After a really fun stretch of braids, they came out today.

I honestly truly enjoyed the braids. My favorite thing about them, though, was the part where I didn’t shed. However, as you already know, I’m sure, taking them out came with SO MUCH SHEDDING!

It took a couple of hours for Cher and I to remove the braids, brush out all the hair, and give my scalp a goooood scratch. My hair is ridiculously fluffy now, but I’ll wash it tomorrow. I’ve got time.

This all being said, I finally have a hair appointment booked for December. The last time I had my hair done was February. I don’t care to complain, because my hair is not my priority, and we simply haven’t had the extra for it. At the same time, I am SO thrilled to be able to get it done once again. Its actually being given to me as a gift, which makes it just that much sweeter.

Thank you to my people who want to take care of me in all the ways. I feel so loved and important and thought of.

Yesterday, I had three kids at home, with Dekker and Laela finally being able to go to school! Today, I’m down to two at home, because Rowan could go today! Upon getting him up this morning, he was SO excited for school. His hands were out as he exclaimed “I am really looking forward to seeing my class again!” I loved that.

I, on the other hand, am not having my best morning. I had an incredibly short sleep, therefore getting everyone up late, which was completely my own fault. I had to rush through everything, and then some stupid mistakes like pouring yesterdays hot chocolate all over the kitchen floor, wiped me right out. Oy!

At least the kids aren’t fighty this morning. The three are off, and the two will be home today. It is a preschool day for Solomon, but he’s still snotty :/ So home he stays. But he’s not hard. I just come down from using my bathroom, and Solly was returning a stool he had taken into Wavy’s room to help her get a hoodie from her closet. As I zipped her into it, she said “Thank you really much, Wolly.” And he said “You’re very welcome, little Wavy.” Goodness I love them.

I think I’ve earned a coffee, and then I’m going to work on some Christmas projects. No shortage of things to work on and complete!

The older two kids are FINALLY well enough to go back to school!!

It was a whole family affair, lol!

I spent the morning making lunches, emailing teachers, and organizing a photo show and tell for Dekker. The kids ate, got ready, Dekker did some dishes, and everyone colored and read until it was time to leave for school. It felt normal and good!

It doesn’t show well in this picture, but everyone was waving. It was so nice.

I feel so happy to be home, with a couple of kids at school, with Brady at physio and then work. Cher is even here to coffee with me.

What a lovely start to the week!

We can all believe different things. I LOVE when my kids pray. I feel like there is SO MUCH power in their prayers!!!

Rowan has a different depth of prayer than any of our other kids. He seems to understand it a bit better, and he loves to pray. He repeats a lot of what he hears, but I still think there is immense power in those prayers!!

Yesterday, Wavy prayed a prayer she has heard countless times.

“Dear Jesus, thank you for today.
The devil is not welcome here.
Amen.”

Brady and I stared at each other and all the kids responded with “awww” and “thats so nice!” And then, Wavy… 😂

“Oh, and coffee!”

Say what you will about kids not understanding, but it was an AMAZING unprompted prayer from our two year old!!

I am so proud of our little Waverly Violet. Thank you for praying for the safety of our home. We all slept SO well last night.

Cher and I went to the city today with a short list of Christmasy items, and a long list of groceries. We started with the fun stuff, and hit up a few stores for smaller items. I got the end of the materials needed for the homemade gifts I’m making, which is SO victorious! Thanks to Brady, Krista, and myself all hitting different stores at different times, we got it ALL! I also got a few more gifts for the kids, and enveloped for our Christmas cards. Weeeee!

We grabbed some Wendy’s burgers for a cheap lunch and then hit Costco for the motherload. It wasn’t our biggest shop ever, but one of those gigantic ones when you know everything is about to close again, and you feel the need to be extra prepared with ALL the staples before you can’t find them anymore. There was NO toilet paper at Costco, of course, but I got a good haul of hand soap, meat, veggies, granola bars, some freezer food, and a handful of aisle stuff. If everything closes down, at least we’ll be set for a while, and then we’ll just have to get creative!! (Meanwhile, I came home to a gift of beef for our family from our amazing neighbours across the street!! Thank you so much, Tom and Rae! You don’t realize the impact that has on us.)

Brady helped us unload and put the groceries away. I should really update you on his life/pain/numbness soon, hey? I’ll get there. Its not like I’ve had other stuff on the go. Cool cool cool.

Once everything was unloaded, Cher went down to her room to work on some school stuff, and Brady and I watched a little Netflix before it was time to get the kids up from naps. It was a nice wind down from being out, but I truly enjoyed being out with Cher. Its ALWAYS a good time with that one. She’s super helpful and game for whatever, but just SUCH a joy to have along. Whatever we do together is fun.

Now, to waste the rest of the day away working on projects and eating perogies. Anyone else? Whatcha serving for supper?

We usually spend Sundays with my mom, but with all of our sickness, we missed her :/ Such a bummer. But as grandma would do, she still popped by with treats and some little gifts for us to enjoy in the impending sickie week.

I parcelled them out, and today was a craft morning. It was SO fun.

I have to say on record here, Rowan had the BEST attitude of any of them!! If the glue wasn’t sticky enough, he would giggle, and find another way to secure his items together, while the others would be a bit more whiny. I don’t mean to point fingers in a rude way, but its often the other way around, and it was a pleasant surprise when Rowan was SO good natured about it!

Once crafts were packed up for the time being, the little treats came out! And my goodness, it was as if the kids had never had candy canes before!! They were VERY enjoyed and appreciated!

Our beautiful crafty morning ended with an adorable, unprompted snuggle ❤️ The best kind.

Happy Friday, friends. Enjoy the snow, or being out of it.

This whole week has been repetitive so rather than telling you in further detail that the Christmas lights are on, Hamilton is playing, and the kids are coloring, I’ll show you a few funnies from the last couple of days! Just some memes, but sometimes thats really what we need. A light laugh.

First is actually something Rowan drew! He’s been taking TONS of time on his pictures recently. Usually they’re very detailed trucks, but this was a super elaborate teddy bear!!

Cool hey?? I wish I was one of those awesome moms that figured out a way to make this teddy bear for him, but we’ll just have to remember it on paper!

Next up – a boy band joke. Because there are never enough.

Third funny joke is SO my humor, which doesn’t exactly speak highly of me, but I’ve decided to be less ashamed of my horribly dry humor. Behold – the real me.

Aaaaand my favorite one. It won’t make sense to everyone, but for those who have a very real love for Lin-Manuel Miranda, its pretty good.

Goodness, I love a good laugh, especially these days. The snow is flying, we’re out of a lot of groceries, and everyone in my house is grumpy. Yaaaaay!!! Hahaha!

If you want to look back at some other good laughs, I made a post or two earlier this year 🙂 Part 1 and Part 2 are clickable! But I want to be clear – they will ONLY be funny if you share my sense of humor!

I hope some of you enjoyed a little giggle with me 🙂

It was not our smoothest kickoff to the day! These poor kids desperately need a change of scenery, but these colds are hanging on for dear life! Thankfully, at least ONE kid will be able to go to school tomorrow, so, win. Down to only four kids! Hahaha!

Between refereeing and diffusing bombs, I’ve been working on our Christmas card, which I am SO excited for!! Making our list, checking it twice, but not actually, haha! We have good music going, and iced coffee is tasting goooood. These mornings have definitely had their benefits. I could get used to them! Except for all the fighting…

Also, its become clear that I am short materials for some Christmas projects I’m working on. So that feels like something I need to urgently get sorted out. And by “I” I mean Brady, because he’s already in the city for work! Hopefully he can find what I need!

I feel todays post is very much like yesterdays, haha! I’m sorry, friends. It won’t always be this way! I have some things underway that I can’t talk about yet, and they’re a bit consuming. Beyond those things, these kids being sick really takes up a lot of headspace and makes our days boring and the same. One day, things will be more exciting! Haha! But that day is not today.

If you want the same relaxed, nothing day as I have, turn Hamilton on through the house, click on all lighting that isn’t ceiling lights, and reintroduce the smelly markers! Day = made!

There are pros to everyone being home with colds. While its a hassle, and the kids are itching to be out the door, I’m not mad at getting up a little later in the morning. I don’t mind letting them doddle hard over breakfast. I don’t mind everyone wearing jammies all day long. And by not having to leave the house, I’m getting things done!!

Eek! I have our family pictures in hand! YES!!! I’m so eager to send them off to be designed and printed into Christmas cards! Who wants one?! If you’re not confident you’re on our list, please speak up! I’d love to send you one!

I’ve also been madly working on Christmas gifts and expanding my knowledge and skillset, and I’m truly loving the outcome! Its clear there is always more to learn, and my goodness, crafting is my happy, restful place. The wheels for next Christmas are already turning 😆 Because lets be real. If I want to make all five kids something awesome, its going to have to be a plan for next year!

Another thing I’ve been putting off is purging the photos and videos off my phone. I have thousands and none of them are backed up on iCloud. For whatever reason, my photo program on my laptop isn’t working, so my photos aren’t transferring the way they normally do. I’ve been waiting to transfer everything until I know the program will work, but my phone is suffering under all the stuff and its time. So I’ve been working on downloading everything to the laptop and I’ll just store it in a folder on the desktop until the program is ready, and that way I can wipe my phone and start fresh.

While I do these things, the kids are coloring ALL together at the island!! Isn’t that awesome?? Music is playing. Christmas lights are on. Coffee is yummy. Its probably warmer in here than some would prefer, but its great for us.

Meanwhile, Brady is off at work, keeping his head up, working hard for us! We are SO grateful for all he does, in the midst of his body not doing all its supposed to do. He does not complain, and still offers me breaks from the kids when he can see they would be useful.

Thank you Lord for our family, and the people who put into us in all the different ways. Thank you for keeping us running as a strong unit, despite some efforts to take us down.

I call it “sickie week” because of the guidelines put forward by the health authority and school division. My children must be symptom free for a full 48 hours before re-entering the school. Because of this, Dekker will absolutely be out all week. Laela is almost done being snotty, but even so, the absolute soonest she could go back would be Thursday. I’m not confident about Rowan and Solomon yet, but Waverly is definitely still sick. It looked about like this all weekend.

Unlike other years, that means they will be expected to complete schoolwork at home. Which I know isn’t a huge deal, but its hard :/ My kids like school. Its not hard to get them there. Laela is SO sad she can’t go, because she feels completely fine. And Dekker has ZERO issue going, either. The work isn’t upsetting…

But doing it at home is!!! The lack of separation between home and school destroys them. Dekker had to practice handwriting Ms and Ns the other day, and he bawled, because he just hates doing schoolwork at home :/ Laela cried over counting by 5s. It sucked. But they made quick work out of their pages, and life continued.

Today has been ok in terms of school stuff. Specifically because they didn’t really do any. Maybe thats wrong, but especially Dekker being in those really gross, drippy, snotty days, his crying becomes just SO uncomfortable, and he should have a break! So rather than homework, I left the two kids cuddled up, reading good books in/above their levels, and they eventually moved over to lego. But they read for at least 45 minutes. If they don’t get to their assignments today, so be it.

Dekker has read almost all day. Laela has coloured, too.

They’ve both been doing some kids cross stitch that my mom gave them. Rowan has also been colouring, and he’s been doing a lot of complaining, also! Lol! Thats mostly why I wonder if he’s secretly sick 😉 His attitude blows. But, we’ll figure that out. Solomon has been playing in the Halloween costumes for most of the day. And Waverly has alternated between yelling the word “no” and playing costumes with Solly.

At least Brady is able to work! And so far *knocks on wood* I have managed to stay cold-free! Pray for our little family, if thats something you do! The sooner the cold is gone, the sooner normal can begin again!