Guys 😳 It happened. We have a teenager!!!! I can’t even fathom how we got here!! Wasn’t he just born?!

It has been SUCH a fantastic year for Dekker, honestly. He has grown and changed in some of the most fun ways I could’ve imagined as his mom! A very big shift this last year was his opportunity to attend youth! That became his lifeblood, which really couldn’t have been a better setup. At certain points in the year, he had five opportunities each week to be with one of his two youth groups, and it was just him. I can’t explain it, but it grew him so beautifully!

Dekker has become someone who loves babies, and willingly helps with them when needed.

He has gained quite a bit more freedom and independence, where he’s seen more movies, gotten many more special treats and outings, and he’s found his taste is music. Which, by the way, is often electronic, which I did not expect! It was literally just today that he said to me “I just appreciate the instrumental value.” Doesn’t that sound like him?

He will make a request for supper and then insert himself into the prep and cooking without being asked. Thats actually been a fun one! He liked Home Ec last year and it shows!

My favorite thing about Dekker right now is his true comfort in his own skin. He is one who tends to be a bit of an easy target at school, and while he still gets quite upset and hurt when someone heckles him, he doesn’t change who he is to pacify the pests. He will rock the things he likes and continues to be shamelessly himself. And I LOVE himself!!! 😍

My beautiful Dekker boy 💜 How I love you. My oldest child. My oldest son. You are lined up so perfectly in the birth order. You fall exactly where you were meant to. Praise God for bringing you to us!!! Try as she might, Laela is not the oldest. That is you, son, and I am SO unbelievably proud to be your mom!

I hope you had the happiest birthday, albeit a weird one, and that you feel loved and celebrated by your family 💜 We LOVE you, sweetheart.

Thirteen years. Man. Crazy.

Day two was another big one! Cher came in the morning and we worked for a good few hours in tandem! I made a big batch of party mix, and did some laundry along the way, while simultaneously tidying things up, and also keeping babies alive. Once the babies went down for a nap, I hauled myself back outside to work more on the climbing dome. I put on every single handhold EXCEPT ONE because the bolt and nut were STRIPPED!! 😩 Ack!!! But hey. It came together. Mostly.

Towards the end of the afternoon, I got myself put together, as well as a baby who had a visit. And then before I had to leave for that visit, I carried every piece of the girls new bed frame into the house, and every piece of Rowans old loft bed frame out of the house! Whew!

Aaaaand then my mom came and Cher and I kidnapped her and Dekker to hit up a birthday supper for royalty!

Well. Asian royalty. On the west side. Once we dropped off the baby, of course.

The Great Buffet of China was on tonights menu!!!! Dekker’s first time. As a lover of all the food, he was STOKED to have a shot at it! Somehow he just seemed like an extra big boy tonight.

The rest of us were punks, though.

We ate more food than a human person should consume in one sitting, and then we had dessert 🤣And then we went to pick up the baby and head home. Dekker hardly moved on the drive, hahaha!

It was a riot of an evening out with my mom, my almost teenager, and my best friend 💜 Of course, the guests of honour – the birthdayees (yup its a thing) 🙌

Happy birthday supper to you, my dear mom 💜 And a happy birthday eve to you, beautiful Dekker 💜 And all kinds of squishy love and happy to you, sweet Cherice 💜 Thank you for being an integral part of our family.

What a GREAT day. Still lots and lots to do, but this day had a fun outing in it! Tomorrow also carries an outing, but there are errands to run throughout! Plus, we HAVE to build beds! Ack!!! Wish us luck, guys!!

Alright, everyone! We have SO much to do this week, so I figured it would be a fun little miniseries to manage over the five days we have to crush everything.

Today was a lofty kick off to our week! Not a bad one! Just a busy one! Lots and lots this day, and much more good to come this week 💜 In the morning, Cher and I had coffee and made a bit of a plan for the week ahead. Not long after, Rowan and I had a virtual appointment that was both productive, as well as shorter than anticipated! Double win!

I spent a large part of the day working on building our climbing dome. Remember a while ago, I was trying to decide if we should get one. There were mixed reviews, but ultimately I think it would actually be a good fit for us. However, being who I am, I wanted to get it second hand, and I finally found a great price on a really really nice one! We picked it up a couple of weeks ago and its been waiting for me in the backyard. And today was the day. In amongst the fallen crab apples in the grass and the mosquitos, I hand tightened the whole stinking structure.

Its true that it looks a little crooked, but thats what the next part was for.

I left it for Brady to double check it and tighten it all up with his impact when he got home. Rowan helped him get the very very top.

Tomorrow I’ll put the handholds on it but then its DONE! 💪

After the climbing dome, my hands and wrists hurt like that time when they just quit on me that handful of years ago, so I decided it was time to rest them. But it didn’t last long before I needed to get supper going.

I made creamy spaghetti and meat sauce for supper, and got everyone settled at the table and eating by the time Brady got home. At that point, I basically high fived him at the door and headed in to Saskatoon to pick up the girls new bed! As luck would have it, the bed was in many many pieces, upstairs in a narrow, very beautiful little character home. The family who sold us the bed were super friendly and everyone helped me carry it out, even the little girls who had apparently cried many tears about passing it on. However, their mom assured me that it was great for them to hear about our kids and how well it will be enjoyed by us. We discussed the bedroom setup with eight children, what their new setup was, how we all liked camping, and what foster care means. It was a loaded half hour but it was really nice to make that connection. Super nice people.

I came home to a bustling house full of people who were done eating. Everyone ate well. Even the babies, though it kind of doesn’t look like it…

They did, though! There was one bowlful left for me, plus a few scoops of corn I ate right out of the pot like the classy lady I am.

At this point, Brady has gone downstairs to start disassembling Rowans loft bed. That thing was so broken down and rickety when we got it, we’re just throwing it out :/ He feels super sad about the principle of that, but he is excited to have the girls old bunk bed! And I’m blogging. Big duh. Hopefully there is a bit more supper to come this evening. Note to self: Make more of that spaghetti at once! Double if it we have any extra people at the meal. Or add garlic bread. Something. It looks like enough, but it isn’t.

Tomorrow, the goal is to finish the climbing dome and at least bring in the bed I picked up today. A late birthday supper for my mom is also on the books tomorrow. And a foster visit. And… I think thats it.

🥱

This weekend, Brady and I drove to camp separately. We had worked out plans for Brady to bring the work truck to the lake for the week in order to bring up a schwack of patio stone (eek!) for our site. The kids and I came up to the lake early afternoon on Friday to pick Dekker up from camp, and Brady was going to join quite late after he’d finished out his work day, driven to Asquith to pick up the stones, and then driven all the way to Christopher. But, when he called to confirm the plans, the person we were meeting had forgotten, and the plan had fallen through. Merp. We’ll try again in a couple of weeks, I suppose. The upside was that Brady would be able to join us sooner 🙂

So our weekend didn’t turn out to be as worky as anticipated, which works out because I think this week will be craaaaazy full! Hahaha!

We left camp a touch early so we could drop off the minivan and unload the camp stuff before driving into the city to pick up a new storage shelf for Rowan.

See, this week, the kids are moving. Like. ALL of them. Almost. I’m not even exaggerating. Just this evening, after getting home from the city, three children are sleeping in new places! Not all permanently, but here’s the breakdown for what whats been done and whats to come!

Tonight, the Spoonful moved in with the Morsel.

Tonight, the Lemon Drop switched sides of our room. Does that count? I’m not sure.

Tonight, Rowan bunked in the with the girls. Just for a couple of nights, untiiiiiiil…

Rowan is moving upstairs!! He will now sleep in Laela and Wavy’s room!

Laela and Wavy are moving into Dekker and Solly’s room downstairs! They are getting an awesome new bed setup, and it wouldn’t fit in their current room. Plus, Rowan has wanted to be upstairs all along. So this is a GREAT move!

Dekker and Solly are moving into Rowan’s room! This is also a big win because that room is the coldest room in the basement, and they are my sweaty boys! So this is also a win!

There is lots to do this week, and I won’t lie – thats not even all of it. But! It WILL get done! Maybe not all as quickly as I would ideally want 😅 But the ONLY person putting that pressure on me is me!! So I guess we’ll just see how far we get! Lol!

Sleep well, friends 💜 Tomorrow the real work begins! 💪

I will leave you with the highlight quote of the day today, and that is all, as I am eagerly awaiting tucking in for night over here. I plan to watch a little bit of a show with Brady and eat some s’more popcorn that Cher gave me for my birthday. So I’m making this quick. 

Today, during lunch, I got this face, and this line: 

“This pasta salad tastes like frogs and pickles.” 

😂🐸🥒

To be clear, it does not. But goodness did I ever laugh 🤣 I can’t tell you what frogs taste like but it seems Rowan can! 

For the first time ever, I drove up to camp on my own with the kids. I had 7/8, and we went early in the day so we could receive Dekker after his week at camp. I spend the day with all eight of them all the time. No real stretch there. 

Except it totally was a stretch. It was challenging. Very little went smoothly with naps, and attitudes were tough. I was more than ready for Brady to join us. Aaaaany minute now. 

Thankfully, I got this cute little text mid afternoon 🥰

Spirits lifted after that and I have to say, time actually went quicker at that point, which I did not expect. 

Thank you Lord for a husband who WANTS to be with his family 💜

This is the face of someone who slept really well and is already in a good mood 😌

Her little nose dot just gets me 😍

I hope you all sleep as well as Laela did last night 💜

I didn’t know the effect that the end of chemo would have on me. And I KNOW it isn’t about me, don’t you worry. It isn’t. I’m aware. But there are still things that happen and feelings that come along, so these are mine.

I woke up in the night feeling SO gross and bad and off. My body did that mean thing that it does when I’ve pumped on adrenaline too long, and attacked me with heartburn and a raging headache in the night. Its a very rude awakening, especially when I felt fine going to bed. I even had a soak, just to give my body a chance to recover in a reasonable way. But. Here we were, my adrenaline in overdrive, yelling at me from the inside. I did what I could, eventually got back to bed, and ended up sleeping in.

I woke up feeling quite renewed. I feel ready for the next stuff on the list. I’m still quite tired, but I’m motivated and anticipating many things. I am eager to prepare for fall and get a bit of a routine built. I want to fill in my calendar with all the comings and goings of our family. I want to start thinking about Halloween costumes (GHOSTS!) and Christmas presents. I want to bake and puree pumpkins.

But, let’s be realistic. I don’t have tons and tons of time. It makes no sense to think that far ahead. So if we aim for much more reasonable priorities…

I definitely want to write out my calendar for September before too long, and make a laundry schedule for the kids.

I want to catch up on foster care expenses, and chase a few signatures and whatnot. I would LOVE to stop being SO far behind in that stuff and start being able to do it monthly like I’m supposed to.

And guys, I REALLY need to hit Costco. Like, STAT.

But before I can look at any of that seriously, I have a really exciting visit to take my crew to this afternoon, where my kids will get to meet the Lemon Drop’s siblings and play together! Everyone is excited about it, and are all fairly idle, just waiting for time to tick by. The day is going slow in the one way, and so fast in others. Never ever ever enough minutes!

This summer has been one of the crazier summers. We’ve had our share of bumps and details that have kept things interesting, to say the least, but there have been a few undeniable challenges of which we have been eagerly waiting to see the end. Three in particular have loomed over us for so so long.

First was Brady’s license. Not having his license has been a wildly frustrating struggle. He has needed rides to work, rides home from work, rides to radiation, rides back from radiation, and rides absolutely everywhere else he needs to go. With that, he has been completely at everyone else’s mercy. Meanwhile, he has been unable to run a single errand on his own, take a kid to an appointment, or drive his family absolutely anywhere. Driving is rest for Brady, and he missed that aspect, as well as his independence. The day he got his license back was victorious!!!!!

Second was our road. The road in front of our house was closed for what felt like an eternity. Of course it wasn’t, but it made things like packing and unpacking camp stuff, groceries, and people a lot harder for a lot longer. When the road was finally paved, it rested over the weekend and we were able to start driving on it the next Tuesday. And the very next day, they filled in the end of our driveway and re-poured that as well. They did not drag their feet, which was a huge relief, and now, as things stand today, all is well to drive on our street and onto our driveway. And maybe you didn’t know that we had a ram poured right before the road was redone! So Brady can leave the house and get into his vehicle and drive to work with total ease now!! It is SUCH a win!

Thirdly and likely the most important, Brady officially wrapped up his radiation therapy today! 🥳😭 I was able to go in with him, and not only be there to greet him on the way out, but I was invited into the back treatment room where I got to witness them all set him up on the bed, with the scary mask on and all the lasers in place. And if that wasn’t enough, I was invited to sit behind the desk with the staff running the machines, and they explained the entire process to me while I watched it on cameras. It was such an experience! He came out of his treatment happy and well, like he did every single day. We met with his radiation oncologist one last time before he said some goodbyes, got a hug from his closest nurse, and rang the bell on the wall that signifies “ringing cancers bell.” And then we left. It was an oddly beautiful last treatment. SO much nicer than the last time he went through this, during covid. It felt warm and celebratory 💜 And really really really good to be done!

I will definitely talk more about that last radiation therapy appointment soon! Or maybe I can weasel a post out of Brady, since he has nothing but time now 😏 There will be more, though, one way or another.

These were the three huge, looming challenges this summer. Brady not having a license. Us not having access to our street. And radiation every weekday for six entire weeks. And EVERY one of those things is now taken care of and behind us!!! It is almost surreal, but I am not at all mad at it. It has been a positively exhausting stretch of summer thanks to these details, as well as so many more. And there will still be things that add to the action over here, I have no doubt whatsoever! But the big, scary, daunting things have come and gone.

Brady has his license and independence back, which timed out beautifully with his promotion at work 💜

Our road is open, smoother, sloped better, and we can use our ramp and fresh driveway perfectly 💜

Radiation is over and done with, meaning no more daily appointments 💜 He never even needed to be on meds for discomfort or pain.

PRAISE THE LORD for getting us through some really large, long weeks. The devil tried to intervene a handful of times, but God is stronger!!! The strongest when we are weak! And let me tell you – we are 😅 So any ounce of strength you think you see on us is ALL from God!!

Amen, and onto the next!!! ✅

… the rest of the kiiiiiids PLAY!

… or do they???

Hahahaha! I miss our biggest boy 💜 He is such a funny guy, with just the right mix of silly and crusty to fill the group dynamic perfectly.

But! This week he is busy at camp, nerding it up, which we say with TOTAL love and respect! He truly thinks being called a nerd is a term of endearment, so I assure you we are not hurting his feelings willy nilly. He is really excited for camp this week, but he was very huggy and squishy with me before I checked him in 💜

Of course, once he was in the cabin, he was very cool 😎 and hugged me from up on his bunk, reaching down to me. Little punk 😆 Its ok, I can take it. He was SO handsome up there, getting himself settled, already surrounded by kids he knew from last year.

Goodness I am SO proud of this kid 💜 I LOVE you, Dekker! And I MISS you!! Ack!!

I can’t believe he is almost a teenager 😳