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Big Family Food and Fun: February 8-14, 2026

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Here’s our Big Family Food and Fun: February 8-14, 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, February 7

We went to Storytime at the library on Saturday morning. Hopelyn and Arrow (and their mommies) met us there. How happy was this Lolli to have both of her grandbabies there?!

Keith and Acacia were excited to put on a puppet show during play time after the story time.

From the library, we headed over to Morrill Hall for a special Dinosaurs and Disasters event they were hosting. The Case family met us there to enjoy this.

We got home and ate a late lunch of Hotdogs that I’d cooked in the crock pot while we were gone. Then, two college girls from York came to spend the afternoon and evening. This was such a special time! Liz asked if she could bake Cinnamon Rolls – and who were we to argue?

Our friend, Simeon, from York had come to hang out with Malachi so that made the day even better!

I had planned to make Egg and Hashbrown Casserole, Sausage Patties, and Pancakes for dinner. But with Liz making Cinnamon Rolls, I scrapped the pancake idea and she doubled her roll recipe. Perfect!

DELICIOUS!

Big Family Food and Fun: February 8-14, 2026

Sunday was a super huge day for us. This was the final Sunday for the Nabb family – who have become dear friends to us in Lincoln and have been a major part of Heartlands since its beginnings – to be at church before they move to Texas. Their “going away party” request was to have Sunday Lunch at the Coppinger Castle, and we were all in for this. Our Community Group helped make this happen, and the entire church was invited to come send these dear ones off with all the love that we could.

Almost 100 people came for lunch after church that day, which was absolutely fantastic! Pockets of people were everywhere, kids were playing, and adults were visiting. We are so thankful for this house God gave us!

The weather was beautiful so the kids mostly played and ate outside. But this might have been one of my favorite scenes in which many of the young adult men were circled up in the yard throwing a football around.

Meanwhile, in the kitchen…

I had made two huge roasts into Pulled Pork. Trent and Robin were in charge of Rotisserie Chickens plus buns and sandwich fixings. Derrick and Stacey brought a big crock pot full of Baked Beans. Matt and Terra brought drinks. Everyone else from church was asked to bring sides and desserts. People went through the line, and kept coming, and kept coming. I forgot to take a picture of the counter that held all the buns and meat. But look at all these tasty sides!

And desserts. :)

I tried to take as many pictures as I could to capture all the faces of people who love the Nabbs so much.

The day was incredible and we praise God for it.

By Super Bowl time? I was a little bit tired and simply threw out snacks for the kids and called it dinner. :) Malachi, however, made himself a bowl of Cream Cheese Salsa Dip to take to the gathering he was going to. Cutie.

On Monday morning, I baked a pan of Nutella Oat Breakfast Bars.

We had two sick little girlies plus Emma, who usually comes and helps us with kids on Mondays, was sick too. So Matt stayed with the three preschool kids while I ran to Costco for our weekly groceries, but then I came home instead of working on my computer at Panera like I usually do.

A friend of ours had been in a serious motorcycle accident. I reached out to his mom that morning to see how we could help. We discovered that he was in the hospital just five minutes from our house. I would have driven across town for them, but how wonderful that we live so close and can therefore be more helpful! I packed up food and took it over for the family to eat while they sat at the hospital: Rotisserie chicken that I’d picked up at Costco and taken off the bone, raspberries, mandarins, rolls with butter, plus a basket of snacks. I also took over some Breakfast Sandwiches, Ham and Cheese Sliders, and Breakfast Burritos that I had in the freezer for anyone to heat up as needed. I had a most wonderful visit with our injured friend’s mom – our good friend from York. We laughed, we cried, God is good and faithful.

For dinner that night, I made a big skillet full of Last Minute Bacon Spaghetti with Steamed Broccoli.

On Tuesday morning, Anna was in a very helpful mood which we praised her for big time. She found all the clean towels and wash rags and folded them for me. :)

Kiya has been asking me to teach her to sew. We finally had a moment during our attachment therapy session together to work on mending some holes in a stuffed animal. It was a very sweet time.

Our kids had been fighting illnesses all week. Here’s Acacia, Josie, and Auggie all snuggled up with fevers watching a show.

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

Matt baked Pizza Chicken Bake while we were gone and warmed up leftover Green Beans for dinner.

That night, our friend Tori texted us this sweet memory from her phone: Anna and Acacia when they were little piggy tailed babies!

On Wednesday morning, the three little sickies felt better enough to prep their Valentines for school.

Arrow came over for the morning. While he snacked, finished putting together a big batch of Breakfast Sandwiches.

The girls found our thermometer and put it in the stuffed animal’s armpit to take its temp. Thankfully, the dinosaur was fever-free.

Kiya had a volleyball game that afternoon. Brayden, Keith, and I went to go cheer her on!

For dinner that night, I stirred leftover Pulled Pork into a crock pot full of Party Potatoes. It was an amazing dinner with Steamed Peas.

On Thursday, Hopelyn came to spend a few hours with us.

I slow cooked two crock pots full of Chicken Taco Soup for dinner that night. Our Community Group came for what we called The Last Supper. The Nabbs would be pulling out of Lincoln early Saturday morning, and we all wanted to enjoy one last meal together.

The goodbyes after dinner were hard. Ugh, Sam and Keith…

And, Brayden and Luna. Those two bonded in a special way being the same age and with lots of common pieces of their past. And I can’t even talk about my goodbye with Cindy, a friend with whom I’ve connected deeply since we moved to Lincoln. We praise God for the time we’ve had with this family.

On to Friday…Anna had gotten sick and missed school and her class Valentine party. Her teacher was sweet to send her valentines home with me when I picked the other kids up from school.

I got ready for Sunday Lunch that day, making a huge roaster full of Italian Cream Cheese Chicken for Pasta to celebrate Justus’ birthday.

We had a very simple dinner of Chicken Bites, Mac and Cheese, and Peas.

Matt stayed home with the sick kids and I took the other five to church for a special Dance Your Heart Out evening. It was so sweet and fun!

Saturday, I baked a double batch of Butterscotch Bars for Sunday Lunch dessert – Justus’ birthday dessert request.

Anna and Auggie still needed to stay home that day, and Brayden and Kiya opted to stay home too. So I took Keith, Acacia, and Josie to the library.

I planned to share about that, but I barely made it home from the library before realizing that it was my turn to get sick. I truly went from fine to not fine in about five minutes. Fever of 102 sent me to bed and I slept for hours. And that was our week!

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Big Family Food and Fun: February 1-7, 2026

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Here’s our Big Family Food and Fun: February 1-7, 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, January 31

Saturday afternoon, we took the kids to the 402 Creamery to use some free ice cream scoop coupons we had that were about to expire. The ice cream was good, but the outing was not. Things like this (the combo of a sit down place and sugar) just don’t go well for our crew. Maybe someday.

Back at home, we gave everyone a bath or shower before having a late dinner. I melted at this scene in which Matt was blow drying Acacia’s hair. She was cold after her bath so Daddy found a solution. :) I sure never thought I’d see my husband blow drying his daughter’s hair. And now we have four daughters along with our seven sons. In the midst of chaos, God always provides joy.

We made a very simple and well-liked dinner of Orange Chicken with Caesar Salad. Then, before bed, we watched a few more minutes of The Sound of Music as we try to introduce this classic to our kids!

Big Family Food and Fun: February 1-7, 2026

Here’s our plate of Sunday morning Breakfast Cookie Bars. These save our Sunday mornings.

After worship, all families with kids in the youth group gathered to eat lunch together and have a meeting about upcoming needs and events. We circled up for prayer before eating.

Families had worked together to put together a great meal! We contributed several packages of Ham and Cheese Sliders that I’d warmed in a roaster during worship time.

We got home just in time to host Community Group. You guysssssss. Our friends, the Nabbs, are moving so this was our last full group time together before their big send off next week. This was bitter sweet, gathering in our kitchen and dining room to enjoy God and our families together. Elias captured this photo for us. Being a part of this group has been incredibly needed – for all of us.

The partying continued as we loaded up our kids later that night and headed to the Nabbs’ favorite family restaurant. They had invited many, many people from Lincoln, and it was incredible to see so many people gather to celebrate this family.

When the Nabbs move, so does their son, Sam, as he heads off to bootcamp. Keith latched on to Sam right away after we moved to Lincoln and they became the best of buddies. We’ve all cried a lot of tears as we prepare to say “see you later” to these friends, and it’ll be difficult to help Keith navigate this.

The evening was fantastic as we all ate and ran around and played. Arrow has so many Aunties who love to take care of him – so he has to run pretty fast to get himself some space. :)

On Monday morning, I headed out for the day for grocery shopping, to get an oil change, to shop for a new laptop, and to try and write while drinking coffee at Panera. Writing didn’t happen, though, because my laptop had decided to stop working consistently. Boo. We all knew it was time for me to get a new one and I tested several out while I was shopping that day. I ended up ordering one while sitting at Panera. And Malachi loaned me a keyboard to use in the meantime since mine kept deleting everything I wrote. Good times.

Anyway, here’s what I bought at Wal-Mart while I was waiting for our van to get an oil change. This, plus ten dozen eggs and three gallons of milk that I added in after the picture.

For dinner that night, I had slow cooked Chicken Thighs with barbecue sauce all day while I was gone. I steamed carrots when I got home – though the truth is that I BURNED carrots when I got home. When the kids get home from school I struggle to remember things like carrots cooking on the stove. Oops. So I got out leftover peas for the kids and Matt still ate burned carrots because he’s not picky and doesn’t like food to go to waste. I buttered and toasted some buns to complete our simple meal.

Josie helped me make a crock pot full of Ham and Potato Soup on Tuesday morning.

I baked many pans of Bacon to get ahead on all of our bacon needs.

Hopelyn spent the day with us. She loves helping the preschool girls get ready for the bus. Backpacks and shoes? She is on it.

After school, I took Brayden and Kiya to our weekly Food Distribution. Brayden was in charge of washing coolers that day, and Kiya helped hand out chicken and sandwiches.

We came home and enjoyed a perfect pot of Ham and Potato Soup.

Anna has to work hard during her ABA therapy sessions. At the end, if she has earned enough “smiley faces” she gets to watch ten minutes of a show. This is a reward to everyone, as is evidenced here by our entire crew crowding around Anna’s RBT to watch. These therapists that come over every day are a part of our family now and we are so grateful for them!

On Wednesday morning, our blender got a workout! First I made a smoothie for Matt and me. Yep, we’re still drinking our salads every day. Next, I made a batch of Flourless Banana Chocolate Blender Muffins for Brayden to take to a youth group meeting that night.

Last, I used the blender to make a huge Cheesecake for a birthday dinner that night.

Finished in the kitchen after all of that, we enjoyed a morning with Arrow!

Kiya is on a volleyball team through her school, and her first game was that afternoon. I stayed home with five kids while Matt, Elias, Malorie, and Malachi took Brayden to go support her. Next week, I’ll get to go!

Back and home, Keith and Anna had ABA therapy while the other kids and I finished putting together a big birthday dinner for our friend and housemate, Kermit. His Heartlands Community Group met at our house that night to celebrate him!

His meal request was Bacon Cheeseburgers and Cheesecake. I made Fries and Salad to round out the meal and it was a pretty delicious feast. There were 26 of us gathered, plus 3 ABA therapists in the house just to add to the craziness. It was pretty awesome.

On Thursday, the weather was warm and sunny so the snow melted into puddles. Did we all splash in puddles and get wet and muddy? Of course we did. That’s what washing machines are for.

With my computer not working well, I didn’t document much more of the day except for our dinner that night. Grilled Cheese with Tomato Soup and leftover Ham and Potato Soup. We got the kids fed then Matt and I headed out for our weekly date night at Panera while Elias, Malorie, and Malachi hung with the kids and their therapists.

I made heart-shaped Eggs in a Nest for breakfast before school on Friday morning.

Friends showed up with a huge load of food donations for our Little Free Pantry.

In addition to lots and lots of canned and boxed non-perishables, they brought milk, cheese, butter, and meat since we are able to also offer cold items in our pantry. It has been so fun to watch people in our neighborhood stop to pick up food, to share food, and to work together to meet people’s needs. We love every aspect of having this in our yard and we love all the people teaming with us to make it happen.

Acacia had a dentist appointment after that.

Then she headed off to preschool while Josie had to stay home because she was sick with a fever. Poor babe.

After school, my Helper of the Day helped put together a big Egg and Hashbrown Casserole for us to eat on Saturday.

I made Spaghetti with Green Beans and Corn for dinner that night.

Saturday was full, and I didn’t have time to write about it. So I’ll add in those details in next week’s post!

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Big Family Food and Fun: January 18-24, 2026

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Here’s our Big Family Food and Fun: January 18-24, 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, January 17

On Saturday afternoon, my Helper of the Day, Anna, helped me put together an Egg Casserole for our dinner that night.

We left a napping Auggie at home with Elias and Malorie, then we took our kids to the library for an afternoon Puppet Show. First, we found some animals in the “vet clinic” that the library had set up. :)

The Puppet Show was way cooler than we realized it would be, with a presenter from What If Puppets out of Kansas City. The kids laughed and laughed and we were so glad we’d gone to be a part of this.

The rest of the night was very stressful with some extreme behaviors. We baked our Egg Casserole and made Pancakes, gave baths and watched part of The Sound of Music with the kids. Brayden is learning Do Ray Me in choir so we wanted to show him that song’s origins! I went to bed very discouraged that night because as hard as we try to show these kids how loved they are, the push back is extreme. God is faithful. We hold on to this Truth.

Big Family Food and Fun: January 18-24, 2026

We ate a plate of Breakfast Cookies on Sunday morning, and the fighting with the kids continued. At church that morning, it felt so good to be loved by God and surrounded by his people. We could not do this without the love, support, and prayers from so many.

We loved, loved, loved our afternoon. It was Elias’ birthday, plus our friend Christina had a birthday the day before. So lunch was a big time of celebration!

Elias had requested Shrimp Tacos, so we had a big Taco Bar with Shrimp, Salsa Chicken, and Seasoned Beef.

I made a big pan of Brownies and some Hot Fudge for Brownie Fudge Sundaes per Elias’ request. Friends brought Cake and Tiramisu – what a feast!

There were people scattered all throughout our main floor eating, visiting, and sharing life.

There were 41 of us gathered that day. Matt and I went from so very discouraged to incredibly encouraged by our time with these dear people.

As the crowd cleared, we sent our kids downstairs to watch a movie while Matt and I enjoyed our Community Group. I baked Frozen Pizza for dinner and went to bed tired but refreshed from all God is doing in and for us.

Monday was a very full day with all the kids home from school, appointments, and company. Emma came over as normal, which was very helpful so I could run to Aldi and Walmart for grocery shopping.

I got home from shopping in time to make a quick lunch of Grilled Cheese Sandwiches and Raspberries. Then I took two kids to meet with a new therapist based on yet some new diagnoses that we’ve received. (I’ll share about the new needs we’ve discovered another time after we process this and work out more of the details.)

This appointment time might have been the most encouraging moment that has happened since the day we started taking in foster kids. We have had to go through everything else in order to lead up to this – no doubt. God’s timing is perfect, and meeting this team of professionals any time before Monday might not have served the purpose we needed before now. But now – the timing is right and we all felt God so perfectly in this.

Also? This Christian therapist and this special clinic is five minutes from our house. We’ve looked high and low and far and wide for some specific therapy help. This clinic is five minutes from us? Five.

I was sobbing as I told Matt more about it when I got home. What a good and faithful God we serve. It is worth noting that when I had a few minutes alone with the therapist – who is Spirit filled and listening to His direction – I was able to tell her more candidly what all we go through at our house due to the trauma our kids have endured. She immediately set me up with a regular appointment schedule with her because she recognized right away that no one can do what we are doing without professional support from someone who understands what it’s like to live with and care for so many traumatized kids.

Well anyway. What an afternoon.

We arrived home to find that Keith and Acacia were getting married. Already emotional, I fully delighted in this sweet scene.

That evening, we invited friends to come have dinner with us. We’d been missing them and wanted to connect, and thankfully we were all able to make this happen. We had a simple meal of Ham and Potato Soup with rolls, then spent time together catching up on life.

Tuesday morning, Little Sweetheart joined us for the day. Here’s a scene I like to call Laundry with Lolli. The poor dear. What must she think about all of Lolli’s laundry piles that seem to always be there?

Brayden was the only kiddo able to go with me to our weekly Food Distribution that day. We were short on volunteers, so Brayden needed to fill in at a different spot. He rocked it!

When we arrived back at home, we discovered that Anna, Josie, and Auggie had found a picnic table cloth and were making a fun plastic feast on the living room floor. Watching them play make-believe is a very big deal because that doesn’t come naturally to any of them. This was so sweet!! (…for five minutes, until they all started to scatter and throw all the plastic food, which is more like how they usually play, oy.)

The evening was so full that I almost forgot to take a picture of our dinner until we were putting it away. I’d used Sunday’s lunch leftovers to put together Chicken Burritos. These are simple and almost everyone in our household will eat these without argument.

Wednesday was a big day!

Arrow came to join us to play in the morning and we did a lot of baking. Auggie helped me make Spinach Cupcakes.

At the same time, we baked a bunch of mini Bran Muffins for snacks.

Last, we made Flourless Chocolate Banana Muffins.

Late morning, my dad and his wife, Tacy, arrived. We were pretty tickled to see that as we were warming up lunch, Dad and Tacy tried out our new air hockey table, hehe.

And then the BEST part of the day! We headed to the courthouse for the final adoption of Little Sweetheart!!!!

Justus and Kelsey have asked that I continue to put hearts over her sweet face for now. But I am so happy to introduce our precious and prayed for granddaughter: Hopelyn Coppinger!

Perhaps this is a good time to share additional grandbaby news? Arrow is excited to share that he’s going to have a baby sister this summer!! Lolli and Pop have hearts full of gratitude and joy!

We met up at the Castle for coffee and treats as we left the courthouse after Hopelyn’s adoption.

There was so much joy in this celebration!

We gathered around our living room to pray for Hopelyn and her parents.

The fellowship was sweet as we wrapped up our time together and moved into our evening.

We started our regular ABA therapy for the kids. At dinner time, we had a simple meals of Chili with Ham and Cheese Sliders.

Dad and Tacy left to head back to Kansas as we were getting kids off to school on Thursday morning. We got Auggie settled in with his ABA therapist and the little girls with Daddy, then I was able to sneak off and have a morning outing with Kelsey and her mom and sister from Montana. What a treat!

I had meatballs frozen and tucked away, so I thawed those for our dinner that night. We ate Sweet Sauce Meatballs, Tator Tots, and Green Beans. Then Matt and I left the kids behind with Elias, Malorie, and Malachi and we went to Panera to sit together and visit for a couple of hours.

When we got home, Malorie had the little girls in jammies and with teeth brushed. It was so nice to only have to tuck them in instead of doing the challenging night time routine. God bless our big kids!

Anna was very excited about how she had fixed her own hair and begged me to take her picture. (Note the wallpaper that has been ripped off the wall behind her. We had to give up on preventing this. Did you know that tearing paper helps calm kids who have autism and/or trauma? In this case, she’s been tearing the paper off the wall, slowly but surely. Meh, it’s just a wall and can be fixed later.)

Acacia needed her picture taken too…

The kids were all very excited because school was canceled on Friday due to extremely cold temps. Auggie and Anna helped me put together a big pot of Taco Soup for Sunday’s lunch.

We also made two huge Lasagnas for a party that night. I forgot to take a picture of the lasagnas until they were tucked away in our fridge. So here’s a non-exciting photo of how I was able to rearrange everything and stuff the lasagnas inside.

We were hoping to get a family photo during our party that evening, and the girls asked if I could curl their hair. I’ve never done all four girls’ hair like this before, but we had a little extra time since they were home from school. So we got it done. Wow, they are beautiful little girls!

Our friends, the Brocks, came from out of town to join us at the party that night. We spent a couple of hours playing games together!

Party time! Justus and Kelsey had organized a wonderful adoption celebration for Hopelyn!

We added my Lasagnas to the buffet, and Kelsey and her family had put together a most beautiful table of pastas, veggies, and fruit. Friends brought cookies and we all feasted together.

Phew, what a great week! Saturday was full in other ways, but I wasn’t able to get on my computer to share about it. So we’ll save that for next week!

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Big Family Food and Fun: January 11-17, 2026

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This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see our disclosure policy.

Here’s our Big Family Food and Fun: January 11-17, 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, January 10

On Saturday afternoon after Auggie’s nap, we took the kids down the road to the Irving Rec Center to run around and play before dinner.

Brayden has been feeling awkward during P.E. class, so I worked on teaching him to shoot a basketball. Learning is hard for this guy, but he kept on trying and trying until a few things started to click. He was very proud to make several baskets before it was time to leave!

Before we left for the gym, I had made 24 hamburger patties, knowing that we’d be hungry when we got home. We rewarmed them, plus warmed up some bacon and got out burger fixing’s when we got home. As much as we’d hoped that getting some energy out at the gym would help our night go more smoothly, it was not to be. There were lots of fights that evening as we ate dinner, got baths, and went to bed. So much for a restful Sabbath evening. But at least we tried. :)

Big Family Food and Fun: January 11-17, 2026

Sunday was a fresh new day, and everyone woke up in a calmer state than they’d gone to bed. We had a plate of Breakfast Cookies ready to eat while we got ready for church.

There was a special Kid’s Event after worship, with a potluck meal and game time.

After everyone ate together, the games were brought out.

Our friend, Christina, got this super fun shot of Brayden and Clara featuring their sweet friendship during a game they were playing together.

We came home and enjoyed our Community Group. Then it was Birthday Dinner time! Anna turned six and her meal request was Mac and Cheese. I made Chicken Nuggets and got out some leftover sliced Apples to round out the meal.

Here’s our birthday girl!

Anna opened a fluffy, twirly dress and a princess puzzle during present time.

Then our sweet neighbor brought over a pretty flower and card for her. My favorite part of this is how Leisa spoke Jesus’ truth into Anna as she delivered this birthday gift.

Anna was anxious to put her new puzzle together, so Daddy got the other kids’ teeth brushed while Mommy got to help with the puzzle. It was a sweet time together, so we documented it with a six-year-old selfie.

On Monday morning, Emma came to hang out with the girls and Auggie had ABA therapy. So I left as soon as Matt took the other kids to school so that I could have several hours of respite. I grocery shopped for the first two hours. My first stop was at Aldi, and I walked in with my new found FREEDOM in not keeping track and calculating my purchases. Wow, it felt good!

Check out my huge pile of 50% off chicken breasts and thighs!! I love the red stickers. :) The markdowns gave us this meat for $1.75/pound – amazing!! I also got yogurt, oranges, bananas, Caesar salad kits, spring mix, cake mix, sausage patties, ground sausage, grapes, cherries, fruit/veggie pouches, chips, spaghetti sauce, taco shells, and I can’t remember what else because guess what? I did what I said I would do and I threw away the receipt. :)

My next stop was Wal-Mart. There were no meat markdowns that day, but I got ingredients to make some huge lasagnas plus sour cream, milk, spinach, flax seed, shredded coconut, eggs, and some cracker packs to fill up our picky eaters. I grabbed some of the cheap Valentine card kits for our kids to hand out at school next month. It felt good to have those purchased and ready to fill out when we have time.

It was a beautiful day so next, I decided to drive to a shopping center I rarely venture to. I walked around Trader Joe’s with no agenda, enjoying the slow pace and fun food. I picked up a bag of Josie’s Mandarins – because how could I not?? (Bonus: mandarins are our Josie’s favorite fruit!) The yogurt cups looked good and Brayden loves these hashbrowns. So that was my Trader Joe’s “splurge.”

I wandered over to Old Navy next and found some great sweaters on clearance. I loved how this fit, so I went back and found two more in different colors! It felt soooo good to shop slowly with a restful spirit.

I headed to Panera after that and took advantage of my Sip Club membership and their wifi. I wrote for two hours before heading home as a “new woman.” (Matt told me he didn’t want a new woman, but he was glad I rested and felt refreshed when I got home, ha.)

Earlier that morning before I left for the day, I had put Salsa Chicken into a crock pot to cook for dinner. When I got home, just before we left to pick up kids from school, I threw together a pan of Stick of Butter Rice and baked it. At dinnertime, we enjoyed a full Chicken Taco Buffet with chicken, rice, black beans, salsa, cheese, sour cream, corn, spinach, avocado, chips, tortillas, and cilantro. This meal works great for our family because everyone can eat whichever part of the buffet they like – even if it’s just a tortilla with cheese.

That night, I put another round of Salsa Chicken into a crock pot. On Tuesday morning, I shredded it and bagged to to freeze for our upcoming Sunday Lunch.

Auggie had a great ABA therapy session that morning. Daddy spent some time playing a game with Acacia and Josie.

Little Sweetheart spent the day with us. She loves helping get the girls’ coats and backpacks ready for bus time.

After school that afternoon, Brayden, Kiya, and I went to at our weekly Food Distribution. There was a huge long line of people served that day!

We were sent home that day with a full box of small packets of sliced apples. (There had been four cases to give away, and clients were given all they could take, and that still left us with an entire box!) The apples were frozen, but the kids still had fun munching on them. I told them they could eat as many as they wanted!

At bedtime that night, the little girls all “needed” their robes. They looked like mini mommies (not that I ever wear a robe, but still).

On Wednesday morning, I baked a batch of Chocolate Banana Blender Muffins. Wait. Didn’t I just bake a batch of these last week? Yes. We fly through these muffins so we already needed more!

We’d brought home several varieties of breads and buns home from Tuesday’s food distribution. So I used some to make a few Breakfast Sandwiches to have on hand.

Arrow came to spend the morning with us. He toddled around wherever we were, and he helped Lolli reorganize her pantry.

All those frozen apple slices from Tuesday night had turned to mush in our fridge on Wednesday. I did what I could to salvage as many of them as possible. I made a big Apple Pie and three loaves of Apple Bread.

For dinner that night, we enjoyed several bags of Chicken that we’d brought home from food distribution the day before. Matt made a salad, I buttered and toasted some buns, and we set out fruit.

Then, Matt and I ducked out for a DATE!

As part of my need for a time of Recovery, I’ve prayed about ways Matt and I could have some regular down time together. We’ve now worked out a plan (that is a work in progress) with Elias, Malorie, and Malachi to give us Wednesday evenings off. We got the kids fed and the ABA therapy kiddos settled in with their RBTs. Then the grown-up kids took over with the little kids while we headed out!

We have a Panera Sip Club membership, so we used our two and a half hours of down time sitting with a Lime Bubbly, having FULL CONVERSATIONS. It was so awesome, and as of right now, we get to do it again next week and the week after that. Here’s a little shot of our time together in which we were finally watching a podcast episode we were in at Asa’s work at Back to the Bible. These were recorded in November, aired in December, and we never had found time to actually watch them mid-January!

On Thursday morning, Josie helped me with a Nutella Oat Breakfast Bar experiment.

The results? Oh so good. Watch for a recipe soon!

We also threw a double batch of Breakfast Cookie Bars into the oven for the next two Sunday breakfasts.

Mid-morning, I put all the needed ingredients for Taco Soup into a crock pot for our dinner that night.

Charlene, my great friend from York, came for the afternoon and we talked non-stop until time to go pick up kids from school. Matt walked all the kids home by himself while I stayed at the school so that I could attend three parent-teacher conferences. Kelsey showed up at our house to pick up Little Sweetheart and stayed a nice long while helping with kids until I got home.

On Friday morning, Acacia was my Helper of the Day and was excited to do any task I would assign her. She helped me put together two pans full of Crunchy Ranch Chicken for our dinner that night.

Matt stayed home that morning with Josie and Auggie to navigate Auggie’s ABA therapy plus a visit with our Early Childhood Network team that checks in on Auggie’s needs frequently. Meanwhile, I took Acacia to Physical Therapy and Speech Therapy.

We baked our Crunchy Ranch Chicken for dinner that evening plus had Steamed Broccoli, Sliced Oranges, and Buttered Rolls.

Brayden had been asking for several days to make his “banana whip thing” that apparently he’d made with me back when we lived in York. I only had a vague recollection of his “recipe” but on Friday evening, we were finally able to spend some time experimenting. He put five overripe bananas into our blender and measured some cream. We added just a bit of sugar, then he blended it.

The result was a rich Banana Shake that he was so proud to share with his siblings!

On Saturday morning, I made a big pan of Fudge Brownies for Elias’ birthday the next day. I put a bunch of hotdogs into a crock pot to cook for our lunch, then we loaded everyone up and headed out for the morning.

First we went to the Sensory Friendly Story Time. I love that we are making lots of friends there. Most of the parents we meet with each week are also there with their special needs kids. So we are able to visit with each other with a kind understanding of what our kids are going through.

After the library, we went to the Children’s Museum. Asa and Eva met us there with Arrow and Kelsey came with Little Sweetheart. This Lolli LOVED the sweetness of this time together!

All of the features of the Children’s Museum are great. But seeing our kids in aprons and hats pretending to work at Runza is THE CUTEST!!!

I ran out of time to share more about our day at this point, so I’ll finish telling you about our Saturday fun next week!

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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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