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!"