I should’ve numbered basement updates from the start. #opportunitymissed. Ah well. Here’s another one!

First things first though. Brady was working away on a cabin job for a while recently, and I’ve got to say, he learned an amazing new skill! 😍

He did the walls and ceilings in a handful or rooms – all he could fit into his time there. Isn’t it beautiful?? I can’t believe it looks SO seamless. But I totally can. Because, perfectionist.

He would work long days at the lake, drive the two hours home, do the evening with his family, and then continue on in the basement! As I’ve been saying for a long time, its still not done, but its well on its way!! Here are a few progress pictures of what we have so far. (I’m going to say, though, we aren’t going to get the drop ceiling likely until the verrrry end, so I may say something is “done” when it doesn’t have a ceiling. No biggie.)

The bathroom is very close to done. We ran out of silicone, so we have to finish sealing everything. Need to install a shower rod, towel bars, and a toilet paper holder. Need a mirror. But we know what we want, and where most of it is coming from. Having our previous hardware contact back on the books makes everything feel SO much more feasible.

Brady is a good chunk of the way through finishing the bathroom and one bedroom. Here you can see some casing and trim, and the window boxes up close. I love the deep windows and the big sill. Nail holes need sanding a filling. There is still work to do with the finishing on the closet, and we won’t do baseboards until we have carpet. But thats ok for now.

The beautiful carpet that we were pretty attached to using in our basement is no longer available. In fact, the whole company is closed :/ Booooo. So we’re a little gun shy about carpeting one room at a time. We’d rather have the whole basement carpeted at once. And it doesn’t take a genius to know that is an expensive part of this whole thing :/ So, we wait a little. But if anyone ever sees any great deal or carpet blowout, please let us know! I’m itching for a warm cozy basement, and while we do NOT require perfection to make the space work, its cold down there, and we need carpet as soon as possible.

Hope you guys like the occasional basement update! Definitely not what my blog is usually about, but it is about our life, and this is a HUGE part of it right now!! Wish us luck! We need the extra space for this next season of being more shut inside 🥶

I mentioned the other day on the blog that my kids closets are awful. They are. I wasn’t kidding. Dekker and Rowan’s closet is the WORST. Easily. Its really big, and holds clothing for Dekker, Rowan, and Waverly. It holds guest pillows and some linens in the top, and a massive stack of extra hangers. It has four big half hangers, and a shelving unit down the middle. And on top of aaaaall of those things that the closet holds, it holds STUFF! TOO MUCH STUFF!

This closet gives me pretty hefty anxiety almost always. I do everything in my power not to look into it or go into it. Its so far gone. I hate it so much. 

Not only do I hate the mess, but I have struggled very hard with knowing how to deal with it. Because its ALL Dekker’s stuff. And I didn’t know how to throw it ALL away without completely devastating him. Being the oldest, plus his personality, makes him really protective of “his” things. Like he NEEDS his own space, and his own things. And with a family our size, its not so easy to give him all kinds of room. We’re always around each other and in each other’s stuff. I worried about hurting him, or trying to comb through it together. Which would be more painful? And when would I find the time?! So I avoided it.

Until today. 

I went on a surprise rampage while the kids ate lunch. I don’t know what came over me but I just went into the boys room and started pulling paper out of their closet. An UNBELIEVABLE amount of paper. I should’ve taken a before picture, but I forgot, so this was the best I could do. 

Brady came over with a black garbage bag and helped me load it. He also cracked into their little two-drawer night stand that is just as bad as the closet. Maybe as well do both. Brady willingly did the dirty work of running stuff that needed to be filed away downstairs, toys into the ottoman, and pencils and erasers into the junk drawer. I sorted everything that made sense, but finally just scooped paper out of the bottom of the closet and chucked it. I would’ve been there for DAYS if I tried to look at every single page individually. I threw away any paper that didn’t hold value, but of course I kept anything that I knew was special to him. Dekker LOVES birthday cards. He treasures them all. So I saved all of those, and ANY little trinket or treasure I came across. I tidied things up in there and felt like I could finally breathe!!

Until I realized I’d have to tell him. And show him. I hadn’t said anything before I started. Oh man, I thought. I’m going to catch him off guard and he’s going to be SO upset. But, what was done was done. I completed the nightstand as well, chucking every scrap of paper and putting all the little bouncy balls, notebooks, and special little presents into a tub. I brought the tub out into the kitchen and he suspiciously asked what we had been doing. “Cleaning up,” we told him. 

At this point, I was riled up, and I kind of ranted at the kids for a minute or two about the immense amount of clutter they had progressively collected, and that there needed to be more order from here on out. Their closets could never reach that point again, and there were now going to be boundaries about just where thing could live and to what extent. 

The moment I finished my speech, Dekker asked to leave the table. He had a pretty small lunch but had finished what was on his plate. I could tell he was pretty eager to see what had been done. He left the table and I waited a few seconds before I followed him into his room. He had the doors open and was standing inside. 

“Well. What do you think, bud?” I asked, expecting the worst. He closed the closet door and rushed me.

“Its SO much better! Thank you, mom!” And he hugged me. 

And I cried. Because, my goodness. I had poured over the right way to help him with his closet, and finally I just flew off the handle and purged the heck out of it. And turns out, it worked! He was SO relieved, it seemed! My boy loves his special things, but he also loves order. Why didn’t I think of that?! He’s like me in a lot of ways. I think we both feel the same about his closet, but being the kid, he didn’t really know what to do. That whole “parental guidance” thing. He felt the same as me, but he didn’t know where to start! Man. That realization felt SO good. 

He came back out into the kitchen and I showed him his tub of trinkets and things he had saved from various places. I told him he had ONE drawer in his night stand for his special little things, and that tub was definitely too full. I told him he should pick through it and about half of it should go. I held my breath as I dropped that bomb. 

And he didn’t panic at all! He was up for the task, and immediately dug into it. Within a couple of minutes, he said “Ok mom. I think I’ve got it.” And he had DONE it!!

He has seamlessly chosen what he wanted and what he was willing to let go. He kept saying he was really happy to do this, and he felt better. So I felt better, of course. NOT A SINGLE TEAR WAS SHED! I was fully expecting to be the monster, “bad cop” mom in this situation, and I’m SO impressed at Dekker’s heart! These things just remind me that he’s growing up, knowing more and better what he needs and wants. He was way more gracious than I was. 

There I go again, learning for my young children. I am SO fortunate. 

Yesterday was such a positive day 🙂 Got some good things done, felt less overwhelmed about some things, and spent some time with good people. I had a really warm cozy bath before falling asleep and sleeping HARD.
Uuuuuntil about 4:00am.

I have one particularly “spirited” child who LOVES a good midnight wakeup these days. I am less fond of this behavior (not this child) and am finding it particularly exhausting to continue along this course of action. But, we’re working with it. However, after this 4am wakeup call, I was pissed. I was in no way going to fall back to sleep. Thankfully, the obnoxious wakeup had woken Brady as well, and he lovingly suggested we watch a bit of Netflix together. After an episode or two, we were both easily back to sleep.

I vastly prefer uninterrupted sleep to interrupted sleep, but such is our life currently, and thats ok. Brady is home this weekend (YES!) so he got up a bit quicker than me and I was able to doddle and get up slowly. I did eventually surface, and we ate some breakfast before he got started on his day of basement finishing. He’s in his wheelhouse today – finishing carpentry! Doors, trim, casing, window boxes, etc. Now that the bulk of the bathroom is done, he’s starting on his usual stuff 🙂 Its going to be SO pretty!

While he’s been doing stuff, I’ve had a phone call with my mom, made some plans for Sunday, and have drew out what pattern I want to make for Dekker’s toque and scarf. I want to make each kid a matching toque and scarf this year, and they’re SO excited about it. I kind of want to make them secretly though, so they’re surprised by the end results. Because of that, Waverly is the only one whose toque and scarf are finished. Well, “scarf.” I opted for a doubt thick neckwarmer kind of… I’ll show you another time. But, 2/10 pieces are done, lol! Doesn’t feel like many, but at least one kid is taken care of!

I’m going to work a bit more on that during nap time, I think, and Brady will keep working on the basement. Lots coming up next week but I feel less overwhelmed about it. I’m just ready for it to come! It helps, too, that I have a fun day planned for tomorrow and a couple of fun things planned for Monday too! Aaaaand Brady is HOME for the first day of school!!!! YAY! He’ll be working like a madman for the rest of the week, including Saturday (boooo) but I’m so thankful he’ll be home for the first day <3 Thats always the goal – that we can all drop off and pick up the kids on their first day 🙂 Thank you, Lord, for timing everything beautifully and never forgetting the little things.

These days have felt pretty overwhelming recently. I think, without really knowing it, we’re all just aching for the next season of school to start. For routine, for new experiences, and for the kids to have breaks from each other. The kids are bored – its clear – and then need a change of scenery.

I’ve felt very overwhelmed with this particular stretch of waiting. The kids attitudes are deteriorating, as is mine. Lots of things feel like too much. My island is covered in school supplies, and ALL I need to do is get the kids backpacks, put the supplies in them, and its done! But their closets are AWFUL. SO far gone. And the thought of putting all those new supplies into such a messy place feels bad. But I won’t have a chance to clean those closets up before school. No way, no how. But then do the supplies live on the island literally until school starts? And then am I gutting their closets to death that first day of school? So they come home to all of their things gone? That seems cruel. But seriously, its a pretty overwhelming thought to me! We all have our stuff, lol! And for me, its my island, and that spirals into all kinds of other things.

Somehow today, that all feels less horrifying. I talked a lot about the kids closets yesterday and I feel a bit more prepared to deal with them. So with that, the backpacks can go back there, and they’ll be fine. My kitchen is currently a mess, but I know I’ll have no problem cleaning it up while the kids eat lunch and then the dishwasher will be some nice white noise for the nappers. And the things I often let sit WAY too long – like dead flowers in a vase – thats no biggie. I’ll clean those up along with dishes. It all sounds so small but some days, all the little crap just piles up and feels HUGE. And today, it feels doable 🙂 Even tidying up the mess that is my bedroom! That sucker needs work, and I’m not afraid of it!

Things that make a difference, I think, have been really talking about these things out loud. It all seems silly when its said out loud, somehow. It also helped that I had company this morning! I haven’t seen my neighbour hardly at all ALL summer, so she came and spent an hour or so with us this morning while the kids ate breakfast. It was AWESOME. She brought positivity and laughs and a fresh person for the kids to show EVERYTHING to! Haha! She helped me feel better this morning. And, it helps that Brady has a short work day today! He’s been working much longer days recently, since he took a job working at a cabin two hours away, and I’ve been missing him. He’ll likely work on the basement with his extra time today, but it’ll be SO nice to have another parent home. I was SO spoiled in many ways having him off work for a while. We struggled in other ways, obviously, and I’m SO grateful his work has picked up again, but the inevitable adjustment to him being gone again has been hard. I’m happy he’ll be home earlier today 🙂

Sooooo if you wander by my house today or tomorrow and I’m all stressed out and anxious, and nothing actually got done, don’t judge me! Haha! Be happy that I felt capable for a minute 🙂

Wish me and my sanity luck!

First of all, I was SO happy to have more people sign up for our handmade gift exchange!! Eek! Its not too late to sign up (I’m looking at YOU, everyone saying you’re not creative enough) so I’m going to perpetually remind you guys 🙂 Be prepared.

*****

Sometimes, because many of you are my Facebook friends, things will get repetitive. For instance, this post! Hahaha! YOU know about Dekker’s lost tooth, but the blog doesn’t, and the whole point of this thing is memories for me!! So, I’m writing about it.

A couple of days ago, we drove into the city for some last minute school supply shopping. In an effort to save time and money, we brought food for them to eat on the way. It was basically lunch, haha! We made them sandwiches, chopped veggies, and cheese strings. We were driving down the highway towards Saskatoon when Dekker suddenly pulled a broken record move.

Mom! Mom! Mom! Mom!
Whats up, Dekker”
Mom! Mom!
What???
I bit my cheese string and my tooth came out!

I looked back at him, and he was SO pleased with himself, smiling his big bloody smile. Nothing says pride like being covered in blood, right?

I told him I didn’t even know he had a wiggly tooth, and he said “I guess I did!” He and I are SO different. I hated when my teeth came out. I waited until those suckers were literally hanging by one corner. I would NOT pull them out. I’m SO impressed (and thankful) that Dekker is happy to lose his teeth. I definitely expected him to be considerably less fond of it!

On the note of teeth, in the last few days, Waverly has cracked two of her eye teeth!! The top ones! Her bottom eye teeth have been bulging underneath her gums for weeks, yet the top two are scratchy and less swollen now that they’ve made their way through. No wonder she’s been sleeping more recently.

Alright folks, we’re all caught up on teeth for now! My children are at the island making Christmas ornaments out of toilet paper rolls, sooo excuse me while I go take part in that.

A while back on a post titled “This Post is About Christmas,” I spitballed ideas about doing an unconventional gift exchange. I’ve had the idea for a long while but couldn’t really imagine how I’d put together such a thing. How could I do a gift exchange between people who didn’t know each other? Well, maybe they don’t have to… As I wrote that post, ideas started flowing, and I got excited all over again! Imagine my surprise when people actually went for it!!! Ack! I’m SO excited!!

I currently have a list of EIGHTEEN PARTICIPANTS! I’m SO happy its actually happening! But I want more 😉 I’m on the verge of making a Facebook group with a list of “rules” for participants to go by, such as a date to have either mailed, delivered, or arranged with me to drop off their gift by. I’m going to ask everyone to answer a few basic questions so people can learn small details about the person they’re giving a gift to, if they don’t know them personally. I think I’m also going to include a buyout. It seems harsh, but since we’re doing it so far in advance, I can’t have people bailing out a month down the road, leaving someone without a gift. So there’s going to be some kind of buyout. I think I’m also going to add a list of ideas, in case people are stumped 🙂 There are a few other guidelines, but I’ll get to those once the group is formed.

The stipulations of “homemade” will have some flex. It will differ for everyone. Gifts can be made from scratch, or could be upcycled from something else. I want to put a price on it, but that will also differ if people have materials in their home they can use. So I have to put more details together, but I want it to be affordable and fun for everyone.

I think I want to do this Secret Santa style. There are gift exchange generators online where I can put in peoples names and emails, and they’ll email you your person. So even I wouldn’t know who got who! Would that be smart? Or should I pull names from a hat and contact everyone personally? Either way, even if I don’t know, if a person is truly stumped, you could, of course, always come to me to ask for help!

Basically, this is me giving you another chance! I called a couple of people out who didn’t respond, so you’re currently not on the list, but I’d love for you to be! Anyone who wants to should feel totally free to join! It doesn’t matter how close of friends we are or where you live! We can work with you with shipping if necessary, and I’m happy to help with local delivery. I want anyone who wants to be in to be able to be in! 

You have until September 15th to join!!

One week!!! One week until school starts! I’m honestly so ready for it 🙂 I’m not ready for the early mornings, or the after-school hours before supper, or the lost time with my big kids. But I’m excited for my big kids to see their friends every day! For them to get back into the swing of learning and growing! For Rowan to start preschool! For Solly and Wavy to get to know each other, and to see Solly in the “big brother” role more often!

I’m excited to get into the swing of the new school year with some of my new goals about being brave, being involved, and trying new things.

Not only do my kids start school next week, but Cher’s next semester kicks off next week! She and I finally got around to our “birthday date” yesterday evening. We grabbed a thing or two at a mall, ate some subs, and went to Landmark to see The Lion King. Can I just say, it was SO much better than I thought it would be?? I had heard good things, and was excited for it, but once the aspect of talking animals dawned on me, I was a bit nervous it would be cheesy. It wasn’t! It was so accurate to the original, really heavy in some parts, and Timon and Pumba were hilarious!!! I loved it. We laughed a lot. It was awesome. It also helped that the recliner chairs were SO farty, and we were SO mature… 💨 Popcorn may have even been thrown. But thats what happens when you get there too early and need to entertain yourselves! Happy birthdays to us!

All thats left for me before school actually kicks off is getting the kids some last minute things. They both need indoor shoes, and a couple of other things. Dekker’s school supply list contains both a “fancy notebook” and a dollar store journal. Not sure what to make of those just yet. How big? Should they be coiled or nah? How many pages? I don’t get it… But I’ll figure it out, hahaha! Hopefully didn’t wait too long!

My kids like to have what they call “dark parties.” Solly coined the name. It basically means they take any light-up toys and close up in a dark bedroom and “party.” Dark parties usually end in blood, or at least tears and fighting, so they’re outlawed from time to time. With Dekker’s recent birthday, the kids all acquired some new light-up toys, so dark parties were back on. 

On a particular day, they all piled into one bedroom for a dark party, and I remembered the last time around had become a bit of a control freaks paradise, or a control freaks worst nightmare. Depends on which control freak is winning, haha! So I figured I’d try to harness some of the crazy before it began. 

In this next part, I should be read in a cheesy announcer voice, and the children’s answers were all cloaked in maniacal laughter. 

Me: Does this remain to be a positive dark party?

Them: Ya!

Me: ‘Tis important to remember this dark party belongs to each individual member. No party-goer shall tell another party-goer how to party.

Them: Hahaha! 

Me: Do all party-goers remain to be happy?

Them: Ya!

Me: (makes eye contact with each kid individually) Do YOU have your grump on?

Each kid: NO! 

Me: (stares for awkward three seconds) Carry on!

And then I closed the door on my belly-laughing children.

It was the BEST way we’ve EVER resolved a conflict. It was the BEST way I could’ve made these suggestions to them without anyone needing to defend themselves. It was just AWESOME. I felt really good about it as I left their party and headed to the island to prepare some stuff for lunch. 

And maybe fifteen seconds later, their door opened and the kids filed out in an orchestrated fashion and attacked me in the kitchen with a big giggly group hug. We all laughed and hugged and I kissed each of them. And as fast as they showed up, they filed back into the bedroom and continued their dark party. 

And I cried in my kitchen. Because I felt such love. Such unprompted, genuine, joyful love. The love you can’t force or count on, but is just SO extra special when it comes along. 

Goodness, I love my little people!

Today is Sunday. We are horrible at getting to church, especially in the summer. There’s always a reason not to go. But we really, really wanted to go today! Our pastor was speaking on something we really wanted to hear! That, and just the basic need for Jesus and community. There’s even a lunch after!

We got the kids up early and bathed everyone, dressed everyone, and fed everyone. Some of the kids weren’t in the best of shape, but we can’t always demand perfect. Its not fair to us, or them. Its too important. So we decided to power through.

Except then there was Waverly. In her little dress, laying on the floor on her blanket, unmoving except for her little hand playing with her hair. She lay so still, and smiled at us, but didn’t want to move. She finally sat up, and yawned one of those goooood baby yawns. A couple of minutes later, she was rubbing her ears and her face and crying. Just a tired little fussball. And I knew that if we brought her to church, we’d pace the whole time, and even with that, I knew she wouldn’t be settled. So I decided to stay home with her.

I sat on the floor a bit with her, but she didn’t want anything. I’d hold her but she’d push me. I’d set her down and she’d cry. We listened to music and she wiggled for a minute before plopping back down and rubbing her face all over again.

She was still dressed for church, so I decided to change her back into jammies. I wanted her as comfy as she could be. And the moment I lay her down…

This is her token sleepy reaction. Those three fingers in her mouth and her hand to her hair. Always. Once she was laying down, she was happy. So I knew what she needed.

While I had her laying on the floor, I looked inside of her mouth. That brought some clarity. She is pushing ALL FOUR eye teeth right one. One has just cracked through (YAY!) but the others are bulging under her gums! Poor dear is just feeling it. She is SUCH a tough cookie!

So Waverly is napping a little earlier than usual, for obvious reasons, and I’m working on her scarf for winter. Since I’ve added new yarny skills to my repertoire, I want to make them matching toques and scarves. Did you know thats TEN things?!?! Yikes! Hence why I’m working on it in August. I’ll show you when they’re done 🙂 I’m actually really excited. But I’m getting off track! Gah!

I’m sad to miss church today, but I’m glad Brady was able to take the kids and I got to have a few little minutes with Wavy to myself. She’s so strong, and so animated, and so close to walking! Eek!