So as tends to happen in moves, I have been on a pretty active hunt for some of our things. Strangely, we are missing a bunch of clothing. Specifically, for our Spoonful. So many of those clothes *poof* gone! Go figure! I even (mostly) caught up on laundry, but these items were nowhere to be found!! I realized at one point that there was probably laundry at the house when we left, and it got me wondering if the huge hamper that lived under our laundry chute actually made it over here. So a couple of nights ago, I made my way over to the other house. Our dream home, once upon a time. Our custom built lovely bi-level with the tall basement windows, the french door pantry, and everything to our liking. Man. Going back there was kind of wild. It echoed. It is littered with some little trash. Dust bunnies. Some cleaning products and a few things still on the walls. It is a beautiful home. But its not our home anymore. Indisputably. 

I checked for the clothing downstairs. No dice. I walked through every room to see if they happened to be in a box of something in some unexpected place. Nothing. I didn’t find anything that needed to come home in that moment, though there are still things to move. And things to clean. We are definitely not quite done over there, lol! But it’ll come. 

I came back home empty handed, and since then, have found a couple of black garbage bags of dirty laundry tucked amidst the many things we still have to unpack. So there may or may not be more. Some of the things have been located. Others are still missing. 

So the hunt continues. Where have all the jammies gone?

Picking your nose is a habit that some people do
They dig and they probe and they search for some goo
They think it’s a secret and no one can see
But they are wrong, oh yes, they are wrong indeed

Picking your nose is not a good thing to do
It can cause infections and irritations too
It can make your nose bleed and your fingers smell
It can make you look gross and unwell

Picking your nose is not a polite thing to do
It can offend others and make them say “ew”
It can ruin your image and your reputation
It can make you lose friends and invitations

Picking your nose is not a smart thing to do
It can waste your time and your energy too
It can distract you from your work and your goals
It can lower your performance and your scores

Picking your nose is not a fun thing to do
It can make you bored and unhappy too
It can limit your creativity and your imagination
It can prevent you from having fun and relaxation

So, stop picking your nose and find something else to do
Something that is good and polite and smart and fun too
Something that will make you healthy and happy and wise
Something that will make you proud and nice

You’re welcome, 
Cher

I spent the absolute BEST $100 yesterday and I’m excited to show yooooou!!

Ya. Only $100. No joke!

I got this crib for $65. The lovely grandpa held it for me since I spoke for it on Wednesday. What I love about it is that it is very similar to our other crib that we absolutely love, but its a different color. Our little spoonful is quickly coming more of a tablespoon size, and the minicrib isn’t quite cutting it anymore. Time for a bigger bed!

Then, PBR had bananas for an absolute steal!! Of course I’m now feeling like a dick because the friend who posted about this deal was hoping to get a bot picked up on her behalf and I should’ve gotten her one 🤦🏼‍♀️ Shooooot!! Anyway, we’ll pretend I didn’t totally mess that up, and keep moving. Two 40 lb boxes for $5 each!!! CRAZY deals for a person who bakes a ton now, whose children depend on muffins and things of that nature every day! So I am THRILLED to have a mountain of bananas to freeze and bake with!

🚨 I know about the banandemic. Don’t come for me. I checked in and out of every bunch, and I feel confident.

Lastly, as a total afterthought, I grabbed a 50 lb bag of potatoes for $25. In celebration of having a cold room now, I’m going to put something in there. Potatoes. Or, in our house, they’re called poaty-toes. But goodness. Come pumpkin season, I’m going to go craaaaazy!

So, to break it down.

Crib = $65
Bananas = $10
Poaty-Toes = + $25
100

Now THAT is the kind of money I feel good about spending.

Oh oh! And if you can’t interpret it from the post already, we got our freeeeeeezers!!! 😍 Just you wait for a kitchen update post!!!

Dekker went on his first ever ski trip with his class at school! It was a pretty cool thing, actually. A few notable things.

Not a single one of his closer friends went. Not one. But he still went, happily. I was very proud of him. Not everyone likes to do things when their friends don’t join. But he went anyway.

Because his friends didn’t go, he spent most of that day on his own. He said he occasionally took the lift up with a teacher, but otherwise, he just skied by himself. And he was totally content with it.

He was the last kid on the bus on the way home, and ended up sitting with another student that he does not connect with, and in fact, has a pretty rocky relationship with. They don’t get along very well. But he was game and when asked if it went ok, he shrugged pretty contentedly and said “Ya, I’d say so!” Once again. SO proud of him.

He went to school very early and got home after suppertime. I drove to go pick him up, assuming he’d be completely wiped out. As I drove him home, he informed me he hadn’t eaten yet. I reassured him supper was still on the table because we figured he’d welcome a hot meal. He told me they had stopped at McDonalds on the way home, and I instantly felt awful because I had missed the fact that they were going to, and I hadn’t sent any money for him to buy supper. Before I could say anything, he told me he had brought an emergency $20, and yet again, I felt SO proud of him! He just keeps growing up! He told me he wanted to save as much as possible, however, so he just got “a couple of things to hold him over.” So so smart. Way to go, Dekker! So I casually asked about it.

What did you get?

Oh, just a McFlurry and a couple apple pies.

I DIED laughing!! 🤣 In the midst of all of these beautiful qualities and SUCH depth of responsibility, he is still my little boy, taking a trip to McDonalds without his mom telling him to order a real supper. I absolutely howled with laughter until my eyes welled up. I told him I would have done the EXACT same thing as him, and he really liked that, lol!

My goofy boy 💜 I am SO proud of him. He’s finding his way, and I am positively LOVING the person he is growing into!

A good while ago, someone gave me Costcos hilarious puzzle of (wait for it) Costo. You know that one? Its SO funny, and I was so eager to try my hand at it. Well, I will admit that I have had it on hand for a couple of years now, undone. Now that we’re here, we have more space, and I demanded asked nicely for a puzzle table. And I got one! Its a pretty cute scene.

This is one of my favorite setups to puzzle in 😍 I’m sure you understand why. Originally I had a different table but it was too small so it moved to the one you see in the above picture. I BARELY fit the Costco puzzle on the other table and it was only 500 pieces. Still. We made it work and then Dekker assembled the silver one for me 💜 He’s nice.

Anyway, ta-da!

It was early in the game where I realized how funny this puzzle was going to be to do. Probably when I found the puzzle puzzle piece…

I really enjoyed the humour involved in this puzzle, but it was after it was done that I really got to appreciate all the quirks. I’m here to show you my favorites.

The first one shows a person reading a book on yoga, and someone near her doing the poses. Because who doesn’t do that in Costco?

Maybe you noticed, but just above them, Santa makes his debut. To be clear, this was not a Christmas puzzle.

This one not only shows a woman being pushed in an office chair, but also, a man reading and getting kicked in the head by a child on a swing set.

Clearly, this is a VERY busy Costco.

And then my FAVORITE part of the puzzle was the cafeteria. Because ALL the food was absolutely ginormous 🤣

I’ll leave you with that last one to giggle at. It was SUCH a funny puzzle and gave me some nice moments of relaxation in the midst of all the work and busyness over here.

My Laela is usually bright and chipper in the morning. She likes school, so weekdays are an easy sell, and she just has a zest for life that is unmatchable.

In winter, the days are shorter, and mornings are darker. Therefore, more often than not, she is still fast asleep when I go to get her in the mornings. She is still friendly and happy, but a bit more zonky.

Add a bit of a cold to it, and she is just downright hilarious.

This morning, at the breakfast table, she told me, and I qote:

“I woke up again tonight in the morning…”

Yup. You heard it here first! She woke up again tonight in the morning. In case you were unsure of when she woke up… As soon as she said it and saw my expression, she put her head in her hands and laughed at herself. It was very funny and VERY cute.

🥰

Today felt like a bit of a discouraging day. Part of it, I know, has to do with the fact that I picked up a light cold from some of my children, and my face feels so stuffed up. Not only does that add a bit of challenge to the day, but it also feels like I’ve been crying all day. I have not been, but it definitely feels like it.

Today, I let some people down, and felt fairly let down myself.

The kids struggled after school, and there was lots of arguing.

I tried actively to get in touch with multiple different people, and did not get replies.

As I list it, it seems like there were just some roadblocks in terms of communication today, and those are hard days 💜 But we’ve all had harder days than today, and I really can’t complain.

I’m currently tucked into bed in my new house, warm, with a baby on either side of the room. Brady is doing one last helpful thing in the garage before we call it a night. Dekker even set up a puzzle table for me. I am VERY fortunate. So tomorrow can worry about itself. Thank you Lord for today.

Gotta squeeze in a round of Six Cookies before bed still!

Brady and I coined a game during the Christmas season that has weaselled its way into the new year. Its called Six Cookies. The rules are as follows:

Players: 2
Ideally played after kids are in bed
Game pieces: six cookies

Each participant eats three cookies.
Everyone who eats three cookies wins.

Its a team sport.
Its uncomplicated.
It doesn’t encourage poor sportsmanship, as every participant can win.
Its delicious.

So. Brady and I play Six Cookies every night before bed. Last night, when Brady went to gather up the game pieces, he retrieved our last six cookies from Christmas!!! It felt like a bittersweet moment. Bitter because the game was over. And sweet because, well, cookies. So we played, and it was another great success. Everybody won! 🏆

And then something crazy happened! Two crazy things, even!! My mom, who had done some back and forth between our two houses (Ya! Did you remember we own both houses at the moment? I keep forgetting!) and let me know we still have Christmas baking in our big freezer! Heyooo! Six cookies can live on again! But even before we get that all together, we can play Six Cookies with the cookies that walked through the door today, courtesy of a friend who wanted to welcome us and celebrate our move! Those cookies even came with a supper, which was so lovely, and muffins for the next day! How incredible is that!

All of this said, Six Cookies will live on. And I’m so here for it. Its really a great game. You guys should give it a go.

🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪

Our babies are not functioning at 100 these days. Perhaps there’s a little bug, or a cold, or just big days catching up to them. The morsel was really feeling it this evening. Too tired to sleep, it would seem. You get it. Endless crying with closed eyes. Nothing at all would suffice. After rocking, patting, bouncing, shushing, and whatever else wouldn’t work, Laela stepped in. She has trouble heaving the behemoth morsel from the crib, but was insistent on helping out. While I made some rounds of the house, she stood diligently by, patting and shushing, reassuring the morsel that everything was ok. I tried to tap her out a time or two, but she would have none of it. I went downstairs to do a quick task, and from upstairs, Brady texted and said “I think she did it. Laela pulled a Payton.”

So. We have this vTech toy from one of our hospital stays with the morsel that announces itself by saying “Hi! I’m Payton, and I’m a brave police car! I’m here to stop crime!” She sings a lot of ditties, but that phrase in particular makes me laugh really hard, because it sounds like she says “I’m here to stop crying!” Which is very fitting, considering she and I became familiar with one another during a particularly rough hospital stay 😅 Anyway. I told the kids how it sounds to me, and its become something we all giggle about.

And today, this evening, Laela pulled a Payton, because she was there to stop the crying, and she DID!!! Her persistence paid off, and the morsel settled in at last 💜

This girl 🙌

She’s going to be an incredible mom! She tells me she can’t wait. And she has to. And she’s gonna. But man. She has something very special going on 💜 I am SO excited to see what she does in her life! Whatever it is, I know she will be wonderful at it!

I never realized our basement couch was so big. It feels like a very average sized couch. But, as with our family size, just because it feels normal to use doesn’t mean it doesn’t look YUGE from the outside!

On moving day, our crew of people tried every which way and could not get it into the main area of our basement. Try as they might, it simply couldn’t wiggle past the one wall, and maybe your couch is different from mine, but ours doesn’t go full accordion around corners. So when the day was done, the couch was lovingly tucked away inside Bradys wood shop 😂 And as funny as that was, momentarily, it couldn’t last that way forever.

A few days after the move, some of our people came over to try and find a solution for us! Tom and Kevin (actually Evan, but, he knows where I stand on that) came happily to haul things around a bit for us, and to try to get that stinking couch into the rec room. But. No dice. Rae and I were standing nearby, bothering the guys offering ideas, and Rae casually suggested that we should just cut the thing in half. And Tom followed that statement with “Well, if we pulled back the upholstery…”

Aaaaand that was how we got to this point.

Yup. They legitimately decided to cut our couch in half. A couple of the kids were skeptical…

But Tom and Kev were confident! They cut just enough of the framing to keep it attached but bendy.

Aaaaand we got it!!! And by “we” I definitely mean THEY got it!!

And because that wasn’t enough work, they then rebuilt it.

We now have a full large couch in our basement, and I imagine it will absolutely ALWAYS live down there, hahaha! In fact it has been overtly explained to me that the couch lives and dies in this basement, hahaha! And I’m comfortable with that! I just so deeply appreciate having these guys in our lives!! 💜 Thank you, Tom and Kevin, for getting our couch into a state where we can actually use it!