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?"

super love

We've read Super Love countless times this week, a sweet story about a little girl who plans a wedding for her cat and her stuffed puppy. Unfortunately, the cat doesn't seem to want to cooperate. She sets up her stuffed animals to watch, decorates the aisle and is all set to be the flower girl, but her cat still doesn't want to participate. In the end, her dad comes home from work and her mom and dad get married again. It's adorable and Elsie apparently has been taking notes.

She woke up Friday and wanted to dress for her wedding. We spent a lot of time trying to figure out what she could use as a veil. I cut up a white kitchen garbage bag but she didn't like that. I suggested a white skirt, but she didn't like that either. Finally I suggested this fitted sheet, and that made the bride-to-be happy.

I got out my wedding album so she could see me as a bride and she poured over each picture.

Then we made an aisle and got the church all set for a wedding. Ivar said excitedly, "the wood box can be the dresser! Mom, why is there a dresser in the front of every church?" A sweet time to tell him about the altar table. Then he went upstairs and got all of his mini Bibles so we would each have a book in our hands for singing. Elsie insisted that "weddings are at night like Maddie" so we just had a rehearsal, waiting for the sun to go down for the real thing. It was also decided that Ivar would be the cotton ball boy, a new spin on the flower girl.

After supper we had the actual wedding, and the groom was very good to put a sport coat over his pajamas. It was family movie night, so we got out the video from our wedding to show the kids. Elsie was mesmerized. Mostly the kids were fascinated watching video of their cousins and aunts and uncles walking down the aisle from ten years ago. 

It was a sweet day of wedding fun. At one point, as Elsie trotted across the room in her cinderella high heels, I said to Rory, "don't blink. the real deal is just around the corner." And we both got teary. 

life with three

Just taking a minute here to write out my thoughts on how life has changed with the addition of our third, sweet baby. I've been thinking about it quite a bit, actually,

My first thought is that this has been a pretty smooth transition compared to the last baby. I had a hunch that it would be. The change from one to two kids was rough on me, partly because it was a big adjustment, but also because we had just moved, our marriage was in need of some tlc, I was still trying to find local friends, I had a dear friendship that was greatly strained, I didn't have a routine to my days and the hormones I was dealt were bad news. It made for a rocky ride.

In contrast to Elsie's arrival, the addition of Harriet has been much smoother partly because I didn't move nine days after she was born, our marriage grew even stronger with her birth, I have local friends to call and local places to frequent, that strained friendship has been restored, and this time around I have been given the happy hormone cocktail. You don't get to choose that last factor. It's why some are slammed with postpartum depression and others are not, and can vary with each baby.

But a few things have had to change this time around. When I had the flu last weekend I got to thinking. I was so sick and had just spent the week dealing with Ivar's pink eye. And then Elsie and Harriet got colds too. Part of this is totally normal for a family with little kids in the wintertime. But I also knew that much of the reason for our sickness was our pace of life. It was clear that I couldn't maintain the same commitments I had been trying to keep since Harriet was born. It was taking a toll on all of our well-being and also affecting my milk supply. So I spent an afternoon declining, saying no, and backing out of wonderful invitations and it felt right. We all know that saying no to something is actually saying yes to something else. I was saying yes to our health and happiness.

So the pace of life has had to change with three. And that's fine for this season.

The other thing that I have noticed with three is how hairy and how awesome siblings can be. There are days when I feel stretched thin. But there are many more days when I feel the fullness of moments like the one pictured above and marvel at the fact that the baby was fussing and that Ivar figured out how to calm her. I'm starting to really believe the more the merrier.

So all in all, it's been a nice three months. Perhaps the greatest improvement is the gratitude and contentment I feel as a stay at home mom. I fought this for too long, wondering if I should be doing more, contributing to the world in a larger way. But I don't wrestle with that anymore. I have been given peace that has led to a deep joy and a true sense of purpose. My contribution to the world is huge and worthwhile and currently playing/napping upstairs. Thanks be to God!

That's my update. Three months in with three kids and life feels wonderful and full. The pace has had to slow down and I have had to say no to great things in order to say yes to the best things. I couldn't be more grateful.

puzzle update

Rory came down yesterday and told me he was all out of clean clothes. And I looked at him and said, "well clearly I've been a little busy..." and motioned towards the puzzle table.

I have never ever been a puzzle person. I've never had the patience. But this one is changing all that. Ivar is still super helpful. Most of the time when I find a piece that is a fit I just hand it to him and he can figure out where it goes. He looks on the box and then finds that part of the puzzle. It's been really fun for us to work together and fun to talk about all the states in our country and who we know who lives there.

And for added challenge, we often have trains and kitties crowding us on the table. It's hard to see all the pieces when there are stuffed animals set on top of them, but it makes it all the more rewarding when I do find that missing piece, somewhere in the carpet below.

It's quiet playtime now, which means I can work on the puzzle a bit by myself. Got to go!