We’re home 💜 Laela had cried at camp right before we left, shrucking and saying “It all just felt too short. Too quick.” And I agree. We all did. If only we could have stayed longer. But I would be willing to bet it would’ve been just as hard to leave then.

We drove home with a pretty quiet van. Everyone was wiped, albeit totally happy. We stopped in PA for some simple light supper from Tims, and then back on the road. We made it home and put away only the necessities. If something obviously was not needed this evening, and was not in a cooler, it could wait for tomorrow. And it will.

Kids are down. Munchie Mix will be in only a few more minutes. Brady and I are doing our evening things to pack it in for night. So I sit here, reminiscing, and trying to find pictures I can share. As has become our life, there are so few I can post that don’t include our babies. But what I can show you is the last picture I took on our way out of the campground. We did one last drive through the lights, and took a second to take a picture at our site.

Our Stitchy, c/o our dear Dahlsjos. Stitch has been representative of our Morsel for a long time now. They had the same mannerisms. The same sweet nature. The same teeth 🤣 There continues to be immense love in our hearts for that child, so this was a very welcomed lovely surprise for us 💜

As the kids say every time we drive off the property –

Bye, Kinasao 👋 What a beautiful weekend.

Until May 💜

While I am disappointed to say that brady has been SO sick and has slept through the entire day here 😔 I can say it has still been an absolutely beautiful day 💜 

Good food. 

Good company. 

Some Christmas movies. 

Only a little work. 

And some outside time to make us extra grateful for the fireplace and hot chocolate. 

God is GREAT. No matter the circumstances. He ALWAYS takes care of us. Thank you God for our Dahlsjos, for Kinasao, and the chance to have this winter retreat. How could things be better?! 🥰

Goodness me I almost didn’t blog! But I have the best excuse. 

Today begins our last lake weekend of 2025. We will not only run the light tour in the evening, but we will wear jammies, drink coffee, be together, converse, and spend time with our dear Dahlsjos for a little bit longer 💜

Happy Bornsjo retreat!! 

Ack! We did not get through the new episodes of Stranger Things last night. Which makes total sense because they are SO long, and we are SO tired 😅🥱 We got through two out of four. Gripping, guys. GRIPPING.

Conveniently, today was nuts. I wasn’t home too terribly much, and when I was, I was not idle at all. So I stayed away from social media pretty intentionally, mostly to avoid any spoilers. I spent hours in my vehicle today, and good thing because I can’t watch without Brady!

So today HAS to be the day. I know many of you don’t give a care about this show and that is A-OK but its the only real thing on my mind right now so its what you’re getting!

That, as well as a picture of Laela looking like Mr. Fredricksen from “Up.”

I can’t not see it.

Is it bedtime yet??? I can’t waaaaait!

It was an early kick off today! Our baby who sleeps sooooo beautifully through the night sure blew it this morning and woke up at 4:50. Gross, right? Anyways, that was it for my night, which felt pretty unfair but I was going to have to be up and at em pretty early as it was. I headed into the city at 8am with one of the toddlers for an eye appointment at the hospital. We got there nice and early, and therefore were seen early! This particular baby is incredibly charming and makes friends everywhere they go. Many of you likely know who I mean 😍 Anyway. We went and did some exercises, put the drops in, and waited for a half hour or so before seeing the doctor with fully dilated pupils 😳

We came out strong with a new plan for PATCHING! 🏴‍☠️ Believe it! This will be the fourth kid to patch in our home, so we are no strangers to the process!

We came home, and my mom hung around and helped get everyone settled and lunching before heading out. I took some quiet time this afternoon to crochet and anticipate something new and exciting that is coming out today!! 🥳

Anyone else care about Stranger Things? Just me. Cool cool cool…..

Well. With Munchie Mix changing the routine, and Stranger Things 5 premiering tonight, I may be very, very tired tomorrow 😅 Worth it, though, I already know it.

I couldn’t resist the title 🤣

I spent a little time in the kitchen today, prepping food and catching up. I put together a big batch of honey mustard salad dressing, as well as ranch dip.

The honey mustard is super easy and a favorite for a handful of us over here. It happens to be dairy free, also!

And the ranch I’ve started making is SO GOOD. The kids like it more than our usual ranch. Its really thick, but I just thin it out with a bit of water and boom – dressing.

Both are dairy free!

And then I made up a big batch of tomato soup! Which is just tomatoes, peppers, onions, garlic, seasonings, and chicken broth! At this point, the whole batch is dairy free! Before we eat it, we’ll add in some cream, which makes it SO extra good, but I’ll scoop some out for my one with the picky guts. Luckily, its still yummy!

I did blend and strain it 😅 Just don’t have a picture to prove it.

And the final note of the day is my Solly boy! He did his name super cool at school today, and he was really proud of it. Even his older siblings took the time to look at it and tell him they liked it.

Bonus points to anyone who can guess what the “o” is made out of 🤣

Ok! The end! The day was good. The evening will likely be good, too. Tomorrow morning is big, and tomorrow evening holds the new season of Stranger Thiiiiiiings!!!!!

What I wouldn’t give for a demogorgon emoji right about now. *sigh*

As Rowan went to bed this evening, I stood by his door, saying final goodnights. More than anything else that is part of bedtime routines, he is most attached to me closing the door for the night. Even when we occasionally go to bed with a strain or tension between us, he will express to me that when I close the door, he feels safe and calm. So. Safe and calm it is.

Tonight he was feeling particular silly, and was getting into his bed, blanket flying around, all tangled and flappy. I stood patiently (on the outside, but it was waning on the inside) in his doorway, waiting for him to get settled. I didn’t want it to drag for too long, but I didn’t want to cut the fun just because I was kind of over it.

Finally, I said something along the lines of “Ok, you got it?” And he responded with something new.

“I’m still funkiful, but I’ll be ok.”

Funkiful.

Being the adult in the room, I heard that as the technical term for “full of funk,” which to me 🤷‍♀️ would mean gassy.

This whole thing grew into a somewhat lengthy conversation where I encouraged him to fart in his own space, because what better place is there, really, for sure a funkiful boy to expel that funk?!

Yes. I am tired.

But I got to make a stupid joke, and he got to laugh like a fool at it while laying still in his bed without realizing it. And he got to feel calm and safe when I closed the door 💜

Everybody wins.

I did not expect to be this tired today.

🥱

In fact, all of us are completely beat today. And while, yes, we were away yesterday, its not as though we over exerted ourselves in some big crazy way. There is no good reason for it, yet here we are, beat.

My poor mom. She came over in the afternoon, and we all just sat and stared at each other. SO tired.

The vibe is cozy.

And a little bit of fighting 😅 But just the appropriate brotherly amount.

Personally, the countdown is on until I can tuck everyone in – early – knowing full well they are just as tired as I am, and justifying it with an impending school day tomorrow.

Rest well, all 💜 Tomorrow, reality kicks off again!

We spent the day at Kinasao 💜

The main focus of the day was participating in the marketplace, which I did, though have no postable pictures of as every single one includes a baby whose face is not allowed on the internet. Anyway. You’ll have to take my word for it that it was fun and pretty and that I made a couple bucks doing it 🙂

I could not have done the market without all the loving help with the kids! Brady and our dear Dahlsjos so willingly took the babies around with them, kept them busy, fed, and as away from underfoot as possible. There were definitely times I heard “Mummmmm!” being called from a ways off. The tears flowed, which was sad and also totally heartwarming. I love to be loved by them 💜

After lunch, Brady and Sadie (rhyme!) put the toddlers down for a nap. I got a text from Brady a while later telling me had lost a shoe in the room the babes were sleeping in 🤣 He only noticed when he realized his knees were at different heights, hahaha!

My boy spent the morning in the dish pit with Jaxon. I loved that so much.

We had supper at the camp as well, and LD tried to eat the centrepieces, which resulted in VERY sparkly lips before any of us realized what had happened, lol!

A pretty adorable problem to have, if you ask me!

We drove the loops after supper and enjoyed the BEAUTIFUL twinkle tour of lights put on by the camp, but 95% orchestrated by, once again, those amazing Dahlsjos of ours 💜 I’d post pictures, but you could also see them for yourself over the next couple of weekends. No spoilers! 🤣

We drove home with laughter and action until we were through PA, and then it got a bit quieter. The music continued but the conversation slowed. We made it home, unpacked the van onto the dining room table, and tucked everyone in. It is peaceful and dark and quiet. We are all tired, but man it was a fun day.

It was great to be back at camp 💜 How we love our home away from home.

Dekker is countonable.

We are away tomorrow, and there was much to prepare. He wanted to drop in at the church after school, but I said he couldn’t this time because I needed everyone home and helping. He was disappointed, but he understood, and when he came home, he was ready to work.

I was not. I was very busy in the middle of a few things and didn’t have the brain power to delegate at that very moment. But rather than wait, or stare, or disappear to go be busy somewhere more fun, he told me where he was going to start, and then he went and did exactly that! He made some judgement calls confidently, and they were all right! He started getting the van packed, and was eager to do the running back and forth for me. Once he was out of ideas, I opened up the laptop and we looked at the list together. As he read, he muttered quietly “I can do that, yup, that’s easy…” He gathered up diapers, snacks, and jammies for the drive home. He got the other kids to load up all of their outwear, and he grabbed snow stuff for the babies. He did all the things, and reassured me we could fit a sled or two in at the end if we want.

Here is that dear boy of mine, wearing a car seat cover.

Thank you for always being someone I can count on, Dekker. You are SO MUCH like your dad 💜