Today was the Christmas concert for the elementary school the kids attend. Its always very cute. The grade sixes put the play on, while every class files in and out, performing the songs they’ve been practicing for weeks. I was SO impressed with ALL FOUR of our kids who participated!! They did ALL the actions, sang along, knowing the words, and smiling for the crowd. It was incredibly smooth! Laela did disco dance. Rowan did some hip hop. Wavy did the robot. And Solly did a dance as well, but it wasn’t a specifically popular move, hahaha! It was just really cute 🙂

During the program this afternoon, the morsel was getting twitchy, and we ended up standing at the back together. But eventually, morsel wanted to sit on the floor. And then roll on the floor. And then sample and taste the walker that was parked along the back wall. So while I tried to video the kids up front, I was working to be a barrier between the morsel and the mobility aid. This 🙌 is my life. But then I heard a familiar morsel squeak off the my side, and the incredible principal of the school had left her post at the sound table, and they were rocking together. 💜 My heart positively melted. Thats sure happening a lot lately. How fortunate I am 💜

Anyway. After ALL the Christmas stuff today, we’re just tucking into bed for the night now, and this is late for us old folks 🥱 Goodnight, all!! Tomorrow is the LAST day of school AND work before a holiday!!! I’m so ready!

Yesterday evening, I was given a break to achieve some real rest. I took that break and ran with it. And by “ran with it” I mean I ran a hot bubble bath, made up some mashed potatoes with butter, cheese, and bacon bits, and watched true crime on YouTube. It was absolutely PERFECT.

We all have our thing, guys. Don’t judge mine.

Tonight, I will enjoy another form of rest – an evening outing with Cher, tying up loose ends before Christmas, sharing a meal together, some coffee, and just joining in the hustle and bustle of this festive season 💜 We make a date of it every year, and while we cut it a bit close, I’m very glad we were still able to fit it in!

I hope you find your days productive but enjoyable. That kind of productivity that doesn’t feel like work but feels rewarding and happy!

You know when reality just hits you? That feeling you get? Whether its old or new stuff, sometimes it just slaps you clear in the face. Triggers, I suppose. I’ll give you an example of one of mine. In winter, when its icy, I tend to be the one who loads Brady’s wheelchair into the back of the van. He absolutely would, but its safer for me, since I can feel the stability of my feet better. But it tends to be there, in the cold, behind the van, where it hits me HARD that we have a wheelchair now. That Brady is paralyzed now. That our reality has changed so greatly. I’m not upset about it, but its definitely a reality check from time to time.

I had one of those yesterday night, where I stumbled down our stairs in the dark house in search of our morsel’s IV pole that holds the feeding pump. It always comes up when the babies come up, but it got missed last night. I scoured the main area of the house with my phone flashlight, and it took forever to realized a well-meaning kid had tucked it out of the way, inside the pantry. I rolled it through the kitchen towards the stairs, and had my moment of “My goodness. Our kid is tube fed. Poor baby!” Again. I’m not mad about it! We’ve actually developed a pretty good groove with it, and I’m happy that technology exists! But sometimes its just strange when reality hits.

On another hand, I have a VERY nice, albeit small, story to record here about our dear morsel. Just a couple of days ago, I got my very first morsel kiss. And I don’t mean when I kiss their mouth and they stick their tongue out to “kiss” me back. Don’t get me wrong, those are also epic, hahaha! But a couple of days ago, as I stood in the kitchen with a baby on my hip, speaking to Brady, the morsel leaned in and placed their little mouth on my cheek. Then, the baby leaned back, and made the lightest little smacking sound with their lips.

It was AMAZING. An unprompted act of love. What a huge gift I was given 💜 I am consistently overwhelmed with gratefulness for the little people who come through our home. That morsel has my heart 🥰

Today is a day free of daytime deadlines! Its not without things to do, of course, but there are no staunch timelines and maybe a little bit more rest. That being said, I’m still going to duck out today for some errands. But! They’re CLOSE errands! Not entire days away errands! Restful errands. I’ll even see Brady partway through 💜

Hopefully today I will mail Christmas cards, and deliver some to Brady to give to his friends. I’ll buy a couple of small things, hopefully at Dollar Tree. I have to drop by the school, but closer to pickup time, not earlier. And I’ll make a quick stop somewhere to procure a drink or treat for Cher, as she works through a final today. I already spoke to a respirologist today, and I’m waiting to hear back from a social worker or two. And two different couriers are supposed to stop by today.

Whew! “Free” days are definitely not all the way empty, but I feel like today will be a gooder! And I have this cute little Miss alongside!!

Plus the morsel and the spoonful, who are also terribly cute! But you’ll just have to take my word for it 💜

When I got up this morning to get the day going, I had a little private chuckle. This is what Christmas tends to look like over here 😅

Half the island is covered. A large chunk of the counter is also covered with what I’ve just decided to call treats-to-be, containers, and everything else. Basically, the whole house is a mess of anticipation!

But! Its good that its out, because then I DO it!!! While the kids ate breakfast, I put together a large batch of party mix! I’m sure missing bugles, though :/ Ah well. I replaced them with Crispers so we’ll see how that goes! I also tested out a new recipe and made cinnamon bread. Seems like a good thing to try for Christmas? Also, banana bread happened, and I started making more filling for my homemade oreos. Those aren’t done yet, but things are going strong.

Oh and laundry is almost done!

So this obviously didn’t all happen while the kids ate breakfast. Nope.

Our plan was that Brady would bring the five kids to church and I’d stay home with the babies. The kids had a Christmas thing at the church and we wanted to be there for it! Unfortunately, Brady has been dizzy for a while now and today, he just could not kick it :/ So I drove the kids to church for the earlier fun, and told them I would likely be back to pick them up before the service. Not only did I need that extra hour or two to work on things, but Brady needed to have no pressure on him and I didn’t want to leave him home with the babies.

But then, plans changed in a really nice way! A friend texted from church and asked if she could keep the kids for the service, which I absolutely consented to! And then they kept the girlies for lunch!! So our numbers are down but, as you can imagine, the house is still full and active!

So. My house is a mess, and thats ok. Because thats part of it. I think. And if it isn’t, don’t tell me 🙅‍♀️

Brady is at work today, which pretty much always makes for a challenging kind of day. Not to be a downer! Just to be honest. Its hard to not have him here on a Saturday. This one really caught me off guard because Brady forgot to put it on the calendar. Total accident! And we’ll survive. But its a merp, for sure.

However, if he has to work a Saturday near the Christmas season, this is the one to work! Its not actually too close to the holidays, and he doesn’t have to think about another Saturday until the new year! Heyooo!

While Brady works today, I’m pre-writing a bit for the blog, doing laundry, icing some cookies, making sure everyone takes a bath, and doing a bit of work on Christmas cards becauuuuuse they came yesterday! YES!!!

There are definitely still things to do but I think thats a decent list for a Saturday 🙂 I hope you’re having a happy, productive, peaceful Saturday!

Whew! After a CRAZY full week, today I will be at HOME. I do have a few things I could duck out for, and probably should duck out for, but the babies slept so poorly and are feeling crappy and overdone. So that calls for a home day 💜 Conveniently, there is no shortage of things to do here at home, so assuming I have some sleepy babies on my hands, I will hopefully get laundry going, cookies iced, a couple more presents wrapped, and even finishing up some crochet orders for Christmas. You know life is back to being busy when a third of the island is just covered with random stuff 😅

While its been a big week, its been a good one. A VERY cute one! Yesterday was our long awaited ballet performance!! 😍 Goodness it was just SO sweet!!!

I was SO proud of my little ladies and all the work they put into this adorable performance of the Nutcracker 💜 It was a late, rowdy evening, and the girls are feeling it this morning! Whew!

Oof. They are SO beautiful 💜

Off the school the kidlets go! And off to the grind for me! Except I get to get to things with sweatpants on my butt and some true crime playing on the laptop. I feel so grateful 💜

The other day I said to someone “I hope we always have two babies,” because I REALLY meant it. I LOVE having two babies! But WOW! That full moon was not gentle on my babies. Nope nope nope. Anyone else really feel that one??

It wasn’t only our babies. Yesterday held one of the toughest evenings I’ve experienced in a while. It was terribly disappointing in a lot of ways, and I had a big cry. I haven’t had a good big cry in a while, and it felt pretty cleansing. There was a rally involved, and some mac and cheese to soften the blow of disappointment and FOMO.

After a very broken night, the next day has begun, and I believe almost every moment of today is accounted for! 😅 I think tomorrow is a much more open day, so while today will be a really nice day, I’ll be glad when its over.

Whew! Kids are almost out the door!! Let the games begin!

The kids and I had to be out of the house before 9:00 this morning, so I packed up a bunch of baby stuff, snacks, and stroller, and a Waverly as soon as everyone else had left for the day. Wavy LOVES to shop, and I had a bit of a list, so we drove to the south end of Saskatoon to hit our less travelled Value Village, as well as Walmart. We really took our time at both places, and got as much as we could off of our list. Plus, a watermelon tshirt for Wavy, because she fell hard for it.

We grabbed some bagels from Tims and headed to Warman to drop in on Brady. He received us so warmly, as always, and we shared a quick ten minute lunch together. We didn’t linger long, but went our separate ways right around 1:00pm.

Wave helped me unload the van upon arriving home. She is SUCH a good helper! 💜 Then I unloaded the babies, fed them both, and put them down for naps. Hopefully they do actually get some good sleep because the evening continues to rumble! Brady is working a short day today so we can get some stuff done, and we will be out and about again!! Ack! Things are not going to slow down this week! 😅 But thats why I’m trying to use my time super wisely and get all the things done. ALL the things!

This girl has been a rockstar today.

And I imagine she will continue to be 💜 Thanks for all your help, Wavy girl. You have strong arms and such a willing spirit. I love you!

I took the babies to the city first thing this morning for an important appointment. I won’t lie. I LOVE having two babies. Its just such a riot. They’re so fun. I wish you all could get to know them.

Anyway. I loaded up our bags and had my own little giggle while I packed. We carry two bags now. One for diapers, wipes, blankets, soothers, etc. And one for feeding. Because that is a whole separate operation and I don’t want to carry the feed stuff in if I’m not going to need it. But I still always chuckle to myself as I pack it. What? Doesn’t everyone’s diaper bag look like this?!

No? Just me? Cool cool cool cool cool…

I actually really don’t mind 🙂 We have a good groove going with tube feeding. I’m not mad at it at all.

We hit up the appointment and then hit Value Village for a few things, which turned out to be a very productive, successful shop! Our last stop was going to be a grocery store, so I parked us at Coop and when I opened the door of the van, I was met by two completely zonked out, deep breathing babies. Nope. That was it for grocery shopping! I got right back into the van and drove home. No way was I waking those babies and dragging them into the cold wind for some baking ingredients and cucumbers. Who the heck cares at that point?!

We went home. Babies woke up a bit with the action of just getting into the house, but their energy was short lived, and naptime was closeby. Babies napped, and I baked a bit. More muffins. Lemon cookies. Just a bit.

Anyway. It was a really cute day. I’m very grateful for all we have, and who we have 💜 Tomorrow is another rowdy out and about kind of day! I’ll have Wavy with me as well. Should be a fun group!