You may remember that I was invited to join a farmers market this last summer. I prepared SO MUCH for it, but then when the time came, Brady got his job 💜 I have no ill will about that. I LOVE Brady’s job SO much. But with that, there was absolutely no way I could do the farmers market. It would have been WAY too much. I would have absolutely always needed childcare. I would’ve needed to borrow a vehicle every single week. It would not have worked. So I let it go. I was embarrassed to back out the way I did SO close to the date. I felt awful. There were people who were working to donate products for me to sell in order to help me earn more money. People were backing me left right and centre, and I bailed on everyone. I felt so sick about it, and didn’t talk about it.

Now, in my quest to make my house more liveable and less cluttered, I had to address the elephant in the room, which is a HUGE pile of crocheted products I made for the farmers market that lived in my room. They were heaped on a desk that I really need to get out of our room anyway, and if I ever want that thing gone, I need to get it cleaned off. So I did.

This is just some of the stock I put together.

Its not a great picture. Bear with me here.

I have roughly:

30 plant hangers
20 towel hangers (with the wood rings)
50 ish bunting flags in 8 different colors
50 face scrubbies
10 cloths
12 pot holders
15 dish scrubbies
Multiple market bags, baskets, blankets, scrunchies, etc.

There are a variety of different plant hangers.
The towel hangers are a more modern take on the dish towels with the crocheted top. Both are awesome, but there are a bit more versatile.
The bunting flags are like banners. Some are connected, and many are not, for the sake of mixing and matching.
The face scrubbies, like almost everything else here, are 100% cotton and do SUCH a good job!
The cloths are awesome. I had WAY more but I sold some and used some more for our house and our camper. With cute colors like I used, they were perfect for the summer.
Pot holders are luxurious and thick, using two strands at once, and then double thick even after that. They are really really nice!
The dish scrubbies are SO effective, and are a lot cuter than those green and yellow scouring pads.

I worked SO hard leading up to this, and I will admit, it was a tough pill to swallow when I let it all go. But It was a time, and I had some awesome drive. I still do 💜 I hope I get a chance to do a different market another day, but for now, these are all lovingly packed away in storage, therefore allowing me to free up some space in my room and hopefully make sense of the furniture in there someday soon.

But for today, this counts. Its a strong start.

Laela celebrated her birthday this past weekend at the lake, which was literally all she wanted! 💜

It was such a beautiful fall day! The weather probably couldn’t have been more beautiful. It was the perfect day to be loved on even a little extra!

We ate cinnamon buns, and then drove to Bells Beach in the golf cart, just for fun.

We came back in time to meet my mom, who joined us for a very beautiful morning around the fire 💜 Laela opened her presents in the morning, as per her request. She was gifted three lego sets, a coloring book, a drawing book, and a clipboard to draw on! Plus candy, because, candy. Because, birthday.

Laela’s main request was for a pizza supper! So we did some calling, found out the pizza place in Christopher Lake was in fact still OPEN!! So we ordered some of the best pizza any of us had ever eaten from Papa Gs. I kid you not, guys. It was SO good.

Aaaaand then Grandma make cupcakes, which was a HUGE weight off my shoulders and made Laela SO happy 💜

You may notice the suspicious “sprinkles” on Dekker’s cupcake. Its gravel. Rocks. Not giant skor chips as they may appear. He dropped his straight down on the ground, lol! He got another one, don’t worry. We unceremoniously torched the other one.

It was a true treasure to be able to be intentional about pouring into Laela and making her feel like a rockstar. Our friend at the lake who pretends to hate everyone but secretly likes us even chased us down at once point and gifted Laela a card and $10. She felt SO important.

Because she is 💜

Laela told me that she felt SO special, having her birthday at the lake. The idea really landed, and I think she had her favorite birthday to date.

Its a pleasure to celebrate you, sweet Laela. All day, every day, all the time 💜

Thats it, folks. Our beautiful oasis at Kinasao is packed up for the season. While I welcome the simplification of having one less place to pack and prepare for every weekend, I will deeply miss our regular getaways to the lake to sit around a fire, swim, see our friends, eat easy food, and maintain no deadlines whatsoever. Kinasao campground is such a gift from the Lord, and I find myself thanking Him for it literally every single day. And you’d think the kids would forget, but they don’t. At least they didn’t last year. We constantly discussed when we’d be back 💜 I have to say, though, we had a beautiful last weekend.

First, I’ll show you the last sunset we enjoyed. Last night. It was gorgeous. The weather and the view simply couldn’t have been better.

Today was a day of working our butts off. After our final smorning, of course. Once we had eaten our body weight in cookies and marshmallows, we visited way too long before getting to our work. That meant stripping beds, packing up all the stuff that had gathered over the summer – outdoor toys, books, pantry food, etc etc etc. We emptied out the fridge and put away all the mattresses. We swept and put in the bump out. We took the golf cart batteries out to charge them over winter. Though we are less than hopeful they’ll see another summer. But we’ll sure try!! We cleaned off the deck, and chopped a massive amount of wood to age in our bin over winter. Brady flushed out the lines, dealt with all the inside stuff I don’t know about, and braced the deck. We did a TON.

As time allowed, I took some sneaks around the campground and down to the water. I love the fall colors so much. It felt so extra special to be at Kinasao at such a beautiful time. I LOVE the trees.I lo

I love the path down to the lake.

I love the water. I love the water SO much.

We expected to see our dear friends, the Dahlsjos, this Sunday, when they came for their last load and wipe down. We were SO happy that half of the family joined us a day early, and we spent all day Saturday together! But today, the rest of the group showed up, and we all enjoyed each others company! There were treats to be had, lots to talk about and plan for, and LOTS of hugs and “I love yous.” This is our first group selfie where we had everyone, and I have to say, it turned out beautifully. 

We will DEEPLY miss our people 💜 They are some of the best people we know, and we are already anticipating trying to find windows of time where we can share air and be together 💜 We sure love you, Dahlsjos!

This is my happy place. My home away from home. Sometimes, my home feels like my home away from home, if you can follow that. Kinasao feels like home. I’m so grateful to already have such a special place already so soon in my life. We only dreamed of such a setup, maybe in retirement, maybe someday.

As we pulled out of the grounds, the kids bellowed “Byyyyye Kinasao!” and that was it 💜

Until next time, Kinasao 💜 Thank you for the most beautiful summer.

I want to tell you all about Laelas birthday day, but I’d like to put a bit more work into it than I want to do here at the lake. So you’ll just have to wait 😘 Sorryyyyy! 

Rather, you’ll have to take my word for the fact that we’re having a super lovely time out here. 

We’ve enjoyed good food…

Lots and lots of fires….

And some amazing company! 💜 

Our dear Dahlsjo’s weren’t planning to come until tomorrow, and it was one of the BEST surprises to see them this morning already!! 

Thank you Lord for the beautiful weekend at the lake, and for always supplying our needs. 

Laela said to me moments ago “My birthday weekend has been SO special!” I’m so glad, sweetheart! 💜

I cannot believe my baby girl is nine. Wasn’t she JUST born?? No. Thats right. I just remember that day incredibly vividly. She is indeed aging and growing and changing and I’m not ready.

Oof. The difference between the first and last picture are HUGE.

Laela has matured greatly in this last year. It is unreal. Sometimes it hurts me to see it all, because I know a large part of her growing and changing has come with our time of struggle, and her deep desire to save me and make life easier for those around her, at her own expense. But the other side of me is incredibly proud of her beautiful qualities and her empathy and care for her people. I’ve worked to embrace her help and willingness while simultaneously actively praying that she remains the kid she is and that she doesn’t lose her childhood in the midst of all the change in our lives. I trust God with Laela.

Laela puts into her people so well. Far above her years, in my opinion. She offers to make supper when she sees a need. Puts Wavy down for naps. Helps her take a bath. She cleans without being asked. I even found her helping wipe a bum the other day. She is on it.

She is still being terribly cute with the boy she likes, loyal to her Jaxon, picking him flowers on occasion, going for bike rides, and planning to be a farmers wife 💜 They’re so cute lol!

She has excellent women to be close to who put into her and value her and teach her about what a strong capable warm woman looks like 💜 Grandma and Auntie love her, and are deeply loved by her.

I wish I had a picture of her with Rae 💜 Yet another strong, hard working woman in her life who loves her!

Tom is her strong male influence outside of her dad 💜 She loves to wrestle with Tom, and he will absolutely throw her around and be that person for her, while also being so soft and loving. She is NOT lacking in love in this category whatsoever! We are deeply grateful for our people who love our children and put into them without guilt or expectation!

Laela has proven to be someone who LOVES animals, and is not timid in the slightest!

Rory can lick her and jump a little, and Laela doesn’t flinch, but rather gently corrects her and loves her up!

She is braver with gross things that I ever was or ever will be, hahaha! She loves to catch frogs!

She is simply top notch. Growing so incredibly fast. She has big goals, and I am so excited to see her ride them out! She is loved by all, it seems, and she fits in everywhere 💜 She can be very quiet, and read for hours on end, and she can be super rowdy and silly and play pretend. Dare I say, my Laela Hazel has hit the sweet spot! 💜 Stay here just a little longer, Miss Laela. There is no reason to rush.

Sweet girly, you entered the world with a bang, and I felt strongly that you were going to shake things up. And that you have! But there is so much more to come, and I am honoured to be your mom and to be close to you! I pray regularly that I do right by you, and that God guides me as your mom, to know what you need along the way.

May the Lord bless you and keep you, Laela. Maybe His face shine upon you, and be gracious, and give you peace.

Happy birthday, beautiful Laela. I love you more than you know.

Today, while Waverly is at preschool, I am prepping for our official last weekend at the lake this season 💜 This is bittersweet, because we absolutely LOVE it there, and will miss the simplicity, the rest, the people, and the air. Being done for the season, however, will simplify our day to day life immensely, plus free up time for important things here that, now that Brady is back to full time work, we will only really have time for on the weekends. LOTS of things have been let go as we have enjoyed our beautiful summer, but now there is a LOT to clean up and organize! If you’ve been around us or in our house, you know things have just piled up, and there is real work to be done. And now, with the lake packed up, we will get into it finally!

But first, we soak up camp one last time 💜 See some of our lake people. Winterize. Have all-day fires. Celebrate a birthday. Enjoy the sunset by the water. S’mores. Cold nights. Hopefully beautiful fall colors. I cannot wait to get there!

Clothes are packed. Food is prepped. I just need to pack the van this afternoon, and choose what crocheting I want to bring. Once the kids are home, I’ll pack the cooler, and they will choose stuffed toys, books, and footwear. And then we’re out the door! Ack!

Let’s see if you can be more beautiful than last time, Kinasao. Thats some tight competition!

Its already been a full day today! A really nice day, thankfully! First, some quick snaps of the crazy beautiful sunset last night!

Not photographer-level pictures, but you get the gist. It was SO beautiful!

Today is also picture day for four of the kids! We don’t buy school pictures, so I’m not especially worried about what they wear or how well put together they are. Still, its fun 🙂 And they want to look nice. Some more than others…

Wavy couldn’t be left out, even though her picture day isn’t today.

Today was my first day with the minivan! And conveniently, Brady forgot something he truly needed at home, so I even had the chance to drive it somewhere! Cher and I had a coffee date scheduled, so she jumped in with me and Wavy, and we all drove to Warman together! Brady was very busy at work so I just ran in for less than a minute and left him to it.

Cher and I had a really good conversation over coffee. I love talking about REAL things with my best friend 💜 There is always a place for funny light conversation, but I love when we can talk in depth about things that actually matter. Thank you, Cher, for being close with me 💜 I loved this morning with you.

Time kept moving, however, and Cher went home to get to her very busy life, and I got Wavy lunching and (believe it or not) the blog written. Wavy eats a tomato every day for lunch, thanks to Rae and the awesome haul she brought us!

There is still lots to do once Wavy is down. I need to finish writing up a grocery list and pack kids clothes forrrrrrrrr…

Our LAST weekend at the lake 💜 This weekend is the weekend! So I need to pack for cooler weather, winterizing, and a birthday 😳 No pressure, Hailey, but don’t forget anything!!

I am so overwhelmingly grateful for the lake season we’ve had, and for the opportunity to get out there one last time! Thank you Lord!

Never before would I have thought I’d be SO happy to buy a minivan. But folks, it finally happened. Brady has been test driving some awful overpriced vans, and some really nice vans that were above and beyond what we needed or wanted to spend money on. Vans on their last leg, leaking everywhere, for 6K. Vans with dvd players and leather for 20K. Vans in that middle ground area just don’t seem to exist. The vehicle market is a nightmare right now. But we waited, and watched, and finally, found our van!

Ta-daaaaa! 🙌 Behold! The newest member of our family! A 2010 Dodge Grand Caravan. It only has 130K on it, which is really really good for that age. It had some recent maintenance done, including a full brake job, rotors included. The interior is spotless. The exterior is not spotless but a couple of tiny dings doesn’t hurt anyone. It will only get more in our care, I’m sure. Best of all, everything works, lol! Dual climate control blows nice heat and also AC. All the doors are powered. Stow and go works well. Bluetooth is factory and works. Backup camera is clear. Cruise is strong and easy. Its all just really, really nice. The color is really nice, too.

Brady couldn’t resist taking it to show his friends at work, so the temporary hand controls went on it this morning, and he brought it in. Tomorrow, however, its mine until hand controls are installed! Brady is bummed, haha! He loves it. And he’ll get his shot at it soon 🙂 For now, we are both just SO relieved to have a second vehicle. And one that Brady will be able to get in and out of safely in winter. Thank you Lord for endlessly providing!

Cher and I celebrated our fifth friendaversary a little bit early this year becauuuuuse Anne of Green Gables ballet came to Saskatoon!!

First, though, came Value Village. Because we’re classy ladies. And because I have children with needs. And a mug addiction.

We followed VV up with Starbucks, because again – classy ladies. Also, I had free money on the app. We both got a pumpkin thing 🎃

Post-bucks, we walked Indigo for a little while. We love to Indigo together, and the last time we went, someone who was clearly trying to recruit people to their own little thing took up ALL of our time. Laaaaame. So it was good to go back and try again, even just for fun 🙂

And then supper was our last pre-event event! Summer Roll for the win! We shared the dinner for two. ‘Twas delicious. Asian food with Cher is always a treat.

We got to TCU nice and early, so we got really good street parking, and got in line pretty close to the front! Yes, we had reserved seats, but the lineup of people waiting to have their tickets scanned was LONG! We were VERY happy with our choice to show up early!

However, the theatre didn’t open especially early at all. Once the doors to the building were open and our tickets were scanned, the theatre still remained closed for a good ten minutes. Some very attractive selfie opportunities were taken.

We finally got in and found our seats. We paid for nosebleed, and thats what we got, but it was anything but disappointing.

The view was clear. The music was beautiful. The dance was smooth. The story was portrayed very well, and contained more humour than anticipated. It was a total win!

We got out pretty late, and drove home tired and happy 💜 It was a beautiful way to celebrate our five years of being friends. We have survived more bumps than many, I believe, but we keep God at the centre and that is how we succeed.

Happy early friendaversary, sweet Cherice 💜 I love you and I like you. Always you!

Our book collection grows and grows, and our kids just eat those books right up! We have been so fortunate to receive SO MANY BOOKS as gifts along the way, specifically since Brady had his surgery. People have searched for ways to put into our family, and books has been one of those ways that has really shown up. Very quickly after Brady went to the hospital, I had to buy another bookshelf. And recently, its been nagging on me to find another one. Not urgently, but to keep my eye out.

Anyway. Yesterday I came across the perfect bookshelf on Facebook Marketplace. It was an Ikea shelf very similar to what we already use in our house. It was vastly discounted, and came with the cloth boxes to store things. Now, we don’t use those for books, but our basement toy shelf is also from Ikea and we could really use the boxes down there. When I went to message the seller, I discovered it was being sold by a family just down the street from me! Thank you Lord for orchestrating such a smooth transaction!

So I wasn’t with it enough to take “before” pictures, beyond this one.

This is one of our bookshelves with two rows of other books from a different shelf that was going to move stacked on top. The brown recliner was also stacked HIGH with books we could barely keep from spilling off the sides.

Once we confirmed that my plan for placing the shelves was a good one, I gave Dekker and Laela the job of sorting books. Dekker was pleasant and willing, and Laela was AMPED. They worked on that job until bedtime, deciding where to put the all the different series’, board books, comic books, etc.

They finished that task today!

So first we have our original shelf setup. It used to hold everything. Now it predominantly holds younger kid books, both hardcover and paperback.

Not board books, however. Our kids are mostly through with those, but I’m not ready to get rid of them yet, so they live in this shelf 🙂 This shelf has replaced the little end table that was over here originally, so now Brady has an end table over by his comfy chair, and I still have a place to set my coffee from my comfy chair! Plus, the books directly behind me are used less often. So its a win.

This is the new shelf. It holds ALL of the chapter books, as well as the more delicate, older comic books. Family Circus is HARD to find nowadays, but we have TONS thanks to my mad garage sale skills.

Once the big task of book reorganizing was done, I moved downstairs! The toy shelf wasn’t in great shape, and now that we have the boxes, it felt like time to sort through things, throw away what was broken or missing pieces, and get things back where they belonged. Duplo with Duplo. Lego with Lego. Pet Shops with Pet Shops. Hot Wheels with Hot Wheels. Puzzles with their pieces. Barbies with clothes. Etc etc etc. There was a LOT to go through. So many piles like this…

But we came through!! And while its not perfect by any means, it makes a LOT more sense now!

It was a HUGE morning of work, but after those hours were behind us, I was greeted upstairs with coffee and toast. It was perfect.

Onto the next! A fantastic evening awaits! I’ll tell you all about it tomorrow 💜 Real life kicks in again tomorrow!!! Enjoy the rest of your weekend, friends!