Jerilee came over today for our weekly viewing of The Bachelorette. She was a little bit late, but since we’re both gone next week over my birthday, she said she was going to grab my gift from her place on her way over.

Upon arrival, she hauled in a beautiful jewelry stand/cabinet thing/I dont know what else to call it! Maybe I’ll take a picture and post it on here soon, but its too late for tonight. I found it when we were out garage sale shopping in May, and fell in love with it, but couldn’t justify its purchase. So Jerilee, always loving and thoughtful, picked it up once we had parted ways for the day and has been hiding it from me ever since. I’m SO excited to dress it up and use it in my pretty little beauty corner in my room. After showing my my gift, I went out to help her get a few other things out of her car, which randomly included a birthday cake!!! She brought a BEAUTIFUL white and purple ice cream cake from Dairy Queen for us to share in celebration of my birthday. Once again, SO thoughtful!!

I know I’m young enough that I shouldn’t be worried about my age, but as I’m passing my mid-twenties and honing in on my late twenties, I’ve started to feel apprehensive about telling people my age. I’m not sure how to explain it. I’m not embarrassed, but I’m certainly not proud. However, I’m happy to say that while its not even my birthday yet, this evening has already made this one great, and less painful than I thought it would be. Its possible that will end with my sugar rush, but I’m going to keep the good feeling going 🙂

On that positive note, I think its time to sleep. I got a whopping 2.5 hours of sleep last night, and my body is asking not so politely for my compassion.

Granted.

Thank you, Jerilee <3 Love you so much!

We’re feeling a bit discouraged today out here. As Christians, we try desperately to live by faith, but as humans, we ache for tangible comfort. It seems that, these days, anything materialistic that could possibly make us feel better is well outside of our grasp.

Therefore, today is not a day for blogging. Today is a day for figuring a few things out to keep this home running smoothly. I just feel weak. Pray for us, if you think of us <3

My siblings and their kidlets leave tomorrow. The kids were sad when we left this evening. They did so great! Dekker is definitely still shy, but waaay less! He only got upset a few times, and he warmed up very well to his aunt and uncle. Even when he was choosing not to play with everyone, he was always inquiring where each person was so they wouldn’t be missing out. It was pretty much adorable. Laela, on the other hand, was in there like a dirty shirt. Her latest toy of choice in the Tupperware shape sorter. She can do it all by herself, which I count as an accomplishment. Of course, as an adult, the shape sorter is not big deal, but I’m pretty impressed that she has the patience to even sit that long, but then get each and every one in where it belongs! Go Laela go! Rowan slept most of the day, which was a treat. Not that we don’t like having him around, but he ate better today that he did yesterday, and I think the sleeping has something to do with it. Big wins all around!

In the afternoon, My mom, Grace, and I rushed into the city for a quick shop while the boys and Laela hit up the playground for a bit. They ran themselves fairly ragged (in a very good way) while we enjoyed our shop, even though we didn’t come out with any purchases. Upon arriving home, we put together a delicious supper of burgers, potato salad, and chips, and then played like crazy until it was home time.

Our kids are CASHED OUT. Dekker fell asleep in the van, which isn’t ideal since it was so close to bedtime, but neither he or Laela has made much sound at all since we put them down a half hour ago. Rowan is drinking like he’s never tasted milk, so hopefully he has a good stretch of sleep as well. And as for Brady and I, we’re feeling nice and tired as well, but if you know anything about us, the tub comes first. A bath it is! And then bed, like everyone else in this house. Perfect.

Last night, I had trouble falling asleep and didn’t get there until maybe 2:30. It was a short night when Rowan woke up for the day at 6:00am. However, I was so thrilled with our kids today. Dekker and Laela ate well and were excited to get on the road to see some family, and Rowan napped while we got organized and dressed and ready for the day. We were out the door at a decent time and made it to my parents place in time for brunch.

Not only have the kids not spent time at my parents place in weeks while they were on vacation, but my brother and sister in law are out visiting with their two boys, so it was a full house. Our kids don’t always rock that scene, but they warmed up faster than I expected. Thankfully, Dekker is getting a bit older, and he’s able to remember better. We saw this chunk of our family a month or so back, and he remembered well! The kids did awesome together, and ate a big brunch of hashbrown casserole, fruit, and these delicious ham and egg things my mom makes in muffin tins. Delicious. Rowan was a bit of a punk and barely drank anything all day, so that could make for an interesting night. Another interesting night… sigh…

As the afternoon came, Laela and Rowan were starting to drag. We had plans to all venture into the city for a quick shop, but I knew the kids weren’t going to have it. Since the bulk of our trip was based around fabric shopping, Brady generously offered that I could go and he would stay back with the kids. We decided I’d bring Dekker tho, since he was in good shape, and the other older boys were going. I piled my parents and Dekker into my van, and we drove in convoy.

We had a surprisingly successful shop and were back home before we knew it. Brady had taken a nap as well, and the house was very quiet. Not for long! We brought the action back, and soon, it was bursting at the seams with little ones. We had homemade pizza for supper, with caesar salad and chips. It was delicious, and my kids ate a ton. Then they all went to play outside with my mom and I did dishes. Their dishwasher broke just before they left on their trip, so thats a bummer, but we worked it out.

Going home was sad, and while our kids waved goodbye so nicely and were so friendly, they were incredibly upset upon arriving home. Bedtime was something of a bloodbath, but I’m so ready for sleep. I feel almost as tho I slept very very little last night…

*** Quick thing! Random idea of the day is that I really want Laela to have a maxi skirt! Through all of my Etsy searching, I see lots of adorable ones that are going to set me back too much! Like $25 at least!!! No good! Does anyone have an idea, or the desire to whip one up for me? I love the idea of a high waisted one. How cute would that be on her little baby girl self??? SO CUTE!

Today, all of my plans worked out, and it was such a good day! Hailey brought her daycare kids over for the morning/afternoon, and she brought coffee. All treats 🙂 I don’t know the kids parents, so I wont break any rules by putting their faces on the internet without permission, but they were SO CUTE! Upon arrival, they pulled out Laela’s little hair kit and sat around her. She sat still while they fussed over her hair, pretending to straighten and blow dry it. They brushed it out all beautifully before passing her a mirror and telling her that her hair was done 🙂 It was SO sweet!!

Dekker had a pretty rough morning, which was sad. However, I KNEW he had it under control when I told him that he might need a time out, and he said yes, he did. I put himself in time out twice today. Some people might think its weird, but I think its awesome. Way to know your limits, Dekker!

After lunch, everyone felt better, and Dekker actually talked to the kids a bit. But it was soon time that I needed to head into the city for my leg wax. I got out the door a little late but made it to my appointment on time, and genuinely enjoyed my time there. I really like my waxing girl, and I love having fresh arms and legs, and I LOVE having perfect eyebrows!! I know thats weird, but its refreshing for me.

Post-waxing, we got some supper (fish taco!) and picked up a couple of new hoodies for the kids. Then coffee and home. It was all eventful in a very good way. I caught Dekker falling asleep on the drive home, but it was SO close to bedtime so I woke him up and coaxed him into car dancing with me. Or I guess it was van dancing. Vancing. Anyway, it worked, and it was hilarious.

Now that the big ones are tucked away and Brady is feeding Rowan, I do want to give a brief heads up to people who drive on the highway, like me.

On my way to the city, I had a vehicle drive up behind me really quick and sit on my tail. The driver began blinking his brights at me. It was broad daylight, and I wouldn’t have noticed if he hadn’t come up so quickly. I know this can sometimes bean alert that something is wrong with your vehicle, so I checked mine over while driving. In the mirrors, I could see that nothing was smoking. I knew my gas cap wasn’t open, and turning down my music, there was no awful sound or indication that a door wasn’t closed properly. I was just about to enter a chunk on the highway that goes down to 90 kms. I considered that I had passed a police car moments ago, and figured that I’d slow down a bit early in case this guy wanted to pull up beside me and actually indicate to me what was wrong. He didn’t. He turned his brights off, and stayed right on my tail. Right on my tail. I drove through the 90 km zone, right at 90 kms. I figured maybe the guy was giving me a heads up about the police car so close behind, as I was confidently driving 122 kms. For those who never drive on the highway, this is a VERY common speed. If you’re not going 120 km, you’re almost a traffic hazard on the highway. So I stayed AT 90 kms until the 110 kms sign, where I kicked it back up to 120 or so. And this guy kept my speed, and once we reached my cruising speed, he chucked his brights on AGAIN. This time, he didn’t flash them, but he just left them on. I didn’t even flinch. I did not like this situation. I had not come in contact with him earlier, so there was no way I accidentally cut him off, or had done anything of the sort that could have possibly upset him. What was he trying to prove?! I kept driving, and he started to come up beside me. I waited to see if he was going to try to communicate something with me. Well that angry faced man kept his scowl to the road, whipped past me, and wailed down the road.

So. I’m not sure if he was just not paying attention, or he was waiting for me to pull over. But seriously, take care out there. People are creepers sometimes. Thats the moral of the story, I suppose.

The end. Bath time!

I had an evening out planned. I spent the better part of the day doing laundry and dishes, but was sort of itching for the kids to go down for their nap so I could get ready. I loaded on the orange blush with the intention to rock my awesome orange Mac lipstick. But then I realized that I was going out with Kim. Kim has never been out with me before. If you’ve been out with me before, you know that people stare. I’m not offended or even particularly surprised by it, because I have a blue fohawk and thats already not especially socially acceptable, and then I add orange lipstick. Not wanting to frighten Kim away from going on a girl date with me, I opted for a much more subtle, lip purple lip color. Of course, then I was wearing orange blush and purple lips. But I was pretty over it at that point, and decided it didn’t matter.

Brady got home from work, we basically high fived, and I was out the door. I listened to some new music on my way to my parents place, where I dropped off a few things, picked a few things up, and saw some of the beautiful pictures that my mom had taken on their holiday recently. It was such a nice little pop in visit! But just as quick as I arrived, I left and headed to Kims. Funny how close they live to each other!

You guys are probably going to laugh at our evening out. We snagged her baby boy to accompany us, and drove to the city. Kim picked up something from her parents place, and we dropped into the nearby mall for one more pick up, and then Starbucks. Also, a fish taco from Taco Time. My life will never be the same. Fish Taco. FISH TACO!!!

From there, we headed to the main event. Value Village!!!! Tis true, folks. I have found a friend who appreciates some good thrift store shopping, and my heart is happy. We did pretty good, I’d say. Her baby boy wasn’t particularly thrilled here and there, but we shopped well! I spent around $75, which seems like a lot, I know, but I brought home five shirts for Rowan, six shirts for me, a blazer, a purse, and a couple of other little things. I’d say thats a pretty good haul. Thankfully, Brady agrees. Whew!

We drove back to Kims place in the rain, and took a few more lame selfies before saying goodbye.

More new music on the drive home, where I was greeted by a fresh smelling house, and nachos waiting to be melted. Those nachos are still waiting, so I’m going to go out them out of their misery.

I had SO much fun tonight. I’m thrilled that this plan didn’t fall through 🙂 Thanks for the night out, friend!!

I know today has been a wonderful day. Its a bit hard to see past some of the big fat garbage that was thrown our way, BUT I know, looking back, that today has actually been remarkable.

I did some dishes while Dekker and Laela had breakfast, and we went downstairs to play. It had been really hot yesterday evening, and the kid had went to bed only partly dressed. That carried into today, with my two big little kids running around all day in sweats, with their little bare chests out in the open, readily available for tickling and hugging. Best, softest kids ever.

Of all things, my last concrete plan for today was my leg waxing appointment, and my girl is out sick :/ So while I wish her well and hope she’s back in action in a day or two, I was pretty bummed to lose my outing. My lovely friend, Kim, invited us out, but Dekker wasn’t in a good head space, and I knew it would be fun for absolutely no one if we did. Then, feeling like a total wiener, I invited her out. Its so much easier to deal on tough stuff in your own home, am I right? Well, the doll that she is, she got her kids up and dressed, packed up, and they came out for the afternoon!!! I was SO happy to have company, and fill our day up a bit with people we love.

BEST of all!!!, Dekker rocked a positive attitude!! He didn’t exactly get down on the floor and play toys with the kids, but he didn’t melt down at all, he was polite, and talked to Kim, and he smiled and made jokes A LOT. It was such a relief!! We turned on a movie at one point, and I was super lucky to be surrounded by almost all of the kids. Dekker tucked himself into one side of me, Kims middle son was right tucked into the other side, and her oldest was right at my lap, keeping me informed on every single event that was taking place in the movie 😉 Laela at one point was on my lap, and I even got Kims baby for a while when she got an important phone call. Rowan slept most of the afternoon away, so he wasn’t part of the mad cuddlefest and replay of Frozen, but I think he’s pretty unaware of stuff like that just yet.

Dekker and Laela didn’t nap because they were doing so well, so we expected a bit of drama this evening, but there wasn’t any!!! They were SO cute, and well behaved, and they made me feel refreshed. At one point, Brady told Dekker that I was feeling low and could use a hug, and he promptly came over and lay on top of me, kissed me, and rested his head so he could stay a while. Sometimes, when everyone is stressed out, the kids start acting out. They’re so aware of everything. But today, it seemed like they were easier on us, which I so appreciate! Thanks, beautiful kids!

Tomorrow, I’m planning on going shopping for a few things with Kim, and she has PROMISED not to bail on me!! Right, Kim? Haha! So, assuming that all works out relatively according to plan, I’m looking forward to getting out of the house finally, and spending more time with a friend.

So as I said before, looking back past the proverbial hurdles, its been a lovely day <3 Who could ask for anything more?

So my last two weeks have been CRAZY social! I have LOVED IT! And now, humorously enough, a bunch of my plans for this week have changed! So I’m finding myself bored, which I haven’t felt in a while! I was sort of pouting a bit about it a little bit, but then I realized that this is an opportunity!

As I mentioned a day or two ago, we are getting new pictures taken of our house soon, and we need to get this place as perfect as possible! Our house isn’t super far gone or anything, but it needs freshening up. I think I might even buy some plants or something, just to help it out a little bit. We’ll see.

Another thing I’ve been getting excited about is meal planning. I hatched a plan recently, and it should make the whole thing pretty easy. I’ve even given myself time, and have decided to meal plan for the month of September. That way, I have lots of time to get it organized just how I like it, and it will be easier to carry over into the following months. However, I do need to actually get started on it, haha! So maybe I’ll print off some templates or research a bit how people do that. Any input from meal planners would be greatly appreciated!

So I think my quieter week will be ok. It might be filled with the cleaning and preparing that I’m not particularly looking forward to, but it has to get done, and maybe freeing that time up is Gods way of making sure we have time and energy to get the place ready so we can SELL FAST! As much as I dont like to put limits on things, if we want to be in a newly built house by Christmas, we’re already cutting it close…..!!!

So thankful that the timing is in Gods hands rather than mine!

We’ve always called Dekker our little light. It started with his babyhood, when he would stare into the lights. (Now he has glasses. Hmmm. Jokes, lol! Not from that 🙂 ) Then, he became the most joyful boy I had ever encountered, and he truly lit up our lives. While he is still very much our light, he has had some big challenged in the couple of years, and its been refreshing to see him slowly coming out of that. However, we’ve been seeing a bit of regression in the last week or two, where his attitude has really gone downhill and he panics again. Its been hard.

Today has been a bit nerve wracking for me. It shouldn’t be, but it has been. I was nervous going into the appraisal, just because its all so unknown, and then the kids were nervous about the two new men in our house, and THEN I was just wishing the house looked a little better, and aaaaall of that combined made the house nervy. I know the kids are feeding off my nerves as well, no matter how hard I try to mask them. Kids are good that way. But we got through the morning with only one SOLID meltdown from Dekker. Go big or go home, right Deks?

I was feeling pretty tired, just coming down from being quite so psyched up, and it was finally nap time. Naps are sort of hit and miss around here right now. With all the company we’ve been having, the kids are often not napping, and while the evening gets pretty interesting most days, they’re doing ok. I’ve accepted that naps are maybe just a “sometimes” thing now. But today needed to be a nap day because we’re going out in the evening and will definitely be home after their bedtime. Which I’m more than fine with, I just wanted to prepare as much as possible 🙂 So as it got close to that time, I warned them that we’d go upstairs in a few minutes. Dekker asked if we’d go up for naps, and I told him “yes.” Expecting the usual sound that comes after that information, instead, Dekker asked “You’ll have a nap too, mommy?” I told him the truth, and said “I’ll probably rest in bed, yes. I’m so tired.” And the little dumpling goes “Ok, goodnight mommy,” and headed upstairs.I sat in awe for a second, and heard him coax Laela to follow him. They both went upstairs on their own.

I took that opportunity to wrap Rowan and go lay him down first, before going to their room to get them into bed. Dekker had already taken off his glasses and climbed up into his bed, and Laela was laying on the floor beside her crib. I got everyone tucked in and left a silent room.

Not. One. Sound. Has come from that room. Not. One.

So while we go through stages and tantrums with our kids and ourselves, and changes in our lives and in our families, I am SO pleased to have what and who I have. I am blown away by these kids, who are fabulous despite all of their mothers flaws and failures. We’re sure trying out here, and today, just this one little thing, it feels like a win.

Dekker, thank you for being such a bright spot in my day <3

We successfully stayed home today! We saw no one, went nowhere, and the one job we needed to do didn’t get done, as the back wheels broke off of our mower. Nice, I know. We did accomplish one thing! Brady and i chopped up a ton of veggies and fruit, and I made a new recipe for supper. The plan was honey mustard chicken, shredded, and thrown into wraps with lots of veggies. Yummy, right? We love salad with honey mustard dressing in it, and often add chicken, so we figured it was just a yummy staple salad of ours rolled into a wrap. However, the honey mustard chicken was NOT honey mustardy AT ALL. I’m pretty disappointed, actually. It cooked up nicely, and it was a very nice, tangy teriyaki chicken recipe, but it was not the fresh honey mustard I was going for. C’est la vie. Everyone liked it, even the kids, so I’ll likely make it again. But I won’t give up on the honey mustard chicken I’m actually going for.

We ended the evening with a bath for the kids. They hated the hair washing, as usual, but the playing got super rowdy, and splashy, and messy, and LOUD. When it was over, bedtime was about a half hour away, and they were just FLYING through the house. We worked for the next half hour to calm them down a bit so bedtime wouldn’t be so hard, but they were SO happy, and so playful TOGETHER!!, which isn’t always the case. They were rushing at each other with their arms spread wide, catching each other in hugs and tickles and loud piercing squeals. It was SO wonderful to witness. After that, bedtime got a little bit hard, but not too terribly bad. They’re laying in bed now, talking away, but I can’t blame. I love hearing them talk about how great their day was.

Now, as I blog, I’m getting mildly apprehensive about the week to come. I have a really nice amount of stuff going on. I say this with genuine warmth in my heart. I LOVE this pace!! LOVE! Its saving me from the cabin fever that I sometimes feel in summer, and its keeping my mind busy while I wait for our house to sell. But on that subject, THAT is why I am stressed! We are having an official appraisal tomorrow, and then we have to severely deep clean the house and get it beautified for new listing pictures. It was so good so recently, but I feel like everything has run amuck and we have to start all the way back at the beginning. Sigh. not my favorite place to be more than once.  But so that is feeling a bit overwhelming, mostly because I just don’t want to do it. I’m not a fan of cleaning, in case you didn’t already know. If you’ve been over, you know this. BUT anywho, I’m sure we’ll get it done, even if that means cleaning into the night every evening.

Ro is almost done his milk and then we’ll run a bath and maybe clean something? Probably not tho. Maybe we’ll go sit in the wading pool in the backyard instead. That would help our weary bodies rest and relax before the upcoming week!

Lastly, if those of you who pray would like to pray for us specifically, please pray for our upcoming appraisal and new steps we’re taking to sell our house. Its been incredibly overwhelming and difficult, and there doesn’t seem to be an end in sight. But I know there is an end up ahead, whether its in sight yet or not. It will come.

Promised land, baby!!