Cher and I went out to the garage once the babies were down and lunch was eaten. The garage is a very daunting job, but it NEEDS addressing soon. Like, soon soon. Before it gets cold. That way, kids can get bundled up easily in the garage, but more importantly, Brady could PARK in there! Thats the dream, lol! The dream of anyone with a garage…
However, you may remember that moving was a really huge deal, and it was FROZEN and HARD, and two weeks later, Brady has his seizure and everything went kind of upside down from there. So MANY things are definitely still piled up where they don’t belong. This wasn’t news to me, but became even more so glaringly obvious as we moseyed through the garage.
It is going to be a BIG job.
Before anything big can be done in there, we need to:
Take recycling to Sarcan
Take chairs to be reupholstered
Bring dresser and bookshelf to the people who want them
Once those things are done, we will be able to actually MOVE in there!!! For now, all we could really do was move messes. But that we did! We got all the Christmas stuff found and put in one spot, and we sorted through the MOUNTAIN of shoes and boots lying around and actually got rid of those that are worn out. A box to donate or give away was also removed, thanks to Cher!
So that one section is slightly more compact than it was once, and Christmas is a bit more organized. Hopefully we can do some of the hauling away over the weekend, and get back into it next week! It won’t be done done anytime soon, but to get a van in there for winter would be a huge help to us.
SO many messes to move before the snow flies. Whew. One thing at a time, Hailey.
Today I got even a little bit more Christmas stuff done! I wrapped six more gifts in the afternoon, and I ended up ordering eight more! I know, it sounds like I’m going a little nuts, but I’m just super not. I’m SO stoked to be this ahead. Because even if I totally lose steam or something happens where all of my Christmas prep stopped TODAY, I’d still have a way easier time of it when I would be panicking on December 23rd. So, I’m super stoked. Of course, right before the kids got home from school, the Amazon delivery guy came, so I had more gifts in hand but couldn’t wrap them right away.
But! As Wednesday goes, every single one of my big children have commitments in the evening! So for that short stretch of time, I was able to wrap the three gifts that were delivered to me! Heyooo!
When I had some downtime, I actually CROCHETED!!!
Mmmmm 🥰 Yes, it was as lovely as it looks. Crocheting. A crappy show. There was coffee and new slippers to be enjoyed. And I made some headway on a Christmas gift I’m making.
If I can ride this wave just a little bit longer, I can have all the kids gifts locked down in advance, and spend December baking and getting teacher gifts and such in order. That 🙌 is the dream!
Today was productive and restful and fun, and I am SO happy to be able to say that! Not all days feel quite so good, but I truly enjoyed my few hours of kid-free time this afternoon! Becauuuuuuse…
I wrapped presents!!!
Eek!!
It feels SO GOOD to have gifts already wrapped and up on a shelf. I took multiple pictures of the stack to post on here but they’re all sharper than I thought they’d be and I’m not willing to take the time to blur the names out 😅 So rather, just take my word for it. I wrapped over thirty gifts!! Ack!!!
Ok. Whew! Thats all I have for today. While I was in the city this evening, waiting for a baby to be done at a visit, I was able to procure another five gifts off my list! Sooooo I’m off to wrap those now before I crash in my bed.
Today was a very special day 💜 Brady’s birthday fell directly on Thanksgiving! So we get to celebrate him and also be thankful on the same day!!! 😅 I’m pretty sure I’m very, very grateful most days of my life, if not all of them, but it seems like an extra good day to be thankful for Brady.
I don’t have very many pictures of him without a baby in them. Which is a bummer for the sake of the blog, but is a beautiful problem to have in every other way.
I’m thankful for a lot of things.
I am thankful for my marriage to Brady. I never anticipated what a healthy, loving marriage would feel like, and somehow I always thought it would be so much more difficult. But I am just so very happy with the husband that I chose. It is not work to love him. It is easy, and it makes me happy.
I am thankful for Bradys determination and grit. He does not back down from a challenge, even when he is less physically able than he was a few years back. He is not afraid. He is strongly protected by God.
I am thankful for Bradys amazing job, and how much he loves it.
Working at Zak’s has been a gigantic answer to prayer, and Brady continues to progress and work his way up. He has beautiful work ethic and is actually appreciated and well cared for at his job.
I’m thankful for doctors. Specialists. Surgeons. Radiologists. Oncologists. Pharmacists. Nurses. Techs. Social workers. Therapists. All the health care professionals we’ve come across in the last few years who have carried Bradys health in a way not many can.
I’m thankful for cancer research. MRIs. Technology. Radiation therapy. Chemotherapy. Mobility aids. What an amazing time to be alive, where so much help exists, making Brady’s life easier.
I’m thankful for our people. My mom. Cher. Our Dahlsjos. Our Moodys. Not to mention many teachers from the kids schools who take SUCH intentional care of our kids. Pharmacists from TWO different pharmacies who make house calls. A doctor we can text directly. And a church family who is invested because they love us, not just because they want an inside scoop. We have an AMAZING group of people in our corner, and they have remained strong in our times of further trial, such as Brady’s 36th year of life.
Above all, I am thankful for the knowledge and faith in Gods existence, and how evident it is that He holds Brady, my most precious person, in the palm of His hand. Which is the BEST place he could possibly be! None of these things I have listed above could be here, or be ours, without God.
And for that, I am SO thankful 💜
Onto the next year of life, my man. You certainly have kept them interesting, which is both thrilling and also exhausting 😅 Feel free to sign us up for a boring one for year 37! As boring as it gets, anyway, which isn’t very boring at all, lol!
However it looks, whatever we meet, I am VERY thankful for you, Brady. We’ve known each other for half of our lives, and I wouldn’t trade it at all. Not a single day 💜
Onto the next, expecting the best! 💪 Thank you Lord for Brady!
You might have noticed that our lives are fairly busy over here. Really, everyone is busy. Big families are busy. Small families are busy. Single people are busy. Establishments are busy. Heck, even the flies in the house that refuse to die are still getting busy! 😳 Clearly, no one is immune to the busyness of the season.
We went to church this morning. It is the first time in MONTHS. With Bradys brain surgery and recovery, and then a summer of camping, and then still a couple weeks of sickness, we have not been able to make it happen. The last time we did ALL make it to church was during Brady’s recovery in spring, and he found the bustling social aspect incredibly difficult :/ Which was NO ONES FAULT!!! It was just his brain, and the neuro pathways that needed rebuilding. I remember so clearly observing someone come over to him, hold out their hand, and say “It is SO good to see you, Brady.” And Brady regarded this person blankly for a confident five seconds before putting his hand out. It was HARD. But every last one of us was eager to get back there! So today was a big first. And a lovely one 💜
As often happens, we were among the last to leave. Everyone was happy, Brady included. We got home, and I instantly left to go gather up some grocery items I had forgotten. Brady made sure everyone ate at least a snack, and he got the babies down for naps. I brought him back ice cream for lunch and we sat for maybe twenty minutes before the babies started talking and I got up to get on supper.
At that point of the afternoon, Brady was absolutely WIPED. So he took off for a nap. Laela and Wavy took the Morsel downstairs to play. The Spoonful and the Lemon Drop are hanging around upstairs, crawling and shuffling around totally happily. Dekker just got back from running an errand. Rowan is playing in his room. Solly is building lego at the table. And I’m in the kitchen, surrounded by yummy smells.
For this moment, it feels really peaceful and calm. These moments come around sometimes, but not often, and I really enjoy them when they do. I have ham and pineapple on a big pan, cooking into a honey glaze. I have broccoli roasting as well, with parmesan and garlic. And baby potatoes roasting just with oil and salt, which will be dressed after the fact with bacon, peppers, and cheesy ranch. (<— Me trying to convince my kids to like potatoes) Carrots are boiling on the stove as well. And I pulled out some pint ginger ale, and 7up as well, which I’ll bloop the pineapple juice into for those that want. There’s even a little whipped cream to top off the gigantic Costco pumpkin pie I got the other day! 🥧
I think its going to be a yummy supper, and I’m feeling really happy to be able to serve my family at this time. It gets to feel like a drag sometimes, I’m sure thats not surprising. We all feel that. Not the flies, clearly 🙄 but the rest of us. I am SO grateful to have this family to feed and care for and do special things for, when I can.
We celebrate Thanksgiving today, and Brady’s birthday tomorrow! A lovely big weekend of celebrating while also being as low key as humanly possible! 🥳🥱
Happy Thanksgiving, everyone 💜 What are you thankful for?
Cher and I had the pleasure of celebrating our friendaversary today! It is rare that we get out to the city together, just recreationally, so it is a VERY real treat when it happens! 💜
We started at the food court, because food court asian is affordable and delicious! We love to share a super combo!! YUM!
Also, Lawson Mall has a Spirit Halloween to peruse, which we did. We are VERY cool 😎
Our next stop was the new Michaels! Did you know they JUST opened a Michaels in confed?? As in, JUST yesterday?! Well they DID! So we had to go check it out, and we had no regrets!
A GHOST!! 👻
My happy place, if you hadn’t heard.
I got some yarn for myself, some for a Christmas gift or two that I have on the books, and some ornaments for the kids!
We got a little Starbucks, because we like to try to get a seasonal drink when we can! Cher is rocking that caffeine free life, and because of that, she hasn’t had iced coffee in a good long while! So, today was that day. And she was STOKED, as it plainly seen in this picture 🤣
We drank our Starbucks (those of us who didn’t chug it on the spot in the van) and moseyed through Dutch Growers while we waited for our movie to start! It was VERY festive in there!
My FAVORITE display!!! They hung wooden spoons from the ceiling that looked like they had been dipped in batter and icing! Cute!!
But it was finally time for our movie to start!!
Except it wasn’t, haha! Like, it was, but we watched previews for twenty minutes after the showtime, and then it seemed like things started to take a turn towards a totally different movie! So Cher ran out and confirmed it. We scooped up our things and made it to Beetlejuice Beetlejuice pretty late in the game. It was a good solid funny musical movie, but it felt SO short, which was a bit of a hard pill to swallow since we had missed such a good chunk. However, once it wrapped up, we inquired and were instantly offered free tickets and popcorn vouchers and upgrades and ALL kinds of lovely things for our next trip in. The manager actually said “Thank you for not yelling at me,” which tells you the quality of communication some people have. We thanked him profusely for caring and wanting us to be well taken care of, and we left totally happy. No bad feelings whatsoever.
We hit up Dollarama to see if they had anything fun out there on the Brighton side of the city, and then headed home.
It was a BEAUTIFUL day out with my very best friend. My sister 💜💚🧡 I’m so grateful to have a dear friend who wants to invest in our friendship and in my life and family. It is an honour to know her and love her and to be loved by her.
And a GIGANTIC shoutout goes to Brady for spending the day with all of our munchkins so we could go out and play. It was an incredible gift to us. Thank you, love.
I’m home now. Kids are in bed. Brady is about to hunker down to finally eat the burgers I brought home for him. And then, it’ll be tuck in time. I am very grateful for the day I had 💜 Thank you, Lord!
Here’s the thing. I think I’ve come to a conclusion about Costco. As much as I know I should go weekly, I just don’t ever get there. I go to the city regularly, but I tend to have a shortish time crunch and I’m too far from Costco to fit it in. But I NEED to, because its easily the best value for our crew. BUT but, when I do get in, one cart does not cut it. Especially if I have all the babies with me. Nope nope nope.
So my conclusion is that I’m just going to have to suck it and go when its busy, on a weekend or in an evening, with my whole crew so I have cart pushers, and just overbuy what I can. I can supplement fresh things during the week from Walmart when I’m in the city or otherwise, or Brady can hit Coop on the way home from work. But, for Costco specifically, it has to be, and it has to be with everyone.
Except I really don’t know what I was thinking today. Did you know its Thanksgiving this weekend?? 😅 I did know, but I did not plan for Costco to be positively BURSTING at the seams, and that it was. Here I was thinking I was SO smart going on a day where the kids were out of school, because everyone else would be at work or in school, and isn’t that perfect?? I’m not sure why I thought my kids would be the only ones out of school but 🙄 We’ll just blame the Lemon Drop and call it a day. Didn’t think it through, but regardless, stuff needed doing! So in we went!
Our setup was like so:
I pushed the first cart with the Spoonful and the Lemon Drop.
Rowan pushed the next cart that held the bulk of the groceries.
Dekker pushed the last cart with the Morsel.
Yup. We went with three today. Thats how much we needed. Some of our things were big, so it just made the most sense.
The other kids still helped. Laela held the list and kept track of where we needed to go next. Solly helped load lots of things into the carts. Wavy carried the diaper bag with our emergency “babies are crying” stuff in it, and she would help occupy the babies when their cart pusher had to duck away for a second.
Somehow – and I CANNOT tell you how – this became a well oiled machine.
With my beautiful crew in tow, we hit ALL the marks. We got batteries, scotch tape, bread, chicken breasts, sausage, salami, bacon, salad stuff, tortellini, gnocchi, paper towel, milk, butter, cheese, perogies, pizzas, broccoli, coffee, crackers, baking ingredients, oats, granola bars, raisins, Tylenol, etc etc etc.
We even got TWO pumpkin pies!! 🥧 🥧
I had been on a hunt for a box of little individual lasagnas we usually get, and I hadn’t been able to find it. The kids and I did another lap of the aisle I thought it would be in, didn’t find it, and I decided to keep moving. Probably a good 5-10 minutes later, a woman approached us and quietly handed me a box of lasagnas. I know it was small, but it was SUCH a beautiful kindness 💜 Sometimes its hard to stand out the way we do, because if anything goes south, ANYTHING, everyone sees. But sometimes, it opens up some beautiful opportunities, and people use them to show us love. I know it was just lasagna. But it was really humbling.
We managed to get into a decently short line, and had SUCH a lovely cashier help us. She recognized us from coming through previously, and she was filled with the warmest compliments and kindness. And honestly, the kids really crushed it today. They earned every nice word said in their direction!
Even once we were out at the van, Rowan helped me get everything into the van while Laela tetrissed it all into place. Dekker found a safe spot up front for the pumpkin pies, and helped lift the babies into their seats and buckle them up. The others got to their spots and waited patiently. Then, Laela and Rowan took the carts back to the return, and off we went!
We hit up a McDonalnds drive-thru for some well-deserved treats! Anyone else call ahead and order 16 apple pies? No? Just us? Cool…
Of course, upon arriving home, more work began and I only just VERY recently discovered I abandoned my now cold coffee in the pantry while putting things away 😅 Ah well. Whats mom life without cold coffee?
Ok. We shopped Costco. We unloaded, and put things away. Babies ate and had naps. I finished putting things away, and typed this very blog. I can hear babies are awake now, so onto the next!! Good thing I put my feet up while I typed!
I think supper will have to be very relaxed today 😅 Perhaps we should just all eat a pumpkin pie…
Cher and I became friends SEVEN years ago! We came together to take pictures, which was a gift to me in my grief of losing my baby boy, Jamin, at 16.5 weeks along. She was one of the earlier to know about my pregnancy with Waverly, before the news was public, because I knew she would care. Even though we weren’t close, I knew she was in my corner 💜
In my corner she has stayed 💜
She took pictures for me and of me for a long, long time before we started taking them together 😅
And then started doing ALL the things together.
We laugh at ourselves when we say we are committed to our friendship, but its just the truth. She is family. Locked in.
I am 100% invested in her and her things and her life, and she has never fled from my crazy! Even though our lives are just about as opposite as they could be, our hearts are on the same level is all of the important ways 💜
We may both be stone cold weirdos…
…but we try our hardest in ALL we do!
Bottom line – there is just SO much love here 💜
Seven years, you say? I’m pretty sure we have ALWAYS been sisters 💜 It feels like you’ve always been part of me.
I love you, sweet Cherice 💜 We did it. Seven years! Easy 😘 Sign me up for the next seventy!
The last couple of days I have taken part in Prime Days! I have also done a little bit of Temu shopping, starting back in the summer months, slowly accumulating the things I know I want to get the kids. It’s actually a little strange to look at my list and see some kids, I am almost done, and some I have barely even started jotting ideas down!
If you’ve followed long enough, you know I rock the four categories – something they want, something they need, something to wear, and something to read. I also like to get everyone some jammies. Most of my kids sleep in their gitch, so the jammies are more so for a cozy Saturday at home or pajama day at school, lol! But they’re great over the Christmas break!
Christmas shopping is also a little extra ballsy when you have foster children, because you just never know how your family will look come Christmas time! However, I’m willing to take the risk. If any of our children leave before Christmas, I’ll just send their gifts along. There are too many good things for me to just not pick up for them!
The Amazon man came today with little magnadoodles for the big babies, and Temu shouldn’t be far behind with some bath toys, and a couple of house things.
Even doing a modest Christmas of four gifts per kid, with eight kids, thats a LOT of gifts! Plus, we have school teachers, skill teachers, club teachers, our doctor, our social workers (do we get them gifts?) and birth families (do we get them gifts??) to buy for. Our kids are picking names this year. Everyone in our extended family picked names as well. We have our friends and loved ones and close people as well. Good thing I LOVE finding gifts for our people or it would be terribly overwhelming 😅 but THIS is why we get a jump on it!!
*adds a couple of names to the Christmas card list*
Today was going to be a very low key day with an evening outing. But, as tends to happen, the day filled and I was out more than expected! But it was actually super helpful.
You may have picked up on it, but we’ve had some sickness floating around for a good long while now. Back to school has really kicked our butts, to say the least. And while we should be LONG on our way to healing, we are not. In fact, some continue to get worse. So I called my doctors office first thing this morning and got a same-day appointment with one of her residents for the baby that needed the most help. That Lemon Drop, though.
After the appointment was booked, my doctor actually texted me personally to tip me off that there were a couple of spots available before she saw I had already filled one. I commented that I wished I could bring the entire gang, but that the one baby needs it the most. She asked me who else really needed to be seen, and I replied that both Brady and also the Morsel would really benefit from some backup. Brady starts another round of chemo tonight, and he had this cold already during his previous round! Its time for a reprieve!! And the Morsel has a pretty crappy respiratory history, and being sick this long makes me worry about lungs. So my doctor put everyones name down and I let Brady know he had an appointment in an hour 😅
I abandoned Cher at my house (thank you for cleaning for us today 💜) and ran the babies into the city where we met Brady in the parking lot. We got into a room quite a bit later than scheduled, but its SO fine with us because I know Dr. Guselle absolutely never ever rushes us.
The appointment was long and loud, with three cranky babies on hand. We saw a resident first, who checked everything really thoroughly, and said the dreaded words “Its a virus” which always means we just have to ride things out. However, when she went to consult with Dr. Guselle, they both came back and seemed a bit more eager to actually help us get through this VERY long running sickness.
All three of those seen came out with some backup. Nasal spray. A puffer. Some antibiotics on file in case things don’t clear up or start to worsen, and some additional help with reflux that has been GROSSLY exacerbated by all the coughing.
I came home to a much cleaner house than the one I left, and Cher encouraged me to sit and rest a little while she got the babies some lunch 💜 Then, we put the big ones down for naps, and the Lemon Drop hung around with us.
It wasn’t long before kids came home, the piano was opened up, the homework came out, and things got busy for a good hour. And then we went back into the city! Whew!
A baby got a visit. Kids ate supper out. I shopped at Value Village and got Dekker winter boots. It was a great success 🙂
I am VERY grateful for my life. The days are very full, but full doesn’t mean bad. Not at all. MUCH good happened today. It is not lost on me how fortunate my family is and how many blessings are poured out on us 💜
Tomorrow was also meant to be quite quiet, but as tends to happen, I now have many things on my list 😂 Another big day ahead!! At least I’ve never ever bored!
