Hopefully my readers are judgement free… 😬

The other day we drove to Kinasao first thing in the morning, and as is customary for us, we planned to get a super easy breakfast on the way. The issue is, Warman and Martensville don’t have strawberry cream cheese anymore, and we all like it best. So, later this summer, we had investigated our other options, one of them being *takes a deep breath* McDonalds apple pies.

I know I know I know they’re trash they’re dessert you feed your kids that stuff?!?!

Yes. I do. Occasionally. Its really going to be ok.

So, as we have learned to do, I called McDonalds as we drove, and I politely tipped them off that we were on our way and planned to order 14 apple pies.

Things I never thought I’d say.

Anyway. The person on the phone told me they don’t usually make them in the early morning (shocker) but since we wanted so many, they’d happily do it. She thanked me profusely for calling ahead.

So fifteen minutes later or so, we drove up to the window, and Brady spoke to the person taking orders.

“Hi there! My wife called ahead earlier for fourteen apple pies.” We were both laughing like fools.

There was a longer pause than we expected, and she asked us to just hold on for a minute. We looked at each other, and I know we were both thinking our pies got lost in the shuffle and they hadn’t been put in. Which would’ve been completely fine, to be clear! Nooooo one was mad here. We were just oddly self conscious, haha! The order taker finally came back on the speaker and said…

“I’m sorry, I know you called for fourteen apple pies, and we have them, but there is no order on the screen here…..”

😳

Brady hesitantly responded with “I’d like to order fourteen apple pies, please.”

“For sure!” said the McDonalds employee.

We laughed SO HARD. Not because we’re jerks, but it just felt like a very odd interaction. Was the next step not quite clearly to enter them as an order? I don’t know. But we got a good laugh.

When we got to the window, the woman who brought them to us was also laughing. It seemed like the entire thing was all around strange, but we were all pretty light hearted about it, and that made it better.

Anyway. McDonalds apple pies for breakfast. You should try it. But, call first.

Oof. It really was.

I had to be in the city today for an appointment, so I hit Walmart in the meantime for some necessities. And WOW did those add up quickly!

Yup. So thats a convertible car seat, a big box of Similac concentrate liquid formula, and FOUR boxes of Nestle concentrate liquid formula. Goodness what I wouldn’t give for both babies to at least take the SAME formula! But there are reasons, so we go with it. But man alive. Its a lot.

I also went on the mad hunt for sugar. Did you guys know there’s a shortage?? Its a crappy time for it, but I’m sure that is part of the plan to get things going. After hitting a handful of places, I found myself at Bulk Barn, scraping the end of the brown sugar out of the container. So at least I got some.

I got home with my purchases, plus a few other little things, and the kids helped me unload. They’re nice.

Once Brady got home from work, we loaded the kids up and went back into the city to purchase a large cabinet unit that I’d found on Facebook Marketplace. I’ll be honest. It doesn’t have a home here at our house. It definitely has a home at the next house. And we’re still waiting on that. But it was a leap of faith so we took it.

Aaaaand conveniently, I found SUGAR!!!

Christmas baking can commence! And did you know brown sugar is just white sugar with molasses? So I have enough for that, too! Just have to buy molasses 😅 Whoops!

Anyway. Expensive day. I am nice and tired after all the running around, and tomorrow holds much of the same! An appointment and more shopping!

First 🙌 SLEEP!

If this isn’t the vibe I’ve had recently, I don’t know what is 😅

Doesn’t that look like a deep sleep?? She’s usually already awake when I open her door, but today I had to work to wake her 💜 Little sweetie!

Tired or not, the day is upon us, and its my ONE day without appointments! Heyooo! So it shall hold baking, making, wrapping and maybe even a little resting! Yesterday was a bit productive…

I need to chop and wrap the bars today, too. But priority one is wrapping presents!! Because I’m Wavy-free today, and I know the morsel and the spoonful won’t tell anyone who is getting what.

I hope you all have a day with a healthy split of work and rest, and that your babies are trustworthy 😅

See what I did there? Christmas at Kinasao was on Saturday, and I haven’t shared too terribly much! So here I am to share what I can 💜

I will say here, however, that things are SO different on the blog now that we foster, because there is SO MUCH I can’t say, and SO MANY PICTURES I can’t post. Its hard. Its like I’m hiding a huge part of our life now, which is not my usual. We’re quite open in real life, and I’m happy to talk to anyone in person about fostering! But the blog is just too public for it. So. There are very few pictures I can post, and I know you understand why.

On to the blog!

We got there late, which was hard. I had maybe twentyish minutes to set up for a 5.5 hour long marketplace, and the entire place was PACKED already. The only thing that worked about being late was the fact that our Dahlsjos were already there and ready to go, so they HELPED! HUGE! It was SO awesome. I had brainstormed the setup already, so it came together pretty fast. I’d show you a picture, but there was a baby on my lap so 🤷🏼‍♀️

I sat and chatted and made connections and caught up with people for hours and hours. Brady managed the littles who needed managing while many took off independently. Brady popped in from time to time and brought me soup and a bun, or coffee, or a visit. At one point, I had two sleeping babies in carseats under my table. It was very cute.

Meanwhile, the camp had let us use a nearby cabin for the day, so Brady was back and forth from there, napping kids, providing snacks and attention, and he even got to visit with Stacy for a bit in the daytime! That family is a well oiled machine, let me tell you! 💜

The market closed at 4:30 and supper was at 5:00! I was in the group who promised I could get my stuff packed up and moved out quick, and that we did, thanks to my children, and also Dahlsjos. And even our friend, Scott, hauled a big box. Supper was set up within five minutes of their goal, and we got to sit with our people and enjoy a really yummy meal of mashed potatoes, chicken cordon bleu, hot veggies, salad, and rolls, followed by some crazy indulgent peppermint bark brownies.

Supper finished and many of us made our way to the chilly chapel for a carol sing, some scripture reading, and candle lighting. Again, I’d show you pictures, but again, there was a baby on my lap.

From there was the twinkle tour. We were guided through the camp, and took time to really enjoy and soak up all the beautiful lights that were set up. The VAST majority of the camp was decorated by our dear Dahlsjos, and they positively crushed it. No photo can show the entirety of their efforts, but you’ll have to take my word for it. It was SO special, and SO much effort put in by incredibly busy people 💜

This is our site. Its hard to see details, but there is a lit tree on top of our golf cart, and the kayaks are wrapped in lights as well.

This was our Dahlsjos site.

Without question, they killed it. Their site was the most fun, and aaaaall the other work absolutely spoke for itself. What a blessing they are to the camp.

Aaaaand after ALL of this, we had to drive home 😅 It was quite late, and became a very quiet drive home. But it was really nice. Brady and I got coffee in PA, which we normally wouldn’t do that late, but staying awake was imperative for the drive, obviously.

We had SUCH a lovely day.
We had SUCH a lovely drive.
We are SO fortunate to have such a beautiful experience and opportunity to be at Kinasao.

Thank you Lord for our day, and for our people, and for our spot at camp 💜

It was a really nice home day. It started a bit bumpy, with everyone running on less sleep, but we kept things slow moving and didn’t accomplish a whole heck of a lot. My mom came over. We continued to keep it light and simple. These days are just tired days, thanks to all the activity, and the persistently grey weather. But there are things that are nice about chilly, grey days.

Its not all bad 💜

Tomorrow begins a fresh week. It holds ballet, youth events, a training event, two big appointments, and a Christmas party. Among a handful of other things on the docket. Because 🤷🏼‍♀️ who slows down?? Not us!!

Happy Sunday, all! Enjoy your evening before reality shows up tomorrow!

Happy birthday, Jaxon!!! 🎂 We love you!!

*whispers*

We’re home. We’re tired, but it was a beautiful day 💜 I sat at the marketplace for a few hours, chatted, sold, crocheted, and occasionally was visited by my children. At one point, I had two sleeping babies under my table. It was awesome 😍

We ate good food. We visited with friends, both from summer and from nearby neighbourhoods. We drove around our campground and enjoyed bright beautiful Christmas light displays. We drove home with good music and coffee. I hope the campground does this every year. I LOVE Christmas at camp.

Campsmas.

I am so very tired after such a long, albeit beautiful, day.

Once my last little lingerer goes to bed, I will crash hard. Tomorrow will have to be free of church, and that is ok. I’m looking forward to sleeping in 💜

Tomorrow is a Christmas event at Kinasao, and I am SO excited!! I’m excited to see our campsite again. To go to the water. To hopefully see some campground people we’ve already been missing. For sure getting some time in with the Dahlsjos, but that goes without saying!

I am nervous, however, for my first ever marketplace table! Eek! And while I’m excited about that new opportunity as well, I’m somewhat apprehensive. Its almost like my life has been NUTS since I committed to this project 😅 But! Here we are! Or here we’re gonna be! And I’m here for it! Or, there for it… You get it. Anyway. Here’s the part of my spread I’m the most excited about!!

Cute little wrappy headbands, on reindeer heads, because they just makes them cuter. Even cuter on a real head, though. Adults and children alike!

Now we just really hope some of them sell 😬 Barf. Thats the part that makes me so nervous. If I have to bring all this stuff home. Sooooo wish me luck!

Tomorrow will be a beautiful day 💜 I’m so grateful to get one more day at camp before we truly call it for the year!

Happy weekend, friends!

Well. I grumbled enough on here about my sad broken mixing bowl that a friend in town sold me hers for half the price of a new one 😅 Thank you, Heather!!! The baking can commence once again! And I do mean muffins that are NOT double branned. Because those may or may not be poop machines. I’m afraid to test them. For now, I just celebrate the bowl!!

I still hope to upgrade my mixer at some point. I found a couple on Facebook Marketplace that intrigued me, but each one had only a 4 qt bowl, which is significantly smaller than what I already have. Ah well. The hunt is on, but it feels less urgent now that I have my big bowl back!

Its possible tomorrow is already the day for that. Can’t ever have too many baked goods, right??

It seems like every day holds appointments recently! And by recently, I mean always 😅 And actually, today is no different. Rowan has an eye appointment today. But its after school, so I have the actual daytime part of the day at home!! As in 🙌 I’m wearing sweats. Guys. I don’t wear sweats as often as I used to. Its so different, but I kind of love the hustle and bustle. Not mad at wearing jeans more often.

So while I’m HOME today, I still have things to do. Nothing too crazy, but there are always things to do.

I think I will order a replacement bowl for my mixer today.

I’d like to wrap some more of the presents that have made their way to my front step this week.

I need to bathe a baby.

I want to do something with all of the strawberries that I bought before they go bad. I think I’ll dehydrate some! They’re yummy to eat just like that, right?

And if those things are done, and babies are napping, I’d like to work more on some of the crocheting I NEED to have done for Saturday. We’ll see how far I get!! Wish me luck!

*

As I typed this out, my daughter stole the socks off my feet for her own feet.

Little goof.

Let’s take a moment of silence for my baking schedule…

*sigh*

My big glass bowl that clicks onto my mixer broke yesterday. And it SUCKS. Now that I bake in big batches very regularly, this really cramps my style. I bake a batch of muffins that produces six dozen muffins at a time. I need that big bowl. I bake four large loaves of banana bread at a time. I need that big bowl.

Except its broken.

Yesterday afternoon, I baked a batch of muffins in my smaller stainless steel bowl. I had to half it and make two small batches. Not only did way more flour fly out of the smaller bowl, but I also absentmindedly only halfed some of the ingredients 😳 I did not half the bran. So if you need to super poop, you know who to call…

I know. I will likely just buy a new bowl. I use it SO often. But a new bowl is around $70. Barf. Its ok, I can justify it for an item like this. The only hangup is that I’d really like to upgrade my mixer! So I’d rather not buy accessories for something I’d love to change before too long.

Ah well. As it stands, I know I just need to buy the bowl. I just wanted to gripe for a little bit first. I’m done now. Carry on. The pity party is over.