Brady. I made a dorky thing for you. You’re welcome.
This year, you have complete ALL of your cancer treatments. You got covid. I actually think you got it twice. You got the long-awaited haircut. You got a job you love. You may be happier than I have ever seen you. And that alone says a lot about who you are 💜
My heart is absolutely not at its strongest today, but it is STRONG for YOU, sweet man.
I could not love you more than I do today.
But I felt that yesterday, and I expect to be proven wrong tomorrow, when I love you even more.
Cher brought pumpkins over yesterday for a crafternoon we had booked into her tight school schedule. We LOVE our crafternoons, so if we want them, we have to be intentional about them! Thankfully, this one was able to go ahead as planned, and it even began a little early so Waverly could join in!
She was amped to get to use the tools and help hack into the “punkins.” It was fun and I think she felt pretty important.
She took it pretty seriously, haha!
Then the scooping began. She was NOT a fan of how slimy it was, but when she was offered a spoon, she got right into it!
She actually did a really good job, though auntie helped quite a bit behind the scenes 😉 When the dirty work was done, they cut out their shapes together, which once again, Wavy really liked to help with!
Aaaaand from the day of punkins came two decorations for our front step!! A super silly face, and a silhouette of Snoopy laying on top of a pumpkin, backlit by the moon!
We’re not an especially spooky group, if you hadn’t noticed 😆 Though I’m still hoping a Stranger Things pumpkin graces our steps this season, haha! Either way, this is a very cute setup, and the day itself was VERY cute!!! I am so grateful to have an auntie close to home to love on our kids 💜💜💜 Thank you, Cher, for making time for our family in the midst of your busiest season of life 💜 We love you!
Behold! A shorty post about how each of the kids are doing, with some unrelated fun facts thrown in!
Dekker (11) is doing great 💜 He still reads constantly, and is getting into longer books for older kids. I asked him the other day how his book was he told me, wide eyed “Its a murder book, mom.” So. Crime. Beyond his reading, he is a bit more grumbly than he used to be, but he’s finding his feet in some of the aspects of growing up as the oldest of a larger group. He really values his alone time, and his freedom to do more things independently or later in the evening than the other.
Dekker and Laela have become closer, recently. They go for walks together regularly. Just last night, Laela was behind in her dishes so she couldn’t go for a walk and she was sad. So while she got ready for bed, Dekker got into the kitchen and finished her dishes she they could go together 💜 I loved that.
Laela (9) is doing really well, too. She is coming into her own really beautifully, becoming a very strong little woman. She is struggling with her desire to control every activity and everyone around her, but after a very genuine heart to heart a week or so ago, she is working HARD to recognize what is her job and what is the job of an adult 💜 Her heart is to help, and to lead, and it is beautiful. We’re actively working to nurture the leader in her without her being rude or bossy. Its a big challenge for her, but when it goes smoothly, she’ll tell me how relieved she feels not to have to be responsible for xyz that went down. Unrelated fun fact – Laela almost never will wear a hoodie, but she loves a cozy flannel shirt. When its really really cold, she has a couple sweatshirts I can talk her into, but she has two cozy plaid flannel shirts and she wears them most days. I love her style.
Rowan (7) is doing really well these days 💜 There are absolutely still days of struggle, but they are much further between! Sometimes, this makes it easier to get discouraged because we are all less conditioned to them, and they seem HUGE. Rowan especially feels AWFUL when he has a breakdown. But we get through them quicker than we used to, and he is encouraged by that. He has regained some of our trust, and he has gained back a little bit of freedoms. Rowan loves to be loved by ways of physical affection. Closeness. Cuddling. Back and head scratches. Hugs and kisses. He loves to give love the same way, but also largely in acts of service. He will jump up faster than anyone to meet a need or offer his hand to help. In fact, he helped Dekker do dishes last night for the sake of the walk. Rowan didn’t get to join on the walk, but he still wanted to help 💜 He is a GREAT friend. Rowans heart is to care for people. It always has been, and in spite of his struggles, his heart remains the same!
Solly (6) is doing so well these days. School every day has been an adjustment for him. He is tired at the end of the day. But its really good! He goes to bed happy just about every single night. His understanding of the world around him is growing, and his language has expanded unbelievably. I’ll tell him something, and he’ll repeat it in a different way, and say “I understand why.” He is getting clearer and clearer, which is really fun to watch. Solly is a very content dude, and doesn’t always like to push himself, but he settles into change quite quickly and easily adapts. Oh and his hair is ALL him. He does not want a haircut. I’ve tried. I love the long hair, but he is a sweaty, sweaty boy. Aaaaall summer I offered him a haircut. Not having it. So shaggy he remains.
Wavy (4) is doing awesome. She LOVES playschool. She loves her friends. She loves the independence she gets having her thing away from the house. She is eating it up, and its a pleasure to witness these changes. Wavy plays lego every single day. She sings beautifully, knowing how to hit notes and picking up lots of lyrics. She is ALL the way in there. She runs fast. She does lots of jobs. She is a total package, and she is thriving this fall.
I am overwhelmingly proud of these children 💜 Thank you Lord for bringing them to our family.
This doesn’t look great, but you’re going to have to take my word for it – this was incredibly delicious. You need to try it with your leftovers from the weekend.
I saw this on Facebook the other day. Thats where it started.
It suggested putting stuffing in your waffle maker, and then drizzling it with gravy instead of syrup. I was VERY intrigued. Brady was equally as interested in this, as was Cher. She lovingly brought over some of their leftover potatoes and corn. She even whipped up some quick stovetop stuffing. I mixed up a pack or two of brown gravy. Brady started up the waffle maker. It took a few extra minutes, and we had to turn it up hotter than usual, but it came together!
The idea had grown past a stuffing waffle to a whole meal! Sooooo I got the idea in my head that it could be like a waffle sundae, the potatoes acting as the ice cream. And it just kind of spiralled.
Once the ice cream *cough cough* was scooped, we added the “sprinkles,” if you will.
The gravy was the hot fudge, because it melted the whole dang thing.
But friends, this did NOT disappoint. Not. For. A. Second. The stuffing was crispy and flavourful, and the perfect addition to the rest of the soft, hot, comfort food on the plate.
This will absolutely be a reoccurring meal. I may just have to start keeping some stovetop stuffing in my pantry so we can do this anytime we feel so inclined. Goodness. Guys. You need to try this, and tell me what you think.
I posted about our friendaversary a little while ago, when Cher and I went to see the Anne of Green Gables ballet. It was a really good celebration 💜 Not only because the event was awesome and a fun first for both of us, but because the five years of being friends has also been really really wonderful.
I don’t know many friends who have survived as many bumps in the road as we have, and come through it better than ever. By the grace of God, we have been protected, and we are stronger and closer friends than we’ve ever been. Cher is my sister 💜 There is no denying that. Anyone who knows either of us knows this.
There is continued effort pouring into positive changes, individually and together. Our friendship is a committed familial unconditionally loving relationship, and while there is a LOT of work that goes into it, that is where our depth comes from. Praise the Lord for likeminded, equally yoked people finding one another and sticking together!
Happy Friendaversary, sweet girl! My beautiful best friend! I love you and I like you 💜 Thank you for joining our family the way you have. It was good to have breakfast all together this morning 💜
So many breakfasts, whipped coffees, snugs, walks, chats, crafternoons, bees, raspberries, and years to come 😘😘😘
After my moaning and groaning on the blog yesterday, Brady and I decided to make an attempt to get the desk out of our room. As I said yesterday, Brady isn’t exactly capable of heaving a solid wood desk down our stairs anymore. But I figured *shrug* maybe I could? Not on my own, obviously. But rather than him doing all the heavy lifting and me more so spotting and balancing for him, we traded spots.
And guys. We GOT it!!!!! We took the drawers out, and evvvvver so slowly walked it down our three flights of stairs into our spare room. And then, of course, the thing wouldn’t fit through the door, so we had to take the desktop and the door off. Ah well. We’ll know that for next time, haha! Dekker was eager to help where he could.
We worked SO hard yesterday, and were completely bushed, so we ended the day with a HUGE treat for our family – a movie night!!
Our kids have virtually no screen time. Please don’t get me wrong, it is NOT some bug official stance against tv! Not at all! We just cut it out for a time and everyone did better than we thought, so we never really reopened that door! I carry ZERO judgement for families who watch more tv than we do!
That being said, Brady made several batches of popcorn and we hacked up some apples, and everyone sat happily and watched Encanto. Our beautiful kids were probably most excited that Brady and I were there, since we weren’t there the first they watched it this summer with grandma and auntie. Every time something funny would happen, they would look at us for our reactions. Wavy would chuckle and say “You LOVE that.”
After a HUGE day yesterday, you’d think we’d rest today. But you would be wrong. In fact, we figured that if we could move a solid wood desk down three flights of stairs, we could probably move a couple dressers around, just up and down one flight of stairs.
And we were right! We gave the girls our purple dresser that is solid and cute and a little bit narrower than their previous dresser…
And we took their bigger Ikea dresser up to our room!
In this case, everybody won!
You can see we do still have another purple dresser up there. Hopefully not for long! We have to clean it out, but if someone is in the market for a nice sturdy wooden long dresser (six drawers) painted purple and grey, you know who to call!
Nothing is perfect yet. Everything is still pretty messy. But things are getting so beautifully organized, and I am feeling the weight lift off of my body and brain and we get things to their better suited homes.
I think I’ve done all I can do for the moment! I will give myself a little rest and then it’s time to keep going! I hope the bulk of the list of craziness is wiped off before snow flies, but at least for now – for our first weekend all home from the lake – we have been productive and feeling good!
I’d like to end todays post by giving our kids a HUGE attaboy! They played lego and built forts ALL MORNING with virtually NO fighting or need to intervene. They did incredibly well while Brady and I were bustling around, working hard and not taking too many moments of pause. These kids are absolute rockstars!
There is a LOT of work to do around this place. You know those huge daunting tasks that just stare at you and intimidate you? We have a GOOD handful of them right now. Part of that is because of our gigantic life changes that make certain jobs just a LOT harder or take a LOT longer. Part of it is that we were incredibly busy this summer and gone for most of it. Now that we’re back, its glaringly obvious that certain things need doing, and sooner than later.
One of the big ones thats been bothering me more than any other is our bedroom. Its just a dumping ground. For everything. There is SO much clutter. Once upon a time, I had a desk up here. I LOVE the desk, but it doesn’t fit up here anymore. Not well, anyway. The desk is large, and solid wood, so it is very heavy. It needs to travel down three half flights of stairs to the basement spare room. You may have noticed, but Brady is no longer able to heave a giant desk down three flights of stairs. Add onto that the fact that all of our stairs have double railings now. Sooooo thats a giant job. One we haven’t figured out yet. But everything is changing in here soon, and its time to find a way. So, at least today, I did my part!
Bear with me. Its still a mess. But it’ll all make sense in a few days.
I got the desk entirely cleaned off and emptied. I moved the brown shelf out of its way so that it will exit our room as seamlessly as humanly possible. I’m not sure if the brown shelf will stay in our room or not. But thats an easy one to move on my own. Also solid wood, but a lot less bulky. The shelf isn’t my enemy. The desk is.
In order for the desk to move, the spare room needed to make more sense. The double bed would not allow for the desk. So, for the time being, we moved in a single bed. The double bed was SO old, and needed to go anyway. So the desk will fit in here, as will a single guest. Not ideal forever, as we’d love to be able to host more people overnight, but in the hypothetical “someday” house, the desk will live elsewhere and the guest room will have a bigger bed again 🙂
For now, this will do.
Still have to cut that topper down but its on its way! Cleaned out, ready for a desk! And a good vacuuming…
There is still SO much to do. Its far from over. But its a start, and that counts. Right now, it feels like moving messes. But it won’t always feel that way, because it won’t always BE that way!
While I am so unbelievably grateful for our weekends at the lake that flowed into October!!! I am also SO grateful to be home now, getting things done and catching back up in our regular life stuff here at home 💜
This sounds like my disappointment is decked out in some cute way, but it’s not.
Todays blog won’t exactly thrill anyone’s soul, but its on my mind, so I’m putting it on here.
Our beautiful campground had the amazing idea of setting up something of a drive-thru Christmas light tour. Us as the lease holders would have the opportunity to decorate and light our sites, and then the roads would be cleared, and people could come drive through and enjoy the beauty and excitement of Christmas out in the bush. We were SO excited about this possibility, as were some of our friends who also have spots.
Unfortunately, the campground had this beautiful idea WAY too late in the season. They sent out an email to their people and gave them about a week to respond, indicating whether or not they’d be interested. I don’t know about everyone else, but their emails always go to my spam folder. I cannot teach gmail that I WANT those emails in my inbox! Anyway. Maybe thats just me. So we contacted a few more of our friends from camp, and none of them had seen the email or knew anything about it.
Unsurprisingly, the camp emailed back out and said there was not enough interest :/ Maybe next year.
This was only in our minds since last weekend, to be fair, but man. Our crew would have LOVED that. The kids said so many times towards the end of lake season how much they want to see our spot in winter. How they desired to see it all snowy and whited out. How maaaaaybe the maintenance manager could clear the roads, just for us?? Lol! And this would’ve been SUCH an opportunity! We would’ve timed it out with our Dahlsjos, so we would come decorate at the same time. Have winter fires and hot drinks. Get excited and festive together. And then actually get to see everyone’s site all lit and beautiful, because you know we’d have made that trip. But its all off. Before it started, I know. Still. I’m so disappointed.
c/o Dekker
I really hope this goes forward next year 💜 Winter is hard for me. Having the opportunity to be back at camp twice in the season would be such bright lights to look forward to.
Facebook memories showed me this little number today.
Brady including Dekker in some vehicle maintenance. It seems small, but it isn’t.
How I ached to be part of that stuff as a kid. I only wished I could’ve learned these skills when I was young, but such is life. My children will learn those things. Happily.
If Brady hadn’t opened his heart up to them and these things at that point, there is no way they’d be so capable and accomplished in these skills at their ages.
In this case, specifically Dekker.
If Brady was not willing to have Dekker alongside him while he worked for those years when Dekker was young and very likely more in the way than actually helpful, Dekker would not have the willing work ethic that he has now, or the wealth of knowledge and understanding that he carries with him. Small house repairs or building jobs. Oil changes. Furnace filters. Winter tire changeovers. There isn’t much that Brady has not opened the door for the kids to join him and learn about.
I am incredibly grateful for those years, because things have very obviously changed in our life and our home, and our children have the know-how to actually help, and to pick up the baton when needed. No job is too big for a couple of kids. No job is gender-specific, either. Work is hard and thats ok.
Sometimes I realize that a few cute pictures have been missed for one reason or another that I would prefer were on the blog! So, behold a shorty photo dump!
We’ll start with Wavy dressing herself, and choosing this little chambray dress and belt as “cozy clothes,” which those of us with boobs are hips know they are not. But she is terribly cute so I let it go.
Another cute thing was my best friend silently photographing herself on my phone and waiting for me to bring it up. Here you have it, Cher. I found it, and I’m telling everyone.
Monday was Dekker’s vaccination day! (Don’t get at me about shots, I’m not having that fight on here, sorry!) I had signed consent forms and then never once saw what the actual date was. Clearly others did, so I just missed it, but I became aware of the date of vaccines when Dekker came home from school with bandaids. Whoops! He teased me and forgave me for not prepping him. Said he didn’t cry and wasn’t afraid. So thats good. Way to be SUPER brave, Dekker!
Rowan made himself and Solly mailboxes. And by “mailboxes” I mean “male boxes.” As opposed to female boxes. The 14 year old in me is giggling…
Wavy dressed herself for preschool yesterday. She has quite a style, that one, and I’m going to ride it out with her. I really enjoy seeing what she comes up with every day.
Cher gifted Dekker a new drawing book with more intricate lessons on how to draw bigger things. He tabbed the pages he was excited about right away, and came to show me. I told him I was excited to see what he drew and that he should get started, he scoffed at me and took off, saying he had to label it all first. Classic Dekker.
Lastly, Laela finished building one of her birthday lego sets, and she LOVES it. I’m so glad she’s into it 🙂 Its a full forest house type of thing, and she had a lot of fun putting all the little details together. She’s a happy lady.
I think thats all I have for you today! I have parent teacher interviews today and tomorrow after school, and work to do in the daytime. Some cleaning in the house. Bathing Waverly. Organizing. And some intentional rest 🙂 Its going to be a good day 💜 Better than yesterday, even.
