Remember a while back, I was so thrilled to have made two batches of granola bars in two days? I felt SO happy with my motivation, and with the result of my efforts. Yesterday, I made a double batch of granola bars for a family gathering, and they look SO good!
One batch is made with craisins, and the other has dairy-free chocolate chips and stars 🙂 Because sprinkles always win with kids. And with me.
You may or may not know, but I’m not very brave in the kitchen. If I bomb a recipe, I don’t usually try again. I get discouraged very easily in the world of cooking and baking. I have not messed up these granola bars once, and I’ve felt pretty proud of that. I know, in the world of making food, granola bars aren’t very challenging, but the whole world of making food is challenging to me, so I count it a success.
I’ve been feeling pretty good about these things, and have stopped buying other granola bars for the most part. Today, Brady and I priced things out to see if they’re saving us a bunch of money. I was hopeful I could be extra proud of that. Maaaybe even make really cool ones and maaaaybe try to sell them, even.
I was so discouraged to learn that I’m really not saving us any money at all :/ They’re not costing extra, but its pretty on par with what you’d buy in a store. And for whatever reason, that REALLY bums me out. I know its not all about the cost, but I want so badly to find little ways to save, and I thought this was one of them.
Brady is one of my biggest supporters, obviously. It helps, too, that he really likes these bars! He encouraged me that these are healthier than what we’d get in a store, and I reminded him that they have unhealthy stuff in them, just like everything else. He actually made his way over to the pantry and pulled out a box of those yummy Nature Valley granola bars we found on sale, and use when I fall behind in making the bars myself. He started to read through the ingredients. My granola bars may not be the healthiest ones on the market, but we did have a laugh struggling our way through the ingredients list on our sweet and salty bars. Not to say we’ll never eat those monsters, because we will, because they’re good. But it made me feel a bit better about the ones I make, too.
I also need to remember that making my own granola bars has provided me with other things. They’re a dairy-free option for Rowan. They have flax and bran in them for Solomon, and everyone else, too. They were a teaching opportunity with Laela a few times this Spring. They made me feel confident, too.
I may never sell them, and they may never be a big deal to anyone else, but I’m happy I make them for my family 🙂 Small victories.
This was a first!!! We were given the gift of sending our two oldest children to camp this year!! What an amazing, thoughtful gift for them from someone who loves them so very much. Brady and I both LOVED camp as kids, and hope the same for our children 🙂
They packed yesterday. They were SO excited! Dekker ran to and from his room to the island where the list was of things to bring. He picked everything and got it all packed up. Laela, on the other hand, wanted a bit of help, so she more so held the list and crossed stuff off as I brought it to her bed to pack. They were AMPED when we got on the road. Todays the daaaaay!!
We were directed to park in a lot off to the side, and were told someone would come get our gear. That was a new thing, but being that we came as a whole family, it was nice to know we wouldn’t have to carry everything ourselves. And sure enough, a minute or two after we parked, someone came with a tractor and a HUGE wagon to haul as much stuff and as many people as possible. It was super fun, even for me as an adult, to ride along the bumpy road to camp.
We were dropped off much closer to camp, where we were directed to the kids cabins. Cabin leaders came and carried stuff for the kids in their cabins, so we just followed along to help them settle in. I took Wavy and went with Laela, and Brady took the boys with Dekker.
Laela chose a top bunk above one of her cabin leaders, who happens to be a member of our church! I think she was a bit relieved to see a familiar face 🙂
Dekker picked basically the same bunk bed in his cabin, but unfortunately, didn’t recognize anyone yet. I think he was pretty apprehensive, but there is just that difference between boys and girls, right?
The kids all went and played on the playground for a bit while I went to the gym nearby and did final registration.
We doddled around for a bit, but before long, brought the kids back to their cabins and left! It felt a little crazy, but I’m trusting they will just have the BEST time. Laela was very shy, but she settles into new situations pretty nicely. I worry a bit for Dekker in times like these, but I remember how it was to work at camp when the little, little ones were there, and I’m hopeful his cabin leaders will be sensitive and attentive like we were always taught to be.
I hope these kidlets have a TOTAL blast, and love camp the way I did! We’ll know tomorrow!!
Yesterday was a beautiful day. A day filled with celebrating our baby girl, reading her your messages of love, and looking back at a years worth of pictures of her. I poured over her blog, and cried a lot through writing it and reading it aloud to the kids. Lucky for me, I had abounding moral support 🙂
Waverly was still a sickie on her birthday, but she woke up ready to party! Lol!
Toga party, that is!
I aaaaalmost rolled with it and toga-ed the other kids, but I figured comfort beat out fashion on a sick day 😉 So she stuck with a comfy little onesie thing and a pony, to keep her hair out of her snot.
The day was cute and low key, with lots of playing, reading, and napping.
Shortly before 4:00pm, my mom came by and she and I drove to Martensville for bday stuff! Well, first a spray for a hornet’s nest, but then birthday stuff. I was unimpressed to find that Dollarama didn’t have a single pack of party hats, so we went without those, but no one cared 😉 We got a stack of sprinkle donuts, and an even bigger stack of pizzas!
When we got home, Jerilee had made it over, and it was supper time!! Wavy ate two entire pieces of pizza 😳🍕 without breaking a sweat. She was into it.
Aaaaand then the donuts! She was actually pretty uncertain of the donuts, which I didn’t expect, but she eventually got into. Sprinkles evvvvverywhere!
My goodness, she was SUCH a mess! But she was stoked 🙂
We opened up some gifts for her next. She’s hauled in well this birthday, with the cutest clothes and accessories, the noisiest toys, and the most loving cards. Lucky girl to be loved by so many.
We closed off our party with a walk around the pond.
It was windy but really nice. We ran into many people we knew along the way, and got some energy out.
It was SUCH a fun day, honouring the birthday girl.
You are one LOVED little girl, Waverly Violet! I’m so grateful you’re in our family 💜
I’m having a hard time wrapping my head around today. Its been a full year since Waverly came out of my body and into this world.
Rowan looks over my shoulder and goes “Is that daddy? That guy next to Dr. Guselle?” 😳 No, no he is not.
Feel free to re-read her birth story HERE, if you want. I am blown away by it, and by her, in so many ways.
Wavy’s 12 months have been FULL of change!
Aaaaand because of Cher entering our lives, here are Waverly’s professional 12 months of change! (She was more into it some days than others)
I cheated and put two from her eleven month shoot on here 😉 Twelve month pictures are further down the post. No spoilers!
I didn’t anticipate feeling so emotional about her reaching the one year mark. Of course I want her to age, and grow, and learn, and develop. I’m struggling more than I usually do with my baby leaving babyhood. She has been an AMAZING baby.
Waverly brought healing to our family in a time of immense pain and sorrow. She didn’t “make up” for any of our losses, but she was a beautiful reminder that God knows exactly what we need and when.
Thank you, Amy, for this beautiful soft little dress! When it came in the mail, her name felt so much more real. I cried.
Its funny. When we chose her name, it didn’t mean very much to me. “Quaking aspens.” Ok. I kind of wrote it off as a name that didn’t mean anything, really, but I loved it so I was willing to look past it. I’ve since learned that aspens symbolize overcoming doubts and fears. Of facing challenges, and surviving. Add “quaking” to that, and its all pretty on point. I was SO fearful, shaking in my boots, the entire time. And we overcame, all glory to God! Look at the beautiful baby He gave us!
Ok. Whew! Let’s put a pause on these tears and get into the specifics of Miss Waverly Violet at ONE YEAR OLD!
She was SO cooperative for this shoot, and not at all sick 😆
Wavy weighs about 20 lbs 9 oz only! She is definitely our littlest one, weighing now what Dekker weighed around 4 months old! She is 30” tall, and was 20″ at birth. She has TEN teeth so far, though a couple are only partway through. Stinking molars. They still count, right? Her eyes are crystal blue, and her hair is SO long, it almost has to be up all the time. I’m suspicious she will be a brunette down the line. Don’t quote me on it, but when she cries, her eyelashes are DARK. We’ll have to see! Wavy has little beauty marks behind her knees, one each, and nowhere else. She wears 18 month shirts, 12 month bottoms, and size 3 diapers.
Wavy crawls like mad, and walks along any strong surface.
She lets us walk her around though, too, and seems to REALLY want to go!
She likes to tempt fate, and let go, flap madly, and plunk down on her bum. She says a lot of words, though nothing consistently, and she’s getting really good at mimicking. I’m watching her language pretty closely, because of her tongue tie, but so far so good. Her favorite toys are anything she can simply hold in her hands while she crawls. Thats often Hot Wheels, or single pieces of Duplo. She will eat anything and everything we feed her! She loves all the food you’d suspect a kid would, but she would turn down perogies for grilled broccoli, and could eat bell peppers all day long. She’s a noisy eater, and noms loudly when she’s enjoying her food. You never have to wonder with this one! I sometimes find her hiding under the table, eating dropped goldfish or Cheerios, just like her siblings did, haha!
Our nights are still interrupted by her wanting for a bottle, but now that school is out, we’ll be able to be a bit more intentional with changing that up. Waverly has slept through the night many times, easily, but we’re quick to get her when she does wake up, in order to not lull the other kids awake. Now that school is done, I’m less worried about them having some tired days as we figure out a new schedule 🙂 In all fairness, we could’ve figured this all out a while ago, probably. But she is SUCH a peach when she wakes up, we LOVE to see her! She always goes right back to sleep, and rarely even cries when we’re up with her. She’s just… content. Its awesome.
I asked the kids what they have to say about Wavy.
Solly says he loves Wavy’s little teeth.
Rowan can’t get around just how cute she is. Her hair and her eyes, when she giggles, talks, throws stuff, claps, etc. The list goes on. He insists he just loves everything about how cute she is.
Laela loves to take care of Waverly, and loves when she laughs. I think Wavy has really got Laela thinking about motherhood.
Dekker loves when Wavy tackles him, and wrestles with him. He loves making her smile, and sometimes harassing him is her favourite thing. They do great together.
I’m going to close this monthly update blog series off by sharing some messages written for Wavy. When she was only twelve days old, we threw a party for anyone and everyone who wanted to come meet her and celebrate with us. I remember reading them after the party and crying. Jerilee cried, too. It was such an emotional time, in the BEST way.
“Rainbow babies are truly the best. You are very blessed to be in the family you are in. xoxoxo”
“God placed you into a very special loving family. You are a treasured gift that we all love very much. Grow and be happy in this world.”
“We love you! May God grow you into a lovely woman! He loves you SO much!”
“You are so dearly loved! I am so thankful you are here.”
“Welcome to the world, beautiful baby girl! You have been created to be uniquely you and will always be loved for who and whose you are.”
“You are so so special.”
“You warmed hearts and were SO loved by many many people long before you were born! We all continue to pray for you!”
“You are soooo pretty! You have such a peaceful presence. Its so nice to hold you and snuggle you. We love you so much, sweetheart.”
“We’ve looked forward to you for so long – peace be with you and your family!”
Guys, that was just a sample of her messages. What a HUGE gift for her!
Waverly. I don’t even know what to say. You have brought so many blessings to our family, and to many others this last year. Its been SO exciting watching God use you already!! I can’t wait to see what big things He has in store for you in the years to come. Thank you for all you’ve taught me.
I bought the kids workbooks for the summer. Do you remember me asking about it on Facebook? I ended up getting to huge ones from Costco – a grade one book for Laela and a grade three book for Dekker – and then a cute little pre-k dry erase one for Rowan. I admit, I felt a bit silly after asking about workbooks because, while I try to be very confident in my decisions, I fear judgement as much as the next guy. I was nervous people would think I wasn’t going to let my children play during the summer, or that I was putting these crazy expectations on them. I knew I wasn’t going to do those things, but I was nervous of judgement.
Thankfully, I didn’t receive any ❤️ Thanks, guys.
Also, even if I was judged, those people would have been proven wrong!
A couple of days ago, Dekker asked to work in his new book. I was super excited, because I thought he would be my tougher sell. He was excited! And because monkey see, monkey do, Laela asked for hers too. Together, we made a plan that we would cut the corner off of a page once they had finished it and I had checked it over. Its informal, don’t worry. I’m not being brutal. But I do want them to learn what the book teaches, and I also kind of want to encourage them to be neat with their writing.
Dekker initiated the snuggly picture 🙂
Dekker has amazing perseverance. We learned quickly (thank you for clarifying, Jerilee!) that the odd numbered grades are usually when new concepts are introduced. Dekker’s workbook is filled with new concepts. Even the first page – counting up and down in groups of 3 – was within his grasp, but had never been practiced or taught at school. They would give a larger random number and ask him to count up by 3, and he’d have maybe 6 blanks to fill in. He can do it, and he did, but it was a stretch. Further into the book was full multiplication tables, division, etc. Totally new stuff. And while he resisted complaining, I could tell me was disappointed. Nothing fun in that book, either. Just black numbers on a white sheet. Merp. No fun for someone whose neighbour had a FUN book!
Laela, one barstool over, was crushing her grade one book! Her book was so much more fun, with drawing shapes and matching characters and things like that. She was a little annoyed with how much tracing their was, but she’s a bit ahead in reading and writing, and the book safely assumed she wasn’t. It makes sense. She finally quit to find something else to do after she finished page 20.
We didn’t crack Rowan’s book out yet, because I still had cold feet on the one we bought for him, but he was happy to play at the island while they worked. Solly was doddling hard through breakfast at this point still. And Wavy… well she really wants to be one of the big kids.
Brady was able to find Dekker a grade two workbook that same day. It was along the same lines as Laela’s grade one book, and he was SO excited! He abandoned his Lego instantly and grabbed a pencil and his book. He worked for a couple of pages, but soon encountered an activity that was a slightly easier version of the one he had worked through in the grade three book. He started it, but it had lost its charm long ago, and he opted to pack it back up for the day. Still though, I was so happy we found him something that would work better for his age.
Brady also picked up a new book for Rowan, and I’m definitely happier with it. He’s already taken to tracing some letters and writing them across the page independently. He loves doing school work with his older siblings 🙂 Its RIGHT up his alley!
I’m so happy my kids like learning! I hope I can help foster that in them as they grow up.
You guys have probably noticed, but Brady, Carrie, and I really enjoy playing music together. We started leading worship together at church a couple of years ago, and it just worked. In all fairness, we’re all the same age, and went through the youth circuit at the same time. We weren’t all in the same youth group (Brady grew up in Alberta) but the years were the same, and the trends were similar across the board. We generally like the same genres, and we listen/play together pretty smoothly. We’re far from perfect, but we have a lot of fun!
We haven’t had too many “gigs,” but we’ve now played at our car show three times, done one coffeehouse, and recently, we were asked to play at a local staff appreciation event. That last one was our first official gig that we didn’t solicit. Our first paid gig. It was a lot of fun, and people seemed happy to have us, listen to us, and even sing along with us.
We’ve joked a lot about being a “real band” because poor Brady commented once that playing simply one car show does not a “real band” make, and we’ve never let him forget it. We were told to come up with a band name at that first show, so we did, and we liked it! But then no one asked for it and we felt dumb for even having one, hahaha! Then we played car show. Did that qualify us? Maaaaaybe. The coffeehouse seemed to count for something more for him, followed by yet another car show. But someone else asking us to play was a whole other thing. Seeing our band name in the program. I think its a bit more real now! More exciting! But also clear that, if we’re hypothetically going to play shows a bit more often, we’re missing a thing or two. So with the money from our last event, we did a thing.
We got some sound equipment!!!
Its not a full setup, by any means, but its a start 🙂 This would fill out a decent sized venue, and that’s really all we need at this point. Of course, it assumes the venue would already be prepared for sound, in terms of speakers and such. Hopefully over time, we’ll add more moving parts to it, like our own speakers and a few other accessories. But we started small and still managed to get some basic microphones and a mini sound board that covers all we need it to. I’m SO excited!! I hope we get more and more opportunities to play and use it!
Tonight is the first night the three of us will set it up and play/practice together with SOUND! I’m SO looking forward to it!!!
No, my grammar doesn’t just suck. It’s a play on the headlining song. Leave it alone. Haha!
Last night, Jerilee invited Brady and I to a showing of Sweeney Todd, put on by the Saskatoon Summer Players. It was a show specifically to show thanks for their supporters, and one of Jerilee’s family members was on that list, but couldn’t make it this time, and offered the tickets to her!
Cher came over in the afternoon and hung with the kids so Brady and I could get ready easier. Also, I think she secretly likes the kids, which helps 😉 But thanks to her, I could rally from this to this!
Washing my hair in ice cold water is NOT my favorite part of having bright hair, but its also worth it.
I was hoping to get a better picture of it, I was in FULL pink, with my pink hair, and Jerilee had lots of pink on the skirt of her dress, and hot pink lips. Buuuuut it was crowded and I couldn’t get it. We were still cute, though.
We had SO much fun!!!
Bad lighting, bad picture, great memory.
We were in the 6th row, right in the centre. Everything was so clear and exciting so close up. The vocals were strong, with incredible range, and that is really saying something because the music is SO intricate and dissonant, and finding starting notes would’ve been a real challenge sometimes! And so many people sang overtop of so many other. Those actors had to be on, and they were! The orchestra was also AMAZING. I love watching the conductors head bob up and down at the bottom of the stage as he directs his part of the production. Once or twice, a singer went a little too fast and wasn’t quite with the music, and the orchestra worked with it and recovered!!! It was very impressive. Lots of talent in this bunch of 100+ people!
I SO enjoyed the evening out! If I had it my way, I’d go to every production – Saskatoon Summer Players, Shakespeare on the Saskatchewan, whatever else – that came through the city. I LOVE theatre! It makes me happy, and honestly a liiiiittle bit sad that I never got to do more theatre outside of high school. But mostly happy, I promise 😉 SO thankful we got to go see Sweeney Todd! I know a few of my friends are going in the next week or so, and you’re really in for a treat! Be ready to actually jump out of your skin a couple of times!!
Our first full day of summer holidays was yesterday and I’ve got to tell you all about it. Not because anything super exciting happened, but because it was just the best, sweetest day ever. They may not ALL be like this, but I’ll take what I can get.
I slept in until 8am.
That could really be the end of the post, haha! That helped make the day great, that’s for sure! Wavy was still sleeping. I just woke up on my own. I made my way down and got the kids up shortly thereafter. I took time to snuggle every one of the four kids. As they got up, they slowly set the table. Usually, they fight about who sets what, because there are certain things they all like to set. Its pretty ridiculous, but this morning, they just did it. We took all kinds of time, and the kids were only really starting to eat after 8:30. I unpacked and reloaded the dishwasher while they ate, and without me nagging them to stay on schedule, they actually ate really well and enjoyed visiting amongst themselves. After breakfast, they loaded their dishes into the dishwasher and went about their morning.
They played and coloured and Laela elected to organize her stuff in her closet, as it was overrun by school stuff she had brought home. She tossed a TON and brought out some toys that are hers and put them in the toy bin for everyone to enjoy. Wavy woke up and joined the gang. Everyone played really well. It was like the air was different. Way lighter. No one had much to worry about.
I warned them all that it was coming up on lunch time, so we’d tidy toys in about fifteen minutes. They were fine with that. I took that fifteen minutes to feed Wavy a bottle and change some diapers. When the time came to tidy, I wasn’t quite finished with Wavy, so the toys were completely tidied before I had even started making lunch. Sooooo I threw on some dance music while I assembled pb&j for the kids. They partied and wrestled and cried and partied some more as I made lunch. It was actually a super happy time. They all did great.
Laela abandoned the dance party early and offered to set the plates for me, and she grabbed water bottles for everyone, too. No one complained when the party stopped for lunch, and they all ate happily. Seriously, I could make them peanut butter sandwiches every day and they would be happy campers. I don’t, lol, but I could!
While they ate, I chopped up a batch of granola bars I made the other day. They followed up their sandwiches with granola bars, because as you read yesterday, we are out of aaaaall the fresh things! Haha! Oh boy!
Lunch ended, and the little ones went to bed. Dekker and Laela happily played lego, and I somehow found motivation to make another batch of granola bars!! They’re pretty well loved around here so one batch doesn’t even make it a week. So a second batch is setting in the fridge right now 🙂 Win! With making the bars, I put everything in the dishwasher and ran it again, effectively improving nap time by a lot!
Brady came home at a good time and we wrapped the day up together as a family. We went on a gutting shopping trip to Superstore, Walmart, and Costco.
We hit the trifecta, and we’re all stocked up again!
Anyone else buy SO MANY BANANAS at once??
Fresh stuff, a bunch of meat, some birthday gifts for friends, sandals for a couple kids, shoes for a couple kids, swimwear for a couple kids, and aaaaall kinds of other things. For reference, we only started Costo at 7:30, and our kids are usually in bed around 7:00. BUT, they surprised us and absolutely rocked it! They were SO happy, and we had SO much fun!!
What a perfect way to kick off summer holidays. With an ALL THE WAY HAPPY DAY!
Never did I think I’d still be blogging seven years later! NEVER!
I didn’t tell anyone about the blog until I was maybe ten days in, and I had successfully blogged every day. I was pretty sure, once I talked about it publicly, I’d give up. Or miss a day. And I figured, if I missed a day, I’d quit.
I remember writing blog posts celebrating one thousand views, or one month of blogging. Goals were smaller then.
If you’ve read along from the beginning (doubtful, lol) you met Dekker as a baby. You’ve followed us through four successful pregnancies, and two gruelling losses. You built our house with us. You’ve come on trips with us. You’ve come grocery shopping with us WAY too many times. You’ve celebrated our birthdays and Christmases with us. You’ve come to Waskesiu with us. We’ve shared a lot of laughs, and some really hard stuff, as well.
I like to think you’ve watched us change a lot over time, hopefully for the better. I definitely feel like we’re a lot different than we were seven years ago. I had way less confidence back then. It was a lot easier to hurt me. I’m still pretty sensitive, and its not too terribly hard to knock me down, but I think I’m braver now. I like Brave Hailey a lot more than flimsy Hailey.
(No, mom. I’m not putting myself down 😉 Just thankful for growth. Since I know you’re thinking it.)
Thank you, friends, for caring about our family and our life. While I can’t actually know who reads along when, I love my readership so much, and feel very honoured to have you join our life.
You know its the last day of school when the kids need to bring a snack for an afternoon movie.
You know its the last day of school when you run out of sandwich meat making the last school lunch.
You know its the last day of school when you are completely out of apples, bananas, and cucumbers.
You know its the last day of school when you’re riiiiight at the bottom of the cheese strings, granola bars, and apple sauces.
You know its the last day of school when your kitchen island is piled high with all the things the teachers have been sending home gradually over the last week.
You know its the last day of school when Facebook is littered with pictures of kids standing by their front doors.
You know its the last day of school when kids are asking to *gasp* wear their indoor shoes outdoors!
You know its the last day of school when your alarm is SO much more obnoxious.
You know its the last day of school when you don’t even brush the kids hair before he runs out the door.
You know its the last day of school when they’re already all talking about whats coming first in summer.
You know its the last day of school when the kids bring home a handful of summer birthday party invites.
You know its the last day of school when you’re super behind in laundry, and thats ok.
You know its the last day of school when everything can wait until tomorrow.
You know its the last day of school when mom is elbow deep in list making, for camp, Waskesiu, and a few parties to prepare for.
You know its the last day of school when everything is wickedly disorganized, and its less overwhelming.
I’m SO happy its the last day of school!
And so are these hooligans. One more than the other 😉
