But there was also close bestie time with Cher. Crocheting. Eating Stranger Things eggos for lunch while also watching Stranger Things. Christmas shopping online. A phone call with my mom. Toddlers who are attached to me. Piano being practiced after school by all three players.
There is SO much to be thankful for. ALWAYS. Even in the midst of uncertainty! I’m very grateful for the life we lead.
Ok. Time to shut this place down 💜 Goodnight, all.
It feels like we’ve truly made it 😅 Our kid is old enough for Take Your Kid to Work Day!!!
This morning, my oldest men got up early and left for work together.
They’re a cute pair, it cannot be denied!
Now, I wasn’t there, but what I can tell you is that Dekker didn’t last long in the office before he got into the physical grunt work. The store manager got him set up with some goals, and if you know Dekker, you know he didn’t question much and just dove in. He is a GREAT worker. A very hard worker. Just like his dad 💜
They hit Firehouse for lunch – a first for both of them.
‘Twas enormous.
And then back to work. Dekker cleaned up in the greenhouse and got a ton of summer things moved and stored for the winter. He worked his butt off all afternoon!
The before and after!
He brought in the entire right side of the above picture in the afternoon. Amazing, hey??
Dekker was super stoked, and also SO TIRED when they got home! 😅 He had a really, really good time!
So if you see this dude floating around and you need some muscles, he’s your man. Put him to work.
We have lots of goings on over here. Thats no secret. Brady being paralyzed is a big thing. Fostering is another. Cancer treatments and social worker meetings. There are lots of things the kids are exposed to that are different than “normal.” People will often encourage me and say the kids are doing SO well considering all they’re going through. And its true, and its nice, but also, those things are added to what everyone else goes through on the daily. The normal stuff.
So these days, things are extra challenging over here. Not in terms of Brady, or the babies. But the kids are in hard stages. They have their own things going, but with some rollover where they are all on the same crappy page. I LOVE my children. But I also can get why some moms want to run away and hide sometimes 😅
I don’t desire to gripe about my children or air out dirty laundry but it is indeed hard times over here. Normal times. But hard ones. So please give us grace, and pray for us if we come to mind. Just, for peace, and learning. Leading and guidance. Let our family stay well united with Christ and with one another.
I know its too soon. Don’t come for me. But also, we listened to Christmas music on the way to and from Kinasao on the weekend.
I know its still a good handful of weeks away but I am grossly unprepared considering where I’d like to be. Its not my favorite feeling, though I do believe I will catch up.
Usually at this point I have a great gift list going already for all the kids, and I have hardly put thought into it. Conveniently, gifts aren’t the point. But they’re still fun and obviously a total highlight. Hopefully I can get there soon.
Also at this point, I like to have the whole message written for our Christmas card, and indeed, I do not have that locked and/or loaded whatsoever.
I have one or two things organized ahead of time, which feels good, but its a drop in the bucket. Even with a very simple Christmas, if there are lots of people, it becomes large. Not complaining at all! Just, perspective. It can get intense. Though, apparently, not as intense as other things…
It has been a pretty enormous weekend, so today, we rested 💜 We got up slow. Told the kids the plan. I took a rest in our room and crocheted by myself for a little. Everyone put away everything that got messy coming home from camp yesterday and Halloween the day before. Kids bathed. Piano players practiced. And not much else was on the books. We did some laundry, but that was it.
My mom came and visited in the afternoon. She brought supper, which was so lovely. We caught up well, considering she had been away from most of October. It was lovely to be together, even though our household was tired and cranky.
Tomorrow begins a new school/work week. It doesn’t appear to be too crazy of one, but things always come up 🤣 So we’ll take some rests as we can and keep on trucking!
Spoons says “truck” really well. But also, “couch.” Maybe I’m feeling more couch than truck this week…
We spent the day up at camp, putting up lights in preparation for our Christmas Twinkle Tour! I won’t lie, though. The best part was spending time with our dear Dahlsjos. The Bornsjos officially reunite!
I miss these guys 💜 We are SO fortunate to know them and love them.
Today was a very long day, and this will be a short post. But take my word for it that 1. The Dahlsjos are amazing, and 2. The Christmas light tour will be worth the drive 💜
We drove around town tonight, stopping at our favorite places, seeing our favorite people, eating treats and listening to playlists of kids Halloween movie songs. Brady and I sipped coffee as we drove. Kids rioted in the back, totally overstimulated and sugared up. I got out with the kids for a few houses, and helped bring the babies along. They were a whole thing to get in and out of each place, so the plan was to only bring them up to some doorsteps but not all. However, the fomo was real, and when they didn’t join, there were many tears.
We wrapped up on our street, though we missed one of our neighbours. We tried!!! There is now candy and chip bags everywhere in our house, and everyone is tucked in for night 💜
My favorite thing today was when the kids got a little bit cocky about candy in the van, bragging about getting better things that others. Wavy cut in and exclaimed “Halloween isn’t about candy, guys! Its about costumes and TOGETHERNESS!” 🤣 It was VERY adorable. I loved it.
I really hate taking pictures without the babies in them because they ARE part of our family. However, it worked out today that the babies were in the stroller and the five bigs were all in a clump. So here you have them 💜
Dekker was an inflatable chicken. He collected candy in a chicken nuggets bag.
Laela was Elphaba from Wicked.
Rowan was a baby.
Solly was a vampire.
Wavy was a witch.
Spoons was a skunk.
LD was a pineapple.
Munchie Mix was leftover. Yes. I wrapped the baby in tin foil.
It was an adorable evening, and everyone was SO beat, they went to bed easily upon arriving home. And hopefully I won’t be far behind. I know Brady is on the same page as me. Hopefully Munchie agrees.
It was a lovely day 💜 The afternoon, specifically. Cher and I parcelled out two hours of time to sit in the living room on purpose, not work related, and we broke in this house with our first crafternoon. We haven’t had one since Bitner days. Those days were also pretty full, but nothing like these 😅 So while it was overdue, we snuck one in today 💜
For those hours, we sipped iced coffee that Cher procured earlier in the day, we watched Stranger Things. She drew. I crocheted. It was peaceful and happy. All three babies napped, though Munchie Mix tried to disrupt the event a time or two. It didn’t stick, though, and the restful bestie time continued. #thebestfulrestietime
We hope to sneak in one more super quick crafternoon this coming week 🤞 I’m working on learning a new crochet skill – wearables! So I’m pumping out little sweaters for the babes and loving it!! Doing it alongside my best friend makes it that much better 💜
Thanks for the date, girly!! Same time next week? 😘
The youth groups are having some light Halloween fun. Tonight is pumpkin palooza. The kids were supposed to “dress pumpkin” and to also bring a pumpkin.
This is all very manageable. Except the kids are nerds, so they have to do things differently. I wonder where they get that from. 🤔
So first we have this nerd. He gets points for creativity. Sort of.
And then Laela, who I cannot show you because her costume was carrying around LD, who was dressed in a pumpkin onesie, stem on the hood and all. They went into the church together, and I waited in the van for 15-20 minutes until the pair came back out. Apparently LD was VERY popular and adorable, dancing to music and playing catch with some of Laela’s friends. I was honestly super stoked that Laela wanted to bring a toddler to youth, of all places. Her space to be away from the little ones. I think thats special. 💜
Kids are at youth. First batch of kids are down. Next batch won’t be far behind. And then hopefully, food for Brady and I! Assuming Munchie Mix allows. Someone’s been a little ornery in the evenings lately… 😒 Still cute!
Today was the day everyone dove into costumes and decided what they wanted to wear for Halloween. Have your opinions about older kids, but I love that Dekker and Laela still want to go out with us all! Its nice to have the entire gang together for the evening. Its become a really fun tradition.
I’m not saying yet who is going to be what, but I can confirm it will be a CUTE scene! We even have good costumes for the babies that they’ll be able to be warm in, so hopefully no one will be miserable. I ordered the finishing touches just now on Amazon (and least I THINK they’re the last things??) and from there, I think we’re good. I’m a bit of a buzzkill, and I don’t buy the kids new costumes. Rather, we have dress up clothes that they work off of. Dekker borrowed a costume this year, which he WILL NOT stop wearing around the house 🤣 When you see what it is, you’ll just laugh. Or maybe you already laughed when you saw him scootering around in front of the house in it today. Weirdo. He wore his costume to youth tonight. Laela wore hers to a Halloween party she’s at tonight. Rowan is set up for warmth and comfort on Halloween. Solly is going simple, and he will also be warm. Wavy will freeze, as she does, but she will somewhat match Laela. Meanwhile, LD and Spoons will be in cozy things, and Munchie Mix will be in a costume that works in or out of the car seat. Everybody wins!
It was fun to get costumes sorted out today. To make up Laela’s face. To plan for the Friday evening. To order the little bits. To know we have the privilege of another Halloween with the little ones. So much to have fun with and be grateful for.
