little becca

Rory is starting to call Harriet, "Little Becca" because she seems to have a few of my personality traits. 

Last night we had her laying under her play gym happily and the rest of us went into the kitchen to eat. Soon she was crying in the living room and Rory went to put her in her bouncy chair and bring her in the kitchen. When she arrived she lit up and started chatting and we imagined her to be saying, "oh hey. I think you forgot about me. I was just in the living room, but then you were all together and I wasn't here but now I am. with you guys. where I think you probably meant for me to be." I've got some serious FOMO (fear of missing out) and it seems Harriet does too.

She's quite sensitive. If I don't go to her right away (usually during tummy time) when she is crying she will let me know her feelings have been very hurt when I finally do. She can stick her lower lip out (something I did until I was like seventeen...) and dig her face into my shoulder and just wants me to know she's a little sad and tender that I wasn't coming when she called for me.

And finally, she's chatty. All day long she narrates her day. We hear her jib jab and sing out and coo and it seems she already is hitting her 20,000 words a day as a female. And that's no surprise. I definitely hit mine every day. And Elsie for sure uses hers.

sistertalk

Elsie loves Harriet with her whole heart. And it is so fun to watch. She loves to hold her sister. And when Elsie comes down in the morning she jogs to Harriet first and sings a falsetto song that says something along the lines of "hi baby harriet. are you awake baby? I love you." combined with lots of nonsense words...) I took this video after the kids had just been sledding and had their hot chocolate. (Deep thought: why oh why do we give our children hot chocolate after they have been outside to run off all the sugar?!! I ponder this every single time I end up with sugared preschoolers on my hands...) Anyway, you can see that hot chocolate all over Elsie's face, and she's sporting some awesome hat hair.
sistertalk
I captured this moment and I love it. They are connected already. And will be forever. That warms my heart so much. There's nothing like a sister.

I got a great line from Elsie last night. Elsie was trying to cross my legs and then ride on my foot like a pony. If I'm in the right chair at the right height I can do this, but I was holding the baby, on Elsie's bed and I collapsed my foot sliding her to the ground. I said, "Elsie, I'm just not strong enough. We can't do that game right now." And she furrowed her brow and said, "but you have a lot of hair!"

She was referencing Samson and Delilah and I was proud.

sick days and hoar frost

Well, we're beginning the year with a whole lot of sickness. On Monday I took Ivar in for bacterial pink eye which meant we were quarantined to our house for the week. It also meant that four times a day I have the great joy of putting burning eye drops in my 5-year-old's eyes while he screams, "I'm on fire! My eyes are on fire!" And then on Thursday in the middle of the night I started to get achy, sweaty, sore, and could not stop shivering. For about 24 hours there I had eight blankets stacked on top of me and still was shaking.

Today I have absolutely no energy and a splitting headache, but at least I can sit up in bed. That's serious progress there. I always marvel at how we take our health for granted. It seems to take a sick day to remind me of what an absolute gift our health is, each and every day.

Getting the flu wasn't actually the plan for this weekend. I was supposed to get my hair cut and colored with my sister on Friday afternoon. And then Rory and I were going to head to his parent's house with the kids for an overnight, allowing us to go to dinner and a movie and out for breakfast and shopping in the morning. But that wasn't in the cards. (Though they still took Ivar and Elsie for an overnight, bless their hearts, so I could rest with just the baby to care for.) The whole Groves family is gathering this afternoon to read our prayers and thanksgivings from last year, and I am crushed to be missing it. I love that tradition so much.

But here I sit, sore and achy and in bed. And only because I feel so all around cruddy, I can handle having to lay here. (Though when my tylenol wears off I will get the shakes and sweats again...)

I'm just realizing I have nothing really of substance to say at the moment. Except that I seem to be looking for pity for feeling so ill! That's terrible. So I'm going to offset my complaining with some glorious pictures of the hoar frost we woke to on Monday morning, plus an awesome video of Ivar and Elsie sledding all by themselves. I had gone in the house to feed Hattie and when I went back out to look for them I found them living it up on this teeny little hill. Oh I love them so much.
sledding 2016 from Becca Groves on Vimeo.

the groves family best of 2015:

It was only as I looked through the pictures from 2015 that I remembered this was they year Rory incubated two eggs in the downstairs bathroom and successfully hatched them. I couldn't believe that happened within this year. And that this was the year we tried to sell bee-friendly flower seeds. Also notable was that Rory started blacksmithing and we got our first apple harvest. Most definitely 2015 will be remembered as the Year of the Barn and the year we finally got honey from our bees. And obviously topping the list, 2015 will go down as the year Harriet Joy joined our family.

This is still my favorite way to process the end of a year. Sometime I'll share how I go through all our pictures...because it's actually a system that I find really enjoyable. So much happens in a year and I often have forgotten about half of it until I look through the thousands of pictures we have on the computer.

Here's a look at a few other Best Of's from years past. And soon I will share pictures with you of what will certainly be the Best Purchase of 2016.\

2016 is sure to be a good time.

the force awakens

I got to go see Star Wars with these fine kids, their folks and my uncle Mark. My parents stayed home with my three kids and Svea. Thanks Mom and Dad! Jedd and Rory purchased the tickets days in advance and apparently read the map wrong so our seats they thought were in the last two rows were actually in the front two rows! Whoops! The kids sat in the second row, leaving the first row seats for the rest of us. This theatre had the reclining chairs so that by the time I had my seat back it felt as if I really was laying on my back, gazing into a galaxy far, far away...

It turned out fine and I really enjoyed the movie. I hadn't read a thing about it, so every bit was a surprise and super fun. I didn't even know Harrison Ford was in this one! Ha! After the movie I took these five in the minivan with Uncle Mark to Cub Foods where they used The Force to get me to buy them peanut butter cup ice cream. The force is strong with these kids. And man I love being their aunt so much. It was so fun to have some time to hang out just with them. I love that I can remember each one of them as babies and toddlers...and now it's so fun to see who they are growing up to be. I love each one to pieces.

acting out the nativity story

Mom put me in charge of directing the christmas pageant this year. It's always a precarious task with lots of expectations and emotions to sort through. This year I had to figure out how two girls could be Mary, a dilemma that often ended in tears in my own childhood. This year we had a Mary switch up during Angels we have Heard on High in order to accommodate both Mary's. We also had a Frozen princess visit the baby Jesus, as well as two firefighter helicopters from Fire and Rescue. 

We sang The Little Drummer Boy with Grandma Margaret and played the drums on our legs, there was a flute and keyboard duet by Mary 1 and the Wise woman and this year's surprise highlight was Simon playing the Star Wars theme song just after I read the portion from Matthew telling of the star that led the wise men to the babe. 

Harriet's baptism

Harriet was baptized when my brother and his family was in town. It was a really nice morning that included Sunday worship at the church we all grew up at, family pictures, a little luncheon and her super special baptism service led by her grandpa Paul. We had promised Elsie that she could wear her Frozen dress for the baptism as a compromise because she wanted to wear it the whole morning but we knew she needed to wear something a little less spectacular for family pictures. But it was fitting, I thought. Baptism is all about proclaiming that we recognize that Harriet is God's kid and we promise to raise her to know her Creator, hear His voice and to know Jesus as her Savior. She is a daughter of the king...which makes us all princes and princesses. 

This blog as become so fun for me to look back at Ivar and Elsie's special milestones. Here is the post I wrote for Elsie's baptism. And the post I wrote about our decision to have our babies both baptized and dedicated.

harrington family christmas

Based on my pictures from our five days together, it would seem we sledded most of the time. But actually, I just recognizing that I have a thing for sledding pictures. They're colorful, bright, happy and it appears that I have taken more pictures from the two times I was with the kids when they went sledding than all the other events. (But don't worry Mom! I have more and I'll post them next...)

You may have noticed that when my brother and his family come to town we stop everything and hang out. It's the best. I love that family so much, and soak up every second together. And now that my kids are getting a little older I have the joy of watching them interact with their cousins. And their cousins are so good to them. They helped them while sledding, played camping, included them while playing jailbreak and I am so grateful for every one.

I decided to call this slight change of elevation in our field Aunt 'n' Uncle Mountain because it required an aunt or an uncle to get each kid's sled moving in the right direction. :)

groves family christmas

2015 was a HUGE year for the Groves clan. Jack graduated high school and started at Evangel University. Madi graduated college and married Chace. Sara released one incredible new album and Troy is breaking fundraising records for International Justice Mission. Our family had a new baby and built a new barn. Kirby, Toby and Ruby got a new puppy. Marlene and Madison celebrated 50 years of marriage. And Josie got her drivers license!

Jack is super talented at making videos and put this one together after our annual Stocking Day (full details here) on Christmas Day. This video is an awesome visual of how family-centered that day really is. Be sure to watch for Hattie on the couch near the end, and all the visitors she has as the rest of us were packing up.

hello 2016!

The new year is here, and I'm hoping to get caught up a bit. This morning I took down the Christmas tree and I had two very sad kids. They thought it could stay up until next Christmas and I was clearly stomping on their joy for not hearing them out. But their protest was symbolic of how great of a Christmas we had. It was packed full of family time and our hearts are full. In the past week we have had the Groves Christmas, the Harrington Christmas, Harriet's baptism, a visit from my Uncle Mark, an outing to see Star Wars followed by an all family sleepover at my mom's, the clan out to our farm and last night we rang in the 9:00 new year at a friend's house where there were four babies under 3 months! 

And now we're here: January 1st.

Usually on the last day of the year I post my favorite annual blog post, The Best Of post. But that hasn't gotten done. I'm about half way through sorting through the (tens of?) thousands of pictures we took in 2015. And the rest is just going to take a bit of time, though I still plan on posting in January. I love working on that post as much as I love publishing it. It's fun to process the year through every single picture.

And I've been thinking about my one-little-word for the year. I loved my word from last year and sincerely lived into that word. And I think I've landed on my word for the next 365 days and am eager to share.

So that's my little new years update. I'll be back with christmas pictures, 2015 best of pics and my one-little word. Eventually.

Happy New Year!

JOY to the world

Tonight as we walked into our church, Harriet wailed and cried. She was still angry that we had put her in that blasted car seat. She is not a fan of the car and protests every minute of every drive. We entered loudly, but I realized quickly that the church was silent. The service had just begun, the doors to the sanctuary still open, and as I walked by the sanctuary with my screaming baby, trying to get to the nursery so I could close the door, the congregation sat in silence. 

Hattie was fine as soon as she was out of her car seat and when we got into the service our pastor was talking about the 400 years of silence when God's people did not hear from God. The 400 years where there was not a prophet speaking, no signs and wonders, nothing. And then, of all things to break the silence, a baby cried out. 

He is here. God is with us. Emmanuel. 

There are only a few Christmas' when you get to hold a baby in your arms. But this was one for me. As I held Hattie I thought about how bizarre of a beginning this Christmas story really is. A baby. Born to be our bridge back to God. Babies are so unpredictable. Hattie had tummy cramps and winced throughout the service, crying out once in a while. Jesus was a baby like this. Mary had to stand and bounce him, too. 

We sang carols, read scripture and again tried to wrap our mortal minds around the wonder of it all. 

christmas spirit

Well here we are...four days until Christmas! I don't quite know what to say except that emotions are high in this house. Contrary to the peaceful picture above (taken this morning) we have seen it all in these first few hours of the day. Tears, tantrums, silliness and happiness. Honestly, sometimes the most exhausting part of motherhood is just keeping up with everyone's feelings.

Also, I'm just plain tired. Hattie (did you see her in the yellow chair?) got a cold and her little nose is stuffy and wakes her up. We had a very wakeful night last night and today I have gone back to fully caffeinated coffee with enough maple syrup to make Buddy the Elf proud.

But! Can I tell you my best kept secret for getting into the proper Christmas spirit? Last night we started watching The Nativity Story. Oh it is just my favorite. We always are hesitant to put in...I mean, we know how the story goes! But that movie is so stunning, the dialogue so beautiful and the music so powerful. And then the meaning of all of these presents, gatherings, and festivities hits me anew and leaves me set right. Every year it does. So if the lack of snow has got you down, be sure to watch it in the next few nights. It will bring peace to your heart. Truly.

And if you need a dose of christmas spirit right this very minute, heeeeerrrrrre's Ivar!

christmas packets

If you haven't sent out a Christmas card in three years, you're going to want to send out a pretty picture. And if you send out a pretty picture, you're going to want to include a long letter. And if you include a long letter, you're going to think this is a good time to send out your baby's birth announcement. And as long as you're sending out the birth announcement, you might as well finally write those 52 thank you notes you have been putting off since her birth. And if you write the thank you's for her gifts, you may as well include the thank you's from your son's birthday in November, and your daughter's birthday way back in July.

And if you include those thank you notes, you might as well stuff in the kid's school pictures you've been meaning to give to grandparents and aunts and uncles. And if you include their school pictures, you may as well include the drawings the kids have made for others that you "promised to send."

Folks. That is a what we call bang for your postal stamp.

I spent the whole week on this project. I wrote every one of those thank you's. I tracked down every new address that hadn't been updated in three years. And then when I realized I only had 8 return address labels, I lovingly wrote my address on 162 envelopes. Bless my heart!

But man it felt good. So good that I took this completely staged picture to show you all that I had spread over my table. Here's a tip: I ALWAYS had hot tea, a lit candle and christmas music playing and it totally kept me merry and bright. I love staying connected to people this way.I actually enjoy writing thank you notes, because I do like to write...I'm just a little wordy, which means it takes me a long time. And I LOVE getting cards and letters in the mail so I must participate in this fun way to wish each other a Merry Christmas. And the gift to myself is that I now have updated addresses for everyone in my life, and big plans to order new return address labels!

santa gave me THE BEST idea this year

Elsie asked for "a car" and Ivar asked for "a race track." And then santa joked that they really wanted underwear and socks. Santa is so silly!

Ivar had mentioned "the race track" one other time. But it had been weeks and I hadn't heard him mention it again. I assumed that he had moved on to other things. So when I mentioned that I was surprised he asked for a race track he told me, "that's because you don't need to worry about it. That's the thing Santa is bringing me."

Hmmm.

But worry I must. So I got on facebook and asked if anyone had a race track that they were ready to hand-me-down or sell in a garage sale. And in the end, Santa and I have found a sweet racetrack for a fraction of the price.

So guess what I want to do next year?!! I want to set up a Toy Set Swap. Where each mom comes with three sets of toys that their kids have outgrown. I'm thinking little people sets, duplos, puzzles, thomas the train sets, k'nex, melissa and dough stuff, dress up costumes, book series, play food, barbie clothes etc... Stuff that their kids have outgrown, but other kids are just growing into. And then set everything on a long table, and draw numbers for who goes first, and have each mom go through the line and pick one thing, then go to the back of the line to go through two more times.

Wouldn't this be amazing?!! Because we don't all need to be buying this stuff brand new. And I would get more gifts at garage sales, but I never am quiet sure what my kids are going to be into by December. But I love this idea. Because I know that every mom come January 2 is purging all of her kids' toys anyway to make room for the new toys. So why not do that purge one month earlier and save some serious dough.

Anyway, I love the idea and can't wait for next year to organize this event.

Santa, you are so smart. Thank you for this awesome idea to find a race track through friends on facebook. The way you get these gifts and wrap them up under the tree is quite amazing. You really should get a whole lot more credit than you do.  It's a good thing we compensate your work with cookies.

the salad that's going to get us through winter

I was going to write about this salad in the new year, but I was just thinking that in the midst of holiday eating this is a great one to have on hand. To compensate for all the cookies...

The day of Halloween Ivar was throwing a fit because he wanted to open "just one present before my birthday!" He was getting in trouble for throwing such a tantrum. That day at lunch I fed every person in my family and by the time I got to eat myself it was 1:45. And then I had a fit. I had been surviving on my mom's pumpkin bars with cream cheese frosting for two days, and was exhausted and sugar crashing. I was so frustrated and after I told my family my woes of not ever getting to feed myself good food Ivar told me, "Mom, you're just like me. You're going to get in trouble with Grandpa Paul if you don't shape up."

Such a bright kid, that Ivar.

It was later that week that Rory's cousin Kerah brought us this salad as a ready-to-assemble baby meal. We ate it that night and I was in love. I told Rory while I ate it, "I actually feel nutrients flooding my body right now."

So now I eat it every day for lunch. Every. Single. Day. And it still rocks my world. I try to have it prepped and ready to eat at the beginning of the week. I call it Prepper Salad, not because it's going to feed us when the world falls apart but because I actually have to Prep at the beginning of the week if I'm going to have it ready for lunch each day. Also, a hearty salad, that is pretty much prepped each day, feels like good self care. Otherwise I am prone to eat all the handy carbs within reach.

The recipe comes from Iowa Girl Eats (this is exactly her recipe but I'm going to rewrite it here, because I have a few prep tips. But for more straight forward instructions, go to her site!)

Ingredients:
1 cup wild rice blend
2 cups chicken broth
1 chicken breast, cut into bite-sized pieces
salt, pepper and garlic powder
4 cups chopped kale
1 apple, chopped
2oz goat cheese, crumbled
1/4 cup dried cranberries
1/4 cup sliced almonds

For the dressing:
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
2 Tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1 Tablespoon honey
1 clove garlic, microplaned or finely minced
salt and pepper

So here's what I do. On Sunday night (or whenever I'm going to prep this thing) I cook up a package of chicken breasts in a skillet with some oil. Then I cube it into bite size pieces and put it in a tupperware. I also cook my wild rice blend in the rice cooker with the chicken broth. And I put that in a tupperware. (I have heard you can get wild rice in a can now, already cooked! Have to try that. And sometimes I omit the wild rice, because it's a fine salad without it.) Then I make 3 times the dressing and put it in a mason jar. Do not skimp on the salt! Salt is key and makes it taste so good. Make sure the dressing is sort of strong...there is a lot of kale and chicken and rice to cover. Make it zippy.

Then, for each lunch, I put 3-4 cups of kale (it cooks down a bit) in a big bowl (I buy the pre-chopped bag at Cub...I go through and take out any big stem parts I see...they are bitter.) And then I put it in the microwave for about 15 seconds. I think this really helps the kale. I feel less like a rabbit eating it because it wilts just a teeny bit.

Then I put some of the chicken cubes and rice in the microwave and add those to the kale. It wilts it a little more. Then I toss in the craisins and whatever chopped nuts I have, chop up half an apple to mix in and pour on the dressing. After it's tossed together, I crumble the goat cheese on top. DO NOT FORGET THE GOAT CHEESE! It is so good!

This salad has it all. It's a sweet, salty, crunchy, creamy...and as a mom, I feel like I took good care of myself by feeding myself such a hearty meal for lunch.  I've fed it to three other girl friends and they love it too! Kiss that pbj goodbye. Stop eating the left over macaroni and cheese. You'll love yourself for prepping this one!