I checked on that little girl multiple times, to see if she was maybe just hanging out in her bed, playing with her new stuffed toy. She was not. She was completely quiet. Very likely completely wiped out from the holidays and gatherings and such. Its like she knew it was her first full home day and was going to really rest her body.
You may know this, but it can get pretty disconcerting when a kid doesn’t wake up for so long. Dekker slept past noon from the night SO often, and it really made me nervous. Yesterday felt like that. As nap time was wrapping up and I still hadn’t even seen my Waverly since the night before, I decided it was time to wake her.
I know, I know. Don’t wake a sleeping baby. But guys, when the baby has slept for 19 hours, its time to wake that baby. So I did.
And she was pretty ok. Not really one way or another. I fed her some cereal, and she ate it, but wasn’t really into it. Didn’t show signs of sickness. Didn’t really want to play. Just groggy and neutral. She lay on me in the recliner for the majority of the remainder of the day.
The others were super sweet and did a great job of being quiet and sensitive for her, even without my asking.
Wavy ate supper and did the evening with us, and went to bed at a normal time, right around 7:00pm.
Buuuuut you’d better believe she woke up at 9:00pm feeling just fine, and figured it was time to get up from her nap 🤦♀️ It makes sense, except that her parents were pretty tired themselves, and weren’t looking to spend another handful of hours awake. Thank goodness, she didn’t last as long as it seemed she was going to, and she went back to bed in time for us to not be complete zombies.
It was an odd day without Wavy, but her little body clearly needed it. This morning, she woke up around 9:00am and rocked a normal morning schedule. I’m thankful that blip didn’t turn her around too badly, and we can all carry on because *drumroll please* reality starts tomorrow!!! Or Monday. We’ll see how lively we all are tomorrow 😆 But we need to be back on our game and our regular schedule starting bright and early on Monday!
Enjoy this last weekend, friends ❤️ With the new year comes longer days and colder temperatures, lol!
In case you missed it, I’ve been making a lot of Christmas gifts this year. I’ve crocheted since I was about 12, so that’s been my main source of homemade gifts over the years. I’ve gone through stages where I felt kind of creatively stunted, but I’ve always rallied and just learned more about crocheting. I can safely say I’m actually pretty good at that now.
This year, I wanted to try something new. I wanted to try knitting. But I was nervous, for a handful of reasons. What if my project gets bumped and just slips off the needles? Is it all just over then?? What if I drop a stitch?? I have no idea how to get that stitch back! I assume that would come with time and learning, but I felt like knitting left WAY more room for error than crocheting did.
So. I cheated. And I did loom knitting instead. I’ll admit that loom knitting is quite a bit more limiting, but I’m honestly SO happy with how my projects and gifts turned out this year! So this post is mostly for my records, to see all I managed to put together for Christmas this year. I feel accomplished, which is GOOD, because my body is screaming from all the bad posture and repetitive movements and all that good stuff. If I wasn’t so happy with how every project had turned out, I’d be a lot more upset about my pain. I can confidently say, it is SO worth it!!
First, I’m going to explain my scarves to you. They’re double thick infinity scarves. As in, if they weren’t attached at the end, they’d be tubes. They’re ridiculously warm. This is actually the first one I ever made and planned to give as a gift, but never found the right person for.
So here are the scarves I gifted out this year!
First one was supposed to be trees, but it looks more like feathers. Still nice though, I think. Its for Laela’s teacher.
Second one is a purple ombré type thing with some grey and navy in there. Its for my doctor. I had a whole other one going for her but then it got super messed up right at the end and I couldn’t save it :/ So this one will do!
Third was is probably the coolest one I made. Coral and charcoal. For Jerilee.
Fourth one is a textured yarn called “painted desert.” My mom chose it for herself 🙂 Its a heavier scarf but SO warm and soft.
Fifth one is Rider green with white snowflakes. For Dekker’s teacher who is a diehard Riders fan.
Sixth one is very “Christmas sweatery,” which is the perfect fit for our Christmas sweater loving neighbour, Rae.
The last one is the same kind of textured yard, but the shade “Nouveau.” Cher chose this one for herself too. She loves a good neutral brown tone.
Now for mitts! Who knew you could do mitts on a loom!
I feel it’s important to say, I made another pair not featured here for Brady. They weren’t so much a gift as a trial pair that he ended up loving.
First pair is for my sister, a lover of pink.
Second pair is for my sister in law, in a yarn called “Hudsons Bay.”
Third pair is actually the pair I made for the homemade gift exchange I organized this season! My person is something of a lipstick addict, so I hope they’re a good fit!
Fourth pair is for my neighbour, Tom, who seems to always been outside, clearing his driveway. Unfortunately, I miscounted rows, and they’re not perfect :/ But, I didn’t have the strength left in my hands to remake one.
Lastly, here are the sets I made for the kids! Toques and a double thick neck warmer, made like the scarves.
Wavy has sheep with hearts, and the neck warmer is just little dots.
Solly has trees and moons.
Rowan has the foxes, because he LOVES foxes. That set felt the most labour intensive.
Laela loves her cupcake toque from last year, so I’m hoping this one goes over just as well!
And Dekker got triangles, because he likes something cool and different, and didn’t express any particular object or animal on his. I know the main colour blue is different, because I found nicer yarn partway through the project, but I don’t think Dekker will mind. He is a BIG encourager that mistakes are important to make 🙂
I guess lastly lastly is the gift tags I made.
I always want to make little snowflake gift tags and never get to it. So this season, I had a bit of a “Whatever, I’m already broken” attitude, and made them. I’m really happy with how they turned out 🙂 Even if they get pitched with the wrapping paper, I’m happy I made them.
Thats it, folks!! Now just root for me, that I can’t pick up real knitting this coming year! Thats the goal of 2020! One of them, anyway… Resolution post to come!
Alright, friends! I’m back again, like every year, to tell you what my children got from their parents for Christmas. Its NOT for competitive purposes at all, but more so to talk about the four categories we buy into over here!
If you’re new, welcome! We do Christmas gifts in four categories in our family. You may have heard of this. We buy each child something they want, something they need, something to wear, and something to read. On top of that, in the last couple of years, we usually buy a pair of jammies and I also crochet something. We don’t do stockings.
To clarify the categories a little, we work pretty hard not to buy toys. They get lots of toys from others, and they have plenty already, so we have to get pretty creative. This year, their “wants” are things we know they will like but do not need. Their “needs,” on the other hand, aren’t necessarily needs, because we are fortunate enough to be able to give our children what they need along the way. In the “need” category, we just choose a more practical gift. Their “wear” can be anything from a new hoodie to jewelry, but since money was particularly tight this Christmas season, we ended up using the extra jammies as their “something to wear.” And their “something to read” also has a lot of range. Storybooks, magazine subscriptions, activity books, etc.
So! What did we get the kids, you ask??
Dekker got a daily calendar for his want. Each day’s page is a new instruction for a paper airplane, and the page itself is colourful cardstock to make it out of. His need is a minion electric toothbrush, which is a new concept over here. His wear is a cute set of jammies with milk and cookies on them. His read is his BEST gift, easily! Its called the Ultimate Book of Vehicles. He got the construction version years ago and still LOVES it, so I knew he’d LOVE this one, too! On top of his gifts, I made him a blue toque and neck warmer set with aqua and grey triangles on them.
Laela got a small loom and a ball of yarn for her want. She is always itching to knit with me, and this way she has a loom that fits her hands and attention span a little better 😉 Her need is a My Little Pony electric toothbrush. Her wear is matching jammies to Dekker, and her read is a book called the Dinky Donkey. Do you remember the Wonky Donkey book that blew up this year?? Its also a song, and Brady sings it to the kids all the time. There appears to be a spin off, and its a girly version! This book tells the story, and I’m confident she’ll sing along to it and we’ll all know it in no time! Laela got a dark purple toque and neck warmer with cupcakes on them.
Rowan’s want is a train whistle. He LOVES it. You can maybe sense a theme, but he also got a minion electric toothbrush and jammies, but he got a big cozy sleeper! His book is called Rowan the Red Squirrel, where he and his friends, Hazel, get into all kinds of trouble. I loved that Hazel is his friend, because Laela is Laela Hazel, and they definitely love to play together. Its SUCH a good fit. Rowan also got a grey toque and neck warmer set with foxes on them.
Solomon’s want is probably the lamest, haha! I got him stars to stick on the ceiling above his bed. I think he’ll love them, but he won’t really be able to have them, as in play with them. But still, I think he’ll enjoy them once they’re up. He got a minion electric toothbrush and a sleeper, and then I got him the book The Day the Crayons Quit, mostly because I couldn’t work up the nerve to pay out $30 for the book I really wanted to get him, but also because its a really funny book. Sollys toque and neck warmer were black with greyish trees and moons.
Waverly got a little stuffed singing caterpillar for her want. It has a super soft little song, which I love. I don’t love noisy toys. She, too, got a My Little Pony electric toothbrush and a sleeper. I botched up sized though, and her sleeper is too big 😔 So I also bought her a pink pair of monster feet slippers, because they’re cozy, and she LOVES dress up. Lastly, her book made me a little sad. The one I had my eye on was only released towards the end of this year. Brand new. And when I found it, it was only a paper book!! The board book version isn’t set to be released until (wait for it) June of 2021!!! Not even 2020. 2021!!!!! Absurd. While she does ok with books now, I felt like a board book was still the best, so she got a board book version of Chicka Chicka 123. Wavy’s toque and neck warmer were grey, with sheep and little coral and white hearts.
Realistically, looking at their gifts, I know there’s nothing too thrilling there, but I LOVE their gifts, and they’re such grateful kids. ❤️ I like the standard we’ve set, and I like the push to be creative and practical with gifts, where I’m not bringing TONS of new stuff into the house every year, but they’re also not going without. I like brainstorming ideas with friends, too, if anyone wants to do categories with us next year!! The day before the children opened their gifts, I had a little sad moment where I wish we had done more. I worried their gifts were boring and merpy. I was disappointed that most of the gifts we got our kids, people would easily slip into stockings and wrap up the bigger, better gifts. After I took a step back, though, I am SO happy with how it all looks.
And, true story, not a single child in the room was disappointed!! Win!
Happy New Year, my friends! Officially one day into a fresh year, and a fresh decade! I’m excited to see what this one will bring! But in real life, nothing crazy has changed overnight. Keep in mind that goals can start ANYtime, and are not reliant on January first being day one, or Monday being day one, or 2020 being the year. I’m all for evaluating goals and self improvement, but I was a fan of that yesterday, too, and I will also be tomorrow 😉 So don’t forget that today is not so different ❤️ I’m not being very eloquent, but for reference, I was super upset over New Years after our rocky 2017. I felt like I should be somewhat “better” by the end of the year in terms of my grief for my lost babies. I was wisely advised that the only reason I was being so hard on myself was because it was the year’s end, and my grief doesn’t care what day it is. So all I’m trying to say is that the first day of the year is simply a day on the calendar. Don’t put too much pressure on the day itself.
I spent last night with my mom and siblings, opening gifts and doing the Christmas thing sans kids. Kids will open their presents this afternoon, because its a time that suits everyone! Do they care that its January already? Nope! I like that 🙂 But yesterday evening, Jerilee graciously came over and hung out at home while we went to my moms and hung out with my family. Brady and I were gifted a beautiful calendar from my mom’s nature photos, an excellent feast for an at-home date night, and I was given a stack of knitting supplies!! All of my knitting over this year has been done on a loom, which is actually super awesome, but has been limiting. I now have all I need to get started really knitting, plus a Michaels gift card to get yarn or whatever little items I may be missing and don’t know about yet. What a haul!
We ate chips and crackers and taco dip and cheese dip and Brie and all kinds of Christmas baking. Goodness it was SUCH a yummy evening. We welcomed the new year quietly, in the living room, lit with Christmas lights, all together. It was warm and loving and felt like a long time coming ❤️ Brady and I headed home shortly after midnight, and chatted with Jerilee for about a half hour before we all tucked in for the night. Yes, we kept Jerilee so she wouldn’t drive home in the dark, on the ice, with all the other late night drivers who may or may not be intoxicated 😬
What a nice way to celebrate a new decade! Despite the difficulty of 2019 and all thats happened in it, I’m thankful for it. I learned a ton and I’m a very different person than I was in the beginning of it. I wonder if I’ll say that at the end of this year, too. I guess we’ll have to check back in and see! Lol! Same time, next year! 🥳
Every year, on New Years Eve, I post about the year past. Its basically a highlight reel, so to speak, about what we’ve all gone through over the past twelve months. I admit that I was a little nervous to go through this one, month by month, and decide what to talk about. It was not our most glamorous year at all. We had some highlights, but it felt like we had a LOT more struggles this year than usual. I am so thankful for our days, weeks, months, and years on this earth ❤️ but 2019 was tough. So was 2017. Oy. But 2018 was excellent for us! Maybe 2020 will be a huge party 🥳 Who knows? Not I! But, regardless of what-ifs and whats-to-comes, let’s do some reliving of 2019, shall we? We shall.
January
We kicked the year off with a bunch of vehicle trouble. Got stranded in a few places and learned a LOT about our van. All was able to be solved, thanks to research, a mechanically minded husband, and a ton of prayer. Wavy got older and more independent. She rarely fell asleep on us anymore, so it was pretty special when it happened. The kids had a couple quad rides with one of our neighbours, which made winter a bit more survivable. And starting in the beginning of the year, we finally prioritized the basement and got into it!
February
February was a busy month. We continued working on the basement, and got a lot done. Plumbing, drywall, etc. I got a mole removed and started my fun journey through a bunch of other skin issues. Brady and I celebrated our tenth anniversary! ❤️ This month was record breaking for COLD! Yikes! Rowan celebrated his fourth birthday. Laela stopped napping 🙂
March
More basement stuff! More plumbing, muddling, taping, etc. The kids were rocking school together. Brady and I were given a night away to Regina to go to a concert, which was a definite highlight! And then my mom got really hurt, and I spent the next while with her.
April
This picture is out of order, lol! My mom started to improve, which was the highlight of this month, easily. She could leave the house a bit easier for more than just appointments, and we started going for walks. Thank the Lord for the warmer weather! Our band, Rule of Three, played its first gig at Clearcut in April 🙂 More basement stuff, primarily painting! The warmer weather brought out bikes, and Laela learned how to ride without training wheels. I toured Cher’s university and started spending a lot more time with her ❤️
May
May was a great one! We were gifted a night away at Waskesiu, and embraced it fully! It was SO good to be back, even though it was cold and snow covered. We hosted our first garage sale, also, and Laela lost her first tooth! We tried for another Waskesiu trip and had our experience where our children were watched a little too closely, and we ended up leaving. While that wasn’t a positive experience for us, it opened up an important conversation in our home, so I’m grateful for that. At the end of the month, Solly turned three.
June
Rule of Three played the local car show. Both kids rocked track and field day, and school wrapped up shortly thereafter. Brady and I went with our friends to Jazz Fest and saw Walk Off the Earth in concert. SUCH a good event! Seriously, if you ever get the chance to see them live…
July
We kicked the summer off with Waverly turning one. Right after that, we sent the big kids off for their first time to CAMP! They loved it! We raced through the month, and went to Waskesiu for our family vacay immediately upon their return home. Brady and I went to Shakespeare on the Saskatchewan for my birthday. Another “If you EVER get the change” opportunity!
August
We got a TON more done in the basement in August! Brady’s work was SO slow this entire years, so we picked away at the basement while he was homer. August was when we acquired most of our finishing stuff. My mom turned 60 this month, and her party was AWESOME. Of course, the only picture I have from it is her wearing a headlamp while we disassembled it all late that night 😅 Dekker also had a birthday that month, turning eight. We celebrated National Rainbow Baby day with a beautiful photo shoot of Waverly. The month wrapped up with me finding out I was pregnant ❤️
September
September feels like an empty month, but there was a lot behind the scenes. School kicked off. Rowan started preschool. Laela turned six. Lots of milestones. In the meantime, I was getting bloodwork every other day and ultrasounds every week to see if my pregnancy was viable. It was not.
October
Kicked off October with a D&C. That was tough. A couple of weeks later, Cher and I went to Edmonton for some Christmas shopping and a much needed break from daily life. We got our first big batch of snow this month, and October wrapped up with a super cute, slushy, long winded Halloween that the kids really enjoyed!
November
We played a TON of lego in November, haha! We got more finishing supplies and kept moving on the basement stuff, quite determined to get it done before the end of the year. Waverly had her scary breath holding spell, where she hit her head, appeared to seize, and fainted. That was a pretty big learning experience for all of us. VERY thankful for our new hospital who saw her so quickly and easily. And we put up our tree 🌲
December
Brady got his Christmas gift early – his beer advent calendar. I’d say that was a highlight, lol! Rule of Three played its first local gig at the restaurant. Jerilee took our family to GLOW for our Christmas gift, and we had SUCH a good time! I organized and executed a homemade gift exchange, which played out in December, and I’d say it was a pretty great success. I knitted up a STORM in December, successfully ending the year in a pretty solid heap of pain, but it was worth it. We Christmassed HARD and had an awesome season.
I say again, I am SO thankful for my life and all I have in it. If you’ve been along for any length of time, you know what I believe. I trust that God knows what I need and when I need it. He has never not provided for me, and I have full confidence He will continue to do so.
I’m thankful for 2019, and I’m ready for 2020!! We’ll talk goals and direction soon 🙂
Some of you people know all about these, but I’ve never had one before. My kids historically HATE baths until they’re quite a bit older. And trust me, we’ve tried everything. They’re just not fans. Showers are even worse. They HATE them. But suddenly, we have a water baby. Waverly LOVES the bath. She can’t wait to get into the bath. Seriously… She doesn’t wait…
Today, we rocked a good old fashioned bath. And by “old fashioned bath,” I mean they all shared the same water. I know, I know, judge if you must, but it was the CUTEST bath ever! And you know why? Because Wavy bathed with everyone!!!
Is this not the cutest thing you’ve ever seen?? 😍 I am SO smitten with these little loves. Waverly splashes and chews toys and dumps water and they all laugh and laugh and laugh.
I’m SO thankful to finally have a kid who loves baths. I think she’s a big part of why my other kids like baths now, too. Thank you, Wavy! For that, and so much more.
In lieu of lofty Christmas gifts, Brady opted to get the beer advent calendar again this year! It was made solely by Red Racer this year.
By the time I write this post, it will kind of be too late, because the month of advent is over, but still 🙂 Its such a fun thing! Brady loves testing 24 different beer through the month and critiquing them along the way, choosing his newfound likes and dislikes. This winter, he discovered he likes bitter beer. IPA, specifically. He’s learning 🙂 Its fun to watch, and taste them with him along the way. So, as he did last year, he wrote notes along the way and rated the beer. And here you have it!!
1. Free Heel Rose Saison – 4/5 – red wine and hibiscus – light and yummy, little bit fruity
3. Winterholder Witbier – 2/5 – pretty standard – slightly odd beforeward taste (lol) – slightly odd after taste
4. V-Trail Barrel Aged IPA – 5/5 – yummy and crisp – radleresque – good to the last drop
5. Tape to Tape Gin and Lime Lager – 4/5 – ver flavorful – refreshing – no bad aftertaste for how beerish it is
6. Free Ride Smoked Sea Salt Belgian Ale – 2/5 – …ok… cold but tastes warm – smells spicy, tastes salty – weird
7. Ski Lift Green Tea Lager – 4/5 – crisp and refreshing – I don’t like green tea, but its still good
8. Bundle Up Sweet Potato and Maple Ale – 4/5 – no odd flavours, very normal – no aftertaste
9. Torpor Barrel Aged Imperial Porter – 5/5 – bedtime in a can – very strong at 9% – drink it slow… – very flavorful, no weird aftertaste
10. Hurry Hard Lager – 4/5 – light, refreshing – some flavour – chuggable
11. Switch Graff – 3/5 – standard – regular pale ale – not so “flavoried”
12. Shinny Strawberries and Cream Ale – 3/5 – creamy and smooth – strawberry milkshake for grownups -more strawberries next time (Editing Hailey here. I’m not sure who he’s asking for more strawberries…)
13. Bow Saw Dark and Stormy Ale – 4/5 – hint of dish soap, hint of grapefruit – oddly, still yummy
14. White Out Basil Ale – 3/5 – very subtle at first – starts to taste like spaghetti over time
15. Snowracer Dunkel – 4/5 – flavourful, happy, a little bitter – very yummy, good aftertaste
16. Snow Tracks Mexican Hot Chocolate Stout – 5/5 – delicious dessert beer – cinnamon and chocolate and yum
17. Sleigh Ride Negroni Red Ale – 5/5 – citrusy, crisp, and delicious – radleresque – yummy
18. Tubester Brut IPA – 5/5 – citrusy and slightly bitter – slowly realizing I really like IPAs
19. Corkscrew Mimosa Saison – 4/5 – smooth and easy to drink – just a hint of mimosa
20. Salchow Dortmunder – 2/5 – first taste was ok – reminds me of the time I ate oatmeal off of my prybar – metallic
21. Gangline Raspberry Stout – 3/5 – smells amazing – light on raspberry taste – too much stout
22. Oat n Aboat Hazey Pale Ale – 4/5 – crisp and happy – one I’d drink all summer
23. Snowblind Whisky Sidecar Ale – 3/5 – many indistinguishable flavours at first taste – a bit much – decent flavour overall
24. Thor’s Hammer Port Barrel Aged Barley Wine – 3/5 – novelty in how strong it is – 11.5% – mediocre flavour – not the best to end on – merp
I asked Brady for his overall review of this advent exbeerience (see what I did there?) and he obliged.
From Brady: “Very good. No duds.”
🤷♀️
Sooooo… there you have it! Lol! Why complicate things?
I woke in a decent amount of pain today. Being that we had nothing scheduled today, I was gifted a morning in bed to rest my body. Cher had some plans reschedule, so she came and joined me. Brady made us scrambled eggs and toast, and we enjoyed breakfast in bed while we watched funny YouTube. It was super relaxed and felt great for my body to not move.
We did eventually surface, however. Brady went to do some work downstairs once the little ones went down for naps. Dekker got invited out to a friend’s house, and Laela helped in the basement.
My mom popped by for some things she had forgotten the other day, and ended up taking Laela along for her last errand for the day.
Cher and I took the kid-free opportunity to sit outside on the step in the sun. It wasn’t so toasty warm but fresh air was worth our time. We talked about warm weather, yard projects, gardens, trees, etc. Throw your BEST front yard tree ideas at me! Bonus points if they bear fruit!
Eventually, they all began waking up and being all cute.
We have kept a super low profile all day, and I think the evening will look about the same. Except Brady will likely do some more work in the basement still. Just you wait for the next basement update! Its SO close!!! I mean, no ceiling, but give that a year or two still. That will come after the yard and fence. But besides that, we’re SO close to being done in the basement!!!! Eek! But I’ll give that its own post 😉
So as I mentioned, we spent yesterday evening in the city, doing our annual Christmas light tour. But first, to McDonalds for supper!!!
It was a pretty cute gig. The four older kids all ordered pancakes, despite the fact that they had waffles for brunch that day. They ate, and us adults had our burgers, and Wavy had chicken nuggets. Everyone ate all they wanted before we got coffee and cookies and headed to the lights!
Ok, so actually first gas, and cleaning headlights, and re-pairing the new phones to the van for the sake of music. And then the lights.
We had SUCH a nice time ❤️ We hit all the favorite places, and the kids were even in awe of the smaller ones. Laela commented at one point to look at one house, because “It wasn’t so exciting, but still nice.” We started late, and therefore ended late, but no one fell asleep!! That was a HUGE win!!! They all got home, had pee breaks, and went straight to bed more than two hours after their usual bedtime. Thank the Lord for a longer nap than usual!
This morning, we got up a little earlier. Brady and I sat on the opposite side of the island than usual, and mom threw on an apron and made our family breakfast ❤️
She wins ALL the mom awards. If I’m a fraction of the mother she is to me to my own kids, I’m happy.
We spent a super happy, relaxed morning together, reading stories, colouring, playing games, and continuing the saga of checking out our new stuff.
But mom wasn’t able to stay long. We SO enjoyed having her home with us for a few days, but her show must go on as well, and it was time for her to head out. I am so grateful she stayed, and that she is able to just come and join right into our family. We sure love you, mom! I hope you feel that!!
I’ll tell you more about today when I know more. I went for X-rays and bloodwork this morning, so hopefully there are answers to my pain questions to follow! For now, we keep enjoying Christmas!
Today is our Christmas over here. Its a pretty chill schedule but we love it a lot. Not only were we fortunate enough to have my mom join us this year, but we invited our across the street neighbours, Tom and Rae, as well! It was a total blast.
Everyone hung around patiently while we fried bacon, cooked waffles, got fruit ready, and set up for brunch. It’s SO nice to be surrounded by people who pitch in, don’t judge, and just fit. Our people just fit.
The kids directed the guests where to sit, and set the table. We all worked as a team to get the kids set up with food before we began feeding ourselves. We had forgotten to pull the whipped cream out of the freezer until a bit too late, so Rae ran across and shared their whipped cream with us. Thank you!!
Once everyone had eaten their body weight in brunch, we moved into the living room where we opened gifts together. Now, I hadn’t known if we’d get to see Tom and Rae this Christmas, so I had brought them a couple of gifts from us a few days earlier. So sadly, they were the only ones without gifts to open this morning :/ That felt pretty crummy but 🤷♀️ the show went on. At least we had a gift for mom! Our modest Christmas for our children turned out beautifully. They received five gifts from us, plus gifts from Tom and Rae, and from Cher. The kids had SO much fun and we’re SO grateful! I’ll tell you all about what we got them in a different post, but I’ll tell you their favorite gifts. Dekker loved his “Ultimate Book of Vehicles” best, though he backpedalled and said he really loved everything. Laela loved her electric toothbrush. Rowan loved his train whistle. Solomon loved his car garage. And if I had to guess, I might say Waverly loved her slippers the best. She also really loved her toothbrush.
Once the kids had opened everything, we helped them get a few things out of the package to play with, and once they were settled, Brady and I opened our gifts. That was fun 🙂 Too bad Brady’s coolest gift hasn’t come yet :/ Merp. Regardless, we finished up gifts and then played toys and games and read stories. It was really, really nice. I have ZERO pictures 😳 but my mom and Rae took a handful, so maybe I’ll do a follow-up photo post down the road. There are SO many posts coming up, my goodness. We’ll get there 🙂
Tom and Rae had to head out to continue their plans, but we were SO happy they came and joined the fun! Once they departed, we played and read for a half hour or so before snacks came out and naps went down.
The evening plan is the same as always. Supper in jammies, and then the Christmas light tour in Saskatoon with cookies and drinks. This year, we’re going out for supper rather than eating in. Yes, you heard right. Christmas dinner is at McDonalds this year 😆 I can’t wait not to have to make anyone eat their food.
