How many times have we heard it said, or wait ourselves, that we just want normal back? I, for one, have said it a lot! I still feel it to some degree, but my view of normal has definitely changed. 

More than “normal,” I want routine and consistency. Predictability, even, if that’s not too much to ask for? 

I want my kids to go to school at the same time every day, and for me to know when they’re coming home. Masks or not, I want them to be back at school, happily, with their friends, having their teachers put into them like I know they will. 

I want to make lunches in advance. 

I want to give them some independence back, as they walk to school and make grown up decisions at school. 

I want Brady to go back to work. I want him to feel comfort in knowing he is providing for his family, and I want the financial strain to lift. 

I want to see how the school year is going to look, and if the stupid second wave is going to come or not. I want to know with confidence whether we’ll stay in school or end up distance learning. 

I want to be allowed to enter the school that my children attend. 💔 

I want to be able to bring ALL of my kids into a store at once.

I accept change. I know the old normal is gone. I don’t expect it back, honestly. I’m through pining for it. I accept sometimes wearing masks, and gloves, and loads of hand sanitizer, and awareness. What I do not accept is living in total fear, never shaking hands or hugging people, and staying inside because of our family size. 

Sometimes I want to do a post about the GOOD thing that have come from Covid, for my family, but I fear the backlash I might receive. That being said, I’m thankful for a lot of parts of the last few months, but I am ready for “real life” to start back up. Even if it looks different than before. I’m game. 

The cooler weather is upon us, and I want to show you some things I’ve been making recently! I did start this during the summer months to prepare for fall, but I’m glad I did!

I made some cardigans!! Woot!

Wavy’s was first, because she’s the smallest. I figured if I messed it up bad, it would’ve taken the least amount of time. 

What I learned while making hers was that I needed to stitch looser. Her’s is a bit more “bubbled” than I’d like, rather than slouchy. But she doesn’t care, so I’m calling it a win. 

Then I made Laela’s! I made it looser, and it turned out better! 

The pattern I’m using calls for bulky yarn, but I’m using regular worsted weight rather, so I’m having to size way up to make it work up in the sizing I want. With Laela, the first arm came out SO short, so I had to pull it out and tweak the pattern It was a good learning experience, and I’m glad I took the time to redo the arms. Laela LOVES her cardigan. 

And now, I’m making one for me! 

Ok, so actually in this picture, I’m pulling it out. Lol! Isn’t that sad?? But I made the entire body and I KNEW it was shorter than I wanted it. I fought back and forth in my head for a long while, saying it was a perfectly respectable length, about to the waist, but I knew I wanted it longer and slouchier. So I pulled it out. Sigh. it was so sad. Now, I’m back at it. So far, I have an excellent rectangle. 

Sigh. When I pull out a project, I usually don’t go back to it. Like, ever. But I really want a squishy wool cardigan to call my own!! So it had better be worth it! 

Next, we’re all getting tall wool socks!!! 

Whoah. Getting ahead of myself. Calm down, Hailey. Calm down.

Dekker loves to speculate. Yesterday, over supper, he asked

“What would happen if you put a whole apple into water and boiled it? Would it change?”

A solid question, don’t you think?

I told him it would get soft, and you could mush it up and make it into sauce. Thats how apple sauce is made, I told him. We talked about how most people would cut it up first, and how a whole apple would soften on the outside faster than the inside. We talked about mixing other stuff into the apple sauce, like blueberry apple sauce. It was a whole conversation.

Laele was very quiet during the conversation, which isn’t like her. She always nods along and adds her piece where she can. But she was oddly quiet. Finally she looked over at me with her concerned eyebrows on, and asked

“An owl?”

If you were to go back now, and consider the initial question, but rather with an owl…

“What would happen if you put a whole owl into water and boiled it? Would it change?”

😳

Yes. Yes, I think it would.

The conversation got a little dark from there, but it was also kind of hilarious. I like that Laela can laugh at herself when she makes a mistake. I always felt so attacked and offended when I made mistakes and people would laugh at my expense. I like that Laela is more easy going than I was as a kid 🙂

Let’s be real here, though. Don’t boil owls. Thats the true moral of the story.

🦉

It goes without saying that this summer has been the craziest, busiest, bananasiest, productiviest (ya you heard me) summer of our lives! This week of being home between weekend camping has been full. There has been laundry, meal prep, pickling, planning, packing, organizing, playing, shopping, and getting ready for everything that is to come in the next week! Its possible we even snuck in a fire.

Yesterday, I spent time with Cher, Brady went to physio, I made two full meals (one for supper, and one for the lake) and got set up for another day of pickling. Thats today.

I feel like SUCH a rockstar when I have two crock pots going, lol! Anyone else?

Before the weekend, I need to pickle, pack, prepare three more dishes, bathe everyone, and ask around to find someone to babysit my garden while we’re away. I need to write another blog or two (I am SO low on data, I MIGHT not be able to use internet much at all this weekend!) Buuuuut I think thats it! Lol!

I felt a bit taken aback when I received the list of school supplies for the upcoming school year. In the last few years, the school purchased school supplies in bulk and raised our fees a small amount, making it easier for families, as well as ensuring that the kids all have the same stuff, and the right stuff. I felt, with all the Covid junk floating around, it didn’t make sense that this year, we had to bring in our own. But yesterday, I figured it out.

Labelling. Thats why the school didn’t buy this year. Because items are not to be shared, and that is more important than ever this year, so absolutely every item had to be labelled individually. It makes sense that the teachers should NOT be on the hook for such a job.

Such. A. Job. 

Today, I sat down with my box of school supplies, my big envelop of mailing labels, and my new electric pencil sharpener, and the work began. Over the course of the day, I labelled around 300 items. 

60 pencils
36 markers
72 crayons
48 pencil crayons
13 glue sticks/bottles
17 duotangs

Plus countless erasers, highlighters, rulers, scissors, pencil sharpeners, Kleenex boxes, whiteboard markers, spoons, post-its, and notebooks. 

It was as I was coming to the end of my lists that I realized what was on the end of the list. 

Indoor shoes. 🤬 

I was not set up for indoor shoes. And school starts in a week. And we’re gone this weekend.

So that’s how we ended up running to Saskatoon in the late afternoon.

I am really relieved to tell you all that I was able to purchase all three school-aged kids a pair of indoor shoes that they love, plus two new pairs of jeans, as they have ALL blown out the knees in ALL of their jeans this Spring and Summer! Win! Dekker also got a pair of splash pants, and Rowan picked a backpack and lunch kit from Costco. So many wins!

I promptly brought that stuff home and labelled it all.

My back is achy from leaning over, writing my kids names all day long, haha! You know when you say the same word over and over and over again, it starts to lose its meaning? 

Dekker. Dekker. Dekker. Dekker. Dekker. Dekker. Dekker. Dekker. Dekker. Dekker. Dekker. Dekker. Dekker. Dekker. Dekker. Dekker. Dekker. Dekker. Laela. Laela. Laela. Laela. Laela. Laela. Laela. Laela. Laela. Laela. Laela. Laela. Laela. Laela. Laela. Laela. Laela. Laela. Laela. Laela. Laela. Laela. Rowan. Rowan. Rowan. Rowan. Rowan. Rowan. Rowan. Rowan. Rowan. Rowan. Rowan. Rowan. Rowan. Rowan. Rowan. Rowan. Rowan. Rowan.

Yup. Me too. 

T – 6 days.

We left off yesterday at lunchtime on Saturday. We had just gone for a long, leisurely walk, and it was time to wind down for a little break. We ate inside, on the floor, like classy people.

The afternoon was spent playing freely. The world is their oyster there. They can play at the camper, inside or outside, at the playground, or a little further at the big playing field or the beach!

I LOVE that Solly calls water guns nailers or drills now. Isn’t that awesome?? Its almost as though we’ve been doing a LOT of work this summer!

Supper was looking pretty cute…

And within three minutes of sitting down with some hotdogs, our picnic table showed up!! Better late than never!

Waverly opted to stay at the little table, but she was alone there. Dekker right away offered “I’ll go sit with Wavy!” Aaaaand then she promptly abandoned him. She’s already considering it here, lol!

It was actually really funny, haha! He was such a good sport. But that kid is WAY too big for that table! Lol!

We hit up a different playground later that evening.

Wavy loved a good tire swing!

I wish I had more pictures, but they’re all videos. It was an oddly victorious hour at the playground. Solly is very cautious of new things, and we kind of missed the fact that he needed a push because he is SO chill and happy to just watch 🙂 But he has grown a ton this summer, and on the playground, he was climbing on the more intimidating parts of the playground, swinging on the tire swing, and taking on the BIG slide, all on his own! He could not be stopped! We were SO proud of him!!

Then we went for a walk to the lake, as you saw a few days ago. Remember these cute kids?

And this beautiful water?

Bedtime was a lot easier the second day! We didn’t have a good system for Laela to get into the top bunk, but we makeshifted a step, and she loves the set up!! We turned one drawer upside down. Brady moved the slides and flipped the front. I take total and compete credit for this idea, and Brady takes full credit for the execution of it.

The next day! Breakfast was cute. I liked that Rowan and Wavy’s branding was just spot on, lol!

Solly getting smoke in his eyes, lol! Unimpressed.

We spent the morning raking up our lot, clearing out old leaves and weeds and making sense of it. The leaves, along with the wet firewood, was the smokiest fire I’ve had in a while. My eyes burned! But it was so worth it when the result looked so much more kept up and how we would prefer to keep it!

Wavys pose, tho, lol!

We had another little quiet time break in the afternoon, and it was SO our speed.

We decided to go for another walk after quiet time, but the weather wasn’t as pleasant as it had been the day before. It was raining and windy. Some were more on board with that than others…

But they settled in fine 😉 Those slides are fun, rain or shine! Those wet butts don’t lie!

While Brady barbecued burgers for supper, I made myself busy in the camper, packing up what needed to come home and taking note of what we were leaving behind. I made a list of things we didn’t bring but had needed. I swept the floor and wiped stuff off. Laela helped a lot. And then once we ate, Brady loaded it all up in the van, everyone took their last pee, and we loaded them into the van! Once the van was full of children and our stuff, Brady flipped some breakers and emptied the tanks. And off we went!!!

Our home away from home looks even more like us now 😉

Lived in. Cozy. Colourful. A little dirty, but not too bad. Just how we like it 😉 We’re all very much looking forward to going back next weekend!!

Yes, friends, today and tomorrow’s posts are going to be pure pictures, because there are just too many and I can’t bring myself to purge them! Yikes! The kids were SO cute! We got super dirty, ate yummy food, and really settled into our camper. It was easier than I thought it would be 🙂

Sooooo, from the beginning. And by “beginning” I mean once we actually got into our camper, lol!

Dekker wanted a job immediately, so while everyone went to go play, he unpacked all the mattresses and sleeping bags, and put pillows and stuffies where they belonged.

All of the kids settled in really easily.

Our bed is out in the main living area, so I put pillows against the long wall, and there was always a kid or two snuggled up on the bed, reading or chatting. It was so comfy.

Our first night! Kid shelves for the win!

The late night fire was fun, but short lived. The little ones would’ve never fallen asleep had we not gone in, lol!

The first morning there was really cute.

Breakfast was cinnamon buns from Costco.

We didn’t have a picnic table right away, so we made do with what we were able to bring ourselves, which was a tiny little picnic table, a wagon, a couple of lawn chairs, and a chopping block. It worked!

Doesn’t it look like Solly and Wavy are on a little date?? I love how she’s sitting, facing him like that. Just drinking some milk together.

We finished breakfast up and went on a long moseying kind of walk. We took our time, took lots of pictures, and got to know the property and some of the people.

My little Gap kids!

These are the solo pictures the kids posed for, haha!

Its possible Rowan fell down the hill after his photo…

No word of a lie, that was the rest of our morning! We just puttered. It was SO wonderful! And adorable, as you can plainly see!

I’ll show you the rest of our first weekend there tomorrow 😉

We are home again, and as you’ve likely noticed, we took Summer with us and returned with Autumn. My goodness! Just overnight, hey? It was crispy upon arrival, but still sun and beautiful enough for shorts and tshirts!

And this afternoon, it looked 110% different!

I have to say, though, I don’t really have a preference. I LOVE being warm, out in the sun, watching the kids play without care. But I also LOVE the rain, and the waves, and the clouds! The snuggles to keep warm don’t hurt either.

There is a LOT to share about our weekend, and by that, I mean I have a LOT of cute pictures of the kids to spam you with, haha! But I’ll leave you with some beautiful ones from last night that Cher edited for me, to make them really pop!

It is clear that this place has very easily become our home away from home. We are so settled there already, like we’ve always been there, somehow. We are SO thankful!

I’ll tell you aaaaall about it tomorrow. Sleep tight, friends. 🥱😴

WE MADE IT! 

Yesterday late morning, we packed everyone into the first two rows of the van, and took off to our camping spot! We arrived at the lake, with plans to unload the kids into their new home away from home right away! 

But within one minute of parking our bus, we discovered a BIG blunder. We forgot the key. 

That. Sucked. 

Until it was funny. 

I know its not advisable to show you how we broke into our camper, but it did happen, and we had a good laugh. The broken window wasn’t as funny, but hey. We made it in! 

It was a LOT of fun to set up and settle in. It didn’t take long to feel and look like home. Maybe that means “messy” but it felt SO comfy. 

I want to share mountains of pictures but there is zero wifi up here and I want to be smart about using my data. Trust me when I tell you we are SO comfortable and relaxed and peaceful here. The pace is slow. The expectation is low. Time doesn’t really matter. 

Thank you, Lord, for our camper and our new lake spot. What a huge gift. 

This has been one of the busiest times of our life, as I’m sure you know. We worked HARD to get our camper up and running in our six week timeline, and we did it! We actually secretly moved our camper to our spot (Eeeeek!!!) earlier this week, but I didn’t tell you guys 😉 

We spent the last week in full chaos mode, hahaha! Brady had two days of work scheduled, which we desperately needed, but it grew into 3.5 days. Plus there was pickling. Plus the reality of having an entire life separate from the extra things that were added! Hahaha! Oy! It was SO busy! What. A. Week. 

But, we survived and made it to the weekend! I’ll tell you aaaaall about where we landed tomorrow 😉 

Today, we have bigger priorities on the books.