More outside time makes for happy, cold, exhausted children, hahaha! But happy comes first in that list for a reason! The kids have truly enjoyed the snow in the backyard! Dekker managed to find the picnic table, and it became a fort!
Some like it outside, but some like it inside 😉
This was me enjoying some time in bed, crocheting, watching YouTube. As per usual, time was cut, but it turned out to be super duper extra cute! Rowan, Wavy, and I watched some Hamilton clips and baking videos. It was still an excellent time upstairs, with some little friends. I love them.
I suppose there are SOME good things about snow storms.
If you remember, I mentioned briefly last week that I would be away this weekend. I was quiet about it, because with ALL the new covid restrictions and the numbers of cases rising, I didn’t want to fuss with the judgement, haha! That being said, the people who gathered were VERY respectful and careful and followed every guideline carefully! We had SUCH a fun weekend together, working on projects, staying up late, eating delicious food, and watching the snowstorm build outside. There was a lot of talk of staying an extra night, but once we came to the conclusion that nothing would be “better” weather-wise the next day, we all decided to make the trek home.
Cher went to my house to watch the kids so Brady could come pick me up without the added risk factor of bringing all the little ones along. Thank you, Cher!! And thank you Brady for coming. That was so reassuring for me, for our passenger and friend, and for the other friend who was waiting to convoy. We ALL felt some relief to have a strong confident winter driver along! I know their husbands felt better about that, too.
Brady arrived on time with a beautiful smile on. His attitude was positive and light. We promptly got stuck in the parking lot, as our van doesn’t float on top of packed snow at all, but rather pushes right down to the ice underneath. He and I worked together and got it out in no time, and we putt putted our way to the highway.
The wind was really the biggest problem. Our van was strong on the icy highway but the wind wanted to push us off. Praise the Lord, we ALL made it home safe!! Everyone!!!
And, just in time, too!
Believe it or not, there’s a picnic table behind the trampoline!
Its COVERED out here!!! Our town worked HARD, LATE into the night, clearing roads for our community!! It would still be pretty foolish to go anywhere if unnecessary, in my opinion. Bradys work for the day and his physio have been postponed. But why go anywhere when there’s fun to be had here?!
If it was unclear, turns out the kids are super into it!
Perhaps today is a good day to get some more Christmas going! Or gift making. Or both. Music. Treats. Comfy clothes. Ack!
Imagine having a 3am bathroom break and when you’re done, you go to leave the bathroom, but as soon as you open the door, a zombie walks in before you even get the momentum to get your foot outside. You do a double take because it looks like your honorary nephew, but it moved slowly, it groaned and it only had one eye open.
As some of you may know, I stay at the Borns sometimes. This started during COVID because I needed somewhere to study and focus. Sometimes I would stay 2-3 week stretches, go home for a week, then return.
I sleep in the spare room in the basement, where the bathroom separates my room from the boys’ room. Solly never leaves his bed, but I am still very aware of his existence because he is the rooster in the family. I will never forget the first time I heard him bright and early singing “OLD MACDONALD HAD A KYLE AND A CHILD EE I EE I OOOO” and for a few months, Old Macdonald was his go to song. Sometimes I would listen on purpose because the things he says are sometimes so ridiculously funny.
Dekker is more subtle about things. For example: I never know when he is awake until I hear giggling in the bathroom, right next to me. Sometimes it feels like he is in the room WITH me because the ceiling isn’t finished yet, so sounds come through differently. I am SO happy that no one was giggling at me in my room though. I don’t think I could take that kind of judgment.
Now what I do is I keep the light ON when I open the door so I don’t get AS startled, I have even opened the door slowly just in case, or tried to pee quietly so I can hear if he leaves his room to come wait for a turn. It’s a very crafty system I have.
Dekker has a very special relationship with the bathroom mirror. It isn’t always noticeable at night, but in the day, he LOVES to chat with himself. He sometimes forgets I am over and has complete conversations with himself. I have heard him make fart sounds and laugh, interview himself, pretend he is someone else, and the most recent… ONLY giggling. I know I shouldn’t be mean, but sometimes I knock on the wall and I see what he says. He totally thinks someone is at the door. But sometimes it helps him to get going faster because he will linger while the rest of his sibs are upstairs waiting to pray before bed. (I read this to Dekker just now and he laughed and said he LOVED this)
Dekker: “Now what are you writing?” Me: “Everything you just said.”
Maybe I made the boys sound totally annoying to you, but to me, I just love them so much. I love their quarks and their weirdness. I love having my metabolism boosted also. Good for the ticker.
A couple weekends ago, I spent a night housesitting with Cher, and playing with some itty bitty foster kitties! Being the dorks that we are, we named them. We tried our best to figure out their genders, which was harder than it sounds because yes, they were that young! But, we tried, and we named them names that we liked!
To be clear, none of this is serious. They will not be rehomed with these names or anything even remotely close to these names. It was just for fun.
Here is the mama cat. We think her name is Albatross, which while creative, we weren’t fans of. I accidentally took to calling her Bird Cat, as in “What should we name Bird Cat?” It became her accidental name, but I think Cher took to calling her Birdie after I left. Probably nicer.
Bird Cat had SIX kittens!!
It was fun to watch her love of them, hug them in to feed them, clean then, and pick them up and transport them where she wanted them. She’s a good little mama.
In no particular order, these are her kids!
Timber will be first! Cher’s favorite. Timber was originally named that because he fell over a lot. I think he looks like a little big cat.
Timber’s almost twin is Miss Meowie. The goal had originally been to name it Mr. Meowie, like Mr Miyagi, but then we figured out the cat was a girl. Not willing to sacrifice the name, we changed the pronoun and carried on.
The oragnest cat we called Apricat, which I’m pretty sure is super witty. It was a good fit for this little boy.
The slightly less orange cat we called Cornflake. She’s cute and patchy and super fluffy.
The patchiest kitty of them all we named Furgie. Furrrrrgie. I don’t honestly know how we got there, but it was an immediate click. Another little patchy girl.
And Jeeves is last, because she was super shy and took a little longer to get out from their little safe space beneath the bed and brave the rest of the bedroom. I probably favored Jeeves the most. Her moustache and tux leave her looking all fancy. Plus, she played with me, and batted at me before she even played with the other kittens.
Four girls and two boys. We think, anyway.
They were SO cute and SO soft and not sharp or dirty or peey or poopy or noisy. Easiest little group of babies ever! It was fun to snug with animals. Its been a while 🐱 🐱🐱🐱🐱🐱🐱
Today was the day that the school kids put together a Remembrance Day presentation at school. I realized late in the game that they need poppies. Being that we never go out anymore, there is no donation poppy box in sight, and like so many other years, I was caught a day of two before the day they were needed, poppiless.
So this year, I made poppies!! And I’ve got to say, I really like how they turned out!
Rowan’s bananas. Rowans bananas. Rowans bananas are bananas.
They are far from perfect, and they’re a little bigger than average, but the kids were SO happy with them! Rowan even requested I make one for his teacher, which I thought was cute. They were so quick and easy, so why not?
The idea to make them and sell them for a donation crossed my mind, but I believe someone else in the area already does that (?) so I won’t unless there’s actually a need/want, but I was happy with how they turned out, and the kids were too.
Yesterday’s blog wasn’t rose coloured at all. It was a hard day. I slept very hard last night, which was much needed! That being said, when I woke up, my anxiety was through the roof. I didn’t want to be with the kids. I didn’t want to open their doors and start the day. I had dread for another day like yesterday. I was afraid.
But, as a mom does, I got up and got the kids like every other day. It helped that Brady is home for the morning. He went to get Dekker and Solomon up, and I got Rowan, Laela, and Wavy. It was a very smooth morning getting them fed and ready for school. Rowan has picture day together, and he decided on his outfit. Kid looks FLY, if you ask me! 👌
I opted to walk the kids to school today, and it was a good choice. Getting outside lifted my spirits a bit, and the fresh air always feels good. I love when I get the chance to walk with them!
Almost as soon as I got home, Solly went off to preschool with Brady, and Wavy helped me crochet a few things, re-roll some yarn, and watched Hamilton videos on YouTube. Good music always helps my attitude stay up, and Wavy never watches tv, so she was thrilled to watch YouTube. But also, because she never watches anything, she watched for a bit, and then took to listening while she played with yarn, my slippers, stuffies, etc. It was really nice.
I’m feeling a lot lighter now. Solly and Wavy are both here, eating lunch, and I’m not far behind in my own plans. Lunch is soon to come, and then Brady is going to take the van to get winter tires put on while I plan/prep for a weekend (eek) away!
Today has not been smooth in the slightest. SO much fighting. SO much whining. I felt at my wits end by about 9:00am. I had used up a years worth of frustration and yelling by that point, and all endurance was gone. I was on fumes. My. Gosh.
Some of them just don’t go so well, and thats ok. Its been a rocky go over here for the last week and a half ish. Today has been particularly difficult, but thank the Lord it was Brady’s last day on a job, and he only had a couple of hours left. He finished up, ran a couple of errands, and came home. Unfortunately, he came home to everything I had been dealing with all morning. But he was gracious about it, and tapped me out.
Cher and I went for a walk and I was able to breathe some life back into my lungs. Or it might’ve been the wind, but it helped. I have a really nice quiet afternoon planned with Cher, and hopefully the kids feel better after their naps. Hopefully I do too.
Not the shiniest post today. I’m sorry, friends. Not all days are shiny or easy over here. There is still nothing but love. That doesn’t change.
Remember that time we bought that beautiful white cabinet that needed new paint and some adjustments? Remember when I told you it was done and just needed moving into the house? Remember how I promises I’d show you guys asap? Remember??
I did not remember 😂 My bad.
Our paint dilemma was worked out a long time ago! To refresh you, the cabinet had been white, and we could’ve just painted it white. But we wanted color. We had baby pink leftover from the camper, but we didn’t want that. We had some purple, but we already have enough purple floating around the main area. What we most wanted was a deep mustard yellow. But buying new paint would be about $60, and we are not exactly rolling in disposable income. So we split the difference, and Brady went to the Habitat Restore to look at mistints. While they didn’t have the color we were looking for, we dove in for something different!! Eek!
BRIGHT CORAL!!!
Isn’t it pretty?? 😍
Brady sanded the top smooth, and got all the drawers adjusted so they didn’t stick anymore. He put some material behind the drawers so they came out a little further and were easier to open. We loved that it didn’t have any handles and wanted to keep it that way. One less piece of furniture to hook clothes knees on. At my request, Brady also installed some leftover beadboard from the camper walls in the back of the cabinet! It gave it just a little something extra. We are both SO happy with how it turned out!
And as you can imagine, it fits in well around here!
It will absolutely fill as time goes by, but I’m not rushing it at all! Currently, the shelves hold the bible from my childhood that the kids like to read from, as well as a basket of masks that they take from every morning for school. At the top there is the book Cher made for us for Wavy’s baby party.
The drawers are exactly what I wanted! Shallow, but very strong, to hold a TON of the kids craft stuff! The previous location still holds the printer and all the white paper, as well as kinetic sand, play doh, and the schoolish work books. The cabinet holds everything else.
Top drawer holds pencil crayons, crayon crayons, and markers. One container was out being used when I took the pic 🙂
Second drawer holds fun stuff. Pipe cleaners, tattoos, and my old Fantastic Flowers and Spirograph. Anyone else still have that stuff??
Third drawer is ALL the coloring books, sticker books, dot to dots, color by numbers, etc.
The fourth drawer is all the paper that isn‘t printer paper. Construction paper, lined, graphed, and cardstock.
And believe it or not, there is a fifth drawer that is currently empty!! Eek! Room to grow, you say?!?!
It is SUCH a win to have our things in their homes. I know that sounds a bit silly, but the last year and a half ish have been worked around things finding their spots around here. With the yard and basement finally getting done, I am done with moving messes. I want things to be intentionally here or not here at all. This cabinet has been in our plans for a couple of years at least, and its finally here, seamlessly serving its purpose. And its cute, which is an added win! Eek!
Adulthood means being excited about furniture right?
I won’t lie. We put up our Christmas lights on Sunday. The indoor ones, anyway. The outdoor ones stay up all year. I know many people do not appreciate/agree with anything Christmas before Remembrance Day, and thats ok. We can exercise mutual respect and keep being friends 🙂 I have zero regrets adding some sparkle to the inside of our home as the mornings and evenings are darker.
We also put up our little decorative trees above the cabinets! We put them up every Fall/Winter, long before Christmas, and they stay up long after Christmas decor is put away. I guess they’re more winter decorations than Christmas. We LOVE our trees!
Every year, we try to find another one or two trees that we love to add to the grove, but not this year, haha! Money is tight enough 😆 There is always next year!
While we lighted and treed, the kids ate some Halloween candy, played with some holographic scratch art,
and occasionally pitched in.
It was kind of a super lovely day. It ended with bloody noses
Our new take on Rudolph the red nosed reindeer.
lots of laughing
and soft, unprompted back scratches.
I’m so thankful for yesterday, and the family I shared it with. Thank you Lord.
It was a VERY cute year for trick or treating! I was pretty tossed up about it this year, for likely the same reasons as everyone else. Risk, fuss, and double standards. I decided to make it work for us, and to contact our usual hits directly. We arranged to go to about ten houses, and the kids were completely satisfied with that plan! If nothing else, I am SO grateful for my children’s thankful spirits. There were zero complaints with the smaller number of houses or the possibility of fewer treats. They were so excited to go at all, and that was wonderful!
We ate supper really early yesterday, and then got everyone into their costumes. A couple of kids required face paint/makeup, which I have to say was pretty fun!
Nothing about their makeup was professional or refined but I think they looked awesome! I was happiest with Dekker’s, for sure. The pale skin and red eyes! Then Laela’s bright pink, and Rowan’s whiskers and brows! They were so cute!
Finally, they were ALL ready!!
Dekker was a vampire!
Laela was a princess. Which princess, you ask? Princess Laela, lol!
Rowan was a tiger! Rawr!!
Solomon was Tom. Not a fireman. Tom, our across the street neighbour/friend/firefighter/honorary grandpa.
Waverly was a dinosaur. She did not care to choose a costume at all, but when we finally came down to the wire, we gave her the choice between a dinosaur, a lion, superman, or a princess, she wanted the dinosaur!
They were SUCH an adorable crew!!! Ack! We couldn’t wait to get going!
We wanted to walk rather than drive, but Brady’s numb legs were shaking within a block, so we opted to drive. It was the better choice anyway. It was cold out.
Our group hit our ten-ish houses, and honestly, felt SO loved and welcomed and cared about! The kids got heaps of treats! At least three different households took pictures of them.
They were made to feel like the most important people, and they were just on top of the world! I loved watching them be so confident and chatty and polite and friendly. I LOVE my children! At the end of the evening, I could completely truthfully tell them they had handled themselves beautifully and that I was SO impressed with their manners and attitudes! It is not always so smooth on a night filled with candy and excitement and aaaall the overstimulation! It was SUCH a nice evening this time around!
Thank you, Cher, for the pics 💜
Thank you, friends, for putting in such special effort this year. I see you. I see your extra safety measures. I see your treat bags. I see your gifts beyond candy. I see your games. I see your added excitement for the children coming to your door. You made it great, even in such an unpredictable season!
The kids went to bed, wiped out, happy. Brady, Cher, and I played some Skipbo before calling it a night. It was light and fun and just exactly right. The perfect way to wrap up this season and move onto the next.
