If you’re not feeling Christmas yet, feel free to scroll on by! No Scrooges welcome!

I know its early. I know. But hear me out. 

Last year, I organized a homemade gift exchange event! By September 1st, I had my names and numbers all lined up already! I was going to wait until September this year to talk about it at all, but that left me feeling aaaaall kinds of justified, hahaha! So here we are, talking about Christmas! 

This blog is to inform you that I’d like to organize another homemade gift exchange!! Its basically a secret Santa, homemade style! The only one who knows who has who is me, and the only reason for that is because people from all different places signed up last year, and I wanted to be able to be the middle man where people needed help with little details. So it was me who pulled names and told everyone who they had. Then, closer to Christmas, I gave everyone the option to mail or drop off their gift, or they could deliver it to me and I could bring it where it went. I’m VERY willing to do a day of running around closer to the day, picking up and delivering gifts. 

Last year, we had 22 people, I think. Some are excited for another year, and others are passing this time around. There is NO burn on me! But I really hope we get some new meat this season!! 

To be clear, not everyone is local. I want people to be able to participate if they want to! So my stipulations for people outside of the Saskatoon area are that the gift needs to be mailed in the first week of December, ideally with tracking. I’m also willing to help with the cost of postage, because I want EVERYONE who wants to participate to be able to! If you do request assistance with shipping, I’d prefer your gift to fit in an expresspost package so I know the cost ahead of time, as well as having the knowledge it’ll arrive on time. 

Last year, there was decor, canning, baking, crafts, crochet, art, jewelry, and many other things exchanged! It was SO FUN!!! Please join in! If its even just a little bit intriguing, message me! I’d love to talk you into it 😉 

Yesterday at supper, the most hilarious little conversation took place!

The topic of the kids having kids came up, and I always get a real kick out of it. Its a funny way to see how they’re feeling about their family at that very moment 😆 If they want LOTS of kids that day, they’re pretty content. And if they want NO kids that day, they’re super over their siblings, hahaha!

Yesterday, specifically, everyone wanted kids! Dekker said he figured he’d want three or four. Probably four, though. Solomon wanted five. Rowan wanted three. Waverly piped up with “five!” And then Laela, with confidence, said she wanted eight!

Thats twenty-five grandkids for meeeee!! I asked for it in writing, but I haven’t acquired it yet 😉

I carried the conversation on with Laela, and asked her what would happen if her husband didn’t want eight kids. That idea seemed crazy to her, which I loved. Who wouldn’t want eight kids, right??

She answered, “Well, I’d change. Or, I’d agree.”

Me: You’d agree?
Laela: If his number was higher than eight, ya, I’d agree!
Me: Oh, hahaha! Fair enough. What if he wanted less kids?
Laela: I’d change.
Me: You’d change your mind? Or would you change his mind?
Laela: I’d change husbands…

😂

To be clear, I wasn’t leading her in any way to answer a specific way. I was curious how her problem solving would look, and I had a BIG laugh at her answers!

If Laela gets what she wants someday, she is going to be the BEST mommy!

My mom and I committed to making pickles this year, and this is the week! Today, we picked up over 20 lbs of pickling cucumbers and spent a few hours getting jars and lids prepped, jars filled, pickles washed, garlic peeled, and everything else. It was a strong smelling, successful afternoon!!

Because we can only get smaller bundles at this time, we’ll be doing pickles a handful of times this week. Today’s progress was great motivation, because they look SO GOOD, and they taste SO GOOD!

Hopefully I survive the six week wait… #justbepicklesalready

Thank you all SO MUCH for following along with our RV project! It felt both like something we worked forever for, and also like a complete whirlwind! It was really encouraging to have people following along, rooting for us. The final post of the RV There Yet series is my third most viewed blog post to date. Out of 8+ years of NEVER missing a day, that says a lot. Thank you for your support!

As promised, I wanted to address what we didn’t do in terms of our camper. There are some obvious parts that will still need some love and work down the road, but in order to save money, and considering its coming up to the end of the camping season at it is, we’re going to hold off until next Spring.

The first thing that comes to mind for me is the ceiling. You’ll notice the ceiling is pretty rough. We really wanted to finish it, or at least paint it, but we simply ran out of time. Next year, we will panel it with solid oak plywood. We will also replace the broken, yellowed roof vents in favor of something brighter white and hole-free. That’ll be priority one next year!

On the subject of the roof vents, we need new screens. Some of our RV windows don’t have screens, and others are split pretty badly. New screens. Maybe some new, tinted windows, even. But thats not a priority. It can wait for next year.

You probably noticed there were no blinds. Yikes. We know, we know, thats a huge necessity! We just didn’t have time to sort out something we really liked that was affordable on a small budget, so we’ll very likely, unceremoniously, finish out this season with cardboard or foil in the windows, and get some actual blackout blinds. Next year.

We need some new hardware. We took the towel bars down and never put them back up. We need one by the bathroom sink. With that, we’ll probably get a new toilet paper holder, and maybe some hooks. Not a rush. Just, next year.

We plan to build a different bed frame with storage under it. We tried SO hard to get to it during our six weeks, but it just wasn’t possible. We know exactly what we want, and we have the hardware for it already. Its where our lake instruments will live! Next year.

A new bathroom cabinet and sink would be really nice. We’ve made all of our fixtures more homey and less RV-y, so I’d love for that sink to make sense with everything else. But I’m not worried. Thats towards the bottom of the list. Maaaybe next year.

The kitchen faucet is actually a whole thing. As we did the water test a couple of days ago, the faucet leaked like crazy! I was angry, as I bought it second hand and felt foolish for trusting someone who clearly I shouldn’t have. I actually messaged him and politely but firmly told him I was very upset. I told him I know “buyer beware” but that honesty is a common courtesy. He was surprised and told me he had just upgraded his own faucet, but had never had any leaks. I’m not sure yet what to believe. We’re going to have to try and fix it, but if it keeps leaking, we’ll have to replace it. Next year.

I don’t know whether or not to even add it to this list, but we need basic furniture in there. A futon/couch of some kind. A table. Maybe a throw rug. We’ll sort that all out next year.

Truthfully, as the camper gets completely completed, we’ll start developing the spot itself. That means grass, a patio, an awning, lights, etc. Lucky for us, we have years to make it our own!

It all starts next year!!

You probably remember, but Dekker turned nine on the 21st! We did the day how he would like it – low key and restful. We woke him as a family, singing “Happy Birthday” with lots of cuddles and celebrating.

He had requested his food days ago already, and I kid you not, this was his birthday breakfast request, verbatim:

“I’d like some pancakes and bacon, and maybe grandma could bring a casserole.”

SO Dekker! Despite the fact that grandma just got home from a long trip the day before, she happily agreed to bring a hash brown casserole. 

We spent the day in jammies. It was so relaxed. He got his gifts nice and early in the morning. He got some cool flying toys, a bug collecting kit, chocolate, the Fudge book series by Judy Blume, and a real life drill! The flying UFO tied with the drill. Thank you, friends! What a great haul!

His whole morning, he was occupied with his toys and all of the excitement.

I think it was also a real win that we were all inside, together. 

We had a Dekker-request lunch of crackers, meat, cheese, and fruit. We love a good snacky meal, and Dekker was totally happy. It was a cute meal! 

During nap time, Brady opted to go outside and work a bit more on the camper, and Dekker went ran inside and outside and beside and behind our house, throwing around all of his flying stuff and just generally enjoying his free time on his birthday! There was no big plan or goal, but it was a relaxed, chill day, just like Dekker likes it. 

For supper, Dekker asked for Pizza Hut. Conveniently, the $5 deal was going, so we ordered four big pizzas and cracked out the chips. The kids even had pop, which is a GIGANTIC treat around here! 

We all ate our body weight in pizza, and then Brady ran to Martensville for Dekker’s birthday dessert of choice! McFlurries! 

I shared mine with Waverly, but otherwise, we all enjoyed our own ice cream. Dekker was SO content and satisfied with his birthday, despite its low key nature. He was at rest with his family, feeling loved and attended to. Weirdly, that’s a bit of a stretch these days, but just for a season, and he gets that. 

I LOVE celebrating Dekker. Its just so easy. It was a really really fun, quiet day. 

This is it, friends! If you remember from way back in the beginning of this series, we had six weeks to have our camper parked in the lot beside our house, and that fell yesterday. Yesterday was Dekker’s birthday, and the post about him and his sweet little face comes SO far before our camper, it isn’t even funny. Goodness I love that kid! I’ll tell you all about his birthday soon. Tomorrow, probably. But today is a grand update on our camper!!! 

Its been a long time coming, and as you’ll soon see, there are still things that need doing. The catch-22 of doing this project during this whole crazy stretch of life is that when a person has money, they don’t have time, and when they have time, they don’t have money! We had a project budget going into Spring that made so much of this possible, but some costs had to be cut. Some are more evident than others. I plan to make a whole additional post about what isn’t done, but that’s not what this post is about! This post is about the VICTORY that is our camper!!!

We should probably venture back into before land first. 

Let’s be real. It was pretty bad. Next to nothing was salvageable. I didn’t want to sit down on the floor even after we had cleaned it. The amount of dead flies was crazy. I didn’t want to touch anything. Gloves. Always. I’d wipe stuff down and then throw away the rag. I was just so nervous and unfamiliar! But myyyyy goodness, folks, she has come together!! 😍

I know. You don’t even have to say. She is GORGEOUS! Even from just one week ago! There has been such change!

For basic all-over information, we put beadboard all over the walls, and baseboards. It is SO homey. We installed real light switches, LED lights, a water heater, etc. The flooring is laminate from Co-op that is already discontinued, but we really like the look of it. Landry installed the bulk of the light fixtures, and Marlen helped us test our AC unit.

Let’s go room by room for the rest of this. 

The kitchen! 

Brady built the cabinets from scratch. Yes, they are pink, and we are STOKED! We aimed for blush, and then the paint dried a liiiiittle Barbie dreamhouse, but as the color settled in, it was actually just so perfect.

Truly, speaking for even the boys in the family, we all really love the pink kitchen. Our RV did have a fridge along with it, but we had a different second hand fridge in mind that was a little bigger and had a single owner, so we sold the camper one and put that money towards this one!

The microwave also came with the camper, though it was meant to be on a wall in a cabinet. We thought it was a loss, but the brackets just came right off and boom! – it was a countertop microwave! Speaking of countertop, this was a HUGE win, and something we’re really proud of!

Even second hand laminate countertops were adding up, until I saw a tutorial on how to make butcher block countertops out of solid hardwood flooring! Believe it or not, this beautiful countertop was one box of solid oak flooring. Brady and I designed it, laid it out, and built it together. We LOVE it! Our sink was gifted to us by friends, and the Kohler faucet was a $40 Facebook marketplace purchase. And we opted against a stove, as we’ll be doing the bulk of our cooking outside, but we did ask my mom to purchase us two portable elements from Ikea when she was there recently, so we’ve got that, rather. And some cute little shelves to hold our stuff when we just get in the door!

The kitchen is the biggest part of the main area at this point, so the “bedroom” and “living room” aren’t much at this point.

Better than it used to be, though!

Eventually, we’d like to have a bedframe with a storage area underneath it, and some kind of comfy couch (ideally a pull-out couch) across the way! Thats all we’ve got, though! 😆Onto the bathroom area! 

The bathroom!

The bathroom is very small, lol! We did not change the shower at all. I was very tempted to remove it altogether, considering the nice shower house at the lake we’re at, and our small water heater. But I figured its an option for little kid baths in a tub in the bottom of the shower, or just for desperate times. So, we’ll see if we change it next year or not. And the toilet is brand new! It was in a box when we purchased the camper! Win! I do wish it was bright white rather than off white, but a free toilet is a free toilet! I won’t complain! The sink is across the way, and we left that the same, too, besides paint, of course. Thats really all it needed!

I’d love to replace the sink and faucet down the line. There are really cheap, nicer looking sink/vanities on buy and sell pages online, but we didn’t have the time.

The kids bunk room is probably the coolest part of all of this!!

Its pretty Pinterest worthy, if you ask me!! This room was previously the master bedroom, at 7’ x 7’. We went back and forth about whether to attempt triple bunks, U-shaped bunks, etc. and when we landed on “gigantic kid shelf,” it was the perfect solution!!

We can fit three camper mattresses across each “bunk,” so we can have three kids on each level, if necessary. Brady built the bunks strong our of 2x6s, and put flooring on them so no one would snag.

He build up a little lip on the fronts so no one would slide out, and he built little cutouts for the windows so we could still open and close them.

Brady’s biggest pride and joy, though, is probably the ducting he redirected, so both bunks would get AC! (See picture of bottom bunk) We took off the accordion door so kids could more easily get in and out. As you might expect, they LOVE it in there!

Ok, some of them 😉

The exterior has been patched, but not beautified. Hopefully eventually, we’ll get to paint and redo parts of the outside, just for fun. I have a feeling there will always be something to work on, so we’ll get our chance eventually!

An AMAZING amount of effort has gone into this project, and truly, I couldn’t be more thrilled with the results! I feel like we’re building a part of our future here. We’re building our summers. Our vacations. Happiness. I am SO grateful for our opportunities and experiences, and everyone who has helped us along the way. Thank you, also, friends, for following along and caring about what happens to our family. We are humbled.

Thank you LORD for this gift!!!

I cannot believe my sweet, honest, sensitive, responsible, warm, wise oldest son is NINE today. 

His last year of single digits. I am immensely proud of my son, as I always have been, but this boy has went through a world of change in the last year! 

Dekker’s grade three year was spent in a 3/4 split, and it grew him up beautifully! He went from a non-reader to someone who crushes a Boxcar Children book in a day and a half. He LOVES to read, and reads ahead of his level now! He learned better what he needs for himself when he gets upset, and it able to regulate his emotions a bit smoother than he was in the past. I was puffed with pride when his teacher would call to tell me about a WIN for him!! 

My little guy with all the firsts. He broke his collarbone this last year! It was kind of incredible to watch him figure himself out in that time. He did crafts, took naps, and was very easy on himself. He stayed home for about a week, which was suggested to me was a longer time to wait. But when he was ready to go back, he told me. When he was ready to lose the sling, he told me. When he was ready to lift things again, he told me. He knew what he needed. He’s really maturing. Its just crazy to watch. 

Dekker remains my oldest soul. He is an incredible big brother, care giver, thinker, worker, tickler, helper, and friend. He loves to bike, snuggle, cook, build Lego, and read. He loves space and science and construction and babies and speculating. Lol! He is a deep thinker. Rational. Practical. No nonsense. Until there’s nonsense 😉 Sometimes he loves it. 

I truly couldn’t be more proud of him.

Until next year, when I say I’ve never been prouder of him 😆 

Goodness, child, I love you. I hope you have the happiest of birthdays. 

Its hard to know what to blog about these days. My mind is so occupied with either grief of our camper, and its hard to think outside of those things. Not to mention the fact that just about every single picture I have taken recently has too much camper in it to show you!! Gah!

Its ok, though. Be reassured we are still well. Keeping on keeping on. The kids are still ridiculously cute.

This man has a birthday right around the corner!

The twins ❤️ They play camping all day every day! And get into the move trouble 😉 All day every day.

He bikes and bikes and bikes! He has a nice long glide, even on the bumpy lot next to our house. He’s getting so much braver!

Meanwhile, this monkey isn’t far behind. And if she can’t keep up, she picks her bike up and carries it with her. A self sufficient woman.

I’ve thoroughly enjoyed the crazy, but like just about everyone else, I miss normal. I hope it comes back soon…

It’s Cher. Sick of me yet? Well, this post will hopefully lighten the mood a little if you are. During my fall semester last year I took a course called Women and Gender Studies. The professor had a very thick accent and was very grumpy. The entire lecture which was mandatory consisted of her standing at the front of class, sweating, drinking “water” from a
water bottle (now that I think of it, was it an accent or just slurring) anywho, if we answered a question wrong, she would berate us in front of the whole class. If we asked her a question, she would stare at us like we were stupid and give the most vague answer. So studying for that final was so hard because I learned nothing, the lectures were off topic and no one
understood them. While I studied for that final at the Borns (every waking moment for a week) I became so incredibly exhausted that I no longer knew what I was doing. I would forget entire conversations.

One evening during this absolute difficult and fearful time, Hailey came down to quickly chat with me. Afterwards I headed to the washroom and began to pull down my pants (you know, like, to pee) and as my whole butt became exposed I PANICKED and thought “WHAT AM I DOING!!!!!!! And I pulled my pants up so fast and looked behind me, only to see a door, which was locked. I forgot I was in the washroom to pee and for a moment thought I was pulling my pants down in absolute public. Horror of my life.

A few nights after that, I slept at my moms. It felt SUPER cold that night, I’ll never forget it. I studied until I passed out. I woke up a few times in the night to pull the blanket higher, and higher, and higher. Eventually, the blanket was over my head. I thought “WHY AM I SO COLD?!” Well, I took my arm and swung it around to feel the blanket over my body and all of
a sudden I feel it. The blanket did not reach all the way down my backside, and a fan was pointed absolutely towards that area. I was cold the whole next day.

Later in the year during my Winter term, I was so excited to use my new bluetooth earbuds I bought myself. I wore them all over campus. I was so thrilled to not have to hear people talking directly behind me while I walked from class to class, or hear the boys in the library talk about how good a sushi burger would taste. I was on my way to my sociology class and
needed to pee so bad. I thought “if I’m a couple minutes late, that’s okay”. So happy lil me walks into the bathroom confidently with Selena Gomez pumpin’ in my earbuds, telling me about boys. I sit down, start to go. Then I feel some air. It felt like how a duck’s throat might feel if you were deaf and had your hands around it while it quacked. “Oh no!” was all I thought. I had been so oblivious to people and in my own head that I hadn’t checked to see if anyone was in there. So I did that thing and I bent way over to look for feet. Oh boy! Stalls were full. I had a dilemma. Do I wait until everyone leaves so no one sees the face of the girl who just threw a bomb of terror in the public washroom? Or do I make a bee-line out without washing my hands? Or do I just pretend I don’t care? Long story short, I didn’t make it to
class that day.

Another classic tale that I will never live down and still haunts me to this day. Distracted and school on the brain, I leave my moms house to drive to Haileys. I’m at the first stop sign and k real talk: You know those flakey hard boogers that sorta stab the inside of your nose? We all get them. They HURT and need to be removed. So I’m just sitting there, don’t really see anyone and I decide to go find the little sucker. GOT IT! As I go to quickly pull it out so I can get on with my super important life, I feel a tale. I keep pulling. As I am pulling, someone drives by and it’s Dalmeny so we are all really close in proximity, going the absolute slowest speed we can. This someone is a guy about my age, we lock eyes. My left hand is now 6 or so inches from my face with a string of goop attached to the inside of my nose. The driver looked at me with such a face like “I approve, but also kinda wish I never saw you” and to this day, I don’t pick my nose in my car. Unless it’s night time.

To finish off this post, I messaged Hailey and asked “Is it bad that all my posts are about my bum and boogers?”

And she said “It’s excellent. No issues with that.”

So if you’re wondering why all this is on her blog today, I had approval. I promise.

I made ten sandwiches for lunch today. Two per kid. They were easily all eaten, no question. I felt nostalgic while I was making them, remembering the days of making two sandwiches – one per kid. That was three kids ago! By the time Rowan would have a sandwich, Dekker had two. Two sandwiches feeding my children is a thing of the long ago past.

I admit, though, it got me thinking. I’ve had nine pregnancies. I know mathematically, time wise, it doesn’t work out that way, but how crazy would it be to be making sandwiches for nine children?? One sandwich per kid would never cut it, but it was just a nice image in my head. These five kids alone ate an entire loaf of bread for lunch, plus some other stuff. How different would life look with all of my nine children? One day, in Heaven, I’ll know the answer to that question. Until then, I’ll just daydream about it while I make sandwiches.

Happy third birthday, Jamin. 💙Mommy loves you.