Lately - I'm Exhausted

I haven't had a great sleep in the last little while as someone has almost always been sick with something. Sore throat, fever, random pains, etc. etc. We suspect Dom (and maybe the girls) may have tonsillitis, so will be monitoring that too. Therefore, at this very moment, I am exhausted!

It's been two weeks since a post, so I'm probably due for a catch-up though! So here we go...

Emilia helped me cook dinner. I'm trying haha. I love to cook alone. I also know that 10 years from now I'll be very grateful if my kids can handle themselves in the kitchen. 

Working on proper cutting techniques as she is starting to use my big knives. I'm not anxious, you're anxious! Haha

We tried to watch Shrek. Only made it about halfway and decided to go to bed at 8:30 instead haha. 

Eva was cute and made friends with a neighbour girl.

Emilia begged me to teach her to crochet. She learned how to make chains and made a few bracelets. Slowing down like this and being patient and teaching is not one of my strengths, so it was worth documenting haha!

We tried out a new burger joint in the neighborhood with Jesse and Kirstin.

Swim party.

Crochet Project #1 done! Haha I got this Harry Potter crochet kit from Jordyn. Came with pattern and material for Dobby and Harry Potter. One down. 

Lots of visiting Calla and the other horses down at the field. Calla will come up to greet us pretty reliably every time now. Gets a little more friendly every time too. The kids (and I) love it!

Thanks for the proof of mom, Dave!

This boy horse is in the field next to Calla's. He will occasionally come up to the fence, but he feels a little more unpredictable to me so I encourage the kids to not be quite so excitable around him. I got some good pats in though the other day. 

A night out at Scott & Ashleigh's with some games and aperol spritzes! 

An after church lunch & hockey date with the Volkenants and Verbeeks :)

An outdoor dinner with Scott, Ash & Phoebe. Dom wasn't feeling great that day so we decided to keep it all outdoors. Like the good ole COVID days. It was also a very nice day so that doesn't hurt. 

We didn't even know they had jammies matching Phoebe's jammies! Happy surprise :)

We have these big rocks outside our place, so we each picked a rock to bring in and paint. 

This was just after/during the Osoyoos fire the kids had heard about. Top left is Dom's rock called "Fire Across the Lake." Bottom left is Emilia's "Fire across the blue" She drew fire, and then a fireman with water trying to put it out. The brown ladder looking thing is the border because we can see it from the cabin. Top right is Emilia's titled, "The Gardener". and the house is mine haha. 

Natalia brought over this 3D Harry Potter castle puzzle thing for us to use at Halloween!

Emilia got to start another round of horseback riding! We will probably take a break after this round of 4 classes so she can adjust to Kindergarten and what not. <3

Tea Party <3

We got this free second-hand keyboard. Only the "normal" function works, but that's great for us haha. I spent many hours learning how to play "River Flows in You" on the piano. I never played growing up so it's a major challenge, but it's such a beautiful song. The big kids both play chopsticks haha.

I play bass, but cannot read bass clef easily (constantly having to transcribe each note in my head from treble clef). So I wrote in the notes and practiced this song over and over and over again. 

Crochet project #2. I don't know why I did this haha. But it's a cute little owl :)

Random photo of Eva and I spending a very rare one on one moment together before bed. That was the smoothest bedtimes we'd had in weeks. 10 minute miracle... Need to make that more regular for each of the kids. And myself...

Mom & Dad took the kids one morning so I could get myself sorted to paint the girls room! That was a big project. Painted three walls white and one wall pink (as requested). It just so happened that Kirstin had JUST that weekend painted Wren's room pink and had the perfect amount of paint left over. She offered for us to use it. Sold!!

Morning park with Oma

All done! It was previously grey on the three walls and dark navy blue on the pink wall. Much more bright and girly now :) Emilia's dream

Can I just brag and say I did all of this labor on my own, and I also decided to simultaneously paint the upstairs bathroom (not a lot of wall space so it didn't feel like a big feat). I also did probably 75% of it with 3 children either in the room with me or toeing the invisible line I made in the doorway. Proud of myself haha. 

I set up the Playmobil under the bed and the kids played for hours. Amazing what happens when you just move toys to a different spot. The big dollhouse is in my room right now from the painting and it's gotten more use this week than it has in the last three months!

Dinner at Jeff & Marta's. One week after Dom started feeling under the weather and it was Emilia's turn. Sore throat and almost a fever. That was the same for Dom. 

Just missing Pheebs!

Mom & Dad watched the kids for us one morning so that we could go visit Adam & Aly in their new place in Vancouver! They had just moved in that week. It's an house with a TON of character (built in 1910). There's some work that has to be done, but it is in a great neighborhood and has the most unique (large) back yard for Vancouver! They're going to be very happy here.

This grape vine is INSANE! It is ancient and huge.

Myles teaching Owen the ropes of eating sans utensils

Emilia and I biked down Fraser Hwy to 170th to meet up with Dave as he was on his way back from picking up some stuff. 

She's so great to walk with. Such a trooper and is great at standing to pedal to power up hills

Last night Dom got a fever out of absolutely nowhere. He'd been better for about a week from his sore throat and what not. Then he spiked this fever and was in a lot of discomfort. Some Advil knocked him out until he crawled into bed with me at 4am which is 100% unheard of. Has literally never happened in his 6 years. All day he was really off. Fevered, sleeping on and off, not wanting to talk or move. With some Tylenol he perked up, but who knows. We were at Mom's for dinner tonight and she suggested (after hearing his symptoms and seeing his tonsils) that maybe he has tonsillitis. We'll keep an eye on that and get him into a doctor ASAP if things don't improve or get worse soon. 

He usually gets fevers when he gets sick, but he's typically not a complainer, so his behaviour was concerning. Didn't escalate thank goodness. We had a few things on our radar we were watching for though!

Trying to cuddle my sad, sick six year old and feel/look like I'm cuddling a teenager haha. He's so big and tall!

We've all seen that look before :( :( :(
It's amazing to me what a difference some Tylenol makes though. Dom did a complete 180 once he had a shower and that kicked in. Unreal.

Emilia and I exchanged some sizes at H&M of clothes that Mom picked up for back to school. Shopping with Emilia is so easy and fun. She's very easy to dress and clothes are so cute these days! 

She had to film a little fashion show to send to Oma and then do a live show when we went over there later. We love this sweater because her eyes take on the colour of it and it's so pretty :)

Dave is at a rehearsal dinner for a wedding he's in this weekend, so we went to Mom's for dinner. Everyone was full of energy again after a day of rest and some medication. Now I just need to get them to go to sleep haha... 

Playing kinetic sand while we wait for Oma to come home. Friends recently did a poll on whether going to your parents house was like a vacation/break or whether it was parenting just in a different location. I'd say it's a mix. DEFINITELY more of a break than being at home. Many more hands that are super willing to help, a different environment with different toys, etc. In the end you're still the parent and everyone wants to sit on you all the time though haha!

My little blondies <3

Anywho. It's 9pm and Eva is still awake. Emilia has abandoned ship and moved into my bed because Eva is so wild. Eva has successfully and impressively gotten out of her sleepsack and jammies without unbottoning/unzipping them, and taken off her diaper and subsequently yelled, "MAM!!! I NEED A DIAPER!!!!!" until I went up there and fixed her situation. Haha what the heck. I definitely lost my patience tonight. Emilia was a saint. She came wandering downstairs to me and calmly said, "I'm sorry Mama. I just can't. She's just being too much." I hear you babe. So now she's in my bed haha. Which is actually fine because Dave isn't here anyway so I can still go to bed early and fulfill Emilia's dreams of sleeping with me haha. 

Ok. We'll finish off with a couple random photos. 

Emilia's drawings <3 <3 Could not be more proud!
I had followed one of the Art for Kids hubs videos the other day, so Emilia used my art as a reference for hers. She did it justice to be honest haha. I especially love how she shaded her letters like I did

Dom having a quiet moment with Sherlock 

I can't remember if I've shared Dom's weird team papers. He has these NBA and NHL teams all over his room that he's colored, and he writes his own stats or something all over them and it just looks like mad chaos to me, but to him it makes sense.

Having a friendly chat with Mr. Nate

I've been clearing up space and making some cash selling things we no longer need. Said goodbye to this stool this week. Didn't have big feelings about it, but did have some sort of feelings. This went through all 3 kids! Many memories

And I leave you with Emilia thinking she's absolutely hilarious with her vitamin stuck to her upper lip like a moustache haha. I don't disagree hun, it's hilarious when you don't understand what it looks like!