We have arrived safely at our rental, which we lovingly refer to as “the cabin.” Before we got here, though, we spent last night at my parents, and attended church this morning. Rowan slept through the entire service. The kids were cute. (And possibly upside down. Sorry, folks!)

After church, we toured everyone through the build again. My parents hadn’t seen it since it was insulated, so it feels like an entirely new place! It was so thrilling to walk through it again, honestly. I never get tired of it. I had someone comment to us the other day that our house was moving so slowly, and I actually laughed out loud, thinking they were being sarcastic. Guys, its been less than two months since ground has been broken. TONS has been done! I suppose anyone can think what they want, but this has been an incredibly fast paced build, especially considering the weather. Thank you Lord for a gentle winter.

We had lunch with my parents before we started the mad pack of the freezer and fridge stuff to take with us, as well as our bedding and a few other miscellaneous things. It took a bit longer than expected, which shouldn’t be unexpected at all at this point, since it seems to always happen, haha! But we did finally manage to get on the road around 4:00pm. The kids had never seen the cabin before today, so we were curious how they would react.

I thank the Lord, because the kids LOVE it here! It is unlike anywhere we’ve ever lived before, and they are ALL over it. They were comfortable immediately. We toured them around, and they were content to play and explore while we got supper ready and the freezer stuff unpacked and organized. They liked having some of their old familiar stuff lying around too. The couch is back, the dining table is back, and best of all, their TOYS are back!!! We have a beautiful loft that is carpeted and short with a big window at the one side. We took all of the toys that they received at Christmas that they haven’t been able to crack into, and put them up in the loft. I predict they will spend hours upon hours playing in that loft, as will I, because it is amazing. We had lots of playtime and some rest as well.

The kids are comfortable, and so are Brady and I.

Bedtime was a little bit hard, but mostly because the kids are excited and riled up, as one would expect for a first night. It wasn’t the smoothest, routined bedtime, of course, and once Dekker and Laela were both in jammies and had prayed, this happened.

They snuggled into Dekker’s bed together, and we heard them each say that they liked the other. It was music to my ears. I’m glad they were cozy. I can’t wait until we can actually leave them in a bed for sleepovers!

Rowan went down right afterwards, and he was also happy and comfy.

He’s still wide awake, lol, but terribly cute, so its allowed.

Now, after a bit of a hectic day, Brady and I going to find supper and settle down for the night. Our first night here. I’m very very hopeful that we will be able to find peace and comfort here for the next two or three months. This is SUCH an answer to prayer for us!!! Thank you all for your positive thoughts and prayers. They have truly been felt.

After all of the work Brady put in on Friday, and the hauling of furniture and organizing done by Brady, my dad, a group of fantastic friends, and myself (a little, anyway) we are as good as moved into hopefully the second last house we will live in! I feel incredibly hopeful and confident that this place will suit us well until our home is built and ready for us. The order of the day went like this:

Brady, my dad, and I left the house at 8:00am. Willa had arrived shortly before that to spend the day with my mom and the kids, which was WONDERFUL to know we’d have the entire day to move, kid free. My dad drove the truck and trailer, Brady drove the truck we had borrowed yesterday, and I drove the van, which was loaded down with all of our clothing and a few other little things. We met a couple guys at our storage container and sifted through the front half of it or so, pulling out furniture we’d need. Our last rental was furnished and this one is not, so we needed to pull beds, dressers, dining table, etc., out of storage. We found just about everything we were looking for, as well as a few things I didn’t think we’d be lucky enough to find! I found the tub of clothing that Rowan has just grown into, so now I dont have to buy him an entire new wardrobe. And I found a tub of clothes that were too big on Laela when we moved, so thats pretty perfect, as she’s currently sizing up as well. I found a few things for a newborn, considering we could very well still be renting when the baby is born, such as the teeny clothes, bouncy chair, etc. It was a very successful trip!

We all drove over to the rental and everyone began hauling furniture in right away. The guys who came to help could only stay for a couple of hours, so we put them through the heaviest parts of it. Our big couch ALMOST didn’t fit through the doors! But once all of the big things were in, they were gone. I was SO pleased when Jerilee and Hailey came!! Not only for moral support, but they hauled as many boxes as the next guy. They helped me organize my life and get things where they needed to go. We were all pooched by lunch, and the pizza didn’t perk us up as much as I was expecting. Unfortunately, my hips were in rough shape, despite my wearing the handibelt all morning, so I sat and delegated. I’ll be honest. It felt SO weird and uncomfortable to me to tell my really really good friends what to do. Passing them boxes and sending them to do laps. But they are some of the best people I know, and they were so normal about it that I didn’t have to feel awkward for long.

When I finally gave out for the day, I discovered my massive pregnancy pillow was already laid out on my bed!!! I went to lay in it, and Jerilee and Hailey came with me. We all sat/lay on the bed and talked about all of the moves and the exciting things to come. It felt weirdly comforting having my friends tour through the house and agree with me that it is going to be a good fit for us. I really really want it to be, and I believe that it will be too! It was hugely encouraging. What a great, productive day!

Speaking of productivity, we also ordered our cabinets today!!! I’m so so so excited about that!! They are scheduled to be here in less than two weeks time, and I’m super looking forward to assembling them with Brady in our basement while I inevitably force him to watch pregnant movies with me. Its ok, he knows its coming. I make him watch the same handful of movies in every pregnancy. It just happens.

With the day being so big and wonderful, we are wiped right out. WIPED. We watched a movie with my parents, and now its time for bed. I am too tired to even have a snack, and you guys who have read for a while now understand that is a pretty serious situation for me. But its definitely bedtime. I hope you guys had as wonderful (but maybe less busy) of a Saturday as we did!!!

I’m starting this post at 9:05pm. Brady has been working since about 9:00am this morning. That doesn’t include the hours he put in yesterday unloading his van and packing it full of boxes from the basement. The events of today went as follows:

Brady drove into the city to pick up keys.
Keys acquired.
Brady meets up with cable/internet installer.
Cable guy does his thing for 1.5-ish hours while Brady does laps from his van to the house.
Entire van load of boxes is properly dispersed through the rental house.
Cable guy leaves.
Brady drives a few blocks and borrows a truck from a loving, willing friend.
Brady buys lunch.
Brady drives by the build and witnesses siding guy pulling off old siding and replacing it as he goes.
Brady and Hailey and mom celebrate!
Brady and Hailey and mom eat junior bacon cheeseburgers.
Brady hooks the truck up to the trailer that has been living in the driveway all through March.
Brady drives to the city and unloads the entire 15′ trailer BY HIMSELF.
Brady drives home for a 7:15pm supper.
Around 8:00pm, Brady begins to haul the rest of our stuff out of the basement and gradually loads it into the truck and our van.
Now, at 9:15pm, he is still doing laps.

My husband, how I love you. How I WISH I could help you. How sorry I am that I sat almost all day while you worked so hard. How I appreciate you more than I can say, though I really really do try!

My husband wins. Everything. Always.

We love you, Brady. Thank you for all you do for us.

Brady and I ducked out today while the kids were napping to go see the house. Don’t worry, my mom was home while we were out. We wanted to see if the basement was insulated, and I wanted to see it in person, since its been a little while since I’ve been inside.

The on the main floor was 99% done yesterday, but Brady had forgotten to check the basement. Whether it was done yesterday or not, the entire house is fully insulated and polyed! The basement is tarped off, and there is a giant heater down there, thawing the ground so plumbing can be dug in and down the line, the basement can be poured. I can’t wait!!! While I’m reasonably fond of the rocks, I’d much prefer concrete in the future 😉 As Brady has told me yesterday, the house feels entirely different with the insulation!! Its quieter, and warmer, and not as echoey! MUCH more like a house and less like a shell that will turn into a house. I like it a LOT.

We did have one tough situation with our new house build today, and that is actually with the siding color. The siding has been making its way up onto the walls for a few days now, and I’ve been suspicious that the shade of grey was off. I’ve mentioned it a few times, but just kind of casually. Today, I really came to terms with the fact that I genuinely thought it was different than the color we had picked. I asked Brady seriously about it, and he took me very seriously. The color they are putting up is a lovely smokey grey. I LOVE that color of grey pretty much everywhere! But the big goal of this house is that we want it light. Very light. Everything about it. We compared some of the pictures we had taken of our house to some of the home we had used as our color guide, and they looked fairly different. But the lighting was also different. So Brady drove back to our house and took close up shots of the siding, far away shots, as well as the name on the box. Then he drove straight into the city and once again, took close up and far away shots of the siding we had asked for. SUCH a difference!

Brady took on the undesirable job of getting in touch with our builder and letting him know the situation. And this is why I LOVE our home builder. He got in touch with the siding company right off the hop and arranged for the siding to be removed starting tomorrow. No blame was placed, no fingers pointed, and we are getting the color we originally asked for!!! Mistakes are inevitable. It would be impossible to get every single thing perfect. I am completely thrilled that our builder is so willing to correct the mistake on their end and keep the process moving as quickly as possible. A large part of me really doesn’t like putting people out AT ALL, but the other part of me is incredibly thankful that we’re getting our original color after all. Big win for just about everyone.

We had a yummy supper to celebrate our success, and ended off the evening with a serious business dog pile between me and the kids. Now, Brady is doing some laps and hauling stuff into his van for the first load of moving tomorrow. He’s meeting our landlords and our internet hookup guy in the morning, so he’s getting some of the stuff transferred there already then. My mom is seeming to be organizing papers and doing some stuff on the computer. And I’m blogging, obviously, and anticipating some YouTube soon. Looks like a relaxing night after a somewhat stressful afternoon. Thank goodness that is over!

I spontaneously tagged along with my mom on an errand afternoon today! Brady stayed home and got TONS of calling done in regards to our house decisions, our rental, etc. I am SO grateful to him for the amount of work he puts in without a complaint. He is a top notch husband!

My mom and I galavanted all over the city, and accomplished every single thing on our list. It was a huge success, and my body waited until the very very end before even showing signs of soreness or fatigue. I was vey thankful for that! As much as I try to power through things, because I WANT to be out and about, I know I have limits these days. Thankfully, I wasn’t too terribly limited today 🙂

When we got back to town, we drove to see the house, and I’ll admit that I was a bit disappointed. Not a whole lot of progress had happened with the shingling since yesterday. Very little, in fact. Still, we pulled up in front of the house and opened the window up to take a picture of the progress that there was, and I heard music. Through the glare on the living room window, we could barely see inside the house, but someone was still working in there! I loved seeing that, because almost everyone calls it at 4:59, but it was after 5:00 and whoever was in there was still up on ladders and moving quickly, from what we could see. Sadly, I didn’t have our key on me, the door was locked, and the music was blasting, so I didn’t get to go check out the inside, but Brady ducked out a couple of hours later to go check the progress.

I was THRILLED to learn that the vast majority of the house is insulated!!! The entire upstairs is done, minus a few little pieces that still need poly. Brady admitted that he forgot to check the basement, so I’m not sure if thats done or not, but if the one guy working there could do the entire upstairs in one day, the basement will be a piece of cake!!! I’m sooooo excited about all of this! I hope siding picks up a bit, but weather is weather. Its all wrapped in vapour barrier, and the roof is shingled, so nothing is stopping the progress inside. The next step is drywall, which feels incredibly surreal to me. Drywall. As in, walls. Walls that make rooms. That are part of the actual HOUSE! I know, I know, I sound crazy. But seriously, I am completely loving this entire process, and seeing it all come together.

We are certainly blessed to be able to build such a lovely home <3

No one is sick at the moment. We are living in a relaxed environment. Brady has time off this week. Our family can truly breathe. Yet, I’ve come to the realization that I am still struggling to calm down. My subconscious knows how much we have coming up and going on in our life, and while I feel like I can rest, to a degree at least, my mind is constantly whirring with ideas and lists and events.

I finally bit the bullet and made a big ugly list just the other day, and we are starting to comb through it and get as much of it done as we can. I often make these big, scary lists, and we accomplish a solid 70% of it before we just peter out and it never ever gets done. This list is different. This list HAS to get finished off, and it HAS to get done very very soon. I greatly anticipate crossing each and every thing off of it!

Brady made a bunch of calls this morning and got lots of house things organized. We set up a meeting with the landlords of our rental, arranged for SaskTel to come install hookups, transfer renters insurance, etc. We spent a ton of time planning out all of the shelving in our new build as well. Brady is the master of shelving and custom closets, so we went big in our designs and will be ordering almost twice the shelving material that our floorplan usually orders. Whoops! Its ok though. I’m really excited for our new closets!!!

In the late afternoon, Kim texted me and asked me out on a date for dessert. She picked me up right after supper, and first, headed over to go look at the new house! The entire house is wrapped in vapour barrier now, minus a few little spots under the peaks and such. Siding has officially begun on the north side of the house!!!!! That particular part doesn’t seem to be going especially quickly, but I suppose if the vapour barrier is up, interior stuff can keep moving. That being said, I saw packages upon packages of insulation through the front window!! I can’t believe its all happening so fast! We’re sure thrilled.

I had a lovely date with Kim. We bought ended up with hot chocolate, and a piece of cake the size of our head, and packed up the majority of it to bring home. We made a couple of quick little stops before she drove me home, but it was really nice to just duck out for an hour or two with a friend! I can’t wait for that to happen more when we actually live in town 🙂 When I arrived home, I basically high fived Brady and he headed out to hang out with some guys from church. He really enjoyed his outing as well, but I think its nice to be together too. Funny how I miss him when we haven’t seen each other even just for the evening. I’m fairly attached to my husband, if you haven’t picked up on that. Big fan.

Time for some Brooklyn Nine-Nine and then bedtime. I’m SO tired today, but anticipating more home stuff getting done tomorrow! Eek! Life sure doesn’t slow down!

Today was a solidly loaded day! I felt very booked today, but I haven’t had a solidly busy day in a while, so it was good to be out and about. Lots and lots going on.

The day began early, with the big kids lulling before 7:00 and Rowan sleeping until after 9:30, when we woke him from a dead sleep. It was a bit of a disjointed morning, but we did ok getting breakfast and such. Once we were done with breakfast, the kids and I headed off to Kims for a play date. It was a great success on many levels. The kids ate great, and played well, and her son that is currently potty training did well through our entire visit! It was perfect! Except that Rowan boycotted his nap. BAD. I haven’t had his struggle so hard to sleep in SO LONG! He wailed and mourned and stood up instantly. He kicked and fought and cried and cried and cried. I know, it just sounds like he wasn’t sleepy, but I know my kid, and he was wildly overdone. He’s always slept fine at their house, in the exact same place, in the same room, etc. But it was what it was. So he came down to play with everyone else instead. It was a bit rough, but he was happierish for the most part. When it became apparent that he was no longer going to cooperate with anyone for anything, we headed for home. It was much earlier than we’d normally leave, but Rowan HAD to nap.

When we got home, I put Rowan down and he was quiet pretty much instantly. The big kids were quite out of sorts, and being fairly misbehaved, but it was too late to nap their sorry, overtired butts, so instead, we ended up bickering for most of the afternoon. It was hard, I won’t pretend it wasn’t. My mom was home, which helped a lot actually, but I still was feeling quite tired from running so much interference between Dekker and Laela.

It was just shortly before supper that we gained Brady back. Today was his FIRST day working in OUR HOUSE! He had really anticipated this day, so he was revved up to go. He spent a few hours this afternoon working at our place, and our laundry chute is officially installed! He also came with exciting house updates for me! Not only do we have more of an idea of a realistic schedule, but lots was going on there today! The shingle guy finished up the roof, the electricians were on site and are aiming to be done tomorrow, the siding was being delivered, and the siding guys were starting to wrap the house in vapour barrier. We even have a main bathroom tub/shower combo installed!!!!! I think one of my favorite things about watching the build go down is coming on site and seeing SO MANY CREWS there on the same day!!! It just feels like things are clipping along at a great, efficient pace, which I am thrilled about. Eek! SO much got done today, and the next parts are very exciting parts as well!

We had a great supper of tacos, which I ate way too much of, and then I quickly got ready and headed out to the city for Jerilee’s official debut as a new sales director with Mary Kay. She’s been working towards this goal for a good few months and finally reached it, and this Monday evening event specifically focused in on her success with the company and encouraging her in what is to come. It was lovely to watch so many people there love her so well, and have her back. It was also great to hear her recount the last year, and how things have changed and improved and the work that she has done to get it moving. I’m a very proud bestie over here <3

I headed out around 9:30, grabbed a couple of coffees for tomorrow morning, and went home. My dad is away this week, and I felt SO warm driving up and seeing my mom and my husband hanging out together in the living room. They sat and chatted all evening. I’m so pleased they have such a fabulous relationship, to the point of that not being an uncomfortable situation. Some of my favorite people right there.

As today has been incredibly full, I’m done writing about it for the day. Tomorrow should be much more low key. Knock on wood!

Before I overload you with pictures of my kids from today, I’ll start with a few from the last day or two…

They couldn’t NOT try them on!

NOW to Easter! The kids survived church this morning, hunted for some chocolate this afternoon, and got super hyper this evening. It was a good day 😀

Happy Easter from our family to yours! He is Risen.

Brady and I took the kids to the city for a bit of an errand day today, but it was the BEST kind because we had very few places to hit, so we took our time and the day went pretty smooth. The main goal for the trip in was for ducting. Brady is granting my wish of a laundry chute in our new build, and he is installing it next week. After much research, we decided to go the route of ducting. Its the cheapest, the easiest, and as long as its all taped off on the inside, it should be nice and smooth and work just as well as a laundry chute box built from melamine or whatever else. So the was priority 1. Priority 2 was finding Dekker a spring jacket. The one he had last fall was too small on him then, so its definitely time for something new.

First and foremost, we picked up some lunch. With our relaxed days like these, we take forever to get out the door in the morning, and therefore, we got to the city right around lunch. So we snagged some food and then began our errands.

The ducting was easily acquired at Home Depot. All of our supplies were purchased for less than $100. Win!

We ran a few other little errands in between the priorities. At Walmart, I accidentally bought a Keurig Rivo. It wasn’t my fault! I totally blame the rollback price!! The kids approved though. WordPress is fighting the power and won’t load up any of the adorable pictures I took of them :/ They celebrated though, I promise.

The jacket took more digging. Rowan and Laela both have little adorable fake leather jackets, and thats what we had for Dekker originally as well, but after browsing a bit online and through one or two stores, it does not seem to be the style this year. Everywhere we looked, we found basic, swishy windbreakers. And that was IT. Lots of them were even pullovers. To me, they felt dated, but we were just looking for something clearly different. We finally found what we were looking for at Old Navy. I rarely shop at Old Navy, but we made a quick change of course, just to check it out, and found an army green, heavy but not bulky, well fitted spring/fall jacket. It was incredibly pricey, in my opinion, but on clearance, it was a price I was expecting to pay for something at full price, so we went for it. Dekker loved it, and wore it for the rest of the trip.

Unfortunately, by the time we got back, the kids had slept a bit in the van, but clearly not enough, and they were pretty much finished. Anything that wasn’t quite what they had hoped for sent them into a devastating meltdown. So many tears tonight. Rowan was probably in the best shape, which is strange, because he is definitely the one who is still the most nap dependant. But hey, I’m not complaining!

We ate a delicious supper of home pizza and cold veggies, and now the kids are tucked away in bed. Early. Because they are crazy.

When the kids are awaaaay, the adults…. eat brownies!

Nope, you’re right, Rowan’s birthday was over a month ago. He turned one on February 23rd. We were all too sick to celebrate, and we’ve been in something of a whirlwind since then, or rather, long before then. We had bought some yummy treat-ish finger foods for his birthday supper, but we were all living on toast and soup at that point, and we never got there. Well today was finally the day that we basically squeezed in a birthday party. And if I’m being totally honest, I think it was the perfect party for all of us.

First, though, Brady had to go into work to finish off one hour of work. Lame, I know. But he brought home breakfast sandwiches and coffee for all of us. Win!

Rowan napped earlier than usual today. After his incredibly difficult last few evenings, we watched for him to get a bit sleepy, and then put him down in the late morning. He had a nice shorty nap and woke up happy. I had kept the kids up rather than napping them, so when Rowan woke up, we all settled into the living room and watched Home. We watched it once at our last rental and it was a hit. The music is upbeat and the characters are cute and likeable. We also found the “bad guy” to be portrayed well, not shown a ton, and we learned that he wasn’t actually “bad” in the end. It wasn’t a story of defeating anyone, but understanding. The kids love it.

After the movie, we loaded the kids into the van, my parents got into their car, and we all headed over to our new house. We finally got to tour my parents through it, which we’ve been anticipating. We’ve only been able to show the kids, and we’ve obviously seen it, but we haven’t had a chance to show anyone else in person. It was fun to traipse through and show new eyes what we are so very excited for. It was also nice to see what had been done since we were last there! From what we can tell, all of the plumbing rough ins are in, lots of electrical is done, but they’ll be back on Monday, and the roofing guy was even on site, hammering away while we walked around inside. The shingles are a solid half done, which I am thrilled about.

We came home and put Rowan down for another shorty nap, and once he was up about an hour later, we made his supper of popcorn chicken, smile fries, and a big ol bowl of strawberries. Everyone ate great. The kids love meals that are dip-happy, and this was DEFINITELY a dip friendly meal. Rowan didn’t care much for the chicken, but I blame that on the eat of consumption of the fries. He ate lots of fries, drank lots of milk, and filled up on berries. We sang for him and had cake afterwards. We had made him a brownie in a round pan to make it look more like a birthday cake and less like a square, haha! But it was incredibly well received, as you can imagine. The kids buzzed until bedtime, and looking in their monitor, they are most definitely still buzzing. But I can’t blame them. I want more of that cake this evening. And some more strawberries.

I’ll leave you with pictures. I hope your day was as comfortable and low key as ours.

Happy birthday party, my littlest little! You are completely, perfectly, unreasonably loved.