Heavenly Homemakers

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Big Family Food and Fun: December 28-January 3, 2026

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Here’s our Big Family Food and Fun: December 28-January 3, 2026 post!

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

Saturday, December 27

Saturday afternoon, Asa, Eva, and Arrow came over to hang out. Eva brought her camera and was amazing to spend time taking an photo of each of the younger kids so that we can update our picture wall. It was almost comical how complicated it was to get Josie to stand still and look at the camera. Her autistic traits showed up during this shoot, for sure. She was very sweet about it though, and Eva was very patient. :)

I made a simple dinner of Mac and Cheese and Peas that night. We warmed up leftover Taco Meat to stir into the Mac and Cheese for those who wanted some.

We were out of muffins, so I solved that near tragedy by baking a batch of Flourless Chocolate Banana Blender Muffins. After Asa’s family headed home and we’d given the kids baths, we loaded up in our jammies to drive around and look at more Christmas lights.

Big Family Food and Fun: December 28-January 3, 2026

Sunday morning, we ate through half of a large pan of Breakfast Cookie Bars.

It started to blizzard as church was letting out. Whoa. Several friends were still able to make their way to our house for lunch, and we were so grateful for all who gathered.

I made a full crock pot of White Chicken Chili. Friends brought bread and fruit. Then for dessert, we ate through some Christmas treats others had gifted us. It was a simple and delicious feast.

Even with the blizzard, 24 of us were able to gather and enjoy time together that day.

We introduced our friends to our “new” Air Hockey Table. This is one of the reasons we bought this table – to enjoy it with friends who came over.

The kids broke out their new puzzles and worked together on those.

Here’s what the crock pot looked like at the end of our time together. Empty food containers make me happy. They tell me that everyone was well fed and that our fellowship was sweet.

Matt and I enjoyed Community Group time that afternoon. Then the girls helped me bake some cookies from mixes they received for Christmas.

For dinner, I baked some Mini Pizzas that I’d picked up on sale at Costco.

Then we loaded up most of the kids and headed out to look at more Christmas lights. Kiya stayed home with Malachi because she was sick. And another kid had had a major fighting meltdown and lost the privilege of going out with us. :( Malachi was so good to help us with the follow-through on this. All kids were calm by the time we made it home.

On Monday morning, Auggie had ABA therapy and everyone else played.

It was Brayden’s and Auggie’s birthday that day! Keith was my special helper of the day, so he helped me make an Ice Cream Cake.

After lunch, we took down our Christmas tree to pack it away until next year.

That afternoon, I made a big batch of Granola Bars. It’s pretty important that I keep something like this on hand for Keith because when he needs to eat, HE NEEDS TO EAT.

Elias and Malorie and Justus’ family were all out of state visiting family, but Asa’s crew and Malachi were able to join us in celebrating birthdays that night.

Brayden wanted Orange Chicken for birthday dinner and he even requested Stir Fried Veggies to go with it! I made a pan of Stick of Butter Rice to stretch the meal.

This is the first year Auggie has understood what a birthday is, and it was very sweet to enjoy this with him. Here’s his face when Malachi asked him to “smile with your teeth!”

I’d put twelve candles on the cake – then lit three of them for Auggie. After we sang to him and he blew out his candles, I lit all twelve and we sang for Brayden!

Present time was fun – and did I mention that ABA therapy was going on for two of the kids (including our 3-year old birthday boy) throughout this whole night? The therapists were sweet to work their programming around our birthday fun.

Brayden was excited to receive a digital clock that has weather and temperature features! One of his special interests is ALL THINGS WEATHER. So he was very excited about his gift!

On Tuesday, we took the kids to the mall to get some energy out in the play area there.

We had a pile of free Subway kids’ meal coupons that expired at the end of December, so we enjoyed the treat of eating in the mall food court!

That afternoon, I took Brayden and Keith to serve at our weekly Food Distribution. There was a ton of food to give away that day, and a lot of people came through the line to be blessed by this! Brayden’s job is to clean all the coolers as they get emptied out. Every single cooler got used so his work load was bigger. Unfortunately, I didn’t get a picture of him doing this job. But I sure was proud of his hard work that day. Keith mostly helped me hand out chicken at my table.

I’d made a large Tator Tot Casserole and a pot of Green Beans before leaving that afternoon, and Matt got everyone fed before we got home.

On Wednesday, we loaded up mid-morning to go to a gym nearby to watch Asa and some of his buddies play basketball. We weren’t sure how this would turn out because we didn’t know how much space around the gym there would be. Well. We were in for a great surprise!

First though, look at these sweet sisters admiring their biggest brother playing ball!

What we learned about this Rec Center: IT IS FREE TO THE PUBLIC. We had no idea! The gal at the desk told us that we could come within certain hours of the day to use the gym, the game room, and their collection of games and balls. Wow. This is a gold mine for us – and it’s only a mile from our house! We assumed it was like the YMCA in which people have to pay monthly fees for a membership. Nope. Free to the public. Well, we will see you again very soon Rec Center!

We ate leftovers for lunch at home, then I baked two Pumpkin Pies for a special New Year’s Day breakfast.

We still had plenty of leftovers, so we warmed up more at dinner time as kids got hungry. I had brought home several packages of Hawaiian Rolls on Tuesday’s Food Distribution because one of our local stores had donated several cases. This was a fun score, and I spent some time Wednesday afternoon putting together six foil wrapped Ham and Cheese Slider Sandwiches for the freezer with plans to warm them for our upcoming Sunday Lunch.

I’d been sorting through some of our older puzzles in an effort to get re-organized for the new year. I discovered a set of three wooden puzzles all a mess. So we had Puzzle Challenge at the table to sort the pieces and put the puzzles together. Even Auggie had fun with this!

On Thursday morning, we ate Pumpkin Pie for breakfast, then made a batch of Cheater Cheater Pumpkin Eaters to take for a snack on an outing.

We loaded up the kids and went to Scheels, hoping to entertain them with the aquarium and play area. Unfortunately, they started scattering after two seconds of looking at fish. So we had to move on right away.

We headed to the second floor and found some cool new features (or maybe they aren’t new but we just haven’t been there for a while to discover them?!). We hit some golf balls in the putting area.

Then we took a boat ride in a pond. Ha. I wish. I actually had no idea that taking a picture there would give us that background. We were just sitting for a minute. :)

After that, we fought over who would bowl first paid two dollars and let our kids take turns bowling. What a great, cheap activity!

Then six of us went on the Ferris Wheel while Daddy hung out with the remaining crying kids. Ultimately, this was a great but hard outing as we tried to have fun with kids who often sabotage the fun we try to have. Crazy though – I think they will have good memories from this, and we only had to spend a whopping $8.00.

For dinner that night, I made two Quiche with Caesar Salad and Tator Tots.

After dinner, the kids and I did some baking. First we made some Crustless Cheesecake to have on hand for a high protein snack option.

Then we made a double recipe of Flourless Peanut Butter Brownies, also for a high protein snack option, and also for school lunches next week.

On Friday morning, I cut and individually wrapped the Flourless Peanut Butter Brownies and put them into the fridge. I made a batch of Tapioca Pudding because Brayden has been requesting it! Keith really wanted to do the stirring. So I put him in a safe spot and that kid stuck with the whisk for twenty entire minutes – amazing!

Acacia had Physical Therapy and Speech Therapy that morning. Matt held down the fort at home with Auggie and his ABA Therapy and the other five kids hanging out.

We had Spaghetti with leftover veggies for lunch, then Meatloaf, Peas, Strawberries, and Buttered Croissants for dinner. The night was filled with more ABA Therapy for Keith and Anna – then bedtime!

On Saturday, we loaded up and headed to the Children’s Museum. We spent over two hours there with friends, and we enjoyed several of the new exhibits!

That afternoon, we did some baking and cleaning to get ready for Sunday. Then we transitioned into our time of Sabbath rest. And that was our week!

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Big Family Food and Fun: December 21-27, 2025

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Here’s our Big Family Food and Fun: December 21-27, 2025 post!

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

Saturday, December 20

This particular Saturday, we farmed out the younger kids so that all of the adults in our family could spend the day together. It was Malachi’s birthday and the last Saturday before Christmas travels took some of the kids out of Lincoln. So thanks to many from our church family, we were able to have some much needed respite and hours of laughter with our grown up kids!

Brayden, Kiya, and Keith went to one friend’s house, Auggie and Little Sweetheart stayed at our house with a sweet couple who came to care for them, Arrow hung out at his other grandparent’s house, and the three little girls went to the Adcock’s. They all had a blast!

My nephews drove up from Kansas to celebrate Malachi’s birthday, which was extra amazing! That evening, we all gathered back at the Castle for a birthday pizza dinner.

Big Family Food and Fun: December 21-27, 2025

Sunday morning, we worked our way through a plate full of Breakfast Cookie Bars.

We had a fun buffet of Meatball Sub fixings for lunch that day. I had one crock pot filled with meatballs covered in marinara sauce and another crock pot filled with meatballs covered in barbecue sauce. We had a variety of cheese slices, pickles, and condiments for people to work with as they built their sandwiches. Friends brought chips and fruit to complete the buffet.

It was an amazing spread!

I’d made a large pan of Frosted Brownies for dessert. Friends brought a fun tray of cakes from Sam’s to share (that I missed getting a picture of).

There were 35 of us gathered that day! But the only good picture I got of friends was this one. :) I was too busy chatting and hosting such a fun gathering.

That afternoon, Malachi helped us out by picking up my Azure Standard order. I was out of my favorite flour, and am so relieved to have two bags in our pantry now. (I also got a case of our favorite tortillas.)

We ate leftover Burritos and Chili for dinner that night. Then we did a craft at our living room table before settling in the kids to watch a Christmas movie after dark.

On Monday morning, Emma came and helped Matt with kids. I finished grocery shopping for our holiday needs. Then during the afternoon, we took the kids to a park because it was beautiful outside!

I surprised Brayden by hopping onto the teeter totter with him. He couldn’t stop laughing. :)

Neither could these girlies on the slide. Daddy had them giggling and they had so much fun! Almost every outing with the kids is hard. But this one was actually FUN. We were so thankful! The kids were sweet and cooperative as they let the time at the park meet their needs.

Back at home, ABA therapy started for Keith and Auggie. I immediately started dinner because the kids had played so hard at the park. I baked several trays of bacon and cooked 18 slider-sized hamburger patties. We had Bacon Cheeseburgers, Fries, and Carrots – which was a big hit with everyone.

Keith and I had watched a reel that morning featuring a fun and “easy” Wreath Craft so we gathered around the table after dark to attempt it. It wasn’t as easy as it looked and Keith quickly lost interest. Pictured here is Matt finishing Acacia’s and Kiya finishing hers without problem. Not pictured: a couple of girls melting down on the floor. ;)

On Tuesday morning, we got the kids ready for a brand new outing. We had them each draw a name amongst the seven of them. Then we took them Christmas shopping for a gift for the person they drew.

Was this a crazy idea? Yes. But are we also trying to teach our kids to think beyond themselves and to care for others? Yes. Elias, Malorie, and Malachi teamed up with us for this adventure, and we all headed into Five Below to select a gift.

This turned out to be THE SWEETEST. The kids took their jobs very seriously, as evidenced by this girl and her shopping cart. Somehow, we were able to get everyone through checkout and keep the gifts hidden from one another. It was a Christmas miracle.

Since we were already on the crazy train, we took everyone to Freddy’s for lunch. We had a bunch of free kids meal coupons to enjoy. This was fun…ish. By the time we got home, I was pretty overdone by the neediness of the morning. But we made a special memory for the kids, so it was worth it!

Meanwhile, I’d been texting with a friend about putting together a meal for a family whose mom is on hospice. So as soon as we got home, I made a quick batch of Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars, cut some Oranges, and got out items for Sandwiches. My friend Cindy made two kinds of Soup and she picked up my food to deliver to our dear ones.

Matt and I worked together to make a big bowl of Tuna Salad for our own dinner that night. Then I took Brayden and Kiya to hand out food and clean at our weekly Food Distribution.

The schools had donated thousands of small cartons of milk to be handed out at the Food Distribution. We gave away all that people could take, and guess who got to bring home the rest? :) We probably brought home 400+ cartons of milk. Here’s just one of our fridge spaces that we filled with milk. Imagine many, many more.

So what did we do? We put a bunch of little milks into our Little Free Pantry, then loaded up the wagon and took a walk around the neighborhood giving away milk to families we knew who had kids. It wasn’t our typical Merry Christmas delivery of goodies – and I was really wishing I could deliver cookies with our milk – because how perfect would that have been?! Either way, we were able to share lots of milk with our neighbors and it was a fun outing for the evening!

Bedtime was extra special that night. Elias, Malachi, and Malorie planned a special “sleepover” event for Brayden, Kiya, and Keith. The younger four got put to bed as normal. Then these buddies got to bake, drink hot cocoa, and watch a show before bed that night.

Wednesday morning – Christmas Eve! I made a double batch of Poppyseed Bread with Orange Glaze and turned it into tiny loaves for our family and to share with neighbors.

I also made a batch of Vanilla Ice Cream to go with our Christmas Eve treats. And I made a super huge Egg Casserole for Christmas morning.

I took the kids upstairs one at a time to wrap their gifts that they’d purchased the day before for their sibling.

We enjoyed a beautiful Christmas Eve service with our church family.

Justus, Kelsey, and Little Sweetheart came over that evening for dinner (Nachos) and gifts. They were flying out to Montana to visit Kelsey’s family on Christmas morning, so we snuck in some time with them before they left.

On Christmas morning, I baked the huge Egg Casserole I’d put together the day before.

Asa, Eva, and Arrow came over and we had a wonderful, crazy day of fun.

Our traditional Christmas lunch for the past three years has become a knock-off of our kids’ favorite Raising Cane’s meal. I pick up a large container of Cane’s sauce a few days before Christmas, then make a bag of chicken with Texas toast (buttered on both sides). Kiya put together a bowl of salad, and our meal was great (and super easy)!

Eva captured this sweet moment with Auggie and Arrow…

Our family’s favorite gift was our big surprise of an Air Hockey Table. Matt and I had found this for super cheap on Facebook Marketplace – a huge score!

Every one of us had a blast with this – and some of us played while holding a heavy child on her hip.

 

Another gift highlight this year was that we set up a special Sensory Space in our basement for our kids to retreat to as needed. We rolled out some carpet pieces that were here when we bought the house – and they fit this space perfectly. There’s now a hammock, two punch bags, a compression seat, and a spinning chair in this area for our kids to use when they need to find calm for their bodies.

The weather was incredible on Friday – and we had more free kid meal coupons we needed to use up before the end of the year. So we went to Goodcents and let the kids order their meal (such a good experience for them!). Then we took our food to the park to eat.

We played for over two hours that day – amazing in Nebraska on December 26!

Kiya and Keith got new watches for Christmas, and they were very excited to use their stopwatch feature the entire time we were at the park. They timed EVERYTHING, and let us know how long everything took. “Mama, it took me 19 seconds to run from there to the water fountain…” :)

We ate leftovers for dinner. Then we loaded up into the van for a fun adventure (after over an hour of fighting with kids who were struggling to obey, phew). We drove just out of town for an incredible light show set to music. Apparently, this family has set this up for 30 years and this was their final year. We all loved this!!

On Saturday morning, I baked a double recipe of Breakfast Cookie Bars. The past two batches I’ve made have not turned out well (this – after baking them for decades?!). I blame it on the fact that I had run out of my favorite Azure Standard flour and nothing else works quite the same for me. BUT, I finally ordered and got 50 pounds of Azure Standard’s Soft Wheat Pastry Flour. This makes all the difference and my bars for Sunday turned out perfect!

Our Bonus Buddy got dropped off to spend a few days of his Christmas break with us. We loaded up and headed to the zoo for the morning because the weather had remained beautiful!

We enjoyed seeing some of the animals we hadn’t seen for several weeks due to the cold weather. We think they had missed seeing us too.

I had packed a simple snacky lunch of hard salami, cheese sticks, pirate’s booty, applesauce, apples, almonds, cashew clusters, and milk. Almost everything I packed got eaten. These kids get hungry running around at the zoo!

Back at home, Auggie took a nap while the other kids played outside. We had a fun afternoon and evening planned – and I’ll share more about that next week!

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Big Family Food and Fun: December 7-13, 2025

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Here’s our Big Family Food and Fun: December 7-13, 2025 post!

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

Saturday, December 6

We had a great day Saturday, starting with a 4-hour long DATE for Matt and me! Three friends from church offered to stay with the kids so we could have some time away. The kids were super excited when Mr. Trent arrived!

While we were out, Matt and I had Sip Club Coffee at Panera and took advantage of a gift card at Red Robin for lunch. Mostly, we enjoyed conversation – uninterrupted!

That evening, three families from York came for a little holiday party. We had planned to eat together and play at our house, then go look at Christmas lights around Lincoln.

I made a Nacho Bar with Chips, Seasoned Meat, Stick of Butter Rice, Tomatoes, Cheese, Spinach, Beans, Salsa, and Guacamole.

For dessert, I made a big pan of Brownies, then frosted them and put on Christmas sprinkles.

After we got everyone fed, the kids played for a while, but guess what? That was CRAZINESS.

We had our seven plus each of the mamas who came had three each. So that made for a total of 16 kids in our dining room, then living room and playroom. Whoa. These kids were having some LOUD FUN! :) We gathered for a picture (a true Christmas miracle), then put coats on everyone and scooted them outside for a few minutes before we loaded up to go look at lights. Look at this fun crowd!

Big Family Food and Fun: December 7-13, 2025

In the middle of the night, Acacia woke up sick. Boooooo. We canceled our Sunday Lunch plans because we didn’t think it would be wise to have guests in our house that day. Acacia was fine when she got up that morning, but we kept her home, just to be safe.

The rest of our household ate through a plate full of Breakfast Cookie Bars – of which I forgot to take a picture until we had exactly two crumbs left.

I’d planned to make a huge pot of Cheeseburger Soup (this recipe, but with hamburger meat) for Sunday Lunch guests. But since we canceled, I decided to save that plan and instead made special individual pizzas that I’d found at Costco. The kids enjoyed this, and we let them watch a movie all afternoon while Matt, Elias, Malachi, and I played a game together.

Heartlands had a big Christmas party that night. We left Acacia home with Malachi and the rest of us headed over.

Keith and Anna were excited to pose in their disguises.

Keith found a way to play with Little Sweetheart that had her belly laughing!! It was the sweetest!

To end the evening, Justus and a couple other Heartlands guys sang us some fun Christmas songs. Our friend Kaitlyn grabbed Auggie to dance, and Anna joined them. Auggie wasn’t sure at first, but then had huge smiles by the end. How could he not?

On Monday, Emma came and took care of the girls for us. Auggie had ABA therapy all morning. I had a zoom meeting as we prepare to get Josie set up with ABA therapy. Then, I took off for the day to finish Christmas shopping and to do our weekly grocery shopping.

Before I left, I’d filled a crock pot with Taco Soup. This was a perfect way to feed everyone after school and as the evening progressed with homework, ABA therapy, and keeping everyone settled. Our friend, Elicia, had made Homemade Rolls that were supposed to have gone with our Sunday Lunch that we’d canceled due to Acacia’s illness. She handed them to those who were at church on Sunday morning, and we enjoyed them with our soup Monday night!

On Tuesday morning, I pulled a plate of Angela’s Banana Chocolate Chip Breakfast Cookies from the freezer to feed the kids before school/therapy.

Acacia, Josie, and Auggie helped me scrub a crock pot full of potatoes for dinner.

The girls played with Little Sweetheart and Auggie had ABA therapy all morning. Then we put on jackets and went outside to play until the bus came. Temps in the 50s in December? Yes, please! They “ice skated” in the alley behind our house.

After Acacia and Josie got on the bus, Auggie and Little Sweetheart had the BEST conversation. Over and over, Little Sweetheart would tell Auggie, “jabber sweetness jibber jabber” and Auggie would look up at her with a big smile and say, “What??” So she’d repeat it, and he’d say, “What??” Over and over. Oh my goodness. It was amazing.

That afternoon/evening was a BIG one. I put together a 3.5 pound Meatloaf and Steamed Green Beans. Plus our Baked Potatoes were cooking in the crock pot. I left all of that to Matt while I took Brayden to our weekly Food Distribution.

We weren’t able to stay long, but we helped for almost an hour before heading home to transition to Kiya’s and Brayden’s music concerts. We left Auggie home with Elias/Malorie/Malachi (who were available at different times to help) and Anna stayed back to do her ABA therapy. The rest of us loaded up for a wild night.

Kiya’s Ukulele and Vocal Music performance was at 6:00 at the elementary school.

Then Brayden’s Vocal Music performance was a few blocks away at 7:00 at the middle school. Kelsey got him there on time, and the rest of us loaded up quickly after Kiya’s concert and made it there barely on time. PHEW. Back at home, much had happened and our grown up kids saved the day. We got the kids to bed late and yet, we all survived.

Wednesday morning, I made our Peppernuts recipe into soft cookies to have on hand during the next couple of weeks.

I also made Uncrustables. We had plans to take all seven younger kids to Children’s for Genetic Testing that morning. I packed Uncrustables, Grapes, and Applesauce for the kids who would miss eating lunch at school.

The team of doctors was great as we were quite the room full that morning! Per our appointments over the summer, one of the specialists we had worked with recommended that we do Genetic Testing for the kids to see if there was more we could learn about their challenges and needs. They were gracious to allow all seven kids to come in at the same time, which wasn’t easy, but it was easier than making seven separate appointments!

As the kids finished each of their appointments, they got to enjoy computer games in the waiting room with Daddy. Then we dropped them all off at school to finish out their day.

For dinner that night, I made a simple meal of Tomato Soup with Meat and Cheese Melts. The sandwiches started to disappear before I could get a picture!

One of our kids was having sensory struggles and insisted on leaving the light off during dinner. Thankfully, everyone cooperated with this and we were able to talk the kids into eating in the dark. :) For the record, it was only 4:45pm.

During the evening, Keith and Brayden helped me make Mini Pumpkin Muffins for upcoming snack needs.

We were able to spend some time playing games in between the kids’ therapy needs. Anna and her RBT came in and joined us for a round of Rack-o as they worked on her skills with taking turns, waiting, and sharing.

On Thursday morning, I made a big pot of  Warm Vanilla Soother to go with our breakfast. The kids LOVED this and the entire pot was empty before they left for school. Oh look, there’s my un-exciting glass of morning smoothie.

I had some spinach in the fridge that was in its final days, so I turned it into Spinach Cupcakes.

The girls wanted to wear their matching Adoption Day dresses (that are almost too small, but now they work like shirts with pants). They also had a fun idea to cut tortillas “like we did at Ms. Kathi’s!” and melt cheese on top. This was a very fun and tasty morning activity.

Both Arrow and Little Sweetheart were over all morning, so playtime was extra special! (Also, we were gifted this amazing dollhouse this week – WOW!)

Arrow was busy shopping, but gave Lolli the obligatory grin she asked for.

I had slow cooked Salsa Chicken all day. So for dinner, we made Chicken Tacos with leftover Stick of Butter Rice, Black Beans, and other topping choices.

The main highlight of the night is that I’d mixed up a quadruple batch of Cream Cheese Sugar Cookie Cut Outs. We took turns rolling and cutting and baking our cookies. Phew, it’s a big job with this many helpers! But the kids love this and it’s a Christmas tradition. This is the best way I’ve learned to make cookies like this with our kids.

On Friday morning, the girls got good morning/goodbye hugs from Malorie as she headed off for work.

I made a monster-sized batch of Mudballs.

Then I took Acacia to her Physical Therapy and Speech Therapy appointments.

We were all incredibly excited that our Bonus Buddy got to come spend the weekend with us! The evening was loud and rowdy, with ABA therapy for Keith and Anna thrown into the mix. Therefore, I forgot to even take a picture of our dinner – Hamburgers, Pickles, Fruit, and Chips.

Kelsey sent me this fun picture of Poppyseed Quick Bread baked in a 9×13 inch dish!

Saturday was full with a Ladies Christmas Brunch at church and family time. I didn’t have time to upload photos and share about the rest of our day, so I’ll add those to next week’s post!

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Big Family Food and Fun: November 16-22, 2025

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Here’s our Big Family Food and Fun: November 16-22, 2025 post!

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

Saturday, November 15

Saturday morning we took the kids to our favorite Library Story Time, then played inside the library for about an hour before heading home to eat leftovers for lunch.

I baked double batches of both Breakfast Cookie Bars and Flourless Brownies. Then we put Auggie down for a nap while Matt took the other kids to our church’s Build a Blessing event. I stayed home with Auggie and cleaned the house.

Later that afternoon, Elias and Malorie took Keith out for his Birthday Adventure as they do for all the kids to celebrate their special day.

I put together four Quiches for dinner…

And we were so thrilled to enjoy it with my cousin Laura from Colorado, plus her dad and his wife. It was lovely to have some time to catch up with them!!

Big Family Food and Fun: November 16-22, 2025

Sunday morning, we ate half a pan of Breakfast Cookie Bars as we got ready for church.

Lunch that day was Chili, White Chicken Chili, Baked Potatoes, and Cornbread. This meal was a big group effort as friends brought along many of the tasty dishes we enjoyed.

We had a smaller crowd of just 22 of us that day, and it was sweet to have a relaxing, good meal together.

I caught this group of men having a conversation in the kitchen after lunch and grabbed a three generation pic.

The kids watched a movie that afternoon while Matt and I enjoyed our Community Group time. Then we bravely loaded up our kids to pick up a new phone Matt had ordered, then a new phone case he’d found at Target. We prepared them all before we headed into Target, reminding them about how we stay safe in a parking lot and in a store, how we don’t ask for things we see in the store even though we will love it and really want it, how we stay with Mommy and Daddy, and how we sit safely in the cart…

Overall, they did well and we all made it out alive. It was a good outing to use up some time that night, and we only got four comments from strangers about “wow, that’s a lot of kids.” Yep. We know.

Before heading out on this venture, Matt had grabbed the coupon books that we’d received at the Boo at the Zoo event we enjoyed in October. The books contain a lot of freebies for the kids, so we took advantage and got seven free Cheese Burritos from Amigos for the kids to eat for dinner that night. We warmed up leftovers to fill in the gaps, and that was our night!

On Monday morning, Emma came over to stay with the kids so Matt and I could take some time off.

He and I went to Panera with our laptops. We had a lot to get done, so we didn’t visit much. But just sitting together by the fire was so very nice.

Back at home, we sent the girls off on the preschool bus and got Auggie down for a nap. I put together two huge Lasagnas for a family gathering over the weekend.

For dinner that night, I used some thinly sliced Roast Beef that someone had given us to make Meat and Cheese Melt Sandwiches plus Tomato Soup and leftover Taco Soup.

On Tuesday morning, I made a pan of Stick of Butter Rice so I could turn it into a casserole for our dinner that night.

We were completely muffin-less, which is a very big problem at our house. So Josie helped me make a batch of Flourless Chocolate Banana Blender Muffins.

Little Sweetheart spent the day with us!

I took Brayden and Keith to our weekly Food Distribution that afternoon. Kiya had been struggling with some extra needs the past few evenings, so I left her behind that day to hopefully help her settle. She also had a concert that night, so I wanted to give her plenty of unrushed time to get ready.

We made it back home just in time to drop off Keith for ABA therapy and load up others to head to Kiya’s concert.

Kiya has been working hard to practice her viola and was very thrilled with how this night went. Our friends, Christina and Clara, came to support her, which was extra special (but I only got blurry pictures of them, boo). Our friend, Pasha, is in orchestra with Kiya so it was fun to celebrate both of them together after the concert.

We made it home in time to eat dinner (or second dinner for some of the kids) – Tator Tot Casserole and Green Beans – then we headed straight to bed.

Wednesday morning, Keith was determined to put together special oatmeal packet gifts for people who stopped by our Little Free Pantry. He put them all out in our tote and they were gone in less than a day.

I made a double batch of Chewy Granola Bars.

Arrow spent the morning with us. At one point, all of the kids were enjoying all of Auggie’s ABA therapy toys with the technician.

The girls’ preschool teacher came over for her quarterly visit, and she played a game she had brought over for them. Ms. Kristine has been an incredible support for our family!

All morning long, I’d been baking several pans of Bacon.

I spent the entire afternoon grocery shopping. I filled a cart at Sam’s…

And why did I get an entire case of these bars??

Because they were marked down to $0.91 per BOX. So yes, I got twelve boxes. :)

I also got a box filled with 15-dozen eggs! They weren’t on clearance, but I sure am thankful that egg prices are back to a much better price.

I filled a cart at Wal-Mart also – food for our family and food for our Little Free Pantry fridge.

Back at home, it took a long time to get everything unloaded and put away!

That evening, we played outside until sundown and got to see a beautiful sunset.

Then we went in and had BLT’s with fruit.

Anna had been asking for a hair cut for several weeks, and I finally made it happen that night. She hates having her hair brushed, so I took several inches off.

She loved the results!

Thursday morning, Acacia and Josie helped me make more muffins to take on a weekend trip.

We made Pumpkin Muffins and Banana Muffins.

Little Sweetheart spent the day with us again, and she loved carrying around the girls’ backpacks.

That day, Acacia got her brand new glasses. They are PINK!

I made a very simple dinner of Fish Sticks, Mac and Cheese, and Peas.

Then we spent the entire evening packing clothes and food for our weekend trip.

We headed to Kansas Friday afternoon to spend time with family. I’ll share more about that next week!

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Big Family Food and Fun: November 9-15, 2025

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Here’s our Big Family Food and Fun: November 9-15, 2025 post!

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

Saturday, November 8

Early Saturday morning, I made a huge pan and a regular-sized pan full of Chicken Enchiladas for our upcoming Sunday Lunch.

Then I made a batch of Vanilla Ice Cream for Matt’s birthday lunch that day. His birthday had taken place a few days before, but we’d made plans to celebrate on Saturday.

We took a bunch of antsy kids to Library Storytime that morning. Getting them there and getting them home is a big effort, but worth it because they really need all the outings like this that we can provide for them.

Back at home, I finished putting together a big lunch: Oven Fried Chicken, Mashed Potatoes in the Crock Pot, Gravy, and Buttered Peas.

We feasted, then had Berry Cobbler and Ice Cream.

After lunch, we cleared away the plates and played a game of Settlers of Catan. Playing games is the best way to celebrate Matt’s birthday!

Big Family Food and Fun: November 9-15, 2025

Anna and Josie were the first to help themselves to Breakfast Cookie Bars on Sunday morning. Our kids (and me, for that matter) still haven’t adjusted to Daylight Savings Time so our mornings are starting ridiculously early.

After a wonderful time of worship that morning, our church family helped us load up a tote full of non-perishable food to add to our Little Free Pantry so that we could offer support to our neighbors.

Several families joined us for lunch after church and it was wonderful to visit and get to know what was going on in each other’s lives.

I caught Auggie in the playroom with his little Church Twin. These two boys are similar in age and if you see one at just a glance, you can’t tell which is which. It’s pretty sweet. :)

We enjoyed Chicken Enchiladas, Guacamole, Beans, Stick of Butter Rice, Chips and Salsa, and Chocolate Chip Cookies baked into Bars for lunch.

There were 26 of us gathered that day. We never feel like we get to talk to all of our guests as much as we’d like. But it’s still great to connect, and even better to see all of our guests visiting with each other. This time is so rich.

That afternoon, instead of hosting Community Group, Matt and I left the kids behind with Elias and Malachi (Malorie was visiting her family in Texas) while we took a small pan of Chicken Enchiladas over to our friends’ house where our Group was meeting instead. We are sad that these friends are moving to another state in a couple of months. This day, we spent time together packing boxes, moving refrigerators, and loading items to donate. The time together was bittersweet as we think about doing life together differently in the near future.

Back at home I threw together a quick dinner of Chicken Nuggets, leftover Mac and Cheese, and Salad. The kids were pretty wild and loud that night after being cooped up in the house to avoid being outside in the cold. Matt tried to run them around up and down our stairs with a game of ball tag, which they loved. Then he attempted a board game, which was absolutely nuts. Meanwhile, I was trying to manage kids jumping and yelling on the sidelines. God bless us everyone.

Monday morning, we had to change our schedule a little bit. Matt and I had the opportunity to record some podcasts at Back to the Bible where Asa works (and where Eva’s mom, Paula works too!). We settled the three youngest at home with Emma (who comes on Monday mornings), then we dropped the other kids off at school on our way.

I don’t have any pictures from our morning, but it was wonderful to spend time with the Back to the Bible crew! When we got home, the kids were outside with Emma playing in the leaves. Auggie had decked himself out in his coat and Brayden’s huge boots. He was very proud!

For dinner that night, I thawed and heated a pot of Taco Soup. It was great to simply pull it from the freezer without any effort!

That evening was especially rough. One of our kids had a meltdown that basically lasted from the time we picked kids up from school until it was time to go to bed. The others took turns melting down, so there was screaming and yelling in our house all evening long. Through it, on my way to the couch with a sad/mad kiddo to try and sit and help them calm their body down, I captured this scene, which only looks like we all sit and color and play magnatiles calmly in the evenings, ha.

Tuesday morning, Josie helped me make Pumpkin Muffins.

As we learn more every day about Autism Spectrum Disorder, we find that it’s impossible to get ahead of what our kids might “fixate” on. They see something or hear about something and suddenly it becomes the only thing they can think about. For Keith, this is often as small as an Amazon box or a long stick – and it is the most special item in the world – the only thing that matters. Or it is that he must have a dirt bike and a field to ride it in, and I need to buy this for him immediately. (<–try reasoning this out of an ASD kiddo. yikes.)

Well, on Tuesday morning, Keith’s obsession was getting dressed up to be the most handsome boy at school. This one we could accommodate and had no arguments with. (Also worth noting, at bedtime that same night, Keith laid in my room with me and sang a worship song for ten entire minutes that he was making up as he went. His song was all about praise to God and how Jesus has all the power and makes the darkness go away and is with us all the time and everywhere no matter what. It was the most beautiful song I’ve ever heard as it shows us that while Keith has a lot of struggles, the Truth of Jesus is getting into his heart. Oh how I needed to hear that song from his precious heart.)

After we got the kids to school that day, Justus dropped off Little Sweetheart to spend the day with us. Our day was pretty chill and we got a lot of little things done at home. Mostly, we played outside in the sunshine because we want to take advantage of every moment that we can before the severe cold sets in.

I took Brayden and Kiya to hand out food and clean with me at our weekly Food Distribution while Matt held down the fort with the other kids at home. As we expected, many more people came through the food line that day than we have had in the past. Thankfully, we had lots and lots of food that had been donated that we could hand out to people. As clients were making their way through to each food table, someone came in with jugs and jugs of milk for us to hand out – wow! So almost everyone who came through got a gallon of milk as a bonus. This was great to see!

When we got home, ABA therapy was well underway with Anna and a new technician that will be working with her for the short term while we wait for a permanent one. The needs of this, along with all the other needs of the kids, distracted me from taking a picture of our dinner that night. We had Crunchy Ranch Chicken Strips, Salad, leftover Veggies from the fridge, and Pumpkin Muffins.

On Wednesday morning, while the kids were eating breakfast, I packaged up some hamburger patties and buns to put into our Little Free Pantry fridge. I’d picked up a pack of 12 hamburger patties on sale, so I repackaged them to provide three families with four burgers. This project has been so much fun!

Arrow came to hang out with us that morning. He and Josie were playing during snack time and I love this action shot!

We are in the process of getting Josie set up with ABA Therapy now that we have her ASD diagnosis. So this morning, we had a Telehealth call to work toward putting together her program. The clinician was very sweet to include Acacia in the fun interactions as they were running some tests to assess Josie’s cognitive ability.

That afternoon, I filled a cart at Aldi with items for our Little Free Pantry fridge and also for our own family’s needs.

That afternoon, we had quite a challenge getting Anna home from school. She struggles so much getting to and from school, but does just fine during school. The sidewalks had cleared and we still couldn’t motivate Anna to get on her bike to ride home (her legs didn’t work, she “couldn’t remember” how to pedal, she wanted to hold the snacks that Keith had…).

Ms. Rachel is one of the preschool teachers so she knows Anna from last year. She has been wonderful to step in and help several times when we’ve struggled to leave school. Here’s a shot I took of the two of them as Ms. Rachel worked to pull Anna out of the meltdown that was on its way to turning to shutdown. I sent this photo to Matt to let him know we were still at school and it would be a while before we made it back. God bless Ms. Rachel (oh, and Ms. Alex who joined us also and teamed up to finally get us on our way). Phew.

It was a hectic evening as Anna struggled her way through ABA therapy that night also. Dinner was really good though! I’d smoked Pork Chops that afternoon, then Stir Fried some Veggies (asparagus, zucchini, and carrots), and made Stuffing (from a box, ha). This all tasted delicious!

Brayden goes to Youth Group Bible Study on Wednesday evenings and it was his turn to take snacks this week. He helped me come up with his “menu” and he was very excited. He took chips and salsa, grapes, and Rice Krispie treats.

Kiya’s birthday was back in October and one of her gifts was to have a one-on-one outing with me to go pick out a new volleyball for our family to enjoy. Four weeks later, we FINALLY made this outing happen! It was a sweet time and after much deliberation, she chose this one.

Thursday morning, I made a loaf of French Toast for breakfast.

We checked our Little Free Pantry fridge after breakfast and it was completely empty – praise God! That means more people came and took what they needed after we went to bed. So the kids helped me restock it.

Before we left for school, I took this picture to show you, then we added in a few more items after we got back from school drop off. We try to keep a variety of items in the fridge to offer people choices, but not many more than one or two of each particular thing: milk, apples, yogurt, cheese, 6-pack of eggs, carrots, and a few meat options.

Little Sweetheart spent the day with us again and we took full advantage of sunshine and crunchy leaves to play in.

Auggie felt it necessary to rake the cement. And because one can never be too safe, he wore a baseball helmet to complete his task.

After school, Keith put on his full firefighter gear because that morning a firetruck had responded to a call across our street. Thus, he was now in firefighter mode.

And just who do you suppose drove by our house again that afternoon? More firefighters. They saw Keith in our yard, all decked out in his gear ready to fight fires. So they stopped so that they could take a picture. These men are heroes.

I’d made a very simple meal of Sloppy Joes with Chips and Grapes for dinner. My goal was to be able to spend time with the kids outside before it got dark since the temperatures were so warm.

We played volleyball until it got too dark to see the ball.

I’d browned ten pounds of hamburger meat that afternoon. Some of it got turned into our dinner. The rest of it got turned into a huge pot of Chili that I planned to serve on Sunday for lunch. Kiya was my Helper of the Day so she worked with me on this project.

On Friday morning, Matt took Josie and Auggie with him to take the elementary kids to school so that I could leave early with Acacia. Before her therapy appointments, we went to Wal-Mart to get more items for our Little Free Pantry. She was very insistent on helping me scan the groceries as we checked out.

For the next two hours, Acacia worked hard at Speech and Physical Therapies.

Back at home, we found Auggie hard at work with his Early Development Network special ed teacher. He was working his way through a sensory tunnel and Josie was helping.

That afternoon, I got ready for Keith’s 7th birthday dinner. He wanted a Dirt Bike cake so I rigged up a bike with a ramp. He loved it!

His dinner menu request was: Noodles. That’s it. He just wanted noodles. While that was fine for him (and for five of our other kids), I knew the rest of us would want something with our noodles. So I made both red and white sauces, warmed some bacon to go with white sauce, and steamed some broccoli.

We played a little bit of volleyball before dinner so that we could enjoy time outside before dark.

Then we all gathered around the table for the big birthday feast. Keith enjoyed two plates full of noodles with butter and salt. I was also able to get him to eat some birthday broccoli!

We never have to give big, expensive gifts to make the kids happy. Keith received a fun ball toss toy that I’d picked up on clearance for $4 a few months ago, plus a set of elbow, knee, and wrist protection gear to wear on all his bike/skateboard/skate adventures.

Saturday was full, so I’ll have to catch you up on this next week. We:

  • Made a double batch of Breakfast Cookie Bars for upcoming Sunday breakfasts
  • Made a double batch of Flourless Peanut Butter Brownies for snacks and lunchboxes
  • Went to Library Storytime
  • Ate leftovers for lunch
  • Tucked Auggie in for a nap and left him home with adult kids while we took the others to Heartlands church for a Build a Blessing event
  • Got home and made a bunch of Quiche for dinner to enjoy with my cousins who were passing through town

And that was our week!

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

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

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

Saturday, November 2

Saturday evening was pretty chill for us. We’d told the kids that if they played outside all afternoon, we’d watch a movie at night after it got too dark and cold to play.

Anna and Acacia had discovered our “Sabbath Candles” – the ones we like to put on our table at dinnertime on Saturday evening. They pretended to make Birthday Cakes and were very giggly about it. :)

(P.S. Just in case you thought our Sabbath evening included playing with fire – These are not actual flames. These candles have little switches to turn on and off the lights and are rechargeable.)

I realized late that afternoon that I hadn’t made Breakfast Cookie Bars for Sunday, so I quickly threw a double batch together and into the oven to bake.

I’d slow cooked a crock pot full of Ham and Potato Soup, so that was our easy and delicious dinner before bath time.

After baths, we got the kids settled into the living room and I made popcorn.

Matt had discovered The Chosen Adventures and introduced it to the kids. Very cool!

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

Sunday morning BRIGHT AND EARLY – because Daylight Savings Time means nothing to children – we enjoyed our Breakfast Cookie Bars. :)

Worship that morning was especially encouraging!! Then 23 of us gathered for lunch at our house.

I had made two huge pans of Lasagna plus Green Beans and Corn. Friends brought Salad, Fruit, and Croissants. We ate our way through this pan of Lasagna and got a healthy start on the second one once I pulled it out of the oven too.

Our friend Christy had brought Rice Krispie Treats and I made a Chocolate Spinach Cake topped with Peanut Butter Whipped Cream and chopped Reese’s.

This day was life-giving!

Matt and I enjoyed Community Group that afternoon, then I made a simple dinner of Mac and Cheese with Peas. We have some friends who are in the middle of a lot of stress, so after dinner, we loaded into the van and delivered a dish of leftover Lasagna and some Burritos from our freezer for them to warm up and eat as needed.

Monday morning, I made a blender full of this Smoothie for Matt and me while the kids ate Breakfast Sandwiches or Homemade Granola Bars.

Our friend Emma arrived at 8:00 to hang out with kids all morning. I can’t tell you what a gift this is for us!! Auggie’s ABA therapy began with his technician and therapist at 8:30. Then Matt got the elementary school kids to school by 8:55. Brayden had ridden his bike and gotten himself to school earlier.

Matt and I had planned for me to take the day off for some much needed alone time. So as soon as all the kids were settled, I headed out for the day. I went and got my hair trimmed (it had been months, yikes!), then shopped at Marshall’s for clothes for the kids. This is what the check-out pile looks like when you have this many kids and you get each of them a couple of needed items. :)

Aldi was super close-by, so I ran in and got a few non-perishables. I found shoes on clearance that will make fun Christmas gifts for the girls!

At 3:00, I pulled Kiya out of school early to head to a doctor appointment. We’ve been taking all of our younger kids in this year for assessments so that we can better meet their needs. So now it’s Kiya’s turn!

Since I’d been gone all day, I’d planned for Burritos and Fruit for dinner. This was easy and most of the kids eat this meal. Those who didn’t ate leftover Mac and Cheese.

On Tuesday morning, Little Sweetheart came over. She’d heard that Lolli could use some help with the laundry, so came ready to be of assistance.

She snacked on Banana Muffins with Acacia and Josie.

That afternoon, I took Brayden and Kiya to serve at our weekly Food Distribution. We weren’t able to stay the entire time and help clean up afterward like we usually do because I needed to run over to the kids’ school for Parent Teacher Conferences that evening.

I had made a crock pot full of Party Potatoes for dinner. Plus I’d pulled some leftover cooked Hamburgers and Brats from the freezer to rewarm. Throughout the evening, Matt fed the kids while I was at conferences and the adults helped themselves to the prepped dinner.

That night was super special and enjoyable! Josie had asked if we could “do the fire pit” and Matt was happy to oblige. Every adult in the house happened to be available to join us around the fire. We laughed, shared about our day, and wow, it was such a good time. I praise God for this!

As we headed in for the night, the adults continued the fun in the kitchen as Matt and I got kids headed upstairs for bed. I love this.

Wednesday morning, Anna had a wonderful time setting up a magnatile train with lots of people. It was very sweet.

Then Arrow came over and played with Anna’s creation with Auggie after we got the other kids to school.

Arrow enjoyed Banana Muffins and fruit with Josie.

That afternoon, I overflowed a cart at Sam’s.

Brayden was my Helper of the Day, so he put together our salad for dinner.

I had put a Melt-in-Your-Mouth Beef Roast into a crock pot early that morning. It did not disappoint! It was soooo moist and delicious. We had it with Green Beans, Corn, Salad, and Buttered Rolls.

Kiya practiced her Viola in the kitchen while I did dishes.

Then she helped me put together some small containers of eggs. Why?? Well…

Our family has felt led to offer a Little Free Pantry in our neighborhood. I’ve shared that our church has a couple of Little Free Pantries in Lincoln that we work together to help fill up with non-perishable food when we can. (One of them is about 8 blocks from our house.) We see lots of people donating extra to Food Banks and Pantries right now, and we are so thankful for this as we hate the idea of anyone having to face food insecurity.

One of our bigger concerns has been the possible lack of perishable food items being available. And then we realized: We have outdoor electrical outlets right by our sidewalk – which is right where people walk after getting off the city bus as they head to their apartments close by. So we set up a table and Matt and Malachi carried out our dorm fridge. We put up signs, and the kids were so excited to help put food in the fridge and in a tote to offer to people who walk by and have a need.

We put in some half gallons of milk, cheese, butter, yogurt, turkey, sausage, carrots, fruit, cheese sticks, and eggs.

We put non-perishables in a tote.

It isn’t fancy, but our prayer is that it meets needs. Within just a few hours, several people had already stopped by and helped themselves. Malachi and I were able to visit with a lady as she put some items in a bag – which is the best part of all. We hope to have lots of conversations as we see what God does with this.

Back in the house, I’d baked Chocolate Banana Blender Muffins.

Plus I’d made a double recipe of Flourless Peanut Butter Brownies for school/work lunches.

Late morning, I put together 14 Breakfast Sandwiches for our freezer.

Acacia and Josie set up our basement stairs as a school bus and they put all their babies on the bus. They played this for an hour – amazing!

I took Kiya to another appointment that afternoon. I came home feeling so emotionally drained from this, even while I was thanking God that He has provided doctors to help us.

It was Matt’s birthday and we had plans to celebrate with our family on Saturday. But for tonight, I still wanted to treat him to a special dinner. So I had smoked two racks of ribs for several hours all day, then put them into our roaster to finish cooking while I was at the appointment with Kiya. When we got home, I made Instant Pot Mac and Cheese, Steamed Carrots, and leftover Green Beans.

The food we’d put into our Little Free Pantry Fridge and Tote was already running low, praise God! So Friday morning, before taking Acacia to her therapy appointments, she and I ran to Wal-Mart. A friend of mine had Venmo’d over some money and I used it to buy more food to restock our give-away items. I scored big on marked down meat to put into the little fridge for people to take. Plus I bought more cheese and several more jugs of milk.

I threw the food into coolers in our van, then Acacia worked hard at Speech and Physical Therapy.

Did you know crawling (and growling) like a bear can help work on leg strength and balance? These therapies are hard work for Acacia, and it’s pretty sweet to see how her therapists try to make it fun for her.

The past two days had been extra full as we’d focused on setting up, filling, and maintaining our Little Free Pantry. That afternoon, friends stopped by to check it out and add food to the tote. Another friend had added several pounds of meat to the fridge. Throughout the day, neighbors and passers-by stopped and took what they needed. The entire experience so far has been wonderful in every way.

And with that, because of spending extra time on the pantry, I decided to take the night off from making dinner. :) We took advantage of Casey’s reward points that I forgot I had and ordered three (almost free) pizzas.

After we ate, I made another big pan full of Chewy Granola Bars. Plus I made a Berry Cobbler for Matt’s family birthday lunch the following day.

I needed some potatoes scrubbed for Mashed Potatoes for the birthday lunch. Brayden got a good start, then Anna finished. She was so happy to be a helper that she “washed” a few dishes afterward too!

I took Saturday off so that we could enjoy family time. We went to the library in the morning, then at Fried Chicken, Mashed Potatoes, Cobbler, and Ice Cream with some of our family who could join us. Then we put babies down for naps, put a movie on for the kids, and the grown-ups played a game.

And that was our week!

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Big Family Food and Fun: October 26-November 1, 2025

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Here’s our Big Family Food and Fun: October 26-November 1, 2025 post!

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

Saturday, October 25

Matt had rented a lift and had a few days left with it before needing to turn it back in. So he worked on Saturday afternoon while Auggie napped. As he came back down and was ready to move it (our neighbor has been using it also) – all of the kids ran out to take a ride!

I made a simple – but favorite – meal of Orange Chicken for dinner that night. All the kids will eat this chicken, some with the sauce and some without. So it’s a nice night off from food struggles. We go through two Sam’s-sized boxes of this convenience food, which costs a total of around $26. What a cheap way to enjoy “eating out” without eating out!

Big Family Food and Fun: October 26-November 1, 2025

Auggie has been our “up bright and early” kiddo lately – though it’s not exactly bright out when he gets up. He started on our plate of Breakfast Cookie Bars while I got plates and food ready for Sunday Lunch.

Matt is part of our Teaching Team at Heartlands, and it was his turn to speak at church that morning. How he pulled off working on the lift for a week and a half plus putting together a sermon was quite miraculous and going into this week, we were both pretty worn out. Sunday Lunch, though, revives us. Spending time in community like this is such a gift.

I had declared a Pie Theme for our lunch that day. Our friend Cindy brought Shepherd’s Pie, and I made Chicken Pot Pie and two Quiche.

Our friend, Ingrid, made a really good Cheese Pie, and I made a No Bake Cheesecake and an Easiest Chocolate Fudge Pie. Pie Parties: Highly recommend.

Auggie loves to escape outside (an autistic trait called “eloping”) and our friend Pasha was incredibly sweet to volunteer to go outside with him and keep him safe. Auggie loved the one-on-one attention and I think Pasha loved his time with Auggie too.

Meanwhile, Pasha’s dad, Steve, was in the living room teaching Brayden and Keith to play Chess. How cool is that?!

Matt and I were blessed to spend time with our Community Group later that afternoon while the kids watched a movie with Elias and Malorie. I made three Frozen Pizzas for dinner in an effort to feed some very excited kiddos before we put on costumes and headed out for the night.

Brayden had a Heartlands Youth Ministry party that night, so he’d dressed up and headed out to enjoy Big Kid time. We managed to get the other six kids decked out in this year’s Star Wars themed costumes.

Kiya pulled off Rey amazingly well and she was so proud (as she should be!). Keith was Mandalorian, Anna: Darth Vader; Acacia: Princess Leia; Josie was Chewy and Auggie was our little Baby Yoda. The cuteness was ridiculous.

We loaded up and headed to Boo at the Zoo, which was a free and ENORMOUS event. It was well organized though, and all we had to do was wrangle kids and follow the clearly marked off path. We were very proud of how well the kids handled this (and yes there were meltdowns later, but that happens with or without outings like this).

Monday morning, Auggie started ABA therapy again with a new technician. It took a little while for him to warm up, but his therapist was here too and helped get him acclimated. I sort of hovered on the outskirts to be available if needed, but gave them space to settle Auggie in.

Also that morning, our friend Emma came for a few hours. She was one of our dear babysitters in York, and now she’s married and lives close to Lincoln! So we’ve hired her to come spend time with the girls on Monday mornings so that Matt and I have some time to catch our breath. This is such a gift!

We had a fridge full of leftovers so for dinner that night, I pulled them out along with fresh spinach, and that was our meal!

On Tuesday morning, I discovered Keith in the living room working on a big Word Search. He’s recently discovered these and is so proud when he finds a word in the puzzle!

Little Sweetheart was on her way over and our afternoon was full. So I made a crock pot full of The Easiest Chili for our dinner that night.

It was raining, so we all played in the house all morning until preschool and naptime.

Matt went to pick the kids up that afternoon and snapped this sweet picture. Keith has a special buddy who was picked up by his grandma that day. Grandma and Buddy were holding hands, then Keith joined the train.

I took Brayden and Kiya to serve at our weekly Food Distribution after school.

Matt had fed most of the kids Chili and fruit by the time we got home. Josie realized that it was her day to be Mom’s Special Helper so she eagerly loaded a few dishes into the dishwasher for me. (There are seven days in a week and we have seven little kids. Therefore, each of the kids has a “day” that belongs to them. They get to help me in the kitchen or with other chores, which somehow has turned into a privilege even though it’s work. They love the special time with us, and the fact that if it’s their special day, that means they get extra privileges, like getting to lick the spatula.)

On Wednesday, the kids discovered what Amazon had delivered the night before. A few weeks ago, our ABA therapist had suggested to us that Sensory Socks might be helpful as a calm-down tool for our kids. I forgot about them until Kelsey texted a picture of them this week and made the same suggestion. So I ordered three – one in each size – to give them a try.

Auggie put on the Brayden-sized one and wasn’t sure how he felt about it. :)

As it turned out, ordering three Sensory Socks when you have seven neurodivergent kids wasn’t going to work for us. Instead of calming them, they fought over them while I was trying to get breakfast made and get everyone out the door for school. Hoo-rah. (Later we did have some calming success with them, and also later – I ordered more so that everyone could have one at the same time.)

Meanwhile, we needed go-to snacks. I had made a huge batch of Chewy Granola Bars last week and our household had plowed through them already. So Wednesday morning, I made another huge batch. These are one of the only things Keith has been choosing to eat lately.

I also made a double batch of Banana Muffins for snacks.

I was planning French Toast and Bacon for dinner, so I got all the Bacon baked that morning to make the evening easier.

Auggie had ABA therapy that morning. Acacia and Josie found a game to play.

Arrow came over because he’d heard that Lolli had made more muffins. :)

That afternoon, I ran to Wal-Mart for a few needed items. Notice that “a few needed items” still fills an entire cart. But also!? The price of eggs is exciting now as the chicken flu situation is on the mend and eggs are not as short in supply. In celebration, I bought ten dozen. :)

When Kiya got home from school, Malachi talked her into making him a sandwich for him. They had a silly time together in the kitchen and it was fun to watch. :)

Dinner that night was French Toast, Bacon, Sausage, and Applesauce.

On Thursday I didn’t take many pictures. I had a meeting for Auggie, Little Sweetheart came over to spend the day, and in general, we just kept plugging away to get work done and needs taken care of.

For dinner that night, I had slow cooked Salsa Chicken then made a pan of Stick of Butter Rice. Everyone built a Chicken Taco Bowl based on their preferences with all kinds of topping options.

The weather wasn’t too cold, so we made sure the kids played outside all evening. When it got dark, Matt decided to treat the kids to a few minutes around the fire pit. He fired it up and the kids had a grand time. No marshmallows, only silliness!

It’s hard to see this picture, but I hope you can hear this picture. The kids were giggling and singing Happy Birthday to no one, then blowing out the flame. :)

Friday morning, I stirred together all the Chicken Taco Bowl leftovers and turned them into Burritos for our freezer. I used our favorite Tortillas from Azure Standard. I buy them by the case and freeze them to pull out and use as needed. Eva has been making her own tortillas lately for their family and it reminds me of my tortilla-making days! Someday, I’ll hopefully make tortillas again! Until then, these.

I ended up with 16 Burritos.

And then Anna, who has a lot of food trauma plus Autism, which presents its own level of food issues, grabbed one of the burritos, unwrapped it, and ate the entire contents. Cold. For breakfast. What?? If I would have offered her this, it would have been a no-go, for sure. But there she was, gobbling this right up. Matt and I just smiled, shook our heads, and praised God that she was actually eating.

After we got the other kids off to school, these three kiddos helped me make Lasagna for Sunday Lunch.

Lasagna is a favorite for sure!

Acacia only had Speech Therapy that morning without her normal Physical Therapy that typically follows. She focused and did well, and it was nice to get home and have some time before the bus came.

Malachi texted from his office that afternoon to inform us that Sonic was offering $0.50 Corn Dogs that day. With a full evening ahead, we scrapped our original menu plan and asked him to please pick up 20 of those cheap corndogs on his way home. Hahaha, we never do this kind of thing, but I’m so glad we did. That deal was hard to beat and have you ever tried getting seven special needs kids into costumes and out the door? Corndogs for the win! (Matt air fried some French fries from our freezer to go with our dogs.)

Thanks for dinner, Malachi!

We managed to get everyone ready to go!

Our neighbor friend and his mom joined us for the evening. Brayden (I mean, Darth Vader) elected to skip trick or treating to stay on our porch and hand out candy. I feared that he would regret this and feel like he missed out. But we ended up having a million trick or treaters and he LOVED handing out candy to everyone!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Saturday morning was a rough one after being out and getting hyped up with trick or treating excitement. We managed to get everyone fed, dressed, and to the library for Story Time. Justus, Kelsey, and Little Sweetheart came too.

It was sweet to watch Justus play with his brothers afterward.

We spent some time inside the main library area after Story Time. Keith discovered a fun Word Search on the wall!

Back at home, Josie made a salad to go with lunch.

I put together a Spinach Cake and baked it for Sunday Lunch.

I filled a crock pot with Ham and Potato Soup to slow cook for our dinner.

Then we ate Chicken Nuggets and Salad for lunch.

The weather was chilly but sunny, so we bundled up the kids to play outside during Auggie’s naptime. Then we moved into our time of Sabbath and that was our week!

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Big Family Food and Fun: October 19-25, 2025

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Here’s our Big Family Food and Fun: October 19-25, 2025 post!

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

Saturday, October 18

This particular Saturday evening was incredibly restful and refreshing for me. Matt had gone to York to celebrate a special event at York University. Our friends, the Cases, had helped us out by taking six of our kids to their house for a few hours. So that left just Auggie and me to hang out together.

He and I took a long, peaceful walk around our neighborhood.

We did some cleaning, and since it was just the two of us, the house actually stayed clean for longer than five minutes. Most of the adults in our household were gone for the evening also, so I didn’t need to cook dinner. It was a lovely night off.

When the kids got back home, Elias and Malorie helped me with baths, showers, and bedtime. Matt had a wonderful time catching up with many friends and I’m so glad he got to go have that time in York!

Big Family Food and Fun: October 19-25, 2025

Sunday morning, I set out our pan of Breakfast Cookie Bars and everyone dug in.

After church that day, Keith and Acacia helped our friend Matt load a tote full of pantry items into our van. Our goal this week was to walk to our church’s Little Free Pantry to fill it up for our neighbors.

There were 31 people gathered at our house for lunch that day. Keith’s favorite friend Sam was able to join us, which made the day so much sweeter. Sam is so good to pour love into Keith.

We had a wonderful buffet of Taco Soup, Potato Soup, Mexi Dip and Chips, Ham and Cheese Melts, and Fruit. Plus friends brought Pumpkin Cookies and Berry Cobbler for dessert.

After lunch, Matt got back up on the lift he’d rented to try and knock out more work on our roof. I’d arranged with friends to help me with the kids, and we loaded up to head back to church for a fun Pumpkin Palooza kids’ event.

Once there, everyone got a sack with a checklist of tasks, and we all got busy!

The kids got to paint pumpkins, make a sensory bag, create a pumpkin launcher, make a craft, and of course, make a s’more.

I feel so blessed by people so willing to help us with our kids’ needs. Auggie is slow to warm up to people, but Kaitlyn is gifted and won him over throughout the afternoon. This, along with other friends helping with other kids, freed me to actually enjoy time sitting and coloring with Anna as she worked on her craft.

Everyone worked as a team to clean up after the party. As you can see, there’s no way Ms. Mandy could have put this stack of chairs away without our three little girls helping her.

Back at home, Matt was still working on the lift, so throwing a box of frozen Taquitos into the oven was about all I could manage for our dinner. No matter. Everyone was fed and then slept well that night.

On Monday morning, Acacia and Josie had dentist appointments. They were excited going in, but then  quickly became nervous during their turns in the big chair. The dental hygienist was extremely patient with both of them and while the appointments took longer than we all originally thought they would take, we got them accomplished. NOTE: During times like this, I am so grateful for the answers and diagnoses we’ve received for our kids this year. This helps me know better how to talk to and care for our kids. It also helps me explain their special needs to professionals so that our kids have a better chance at remaining calm.

Matt worked on the lift all day. I had a meeting with our kids’ BCBA – the gal who puts Keith, Anna, and Auggie’s ABA therapy programs together for their behavior technicians to work on each day. The kids are making progress (well, not Anna – she’s between technicians right now and we are praying a new one comes aboard soon!). We talked through upcoming plans and goals as we keep moving forward.

When the kids got home from school, everyone was excited to watch Daddy move the lift to a new location.

I had bananas that needed to be turned into something, but alas, I was down to only 3 eggs in our entire house. I had thought for sure I had another box of 5-dozen in our basement fridge. Oops. Nope. But not to worry…I made a double batch of Angela’s Egg-Free Banana Chocolate Chip Breakfast Cookies. This was a perfect solution and my kids were very excited!

Meanwhile, Elias picked up some eggs for me on his way home after his workout that evening. Phew. That’ll get us through until I can get to the store.

For dinner that night, I had put 17 potatoes into our crock pot to bake all day. Just before picking kids up from school, I browned meat and seasoned it. We had Taco Potatoes, fixed to each person’s liking, plus I made a bowl of Caesar Salad.

During ABA therapy that evening, I worked on sorting clothes down in our laundry room. I pulled out summer shorts and shirts and switched them out with fall pants and sweatshirts. I didn’t finish the job, because this is a BIG JOB. But I made progress, and at least felt like our kids would have a few outfits to wear this week with the weather becoming cooler.

The best find in our totes: footie pajamas for Acacia. She has never been able to wear anything like this because of her need to sleep in a brace every night for five years. We had to get her jammies that didn’t have feet in them – otherwise they wouldn’t fit right. Her putting on footie pajamas wasn’t that big of a deal to her that night. But Matt and I sure felt pleased. :)

On Tuesday morning, Eva and Arrow came over to help me while Matt got back on the lift to work. He cut down some limbs, and Auggie felt that it was his job to drag them over to our growing stick pile.

Little Sweetheart was with us all day, so she and Arrow had some good chats.

That afternoon, I took Brayden and Kiya to hand out food and clean up at our weekly Food Distribution. Well over 100 people went through the food line that day and were served.

Back at home, Matt was feeding everyone dinner. I had smoked 24 Brats during the afternoon before I left, and Matt warmed up leftover Baked Beans. We had a few chips and pickles too. :)

I put together an Overnight Pumpkin Spice French Toast Casserole to bake the next morning. It felt good to get this done before bedtime!

I baked it bright and early the next morning. Keith thought it smelled so good that he got way too close to the dish and made me scared that he’d burn his face. Oy.

We’d run out of Breakfast Sandwiches, so while the casserole was baking, I also baked 18 eggs. Then I put together 24 sandwiches.

We had an intense morning planned, so I’d canceled all of our typical Wednesday “regularly scheduled programming.” Then our plans were all suddenly canceled, completely freeing up the morning. Phew, ok then.

Matt and I regrouped and after we got the kids to school, we loaded up Acacia, Josie, and Auggie to get our weekly shopping knocked out. I ran into Wal-Mart to get a few items while Matt stayed in the van with the kids. Then, he dropped the girls and I at Sam’s while he and Auggie went into Menards.

I told the girls that if they were sweet shoppers, we’d have time to look at the sparkly Christmas trees when we were done.

They’d finished the snacks we’d brought, so they dug into a container of Raspberries as we were heading out. They shared with Auggie once we got back into the van – and by the time we got home, we’d finished the entire container.

I’d scored 11+ pounds of hamburger meat marked down at Wal-Mart. So I browned it all with plans to bag it up and freeze it for easy meals.

For dinner that night, I’d “dumped sauce on some chicken legs” and baked them for an hour. I made Three Cheese Spaghetti and Steamed Broccoli to go with it, and it was a delicious feast!

I had some spinach that was getting wilty in the fridge, so Anna and Josie helped me make Spinach Cupcakes.

We ate some of them that night before bed, then more for breakfast on Thursday. Meanwhile, I had four overripe bananas that needed to be used. So super early on Thursday morning, Auggie helped me turn them into 48 mini Flourless Chocolate Banana Blender Muffins.

Anna and Acacia stumbled in and wanted to help too.

Then we had both Spinach Cupcakes and Flourless Chocolate Banana Blender Muffins to pick from. At our house though, we can never have too many muffins.

Eva and Arrow came over for the morning again to help me while Matt got up on the lift to work. They were awesome to stop at Hy-Vee and pick up my WIC order on their way, which was super helpful! Arrow sat in the midst of Lolli’s messy pantry with all the WIC food plus some of Wednesday’s Sam’s groceries that hadn’t been put away yet.

Little Sweetheart was with us all day too, and mid-morning, it warmed up enough that we were all able to go outside to play.

Little Sweetheart wanted a ride in the stroller, and Big Girl Acacia got permission to push her slowly and carefully on the sidewalk.

That night, knowing that Matt would still be outside working when the kids got home from school during my dinner prep time – I slid Chicken Strips into the oven for ease. We turned them into Chicken Sandwiches with a variety of sauces and spreads and had them with Lettuce, Grapes, and Oranges.

On Friday morning, Acacia had Speech Therapy and Physical Therapy.

That night was chilly outside, which made Grilled Cheese Sandwiches and Tomato Soup a perfect dinner.

Saturday morning, Keith was in dire need of high protein snacks. I’d made muffins this week, but I didn’t have any of our typical peanut butter snacks on hand to meet his “I need food and I need it now” times of they day. (This isn’t Keith’s fault – it’s the way his brain and body are wired. He struggles at meal time, can’t always wait to eat until meal time, and in general often needs a good snack to help him with transitions.)

So, I made a double batch of Flourless Peanut Butter Brownies and a huge batch of Chewy Granola Bars to have on hand. The adults in the house like all these too, so none of this will last long!

We loaded up all the kids at 8:50 that morning and headed to Sensory Friendly Storytime. After the program, Ms. Diane got out awesome sensory toys for everyone to enjoy.

We had some extra time, so we went into the main library area for about 45 minutes before heading home.

Back at home, we warmed up leftovers for lunch. I spent some time working on Sunday’s Lunch, which was to be a Pie Party! I had made a big Chicken Pot Pie Friday night to bake on Sunday. The girls helped me make Cheesecake, Quiche, and Easiest Chocolate Fudge Pie after their lunch on Saturday.

I then got caught up on dishes and finished this post! And that was our week!

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Big Family Food and Fun: October 12-18, 2025

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Here’s our Big Family Food and Fun: October 12-18, 2025 post!

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

Saturday, October 11

Heartlands Church had its annual Harvest Festival on Saturday evening, so we went to join the fun! Some of our neighbors joined us there, making it extra meaningful.

When Asa, Eva, and Arrow arrived they stole the show for a moment because they were all in their flannels looking SO CUTE. Little Sweetheart made the moment even sweeter as she toddled over as fast as she could to greet Arrow.

A meal was served, there were firepits with s’more fixings, and Heart Shot Ministry was there. Our kids love the chance to do archery!

Asa talked me into giving it a try, and Eva grabbed a photo!

Our kids enjoyed getting their faces painted!

The night was special and sweet, for sure.

Big Family Food and Fun: October 12-18, 2025

On Sunday morning, we ate our traditional plate full of Breakfast Cookie Bars.

The girls got to be Super Kids during Kids Ministry time and our friend Klaire sent this sweet picture to me!

Last week had been so full of appointments and meetings that I hadn’t been able to prep for a big Sunday Lunch like normal. So what did we do? We fell back on the amazing Rotisserie Chickens from Sam’s as our main dish and asked everyone to bring sides! This is such a great way to host guests and enjoy a delicious meal with very little effort!

There were 22 of us gathered that day and we went through 2.5 Rotisserie Chickens along with Baked Beans, Corn, Green Beans, Grapes, Pears, Rolls, Caesar Salad, Chips, and Desserts.

The evening was pretty chill. We ate leftovers from the fridge and played in our yard until the sun went down.

On Monday morning, we had a day off school for Fall Break. I got out some leftover Pancakes from our fridge and let the kids cut them into pumpkins for breakfast.

We loaded everyone up to spend a beautiful day at the zoo. The weather was perfect – which means that the Red Panda came out to play.

I always say that the Red Pandas are my favorite (because they are soooo cute). But we all know that the Flamingos are my favorite favorite.

I’d cooked hotdogs and put them on buns before we left, then put them into a freezer bag and then into an insulated bag. Our hotdogs were warm and perfect at lunchtime! We had them with apples, almonds, chips, and applesauce.

We spend a long while in the Dino Dig before visiting the camels, birds, penguins, and sea otters. Then we made our way back to our van to get Auggie home for a nap.

Malachi met up with us at home after a video shoot, just in time to leave again for another job. This one was just a few blocks away at a nearby park with a UNL Volleyball player. Matt loaded up the kids to head to the park to watch Malachi work. (He often gets contracted to create ads with university athletes who are sponsored by specific companies. He’s met a lot of fun people doing this!)

We’d been able to watch part of last weekend’s volleyball game on TV, so Kiya and Keith were extra excited to see this athlete in person. Keri was sweet enough to take a picture with some of our kids! Then Matt got them out of the way so that Malachi and Keri could do what they actually came to do. :)

I’d used the rotisserie chicken bones from Sunday to make broth that morning. So that night for dinner, we enjoyed our very first Chicken Noodle Soup of the season.

Tuesday, the kids had one last day of school off for Fall Break. I had reserved a slot for our family at the Bee Me Sensory Gym and we showed up right at opening time. This place is sooooo great!

I’m fascinated by all that this gym offers – for any kid – but very specifically for special needs kids. This isn’t just a play place but a facility that has been created to provide kid with sensory needs with both stimulation and calm.

 

We played until lunchtime, then took the kids across the street to Costco to treat them to a special lunch. Oy, feeding our kids this way takes a special level of patience. It isn’t their fault, there’s just a lot of them and they all have a hard time sitting still. We survived, bellies got filled, and I think they all thought this was a lot of fun. How many napkins did we go through? Too many napkins.

We were getting low on diapers at home, so after we cleaned up our very big lunch mess, we trekked everyone to the back of the store to pick up two boxes.

We then headed back across the street to the Sensory Gym to take advantage of our day pass. Was it Auggie’s naptime? It was. But did he push through for an extra fun hour? He did.

Back at home, Auggie slept while kids played outside. Then I took Brayden, Kiya, and Keith to serve at our weekly Food Distribution. Keith found a notebook and colored pencils lying around so he drew pictures while we waited for clients to come through the line.

I had thrown Meatballs into a crock pot with barbecue sauce before leaving. Matt warmed up Green Beans and baked a Potato Casserole that our friend Rebecca had made.

On Wednesday morning, I put together a few Breakfast Sandwiches to freeze and take to friends who just had a new baby.

Josie had an eye specialist appointment that morning. She was a trooper as we were there for quite a while – plus she had to have her eyes dilated.

At least she got some cool shades to take home with her! And she got a diagnosis – nothing serious – but something to watch as she gets older to evaluate for the need for surgery. We’ll go back every six months to monitor her vision and eye movement/tracking.

We got home in time for Acacia and Josie to get on the school bus. Then Auggie hopped in with me for a big grocery trip at Aldi.

Dinner that night was simple: Ham, Mac and Cheese, and Peas.

I had some bananas that either needed to go into the freezer or be turned into Banana Muffins. The muffin idea seemed to be the better one:

On Thursday morning, I baked several pans of bacon like this to prepare for a big Breakfast For Dinner that evening.

Matt rented a lift for a week so that he could do some work on our roof and gutters. This has been a major source of excitement for our kids. We sat in the stroller and watched the show for a while after we got home from dropping kids off at school.

My dad and his wife, Tacy, came for the day!! We invited all the kids over for dinner so that they could spend time with them and so that Papa and Grandma could see their great grandbabies.

We doubled this gathering to also be Kiya’s birthday dinner since we were all together anyway. She chose breakfast food, so we had a fantastic feast of Pancakes, Egg Casserole, Sausage, Bacon, and Fruit.

Friday morning, I took Acacia to Speech and Physical therapies.

It was Kiya’s 10th birthday and with the significance of her turning double digits, we had a small party for her. Three friends came over to watch a movie and I put together a Party Tray. They munched and watched – it was super simple. But the girls had a great time!

Kiya requested Oreo Brownies for her birthday dessert. Those were a hit too!

Saturday morning, I realized that I didn’t have any Breakfast Cookie Bars in the freezer for the next day. So I made a big pan full.

Kelsey texted that she was at a park with Little Sweetheart, and since Matt’s been trying to get as much work done on the lift as possible, I loaded up the kids by myself to meet her there. It was beautiful outside and we were able to stay and play for a little over two hours!

We came home and ate leftovers for lunch. Then our friends John and Christina came and picked up our kids (everyone except for Auggie, who was napping) to take them to their house for the afternoon. AMAZING.

I finished this post and then I did nothing while Auggie napped. This was such a needed time of rest and I thank God for it!

And that was our week!

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Big Family Food and Fun: October 5-11, 2025

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Here’s our Big Family Food and Fun: October 5-11, 2025 post!

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

Saturday, October 4

Keith had his last soccer game of the season Saturday afternoon. Elias and Malorie hopped in with us to watch. It was warm and windy that day, and Keith scored several goals. Here’s the wind blowing Keith’s fan club back to the van after the game…

Matt and I had been holding on to some Freddy’s ice cream freebies that the kids had earned from their Summer Library Reading Challenge and we decided to use them to celebrate Keith’s final game. Having Elias and Malorie there to help was perfect, plus we went during a Husker Football game time, which meant that NO ONE was out and about. Half of Lincoln was at the game and the other half was home watching the game. This is the culture of Lincoln.

So we had Freddy’s to ourselves, which was perfect for our crew! We enjoyed our dessert before dinner. What a great way to launch into Sabbath!

Back at home, the kids colored on their pumpkins that they’d picked out that morning at the Pumpkin Patch.

While we were outside, our neighbor John dropped off three bags of apples from his family’s property plus this beautiful bouquet of flowers from his brother’s yard.

Bonus Buddy got dropped off to spend the night with us, which was special! We played volleyball in the back yard while we waited to get hungry again since we had ruined our dinner with ice cream. Look! Even Josie joined us. :) :) :)

Dinner was this very exciting crock pot of Frozen Meatballs that I’d slow cooked during the afternoon with BBQ sauce. Then it was bath and bedtime!

Big Family Food and Fun: October 5-11, 2025

Sunday morning, we dug into a plate of Breakfast Cookie Bars while we got ready for church.

Sometimes the “Church Cat” wants to fellowship after worship. The kids enjoyed some time petting him?her? as we headed to to van.

We had an amazing crowd of 47 people for lunch at our house that day! It was our friend Cindy’s birthday, so her husband had worked behind the scenes with us to invite people to make the day extra special.

We had Smoked Chicken, Smoked Pork Loin, four varieties of Potatoes that people brought, Rolls, Corn, and Baked Beans.

 

For dessert, we enjoyed Apple Berry Crisp, Homemade Vanilla Ice Cream, Chocolate Chip Cookies, Brownies, and Frosted Pumpkin Bars.

It was the most wonderful feast with such an amazing group of people gathered.

People trickled away after lunch and some stayed to visit until after 4:00. It was truly an amazing afternoon.

I baked three frozen pizzas for dinner that night and was very ready for bed after we got the kids down.

Monday morning after we got all the bigger kids to school, the three littlest stayed home with Matt while I went to have a consultation with a Psychologist we’ve been working with to help Josie. After weeks of evaluations, assessments, and testing – Josie received her diagnosis: Autism Spectrum Disorder.

If you’re counting, that’s now five of our kids (so far) who have been diagnosed with ASD.

Are we surprised? No. Once Auggie got his diagnosis back in February and we started taking our other kids in one or two at a time for assessments, we started digging in to really learn what Autism Spectrum Disorder can look like and how to better parent kids whose brains are neurodivergent. The spectrum is very broad, and autism is genetic. All of our younger kids are related to one another. So many of their challenging needs, behaviors, and meltdowns can be explained by their ASD diagnoses, and the trauma they’ve experienced makes their needs even more complex. But…

GOD IS BIGGER an He is at work in us and through us. Having these answers and diagnoses helps provide our kids with much needed resources. We are very thankful.

After my meeting with the psychologist, I went straight to Costco. It only makes sense that I’d have a big, life changing appointment with a doctor, and then go immediately to the store to buy ketchup, right? Bah. Well, Costco was on my route home, we needed groceries, and Matt and I had plans to process the information together later in the afternoon after the girls were at preschool and Auggie was napping.

For dinner that night, I set out a Taco Bar with Seasoned Meat, White Queso, Shredded Cheese, Spinach, Tomatoes, Guacamole, Salsa, Rice, Black Beans, Corn, Chips, and Tortillas. We also had Raspberries that I’d picked up at Costco that day.

Tuesday morning, we baked a batch of Chocolate Muffins with Hidden Spinach. By the time I remembered to take a picture, little hands had already dug in…

I used some of the apples our neighbor gave us to make three loaves of Apple Bread. This made the house smell incredible!

Little Sweetheart came over to spend the day with us. Acacia found a box of cookies I’d gotten as a treat from Azure Standard and I said “yes” to them as a snack for the girls because they are pretty healthy. The kids were thrilled!

I took Brayden and Kiya to our weekly Food Distribution that afternoon, but I forgot to take any pictures. We got home and enjoyed a crock pot of Chili and one of Ham and Potato Soup.

We also had Grapes, Pickle, and Olives – plus we’d brought home Blackberries and Strawberries from Food Distribution that were leftover at the end and needed to be eaten asap.

Just before the kids’ bedtime, five from Malorie’s family arrived for the night! We’d been looking forward to this and had gotten rooms shuffled around and ready for all of them.

They had driven all day long and were weary travelers. The plan was for them to eat dinner and spend the night here, then Malorie would hop in with them the next morning as they all traveled on to celebrate Malorie’s brother’s graduation from Boot Camp. I barely know Malorie’s brother, but I’m ridiculously proud of him. I can’t imagine the pride all of his family feels.

Our guests had bowls of soup and we visited a while before getting everyone settled in for the night. Then they were off again bright and early the next day.

Keith helped me make another batch of muffins on Wednesday morning. This time it was Chocolate Banana Blender Muffins.

I’d put together an Egg Casserole with Hashbrowns the night before and baked it early that morning for our breakfast.

Malorie’s mom had picked up some great clothing for the kids at a thrift store in their area. The girls discovered the bucket of clothes on Wednesday morning and had a grand time trying on “new” outfits!

Mid-morning, I packaged up the Flourless Chocolate Banana Blender Muffins that I’d made earlier along with a container of fruit to send with Brayden that evening. He was in charge of taking snacks to his Youth Group event and these are his favorite muffins. (The next day, he informed me that I must make these for his group again because everyone loved them! For reference, I sent 48 muffins and only 7 came home. Success.)

Arrow came to hang out on Wednesday morning. He helped finish off the Chocolate Muffins with Hidden Spinach that I’d made the day before. This boys LOVES his muffins.

As the girls were getting ready for the school bus, they requested that I take their pictures.

Josie was playing some sort of hand instrument and dancing to her own beat. Beautiful music!

That afternoon, I had another big meeting at Brayden’s school to continue to help work out his education needs. It’s been an extremely tough transition for him going from elementary school to middle school. He has pushed through this challenge and has learned more about advocating for himself and we are very proud of him for his hard work. We’d been in touch with the school multiple times, and they did try to help. But at this meeting, I was insistent that we needed some big changes to address his big needs. Thankfully, all the powers that be listened to me and we spent an hour and a half creating a brand new plan and schedule for him that will hopefully be much less stressful and meet him where he is.

Phew. What a week. And it was only Wednesday.

For dinner that night I made a double batch of Real Food “Velveeta” and Rotel Dip. Some ate it with chips, some ate it with pasta to turn it into Spicy Mac and Cheese. And some of our kids simply had a plate full of noodles with butter and salt. Whatever fills their bellies, I’ve learned to be happy with.

Thursday morning, I baked a double recipe of Flourless Peanut Butter Brownies to package up for grab-and-go lunches.

Little Sweetheart hung out with us all day. She helped Acacia with her backpack as we waited for the bus.

Auggie has become very picky (food aversions are normal with ASD) and we’ve had a hard time getting him to eat many actual meal-type foods. I had warmed myself a bowl of Ham and Potato Soup to eat outside while we waited for the bus, and he thought it looked pretty good. I gave him bites and he kept coming back for more. Finally, Matt made him his own bowl and he sat on the steps gobbling it up. This was worth documenting!

That night, I made Pancakes, Sausage, Bacon, and Sliced Oranges for dinner. This meal was a big hit with the entire household!

I made time to play some volleyball with Kiya and Brayden that night while several of the other kids were having ABA therapy. Just before heading upstairs for the night, I wrapped up 18 Flourless Peanut Butter Brownies to put into our extra fridge.

When we put the kids to bed that night, we put on Acacia’s brace for the very last time. THIS IS SUCH A BIG DEAL!!

Here’s a picture of this tiny baby girl wearing her brace for the very first time five years ago (plus a precious bonus shot of Baby Keith feeding his sister). Acacia was born with a club foot and went through lots of casting, a small surgery, and six months of wearing her brace for 23-hours every day. At age six months, she moved to only wearing her brace at night for 12 hours, and she’s been wearing it every night since.

Thursday night was her final night to wear it and we celebrated!

Friday morning Acacia started her very full day of appointments with Speech Therapy and Physical Therapy.

At 2:45, Matt, Auggie, and I went to the school auditorium to see Kiya receive an award! I snuck out right after to pull Acacia out of school for an Orthopedic Specialist appointment.

This is the appointment where the doctor cleared her from using her braces ever again – woohoo!

I’d hardly been home all day, but dinner well under control! Malachi had had a video shoot the night before in Omaha and Raising Cane’s was a sponsor. After his work, they’d sent him home with all the leftovers, and it was a lot of chicken! This turned into a huge treat for all of us and a night off for Mom. Perfect!

Saturday morning, we went to Sensory Friendly Library Story Time. Kelsey and Little Sweetheart met us there.

When we were playing later, some of the kids had some emotional struggles so the very awesome Ms. Diane brought out the bubble machine. This calmed everyone – even the grown ups. I love this story time and Ms. Diane sooooo much!

From the library, we went to one of our favorite parks. Keith had been begging to try his new “bike tricks” at this skate park (one of his latest obsessions), and we wanted to check out the cool new feature that had just been built. Apparently, this is the world’s first Fitblock Outdoor Gym. It’s pretty cool!

We spent almost three hours at the park running, riding, and playing.

Lunch was simple: Ham Sandwiches, Cheese, Clementines, Pears, Almonds, and Granola Bars.

We spent the rest of the afternoon getting ready for Sunday, and we went to a Harvest Festival at church. I’ll share more about that next week!

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