The Daily Hailey

I haven’t driven in the city much lately. Or anywhere. But today, one of our little ones had a visit in Saskatoon so in we went!

I was ready. I brought crocheting, just in case I ended up sitting still for a while. But I had a couple of errands to run as well and those needed to come first. I had two hours between drop off and pick up to do my things, which was definitely manageable.

I decided I felt a little bit ambitious and went a little further into the city than I had originally planned, which again, was totally manageable, but it left me in the THICK of rush hour, which I hadn’t really considered. Circle was just deadlocked for a pretty good stretch of time.

So for the first time ever, I crocheted in traffic 😂

Hopefully this post doesn’t get me arrested 😬

I promise I barely got further than this because I was being SO careful! But I did kind of giggle at myself. I felt like an old old lady, can’t leave the house without her hook, always a project on the go when she’s on the go. You know. An on the go on the go project.

Goodness I should sleep more 😅

It happened! School has arrived, and the kids are in it!! Time for newfound routine. Time for less time in close proximity and therefore less fighting. Time for socializing with new friends, and growing in all kinds of ways.

Roll call!

Dekker is in grade…

TEN!

Laela (who clearly felt self conscious in front of her friend this morning) is in grade…

EIGHT!

Rowan is in grade…

SIX! (Apparently the tongue counts as one)

Solly is in grade…

FIVE!

And Wavy is in grade…

THREE!

Everyone is aging so fast (myself included) and while parts of me ache for younger years, the bigger part of me is positively loving watching them grow and change and become older versions of themselves. They are aging like good cheese – a little stinky, perhaps, but bringing a richness that I had no idea we lacked until it showed up.

I love you goofy kids SO very much 💜 Happy first day!

Today is the LAST day of summer holidays before school kicks off again! While I’m not specifically twitchy to get rid of the kids or anything, I am indeed ready for school to start. This last half of summer has not felt summery, and rather than going back and forth to the lake, everyone has opted for sitting at home and fighting 😅 Ok not exclusively. And people have absolutely showed up for our family, taking kids for the day here and there, to parks, to their homes, or adventures, out for treats, etc. Our summer hasn’t suffered completely. We are NOT victims, lol! Its just been a different kind of summer. More struggly than usual. So. With that, we’re ready for the next season to kick into gear!

Kids are all showered and bathed. The kitchen got tidied up good and proper. I prepped lunch things for a good hour or two. Crackers are in little ziploc bags, as are handfuls of celery sticks, baby carrots, little tomatoes, trail mix, etc. I restocked granola bars, cheese strings, pepperoni sticks, and I even got a few packs of fruit snacks kicking around. I stocked one more little drawer of dairy free yummies in case our dairy free lovey comes back for a visit.

Kids have new water bottles. Lunch kits are wiped out. Backpacks are full of supplies. VV school shoes are all ready for action.

So with all the work being done in the morning, we put babies down for naps, and rented the newest minion movie.

My personal favorite part with the subtitles in the beginning when the magic started to happen…

Who doesn’t love some magical tinkling??

I finished up a baby gift I’ve been crocheting, and now as the afternoon is winding down, I can hear my kids and some of the neighbours playing in our backyard. Except the one kid thats in the tub and one kid that is finishing up a home project. Brady is napping, and supper will be delivered soon.

Goodness. What more could we possibly ask for??? We have it SO good, and sometimes that is just overwhelming 💜 But in the most beautiful way. Thank you, Lord, for ALL the gifts you give us!!!

I started a new puzzle today. It’s a picture of italian food. I was working on it when Brady asked me for help with something, so I abandoned it for a minute and went to him. When I was done helping Brady, I said I was going to go back to the island and work on the puzzle a bit. I tried to tell him that I was working on the pizza crust in the picture. But being that it was a puzzle, it didn’t quite come out right.

I called it the pizza border.

Because puzzle borders, right?

From here on out, courtesy of Brady, the border will be known as the puzzle crust 🙌 You’re welcome.

Also…

A GHOST!

Every day is worth something. Every day is something to be grateful for.

Today, I had a coffee with Brady in the living room, from a mug my sister gave me, with a blanket my best friend gave me. In fact, I had two coffees with Brady.

It was comfy and homey and full of love. Brady has been so tired as of late, we haven’t gotten to spend as much time together. But today, we did, and it was such a treat.

During nap time, Brady went down for a rest, and I did a puzzle on the island, which is definitely not on the priority list, but it makes me happy and feels peaceful, and the kids tend to come join, visit, and quietly work at it. Its a huge morale boost around here to have a puzzle going.

With the restful morning, afternoon, and an outing in the evening, I haven’t blogged. I also haven’t really accomplished anything beyond finishing the puzzle 😅 But it was a really nice way to spend the day. I also can’t fully explain it, but having our dear one who left last week come spend some time here yesterday brought so much peace back to our home. I’ve felt lighter since that visit. I truly hope there are more to come. Still riding that high.

The day has wound down. I just want to hang with Brady. The border for the next puzzle will have to wait for tomorrow.

💜

Since Dekker was at Redberry for his birthday, his birthday food day was postponed. To today! 🥳

It went like this.

Breakfast was cinnamon buns with cream cheese icing (a la Costco) and chocolate milk.

Lunch was chunky chicken salad and garlic toast. I added Brisk iced tea because its his favorite.

Supper was cheese tortellini with sausage and alfredo sauce.

And drumstick cake for dessert.

Perhaps you’ve noticed that our dairy free family member is the one who moved on recently. Cheese and cream is clearly the only silver lining in that situation.

That being said, our family was offered the INCREDIBLE gift of spending the afternoon and a chunk of the evening with that child, whom we love SO dearly! 💜

We ate lunch before I went to pick up the babe, and then we spent the afternoon playing all over the house, in the backyard, and at the park. My mom and Cher came as well, and we made good use of our time all together. What a HUGE treat it was to share air with our sweet little one again!

A few modifications made to a portion of the meal, and everyone could enjoy the birthday food together! The cake was a no go, but we still had popsicles from the sendoff we had in the park earlier in the week, so no one was without a good treat!

The day wrapped up peacefully. I drove to the city with one of my favorite people nodding off in a car seat just behind me. I dropped off, and then listened to my music loud on the drive home. When I got home, the dishes were almost done, kids had put the two littles down for bed, and everyone was ready for prayer time. No one was fighting or upset at anyone, and it felt so peaceful.

Today felt like a great celebration. We celebrated Dekker with delicious food, and got to get in some fabulous playtime and snuggles with someone else we love 💜

It was a beautiful day. A LOUD day 😅🤣 But one of the best we’ve had in a while. For this day – this child – the family who have accepted us into their life – we praise the Lord!

As I was doing some work on the laptop this morning, I got some fun news that the whole family was excited about. Not trying to be evasive, just can’t talk about it quite yet. But we all whooped and hollered a little bit. Naturally, one of the kids took the moment as an opportunity to get himself a treat, and brought a package of orange cream twizzlers out of the pantry. They were purchased as a camping snack that we indeed did not have the chance to enjoy at camp. So I said yes and we cracked into the bag. Everyone got one, including the one year old who was standing next to my chair, a tight grip on my crossed leg. Everyone ate their treat and we chatted for a bit until everyone moved along.

Once the hubbub died down, I moved around myself and realized that my ankles were SO STICKY. And for that, I blame Munchie, for the eager way in which they consumed the treat, and the sticky mess they left behind. On my ankles. Like a weirdo.

Not sure I’ve ever had sticky ankles before but if there were ever to be a reason to have them, this would be the one!

The days are fairly swirly in terms of emotions lately. Hardships where someone we love left. Celebrations when cancer treatment is on pause. Relief and comfort when people come around and show us love in different ways. We really have so much to be thankful for. Always.

Today I actually left the house for a few hours to run some errands. I brought Laela and Rowan with me, as well as the two little ones. Brady stayed home with Dekker, Wavy and Solly. We made a stop at our eye care place for a visit, a few hugs and gifts of love, and then headed to the city. We hit Value Village for some school shoes, some shirts for some of the boys, some books, and not much else. It was quick and also low pressure. Mostly I’m just relieved to get the shoes off the list of things to organize before school starts.

It was honestly really nice to be out and about again like normal, but I did feel quite exhausted afterwards. No real reason for it, but its true. I guess I’m quite drained lately, coming down from all the treatments and the lead up to one of our littles leaving.

Brady has napped all afternoon. I think once the kids are down for night, I’m going to wake him up and make his eat with me. A delicious taco salad meal was delivered to our door and I’m excited to get some of it into my belly! 😋

I promise I am perfectly aware of the purpose of foster care. I KNOW that kids come and go. Trust me, I am completely informed. It doesn’t make it easy, though.

Yesterday, we didn’t realize until the meal was over that Wavy had accidentally set a plate for our dear one who moved along.

I don’t know. It felt like a hit. Rowan said we should just leave it there for memories, but we still have handsy little ones who run around and pull everything down from everywhere, so I had to veto. Everyone felt the sting, though.

I thank the family who stepped up for this child, though, for caring about our family in the process. It has not been a “cut and run” situation, and for that, I am so grateful.

Cher here

Do you remember when Rowan and Brady had super long hair? One morning after coffee, we convinced Brady into letting us straighten his hair just for this photo. However, by lunch time the curls had returned and our efforts were no longer visible. 

Super satisfying while it lasted though. How cute is this photo?!

Nowadays Brady is rocking a short cut as it makes the most sense with surgery and radiation. They have a very skilled neighbor who cleans everyone up so nice. 

I love that Rowan is growing his hair out again. I wonder how long he will let it get. 

Both are handsome no matter what. Hair is just an accessory!