Here’s our Big Family Food and Fun: March 10-16, 2024 post!
Big Family Food and Fun: March 10-16, 2024
Our friends, the Brock family, had been staying at our house all weekend for a Homeschool Speech and Debate Tournament and we got to enjoy Sunday morning with them before they headed back home. They were exhausted from their very full weekend so we didn’t rush around but instead sat and enjoyed downtime together. (Well, as much downtime as we could have with our seven littles and their six kids, ha.)
I made pan after pan of Sam’s bacon for breakfast plus cut up 4-pounds of strawberries, whipped cream, and got pound cake out of the freezer for Strawberry Shortcake.
Their little girls had a sweet time with our little girls. :) :) :)
We gathered in the living room late morning for a time of worship together. Then had lunch before they took off for home and we headed out for afternoon church service.
Brayden made two bags of Caesar salad with help from our little guest.
I smoked some Chicken, rewarmed last week’s leftover Smoked Pork Loin, and made Corn, Green Beans, and Baked Beans to go with Brayden’s salad. The Brocks had brought back French Bread leftovers from their tournament so I cut, buttered, and toasted it to serve.
Justus and Kelsey had joined us so that they could say hello to the Brocks but Justus had to leave our house early to get to church. So Kelsey stuck around and helped us get out the door with our kids. This was the view in front of me as Matt, Kelsey, and the little girls made their way from the van into the church building.
And this was the view behind me, with Elias and Keith bringing up the rear. Our days are so full and the needs so great. These photos show a glimpse of how our Bigs help make this possible, and we are so grateful.
We stuck around home that evening and played in our yard. I did not feel like cooking, but for some reason, everyone felt like eating. ;)
I made a fruit tray and threw on the leftover pieces of buttered bread from lunch to take outside for the kids to munch on.
Then I boiled a package of Tortelloni that I found in our freezer.
The kids still had room in their bellies after all of this, so some of them had Banana with Peanut Butter, some leftover popcorn, and whatever other random food lurked about the kitchen.
Monday morning warmed several packages of Pancake Sausage Muffins in our air fryer for breakfast. The kids loved them!
Then we spent the morning getting ready for a big outing at the zoo. Since we have a membership, often we just go for an hour or two. But today we planned to take one of Brayden’s friends from school and make a day of it!
I put together a big assortment of food for lunch and snacks to get us through the day. For lunch, we would make our own “lunchables” with crackers, croissants, meat, and cheese. Plus I packed mandarins, applesauce, juice, cereal bars, and fruit snacks for an extra special treat.
We picked up our friend and headed to the zoo, which was packed that day due to the lovely weather and spring break.
Everyone stood on a square – and even Mom got to be in a picture!
Now that the weather is getting nicer, more of the animals that had been “away for the winter” are making an appearance. SO exciting!! Here we are admiring the llamas.
We were nice and hungry by lunchtime and found our favorite sunny table by the flamingos.
The peacocks were back and seemed to really enjoy exploring their territory so we saw them all over the zoo that day. This one wanted to join us for lunch, which most of us loved and some of us didn’t. Josie was not happy that Peacock walked by during her rock climbing expedition.
We walked, we played, we explored, we played some more – and every thirty minutes the kids asked to eat more meat or cheese. We were working up big appetites today! The applesauce tasted real good about 2:00. :)
Meanwhile, Matt and I were starting to drag and I remembered that I had stowed THESE in the bag! Yup. This was a perfect parent pick-me-up as we enjoyed eight kids at the zoo for almost four hours. :)
The kids were mad that we didn’t share with them. Nope, sorry kids. These are only for the parents.
Back at home I hadn’t even thought about dinner so we just pulled leftovers from the fridge to fill our bellies and clean out the fridge. Oh, and I made Kid Smoothies to refresh them after their big day and to give them some greens. (Matt and I already drank ours earlier in the day.)
Tuesday morning, Matt and I turned our crew over to our adult kids and some church friends. We’d made arrangements to have a two day, one night getaway so that we could rest and find refreshment!
Eva came to spend the day with the kids plus we had help throughout Tuesday from Elias, Malachi, and three friends. We knew the kids would be well cared for – we just hoped our caregivers would have the help and energy needed to take this on! We are so thankful for them!
Matt and I headed toward Omaha and enjoyed lunch at Cheesecake Factory thanks to a gift card someone had given us for Valentine’s Day.
I was too “busy” enjoying the rest so I didn’t get any pictures at our retreat center but guess what? We “accidentally” booked a room at Sonlit Retreats, a Christian-based acreage set up to provide rest and refreshment.
We weren’t searching for this, we truly just happened upon it. Matt had done an Airbnb search for something about an hour away, and this came up. It looked good to us so he booked it. BUT WOW. It was so much more than a place to stay. It turned out to be just what we needed – a place to walk around the lake and by the Platte River, a place to sit and talk and reflect, a place to be still and silent, a place to find connection with each other and with God.
We spent all of Tuesday afternoon, evening, and night there and didn’t leave Wednesday until the very last minute before check-out. I’d packed snacks and I was so glad I did because we didn’t want to leave Tuesday to find dinner. We just pulled out our snacks and ate in the quiet. I’m so thankful God led us here.
We had a great night of sleep and I woke up early (because sleeping in isn’t something I can do apparently). I took my Bible, journal, and my leftover cheesecake – because I was there without kids to question my breakfast, ha! – and sat with coffee and Jesus for almost two hours on Wednesday morning.
Matt and I walked around the property enjoying the water and trails for about an hour and a half before heading out for our second day together. We split an Omelet and Hashbrowns for lunch at Good Evans. Super tasty!
Then we went to Nebraska Crossing Outlet Malls for the afternoon. We had so much fun shopping for ourselves and for our kids. Our time away ended at Culvers before heading home to relieve our caregivers. (Asa and Eva had spent Tuesday night at the Castle then Kelsey came to relieve them Wednesday morning with Elias, Malachi, Justus, and church friends coming and going as scheduled.)
We strategically came home just after the kids had been put to bed so that we wouldn’t end our rest time with the hubbub of bedtime. Then we were back to the grind, refreshed and grateful.
Thursday morning Josie and BabyBoy#11 had a visit from our kids’ speech pathologist.
It was rainy that morning so we pulled out playdough and cookie cutters to enjoy for a while.
The kids and I had talked about having a special Costco lunch some time during their spring break. This rainy day seemed like the right time to do it! So we called ahead and ordered a pizza, then picked up a few hotdogs there too for a special lunch out. Elias came, one of our housemates joined us, and we picked up some extra pizza for Malachi and our nephew Troy. $21.65 fed 12 people – thank you Costco!
While some finished eating, I ran through the store with Acacia and Josie to get a few items we needed. We were delighted to run into a dear friend from York while we were there too!
That evening for dinner Brayden made a Caesar salad and we rewarmed some spaghetti leftovers that Eva had made when Matt and I were gone.
Eating leftovers that night freed me to get some extra cooking/baking done! Keith helped me make a batch of Chocolate Banana Blender Muffins.
They turned out beautiful!
While the muffins were baking, I browned two pounds of sausage and scrambled them with 28 eggs. I added cheese and put together six Breakfast Sandwiches and 22 Breakfast Burritos.
We are now set for grab-and-go breakfast options for a while!
Friday morning the kids ate some of the Chocolate Banana Blender Muffins I’d made the night before plus some leftover Pancake Sausage Muffins from the fridge.
I got a batch of Stick of Butter Rice cooking in the oven.
And I browned four pounds of hamburger meat.
Then Anna helped me make a double batch of Taco Rice Dinner.
Acacia helped me use the rest of the cooked hamburger to make a pot of Chili. We packaged some of both dishes up to deliver to a friend the next day. Then we saved some for our lunch that day.
Late morning, we loaded everyone up and went to the Children’s Museum. Matt let us all out at the door then he went to go park the van.
I had managed to get all seven littles situated for playing when GUESS WHAT?? Matt came in from parking the van to show me that the handle of the van’s sliding door had busted off. Nooooooooo.
Ok then. There’s always something, right?
But outside, the van door was wide open and wouldn’t close without the handle to release it. And I was inside with all seven kids by myself in a huge play place. Matt called Elias to bring over special tools he needed. I called Malachi to please drop everything and come help me keep track of all the kids. What would we do without our amazing grown kids?!
Elias got the tools to Matt and he started taking the entire door apart. Wow. What a rock star! Malachi arrived and helped me keep track of everyone.
An hour and a half later, Matt (the rock star) had the door at least functioning until we could order the parts needed to fix it. Malachi (also a rock star) helped us load everyone in the van to go home. The kids were starving so I handed out apples that I’d thankfully grabbed from home to take along “just in case.”
We got home in time to eat a late lunch of the Taco Rice Dinner that I’d made that morning.
It was after 2:00 before we had everyone down for naps or rest time. Matt went back out to take the door apart again, mainly to see what parts he needed to order. Keith loves anything that involves taking things apart, so of course he was right there with Daddy.
Late afternoon I spent some time getting ready for our family to be in York all day Saturday. I made our Saturday lunch and dinner to grab and take with us when we left the next day.
First, I made a loaf of bread worth of Peanut Butter Honey Sandwiches.
Then I made 6 cans worth of Tuna Salad to eat with crackers. I gathered everything I could find to make our day away easier and to keep our kids’ bellies full.
Since I was focused on prepping for Saturday, Friday night’s dinner was three Frozen Pizzas and Spinach.
Saturday morning we loaded up at 8:45 to be in York for the day. I was going to a funeral that morning while Matt took the kids to play at our friends’ house. Then after the funeral, I took over with the kids so that he could go work for the afternoon at the rental house we are getting ready to sell.
The friends’ house where we hung out that day? We got to be with our Tuesday People. Oh how we miss our regular weekly time with them. Having the day with them was so encouraging and good.
The kids had been playing hard all day so mid-afternoon we turned on a movie for them to watch. The sun was glaring onto the TV so Aaron gave them all one of his hats to put on. It was the cutest. :)
At 5:00, Matt came back from working and we loaded up. I handed everyone some Peanut Butter and Honey Sandwiches, applesauce, and juice and we headed back to Lincoln.
And that was our week!