Did I even tell you guys that I petitioned the ministry for a beast stroller? I don’t remember if I did, but I can confirm that I did, in fact, request a stroller system that fits more than two children in it, and they showed UP!!

Now, there are options, but they are VERY expensive. One option was around $500 – by FAR the cheapest – but it didn’t have great reviews. The next one I could find was (ready?) a thousand dollars. It looked like it would definitely do the job, but I felt super guilty asking for such a thing. However, there was an option still more expensive, making the one that cost a thousand seem more appropriate. So I sent all three options to ALL four of the social workers I deal with regularly, and told them my concerns, the pros and cons, and the why. And I was pleasantly surprised at the total lack of pushback! They completely understood my position, where I couldn’t do anything with three babies on my own outside of my house. So the three social workers that oversee my three babies applied to their supervisors for a third of the cost of the midrange system. And it was approved!!!

Now, don’t come for me. But the one hangup of that thousand dollar stroller was that it came equipped with basic stroller wheels. So, the ministry paid for the vast majority of the stroller, while Brady and I foot the rest of the bill to upgrade to the behemoth stroller with the super tires.

The sucker came in two boxes a couple of weeks ago, and I finally built it today!!!

I made this mess of boxes and packages and pieces…

into THIS!!

It doesn’t look like much, perhaps, but it is incredible! There is also a canopy, but I didn’t put it on today. I will likely show off more of its details shortly, but not today. Today, I did enough, and I think every single person in town waved at me as I walked it down to the post office. I only had 2/3 babies for the walk, so I could have just taken the double. However, I needed to pick up three parcels, as well as four jugs of milk. So I brought this monstrosity, and was able to load the whole thing down with all of our things without breaking a sweat.

I am SO grateful 💜 Not only am I relieved that the ministry was willing to help me pay for such a beautiful piece of equipment, but it is also reassuring to me that they clearly have some faith in our abilities to care for children. I don’t think they would invest as much money if they were unsure of us. So that feels good.

I’d show you pictures from the walk, but as you know, I’m not allowed. However, we are not hard to spot 🤣 So perhaps we’ll see you around.

We miss church over here. Truly, we do. There have been stages where going to church feels like a chore. I won’t lie, and you shouldn’t either, because we all know that sometimes things like that just don’t feel like priorities. However, our family has really enjoyed church when we’ve been able to go, which has been very little this year, thanks to aaaaall the brain stuff in the beginning of the year and then the summer of camping. So this weekend was the one. We were going to go. Finally.

Of course, the sickness that has grabbed onto us as school begun continues to hold on tightly, and the babies seem to be a bit worse for wear :/ A second round, perhaps. We’ve had some fevers. Some snot faucets. One impressive viral rash. Lots of crying, and lots of sleeping.

Implied sleeping, anyway. Necessary sleeping.

Brady and I had resigned to the reality that likely one of us would have to miss church to hang back with the babies.

Last night was a fun challenge. Our Lemon Drop never sleeps, as you know. Brady and I and LD were up in the middle of the night, and the power went out. It was around 2:30am. Our old house used to beep when the power went on and off. This house doesn’t beep. It more so hums. But in our room, when the power goes out, the fan turns off, as does the noise machine.

That was the kicker.

No. More. Noise.

LD was not impressed. By default, neither were we. The crying would not stop. No milk was drank. No soothers were taken. No burps erupted. Just only crying. Because tired, and because quiet. We FINALLY found some reprieve in a rattle as distraction, but it was short lived. No sleep was in sight, so we decided to put a show on the laptop to let our bodies and brains rest a little at least, whilst distracting the baby. We were willing to hotspot for the data on our phones.

But the laptop was dead.

Brady worked to get the iPad up and running and when he pulled it from his lake bag (ya, those aren’t unpacked yet) we remembered we had an older phone and a bluetooth speaker than we use for noise in the camper. We pulled it out and I brought it over to the toddlers room. They, too, sleep with noise, and they were already making noise and moving around. I snuck the speaker in their door, and within a few minutes, it also died! ACK!

The big babies were out of luck. We finally got the Lemon Drop down to rest, and we shut everything else off and tried to get some sleep. Our call to SaskPower had been fruitless, as we were apparently the only call that had come in, so they blamed our breakers. Which sucked.

When we stumbled out of bed after a very broken, short night, it had been six hours, and we still had no power.

There were not enough hours of sleep to be had to be functioning human beings, so church was off the table.

We will try again next week. Hopefully less people are sick by then, anyway.

I spent the morning trying to get more things put away. It wasn’t especially successful, hahaha! The babies alternated naps pretty badly, lol, so I mostly just carried little things from here to there and made some storage plans. Everything goes a little slower with someone on your hip, but I truly wouldn’t trade it.

I had one pumpkin on my counter that I was suspicious was maybe going bad, so I decided to cut it up and check. All was well on the inside, but then it was open! Hahaha! So I got it into the oven to make some more puree. Its out of the oven and sitting in a sieve in the sink, getting ready to get blended up.

Besides that, I actually made some progress on some Christmas stuff! After yesterday’s large shopping trip, I flattened a bunch of smaller boxes, and this morning I realized I could use them for gifts. So I pulled out some of the gifts I’ve purchased already, and I boxed them up, labelled them on painters tape who they were for, and put them high up in my closet. Boom! I felt SO productive!!

I did a little bit of sitting and crocheting this afternoon, and then I had some visitors come by, which brought so much brightness to my day!! 💜 We miss you, Rae and Tom!! Ack!! One of these weekends we’ll all be in town, but until then, this visit was really, really nice.

The kids came home from school on time. Piano practice began. I started supper. Wavy helped me peel carrots. Kids put some laundry away, and I have a bit more in the dryer that I HAVE to remember to hide before any of the kids see it because, again, Christmas 😬 Don’t let me forget, guys.

Ok. Bradys on his way home. Supper is all rolling on the stove. I just have to clear the hampers off the table (lol) and we should be good to go!!

Happy Friday, all 💜

I hit it again, guys. A beautiful day with rest and productivity all rolled into one!

I spent a few hours in the morning with Cher 💜 We haven’t seen each other for most of a week, which is virtually unheard of for us! So it was VERY precious time to get to be back in each other’s space. Sipping our coffee and tea, and catching up. It was good for the heart. Hearts, I should say.

Once Cher was off for the day, I got babies eating while I got into some of the sorting from camp stuff. I forgot to reply to a comment on the subject the other day!! I’m sorry!! We do have doubles for most everything, but I wasn’t well organized this summer and I forgot to bring tubs. So while the towels would normally stay at camp, they came home. I’m scared to leave little mouse houses available in the camper 😬 I bring all the meds and liquids home. All the fridge stuff. But LOTS of duplicates stay out there. Just, nothing cozy enough for a critter to nest in… I’m not nervous, YOU’RE nervous!

Being that I have a bunch of babies, the sorting of the meds took up the rest of the morning and a portion of the afternoon. I insisted on some sit down time during naps, but our Lemon Drop flat out just sucks at sleeping :/ Like absolutely all the way just totally unequivocally sucks. So. I tried. But it wasn’t restful for anyone.

I left the house in time to pick the kids up from school, and took everyone in for a foster visit. We did another big Walmart shop and spent a few hundred dollars on pretty much just lunch stuff 😅 Goodness. Stopped for an iced coffee as well. Had a giggle at this amazing limited time offer where a small ice cream costs more than a big ice cream 🤣

Good job, McDicks 👍

Then, we picked up, went home, and tucked in. The babies are all quiet. Most of the kids are in bed. I myself am in bed, and I’m hoping to crochet an itty bitty bit before I truly have to shut the lights off. I feel so much more myself when I get a little time to crochet in the day. Its a bit of a goal of mine, actually, to keep my craft going a little each day. Maybe. I’ll try, anyway. So many ideas, and so little time.

On top of ALL these things, we’ve had plumbers over the last two days, installing proper ventilation in the basement and getting the garage fitted for a gas heater. We anticipated three days, but today – day two – they wrapped the job. Beautifully, I might add. So that wasn’t work I had to do, but it was work being done in the house. And, let’s be honest – a different amount of on-ness. You get it. The techs were amazing and so comfortable to have around, though. Like, less than zero complaints!! Leah the Plumber killed it. Truly. I have nothing bad to say about her and her company! Amazing!

It was a big day. But its almost Friday. Tomorrow will hold work, of course, but no big deadlines, meetings, appointments, etc. So at the very least, I’ll do my work in my sweats 🙂 Sounds cozy to me!

Yesterday was large and productive while also fairly relaxed and peaceful. It was consistently busy and comfortable.

Today was another day where I worked to clean up camp stuff that is spread all over the house. However, it was vastly less peaceful and much more chaotic.

None of the babies were settled today. I got one good nap out of them and otherwise, it was a huge struggle.

The baby who happily kills time crawling around the house, chewing on their hands and chasing down toys simply was not happy on the floor today, or in bed, or even being held for that matter. Crusty, crusty baby.

The two babies who are older and more active are both climbers now, which is NEW territory for me!! Whew! Today was the kind of day where I’d drag the piano bench across the house, only to have those little punks drag it back over to the piano and climb ONTO the piano! Ugh! Only one takes it quite that far, but they work together. It was the kind of day where my coffee got poured out on the floor. Noses ran. I said “no” a lot more than I prefer. Things were noisy. Toys were thrown. Everyone survived on crackers. We kind of just got by.

However, the laundry machines ran consistently. The tables slowly got more and more cleared off. Plumbers worked downstairs and in the garage all day long. Everyone was fed. Lots of smiles were shared. A new word was even uttered by our Morsel 💜 It was a VERY good day. Less productive. Less calm. But still a day to be grateful for.

Thank you, Lord, for providing endlessly for us.

…AAAAALLLLL that junk comes home 😅

All the sheets, pillow cases, towels, bed blankets, and outdoor blankets. And and all random leftover laundry.

All the kitchen stuff. All the food from the fridge, freezer, cabinets, and tucked in all the little places people leave snacks. All the meds. All the products.

And all the other stuff! All the baggage. All the stuff we use more at the lake but can’t risk leaving there for the next eight months.

This all, of course, was only some of it.

I spent the bulk of my morning moseying through the house with a cup of coffee, moving things from point A to point B. I got laundry rolling, and got the majority of the kitchen stuff put away. I got some things that are kid-specific moved into their rooms, but I left some for them to do on their own.

I then took a break and caught up with a friend of mine from the church we used to attend. It is not a secret that we switched churches a while back, being that there are only two churches here in town. I’m sure you can imagine there has been some awkwardness. But there are a small handful of people who have made their love for our family known, regardless of our change of venue. Spending time with one of them today just felt so much like home 💜 I was very grateful for todays visit.

Speaking of visits, after school, I hauled all the kids into the city for a visit for one of our babies! Once aforementioned baby was delivered, we ran over to Walmart, as we so often do, and stocked up on some pantry items, as well as some pants for the girls, shoes for Solly, mitts for babies, and a whole schwack of other things. We met up with Brady about halfway through the shop, and then all of us went to McDs for supper, and went to pick up the once again mentioned baby.

It was a loaded day, but I’m actually really happy with how it played out. Once in a blue moon, I feel like I strike that lovely balance between working hard and being at rest, and today, I hit it. I got lots done in the house, but it didn’t feel chaotic, and I even got to visit with a friend. Then I went out in the evening, and it was productive and the kids were happy and helpful. Baby was happy when dropped off, and picked up.

It was a nice day. I anticipate many more to come. Days of work and of rest. At least rest-ish. I’m not picky 😅

My goodness I almost wrote twelve!! 😅 Time is definitely clipping along with this beauty. I feel like her year of photos really shows how much she has changed in the last year! WOW!!!

Laela has had a really big year, and has changed SO MUCH! There have been some challenges, of course, some that I truly believe were born out of some trauma and coping with some of the heaviness that came from our suffering when Brady had his initial surgery. This little girl feels BIG need to run the show in so many ways, and I just ache for her to stay little just a teeny bit longer.

Yet, she insists on growing up, and honestly, I’m not mad at it 💜 We have SO much fun together!

We baked together. Cooked together. I’ve taught her life skills along those lines, and she has met the challenge each time. We have built together and worked side by side.

She isn’t afraid to sweat, or to do the details. She is an incredible mix of girly girl and rough and tumble, and I am LOVING that balance. She is a stone cold weirdo, and I am here for it.

We have lots of fun, but I can attest also, after spending a week at home together this month, she is also an amazing person to just share air with 💜 She doesn’t always need the action and the run around. She is a peaceful girl she loves to be cozy.

I have amazing birthday pictures from the lake to show you, but its late, so maybe tomorrow. You’ll just have to take my word for it that she was happy 💜 She also loves to be that – happy.

I said of Laela “She was born with a BANG” to which she replied “I was born with BANGS?!?!” But she knows 😏 She likes to brag that she was the fastest, which is true. Wouldn’t have chosen it that way, but I wouldn’t change it for anything either.

The HAPPIEST birthday to you, Laela Hazel. Like your birth, you bring excitement to our lives every single day. And when the crazy part is over, we can all rest and be content together. You bring SO much love and warmth and care into our lives, including the lives of our three babies, who are totally and completely blessed by you every single day 💜 You are an AMAZING daughter, sister, granddaughter, niece, and friend, and my dear, you are loved by many. I hope you feel it.

I love you, Lala. Now stop reading the blog and get back to class! 😘

Laela!! 💜 her actual birthday is tomorrow, but we will be winterizing and packing camp up tomorrow, so we celebrated today. I want to tell you all about it in a bit more detail, so it might wait until we get home, but what I CAN tell you is that Laela was flawlessly content at every turn. The morning was so quiet and peaceful. In the afternoon, a friend we love stopped by with gifts for laela and goodbyes for the rest of us. And the evening brought our dear Dahlsjos, who ducked away from harvest for a few hours to rain some love down on our family, celebrate with us, and also to say some goodbyes. The whole day was bittersweet, but truly lovely. 

We wrapped the day with another family golf cart ride, and we puttered our way to Bells Beach. Aaaaalmost didn’t make it home, that battery was lowwwww. But we did it! 

I say again, I want to tell you more another day. But I can tell you that today was beautiful. Just like the girl we celebrated. 

Goodness, girl. You are a wonder. 

It’s been a more challenging summer with the kids on the golf cart. After an oddly entitled season for our kids, we have taken way fewer pleasure cruises than in previous seasons. 

But tonight, I presented a pep talk, and everyone agreed to have an argument-free ride, and to consider not where they just feel like sitting, but where others might want to also sit. 

And it was a grand success 💜 and the perfect evening for it. 

We sat by the water for a little bit and admired the sights and sounds. I prayed and thanked the Lord for all the beautiful things and people He’s given us and put into our lives. When I was done, Sol exclaimed “Nice prayer, mom! Even though it was really long!” 😂 I learned from the best, right, mom? 😏😘 

It was a beautiful end to the day 💜 who would’ve thought we could fit ten people on one golf cart, and be comfortable and happy? It’s all God 💜 All glory to Him!

Welp. I had a blog already in the works, but this is WAY more important than my feelings towards grounds in my coffee.

I just learned that Laela thought Swedish Fish were actually sweet-ish fish, and I will NEVER not think of them that way 🤣

This girl makes my life better absolutely always 😂

Thats all.