It was a grey, rainy Sunday, but it was also great! I’m so thankful for how today went, for a handful of reasons.

We’re back on the schedule for leading music at church! Brady, Carrie, and I had taken the summer off, but now that we’re all back into the swing of things with Fall and school and whatnot, we’re back! Unfortunately, Brady was sick this last week, along with a kid or two, and we weren’t sure if everyone would be able to make it this Sunday, so just Carrie and I did music this morning. My family was able to come along, but Brady hung with the kids during the music.

Solly had a hard time at church today. He had woken up pretty early in the morning and was just SO weepy over absolutely everything! Our church is amazing, and someone was always willing to take Wavy when I left the bench to go up front. Meanwhile, Brady would occasionally have to walk out with Solly, and Laela, Dekker, and Rowan just sat and waited for him to return. No BIG drama. Solly did have a pretty loud moment, though, during a particularly quiet part of the service. As Brady was shimmying out of our bench, I said “sorry everyone” kind of loudly, and our pastor addressed my apology. He reassured me that the sound of children was wonderful and important to the church. If there are no children, the church won’t have a future. After the service, a handful of people sought me out and told me they felt the exact same way. What an amazing, supportive church we attend!! Thank you, friends, for not being annoyed or inconvenienced by my children!

We came home, had lunch, and napped 4/5 kids. Around 2:30, Cher came by, along with another friend! I had never met her personally but she followed along with the project Cher built from my pregnancy with Waverly. She happened to be in town this weekend and wanted to meet the fam!! We spent all afternoon chatting about our lives and how the last year has gone. All three of us have had our share of grief, and it was interesting to relate to one another, check up on each other, and see how we were all recovering/growing/moving forward. It was SUCH a great afternoon of visiting, and I feel like I made a new friend 💜 Thank you for coming!!! Was a wonderful end to our great day.

*****

Our company just recently headed out, and we’re putting the kids down for bed shortly. Life continues tomorrow with school for Dekker! Its his picture day, his show and tell, aaaaand the beginning of him being the star of the week! Go Dekker!!

Laela. Did. Amazing.

I am pleased to report that not a single tear was shed, by her or by me, in the dropping off or picking up of Laela on her first day of school! It was hard to get details out of her, but here’s what I know.

They sing a “good morning song” and there is a bit about big high fives. She sang it for me before clamming up and saying she didn’t remember 😉

Recess was her favorite part of the day. Obviously, lol! However, apparently Dekker sought her out every recess and played with her!! She told me at one point, they held hands and ran together. Ack!! I love them!

Laela did some writing at school. Her teacher texted me a picture yesterday evening of Laela holding a paper that said “I love scool tda.” I love school today. Eek! I LOVE THAT!

She ate almost all of her lunch!

At the end of the day, when we went to pick her up from school, she hugged her teacher goodbye. Its such a relief for my heart to see her love her teacher already! She LOVED her preschool teacher SO MUCH, and was pretty discouraged when we warned her in advance that her beloved teacher would stay teaching preschool and wouldn’t be teaching her kindergarten. Lucky for her, her kindergarten teacher is also EXCEPTIONAL, and it seems to have clicked between them already.

Last but not at all least, as we all walked home together, Dekker and Laela ran ahead of us, chatted together, and played games.

In those moments, they were like best friends.

These two. My two who probably butt heads the most often, were just hanging out, enjoying each others company. This I have prayed for. That they would become friends in their travels to and from school, venturing out to do big kid things together. I know it won’t be perfect, and I’m so ok with that. I’m just excited that its starting!!!

Yay for new adventures!!!

Guys. It happened.

Laela is officially in kindergarten!!

I wish my little posed picture of all four of them turned out a bit clearer, but alas, its still terribly cute. Look at Laela’s face! She is SO amped! I took a few special little times with Laela this morning to see how she was really feeling, and as far as I could tell, she had no nerves whatsoever!! I figured we’d see what happened when we got to school, though. You never know, right?

Today wasn’t probably the ideal day for a first day of school. Rather than a regular morning schedule, the school put on a pancake breakfast to welcome everyone into the school year. Its a super fun morning event every year, but for Laela’s first day, I kind of wish we could’ve gotten in through her boot room, put her shoes in their spot, walked her the right way to her classroom, etc. But hey, there will be LOTS of mornings to walk her through that routine! This morning was just a different. Instead of walking, we drove, and walked from the van to the front doors.

We piled into the gym and loaded up a couple plates of food for the kids, found a spot on the floor, and ate breakfast. It was cute and chaotic. Laela was still completely on fire, thrilled to be there! She found out her teacher was at the juice table and actually went over and gave her a hug.

I got her into her classroom, helped her find where to hang her coat and backpack, and got her settled at her spot at a table. No nerves, still!

She was sitting across from a girl she knew from preschool, which she was happy about. The girls started playing with some blocks together, and that was it. She was good. She was ready. I gave her a hug and a kiss and whispered if she was ok. She responded with a loud “Yup!” and didn’t even look at me. It was perfect.

Brady traded me out and gave her a kiss goodbye while I waited with the boys. When the bell rang and school was about to start, I waved at her from the door. She waved back at me with a huge smile plastered across her face. I tried to ask “Are you good?” but she was already busy with something else.

She was settled.

I’m SO happy for her!!!

I’ll be back tomorrow, as usual, to tell you how the day went. I don’t anticipate a problem 😉

Have a happy Friday, friends!!

Yesterday was Dekker’s first day walking to school on his own!

He was SO excited! I was too, though I admit I emailed his teacher in the morning to confirm that he had arrived. Not that the school wouldn’t have called me had he not, but still. I was “that parent.” Lol! Don’t judge me!

I had offered to come pick him up as I was sending him off that morning, and he politely declined. He had looked me in the eye and told me “I think I’m ready. I think its time.” VERY grown up of him, as usual. We all waited eagerly by the widow to watch him come home at the end of the day, not knowing how long it would take him. It wasn’t long, and he was within view. The kids knocked on the window and waved like crazy. He waved back and ran the rest of the way.

He ran our carpeted stairs with his wet rubber boots upon arriving home. Before I could stop him, he burst out that he had flowers for me. I was a bit caught off guard, to say the least. He ran back down the stairs and put his boots away, and came back up, reassuring me he’d put them in water.

Is this not the CUTEST thing you’ve ever seen?!?! Ack!!!

Two little pink weeds in a medicine measuring cup!! And yes, he put water in it.

It probably seems small (literally and figuratively) but it thrilled my heart!!

After the flowers were set up “properly,” he unpacked his backpack and lunch bag. He made his way to the living room, where he spent the next half hour or so snuggling with his siblings, pretending to rock them like babies, playing peekaboo, etc. It was like the first day of school, only better!

I love our new system. Our new normal. I just love my family so so much.

I was originally going to write today’s post about Laela today, and Laela yesterday. She is fevering! It started yesterday evening. It is SUCH a bummer, because her first day of school is later this week and I don’t want her to miss it!!! Prayers for her would be very much appreciated! Even in the midst of her sickness, she is so calm and pleasant and friendly.

She looks SO pretty, and SO sick! Poor dear.

This last year-ish has been tricky for my little miss. Being two and three didn’t phase her, but she’s struggled through being four. Its felt like a solid year of a power struggle between she and I. I’ve ached for our mother-daughter relationship to strengthen but it has seemed to get weaker and weaker as we stretched further apart.

PRAISE THE LORD that in the last couple of weeks, I’ve started to get her back. 💜 I made a few tweaks in the way I was parenting her and talking her through things, and took more time to reassure her how much we loved her. There was one particular day where she got herself all twisted up in anger, and couldn’t seem to pull it together. She just couldn’t wind down, lower her voice, relax her angry brows, etc. Just couldn’t get there. So I walked to her room with her and just snuggled in her bed for a bit with her. She went from being super tense to just resting. We didn’t talk at all. I lay beside her with my arm over her and my face touching her arm. After a good few minutes, she finally reached out and put her hand on my arm. She rubbed my skin and told me how soft it was. Her voice was quiet, and her face was restful. We whispered together for a while, and the conversation turned over to what was making her so mad. We talked about it calmly and in a way that helped both of us understand what was going on.

Folks, this was a kick off.

Since that day, things have been so much better! They’re not perfect, because no one is, thank goodness! Communication has been clearer and calmer. Oftentimes now, Laela comes over to me just to sit on my lap and snuggle. She hasn’t done that in so long. I’ve missed it SO much. I’ve missed HER so much! While I’m positive this won’t be the last time we’ll butt heads (Lol! Buttheads.) it was a good learning experience for both of us.

Today, my feverish little sidekick is napping with her brothers. She was disappointed, but in our quiet little face-to-face chat, she agreed that it was important she let her body rest and heal a little extra so she can for sure get to school on Friday!!! Way to be a grown up, Laela! Feel better soon.

Its been a really nice day.

Our last day with Brady home before his work picks back up.

Solly is currently chasing Dekker around the living room, whapping him with a pool noodle. Dekker is squealing and egging him on. Its always so nice to have him home from school. School is SO GOOD for Dekker, and he just continues to blossom before my very eyes.

While he was off galavanting at school, the rest of us went to the city. I had a wax and nail appointment…

(Keeping it classy with traditional nail pics, of course)

…and while I was in it, Brady took the kids to an auto shop to finally get our van assessed after that mad hail storm. They even took a picture of the door ding our van received somewhere down the line, so  maybe that’ll get worked out as well! They made a quick trip to Costco, and the kids ate some snacks/lunch while they waited for my appointment to wrap up.

They even bought me flowers at Costco!

Brady dropped me off at my moms when we got back to town, and our quick visit turned into lunch and a slightly longer visit. She drove me home in plenty of time to get to school, pay fees at the office, and go pick Dekker up from his classroom. He was in a super upbeat mood. When I asked for his favorite part of the day, he said he loved everything. We enjoyed our walk home together. I know he won’t walk hand in hand with me forever, so I’m soaking it up as long as I can!

Supper will be chicken fingers, fries, and salad. Yum!

This morning has felt so nice. Its not quite realistic for “normal,” because Brady was home while I took Dekker to school, and that will obviously not always be the case. But he’s off to work locally today, and I’m here with the remaining kiddos. I’ve had a cup of coffee. Waverly is napping. The dishwasher is running, as is laundry, and the kids are playing surprisingly happily. Its SO nice. They’re snuggly today.

And also silly, of course!

I was soaking up the warm vibes from the kids, happily anticipating this new normal we had struck, when I realized this isn’t it! Laela will be in school by the end of the week, going half time, but still, she’ll be away. It’ll be just me, the little boys, and Wavy. Which will feel SO WEIRD!!! But also really nice, I think. Rowan will get his shot at being the “oldest” for the day. He and Solly will become better friends. And Wavy will continue to be the cherry on top, who will be pretty uncomplicated and will just watch the world rush around her.

Either way, I’m starting to feel like we’re settling in to school. I might kick myself in the butt for saying that over the coming weeks, though. I so desire for Laela to walk to school, and I think she and Dekker will go together, but for the first few weeks, I assume we’ll all go together. That means having everyone up, fed, and dressed WAY earlier than usual, and walking together regardless of the weather. I’ve been spoiled having Brady home this last week, too. I’ll be on my own 99% of the upcoming school mornings. I’m going to on top of it!! Yikes! Wish me luck on that, guys.

Until then, though, I’m going to enjoy my kids quiet playing, and the whirring of the few jobs accomplished. Bliss.

We don’t normally prefer to do lots of household chores on a Sunday. Especially not a Sunday that was our church’s Fall kick off Sunday!! However, with Solly fevering a bit over the last couple of days and Wavy sleeping virtually day in and day out (I assume recovering from her vaccines) we weren’t going to make it to church anyway.

Over the last week or so, I’ve been overwhelmed with our house getting a bit too messy and out of control. Its not actually super bad, but was growing more and more cluttered. Wavy sleeps in her cradle in our walk-in closet, so we’re quicker to leave clothes lying around rather than putting them where they belong, since Wavy still sleeps so much. So our room and en suite is a MESS. That, plus the boi water advisory last week set us back in doing dishes, and its just taking a while to catch up from that, so the kitchen is a mess. Aaaaand with Dekker being back in school, his leaves ALL of his little papers on the island, so that’s a mess too!! Gah!!! It was TIME to fix this place up!

So today has turned into a bit of a work day! Laundry is going, and there is a LOT to do! We have a load of Dekker and Rowan’s clothes, one for Solly and the girls, one for all of Wavy’s receiving blankets, one for Brady’s and my jeans and hoodies, one for our tshirts and lighter stuff, and we have four kids worth of bedding to wash, too. So like I said, there’s a lot. So thats currently whirring away. Brady cleaned off the island and is working to get all the kids important papers and stuff from over the summer filed away, and making a space for Waverly in there, too. I unpacked the dishwasher and did a lot that was legit only travel mugs, bottles, and ziploc containers. Does anyone else always leave tupperware and stuff like that for “the next load” and then it just lives on the counter for days and days? Thats what I do! But they’re all washed up now! I still hope to clean out the dishwasher and do one more load of dishes today to get the remaining pots off my counter, plus the dishes we’ve dirtied up today. Some days I wish we could just use disposable dishes and call it good.

My dryer just sang its little ditty, FINALLY, so I’m going to go switch it out!

Boom. Switched. Plenty more to go!

What do you guys think? One big laundry day every week, or a little bit of laundry every day?

I’m not even sure why I’m telling you guys this. But I’m gonna.

Sometime in the last week or so, the Bluetooth in our van quit working. It wouldn’t attach to my phone at all. Not to mention, the Sync system appeared to be glitching. The things it would normally say out loud when summoned were garbled and incomplete. I gave it some time to work itself out and tried a few small things, but I was quickly becoming annoyed with having no music on, the inability to answer phone calls, etc. I took some time after Wavy’s vaccine appointment to try and fight my way through the menus, but to no avail. I could not get it fixed! Grrrrr!

I asked Brady for help a couple of times but we’ve just been SO busy, and when we’re not, we forgot. Yesterday evening, we decided we HAD to figure it out because we were going to run errands the next day, and music is half the fun. But we forgot. Instead, we had a soak and a snack and got settled into bed. And then we remembered. And decided to make a date out of it.

So thats how we ended up in the garage,
in the van,
in our underwear,
sipping apricot brandy,
googling our van issue.

Sigh.

We searched and clicked through the menu over and over again. Brady finally found the right article that told us how to do a factory reset. We got it started, and chatted and sipped while we waited. And waited and waited and waited. And the stupid screen insisted it was resetting! But seriously, we waited forever. I did a bit more searching online, only to find out to my dismay that the vehicle had to be running, not in accessory mode like we had it. That involved opening the garage door so we didn’t die of carbon monoxide poisoning. We weighed our options.

Was it worth going back into the house to put pants on?

Nope.

Should we just open the door and risk it?

Double nope.

Sooooo Brady just reset the thing this morning while the kids ate breakfast, and it was good to go.

The moral of the story is that its hard to get dates when you have a bunch of kids, so take what you can get.

The secondary moral of the story is wear clothes in your garage, always. Because its just weird not to.

Separately, not together, of course.

I mentioned the other day that this week has been consistently full, but with good things! Today was more of that 🙂 It began with Brady being home for breakfast before leaving to finish some work he had started yesterday. I was able to walk Dekker to school again, which I’ve SO enjoyed! When I got back, Brady left to work and I did a few dishes before Cher came by for coffee. Its SO special having such a good friend here in town! Will be a sad day for us when she moves for school in the new year, but we’ll still see her, I think 😉 Plus, its a GREAT move for her, and thats the biggest thing. So we’ll soak up all we can of her over these next months! Thanks, girly, for always documenting my hilarious kids!

Cheeeeeeese!!

She ducked out before lunch, and I got the kids fed. Brady finished his work around that time and helped get the boys down for naps. Shortly after everyone was down, Laela’s kindergarten teacher came for a visit! She got acquainted with Laela, they read a story together, talked some details about school, etc. Laela showed off her backpack and some toys that she likes, and we chatted about any questions or concerns any of us had. It was super informal and relaxed and so so nice. Laela waved at the window like a crazy person when her teacher left. She commented “I like her.” It all bodes very well.

I left just a few minutes later to take Waverly to the clinic for her first set of vaccines. We hit up the weekly walk-in vaccine clinic, which also happens to be where our family doctor works, so its super familiar. It wasn’t too full when we showed up, so we didn’t have to wait too long. Wavy hung out patiently in her car seat.

If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a thousand times. She is SUCH a content little girl. She smiled and smiled and cooed at me while we waited. What a sweetheart.

She wasn’t too terribly fond of her vaccines. Cried a little with the first one, more with the second one. Took the oral one like a champ. The little bandaid thighs always get me!!

She is SO cute!! And she’s getting SO chunky!

We waited our 15 minutes and then headed home. We could’ve juuust made it to get Dekker but it was cutting it so close. Brady rather walked with the rest of the kids and they all went to pick Dekker up together. We all got home at relatively the same time.

Just about supper time over here! Is anyone else eating their body weight in corn on the cob out of the Hutterite colonies? We are!!!