Today was an amazing day 💜 it began terribly frustrating, with the rain messing just about everything up. The 9:00 kick off was postponed until 10:30, then 11:00, and then noon. At that point, they did begin activities, but there was no order or schedule whatsoever. It was a mess. A soaking wet, cold, overwhelming mess. 

But the kids 👏 did 👏 so 👏 well!!!! 🥳

Brady, Wavy, and my mom stationed at the high school track to take in all the running events, and the ran around the elementary school like a chicken with my head cut off, trying to find the kids who were throwing balls or jumping into pits. It was madness, I won’t lie, but we were at almost every event! I know I missed Dekkers high jump, and I was at Sollys ball throw but I didn’t see his throw 😆 though he assured me “No mom, you knew, and you saw it!” So 🤷‍♀️ that counts, hahaha! 

Dekkers main event was the 800m. He doesn’t care for running but he pushed through and passed a handful of kids right at the end.

He doesn’t know what he placed but it was a very impressive run, I’m told 💜 he doesn’t care for the other events at all but he was a good sport!

Wavy wanted him to be done just as much as he did 😆

Laela crushed her sprints. She ran her dash faster than anyone else in her heat, and she went on to win first in the final.
She was SO stoked!! In that last run, she was holding down the ribbons she had already pinned to her shirt 😆 she also kicked butt in the 400m, and placed second. 

Rowan turned it up in running and jumping! I’m not confident whether he got first or second in his sprint, but it was CLOSE. He also got second in his 400m, and jumped farther than anyone else in his group for standing broad jump! The boy with the springs, they said. 

Solomon only had a couple of events, but he was INVESTED in a way I never expected! He gave her beans on running long jump and his sprints. For usually pushing back against much physical activity, he had good drive and he seemed really happy! 

At the end of the day, everyone was happy and satisfied. 

Solly was happy to have been outside all day and has no idea what he placed for any event. 

Rowan was thrilled to have placed well in multiple events. 

Laela was very proud of her running, and was so excited to have won first in her final heat. 

Dekker was happy his friend bought him an ice cream sandwich 😆because priorities. 

In spite of the rain, it was a great day. Thank you, sweet Cher, for all your help getting things prepared so we could get out the door tooooooooo 

The lake 😎 We cannot wait!! 

Today was one of those mornings where it wasn’t crazy sunshiney bright, but rather grey and and rainy. I don’t mind these overcast mornings one bit, partly because I love the rain, and partly because it feels cozy in a different way. It was still very nice out, and I was very comfortable! But it was grey.

Another bonus/downfall of these days are the darker mornings. Everyone wakes up slower. Which might mean hauling unwilling children out of bed, but it does make for goooood sleepy snuggles!

I got the downstairs boys up first today, because it was a school day for Solly and he moves SO slowly in the morning. Even slower this morning…

I’m pretty sure Dekker was also asleep until the moment I opened the door.

I went to the girls next, because they’re also pretty pokey. They both woke up when I opened their door and not a moment before.

Wavy was already climbing out of bed when I came to take her picture, haha!

I got Rowan last. He is my fastest mover in the morning, so he often ends up setting the table and doing all the morning stuff on his own. I figured today I’d give him the best chance to have some help with that. He was my most awake kid this morning, but he was still very cozy in bed.

Hopefully tomorrow, everyone has a big more energy, because its track day!!! Aaaaand no one is excited 😬 So wish us luck! Maybe we’ll all just stay in bed…..

Our evening walks have been harder to time out these days, but the last couple have been greatly motivated! My kids are so fortunate to have the opportunities they have, and Brady and I are blessed by default as the people around us put into our kids.

Not only did their auntie get a new puppy…

but Grandma and Grandpa got butterflies!

Rae is more impressed than she appears here 😆 I’m pretty sure they were all speculating what happens to the ones that weren’t moving, lol!

The kids have gotten exposure to a soft wiggly docile puppy, as well as witnessed caterpillars completely shape shift! Its been SUCH a fun time!

These opportunities my children are being given to grow and learn are such a gift to them, and also to Brady and I as their parents.

Thank you, Rae and Tom, for getting the butterfly kit and teaching the kids along the way! 🐛🦋

And thank you, Cher, for chering Miss Rory with us and being patient with the kids as they get more comfortable, or at times, too comfortable. 🐶

We are SO grateful for our incredible family here in town! You are dearly loved! 💜

Does anyone remember back in the day when autocorrect was new, it would fill words in with really bizarre things? I remember trying to type “Sorry” and it suggested “SORRYIATETHELASTWAFFLE.” It was excellent. I loved it.

Speaking of the last waffle, the other day, no one ate it. And they should be sorry.

Solly asked for waffles for his birthday supper, if you remember. As we make the waffles, we store them in the oven on the “keep warm” setting, until its time to eat. We snag waffles out as we need them. Its not a crazy system. They just don’t get as soft that way as they do in a casserole dish of some kind.

As it happened this last time, there was one left.

And it was forgotten.

Until a few days later when we preheated the oven for oatmeal.

Brady had set the oven in the evening to preheat early in the morning. While we sat in bed, enjoying our morning coffee before the kids got up, we started to smell something. Something not totally offensive but also something a little burny. Brady figured it out immediately and I ran down to the kitchen to check.

The result:

One very toasty waffle. It is not a chocolate waffle as it appears. Far less appealing. It is, in fact, solid as a rock.

But c’mon. Who hasn’t done this? It isn’t just me, is it?

#SORRYIDIDNTEATTHELASTWAFFLE

Having Monday off always feels a little backwards, but here we are, with Monday off, and we’re rolling with it!

We started the morning having coffee with Cher, and then she stuck around and braided Laela’s hair for a couple of hours while Brady did some work outside. He’s been preparing his work van to sell, so there was a lot of unloading and sorting to be done in the last couple of days! If you happen to be in the market for an older white cargo van for work that still has good mileage, let him know!

It was a VERY relaxing morning for me, as I just crocheted beside Cher and Laela, and we listened to Hamilton. It was really nice 💜 A great way to spend a Monday morning!

Now, the kids are lunching, and Brady and I will find some food shortly thereafter, I’m sure. Quiet time will hold some Stranger Things and crocheting. And the rest of the day will likely hold more outside time with very little plan involved.

Tomorrow, four of the kids will go to school, and planning for next weekend will kick off. Because while being home for Dalmeny Days was fun, and I have no regrets, I miss the laaaaake!!!! ACK! That means laundry, a shopping trip, and hopefully picking up a few things we’ve also been wanting up there. I have a lead on a water cooler, and I need a couple more helmets. For sure one for Dekker.

I also plan to finish up the tartan order on my plate this week. I’m SO close!

Oh, and track and field day is on Friday 😅

Its going to be a good week. I’m confident. Lots is on the go, and much of it is positive!

I trust you, Lord!

Yesterday was a lot of fun, as I’m sure many of our local people can agree to! While our family didn’t participate in every single little thing, we hit up the important stuff.

Before any of the official festivities began, we had mom and Cher over for oatmeal, because thats how it should be! But once that was done, we got outside and walked downtown to join the fun 🙂

The parade is always number one!

The kids got a bunch of candy and yelled and waved and jumped a lot. We let them kind of just go for it with the candy eating, so we brought home a lot less than usual, which was a relief actually, haha! It was a really fun way to spend the morning!

Once the parade was done, the young ones were, too 😅 So quiet time ensued. My mom lovingly took the big kids to the park for some more fun! They loved the magic show!

Once everyone was up, Brady and I brought the little ones to the park to join. They spent the next hour and a half jumping in the bouncy castles. I got a GOOD scare at one point when suddenly Waverly was up at the highest point of a play structure!

Freaked the heck out of me, let me tell you! But she actually laughed at me and told me she was fine, and that she was big. So that was that. Solomon was up there with her, and Laela was close by, also scoffing at my worry, telling me Wavy was having fun. Her own “leave her alone,” I believe. So I did.

Everyone was completely wiped out by the end of the day. Absolutely ALL of us had a light sunburn at least, and some pretty solid fatigue. Yet I can confidently say it was a fantastic day and everyone was really really happy 💜

Today was a quieter recovery day, and tomorrow will be more of the same. Did anyone else miss the memo that they don’t have school tomorrow?? Ya. Note that. Kids are home!

Hopefully resting.

Hopefully happy.

Maybe we’ll even get organized for the next weekend of lake time 💜

We had the privilege of moving into this town, into our beautiful custom built home SIX years ago.

Our house was absolutely everything we wanted. It checked every box. It was truly perfect for our family.

A lot has changed.

Who would’ve ever known that the day would come where we felt a little stuck in it, somewhat desperate to move out of it and into something else?

I say fairly often that we just had no idea what would come, and had we known, we would’ve made different choices. But then I reassure myself that no one plans for tragedy. And they shouldn’t. Its an impossible standard, and while many of us naturally wonder about the worst case scenario, dwelling on that is no way to live.

Here we are in 2022, waiting to see what God has in store for our future living situation. The plan we carried close to our hearts has been taken off the books, but we continue to trust that God’s plan is better than our own. Brady’s new job changes a lot of things financially, and while we make less money than we used to, we also have a consistent income, which should only improve our chances of achieving a new mortgage when the time comes.

For now, we are grateful that Brady has the mobility to get around our house, and we trust that the house will work as long as we need it to.

Thank you Lord for keeping us in town, in our home, for six whole years. We are excited to see what the future holds!

Every evening, our family gathers in the living room to say bedtime prayers together. They kids all pray, give hugs, and then Brady and I pray for them individually when we tuck them in. Its just out system. As it goes, almost every night, we each had a kid in our lap. Mine is almost always Rowan. Laela and Wavy usually alternate with Brady. Dekker likes to sit on his own. And Solly usually prefers to curl up in a blanket on a couch. When he does choose to snuggle, he just wants to lay on you, but not for anyone to actually have a hand on him.

Yesterday, right before it was time to start getting ready for bedtime stuff, both Solly and Rowan climbed onto me in the recliner. This never happens.

It doesn’t look like a lot, but it was a pretty precious moment for me. These two boys don’t do a whole lot together. They don’t pair off naturally. But this was SUCH a soft snuggle. You can even see Rowan’s arm over Sollys back. And no one was fighting the affection or closeness. It was very very nice.

Once everything was tidied and it was time to pray together, the boys both came to me again and we had a group snug on the chair while we prayed.

My middle boys, I call them. My middlest, and my little middle. They were very cute together yesterday, and I don’t want to forget that 💜

This is obviously not a serious post. We’ve had some good laughs renaming our children, so hopefully you find some of this funny, too 🙂

Dekker is now Derek. Because it’s almost the same. Cher calls Dekker’s name “inside-out Derek” and she’s not wrong.

Laela is Karla. She is Karla because autocorrect positively refuses to learn how to spell her name properly. Further alternatives include Kayla and Lyla.

Rowan has rebranded as Ryan. Or, Ro has rebranded to Ry. However you want to look at it. It works! Also acceptable would be Roman, Ronan, and Ren.

The name of kid #4 is tricky. It depends on what you call him originally. Solomon is renamed Sullivan, which was actually a contender when I was pregnant with him. Solly is renamed as Sally. Lol! And Sol would be Paul.

Waverly is changed to Beverly, because in my mind, Beverly = Everly = Waverly. It seemed like the logical choice.

We hope you still like our family, even in the midst of the changes of identity. 🤣 Don’t worry, contact info hasn’t changed!

Sincerely,

Bradley & Kailey,
Derek, Karla, Ryan, Paul, and Bev.

PS: If you happen to rebrand your family, please leave than info in the comments 😆

Yesterday was a great success! Solomon came home from school with some candies and a lot of energy from his fun day celebrating at school. He was jazzy and excited! After a supper of waffles with all the sweet things, aaaaand chocolate cake, he was positively buzzing!

Among his parents, siblings, grandparents, and auntie, he opened all his presents and cards in the living room. There was a LOT going on, and he was completely all over the place, jumping from one thing to the next, wanting to open up the next gift but wanting to also investigate each gift as it came out of the bag or box. It was a VERY energetic evening! Everyone went to bed late, exhausted.

This morning, when I went to get the kids up for school, most of them were still asleep or mostly asleep. I did manage to drag everyone out of bed, and there was even enough time for everyone to walk to school together 💜

I have these two home today. And its a pretty relaxed time so far. They are in deep with Solly’s new toys, so Cher and I had coffee while they played happily together. I imagine afternoon quiet time will also be a success considering how tired they were earlier this morning. When that happens, I’ll be working on my tartan order. I finished SO MUCH on it yesterday, its coming together quicker finally!

Its going to be a productive day 💜