tea time

In 2005, my sister-in-law Lisa gave me a jar of Aveda Loose Tea. If you've ever had that tea, you know it is amazing and definitely adds to the whole haircut experience. That gift made for a lovely year of cozy drinks.

But it turns out, like a good haircut, that tea was expensive. So when my friend Annie posted on her blog that she had read the ingredients in the Aveda Tea and went to search for its knock-off, I was thrilled. Thank you Annie for being so diligent. She found it! And it's called Yogi Egyptian Licorice Mint Tea. However, it isn't at any of my local stores and apparently she has only been able to find it on Amazon (linked above). But I found something really close at Cub Foods, just without the mint and, as it turns out, I LOVE the stuff without the mint too. Don't be scared of the "licorice" part. It doesn't taste like licorice. It's sweet and an absolute personal favorite.

My other longtime favorite is Harney and Sons African Autumn. I had my first cup at a women's event while talking to my friend Heather. We both had a cup and couldn't carry on a conversation to save our lives because we kept saying, "wow! this tea is awesome. what is this? did you try this one? get the can. what is in it? what is a red bush? ah, cranberry and orange. no wonder we love it." This is my old faithful.  It never disappoints.

And then just last night, while out with friends, I got a cup of Harney and Sons Decaf Hot Cinnamon and loved it. Loved, loved, loved it. And I've been thinking about it so much that it resulted in this blog post on teas that I love. It's another great, sweet-tasting tea that sort of feels like a sugar treat, without actually being one.

These are my top three. I'm realizing now that I tend to not like the really earthy teas. Based on the three teas above, I think I'm basically looking for a sugar drink in a hot tea. If you have more of this sort of tea to add to the mix, I'd love to know!

burgundy

Well red is tricky. We all know this. I have painted the past two nights, after the kids went to bed, late into the night. The first night our living room walls felt sort of pink. But we didn't worry too much because you can never tell anything from the first coat. The next night I painted the second coat and it went on nicely and darkened up quite a bit, but it was night and I was painting by the glow of one light fixture. It was hard to say if we liked the color or not.

Thursday morning we walked down the stairs, looked around and Rory said, "burgundy. it's definitely burgundy. ron burgundy."

If we had been going for burgundy it would have been no problem, but that wasn't what we were going for. The walls are too purple and we were going for more of a warm red/clay/brick color. We have spent the day painting swatches over our burgundy, hopeful to find the perfect color. Because we are not going to give up. The color is out there. But is it Grand Canyon Red? Rich Chestnut? Terra Cotta Tile? Mars Red? Mexicana? Hot Apple Spice? Country Redwood? These are the deep conversations we are having at our house this weekend.

I'll keep you posted. We're confident the perfect color is out there!

it's tree tapping time!

We can hardly believe it is already time. The past two years we haven't tapped our maple trees until mid March, but here we are, end of February and the sap is flowing. Rory is trying something new this year, using tubes and five gallon buckets. He's excited not to have to empty the bags each day and pour them into the buckets. In theory, he should be able to simply replace the bucket when it gets almost full with an empty bucket. 

Ivar is quite the helper and stuck with his dad the whole time, even though it was very windy and chilly. Hattie and I were out for about as long as it took to take this picture. She was not a fan, even though she was adorable in her little peek-a-roo. Elsie lasted a bit longer but came in the house crying that she was cold and wanted to read books on the couch with me and Hattie. 

I am growing more convinced we were created to live on an agrarian calendar. Having annual traditions tied to the time of year always feels so, so right. It was fun to be out and seizing the day, watching Rory putter with buckets and hoses and for all of us to be getting a little vitamin D. I believe spring fever has hit the grovestead.

Here are pics from tapping our trees in 2013 and our how to,  2014 and the trip that got it all started...

sweet mara

My sweet niece, Mara, called yesterday and told me she is home from school again still fighting a fever. She was feeling very discouraged and disappointed because today her entire 5th grade is going on a field trip to go down hill skiing. And she's going to miss it because she's sick.

I'd like to pause right here and put on my old aunt hat for a moment. When I was a kid we took field trips to thrilling places like the county courthouse. Down hill skiing?!! My oh my, how things have changed. It was Mara's own mother who had to be picked up from her field trip at the Pickle Factory because the fumes made her puke.

Back to Mara. I just love this girl to pieces. And being that she is home in bed today, feeling sad to be missing out, I thought I'd leave her a little blog love.

Mara was born when I was a student at the seminary and she lived just 20 minutes away from me. Now there is something very, very special that happens when your sister has a baby. Because of the closeness of sisters, that first baby born between the two of you is basically your shared child. Of course your older sister doesn't quite see it this way, but the younger sister absolutely does. I loved Mara like my own and spent every minute I could with her. When she was one year old, Rory and I drove with her and her folks in a big moving truck out to Montana where she lived for five years. And I missed her so much that we decided to move out there for a while too.

Now she lives just an hour away and I still soak up every single minute with her. She is a very bright and intelligent girl. And she loves to write! She will send us her stories and it is such a joy to read all that is in her imagination. Writing has been such a gift for me, such a fun outlet for my thoughts and feelings, and I'm so pleased that she processes life this way too.

She is amazing with my kids and loves to hold and feed Hattie. She enjoys running and has become quite the soccer player. And she ice skates. And she does gymnastics. And she has a lovely singing voice. She's quite impressive all around. I love this girl with my whole heart and have enjoyed every age, watching her use all the gifts God has given to her.

We love you Mara! We will be praying for you to feel better very soon!

(Late last night I got a text that Mara has Pnemonia. So keep her in your prayers. Her cough sounds awful and even with a day of antibiotics she still has a high fever. She sent me texts from the doctor's office keeping me in the loop, and I sent her pictures of my living room that we are painting Girard Red. I loved it in that house and Rory was the one who picked it for this one. It's going to be awesome. Off to paint coat #2!)

a cheerful giver

Last night, after the hot chocolate stand I overheard Rory talking to Ivar. He asked Ivar to give a bit of his earnings to Elsie, since she was helpful in sitting with him the whole hour. And then Ivar came over to me and Elsie and said, "Elsie, this is five dollars for helping me." He was a little hesitant to do it, but I complimented him for doing something because it was simply the right thing to do.

Later on Rory talked to Ivar about tithing and giving a portion of his hot chocolate money back to God. Rory read from the Bible, "Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly, for God loves a cheerful giver" and explained to Ivar that he should give whatever amount he wanted, back to God. He shared how God loves when we honor him with our gifts because God is the giver of all good gifts and loves to give to his children. He told Ivar about God's floodgates, ready to burst open and pour out blessing when we give to God. God says in the Bible, "Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this and see if I will not throw open the floodgate of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it."

There was a part of me that thought this was all a bit too complex for Ivar to wrap his head around. These are some big kingdom themes for a five-year-old. But Ivar was taking it very seriously, thinking really hard about how much he wanted to give back to God. And I started to see the importance of having him wrestle with this "giving back to God" concept at a young age...because it doesn't get any easier when we get older to begin. But the blessing is there and waiting for all who give, and once you experience this truth, it actually does get easier. I want him to know this early on. It's the greatest foundational truth of money management: tithing, first fruits, cheerful giving. I could see his conflict in his head; wanting to keep it all, but also wanting to test God's promise.

I was upstairs when he landed on his number. He had earned 26 dollars, given five to Elsie and came to tell me with great joy, "I'm going to give God SIX of my dollars! And God's gonna open the floodgates!" He had come to that number on his own and was pleased and happy about his decision.

Rory got him an envelope and they put six dollars in it for the offering on Sunday. And Ivar remained joyful and excited the whole time.

Today we called my dad to tell him how the hot chocolate stand went and Ivar told him, "I gave five dollars to Elsie and gave God six dollars for a floodgate!" When I took the phone back I explained to my dad what we were trying to instill in Ivar's heart. Dad told me that when he and my mom were first married he made $3200 that entire year, working at a church. He said, "we tithed on every paycheck and somehow managed not only to pay every bill that came in, but we had money in savings at the end of the year! Try to explain that!" We talked about the mystery of tithing, how it goes against our mortal minds, but somehow this is truly how money works in the kingdom. God loves to give back to cheerful givers.

Then I told Dad how this morning I heard Ivar and Elsie talking in the bathroom, "Elsie, do you want to give your money to God too? Then you'll get your own floodgate!"

hot chocolate stand

This summer, after hosting the lemonade stand, we talked about how fun it would be to have a hot chocolate stand in the wintertime. So since the first snow Ivar has been asking when we could have it. Earlier this week Rory saw the warm forecast and declared Sunday would be the day.

We sent out an email to our neighbors and made little invites for our church friends to come too. We got home from church and I baked the cookies while the kids worked on the sign. Rory turned his attention to tree tapping, as it seems this may be the week to tap the maple trees. And Harriet slept, bless her heart!

By the time 4:00 rolled around it was clear that our kids were going to crumble. Similar to a highly anticipated birthday party, they had used up all of their energy by being excited all day. It meant that once it was time to sell the hot chocolate we had a little boy who was sad about everything. He and his dad had to have a talk and, thankfully, he did pull it together and was able to sell his heart out when more neighbors were there. It's hard being a kid. And it's hard being a parent. :)

Elsie only spilled her hot chocolate two times on the table cloth and likely ate a dozen cookies. (I think I'm kidding, but actually I have no idea...) But all in all it was another sweet time of seeing our neighbors, introducing our friends to each other and celebrating community in the middle of winter.

grovesisms

First of all, how sweet is this girl? I can't get enough. And that quilt! I love it so much.

I kept a piece of paper with me this week and wrote down vocabulary that I believe may be unique to our family. It started when I heard my kids talking about A Mall of Themerica. And I realized this has been going on for some time and I just can't correct it. I'm even proud of them for saying it this way! A Mall of Themerica. It's just so awesome.

Then I thought about how we team up into two groups: The Peanut Butter Boys and The Jelly Girls. This was started almost a year ago and used all the time. Yesterday Rory and Ivar went to get haircuts. When Elsie wanted to know if she was going I said, "Nope, the Jelly Girls are staying home and reading books. Just the Peanut Butter Boys are going." It's very helpful and makes any division of the genders sound more fun.

I can't remember if I've written about this one yet, but when Rory was up at North House Folk School, I told the kids at lunch, "I love Grand Marais (pronounced Ma Ray) so much." And Ivar said, "I love this sandwich so much." And I said, "Maybe we should call that sandwich a Grand Marais." And wouldn't know you, it stuck. So anytime he asks for a Grand Marais, I whip up a ham and deli cheese sandwich with mayonnaise and mustard, If we're out of ham it's called a Cheesy Marais (very healthy!) We've also had Salami Marais.

And Dark Dark Mountain is the coat closet in our kitchen. I'm not sure when it got that name, but I believe it was given by Ivar during some sort of pretend play. This has also completely stuck so that if Elsie can't find her shoes I'll ask, "have you looked in dark, dark mountain yet?!!"

I'm not sure how a family bonds, but I love our lingo and think it makes us stronger. When I was little we used to call the tall pine trees on the way up to Duluth, "Giraffe Trees" because they looked like long necks with only the actual branches up near the top. For years that was used in our family and I loved that it was only the Harrington clan that knew what on earth a Giraffe Tree was...

an awesome big brother

I probably could have asked him to stop squeezing her cheeks, but I ran for the camera instead...

Today I gave the kids salami for lunch and Ivar was thrilled. I wrote down his quote immediately so I wouldn't forget one word. He said, "Thank you God that there are birthdays in the world! Because this salami is so great and I'm so glad a pig got older so he could be salami!"

Pretty sure that boy won't ever become a vegetarian. 

the everyday

Our days have been good and creative lately, full of imagination and pretend play. We have made many valentines most of which still need to be sent. We have spent a lot of time indoor camping, and one day this super-fun mom even made microwave s'mores to eat while having a picnic lunch at our indoor campsite. We've worked hard on paper box rockets and Ivar's even has a green cup, "to hold my crayons!"

My favorite picture above is the one of Rory working at the red desk in Harriet's room. When it's too cold he will work from there and often has the door closed so he can concentrate. But if that door is open he will have company.

Also, just so that I never forget, that picture of Elsie with the butterfly paper was a game she made up and had me play for much of a morning. Rory is always making up new games, so this was her sweet imitation. The game was called "Milk Bottle Dice" and was played by rolling the dice, and then moving the milk and juice bottles around on the butterflies that many times. I'm still unclear how one might win this game, but Elsie would tell me excitedly, "we're almost there!" "we're winning!" "good job, mom!" "this is a great game, right?"

And it sort of was. Completely original and great.

happy hattie joy joy

Oh this girl. I know I am going to sound like a broken record, because I just read what I wrote about Harriet at two weeks and at six weeks and every other time I have mentioned her...but this girl! She is a complete joy. She is content and sweet and gives her smiles so, so generously. There will be entire wake/sleep cycles where she will lay happily on her back under her jungle gym, fall asleep on her own and only whimper when she wakes up and wants to eat. I'm waiting for her to become demanding, but so far our little Harriet is absolutely chill. Our most common refrain around here is either Rory or I saying when she does cry out, "oh that's right...we have a third kid." 

She is now four months. I told my mom this and she said, "that's my absolute favorite baby age!" And I can see why. She gabs all day with me, lights up like a sunbeam when I walk into the room, and has discovered the best toy ever: her feet. She rolls over, but ends up a bit frustrated when she has ended up on her belly again. Sometimes she'll roll back over to her back, but most of the time she cries out for assistance.

She is quite popular in the mornings. Rory wants a good, long snuggle with her first thing. When Elsie wakes up and comes down stairs, it would seem she has a magnetic pull right towards Hattie and they spend a good part of the morning chit chatting with each other. And then Ivar comes down and does the same. Harriet is already in 9 month clothes, filling them completely with her length. And lately she has been hanging out in her high chair, all propped with with blankets, sitting up and very proud to be apart of meal times. She is absolutely our joy and we love her like crazy.

valentines prep

Sometimes you take a picture of your kids and it somehow serves as a little glimpse into the future. That top picture of Elsie feels that way to me. She looks older in it. She looks like she's growing up. She still could use a hairbrush, but it's still amazing to catch these glimpses. I love that girl so much.

We're in full swing for Valentine's day around here. That mostly means the kids have been sorting and scattering their Paw Patrol and Princess valentines all over the house. And most importantly, we made heart cookies. Hot tip: give your kids ten cookies on a baking sheet with their own dish of frosting. This way, when the 3 year old licks her knife after every dip into the frosting dish, you can be sure that only she will get to eat those delicious cookies. The rest of the cookies and frosting never came into contact with all of those licks, keeping our cookies lick-free. And we could remember which cookies were Elsie's based on the amount of sprinkles on each one...

roundest snowman in minnesota

Rory and Ivar were outside for hours yesterday after church. They went on a long hike through the woods, tracked deer prints, looked for a good tree for a tree house. They wrestled and threw snowballs. And they built the most perfect snowman you ever did see. Turns out, Rory is a meticulous snowman maker. I would have taken a picture of the completed snowman, except the two of them turned on the photographer and started hitting her with snowballs. She had to run back into the house, without even a thank you for the carrot, rocks and scarf she so lovingly brought out them!

Later, while driving home from a super bowl party, Ivar said in normal conversation, "what did I ever do to you?" We were so surprised by this sort of sass and I asked him sternly where he had heard that phrase before. He said, "from you, mom. You were yelling it when you ran back into the house." 

snow days

We got so much snow and wind this week that our schools were cancelled two days in a row! Could you hear the rejoicing?!! The drifts are awesome and Ivar and I ventured out both days to play for a bit, even in the midst of the blizzard. We didn't stay out for too long that day...

Yesterday Rory got the tractor out, which is always a celebrated event. Ivar wanted to go for a ride so I took him out to get him safely on board. And then Elsie and Harriet and I watched the excitement from inside, delighted that there are "rainbows in the wintertime too!"

snow fort supper

We celebrated the end of January in epic style last night. Inspired by the snow forts of my childhood and the chili and cornbread supper we shared with our best friends and next door neighbors, The Andersons, we worked all weekend trying to build the walls of our winter picnic fort. (That's me in the purple hat pictured below.)

Rory helped on Saturday to shovel the foundation, and I rolled snowballs on Sunday to build up its height. A few things were realized right away: 1) wet snow is very, very heavy snow. And 2) I am not ten years old anymore. It was a strength and cardio workout that felt awesome. and cold. and after a while, hard on my knees. Again, I'm not ten anymore.

But Ivar and I persevered and in the end, the snow was so wet (think snow cones) that I could pull the snow up on both sides of the fort to make it taller. It felt a lot like throwing pots, when I used to use the wheel in high school to make clay pottery. But instead of pinching the pots higher, I was pulling the snow taller. It was strangely fulfilling and made for a creative afternoon. It didn't get nearly as tall as I had hoped, but my five-year-old helper was easily distracted by the cats and working hard to dig a "secret hole" most of the afternoon. I missed Jennifer and Betsy Anderson! 

I found the Ikea tea light candle holders we used at our wedding (becoming quite the wintertime accessory) and then went inside to make the chili and cornbread muffins. Harriet kindly fell asleep just as we were about to head out for our picnic, and napped in the living room while we went outside to eat. We sat on our kitchen chair cushions and ate our steamy chili and Elsie only cried about her cheese not melting properly for a little while...

After we ate, we sat there and celebrated the end of January as we watched the sun set. January flew by, even though we were sick for most of it. (All five of us got pink eye, staggered all month long...) But we are glad for a new month and hopeful for better health!

We went back inside and I cleaned up the kitchen while the rest of the family played a new board game Rory has created. As it got darker we saw the candles begin to glow in the night and Ivar wanted to go back out for hot chocolate with me. We bundled up and sat out under the stars and talked about how fun it is to make a memory. I thanked him for being my helper all afternoon and told him I saw him working hard, and hard work can lead to really special times. Special times like drinking hot chocolate by candle light right before bed, under a starry sky.

quite literally five years old

Yesterday Ivar told me, "Mom, one time Uncle Troy was driving in his car and he set his phone in the cup holder, but there was a big cup of water there and he dropped his phone in it! And when he went to get a new one, they gave him a lemon! Why would they give him a lemon, Mom? He wanted a new phone."

And today I was reading to him the instructions for the Family Farm game. Rory had told us it would be wise to set it up on the card table so we could come back to it all weekend. (It's a long game and one trip around the board equals one winter-spring-summer-fall year.) I read to Ivar, "Nominate one player to be the banker. Players then need to agree to how many years will be played before ending the game." Ivar's was aghast. "We're going to play this game for years?!! Is that why Dad said we should use the card table? Will I be eight when we're done playing?"