I should have added this to yesterday’s post, but I forgot, so here it is today!

Dekker is a funny guy. If everything could always be a joke, he’d be stoked. He decided yesterday as I put his lunch together that he needed it to be Halloween themed somehow. Now, I know some of you folks are super on the ball with that sort of thing. I am not. And my kids know it. They still get yummy food, don’t worry. Its just not cut into special shapes. So rather than feel bad about myself, the kids and I brainstormed how each piece of Dekker’s lunch was spooky or festive.

I made Dekker a ham and cheese wrap. We figured, because it was wrapped, it was a mummy.

(Yes, everyone was satisfied with this joke. This is our level of humor.)

We figured the cheese string could be kind of like cheese webs for spiders.

The granola bar was tricky. Finally, I said “granola barrrrrf? Boom. There it was. Barf. Seriously, parents, make a gross/potty joke ones in a while. A fart joke is ideal. Kids LIVE for those.

Aaaaand then the banana. My masterpiece. Behold, the baninja.

Yes, friends, this is how we joke around here. And I love it. My kids still think I’m funny, and they’re adopting my bizarre dry sense of humor. I’m so glad, haha!

I’m definitely no Pinterest mom, but my kids love me, and I love them. I know with confidence that moms who rock the Pinterest game have children who they love who love them, too! NO knocks on mom’s who put in that beautiful extra effort!!! But I admit, I’m relieved that my mom type fits the bill for my family 💜 They deserve the very best.

** To be clear, this is not a Halloween debate! Some are for, and some are against. Thats totally fine 🙂 Mutual respect! Also, I do see the double standard with kids being allowed to trick or treat during covid. I don’t like it either. We’re being intentional with our choices.

I say “prepared” VERY loosely, haha! We don’t even have candy yet 😬But with two dress up days in a row, we’ve been thinking about costumes at least! I’m not going to spoil any for you at this point, because, nah. Thats always a post saved for the day after Halloween!

What I can say is that the few days of preparing and thinking about it has showed me that I need to pick up my face painting game 😆 Also, I should own “face paints.” Anyone else just use eyeliner and liquid lipstick?? Just me? Cool.

Polished or not, they will be VERY cute!!

Cher has carved FOUR pumpkins this season!! We’ve had four crafternoons together, where I’ve crocheted and she’s carved. Its been SO fun. Part of me is a bit disappointed that pumpkin carving season is over. Merp. But I’m sure we’ll find other ways to spend time together, haha! Never a shortage of reasons to hang out!

If you haven’t seen the pumpkins on her page, here they are on mine!

Pumpkin #1. We named him Brahms. He’s yella and suspicious, but we really like him a lot!

Unfortunately, Brahms was a mushy little guy to begin with, and the freezing/thawing weather did not treat him gently. Brahms is very very short now…

We don’t have a picture of pumpkin #2 :/ Merp. It was a pretty scene of flowers and swirlies. Not specifically Cher’s style, but very much the style of the person she made it for!! It was very pretty!

Pumpkin #3 was an unexpected thoughtful piece of art. It was a (my) uterus!

On this particular day, I was feeling a bit gloomy on the uterine home front, and Cher came across uterus art! So this beautiful little pumpkin was born! The most recent pregnancy I lost would’ve been 13 weeks along at this point. I love this cuterus.

Pumpkin #4 was the final piece for this Halloween! It was the scariest thing we could think of to make for our fireman neighbour across the street! Don’t you agree?

We have had SUCH a nice time these crafternoons, bring productive together in ways that we really enjoy! I pull one lightweight comfy chair into the kitchen, and Cher sits at the island. Today, we listened to Christmas music and sipped homemade lattes. I am so grateful for these days, these bright spots in the otherwise challenging times, and for the gift I’ve been given as a stay-at-home parent.

Thank you Lord for crafternoons!

You know whats unfair? The fact that the full moon actually does affect sleep. And whats even less fair is the fact that it shows up before the full moon does!! Does anyone else see that noticeable shift in their home?? We sure do!

Brady did not sleep well last night. It was choppy, he said, and he woke up startled.

Dekker said the same thing. His night was choppy. He had woken up much earlier than usual and was feeling very sluggish.

Laela said she had a nightmare, and got up to pee, and then dozed in and out until the morning.

Rowan was in BAD shape this morning. Very disobedient and easily upset. The way he acts when he’s extra tired.

Solomon had a big meltdown even before breakfast. He went to the girls room to cool off before joining us, and I found him half asleep in Laela’s bed.

And Waverly has been fighting breakfast hard today. This girl loves her cereal, but today has not been smooth so far. She’s just staring blankly at me, droopy eyed.

Sooooo… basically this post is to let you all know how I die…

Today started pretty well! Brady’s work has been a bit out of sorts, so he wasn’t able to go in for the morning. But it meant he and I could do morning stuff together! Woot! It was great!

Cher came over in the mid morning for coffee and hanging out. She fits in SO well around here. It was great!

Brady’s work got further disorganized and complicated. If we weren’t so in need of income, he would walk away from this current job. He was SO frustrated this morning. It was not great.

He eventually went in to work, and Cher and I watched a show before we set up for her to carve a pumpkin, and for me to test out a new crocheting method. We sipped our drinks and chatted. It was great!

Brady’s work got further frustrating. He was finally able to be productive, but it was not great.

Cher and I worked on our projects for a couple of solid hours. It was SO enjoyable, and we got lots done! A very very successful afternoon for us! It was great!

And then the kids came home 😳 Spoiler alert. it was not great. Laela and Rowan had some serious argument going, and it was getting rowdy. Both of those two are pretty hard headed, and neither of them would give in. One NEEDED to order another around, and the other would NOT be told what to do! the standoff wouldn’t quit, so I made a new plan. That was great!

I had them leave each other along, and come in to do their backpacks. They did all the necessary after school stuff, and then I told them they’d both be taking breaks. Both of them are currently tucked into their beds with books, breathing and being on their own. Neither of them fought it. They both very clearly needed the rest. I hope very much they weren’t in that shape at school, but I haven’t heard anything from their teachers, so, fingers crossed!

With the two fighters tucked away in bed, the other three are snuggled up, reading on couches. How did I get so many readers?! Where did these kids come from?! They are GREAT!

Oh wait. I remember where they came from… Never mind.

I woke up with a start suuuper late this morning!! I haven’t slept in in what feels like years, though I know plenty of people wake up before I do. This morning, I slept in by accident! I got up and dressed at warp speed and ran down to get the kids up!

Every evening, we put all the chairs up so Meryl Sweep can drive around and vacuum our crumbs up, but yesterday evening, we played cards at the table rather than putting the chairs up. Whew! Didn’t have to take them down before I got the kids! One less thing to do!

I got the boys up from the basement first, then Rowan, and then the girls. No one said anything about being awake too long, or being bored, or sick, or unhappy. They were friendly and happy and chipper. They set the table as they got up, and ate breakfast smoothly.

The coloring came out shortly after food, and the kids asked for Christmas music. Ugh. Kids after their mama’s heart. So while old school Hanson Christmas music is playing, the kids are coloring, rocking homemade costumes, building forts, and generally enjoying the quiet morning off of school. The curtains are cracked open, and I 100% expected to see snow when I glanced out just a moment ago.

‘Tis the season for being cozy!!

** On a Christmas note, gift exchange people, go check the Facebook page! I need some things from you!

Cher and I have had the pleasure of enjoying a few sleepovers this year! We didn’t get the chance as teens, but its never too late! She invited me for a sleepover last night, and I was SO happy to join her where she was house sitting! Not only do I always enjoy our time together, but we also got to hang out with the owners foster cat and her SIX iiiiitty bitty little kittens!! Ack!

I’ll show you more about them another day!

We had a really, really nice time together. We ran a few errands and got Subway for lunch. We watched a lot of good movies, and I crocheted a bit. We prioritized time together, and thats what we got.

We ducked out once again in the evening, with the goal of chinese food. Neither she or I have money to burn, but sometimes there are sentimental reasons for things, and chinese food was important. We opted for food court chinese, to keep it cheap and yummy, but we mixed up the days and times, and we got there just as everything was closing :/ It was SUCH a bummer. We threw around some other ideas, but everywhere else, it was just going to cost too much. We accepted the fact that we’d end up going through a drive-thru somewhere, but decided to hit Sobeys first, to see if there was anything prepared for cheap.

Believe what you will, but God sees everything, and He cares about even the smallest of details. There was a big stack of containers filled with chinese food options. Noodles, rice, pork, chicken, etc. They were cheap, and looked SO yummy! Definitely more than enough! We picked three packages, paid $12, and went home!

We warmed it up in the oven for 15 minutes, and it looked SO good!

Aaaaand it WAS!! SO GOOD!! We ate it all, and were nice and full at the end! What a perfect amount!

We watched movies until we fell asleep, and then woke up in the morning at the exact same time. Only moments later, we heard the mama cat meowing at the door for breakfast. So the day began!

It began with popcorn and cards. #popcards

After a few rounds, Cher cooked us a yummy breakfast of eggs, bacon, and toast. We played more Skipbo and then played with the kitties some more. We named them the names we liked, and snuggled them a bunch. They’re JUST starting to play, so it was fun teasing them until they batted at us.

We finished a show we had started the night before, and then it was time to pack up and head home! Its always sad to end a visit and go home, but there is still always the drive home!! We went to fill her car up with gas before we left the city. We have this funny tradition where Cher pumps gas and I take selfies where she looks unhappy in the background, haha! She was NOT having it today, pulling her hood over her face. I still tried.

This was probably the best one I’ve ever gotten. Not because you can even really tell whats happening, but because a gas attendant came over shortly after this picture, super suspicious of what was happening. MAN did we laugh!

Its always sad to part ways, but its always really nice to be home, too. I am looking forward to pizza with my husband, kids, and mom this evening!

See you again soon, pretty lady!!

I’m not entirely sure where she saw them or when her siblings maybe did them for her, but Waverly has picked up on somersaults, and she wants to do them! It is terribly cute!

She started working at them a couple of weeks ago. She would fold herself in half with her hands and head on the floor, and she’d stay there for a few seconds before simply falling to the side, and then celebrating her victory. I say again – terribly cute.

A couple of days ago, she tried again! She was getting braver, folding herself even further in half so her back was almost vertical, but she would still just topple over to the side. No loss for her, though. She was very happy with that result. But we upped her game, and that was even better!

When she would fold in half, we’d give her bum a little push, and she’d go over in a full somersault. We’d clap and cheer, and she was SO thrilled. She’d screech to go again and again and again. We figured if we did it for a while, she’d be more confident to push off on her own and go all the way over. So finally, when she was all folded and waiting for her push, we encouraged her to push off on her own.

And she lifted her hands up, using her head as a kickstand, and grabbed her own butt, trying to push herself over.

We. DIED. Laughing.

Guys, maybe you had to be there, but MAN it was SO funny!!! We all laughed SO hard that she gave up, toppled to the side, and laughed with us. Waverly is SUCH a little clown.

For about the next ten or fifteen minutes, bedtime routine went out the window and everyone practiced their somersaults in the small space of the girls bedroom. As if Wavy’s butt smack wasn’t funny enough, she took it upon herself to “help” her siblings with their somersaults, by coming up behind them as they started to fold up, and gently grabbing their butt cheeks in her little hands. The kids would yelp in surprise and jump, and we would all howl with laughter. It was SUCH a funny evening!

I’ll wrap this post up by confirming that, no, Wavy still can’t successfully do a full somersault, but at age two, I think she still has plenty of time to learn, haha!

And I secretly hope it takes a while to ensure more butt pinching ahead!

Brady is continuing to work hard for healing. Its not all better at all, unfortunately, but there is improvement. He had another encouraging physio appointment yesterday, where his physiotherapist was very happy with his progress in mobility. He gave him some new exercises that deal with weight bearing and strength training. Its the VERY beginning of the road, but progress is progress!

The kids love to participate in his stretchercises as often as possible 😉

If he lays on the floor, he’s fair game! Wavy just climbs right on up! Unless someone beats her to the punch.

I am SO pleased that Brady has a bit of work he’s able to do again! It was funny, in kind of a sick way, that as soon as he addressed the fact that there was a real problem, he was offered work he could not take. *sigh* But he has small work today and hopefully all next week that he CAN do! YAY!!

God hasn’t forgotten us yet, and I don’t see it happening anytime soon! I feel that the fact that we are still afloat over here after about seven months without work is undeniable proof that God exists!

Thank you, Lord! For carrying us through these brutal times.

I believe it was a couple of years ago when we made our entrance closet make a bit more sense for us. We put low hooks on one side of the closet, and we hang the adult sized jackets on the other side. We have a shoe organizer hanging over the door, and its filled with little mitts and toques, or in summer, flip flops, bug spray, and hats. Its been a perfect fit.

Until that fifth kid really wanted to do stuff by herself.

And until that first kid’s clothes got too big to “hang” on that little hook.

Everything is SO FULL!

I know, it doesn’t look too bad, but it definitely isn’t working. This picture doesn’t include my winter gear, or Brady’s winter gear. Or Dekker and Laela’s jackets.

We’ve been brainstorming. Dekker can reach the hangers, so its an option for him to hang his stuff up higher. That works. But really, the last four kids’ snow pants and jacket make a BIG cluttered mess regardless. What I would like to do is hang some of the outdoor stuff in the garage! But our garage isn’t heated, and in the time of covid, and rocking that income-free life, we cannot even pretend to justify buying a big natural gas heater. We do run a big space heater when we need to, but it destroys our electric bill. So we just can’t justify the expense.

So. We have to make this closet work! Help me, friends. How do I maximize this space?? I know some people hang their kids jackets on the back of their doors, but I fear the wet gear would destroy the doors. And also, I want them to open against the doorstop properly, without something bulky hanging on the back. No extra wall space in the entrance either. Can it be done?

SOS! 🏳️