Long Overdue Waffle Brunch

We haven’t had a good waffle feed in a LONG time around here! It was finally time! It was so good to be back together again.

We ate well and much,

and spent the next couple of hours visiting, coloring, and listening to music. It was the best, warmest Saturday morning we’ve had in a while, and we’ve had some great weekends in the last month! But this one was better πŸ™‚

Its good to be reminded once in a while that waffle brunch is worth the effort, the mess, and the sugar rush to follow. One day, I hope we get in a groove, and invite someone over every Saturday for waffles. Who wants to be on our list?

How it Wound Up

I was feeling pretty great yesterday, and I’m happy to say the day finished out really well.

I had to duck out for a couple of hours in the afternoon, but I caught a little glimpse of Jerilee in there, since she SO generously agreed to hang with the kiddos while I was away. I got back home, and the big kids were home from school. Jerilee had been on the ball, so some reading was already in the works and backpacks were being taken care of. She had even checked on my crock pot supper and stirred it for me one or twice. But she didn’t stay long. I hope we hang out together for real soon!

Brady got home a little later than usual, but we’re so eager for work, no one was mad about it. Its great that it happened on a day where I was on the ball and had supper made in advance. Brady makes it very easy for me to not always have a hot supper on the table at an exact time, but he’s so appreciative and loving about it when I do. Pretty much immediately upon arrival, I left for about a half hour or so, but I was back in time to eat supper with my family. And WOW, guys, I haven’t made my honey chicken in a while, and it was SO GOOD! Way better than it used to be, even! YUM!

I helped the kids get to bed, which felt good. Bedtime around here is a bit of a marathon, not because of attitudes but just sheer numbers. It still felt awesome πŸ™‚ Not too long after that, I had a long overdue phone date with a friend. Then a soak and a chunk of a show with Brady.

It was a FULL, GLORIOUS day! I had hoped to sneak some outside time into the day, too, but I’m confident our day was as full as it could possibly be, and it was done well! I can’t say that every day, but I sure could yesterday, and that felt great.

Today is another day at home with the little kids!

All of a sudden, this boy can puzzle!
Solly put his blanket to bed πŸ˜‰

Tis the season for lightness.

Courtesy of Dekker and Laela on their walk home yesterday

I’m ready for it. Winter was short but brutal. Bring on the sun, the vitamin D, and the natural exercise that goes with biking, walking, playgrounds, and tag. Bring on the fresh air! *deep breath in, deep breath out*

Back to the Daily Grind

…and LOVING it!!!

I’ve been away from home for a while now, but today, I’m back at it. I’m on stay-at-home mom duty while Brady is off at work. I didn’t anticipate how refreshing today would be!

Brady is HAPPY at work, reconnecting with some of his friends, and feeling strong in his role as his family’s provider. He can spend the day doing something he truly enjoys, without having to argue with anyone. His change of scenery makes coming home so much sweeter.

I have enjoyed my days away, but I have been missing my munchkins. I knew being home again would be lovely, but I didn’t realize how refreshed I’d feel. I feel way more capable and motivated than I usually do.

So far this morning, the dishes have been maintained, and supper is in the crock pot. I did my hair and got dressed in real clothes.

Improvement anyway, lol

The big kids got out the door for school without me rushing them, and the little kids at home are happy. We’ve read lots of stories,

and there has been no yelling and minimal arguing. Wavy slept in and has been completely peachy since she got up! Easy peasy, these kids! Today, anyway πŸ˜‰

Maybe its just a “first day back” thing, or maybe I’m better at this. Probably option #1, haha! But today has felt good πŸ™‚

Pizza Night

What’s a morale boost if not a pizza night??

Just ask Waverly. Pizza is her faaavorite!

Thank you, Brady, for acing daddy duty, even more than usual! Thank you, mom, for the pizza feed! Today was a good day. Better than others recently. The perfect day for pizza.

Back on mom duty tomorrow!!

Nine Months of Waverly

My goodness, girl. As long as Wavy was in, she’s been out! Funny how these months have wailed by, yet the nine with her on the inside felt like an eternity! Haha! I can confidently say I’ve enjoyed the nine with her out WAY better!!

Waverly is growing! Sorry to say, I’m unsure about her weight this time around. Here’s the thing. I always weigh her at home on my scale, and while I know its not as accurate as the one at the doctors office, its at least consistent with itself. This last month, I took Wavy to the doctor for a couple of things, and they weighed her. Her appointment mid-March weighed her in around 19 lbs 10 oz, and then two weeks later, we weighed her again. The second time, she was dressed in jeans in and a hoodie, and had a wet diaper on. Her weight came to 20 lbs 13 oz. Now I know her clothes and diaper affected her weight that day, but I’m not sure by how much. Now, my home school says 19 lbs 5 oz. Sooooo she’s somewhere in there. Thats the best I’ve got :/ She has, however, moved into a big girl car seat! CRAZY! She’s growing and changing constantly. Her hair is longer, she’s back and legs are stronger, and her voice is louder!

She took a break from teething for a month or so, but she’s back at in just the last few days.

Development time! Wavy still doesn’t really care for her bottle, and she is LOVING food! Especially feeding herself. She can drink from a straw sippy cup but isn’t especially interested in it. We’ll keep trying for it, though, because the sooner she can quit the bottle, the sooner we can stop fighting that fight and she can just be happy and hydrated.

Oh ya, she waves, too!

Wavy sits SO well that I admit, I’ve dropped the ball pretty hard on her being on her tummy. Probably two weeks ago, if I set her on her tummy, she would cry and fuss and just lay her head down and whine. But recently, we tried it again and she is ALL over it! She kicks, tries to get her knees under her, spins around on her tummy, and effectively pushes herself backwards. Keep in mind, none of our kids have been early movers, our earliest crawler being 11 months. So this could be pretty exciting for us! The last thing I’ll note here is that Wavy has preferences now, and has certain things she prefers over others. She’ll still take just about anything she’s offered, but she loves cords, her little stuffed mermaid,

and Dekker.

Waverly was doing a bang up job of sleeping through the night but has somewhat given up on that since she jumped back on the teething train. She can sleep through, and she will again soon enough, I’m sure. She’s just a little off her game. Her schedule is less present than it was last month because of this change, but she pretty consistently only takes one nap. If she has two, she has a worse night, for sure. Lucky for us, she naps really well and really long.

She continues to be one of the most charming, engaging, welcoming people I’ve ever met.

Thank you God for NINE months with Waverly!

Yesterday’s Walk

I should be making Brady write these posts, but since he’s already got lots on his plate, I’m doing my best πŸ˜‰

Brady took the kids for a walk/bike ride yesterday evening. It looked so beautiful, I’m going to just let the pictures do the talking.

They biked to the pond near our house, and threw rocks into the water.

Our kids love doing that, for whatever reason. They didn’t stay for too long. Wavy was cold, and it was coming up on bedtime, but it seemed to have been a beautiful time ❀️

Thank you, Brady!

Thank you, Spring!

Thank you God!

Biking 2019

We had a full morning, with getting to church for sound check, being busy for a bit between then and church, and then actually getting to church for the morning! A serious thank you goes to Jerilee for driving out and hanging with our kids for that hour for our practice! They were all in great spirits, which helps so much going into church.

Church itself went great. Music went smoothly, the kids did well, Wavy didn’t cry when I passed her off to a friend, and once the three oldest had gone to children’s church, Brady and I were 1:1 with kids. I had Wavy, and he had Solly. It was so chill. Though Waverly is SO loud!!! She’s lucky she’s so stinking cute or she might’ve been disruptive πŸ˜‰

Aaaaanyway, after church, I took Brady and the kids home. Brady got them lunched and fed, and ALL FIVE OF THEM SLEPT!!! That almost never happens, but Rowan gets up a million times in the night to pee now (because potty training) and I think Dekker is getting less sleep. Some days, its just super clear that he needs to sleep. But he knows it, too, and feels so much better after.

Post-naps, they all went outside to bike.

They LOVE biking outside. This raises three points in my mind.

1. I have pretty big shoes to fill when Brady goes back to work later this week and I’m on mom duty again. They’ve been loving the outside time! I have to get them out there more.

2. We have to get our garage tidier/emptier so we can leave the bikes down and reachable. They currently hang from hooks on the ceiling, which works great, but I can barely reach them down. Our van takes up so much space in the garage that there’s nowhere for them to be set down and stay down. Hmmm… Who wants to come shopping in my garage?

3. Last point. What do you guys think? Dekker wants to bike to school, which I’m totally fine with. However, he and Laela walk together on her days. She still has training wheels. Would you let her bike to school with training wheels? Maybe lots of kids do, I really don’t know. I just have it in my head that they wouldn’t until the biked without them?? Any seasoned parents care to chime in? Maybe I made the whole thing up…

Regardless, the snow is melting and spring has officially come. Let the season of wipeouts begin!

While I was Home this Afternoon

This afternoon, I was home for a bit. We invited Cher over for coffee, and since her life is about to pick up with some high-stakes exams, she took Waverly’s monthly pictures just a little bit early!

Wavy was pretty stoic for most of today’s shoot but still SO cute!!

While Cher and I visited, sipped coffee, and took pictures of Wavy, Brady went to work installing some new car seats! We had taken the car seats out while we were away this weekend, leaving them with Jerilee in case of an emergency, and when he reinstalled them, we discovered we needed to replace not one but two of them!! Gah! Sooooo during a quick trip in to the city this week, we took care of that, and they’re now comfortably where they belong.

Girlies in the front here…

Dekker in the middle row, and the little boys in the back!

Yes! Laela’s in a booster now! She is STOKED! She’s 40 lbs, over 40″ tall, and over the age of 4! Rowan, on the other hand, is over 4 years old, and over 40″ tall, and is 39 lbs!! SO CLOSE!!! We’ll keep him in a convertible car seat for a while still here, because we have it, but how crazy is it that he and Laela are only ONE POUND apart?!

As I’m writing this out, I’m away, and Brady has the kids all playing outside while he’s finally installing a mailbox on our house!!

I’m so happy to finally have one of these! We got a little bit of heck this past Christmas season for not having one, so basically, now that it exists, I expect presents. Ha! I tease. Sort of. (Turns out we need a new entrance mat, haha!)

Tomorrow morning is church, and we’re up for worship leading! Hope we see some of you there! <3

Busy Busy!

Today felt like a busy day! Busy but so good!

It was a more “relaxed” version of busy for me. I was in Saskatoon bright and early to run an errand or two, and then I did some little jobs throughout the day, and hung out with my mom. It was super lovely.

Brady, on the other hand, had a busier day! He not only was single-dadding it again, and kept everyone alive and happy…

but he got some stuff done!

Today, there were two big goals.

Goal number one was getting the bikes ready! He spent some time this afternoon getting tires pumped and frames tightened up so the kids could bike again! The bikes, trikes, and balance bikes are all ready for the season. That includes his bike, and my bike. Full disclosure. I do not like to bike. But I love my family, and they bike. So thats something. Also, my bike is cute, so that helps, too.

Goal number two is about something I haven’t shared on here yet! Brady, Carrie, and I booked a gig. Gulp. As in, playing music for people to listen to. Double gulp. Aaaaanyway, its coming up in April, and we’ve been practicing and trying to get organized for it already. Last night, we made a big list of songs we either know or want to learn. All of this being said, Brady took my rough list and found chords for every single song! He printed them off and is making two tidy binders of music for our house and Carrie’s house. So much work went into that! I’m so thankful!

I’m not entirely sure what tomorrow will hold, but I hope you all have a beautiful weekend!

Five Things That Made Me Smile Today

1. After yesterday’s blog post, Brady sent me this picture of the kids at bedtime. Not only does it prove that Solly is ALWAYS making that face, but it also shows my children reading the Bible together before bed, which I love.

2. Today, as Dekker and Laela walked to school, the rest of us were heading to the city. We drove past them on our way out, and rather than getting confused, they laughed and jumped and waved like crazy! It was adorable.

3. We were at Walmart today, and the weather was beautiful! No big bulky jackets to fuss with, or boots to fall off when trying to remove the kid from the cart. I went to grab a cart for my family and was SO RELIEVED when this was a doll and not a baby. Calling that a positive moment. Hope she doesn’t haunt your dreams.

4. I’m SO excited about a whole new kind of yarny craft I recently discovered! I would share a picture, buuut I’m going to keep it to myself for a bit πŸ˜‰ I want to see if I’m any good at it first!

5. I love all my children, but I spent a bit of one on one time with Waverly this morning, and it really made me happy. She was SO cute and happy. She was cooperative with everyone, and even offered up a very precious “Hi!,” which doesn’t happen all too often.

Lots of little wins today. What’s one of yours?