Brady and I ducked out today while the kids were napping to go see the house. Don’t worry, my mom was home while we were out. We wanted to see if the basement was insulated, and I wanted to see it in person, since its been a little while since I’ve been inside.

The on the main floor was 99% done yesterday, but Brady had forgotten to check the basement. Whether it was done yesterday or not, the entire house is fully insulated and polyed! The basement is tarped off, and there is a giant heater down there, thawing the ground so plumbing can be dug in and down the line, the basement can be poured. I can’t wait!!! While I’m reasonably fond of the rocks, I’d much prefer concrete in the future 😉 As Brady has told me yesterday, the house feels entirely different with the insulation!! Its quieter, and warmer, and not as echoey! MUCH more like a house and less like a shell that will turn into a house. I like it a LOT.

We did have one tough situation with our new house build today, and that is actually with the siding color. The siding has been making its way up onto the walls for a few days now, and I’ve been suspicious that the shade of grey was off. I’ve mentioned it a few times, but just kind of casually. Today, I really came to terms with the fact that I genuinely thought it was different than the color we had picked. I asked Brady seriously about it, and he took me very seriously. The color they are putting up is a lovely smokey grey. I LOVE that color of grey pretty much everywhere! But the big goal of this house is that we want it light. Very light. Everything about it. We compared some of the pictures we had taken of our house to some of the home we had used as our color guide, and they looked fairly different. But the lighting was also different. So Brady drove back to our house and took close up shots of the siding, far away shots, as well as the name on the box. Then he drove straight into the city and once again, took close up and far away shots of the siding we had asked for. SUCH a difference!

Brady took on the undesirable job of getting in touch with our builder and letting him know the situation. And this is why I LOVE our home builder. He got in touch with the siding company right off the hop and arranged for the siding to be removed starting tomorrow. No blame was placed, no fingers pointed, and we are getting the color we originally asked for!!! Mistakes are inevitable. It would be impossible to get every single thing perfect. I am completely thrilled that our builder is so willing to correct the mistake on their end and keep the process moving as quickly as possible. A large part of me really doesn’t like putting people out AT ALL, but the other part of me is incredibly thankful that we’re getting our original color after all. Big win for just about everyone.

We had a yummy supper to celebrate our success, and ended off the evening with a serious business dog pile between me and the kids. Now, Brady is doing some laps and hauling stuff into his van for the first load of moving tomorrow. He’s meeting our landlords and our internet hookup guy in the morning, so he’s getting some of the stuff transferred there already then. My mom is seeming to be organizing papers and doing some stuff on the computer. And I’m blogging, obviously, and anticipating some YouTube soon. Looks like a relaxing night after a somewhat stressful afternoon. Thank goodness that is over!

I spontaneously tagged along with my mom on an errand afternoon today! Brady stayed home and got TONS of calling done in regards to our house decisions, our rental, etc. I am SO grateful to him for the amount of work he puts in without a complaint. He is a top notch husband!

My mom and I galavanted all over the city, and accomplished every single thing on our list. It was a huge success, and my body waited until the very very end before even showing signs of soreness or fatigue. I was vey thankful for that! As much as I try to power through things, because I WANT to be out and about, I know I have limits these days. Thankfully, I wasn’t too terribly limited today 🙂

When we got back to town, we drove to see the house, and I’ll admit that I was a bit disappointed. Not a whole lot of progress had happened with the shingling since yesterday. Very little, in fact. Still, we pulled up in front of the house and opened the window up to take a picture of the progress that there was, and I heard music. Through the glare on the living room window, we could barely see inside the house, but someone was still working in there! I loved seeing that, because almost everyone calls it at 4:59, but it was after 5:00 and whoever was in there was still up on ladders and moving quickly, from what we could see. Sadly, I didn’t have our key on me, the door was locked, and the music was blasting, so I didn’t get to go check out the inside, but Brady ducked out a couple of hours later to go check the progress.

I was THRILLED to learn that the vast majority of the house is insulated!!! The entire upstairs is done, minus a few little pieces that still need poly. Brady admitted that he forgot to check the basement, so I’m not sure if thats done or not, but if the one guy working there could do the entire upstairs in one day, the basement will be a piece of cake!!! I’m sooooo excited about all of this! I hope siding picks up a bit, but weather is weather. Its all wrapped in vapour barrier, and the roof is shingled, so nothing is stopping the progress inside. The next step is drywall, which feels incredibly surreal to me. Drywall. As in, walls. Walls that make rooms. That are part of the actual HOUSE! I know, I know, I sound crazy. But seriously, I am completely loving this entire process, and seeing it all come together.

We are certainly blessed to be able to build such a lovely home <3

No one is sick at the moment. We are living in a relaxed environment. Brady has time off this week. Our family can truly breathe. Yet, I’ve come to the realization that I am still struggling to calm down. My subconscious knows how much we have coming up and going on in our life, and while I feel like I can rest, to a degree at least, my mind is constantly whirring with ideas and lists and events.

I finally bit the bullet and made a big ugly list just the other day, and we are starting to comb through it and get as much of it done as we can. I often make these big, scary lists, and we accomplish a solid 70% of it before we just peter out and it never ever gets done. This list is different. This list HAS to get finished off, and it HAS to get done very very soon. I greatly anticipate crossing each and every thing off of it!

Brady made a bunch of calls this morning and got lots of house things organized. We set up a meeting with the landlords of our rental, arranged for SaskTel to come install hookups, transfer renters insurance, etc. We spent a ton of time planning out all of the shelving in our new build as well. Brady is the master of shelving and custom closets, so we went big in our designs and will be ordering almost twice the shelving material that our floorplan usually orders. Whoops! Its ok though. I’m really excited for our new closets!!!

In the late afternoon, Kim texted me and asked me out on a date for dessert. She picked me up right after supper, and first, headed over to go look at the new house! The entire house is wrapped in vapour barrier now, minus a few little spots under the peaks and such. Siding has officially begun on the north side of the house!!!!! That particular part doesn’t seem to be going especially quickly, but I suppose if the vapour barrier is up, interior stuff can keep moving. That being said, I saw packages upon packages of insulation through the front window!! I can’t believe its all happening so fast! We’re sure thrilled.

I had a lovely date with Kim. We bought ended up with hot chocolate, and a piece of cake the size of our head, and packed up the majority of it to bring home. We made a couple of quick little stops before she drove me home, but it was really nice to just duck out for an hour or two with a friend! I can’t wait for that to happen more when we actually live in town 🙂 When I arrived home, I basically high fived Brady and he headed out to hang out with some guys from church. He really enjoyed his outing as well, but I think its nice to be together too. Funny how I miss him when we haven’t seen each other even just for the evening. I’m fairly attached to my husband, if you haven’t picked up on that. Big fan.

Time for some Brooklyn Nine-Nine and then bedtime. I’m SO tired today, but anticipating more home stuff getting done tomorrow! Eek! Life sure doesn’t slow down!

Today was a solidly loaded day! I felt very booked today, but I haven’t had a solidly busy day in a while, so it was good to be out and about. Lots and lots going on.

The day began early, with the big kids lulling before 7:00 and Rowan sleeping until after 9:30, when we woke him from a dead sleep. It was a bit of a disjointed morning, but we did ok getting breakfast and such. Once we were done with breakfast, the kids and I headed off to Kims for a play date. It was a great success on many levels. The kids ate great, and played well, and her son that is currently potty training did well through our entire visit! It was perfect! Except that Rowan boycotted his nap. BAD. I haven’t had his struggle so hard to sleep in SO LONG! He wailed and mourned and stood up instantly. He kicked and fought and cried and cried and cried. I know, it just sounds like he wasn’t sleepy, but I know my kid, and he was wildly overdone. He’s always slept fine at their house, in the exact same place, in the same room, etc. But it was what it was. So he came down to play with everyone else instead. It was a bit rough, but he was happierish for the most part. When it became apparent that he was no longer going to cooperate with anyone for anything, we headed for home. It was much earlier than we’d normally leave, but Rowan HAD to nap.

When we got home, I put Rowan down and he was quiet pretty much instantly. The big kids were quite out of sorts, and being fairly misbehaved, but it was too late to nap their sorry, overtired butts, so instead, we ended up bickering for most of the afternoon. It was hard, I won’t pretend it wasn’t. My mom was home, which helped a lot actually, but I still was feeling quite tired from running so much interference between Dekker and Laela.

It was just shortly before supper that we gained Brady back. Today was his FIRST day working in OUR HOUSE! He had really anticipated this day, so he was revved up to go. He spent a few hours this afternoon working at our place, and our laundry chute is officially installed! He also came with exciting house updates for me! Not only do we have more of an idea of a realistic schedule, but lots was going on there today! The shingle guy finished up the roof, the electricians were on site and are aiming to be done tomorrow, the siding was being delivered, and the siding guys were starting to wrap the house in vapour barrier. We even have a main bathroom tub/shower combo installed!!!!! I think one of my favorite things about watching the build go down is coming on site and seeing SO MANY CREWS there on the same day!!! It just feels like things are clipping along at a great, efficient pace, which I am thrilled about. Eek! SO much got done today, and the next parts are very exciting parts as well!

We had a great supper of tacos, which I ate way too much of, and then I quickly got ready and headed out to the city for Jerilee’s official debut as a new sales director with Mary Kay. She’s been working towards this goal for a good few months and finally reached it, and this Monday evening event specifically focused in on her success with the company and encouraging her in what is to come. It was lovely to watch so many people there love her so well, and have her back. It was also great to hear her recount the last year, and how things have changed and improved and the work that she has done to get it moving. I’m a very proud bestie over here <3

I headed out around 9:30, grabbed a couple of coffees for tomorrow morning, and went home. My dad is away this week, and I felt SO warm driving up and seeing my mom and my husband hanging out together in the living room. They sat and chatted all evening. I’m so pleased they have such a fabulous relationship, to the point of that not being an uncomfortable situation. Some of my favorite people right there.

As today has been incredibly full, I’m done writing about it for the day. Tomorrow should be much more low key. Knock on wood!

Before I overload you with pictures of my kids from today, I’ll start with a few from the last day or two…

They couldn’t NOT try them on!

NOW to Easter! The kids survived church this morning, hunted for some chocolate this afternoon, and got super hyper this evening. It was a good day 😀

Happy Easter from our family to yours! He is Risen.

Brady and I took the kids to the city for a bit of an errand day today, but it was the BEST kind because we had very few places to hit, so we took our time and the day went pretty smooth. The main goal for the trip in was for ducting. Brady is granting my wish of a laundry chute in our new build, and he is installing it next week. After much research, we decided to go the route of ducting. Its the cheapest, the easiest, and as long as its all taped off on the inside, it should be nice and smooth and work just as well as a laundry chute box built from melamine or whatever else. So the was priority 1. Priority 2 was finding Dekker a spring jacket. The one he had last fall was too small on him then, so its definitely time for something new.

First and foremost, we picked up some lunch. With our relaxed days like these, we take forever to get out the door in the morning, and therefore, we got to the city right around lunch. So we snagged some food and then began our errands.

The ducting was easily acquired at Home Depot. All of our supplies were purchased for less than $100. Win!

We ran a few other little errands in between the priorities. At Walmart, I accidentally bought a Keurig Rivo. It wasn’t my fault! I totally blame the rollback price!! The kids approved though. WordPress is fighting the power and won’t load up any of the adorable pictures I took of them :/ They celebrated though, I promise.

The jacket took more digging. Rowan and Laela both have little adorable fake leather jackets, and thats what we had for Dekker originally as well, but after browsing a bit online and through one or two stores, it does not seem to be the style this year. Everywhere we looked, we found basic, swishy windbreakers. And that was IT. Lots of them were even pullovers. To me, they felt dated, but we were just looking for something clearly different. We finally found what we were looking for at Old Navy. I rarely shop at Old Navy, but we made a quick change of course, just to check it out, and found an army green, heavy but not bulky, well fitted spring/fall jacket. It was incredibly pricey, in my opinion, but on clearance, it was a price I was expecting to pay for something at full price, so we went for it. Dekker loved it, and wore it for the rest of the trip.

Unfortunately, by the time we got back, the kids had slept a bit in the van, but clearly not enough, and they were pretty much finished. Anything that wasn’t quite what they had hoped for sent them into a devastating meltdown. So many tears tonight. Rowan was probably in the best shape, which is strange, because he is definitely the one who is still the most nap dependant. But hey, I’m not complaining!

We ate a delicious supper of home pizza and cold veggies, and now the kids are tucked away in bed. Early. Because they are crazy.

When the kids are awaaaay, the adults…. eat brownies!

Nope, you’re right, Rowan’s birthday was over a month ago. He turned one on February 23rd. We were all too sick to celebrate, and we’ve been in something of a whirlwind since then, or rather, long before then. We had bought some yummy treat-ish finger foods for his birthday supper, but we were all living on toast and soup at that point, and we never got there. Well today was finally the day that we basically squeezed in a birthday party. And if I’m being totally honest, I think it was the perfect party for all of us.

First, though, Brady had to go into work to finish off one hour of work. Lame, I know. But he brought home breakfast sandwiches and coffee for all of us. Win!

Rowan napped earlier than usual today. After his incredibly difficult last few evenings, we watched for him to get a bit sleepy, and then put him down in the late morning. He had a nice shorty nap and woke up happy. I had kept the kids up rather than napping them, so when Rowan woke up, we all settled into the living room and watched Home. We watched it once at our last rental and it was a hit. The music is upbeat and the characters are cute and likeable. We also found the “bad guy” to be portrayed well, not shown a ton, and we learned that he wasn’t actually “bad” in the end. It wasn’t a story of defeating anyone, but understanding. The kids love it.

After the movie, we loaded the kids into the van, my parents got into their car, and we all headed over to our new house. We finally got to tour my parents through it, which we’ve been anticipating. We’ve only been able to show the kids, and we’ve obviously seen it, but we haven’t had a chance to show anyone else in person. It was fun to traipse through and show new eyes what we are so very excited for. It was also nice to see what had been done since we were last there! From what we can tell, all of the plumbing rough ins are in, lots of electrical is done, but they’ll be back on Monday, and the roofing guy was even on site, hammering away while we walked around inside. The shingles are a solid half done, which I am thrilled about.

We came home and put Rowan down for another shorty nap, and once he was up about an hour later, we made his supper of popcorn chicken, smile fries, and a big ol bowl of strawberries. Everyone ate great. The kids love meals that are dip-happy, and this was DEFINITELY a dip friendly meal. Rowan didn’t care much for the chicken, but I blame that on the eat of consumption of the fries. He ate lots of fries, drank lots of milk, and filled up on berries. We sang for him and had cake afterwards. We had made him a brownie in a round pan to make it look more like a birthday cake and less like a square, haha! But it was incredibly well received, as you can imagine. The kids buzzed until bedtime, and looking in their monitor, they are most definitely still buzzing. But I can’t blame them. I want more of that cake this evening. And some more strawberries.

I’ll leave you with pictures. I hope your day was as comfortable and low key as ours.

Happy birthday party, my littlest little! You are completely, perfectly, unreasonably loved.

We’ll keep todays post short, because I am feeling somewhat exhausted. I’m not sure why it was as hard of a day as it was, but there were SO many tears, very few minutes of rest, and I felt very overwhelmed. It helped immensely to have my mom around. As I’ve said before, I try very hard NOT to load her up with parental jobs. I know my kids are mine, and I am capable of handling them, but it was a HUGE relief to have someone who the kids adore around to play with the ones that are cooperative. Not that she can’t handle when they scrap, but thats the moms domain, in my opinion. So we survived the day, and Brady came home and took the lead on the evening and bedtime with the littles, which was also an enormous help.

I have lots going on in my head and heart these days. I feel a bit overwhelmed, and I know some of that stems from whats to come in the next couple of days and weeks. That combined with my son who appears to be teething WAY harder than ever before, and all three of my somewhat overtired kids, I am not in the best shape I’ve been in.

Thank God for God.

It was a very exciting day for the house build! Brady and I were scheduled to meet the electrician at 10:00 am for our first walk through. It may not sound super exciting, but it was! It felt very official and important. However, just casual enough that we brought Rowan, haha! It worked 😉 He was very cute and quiet the entire time, so there was no issue.

When we met at the house, it was positively bustling! The plumbers were there, working hard, installing all of the ducting. The owner of our electrical company was in his truck waiting. The owner of KW Homes and his right hand man arrived shortly after us. The drywall guy was there, measuring for his part coming up soon. Even a roofing guy was there, shovelling snow off the house, so he could start shingling. SO MANY PEOPLE! It was awesome to see so many trades there, eager to get work done.

We walked through the house with our electrical guy, and went over where every single outlet, light switch, and whatever else will be. So many questions came up that we weren’t prepared for either. He wanted to position the light above our dining room, and that was a BIG question!! How big is our dining table? Exactly where is the island going? We needed specifics that we didn’t have yet! Thankfully, he was a very patient, professional man, and gave us lots of time to hem and haw over a few inches here and there. The way it was finally decided leaves us with extra space between our cabinets and our island, and still a nice sized dining room. We added one or two additional things but otherwise, there were no big surprises.

One thing we did learn, which we actually find kind of humorous, is that all of the trades hate building the particular floorplan that we’ve chosen!! Apparently its WAY more work with more physical work and less payout! I understand it more, as I learn more about it. It makes perfect sense! The footprint of the house is pretty average, but its as tall as a two storey. So people who only get paid by the square foot will make less off of it. Also, trades who have to go all the way up to the ceiling have much more work going up and down ladders and scaffolding than they would on a house without a vaulted ceiling. However, thank the Lord, people are somewhat desperate for work these days, so it doesn’t seem like anyone is complaining. Win for us, and for them.

We thoroughly enjoyed our walk through. It lasted just over an hour. When we left, Brady had to head back to work pretty quickly, but I went back to my parents place to get lunch into my kids before they napped.

When everyone woke up from their naps, I invited them to the city to join Brady and I at Dr. Mike’s office, but they opted to stay back and watch Paw Patrol with Grandma. So Brady and I had another little date with Rowan, and got some highly anticipated adjustments. They hurt. But it was definitely worth it! He was really great to talk to about the house, as he always is, so it was fun to get all excited about it again. Always fun to share new news with a fresh audience. Especially since its been FOREVER since we last saw him and I think that time, maybe the lot had stakes in it?? Its been a very long time, obviously.

The kids were completely toast by the end of the day, so they’re all tucked away after a VERY loud supper. Brady and I have had to make a few decisions about house stuff this evening, but they’ve been good, and have felt productive. Now, hopefully, we rest for a bit, and then hit the sack. It was a big and also wonderful day. I can’t believe how much stuff is happening at the house at once! Not only did we see lots of trades on site today, but we heard plans being made about who was wanting to come on which day, who would overlap with whom, and how fast the next couples of weeks are going to go!! Its a bit surreal, in the BEST possible way!

Ok, I’m pooped. Sleep well, all!

Brady has a nice light week this week, so we’ve had him home yesterday and today. Tomorrow he’s back to work but we used our last day together to take care of some errands as a family. But first, we put the kids each in new jeans, and they all fit PERFECT! This almost never happens, and I am so happy when it does! Laela has never had jeans that fit so well that are actually jeans and not jeggings. She and Rowan actually wear the same size of pants now, haha! So funny!

Once out the door, we went out for lunch, which the kids always love. We were going to head straight to Superstore after that, but I remembered that I actually needed to go in for a blood test! Oops! I got the requisition last week but with my tetanus shot, I didn’t want my already sore arm to suffer more than necessary all at once. After checking the wait times and seeing that the clinic just a block or so away had no wait time, we ran over there to take care of it really quickly. When we got to the clinic, I was about to duck in quickly by myself when Dekker asked if he could come in and help me. I remember telling him I’d love to bring him next time, to help me be brave, so I agreed! And honestly, he did awesome! The nurse didn’t look thrilled that I had brought him, but I said to her (for him to hear, of course) that he had been SO brave when he got a needle recently and that I wanted him to help me be as brave as him. She understood, and asked him if I was brave. He responded with “Sometimes” so that was that, and he stayed. He held my hand and watched the whole time. Wasn’t put off at all! He was a great help and distraction. Love that boy.

After that, we did Superstore, a quick and unsuccessful duck into both Walmart and Rona. Costco was last, and all three kids fell asleep right before we got there. We hung out in silence and let them sleep for about twenty minutes, but soon it was just time, so we opened the door, which unlocked everything unceremoniously, and they all woke up. Whoops, lol! Our Costco shop was quick and successful, and we made it home in time for Brady to make the whole family breakfast sandwiches for supper! They were delicious, as was the fruit salad. SUCH a good meal. The kids ate great too. I can’t believe how much Rowan is eating now. I’m only able to squeeze 2 oz maximum into him before bed, so I think the bottle is well on its way out. Which I approve of.

Now that everyone is tucked into bed, I’m done blogging for the day. Once again, I apologize to anyone who views my posts in a browser other than Google Chrome. I know sometimes the pictures are sideways or upside down for you. Its a stupid flaw with this layout that we cannot fix without getting in touch directly with the developer, which is not as easy as it sounds. But I can’t leave the pictures out. The kids are WAY too cute!

Last thing! Last thing!!! First official walk through of the new house tomorrow!!! Gotta go show the electricians whats what! Haha! Or tell them kind of what we want and see what they say… One of the two anyway…