Believe it or not, Laela napped in the afternoons until just recently! There was a time where she didn’t, when she was maybe two or three, and she just didn’t need it. But when age four hit, she had a HARD time. I put her down for naps experimentally, and it helped tremendously. So Laela was back on the books for napping.
We tried maybe once or twice a month to keep her up at nap time. She would be SO excited, but be a total disaster by maybe 4:00pm. And I don’t mean she was hangry. I mean she picked fights and cried and struggled hard for the rest of the day. She so clearly needed that extra sleep.
If you’ve been around us recently, you may have noticed a marked change in Laela. Maybe in the last month or so, she’s grown up quite a bit! She’s so loving to her siblings, helpful to those around her, and she’s learning to handle disappointment with grace. She’s always been an amazing girl, but everything is just amped up these days. She’s more capable, and her judgement is better. Bottom line – she’s awesome.
That road rash is healing nicely, too!
In the last week or two, we’ve kept Laela up during nap time, and she’s thriving and lovingit!! Its working! And I’m SO happy!! I’ve been wanting to hang out with her sweet little self!
Yesterday was a good one 💕
It started with Laela snuggling Wavy before I put her down for a nap.
Wavy wasn’t so much having it, but Laela was quite determined, and offered her toy after toy, talked sweetly to her, and didn’t rattle when her sister didn’t immediately recover. It was SO great!
From there, Laela wanted to play outside. It was SO windy, but again, she was pretty determined to play on our swings. Did I tell you guys someone GAVE us a swing set?? Its beefy and strong, and our kids LOVE it!
She didn’t last too too long, though, before she came up to the deck and hung out with me.
That wind was cold, though. We were outside for maybe a half hour before we headed in. I had some crafty projects on the go, and she inquired. So, I taught her something new!
😍
Seriously, a girl after my own heart!! Can she forever think everything I do is awesome?? I would LOVE to teach her, or any of my kids, to crochet or knit or somehow find joy in the things I love. But I really want them to love what they love! It just excites me when we can relate on these things 🙂 And WHEN did she grow up enough to learn how to loom knit?!?! She is so bright and intelligent, and she loves to learn! Its amazing to watch. I hope I can foster her love for learning properly.
Laela, I am LOVING hanging out with you during nap times. I’m SO proud of you!
Yesterday’s post was a shorty, and it was like that for a reason. I hope you know, if you’ve been following along long enough, how much I LOVE being a mother, and how much I LOVE my mother! Yesterday was no different, except that we celebrated that love a bit extra 🙂 Rather than write all about that love, I lived it instead. And it was awesome.
We had waffles for supper.
And then went out for a walk. It was SO chill and SO nice.
Three generations of women…
When our walk was over and bedtime was looming, mom headed home for the night. Shortly thereafter, a handful of half naked kids abandoned their bedtime routines and presented me with gifts.
Dekker made me a card at school, as well as a ceramic tile with a picture of the two of us on it. He told me I can put my coffee mug on it, if I want.
I wonder how far down the road we’ll all laugh at my purple hair, haha!
Laela made me a bookmark, and drew me a picture with a note on it. Can you read her note?
Brady helped them get me a shirt, also.
I think this shirt is a follow-up to the “Best Dad Ever” shirt we all got him last year 😉
I also got a beautiful card from my mom, but I’m keeping that close to my heart.
Brady got me a gift this year, as well! I’m SO amped for my new Echo Dot!
Do you guys know about this thing? She basically takes the place of a mothers helper 😆 so its fitting for Mother’s Day. She reminds me of stuff, tells me the weather, adds stuff to my grocery list, answers questions, and mostly – she solidly entertains the kids! I read a Facebook post where someone with lots of kids said they felt bad for their Echo Dot. I totally get that now!
It was a very cute, fulfilling Mother’s Day. I feel SO grateful.
I’m so grateful to be a mother to my beautiful children ❤️
I’m also VERY thankful for the strong woman I call my mother. She is more dear to me than most.
We spent our morning at church…
And will spend the rest of the day together, loving each other and resting in each other’s presence. Low pressure. Waffles, playing outside, etc.
I know that not everyone gets to be a mother, or wants to be a mother. I always try and write a strong inclusive post on Mother’s Day. Please forgive me for keeping it short this time around. I choose to spend time with my people instead. But I love you all!! Whoever you are, wherever you are, I hope there is joy in your day.
Yes, we sold the bear, and the little couch 😉 Among ALL KINDS of other things! Very little was left at the end, which felt SO good! We priced it all pretty cheap, so we didn’t exactly haul in a ton, but I’m so happy to have so much cleared out!
For most of the day, Brady happily manned the garage sale. The kids played in the garage and nearby,
and Rowan made every effort to sell people on our items. I watched him give other toys to kids to entice them to buy them, or encourage little ones to sit on the ride on toys, etc. He was in full salesman mode! I ventured out into town pretty early on. I spent the morning shopping with my mom, and Jerilee came for the afternoon! We drove/walked every street in town and had a lot of fun chatting, perusing, buying, and getting some solid fresh air. We are BEAT now, haha!
Sugary faces from Anne’s donuts!
I practiced some serious restraint, and ALL I purchased was some donuts for the fam, and a succulent I’ve been looking for! Go Hailey! I did, however, come home with a few bonuses, which I am SO grateful for! You generous people know who you are ❤️
This evening holds a chill supper, baths, some serious tidying up, and a movie with Jerilee. Its wrapped up to be a pretty great day 🙂
Today, the mothers of the children in Laela’s class were invited to a Mother’s Day spa at school. It was SO cute!
There were a handful of stations to go to, and we had an hour. Laela did my hair, and gave me a massage. She was really just stalling, though. She had been waiting to paint my nails! That was easily the highlight! Things were a bit too sticky to take many pictures at the time, but I did after the fact.
Don’t they look pretty?
She asked me if I could paint hers too, so we did that at the very end with our last few minutes. Her hands were already a little painted from doing my nails, but hey. Whats a bit more color, right?
Besides the much anticipated nail painting, we ate some treats and read some stories. She read a few to me, because #overachiever, and I read a few to her, because #adult. It was pretty cute, though. A little girl sitting near us was bragging to me about what a good reader Laela is ❤️ Nothing but love! It was SO sweet.
All of a sudden, it was recess time, and off she went! She is SO comfortable at school, it really warms my heart to watch her interact with her friends and know her way around so easily. She’s so confident. I love that!
I doddled my way home, hijacking Laela’s teacher’s entire recess break with visiting before actually leaving. Whoops. Unsurprising, though. I haven’t been home for long at all, and its already coming up on the end of the school day! Hopefully they both had great days at school!
Its a busy weekend ahead! Tomorrow is garage sale day, and we’re hosting our first sale! Nothing too crazy, but please do stop by! And Sunday, we’re on music for church, and then spending the rest of the day with my mom! Because Mothers Day, if you hadn’t picked up on that.
Yesterday morning was spent out in the garage, pricing some things for our garage sale! (Did I tell you guys we’re having a garage sale?? PLEASE come buy our stuff so we don’t have to keep it! A cute little orange kids couch, a great quality jumparoo, some wall hangings, and ikea lanterns are on the chopping block with many other things!)
Oh, and an old kneeling office chair, haha!
While we worked, the kids biked on the street, played with the rocks in our driveway, etc. Laela’s bike had the chain guard thing break off for the umpteenth time (Anyone have Laela and Dekker sized bikes going at their garage sale?) so rather than biking, she had resorted to chasing Rowan on his balance bike for all she was worth. They were both having a blast 🙂 The kids are so funny. They go outside, put their helmets on, and abandon biking within the first couple of minutes. Yet they keep their helmets on! Haha! Like they have to wear helmets when they’re outside, haha! I get a kick out of it.
Cher had joined us for coffee and sorting, so us three adults were chatting when Laela showed up. She was walking across our driveway, and as soon as she was in view, it was clear something was wrong. Her face was dark. Brady ran over to her and scooped her up. She was crying, but she wasn’t panicked.
He brought her over to where Cher and I were sitting in lawn chairs next to a space heater (#wimps) and put Laela on my lap. I snuggled her and checked her over the best I could in the moment.
For the most part, she was pretty ok. She had fallen hard on her knee, so that was scraped and bloody. Hands were a bit scraped up, too. But her cheek! Ack! That thing had been through it! I’m SO thankful for her quick catch, for the helmet she was wearing, and for God’s protection, because aaany further and she couldn’t hurt her eye!! According to her story, she fell running about halfway up our street, and walked all the way back home on her own!! It wasn’t such a windy day at all. If she had screamed, we would’ve heard! She was SO brave!!!
When we brought her inside to clean her up, I asked to take a picture of her gash. And of course, she smiled for it ❤️
How is she SO beautiful, even with road rash?!
Something small, but special to me is getting to clean my kids up after they get hurt. They like it too, actually. I always take the broken kid up to my en suite, put them on my spinning makeup chair, and clean them up suuuper slowly, just the two of us. Laela was almost bouncing, and beat me upstairs to my room. She got herself into my chair. She seemed to get a little nervous as I wet a cloth.
“I hope the water isn’t too hot,” she said. So I told her I’d use cold. Thankfully, none of her gashes were deep, and I could adequately clean everything with just water on a cloth. She expressed a similar worry regarding the polysporin I planned to administer, but I assured her it would basically feel like vaseline, and as soon as that had been proved, she loosened right back up.
I took my time, and we made jokes and visited. At one point, I looked in the mirror and realized how messy and wind blown I was.
“Wow! Look at my hair! Its crazy!” I said. She giggled and confirmed it was, and followed it up with “But you still are SO beautiful, mommy.” Goodness. This girl, though. What am I going to do with her?
Laela flip flopped over the rest of the day whether her knee or her face hurt more. She didn’t care for having her face iced at all. She told me she’d rather it hurt a little more than have to fuss with the ice pack, so thats what she did.
Aaaaand now, this morning, she’s just excited to show her face to her friends, haha! Too bad for her, the redness has gone WAY down.
Great job being SO brave, Laela! I’m SO proud of you!!
We began the day with breakfast, as a person should. I ending up walking to get breakfast myself this time around. I know the kids would’ve loved to join, but they’ll get that chance in summer again. I really enjoyed the fresh, crisp air. Like I said in yesterday’s post, whatever the weather, I LOVE Waskesiu!
See me? Even representin’ in winter 😉
Since the grocery store had only been open for a week, and its not exactly busy season, the bakery wasn’t super stocked up. I bought their only danishes, and a few sticky buns. I figured we’d cut everything in half and everyone could try everything. They were into it 🙂
Again, with it being off season, our chalet owners told us to take our time leaving, so we blew off the standard check-out time, and went to the playground instead.
The kids played HARD, and had SO much fun! It was still cold out, but the wind was lighter. Plus everyone was dressed a bit warmer.
The teeter totter was the biggest hit! Solly was SO brave on it, and tried it with everyone! But he liked playing on it with Laela the best 🙂
Lol! This was a very real wipe out, and he didn’t even cry!
Swings were also a hit this time 🙂
Dekker even gave me and Wavy a few pushes!
And seriously guys, Waskesiu Lake has never been more beautiful.
Fun was had by all!
But eventually, Miss Waverly was chilled through. We called it quits on the playground, but played together in the van for a bit.
Brady and the kids played a bit longer outside…
But it was coming up on lunchtime, and we had a chalet to move out of.
We made the kids some lunch and they watched the end of Trolls while Brady started taking stuff out to the van and I fed Wavy. Once everything was packed up – their toys included – they kicked up another game of hide and seek, and entertained themselves until it was time to go! What an amazing bunch of children we have!!
As you read a few days ago, the drive home was sugary and fun and SO memorable. There has already been much talk of going back, which warms my heart so much. I’ve had to remind them, and myself, that if we were to go too often, it might not be as exciting or feel as special when we did get to go. They, like me, understood and were disappointed all at once. I get it, kids. I get it.
After we hit the Firefighters Breakfast, we drove back to our house really quickly to make sure we had locked the front door. We had not. 😳 Once we had locked it, we were off to the lake!
We drove the 2.5 hour stretch, listening to some of our family’s favourite music, singing, talking about what was to come, and only fielding a handful of “are we there yets.” Dekker commented that we could tell we were getting closer if we watched the trees. Goodness I love Dekker. He is SUCH a soft little man. He’ll be a bird watcher someday, I can almost guarantee it. The ride was beautiful, but as soon as we passed Prince Albert, it got suspiciously whiter in the ditches. I had been warned. I knew it was coming.
Sure enough, it was still winter in Waskesiu.
We started at the info centre, where the kids peed and terrorized and I bought us a park pass. She answered lots of questions for me, and watched lovingly after the kids as they ran crazily around the building. She could NOT get enough of Wavy, since she was right there with Brady and I as we visited with her. She said many times that she cannot wait to be a grandma.
From there, we called our chalet, and as I tipped you guys off to before, they weren’t around. We had some time to kill! So we drove around town a bit to see if anything was open. Most things don’t open until after the May long weekend, but last time we came early in Spring, the grocery store/bakery was open. This time, however, it looked closed. I snooped through the windows, and the place was basically gutted. Were they really starting so late in the season? No, they were not. They actually rebuilt in a BIG new building right next door! I don’t know if I’ve ever been so happy to step into a grocery store. I smelled sticky buns immediately. It was SO nice! And a huge relief, because those were our breakfast plan! Lol!
We could only drive around for so long. Our kids were scratching at the doors of the van to go play on the playground. We weren’t as well prepared as we should’ve been that first day, so I warned them they would get quite cold and wet, but if they were ok with that, we should definitely go play. As you can imagine, they were fine with it.
They played and I soaked up my happy place.
Wavy loves Waskesiu, too. She told me.
After a while, I was pretty much chilled through, so I figured the kids could use a moment out of the cold wind. They weren’t thrilled at the idea of being done on the playground yet, but we found a little cook shack to hide in for a bit. That worked.
We finally heard that our chalet owners were on their way over, so we loaded into the van and headed there ourselves. Once we got our room number, we began the long process of getting settled. Brady and Rowan unloaded the van…
The other kids tried to warm up…
And I snuggled Wavy and tried to warm her up, too.
We spent a lot of time that first day playing hide and seek! These were my favourite hiding places, easily!
Sometimes needs to be said for Dekker, though. He took it upon himself completely to unpack the kids. He hauled the backpacks upstairs, and decided who would sleep where. He put everyones pants and socks and underwear in the little end table drawers, and hung everyone’s shirts and sweaters. It. Was. Awesome. And I say again, we did not ask him to do this. He’s just so flipping responsible!
Once everyone was warmed up, we ate supper. Hot dogs and chips. We don’t do chips very often so that was a pretty big treat the kids were excited about! Then I took the bigger kids out for a walk…
to the bakery and we bought some cookies forrrrrr
Movie night!! We got our “Trolls” on, which everyone was very excited about! Though I have to admit, my heart soared when Laela opted to read a book instead! 😍 SO great!
Cookies are still good when you’re reading!
Wavy also relaxed with the group 😂
Everyone was officially toasty warm, solidly exhausted, and totally happy.
Yes, we are die hards. Rain or shine, sun or snow, we love Waskesiu.
Usually, on a day we’re travelling to the lake, we leave pretty early. We gather the last minute stuff before getting the kids up and dressed and out the door. We pick up Tims along the way, and drive the 2.5 ish hours to the lake, all the while listening to music we all like.
This time around, we actually started the day off at the Firefighters Breakfast event here in town! We were welcomed so warmly! Our fire department is loaded with some of the nicest people, one of them living just across the street from us! Remember that time we actually had to call them to help us? They were SO wonderful, taking our situation seriously, but trying to stay quiet for the sake of our sleeping kids, apologizing for wearing their boots in our house, etc. (For those who don’t know and aren’t clicking the link to the past post, we did NOT have a fire. It was a CO scare. And it sucked.) But we owe them a lot of love and support. Rae was at the event, waiting for us by the door. She grabbed hands with a couple of our kids, and we all made our way inside. Rae really helped us get settled, cutting food and serving kids with Brady while I juggled Wavy and did what I could one handed. The kids colored, ate, talked, and high fived Sparky, the fire departments mascot. We all had a blast, and a delicious breakfast. On the way out, the kids toured a couple of fire trucks, which they thoroughly enjoyed. We missed the car seat check, but we had places to go!!
I admit, it felt a bit strange to be waited on by a group of such hard working people, already. To have these men serve us food, clear our dishes, etc. was humbling. To have them take time to visit with our kids individually meant so much to them, and to me, as their mom.
Thank you to our local fire department for keeping SO MANY PEOPLE safe! And thank you, Rae, for making it SO much easier for us to attend!
To very quickly branch off of yesterday’s post, I’ll say that Saturday morning was another one of those times when people loved on my family, and I could loosen the reins a little and just let them. I’m so thankful to have so much love poured out on our kids, specifically. It is a HUGE privilege to have such a beautiful situation to navigate and learn from. How to let so many people love my children. Praise the Lord!
Ok guys, tomorrow will be a Waskesiu post! Promise!
I can’t wait to tell you all about our trip to Waskesiu! While I was very much anticipating it, I was a tad on the nervous side having found out the day before we left that our precious little lake town was completely snowed over. But, spoiler alert, it did NOT disappoint!! I’ll tell you all about it tomorrow. Or over the course of the next two days, maybe. It depends on how many pictures I have to post. 😉 It can be a real problem.
What I do want to tell you guys about where we stayed. Or rather, who hosted us. And I’m going to go about that in an annoyingly long way, like usual.
We stay at Chateau Park Chalet when we go to Waskesiu. It is a sweet little place, close to everything, with everything we need. There are two bedrooms and a full bathroom upstairs, and a big sleeping couch on the main level. It has a full kitchen, a BBQ on the patio, and a wood burning stove. Its familiar, and its always clean. We love it there. Unfortunately, it doesn’t have the best reviews online, and they do hold some merit. The wifi does suck. Some of the fixtures are imperfect, and the kitchen isn’t always perfectly stocked. And yes, the owners are hard to get a hold of. They’re not the most organized couple. But they run a handful of local businesses, and run back and forth between them unceasingly, it seems. When we arrived on Saturday, they let us in to our suite, and proceeded to check it over and leave and come back a handful of times, adding extras to the kitchen, showing us how to work the tv, and bringing WAY too many towels for our many children. The lady couldn’t resist our kids, and just gushed at them over and over. She left, and returned for the umpteenth time with a handwritten “gift certificate” for $30 at the convenience store/restaurant they run. She said we could come get breakfast there, or snacks, or candy, or whatever we wanted. She said she really wanted to do something for the kids.
We’ve been staying at this same place for a handful of summers now, and I’ve never seen this side of her! She’s polite, but seems just way too busy for her own good. She still seemed busy this time around, but like she really wanted to give a gift. So I thanked her profusely and promised we’d stop by at some point.
We spent our Saturday and Sunday at our little chalet, loving our time all along the way. We called the owner at one point to confirm when check out time was, and she laughed and told us to “take it easy.” Clearly, things are slow in the off-season, so we took our time.
Brady called when we were about to head out, and asked if we should leave the key. She had said we could, but if we wanted to drop it off at their convenience store, that would be fine, too. We had decided to use their gift to us on travel snacks, so we said we’d drop it off.
We were greeted SO warmly upon arriving at their gas station/convenience store/restaurant/everything store. Brady gave them the key and I wandered the snack aisles with the kids. We didn’t tell them dollar limits or anything, but we figured it would be nice if they each picked a thing. We didn’t need to gut their gift for all it was worth. Our kids are so funny. Rowan chose a Caramilk (don’t ask me why, I don’t think he even knew what it was) but the other three opted for suckers. Weird, right? They each grabbed an oversized Rockets sucker. And that was it! Since I knew the owners would want it, Brady and I each chose a thing, too. I got Mike n Ikes, and Brady got a Snickers. We presented them at the till, but she quickly turned us away.
“No no no, this isn’t close to $30! Go, get more!” She waved us towards the rest of the store. I reassured her, we each had something, and were so grateful, but she would have none of it. “No no no! There’s so much! Go get drinks! Snacks! More more more! For the children!” Pretty sure she would’ve run us down if we’d tried to actually exit.
So we ventured further in. We grabbed a big bag of pink popcorn and everyone got a drink from the cooler. (I could drink those Pure Leaf Iced Teas all day every day!) We brought everything back to the counter and I asked “Did we do it?” She looked skeptical, and threw five kinder surprises into a bag with everything else. That seemed to do the trick.
We all thanked her profusely, and I told her it was all too much. And she caught me off guard with her “why.”
She told me she wanted to, and in summer, she just can’t with all the busyness. She legitimately wouldn’t have time. But she wanted to.
I’ve been learning a lot about letting people love my children – my family – and letting them “inconvenience” themselves for us. I hear a lot of people with larger families say they’re meant to feel like a nuisance, and I am SO blessed to feel so far the other way. People love on my family so often, by choice, on purpose. I should really stop trying to talk people out of it. She knew she was giving a gift to seven people. It would cost her more money than if there were, say, four of us. There would be more people blocking the aisles of her store, and we’d be louder. We might make our suite a bit dirtier than a smaller group, or make more noise through the walls. But she wanted to give us a gift. Its not like she didn’t know there were so many of us. She was happy to have us.
I’m rambling. Sorry, not sorry. I felt really touched by her gift.
For probably the first time ever, we spent our road trip home sugaring our kids up to high heaven! Judge if you must, but this never ever happens! It was SO FUN for the kids!
And Brady and I, too.
Not Laela, apparently.
😆
Don’t worry, she had her own fun.
As you’d expect, no one slept on the drive home. And as you’d expect, there have been some sugar crash moments. But we expected them, and have been able to be super gentle through them. I can confidently say it was well worth it! The kids will remember this the next time we go to Waskesiu. Not only that, but what an amazing, unexpected lesson in generosity, sharing, and loving people just because!
I LOVE knowing that, even in the summer busyness and lack of communication with the chalet owners, our family is welcome there. That they’re genuinely happy to have us. That they don’t cringe when they see us coming. That they like us.
