Today has been a surprisingly smooth, enjoyable day! To be fair, I was out and about for most of it, running errands and getting my hair done, so that kind of break is always a bit of a treat. But I got my errands done faster than I expected, and thanks to that, I spent a good chunk of time mall walking, drinking my Starbucks nice and slowly, shopping a tiny bit, and finally just taking a rest on a bench while I waited for my appointment. When it was my turn, I threw a new idea at my hair girl, and she told me she could make it happen! Excuse the poor quality picture, but here you have it!

It is SO vibrant and bright and dimensional and I LOVE it! It feels great and fresh and just funky enough. I’m super happy with it. It took a pretty long time to get it this way.

While I was gone, Brady had taken the big kids outside to bike on the road while the little boys slept, when our neighbour (who is SO sweet to us and our kids!) made her way over and invited the kids to come see the flowers she was planting. It was right around then when she offered to put the kids to work while Brady could get some other things done. What a gift, hey?? Completely unsolicited help from a loving friend. Brady took her up on it, and the kids played solidly in the garden for about 2.5 hours. At home, Brady installed the gate on the gate and did a few indoor jobs as well. I forgot to ask if I could post pictures of the kids in our neighbours yard so I won’t, but here was the “after” part of their afternoon out 🙂

See Laela’s moustache? Yup. She had a RIOT. I think Dekker figured out early that he didn’t like the taste of dirt, so there was less flinging on his part. Either way, I couldn’t be more grateful for how this afternoon turned out. What a gift to them.

I got home juuust after Brady’s parents arrived for the weekend! They’re out for a short visit this weekend, and made better time in their travels than I had bargained for, so I was a tad late. As you’d expect, though, they were already down on the floor, playing with the kids, totally entertained. Haha! No big loss with me being a touch late 🙂

We enjoyed a really nice evening together, with simple food, some presents, and a nice visit to catch up. However, our guests got up quite early and were a little road weary, so they headed out fairly early to their destination for night. One day, we’ll have guest rooms again, haha! But that day is not today, so they’ll be staying in a nearby town.

Time for some cards and a soak. Time to wind down. Which is tough, when my hair looks so fly. Don’t mind me.

Our family has been in somewhat desperate need of a Costco shop recently, but we’ve been trying to hold off as long as possible. But we were finally at the point where we had no milk, yogurt, Cheerios, bananas, cheese, to name just our staples. We also are out of all fresh veggies, save for some cucumbers and old broccoli. It was just time. Brady and I had planned to take the kids into the city to run errands on Saturday, but when I called to book a hair appointment for the same day, the only time we could get it kind of messed up the plan to make a family day of it.

So I rather decided to take the kids in and just do Costco this morning. The rest of the errands were small “in and out” type of errands, so we planned that Brady could just do them on his way home. But as hard work would have it, he finished his work today in the late morning! So he met us in the Costco parking lot and we did the big shop together.

We both knew it was going to be a bigger shop today, and man, was it ever!! We dropped a good chunk of money there, and we didn’t even buy diapers this round! Shoot…did we need diapers? I have no idea. I hope not. But seriously, we bought SO much delicious fresh stuff! I find it so much easier to eat healthy in summer when the veggies are yummier and crispier and just so refreshing. In winter, I just want soup or potatoes, haha! Almost as healthy 😉 We stocked up well on grape tomatoes, baby carrots, snap peas, peppers, bananas, cherries, strawberries, and raspberries. We still have watermelon here at home so we left those behind, but I don’t think we’ll be hurting for fresh things anytime soon. I’m so hungry just thinking about all of it.

We were there at the perfect time of day, and walked right up to a till, where the Costco employees helped us unload our stuff. It all went super quick, which was perfect since Rowan was getting annoyed with Solly sitting beside him. Its such a funny adjustment for them, because I think Solly leans on him a little. Ro gets super annoyed, and leans back, squealing, “No, Yollyyyyy!” I love it. Lol!

Once everyone and everything was loaded into our bus, Brady joined us in the bus and we ran to do our few other errands. Our insurance place got us an AMAZING deal on our home insurance, so we went in and signed for that. We picked up a saw blade Brady was having sharpened for work. Probably the highlight was going to J&H and getting a gate for our deck! We just have to do some quick assembly and we’ll be good to go! I so anticipate being out there on the deck as a family, where Solly can join in without falling down the stairs or getting splinters in his knees when he crawls. Its going to make the deck just perfect, which is already isn’t too far from. We just have to grab our stacking patio chairs from my parents place where we’ve been storing them for the last year or so and we’ll be ready!

We got home, and the little boys were hurting for a nap. Surprisingly, so was Dekker. He got upset about one thing, and no matter what we did to calm him or snuggle him, as soon as we’d calm him back down, he’d work right back up. He was SO sad to go to bed, but its now been a solid 1.5 hours and we haven’t heard a peep from him. Once ALL of the boys were down, Brady seemed to lose his mojo, and he is now sleeping in Laela’s room, haha! So just she and I are hanging out 🙂 Its nice. I love her.

I’m going to go enjoy some more Laela cuddles before everyone wakes up for the evening. I hope you’re all enjoying your Fridays! Happy weekend!

It was a bit of a disjointed morning, resulting in fatigued children and a snippy Hailey. I’m trying, though, and I haven’t had any moments of regret yet, so I can proudly say I’ve succeeded this morning, with ALL of the glory going to God!

The upside of everyone melting down mid-morning is that everyone is napping!!! This happens almost never, and only really when the kids are all super sick (which happens often, apparently, but sickness doesn’t always equal napping 😉 ) So while the morning was a bit of a marathon, it was worth it. Here I am, in my living room, with my feet up, blogging and watching YouTube simultaneously. I’m doing a bit of research, as usual, and texting some friends. Its so peaceful. I love it, and I am already feeling refreshed. Could I still use some more coffee? For sure, haha! Today, there just won’t be enough coffee. And thats ok.

I hope you’re all doing well. This week has felt monstrous for some reason, and I feel like I haven’t connected with too many people. I am trying, thought, and thats the best we can all do, right?

Sorry about the shorty post 🙂 I want to really soak up my short alone time, haha! More tomorrow, as always.

I hope this stage of life never ever ends. I know some more experienced parents than me will likely say that it will, but let me live in blissful ignorance for just a little bit longer.

My kids love to help. I am so grateful that he do, and that I haven’t had to push them to help, or make work a consequence yet. This morning really brought to light just how sweet of a thing it is, because its happened so much.

Rowan had rice krispies for breakfast, and it was a HUGE mess! That ridiculously light cereal was just all over the floor. I wish I could just add milk and make it a bit easier to stay in the spoon, but Ro still loves to secretly dig into his food with his hands when no one is looking, regardless of what it is, so that would be an even worse, stickier mess than the dry ones floating around on the floor. Once everyone was done, Dekker commented on the mess on the floor. I heard him mutter “We should do something about that,” and he wandered off. I heard the hall closet click and Dekker surfaced with the broom and dustpan. Now I don’t about you guys, but my kids cannot sweep. The tall broom and the coordination just isn’t there, and I am NOT complaining, because we all know Dekker is a great vacuumer! But he brought it out, and Laela and Rowan flocked to the scene. He organized a system and tried super hard, but couldn’t quite make it happen, and finally asked me for help. Of course, I did it right away while Dekker, the general contractor, observed the operation. Once it was done, Laela dumped out the contents of the dustpan into the garbage and Dekker put the broom away. Rowan asked “Favor? Me?” So I had to find him a favor to do for me, too!

Soon after that, I started doing the dishes, and the kids instantly rushed over to help. This particular load of dishes hadn’t dried well, and were still quite drippy. Also, there were a decent amount of knives. So I thanked them but said I would do this one on my own. Everyone kind of deflated, and Rowan asked “Please mommy.” I had to make a point to change my attitude here, and be ok with them helping making a bit more work for me, take them up on their offer to help. I never want to discourage their desire to do jobs with me. So I fished out all of the knives and let them go ham on the rest of it. And as per usual, they did awesome! I just had to clean up some puddles off the floor where dishes dripped when I would’ve normally tapped them off into the dishwasher or sink. Whatever. It took an extra five seconds. I’m so glad I let them help.

Beyond those things, all three big kids have just been actively in help mode, almost to a fault. If someone gets a job, I have to find one for everyone else. One person brings me a diaper, one person throws the dirty one away, and one person brings Solly a toy while I change him. Like its that specific. But I want to foster this desire in them SO MUCH. I don’t want to mess it up. I’ve been slowly trying to build an arsenal of ways to make that kind of thing easier for them, whether its some kitchen gadgets that are safe for kids and easy to use, that super light vacuum that isn’t great but that works enough that the kids can use, or using up wipes a little faster because they clean things easily. Best of all, the kids seem to really love it! I wish there was a way for them to get the laundry out of the washer, though. That is a job that is on everyone’s radar that I can’t let them help with :/

As I was writing this, I had to get up a number of times when Solly would be upset or to deal with one thing or another. I was recently having a chair snuggle with Solly when I had to jump up and run to someone else, and the moment I set Solly down, he started to get sad again. But before he even had a chance to finish his first vocalized fuss, Dekker was on the floor on all fours, baby talking to Solly. Crisis averted.

I am SO grateful for my amazing children, and their loving servant hearts <3

I didn’t post pictures of the deck yesterday, and I’m realizing that I’m doing everyone a huge disservice, because its SO BEAUTIFUL! So behold, our gorgeous deck!!

Like I mentioned yesterday, we have to exchange the railings we got for the stairs, so those aren’t on. Those, plus a nice aluminum gate will finish things off just right 🙂 But obviously, its still very usable like this, and I couldn’t be happier!

I’ve been feeling high stress the last few days, and I feel SO much better today! I love this kind of project, so I don’t think that’s been my point of stress. I do think I’ve put together at least part of it, though.

Before we ordered the deck, we went back and forth between treated wood or composite decking, bigger or smaller, aluminum or wood wailings, aluminum or wood stringers, etc. We obviously decided on composite and aluminum, for lots and lots of reasons, and I’m really happy with our choice. But if you’ve done any deck building or pricing, you likely know that we chose the most expensive combination. No, our composite is not top of the line, and neither are our railings, and we got amazing deals thanks to some of Brady’s work contacts, but YIKES it still came out to a pretty hefty price! And to be completely honest, I struggled with that! Our house is amazing, and I fear sometimes people think we’re over here just dripping money, which we indeed are not. We saved and researched and were really smart about our decisions, but here we were choosing such an expensive option. I do NOT require the best of everything. Not. At. All. I really don’t want to appear like we do. I made jokes to friends and family about how I would likely feel gross about the amount we were spending on our deck until it was up, and we’d laugh about it. And today, with how I’m feeling, I think that was actually really true!! I think the stress of the expensive materials and the pressure to not mess any of it up really was getting to me. Now that it is pretty much done, and it is perfectly imperfect, just like I like it, I feel like I can breathe again. The pressure is off, and I’m so relieved!

Turns out, I really don’t have any regrets about choosing the deck we chose. It is bang on! It’s everything we wanted. There is no way a baby will get splinters crawling on our deck. We can hose the sucker off easily and it’ll dry super fast. We don’t have to treat/paint/stain it every year or two. It can just be. And its SO pretty!! I’m so happy with how it turned out!

Rant over 🙂 And deck almost over, haha!

So we had very much hoped to finish our deck today, and sadly, we won’t. That being said, we could use it already. The thing is, the railings we picked up last week all look pretty decent except for the ones that go down the stairs. We only noticed today just how badly scratched up they are. I know they’ll get dinged up as we use them, as well, but I mean “scratched” as to say that big bites of the paint are missing on spaces, and they almost look a tad rusted. It doesn’t bode well, and we don’t think we should install them before at least trying to exchange them. So we’ll see what the guy we bought them from says, but until then, our deck sits and waits.

That all being said, the railings around the actual deck itself are DONE! Its beautiful. Seriously, everyone should creepily drive by to look at it, and hypothetically stick your heads in and ask for a beer to test it out with. I’m so thrilled with the outcome so far. A HUGE thank you to our neighbour who took pity on us and our jammed up impact drill and lent us his, along with the right attachments to drive the lag screws into the framing rather than me doing it by hand with a socket wrench. So. Much. Better.

Our backyard is super shaded in the mornings, but by the afternoon, the sweats were traded in for shorts and my long sleeved tshirt was swapped for a tank top. We all got sun today 🙂 The kids weren’t pumped about the wind so they opted to stay in hoodies most of the time they were outside, but at least they were out with us!

Yes, Solly wore ear muffs when Brady was using the angle grinder to trim down the railings. They were a little big, though, and sometimes they just protected his chubby cheeks.

They were such champs, and played really really well. I’ve felt pretty discouraged over the last few days, and Dekker is so sensitive to it. He kept inviting me over to sit on the stairs with him, just for a snuggle. He knew I needed them. It was so wonderful.

While not being able to actually finish up the job today, I’m happy with how much progress we did make. I’m happy I got to be out in the sun with everyone for at least a little while. I’m happy that our week, and by default, our normal routine, will start back up and maybe everyone will feel just a little bit more themselves. But I’m not ungrateful, I promise. Its been so nice to have a long weekend. Spring is here. And I welcome it with open arms.

Solly’s been sleep training for a while now, and its taken longer than we had originally expected. However, its only improving, and we’re very thankful for that. He usually wakes up sometime between 5:00-6:00, and instead of being up for the day, we give him a bottle and he actually goes back to sleep! That basically serves as his morning nap, which is awesome because then his afternoon nap falls beautifully in line with Rowans. This morning, though, he slept until 7:00, which felt so refreshing for Brady and I! Sure, we’d love to sleep in past 7:00, but its just so much better than 5:00! He drank his bottle, was super smiley and soft and adorable, and went back down to sleep. It was so nice. It felt like a nice morning.

When we went to get the big kids up, we were THRILLED to see Laela’s success! She had relinquished her pull up last night and agreed to wear underwear to bed instead, and she had stayed dry all night!! The backstory here isn’t too riveting. Laela pretty much potty trained herself recently. She wanted to go to bed in underwear right away, but peed in her bed the first time. It wasn’t a big issue for me, but she was quite distraught about it when it happened. She would still be able to identify which pair of underwear she was wearing that night. It really upset her that she had an accident, and she asked for a diaper at night instead. Since we really hadn’t intended to potty train her at that time, and she was doing such a great job on her own, we followed her lead and put her in the pull ups that Dekker had leftover from his potty training days. But in the last week, she stayed dry 6/7 nights. So she decided she’d give underwear a try overnight again, and she did it!! She totally succeeded, and was SO proud of herself! We all knew she could do it, she is SO in control of her body, but she just needed to take the risk. I’m so pleased it paid off 🙂 She is 100% DONE with diapers! Go Laela go!

It was such an encouraging morning, for which I am thankful. We went out for lunch with my dad in the afternoon, and had a quiet afternoon. I’m feeling a bit off my game, though, so I’m currently hiding up in our room while Brady plays guitar and hangs with the kids in the living room. It feels like a good way to start wrapping up the day.

Maybe tomorrow we’ll spit out the rest of the deck!! Wish us luck! What are you guys up to on the last day of the long weekend?

Our deck is SO CLOSE to being done! We hauled all of the kids out there this morning and intended to get a bunch of work done on it. We hung a little swing up for Solly, even, so everyone would be happy and entertained. As life tends to happen, though, the weather was just a tad windy and Solly was cold and unhappy very quickly. I didn’t even screw in a single screw before I had to pack it in and take him inside. It was disappointing for me, but the other kids were having fun running around and playing still.

Right around the time I was getting lunch ready for the kids, my dad offered to come by and lend a hand. He and Brady worked hard for a few hours and got all of the decking on! So technically, the deck can be used by adults, but we need those railings on as soon as possible so the kids can also enjoy the new deck. We have them in our garage, so hopefully installing them isn’t too far away. Maybe tomorrow. Maybe Monday. Maybe not. Who knows. But its so nice to finally have all of the deck boards in place. I’m so glad we’ve made it this far. Home stretch!

We wrapped up our day by spending it with a friend from high school who is back for the summer. We ate a super simple but yummy supper, and the kids ate SO much! Solly ate more than we had ever seen him eat! It was a good food day, and then a nice relaxed evening with our guest. Nothing like sipping a coffee and talking in detail about the last ten-ish years of everyone’s lives! So much has changed since high school, haha! It was really really nice.

I have a chill I can’t seem to shake, of all things, on this beautiful day, so I’m off to hit up a soak and watch some Netflix. I hope you’re all enjoying your long weekend!

Once in a while, Brady and I very intentionally regroup and make sure we’re parenting how we want to be. Often we come to the decision that we’ve toughened up a bit too much, and we need to dial it back a bit. Not that we get more lax, but that we make a bigger effort to be gentle and soft with the kids. Its easy to get tough on them, and we do it all too often, so the regroup sessions are a really good idea for us.

We just had one of these discussions yesterday, and it reminded us just how incredible our kids are, how warm hearted they are, and just how hard they try to make good choices. We both agreed to make conscious efforts to be more gentle with them in the near future.

So I did. This morning, I got the kids up and just chose my “battles” a little more carefully. I spoke more politely to them, and I’m embarrassed to say that they noticed. Part of me wishes I didn’t have to share these stories about today because I’m humiliated about all of the things I’ve failed at, but today was a great success story, so I’d rather tell you about it and take a bit of an ego hit 🙂

Dekker asked me why I was talking to quietly. He even mimicked me, whispering “what kind of cereal did you want?” It was funny, but I figured I should be straight up with them. I told them I was thinking that if I talked to them a bit more politely, maybe they would be happier in the day, and maybe even speak more politely to each other. I said that I was sorry I sounded loud and mad so often, and that I wanted to try to be nicer and more gentle with them. Without prompting, the big kids were full of forgiveness, and assured me that it was a great idea.

It was a really sweet kick off to a busy day!

I took the kids grocery shopping this morning, to Costco and then to Superstore. Lucky for me, the kids love grocery shopping so I never find that to be too big of a task. Except that it was approaching lunch/nap time, so by the second place, Ro was getting pretty annoyed with Solly sitting next to him. We had too many things in our cart to be able to go through self check out, so we were at the mercy of the line, which is usually where the kids get a bit more twitchy. I was working hard to exercise my gentleness while being firm and maintaining my brood of hungry hooligans. It was while I was unloading the cart that one of those people who wander around and try and make you sign up for credit cards approached my cart. My heart rolled its eyes (yup, don’t question it) but I smiled at her when she greeted us. Usually these people take one look at our crew and keep moving, so I thought she was a bit ballsy to try to sell us on a credit card in that moment. But out of nowhere, she pulled out a container of bubbles and entertained my kids. Unbelievable. Where do these amazing people keep coming from? I feel SO amazed every time someone just jumps in and backs us up. I thanked her profusely. What a lifesaver.

So clearly, Costco and Superstore were a big win. The kids did SO great. I wasn’t sure what we were going to do next, whether go home or help a friend with a small move this afternoon. It turned out that timing was on our side, and we were able to be of use to her, so I went through the McDonalds drive-thru and everyone got lunch. Everyone asked for what they wanted and it was pretty much the same as usual. No problem there. I pulled into a parking spot once we had our stuff and Dekker came to the front of the van to help me hand out food. I love how easy it is to just move around the van as needed. He was very willing to help, and everyone just had better manners than usual. Seeing this was a fabulous motivation for me to keep up my gentle attitude and higher level of patience.

As we were driving, Dekker told me that Rowan wanted some apples, but Rowan hadn’t asked for apples. Dekker reassured me that he would share some of his with Ro. Then, later on, when Rowan finished his lunch, Dekker offered him what he had left. I was so thrilled to see his giving heart come before his defensiveness.

So here is the kicker. My kids sat in the (running) van for an amazingly long time while I loaded stuff into my van, drove, unloaded, drove back, loaded, etc. I think I did three loads back and forth, and the kids just sat and patiently waited. Once or twice I heard Solly wine, but someone would jump in and sing to him, baby talk, or whatever else, and it would cheer him up. They were CHAMPS! Like unbelievably awesome, and unbelievably patient! I would get back in the van for another trip and thank them for being so patient, and they’d assure me they were fine. When the last load was unloaded, I climbed back into the van and told the kids we could go home. They laughed at me and pointed out that the sliding door was still open. I went to close it and Dekker commented to me “It would be nice to leave it open, so we could hear the birds.” Now Dekker is SUCH a softy in general, but comments like this were made all day, and just reminded me of all of his beautiful feelings and thoughts. They are all just so amazing.

While we were driving home, Dekker asked “Do you think maybe we could have an easter treat because we are so patient?” And I really really did think so, yup. When everyone got home, the kids ran in happily and I turned on a show for them to rest up to. It’ll be an interesting evening as none of them really napped at all today, so the resting was necessary. They hung out inside while I dragged in two full grocery shops worth of food, and only once everything was inside and I started sorting through stuff and putting it away did they remind me about their hypothetical treats. I instantly plunked them all on a couch side by side and gave them each a bag of mini eggs. They were so happy and thankful. It felt great to me to see them so happy and satisfied with the great job they had done. It wasn’t a bribe. It was a special reward.

As I moved around the kitchen, I heard such positive talk, and very clear communication. Dekker was trying to tease Laela and instead of her usual siren screech, she said “please don’t tickle me, Dekker.” And he backed right off. No fighting. Not. Even. Any. There are still moments where they get snippy, but I’ve been able to just remind them to speak politely, and they do! Its amazing how, after such a big day, they’re doing so well.

Its often days like this that make me feel a bit guilty for underestimating my kids. Why would I expect that they wouldn’t do well? Its a realization of how much my attitude and mood affects them and theirs. I’m not in any way suggesting that now we’re just golden, haha! I’m sure I’ll have many days of failure ahead, but today has been great. And successful. To God be the glory, for giving me strength; for giving my kids intuition and good judgement; for giving me the opportunity to take them all with me and practice new skills.

I’m so grateful.

You guys should really come grocery shopping with us sometime. Its a blast.

Solly woke up super early this morning, and since its a school day for Dekker, there was no way I could go back to sleep once he did. Brady was still home when he woke, and lovingly brought me a cup of coffee in bed before he headed out for work. I have no issue with people who drink more coffee than me, but I almost never have more than one cup. Unless I end up going out and having coffee with someone, or picking up coffee in the city, I just have one cup. Well, this morning, cup number two was long gone shortly after I got home from taking Dekker to school. I didn’t feel like either cup even touched my fatigue.

On top of my general tired mood, the kids are fightier than usual. Yes, fightier is a word. Don’t fight me about it, because I’ve had enough. Its very likely actually a normalish day with some scrapping thrown in, but today it just feels a hundred times harder to get everyone playing happily. Lunch helped, and now the little boys are napping, and Laela and I are resting in the living room. She tidied up the toys and is stretched out on the couch, watching some tv. She keeps telling me she “just needs a yittle west,” which I’m more than happy to let her have. Down time is SO necessary.

Brady is hanging out with a friend this evening, so I’m thinking it’ll be a restful evening for me. I originally thought I’d play with makeup and watch YouTube to busy myself, but with the day feeling as it has, I may just lay in bed and watch movies, haha! Productivity is great, but so is rest, and I can tell I’m in need of some.

I hope you guys haven’t had fighty days. I hope they’ve been resty. Let’s hope for a restier day tomorrow!