Solomon Brady turns FOUR today! 🥳 Happy birthday, Solly!!!
He was born to us so easily, it seemed. He delivered easily. The speed and ease with which he delivered didn’t add up to his size at all, yet there he was, in all his humongous glory, ready to join our party.
Isn’t he gorgeous? Fun fact, he is as light and airy and lovely as he looks. He is also hilarious.
Shall we take a picture of the last year? Yes. We shall.
Its been a full, weird year, to say the least, and he is our kids who rolls with the punches and just follows along with whatever. He is easy going, and he always has been. He was the exact right child to fill our fourth child spot. How does God know exactly what we need when, without fail? Crazy.
Today, we celebrate him by playing with balloons in the basement and running around outside a bit, with breakfast for supper, per his request. Keeping it simple. Thats his style.
Looking SO himself
When asked yesterday what he wants to be when he grows up, he said “I want to beeeee Solly.” That is an excellent way to be 💙
I love you so much, Solly Wolly. I hope you feel so loved and celebrated today. I cannot wait to see what this next preschool year brings for you!!!
Science Saturday is something that Hailey and I came up with to do with Dekker and Laela on – you guessed it – Saturdays! We both had seen some interesting science experiments that caught our eye in passing, but for me in particular, I remember a specific experiment from my childhood that I always thought was interesting and cool.
We decided that it would be fun to try some experiments with the kids to switch things up a bit, and since I am here a lot (thanks guys for your hospitality) it seemed like a win for everyone! Hailey came up with “Science Saturday” and we hope to continue it for the duration of the school year.
Now that you’re caught up on some background, I’m going to get right into it!
The first experiment we did today came in two parts: The pepper/soap experiment, and the glitter/soap experiment (I am just calling it what I want, I’m unsure of their sophisticated titles). Both experiments taught the kids how soap works to get rid of germs and bacteria. It seemed fitting since we are in a pandemic right now and kids are always being told to wash their hands. This way they can see for themselves the magic of hand soap!
Part 1: Pepper and Soap We got the kids to fill their own soup bowl half full of water. Next, we instructed them to scatter pepper from the shaker into the bowl and cover the whole surface of water in a thin layer. Then, we told them to pretend the pepper was germs. We took their index finger and poked the middle of the pepper water and asked them if anything happened. Nothing happened at all, so we dried their fingers off and put soap on the end of the same finger and told them to do it again. Immediately following their soap-covered finger hitting the surface of the pepper water, the pepper scattered to the edge of the bowl, leaving the middle of the bowl with clear water. It seemed like a miracle to watch the pepper (germs) run away from the soap on the surface of the water.
Part 2: Glitter and Soap The next part of the experiment was to demonstrate how using only water to wash your hands doesn’t do as good of a job as it does when you use soap. First, we got the kids to choose what colour glitter they wanted. Then, we sprinkled it on both sides of both hands and got them to try and wash it off with water only. Some glitter fell off, but some stayed on like it was stuck to their skin, just like germs do! Last, we added soap to their hands and Hailey and Brady showed the kids all the places to scrub their fingers and finger tips, palms, and even wrists, in order to get all the areas that often get forgotten. They rinsed with water and 100% of the glitter was gone! It was a very cute experiment.
The last thing we did was give them a colouring page that said “Wash Your Hands” and a few cute germ cartoons surrounding it to colour.
Hailey suggested that they put them in each kids bathroom as a reminder of the experiments we did and a good general reminder for anyone who uses the bathroom.
Hailey and I wanted to colour too, so we coloured our own pages that were summer themed, and then we teamed up and did a third hand washing sign while we waited for everyone to finish.
It was a cute afternoon.
Overall, I think it went really well! At first they had no idea science could be fun or as inclusive, I don’t think. It was a fun way to teach kids about washing hands and the importance of using soap. Burning things into their brains like this will help keep them in the know. If they understand the how, then they will understand the why.
Jerilee came over this morning with an experiment for us three adults! I was super excited!
Behold 🙌 Starbucks has new summer drinks. Three, to be exact. “Iced coconut drinks.” We decided to judge them, so we separated them out into nine solos.
The green one is Pineapple Matcha.
The yellow one is Golden Ginger.
The pink one is Guava Passionfruit.
We set up outside and got to it!
Here are our thoughts.
Regarding the pineapple matcha drink, we all had different opinions. But also the same opinion. Brady said it tasted like the lawn. Jerilee said it reminded her of a green tea frapp that had melted in her car. I just thought it tasted blah. I was more offended by how it looked than how it tasted. It was by far the chunkiest one, and it had seeds in it. And then really light flavour. Too light. Weird.
Regarding the ginger drink, we all hated it, no question. It had the gingery spice to it, but not in a nice way. It felt VERY MUCH like we were drinking a fall candle. It was really yucky. Yet, oddly enough, it smells like that banana ear infection medication. Huh. Smells better than it tasted, for sure.
Regarding the guava one, it was very sweet. Brady pegged it as what pink Starburst tastes like, and he is bang on. It was almost too sweet, but it was a more expected drink. Tasted more like something a person would drink on purpose. It was, however, oddly separated?? They’re all made from coconut milk, and the pink one was thinner than the rest. Maybe that was just how it was made, but it seemed like it didn’t know whether it wanted to be milk or water.
All things considered, the three of us easily agreed on their ranking.
Pink Starburst wins first place. Melted Grass takes second. Candle Drink is laaaaast. Easily.
We had a lot of fun with this 🙂 Perhaps we’ll have to do these experiments more often as seasons change and launches launch!
Happy Friday! Wait. Thursday? Who even knows? 🤦♀️
I spent about an hour this morning in Superstore. Its been a shocking amount of time since I’ve been there, Months. Pre-Covid. Super weird. But, I needed to go for a couple of things, and because Cher did, too, we went together.
She only needed a couple of things, but I had a lot more things to look for. I was able to snag a birthday gift for Solomon, a couple of shirts for myself, a potato masher to replace our super sucky one, a stainless steel pot to replace our last big teflon one, bubbles, and most importantly, a ton of our creamer! That stuff is way harder to find these days, and somehow, I found it at $3 a pop! I bought two, and Cher bought two. I could’ve bought WAY more, but I tried to keep it just the fun stuff 😉 Still necessary stuff, but not a bunch of random groceries. Salad dressing and spices can wait for another day.
After our shop, we went for a super windy walk, and then Cher went home. And then I went for a walk with my mom! Look at me and all my walks 💁♀️ Lol! My Fitbit is happy with me.
Thank you, Brady, for supporting me while I hang out with our people 💜 I love you SO much.
Hopefully the wind lets up soon so we can get back outside and keep at the yard work! That means the fence, the raking of the topsoil, watering and nitpicking the garden, and playing!! Aaaaany day now!!
It began with the front yard, where we sectioned off a flower bed and filled it with lillies, daylillies, irises, and peonies – my favorite!! They were ALL gifted to me, and I am SO thankful!! It was a beautiful morning working in the front yard with my family ❤️
Then, lunch, and back out to the yard, with a bigger project in mind.
Garden time!!!
Before…..
Brady had tilled the space up nicely
and my mom came to help me know what lived best next to what, how deep to plant, how heavily to cover, and what fit where.
She is a wealth of information, in a loving, warm, non-pushy way. I’m learning that I have some pretty heavy insecurities about certain things, and for whatever reason, I feel VERY nervous setting my yard up. The first row felt victorious! And dorky. Lol!
It was an amazing afternoon, and we got the entire garden in!!!
After!☁️💙☀️
The day ended with wind and heat stroke, but it was so worth it, to get things in before the rain! We are forecasted for a thunderstorm this afternoon and I’m counting on that! We’ll of course still water things, but nothing beats real rain water. Oh, and thank you, Tom and Rae, for finding us a rain barrel!! Is it strange that I’m already SO excited that there’s water in it? 😆
Cher helped me threw some glads into my flowerbed this morning, so the rain can come anytime now. I’m ready. 🌧 ☀️ 🌱
Oh my goodness! These are such beautiful, crazy, busy days!! These are the days I’m not mad at the quarantine. Days where I just live in my little bubble where we’re playing in the yard, getting things done, making our property finally look like people live here!
Yesterday, we got ALL of our topsoil delivered and spread, and some fresh gravel for our driveway.
That alone makes SUCH a difference to our property, I can’t even believe it. It felt like everyone around us was so excited for us to finally be taking that step, and that just made it more exciting!
As if the land development wasn’t enough, our neighbour texted us that he had seen a trampoline on someone’s front yard, marked “free.” Its smaller, and decently beat up, but a trampoline is a trampoline! He offered to take his truck and go get it for us, so Brady hopped in and they were back within ten minutes with a trampoline 😳 That felt pretty insane.
I tried it first…
And then everyone else 😉
I was actually really surprised at how well Wavy did on there! She’d bounce once or twice, and plunk down and laugh like crazy. Everyone was SO thrilled with their new trampoline! Thank you, Adam, for bringing it to our attention and picking it up for us!
SO much is still to come today! But I’ll share that tomorrow 😁 And in the coming weeks, hopefully we’ll finish the fence up! Eek!
I haven’t been to Costco since Covid exploded. (Ya! Rhyme. Covid exploded.) But today, it needed to happen, and Brady had yard stuff to do here at home. So Cher volunteered to push my second cart and accompany me. Sooooo we went for it.
I wish I could’ve taken pictures of strangers, because the line ups and methods of entering the store felt SO strange and deserve to be remembered. That being said, it was really nice to have a friend along, and we chatted with each other and occasionally other people in line while we made our way into the store.
Actually entering Costco felt like a Price is Right moment. I said that to the entry guy and he swung his arms in a big circle and bellowed “Come on dowwwwwn!” It was funny 🙂 That weird quiet waiting area needed some laughter.
It wasn’t so bad, honestly. It wasn’t so full in there, obviously, which was perfect because we had a HUGE shop ahead of us.
I’ll save you from reading a whole list. We bought everything. EVERYTHING. And many of the things we’d normally buy, I bought two of. It makes for a really expensive shop, but we have to shop less often. I imagine we’ll pick up some good shopping habits from these times. Seriously, though, we bought everything. Proof…
It was clear the woman packing our groceries was overwhelmed, but she made quick work of it and loaded our two carts to the max! Our shop cost just shy of $900. 😳😩🤮
Once we were through the till, we felt tired…
So we decided to be suckers for punishment and get hot dogs for us and Brady for lunch! Did you guys know that section is back open! For carry out, anyway. SO exciting!!
So we did that, and then made our way out of Costco, saying a funny, game show goodbye to our Price is Right guy.
We struggled our way out to my van, as I successfully poured pop all over my shirt and shorts. (Yup, still wearing those, just realized.) We eventually made it to the van and started the huge job of getting things into place where nothing is squished, leaking, or rolling anywhere it shouldn’t. While we tried to do that, someone walked by and chatted with us. He eluded to offering me a job, gave me his card, and moved along. And home we went!
Oy. It was a HUGE job, but it felt really good to have it done. Brady met us in the garage, and we ate lunch and got to washing and putting things away. It was a bit of an undertaking, but we’re solidly stocked up for the next few weeks now!
The morning started with a drive and a coffee. This afternoon, we’ve had our topsoil spread out 🥳 and had someone offer to pick up a free trampoline for us 😳 The evening holds chicken wraps and tacos, raking weeds and quack grass out of our new topsoil, and getting some flowers planted along our front walk.
Today has been a BEAUTIFUL day. SO much to be thankful for!
First, I want to thank everyone for the love on yesterdays post regarding the bags I made. I love being creative, but I don’t usually love what I make. We’re all our own worst critic, right? But I have to say, I am actually really proud of these bags. I have five currently, two that are 100% cotton and three acrylic. I do not need five of these, and I certainly don’t need MORE than five of them, but you’d better believe I’m making more, because they’re SO fun to make 🙂 A nice way to pass time productively and enjoyably!
Today is overcast and breezy, but its a beautiful day. We are going to make some really exciting progress on our property today, but I’ll tell you all about it tomorrow, when I have pictures to show. Its going to take shape, though, and I’m really happy about that. In the meantime, I’m making final decisions about what we can manage to do this year in our yard and what will wait.
We’re a bit behind in the world of gardening, since it seems absolutely everyone put theirs in over last weekend, but we just weren’t ready. The time is coming in a matter of days, so I went out and tried to acquire the last of what I needed. It was pretty brutally unsuccessful, to be honest, but I found a few things I was looking for!
I have EVERY seed packet I want, down to the detail. I have a new hose sprayer. I have a new plan for my berries, and eliminated the need for underground planters. I have raspberry canes being gifted to me. I have peonies being gifted to me.
I do NOT have seed potatoes :/ I do NOT have strawberry plants :/ I do NOT have glads :/ I do NOT have a rain barrel :/ I do NOT have planters :/
As you can see, what I lack are not essentials, except seed potatoes, which I really hope we can find in the next day or two!! I’d also like to have some more bags of top soil, for insurance, basically.
Things are going to get done. Its funny to have nothing but time, but tightly limited funds. We have a nice chunk of money saved for this exact project, but we need to be responsible in terms of our finances when Brady’s job is still on hold. So I accept the fact that it may not get ALL done this Spring. Thats ok. But I hope we get a good handful of things done, at least 🙂 Its looking hopeful!!
I hope you’re enjoying your spring days, rain or shine!
Its convenient that I attended a craft retreat right before the pandemic kicked into high gear and everything shut down, because I’m itching to be creative, and I’m getting the opportunity! Being home every day, I’ve had more time to enjoy crocheting again, and to create again!
I have a big project going, but it’s really inconvenient to haul it around :/ With the type of crocheting it is, one “row” takes about a half hour, and if I slip at all, I lose a HUGE amount of work. With five active children, I’m not willing to take that risk, so that project only comes out when I take a couple of hours upstairs, to myself.
Instead, I’ve been playing with some new projects. I’ve been seeing the trend of crocheting reusable bags to take to the grocery store, and a different spin on that idea came to mind.
Harvest bags!
Gathering bags!
Garden bags!
Some people could go out to their garden and grab a tomato or a cucumber for supper. Thats not how we roll. We BURN through fresh produce, and would need more than a hand or two could carry. I know me, and I know I’d be quick to just grab a grocery bag. But, as you can imagine, we’ve run out, because we rarely shop anymore. So I made these, specifically to use for the dirty garden gathering stuff. Yes, they’ll get dirty, but that is their job.
They’re 100% cotton so they’re easy to wash. The yarn doesn’t stretch much at all. They take up next to no space. They’re user friendly. And they’re cute 🤷♀️
I’m really enjoying making these, because I like the idea, but I also really like spending time creating things. I’m proud of these! I think the off-white one is my favourite. But I haven’t made a purple one yet, so we’ll see what happens then 😆 We all know me.
I’m eagerly anticipating garden season. I know I’m a step behind everyone else, but hopefully mine will go in early next week, and hopefully I’ll eventually get a chance to use these beautiful bags!
