Here’s our Big Family Food and Fun: September 20-26, 2026 post!
Big Family Food and Fun: September 20-26, 2026
Hooray! I remembered to take a picture of our Sunday morning Breakfast Cookie Bars. Sort of. The kids had already almost wiped out the entire plate by 7:15.
My friend, Kristin, sent me this sweet photo of Kiya and her friends as they traded books after church that morning. These girlies have started a “Book Club” in which they bring books from their own houses that they think each friend would enjoy. Then they read their “new” book throughout the week and exchange/trade for new ones the next Sunday. Thank you, God, for good friends!
We hosted a different kind of Sunday Lunch that day. Justus had asked if we could host a meeting that day with many of Heartlands’ ministry leaders – mens’/womens’ ministry, youth ministry, children’s ministry, community group ministry, etc. So we smoked a bunch of Chicken and everyone brought sides, and we filled our home with ministry leaders.
After we ate, everyone gathered around in the living room to talk about how God was at work and how each ministry works together with other ministries for beautiful cohesiveness. Mostly I managed kids on the outskirts of the meeting. But it was nice to be in the background hearing tidbits of what each person shared.
Matt and I transitioned right into our Community Group after the meeting. Then I baked some pizza for dinner.
We played outside all evening, managed some big behaviors, cared for a neighbor who had a small bike accident, and had a couple of poop situations. So, pretty much a normal evening at the Coppinger house.
Kiya and Bonus Buddy made up a game in the yard that they played together.
On Monday, Emma came so that Matt and I could have the morning off. We tried going to Holmes Lake for our usual walk and rest time. But alas…rain. So we detoured to the Mall so that we could still walk. Was this as peaceful? No. But was it kind of a fun change of pace? It was! And the stores inside weren’t even open until 11:00, so there were only other walkers inside, making it a pretty calm atmosphere.
That afternoon, I did some much needed shopping at Costco. Suffice it to say, I only barely made it out to the van with this load. I should have gotten a second cart, but why would I do that when I could wrestle with a cumbersome mountain of food?
I left Costco and picked up another huge load at Wal-Mart. I miss shopping for special clearance deals and markdowns! But right now, doing simple pick-up orders is really helping me stay afloat with our shopping needs.
After school, a certain penguin helped me with some baking. She helped me make Spinach Cake and Pumpkin Muffins.
Ahh, Penguin Perks…
For dinner that night, we had a Corned Beef Brisket that I’d found tucked away in the freezer and had slow cooked all day. I’d picked up Strawberries and Mashed Potatoes at Costco (we ate our way through two mashed potato containers). Plus I steamed Green Beans. There was exactly nothing left after this meal.
By the time our evening ended, we Spinach Cake and Pumpkin Muffins to snack on plus I’d baked a quadruple batch of Whole Wheat Banana Muffins and a batch of Crustless Cheesecakes.
It felt so good to get ahead a little bit so that I’d have several options for all of us at breakfast and snack times. We all took advantage of this before bedtime that night.
It felt a bit chilly outside on Tuesday morning, so I surprised the kids with a big pot of Warm Vanilla Soother. Seven out of eight kids loved it!
At Costco the day before, I had found these adorable jogging suits on sale for our six youngest kids. The second grade boys were NOT INTERESTED in a picture, thank you. But these four were happy to pose for Mom!
Tuesday has become our busiest day around here, with a morning full of back-to-back therapy appointments and another in the afternoon before we go to Tuesday Food Distribution. This Tuesday, in the midst of it all, Matt had secured a plumber to come over and work on a list of drippy, leaky needs. When the plumber says he’s actually finally available, even it’s your busiest day, you say yes! Hopelyn was over and was very interested in watching the process.
And speaking of Tuesday Food Distribution, Brayden, Kiya, Bonus Buddy, and Josie went with me this time.
There was an extra big crowd that day, well over 100 people walking through the line. Thankfully, there was a lot of food to hand out that day!
Before leaving that afternoon, I had made a lot of Chicken Quesadillas and experimented with the idea of keeping them warm in a crock pot. It worked, and we all gobbled this up at dinnertime.
On Wednesday, I baked two pounds of bacon to have on hand in the fridge.
Auggie and Bonus Buddy helped me scrub a bunch of potatoes for dinner that night.
Matt and I both recognized my need for some extra rest – and that morning was FREE of appointments, which was shocking and amazing! So I headed off to Panera with my computer and attempted to write a little bit. I didn’t accomplish much, but it was still a lovely couple of hours.
Around 11:00, I packed up and decided to head to Aldi and Wal-Mart to check on any meat markdowns and clearance items. It had been many weeks since I’d done any shopping beyond just the “maintenance” level, so it was very therapeutic to calmly roam the aisles in search of deals. I hit the jack-pot at Aldi with 50% off chicken breasts and absolutely filled a cart at Wal-Mart with marked down meat and clearance items. ($3.00 backpacks? Yes please!)
That afternoon, Brayden was blessed to spend the afternoon with our church friend, Rochelle. They created this beautiful pumpkin/flower decoration together and Brayden was so proud!
While shopping that morning, I’d found a perfect tiny bike on clearance for Auggie. He was so excited and practiced all evening until he figured out how to ride it!
We were all very excited to greet Malachi’s girlfriend when she arrived for a visit from Kansas. Poor Malachi had to share her with lots of little siblings who thought that she’d come to visit them specifically. :)
We had a family dinner that night with whoever was available so that we could spend time with Lexi. It was a lovely time.
We had Smoked Chicken Legs with Baked Potatoes, Salad, Peas, and Cantaloupe for dinner.
On Thursday morning, I browned around 12-pounds of hamburger meat. I’d picked up a lot the day before marked down at Walmart. Plus I’d already been thawing some to put together Lasagnas for Sunday. It felt great to get this done!
At school drop-off that morning, these two parked their bikes then walked toward their 2nd grade line like this. Why does Keith sometimes stop jumping and doing flips and instead become snuggly and protective? I’m not sure. But it’s precious and endearing and gives me such hope. Our kids have their struggles, but they love each other deeply.
I was able to use some of the cooked hamburger meat to put together two huge Lasagnas for Sunday’s lunch. I put the rest of the cooked meat into freezer bags to pull out and use as needed.
Arrow and Hopelyn came over! Matt had to leave to take a couple of our kids to dentist appointments. So that left me home with a three-year-old and a two two-year-olds! It was surprisingly chill as these two build a long track of magnatiles together and Hopelyn snuggled me on the couch which we watched.
Malachi and Lexi joined the fun!
And somehow – I took zero more pictures that day. :( My phone has been messing up lately, plus the evening was pretty crazy with ABA therapy, rain, and Matt needing to take Brayden’s bike downtown for a repair. So I guess we all just survived the night. :) Dinner was Sloppy Joes, which Brayden had made with our friend Becky!
On Friday, Kiya got ready for school early and worked on a fun project at the living room table.
I put together two packages of Turkey Cheese Sliders for Saturday.
I had an IEP meeting at a school at 10:00, so Matt got Auggie ready for the day. His new fall ‘fit is the cutest!! Matt and Auggie took Bonus Buddy to an appointment while I was at the meeting. Then it was school time for both boys!
After my meeting, I had the wonderful gift of picking up Malorie to go out for lunch! We talked all about wedding stuff then did a little bit of shopping!
For dinner that night I simply air fried Chicken and Tator Tots. We ate it with fruit and pickles and carrots and while the kids were eating, I finished sorting more fall/winter clothing for everyone. It’s a huge job that I was grateful to complete!
On Saturday morning, we took the kids to Sensory Storytime at the library.
Afterward, we headed home to warm up Turkey Cheese Sliders and pack fruit for lunch at the park. Asa’s and Justus’ families met us there plus we met up with friends. It was a great few hours – so great that I didn’t take many pictures!
From there, we took the kids to the Children’s Museum for a while. We enjoyed some new exhibits!
I had picked up some Lunchables for a super cheap price, thinking that the kids would enjoy those for a Sabbath treat that evening. While we ate, we spent time sharing what we were thankful for about the week, plus we practiced some Bible verses.
Then we took a nice walk for almost a mile to 402 Creamery. The kids had earned free scoops of ice cream during the summer reading program – and their coupons were about to expire! So we had no choice but to go use them that night. ;) The kids truly did well as we walked (ice cream for incentive might have helped).
Everyone got to choose a fun flavor, and we sat for at least five peaceful minutes enjoying our ice cream before walking home for bath time.
Proof that bath time was necessary:
And that was our week!
