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 💜

My heart was really warmed this morning.

I drove to Saskatoon with the toddlers this morning to bring one to see their mom. I have grown a nice relationship with this particular mom. Its always very comfortable to drop off and pick up.

I was ten minutes early or so, and decided to wait inside instead of in the van. Munchie Mix hung back home with my mom, so I just lugged the two toddlers inside to play a little bit.

When our mom arrived for her visit, she greeted everyone so warmly and we chatted a little bit on the floor. She was so smitten with our other little one, who she has interacted with before but only from the door of the van. This particular kid is truly the definition of charming, and today was no different. In no time, shopping bags were dug into, and the mom of one of my toddlers was giving gifts to my other toddler. Things she brought for her own children were going to my other little one. She insisted there was extra, and this sweet kid could simply not be left out.

I drove home with one toddler and a stack of presents – a toy, a stuffed penguin, new mittens, and a fistful of popcorn twists. It was SUCH an warm little visit, and an unexpected show of generosity from a mom who just wants to shower all the babies with love, even if they’re not of her own womb.

To which, I relate 💜

Most of my kids like summer or fall. Rowan doesn’t like the heat in summer, but he likes the free time. Dekker prefers fall to summer as well, but the others would choose summer, I believe. Some of us LOVE being warm. While I usually get some pretty beautiful “first good snowfall” pictures of them, winter is still not my favorite season.

While walking past the whiteboard on the fridge today, I had to giggle a little.

My kids are such dorks 🤣

But also – pick a side!!! Are you team winter or nah??? You can’t have snow and a bathing suit at the same time. Unless you’re in a hot tub. But then Olaf would die…

Maybe Olaf can die. 😒

In summer, we make a lot of salads for supper. When the sun is HOT, something cold and crunchy is just the ticket! Today did not feel like summer, per se, but it felt like a good day for something fresh. The pepper disagrees. But it also died so.

Dekker helped me chop veggies. Lettuce, peppers, cucumbers, and celery. We refilled some of our topping shakers, threw a big pan of chicken in the oven, and made a batch of dairy-free ranch. Once the nuggets were done, the garlic bread went in and we set up our little buffet.

It was yummy and fresh and it really hit the spot! I miss salads around the campfire. But I’m grateful for salads around our big table, Christmas lights twinkling through the house.

I really had no idea how today would play out. I had a few things locked down that needed doing, but no specific timeline for any of these things. So I made a list of those items, and as tends to happen, it grew longer and longer. However, it wasn’t a list of things that had to get done today. It was a list of things to not forget in the near future. Less pressure.

I am SO grateful for how the day ended up going. Every “need to do” was done.

Winter tires were installed on the bus ✅

Prescriptions were picked up ✅

A local Christmas gift was picked up ✅

A marketplace pickup was done by Brady after work ✅

And then other things that needed to happen happened! Or at least got scheduled to happen 😅

A loving man in town got in touch about getting our ramp railing installed ✅

A friend who is also our accessibility expert got in touch about coming to look at our garage lift and hopefully see what is and is not working ✅

I got to see my best friend for an afternoon java and chat ✅

I did not get done any of the work I’m trying to help Brady with. But there is no time crunch on that.

I did not get a nice supper going ahead of time. But everyone still ate.

I did not book Rowan’s eye appointment. But there is time, and we can usually get in within a reasonably short timeframe.

I did not get into the city for the random batch of errands I need to run. But I knew I wouldn’t, so that remains on my list for another day, guilt free.

All through the day, I continued to keep my babies alive, planned and researched some things for Christmas, and fielded a couple of calls from the school. The day was good, but goodness it went and went and went! 😅

I am ready for bed now. Anyone else?