...and a picture...

My sister called today and said that I can't write about how big I am without posting a picture. Ha! I get that. So here is a picture from the wedding. In full disclosure, this is the best (most flattering) picture of me from the batch (kankles cropped) from that day. Because I have my dignity.

But I was told by my doctor yesterday that the baby is for sure 8 pounds already. And growing!

how big is becca?

So big!

This pregnancy has taken the cake for not-recommended-pregnancy-comments. I have heard it all, starting at 32 weeks when a woman said, "you must be due any day now!" And I had to tell her that no, I still had TWO months to go. I have a little tally list of people asking "are you positive it's not twins?!!" Even one who followed up, "and you had a full ultrasound? and they're sure there isn't another hiding in there?" And just today the receptionist at my doctors office said, "It's gotta be twins!" The receptionist at an OB clinic. Come on!

But the very best comment was this weekend at a wedding. In my large state I was trying to look inconspicuous when I clearly am not. One of my very favorite girls from church who is 6th or 7th grade came up to me and asked, "when are you having your baby again?" And I told her I still had three weeks to go. Then she carefully looked from my belly down to my ankles, scanning slowly all the way back up to my face and asked sincerely, "Do you like being that big?"

I might have been offended if I hadn't had so many weeks of comments to thicken my skin. So I laughed hard at her very honest question. And I told her, "you know, I definitely feel big and it's not always comfortable. But the amazing thing to me is that there is a fully developed human being inside of my body. That's why I'm so big...because my body is growing an entire life, and all that is needed to grow that baby is packed inside of me. The more I think about that, the more amazed I am that the whole thing can happen at all. And then I actually love being this big because being pregnant is really amazing."

36 weeks!

Early on in this pregnancy I felt waves of nervousness about the labor and delivery. After Hattie's 54 hour labor, that would obviously be quite normal! I had about a month where I thought about it a lot and hoped that maybe I would have an easy labor since the last one was such a doozie.

But then my cousin Sarah went way past her due date in December with her 5th child just like I had with Hattie. And I remembered the truth of every pregnancy: when the time finally arrives, you are ready to do whatever it takes to bring that baby out of your body and into the world. It's what makes this last month bearable. Because all of the wakeful nights, round ligament pains, pinched nerves and general discomfort are all leading up to one glorious end. And at this point, knowing the baby growing strong, you are ready to get to meet your babe.

The truth is, I love being pregnant and knowing there is a life growing in my womb. I love that thought and I have enough friends who would give anything for that feeling that I will never complain about being pregnant. I may hobble and I may groan and be uncomfortable, but I will always be grateful.

I'll be grateful even when I walk into a church conference at 32 weeks pregnant and the lady, who I don't know at all taking registrations yells, "Twins!" Even when another woman at that same conference said, "Due any moment! How exciting!" Even when everywhere I turn comments are made about how huge I am. I'm growing a life. I'm bigger this time than with the last three. But again, I'm growing a life. What gives!

That said, I am feeling better about the labor and delivery part. In a crazy twist, we are about to change hospitals and doctors so that more of our care will be covered by our insurance. It feels sort of late in the game, but 1) it will save us a ton of money (!!!) and 2) we "switched" our game plan mid (homebirth) labor last time, ending up in a new hospital with a new doctor while fully in labor, so four weeks feels like plenty of time!

I am preparing in other ways too. A few days ago the "before baby arrives" list came out, and Rory has dutifully been checking one task off each night. Probably the biggest "to do" is getting the second crib set up in Ivar and Elsie's room so that Hattie can join the fun of sibling sleepovers. I anticipate an adjustment period, but I think she'll likely love being one of the crew in their room.

And as always, I feel like there are items I would gladly endorse...things that make my life immeasurably better: First, Liquid Iron. Even if you are not pregnant but feel low energy give this a try. It doesn't taste delicious, but I LOVE the stuff because it feels like magic in my bones. I drink my tablespoon and within an hour feel my energy rise. It is incredible. I would go door to door to sell it.

I am wearing my bracoo belly band every single waking moment. It is not just a stretchy piece of fabric. It is more like a man-made muscle. It holds my belly up for me and I can function fine when I am wearing it. If I don't wear it, it feels like something falls out of place and I end up with a hurting back or pain in my legs. But if I wear it, I am fully able to do what I need to do.

And once again of all the pregnancy pillows the boppy wedge is still my favorite. I use that under my belly and a flat pillow between my legs and that's all I need for a semi-comfortable night's rest. I still wake up for a few hours each night and I try not to think about it too much or be too bothered. It means I'm tuckered before my day even begins, but I usually lay down for a while when Hattie is napping and that helps all around.

So that's my life at 36 weeks. I can hardly believe we are already this far along...life is about to change again in major ways and I don't feel quite ready. But I know from the others that a new baby is best enjoyed with a one-day-at-a-time set of expectations. So that is what I will expect...to take all that is ahead one day at a time. It's exciting to be getting so close!

mary, painter of nails.

I just finished painting Elsie's finger and toe nails, "in a beautiful pattern, pink, blue, pink, blue, pink blue. I love patterns don't you, mom?" And she told me "let's pretend I'm a 16 year old girl, because that's a big girl, and that my dad just dropped me off at your nail place to have my nails painted all by myself because I'm 16, which is big enough to do that." I told her the name of my nail studio was "Becca's Beautiful Nails" and that I was one of the best nail painters in the world. She said, "well not the whole world. That would be Mary. She would be the best, right? Because she had Jesus!"

Just when I had finished, Elsie slipped a bit off the toilet seat and smudged four nails in the mayhem. And Becca at Becca's Beautiful Nails had to paint over the messed up paint job, sigh about the polish on her shower curtain that was grabbed in the near accident and laugh at the hilarity of it all. I am actually terrible at painting nails but have found it doesn't ever matter how nice they look because there usually is quite a bit of smudging before they completely dry anyway. Perfection is never the goal...Mary probably painted perfect nails, I can never live up. But I will keep painting her smudgy nails because I love the time with my daughter. I love it so, so much.

the happiest day of my life

We have friends who are getting married on Sunday and it has had me thinking a whole lot about our own wedding day. I tell every engaged couple that the happiest day of my life was the day after our wedding, after the gift opening, when it was just Rory and I wearing normal clothes, driving up to Lake Superior for our honeymoon. I realized at some point in the drive that all I had just signed up for was to live out the rest of my days with my best friend. And I had chosen a good guy. I knew it. The actual wedding day had been so full of emotion and feelings and a general sense of overwhelm. I cared what other people thought, I wanted to be sure everyone enjoyed everything. I carried the weight of 500 guests on my shoulders and the actual wedding was awesome, but intense and exhausting.

It was that next day sitting in the car together, beginning the rest of our normal lives, that I heaved a sigh of relief. And felt so glad that Rory and I were bound together for life. It just felt so good and right.

And now, almost 12 years later, Rory and I are living out our covenant vows in ways we never saw coming. These days we find ourselves taking Hattie to lots of appointments together and walking a road we wouldn't choose for our little girl. It's still full of uncertainties and there actually isn't anything concrete to report, but we've been to see her doctors a few times and will be going to see them again, running all sorts of tests. And each time we arrive in the waiting room and Rory signs us in and I entertain our kids I feel the same heave of relief, so glad that we are bound together for life.

It has me thinking about how important that decision is when you choose who you will marry. And how I would personally like to sit down with every young girl I know and explain what it means to marry a man. A man who carries the responsibility of his family on his shoulders, understanding his important role as a father and a husband. A man who carries the burden of providing for his family. A man who knows that he is the very most important part of passing on a living faith in Jesus to his children.

I'm just so glad that the Becca-in-a-white-dress married Rory, a man who is fully invested in her and their family. When you get married it is hard to imagine what it might feel like when you "grow in love." But lately I am feeling our roots growing deeper and it is amazing.

(And lest you think all is always perfect...I always like to link to this post I wrote on marriage counseling and how the Godly counsel we received for three months during our tenth year of marriage changed the foundation of our relationship in mighty and miraculous ways.)

the babymoon I can't wait for.

These are the darling flowers my sister-in-law Lisa brought to the hospital after Hattie was born. She's got all my favorites in there...

So we aren't going on a babymoon this time around. We usually take two nights and head to Lake Superior or last time we went to Lanesboro, but we're in a funny season now where leaving this farm is quite the ordeal, it is planting season, getting our kids situated and then us situated sounds sort of overwhelming plus we are still waiting for one little lamb to be born. Hard to leave written instructions for that one!

Honestly, life feels full enough and a while back I sincerely resigned that this is just not the season for getaways. We've brought these little people into the world, and I'm fine staying with them until they're all of an easier age for others (and they'd rather be with us too... and I'm fine with that.)

That said, I have been daydreaming lately of the getaway we have planned right around June 20th. I think about it quite often, actually. And it's because when we were on this getaway last time, my face mostly looked like this:

And my face looked that happy because this place was dreamy. I picked up the phone to order my food for every meal. I could order anything on the menu. And when it came, it looked like this:

This place was also dreamy because we chose to power down from the world while we were there. We never turned on the tv. I never checked my phone. I don't even remember Rory checking his laptop. We had just had a baby, and in a day of constant accessibility it seemed this was a great reason to tell others we were inaccessible.

We basically stayed in our room for two whole days, door closed. We napped (double bed!), we listened to The Burning Edge of Dawn and Floodplain albums on repeat, we soaked in our sweet baby Hattie Joy, we prayed so many tearful prayers of thanksgiving for her life. We welcomed each nurse that came in and offered to change her diaper and measured the time only by when it was time to order my next meal. A job that I felt very able to do, happy to order every single thing that sounded delicious on the menu.

I loved our stay at the hospital so much that I was weepy leaving. It was a holy time for us. And even on Hattie's first birthday I asked Rory if we could go eat at the hospital cafeteria because the food was so good. He politely declined, but even still when I see our little hospital I get all sentimental as if it were a fun resort where we enjoyed a super special weekend.

And now we get to go back! Sure I have to work real hard to be there. And sure that's going to hurt real bad. But after that part, the vacation part begins! The part with perfect crushed ice, magical platters of delicious prepared food. The part with uninterrupted naps, baby gazing, tuning the whole world out and focusing on the things that matter most: my man and my new baby.

I cannot wait.

a very normal mother's day...

This isn't about Mothers Day. This is about a typical day as a mother. Actually, more about the ebb and flow of life as a mother.

Yesterday I woke up with the kids. This isn't a great idea but I'm living large these days and find myself wide awake right around 2:30 in the morning for an hour or two. It makes me not quite ready for the day when it's time to get up. So I rolled out of bed and got Hattie and marched us downstairs where we ate breakfast for an hour. I'm not sure why it takes that long, but there were lots of needs and a counter full of dirty dishes that needed to be loaded into the waiting-to-be-unloaded dishwasher.

The kicker is that the whole time I just wanted to be in the shower. And I kept getting distracted from making my coffee. And I kept thinking about how hungry I was, but getting my eggs made seemed to be the last priority on the list.

The morning sort of just went from there. My kids needed me in every way possible. There were slivers that needed to be removed, spills at breakfast, scraped knees on the driveway. And I just wasn't ready for it. I wasn't ready for them. I still had my list of needs and none of them were getting met. No ones needs were getting met.

Now I want to pause right here and clarify one thing. It is okay to make kids wait. And it is okay to not meet their needs right in that very moment. But in this instance, I knew very well that it was my own lack of preparation for the day that was turning the whole day south. If I had just gotten up an hour before them I could have showered, put my contacts in, made my coffee, eaten my breakfast and read by Bible all before the kids woke up... and the entire trajectory of our day would have been set in a better direction.

At one point I was posting a picture on instagram and the kids ran upstairs to get bubble gum and that which quickly devolved into an Ivar-Elsie yelling spat about gum size that woke a sleeping Hattie. And the anger I felt in that moment was hot and furious. Because then I had a crabby baby all the rest of the day added to an already challenging day. But you know what? The whole gum suggestion was because I wanted some quiet to post a picture on my phone. Again, I have to own that one.

So last night I told Rory about the whole derailed day and we made a plan for me to get up and to be ready for the masses to wake up with their many needs. I took a shower, put my contacts in, got fully ready, drank my coffee, ate my breakfast and read my Bible. And when my kids came trickling downstairs I was able to meet them and help them get their day started right too. Today has been completely different from yesterday. I wanted a do-over and I got it. We're all enjoying this day much, much more.

It was a good lesson for me. Both days are sort of "typical." Some days I'm on my game. Other days I'm not. It is certain that the whole calling of motherhood is a refining calling, ridding a girl of her own selfishness and helping her to learn selflessness. Putting the needs of others above herself day after day is definitely not natural. It goes against everything in my human nature. But it is a high calling and I believe it is fully worthwhile. And it means that I really should just set an alarm and meet my own needs before I meet the needs of the masses.

Motherhood is good. Happy Mother's Day! And happy every other day that you pour yourself out as a mother.

we've got names!

This picture has nothing to do with this post. But the boys did camp out on Saturday night and stayed out the whole night. In our hearts, summer is here!

All throughout this pregnancy Elsie has said to me, "mom, bend your belly like this." And she shows me how to get my head lower to where her head is. Then she tells me, "I'm going to whisper a good name for the baby and you're not going to laugh because I'm not being funny." And then she tells me her latest idea of a name. Usually it is some combination of sounds and utterances that do sort of make a name. Like "Sambata" or "Ralla." Then I have to stand back up again and tell her that I hadn't ever thought of that name, but I do like it. I'll talk to Dad about it.

Baby names is a big topic around here. I told the kids one name that I LOVE for a girl and they both busted out laughing. So we went a different direction.

But this is very odd. When I was pregnant with Ivar, I was walking around Lake Harriet and I remember feeling very settled on four baby names. Rory and I had narrowed our choices down and the four we had chosen were Ivar, Elsie, Harriet and _____. (A boys name.)

I remember recounting them in that order before Ivar was born. And then with each birth I have been quietly surprised that they are coming out in the gender order that I felt were our four names. I try to remember that moment seven years ago, wondering if maybe that was the Holy Spirit speaking to me, filling me in on the gifts I was about to be given. Or if I just coincidentally recited the names as boy, girl, girl, boy. Time will tell!

Of course, this next baby could easily be a girl and we would be thrilled and grateful. A baby is a baby and a life is a life. We welcome this next child of ours with great enthusiasm and anticipation, believing God chose this specific life to join our family.

In terms of naming, this also means that we have our boys name set in stone (and have for seven years!), but have had a very hard time coming up with another girls name. Because we've already used up two we knew we loved. We have spent many car rides telling each other, "okay. we have to get serious about this. what names are we thinking if it is a girl?" And man we have been stumped. It has been really hard this time around. We've had a few contenders but nothing that we felt settled on.

Until a few days ago. And now we've got a beautiful name that I love so much that if this baby is a boy, we may just have to have another so I can use the girl name next. :)

battening down the hatches

I woke up yesterday and could tolerate clutter no more. I'm basically at the stage of nesting where I just want my house empty. This has happened with each pregnancy, but especially with these later babies who have older siblings who help make the clutter mess. And nothing is safe. Throw pillows annoy me. Couch cushions. All things used to build a fort start to bug me because they can be moved. Basically, I want my house glued down in its most pristine state.

Anyway. There is one person in our family who seems to messy up our house more than the others. And not with couch cushions and art supplies, but with silverware, clean dish towels, shoes and boxes of unused band aids. Not to point any fingers, but if we took a family vote for messiest member, Hattie would win the election. Yes, she's darling. But she's also quite destructive.

And we've been so slow on the draw with this one! For six months we've been complaining of the way she undoes the house thinking it was just a phase. But this phase doesn't seem to be passing anytime soon. So this week Rory has been screwing every cabinet and drawer we have with a child-proof latch and Hattie is not pleased. But everyone else is. Low book shelves have been emptied. Any bins without a lid have been placed up high. Our house has become terribly boring and I am strangely pleased. :)

for the love of a good book

The year before Hattie was born, Rory and I took a monthly trip to attend a Christian Writer's Association meeting. It was always interesting and super informative and I left inspired each time. We would drop our kids off at Mimi and Papa's and make the trek, 3 hours in the car for the 2 hour meeting with a stop at Jimmy John's on the way.

While at one of these meetings we purchased a book by the speaker that night and it sat on my shelf until this winter when I finally cracked it. And then I couldn't put it down and finished the whole thing by the next night.

It was a Christian Novel, and admittedly, I had judged a whole lot of books by their cover (seems to be a lot of Amish love stories out there...) and disregarded the whole genre. But I have been sucked in every since. And can I tell you what the Christian Novel is all about?!! It's basically book form of a Hallmark movie where you know the ending will be good, you'll feel resolution and the story line is strangely enjoyable all the while.

It's like mindless television, but good. The content is good and wholesome. And each story is full of redemption. My mother-in-law gave me one at Christmas that I absolutely adored about Robert E. Lee's wife and her favorite slave. It was fascinating, and because it was historical fiction, led me to all sorts of other readings on the Lee family and Arlington.

Anyway, this is my plea for you to give the Christian Novel a try. Or, if you already are reading in this world, let me know which authors and books your recommend!

Here's the bottom line: if you watch a movie or a tv show made in 2017 you are definitely not guaranteed a happy ending. Hollywood loves hopelessness. They love to have us "sit in it" and feel that deep despair without any glimmer that things might get better. I can think of a number of recent movies that just leave you depressed.

And that is fine for the world. Because the world is rather hopeless. But as Christians we have hope eternal. We know the ending of this story we are living and we know the victory is ours through Jesus. That's not cliche because there is a dueling reality that I believe is more true than the sorrow and despair that we see all around. This world is not our home. The story is still playing out, and God's hope is that the ending for each one of us is a happy one. He wants full restoration with us. He wants our broken stories redeemed through his son.

So when I read these Christian Novels they all have the same ring of truth and the same ring of hope that I know to be true. And it's such a better use of my time and life to dwell on things hopeful, than to let the screen shape my worldview and fill it with unending pain and despair. Bleh. We have that all around us in real form. But the Bible writes of a hope greater and that's the story I want to fill my days.

Here's a couple favorite novels (all very different from each other) to pass along:

Mrs. Lee and Mrs. Gray: a Novel. By Dorothy Love. Charlotte Mason is the education model I appreciate the most and one of her biggest points is to let good stories teach your children, not text books. I learned more about the civil war, slavery, and that whole time period from this story (and then later research because I was interested...) Let me know if you have any other favorite historical fiction books you'd recommend. I'm so interested.

Love Comes Softly by Janette Oke (written in 1979, before I was born and a favorite by many I am told. I read this first book in the series the last two nights. I loved it and cannot wait for the next books to arrive at the library for me!)

North Star Brides by Erica Vetch (this was the one that started my christian fiction spurt. Erica is a Minnesota author and was the speaker at the meeting that night. The book is set in Duluth and since I adore the North Shore, it was an easy sell. I loved this book (3 great love stories) and bashfully gave it to my sister telling her not to judge me. But then she loved it too!)

City of Tranquil Light by Bo Caldwell (still a favorite that I wish everyone would read. The author is retelling the story of her missionary grandparents in China. It's historical fiction, but based on their actual life happenings. I still reread the last few chapters every now and again.)

checking in...

Well, this happens every time I get excited about Instagram again. When I post regularly on instagram I often fall off the blogging wagon. So if you're wondering where I've been be sure to hop over to The Grovestead's Instagram page and you can catch up with our daily happenings. And since it's springtime, there are lots and lots of daily happenings...

Well, I feel like I have lots to report, but all of it very random. So here's my brain dump on a Wednesday night:

-Tonight Rory came in the house and got to work in the kitchen. He had black work gloves on and was working hard by the sink. When I finally asked him what he was up to he told me, "I'm making Nettle Soup!" As in stinging nettles! We have them in abundance around our farm, have always been told of their amazing nutrition and wondered sincerely how anyone could eat them. But tonight we tried them and you know what? Even our kids liked the soup! No kidding. It was delicious!

-I went to the Minnesota Association for Christian Home Educators conference this past weekend and it was so well done. I said this last year, but I really wish it wasn't just for homeschool parents, because every workshop is excellent for parenting, discipline, marriage care, life with a toddler, homemaking, getting kids outside, the importance of reading aloud to your kids etc.. It's all applicable for every parent. I left so inspired and excited for my job as mom.

-I'm 32 weeks today! And still, on the whole, feeling great. I am basically hungry all the time lately. I could eat anything you put in front of me at any time of the day, no matter if I just ate a full meal moments before. Baby must be growing, and surely I am too.

-I took the kids to the Children's Theater today in Minneapolis. My friend Emily got group-rate tickets and invited us along. $10 a ticket to see Frog and Toad! And it was SO WONDERFUL! The show runs through the end of June and I cannot recommend it enough. It was delightful. I think you just have to have 10 people for the group rate (not totally certain, so you'll have to look this up) but if I were you, I'd pool a few families together and go. It made for such a fun and memorable outing.

-Our billy goats are almost 3 months now! And as such, they have been giving each other lots of "back hugs." That's what we say about the rooster when he has lots of love for the hens. But the billy goats were clearly getting to be of back hug age. So the vet came out yesterday and the boys were banded. And now they are quite sad, but the vet said this should just last a day or two. Poor fellas.

-Along those lines, the other night at dinner we had a very frank and upbeat conversation about what goat will be processed for meat. Everyone was making a case for sparing Presh or Cici or Precious. Later I told Ivar that he is one of only a handful of kids in the year 2017 who have to have this sort of conversation around the dinner table. But if we had lived 100 years ago, or any year before that this conversation would have been very, very normal. It was an interesting thought and made me glad my kids are this close to their food. We roast a chicken every week and make our own broth now too. There is a rhythm and a swing to all of this, and honestly, I am eager to have goat meat in our freezer. I love how handy it is to have dinner on hand all the time. (deep apologies to any vegetarians reading! but these are happy animals until their fateful day...)

Well, I suppose that is all for now. I think I am heading for bed now. Sleep is eluding me these nights and I know it's all preparation for the season to come. That's all well and good, but it does make for a very tired Mama come 4:00 when I am ready to call it a day!

Joyfully, Becca

A glorious and happy Easter

Do you see all that sunshine pouring in?!! That sort of sums up our Easter Sunday. It was a glorious day, full of resurrection and awe, basking in the glory of God. In Minnesota, a sunny, green grass, blue sky Easter comes around only every so often so I think we are especially grateful when one of these rolls around.

We started the morning by having the kids look for their Easter Buckets. Ivar's was in my white desk, but Elsie's was a bit trickier for them to find.

She kept circling the room and finally after Rory told her he was going to turn on the light to see if that would help, she found it hanging from the ceiling fan. They also got darling Easter lunch boxes from Mimi filled with candy and they were so thrilled. The morning was off to a good start.

We were going to wait for Hattie for the Egg Hunt, but she slept in until 9:15 that morning (!!!) which was awesome and crazy. And very helpful when she never got a nap the rest of the day...

I shared on instagram that just before this happy picture was taken below, one of our participants fell apart because his shoes and socks were "stocking wet!" from the dew on the grass. So the hunt had to stop while I gave him dry socks, rainboots, a kleenex and a pep talk. And then we went back out and joy was found again.

That picture above is a new favorite of mine. Elsie was into this hunt. Also, I hid two of each color egg for each kid. Which was brilliant, because they actually worked together to find every egg. Ivar would say, "Elsie! I already have my purple, but there is another purple over here!" Also, candy corresponded to the egg color, so they ended up with the exact same amount and kinds of candy. Remind me to do this every year.

Then we got all ready for church and I got the gift of a picture with my four kids. :)

We went to church and Hattie and I listened to the service from the infant room. It was a sweet time together and she kept making eye contact with me, loving that it was just the two of us for a whole hour and a half. I loved the time with just her. I'm not certain she ever really gets my 1:1 attention.

But she is not lacking for attention! That is for sure! We got to my mom and dad's house for Easter lunch and there she found cousin Mara in the flesh! Hattie walks around with a magnet of Mara's soccer picture and talks to it all day. And gives magnetic Mara rides in tupperware containers. She loves her Mara and Mara loves her right back.

Mom made her traditional meal and it was perfect. Ham and hot fruit on top, potato casserole, layered jello salad, relishes, peas, rolls, a green salad and Uncle Don brought two homemade pies: cherry and apple. And he makes unbelievable pies.

Hattie got a lot of attention from everyone. And she was very worthy of every drop. Mom and Dad's egg hunt assigned a color egg to each kid. Ivar was Blue, Elsie was Pink and Hattie was Orange. It meant that the orange eggs were basically throw on the grass. But Mara, the eleven year old, was Green. And her green eggs were a lot trickier to find. So smart.

Hattie walked around with Jedd for the hunt and he helped her find her eggs. There was something about her cardigan sweater, holding a basket and waddling around that made her look very much like an old woman gathering chicken eggs. It was so, so entertaining and darling.

The egg hunt was a huge success and the kids were very pleased with their six eggs each. We came back in the house and everyone talked. The kids and ladies all went for a walk and then came back and Mara painted Elsie's toe nails. We ate candy and some read and some napped and others of us just kept eating candy...

At the very end Hattie found Jedd putting on his shoes on her favorite little step. She was so pleased to have his company and they read a book before we all left to go home.

It was a great Easter. Full of the gifts from God: family and time together and celebration for what He has done in our lives. We have so much to be grateful for...the fruit of our family walking with the Lord is all around us. And it is good, good fruit. Thank you Jesus for bridging our sinful selves back to our Holy God. Alleluja!

It takes a Family

Monday night I was up all night with round ligament pain in my belly. Oh it hurt so bad. And I could hardly get comfortable. I had spent a lot of Monday moving big tubs of clothes as I changed everyone's dressers from winter to summer. I was bent over in the attic crawl space pulling them out and then I was carrying laundry baskets up and down the stairs doing laundry at the same time. I knew I was overdoing it, and that night my body told me that it also knew I was overdoing it. (I'm 30 weeks pregnant tomorrow!)

I woke up Tuesday morning and knew I had to lay low. Trouble was, my folks were coming and I was planning on grocery shopping and picking up two new chairs for our sunny room while they were here. So I called my mom at 8:00 and told her my predicament. And then emailed her a grocery list and the delivery number for the chairs. And she and my dad spent their morning doing my grocery shopping and picking up my chairs arriving at noon with my days worth of errands.

We put the groceries away and then I went to take a hot bath while Dad cleaned out my entire garage and Mom did Easter crafts with my kids.

I went from the hot bath into bed and took a long nap. And after I woke up Mom started making Chicken Salad for supper and Dad started vacuuming my whole house.

Oma Zina and Auntie Lisa arrived so that Lisa could help plant the garden with Rory. Zina asked if I had any laundry to fold. Ha! I had five loads! She worked with Hattie and folded my clothes like they have never been folded before. Her folding is really an art form...

Meanwhile, Lisa worked with Rory and Ivar to grid the garden so it was ready to plant. And while they worked, the rest of us had a picnic outside. It was cold. But delicious.

After supper Zina went to the raspberries and cut off last years berries so the energy can go into the new fruit. And Rory and Lisa planted onions, beets, potatoes and peas. Ivar and Elsie got really goofy and Hattie went to bed.

The day was absolutely dreamy. I hardly did a thing, but was so grateful to receive every bit of love and care. We now have a kitchen full of groceries, two awesome chairs in the sunny room, a clean garage, folded laundry, a clean kitchen, chicken salad for tomorrow, a garden that is underway, raspberries that are ready for the spring and crafts that are darling hung in my kitchen. And all I had to do was take a bath and a nap! It is fun to think this is how the family farm used to operate with generations living on one homestead. I think they had the right idea back then. It is just so good and satisfying and right.

weekend in review

Oh man. This girl. She got to come with me to her first Bridal Shower and she was completely enraptured with the whole experience. I had told her it was a party just for girls and ladies, to celebrate our friend Elena who is going to marry Max in June. I told her there would be cake and punch and that we would get to watch Elena open presents from everyone to fill their kitchen so she could cook good food. So Elsie wore a lovely dress with her white tennis shoes and sat transfixed on the bride (who we got to sit with!) and ate so much sugar she got a tummy ache.

At lunch she had asked me how Elena and Max knew they wanted to get married. I told her that they were good friends and that at some point while being good friends they decided they wanted to be friends for the rest of their lives. That they couldn't imagine not being each other's friend. Elsie liked that answer and was glad that Daddy and I are good friends for the rest of our lives.

I am too.

It was quite the exciting weekend as Saturday began by picking the winner for the maple syrup giveaway. Congrats to Joy Peterson! Big winner from right here in our town! I wore my favorite maternity dress for the big reveal video on facebook and only once we posted it did I realize that I cannot wear that short dress any more! My belly has grown in the last few weeks, shortening the dress considerably! But I couldn't really tell that while wearing the dress because I can't see past my big belly. But I could definitely tell on the video! Hilarious. And that darling dress is now retired.

Then we went to the Home and Garden show in our town. Which translates to: walk around the ice arena getting candy and balloons and entering giveaways and seeing everyone and their grandma there. It was so fun! My kids actually thought it was some sort of carnival. And to our great joy, we met a neighbor how has sheep and knows how to sheer them! Hooray!

We came home and my sister-in-law Sara came over with her kids for the afternoon. My kids love their big cousins so, so much. And Kirby and Toby and Ruby are so great with my kids. Kirby recently gave Ivar TONS of Hex Bugs and Hex Bug Track (which we didn't even know existed...but now we do!) and so they got to play with Hex Bugs, and visit the animals and Toby even taught Ivar a magic trick that Ivar is impressively good at (Toby is a really good magician!) I got to talk to Sara for a good long time and the afternoon was awesome.

They pulled out of our driveway and minutes later our good friends showed up and dropped off their three girls for a babysitter swap, as they had watched our kids on my birthday. So with all six kids, we ventured outside for an easter egg hunt. It was awesome and so fun. And two little one-year-olds can cover a lot of farm yard, heading in different directions, quite quickly!

Those girls left at 7, I put the kids down and then made 55 Matzo Rolls for a Seder Meal that happened here in our town. And then I finished my book!

This morning I got up and could hardly put my pants on. For real. I was so tired. But we made it to church and I taught about Palm Sunday and sincerely enjoyed every minute with the 3-6 year olds I get to teach. They are a really great crew.

We came home, there was a sheep Baaing like crazy at us in the field and Ivar went to investigate. He came running back, "I think a sheep is having a baby! Her butt is SO RED!!!" Rory ran out there and sure enough, there was a little lamb, still in the sack. So we spent the next few hours delighting in the straight forward birth and the darling little lamb trying to stand on its sturdy legs.

I asked Elsie if she wanted to go see the lamb and she said, "No, because once I saw a goat being born and it was very gross to me." So instead she prepped for the bridal shower.

And when we got home from the bridal shower we ate scrambled eggs and tator tots and called it a great supper.

We cleaned the house a bit, folded laundry and got the kids down and then Rory and I went out to the barn to see our darling lamb named Sunday. It started to rain and we went to the upstairs of the barn where Ivar used his walkie talkie to tell us that it was raining very hard. We talked back and forth with him for a while, him in the window of the house with Elsie, us up in the big window of the barn, everyone waving and saying I love you back and forth.

And then Rory and I stayed up in that upstairs for an hour and talked and it was one of my favorite dates ever.

Then I came in the house and talked to my mom about my weekend and said, "I really should go blog about this, because these are some fun memories..."

We will be posting pictures of the baby lamb (and soon to be lambs, when the other sheep go into labor) like crazy people on our instagram page, if you're interested in pictures of darling barnyard babies...

the grovestead newsletter

For years Rory and I have talked about starting a newsletter for our farm. Obviously we both blog. And now I'm sharing every day on instagram. It's not like we don't share a whole lot of our hobby farm anyway. But we both have always said that a quarterly newsletter would be so fun to work on...to sum up that season, write about what is to come. And to share favorite quotes and scripture, favorite links or websites, books or resources that we are coming across. A total hodgepodge, but all centered around that season and the happenings at The Grovestead.

So in order to kickstart this newsletter we are hosting a Maple Syrup giveaway. It's a total gimmick to help us spread the word in order to find as may people interested in our hobby farming ventures as possible. And, to our great excitement, it is working! We posted a week ago on our facebook page (@thegrovestead) and have had a great response of people curious enough to add their email to the list for either the newsletter or the chance to win the maple syrup. Either way, we are enthused.

We are going to draw the winner Friday afternoon, and it just dawned on me that I never posted about this on my very own blog. Duh. (Though that duck, duck, GREY DUCK video was very adorable!)

So if you want to be added to the email newsletter list, and if you want a chance to win a jar of our beautiful maple syrup CLICK RIGHT HERE AND SIGN YOURSELF UP! (And anyone else you think may be interested!) By entering your email, you are also entered into the syrup raffle. :)

We'll draw for the syrup winner Friday at noon. I'm so sorry for the late notice!

duck duck grey duck

duck duck grey duck from Becca Groves on Vimeo.

Hattie watches the kids play this game at Gym Class. Apparently she figured the whole thing out! She'll get to play with all the kids next time. :)

Hattie at 18 months.

Holy Smokes. I don't remember this season with my other two. Or at least I didn't remember it until Hattie reminded me. This is where that motherhood amnesia thing is very, very real. But I am here to tell you that 18 months is SO BUSY. Non-stop busy. Hattie is into everything. And then moving that everything into other rooms. Each evening the other four of us spend a good deal of time putting the house back in order, back from Hattie's day of play.

She climbs chairs and prefers to sit on top of tables. She takes books off of bookshelves, garbage out of garbage cans, shreds toilet paper all over the house, brings everyone their shoes to whatever room they are in, trails dish towels wherever she goes, empties drawers and cabinets, and pulls down anything she can reach on the counter top. She is tall and able. Tonight she pulled a sheet of paper down that was peeking over the edge of the counter, that sadly had a jar of cold queso on it. Which fell on her. Thankfully she recovered quickly, but seriously! When she is awake, we are seconds away from disaster.

But she is so darling. Man we love her so much. And she is so excited for adventure. She brings us our shoes because she is always ready to go! She understands our words now, and follows our instructions. It's really amazing.

And she is the center of our family. I don't know how to explain that, but she really is like our mascot. Last night she lifted her hands in the air and said, "aaaeeeuuaaa!" And suddenly she had all four of us, raising our hands and shouting, "Alleluja!" She did it again, and so did we. She was the leader, we waited for her command. And we played that Alleluja family game for a long, long time.

She is such a gift to us. So messy to clean up after mealtime. So busy and free spirited. And when it is bedtime she is pleased to get to go and rest. She waves to everyone saying nigh nigh and crawls up the stairs. And then once she's in bed, and we've cleaned the house after her busy day, I miss her.

mall walker

Monday was just a terrible day. It was gloomy and dreary and my attitude matched the day. I actually cried big tears when it was time to think up a dinner again. I have been sort of denying this responsibility lately...never a plan and always annoyed that another 24 hours have passed and my family wants to eat again. It was so bad that I did the math that each day I feed five mouths three times a day, seven times a week, which means I am feeding 105 mouths each week. You know you're in a pity party when you do the math...

I tried hard to turn the day around midway. I told the kids that we were all going to listen to our own voice and hear how our words were sounding. Did our words sound whine-y or mad or grateful or pleasant? Ivar loved the challenge mostly by being my cop and catching my moody voice and reporting what it sounded like to him. Ha!

But then Tuesday came and the sun was shining and the weather was glorious and apparently I got my hit of vitamin D, because I was so happy. Also, we had prayed on Monday night for clean hearts and new spirits for Tuesday and as Ivar said, "God really did it! You have a clean heart! I can tell!"

Last night I had a nerve spazz out on me and give me that typical shooting pain down the back of my leg. I have had this with all of my pregnancies...apparently the baby is squishing something in there.

After a full night of horizontal rest, I'm still feeling that little nerve and it means that today I decided to wear tennis shoes with my cute little maternity dress and leggings and it made me remember something that made me laugh out loud.

When I was in 2nd grade, my teacher Ms. Solberg was pregnant. We didn't know for a long time, but Jordana Smith did. Jordana was a classmate whose mom had just had a little brother. And looooong before Ms. Solberg told us that she was pregnant Jordana began whispering the news to the other girls in the class. When Ms. Solberg finally did make the announcement we all said excitedly that we already knew. She was so surprised. How did you know?!! Jordana told us!  She was so surprised, "Jordana, how did you know I was pregnant?!!"

Jordana smiled and said, "well, when my mom was pregnant she had days when she was super happy and then she'd be super crabby, but then happy again. You were acting the same exact way."

I remember Ms. Solberg laughing so hard she had to get a kleenex for her eyes and then she walked over to Ms. O'Keefe's room and brought her back and said, "Jordana, tell Ms. O'Keefe what you just told me!" And the two of them howled. And the rest of us laughed awkwardly...not getting the joke, but clearly something was hilarious.

I thought of this whole story because there was something else about Ms. Solberg. After she announced her pregnancy she started wearing tennis shoes every day. But she still wore dresses and nylons. From the ankles up, she looked very lovely. But those tennis shoes were just hard to get past.

That was back in 1989. And now in 2017 I am the one sporting the tennis shoes, large belly and mall-walker ensemble.

It wouldn't matter at all as I am home most of the time. But today my blessed sister-in-law Lisa and niece Josie volunteered to take the kids for the day as Josie is on spring break! And I got kicked out of the house!!!!!!!! What a gift!!!!! So here I sit at a Caribou. I used my gift card from Annika from Christmas. And decided to write about this little story that made me laugh out loud as I drove here.

Also! Today I am 28 weeks which is the beginning of third trimester. I tell you what, these are just psychological milestones, but psychologically I am doing cart wheels! This pregnancy is flying by. I continue to feel great (minus the nerve thing, but there is a 14-inch baby moving around in there!) and feel grateful for the good laugh I had today thanks to Jordana Smith and Ms. Solberg. :)