Its been SUCH a lovely, productive day, and the kids aren’t even home yet! Thats probably why I got so much done 😏 I tease. Sort of.

Before 9am, I had texted my doctor and booked an appointment, texted a social worker and set up a phone appt, sorted and started laundry, ordered some things for the girls ballet performance, ordered some important items for the morsel, and began an Amazon return. Oh and I pulled out eggs for the baking I planned to do later in the day, because room temperature eggs are usually important. Right? Right. I think.

After those things were done, Cher came over for coffee and some breakfast toast. Yes, I am that classy, serving my guests toast 😅 But she was happy and we had a really nice couple of hours together. In that time, the babies also got up. I fed the morsel and Cher fed the spoonful. It was a really nice time all together!

When Cher headed home, the babies went for naps, and I got back into it! I had some lunch first, and watched 20 minutes or so on YouTube. I hung to dry the annoying load of laundry and kept that all moving. My baking plan turned out to not be possible today, so I shifted gears and decided to bake something else. Three batches later, I have enough cookies baked and contained to make 95 homemade oreos! And I do mean LEMON oreos! They are incredible. Don’t knock them until you’ve tried them.

I have them ready to freeze, and when the time comes to actually serve them or gift them, I’ll make the filling and they’ll come together SO quickly. Boom. One big batch off the list! The other baking can wait for another day.

Or. Maybe I’ll get into that once the kids are home. I could at least make dough. Hmmm 🤔 They’ll be home very shortly, and I have a few chores for them.

If I’m done baking for the day, that is also ok 💜 I’ve done plenty of good work today. And there is still supper to cook! I think I’m officially almost out of ground beef, which I have not been for a LONG time, thanks to the crazy generosity of people we love 💜 Who/where do my local friends buy their beef from? I’d so love to support those around me!!

Ok. Whew! Gonna put my feet up for five more minutes!! Except the morsel just started crying… 😅

We had a REALLY lovely family photo sesh this weekend, courtesy of my own personal best friend, sweet Cherice 💜 I have them in hand now, and a couple have even been emailed out to become *gasp* a Christmas card!! I’m SO stoked to actually get some of those out again this year!

Of course, as you can imagine, I can’t post any! Because yes, we did include our beautiful bonus babes in them. So the internet can forget that, hahaha! You’ll have to take my word for it that they are beautiful and lovely and just absolutely exactly what I pictured 🥰 I am SO happy.

Since I can’t show you those, I’ll show you Brady rocking our big grill, making pancakes for an army.

I can’t flip that many that close together without some overlap. He is a MUCH more capable pancaker than I am. And that is why he is breakfast man.

Pancakes, bacon, and peaches from a can. What else does a person need?

We are working intentionally to not get ahead of ourselves, but we are also finding some deals on furniture that would really be ideal in the next house. Don’t worry, I am aware we don’t live there at this point 😅 I know it could all fall apart. And if it does, the things we’ve found can also exist here 🙂 So there is no real loss here except that, for the moment, we have too many bed frame. Things could be worse.

On Friday, I found us a better table! I was SO thrilled!! Someone was clearing out an abandoned property and was selling a beefy, beat up, gigantic dining table. I spoke for it as soon as I saw it, and it was ours! We even paid the people a little extra to deliver it, which we never do, but it was so worth it this time around. Whew! So we moved all the chairs out and got our black table cleaned up for sale.

Someone asked for it within the hour and it was gone and picked up before the new one came in!

Brady LOVES this table. Which makes me feel pretty good for finding it. As he and Rowan assembled it, Brady raved about how it was solid maple. Hand built. SUPER heavy and strong. He said the amount of lumber that would’ve needed to be bought to build this table now would be around $1000. He is thrilled with it.

We put little cork feet on it and it was readyyyyy!!

Its already bigger than our last table and we still have another leaf for it! What a huge win for our large family, as well as for our future family gatherings! Its perfect!

By perfect, I do mean its beat up to no end. The table top has huge gouges on it, and even paint. But its big and beautiful, and totally possible to refinish down the road. We are kind of loving the dark chairs alongside it, so maybe someday we’ll paint the base to match the dark chairs, and refinish the top with some kind of lighter stain. Who knows. Not anytime soon anyway!

Also yesterday, I locked down the purchase of a HUGE until for Dekker and Solly. Ideally it’ll be for the next place, but again, it could work here if need be. No issues! I unfortunately don’t have a picture of that one, but take my word for it that it will be awesome.

We found something of a bunk bed, but it has a dresser and desks and shelving all attached! Its kind of like that big Jysk loft bed, but its better and will last longer for the boys, I think. Dekker will even have a little alcove where he could read while Solly is asleep if he wanted to. It is SUCH a win, and for a good price!! But man. It was ALMOST the first thing that didn’t fit in the van! Hahaha! But we got it, thanks to Brady, the really kind guy who sold it to us, and their mad Tetris skills.

And I thought fitting a kayak in there was impressive! WOW! This was a LOT of pieces, but it was really nicely labelled and organized so it’ll be pretty straightforward to rebuild.

Hopefully in the new place 🤞 HOPEFULLY!

Today is yet another day that holds many plans! We did get to sleep in a bit, which was lovely, but once everyone was up, we were UP and going! The three kids who didn’t get baths yesterday had them this morning, and I washed my hair in the kitchen sink, as I do. I buzzed three heads and curled three heads of hair. Around 10am, my mom and Cher came over to get us set up forrrrr

Family pictures!! We settled on some beautiful, casual photos this year, filled with LOTS of love and close snuggles!! Cher came to take the pictures, and my mom came to help get everyone to look at the same time. As a team, things moved quickly and we were probably taking photos for a cool five minutes. I’ve only seen previews so far but I absolutely LOVE what I’ve seen 💜 They are exactly what I was hoping for!! I’m SO excited that we’re still going to get cards going, even if they end up shipping a bit late. Big deal. They will be worth the wait!

Thank you SO MUCH to Cher, for taking our pictures and for showing us love in that way. And thank you SO MUCH, mom, for coming and being part of the crazy, and being a silly, fun grandma that the kids want to look at 💜 You guys are the BEST team for our family! We love you!

Those were taken, and we all came inside and got back to our morning. We RELAXED for a little bit, even!! Coffee was drank, and lego was brought out.

Lunch began right around noon. Babies went down for naps. We all started getting some lunch together.

My current to-do list is mostly managed from the laptop. I need to finish the blog (almost done!) and also write out what I want our Christmas card to say. I need to make some notes on how our evenings run for my mom this evening, becauuuuuse Brady and I are going to the Zaks Christmas party tonight! Heyooo! I’m so stoked to be out for the evening together!!! Beyond those things, I need to finish cooking up some supper, and I’d love to get our December calendar written out.

Never a shortage of things to do, or be grateful for! 💜

Today was busy. This moring

HA! Case in point! I was stopped at that point to help Wavy wash her hair 😅 So let’s start again.

Today was busy!! This morning, Cher came and helped me do a few things around the house that super needed doing before I was headed to the city! Thank you, Cher, for coffeeing and cleaning with me 💜

The babies and I went into the city sooner than we needed to, because they were restless, but there wasn’t time for a nap before we had to go. So we did it that way. Naturally, no one actually slept on the drive, but they LOVE shopping! So I took them into Costco with me to get a couple of things I forgot the last time. Unfortunately, those things were a few bottles of drinks for Christmas. And let me tell you. It feels WEIRD buying alcohol with children in tow. But I’m pretty sure it was only me who cared, hahaha! I have been in the liquor section once, weeks ago, and the woman at the till lit up when she saw me.

“Did you bring my sweet babies back?!”

She legitimately remembered us. I could tell based on the small talk she offered. It was so cool, and she was really sweet to all of us.

I got my items and loaded everyone back up in the van. At that point, it was time to go to the appointment, which was the whole point of the trip in. We got there on time, and had a REALLY successful appointment! I felt uplifted and positive. Babies were less optimistic and much more hungry. As was I. So kids got fed and I got out of there, and hit a drive-thru on my way home. Which was tight because today, some stuff was up, and I HAD to be home before the kids were.

I sat in the Wendy’s line for a bit longer than I expected to, but I was still ok time wise. I paid at the window, and had yet to move up to the next window. I waited for a couple of minutes, and suddenly I saw a woman in that same pay window waving at me. I opened my window and she passed me my food.

“They’re just taking too long, have your lunch.” she said.

And I just thought that was so awesome. Because she had NO idea I was in a rush. I was very polite and chill, but I was antsy on the inside. And she just did a super nice thing, just because!

I got out of there nice and quickly, and had a very delicious drive home. Aaaaand I made it on time! Heyooo!

Its been busy since school got out as well, but I’ve been able to manage the busyness from my chair, for the most part. Its nice putting my feet up 🙂

Its been a full but good day 💜 And now its the weekend! Not that this weekend slows down much at all, haha! But again. GOOD things. I’m so very grateful! Thank you Lord!

Hopefully my readers are judgement free… 😬

The other day we drove to Kinasao first thing in the morning, and as is customary for us, we planned to get a super easy breakfast on the way. The issue is, Warman and Martensville don’t have strawberry cream cheese anymore, and we all like it best. So, later this summer, we had investigated our other options, one of them being *takes a deep breath* McDonalds apple pies.

I know I know I know they’re trash they’re dessert you feed your kids that stuff?!?!

Yes. I do. Occasionally. Its really going to be ok.

So, as we have learned to do, I called McDonalds as we drove, and I politely tipped them off that we were on our way and planned to order 14 apple pies.

Things I never thought I’d say.

Anyway. The person on the phone told me they don’t usually make them in the early morning (shocker) but since we wanted so many, they’d happily do it. She thanked me profusely for calling ahead.

So fifteen minutes later or so, we drove up to the window, and Brady spoke to the person taking orders.

“Hi there! My wife called ahead earlier for fourteen apple pies.” We were both laughing like fools.

There was a longer pause than we expected, and she asked us to just hold on for a minute. We looked at each other, and I know we were both thinking our pies got lost in the shuffle and they hadn’t been put in. Which would’ve been completely fine, to be clear! Nooooo one was mad here. We were just oddly self conscious, haha! The order taker finally came back on the speaker and said…

“I’m sorry, I know you called for fourteen apple pies, and we have them, but there is no order on the screen here…..”

😳

Brady hesitantly responded with “I’d like to order fourteen apple pies, please.”

“For sure!” said the McDonalds employee.

We laughed SO HARD. Not because we’re jerks, but it just felt like a very odd interaction. Was the next step not quite clearly to enter them as an order? I don’t know. But we got a good laugh.

When we got to the window, the woman who brought them to us was also laughing. It seemed like the entire thing was all around strange, but we were all pretty light hearted about it, and that made it better.

Anyway. McDonalds apple pies for breakfast. You should try it. But, call first.

Oof. It really was.

I had to be in the city today for an appointment, so I hit Walmart in the meantime for some necessities. And WOW did those add up quickly!

Yup. So thats a convertible car seat, a big box of Similac concentrate liquid formula, and FOUR boxes of Nestle concentrate liquid formula. Goodness what I wouldn’t give for both babies to at least take the SAME formula! But there are reasons, so we go with it. But man alive. Its a lot.

I also went on the mad hunt for sugar. Did you guys know there’s a shortage?? Its a crappy time for it, but I’m sure that is part of the plan to get things going. After hitting a handful of places, I found myself at Bulk Barn, scraping the end of the brown sugar out of the container. So at least I got some.

I got home with my purchases, plus a few other little things, and the kids helped me unload. They’re nice.

Once Brady got home from work, we loaded the kids up and went back into the city to purchase a large cabinet unit that I’d found on Facebook Marketplace. I’ll be honest. It doesn’t have a home here at our house. It definitely has a home at the next house. And we’re still waiting on that. But it was a leap of faith so we took it.

Aaaaand conveniently, I found SUGAR!!!

Christmas baking can commence! And did you know brown sugar is just white sugar with molasses? So I have enough for that, too! Just have to buy molasses 😅 Whoops!

Anyway. Expensive day. I am nice and tired after all the running around, and tomorrow holds much of the same! An appointment and more shopping!

First 🙌 SLEEP!

If this isn’t the vibe I’ve had recently, I don’t know what is 😅

Doesn’t that look like a deep sleep?? She’s usually already awake when I open her door, but today I had to work to wake her 💜 Little sweetie!

Tired or not, the day is upon us, and its my ONE day without appointments! Heyooo! So it shall hold baking, making, wrapping and maybe even a little resting! Yesterday was a bit productive…

I need to chop and wrap the bars today, too. But priority one is wrapping presents!! Because I’m Wavy-free today, and I know the morsel and the spoonful won’t tell anyone who is getting what.

I hope you all have a day with a healthy split of work and rest, and that your babies are trustworthy 😅

See what I did there? Christmas at Kinasao was on Saturday, and I haven’t shared too terribly much! So here I am to share what I can 💜

I will say here, however, that things are SO different on the blog now that we foster, because there is SO MUCH I can’t say, and SO MANY PICTURES I can’t post. Its hard. Its like I’m hiding a huge part of our life now, which is not my usual. We’re quite open in real life, and I’m happy to talk to anyone in person about fostering! But the blog is just too public for it. So. There are very few pictures I can post, and I know you understand why.

On to the blog!

We got there late, which was hard. I had maybe twentyish minutes to set up for a 5.5 hour long marketplace, and the entire place was PACKED already. The only thing that worked about being late was the fact that our Dahlsjos were already there and ready to go, so they HELPED! HUGE! It was SO awesome. I had brainstormed the setup already, so it came together pretty fast. I’d show you a picture, but there was a baby on my lap so 🤷🏼‍♀️

I sat and chatted and made connections and caught up with people for hours and hours. Brady managed the littles who needed managing while many took off independently. Brady popped in from time to time and brought me soup and a bun, or coffee, or a visit. At one point, I had two sleeping babies in carseats under my table. It was very cute.

Meanwhile, the camp had let us use a nearby cabin for the day, so Brady was back and forth from there, napping kids, providing snacks and attention, and he even got to visit with Stacy for a bit in the daytime! That family is a well oiled machine, let me tell you! 💜

The market closed at 4:30 and supper was at 5:00! I was in the group who promised I could get my stuff packed up and moved out quick, and that we did, thanks to my children, and also Dahlsjos. And even our friend, Scott, hauled a big box. Supper was set up within five minutes of their goal, and we got to sit with our people and enjoy a really yummy meal of mashed potatoes, chicken cordon bleu, hot veggies, salad, and rolls, followed by some crazy indulgent peppermint bark brownies.

Supper finished and many of us made our way to the chilly chapel for a carol sing, some scripture reading, and candle lighting. Again, I’d show you pictures, but again, there was a baby on my lap.

From there was the twinkle tour. We were guided through the camp, and took time to really enjoy and soak up all the beautiful lights that were set up. The VAST majority of the camp was decorated by our dear Dahlsjos, and they positively crushed it. No photo can show the entirety of their efforts, but you’ll have to take my word for it. It was SO special, and SO much effort put in by incredibly busy people 💜

This is our site. Its hard to see details, but there is a lit tree on top of our golf cart, and the kayaks are wrapped in lights as well.

This was our Dahlsjos site.

Without question, they killed it. Their site was the most fun, and aaaaall the other work absolutely spoke for itself. What a blessing they are to the camp.

Aaaaand after ALL of this, we had to drive home 😅 It was quite late, and became a very quiet drive home. But it was really nice. Brady and I got coffee in PA, which we normally wouldn’t do that late, but staying awake was imperative for the drive, obviously.

We had SUCH a lovely day.
We had SUCH a lovely drive.
We are SO fortunate to have such a beautiful experience and opportunity to be at Kinasao.

Thank you Lord for our day, and for our people, and for our spot at camp 💜

It was a really nice home day. It started a bit bumpy, with everyone running on less sleep, but we kept things slow moving and didn’t accomplish a whole heck of a lot. My mom came over. We continued to keep it light and simple. These days are just tired days, thanks to all the activity, and the persistently grey weather. But there are things that are nice about chilly, grey days.

Its not all bad 💜

Tomorrow begins a fresh week. It holds ballet, youth events, a training event, two big appointments, and a Christmas party. Among a handful of other things on the docket. Because 🤷🏼‍♀️ who slows down?? Not us!!

Happy Sunday, all! Enjoy your evening before reality shows up tomorrow!

Happy birthday, Jaxon!!! 🎂 We love you!!