I’m putting the year in the title of today’s post because I feel that this will happen again in the coming years.
Yesterday, a war broke out between Brady and I. A text war. It was in the form of valentine’s cards and gifs. I hesitate to share it on here because of some sexual innuendo, but hopefully we can all laugh about them! Haha! I know Brady and I sure did yesterday!
Spoiler alert. I won.
This was my kick off. We just finished re-watching “Parks and Recreation,” and a valentine with Brady’s favorite character on it seemed appropriate. Brady wants to be this man.I made it clear that this was going to continue by sending two in a row. Its ON!This was from Brady, because bacon, and innocence.This one I actually drew on a sticky note and left on the island, but it was inspired by this.Brady went the gif route for most of our war. He even did two in a row to try to get ahead. Very cute, Brady. Very cute.Again with the “Parks and Rec” references. This one cracks me right up, lol!He countered with a “Parks and Rec” gif. Good effort. Why is it so tiny? Thats what she said. Speaking of The Office…The Office pretty much always wins, in our books.Brady went with Christmas in response. Lucky for him, I do love Christmas. And also him.To Brady From HaileyBrady made brownies for us, so I sent him this one. Two in a row, I know. Also, gross, I know.Bradys gif response made me feel like he was grasping. Dying out. So I closed the contest. We’re not a phone-addicted couple, so this is allowed to be funny over here. I know not everyone will like this one. But we do.
I think I can safely say this competition was a great success, and we’ll do it again next year 🙂 A funny tradition for a minimally important day. Celebrating love in an unconventional way. And I’m here for it!
Love you, Brady 😘 Don’t hate me just because I can find more questionable valentines online than you can.
For the first time in a while, it seems, today was not spent pouring over the basement or any other house projects. However, it was spent in Saskatoon, running errands. Because life, haha! And because, as I mentioned a while ago, we ran out of milk. And when our family runs aaaaall the way out of milk, you know its time for a grocery shop. So we did that instead.
Once the kids were off to school, dressed in red and pink, valentines cards in hand, we woke Waverly (man that girl can sleep!) and fed her, dressed her, and loaded her up with her brothers, who were already scratching at the door to leave.
It was a BIG shop kind of day. Though we didn’t have to buy any diapers or wipes! Woot! We did, however, need to stock up on ALL milk, ALL fruits and veggies, ALL bread products, and ALL kinds of other things. Wavy hung out in her bucket through Superstore but was pretty over it by the time we were done in there, and we still had Costco to go!
(Here is where I’m resisting the urge to rant about Dollarama being SO DUMB today!! Gaaaaah!!!!!)
I ended up wearing her through Costco. Her little ponytail tickled my nose the entire time, which was a touch annoying and also adorable. We spent a fortune, and then left for home. We were home by 1:30.
I fed Wavy and put her down, and Brady put the little boys down for rests, too. We checked out the siding and it looks like our crew was back for at least a little while??
Their ladders are still here, so I guess they’re coming back. I wish there was a bit more communication there, but ok :/ I also wish they didn’t leave that piece so obviously askew. Hopefully they fix it when they inevitably come back. Its inevitable, right? Someone tell us something!!
While we were at Costco today, we grabbed a Landmark Theatre movie pass for Brady and I. We were offered a date night tomorrow!!! Just about NOTHING can beat an evening away that is given to you without having to ask for it. Two dates in two weeks feels selfish, but I’m thrilled to accept!! We’ll go out for some dinner, a movie, and maybe even get fitted for the Lulu leggings Brady had ordered for me for our anniversary last week. Yay! I’m so excited!
Brady is lovingly unpacking groceries while I get this post up, and then we’ll take a little breather together before getting everyone up in about an hour, picking up the big kids from school, and heading to my moms for the remainder of the day! SUCH a great way to spend Valentines Day!
I owe you guys a house update, and I’m giving it to you in this order, whether it makes much sense or not. Ready? Go!
Siding. We found out yesterday that the company who was coming to repair our siding from the summer’s hail storm was coming. Yesterday. We found out by men driving onto our yard and tearing siding off of our house. I won’t lie. I was pretty unimpressed by the lack of communication. No one even knocked on our door or tipped us off. I’m very thankful they came to do the repair, especially considering the cold weather, but had we known the level of noise the job was going to produce, we would’ve likely planned to be away for the day. Brady described the sound as what it would sound like if someone was hammering HARD on our kitchen counter. All. Day. Long. So that was interesting. I could hear the mugs on our shelf rattling hard so I pulled them all down.
Think we have enough?
They’re all still on my counter, since we don’t know when the crew is coming back :/
They did a chunk of the job and packed up around 6:00. We haven’t heard from anyone since, so I’m not sure when they’re coming back to finish the job. But, its started, and the kids were intrigued, haha!
Demo. Sigh. This one is ALL my fault. So when we planned the basement out, we missed the teleposts. We SHOULD have added one so they could move around a little and tuck into walls. As it happens, we have one that was going to be a bit more central than we wanted. I came up with this whole plan to wall in a little space and hide the post after all, but I recently shamefully admitted that I didn’t think the little area would ever get used, and that we should take the wall down and just have a post and WAY more space in the rec room. Brady was SO on board and happily pulled everything down. He rerouted a few things and finished it all off beautifully. He made a plan to make the post not look stupid, too, which I super appreciate. I still feel pretty dumb about it, because the wall was originally my idea, and now I was the one who asked him to remove it. I made ALL the extra work. But the decision to take it down was right, and we have WAY more space down there! Thank goodness!
I’ll show you a picture when it looks like something. Which will be soon!
Drywall! Drywall was delivered today!
Convenient that we have a straight shot from the garage into the basement, hey?
It was due to arrive around noon, but while we were at a school assembly, we were notified that they were on their way!! Thankfully, we were able to stay for the whole assembly and still beat them to our house. They worked up a good sweat hauling our drywall down into the basement! I had gone to prop the door open for them but I was nervous of their truck exhaust coming into our house. I mentioned it to Brady, that he could make a judgement call on that, and apparently, one of them delivery guys, and immediately went outside and shut their truck off. I really appreciated that! The guys worked fast were careful with our materials. They accepted some bottles of water on their way out (how do I not have paper coffee cups??!) and off they went!
We are officially ready to board the basement!!!
Don’t judge my messy basement, haha! It’ll make so much more sense once there are walls!
So since I began writing this post, we got an email back from our siding company letting us know when the crew is planning on coming back. With the weather, it seems its harder to predict their work hours. She addressed another issue or two we had brought forward, and I feel a bit better. I’ll show you the before and after when its all done.
Wish us luck in this next part! I’m SO ready for walls down there! Yet it will still be a while before its done done. The longer than Wavy gives us full nights of sleep, the more its becoming clear that we need another bedroom! And I want the kids to have more room to run! And a cozy place to watch movies! And a soft place for people to fall if anyone needs a night away from their life. We want to be a go-to for people who need some love and support, and I hate that we can’t invite them to stay for a night, if needed. Time to change that. Soon!
I’m not great at spirit days. My kids don’t care too much about them and we often forget about them until the last minute. When Dekker was in kindergarten, I worked hard to get him all done up for spirit days, almost always having to venture into the city to find something to correlate with the special day. I felt SO sick about it the first time I missed a dress up day, but he didn’t even seem to notice. So I let some of the pressure slide off of myself and I just do my best.
Every day this week is a dress up day. Yesterday was favorite color day. I talked to Dekker about it the night before and we pulled out his orange hoodie and an orange shirt. But in the morning, he opted for a blue shirt instead, just because. So that was that. Pretty anticlimactic.
Today was crazy hair day, and I figured that was a pretty easy one. However, I should’ve had some foresight here. I needed a creative idea for Dekker because he has less hair to work with, and I wish I had picked up some of those spray-in colors in advance! I promised him a mohawk, and he graciously accepted his “bunny ears.”
Laela had more hair and it would be easier to do, but she’s a class A doddler, and I should’ve anticipated needing more time. We banded together in the end, and Brady packed up her backpack for her while I made her her own mohawk. Lol! A bun mohawk.
The whole purpose of this post is this picture…
Aren’t they adorable? 😍
They’re all bundled up for school, wearing oversized toques to not mess up their ridiculous hair, but its ok because it continues to be too cold to be outside and breathe at the same time. At least their hair is done and I didn’t totally drop the ball. They’re happy.
In case you somehow missed it, Brady and I celebrated our ten year anniversary last week! We went on a date Friday evening. Our across the street neighbours, Rae and Tom, came over straight after work to be with the kids, and we headed out!
This was not the most planned anniversary we’ve ever had, but it was really ok. We didn’t want to put super high expectations on it. Plus, we have some fun things still coming up that feel anniversaryyyyy (you get it) so we thought a date night would suffice. And it did!
We tossed around restaurant ideas for a while, before settled on Cactus Club. We were originally hoping to go somewhere new, but decided instead to go somewhere we knew was good. We had a few options still, but Cactus Club seemed like somewhere we wouldn’t take our kids. Of course we forgot our Mr Mikes gift card back at the house, otherwise that would’ve been an obvious choice! Oh well. We still plan to be married for quite some time, so we’ll use it another time 😉
We waited maybe ten minutes at the restaurant before we were seated. We ordered fairly quickly, and our food was delicious! He had a perfectly done steak, and I had the hunter chicken, which I think I’ve got every time we’ve gone there. SO good!
It was brutally cold that night, but Brady informed me we had to go walk to get my gift. I was NOT thrilled at the idea of being out in the cold, but we were literally just as far from van as we were from the mall!
I won’t make you wait. He got me the brand new sparkle balls from Hillberg & Berk 😍
Pink Champagne
They’re pretty.
We took a walk from there, further still from the van, to Lululemon with the intention to buy me a pair of the new super high rise wunder unders. For whatever reason, they don’t actually carry them in store, but we ordered a pair from there and they’re already on their way. Woot!
(I should specify here that I have a gift for Brady, but its stranded in Saskatoon so he doesn’t have it yet! Ack!! I’ll let you know as soon as he knows!)
The mall was still open when we finished at Lulu, so we made our way back through the mall to be as close to the van as possible. Our plan had been to go find some yummy dessert, but we were both SO full. We rather grabbed some coffee and found a cozy spot to sit and look at the river. The lights were beautiful, the frost was beautiful, and the mist coming off the water was beautiful. It was SO nice to just sit and sip and be together.
We made it home around 10:00. Our house was perfectly quiet. We got a run down of how the evening went before Rae headed home. Thank you again for the night out 💜
Wavy gave us the gift of a full nights sleep that night, and has continued since then! Probably the best anniversary gift I could’ve asked for, haha!
I know I said yesterday that I’d tell you all about our date night. And I really will! But not today. We have different priorities today.
Today we slept through the night for the second night in a row! Thank you, Waverly! Today we led worship, which felt choppy but seemed to be well received. Thank you Lord! And today, we’re hanging out with my mom, eating good food and visiting and being at rest all together. Thank you, mom! We love you SO much!
School starts back up again tomorrow. Tomorrow also holds some work in the basement for Brady, and possibly a trip to the city for a part or two.
But thats tomorrow. Today is just for us. Talk tomorrow!!
I got my hair redone today! Its a bit earlier than I usually do, but I’ll fill you in on the “why” another day. I really liked the blue, but I needed fresh hair! Did you see my teaser on Insta?
Behold, the real colors!
I spent the afternoon with my hair girl, getting all refreshed and pampered. I love my salon days. It helps so much when you like the people you’re with, and I really do. The outcome isn’t so bad either!
I like it, anyway!
I came home to my beautiful family. They showered me with compliments and love. The basement had been worked on, and there was a plan in place for supper. Everything was beautifully under control, and I could breathe. It was so so nice.
Tomorrow will be another gooder, as we’re spending it with my mom, and yesterday was awesome, too! Maybe I’ll tell you about yesterday tomorrow… Yikes. I have a hard time keeping days straight sometimes, but I want to remember it all! Ok, its a date. Tomorrow. And a basement update this week, for sure, because stuff is finally getting done!!!
The last two days have been SO nice, and you guys have been a big part of that 🙂
I don’t know why I felt so weird about talking about my mole removal publicly, but I did. You guys seemed to understand why I was nervous, even though I didn’t need to be, and were SO encouraging! I felt less dorky and petty, and rather I felt supported and normal. So thank you for that! Felicia (my mole, if you missed her name) is long gone, and the little hole where she used to reside is healing nicely. Just a little dry and crusty. It doesn’t miss her at all, nor do I. I’ll update a bit more on the subject once I’ve had a bit more healing time and something to actually talk about. It doesn’t look at that different yet.
Yesterday was also a day that left me feeling loved and supported. All the messages and comments were warm and thoughtful and filled with Princess Bride references, as they should be 😉 Brady and I are SO fortunate to have so many people invested in our family, caring about us. We spent our day yesterday home with the kids, not working on the basement or any other job. We wore sweats, sipped coffee, and just rested together. The evening held suuuper yummy snacks and being lazy. Tonight is date night, but honestly, its too cold out for any of our fun plans. Luckily, we have a few fun things/dates in the coming weeks, so hopefully the weather is more cooperative for those. Either way, TEN YEARS! We made it! And guys, it feels the same 😉 In the best way.
Thanks for all your well wishes and care these last couple of days. Its so wonderful to know we have such a solid circle of people around us.
Brady and I chose and committed to each other for life ten years ago!
We live in a broken world where that sounds like a super long time. In some ways, I suppose it is. A LOT can happen in ten years! But on other hand, its only ten years. I hope we have many decades of togetherness left!
I could recap our last ten years together, but really, the last 6.5 years are all right here, at your disposal. If you wanted a refresh on how we got together, that post is HERE. The obvious things/people I’d talk about in that kind of post, you already know about. Plus, our children, our friends, our business, and our house aren’t US. They’re very important parts of us, but this post is about Hailey and Brady.
I know no one is immune to issues and struggles and even breaking up. I’m in no way trying to make some big ballsy stance on marriage or divorce or whatever else, BUT a while back, I learned something super valuable about our marriage.
A couple years ago, we hit a bit of a snag in our relationship. Yes, I’m going to keep it that vague. But it was an ugly one. One that triggered all kinds of difficult things. There was a stretch of feeling “stuck” in our marriage.
Except that, in the midst of all of our tears and arguments and fatigue, there wasn’t even a MOMENT where it crossed my mind that it was over. It hurt SO badly, but I think the reason it hurt so badly was because of how invested we both are in our marriage, and how deeply we love each other. We knew it was going to be ugly to get through, and it was going to be such hard work. A brutal inconvenience in the midst of our happy life. If we were wishy washy on each other at all, it wouldn’t have hurt nearly as bad. It could’ve been an escape. But we didn’t want an escape. I remember saying to Brady that I was SO MAD that we had to fight, haha!
So obviously, we made it through. It took a while, but we never stopped loving each other. We didn’t even stop liking each other! God truly covered us in that time. We are still here!
When we lost Jamin, we kept hearing how baby loss ripped loving families apart, and how we needed to work to stay open to each other. Great advice, absolutely. But I admit, I remember being a bit perplexed once some of the shock of our loss had worn off. Torn us apart? Not even a little bit! We had never held each other tighter than we did those days/weeks/months. The depth of our relationship grew exponentially during that time. I have never seen such a clear display of God’s care for us. ALL the glory is His!
They’ve certainly not been perfect years, but they’re part of what makes us us!
Our wedding, 2009Our first anniversary – 2010Our second anniversary – 2011 (couldn’t find one around the actual day!)Our third anniversary – 2012 (couldn’t find one without our kid, lol!)Our fourth anniversary – 2013Our fifth anniversary – 2014Our sixth anniversary – 2015Our seventh anniversary – 2016 (stinking Ikea, lol)Our eighth anniversary – 2017Our ninth anniversary – 2018Today – our tenth anniversary – 2019 There will be MUCH better pictures coming later this month! Just you wait!
This, my friends, is a love for the history books!
I felt weird writing about my dermatologist appointment earlier this week. I don’t want to gross anyone out! But I had some nice support from a good handful of you guys, and I do want to record it! So, here’s your warning! Mole removal details below! Click out now if you don’t want to hear about it! No love lost on my part!
*****
My appointment was today at 8:30am. If you’re from around here at all, you know its BRUTALLY cold out today. -41C, feels like -50C with wind. SO. COLD. My mom had graciously offered to drive me to my appointment, for me to have some support and company, and to leave the van with Brady so he could take the kids to school. Who knew how necessary that would be?? She showed up, true to her word, at 7:45am. I ran out to meet her and we shivered together for a few seconds before driving to the city.
I wonder if they’ll even need to freeze my face. It might already be frozen…
My previous consultation had been at 10:10, and the streets were FULL! But this early, around 8:10 in the morning, it was dead quiet. We parked on the street, directly beside the building. Paid parking wasn’t even in effect until 9:00! Mom and I ran into the building and tried the door to the office. Locked. They weren’t even open yet! We sat on a little bench in the lobby for ten minutes before I tried the door again, and sure enough, it was open!
I checked in, and we chatted a bit with the receptionist about the cold. Mom said she would wait for me to go in, and then after a while, she figured she’d go wait in the car so it would be warmed up. (Yes, it is that cold.) I was called back within a couple of minutes. I was settled in the procedure room for less time than it took to take a selfie, so this “before” picture will have to do.
Yes, its filtered and fussed with. Its my blog insta pic. Don’t judge. The mole itself shows. Part of it is brown, and the part of it that is the color of my skin is the part thats grown with scar tissue from breaking open time and time again.
The doctor came in and reminded me of what we were doing, and I signed a consent form. We had a very brief chat about the weather, and then she invited me to come sit up in the big chair.
So here’s the thing. I knew the whole thing was going to be quick and simple and suuuper standard. But I was nervous! My mole was in kind of a tricky area on my face, and she had noted that it had a lot of vessels so it had the potential to bleed a lot. Hence the plan to cauterize it. I think my biggest worry was actually that it would get super bloody and I’d feel it run past the freezing and across my face, down my neck, or something like that. I wasn’t scared there would be a problem, but I was nervous for something super gross to happen. I don’t know. But I had worked myself up a bit. I was reassuring myself that there would likely be a second person, an assistant of some kind, helping catch the mess, hold my nose wherever it needed to be held, etc. But there wasn’t, and that made me more nervous. Was I going to bleed out from a hole in my face??
The first part was the worst. That freezing needle in such a tender area just sucked. But she was apologetic and calm, and in an obvious method of distraction, started asking me about my kids. She herself is pregnant with her second, and asked about how many I had, number of boys and girls, etc. Seconds after the needle was out, she wiped it off again and said “Alright…”
“Oh wow, just getting right to it, huh?” I asked. “Ha! Ya, the freezing kicks in pretty quick!” she said, and off she went.
Sooooo there was some gentle sawing (anyone barfing yet?) and she simply blotted it with a folded piece of gauze a couple of times. I didn’t feel any pain!
The cauterizing was pretty gross, I won’t lie. She warned me that it would wreak, and she was right. Burning flesh directly under your nose. Its obvious it would smell. One little burn blast either got away from her or got right on the edge of where my freezing stopped, and I jumped!! She apologized profusely, and I apologized right back for moving so much. We had a little laugh about our Canadianness and excessive apologizing before I settled back down and she zapped the spot a few more times. And it was done!
She warned me that it might look like she put a cigarette out on me 😆 She’s not wrong. Up close, it looks pretty black and crunchy. But from a bit of a distance, it doesn’t look all that different!
I used to have a little brown spot there, and now I have a little black spot. And soon, the little black spot will fall off and the spot will heal and it’ll just be skin! I’m SO happy to have it over and done with!
I left the procedure room, and my mom hadn’t even had a chance to go back out to the car! I was in there for maybe ten minutes.
This was all about four hours ago now. All the freezing is gone, and I feel maybe a teeny bit of soreness. It was sore as the freezing wore off, but it feels better now. We’ll see how it progresses but I don’t anticipate a problem.
I’m SO relieved! Such a simple fix for something that’s bothered me for a nice long while.
