Having Monday off always feels a little backwards, but here we are, with Monday off, and we’re rolling with it!

We started the morning having coffee with Cher, and then she stuck around and braided Laela’s hair for a couple of hours while Brady did some work outside. He’s been preparing his work van to sell, so there was a lot of unloading and sorting to be done in the last couple of days! If you happen to be in the market for an older white cargo van for work that still has good mileage, let him know!

It was a VERY relaxing morning for me, as I just crocheted beside Cher and Laela, and we listened to Hamilton. It was really nice 💜 A great way to spend a Monday morning!

Now, the kids are lunching, and Brady and I will find some food shortly thereafter, I’m sure. Quiet time will hold some Stranger Things and crocheting. And the rest of the day will likely hold more outside time with very little plan involved.

Tomorrow, four of the kids will go to school, and planning for next weekend will kick off. Because while being home for Dalmeny Days was fun, and I have no regrets, I miss the laaaaake!!!! ACK! That means laundry, a shopping trip, and hopefully picking up a few things we’ve also been wanting up there. I have a lead on a water cooler, and I need a couple more helmets. For sure one for Dekker.

I also plan to finish up the tartan order on my plate this week. I’m SO close!

Oh, and track and field day is on Friday 😅

Its going to be a good week. I’m confident. Lots is on the go, and much of it is positive!

I trust you, Lord!

Yesterday was a lot of fun, as I’m sure many of our local people can agree to! While our family didn’t participate in every single little thing, we hit up the important stuff.

Before any of the official festivities began, we had mom and Cher over for oatmeal, because thats how it should be! But once that was done, we got outside and walked downtown to join the fun 🙂

The parade is always number one!

The kids got a bunch of candy and yelled and waved and jumped a lot. We let them kind of just go for it with the candy eating, so we brought home a lot less than usual, which was a relief actually, haha! It was a really fun way to spend the morning!

Once the parade was done, the young ones were, too 😅 So quiet time ensued. My mom lovingly took the big kids to the park for some more fun! They loved the magic show!

Once everyone was up, Brady and I brought the little ones to the park to join. They spent the next hour and a half jumping in the bouncy castles. I got a GOOD scare at one point when suddenly Waverly was up at the highest point of a play structure!

Freaked the heck out of me, let me tell you! But she actually laughed at me and told me she was fine, and that she was big. So that was that. Solomon was up there with her, and Laela was close by, also scoffing at my worry, telling me Wavy was having fun. Her own “leave her alone,” I believe. So I did.

Everyone was completely wiped out by the end of the day. Absolutely ALL of us had a light sunburn at least, and some pretty solid fatigue. Yet I can confidently say it was a fantastic day and everyone was really really happy 💜

Today was a quieter recovery day, and tomorrow will be more of the same. Did anyone else miss the memo that they don’t have school tomorrow?? Ya. Note that. Kids are home!

Hopefully resting.

Hopefully happy.

Maybe we’ll even get organized for the next weekend of lake time 💜

We had the privilege of moving into this town, into our beautiful custom built home SIX years ago.

Our house was absolutely everything we wanted. It checked every box. It was truly perfect for our family.

A lot has changed.

Who would’ve ever known that the day would come where we felt a little stuck in it, somewhat desperate to move out of it and into something else?

I say fairly often that we just had no idea what would come, and had we known, we would’ve made different choices. But then I reassure myself that no one plans for tragedy. And they shouldn’t. Its an impossible standard, and while many of us naturally wonder about the worst case scenario, dwelling on that is no way to live.

Here we are in 2022, waiting to see what God has in store for our future living situation. The plan we carried close to our hearts has been taken off the books, but we continue to trust that God’s plan is better than our own. Brady’s new job changes a lot of things financially, and while we make less money than we used to, we also have a consistent income, which should only improve our chances of achieving a new mortgage when the time comes.

For now, we are grateful that Brady has the mobility to get around our house, and we trust that the house will work as long as we need it to.

Thank you Lord for keeping us in town, in our home, for six whole years. We are excited to see what the future holds!

Every evening, our family gathers in the living room to say bedtime prayers together. They kids all pray, give hugs, and then Brady and I pray for them individually when we tuck them in. Its just out system. As it goes, almost every night, we each had a kid in our lap. Mine is almost always Rowan. Laela and Wavy usually alternate with Brady. Dekker likes to sit on his own. And Solly usually prefers to curl up in a blanket on a couch. When he does choose to snuggle, he just wants to lay on you, but not for anyone to actually have a hand on him.

Yesterday, right before it was time to start getting ready for bedtime stuff, both Solly and Rowan climbed onto me in the recliner. This never happens.

It doesn’t look like a lot, but it was a pretty precious moment for me. These two boys don’t do a whole lot together. They don’t pair off naturally. But this was SUCH a soft snuggle. You can even see Rowan’s arm over Sollys back. And no one was fighting the affection or closeness. It was very very nice.

Once everything was tidied and it was time to pray together, the boys both came to me again and we had a group snug on the chair while we prayed.

My middle boys, I call them. My middlest, and my little middle. They were very cute together yesterday, and I don’t want to forget that 💜

This is obviously not a serious post. We’ve had some good laughs renaming our children, so hopefully you find some of this funny, too 🙂

Dekker is now Derek. Because it’s almost the same. Cher calls Dekker’s name “inside-out Derek” and she’s not wrong.

Laela is Karla. She is Karla because autocorrect positively refuses to learn how to spell her name properly. Further alternatives include Kayla and Lyla.

Rowan has rebranded as Ryan. Or, Ro has rebranded to Ry. However you want to look at it. It works! Also acceptable would be Roman, Ronan, and Ren.

The name of kid #4 is tricky. It depends on what you call him originally. Solomon is renamed Sullivan, which was actually a contender when I was pregnant with him. Solly is renamed as Sally. Lol! And Sol would be Paul.

Waverly is changed to Beverly, because in my mind, Beverly = Everly = Waverly. It seemed like the logical choice.

We hope you still like our family, even in the midst of the changes of identity. 🤣 Don’t worry, contact info hasn’t changed!

Sincerely,

Bradley & Kailey,
Derek, Karla, Ryan, Paul, and Bev.

PS: If you happen to rebrand your family, please leave than info in the comments 😆

Yesterday was a great success! Solomon came home from school with some candies and a lot of energy from his fun day celebrating at school. He was jazzy and excited! After a supper of waffles with all the sweet things, aaaaand chocolate cake, he was positively buzzing!

Among his parents, siblings, grandparents, and auntie, he opened all his presents and cards in the living room. There was a LOT going on, and he was completely all over the place, jumping from one thing to the next, wanting to open up the next gift but wanting to also investigate each gift as it came out of the bag or box. It was a VERY energetic evening! Everyone went to bed late, exhausted.

This morning, when I went to get the kids up for school, most of them were still asleep or mostly asleep. I did manage to drag everyone out of bed, and there was even enough time for everyone to walk to school together 💜

I have these two home today. And its a pretty relaxed time so far. They are in deep with Solly’s new toys, so Cher and I had coffee while they played happily together. I imagine afternoon quiet time will also be a success considering how tired they were earlier this morning. When that happens, I’ll be working on my tartan order. I finished SO MUCH on it yesterday, its coming together quicker finally!

Its going to be a productive day 💜

Today we celebrate SIX years with our littlest guy, Solomon. Solly. Sol. Wolly. Smalls. Smally. Tally. You name it, he comes.

This kid was absolutely gorgeous from the get-go!

And he has remained that way 💜 His last year has been particularly lovely, as he has grown and changed so much. Yet his undeniable happiness has not changed in the slightest.

Solly has been in kindergarten this year, and he has really enjoyed it! He loves his friends and his teacher, and he is VERY proud of writing his own name. My favorite thing he’s brought home to date is this journal entry!

I’ll save you a minute. The thing he loves most about Spring is “eating vegetables at camp.” I thought this was terribly cute!

Some days are trickier than others, but Sol is more and more inclined to run ahead with his siblings, get involved in the game, or participate in pictures. I think kindergarten has been GREAT for that!

These types of things were like pulling teeth not all that long ago, so this feels victorious for us, and for Solomon.

Speaking of teeth, he has lost his two bottom ones 🙂 The second one having just happened last weekend at camp, while eating a s’more!

When they came up with Captain Obvious, they had Solly in mind. He makes all his observations loudly, and had no concept of wit or sarcasm. Its actually quite a riot talking to him. You should all try it sometime.

Solly loves biking, George Ezras song “Shotgun,” and fleece onesies.

Wavy and I walked the kids to school this morning.

As we walked past the houses, the kids friends shouted greetings at them, and Solly replied to everyone “HEYITSMYBIRTHDAYTODAY!” So its safe to say he is into it!

Solly’s supper of choice is waffles. So waffles we will have!

Solomon Brady, you are a true delight to be around. I am SO grateful God gave you to us those six years ago. What an incredible birth you had 💜 I’m looking forward to SO MANY MORE years with you, Sol!

I love you and I like you!!

A few changes have been made recently that feel like failures, and they feel important to share with you guys. 

One of the changes has been my commitment to the farmers market. I was so thrilled to be invited and included, and also to have some income this summer. However, when Brady took his new job, it became clear that the market was going to be harder to organize and actually get to. So I decided to back out. Which was sad but also the right choice, I believe. One less thing on our plate. That being said, I have a good stock of cloths, towel hangers, plant hangers, etc for anyone who is interested. Custom crocheting is still at my fingertips as I’m working on completing a custom tartan. Almost done! 

Another loss over here has been the car show this coming weekend. Another thing I’m very disappointed about letting go of. It had been a couple of years since we had played for the show, and we were excited about it! Unfortunately, a few key details weren’t organized in time, which left a LOT more work and pressure on our band in the last week than we were prepared to take on. So sadly, we bowed out. They do have another band, so no one has been left hanging. It felt bad. But it also felt like things were just left way too late. It’s a whole thing. We did the right thing, but it was hard, and I’ll admit I’m afraid we burned a bridge. 

It’s hard to let people down. It feels awful. Especially when we are functioning better over here and we want to be able to take absolutely everything in stride. We want to be able to do everything. And we can’t. 

Anyways. That’s all I have for today. To those who were planning to come visit us the Hepburn farmers market, or come listen to us at the car show, now you know. 

*falls over, exhausted*

On our way home, I feel more tired than I have in a while. This weekend was very reminiscent of our first weekend at the lake with the kids last season and the season before. That first weekend historically is just HARD. This summer, our first weekend with the kids was glorious, but this weekend was not quite so glorious. Absolutely every single child struggled HARD with numerous things, and took it out on everyone else. It was incredibly challenging, and we spent the first evening hidden in the camper, everyone in bed early, no campfire or festivities or friends. Just 🙌 bedtime. 

Thankfully there were lots of good moments, and lots of breaks as the kids ran between our site and that of our good friends just up the hill. They had a lot of fun, and Saturday turned out much smoother than Friday. I’ll admit, though, it was hard to not be on guard. I don’t want to be like that. 

Today we went down to the beach to throw rocks and take in a change of scenery. It was pretty cute 💜A nice breather. 

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We’re on the drive home now, and it’s a pretty quiet drive. Everyone is tired. The younger two have already napped. Here’s hoping they still sleep tonight! 🤞 Big kids will stay up for baths but then hit the sack in preparation for school tomorrow! 

I hope these weekends are experiences that the kids remember and hold dear as they grow up 💜

We came out to the lake despite the promise of almost constant rain. The forecast called for 60-70% chance of rain every hour of every day. It’s now supper time on Saturday and we’ve had one SLIGHT moment of a few odd raindrops, and that was IT. There had better be some rain overnight because I LOVE the rain sounds in the camper!! 

Without the rain, Brady has put up the eavestroughs and sealed it off. We’ve hauled and chopped more wood and kept a fire going most of the day. Kids have played games and did crafts with their friends, some of us have crocheted, and we’ve drank a good amount of coffee. A couple of kids got some bumps and bruises, but they also got ice cream sandwiches so 🤷‍♀️ you might say it was worth it. 

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Breakfast for supper going on the camp chef tonight!