If you’re from the same area of the world as me, you probably know about the big ole grass fire that started yesterday afternoon. My neighbour texted me shortly after 2pm saying there was a huge fire across the field from our street. She wasn’t kidding.
Cher and I met her in the street to take pictures.
We watched emergency vehicles race to the scene, drive away, drive back, etc. We watched an obscene amount of vehicles rip down the gravel roads to go check out what was happening. Guys. Don’t do that. Not safe. Not helpful to crews trying to get to the scene.
Through the afternoon, the three of us exchanged pictures, articles, videos, and thoughts on the impending fire. It kept growing, and spreading. The smoke had started suuuper dark, but it lightened up as multiple fire crews fought it. Amazing efforts!
Collectively, though, we were all unsettled as dusk approached and the fire was still going. The darkness was going to take all of our information away! It was disconcerting at the very least.
I’ve got to say, though. The darkness did not take all of our information, and if nothing else it made it that much more nerve wracking. Maybe the smoke wasn’t as evident or billowy, but the flames were a lot more visible. 😳
At 8:30pm
We hoped for obvious improvement before bed, but at 10:00pm, it looked much the same :/
I have this funny thing where I have a really hard time falling asleep when the power is out. I want to be awake until its back on. Anyone else? Its just like I need the reassurance that the problem has ended before I totally settle. Thats very much how I felt last night. I wanted the fire to be out before I completely let down for the night. But it simply wasn’t possible, and that is totally fine, because I know its a total first world problem.
I was fortunate to wake up to no fire, no damage, and no problems directly. Meanwhile, other people suffered greatly, and that doesn’t go unnoticed. I hope everyone is safe.
All that said, if kids are coughing today, think smoke before covid, please and thank you.
Today was the first time ever in history that just Waverly and I hung out. Around 9 am Hailey and Solly left for pre-school. It was Hailey’s turn to help out so she stayed until 11ish. That meant that it was ONLY me and Wavy. I was ecstatic.
We played with balloons in the basement. I showed her three music videos: Under the Sea, Everybody Wants to be a Cat, and Beauty and the Beast. She LOVED them. She called everything puppies and pumpkins. Planets are also pumpkins in case you didn’t know.
Waverly helped me put away dishes and then we had a lengthy coffee break with really good conversations about pancakes, boogers, and blankies.
I taught her how to do cheers with our mugs and to say: “clink” or “boop.” She was very interested in the concept and continued to ‘cheers’ me throughout the whole date. It was very cute.
One thing Waverly has started to do is randomly yell “PANCAKES!!!!” It’s very cute. She gets very excited.
After our coffee break she wanted to colour, and we came upon some tattoos, so I decided that it wouldn’t be a successful day unless her mom came home to see her tattooed up.
I swaddled foxy for her and she spent the rest of the time on the rocking chair with her “baby” waiting for mommy to come home. She got a little nervous for the last half hour or so, but she came back to life when Hailey returned. It was a very cute date.
I love being Waverly’s Auntie! She is such a special little girl.
I won’t make you wait. It went great 🙂 Apparently he had a bit of holdback, just like his older sister had. But he jumped during singing and, upon retrieving him afterwards, he was playing with other kids happily. You know that version of catch where they use scoops kind of? Ya, that. He was totally happy! Not eager to leave, but didn’t fuss about it either. He was completely comfortable and content!
On the drive home, I asked him what his favourite parts of school were. Number one with a bullet was his teacher. ❤️ He liked her a lot! He liked his friends. He liked using scissors, lol! He liked crafts. He really wanted to go downstairs and wasn’t allowed, haha, but that was his only complaint 😉
He was back in time for lunch, and Wavy was really happy to have him back 🙂 Normalcy restored, haha!
My heart is relieved. Not because I thought he wouldn’t do well, but because my heart is so much lighter when my children are content and doing well. And this morning, as far as I can know, everyone has been well. Praise the Lord for beautiful, capable kids, and beautiful, capable teachers to pour into them!! I see you, and I appreciate you.
Kid #4 started school today 😳 Feels a liiiiittle bananas! But he was beside himself with excitement!
He was even jazzed about “getting” to wear a mask. 😷 (To be clear, these will only be enforced during singing time because we cannot do playschool without singing!!!)
Solly wanted so badly to leave with the school kids, but he had a bit of a wait ahead of him. I decided to busy him with a “first day of school” photo sesh. Waverly wanted to join so badly, and let me tell you! Lol! Those are are almost impossible to get looking at the camera at the same time! 😆 They’re terribly cute, though!
Once it was finally time for him to go, I got some solo photos of Solomon on his FIRST day of school!!! 🥰
He was SO happy to go to school. ❤️ Didn’t even look back.
Brady has left for a short day of work now, and I’m one on one with Princess Baldy over here.
Believe it or not, she’s a pretty easy gig 😆
I’ll tell you all about how it went tomorrow! I don’t anticipate any issues. My heart feels such relief when the kids go easily. Thank you Lord!
I know two blogs in a row about Waverly’s bedtime prayers might seem repetitive, but they’re such special memories, I can’t not record them!!
After Wavy prayed on her own the previous night, I was very curious what would happen the next night! Whether she would repeat the same prayer that got her so much attention, or if she’d even remember. When it was her turn to pray, the kids started to prompt her, but I shushed them and we waited. And her prayer went like this:
Dear Jesus. Thank you day. Thank you.. uuuhhh… Daddys back hurts… Amen.
Just try and tell me she doesn’t understand what prayer is! She knows exactly what she’s doing!!
Lord, hear her prayers! Heal Brady’s back!
***
I’ve been working on a full post about what Brady is going through. Look for it in the next day or two!
We always pray as a family before putting the kids to bed. Sometimes the kids pray for the same things for a long time, like a routine. Sometimes they mix it up, depending on what they did that day. There are seasons.
Its always a fun time when the youngest kid is verbal enough to pray! Wavy has been on that level for a good while now, but being a two year old, she relies on the rest of us to help her through it. Which is great, and also adorable.
Last night was a first for Waverly.
She asked to pray first, and as always, she opened her prayer on her own with a “Dear Jesus.” Usually from there, a kid pipes up with a “thank you for this day” and then suggests things for her to thank Jesus for. Maybe it was the few extra seconds after her opening where nobody spoke up, but she continued on all on her own. Her prayer went like this:
Dear Jesus. Thank you day. Thank you Auntie. (Cher) Thank you eggs. Thank you Dekko. Amen.
Brady and I just stared at each other in total disbelief. She prayed her thoughts out, all on her own! And the first real thing she thanked Jesus for was Cher 💜 followed by eggs, and Dekker! Hahaha! It was SO amazing!
We continued through our prayer time, and she prompted Solly in his prayer, suggesting “Auntie? Eggs and toast? Me! Hahaha!” She thought she was SO goooood!
And she was right. My gosh, that girl never ceases to amaze me!
Cher might’ve been a tad on the thrilled side of things, also 😘 Or at least she should be!
Pre-covid, our plan for projects this year was the fence and the grass. We wanted to get our yard in good shape so our kids could go out a bit easier without being worried about vehicles ripping down the back alley or animals running loose. We got to some of those things, but then covid hit and priorities changed a lot! Opportunities changed, I guess is more accurate. As you know, we did the fence, and the dirt, and closed in under the deck to make a shed. And then before we got to the grass, we bought our RV and there went the summer! Haha! I say that in the BEST way, but its incredibly accurate! Our summer was SLAMMED, but it was fine in terms of the yard, because apparently its best to do grass in either Spring or Fall anyway.
As the quarantine, and by default, the unemployment, continued, we opted to seed grass ourselves, rather than our original plan of hydroseeding. It helped that Costco had everything we needed for a nice cheap price. That way we could still consider doing grass even after all the projects we’d worked on while Brady wasn’t able to be working. It was going to happen!!!
We seeded the front yard and saw really lovely, green, even results within the week! Success! It was time to rock the backyard!
Now, I’ve said some little things here and there, and I’ll update you with real information soon, but Brady is not in tip top shape for projects right now. The idea of tilling our dirt was absolutely out of the question. Carrying everything from our yard elsewhere and then tilling the super hard soil and clay was just going to be way too much. As Brady’s pain worsened, it was clear that we needed to accept the fact that we just wouldn’t get there this season. And that was going to be ok. Maybe next Spring. We accomplished SO MUCH this year, if we didn’t see the backyard with grass, so be it.
Except that kind of eats a person when that was the biggest thing we wanted to accomplish this season, and possibly the easiest…
But we made peace with it. Passive aggressive peace, but peace nonetheless.
Then how did I wind up here, inside, blogging, while one of our friends and neighbours is tilling our backyard? If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a thousand times. We have the BEST people in our corner. I don’t know what we did to deserve such a beautiful group of people in our lives, but my goodness, it is a gigantic blessing to our family!!
Brady and I got out there and tried to move some things around the yard as best as we could. I had a CRAZY moment where I was trying to drag the trampoline on my own, and Dekker and Laela showed up and each lifted, and the three of us carried it into the garden plot. Yes. Dekker and Laela helped me carry a trampoline. They’re 9 and 7. Just saying. It was bananas. Landry came and helped me get the picnic table moved as well, and Brady picked rocks and lightly worked at shovelling the topsoil we had piled in the corner of the yard. Landry is tilling, and the actual seeding will be easy. Brady has been cleared for “light work,” thank the Lord, so he can feel accomplished, too!
What a gift we’ve been given. Covid has its ups and downs, but I am ever grateful for the people we’ve gotten closer to over the months of quarantine and who has stuck it out with us. Thank you, Lord, for the friends and neighbours and family we have, and their willingness to put into our lives.
I really really enjoyed today. It was full, but of really good things. I used to be a person whose ideal level of busyness was one scheduled thing per day. Anything more than that was doable, but more than my mind seemed to want to handle. Everything has changed this year, and my busyness level has shifted significantly!
The morning began across the street, actually! After getting the big kids off to school, the three younger kids and I headed over to Rae’s. The kids played downstairs while Rae and I made four batches of salsa! I am not confident in the kitchen, as has been talked about a lot, but I chopped tomatoes for a couple of solid hours and I think I can safely say we both felt pretty accomplished. 💪 Brady joined us after his physio appointment, and happened to arrive just in time for Rae to crack out the fresh baked cookies! We all enjoyed some of those before packing up and heading home, with a container of cookies and two big jars of salsa, of course! Thank you SO MUCH, Rae, for inviting us!! It was a really lovely morning with you! And thank you for the treats!
Brady and I lunched the kids, and then lunched ourselves while we watched a show. Cher joined us for a swift hour and a half, for a visit and an iced coffee. She is always such a delight! One of the best parts of the day, easily!! 💜 But she couldn’t stay long today, so we said our goodbyes right around when the big kids got home from school.
I had been somewhat on the ball, and had put a pork loin in the crock pot early in the morning for pulled pork. My mom had offered to pick up buns for us, so upon her arrival, we invited her to stay for supper! Was a bit last minute, but she happily joined in the fun! I chopped up salad stuff with her and Brady chilling at the island with me, and the kids played downstairs. It was really, really nice! Supper went over really well, and everyone ate well! Wavy didn’t care for the pork on a bun, but she ate a whole big bowl of salad, so I have no big issue.
We ate Rae’s cookies for dessert, and decided to go burn that off with a walk! Our friend had a birthday today, and we had a gift to drop off anyway! It worked out! The kids were so happy to go on a walk, and my mom joined too! We walked across town and dropped off the bday gift, and then ended up visiting with some other friends down the street for probably a solid half hour. It was dark by the time we were heading home, but it felt like an adventure for the kids, so they were jazzed.
We came home to see the bright orange harvest moon at the end of our street! What a beautiful night! Crisp and dark. Very fallish.
Now, everyone is tucked away, and we’re running a bath. It has been such a lovely day, in all the ways. Tomorrow brings more busyness, and we’re ready for it! All good things, for which we are so thankful!
We started Laela’s birthday off with a big, loud, obnoxious performance of “Happy Birthday” while our entire family jumped on her while she was in bed still. We bounced her and tickled her and she squealed like crazy. She loved it 🙂 Once everyone was dressed, we all met at the table for her requested birthday breakfast of baked oatmeal!
We were out of sprinkles so we rocked coloured sugar, and no one was mad at that! It made a nice sugary crust on top. I loved it! Haha!
As a last minute decision, we decided to walk the kids to school! Normally, Dekker and Laela bike together, but I mentioned I wished I could walk with her on her birthday and she was SO happy to give up biking so we could all go together! What a girl.
It was cold!! But everyone was a great sport about it! The kids tend to fight over pushing Wavy in the stroller, and we let Laela, because of her special day. Dekker was upset, and Laela quickly offered it to him.
“I don’t need special breakfast and to push Wavy! You can have a treat too!”
Ugh. My heart.
We walked to school in good time to drop the kids off. We walked Dekker to his door first, and while he got his mask on, we chatted with Laela’s teacher from last year. She and Laela have such a special relationship, and she was so loving about it being her birthday! Laela was excited and told her about her yummy breakfast.
We dropped Dekker off, and brought Laela to her doors. Her teacher happened to be the one receiving kids at the door and immediately upon seeing Laela, shouted a big, enthusiastic “happy birthday” in her direction! It was evident how special she felt. Very celebrated. She was ALL smiles, which was such a pleasure for me to see, as she often holds back a little. She headed into the school, and I knew she was really really happy to be there. I loved that.
Once Laela was at school, I wrapped her gift and prepped for the meal she had requested. Macaroni and bacon. I know, I know, we eat KD, its fine. So by “prepped,” I mean we pulled our bacon to defrost. We also took a drive to Martensville for her bday dessert – ice cream. I grabbed a carton of Rolo and Cookies & Cream, because believe it or not, those were cheaper than the Coop Gold brand 😳 Is that bananas or what??
Our plan was to go pick the kids up from school as a family, but it wasn’t such a smooth exit, so Brady and a kid stayed home while Cher blew up some balloons and I went to the school with the other kids.
Laela BURST out of the school, just beaming. She had felt so special and celebrated all day, and it really showed. She had been announced, given cards, and lots of happy birthday wishes. She was just so thrilled. It was wonderful to see!
She came home to a floor full of balloons, and a bed full of balloons! Maybe two minutes after we got home, my mom pulled up! The gang was all there! She and Dekker unpacked quickly, and she was ready for presents.
She LOVED her presents! She loved her gifts from my mom…
From Cher…
and from us.
It all went over SO well!
She got books, notebooks, fancy pens, Soft Lips, lotion, and some candy. She was truly over the moon with all of her gifts! She came and snuggled with me after, and as we were sitting together, another kid inquired what they were having for supper.
At once, I responded with “macaroni” and Laela said “pancakes.” We stared at each other. Clearly, lines has gotten crossed, and she had changed her mind at some point, and I had missed the memo. She was gracious and happy to have macaroni, but I looked at Brady and he mouthed “We can.” So, we did! All we had done was pull out bacon, so we decided to make pancakes rather than noodles! Easy fix! She was so happy!
We pancaked and baconed and cantalouped and had a delicious time together. We wrapped up the evening with ice cream, and a bundle of sprinkles, courtesy of her grandma.
Once food was over, Laela settled in to one of her new books while the balloons flew around her. She was so content.
We planned a family walk but she so badly just wanted to snuggle in downstairs and watch some music videos on YouTube. We haven’t done that in months, and she was SO happy when we agreed. She chose every song, and listened as she flipped the sequins on her new notebook.
Finally, we let her stay up a bit later than usual, and she quietly, contentedly read in a recliner in the living room until it was time to go to bed.
We don’t do birthdays too terribly exciting over here, but our kids wrap the day up feeling loved, celebrated, and content. And, for that, I praise the Lord.
I know I’m supposed to be surprised that Laela is seven “already,” but she is just SO grown up. That being said, she has changed SO MUCH in the last year!!
This little sweetie is my children’s second mama. She is warm, and helpful, and responsible, and bossy 😂 We’re working on that one. But she always means well, and works HARD to help her siblings out with everything!
She is a VERY smart little miss, excelling at reading and writing. She can easily read absolutely anything Dekker can, but her age still shows her shorter attention span, and she really only wants to sit through a book that at least has some pictures. As of today, she is reading level R.
Laela learned how to do laundry in the last few months. Which is CRAZY, but crazy AWESOME! When she discovered she could reach the bottom of the washer, that was just it. Now, we hear the laundry machines singing at random times, and she’s just taken it upon herself to sort and start laundry. Its bananas, and I’m SO grateful for it! She is SO willing to help!
Laela feels sad when she feels left out, or if Dekker runs faster than her. Thats kind of it! Not a whole lot else makes her angry. Injustice. Thats another thing. But shouldn’t it? I think that checks out. She always recovers with a hug and a kiss. She is VERY brave when she’s upset, and works to turn it around.
My very grown up little daughter is a wonder for me to watch. I am constantly impressed and amazed by her. She is tough while being just so so soft. Every morning, I go lay on her in her bed, and whether she’s wide awake or still mostly asleep, she lifts her arms up for me, and stroked my hair and neck for a few minutes. And once she’s done that, she’ll start to scrunch up, and, already laughing, she’ll quietly request “Tickle??” So I tickle her pits until she is fully belly laughing and squealing. It is a beautiful start to every day with her.
Goodness, Laela, we love you so dearly 💗 You came into the world like a force to be reckoned with, and you continue to hold to that strong spirit! I couldn’t picture our family without you. What a great disservice that would be for us. You are SUCH an important part of what makes us us. I am so thankful to God that you were born to us.
