The Daily Hailey

You’ll notice the word “exciting” is in quotation marks. I’m sure you’ve seen those jokes online about how being an adult means all kinds of lame things.

You get the idea. Adulthood is kind of lame, but its all true. Aaaaall those years of aching to stay up as late as possible are replaced with the desire to nap. The ability to fall and get right back up is replaced with pulling everything so easily!

Aaaaanyway, thats not the point. But its equally as lame.

Our family long outgrew those glass pyrex dishes. I have zero recollection of the last time I used the little square 9×9 ones, and we only use the 9×13 for the odd thing, like sausage, or when I make granola bars. More so, we use this big blue dish I bought at Value Village years ago.

I both this mammoth pre-kids, even, solely because I liked the color. I brought it home and kicked myself forever that I had bought it, because I thought it needed a lid, and how had I missed that?? It truly bothered me. But I couldn’t bring myself to get rid of it because it was a bit overpriced, and that drove me crazy, too! Gah! So, it just lived with us, was never used, and made its way here when we did 4.5 years ago.

Now, this thing is actively in use, and is really the only baking dish we use. Like I said, we NEVER use the little glass ones. They overflow. And that sucks.

What sucks more is the fact that my beautiful blue dish CRACKED the other day!!! 😩

The WORST!! This prompted a pretty immediate trip to Saskatoon on the hunt for another one, or five. Except, poor, so one. Two at the most, because there is just no use for the little pans around here.

We started at Value Village in hopes of finding another gem like my blue dish, lid or not. No dice :/ There was one. It was glass, which is fine, but it was grossly overpriced, thanks to the leafy design etched into it. I just wanted something solid and simple, so I left it behind and headed to Walmart.

I had better luck at Walmart. I got one big off white casserole dish. Its 9×14, so a bit bigger than the little guys, but its deeper. So that worked. I was content.

After that stop, however, we stopped at Lawson mall for lunch and ducked into London Drugs. And guys, maybe this is old news, but it was VERY exciting for me!

Extra. Deep. Pyrex.

…for CHEAPER than the stoneware, even!!! This was SUCH a win! If I had extra money in any capacity, I would’ve bought two! (PS it looks smaller, but its not. Its just the perspective, trust me.)

I feel like the amount of excitement I have about this new Pyrex dish is the epitome of “Welcome to adulthood.”

Can anyone make me feel like less of a dork about this? Would be greatly appreciated.

It has been a TOUGH morning. One of those mornings where, truly, I have nothing really nice to say. So I’m going to show you some pictures from yesterday, and hope tomorrow is better!

First picture was kind of a frustrating moment, honestly.

I sat parked here on my street for a good few minutes, needing to get Solomon to preschool, unable to get past these vehicles. The truck and trailer was parked that way, unattended, jutting out far into the road. And the Jays driver was dropping off a heavy package, so it was taking a long time. Which I understand, but I couldn’t get by. So I parked in the road and resisted the urge to just lay on my horn. Finally, the Jays driver finished his delivery and came back to his truck. He backed up ever so slowly, juuust enough that I could sneak by. Solly was a couple of minutes late to preschool, but it was fine. On the way back, the Jays driver was gone, but the trailer now had its ramps out. It was just maddening. Not the best day to drive our bus, I guess!

Picture two was from the end of nap time.

Waverly was still asleep, all propped up on her pillow, sleeping SO peacefully. She has this beautiful way of being completely bright and happy the moment she wakes up, too! Whatever she’s on, pour me some! (Also, that new sleeper doesn’t hurt! Wavy recently sized up and we had virtually no jammies in Laela’s old stuff, so I had the pleasure of buying her some cute new sleepers, without any financial guilt! Lol! What a season…)

Aaaaand this was something I saw on Facebook that I thought was funny.

Because its completely true. Giggle with me?

The day yesterday ended with yummy food and card games. It was not a perfect day, but it had some really nice parts, and I’m grateful for every day!

Even today. When I feel like curling up into a ball and not moving for the rest of the day. No rest for the weary.

Its time for Christmas break…

Most of us have that window of time where everyone and everything is a little extra struggly. I think, for many, its that stretch before bedtime. Ours is the stretch between school and supper. Its HARD. Yesterday, however, it was happy, and restful, and fun!

I had gone upstairs for a minute or two, and when I came down, this is what I saw.

The older kids had tucked in beside the Christmas tree with good books. They were calm and content, and not even fighting! 😆 Meanwhile, the little kids were hanging with Rowan while he made cookies with his PlayDoh. They were all laughing together the entire time, also not fighting. It was AWESOME!

It eventually graduated into a bit more rowdiness, with some horsey rides…

…but Dekker is just SUCH an amazing big brother! He never gets upset with Waverly, but just soaks up his playtime with her. Its pretty amazing to watch, honestly.

The whole point of todays blog is just that I’m SO grateful for my beautiful children, and so proud of them. Thank you, Lord, for the blessings you’ve given us!

Last night, after the little ones went to bed, Brady and I took the big kids out and around to deliver Christmas cards! It was SO cute!!

I’ve been itching to make a big long walk out of it, and take a jaunt all over town, delivering cards, gifts, and tupperware from people who have shared treats with us. But alas, Brady’s legs can’t take the distance, so we tweaked the plan a little and made it work in a cute new way!

The other day, I went to leave something in my own mailbox for someone else to pick up, and I discovered we had been left a couple of Christmas cards! It made me realize that I’m likely not the only person who doesn’t regularly check their mailbox, so I took a few extra minutes to curl some ribbon and tape it on to each card. It was an effort for the kids to put the card in the box while making sure the ribbon poked out! Watching the kids stretch and struggle to reach the mailboxes was terribly cute.

Definitely something we may do every Christmas season! We brought cookies along, listening to Christmas music, and really enjoyed the time together 🙂

I am so thankful we were able to do Christmas cards this year, not on our own at all! We had help from a couple of people to make them happen, you know who you are, and we couldn’t have had them without you!!

Merry Christmas cards! Lol!

Last night, our local fire department put on a fireworks display for the town! It was SUCH a treat!! We usually have fireworks over our towns celebratory weekend in Spring, but it was obviously cancelled this year. It had ended up being cancelled last year as well, due to the dry weather and a fire ban, but they had opted to do one on New Years Eve. There was a great turnout, so another winter show was in order for 2020!

Brady and I had the pleasure of taking the big kids along, just the four of us ❤️ We’d have brought everyone, but we’re trying something new with the other kids that I’ll tell you all about another time. But with that change, the bedtime schedule is ultra important currently. And frankly, it was SO nice to just be the four of us!!

We turned off the van and cracked the windows so the pows were loud! The kids LOVED it!! They “woooooahed” the entire time. Dekker speculated about how the setup looked and where the leftover material went. Laela pointed out the colors she liked, and jumped at the really loud ones. We all laughed at the kids in the van next to us, screaming and exclaiming out of their sunroof. It was cute. Everyone was SO excited!

The show didn’t last terribly long, but the kids were so happy. It was SO worth it. It was just a really nice little outing, and a great morale boost!

Thank you, Lord, for a town that makes efforts to bring smiles to faces in otherwise dark/unconventional times.

Hokay, folks! There are VERY FEW weekends left before the Christmas break! While these days tend to wipe me out a little extra, I do truly enjoy them, and I also really love that rewarding, accomplished feeling at the end of the day.

So! The list!

Decide supper and prep it, if necessary.

Ribbon on cards.

Deliver cards/dishes/gifts.

Bathe kids.

Wrap some gifts (?)

Laundry.

Complete last crochet project.

Tidy desk.

Tidy island.

Tidy counter beside stove.

Catch up on messages. (If you’re expecting a message/response from me and you haven’t gotten it, its coming!! I’m just behind!)

Make notes for upcoming posts (MM, NYE recap, resolution check-in)

Put Christmas plans on calendar.

I know my posts in the last couple of days have been a bit similar, merely stating what needs doing. But these are the main things going on in life over here!! Root for us as we try to accomplish everything that needs doing while maintaining a happy family, a somewhat relaxing day, whatever that is! 😂

Whats on your list??

Sooooo the title is about how I’m feeling, haha! This morning was exceptionally flippy floppy.

I’ll leave that at that. It was tough. Struggly. Faily. In the midst of all the chaos, there was a glimmer of hope, with some hefty support, research, and love! I am hopeful there are positive changes on the horizon!

On top of basic family struggly stuffs, I have a couple of things looming over me that absolutely need doing! Ack! Never a dull moment in this season!!

I’m currently finding rest witht he Hamilton soundtrack, fleece lined leggings from Costco, baked goods, and exfoliating my body in the bath. What are simple pleasures that are helping you through stressful times?

You might remember a couple of weeks ago, I got a bit rattled and couldn’t piece together my own thoughts or feelings. I didn’t feel like myself, and more than just feeling a bit off. I wasn’t being dramatic. I felt very outside my mind, and it was pretty unsettling. My lovely Cher took it upon herself in that span of time to send me away for a bubble bath in the middle of the morning. While Solly was at preschool that day, she hung out with Waverly and I had a soak. It was SO nice.

Today, she decided again to offer me an hour for myself. I took her up on it, and started running a tub once Solly was dropped off. And if you’re from where I’m from, you already know that out of nowhere, the power kicked off!

It was weird. I stopped the bath and checked on Cher and Waverly. Cher had some important stuff to work on for school, and she needed the internet. That, and her laptop was almost dead. It was far from ideal, but within ten minutes or so, the power was back on! Woot! No panic necessary after all!

Thanks to the power coming back, I was able to get into my bath and watch an episode of Unsolved Mysteries that I’ve been wanting to watch for a good while now! This particular episode is all in french, and its a lot harder to read subtitles when you’re multitasking. And today, in my time to just rest and zone, I could! It was SO nice!

I got out just in time to go pick Solly up! Then the kids lunched and napped, and I made egg salad wraps. If you didn’t know, crunchy onions are SO good on egg salad!

This afternoon holds nothing but productivity for my family! I have countless things to accomplish, as you’ll know already if you read yesterday’s blog. And yet more piles on! One of these days I need to actually leave my house and go for a walk or something.

A walk. To deliver Christmas cards. Or gifts. Or everything else that I have to do…

Whew! There is no shortage of loose Christmas ends to tie up! I feel sooooo behind! 😆😩

I am missing ONE Christmas present! But I know what its going to be, I just have to get it!

I have to wrap everything!

I have to check in with my gift exchange group and make sure everything is going smoothly!

I have to arrange to drop off gifts for people that I already have on hand! (Jenn B, Amber L, Vanessa, Anne, Donalda)

I have to mail and deliver Christmas cards!

I have to plan a band date to make a video of some Christmas songs we put together!

I have to finish one last crochet project I committed to do before school is out!

I have to drop off a gift I was commissioned to make!

I have to write a few advance blogs that I always post over Christmas holidays!

I have to send teacher gifts to school with kids!

I have to call and find out if I’m still allowed to drop a gift for my doctor!

We have to put ornaments on the tree! Gah! How have we not done that yet?!?!

As I said, I am SO behind!! But then, a loving friend pops by with two gigantic trays of treats for our family. That paired with the cookies our children decorated the other day with our loving neighbours, if I don’t bake a single thing, there will not be a shortage of yummy desserts.

Guys, I feel SO fortunate in this season. Though I’m behind, we are SO well cared for, and what needs to get done will. God knows what we need. All the time.

Today was the day Waverly has been waiting for for months. This girl wants to go to preschool SO bad! She walks around the house with a backpack on, telling everyone she going to preschool on Friday, regardless of the fact that we had zero plans to take her to preschool. But today, I was the parent helper, and my people were otherwise occupied. I had no choice but to bring her!

Solly was almost as excited as she was. He couldn’t wait to show her around, get her a chair, and help her along the way. It was actually super adorable.

When they had free time, Wavy fit right in with everyone else. Solly “built cabinets like daddy” and Wavy was nearby, hammering alongside him.

Waverly wore a mask the whole time, tidied up toys better than some of the bigger kids, lined up with everyone, ate a snack, chatted, answered questions, and generally fit right in. She even did a craft. And Solomon couldn’t have been prouder of her. It was VERY cute.

She wasn’t so hard to include in the fun 🙂 She can come again.