Jerilee graced us with her presence this evening, which is always a treat. When she entered our house, Dekker squealed and started jumping in place. And he jumped and jumped and jumped for probably at least thirty seconds before tiring out and actually greeting her with words. In case you weren’t sure, he REALLY loves her.

We had perogies and bacon for supper (I know, classy) and played downstairs with the kids until their bedtime. Once they were all beautifully tucked in, we got ourselves tucked in with waaay too much dessert and an episode of the Bachelorette. I have to say, judge me if you must, but I love the show. No, its not wholesome, and I don’t take anything from it, but its fun to predict what will happen, laugh at the bloopers, and best of all, I love the tradition of keeping up with it with Brady and Jerilee. Yes, folks, Brady watches it with us, because he’s a good sport like that. But I have to be honest. This episode was possibly the least interesting episode I’ve ever seen. There was a good date that I would have loved to go on, so thats something, but everything that I was so confident was going to happen in this episode clearly happens next time. Its so frustrating!! I know, its a pretty ridiculous problem to have, because its a tv show that no one cares about, but for those of you who watch, they don’t even show the rose ceremonies at the end anymore!! You have to wait for the next episode, and watch it in the beginning. This weeks episode ended way before it even approached the rose ceremony! Ugh. Its just annoying. I know they have to keep their viewers intrigued, but I’d come back the next week, I swear!

Ok, rant over. It was a nice evening all cuddled in with sweets and coffee and guilty pleasure tv and my best friends <3

I so rarely see my friend, Hailey, which is sad, but seems to make our get togethers so sweet as well. Don’t get me wrong. I’d rather see her much more often, but I thoroughly enjoyed our evening together.

She brought her boys out for a supper of honey chicken on rice. That has proven to be a pretty kid-friendly meal so I’m usually pretty comfortable serving it. Weirdly, Dekker made an enormous fuss over it and endured a pretty sizeable time out before he was able to come back to the table and cooperate. After supper, we warmed up the coffees that Hailey had grabbed from Tims on her way over, baked up some cookies, and had dessert downstairs where it was cooler.

It was so nice to talk about life. I hadn’t seen her boys in probably a year, and she hadn’t ever had the pleasure of meeting Rowan. The kids all did great together, too. Her boys are SO much older!!! They have so much to say, which is insane! Last time I saw them, Grady was still talking in his own dialect, like all kids, so I couldn’t always grasp everything that he said, but now he’s in school and incredibly well spoken, and Zaden, who was still drinking from a bottle last time I saw him, is making jokes and identifying animals and being a general clown. They were so great to have around!

I feel happy and refreshed after having their family over for the evening, but as usual, I am old and very soon ready for bed. The bath is run and the rest of the cookies are calling my name!

I was actually going to write a post out today, but once I’d gather up all the pictures I wanted to post, it equalled quite a few, so those plus captions will likely equal a longer and considerably more interesting post than usual just on their own. So, behold!! Here are a few of the things I bought from Edmonton…

The other thing I wanted to show you was just a little bit of the kids, because they make everything better.

Thats it, thats all! I’m pretty tired and achy, and I have a lovely but full day tomorrow, so off I go to soak in a somewhat lukewarm tub, hopefully, because this house is boiling!!

Sadly, I didn’t write the book mentioned above, but Shel Silverstein can sure write a great title, can’t he? His poetry is nothing to sniff at either, frankly. Good stuff.

“Where the Weekend Ends” is more like it today. Jerilee and I had a pretty eventful evening and a pretty choppy night. We were both fairly exhausted this morning, and feeling like it was definitely time to head home. But not without Ikea!!! We killed a solid couple of hours there, which didn’t go as smoothly as it usually does. We passed through the  kitchen and dining sections on the top floor, consisting mostly of appliances and table sets, and when we went down into dishes and utensils and such, we discovered that the glasses I was looking for were spontaneously back up in dining, regardless of the fact that every other drinking glass was on the main level with all the other dishes. We had to traipse back up into those stupid sections twice. While I really enjoy the jaunt through Ikea, I didn’t enjoy doing the upstairs level THREE TIMES. Shopping had been great, but we were both sore, and exhausted from the night before. Yikes! Either way, I got just about everything I came for, which was wonderful. We checked ourselves out, which was something of a gong show as well, and drove home as fast as we could in good conscience.

Its so nice to be home. The kids were so happy to see me, and eager to see what I brought home, of course. We stood in our sweaty kitchen while I pulled out each thing. Instead of taking pictures of every single little item I bought, I might just list it off, haha! That way, if you’re bored, you can just skip the next bit.

I bought myself three gorgeous maxi dresses. My fave was from the Gap outlet, and it has pockets. Enough said. I also bought two tshirts and a tank top, all with some lace in and around the shoulders. Pretty. I bought a soft coral cardi, and some skinny sweats from Victoria’s Secret. Everyone should own a pair of those. They’re super light and breathable, and just aren’t as bulky as others. It helps that I got them around 50% off. My one really frivolous purchase was a sexy pair of ankly heels. I’m not sure how to describe them, but they seriously feel like they were shaped around my feet when they were created. I could easily wear them out with all three kids and not miss a beat. Beautiful.

For the rest of the family, I got Brady a muscle shirt, Dekker a tshirt with a dirt bike on it, and Laela a striped dress with pineapples on it. It came with matching gitch and everything. I thought ahead a bit of Laela’s birthday, and snagged her a cute little compact, as well as a lipgloss in the shape of an owl. Maybe its weird that she’ll have to remove his head every time she uses it. Hmmm. Lastly, for the kids, I bought Dekker a Hot Wheels motorcycle, Rowan a Hot Wheels monster truck, and Laela a My Little Pony with a comb. Dekker loved his, and very eagerly showed Rowan all about his. Laela took the little comb that came with her pony and took off. Everyone loves a comb the size of a dime.

As for makeup, I didn’t go too crazy. I bought a lip primer, an eye liner, a concealer, and three blushes. I know that sounds unbelievable, but they were very affordable drugstore products, so no judging. I bought a double-wide foundation brush, and a beauty blender. I also snagged a few little fragrances from Bath & Body Works, and two candles on top of that. I bought a couple of bath bombs from Lush, and a new massage bar that smells like honey. They cut me a sample of the soap from the same line called “Honey I Washed the Kids.” Smells delish!

I only got one little piece of jewelry. They’re a pair of really pretty gold earrings. I’m not sure how to explain them, but they’re pretty delicate and pretty and I love them.

I think thats the most of it except for Ikea. We bought an entire new dish set! We bough medium grey plates, side plates, and bowls. We bought short cups with pears on the sides, and blank tall glasses. I bought a colander, a sugar thing, two cookie sheets, napkins, an apron, silicone muffin cups, and very likely there are many more things I’m forgetting. But it was an AWESOME haul, and I paid way less than I thought I would. It was so fun to walk out of there with SO many things we’ve been wanting, and knowing that we had planned this trip in accordance with our life and finances and were all set up to make some of these purchases!

Besides all of this shopping, Jerilee and I enjoyed our suppers out, our coffee and snacks, hot tubs, watching YouTube makeup videos together, and lots and lots of talking loudly. We seem to excel at those skills.

Now, I am tired. I’m sure you’ve noticed that this is my longest post in a while, and I’m so done. I am home, I am eager to eat supper, and I really want to soak in my tub!!!

Its good to be home.

Same time next year?

The time when you think to yourself “This dress looks terrible. I’m so glad I didn’t take off my jeans to try it on.”

The time when you try to scratch your bum in a public place and end up elbowing your friend in the process. 

The time when you mishear your friend and the tag line of your trip becomes “classic spidey!”

The time when the question “Is your box as weird as my box? comes up. 

The time you ate fish for breakfast. 

There is certainly no shortage of inside jokes being formed this weekend. I’m so thrilled we still have one more day. It seemed as tho yesterday was product and accessory day, today was clothes day, and tomorrow we’ll do IKEA so I’m thinking it’ll be home stuff day. 

So many good days. 

Also, today is Jerilees birthday!!! We celebrated her life by getting up putridly early. We were at the mall by 11:00am, which is gross but is awesome, because we were so excited to get shopping!

Turns out, being one year older than last year makes an enormous difference, and we were sooo tired! We did the main level of the mall until 5:00pm ish before we buckled and attempted the upstairs level. We didn’t last too longer before our feet were hurting so terribly badly. We went for supper at The Old Spaghetti Factory for pasta and sangria. This is a delicious tradition that I hope to repeat many times over. We rested our achey selves for a bit, but we were fading so fast. Unlike last year, we actually decided to be adults and chose our physical health over our desire to shop for new shiny things. 

We got to our hotel around 10:15pm and learned that the pool was still open til 11:00!!! So we rushed as fast as we could (which wasn’t very fast) to our room, got into our stuff, and went to soak in the hot tub for the last half hour. Sooo nice!

Now we’re finally all settled into our room and more than ready to sleep. As soon as this is over, well turn off the lights. Because we’re cool, an old like that. 

Happy birthday, Jerilee. Love you!!

I had a dream a few nights ago about my upcoming shopping weekend with Jerilee. In the dream, I was driving Jerilee’s car, and parked outside the mall. The second I stopped the car, she barrelled out of the car as though I had been taking her somewhere against her will. She booted towards the mall without explanation. Now, in real life, I would have called after her, and laughed my head off, and she likely would have laughed back at me. In the dream, however, I accepted that she was just really, really eager to go shopping. So I only then put the car in park, gathered my things, touched up my lipstick, and exited and locked the car. I made my way to the mall, walking at a leisurely pace. When I entered the mall, I looked around the entrance, I didn’t see her. So I texted her and asked where she was. Likely just in one of these shops nearby, but its a big mall, and I didn’t want to waste time ducking into all of these places that I probably wouldn’t normally shop at. Her response to my text was a quick “I’m at F21.”

I looked around for a mall map. Upon finding one, I learned that Forever21 was nowhere close to the entrance. My goodnatured dream self laughed, thinking how funny it was that she was so excited to get there. I made my way over to Forever21, which took quite a while, being that it was across the mall. And when I saw it, I had my first “gulp” moment. It was a three level store!!! Again, that was just in my dream, I promise. Its just one level for real. I didn’t see her immediately, so I texted again, saying something along the lines of “Oh my gosh, this store is huge! Where are you?” to which she replied “I’M IN F21!!”

Let’s specify that Jerilee is NOT that person, hahaha! But apparently in my dream, I was suuuper annoying to her. Probably because I wasn’t taking a hint. Because I proceeded to scour the store for her, looking on each floor over and over and over again until I FINALLY came upon her, going through the till. She was done shopping, and I hadn’t even started :/

So while this dream doesn’t seem especially positive, I’m completely thrilled to be leaving tomorrow at stupid o’clock to begin our shopping trip bright and early!! I’m pretty close to being all packed and ready. Its funny to look back on our trip last year. We both hardly packed a thing, we didn’t really do ourselves up or anything, and we speed shopped. All. Day. Long. This time around, I feel like it will be SO different! In the last year, we’ve both developed a love for makeup, so speaking for myself, my toiletries bag is actually fuller than my clothes bag! Also, we both have something of lists, so I think we’ll more so mosey through the mall, drinking Starbucks, and talking loudly, like usual. I’m not sure we always bring out the best in each other in that way, but we certainly have a ton of fun.

T-10 hours!!!!!

Dekker has always been my cautious boy. Laela has not been that way, however, and tends to try stuff out when I’m not looking. I hear that is much more normal, but Dekker confused me as a first kid! So its strange to me when Laela is sneaky or mischievous.

So today, I actually had to take my lunch with me to the laundry room when the loads needed switching. Not only can she reach every end table now, but she can climb! So the few places I could put it on that would seem to be out of her reach really wouldn’t be. I actually had to bring my plate and glass of milk, set them on the dryer, and switch out the loads. Crazy. I never thought I’d be worried about my dryer rattling my plate onto the floor…

That all being said, I’m doing laundry today. I just did it all, so there isn’t too much to do, but some of the clothing I want to bring this weekend needed a wash. So I’m just doing minimal work 🙂 Because I can.

I’m already SO excited for this weekend, but to add to my positivity and anticipation, Brady and I booked some time off of his work and got ourselves a spot at the lake 😀 In July, we’re going to hide out at Waskesiu for a few nights, and I couldn’t be more excited!! Besides extending weekends to go visit family, we’ve never booked off time for a holiday. We’ve always waited until there was a spontaneous lull, and then tried to fit something in. However, finding a last minute booking at the lake is hard! So we scheduled ahead of time, and I’m so pleased! Its exciting to have something to look forward too. Dekker often mentions the beech, Laela was just a baby the last time we went, and Ro has never been, so this will be a lot of fun!! Doesn’t hurt that Brady completely accidentally haggled the price down either! I can’t wait, seriously. I’m so blessed to be having things to look forward to, in amongst all of this house selling garbage. I feel less stranded when I know we have fun stuff in the near future.

Woot woot for trips and summer and relaxation and BAH!!!

Bah! I know its tomorrow, but I haven’t slept, so its today, right?

Take my absence on here as an indiction of how wonderful today has been for me 😀 I spent the morning with my kids, the afternoon with my mom, and the evening with my hubs and the always-lovely Jerilee. I am filled with joy from the days events, and feel like my incredibly early night last night will counteract this later-than-usual night for me. I feel optimistic for the rest of this week to go smoothly, where I will play with my kids a LOT, do laundry and pack up eventually, and then head out on Friday.

I’m feeling positive, and refreshed. I needed some refreshing, and I thought this weekend would be that for me. I have no doubt that a weekend away will be lovely, with the full nights sleep and the hands-free time, I’m happy to have found some reprieve here at home, in my natural environment. I think its important for everyone to have stuff to look forward to, and even away time, but I don’t always want to feel like I will only find relief in “getting away.” I want to find a new way, and today was that for me. Surrounding yourself with positive people that you love sure helps a lot.

What a lovely day. I’m so grateful for my family and friends.

I had such big plans for today. I was excited to blog about them. I was so optimistic. And then it fell apart around noon. In a pretty big way. So I was going to write about that. Since then, I’ve talked to too many people, including Brady, who had horrible days. It seems like everyone is pretty bummed today. I don’t think laying out the details of the day will make anyone out there feel any better, especially myself. So instead, I’m going to sort of opt out of a long, interesting post.

There is SO much to look forward to! I have company and plans all day tomorrow, which I am greatly anticipating!!! Wednesday is chill and not booked up yet, and Thursday will be packing and getting ready for this weekend!!! Jerilee took Friday off, and so did Brady, so he could stay home while us girls go on a weekend trip. I have been looking forward to our weekend away for weeks now, and after today, I’m scratching at the doors to leave tonight, hahaha!

All things considered, today was actually good. I think. If I look really closely, I see positives and success and learning and all kinds of good. I see that it was a hard day, but those don’t have to be bad. I had a friend remind me that I don’t have to pretend not to be scared about stuff. I agree with the “don’t let fear hold you back” idea, but that doesn’t mean we have to necessarily deny fear. We can go into situations fully peeing our pants with fear, barrel through, and come out scared on the other end. Its ok to be scared sometimes.

I vote early bedtime. I want to be nice and refreshed for tomorrow 🙂 I think I’m making apricot chicken. I’m  newly in love with that meal, and can’t seem to get enough. It helps that its painfully easy, also. Anyone else? Just me? Thats cool.