Hear me out, and be gentle with your responses. We’re all in this together for the good of all! Today I ask the question: Is inflation hype…inflated? Inflation is real. In no way do I want to downplay what is 100% real. Inflation is real. All of us are feeling it in a variety of ways. But I keep seeing inflation information that is stated as fact. —> And much of it isn’t fact for our family. I feel like this is saying something because of our family size. Trust me when I say that we buy a lot at the store. From food to shoes – it takes a lot of shopping and purchasing to care for a family ..read more

Here’s our Big Family Food and Fun: April 28-May 4, 2024 post! Big Family Food and Fun: April 28-May 4, 2024 I had put together an Easy Bread Pudding the day before when I was making a big batch of Uncrustables so I baked it for our Sunday morning breakfast! I packed lunch for us to eat after church with other families who were staying for a fun Sundaes on Sunday event! I had two loaves of bread worth of Uncrustables, four cans worth of Tuna Salad, and a batch of Cream Cheese Salsa Dip. Plus I packed grapes, chips, bread/buns, and sweet peppers. Keith was supposed to have a soccer game mid ..read more

Curious how much it cost us to feed 13 people (give or take plus guests) every day last month? Here’s our Big Family Grocery Spending for April 2024 post! When I look back through these posts from the beginning of the month until the end, I am amazed at how much food we eat! I shouldn’t be surprised since there are so many of us. It’s just that every time I get back from the store and see all the food in the house, I always think, “That should hold us over for a while!” But nope. We need another grocery run just a few days later so we can get more fresh produce and milk. And meat. And cheese ..read more

Here’s our Big Family Food and Fun: April 21-27, 2024 post! Big Family Food and Fun: April 21-27, 2024 Sunday morning was a bit less intense compared to the past few weeks. Instead of having to pack an entire lunch for our family to eat after church and before Keith’s soccer game, we were planning to enjoy a potluck lunch with our church family. My only responsibility was to take Frosted Brownies, which I had baked and frozen last week. So while feeding all the kids breakfast, I put BabyBoy#11 into one of our kitchen sinks for his “bath.” A couple of the kids had fun helping me. We loved spe ..read more

Here’s our Big Family Food and Fun: April 14-20, 2024 post! Before I share about our week, I have to tell you about the end of last week. :) Saturday, the 13th, we had BIG PLANS. First, I made Crunchy Ranch Chicken with Steamed Broccoli for lunch. But because of our big plans, no one cared much about lunch. (But we did need to eat…) Two wonderful couples and their kids blocked out the day to come stay with our seven littles. Praise God for such caring friends! Then Matt and I, along with Asa and Eva, Justus and Kelsey, Elias, Malachi, and our friends Ricky and Cooper climbed into our big van ..read more

Here’s our Big Family Food and Fun: April 7-13, 2024 post! Big Family Food and Fun: April 7-13, 2024 We planned to stay after church on Sunday to enjoy a Focus Group meeting as our church family prayerfully considers our mission and vision and how to grow faithfully in the direction God wants us to grow. After the meeting, Keith had a soccer game. So we needed to pack a lunch, snacks, soccer gear, jackets, and oh yeah, don’t forget to pack the kids. :) The day before, I had put together a 10″x15″ casserole dish full of  Simple Egg Casserole so that I could easily slide it into the oven t ..read more

Here’s our Big Family Food and Fun: March 31-April 6, 2024 post! Big Family Food and Fun: March 31-April 6, 2024 Easter Sunday was a perfect way to start a new week, being surrounded by our church family all morning and then continuing our celebration all afternoon at our house. If you recall, last week the kids had made cookies and we packaged them up to hand out on Sunday morning before worship. Here’s Keith handing a cookie to some men at church. :) The time of worship, celebrating Jesus’ victory over death, was powerful that morning. It was such a gift to be all together that day! And ye ..read more

Curious how much it cost to feed 13 people every day last month? Here’s our Big Family Grocery Spending for March 2024 post! Big Family Grocery Spending for March 2024 Here are the details to share where we shopped, what we bought, and how much we spent on food during the month of March! 1. Super Saver The very first day of the month, we went to Super Saver (a store we hadn’t tried out yet) to take advantage of their Mega Meat Sale. We got pork loin for just $1.58/pound, pork roast for only $1.18/pound, pork steak for $1.78/pound, plus hamburger meat marked down that ended up being $2.20/poun ..read more

Here’s our Big Family Food and Fun: March 24-30, 2024 post! Big Family Food and Fun: March 24-30, 2024 Keith has been counting down the days for his very first soccer game! Sunday afternoon was the big day, and he had his cleats and shin guards ready. :) The game location is closer to church than home, so we decided to pack lunch to eat at the church building and then go to the game from there. I made a crock pot full of Pasta with Red Sauce, a crock pot full of Smoked Sausage cut into pieces, a small crock pot filled with Costco Meatballs, a container of Carrots and Cucumbers, 4-Pounds of Cu ..read more

Here’s our Big Family Food and Fun: March 17-23, 2024 post! Big Family Food and Fun: March 17-23, 2024 We had been gone all day the day before, so this Sunday started off with an easy breakfast of Breakfast Cookies from the freezer. We were finally able to meet for church back in our own building after many weeks of being displaced due to a frozen pipe bursting situation. It was so good to be there! Sam’s is right on the way home so we grabbed two Rotisserie Chickens for lunch to share. (And I picked up hamburger meat while I was at it.) I’d made sides in the morning before church so we war ..read more