news from the coop

What a winter to be a chicken! I'm glad God made them with their own down comforters wrapped around their bodies because they need it. We have a heat lamp in the coop that warms the air about twenty degrees, which lately brings the coop to a nice, balmy, zero.

But in the coolest twist (and probably due to the heat lamp and added light in the coop) we are getting our best eggs yet. Four a day, most days, and bigger than they've ever been. And one morning we found two eggs, brought them in the house and cracked them open to find egg slushies. We found those too late, apparently.

So the chickens are doing well. We got a text from our next door neighbor letting us know he's seen cayotes in his backyard a few times this week (during the day!). So that's exciting. We're watching the coop and locking everyone up extra early. So far they're doing fine. And I have witnessed less scuffles and chicken fights. Probably because they have to snuggle to survive.

the land of make believe

I've had this play kitchen for the kids for a year now, but never purchased any food for it. Play food is about as expensive as the real stuff, and I'm particular about the kind of play food I want in my house. (I did see stuff at Ikea before Christmas that I liked, but then never got it...)

Anyway. Yesterday I brought the kitchen downstairs and shortly after Elsie was digging through our recycling. Genius, Elsie. I taped our empty food boxes up, found our old Ikea kids dishes and set up a little restaurant for the kids.

Just as I was beginning to stroke my Awesome Mom ego, Elsie threw the fit of fits. She did not want a graham cracker box. She wanted "A Crakah!" She did not want an empty bowl. She wanted, "Foo!" She looked at me with annoyance, clearly not amused by my taped up, empty boxes. What kind of stupid joke was this. She wanted food.

So I spent the morning teaching my daughter how to play pretend. Well, actually, first I gave her a bowl of actual gold fish crackers and actual raisins. And then I showed her how to pretend eat from an empty bowl. And pretend cut food on an empty plate. She watched me suspiciously while eating her raisins.

the grand finale

disneyparade from Becca Groves on Vimeo.

Ivar has watched this little video many, many times. He told Rory, "maybe when I turn four we can go there! Actually, maybe when I turn all the numbers I can go there!"

This concludes Disney Day. A record six posts in one day. Hope you enjoyed today's virtual vacation during this crazy cold day. :)

Disney on a Dime

A few things that I want to remember for the future, and that you may want to know too:

1. We flew Spirit Air and had a great experience. The seats are cozy, we paid for our one shared carry on (no charge for laptop bag or a reasonable handbag), they don't serve free water, but for $175 a round trip ticket, it is a price that would be hard to beat.

2. We stayed at a Holiday Inn outside of the park. It actually was a mistake on our part...we thought we had booked at the Holiday Inn inside the park. Surprise. But later we heard that the rates at Disney's All Star Sports, All Star Movies and All Star Music resorts were incredibly low. Like $55 a night for two double beds! (That's what one man told me he was paying while riding on the train around magic kingdom.) These resorts seem like they may be a bit older than the others, charging a lower room rate. Good to know!

3. Because we were not at a Disney resort, after landing at the airport we had to walk right past all of the free coach buses going to Disney and instead got in a taxi that charged $60 for our drive to our hotel. Yikes. So now we know we could have stayed in the park for a reasonable rate and not paid for the taxi to and from the airport.

4. No matter what, Disney is expensive. The tickets to get in each park are pricey, the food and everything else add up fast. So just plan for that. This is why the free monorail rides to explore each resort felt like such a good value. It was like free Disney, right in the middle of the park.

5. The weather in January is spotty. Our first two days both hit upper seventies. Awesome. Our day at Epcot was freezing. The morning was 41 degrees and windy! (You may notice in that picture with Mary Poppins I was literally wearing every single shirt I had packed.) So plan a winter trip to Orlando with no expectations for the weather. When we booked our tickets I was excited about weather in the 60's because that would have been 80 degrees warmer than what we were living though in Minnesota. My bar was low, and I was so pleased when the forecast was for 70. And planned for the day with the forecast of 45.

6. A perk of the weather at Epcot was that we did not wait one minute for a ride. Every single ride was walk up and get on. Disney World was a little longer wait time, but we got a few fast passes and were glad for those.

7. Go without your kids sometime. It's different. But totally worth it. I felt a little smug when I saw other parents lifting big strollers up and down curbs and stairs. I've been there. I live that nearly every day. It was so nice to be nap-schedule free, not carry a bag of tricks everywhere we went and to have the only exhausted meltdown of the day be my own.

8. Read each ride description carefully. We ended up in a line for Belle's Storytime, assuming it was a ride. Ninety minutes later (the very longest we waited for anything, by far) we realized it was a photo shoot with Belle. We died. Died that we wasted so much of our day to see a princess. Died we didn't have any kids with us. Died laughing. Died when we realized two hours had passed that we could not get back. Ah!

a jolly holiday

I saw Mary Poppins from afar, then saw her line wasn't too long and told Rory we should get a picture. Strangely, he was more game to take the picture. So we waited in line and when it was our turn I stepped forward and said hi mary, can I get a picture with you? And then she started talking to me. I actually wasn't prepared for it. She was so convincing and I got caught up in the moment. She asked me if I was on a jolly holiday. I told her I was, and that my husband and I came without our kids. And she told me, "well that's the most jolly of holiday's, isn't it then?"

Yes! Mary Poppins! It is!

From here on out we are calling all marriage getaways Jolly Holidays.

the very best part of our trip

By far the very best moment from our trip was the time we spent in these rocking chairs on Tom Sawyer Island at the magic kingdom. We were aware the whole time we were in Florida how we likely will never experience Disney this way again. Like sitting in rocking chairs for an hour and watching the park pass by. Pretty sure no children would ever stand for this.

When we sat in these chairs we started talking about the porch we want to put on our own house. We started talking about projects we want to tackle this spring and summer. We rocked slowly and got excited about our own lives back home. It was unrushed and sweet.

the magic of disney

It's another cold one out there. So how about a day at Disney? I think I'll just keep posting pictures and stories all day long so we can take a little virtual trip together and escape this cold. And this way we'll pump these posts out in a day.

Not having our kids on this trip meant we really soaked up the details this time around. And Disney is in the details. Like how every railing is custom made to fit the feel of the ride. The cement has imprints to fit the ride and the music, smells, signage and architecture all work to make you feel like you've entered another world. It's really amazing.

     

We spent Monday night going from resort to resort by bus and by monorail. There is no cost for the transportation once you're inside the park. And even though we weren't staying at a resort in the park, we could still visit the resorts. 

They are amazing. Each one feels like a little theme park unto itself. Monday night we visited Port Orleans, The Grand Floridian, Polynesian and the Contemporary and Wednesday while at Epcot, we took a boat to The BoardWalk, The Beach Club, The Yacht Club and The Dolphin resorts. I can't recommend this enough. You can eat at the resort restaurants, visit the shops, walk all over each property and go sleep at your cheaper hotel each night. :)

And for the record: The Polynesian (hawaiian feel and sadly, no pictures) was my very favorite, the Grand Floridian felt way above our income bracket, the Contemporary was cool and very trendy/retro (they must update the lobby every year to keep it contemporary!) The BoardWalk, Beach Club and Yacht Club were beautiful and it was fun to walk on the boardwalk with cute shops and food carts. The Dolphin is enormous and full of funny memories when we stayed there when I was in middle school. (Dad had a pastor's conference there! It was our fanciest pastor's family vacation ever.)

time to play

My friend Linda is fighting stage four cancer. When I first talked to her about it she kept telling me how much fun she and her husband Brian have been having in this season of life, just as they discovered her cancer. She cared devotedly for her parents as they fought their own illnesses and now with an empty nest she said she and Brian were having so much fun together. They started taking long bike rides and found adventures. Linda was most bummed about the cancer because she's loving this season of playtime with her husband.

Rory and I play well. We dream even better, which I think is our form of play. Or more accurately, Rory dreams, I get excited and on board, Rory executes and I document. It's our best rhythm. But with little kids, life gets a little trickier. So when Linda was telling me about how much fun she's having with Brian I felt inspired to add some more playtime into my own marriage.

It was during the first polar vortex that we booked our plane tickets ($380 for both of us!) and planned this trip to Disney World without our kids. The plan was to play.

So that's what we did. We played and we people watched. And we ate and we talked. And to keep this blog totally real, we fought. But even that ended okay, because some fears were verbalized and then put to rest.

Rory is a way better (and very serious) Buzz Lightyear than I am (note that final score above), which made me glad to be his wife. In case we ever need to fight aliens by laser tag.

the sun and the moon

I'm about to start blogging about our trip to Disney. Rory and I left last Monday and had three awesome and full days together. Lots to share.

I'll start here with the first picture of many I took while flying to Florida. I've written about this once before, but I had forgotten this sweet truth: Even when the clouds are out, there is still a blue sky, sunny day above them. (and that white fleck in the blue? that's the moon!)

Our airplane busted through a dark and dreary Monday morning, right up into a glorious day. I was stunned. I had forgotten there is always blue sky shining. The clouds just cover it up some days.

It was a good reminder for me, and applicable to our lives in all sorts of awesome ways.

tropical pets for a cold winter

We added two animals to the grovestead. I am so glad for these two...they keep my home feeling warm and tropical even when it is cold and freezing outside.

Elsie loves the goldfish in her My First Words book. She points to them on each page and says proudly, "shhhh" So we thought we needed to get some fish of our own. When I had my niece, Mara, for an overnight I decided getting fish would be a "fun aunt" thing to do. And it was!

We named the orange and white one Scoobydoowhop from our favorite song lately from a favorite CD Slugs and Bugs. The orange one is named Jimmy. Long story, but Elmo's goldfish is named Dorothy, we have friends, Jim and Dorothy and when I suggested we named them Jim and Dorothy, Ivar started calling the other fish Jimmy. Jimmy stuck.

So meet Scoobydoowhop and Jimmy. A very happy addition to our home.

lots of laundry

It's pretty awesome when you take your kids to a going away party and your son throws up in the middle of the kitchen in front of everyone. Yep. Awesome.

It was a long, long night of the flu, sleeping mostly on the floor of Ivar's room hearing him moan, "Mom, I need you."

That was Monday night/Tuesday morning and we took it easy all day. Even cancelled plans for Wednesday.

Wednesday night Ivar started back up again. Apparently a relapse. The only perk of this round is that he learned my lingo and would tell me each time, "Mom, take this bowl. It's grody." His saying grody made me happy to know him.

 Not to be left out, Elsie woke up at one in the morning with the flu too. Thank God for Rory. I thought I was going to die.

We've been washing bedding all week, snuggling on the couch while watching tv, eating cinnamon toast and apple sauce. We're going to survive, but this was a doozy. (And so far, all friends with us on Monday are still feeling fine. Phew.)

a visit to Alison's

Friday night we went to Edina to visit Alison, our next door neighbor when we lived in Minneapolis. She had made the sweetest sign on her door to welcome us. Ivar said, "I,V,A,R! That's Ivar!" And then Alison explained what an exclamation mark means. "A line and a dot means I'm excited you're here!"

Alison moved shortly after we did, and sold her house this summer. We helped a bit and she showered us with gifts for stopping by. She gave Ivar his big boy bed, gave me a picnic table and all sorts of awesome wrapping paper and she gave Rory a huge plant and light set up so he can start his garden in March, down in the basement.

When we were there Ivar sang his latest favorite song for her, This Little Light of Mine. When it's time to hide it under a bush, Ivar covers my finger and I try to get it away. A silly little game. Then when we sing, "don't let Satan hoo it out" I try to blow on his little light. The forth verse we sang, "All around Alison's apartment." Usually we switch that one depending on where we are, (all around the neighborhood, all around the whole wide world, all around our little house...)

But since visiting Alison's, that's all we ever sing. "No, Mama! Sing Alison's Apartment! All around Alison's Apartment!"

Elsie and Ido

 

+Elsie calls Ivar, "I do." One day she'll speak those words at her wedding. Until then, she uses them first thing when she wakes up, standing in her crib with her wrist twisted, palm up, shoulder scrunched "I do?"

+The kids play together all the time. It's a noticeable shift in their relationship. They mostly wrestle and roll on top of each other. It lasts long enough, until someone starts crying. (Not always Elsie...)  

+Elsie wakes up before Ivar during their afternoon nap. We'll play downstairs, but if I'm not watching her she will sneak upstairs, push his door open and poke him in his bed. This does not go over well with Ivar. Or with his mom. If I catch Elsie sneaking up the stairs, she will laugh and squeal, totally busted and then look at me very seriously as I carry her back down the stairs saying, "no. no. no. no. no."

+Ivar and I made up a new favorite game this week. It's called, "Ah! Company is coming!" During this game, I race around a chosen room trying to clean it as fast as possible. There is no company coming, but it's a pretty great mind game for me. Ivar loves how spazzy I become and runs around telling me, "Mom! The company is coming!" And then I scream and yell that I've got to hurry! 

+Along those lines, often when I go to pick up the living room and sunny room, I wish I had a rake to gather all the randomness that is strewn on the carpet into one big pile. I'd call it The Toy Rake or The Knee Saver.

 +Our kids are a blast. And the days seem to be going smoother. I recently told Rory, "What if we end up loving them being so close together?!!" (So far it has been trying and hairy and we'd space our next kids more than 20 months apart next time around.) But they're becoming play friends (which was the hope and plan from the beginning. The 20 months were intentional.) It's a joy to watch them play and wrestle and snuggle.

...and a joy to tuck them in for the night so that mama can have her alone time.

polar bear plunge

...or a santa bear plunge. Either way, super fun.

stockings and the christmas box

I've been wanting to blog about this for years. It's my favorite Christmas tradition, and one that I married into: The Groves family christmas box. 

Every Christmas, each person in the family writes on a smaller piece of stationary for about ten minutes. During that time we are to write two paragraphs. The first paragraph tells of the things you are thankful for from the past year. Or just thanksgivings in general. The second paragraph are hopes and prayers for the year ahead. What you pray might change, the parts of your life that may require extra grace and strength.

That's it: 1) what you're thankful for from this past year 2) what you're praying for in the year ahead.

Then the next year, we read those two paragraphs aloud to each other, each person taking their turn to read their own writing. It is so powerful. It is powerful to remember your own joys from a year ago and to remember burdens you were giving to the Lord. And even more amazing, to hear the hearts of every member of the family (everyone does this...I wrote Ivar's thankful list this year to be read next year) and the way God has moved in each of our lives in the 365 days since.

Last night, after we read aloud our paragraphs from last year, Lisa collected the papers and put them in The Christmas Box where they will be held with the previous 10+ year's worth of thanksgivings and prayers. Then she handed out new paper and we wrote our words that will be read next year. Those, too, were collected and put in the Christmas Box.

It's the coolest tradition, trumps presents by long shot (in my opinion) and one that I think every family should begin. 

The other part of this Groves family gathering is Stockings. Each person in the family has a stocking. The year before, each empty stocking is put in a paper bag and each person is secretly and randomly given another family member's stocking. And all year long we are to purchase things as we think of that person. For a long time it was to get something for your stocking person as you traveled, which meant as the stocking was unpacked, stories were told of where that object came from and why they chose that gift for you. This year we streamlined a bit (the stockings were coming with side bags, overflowing with gifts and a bit out of control...) and gave four gifts: something your stocking person would want, need, eat and read. It was good, but I guess I'm partial to the travel gifts. (Maybe with a set limit of gifts in the stocking.)

I adore this tradition too. The presentation of the stocking is always very dramatic, with the stocking giver walking around the room, faking each other out, pretending they're setting the stocking on someone's lap only to pivot to the other side of the circle. The surprise is so fun, especially because few remember what their particular stocking actually looks like (you never have it in your possession, except for when you're unpacking it...) The night is very organized...one person begins by handing out their stocking and then the person who last opened their own stocking is the next to give the stocking they've been filling all year. This year we added family clapping, applauding for gifts we were particularly impressed by. Which was hilarious and never got old (to me and Lisa.)

And for his first time, Ivar got to take home a stocking last night (he was too young to understand last year) and he is so excited. I told him we get to buy presents for this person all year and Ivar has all sorts of ideas. I'll bet we don't make it until Christmas before he leaks the surprise of his stocking person, but in the meantime, the boy is thrilled.

I wanted to share these two favorite traditions now, because I would guess there are some families out there who might adopt them. Now would be the time to shop clearance stockings, or to have a family member sew some up for the next year. And you don't need a fancy box for the Christmas Box. You just need someone to head it up each year, to collect pens, have some sort of paper and to get the family to begin this beautiful ritual.

my 2014 one-little-word

Newsflash: it's bitter cold today. Oh, you've heard? I mean, it is impressive when schools are shut down state-wide three days in advance. And a -53 windchill is pretty awesome. I suppose this really is weather to talk about.

It's also weather that will lead you to do crazy things to survive. Like last Thursday night when Rory and I stayed up until 2:30am because we got this funny idea that we should go to Disney World this winter. Without the kids. With Rory's amazing folks lined up to watch the wee ones, we booked our tickets and made reservations at a hotel.

I haven't stopped smiling since. I am so excited. Rory and I need time to play. We need to reconnect like that, and I can't wait to spend a few magical days with him at the happiest place on earth.

I took note of a serious shift in my winter attitude once we got this escape plan on the calendar. Suddenly I  had something to look forward to, and no forecast of subzero temps were going to get me down.

Contrast this to last winter, when the only getaway we had planned was a trip to Dysart, Iowa to see my Great Aunt Stella. I was looking forward to this trip in a big way, and was devastated when Elsie got the flu the day we were to leave. It was the furthest south we were going to get that winter. It wasn't until summer that we finally were able to reschedule.

All that to say, last winter was long, but also uneventful. I had nothing on the calendar to anticipate for all six months of that long, long winter.

This trip to Florida, where the temps will likely be in the 60's, has me thrilled. I have noticed my shift in attitude when I wake each morning and all throughout the day. I am excited, I feel hopeful.

My Grandma Bredberg didn't love surprises because, as she said many, many times, "Anticipation is half the fun." And it's so true! I love a good surprise, but I also love getting excited and feeling the hope and eagerness for something fun on the calendar.

Choosing my one-little-word has taken a more time this time around. I first landed on Inspire. And then morphed that into Inspired. Then I was thinking about Spontaneous, because our trip to Duluth was so awesome, and so last minute. And I want more spontaneity in my life.

But it wasn't until this whole plan to go to Disney World that it all fell into place. And the word I chose is: Anticipation. Anticipation has everything to do with hope for the future, planning the fun to be had, and is the opposite of reactionary. It is totally proactive. If there are going to be things on the calendar to Anticipate, then I have to plan them. It's forward looking and reminds me of my deep believe that we make our own lives, our own fun, our own choices. And then our lives look like the results of those choices.

This doesn't mean we're going to Disney every month. In fact, I love this word because it lends itself to little things to anticipate as well. I went grocery shopping last night in preparation for the cold and got the stuff to make a big pot roast. All day long today we could smell our heavenly supper in the oven. And we were so excited to sit down at the table tonight. So from something as small as a good meal at night, or a babysitter on the calendar for a date night, a trip to the cupcake shop or a trip to Disney...it all gives me something to look forward to. To Anticipate.

I am really excited about how motivated I am by this one-little-word. It feels like a new role of mine. Different from Arnold Schwarzenegger's The Terminator, I am The Anticipate-r. These are my days to live, and I want to live them fully. I've got my calendar out lots lately, planning babysitters, looking for fun things to go and do. It's going to be a fun year to live out this word.

***

This is my fourth year choosing a word to focus on during the year. I love the practice and highly recommend choosing a word for yourself if you've never done this before. It's different than a resolution, and sort of shapes the whole year...maybe it's something you want to focus on, something you want to welcome into your life, something you want to be more of... Here's a huge list to help get your wheels turning...

reflections on my 2013 one-little-word

My 2013 one-little-word for the year was Reflect. It's a good word, and a good practice. I enjoyed it for the first half of the year as it led to some soulful conversations and thoughtful writing at the end of most months.

But you know, I had a little epiphany with this word and in the end I didn't care for it anymore. I'm just now (with some ahem further reflection) realizing why.

Reflection is all about looking backwards.

I spent the year turning my head to the recent past and asking reflective questions about my own life: am I happy? what would make me happy? what do I need to accomplish to be happy?

The whole process of reflection is quite self-centered and takes little notice of the long view. (Okay, I hear what you're thinking...yes reflection is important. Yes, what we discover can shape our future. Yes, it is good to take note of how we spend our money, time, gifts etc. Yes, you are right. But hear me out.)

I think I spent the year over-reflecting. Thinking too hard about the happiness of my every day. And the truth is, taking care of two very dependent kids, meeting their every need, feeding every meal, changing every diaper (or potty training mess) isn't necessarily happy work. It's worthy work, but not always laugh-out-loud slap-my-knee I'm-so-blissed-out happy.

Checking in with myself so frequently was getting me all out of joint. Becoming so introspective was becoming a serious downer. Because turning so inward isn't healthy. There's a whole lot more to life than just my own little opinions of my own little life.

So I'm going to stop reflecting so much in this year ahead. And in 2014, my word will turn my head back so I'm looking forward again. It's exciting, it's got me all fired up and I'm already living it out.

More on that tomorrow...

best of 2013

This is my third year doing a 'best of' post, and every year I am amazed at all that happened in three hundred and sixty-five days. It's such a fun way to reflect on an entire year.  And once again, this year was packed full...full of chickens, kittens, bees, two growing children, a garden, maple syrup, a chicken coop, and lots of cupcakes. 

I give you the best of 2013:

Next up: some thoughts on 2013 and why I'm totally ready for a fresh start in 2014.

(And here's the best of 2012 and the best of 2011.)
Happy New Year Everyone!