into our living room to this scene with our daughters-in-law and grandbabies. What a precious moment, even if Arrow wasn’t appreciating it as much as I was.

I somehow managed to trim Auggie’s hair that afternoon and here’s the photo I sent to Matt:

Matt and I have started to be intentional about setting aside Saturday evening through Sunday evening as Sabbath. (Read more about this here.) I attempted to pull off a special Sabbath Supper without Daddy here. We are learning that Sabbath isn’t all about rest, but also about taking a step back from day to day tasks and delighting in all that we do.

The kids and I gathered around the table that evening enjoying Pizza, Salad, and Sparkling Water (<—a very special treat for them). I asked the kids to share any special memory they could think of, and it was fun to hear what they came up with. I shared with them the special memories I had about the days when I first met each of them.

Eva sent me this sweet photo of Uncle Auggie hanging with Arrow while I was upstairs getting the other seven put to bed that night.

Sunday morning, we ate Breakfast Cookies turned into bars that I’d baked and frozen the week before.

Our Sunday lunch was a huge roaster full of Taco Soup with Fritos, Cheese, and Sour Cream.

We made Quesadillas and enjoyed Brownies that Kiya had made all by herself (on Saturday). :) Friends who joined us for our meal brought Fruit Salad, Chips and Salsa, and Apple Crisp.

When our table is full, my heart is full. Twenty-three of us gathered for our meal that day, and it was truly a DELIGHT.

Matt got home in the middle of the night that night, praise God. It was so good to have him back home! Monday morning, I scrambled 15 eggs and we finished off a loaf of Banana Bread. I made Smoothie for Matt and me.

I was planning to grill Brats for dinner that night, but just about the time I would have turned on our smoker, it started to rain. We were so thankful because we needed rain! I quickly made a Plan B for dinner and decided to make the brats on Tuesday instead. :)

I had some Ham in the fridge so I cut it up and made six boxes of Mac and Cheese with Buttered Peas and Sliced Oranges.

Anna and I made Peanut Butter Honey Puffs that evening for snacks.

 

Then while Keith and Bonus Buddy were hanging with Elias and Malorie and Auggie was with Matt, these five went to the table with me for a rainy-night craft.

Tuesday morning, the kids ate either Breakfast Sandwiches or Oatmeal. Meanwhile, I baked several pans of Bacon to put into the fridge to have on hand for breakfasts and sandwiches. This big box of bacon is a Sam’s favorite!

The kids’ group hug as Keith headed into school that morning was extra precious.

We played outside a good part of the morning after getting the four elementary kids to school. The kids shared snacks while they played.

Later when we came inside, I loved seeing Anna spend time building an animal train and playing calmly. Until just a few months ago, this little one didn’t know how to just play. She fought, ripped books, dumped out and scattered toys – but never actually played with toys. It’s beautiful to see her building, making believe, being creative, and sometimes actually sitting peacefully. God is healer. (<— I’m writing this because with all the continued work we do with all of our kids, it’s so good to take note of all that God HAS DONE already in them.)

We usually wait until about 11:00am to get the preschool girls dressed and ready for school. Otherwise, by the time the bus comes at noon, they are already dirty and their hair needs to be redone. Here’s Acacia, rocking a cute outfit plus a fresh hairdo by Malorie. Note that these camo pants were Keith’s last year. As I was sorting through fall/winter clothes, I realized that the girls might be able to pull off these hand-me-down pants. Oh my goodness, I can’t stop loving how CUTE these are on her.

They all looked especially adorable that day, and we had an extra minute as we were waiting for the bus so…

Little Sweetheart had been with us all morning and into the afternoon. While Auggie napped, she and I had some playtime on the floor. She’d been on a blanket across the room, but little roly-poly here made her way to the other side of the rug.

Sometime in there, I smoked 24 Brats for our dinner that night and put them into a crock pot to stay warm since I’d be gone with the kids for our weekly Food Distribution where we serve. As you can see, I sort of burned 24 brats. Yikes. I’d forgotten that they were out there. Meh, we ate them anyway. I also made a small crock pot of Baked Beans.

I picked up Brayden, Kiya, and Keith from school and we headed straight to the Food Distribution site so that we could hand out food to the community. Over 100 people came through the line! Matt, Elias, and Malorie had fed the other kids by the time we got home.

Here’s a photo I snagged of Kiya and Keith putting away a wagon as we were cleaning up after handing out food.

Wednesday morning, some of our kids had Yogurt with Granola and some had Breakfast Sandwiches. I tell you what, keeping those sandwiches on hand has been so convenient a huge help!

Here’s a great peek into what school mornings look like. Kids in and out working on breakfast, a dishwasher open and being loaded while the kids eat, and Keith there behind the kitchen faucet working on some sort of project that was much more important than eating breakfast or getting dressed.

That day, some dear friends from York came and ate lunch with us. I added more beef, corn, and beans to Sunday’s leftover Taco Soup to help it stretch through our lunch. Our friends brought fruit and cookies to complete the meal. I was bummed later to realize that I didn’t get any pictures of us together. We were too busy catching up on life. :)

That afternoon, I made a batch of Mini Crustless Cheesecakes for snacks. I also put together 15 Chicken Bacon Ranch Sandwiches to have on hand for adults to take for lunches or for us to eat at home as needed.

For dinner that night, we ate a pot of Cheeseburger Soup with sliced Oranges.

Thursday morning, Anna was up early and helped me make a batch of Cheater Cheater Pumpkin Eaters for breakfast.

I scrambled 15 eggs to go with our Cheater Cheater Pumpkin Eaters plus got out canned Mandarin Oranges that I’d gotten from Azure Standard. Somewhere in there, I also made another round of this smoothie for Matt and me to drink during the next couple of days. Kiya asked if she could take the picture of our breakfast, and here it is!

Mid-morning, I took Auggie to Walmart to get the rest of our WIC items for the month plus a few other things we needed.

I always check for meat markdowns at Walmart and am almost never disappointed. Today I scored big on boneless chicken thighs for $2.04 or $1.98/pound! I also got a beef roast marked down. It wasn’t as cheap per pound but it’s hard to find a good price for roast now, so I still took advantage.

One problem with leaving Matt at home with the girls, and me only taking Auggie to the store is that one cart is usually not enough. But then again, having three more kids in a second cart with Matt wouldn’t be much help anyway. SO. I checked out and put the first purchase into our van, then Auggie and I went in for round two: produce.

Was Auggie excited to go back in and shop more? NO HE WAS NOT. I ended up holding him and dragging the cart and then doing self checkout one-handed. Yikes. But, we got what we needed, and then he fell asleep on the way home.

While putting all the groceries away at home, I decided to dump sauce on all the chicken I’d bought that day. That will make a perfect Sunday Lunch this weekend.

For dinner, I put together Potato and Bacon Foil Packs for the Grill then I left to have four parent-teacher conferences at the elementary school. When I got home, I made these spinach-filled Smoothies to go with our dinner.

These Potato Bacon Packs are so good. We fill our plate then top it with cheese and sour cream.

Friday morning the kids had cereal. But I also had a gallon of milk that needed to be finished off, so I made a big pot of Warm Vanilla Soother to serve. I used a sharpie to make the cups fun, which the kids loved. :)

Mid-morning, Anna helped me make a quadruple batch of Low Sugar Peanut Butter Brownies. This girl loves to help me bake. :)

Once those were in the oven, I went outside to turn on our smoker and found these two sweethearts playing in leaves.

Matt and I worked together to smoke all the chicken I’d marinated the day before. We planned to rewarm this on Sunday morning for our big Sunday Lunch gathering.

Malachi stopped by for a while that morning. Justus had dropped off Little Sweetheart and I was holding her. Auggie wasn’t happy to share me at that moment. Thank goodness for Malachi offering his big brother snuggles.

Here’s the end result of the Low Sugar Peanut Butter Brownies I started that morning. Super good!

We made Homemade Pizza for dinner that night with Caesar Salad.

At the store the day before, I had picked up a bag of frozen peppers and onions. It was a little bit weird to put them on a pizza, but it was also EASY because I didn’t have to do any veggie chopping. I had some left, along with some leftover sliced mushrooms, so I sautéed those for an additional side dish.

Saturday, we finished putting together food to serve for our Sunday Lunch so that we could take a Sabbath Rest on Sunday. This has been so amazing, and now that we are starting to get into a rhythm, it’s very doable.

I made Cream Cheese Corn to go with our Smoked Chicken and got out rolls and desserts from the freezer. Friends were planning to join us and bring additional sides.

Saturday evening was a little bit different than our typical Sabbath kick-off because weeks earlier we’d reserved tickets for our local Boo at the Zoo event. We got our kids all dressed up in their costumes for the year and headed out for an evening of fun. Allow me to introduce our Little House on the Prairie clan:

I’ll share more about our evening next week!

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Big Family Food and Fun: October 13-19, 2024

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Here’s our Big Family Food and Fun: October 13-19, 2024 post!

Big Family Food and Fun: October 13-19, 2024

Matt and I are prayerfully trying to take a Sabbath rest each week, starting Saturday evening and into most of the day on Sunday. Read more about this here.

As we learn about this ourselves, and try to teach our kids about taking time to refresh our souls, we planned a special evening Saturday to kick off our Sabbath. I ordered these rechargeable candles from Amazon to help communicate: This is a time set apart for something special. We had fruit cups and chicken strips on paper plates, and the kids all got to drink sparkling water with dinner.

Then we popped corn in our popcorn machine. We prayed, involving all the kids in sharing something they were thankful for that week.

Was this kick-off restful? Ultimately, Mom and Dad still have to work pretty hard to meet the needs of this many kids. But it’s a Sabbath mind-set we’re going for. So no, it wasn’t particularly restful. But it was joyful. So that’s a win.

To give me the day off from cooking on Sunday, I’d planned these Breakfast Cookie Bars that I’d made ahead and frozen for our morning meal.

Saturday morning, I’d made a huge Italian Pasta Bake with three different kinds of cheese and simply baked it Sunday morning on low while we were at church. I’d also made a bowl of Caramel Apple Dip for our dessert.

Along with some of our regular Sunday guests, the Nabb family joined us as they are also seeking to learn to Sabbath. They brought rolls, salad, and a Rotisserie chicken to add to our meal and together we enjoyed precious community. When our kitchen and dining room are full, this is my favorite. There were 25 of us gathered that day.

We transitioned back into “normal life” when late in the afternoon, we headed to Keith’s final soccer game of the season.

Auggie was wearing his new jeans and jacket, and I couldn’t stop loving how CUTE he is.

I had Burritos in the freezer so we warmed those up for dinner and got out cans of fruit as a simple side.

Most of us smothered our burritos with White Queso that I’d picked up at Sam’s. We also had fresh tomatoes our friends had given us, which made these burritos incredible.

Malorie and Elias experimented with making Fried Rice for part of their dinner and for Elias’ upcoming packed school lunches.

Monday morning, Acacia and Josie helped Chocolate Banana Blender Muffins.

This is the best kind of helping.

I scrambled 18 eggs to go with our muffins that morning.

Anna had a dentist appointment and Acacia went with us for moral support.

When we got home, we were blessed with a visit from our former housemate, Sarah. As you can see, the kids were VERY excited to see her.

We ate leftovers for lunch, then I put together a pot of Chicken Noodle Soup for us to eat for our dinner that night.

After Auggie’s nap, we loaded up eight bikes and eight kids and headed to our favorite Tierra Park to ride their trails. I knew we’d need a snack, so I packed the leftover Chocolate Banana Blender Muffins from breakfast plus clementines, pears, and applesauce.

As we were getting ready to leave, I realized how hungry I was. So I grabbed a to-go coffee cup and filled it with soup so that I could eat on the way.

Loading up that many kids and bikes is a huge effort, but it’s always worth it once we get there and the kids have so much fun playing and riding in the sunshine.

They ate all the snacks, then we gobbled down the entire pot of soup when we got home. They’d worked up an appetite!

Tuesday was the final day of our kids’ Fall Break from school. That morning, I started a big pot of Beef Broth to use in our soup for dinner that evening.

I also baked a Lemon Pound Cake just for fun since it was chilly outside and a good day for baking.

It wasn’t warm enough to play outside comfortably that morning, so I got out a fall craft for the kids to work on at the table.

When the broth had been simmering for several hours, I blended up the veggies to stir back in. This is such a great way to add veggies to our meals.

At lunchtime, I made several cans worth of Tomato Soup plus Chicken Salad Melts.

Little Sweetheart had been with us all morning and Acacia had fun playing with her after I finished changing her diaper.

I started a crock pot full of Spicy Ham and Potato Soup in the early afternoon, then took Brayden, Kiya, and Keith to our weekly Food Distribution.

This Spicy Ham and Potato Soup is my very favorite and with the rich broth I’d made earlier in the day, it was extra good.

Wednesday morning, the kids ate Oatmeal and I baked a double batch of Breakfast Cookies turned into bars to put into the freezer for upcoming needs.

We had intentions of taking all four of our littlest to Costco that morning, but by the time we had everyone ready, there was no way we’d make it there and back in time for the preschool bus. So I grabbed Auggie and headed there while Matt stayed back to get the girls off to school.

Auggie and I had some lovely one-on-one time as we stocked up on fruit, veggies, and many Costco needs/favorites.

Arrow came to hang out for the afternoon, so he bundled up with Auggie and me to go pick up kids from school.

Eva arrived as we were getting home and stayed and helped with kids. Then Asa and Eva joined us for dinner! We’d been given a Rack of Ribs at Food Distribution (a rare and wonderful bonus item they were handing out that day and had plenty of) so I smoked it for dinner. I also Baked Potatoes – in the oven like normal people do, ha! I’ve done it in the crock pot for so long, that I almost forgot that baked potatoes can be baked in an actual oven. We also had Baked Beans, Peas, Grapes, and Raspberries.

Kiya’s birthday was Thursday! She requested Pancakes for breakfast. Happy 9th Kiya!

Anna and Josie set up a Costco box from my grocery run the day before to use as a table for their applesauce that morning.

Mid-morning I quickly put together 12 Breakfast Sandwiches to have on hand through the upcoming days.

I’ve been working on and off for the past several days to get all of our kids’ summer clothes switched out to fall/winter clothes. This is a HUGE job, and thanks to Malorie’s help with the kids, I got our final bin sorted Thursday morning.

Auggie had an appointment with his eating specialist that day. After so many months of frustration and hard work, it was so great to walk in and report how well he is doing with eating and chewing. We praise God for this!

Several of the family were coming over for Kiya’s birthday dinner that night, so that afternoon I worked on her cake request. She asked for a cake in the shape of a Z for her name (her full name is Zakiya). I had baked a sheet cake that morning and attempted to cut it into a Z…not to shabby!

The final result was cute and I was excited to show her when she got home from school that day.

We had her birthday requested meal for dinner that night: Chicken Nuggets, Fries, Pickles – and I threw in Strawberries and Grapes for good measure. The older kids trickled in all evening for the celebration so I just kept putting in more rounds of chicken and fries. If you’re curious, we fed 18 people (10 adults and 8 kids)  and went through 5 pounds of chicken, 4 pounds of fries, and 3 pounds of strawberries that night.

Zakiya was very excited about her cake!

After dinner and cake (<— that was a two hour ordeal, ha), we gathered in the living room (<—also very eventful) for present time.

As we transitioned to bedtime, Josie was excited that the color of her jammies matched Malachi’s hoodie, but she would not be still for a picture. She kept giggling and squirming out of his arms, then asking to see the picture. These are a no-go, girl.

Matt left early Friday morning to head to the airport to be with his family in California for a funeral. We had a detailed schedule for all of our older kids/wives/girlfriend to come help throughout the weekend so that I would survive. Malorie was my all-day-Friday help and truly, she made the day go so smoothly.

We were pleased to make it all the way to 11:00 am without any screaming meltdowns. Score.

At that point, we headed outside to play. The girls had found and grabbed Auggie’s unused baby food puree to snack on. Sure, why not?

I loved that I was able to capture this while the kids were playing on the slide.

We ate Meatballs, Buttered Noodles, Salad, and Fruit for dinner that night.

Malachi came over to help with kids and we took a walk to Sunken Gardens. Kelsey and Little Sweetheart came later that evening and everyone worked together to get all eight little kids to bed (a process that took about an hour and a half).

Kelsey swept and mopped our kitchen and did dishes while Malachi held Little Sweetheart. Elias helped manage the 5-year-old boys as they had a hard time settling. Auggie wasn’t ready for bed yet so he enjoyed time in the kitchen learning how to be an awesome grown-up. I felt incredibly grateful for and supported by all of our precious adult kids.

Saturday morning, Elias and Malorie helped me get the kids to Heartlands for a Color Run with their friends from church. Kelsey met us there to help too. I packed a bunch of Peanut Butter Honey Sandwiches with Cheese Sticks and Apples for them to eat on the way home.

Kelsey, Asa, Eva, and Arrow came for the afternoon and evening to help out. Elias and Malorie helped a good part of the time too. Our adult children amaze me and I am so grateful for them.

As of Saturday morning, I decided to focus on surviving and didn’t upload pictures or write any more about our week. :) I’ll share photos next week of our weekend fun!

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Gratituesday: Rested!

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gratituesday[2]

Well, hello there. Nice to see you again. I’ve had a wonderfully refreshing break – so thank you. (What, like I gave you a choice in the matter?)

What I loved most about my break was the chance to enjoy homemaking and schooling my kids without any pressure to squeeze blogging work in and around all the crazy. It was refreshing to check that off the to-do list for eight entire days. I missed writing, no doubt. But really…I didn’t. I needed to rest my fingers and my head. I’m thankful the Spirit prompted me to rest. I’m thankful I listened and obeyed. I’ve learned much.

So what have I been up to during the past week? I did some cleaning. I looked through piles of pictures for Asa’s upcoming graduation reception. I spent extra time in the Word. I sat in the sunshine. I got caught up on history lessons with Elias and Malachi. I did some baking…

rest 1

I made a double batch of our favorite Poppy Seed Bread with Orange Glaze (recipe in {Healthy} Make-Ahead Meals and Snacks eBook). Yum! We ate two loaves and froze two for another day. I also made a double batch of cookie dough balls for the freezer. The boys were excited about that, for sure. (I especially like this because they can get out a few balls from the freezer and bake them without any help or mess.) It was just really fun to piddle around in the kitchen – stirring, baking, and singing praise songs along with the radio.

rest 2
Over the weekend we drove to Kansas City for the annual Leadership Training for Christ convention our kids participate in. This is Asa’s final year – he’s been doing this since 3rd grade! He was blessed to receive a scholarship for his efforts, which is a huge blessing! Our kids participated in a Bible Bowl, dramas, choirs, and much more. It was a very full weekend with all four of our boys in a variety of events, but we love joining over 100 people from our congregation and many hundreds of people from all over the midwest at this event! Here are some snapshots of our boys:

This was Asa and Justus’ high school choir. I may have cried during the entire performance. It’s a “my son is a senior” thing. Plus, they sounded gorgeous.

ltc 1
Justus is front right – Asa is in the back, second from the right.

 ltc 2
Here’s Malachi’s choir. He’s standing front right.

ltc 3
This is Elias’ crew right after they performed their middle school drama. They were awesome!
Elias is in the black striped shirt – the handsome dude with glasses.

We came home in time to celebrate Easter along with several college students we invited for the day. We put out a big spread of ham, green beans, asparagus, corn, rolls, cantaloupe, and pineapple. Then we followed it with a brownie sundae bar. Here’s part of our buffet:

easter dinner 1

It’s been a delightful week. I’m thankful for the rest. I’m glad to be back.

A bit of encouragement for us all: If the Lord prompts you to do something – listen and obey. He knows what He’s talking about. :)

So now you’re turn: What have you been up to? What are you thankful for this Gratituesday?

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