We had our family Christmas this morning! While I know gifts aren’t what Christmas is all about, its not a secret that they’re fun and anticipated. Also, if you’ve followed my blog for any length of time, you probably have picked up on our method.

We follow the “something they want, something they need, something to wear, and something to read” method of gift giving, and while I LOVE the system, sometimes its tricky to be creative when coming up with gifts for each category, so I’ve done my share of blog searching to find ideas. That is a big chunk of the reason why I’m putting out kids presents on here 🙂 Ideas for whoever might want to try this down the road. I like this system because it forces you to get creative and really think about what you’re getting your people rather than just going into a store and coming out with armloads of random toys and clothes that you happen upon. Thats fine, too, but I love the planning that goes into this, and the way it leaves room to watch for sales and such just for those specific items. (So, just for records sake, this Christmas, Dekker is 6, Laela is 4, Rowan is aaaaalmost 4, and Solly is 1.5)

Ok, rant over! We’ll get to gifts in a minute, but we started the morning off with fresh cinnamon buns brought to us by, once again, our rockstar neighbours <3 (Solly was still sleeping at this point, sorry!)

After breakfast, the kids were just itching to open gifts. We decided to do a quick read of the Christmas story, and to pray together, to bring the whole gang back down to earth and remember the reason for Christmas in general. It was cute. They were all actually solidly interested.

Until Solly had to poop, of course. He picked a good spot for it. Riiight next to the presents.

Everyone prayed very patiently and then it was time to crack open the gift!!

I’m going to write about what they got out of the order they opened things in, just so its a bit more concise. We’ll start with their “wants.” The kids are still pretty young and don’t express a ton of wants, so I went forward and found some AWESOME stuff on local “buy and sell” pages. Dekker and Laela both got swing/plasma/wiggle cars. Rowan got a balance bike. Solly got a cheap little plastic scoop chair, which doesn’t really compare to the new ride-on toys, but those are all pretty over Solly’s head, so this worked too 😉 (These are probably the worst pictures I have from this morning, because they were moving so much, haha! I promise, quality will go up from here!)

Too bad its so cold out today, the kids couldn’t be out in the garage playing with their new stuff for long. Hopefully another day soon, because waiting for spring just seems WAY too far away!

Next in line are the kids “needs.” I found this one a really tough category in the past, because we are fortunate enough to have all of our needs met throughout the year. What do my kids NEED for Christmas? So rather than taking “need” perfectly literally, we settle on a more practical gift for this category. So for this, Dekker got new socks and underwear, which seems lame, but he was beautifully grateful for! His socks and underwear are so ragged, and I went against my grain of buying him all the same socks and got him “cool” socks that he will like more than I will. So, win! Laela got a full sized backpack to replace her bitty one that fits nothing but a water bottle and a snack in it. Rowans “need” was by FAR Brady’s and my favorite!! Rowan got BEDDING!! He got a new duvet and pillow, with a cute Ikea cover for both, and a big, soft, stuffed grizzly bear that he has tentatively named Snowman. Amazing! Solly got a pillow for his need, since he doesn’t have one yet.

Not the best picture of Dekker’s gift, obviously :/ I almost missed a few gifts being opened!

Lol!

Smooches for snowman 😗

The third category was “something to wear” and for whatever reason, I was most excited about these gifts! They ALL got slippers, and we searched high and low for very specific ones for each kid. They all LOVED what they got! Win!!!

Old man slippers for Dekker

Soft pink girly boots for Laela

Red fuzzy slippers for Rowan

Blue character slippers for Solly (mostly because we knew his siblings would love them, lol! He didn’t try to take them off once!)

The slippers were wonderful, and they actually all opened them first, so that worked out well. The last category was “something to read,” and they all scored two “Pete the Cat” books. Our kids currently LOVE Pete the Cat, and as Dekker gets better and better at reading, he can actually read through the early readers, so thats what we got!

Let’s be real. Solly just wanted the box.

Lastly, we got each kid a few pairs of fresh jammies, because everyone is sizing up, or in Dekker’s case, his are ragged and in pretty desperate need of replacing. Everyone was super happy to have new pjs 🙂 I’ll spare you pictures, because they’re not super detailed or anything. Just four pairs of jammies each. Laela and Dekker changed into new ones on the spot. Solly would NOT have his slippers touched, so he’s in the same sleeper, and Rowan decided to “wear naked,” and has been in a diaper most of the morning.

Our kids also pulled names and bought each other a little gift.

Dekker bought a mini duplo set for Rowan. Sadly, I missed a picture for that one 🙁 But its a tiny little set that makes a school bus. Laela bought game of “Go Fish” for Dekker. Missed that one too :/ Mom fails. Rowan bought Solly a bucket for pouring water over heads in the tub. I know, it sounds SO lame, but our kids all fight over who gets to hold the bowl that we use to wet their hair, and now Solly can have his own 🙂

He spent the rest of the morning sticking his face into it, making noises, and laughing. It was pretty much adorable, actually. And Solly bought Laela pencil crayons, which was stoked about, but of course, I didn’t photograph. Sigh.

The last gift WE got the kids was the movie “Storks,” that I’m likely more excited to watch than they are. And I made a brave move (in my books, anyway) and bought our baby Bambino a stuffed toy. Rowan has taken it upon himself to guard it with his life until Bambina joins us here at home <3

(I’ll clarify here that I did NOT ask Ro to kiss his stuffies for the pictures, or do anything sweet at all. I just asked him to bring them over and show them to me. This boy melts me.)

Our kids each opened one more gift this morning, and they were from our amazing neighbours, who once again, hit it out of the park and blessed our children. It seems we’ve been somewhat adopted into their family, and its quite humbling, to be honest. The kids LOVED their gifts! Dekker got some new Lego, Laela got her first ever batch of Play-Doh, Rowan got a big case of Duplo, and Solly got some cute toys that stack on top of each other, or inside one another. All perfect for each kid.

 

They kids hit the jackpot this morning, in my opinion and theirs. They were so thrilled about the whole thing, even though we definitely didn’t break the bank or get them anything especially extravagant. I asked each kid over lunch what their favorite present was.

Dekker said he was just happy to be home. That was his favorite. I pressed a little and asked what had he liked unwrapping from under the tree best, and he said his favorite thing was watching Solly unwrap his gifts. I LOVE those answers because, he obviously wasn’t super concerned about what he himself got, and also because Solly unwrapping gifts was a total disaster, and he screamed whenever the paper would rip, as though we were ruining the gifts. It was hilarious 🙂 But he would NOT pick a favorite present. He just liked it all, he said.

Laela said she also liked everything. I told her I was so happy she liked it all, and did she have a favorite? “Everysing! Maybe my wiggle tuck is my favorite?” Lol! Her wiggle “truck,” apparently.

Rowan said his favorite present was Bambino getting a stuffed puppy, and his second favorite was his bear. I’m not surprised by that at all 🙂

All of the kids decided together that Solly liked his bath bucket thing the best, which I agree with completely. He LOVED that thing, and was incredibly possessive of it! But hey, its his, and its his first day playing with it, so he’s allowed.

I want to say I’m sorry for the ridiculously long post, and the absurd amount of pictures. I know some of you mix up our kids sometimes, and with them dressed the same, its possible all of these pictures look the same 😉 But I love them, and I wan to document this all here for us down the road. And I also really hope that anyone wanting to break Christmas gifts out into categories in the years to come can gain some ideas from all of this as well.

I hope you all had a really lovely Christmas Eve, however you spent it! My parents are on their way over to spend the rest of the day and evening with us, and tomorrow is Christmas at their place!! Its such a fun time of year, and I’m breathing a little easier than I expected I would be. Those of you who are clearly keeping us in your prayers, please don’t stop! It is bringing significant relief and joy to our holiday <3 Have a VERY merry Christmas Eve!! I hope you’re finding yourself blessed in your circumstances, whatever they are.

So today has been an odd day. It started out relaxedly enough with a yummy breakfast for the kids, Frosty the Snowman playing in the background all morning, coffee and jammies and cuddles. A lovely neighbour brought back a slow cooker we had lent her the other day and repaid us with cinnamon buns, and chocolate and treats galore. We had a really nice chat with her while the kids finished their movie. Lunchtime could have gone smoother but all in all it was a really lovely morning. 3 out of 4 of the kids went down for naps and slept a good couple hours and just as they were waking up Hailey had to head to the city for her hair appointment.

No, this is not Hailey typing this. This is Brady.

I’ve written twice before if I remember correctly. And I’ve typed as Hailey dictates a handful of times as well. But as my battery power is dwindling I will get to the point.

Through a series of events since Hailey left for her appointment at 2:30, she completely forgot to blog and is now drifting off to dreamland beside me. Her hair appointment started at 3pm and with the plans she had previously discussed with her stylist, it lasted all the way til 7pm. And from what I can see in the dark, you guys are in for a treat. 🙂

But as the kids bedtime was approaching the power here in our area of the world went out. It’s been out for nearly 4 hours at this point and we’ve been nervous to use our phones or laptop too much in an effort to save batteries. So, needless to say, blogging was forgotten about until 10 mins ago when she realized it through her state of slumber and asked me to write it for her tonight.

So please forgive the choppiness and lack of writing style that you all know and love so well. She always says to me ‘I just write the same way that I talk!’ and she’s absolutely right. And it’s fantastically entertaining. Hopefully the way she talks has rubbed off on me a little over the years. 🙂

So enjoy your evening and if you live anywhere near us, it’s probably been filled with candle light, board games, and blankets. Stay warm everyone!

My mom and I drove to the city today with the goal in mind of officially completing our Christmas shopping! The last weekday before Christmas. I know, it was a bit ballsy, but we did it, and WOW did we accomplish a ton!

I’m nervous to list the places we hit too specifically, so I’ll be a bit vague here and there 😉 We did some quick stuff downtown first (getting glasses adjusted and the like) first, and then got into the shop! We hit one of the malls, and I picked up a handful of gifts I’ve been putting off getting, because malls this time of year are bananas.

It might’ve been after that when we went after lunch. It kind of runs together in my head at this point. But say we went to lunch next. We went to Red Lobster, which we LOVE, for their clam chowder, shrimp caesar salad, and unlimited cheese biscuits. Our server was a total peach and the food was ridiculously good. We ate well and enjoyed our chat, without any rush. But eventually, time had to move forward, and we paid and left.

We hit SO many stores in that part of the city. A second mall, Winners, a couple of other little stops, and then we both needed groceries at Superstore. We even stopped at Part Source for an oil filter, since Brady was already elbows deep into an oil change before realizing he had oil but no filter. Shooooot!! But, we got it and kept moving!

We ventured back to towards the north end of the city, and hit a THIRD mall, that we perused in its entirety. So. Much. Shopping.

It wasn’t over. We both still had Costco lists. I know, our family was just there on Wednesday, but there were a few things that popped up on our list of needs, as well as a couple of things I wanted to buy as fresh as possible. So when my mom needed to go anyway, it worked out perfectly. We did our Costco shop together and found all that we needed, and didn’t even wait in line! The cashiers and cart loaders were fast today!! It was awesome.

Now, we’re both home. I think I can safely speak for my mom when I say that we are both WIPED. It was a huge day of shopping, but we accomplished so so much, and I’m SO glad we went. This was our last chance to get our last things, and we did it! I have in hand every present I’m going to give this year. I have big bags for the things I cannot wrap in paper. I have food for gatherings. I have plans! I’m really really happy today went so smoothly. Brady even managed to duck into the city with the kids and get Dekker’s glasses replaced on warranty. Did I tell you guys yesterday that Dekker’s glasses broke? Well, if not, Dekker’s glasses broke, and Brady crazy glued them back together to make it through today, but they quickly popped the lenses out of the old frames and into the new ones, and boom! They were done. Easy peasy, lickety split!

Time for supper!! Neither Brady or I know what we’re hungry for, so we’re settling on big crunchy salads, with lettuce, cucumbers, celery, tomatoes, chicken, cheese, seeds, and honey mustard salad dressing. THAT makes me hungry!!

I hope you’re all feeling ready for the Christmas season, no matter what that looks like for you 🙂 I am so anticipating tomorrow being a day spent in jammies, with movies and treats and just being full on lazy and cuddly. Though I do have the wrap the end of these presents sooner or later, and tonight is NOT the night!

I have SO enjoyed today!!! Last year, Dekker was rocking the flu around this time (as was everyone else) and ultimately ended up missing his Christmas concert altogether. Yes, yes, I know there will be many more ahead of us, but it was pretty disappointing for me. He didn’t care too much at the time, but he’s been getting more and more excited about this years’ Christmas concert as the date has crept up. Meanwhile, I’ve been praying hard against sickness, and I am SO thankful that everyone was well enough to make it to both Dekker’s concert, and Laela’s preschool concert this morning.

I don’t have many great pictures on hand, and the few I do include other’s kids faces of what I have no ownership. So, sadly, no pictures for this one 🙁 But, try to picture it along with me.

Laela’s Christmas concert was terribly cute. There was a LARGE group of children, the three year old class and both four year old classes. They rang their bells and sang and did actions along to a few different songs, and Laela actually participated! It was a bit of a bummer at first, because she was tucked so tightly behind a couple of kids, and it was really hard to see her with our eyes, much less cameras! A loving mom helping out moved her to a more visible location after a song or two, which I really appreciated. I could FINALLY stand up in my back bench and take a video. Apparently, this was the moment Solly chose to make his escape. I didn’t even notice because he had been so calm and quiet and charming up to that point. I took a video while Laela stood still as a statue and smile at Brady, who was also taking a video of her, which she clearly thought he was taking a picture. I recorded the group for about 30 seconds before a friend got my attention and said “I think your son is up there.” Shoot!! Solly had stealthily crept his way up there and was hunting for Laela. He made it onto the stage before I caught him and hauled him back to our spot. He had a little cry but was consoled by watching from my arms.

When the program was over, Laela’s teacher gave each kid a gift, and we headed to the gym for treats. There were two tables full of fruits, veggies, crackers, and sweets. We loaded up two tiny dessert plates for the family to share, and commandeered a table. My parents joined us for the whole thing, and we had a really sweet time as a group. Laela was feeling very proud, and the whole place was just bustling. The snacks were good and the energy was high. But eventually, it was time to head out, and after I held up the show with visiting for longer than I should have (as usual) we made it home.

We napped Solly right away because our window was small, and Laela and Rowan had a bit more lunch. About an hour after getting home, we woke Solly and reloaded everyone into the van. We headed off to Dekker’s school and met my parents there, once again, for Dekker’s concert!

Dekker’s was more in depth, with the whole play, and each class singing a special song or two. Unlike their school assembly last year, Dekker sang and did actions and participated well! He did not like when the spotlights spanned back and forth across the group and hit him. It seemed to really bother him, actually. But by the end if it, he was a bit more used to it. He really liked singing “Marys Boy Child” and “We Wish You a Merry Christmas.” I just LOVE that his school still points to the birth of Jesus as the reason for the season!! That is so rare in schools, and while his school is technically not a Christian school, it does not shy away from the message of Jesus! Amazing job!!

Dekker was pretty thrilled to have such a big group of us there to see him, and we were happy to have made it there too 🙂 Can’t speak for Solly, though. The little boys are just BEAT, but it was completely worth it! There is ONE MORE concert to attend tonight, and thats a second showing of Dekker’s. People aren’t technically supposed to attend both, for the sake of seating, which makes perfect sense! However, either Brady or I will go on our own, just to be there watching him, and taking him to and from, mostly. We won’t even steal a chair, I promise!

Whew! Its been SUCH a cute day! Only one more day of school before the kids are off for TWO WEEKS and we can be alarm-free!! I’m so looking forward to it!

Once again, I was able to sleep in this morning. Its amazing how much faster I’m getting better compared to my usual sicknesses. Sleep makes ALL the difference! With that, we’re going to bed nice and early, too, so Brady is still very well rested even though he’s getting up with the kids each morning. We’ve both greatly enjoyed the layout of this week, save for the sickness, of course. Its been a real treat to sleep in each day and heal from my cold so much faster than I normally do. Especially considering my pregnancy, and how there is far less I can do to manage my sickness! This has turned out pretty well 🙂 I still sound terrible, but I could breathe while laying down yesterday, so I’ll take all the progress I can get!

Brady left around 9:00 this morning to get to work, and its been a pretty lovely morning since then. Solly was fighting the power pretty hard to begin with, crying on and off for quite a while for seemingly no reason, but after some snuggles, he wandered off to find a blanket, and he’s been fine ever since. Meanwhile, Laela and Rowan have been sitting at the island, reading books, all morning. I love that. They’re currently reading through an alphabet book, and while they occasionally ask for my input (Is “S” for lettuce? Oh, salad, oops!) they’re doing a fabulous job on their own! I’m super proud of my little bunch of smarties.

In a little while, we’ll all have lunch and everyone will lay down for a rest. Then, we’ll pick Dekker up from school and go to an ultrasound all together. Its been almost two weeks and I’m pretty twitchy and anxious to see that little babe in there. I’m trying to remind myself that my symptoms are still present, and that should be reassuring. But guys, it just isn’t. Not for me. I felt at least some degree of nausea until the day I delivered Jamin, even though he had passed roughly two weeks before we found out. My boobs hurt the entire time. All of those little reassurances that so many people carry, I just can’t carry them anymore. I can ONLY carry Gods promise, which I believe to be the best answer! But its a hard answer, too. Trust me, I understand why people who do not believe in God think those of us who do sound crazy. We just have to let go of everything, and trust some “God” to take care of things. It sounds crazy, but WOW do I believe it to be truth! None of this is under my control. None of it. And if God wasn’t in control, it would be a far less hopeful situation. I would likely just give up. But THANK GOD FOR GOD!!! His eye is on the sparrow, and I KNOW He watches me.

If we can make it through lunch without any yelling or fighting, this should all roll out to be a pretty great day! Wish us luck!!

So I’m definitely not all better yet, but today has been better than yesterday! The night was smoother than the one before, with fewer wake ups and fewer coughing fits. I can’t recall having a cold where I’ve woken up in mid-coughing fit, but that has been the case this time around and YIKES I am not a fan of that!! Waking up gagging my throat to pieces is just so painful and disruptive, and then to try to get back to sleep afterwards is so frustrating. But I can happily say that I woke this morning because of a full bladder, not a coughing fit. So thats a win for me!!

Once again, Brady was in town, and was able to take Dekker to school and Laela to preschool before heading to work. My mom lovingly offered to come over so I could pick Laela up without taking the little boys with me. It was the first time I’ve poked my head outside in a few days and I honestly didn’t mind it. Hopefully this is the strong solid upswing I’ve been wanting, and from here on out, things will just be better and better 🙂 I miss fresh air, and I know the kids do, too. Maybe soon all (or even most) of us will be healthy, and able to be outside a little bit more. I think we’d all like that.

I took a load off while the three kids napped, and Brady finished work early and was able to pick Dekker up from school. Its been a relaxed day, and I’m so thankful to be feeling even just a little bit better. No more excuses, Hailey! There are very few days left to finish up out to-do list before Christmas! Its less than ONE WEEK away!!

Every part of me wants to write the blog Brady suggested. It would go like this.

Sick….

I was also offered the option of

Sleeping…..

However, while my dry sense of humour might find that hilarious, some people might not think it counts as a full post. And those people would likely be right. So, onward we go!

I feel today about the same as I felt yesterday. Pretty deathy. Or, deadly? But I definitely don’t mean “deadly” in the sexy way. Not. At. All. I feel pretty horrendous. I’m stuffed, and coughing, and I have a sharp headache on the very back of my skull that refuses to quit.

Thank goodness for this week of work! Brady does have to work this week, but he’s working in town, doing a reno for a friend. He couldn’t start as early as usual, obviously, so he was able to take Dekker to school, and I could stay resting at home. But he did eventually have to go to work. But due to their baby napping right at the perfect time, Brady came home and helped the kids with lunch and put them down for their naps. I went to lay down upstairs and have dozed in and out while watching YouTube and playing Free Cell. So, once again, I’ve accomplished nothing but I am just sick, and scared to push it. I know a cold is such a minimal issue, but its hard not to live in full paranoia. So, I’m just taking it really really easy.

Brady finished todays work just in time to run back to school and get Dekker. They’ll be home soon, and we’ll somehow try to all be together for a bit.

I feel like the theme of the last year or so has been “just keep pushing on.” We have had a lot of heaviness, and I promise this won’t be a long drawn out post about the like. There are more of those to come, I’m sure 😉 but not today.

Today, however, was once again pushing through! Brady and I were up to lead our church in some familiar Christmas songs. Sickness has trickled into our house once again, and yesterday, I woke up woke up with a sore throat. So I knew my turn was coming. But I figured if I was good to myself, it wouldn’t have to advance too much in one day, and Sunday would be fine. However, I had a TERRIBLE sleep and woke up feeling like death itself. I could barely get a word out without erupting into a coughing fit, and then gagging to high heaven. It was not ok, and being in this lovely state of knocked-up-ness that I am, there was NO option for DayQuil or anything good and strong to pull me through. Brady and I had a very quite, short conversation and decided that I would stay home. I could be completely useless at church, and he could figure something out. But within minutes, we changed our minds and knew I had to get there and help. There was really no other option.

I’ll be honest. It wasn’t pretty. We had such fun songs chosen that neither Brady or I could sing anymore, being that neither of us had strong (or any) voices, so we scrapped three fun ones and added an extra to the three we still had. In speaking further with some of the people at church, it was suggested that we have a bit more congregational singing, so we added a few to the list last minute that we hadn’t even had a chance to run through. By the end of our first chunk of practice, we had to save our voices. So when the service began, I admitted to the congregation that neither of us had voices, so we needed loud powerful singing from them, and they delivered. I’m not sure we’ve ever led an entire morning by just singing the first line of every verse of a song, but it worked. Again, not pretty, but no one seemed too upset about it. Sickness happens, and we are prone to a lot of it! People lovingly thanked us and supported us afterwards, which always helps, especially when the whole thing felt klutzy and thrown together. Thank you, beautiful church, for taking us as we are!!

This morning was one more commitment for the season that we can cross off the list! There are still a couple small ones left but they’re pretty minimal 🙂 We are getting closer and closer to the Christmas break, and I am very much looking forward to it. Hopefully our colds will be gone for Christmas since we’re having them in advance. 🤞

We had my parents over for a waffle brunch this morning. It was delicious and a nice time to chat and catch up, as it always is. Brady and I had things a little less together than we usually do, so the kitchen was a mess and everything needed a refresh. But thankfully, they are part of our non-judgemental group of friends, so we all just rolled with it. Who cares whats stacked in the sink when there are waffles on the table, right? Right.

Straight from brunch, I brushed my teeth, and headed into the city for a wax and a nail appointment! I’ll talk more about those next week when I *gulp* finally kick off my blog series. I have been chewing at my hands and fingers and nails like there is no tomorrow for a long time now. I kicked the childhood habit for a while, but losing my two boys this year absolutely did not help my anxiety, and I am BACK on the crazy looking finger biting bandwagon. Getting gel nails is my attempt to leave my hands alone, and I’m praying it will work, because the after effects of all that chewing hurts!! And getting pregnant has not made it easier :/ So, nails. It was a good appointment, and I look forward to maintaining them and hopefully saving my nails and hands from all the unnecessary pain.

While I was out, Brady sent the big kids over to our neighbours house, because, once again, they were invited over to do something fun and festive! Today, Dekker and Laela went over to our wonderful friends house to bake cookies!! I found out a couple of hours later, when I got home, that they were not simply baking cookies together, but they were decorating them as well!!

I was briefly embarrassed, but then decided to just be SO thankful that someone took my kids under their wing, and included them in a fun Christmas tradition when I don’t have the strength/energy/patience/gumption to do it. It really takes a village, and we have some AMAZING people in ours! The kids were returned to us, arms full of Christmas presents, and a large tin of cookies. Its possible the amount of sprinkles weigh more than the actual cookies, but isn’t that how they’re supposed to be? 😉

All in all, I’d call this a FABULOUS day! We ate a delicious brunch. I got out for a bit. Brady got some downtime. The big kids got to decorate (and eat) cookies with people they really like. I got my nails done, and listened to new music.

Now, we just hope for an enjoyable, smooth evening! Because tomorrow we’re leading singing at church, Brady without a voice, and myself with a sore throat. Let’s hope Carrie can still sing…

I’m SO proud of Brady! A while back, he was asked to participate in a career fair for a group of high school kids. He was recruited to do a career fair two year ago here for our local high school, but this year, our high school joined up with a couple of other small town schools in the division, so it was bigger, and to Brady, it was more nerve wracking.

He almost said no to the invitation. He almost did last time, too. Brady does not credit himself as a public speaker. Not at all. He was pretty nervous as the date to decide snuck up on him, and he told me he was going to back out of it this year. He said he remembered, last time, he only felt better once it was over. I’ll admit that I pushed him. I didn’t make him accept, but he continued to think about it, and did finally say yes. I was THRILLED, and he was NERVOUS. I saw the honour in him being invited back, but he just saw it as a public speaking gig that he did not feel comfortable participating in.

He and I went over his presentation last night, and he wrote it out smoothly and in a good order. He was still nervous, but I think it helped to go over it with someone. I could ask questions at the natural places and he filled in his info along the way.

He left this morning in pretty good spirits. I waited anxiously to hear from him, trying not to text him between sessions, and to give him some space. But I was SO eager!! Finally, the guy was done and on his way home 🙂 

He said it went really well, and he warmed up right after the first session. I can definitely relate to that feeling, even as someone who is more comfortable speaking in front of a group. But it was a nice quick morning, three short sessions about running his own business and how he got to be where he is. I’m a VERY proud wife 💗 I feel like its such an honour for him to be asked to participate in something like this, to teach kids about how to succeed and how to be GREAT at what they do! He’s the guy to go to on the subject, for sure!!

For all your finishing carpentry needs, Brady is your guy!!!