Today was SO productive!! Its amazing how much stuff can get done when your husband is home for the day!! 

Once Dekker and Laela were off to school, we dressed and loaded up the other three kids and headed to Saskatoon. We dropped his van off at our fave tire shop to get a much needed alignment and balance, and we began our long day of errands. 

We hit the nearby mall, where I picked up a couple of pieces that were missed when I bought something the other day, and I returned something I bought twice. Because memory lapse. I grabbed a caramel brulee latte on the way out and met Brady. While I was in the mall, he had been grabbing himself a coffee and a Tims gift card for a friend. 

Then we went to Canadian Tire and grabbed a shwack of Christmas lights. The two minute hail storm this summer broke SO many of ours, and our insurance agreed to cover the cost of new lights! They won’t go up this year, because we didn’t get on it fast enough, but at least we’ll have them on hand. 

Then to 8th St we went, for Superstore, Winners, and Rush. And lunch! We didn’t get everything we wanted on 8th but we did ok.

We ate lunch and weighed our options. We had three hours left until we had to be home in time to meet Dekker and Laela. We still needed to pick Brady’s van up in there, too. But we had some time, so we figured we’d go for it. 

Our least successful stop was Midtown. Luckily I just went in on my own and didn’t drag the kids in. I was hoping for a quick in and out trip there, but the ONE thing I needed was discontinued! Nooooo! I tried a couple of other options but I think I’m out of luck :/ Will have to come up with something different for that particular gift.

We hit the other Winners (MUCH more successful!) before backtracking to Costco. We found everything we needed, including teacher gifts! Win! We filled up there as well, and ducked back into the city for one final stop at a convenience store before going to pick up Brady’s van. It wasn’t quite ready yet, so we abandoned Brady there and I drove home to meet the kids.

I made it home with time to spare! I got the little ones inside and upstairs, and I fed and changed Wavy. Then I got everything inside and unpacked the groceries and gifts where they all needed to go. I felt pretty accomplished, having everything put away before the kids even got home! Win for me!

Now, the whole clan is home, and its almost supper time! I feel pretty accomplished! Yet my room is TRASHED with presents! I need to clean up all the excess clutter so I can truly spread out and wrap gifts until I drop! 

Are you guys done Christmas shopping? Wrapping, too? I had such lofty goals to be done early, but it just didn’t happen this year, haha! No big deal. I’ll still be done in time 🙂 

While I know you guys have been seriously enjoying having Brady writing the blog this weekend, he has passed the reins back to me! I’m SO happy to be home with my family, but I truly enjoyed the breath of fresh air in Edmonton! It was both productive and relaxing. I loved it. I’ll break it down for you in short form. 

Jerilee came to pick me up around 7:00am Saturday morning. We made a little stop in North Battleford to drop something off and then continued on. Finally the sun started coming up. It was SO dark for SO long! We stopped for Starbucks in Lloydminster. I got a vanilla latte and a breakfasty treat with chunky sugar on it. On we went!

Edmonton was way easier to get into this time! We usually spend a lot of time slowly moseying through construction, but not this time! We headed right to the mall and while we didn’t go nuts like we usually do, we did a lot of walking and shopping and backtracking with very little stopping.

I had a pretty specific list, and neither of us went too crazy. It was a controlled day of shopping. But we both burned out pretty early. We usually hit the Old Spaghetti Factory on the first day of our Edmonton trip, but we were done at the mall quite a bit before supper. Rather, we decided to go check into our hotel and get our hot tub on, and worry about supper later. 

Except that the hot tub was broken!!! Aaaaahhh! We were SO disappointed! And our feet were SO tired, haha! I know, I know, first world problems. 

So rather than soaking in the hot tub, we went and lay in our beds and just took a break. Finally, though, it became time to get some food going, so we weighed our options (for way too long) and finally settled on Montana’s for supper. It was a very good choice. I ate so much, and didn’t regret one bite. Delicious! We fought the fatigue hard that evening and forced ourselves to stay up until 10:00. Because yes, we are old people now. 

 Being old paid off, because we got a good sleep and felt better in the morning. We snagged some muffins and oranges from the breakfast room and ate upstairs while we slowly got ready for the day. Now I say “get ready” loosely. Jerilee and I both used to waste at least an hour “getting ready” when we first started going on these road trips. Since then, we both like makeup WAY more, yet the less we put ourselves together for these trips, haha! So this time around, I “got ready” by wearing clothes and putting on deodorant. Win! 

We saved Ikea and the box stores in south common for our second day there. I can confidently say that day #2 was much more successful! My best purchase was probably 12 hand soaps plus a couple of mini gifties for $35! Woot! I also found something for Waverly I’ve been looking all over for! The fourth Gap location finally had it! I got myself some new clothes that actually fit my non-pregnant body, which feels like a big deal. Its not a secret that I hope to have more kids in the near future (Lord willing!) so I don’t really put in heavy effort to fit regular clothes in between. Plus, I’m quite fortunate that my legs and hips don’t change much, so maternity jeans are just “always jeans” for me. But buying a few regular shirts felt so good! None of them sag under the boobs or are unreasonably long. I’m happy with my finds. Ikea was also a win, where I got a couple things I’ve been waiting to get for the kids for Christmas, plus some little kitchen things, an outdoor entrance mat, and succulents! I kill pretty much every plant that walks in the door here, but recently, my surviving succulent had a baby!! So my confidence convinced me to buy two more, lol! We’ll see how the fare. 

We hit up Olive Garden for a late lunch, where I ate my body weight in gnocchi soup and breadsticks, before hitting the highway. We were both fairly tired and the ride was quiet until we realized we needed to be pumping some better music! “Good music” turned into road trip playlists on Spotify which turned into 90s playlists and then to one hit wonder playlists. It was SO fun. If you want to feel like you were there, listen to “What Makes You Beautiful” by One Direction. Ya, it was quality music, lol! 

We got home around 10:00pm. We made great time! Brady was super on the ball, and opened the garage up as soon as we were backed into the driveway. We hauled in my bags, and my husband – love of my life – goes “Wow, is this all you got?” Ack! He’s a good man. I love him. You guys do, too. He’s pretty epic. 

Jerilee headed out and I think she hit the sack almost immediately. I, on the other hand, had a bubble bath waiting for me!! So I did that first, and then went to bed. 

What an amazing weekend we had!! Love you tons, Jerilee! Merry Christmas trip to us!! 

So today has not been the smoothest day so far. It’s the second day of a weekend without their Mom and the kids have been fighting me quite a bit. Back talk and pretending they don’t hear me, tantrums, you get the picture. And I have to admit that I have not been the perfect Dad today either. I’ve lost my cool a handful of times. My anger is something I’ve always struggled to control and I’ve had to get pretty good at apologizing to our kids and they’re always so gracious. 

I’m gonna share one story from yesterday real quick to bolster how awesome we think our kids are, like we don’t do that enough already.

Just about every time we walk past the flower section at Costco, Dekker pipes up and asks if we can buy flowers for Hailey. Now Costco flowers are generally well priced and decent quality but we just don’t always have money to buy flowers every week so usually the answer is ‘That’s a lovely thought dude but i think we should leave it for another time.’ He usually understands and we keep moving. Last week I agreed. Laela got in on it real quick and both of them chose the same bouquet for their Mom to enjoy when she got home from her hair appt. It was lovely and sweet and they brought it up every chance they got for a couple days.

Then yesterday morning we were all at Costco again for our weekly purchase of milk and bananas and very predictably, Dekker piped up when we were passing the flower stand. But this time he says ‘Dad, can we buy flowers for Grandma?’ and Laela started bouncing and joined in immediately. ‘Ya! Can we buy flowers for Grandma?!’ 

So with a little guidance and mediation I managed to find a bunch that the both agreed she would like and we brought them home for her. And she was delighted.

So I’m gonna wrap it up there and just share some pictures from last couple days. Even when they’re turds our kids are still adorable and beautiful. 

Enjoy your Sunday afternoon everyone!

So I’ll start this off by saying that this is another guest post. Hailey does not love winter. In fact, she despises it. That fact that she still lives in Canada is a little surprising considering how much she dreads the first snow, and how permanently cold she is all through winter. But I love her despite the fact that she loathes winter. And she loves me despite the fact that I LOVE it!

I (this is Brady by the way) realized a long time ago that I just got happier every year when it would get down below zero for good and we got our first snow that didn’t melt away the next day. I know, I’m a weirdo. And it’s not like I enjoy being cold, I’m just not bothered by it. So before I start explaining things that I really want to write about separately, here we go.

4 Reasons that I LOVE winter!

1 – Crisp Air – You know when you walk out your front door and take a your first real breath outside and you gasp and lose your breath because it’s just so gosh darn cold? I love that. I try to recreate it a second and third time when it happens to me. It’s so refreshing, like a cold glass of water for my lungs. And the way it nips at your face? Ah. perfect. It’s made it extra fun since I grew a big beard because now i can watch out of the corner of my eye as my face slowly turns white with frost. 

2 – Driving – I know most people hate driving in the winter but I find it so enjoyable. I took every chance I got to stunt and do donuts whilst winter driving in my teens and early twenties. Surprising right?  Haha Nope! Not surprising. I had a Camaro from the 80s. I was THAT young punk! So I got nice and comfortable driving a vehicle when conditions are less than optimal. And I enjoy the challenge, that it makes me pay attention, that blizzards add and element of not knowing what to expect as I drive to work. It makes driving more fun for me.

3 – Solitude – A small part of the reason I enjoy going to work so blindingly early everyday is because I know I’ll be the only one there for at least an hour, maybe longer. I get that same feeling during the winter. People are less likely to be our and around when it’s -30. Everyone stays inside where it’s cozy and warm. Understandably. I like being out doing things, by myself. I’m an introvert and while I’ve learned how to be a decent conversationalist and somewhat outgoing with people I know, I much prefer to be alone or just with my lovelies.  When I was growing up on a farm as a preteen, I lived for when I got home from school and could drop my backpack in the back door and take my sled or crazy carpet and go wander the hills and pastures behind my house looking for a new hill to fly down. 

4 – Coming Inside – Don’t you just love coming back inside after being in the cold for a while? After shovelling the driveway? Or spending the morning snowboarding because skiing is for suckers? Or going for walk while pulling the kids on a sled? To peel off all the layers of winter gear you had on, straighten out your wrinkled sweats and go find a place to thaw the chubby red ice cubes you used to call toes. It’s just perfect. Maybe grab an extra cup of coffee or hot chocolate to warm your tum? I’m gettin all warm and fuzzy just thinking about it.

I think I’m gonna wrap it up there with four. The kids are in bed and I’m gonna enjoy a bit of supper before I head outside in the currently -22 degree weather to work on my van. And enjoy all these things I just told you about. 🙂 

Stay warm everyone.

Yesterday’s blog went up late, and this is why. 

If you guys have been along for the ride for a while now, you know I’ve had some bumps in the road with my blog hosts.

It all began with WordPress, when I chose it over Blogger. I had a blog in high school through Blogger, which was fine, but I was advised that WordPress was a bit more customizable than Blogger, and I felt I was ready for that challenge. So I build my blog on WordPress and was able to make it pretty much exactly how I wanted it. 

A couple of years in, out of nowhere, I was uploading photos to a big post (Was it a birthday post? Lake day post? I don’t remember.) and I was notified that I was just out of space. Just like that. Nowhere to go but to pay and upgrade that moment. I was INCREDIBLY frustrated! I wasn’t opposed to having to pay and grow my blog, because really, that itself felt like an accomplishment, but there was no warning. There was, however, no other option, so I upgraded. But it was clear I was going to run out room again eventually. So I started shopping for a new host. 

I was recommended to Bluehost. It had good reviews, and it was well known. I looked into it and discovered I could purchase a package that gave me unlimited space! THAT was what I needed, and I signed up as soon as I could put together a template that I was happy with. I wasn’t 100% happy with it, but I figured I could tweak it along the way and make it my own. Except I never did. The whole web design thing doesn’t come naturally for me, and I can slave and slave over it with little to no avail, sometimes even making it worse. 

I’ve been stuck on Bluehost for quite a while now and I can honestly say I wish I had either never switched, or that I switched to somewhere else. The ONLY thing that Bluehost offers me that matters/works is the space. Its sucked at everything else. No developers seem to update their blog themes, so I’m usually behind with lots of glitches. My pictures are regularly sideways for certain people on certain browsers, and when I inquire with Bluehost, they tell me to ask the developer. I do that next, and they say to ask my readers to clear their caches. I have NO control. 

Last night, it got all messed up again and I was SO mad. I opened up a new post page and was greeted by an ENTIRELY NEW LAYOUT. Aren’t there usually grace periods when you know its there but you don’t have to jump on board right away?? I like to let bugs get worked out before I jump on updates, or do some research so I know how to use it when it comes along. Well, that was not the case. The whole stupid thing is different now, and not user friendly. Worst of all, it would only show the thumbnail views of my pictures, and they were horrid. As in “heads cut off” level of horrid. For the life of me, I couldn’t get it to show the full pictures! Cher offered to come over, being way more knowledgable in the world of blogs/computer errors and fussed with it while she ate breakfast sandwiches with us. She got it fixed somewhat, and I can now make the pictures show up normally, but not without fixing every single one manually. Its so dumb, guys. SO dumb. 

So I’m feeling the need to switch my blog to another host. Which is SO out of my comfort zone. I’m wondering if maybe I’ll hire someone to help me. I’m happy with how my blog looks, but if I could have it my way, it would actually look SO different!! My blog looks as simple as it does out of necessity. I don’t know how to change the things I want to change. I have lots of little ideas of what I’d add where, and its probably as simple as adding widgets, but those things confuse the heck out of me and I just know so little about it. I could get it there, but I don’t want to mess up my blog! I know its boring sometimes, but its kind of like my memoirs, just super duper early. I have 6.5 YEARS of our lives saved on here!! I don’t want to mess it up 🙁 But I want it to be good, too. And I want to enjoy doing it. Today, I dreaded sitting down to write because I don’t like the setup. Yet here I am. I’m not bailing. Not over this. But I’m pretty annoyed with all the changes over here. I’m not afraid of change, but I would’ve loved some heads up!

I used to feel a bit “good riddancy” at WordPress. Still do. But I don’t like Bluehost either. Whats next??

I took Wavy to the doctor today for a routine appointment. After an incredibly taxing morning with the three littlest ones, I was SO ready to get on the road, put on some good music, and get out of the house. 

There was ONE parking spot left in the entire parking lot, and after just a little readjusting, I got into it. Brady was already there to meet me and hang out with the little boys when I went in with Waverly. I tried to feed Wavy one last time before going in, but she wouldn’t have it. So I took her in a little grumpy, but very very cute, as always. 

The parking lot may have been FULL, but the office was not. Wavy and I waited maybe five minutes before we were called back. The same woman who always calls us was there, and as usual, just gushed over Waverly. I got her all undressed and we weighed her. She weighed in at 16 lbs 10 oz, which is what I had written four days ago on her monthly update post. So either she didn’t gain any weight, or my scale has some wiggle room, but at least we know its close! She’s about 26″ tall, putting her up there in height. Good work, Wavy!

He checked everything over and seemed quite enamoured with her. She was less enamoured with his ice cold hands but never even cried. Just seemed to startle at every touch. She cooperated well and was super pleasant. We’re so spoiled. She makes it look pretty easy. 

She passed everything with flying colors. Clear lungs, clear ears, eating and sleeping, peeing and pooping, etc. She does all the right stuff at all the right times. We talked about solid food and milestones. We talked about how gorgeous she was, her soft hair and skin. 

We covered the usual topics of Christmas, school, and a few other things. Its so comfortable there. I tend to feel like everyone is my friend, and my doctors are SO friendly, but they’re definitely still doctors, and professional, which is good. We’re so fortunate to have the doctors we have.

When I brought Wavy back to the van, Brady and the boys had driven to Tim’s and brought me back a coffee. I already felt refreshed just having a little break with Wavy, chatting with my doctor, and having a few HUGE laughs over embarrassing childhood memories. Top it all off with a coffee and I was feeling pretty good! Unfortunately, Brady headed back to work after that, and I went home with the crazies. 

Overall, if one can “win” at a doctors appointment, Wavy did.

All the nurses there are SO sweet to her.
She didn’t pee on anything inappropriate. 
She didn’t cry.
She smiled at her doctor.
She’s high in the percentiles.
She’s HEALTHY! That one is probably more important that the others 😉

Mad skills, Wavycakes! I am SO proud of you and your mad health/social skills! Way to be the sweetest little baby girl ever!

Guys!!! My Christmas cards came today!!! I was worried they wouldn’t make it in time, but they did! And faster than Vistaprint even originally promised they would! I’m so stoked! I will spend the next couple of days addressing and dropping off as many as I’m able. Ok ok, it might wriggle into next week but I hope not. I’m so eager to get those things out of my house!

Also today, a couple of Christmas presents showed up in the mail! I ordered a couple of small things off of Etsy for Waverly and my baby nephew, and crossed my fingers that they’d make it in time. And they did! YES!

I’m not looking to push my luck, but I ordered a couple of things from Amazon and had them sent to a friends house in hopes they’ll actually arrive at a city address faster than my PO box address. After that, I think I’m done risking ordering things online! There is still shopping to do, but not too much. I can handle it.

Something about these things getting organized and crossing them off my list makes me feel a bit more capable. I had lofty goals of having all presents accounted for and wrapped in November and WOW did I not accomplish that goal, but it is coming together, which I’m thankful for!

Tomorrow is a doctor appointment day for Waverly, and the day after I hope we can get our tree decorated finally!!! And Saturday and Sunday I’m off with Jerilee to wrap up Christmas shopping! It HAS to be finished after this weekend!! And then its gift wrapping party at Hailey’s house!!!

You probably noticed yesterday’s post went up late. It was also a shorty. It was good reason, because yesterday was SO full and SO great!

It began with Jerilee! She came over for a MORNING coffee date! We used to hang out in the daytime all the time when she worked shift work, but things have changed and it almost never happens! But it did this time! She brought a couple of lattes and we spent the morning together! We put together a plan for our road trip coming up this weekend, and got all excited about whats to come. Was SO so nice.

Next, I spent the afternoon with Cher. We visited as we accomplished a couple of in-house errands together, and then spent some time with the kids when they got up from naps. She brought bagels for lunch. It was a super nice afternoon!

She headed out fairly quickly after Dekker got home because we had places to go! I got the kids dressed and we drove to Saskatoon to meet Brady and my mom. She had already chosen a Christmas tree, so Brady loaded it into his work van and we all went out for supper. This was a tradition years back when we lived in Radisson, but it kind of ended when we started getting a fake tree (because impatience.) But this year seemed like it would be fun to make it happen again, so we did! We drove to a nearby McDonalds and actually went in to the restaurant, which is actually a pretty big deal. Our kids are wonderful, don’t get me wrong, but its just so much easier to eat in the van rather than hauling everyone inside. So when we do go in, the kids are super excited! They ate great, and everyone even got a cookie at the end.

We stayed a little while, but then it was time to clear out. We cleaned up our spot and got everyone loaded back into the van. We got home right at the kids usual bedtime. I was pretty pleased with how well they headed into the house and got started with bedtime stuff. Dekker volunteered to help Solly get out of his winter gear, and the others could get themselves out of their stuff and into the house. I took Wavy upstairs to feed her and put her to bed, and Brady manned bedtime for the others. Once everyone was down, I texted Carrie.

Carrie and I are doing music for a Ladies morning thing this week, so we had decided to get together yesterday evening to practice, and also to start organizing music for the Christmas Eve service this year. Who’s coming to that?? Its going to be SO fun!! Carrie arrived somewhere around 8:00 and we visited (on and off topic) until around 10:30. It was so good to get at least some of our ducks in a row for both events.

When all was said and done, Brady and I were a special blend of exhaustion and adrenaline. It had been a full, great day! So we lay in bed and ate brownies and watched “Life in Pieces” for a little bit before falling asleep. It felt great. But, it explains yesterday’s short post. So there you go.

It was such a dark day today. Even with the blinds open, it never really brightened up. Just for entertainment’s sake, I took a couple pictures of the kids with the flash on. And I kind of loved how they turned out!!!

I love how eveningish the photos look, and how happy the models look 😉 I was surprised at how little squinting I captured. What surprised me even more was this side by side.

Yes, I reused the original pictures from above. Bear with me.

These boys are SO HANDSOME!!! And while they’re in no way lookalikes, they have more similarities than I thought! I’m not sure I’ve ever made a comparison picture of these two. Rowan looks so much like my moms side of the family, and Solomon looks like baby Brady. But in this picture, those eyes are so similar! Not quite exact, but Rowan’s are also more open than Solly’s, and it makes me wonder what other little details I’m missing that are similar amongst my kids! Rowan and Solly’s eyes and brows are pretty much matching. Nose and mouth, not at all. Hairline, nope. Chin, definitely, but all of our kids have that bitty little pointy chin, and who knows what Solly’s jawline will turn into when he drops the end of his adorable little baby chub? I’m NOT counting down the days for that milestone!

Its been a full day, and there’s still more to go, so today’s post is short, but very cute, if I do say so myself!! Sleep well, friends!

Today marks five months since we brought Wavy girl out of me and into this big, scary world. Lucky for the world, its that much sweeter now that she’s in it. She’s added an amazing warmth and peace to our family. I know she’s still just a baby, but I’ve often said that she has pretty much all the best characteristics from each of our other kids, just all wrapped into one baby! Lucky girly. Lucky family.

I know at least a handful of you have noticed! Wavy has chunked up!! She currently weighs 16 lbs 10 oz!! Thats over two pounds gained in the last month! Yet she’s still SO little! Dekker had outgrown his bucket seat by this point! Wavy will still be in it for a nice while here 🙂 Her hair is getting longer and longer, and while it may not look curly anymore, it is still amazingly curly when its freshly washed! There’s just too much of it and its too heavy, and the curl doesn’t hold. Likely as it gets longer and thicker, it should show a bit more. A big change in her physical appearance this months is her TEETH! Those two bottom teeth are nicely through now. I often go in there and rub them a little, and she giggles like crazy. As they grow further and further above her gums, her whole look will change, so be ready! I always think I’m going to ache and miss their little gummy smiles, and to a degree I do, but I always LOVE that little toothy look too!

Wavy is learning and changing all the time. She’s stronger and happier on her tummy, and even learned how to roll from front to back this month. She is also well on her way to sitting, which is CRAZY! She’s definitely still not ready to do it on her own, but she often goes from sitting to lifting her legs and her head in a desperate attempt to sit up. We’ve started putting her in a bumbo from time to time, which she really likes! I know not everyone is keen on the bumbo, and we only use it for a short stretch of time anyway. Promise. She just really loves being able to see everyone from a sitting position rather than from the floor.

We’ve finally struck a bit of a schedule with Wavy, but I’m pretty sure its only temporary. Since she’s been teething, she sleeps all. Day. Long. I miss her!! But her current schedule is that she sleeps most of the morning, wakes up for lunch and sleeps until supperish. Then we wake her, usually, to force her to have some wakeful time. Once the other kids go down around 7:00pm, we feed her and let her stay up as long as she can, which at this point is about 7:30, lol! And then she goes down. Sometimes, with this particular schedule, she wakes up around 10:00 or so and we can top her up, but usually she’ll wake up once a bit later on, drink, and then sleep until lunch the next day. Moral of the story is that she sleeps WAY too much and I miss her dreadfully. She’s SO sweet.

Praise the Lord for FIVE MONTHS with Waverly!