If you’re reading this, you’re likely pretty aware of the fact that the template has changed. I, for one, am VERY happy with the new clean look. Its very bright, simple, and crisp. Is it just me or do the pictures even look better?? The biggest selling feature for me was how much better it is in mobile mode. SO MUCH BETTER! Am I right?! Yes. Yes, I am.

The template is, however, not too different from my last look. I debated completely changing everything, but it seemed like it was only going to get more complicated, and I was definitely not looking to do that. In fact, the main color of this new theme was red, but I wanted to bring it back to blue. I considered purple, because purple is my favorite, but the blue with the current header picture was just unmistakably correct. Maybe when the picture changes, the theme color will. I don’t know yet.

I have to say that unfortunately, it has created a giant pain in my behind for saving my posts into book form. I didn’t predict that, which was my oversight, obviously. I thought the biggest plus would be text color. My previous blog theme used a dark grey for its text, and I couldn’t get around that, but in this new one, I could specify that I wanted it black. That saved me a step in the saving process, because I no longer had to select the text and change the color! However, the font changed. So the step was added to changing the text back to match the rest of the book. I’ll likely go with the new font for the next book, but I’d like to finish out the one I’m working on with the same font, just for the sake of continuity. Not only do I had to switch the font back, but the fonts are different sizes. *eye roll* I know. So now, when I’m rearranging words to fit around pictures, I HAVE to switch fonts first. Otherwise, if I switch it after, its all wrong and jagged and I have to redo it. The last bonus (not really) about this issue is that, for some reason, when I copy and paste paragraphs of text from my blog onto the book template, it stacks the rows of text on top of each other. Spacing reads 016. So I then have to select all of the text again, put the spacing back at 1, and then its correct.

SO. MANY. EXTRA. STEPS. Just about every part of me wants to switch back to my old template, just to avoid all of these extra steps, but I’m trying to keep on moving and not lose motivation! Once I’m caught up, these little issues won’t matter as much, but I have weeks and weeks left of catching up, and the extra work just isn’t as charming as it sounds. But I remind myself again and again, it WILL be worth it! I’ll have the first four books in my hands in the next ten days or so. I’m hoping thats a BIG kick in the pants to keep moving!

All of my griping aside, I hope you guys like the new(ish) look, and that its easier to read on your phones, since I’m pretty sure the majority of you guys read that way. If I’m missing any big error or characteristic, don’t hesitate to let me know!

We made our way in to the city this morning for a big Costco shop, and to duck in quickly at another place or two. The kids were SO CUTE!

No pictures of Solly, as he was wailing every time my phone was out. Poor teething baby.

We had a HUGE haul from Costco, which included and new winter jacket for Brady. He and I both have had the same winter coats since we were dating, and now in the last two weeks or so, we’ve both picked up new ones. Yay for having little incentives to help anticipate the colder weather.

This little girl is committed to her duck lips.

We headed for lunch after Costco, but the kids insisted they weren’t hungry. So we headed to Walmart next, in search of Christmas lights! We had a couple of other things we could pick up, so we did a loop around the store. Brady and I both got a pair of boots. Getting ready for snow, I guess, because apparently people thats happening already! Yikes! We eventually made our way over to the seasonal department, and found an aisle of Christmas lights tucked in between all of the Halloween stuff. We found exactly what we needed and bit the bullet on spending a good chunk of change on a LOT of lights.

We convinced the kids to eat, and then headed home.

Upon arriving home, we discovered that there is a very real reason why we don’t much care for LEDs. I can barely look at them! They hurt my eyes SO MUCH! How does anyone look directly at LED lights?! Ack! Unfortunately, they are just too much for us, and we’ll be returning them. So while that was a bit of a discouraging end to the shopping chunk of the day, but it was still a very successful day. Happy to have gone out, and happy to be home.

Happy evening, everyone!

My original plan for today’s post was going to detail our incredibly relaxed afternoon at home. My brother and his family moved today, so Brady was off around 9:00am, and the kids and I hung around home. I put out a FB shoutout for anyone to drop by and grab a cupcake, but then a friend who needed a bit of a safe place dropped by for the afternoon, which was even better. We visited and enjoyed cupcakes and lattes until Brady got home. It was pretty nice, chill afternoon.

And then we noticed the truck beside our house, loading up his SECOND TRUCKLOAD of materials from the job site next door! We know it was the second, because we had seen a truck stacking up some of the busted up, nailed on scraps earlier that afternoon. I wish we had thought better then, but it seemed unimportant, and maybe like someone was tidying up the site. So we left it. But this time, he was loading up fresh, untouched lengths of 2×4. We put two and two together too late, unfortunately. Not wanting to overreact, I called the site supervisor who had left me his cell number earlier on, and asked him if he was expecting anyone to come for materials. He said he definitely was not, and asked me to call the police, which I did immediately upon hanging up with him.

The officer asked for a vehicle description (we didn’t see the person/people, unfortunately) and we told him the direction they headed. After a while, the police chief showed up at our door and asked a handful of questions. We told him we’d keep our windows open and call if we heard anything else. I know job site theft isn’t uncommon, but this guy came TWICE today! My biggest prayer is that the thief/thieves didn’t see the cop cars looking for them, and comes back for round three. And I PRAY that we hear them! Because how great would that be?! We are fortunate enough that Brady has never lost any tools on a job site, but we know lots of people who have, and the more people are caught stealing, the better!

My day was good, all around, and I feel strangely excited by the way the evening is turning out!

It was three years ago that our little lady was brought into the world. I have to link up her birth story, as always, because it was just that nuts, and if you haven’t read it, you should. While I have ZERO sibling favouritism, I think her birth will always be different in my eyes. It was SO different! While the result, a beautiful child, is an outcome I’ve been blessed with four times, getting there was just different with her. It may sound dramatic, but never having felt labour the way I did with her, I genuinely thought we were both going to die as Brady drove us to the hospital. I didn’t know I was about to deliver. I honest to goodness thought we were about to die. So the relief of her being born, screaming, pink, squishy, and perfect, was very different. What a crazy time!

And how times have changed! Laela is now one of the “big kids” in the house. She is caring and kind, and loves to help. One of the special things she’s been gifted today has been allowing her to do as many of the “jobs” around here as she wants, without Dekker or Rowan “getting them.” So she’s been retrieving and removing diapers, setting the table, doing some dishes, wrapping Solly, etc. She LOVES to help.

We spent the morning baking cupcakes. LOTS of cupcakes. Seriously, like far too many. But they’re all iced and pretty and waiting for their imminent deaths over the next days. After all of that baking, and the couple of people who dropped in to wish her a happy birthday, she is wiped. Currently, she is basking sideways on a recliner, watching Octonauts. She only really pipes up when Dekker asks to switch the show, and she said “no,” because I gave her tv veto (tveto?) power on her birthday. I’m sure she’ll perk up once her usual afternoon quiet time has passed and her daddy comes home. But for now, we rest a little bit.

I should be doing laundry. I should be washing the baking dishes that didn’t fit in the dishwasher. I should be doing lots of things! But its too special of a day for chores. There’s always tomorrow.

If you’re ever reading this, I sure love you, my Laela girl! I couldn’t be happier that you’re in my family! I hope you had a blessed third birthday, and many, many more after that!

We all have titles. Growing up, like most kids, I was known by my older siblings. Simon’s little sister. Caitlin’s little sister. Frank and Jeanne’s girl. Also, like most kids (I think), I kind of hated that. I wanted so badly to be individual, and as an overdramatic little girl, I felt like my individuality was somehow taken away by people knowing me in this way. Its not their fault they met my siblings first! I get that now.

I remember when, once in a blue moon, one of my siblings would tell me they were recognized as “Hailey’s older brother/sister.” I would be elated over the news! It felt like I was making strides somehow.

This morning, as I was walking back to my vehicle after dropping Dekker off at school, I greeted a woman and her kids heading to the kindergarten room. “Good mornings” were exchanged, and we walked our separate ways, but I heard the little boy say “That’s Dekker’s mom.”

Eek!! I could not be prouder to be “Dekker’s mom.” What a fabulous title, WOW! I can really truly see how flattering it is to be identified as someone’s family member. I love that the kids know my son first.

So there you have it! I was “Dekker’s mom-ed” today, and I loved it. I hope it happens many, many more times over the years.

I sure love you, Dekker! I’m SO proud to be your mom!

In case you missed it on Facebook, I have a very exciting parcel coming to me!

As you can see, I put my order in two days ago, and was expecting it to be shipped around mid-October. Waking up to this email was invigorating.

Currently in the mail are my first four books of saved blog posts!! That is TWO FULL YEARS of posts saved! In June, I celebrated my fourth year of blogging, so I’m practically half done. I’ve been completing books and uploading them here and there to the website blurb.com, but on the 26nd, I saw a promo code for 20% off. Since shipping is pretty expensive, I was thrilled to see I could get a discount at all! However, I often find myself in the boat of jumping on a sale, and having a better one surface a week later. I decided to do a bit of research while my fourth book uploaded, which takes a couple of hours. I googled “How often does Blurb have coupon codes?” Surely someone has asked this question before, correct?

I found one better. I found an active coupon code that wasn’t advertised on Blurb, but on a cooking website. It was geared towards getting printing cookbooks, but obviously not enforceable to be used only on cookbooks. So thanks to that code, I got 35% off of my books!!! It made my decision about whether or not to order them very very easy. I cannot believe they’re actually printed and coming!

I was motivated by this to keep working on saving posts, but we had a bit of a rocky afternoon with a certain teething baby boy. Once he was down for a nap, I worked quickly and got two months saved into a fifth book. Not my most productive afternoon but definitely better than nothing at all!

When I first began this process of saving my posts, I was super intimidated. I figured that if I saved a month per day, every single day, diligently, it would still take 7+ weeks. That seemed like a lot to me. I won’t lie, and I’ll admit that I still find the project a bit ominous. Daunting. Intimidating. Scary. Hard. All of the things. I’m so scared to be this far into it and then to hit a road block (I accidentally wrote “road blog” first, lol) and have all of my time and efforts wasted.

But I plan to do absolutely everything in my power not to quit! I declare that there IS value in this project, whether anyone else sees it or not! This doesn’t come from a place of bitterness, I promise. I have not had one single person tell me this isn’t worth it. I have felt support from every angle. But I want to see its value myself. Me. And I do. 🙂 I’m really, really excited about having these memories. Whether I stop blogging tomorrow, or in a year, or in ten years, or never, I will always have these two years in print for my loved ones (current and those to come) to read and laugh about/at over a good cup of coffee.

Yay for the reward from vast amounts of tedious work!!!

Today has been full and fun, and this evening it will continue!

I dropped Dekker off at school, and he was very happy to go today. While I chatted with his teacher, he got his shoes on and headed over to his table. It was SO nice for me to see other kids greet him and to hear him him say hi back. I know that seems small, but it isn’t for him. Its big.

My mom watched the kids until I came back. We visited for a little bit, and then she headed out to get ready for her day. Kim came once her middle son was dropped off at preschool, and we had a coffee date for a couple of hours. It was fun to talk school and kids and Christmas and houses and all of the things. Once our lattes were gone, she headed to pick up her kid, and the kids and I played a little bit longer. Eventually Rowan was starting to lose his cool, so he and Laela got bananas and some crackers, and put the boys down to bed.

I spent the afternoon when another friend and her two little girlies, which happens so rarely but is always a lot of fun. Definitely a guest who I can put my feet up around. She brought noodle bowls and conversation. I liked it a lot.

My mom came once again to watch the littles while I picked Dekker up from school, and stayed for an hour or so to visit. It was SO nice! Brady came home soon after she left, and we chopped up veggies and chicken for wrap for supper. Now, Jerilee is over for Bachelor night, and I am SO looking forward to the kids going down so the trashy tv and snacks can begin!

I hope you all had as enjoyable of a day as I did!

It was one of those days today. The kids were a bit off, which isn’t abnormal, but I had a hard time reigning everyone in. It was one of those days when I struggled harder than usual to be patient and soft. Rather I was grumpy and short with the kids. I wasn’t kind. It was a hard day. There were some very sweet little moments, but they were tucked between lots and lots of screaming and complaining and fight-picking.

Brady came home with an enormous cold brew in hand and sent me upstairs to take a break. Its been so nice. I did, however, surface for a few minutes to make Dekker’s lunch for tomorrow. When I did reappear, the kids were happy and fine. Clearly no love is lost. No bitterness is present. They’re still happy, and they still love me.

Because they’re still so sweet, I’m going to keep hiding, for I am not as sweet as they are, and I don’t want to ruin it. I am fairly confident everyone has days like these, and I am very grateful for the opportunity to duck away and regroup once in a while.

Once everyone is down, Brady and I will eat KFC and watch Scandal until we fall asleep, and I am greatly anticipating that! Woot!

We headed into the city for errands today.

There was a decent amount of running around involved, looking for specific things for Laela’s birthday gifts. Did you know she turns three in FIVE DAYS?! My goodness, suddenly they’re all aging and I’m not ready!

I found what I was looking for (for the most part) and then we did some extra running around for groceries in general. We prefer certain things from certain places, so grocery shopping has us in and out of a small handful of places. I wish we could get it all at one place, haha! But no dice. One thing we really want to get our hands on is outdoor Christmas lights! Call us crazy, but we’d like to put some up sooner than later to avoid the tedious work with ice on the roof. If anyone has seen any great deals, please let me know! We would love to just know where to go without having to check a bunch of places out. We’ll do some measuring and research and hopefully get some soon.

At Costco, I bought a new winter jacket. I’ve had the same winter jacket since before Brady and I were dating. So a LONG time. Yes, I have a fairly newish maternity winter coat, but as I am NOT pregnant, it wouldn’t fit especially well. It was time for a new one, and I actually really love the one I got! Win for me!

I was wearing Solly through Costco. We’ve been thinking he’s been teething for a while, but today it was just so very obvious as he chomped on his hands, drooled, and cried and cried. So we gave him some Tylenol and I rocked him in the ergo. I was SO sad when our Costco shop was over, because he was fast asleep. I felt bad pulling him out of the carrier and plunking him into his seat, but he was suddenly SUPER away and sooooo cute and happy!

We got home later in the day than we expected, and the kids were actually telling us they were tired, which almost never happens. The kids had a yummy, easy, light supper, and they went to bed without any fuss whatsoever. Brady and I are now wracking our brains to think of what to eat for supper. I’m not sure why we’re all so wiped but it is a common thread this evening around here.

I hope you all had a successful day to wrap up the weekend with!

Brady and I were asked to play guitar and sing for a cafe night in town last night, and it was a very real success! Not our music, even, but the whole event!! I have high hopes that the project will move forward and that our small town will soon have a new establishment coming up!

We played for a solid hour before the presentation while everyone drank specialty coffee and ate fancy desserts and visited. I LOVED the din that swallowed our music up. We were a little bit nervous going into the event, as we weren’t able to polish up our voices and songs as well as we would have liked, and we didn’t want to make tons of big mistakes. The sounds of visiting and bustling and eating and laughing was PERFECT, because not only did it sound exactly as a coffee shop should sound, but it let us be exactly what we had hoped for – some solid background music. We thoroughly enjoyed it.

We were among some of the last to leave, as we got our visiting in after we were done playing. Meanwhile, the hired barista was packing up his station. He came over to us with a 4L jug of whole milk in his hand and said “A tip for the musicians with a bunch of kids!” Everyone still in the room burst out laughing, myself included, but I was also thrilled, haha! Being that we go through an outrageous amount of milk, that was actually a hilarious and incredibly appreciated tip!

We took our guitar and milk home to our quiet house. Hailey had gotten our kids off to bed, and had done all of our dishes! We sat and visited into the wee hours of the morning before she headed on her way and we hit the sack. It all rounded out to be a super nice day. We thoroughly enjoyed playing music together for a crowd again. Its been SO long. I hope, if this cafe comes to life, we’re asked again. 🙂