When the day wraps up rough, I want to remember that one of my kids held hands with me at church. Totally unprompted. A kid who doesn’t hold hands.

It was a lovely day. I should’ve blogged sooner. But here we are, and its bumpy, but this right here was the high point 💜 Thank you, Lord.

I know I’m jinxing the weather by talking about it, but here I am anyway, because I want to appreciate it.

Remember as a kid, you would have like a GOOD friend for a particular season where you’d do lots together? I remember having a friend one summer who I would spend HOURS with, racing leaves, bottle caps, etc. down the little streams in the curbs. I always had set times to be home, but I remember feeling like those days just went on and on, and I could race little white pop bottle caps as long as I could have ever wanted. Which was a lot, according to my memory. Little Hailey was pretty simple, I guess 🤣 I like to think she was fun, though. Anyway.

Today, my kids are outside, playing with the kids across the street. They cracked out a ton of chalk, and our neighbours brought paintbrushes. They’re scribbling the chalk really good, and then using the gutter puddles to turn it into paint. They’re painting on the driveway, rocks, leaves, etc. I absolutely LOVE the simplicity of it all, and I love how well everyone is playing. Points to letting kids discover and be a little bored from time to time. Its so good for them. 💜

Clouds are coming and going, but I can still hear bikes and scooters. There is giggling and running. Wet feet. Bare arms. And to think there is still even better weather to come! This is just the beginning, and I am HERE for it! 😍

I love our street and the kids on it 💜 What a precious town we live in!

Who is keeping track of the number of treatments Bradys had? We sure aren’t 😅🤣 MRIs, yes, but not treatments. Now that I’ve said this, however, Brady will work out the number and update me. I can almost guarantee it.

Brady went for treatment number whatever today 💜 Starting up a new six week cycle. I’m not sure I could love this man any more than I already do.

My day felt heavy. His day included cancer treatment, which in and of itself is heavy. Yet I know with confidence we’ll come together and be so content to just share air 💜

The five have been at my moms this afternoon. The three are all up right now. Spoons is reading board books. LD is trying to climb the islands drawer handles. Munchie is hanging out in a high chair so as not to get trampled. And Brady is on his way home.

I am VERY grateful for all we’ve been given and how beautiful our life is, the people in it, and the home we share. Thank you, Lord.

Summer jams. The playlist I make each each that has new fun songs for our family to listen to on the way to camp. Last year, the kids renamed it “Weekend Music Stuff Tunes.”

Summer jams. The preserves our Dahlsjos buy from the farmers market all season long.

Summer jams. The pajamas the babies wear. This is specifically what I wanted to post about today.

The algorithm got it right yesterday. It showed me that The Childrens Place has started putting out my FAVORITE summer jammies for the little ones. They’re little fitted zipper onesies, but they’re shorts and tshirt length rather than sleepers with long legs and arms. These are GOLD. They’re cozy, but cool, and can go backwards on the ones that are particularly sneaky with their late night diaper removal. Often at the lake, the babies get up and keep wearing these onesies all through the day because they are SO easy and SO cute. Of course, they are brand new at the moment so they are WAY overpriced. But I will diligently wait for a sale so I can snap some up for the season.

Seeing them show up online got me all excited for the season to come 💜 I can’t wait to get our butts back to the campground. To see our beautiful site, clean it all up, hook everything up, build a fire, and then let the kids just RUN. I’m ready.

If you live anywhere nearish where I live, you know we got a pretty good snowfall overnight. Which was SO discouraging for a good chunk of us, I imagine. Definitely in our home. But my favorite part of the snow today was the fact that Bradys van was drifted in our driveway. Because of VBS, I’m able to stay in bed longer than regular school days, so when Brady was suddenly back in our bedroom doorway with coffee in hand, I was elated 💜 We watched an episode of our show and sipped coffee together until it was time to get everyone up. It was so nice.

We spent a couple of hours together. Granted, he was working, but it was honestly just nice to share a table. While the babies ate breakfast (we have three in high chairs again! 😍) Brady worked on his laptop, and I crocheted at the table. Just to all share air.

He did eventually go to work, thanks to some very attentive neighbours and town crews who got the driveway cleared, around Brady’s minivan, AND our street!

Honourary mention highlights go to Tims iced coffee, and popping in on some of my favorite people at the Medicine Shoppe in Mville. Truly, GOOD people there!

The lowlight award goes to the poor communication in the world of foster care. So many eye rolls lately. But those moments are the ones that I remind myself are “the job.” Because fostering doesn’t feel like a job. Until it comes to the inconveniences that are overlooked or dismissed or deemed unimportant. But the silver lining just means a little less back and forth, possibly a bit less trauma in some cases, and more time with our babes!!

The evening holds promise of crocheting, and supper in bed with Brady.

This morning, everyone got up for breakfast before VBS. While Dekker is away, Wavy and Solly are tagteaming his morning dishes chore. They’re both still pretty cute and little, and our dining table is huge, if you can believe it. So they each choose a side, and they pass the cloth back and fourth, wiping their portion and passing it over. It takes forever and cleans nothing, but its very cute 🤣

This morning as they wiped the table, I heard Wavy say to Solly “We got this, babe!” And I melted on the spot because DANG that was sweet! Solly took it in stride and agreed with her, and they continued on, both encouraged and optimistic for completing the task at hand.

Anyway. They were cute. They still are. The weather is not. Perhaps it will all melt away by morning and we can just pretend this April snowstorm never happened.

The five kids have VBS this week. All around.

Dekker is rocking VBS in La Ronge.

Laela is leading a group of 5-7 year old kids through our local VBS.

Rowan, Solly, and Wavy are attending VBS.

I spent the morning at home with the babies and Cher, getting some things done but also not pushing it too crazy. It was peaceful and nice. Then Brady had something unexpected come up and he came home for a brief pop in bearing coffee! Heyooo!

Nap time actually contained naps for all three babies. Kids played outside, and the girls went on a secret sister date. Everyone reconvened in time to make it to Rae and Toms for an Easter egg hunt 💜 How fortunate are they to be SO well loved???

It was a really nice day. A very cute one.

It wrapped up the day with leftover paska buns and fruit salad in the living room, with some french Mr Bean on the tv. Or, monsieur Bean, I suppose.

I am ready to pack it in soon. But first, puzzling and a little bit of true crime.

I wish Brady could’ve made it to church today, but he wasn’t up to it, and that was ok, too 💜 Every word he spoke had him dry coughing. Meanwhile, LD is getting over a cold and has a rash, and just looks like hand foot mouth. While I think we’re totally in the clear of possible spreading of a virus, it all just looks really bad and I didn’t want to pop a baby into the nursery that people would feel uncomfortable around. So Brady and LD got to spend some time just the two of them. The rest of us hauled out, made a super quick stop at Cher’s on the way, and made it to church in time to snag our bench! Hahaha!

It was nice to be there. People were so welcoming, as they always are. A friend snagged Munchie Mix right away, while Spoons went to the nursery without any struggle. There was a baptism. The music was great. The sermon was great. My mom came with us. All around, it was really nice. But it was nice to go home to my two back at home, too 💜

We had paska and fruit salad for lunch, and the nappers went down for a late nap, Brady included. Quiet time was spent reading, puzzling, and some even played outside. There was peace, for which I was so thankful. And with the nap starting late, it ran late, so getting supper assembled was less chaotic. Which was a nice preface to a delicious supper of turkey, gravy, mashed potatoes, stuffing, corn, and peach jello. SO much yummy food. Thank you, mom 💜 for cooking the lions share of the food this weekend.

While the day was super lovely, I’m grateful that its time to wrap it up soon. I love crawling into bed with Brady at the end of the day. Having a snack and watching our show. Its simple, but its peaceful and together and we love it.

Enjoy the last wisps of your weekend, friends!

Weekends are pretty precious over here 💜 It tends to be hard to decide how much to rest and how much to accomplish on the Saturdays we spend together. Today, we aimed for rest. It wasn’t fully restful, but it was still nice.

We did a bit of a small, hard thing before we all loaded up and headed to the city for iced coffee and a quick marketplace pickup. A free one, even, which helps justify the drive, hahaha! We made it home in time to get lunch going before home care showed up for some discussion and help. They are an incredibly kind team of people.

Naturally, at that point, we had a perfect storm of events.

We were definitely done with everything we needed from the nurse, but she kind of lingered a bit. Which normally is TOTALLY fine, but at the same time, we had another tricky thing happen that we needed to tell the kids ASAP, as well as Dekker needing to leave for his missions trip pronto. I had to be in the appointment, and with Dekker, and with everyone else.

But, I finally said I had to leave to take Dekker, so we wrapped up the meeting, and then the other hammer dropped, so the kids didn’t get their info quite when I would’ve liked but at least I was there for it. Nothing dire, I promise. Sorry for the vague. As always, can’t post everything on here :/ But like everyone else’s lives, ours is not always easy.

The kids spent a big portion of the afternoon in the street, playing with the cul de sac kids. I really love our street.

Laela made KD for supper, with leftover ham and broccoli salad from yesterday on the side.

Toddlers are wiped and are already quiet in bed.

Just have to feel Munchie a bit more and hopefully they’re not too far behind 🤞

Lord, protect Dekker’s group as they travel up north. Let them arrive safely, sleep soundly, and have a total and complete blast serving the community in Your name!! 💜

It was a really lovely day to be home all together 💜 Brady and I slept in really good and proper. We got up to the kids all reading in the living room quietly. The day began. Two kids went to church but the rest of us hung back and moved a little slower. My mom came later in the morning, and we set out a very low key lunch of crackers, cheese, garlic sausage, apple slices and orange slices. Super simple. Should’ve added pickles but literally only thought of it right now. But no one was unhappy! We had a great big snack and everyone was full.

Babies went down for naps. Dekker and Rowan went for a bike/scooter ride together. Laela, Solly, and Wavy went to the park. Brady, mom, and I played SkipBo. It was such a lovely relaxed afternoon of chatting and catching up. There is always so much to talk about, and never quite enough minutes, so today, we took those minutes 💜 And it was nice.

The time came for everyone to reconvene, so we did! The kids either played with the toddlers downstairs or they helped put supper together. We ate roasted potatoes, ham, pineapple, cooked carrots, and broccoli salad. Once again, it was not a complicated meal at all, but it did taste good and everyone ate all they wanted with plenty leftover.

I sat beside Spoons. Spoons eats great and doesn’t need to be fed. I helped with potatoes, because they’re apparently less exciting than the other things, but once I convinced a few bites in, it was a very easy sell. When the plate was clear, Spoons passed it and very clearly said “more.”

More what?

Moooooore potatoes.
Moooooore carrots.
Moooooore MEAT.

Another entire serving down ✔️

It was nice to eat, everyone together, where no one complained, left anything over, or fought at all. We all just enjoyed each others presence.

I’d say the high point for me was the prayer before supper. My mom prayed, and as it started to get longer, LD started up.

Deeeeeear Jesus. Supper. Amen!
Deeeeeear Jesus. Amen.
Amen.

🤣

It was amazing, hahahahaha! Like, grandma, we get it. Move along. 🤣

But for real, thank you Lord for the life You’ve given us. We were never promised ease, or comfort, or perfection, but we were promised Heaven, and I do believe Your Word to be true. Thank you for saving us. Amen.

AMEN. 🤣