The Daily Hailey

We had a rare friendship moment between Dekker and Laela after school today. It was simple, but worth remembering.

Dekker and Laela occasionally want to wrestle each other, and it never ever ends good. Its one of those things where I warn them its going to end in either blood or tears, and I’m not going too feel so bad if someone is upset about it at the end. But they insist, so I leave them to it. Today, that was a good choice.

It went from wrestling onto a chair to one trying to sit on the others lap while the one tried to prevent it. From there, it became one lying across another. And then I heard Laela chirp “You be a desk!”

So, Dekker dutifully became a desk.

And they LOVED it. Laela read on his belly, which was the whole joke to begin with, but eventually the “desk” flipped the book up and clocked her in the chin. She handled it tho.

The game grew. Laela pulled a “mom” thing and started teasing Dekker.

“Oh! Whats under here?” she’d ask, and lift up his shirt and poke his belly button. He could not handle it, he laughed SO hard. She walked her fingers up his arm and tickled his neck, and he just screeched. He flopped around and eventually fell off of her.

It was all fun and games until Laela was to be the desk. There was an abrupt ending, but no one was upset. It was a good moment. I’m glad I got to see it.

We have a new hurdle on our hands. Waverly, however, does not feel its a hurdle. Its now a game. And she LOVES it.

So Wavy mastered stairs a good while back now. Not going back down the stairs, but she’s fabulous at going up them! We try and teach her how to back down them, but she screams and just wants to keep motoring forward. There have been a few times I’ve noticed her a few stairs up, and before I can reach her, she’s backed down them. She’s done good so far, but I don’t trust her 100% yet, obviously. So most days, we drag our toy ottoman in front of the stairs to block her from them. I know, she needs to learn. But she would NOT leave them alone, and we were just constantly carrying her back down while she waaailed. Over and over and over again. Wasn’t a teaching moment in any way.

So as you might expect, Waverly decided to learn to get over the ottoman. And myyy goodness, she was SO proud of herself.

It didn’t even take effort. Just swung a leg on up and she was over.

Since her new skill was discovered, she still tests out the stairs from time to time, but her gaze has shifted. She cares less about stairs and cares much more about climbing!

*sigh* Ya, thats the top of the piano.

So we’re going grey over here. We’ve never had a climber before. My kids are always pretty relaxed about getting places, but Waverly is just ready to be in it all.

Today, she got up on the little black recliner. She was pleased as punch!

She cracked open the book she had brought and “read” it for a second before slamming it down on the floor beyond the chair.

“Uh oh,” she said. “I dopped.” Ya you did, girly.

She leaned WAY forward to try and reach it, and almost went down before I caught her. I tried to turn her around and show her how to get down but that fiercely independent baby would have none of it. She was ANGRY at me, like I had stolen her right of passage of a forehead goose egg or something. I’m sure she’ll have her chance eventually, lol!

I’ve been realizing recently that, when we moved into this house, we had two “big” kids, Rowan was juuust learning to walk, and Solomon was brand new. We now have five completely mobile children in the same amount of space, and its tiiiiime for more space! GAH! Our only big holdup for the basement is carpet. Carpet would make it all liveable, and we could pick at the finishing over winter and finish it up. Do flooring stores ever have promos?! I’m antsy!

If you live where I live, or in any surrounding town, you know what I mean. Power cut out around noonish kind of out of nowhere. Its windy outside, but not miserable, and not stormy. We figured it was a little flicker, which happens a bit too often for my taste but not even close to as often as when we lived in Radisson! But it didn’t come back on. As tends to happen, someone mentioned it on Facebook and we quickly confirmed that it was in all parts of town, and it had not been announced as a planned outage. 

SaskPower clued in maybe 15 minutes later and announced their crews were en route to see what was going on. It was determined there was a “burnt structure” that caused the problem. The estimated time of repair is 6:00pm. Guys. Thats late. 

We some plans today, but everything was shot in the foot that very moment. No family pictures for us today, thats for sure! Brady and I managed to scratch together a lunch from our pantry and the fruit that lives on our counter. We managed, but it wasn’t great. I ate party mix, some tomato slices, and a couple of cookies for lunch. It was something, anyway. Better than some other days honestly. 

While the kids napped, Brady and I pulled out Skip-Bo. I don’t know what it is about a power outage but it always puts us in the mood for a card game. Nighttime power outages, too. I feel so unsettled falling asleep if the power is still out, so we usually stay up late into the night and play tile rummy by candle light. Its fun 🙂 Today was fun too. 

Supper will be interesting. But also maybe awesome. I think we’re going to have peanut butter and honey sandwiches. Which I know isn’t great, but with such a long power outage, I’m hesitant to open my fridges or freezers and risk our food spoiling. No way no how. We’ll work with what we’ve got. We have apples, bananas, and fresh garden tomatoes available on the counter, and a whole pantry filled with food, much of which is packaged convenience food. Again, not great, but not starvation either. I’m grateful for our options. 

But I do admit, I’ll probably skip supper so I can eat real food later! There are some delicious leftovers in the fridge calling my name… 

I had a really lovely morning, sitting on my recliner while the middle boys played in the bedroom, building forts. It was pretty chill until the screaming started, and then the bloodbath continued until nap time. So that was fun. But it helped that Brady only had to work the morning, and came home with groceries! Woot!

My mom called around lunch and invited me over to play succulents with her! Haha! She was hoping to re-pot hers and knew I had been saying the same thing, so she had purchased some soil and fertilizer, and was offering for me to share. I jumped at it and limped my poor little succulents over to her house. Once upon a time, they were so lush and pretty, and now they’re all dry and sad and in desperate need of fresh soil, better drainage, and a little trim here or there.

Together, we made a mess of her kitchen, starting with little rocks, and charcoal, and then soil. We broke up my sad dry crusty plants and got them all rooty and loose before depositing them in their new happy home. I put four of my littler guys in one pretty new long, narrow pot that will fit beautifully on my window sill. I repotted one that’s still doing ok, but it needed new soil. And then two were SO stretched and SO weird and angry, roots growing out of their stalk. Just messy. I unceremoniously beheaded them and they now live in the sun, waiting for the cut to “scab over” before I attempt to replant it. So wish me luck on those ones!

Overall, I’m so happy with my new little set up. These pots used to occupy ALL of my dessert bowls, and now, I have my small bowls back, and a way cuter little look! My cactuses stayed the same, but they’re still happy.

I doddled on the way home, got the mail, etc., but I came home to a pretty happy house that smelled like grilled cheese sandwiches. It was a happy supper.

As I write this post out, Brady is practicing guitar for tonight’s band practice! We have most of what we need for a basic sound setup, and we borrowed the missing pieces for the evening so it could be a plugged in practice! They’re a lot of fun 🙂 And we’ve gotta prepare, for another giggity gig! Woot! Who has plans for October 10th? You do nowwwww!

The whole gang packed up for church today. You guys know, church has been extra hard with Wavy these days. Not because she’s not a TOTAL peach, but she’s at a tricky stage.

She’s really screechy and loud with her newfound voice, and she really wants to go, but she also doesn’t want to be put down, or be held constantly. Its hard for me to find that delicate balance between letting her wander and babble a little, but without letting her get disruptive or distracting. The screeching alone has been reason enough to keep her home recently, as much of it was based on fatigue and teething, but today we decided to all go together.

We made it in time to drop Brady and the four kids off at Sunday school. Solly went without hesitation this time, which is pretty great. They all ran happily to their rooms, and I got Waverly settled in the stroller for our walk! A couple of other moms with babies had decided to meet and walk a bit during Sunday school, and while we got ourselves together, we were joined by a few others! It was SO nice to got for a walk as a group in the beautiful morning sun. Four of us with strollers and two without. It may not have been in the church but you can’t tell me it wasn’t fellowship! I loved it. None of the babies even fussed. It was perfect.

We got to church just in time, and my mom and I sat down to hold a bench for my family. They joined eventually, and the music started. A couple of the older kids abandoned us to go sit with friends, and the littles stayed put. Waverly is not wanting to be held 100% of the time, and now that she’s walking, I set her down and let her wander into the aisle. While everyone sang, she walked up a few steps closer to the front and stood in this little squat position, and bounced and swayed to the music. I was so enamoured with her, and she was a bit of a hit to those around her, too.

I couldn’t resist taking a picture! Lol!

She did great through music, and schmoozed a little during our greeting time, but she was getting pretty vocal during the quieter parts of the service. I took her out to walk her around a little, and made my way back in after a while. She insisted on going down from my lap, and of course the moment she was down, she wiped out and bonked her head. More crying. We left, and came back in again, and she was just so unsettled. Brady took a turn and lasted about ten seconds before having to take her out. Finally I gave in and decided she and I would go home. We had the stroller out anyway.

So Wavy and I went home early, but we still had some lovely time with our community. We definitely tried.

Church is hard with kids. Plain and simple. Its not glamorous. But we’re trying so hard to bring our children up in a family where church is the norm. Laela said today that Sunday is her favorite day. I love that. I want them to all love Sunday. One day Waverly will scream less, and it’ll be easier. Right??

I feel like I was asked this a lot this week, and I’m pretty sure I consistently said we had nothing up. Which is almost unheard of. There is always something to do, especially now that Brady’s work has picked back up. We got used to having time together to putter away at all the activities and errands we could possible imagine throughout the week, and now, we tend to cram our weekends full. So I was completely floored that somehow, we had this whole day off!

I remembered yesterday, when I bothered to check my phone calendar, that I had my hair appointment this morning!! My faaaavorite day that only comes a few times a year 🙂 I was SO excited. So I knew I had that this Saturday.

(Don’t hate me, I forgot to take hair pictures and now I don’t have pants on, so, no pics today! Whoops!)

Now that my hair is done, I came home to a quiet napping house, with one big kid playing lego and another big kid working in a work book, because apparently school itself just isn’t enough. Brady made me a little lunch and now I’m holed up, talking to the blog, trying to figure out what to write on a day when I have nothing too big on the go.

And of course, its hitting me now all the things we could be doing!!

We should be carpet shopping!
I should be making granola bars!
We should be practicing music for our next gig!
We should finish up the laundry!
We should get supper moving!
We need to grocery shop!
I should knit!
I should prep lunches!
We need to vacuum this place!
I really need to tidy my room up!

Does the to-do list ever really end? I think not. But perhaps today is just a day to rest and not accomplish ALL the things. I can’t remember the last time we did that. Maybe today is the day 🙂

I hope some of you are enjoying really restful days! And that some of you are feeling productive and on top of all your goals 🙂

Families were invited to come join their children for a reading lunch today! They do it a couple of times a year, and we always try to get there. At least Brady or I. Brady is HOME today, which is such a treat, so we decided to do out best to get everyone there.

It. Was. Not. Easy. Lol! Like we aaalmost just called it and just I went. Almost. But we powered through. While Rowan was going to the bathroom and getting dressed, Solly and I hid in the pantry and ate goldfish. He was SO into it, whispering and making faces and laughing with his mouth covered. Eventually, there was a knock on our door. “Housekeeping” called Brady. We were guilty of overstaying, so we checked out quickly and got on the road for the walk to school.

It was pretty cute.

Dekker was let out of class early when his teacher saw us waiting in the hall, so we all sat down and looked through his book of choice – Lego Harry Potter. Laela joined us shortly thereafter, bearing Pet the Cat and a lunch of her own. I snagged one of the little boys onto my lap, Brady held Wavy, and I read a book to the fam while the big kids ate. When we finished Pete the Cat, Laela ran into her classroom to switch it out for a new book, and brought scoop chairs for everyone 🙂 It was also pretty cute.

As the lunch hour went on, we managed to visit with a few teachers who were slowly doing laps around the school. Laela’s teacher came and asked Laela to introduce her to everyone, and was very complimentary of their names 🙂 We also saw one of Dekker’s teachers from last year and talked about the transition into the new year and new routine. She also mentioned she was at Waskesiu this last summer, so we related on that 🙂 SUCH a beautiful place!

Once books were read and lunches were gone, Laela invited us all to come see her class guinea pigs. We got a little tour of her classroom, and then onto Dekker’s for a little tour as well. But the bell was about to go for recess and our group was breaking down, so we gave hugs and said goodbye. The walk home began a little tearful but we made it!

Everyone is napping, except Brady and I, but we’re eating leftover pizza, which is almost as good as napping 😉 Was a lovely way to break up the day!

Today was the second day of preschool, but my first day to be the parent helper. I felt a little out of my element, as its been a little bit since Laela was in preschool and I was regularly helping out. This meant a whole new group of kids to learn, plus new songs, and working everyone into a system they might be new to. Some kids went to the younger preschool class last year, but at least Rowan for sure is a first timer. So he’s learning the order of operation.

Its a noticeably smaller group than Laela’s group, and its definitely boy-heavy. Very different from Laela’s year! But they’re super cute, and all at totally different levels. I truly enjoyed just sitting on the floor with them, building game boards of games we didn’t know how to play, and discussing what animals may or may not like to eat. It was so simple.

Rowan didn’t need me much at all! He played so well with others. I loved listening to him speak to his friends, include them in his games, and work to remember their names so he could call them by the right name. He cleaned up without fuss and followed directions pretty well. The only time he gets upset, of all times, is at music. And here’s the thing. I think he gets upset because he knows Laela never really participated in the songs at preschool! She was quite reserved through her year at preschool, and she was always happy there, but never sang or did actions or danced along. So once the songs started today, Rowan hid behind me, stuck his face into my buttcrack and started whining that he was shy. The novelty of that wore off quick. I told him he was welcome to stand beside me and hold my hand, but he couldn’t be behind me, whining into my butt. I literally had to pull him out beside me while he whined in his baby voice, “I syyy! I syyy!” The thing is HE’S NOT! He wasn’t crying or actually upset. I even saw a smirk once. He was just messing around in kind of an inappropriate way. I hope he gives in and just joins everyone soon. He LOVES singing and dancing! He’s missing out!

Once the vast majority of the morning was done, we got the kids all ready and hauled them outside for a few minutes of play. The kids ran and played happily until eventually moms started collecting their offspring and packing them up to take them home. I ducked out with Rowan too once all had been cleared. As I climbed into my van, one of the preschool kids shouted at me that he really liked my van, lol I told him I liked it, too 🙂

Cute kids. Its gonna be a cute year, and many cute years to come.

Yesterday was a hard day for me, but as I so often say, my people are SOLID people, and I didn’t have to be alone at all. My mom came and spent the morning, as we had previously planned, so I could take Rowan to his first day of preschool, just the two of us. (Thank you for all the love on that post, friends. It was a really cute milestone day.) We ran a quick errand together with Solly and Waverly, and then I went to pick Ro back up. We finished out the morning while the kids ate lunch, and then Cher joined us with a bunch of leftover pizza for our own lunch! 

The three of us ate lunch once the kids were down, and visited a little before my mom had to head on her way. She was away last weekend and had some catching up to do 🙂 Cher hung out for the afternoon and through the kids coming home from school. Now I’ve said before, that stretch between school getting out, and supper, is the hardest stretch around here. Not the hour before bedtime. The hour(ish) between school and supper. SO difficult. So on a day where I already wasn’t feeling very strong, I was in quite a bit of dread pertaining to that stretch of time. Not to mention, Brady’s day had become a huge mess and he was feeling SO unproductive. He had a goal to finish by the end of the day and it just was not going to happen by his usual cutoff time. So as I said. Dread. Bad attitudes. All me. 

I decided to give them a supper I know they love. A supper that is a total mom fail, but actually isn’t, because its a HUGE kid win. Peanut butter and jam sandwiches. With veggies and a couple of other things, but, pb&j was the star. I had decided to start supper at 4:30, and as you can imagine, got them settled and eating significantly earlier than necessary. Supper was over shortly after 5:00, and I realized we had a FULL two hours of time to nip at each other and get on each other’s nerves. 

So Cher lent a hand and helped me get everyone shoed, water bottled, and out the door. We spent the rest of their evening at the playground. And guys, it was just so awesome. They were SO happy. 

Very shortly after we got there, Brady made it home. He got my text that we were at the playground and made his way over to join us. 

It was such a peaceful evening. The kids played happily. There was no fighting. They even made friends with a little girl who was there with her parents. They mentioned that she was their only child, and when she saw all of our kids on the playground, she had run towards them, saying “My friends!” Our kids took her in immediately, which just thrilled my heart. They would run up the slides, and she couldn’t quite keep up. At one point, Dekker hooked his foot on some bars at the top of the slide, and hung his body down, his arm outstretched, and he encouraged her to keep coming, that he’d help her! I could’ve cried. He was SO sweet. In the end, she did make it up to him and grab his hand, but his foot slipped and they both rode down the slide, haha! No one got hurt or squished, he was in total control 🙂 A big smile plastered on his face the entire time. I love seeing that side of him. He is SO good with kids. 

My favourite was when the kids hit the saucer swings. They went a couple of times, but the best one was when Rowan and the new little girl wanted to ride together, and Dekker was going to swing it for them. Dekker LOVES the saucer swings, and can make them go super high. I kind of started to suggest he be a bit more careful because of our new friend, and he nodded right away and said he knew, and he would. And he did! He rocked the swing, and Rowan and the little girl were full of smiles. He had his arm around her, holding onto the edge and keeping her steady. Hair was everywhere, blowing like crazy in the wind. He was trying to brush it from his face, and then reached over and tried to get her hair out of her eyes, too. Man, it was SO cute! 

I could tell at one point, the little girls parents were going over to collect her. It was right when I called to the kids that they had ten more minutes to play before we were going to go. The little family looked at each other and it seemed they decided to stay a little longer 😉 So they ran from the swings to the play structure and back again. They ran the merry go round in circles and slid and slid and slid. It was just so awesome to see everyone so happy. 

When the time came, so did the beginnings of some rain, so we made our way home. The kids happily played all the way home, as though everything were completely normal with the world. 

And I admit, I was puffed with pride. I am SO grateful for my children, being exactly who they are! Thank you, Lord, for training my kids to be so loving and accepting and approachable! All glory to God!

We’re there, folks! Kid #3 is off to school! Preschool counts as school, right? Sure does to me! He was really excited 🙂

I pep-talked him as we drove and reminded him that he needed to listen to his teacher and share with his friends and all that good stuff. He completely understood, and couldn’t get in there fast enough!

He had a hang-up moment when it came time to put on his indoor shoes. He did NOT want to wear shoes inside. I explained to him that it helps against stubbed or stepped on toes, and that sometimes he might even play in the gym, where he’d for sure need shoes. He was still pretty hesitant, but as kids started coming in and playing, he realized he needed shoes before he could make any next move. So he put them on and remembered that he really likes his indoor shoes. Win! He hung his name up on the wall and off he went.

Two hours later, he was ready for pickup! He was happy, full of stories, and even had a campfire craft to show off. It was a definite win. He loves his teacher, which helps a lot with those first-timer nerves.

Is it just me or does he look way older, all of a sudden?