more grovesisms

+On Monday morning the kids asked for the plan for the day. I told them, "I want to make your room fun again! How can we have any fun in this room when it looks like this?" And somehow the kids bought into this idea of making their room fun again...

+When Elsie comes inside after playing in her crocs and tights she'll say, "Ah! My tights are socking wet!"

+Ivar and Elsie have this series of moves on the back of the couch that they like to do. They lay on their backs and slide down the couch until there legs flop to the side. They laugh and laugh and call it their "Okie Pokie Exercises."

+Anytime a shirt needs to be put right I'll hear, "Mom! Get this outside out!"

+I hear the kids talk about "Far Town" all the time. From what I could piece together, it is a place at Mimi and Papa's. So at Easter I asked them to show me Far Town and they led me to a teeny part of the basement that has become a magical place for them. I still don't quite understand what happens in Far Town, but I believe they have found their own Narnia. I love that so much.

+In this house we call the fly swatter the fly swiper. And when a paper is wadded up it is crampled.

+We have been bird watching again this spring. We had hundreds of Junco's in our trees for a few days. Before I knew what they were called I told the kids we should come up with a name like Adam got to name the animals. They are dark grey with a white underside. Ivar came up with Night and Elsie came up with Moon for the undersides so we call them Night Moons. Isn't that poetic?!! Way better than the Junco.

+The kids begged to eat their lunch on this little part of the counter. They loved it and it made for a very special and silly lunch.

yellow flowers

This little girl is constant entertainment. She is fun and awesome. She is shy in a crowd, and constant chatter at home. She ran around all morning picking dandelions this day, all by herself, making bouquets "like Madi's wedding!" That wedding may have been six months ago, but I swear she still remembers every single second.

I was an adult before I learned that dandelions are considered weeds. My mom celebrated a bouquet of dandelions the same as if she had received a dozen roses. She had special tiny vases for our little spring bundles. But Elsie's bundles were so big I was able to use the milk jars to display her sunny bouquets. Happy Spring! Dandelions make it official!

family dinner

On Monday morning I got a text from my mom asking if I wanted to come for dinner because Aunt Annie and Aunt Louie would be at her house. I texted back a quick Yes! And she said that's she'd see if my cousin Kathy wanted to come so our babies could finally meet.

Then my mom asked Uncle Don if he wanted to come to see the babies, and he picked up Uncle Carl on the way (who, upon arrival, noticed my expired plates and changed my license plates on the spot!)

Well now we had a real party on our hands. So even my sister came after a full day of work and kindergarten round up!

 Everyone got to hold a baby for as longs as they wanted.

Mom got a few peony transplants from Aunt Annie's farm that Uncle Carl planted for her. 

What joy! I love family time so much and last night was a precious, unexpected, wonderful treat. All because my mom woke up and started inviting people to her house for dinner...

1,431 pictures by Ivar

Ivar found my faithful, red, digital camera last week. I had lost it for a year and then found it in my golf bag after the winter. There are years of my life when this little camera never left my side. I took nearly every picture for this blog with Little Red until I got my iphone. I love that camera, and now Ivar does too. I told him how to turn it on and take a picture last week and in the six days since he has taken 1,431 pictures! I know that for certain because I just downloaded every one of those pictures onto my laptop.

Have you ever heard of Week in the Life? It's a picture project that Ali Edwards encourages all of us to do. To capture the every day, the ordinary. To see the actual life happening around us. I love the idea of this project and have tried to accomplish it in the past, but it's a big undertaking. 

But Ivar did it for me! At age five, he captured the most honest, true slice of time that I can imagine. You have no idea how many pictures he took of my hiney loading and unloading the dishwasher. And all the different Elsie outfits he documented. He took pictures of his Cars and Planes and Legos from every single angle, up close, far away. He took pictures of our cats and chickens and it is quite obvious that he adores baby Hattie. 

I didn't let him bring his camera along on any outings, but now I can't wait to have him document our trips to Target, Sunday at church, ECFE and playdates. It's so fun to see life from his perspective. (And it should be mentioned that these are my favorites combed from the thousands...and I cropped them, which is a magic touch. But other than that, these are Ivar's pictures.) He's got some unique vantage points. Enjoy!

farm kids

Yesterday we spent the afternoon moving stuff from the garage out to the barn. Then our friends showed up to deliver the post hole digger that we purchased together, our first shared implement. We have fruit trees arriving this week so it was time to start digging. It was suppertime, but Rory needed me to help decide where the next trees should be planted. So I grabbed the box of graham crackers put the baby on my lap and drove out to the orchard to find Rory and the tractor.

It was as I was bouncing around in the pick up, driving through the field with the baby on my lap that I began to feel it. We are becoming quite the legit farm family.