The days feel a little extra challenging lately. Some things are amazing, and some things are rough. I’m not sure if my fatigue is reflected in my humour, but on the off chance, here is something I laughed WAY too hard at just the other day.
I have no excuse for thinking this is funny, but I really think it is. Its the “hoo boy” for me 🤣
If this is at all your kind of humour, this guy writes a really dry comic called Strange Planet, which gives me a super lame chuckle most every time I come across it. Give it a look if you need a good “har har” type laugh.
Today, Laelas team of girls got let out at lunch to head to a tournament in the city! I haven’t been able to make it to as many games as I would have liked to this season, but with some fancy footwork and extra help, we were able to make it work that I could bring her in and watch her first game!
First we filled up. Which was cute.
The price wasn’t cute, but the gas attendant sure was!
We stopped for iced coffee and donuts before heading aaaaall the way across the city to Sask Christian. There is a weekend tournament but the seventh graders only play today. Which, at first, I thought was annoying, and now I’m glad. I’m grateful for a Saturday at home.
I was able to watch their first game, which they won 💜
They have come SO FAR since their first tournament. They play really well together, have way more strategies, hold their positions, and encourage each other SO beautifully throughout. I am incredibly proud of those girls. But this one is my favorite.
Isn’t she just the cutest thing??? Ugh. Whether she’s rocking patterned pants or bright shoes on the court, she stands out one way or another.
Her season is already drawing to a close, and while its been a challenge trying to organize the schedule, I do love watching her, cheering for her, and witnessing her hone a new skill. And as an added bonus, she’s pretty good at it!!!
Beautiful job, Cougars ❤️🤍🖤 I am SO impressed by you!
We’ve always wondered along the way how it would look with our kids, if the older ones would get protective of the younger ones. Not to gender stereotype, but I’ve definitely been curious if the boys would feel protective of the girls. And I think we had our first experience with one of my kids intervening on behalf of a younger sibling. It was unexpected, and it made me both sad and also relieved. And also I laughed. So, a mix. Here goes.
My younger three walk to school together most mornings. A couple of weeks ago, a kid biked past mine and called Wavy a stupid loser. Which, might I add, she is NOT!! Now, when I heard this story, before the hair on my neck could even prickle, I heard the next part.
Rowan got loud and said he could NOT talk to his sister that way!! Which I LOVED!! 💪 because darn right he couldn’t!!!
In the retelling of this story, this was the part where Rowan got wide-eyed. He told me the kid then turned on Rowan and called him a fatty pants. And in that moment in the dining room, all three kids burst out laughing (those three included Rowan) and in his belly laugh, he assured me “and I KNOW I’m NOT a fatty pants!!!”
And honestly, I’m not sure it could have gone better. Except maybe that kid could have not insulted my children and called them names. They don’t ever interact. They barely know of each other. It was just a kid being mean. Though the kids have also told me that home maybe isn’t so easy for him, which isn’t an excuse, but could be a reason. Other than that, though…
I love that Rowan stood up for Wavy.
I love that the rude comments rolled off of both my kids’ backs and no one took them seriously to heart.
I love that Rowan kept his cool and didn’t continue the fight after he was called a rude name.
And I LOVE that we could all laugh at it after.
Wavy is not stupid, nor a loser.
Rowan is not a fatty pants.
Still hurts to hear it sometimes. Kids can be pretty mean. But that experience brought out some really beautiful things in my kids, in my opinion.
Way to stand up for your little sister, Ro. You are a VERY loving big brother.
So a liiiiittle bit more often than previously, I’ve found Dekker and Rowan goofing off together. It’s rare, and only really when Dekker is feeling silly. He’s a fairly serious guy, and doesn’t always jump into the silliness the way the others might. He’s also the oldest, so that all makes sense. Also, realistically, some years have been harder, and the kids have maybe carried less trust for Rowan. That also makes sense, though its been hard to watch. Time heals a lot of things, and ever so slowly, my oldest boys are getting a bit closer. And I am LOVING it.
As are they.
Such. Weirdos. But it warms my heart to see them bond a little, and trust each other.
Keep up the good work, my men 💪 That is a precious bond!!
Today I got a couple of kid free hours. As in there were no kids IN THE HOUSE while I was IN THE HOUSE!!! So I got into work and I got a handful of things going. I got a handful of things taken out of my dumping ground bedroom, got some laundry going, and then I began a big task! I gathered up ALL the medical supplies we’ve accumulated in our home over the last few years and I dumped them all on the dining room table! It was time to sort!
Now, Brady didn’t really have much for medical supplies until this year, but the Morsel had lots from the very beginning, though deemed “not a medical baby.” 😅 Lies. ALL lies. Anyway.
I dragged out the HUGE mess of supplies from our bathroom, as well as an entire plastic drawer unit from the baby room.
Then the kids came home, had lunch, and went down for naps, and I kept on going with my project! It was an oddly peaceful walk through memory lane. Very interesting to see the little bits of what’s left from here and there. I found the oximeter I got from when the Morsel had dangerously low blood oxygen levels. A nebulizer with all the different solutions. Spare NG tubes, with adapters, caps, syringes, etc. Most of the leftover adhesive from that was used up from when NG went to G tube. A spare G tube kit, plus items from recovery – drain sponges, barrier creams, Mesalt gauze, and even some silver nitrate for treating granulation. More adhesive, but that part poured into Bradys things. SO many bandages of differing brands, sizes, and purposes. SO many adhesives, differing in the same categories. Gauze like CRAZY. I found the big Qtips and the packing material for tunnelling infections. Some spare IV kits. So many sprays and cleaners. At least twelve pairs of little silver scissors.
I spent a nice long stretch, in between visits from Munchie Mix, working to sort out the mess at hand. Of course, once it was finally done, it was immediately apparent that the intended home for the supplies was insufficient. Everything is now in a box, slightly less disorganized than before. What can you do?
The day has felt a little long, but I’m very grateful for my quiet time at home to be able to do work at my table with no one pulling anything down or having to hurdle a baby gate. It was peaceful, and I liked that.
This weekend, we were able to do a LOT of clean up at home here. Its certainly not all done, but we took a nice bite out of it.
As summer wore on, LD and Spoons were starting to outgrow their size of clothing. Being that they got SO dirty camping every weekend, and their clothes were getting perpetually butchered, I decided to ride the season out, even if their clothes were slightly ill-fitting, and then refresh their wardrobes when we were good and done at Kinasao.
With pulling out new clothes comes putting away old clothes, which is just as important but a lot less fun. There was much to pack up and go through. Some to donate, lots that were too stained to save, etc. It didn’t help that there were still floating piles of clothes from the lovely, albeit short span of time we had Sugar Beet with us. Those needed packing up as well. Also, Munchie Mix has clothes, but the clothes have no home because the designated spot for those particular clothes is still full of clothes from Peanut. And if that wasn’t enough, I still have two dresser drawers (that are not in a dresser) stacked on top of each other inside my closet, full of clothes from the Morsel!! Can you believe that?? Thats how far behind we are.
So. While there are still clothes in places that need to be dealt with, we took a HUGE chunk out of it. Dekker brought up a TON of tubs from the basement, and Laela and Rowan helped me sort the huge pile of clothes into sizes. Wavy and Solly kept the toddlers occupied. Brady refereed everything under the sun. We repacked the tubs and Dekker got them back downstairs, which was a huge feat. While that part was happening, I was going through the appropriate sized clothing tubs and pulling out what made sense for the right genders and sizes and seasons. Then they ALL went in the washer for a quick wash and dry, just to get them looking and smelling fresh again.
Today was the fun part. I sorted it all out and folded it, and took stock of what we have, what we need, and what wouldn’t hurt to keep an eye out for. One kids has LOTS. One kid needs a couple of things. One kids stuff is still too disorganized to full know 😅 But we’re on our way, and if the clothing in the house stayed in its current state now, we’d be totally fine. It is WAY better. I’m relieved.
I have my list of things to look for now, and I’m ready. Mark my words. All eight kids will soon be fully outfitted for the season.
We have two big boxes of apples living in our pantry right now that we got from a fundraiser through Bradys work. They are absolutely delicious and flavorful. Ugh. Amazing, really. On occasion, the pantry door has been left open and my dear babies have found their way in there to sample the apples. Which is kind of annoying, to be honest, but I recently discovered its also very cute. I have allowed both Spoons and LD to wander the house with their apple, and see how long it lasts, what they do with it, etc. There are moments where I think the apple is gone, and then it resurfaces from who knows where. So far, no crisis has come of them traipsing through the house with an apple in hand.
They don’t know how to eat apples. I usually cut up apples for them in the day, and I give them bite sized chunks. They can eat the slices, but they eat more of it if I make it into bites. So thats the norm. When they have a whole apple in hand, they just get right into it.
And today, it happened.
LD toddled over to me and passed me the stem. If you can even call it that. The sticky outty stem. Nothing else.
And LD toddled back off, totally oblivious to my shock and amazement.
It was a big, busy day, and I’m sure there are other things I could’ve filled a longer post with, but this made me happy 💜 I hope you got a giggle out of it as well.
Every morning, as soon as he hears me start moving around the kitchen, Rowan surfaces from his room. In this season of shorter days and darker mornings, he is sleepy and slow moving when he comes to me.
This morning he came up to me, all lanky, in his gitch, and leaned into me for a hug. I hugged him for a few seconds before we broke apart and he headed back in the direction of his room. As we came out of our hug, in his quiet raspy morning voice, he said to me “Morning, mom. Cute cherries.” And he was gone down the hallway.
Took me a second, but I got it.
He liked my tshirt. The one I got from Value Village that makes me feel like a homesteader when I’m actually a total poser.
My honey mustard is uncomplicated. Like. The most basic. Its just mayo, honey, mustard, and lemon juice. Nothing about it is from scratch or special. But its yummy. We eat tons of it all summer because we eat TONS of salad when the weather is hot. Less when its cold.
Brady asked for chunky chicken salad for his birthday supper, and I used up the end of our honey mustard. So today I mixed more. And it reminded me where I was at with kitchening when I first started making it. It was the worlds most basic recipe, yet I was SO scared to try anything new. SO scared. I was FLOORED when it tasted good. It was such a teeny recipe, too, with things measured in spoons, and it made such a teeny bit. Even just that felt daunting. What if I doubled it and somehow, it didn’t double well, and then it would suck?! I just couldn’t wrap my head around it actually working.
I say again. It is SUCH a nothing recipe, its embarrassing how afraid I was.
But now its whipped up in seconds flat, without much thought at all. I do still measure, however, because its delicious made that way so I keep it that way. But I make much bigger batches, and thankfully it does multiply well, hahaha!
I even got to incorporate *gasp* A GHOST! to the experience today.
Its small. And silly. And nothing. But that alone shows me how far I’ve come, and as humbling as that can be, I’m glad I can see it.
