I’m gonna get right to the point tonight. Dekker cried basically from before supper til 7:30 when we gave up and put him to bed. Yes, it started with supper, but supper was sooo good!, and even he liked it! This really delicious creamy spaghetti that isn’t super heavy but just sweet and light and incredible, and garlic cheese toast. But he whined through most of that, and threw fit after fit afterwards. Therefore, I am sooo ready to be done with the day. Brady and I are just gonna have a phone date with his parents, and then its a relaxing soak and some Drop Dead Diva for me! And maybe a freezee. I feel like something cold like that tonight. Plus I’m still full from amazasupper. I’ve got my coconut leaves candle burning, and the fan blowing. Its +33 outside right now, at 8:00pm. Time to get comfy.

I don’t have anything specifically significant to talk about today, so here are two topics that came to mind that we’ve worked on a bit today.

Firstly, passports. Both Brady’s and my passports and completely expired, past the point of renewal. We figured that one day, we’ll find a great last minute vacation to go on, and then we’ll be screwed. So we’re getting our passports done. Not for the kids yet, though. Laela would sit ok for a picture but Dekker wouldn’t. So we’re starting with ours, since we’re not going anywhere anytime soon, and we’ll go from there. Plus, the kids ones don’t last as many years, so we’re not in a rush. But we’re filling ours out anyway. All thats left to do is ask references, hit up someone to be a guarantor, and then bring them in! Yay us! I’ll probably get the kids signed up for their SIN stuff then too. Double yay!

And next, prayer. Two parts. Part number one is that my girlfriend had a baby girl the other day. She was just shy of 27 weeks pregnant, resulting in a teeny tiny little micro-preemie baby girl. While she looks waaay better than I thought she looked, and she seems to be doing well, she needs lots and lots of prayer! So, if you think of me, think of them, ok? Secondly, something sweet about Dekkr has been that he prays before bed, and has for a while. He thanks Jesus for everyone in our family, one by  one, and anyone else he’s seen that day. Then he asks Jesus to be with him tonight, tells Him that he loves him, and says amen. Its adorable, and while its a memorized thing, I think its still very wonderful and pleasing to God. However, for a week or two now, Dekker doesn’t want to pray anymore. Brady often lets him have his quiet time instead, and just says his prayer for him, but if we push him at all, he really really complains and cries. What do we do, guys?? Have any of you had a similar thing, or just any ideas for us? I respect him wanting to take a break every once in a while, or just the general fact that he goes through stages, but this is something we view as a priority in our house. Any thoughts would be appreciated, as we really don’t want to leave it too long and have him just not want to put in the effort anymore.

On that note, both kids are in bed, tub is run, and bottles just need to be washed before we can start winding down. What to eat for snack – that is the question. I really want to bake cupcakes. Marble ones, I think…

These are definitely my topics of the day! They’re not in order of events but I’m just gonna roll with it.

Flowers

In one row of our garden, we put in five sunflowers. They’re between our row of potatoes and in amongst some corn as well. I’m very sad to say that I pulled them out today 🙁 They never got a chance to flower, but they did have a significant go at suffocating the rest of my garden with their height. I’m sad that they’re gone, but I’d rather that than have my veggies not thrive. We’ve had one successful crop since living here, and two complete fails. I want this one to work! I have to say that sunflowers are beefy, though! I had no idea! Each one I pulled out was like three trees that I couldn’t actually close my hand around. They were way heftier than I expected them to be. C’est la vie. I have enough sunshine in my day without flowers.

Bath time.

Saturday is always a bath day. Today, the kids napped way earlier than usual, so we bathed them pretty quickly after they woke up. That way, Dekker still had all evening to play and basically recover instead of him having a traumatic bath experience and then going to bed ten minutes later. It worked out great! Brady has taken a new approach to bathing Dekker and has completely stopped pouring the water over his head. He just uses his hands and wipes the suds out forever until its as clean as its gonna get. This will not be able to be a forever thing at all, as we can never get his hair completely clean that way, but he didn’t cry during his bath. We want a few of those so he can get comfortable with the idea again. While they bathed, I took pictures of Laela in her pre-bath naked state. I know some people are incredibly offended by even baby bums, so I’m not sure if its ok to post them on here or not, but I’ll tell you this – there are little coconut oil bum prints all over my living room, and I LOVE it!!!  Once the boys were done, I went to get Dekker and bring him to his room to get all changed up. When I got to the bathroom, he had dismissed his towel and was ready to go naked. Dekker hates being naked, and I really want him to like it so that it doesn’t seem so strange to take his pants off to use the potty. Does that make sense? Good theory?? So I praised him up and we ran to his room together. Once we got there, he wanted to run back and see Laela get her bath, so we ran back with him still all naked. He really liked it! While we were in the bathroom, I asked him if he wanted to sit on the potty while he was there. He said no. I asked if he had to pee, and he looked up at me, and started peeing. It seemed to catch him off guard, so I right away said “Oh, thats great! Dekker has to pee!” and lifted him onto the toilet. Well. That was clearly not what he wanted, so he cried. But I picked him up and Brady and I reassured him that it was sooo ok that he accidentally peed on the floor, and that we’d figure it all out. He smiled into the mirror and said “Right!” So while he definitely did pee on the floor, I felt successful somehow. He really cheered up fast, which doesn’t always happen in foreign situations. Yay Dekker!!!

Vans.

Ugh. Stupid vans. So the engine light on our family van went on the other day, and we blamed it on needing an oil change. Brady changed the oil today and the light stayed on after he reset everything. I suggested he go for a drive and get things circulated, and then see. After a drive, the light did go off! However, if its just a flukey thing and it comes back on, we’re planning on going away over the long weekend. We certainly can’t go with engine trouble! So that sucks. Also, Bradys work van is having an issue as well. The back hatch won’t open. That seems like a trivial issue, but he has enormous tools to load in and out of that van everyday, and dragging them in through the side doors is brutal and incredibly difficult. He can run some tests to see if maybe its a wiring issue or needs a new part, but he can’t do any of that unless the hatch opens, and its really, really persistent. So thats pretty cool. Who drives vans anyway?!?!

The end. I’m sooo ready for a bath. I wasn’t hungry really at all today, and of course, now I am starving. Always at bedtime. So I’m hoping for something delicious to eat in the tub. Ideas welcome 🙂

After being busy (good busy!) all week, today was just a quiet day at home with the kids. We did laundry and watched some TLC and played and snacked and generally enjoyed each other’s company. The weather was perfect too – blustery and dark, so the house stayed cool and the kids room was darker at nap time. It apparently helped a lot, since both kids slept just about three hours!!! We never get that kind of stretch out of Laela, so I was pretty pleased! I talked with my sister on the phone for a solid two hours this afternoon, which was so great. I love her. And miss her. A lot.

Brady brought home guilty pleasure food for supper, and we played upstairs for a little while. Most notably about today, Laela pulled up for the very first time!!! She’s been crawling for a week, and now, she is successfully pulling up. She pulled herself up on the couch I was sitting on, and once she was officially standing, she squealed and just beamed at me 😀 It was awesome!!! We clapped and made a huge deal of it all, and she was thrilled. She really, really responds to positive reinforcement. I love her.

Once the kids were solidly finished with the day, we get them all changed and ready for bed. Deks is down and Laela is drinking her milk. Soon it will be bath time, some Bachelorette, and maybe snack time. I really overate at supper, so maybe not so much snack time.

Nice to be home, cuddling with my kids.

Daytona Homes hosted its second golf day in Saskatoon today. Last year, I could only make it for the supper afterwards, and it had been fun! Good guys, good food, and a very short work talk. I liked it. I was excited to be able to go this time around for the whole event!

My parents came to our house around 9:30 to watch the kids for the day, and we took off shortly there after. We made it to the Willows about a half hour early and I met a few of the guys Brady works with. Last year, he hardly knew anyone, it seemed, but there were so many more people this time around, as the builder grows and expands and needs more guys. We headed into a sea of golf carts and finally found ours, marked for Brandy and Hailey Born. Tee hee 🙂

We all golfed in groups of four, so we were joined by Bradys J&H supplier as well as one of the site supervisors that he sees on a regular basis. I have to say, we had the perfect team 🙂

In case no one knows this about me, my hand eye coordination is laughable. Or non existent. Whichever. I cannot make the club hit the ball for the life of me. So I was just a ride along, but I walked to each and every hit with the guys, and was the moral support/eye candy/heckler. They were great sports, and only forced me to hit twice. I hit water once, and missed a putt on the other. Who’s surprised? No one. But it was funny and embarrassing and I liked it. One of the guys treated the rest of us to lunch and drinks along the way, and by the end, our score was +2, so not too bad, but certainly not a winning score. It was just really nice to get out in the SUN!, since the 80% chance of thunderstorms didn’t come. Yet. The rain started on our very last hole. It spat a little, and as soon as we were inside, the clouds opened! It was awesome!

After we golfed, we dropped off our carts and went inside for food. I hope no one hates on me here, but I wasn’t super impressed with the food last year. Yet I know really good mass produced food is hard to come by. I’m not a picky eater, but I just went into it not expecting it to be wowed. I have to say, the salads were weird. I ate a couple bites of the ones I picked, and then pushed them all together in a pile so they wouldn’t mush into my other food. However, the steak I got was INCREDIBLE! I asked for medium rare, which often gets me something yummy, but often more like a medium. But I lucked out and received a steak done to perfection. It was comically large, but embarrassingly enough, I destroyed it, and would have gone back for more had I not been where I was. I could have eaten steak and garlic toast all night.

What I liked about being at this event that was obviously more geared towards men was that, once everyone had eaten, they got to the talking, and then it was over. I like visiting, but not for hours and hours on end with people I don’t know very well, so this was good. They announced winning teams and gave prizes, and then drew a few names for other prizes. Very few things on the table were things we would really want or use, except the job site stereo. Brady reeeaaally wanted that. So I won it! When they called me, our table burst out laughing, and I went to claim my prize. We had a great table of guys, almost our exact same table as last year actually, plus two hilarious guys added in. It felt good to be rooted for anyway 🙂

Once all the prizes were over, we headed out and ended up walking with another man from J&H. We had such a nice visit, talked family a little bit, and at the end, he said he really enjoyed our company and would love to see us for lunch sometime. I loved being involved in that. I think I even asked “Me too?” And he said yes! Its just so refreshing. I don’t want to be rude towards anyone, but at Bradys last home builder, there was no trade appreciation, and people weren’t warm like this. I felt awkwardly welcome, and while I was definitely the only spouse invited, I felt like I fit it. I don’t remember the last time before tonight that someone from work hugged me.

It was a really really great day. We grabbed some ice cream and headed home to our beautiful kidlets. They were up for about a half hour before we tucked them in and let our parents go on their way. Now for a soak and some Netflix. What a great way to end a wonderful day!!

Stay safe tonight, everyone. Tornado warnings everywhere!!!

While we had a great trip to the lake, I was very much looking forward to being home in my house with my family. I can pretty honestly say that I felt lighter at the lake 🙁 I’m not sure if its some psychological thing or what, but I already feel heavy, and I’ve only been home for a few hours. Hopefully that passes once I settle in and get back in the groove of my life. But so far, I just wish I were still at the lake. On that semi-pessimistic note, PHOTO POST!!!

 

At least the little sweetie slept part of the way to the lake! The other part, she cried.

 

 

Hanging on the beach with these non-swimmers.

 

Could have done without the engine light… Pretty sure we’re just due for an oil change though. No biggie. 

 

Playing in the condo with the kidlets.

 

 

Feeding Laela was a highlight for both mom and I. Dozy little girl.

 

Anyone’s kids get massive red marks along with mosquito bites? Dekkers turn into these enormous bumps and spread like crazy, but they don’t bug him at all. Laela’s little bug bites stay tiny. Go figure.

 

Dekker: “Oh, donty!”

Someone is happy to be home!

Upon arriving home, I put my two exhausted children down for a nap. Child #1 slept like a log, while Child #2 wailed her face off. So she came up and played with me instead. Then she barfed everywhere. Then she went to bed. Now I can’t get Dekker to shut up, as he chatters away in bed.

It would appear we’re all still coming down from holidays…

 

My doctor heckles me about making everything into verbs, or what I like to call “verbing.” See what I did there? Yet I’m not sure what other word could convey exactly what it is I’m doing here. This is what I’ve learned.

Being at the lake, this time around anyway, is not actually about being at the lake, ie the water, the sand, the umbrellas. While that is all incredibly fun and an experience we should all have at some point, I am seeing that being “at the lake” is more about lake life. This morning, being at the lake meant laying on the futon in the living room until noon while the kids climbed all over the room and played toys. We hit the beach right at nap time, haha, and lasted just less than an hour. We brought their little red bodies in and put them straight down to bed.

Dekker was out like a light, while Laela wailed and wailed. She wouldn’t have it, and she didn’t. I finally got her up and she had some milk and watched some home buying/selling shows with the ladies. She didn’t nap at all, which made for a pretty hands on evening. But we didn’t surface. We kept an incredibly low profile and stayed in. One notable thing about today is that Laela is the best little puppy in the world. She sits on the floor next to my chair at the table (I didn’t bring a high chair) and eats little bits of whatever I pass her. She also LOVES to drink from a glass! That mouth hangs open like a baby birds in anticipation. And the water soaker her shirt doesn’t bother her a bit. I can’t believe how much she’s grown up!

Not willing to forfeit the ice cream tradition, my mom and I are settling in for some while we pick a movie. What a perfect evening.

We are at the lake!!! I couldn’t be happier!

After a bit of a tearful ride thanks to my two little backseat drivers, we arrived around noon. We couldn’t get into our room until 3:00, so we played on the beach, blew bubbles, and drove aimlessly while the kids napped. When we got to our room finally, I felt refreshed immediately. We have a HUGE condo! It had a big entrance with a full kitchen and a living room with futon, two puffy chairs, and a tv. Then upstairs, there are two bedrooms and a full bathroom. The whole place is clean and welcoming and just exactly where I want to be. Of course, I would love it if Brady were along, but I think he and I need to miss each other for a bit. Don’t you think, love? It’ll be good. And my mom and I neeeeed a holiday. I’m so happy we’re here!

We ordered in big chunky salads for supper so we can justify snacking this evening. Apart from forgetting their blankets and Dekker’s pillow, the kids fell asleep almost immediately, without issue. Soon, there will be some bad food and a movie, and I just can’t wait.

I’ve come to some realizations recently that I’ll talk more about soon, but being here is just warm and fuzzy to me. I feel more at home here than I do in my house. No, not being without Brady. He isn’t my problem one bit <3 I just feel a different comfort here than I do in my house in my town. This is clearer air somehow. This is where I’ve needed to be the past two years.

The lake. I love the lake.

Danishes and sticky buns for breakfast tomorrow!

My mom, the kids, and I are laking it up starting tomorrow! Brady and I started packing earlier this evening but at about 7:30 we realized that we should take a break and play with the kids, since they’ll be away from their daddy until Wednesday evening. So we hauled ourselves downstairs and played toys and ball and Laela crawled all over the place (I can’t believe its happening!!!) and got into all the stuff she shouldn’t, and we just got a good fill of them. But then it was 8:00, so everyone went upstairs for diaper changes, jammies, cuddles, and nighttime. Laela’s just working on her bottle, and then we’ll be back to full packing mode!

I’ve laid out all of my clothes, and the kids clothes. I still have to pack toiletries, shoes, electronics, toys, and food. I think thats it, but I’ll have to check. Just looking at my bed covered in clothing, I’m questioning whether or not I might be wildly overpacking. But rather have extra than not enough, right? You never know about the weather, and what activities you’ll take part in along the way. So the kids have waaay too many clothes. We’ll be there for two full days, and I’m bringing denim shorts, jeans, lulu capris, hoochy shorts, and sweats. For two days!!! Overkill, perhaps. But you never know!

As long as I remember a baby monitor and a fan, I think we’ll be in good shape. Anyone jealous of our weekday lake trip? I’m sooo excited to finally have a holiday!!!

Brady was a doll and let me really sleep in today. We woke up to the kids shortly before 9:00 and Brady told me to keep sleeping. I woke up around 10:00, which was crazy, because a) I never sleep that late! and b) I had places to go today! I hung out with the fam for a little bit but eventually got up and ready for the day. Dekker was sad when I left because he wanted to come too, but it was a day of grocery shopping, running to several different places, and really not a good day for him to come.

I listened to my music all the way to the city and hit up Costco first. For anyone interested, they have their yummy fuzzy sleepers in again! Not lots of colors or designs, but I got a really pretty pink one with foxes for Laela and, believe it or not, a blue wolf one for Dekker! They go up to 5T! Dekker never wears sleepers anymore, but I thought it would be sooo cozy for winter! So I got him a 4T, since he’s in 3T right now. Besides that, I bought a few staple things, and a couple cans of formula. If any of you see that on sale anytime soon, please tell me! We try to stock up when it goes on uber sale but apparently under estimated last time. No one wants to buy full price if they don’t have to, right?

I went to Walmart next for some snacks for next week, baby wash, and bubbles. I’ve never hung around the bakery area much, but I bought some salted caramel chocolate chip cookies that I am SUPER excited to taste tonight! Sooo delicious.

Starbucks was next, where I grabbed a venti (go big or go home) passion tea lemonade. I could drink that stuff all day. My tip to you is ask for light ice. Otherwise they tend to add waaay too much and its over way too fast. So I got that, and drove pretty much across the street to KFC. Don’t judge me for this, I know fast food isn’t good for anyone, but I wanted popcorn chicken, and it was my day away. Sue me. The guy working the drive thru came over the speaker just laughing uncontrollably. He could barely take my order, but I loved it 🙂 Two men greeted me at the window, full of smiles. I liked seeing people having fun at their job. One of them told me he loved my hairstyle, which I really appreciated. Its been a hard one for me to rock, but he was actually really encouraging, and said it suited my style. Nice guys. All of that, and my “small” order of chicken seemed pretty humungous. I liked them.

I went to Bath and Body Works after that to visit Jerilee on their locations first birthday!!! I bought a candle and lotion and left. It was a shorty visit, but I had time and no one to haul with me, so why not?!

I did some quick Superstore shopping before I hit up Value Village. I know it seems silly, but I love going through that store at my leisure, and just finding what I find. Sadly, for my first time ever, I did not find one thing 🙁 I found my ideal slouchy fall/winter boots, two sizes too big. I found a great little winter jacket for Laela, six months too small. I went in specifically to find a pair of shorts. I’m going to a golf day with Bradys work next week, and I need to dress like a golfer. All of my shorts are denim with an unfinished hem. So I need something to wear! My first trip to the change room was every womans “merp merp” experience. I had thought too much of myself and had chosen every pair in a size too small. So that sucked. I got over it, put my own shorts back on, and headed back to the racks to find some bigger shorts. I picked three new pairs to try on. And they all sucked. TIGHT around the waist and balloony in the legs. I gave up and left. I’m not sure I’ve ever left Value Village empty handed. Its probably not a bad thing. Except that I really do need shorts.

On my drive home, I discovered that I am indeed old. I was sooo tired. It was maybe 3pm and I was wiped out. I drove quickly but with my music turned way down. Often my mind runs wild in those quiet moments, and thats usually when my car cries occur. But I didn’t even think. I just drove. About three minutes from home, I saw a motorcycle accident on the side of the road and that was just about enough for me.

I’ve spent the evening with my beautifully family, eating supper, playing toys, watching Overhaulin’, and having baths. Actually, Brady was the golden boy again and bathed both kids. Dekker did better than he has in a while, and I got to be the lucky one to give him a special treat at the end. We don’t really operate much of a reward system around here, as Dekker responds incredibly to verbal praise and celebration, but today he got a chocolate egg. Rather, gold. As I unwrapped it, I was telling him that he had done sooo well not screaming and trusting daddy, and that I thought he would like a special treat. He didn’t hear a word. He was memorized by it, unable to control those little hands just wanting it sooo bad! It was adorable, and he loved the candy. I love him.

Kids are clean, tucked in, and definitely not asleep at all. Moments ago, we looked at the monitor and Dekker was sitting up, while Laela was kneeling in the corner of her crib playing with the Christmas lights. Those kids are trouble. But at least they’re happy and tucked away. Time for a snack and a bath. New bubble bath!!!