👆 That there is definitely an inside with Brady. Hopefully he’ll appreciate that. Anyway.
The time finally came to MOW our GRASS! Ya. We have grass now. In the front, anyway. The backyard is going to be a gigantic undertaking and we are simply not set up for it yet, as the entire yard is filled with weeds and large stones. So. We’ll look forward to that later this season.
I digress. The front yard is finally a yard. Intentionally set up rather than just a mess. As you may or may not know, when seeding grass like we did, you have to let it grow pretty good and long before cutting it. And yesterday was the day Brady decided it was time. And because, surgery or not, he is still 1000% himself, he insisted on doing it. Because 🤷🏼♀️ he could. So he did!
My favorite part is coming next.
Laela and Dekker had gone on a walk, and I greeted them as they re-entered the house. They were giggling, and asked if they could go back outside and heckle Brady as he mowed. And I told them to have at it, and I bet you know why! Within moments, Dekker was mowing! Hahahaha! I went out there and noticed Laela was still heckling so she landed on flower watering duty. They made quick work of it all!
Now we can lay down more seed and start getting rid of the big weeds over time. Its patchy, but its green, and its getting there! Thank you Lord for my hardworking husband who is absolutely NOT defined by his change in mobility. Who also wants to teach our children important things, even when it takes a little longer. And who comes back into the house with a smile on his face after working hard and feeling that reward. I am so proud of him.
We’ve been incredibly preoccupied recently, so I can’t share too much newness with you. You’ll have to forgive a bit of a repeat topic, but it was just too cute not to share!
Wavy helped me make dressing again this morning. We made two this time. My honey mustard, and also some dressing for broccoli salad. Last weekend at the lake, the salads really hit the spot, and I want to have them again! So, dressings gotta be fresh!
Wavy thought the mayo was gross, but she thought it sounded like poops, which she was happy about. So I filled the measuring cups and she plopped them into the bowls.
She filled the mustard and even scooped it out. Getting that coordination going!!
She let me do the sticky stuff – honey, and then she did the rest, mixing it all up! Meanwhile, I put the broccoli salad dressing together. She’s less invested in that one. Lol!
Aaaaand then just like last time, she wanted to lick the “whisker.”
And I let her. Because why not? I’m sure I would’ve wanted to do the same thing at her age.
Two big containers of dressing ready for camp this weekend!! Its gonna be a gooder, I am SURE of it!
I find it oddly difficult to put kids school events on the blog because I don’t want to put other peoples kids online without their consent. That being said, sharing pictures is HARD. And a post about track day without pictures feels like a bummer. But. Here we are! Hopefully I can find a COUPLE, at least!
Dekker first.
His most notable event was easily the 1600m run. He is not a fan of said race, and was SO excited to hear it was cancelled due to poor air quality. And then was significantly less excited to hear they changed their minds and he had to run it after all. Poor boy. Hahaha! With that being said, he got fourth place!! I am SO proud of his endurance, both physical and mental. He was NOT invested, but he ran the entire thing without stopping. And then he stopped good and proper 😅
Some kids really struggled to finish the race, and kids in the class who were done ran alongside them to help them finish the race. It was very heartwarming to see some 12 year old boys encouraging each other this way.
This was his main event, so its the one I wanted to share on here 💜
Laela is next!
Laela had a couple big events that she was super excited about. She’s a runner, so her sprint and 400m were important! Not too many pictures, unfortunately, but she runs with a smile on her face. This is not for the camera. She just LOVES running!!
This year, she also had her first shot at high jump. She is easily the shortest girl in her class, and she placed third overall in high jump.
I know. Her tummy is showing. But LOOK at those muscles!!! I could not resist posting this one!! She jumped to the height where the bar was near her shoulder. When she was officially out, she had a little cry, and her friends surrounded her with hugs and encouragement. The cutest little group of girls!!
Rowan is a very natural athlete as well, and running is his jam. Both the sprint and the distance were right up his alley.
His sprint was SO fast. They have a very fast group of boys in their grade!! Look at his stride!
His distance run, 400m, was almost comical.
He positively KILLED it. He took off right in the beginning until he was well ahead of the whole group, and then just trotted away to the finish line. He made it look SO easy. He crossed the finish line, and came over to chat with the family. It was SO bonkers to see him not even break a sweat! Once the race was done, the teacher who timed the race out informed him he was three seconds off the school record!! Ack! Go Rowan go!!!
Solomon is last but not at all least!!
Solly enjoyed the jumping events, and I was super impressed with his vigour and efforts! Every jump would turn into a mad rush towards me. The videos would prove it. But I was most impressed with, though, was his run!
He, like Rowan, ran 400m. I have never seen him run a length like that, and like the rest of his siblings, he ran it without stopping. Look at him go!! He meant business!!! I honestly don’t know where he placed, but I was SO impressed!!!! He had a big exhausted cry after the run, and then he rallied and bounced back!!
Track day is always a favorite of mine, and not because everyone rocks every event, or anything like that. Its definitely fun when it does go that way, but its also really heartwarming to see the kids try so hard and persevere, whether they’re invested or not. I love my children and their endurance that they show in both body and spirit.
This weekend was a hot one, and we made good work on the beach! We also rocked some beautiful effortless fires, which was a relief after the wet wood weekend we had last go round! Enjoy a photo dump of our weekend at camp!
First, we FINALLY got a spinner knob on the golf cart, which makes driving it SO much easier!
The nest in our hitch is full of baby birds 💜 Some of them left the nest this weekend. Whether they were scared of all of us, or they were ready, I don’t know for sure.
Laela bypassed a towel for a cardi, and it was a cute scene. She made a joke about carrying around shovels and being Solly, haha!
Sandwiches on the beach was fun 💜 I made a video of everyone giving their orders, and Dekker came up with me and helped me make them. It was really enjoyable 🙂 and well received.
Piper and Wavy 💜
And Sadie and Laela 💜 Her blue lips crack me up. That was always me at the lake, too.
Wavy stole Avery’s shades 🙂
Speaking of shades, Solly finally got to wear the clip-on shades that came with his glasses!
Rowan made this little guy and he said it was a teaching tool to remind us that everyone is different. I noted that the guy had two different arms, and then Rowan followed up with “Some people have four legs! Oh and he’s got a hole in his head…”
Good food. SO much good food.
Avery made a whole treasure hunt for the kids, and it ended on a bag of gifts, some of which were sunglasses!!
Fun fact. Laela and I both wrecked our favorite shirts this weekend.
I mentioned above the effortless fires 😍
We enjoyed a few good golf cart rides down to the water and around the camp. Laela only fell off once 😳
And if tears on the beach aren’t a way to signify the end of the weekend, I don’t know what is.
It was a lovely weekend. Nice weather. Nice people. Very relaxing. The next weekend will likely look entirely different, but we’ll talk more about that later!
NOT meant to be clickbait! Wavy does NOT need glasses!! Not yet. She will, very likely. But we were in our glasses place the other day and, just for kicks, we tried a bunch on her cute little face. And man alive, she is so unbelievably cute, I don’t even know what to do with her! So, behold. A VERY cute bespectacled Waverly.
I am confident there will be a day in the not too far off future where Wavy will get a vision prescription that needs to be filled, and its exciting to know that it’s going to be SO FUN choosing a pair out together! Because, as you can see, she really can’t go wrong!
I make a honey mustard dressing that my family has come to know and love. Lately, I’ve been trying to be better about having the kids help me in the kitchen, and just the other day (hat day) Wavy asked to help me with the dressing. I did the slightly fussier measuring, but she did a couple parts of it, and it was just SO cute that I wanted to share it here.
Her determination was absolutely adorable right off the bat.
She stirred it all up, and actually did a better job than I expected. I gave her a big whisk, and then a smaller one to get into the edges. And she got it pretty close to perfect!
The pouring felt a little ballsy, but at least I was just storing it in a container and not in a condiment bottle yet. So I let her go for it. And she didn’t spill a drop!
I held the measuring cup afterwards and she scraped it out.
And then. She licked the scraper as if we were making cookies.
Yup. And she didn’t stop. She licked it clean. That shows you how yummy and sweet this dressing is! But frankly, she’s still gross 😅
Lucky for her, she is totally irresistible, and she knows it.
I love you, Wave. I really like doin’ food with you 💜
Laela and Rowan are commonly referred to as the twins” in our house. This morning was especially twinny when both kids picked panda patches!!! It was super cute! I had to take pictures, of course 😍
And while taking these pictures, we realized how much taller Rowan is than Laela!! So once again, we needed to document that.
Rowan is 17months younger than Laela, but you wouldn’t know it! They’re total sweeties!
I’m usually quite a buzzkill in terms of spirit days at school, but hat day is something I can get behind.
We were gifted a whole bunch of cute costumey hats a couple of years ago, and they were an absolutely HIT at the time!! Eventually, some of the novelty wore off, and they don’t get pulled out as much. Until hat day. I love the fashion show that comes with choosing their hats for school. The kids have SO much fun!!
This is what we have so far!
We have Rowan, who just wants to wear his own hat.
We have Dekker, who has worn the donkey hat every single hat day, and insisted on maintaining the tradition. This is him mimicking the donkey’s expression.
He may be wearing it to be funny, but he’s also still very much his serious self 😂
Laela flipflopped between a few options. The first look was the epitome of “duck lips” but don’t worry, she didn’t end up choosing this statement “hat.”
She went full panda bear instead. Because its not going to be 30C outside today. Or is it?
Solly and Wavy tried on a lot of things, but Solly knew right off the hop that he wanted to be the chicken.
I LOVE that he chose the chicken hat. And that he walked to school with it on his head. He’s absolutely always drenched in sweat anyway, so whats the difference?
Say a prayer for me today. I may or may not be in danger at home with this monster…
I tease. She’s super cute and I’m not afraid. Not entirely anyway. If I were to be attacked by something intimidating, I’m pretty sure she’s the jackpot.
The kids are getting older, and starting to really run in all different directions more often. Last night, Dekker was out until quite late, so Laela was up on her own for a chunk of the evening. She had been gone at a friends house since school, and she had some homework that she had to do to make up for her day at track last week. So while the house was quiet, she got into that homework.
It was pretty funny, though. She was SO hyper. She had really enjoyed her time with her friends, first off, so she was riding a bit of a social high. She had also had some sugary iced tea with her supper, so she was absolutely buzzing. And I’ve said before, but since Frozen, she is just so much more silly and animated. So she was energetic! And it was really fun to witness!!!
Brady and I hung out in the kitchen while she did her work at the island. She was telling stories and jokes and being silly, and we were teasing her and messing up her homework, and just sharing some good giggles between the three of us. Between the newer unit of math and the distraction from the group of us, she wasn’t wrapping her head around every question as well as she thought she would. So out came the goldfish.
Fractions are easier with props, had you heard?
We got through her math, and she had absorbed it pretty well by the end of her questions. Then she ate her goldfish and went to bed.
It was a cute way to wrap up her day, with her being really happy and also productive and also learny (yes its a word) and also funny. If thats not the definition of perfect well roundedness, I don’t know what is.
We spent hours in the sun, on the water, and by the fire. It was an absolutely beautiful time.
We got home last night in time for evening baths and bedtime.
*Adds “buzz boys” to to-do list*
Everyone was tired but happy from the weekend away with our friends.
They all tucked in easily after their baths, foregoing out usual bedtime routine. No one missed it. They were so ready for bed.
However, they were less ready to get up. One of the things I do to intentionally see them all even just for a minute, one on one, is get them up in the morning. I take a minute to snuggle each kid and make sure they know they’re deeply loved and cared about. And, in the case of this morning, to document their soft sleepy faces.
Solly is usually a ball of energy in the morning. But not today. He was super cozy still. Thankfully, he didn’t drag long, and he still got up pretty easily.
Dekker usually stays in bed and I’ll go lay with him for a minute. He was particularly squishy this morning, and very tolerant of my general face-poking harassment. Look at those freckles!
Rowan never stays in bed for our good morning hug. He has told me he always wants to greet me standing up, so he can meet my hug. Which I think is very sweet. He is my BEST morning kid, by far!
Wavy was still sleeping when I went in to get the girls this morning. I hugged her later once she magically appeared at the table, but at the moment, I just snagged a sleeping picture of her face. Her little squishy mug. Ack! Can’t get enough.
Laela evvvvver so quietly got her robe and snuck out of their room. She was still half asleep herself, and was so fluffy and sweet.
I anticipate a tired day ahead. Kids are loaded with bug bites and sunburns, but they’re happy. And I’m happy too.
It was nice to have that extra day at the lake. Only three days of classes this week. Three days to turn over for another weekend at the lake! Laundry. Meal planning. Shopping. Packing. Counselling. An online meeting. A field trip. And even more. In the next three days! Ack!
Never a shortage 💜 I am so grateful for my full life.
