Remember that time you guys drove 45 minutes to the city without your wallet? Oh wait, that was actually me. Today. With a whole errand day planned.

Ok, so it wasn’t actually planned at all. I decided we had a few errands we could run, and I wanted to help Jerilee set up her classroom because SCHOOL STARTS TOMORROW!!! So I drove to the city, parked at Costco, grabbed a cart, and as I walked, I rooted in my purse for my Costco card, which I keep in my wallet, which I apparently kept at home.

I went back to my van and cried and sulked a bit. I called Brady and we couldn’t come up with anything. I finally called my mom and told her my tale of woes. She was immediately willing to help, and I drove to her for a quick visit. We spotted me some cash (which I will be paying back in full on Thursday when I see her!) and we looked at some of the pictures from our recent family gathering. Such fabulous memories 😀

Eventually, I had to keep moving, so I left and hit up a few places and ran a few errands. Be warned, parents. Don’t walk through the Superstore clothing section. Everything is cute. I repeat. EVERYTHING is cute. I walked out having bought only one article of clothing per child, and that was SERIOUS restraint!

I met Jerilee at her classroom around 5:15 ish, I think, and we got to work!! We cut out a bunch of letters and decorated each wall of her room with beautiful handmade things. Her room has so much life and color to it, and TONS of thought has been put into each detail. I loved being part of the assembly of it, with Jerilee and her mom. I definitely felt welcome and loved, which I needed after such a rough start to my afternoon.

Now, I’ve come home to Brady cooking me some supper, and a bubble bath. I have such fabulous people in my life.

We’ve been so bad at getting to church this summer, which isn’t unheard of, honestly. We have pretty much only gone when we’ve been up for leading music, and then every other weekend it seems, is busy, or we’re exhausted. We’re even out of town next weekend! But hey, we made it today.

I thoroughly enjoyed the service. We had a guest speaker in, and I found him to be incredibly prepared and organized. Even with two active kids in our bench (Rowan slept through church) I was able to follow his preaching and actually grasp the message. This is certainly rarely the case, as its really hard to concentrate on the speaker while wiping faces, shushing voices, helping the kids share toys, not color in the hymnal, and break up any brawls that threaten to start. But I could really keep up today. Dekker in particular was incredibly patient and well behaved, and quiet!! Laela was pretty ticked by the end of church, but she had been generously given a lollipop as well as a cupcake, so she sugar crashed, as one would expect. It was ok. She just wanted to be held and cuddled, which we are more than happy to oblige.

After church, we had lunch and then napped Laela and Rowan. Dekker was so well behaved very intentionally, in order to stay up rather than going down for a nap, so he was thrilled to sit at the table with us and play cards while everyone else napped. Once naps were over, we got everyones shoes on, and we went for a walk. We brought Dekker’ bike out so that he could show off his mad biking skills to my parents, and he did SO WELL on the pavement!! I’m sad he has to learn on such difficult roads out here, but I’m sure it’ll benefit him somehow in the future. We ducked in on Kim and her husband along the way, and then suddenly, the bike ride ended, much quicker than we bargained for. He was pretty sad to come inside, but it was time for supper anyway. He was adamant that he didn’t want supper, but when I offered to eat his muffins and fruit salad for him, he changed his tune. Both Dekker and Laela ate a ton, and then played really well while we visited a bit more. Soon, it was toy time, and then it was home.

Dekker fell asleep on the drive home, which is actually kind of the worst case scenario, so I started making big loud jokes about “Who’s sleeping?? Are YOU sleeping??” I woke Dekker up and he just laughed and laughed as I pointed around the van to see who was sleeping. He was wide awake for the rest of the drive, so I don’t think he slept too long at all.

Now we’re home, and they’re all down. I want a bath, and I reeeaaally want a snack but I’m not hungry. If I want to lose the rest of my pregnancy weight, I should try a bit harder to respect that difference. Whoops. Not tonight.

The news story was released today about what happened last night on the highway that backed traffic up until just before 2:00am. Apparently a girl was killed on the highway, just west of the bridge. She was walking actually ON the lanes, and trying to hail a passing vehicle, when she was hit by an SUV going full speed down the hill. She was fifteen. There are a lot of questions that we’ll likely never know the answers to, like what in the world she was doing out on the highway without a vehicle. Was she hitch hiking? Had she been fishing under the bridge? A party, maybe? Was she trying to get away from someone, and in desperation, was out on the highway trying to get help? We won’t know. That poor driver, tho. What could they have possibly done differently? No one expects a person to be on the highway, and going 120 km/h down a hill, there likely wasn’t much that could have been done. I can’t imagine being the driver, or even worse, being the mother of that young victim. Regardless of what she had been up to earlier, whether she was in trouble or not, this was tragic.

Hug your family and friends as much as you can.

Tonight’s post is coming to you through diction. I, Hailey, am driving in my van dictating this post to my typist, Brady, at home. this is definitely a new method for us but thanks to tonights event it is necessary. I spent the afternoon getting my legs waxed and my nails done and then met my friend Hailey for her hair appointment. We headed to her place afterwards and got all dolled up for a girls night out. We met up with a few of her friends and headed to a hall with the promise of fancy treats, drinks, people dressed to impress and good music. Upon arrival it looked quite a but more like a grade 8 graduation. We all had a good laugh and made the most of the bologna sandwiches, the ritz crackers, and questionable platter of marshmallows, We picked a table and took a bunch of selfies. We also abused my false eyelashes by sticking them the walls, to our eyebrows, to our upper lips, and many other places. It’s possible those things saved the party. After a few good dances I bowed out early. I was already yawning, and was ready to have some quiet time at home. Hailey’s friends walked me to my van to protect me from all the hooligans, which I appreciated. I found my way to a Tim Horton’s, picked up two coffees for the morning, and headed towards home as fast as I thought I could without getting pulled over. Sooooo much yawning. about 10 minutes from home I saw a long line of red lights. I assumed it was a line of vehicles but it was dark enough that I couldn’t place where they were. But I found out very quickly, as they were on the highway directly in front of me blocking me from my home stretch. I threw the van in park and called Brady. I was feeling really sleepy, so not only did I appreciate the pick me up but we also tried to make a game plan. After about 15 minutes of sitting still a man in a reflective jumpsuit approached my van and I hung up with Brady to have a word with him. After a very brief discussion with him I learned my options were limited and I turned the van around. I try not to put my exact location on the blog but I’m sure the majority of you know were I live. Tonight, shortly after 11 pm, I turned around just before the valley and headed back towards the city. I am now on my way to BLAINE LAKE, in an effort to take the world’s longest, most roundabout way back home. If I make it there before 1am I’ll be thrilled. Not only thrilled, but also asleep. Unfortunately, my fatigue hasn’t lifted and I’m struggling to stay awake at the wheel. This dictation style blog is the last thing i have keeping me awake. I have no snacks in the van and I’m not sacrificing tomorrow’s coffee. This said I am sacrificing my husband’s chance at sleep before I get home. Sorry Honey. (It’s ok sweets.)

So this evening definitely didn’t play out how I expected, but it’s definitely kept me on my toes. Hopefully, I stay awake long enough to see the end of it. I’ve never wanted my bed so badly…

Get home safe tonight everyone.

I got my hair redone today. I knew I wanted to change it but I wasn’t sure how. This was probably the first time in a long time that I’ve booked the appointment before actually knowing my plan. A couple of days back, after much Pinterest perusing (Pinterusing?) I found the style I wanted!!! Fun surprise, though. I need to grow my hair out a bit to make it work! So I knew what I had going on, and that wasn’t working, and I knew what I wanted to end up with, but thats still a decent ways off. So I went in to my hair girl with a few pictures and just hoped for the best.

So I have to say that I actually totally love this cut!! I’m always nervous when I consider growing my hair out a bit, because I HATE the in betweener haircut. Always. But I’m thinking this could be more survivable! Yes, I will probably look like a shaggy dog in two months when I go in again, but I have a rockstar of a hair girl!! Carlinna is the person to go to for all of your hair needs and wants. While I have no idea what my next inevitable in betweener haircut will look like, I know she’ll be able to leave me looking pretty fabulous, if I do say so myself! And maybe after that one, I’ll actually be closer to where I need to be 🙂 I’m looking forward to it.

*** Side note for the makeup people! This is the nudiest nudey-nude lip I’ve ever rocked, and I have to say, I loved it!!! Definitely a really different direction than I usually take, but it makes sense when I have more on my eyes, I think. Anyway, yay for new things today!!!

Dekker had his eye surgery about a year and a half ago. I shouldn’t need to give a recap, because those images are burned in my mind, but in case they aren’t burned in yours the same way, here’s about how surgery day looked:

Over the last 1.5 years, Dekker has gone through all of the emotions when it comes to his eye doctor. He used to tremble when we entered the hospital. Then it was ok to the at the hospital, but he’d fight the testing hard. He’d scream and struggle to leave the exam room. I’m pretty sure we had never tried to bribe him before all of that began. In the last few appointments, he’s complied better. He’s still put up a pretty sizeable fuss for the first five minutes of his appointments, but then he does his thing and cooperates for the most part.

Today was a whole new spectrum. I told him in the morning that we were going to see Dr. Rubab and he responded “Ummm, actually, I can see really fine.” I told him its just good to check and make sure he is seeing the best he can. He accepted that and was anticipating the outing. When we got there, he came to the desk to check in with me, and didn’t cower when the receptionist spoke to him. He even let her put his hospital bracelet on for the first time! We’ve always had to do it, and even then, we’ve had to put it on his ankle because he was fighting so hard. This was much smoother. We were pretty early, but we actually got called into orthoptics early, which was awesome! The man called Dekker by name and for the first time ever, Dekker didn’t panic. He asked to sit with Brady, and then he seemed comfortable. He even let the orthoptist patch over each eye individually, and take his glasses off. Both of those things caused HUGE fits of screaming and fear in the past.

The one little detail that Dekker did not cooperate on was all of the testing. My gosh, it was SO frustrating!! I loved seeing him so comfortable and positive, but his jokes are always just him giving the wrong answer, and that isn’t really ideal at the doctor. I kept reminding myself that these people work with kids, and my kid being happy and funny, even though its not great, isn’t the end of the world. Also, Dekker is likely not the first kid who has pulled this kind of stunt. So I apologized, and he worked around Dekker’s antics, and managed to get basic information.

After his initial testing in orthoptics, I had a chat with him about how jokes are great, but not really a good idea at the doctors office. I told him that, if the doctor didn’t know he was making jokes, she might think he was sick! He seemed receptive, so we recapped the rules a little bit and then played while we waited.

When we did get in with Dr. Rubab, Dekker pulled the same stunt. I tried to remind him a few times that it wasn’t a good time for jokes, and he needed to just say the right answer. And he just WOULDN’T!! Thankfully, Dr Rubab had lots of different activities to try and get the information from him. Dekker was still fighting the power a bit, and I could tell Dr Rubab’s mind was ticking. She finally said “You don’t really want to do this today, do you? We can just do drops if thats easier for you, but I don’t really want to do drops today…” and then she trailed off a bit and pulled out some more things for him to look at. Things went faster after that! Once all his tests were done, she offered him a sticker, and he sort of turned his nose up at them. She offered him all of the different kinds she had, and we actually shared a laugh about her not knowing about kids characters anymore, since her kids are teens. It felt normal, which I love.

So our update on Dekker is as follows. He is using both eyes together, so he is no longer favoring one eye. Also, it appears that his vision is the same in both eyes. They couldn’t get a very accurate reading on how his vision actually is, because he wouldn’t answer the questions properly, but he had his prescription updated just a few months back, so she wasn’t too worried. Also, the big win is that Dekker’s eyes have no crossing, whether his glasses are on or off.

I’m happy that he’s in the shape he’s in today.

See you in eight months, Dr Rubab!!

I love being busy. Today was a day where I had day and evening plans. Not too long ago, I would have found that overwhelming, but I’m solidly enjoying it right now!

Despite their hateful vehicle fighting the power, Kim brought her kids out for the day! Dekker was SO much more comfortable with her boys after all of their playtime together at his birthday party, which was so nice to see. Our poor middle kids, tho. The struggle was real. I eventually ended up napping Laela to try and give everyone a break from her. She was so on edge, and would scream if anyone moved or looked at her. I lay her in bed and she didn’t move for over two hours. All things considered, though, it was a fabulous visit, as it always is. We talked more about our marriages and friendships and pasts, which are always interesting and eye opening topics. Its always sad to see them go. Dekker even hugged their baby goodbye.

Once they were on the road, I got Laela up from her nap and Rowan soon after. The kids played downstairs while I slapped on a tiny bit of makeup and tried to fix my hair. I can’t WAIT for my hair appointment later this week, my gosh, I’m so messy over here. But anyway, they played and I got ready a bit. I pretty much high fived Brady in the entrance and I drove to the city. My plan was to pick up some noodle bowls for the two of us, and then head over to get some of her classroom set up. Turns out school is starting soon!! As I drove into the city, I tried a number of times to call the restaurant. It would be busy for a few minutes, and then when I would finally get through, it would ring and ring. I’d let it right up to 20 times before I’d get ticked enough and hang up. And then it would be busy again!! I was pretty worked up, wondering if somehow, I’d been blocked, or something that obviously made me a victim. I called on and off for probably 15 minutes before I entered the city, then gave up, and figured I’d just have to order in person at the restaurant. But for some reason, it was taking FOREVER to get there! Traffic was inching along. And it was then that I looked waaay ahead and noticed that a very main intersection was down to a four-way stop. No lights. So it took well over twice as long to get to the restaurant as it should have, thanks to these lights being out. I finally made it to the restaurant in time to learn that it was actually not just that intersection. Everyone in that chunk of the city was without power.

So I threw in the towel completely, texted Jerilee, and said I was coming and I’d grab some Little Caesars pizza on the drive over. She accepted, and I was there in decent-ish time. We lurked in her classroom for a bit, and planned out what would go where. Then, we hung a large hoopy ribbony chandeliery thing from the ceiling. Correction: I hung it. Because I’m taller. Lame. After that, we drove to Michaels and found a few more things that she needed to decorate with. I bought a couple of little things too, because its Michaels, and I had to. Its the law.

Unfortunately, Jerilee is super sick with a hacking cold, and she was pretty finished by the end of our trip, so I took her home and then took myself home as well.

I feel pretty sleepy, but in a good way. My feet feel like they’ve worked a bit today, and I’m nice and tired rather than dragging and exhausted. Just feeling good and nice and sleepy. I like it.

Also, your car is loud. You should get that thing fixed. Maybe tomorrow.

Today was a good day 🙂 I got a ton of meal planning stuff organized for September, which I am super excited about! I thought I’d have all of August to get really organized and feel like I had my plans as perfect as I could get them, but we’ve been much busier than I thought we’d be, and now I’m getting to it late. But better late than never. Its possible I won’t have everything together by the time September starts, but I’m still going to try. I have my shopping lists made for the one big monthly shop, and then we’ll just buy the fresh stuff for the week every Monday. Hopefully that works anyway. I’m new.

The kids napped the afternoon away and I got some apricot chicken going in the slow cooker. The house smelled pretty good, I’d say, when Brady arrived home. He got cleaned up and helped me wrangle the kids and get some dishes done. Around 5:00, our friend, Reid, arrived. We all snacked on veggies and hummus in the kitchen while we waited for the rice to finish up, and then we sat down for dinner. The kids took their precious time, but no one was in too big of a rush. However, when I made a point to mention to Reid that maybe we’d like to go for a walk/bike ride after supper, the kids cleaned up their bowls fast and we were good to go!

We did our lap around town, like we’ve done the last few days. Brady walked beside Dekker and I pushed the stroller. When Laela wanted to be out and running, Reid kept an eye on her. And when she ran and fell and scraped up her knee for the very first time, I carried her and Reid rocked the stroller. It was so nice to have that extra set of willing hands. I carried Laela for a few incredibly cuddly moments, which abruptly ended with a high pitched “All done!” and my little girl was squirming to be free. She bounces back so well.

The kids needed to go to bed right when we got home, so again, Reid got Rowan while Brady and I put the others down. I could hear him and Ro growling at each other in the dining room while Dekker and Laela squealed and goofed around with us. But they went down pretty well, and Rowan did too, after his bottle. It was a very smooth bedtime.

Ice cream and hot drinks were next on the agenda for the three of us, and in no time at all, it was midnight!! So Reid is currently on his way home, I believe, and we’re all settling in for bed. Today was really a lovely day, and I’m thinking tomorrow will be great too. Kim and her kids are coming for the day, I believe. Its such a treat to have people in my life who fit so well. I know things are not always perfect, and I also know that good things are definitely worth working for, but recently, I feel like its so easy and comfortable with all of our friends. Finally.

We are truly blessed.

After yesterdays party, Brady and I were pretty dead to the world. When we finally climbed into bed, we watched about five minutes of tv and fell asleep. Rowan woke up to eat once or twice, neither of us remember how many times. When he woke up for the day around 6:30, we tried to make the best of it. We sat up, turned on some Seinfeld, started up the Keurig, and woke up. Usually Ro is awake for a solid hour or two before going back down, but he only made it until 7:30 before he needed to go back down. So he was sleeping, and Dekker and Laela were barely stirring. So we snuggled in for another quick episode…

Aaaaand woke up at 10:00am. Thank you, Lord, for giving us such relaxed and content children who entertained themselves for who knows how long while Brady and I slept in waaay too late. But oh my gosh it was fabulous.

We got the kids up right away and fed them some breakfast. We were overwhelmed by the dishes yesterday, and didn’t do any, so the kitchen looked pretty rough this morning. While the kids ate, I unloaded and repacked the dishwasher, and made the executive decision that we would not wash anything by hand that we didn’t absolutely have to. So needless to say, that poor dishwasher has been running all day, each load containing a couple of big bowls. But the impending dish wash is coming, as we’re running out of bottles, and prefer to hand wash those. Reality will hit tomorrow.

The kids napped after lunch. It wasn’t their best nap, and they were grumpy when we got them up. But with the promise of a bike ride, they were enthusiastic to get dressed and go out. We did that for probably a solid hour. I’m so impressed with how far Dekker has come even in the last couple of days on his bike! He’s got the pedalling motion down, and he even is pretty good at steering. We’re now just building up his strength! And realistically, he’s got to start paying attention, haha! He just looks off into nowhere and veers off the road, or he’ll just stop out of nowhere, because he’s deep in thought about something. Its funny and endearing, but my goodness, we could just sit stationary in the middle of the street for ten minutes if I weren’t there to bring him back down to earth!! Haha! Its terribly cute.

After our long bike ride outside, the kids are feeling really trashed. Despite their nap, I think it might need to be an early night for everyone. I’m thinking that bathing the kids might not be the most fun its ever been…

In case you’ve somehow missed the memo over the last few days, Dekker turned four yesterday. Today was his party. I had the idea planned really well, but hadn’t thought much further than that until last night.

The idea was to invite people that Dekker actually knows and likes rather than just people that Brady and I know. We wanted him to be as comfortable as possible, so we planned no activities or events, had lots of snacks but no formal food, and figured we had things taken care of.

Yesterday I began listing off the things we needed to do for the party. And it turned into a bigger list than I thought! Even just for a small, unassuming party, there was more to do than I expected. That left Brady and I flying by the seat of our pants this morning!! Brady put away laundry from yesterday, helped the kids get their breakfast, tidied the upstairs, and helped make the lemonade while I did more stuff in the kitchen. I chopped veggies, made dip, chopped fruit and stuck it on skewers, and did dishes. I only realized yesterday that I had NO plan for any kind of cake! So this morning, I made a popcorn cake. If you remember from a recent post, I flopped a nice dessert I was making for my mom’s birthday, and as a joke, I made a popcorn cake. Humorously enough, it had been yummy. So I popped popcorn, melted marshmallows, broke up pretzels, and dug around in my freezer for any chocolatey treats I could find. I’ll be honest. It felt like a bit of a mom fail that I served a birthday cake that was essentially a rice krispie cake, but with popcorn instead, covered in Christmas m&ms.

But I am THRILLED to say that the party was fabulous!! It was a windy but sunny day outside, so we left the patio doors open and the kids came and went as they desired. We put all of our big tonka trucks outside, and the boys played tirelessly. The rest of us filtered in and out, snacking, drinking coffee, visiting, and really just enjoying each others company. It was super interesting because, besides my parents, none of our friends knew each other! They are all from completely different places, and it was kind of fun to watch worlds collide, if I can be dramatic. I really enjoyed it! Though we were missing out lovely Hailey and her boys. I wish you could have made it, my dear. Next year.

Dekker’s presents kicked butt, too! I won’t list it all, but I can honestly say that everyone there today knows him very well, because everything he received hit the nail on the head. The favorite was his new bike helmet, which he wore from the moment he pulled it from the bag until we took it off to put his jammies on at bedtime. No lie. He loved his gifts, and while his thank yous were abrupt and shy, pleeeaaase know how happy he was!!! You all did so very well.

One of our more muscly guests helped me cut the pretzel-filled cake, and weirdly enough, people actually liked it! I can’t even believe it! But I’m thrilled 🙂 I liked it too. I feel like the whole “event” went off so much better than I thought it would. As one of our friends put it, it felt like family. I love that. I hope there are always at least some people who can feel that way around us.

And then it was 6:00!!!!! I couldn’t believe it was suddenly so late! The kids were all happy, no one was complaining of hunger or fatigue, and it seemed kind of disappointing to cut the conversation off. Our final guests packed up and took their windswept children home.

Jerilee stayed for the evening, as we had made plans yesterday, and even helped us clean up the place. Ok, let’s be serious. Its not cleaned up. But the garbage is thrown out and the dishes are at least stacked. We fed the kids toast and bananas for supper. They were so tired. But it was perfect. Everyone was so happy. I had no idea such a “lame” party could turn out so well. I feel like today was a complete answer to prayer. Best. Party. Ever.

Just ask the boy in the helmet.