buttered corn and good fathers

butterhead from Becca Groves on Vimeo.

I was raised hearing a story that my sister when she was really little sat next to Great Grandma Anders at a family picnic and Great Grandma kept buttering Annika's corn, and Annika kept licking it off. They did this for the entire meal and Great Grandma was so patient sneaking in her own bites from her plate between butterings.

Last night we watched a similar storyline, one generation later. Oh we laughed so hard. I wrote on instagram that I have a dream that one day my daughter will have her head carved in butter at the Minnesota State Fair. And that this surely puts us on the right track.

We had a great Father's Day. We went to church and the dad's were asked to stand and then the church was supposed to surround the fathers and pray for them. The way it worked out (thank goodness!), I was the only one who stood by Rory and when I went to pray I just cried and cried. I married Rory because I loved him and knew he was good stuff. But I hadn't really thought through to how he'd be as a dad. I was overwhelmed yesterday with how grateful and glad I feel that I married a guy who takes fatherhood so seriously. He is fully involved, his kids adore him, he keeps behavior boundaries in check and adds so much sanity and structure to our home. He is taking this responsibility seriously, teaching, guiding, loving and leading. And I just cried a wet mess onto his shoulder as my prayer of thanksgiving for this good guy. And he liked that prayer.

My mom and dad and Annika, Jedd, Mara, Sonna and Svea came for a picnic dinner and it was lovely. It was steamy when everyone arrived at 4, but continued to cool down into the evening. That's such a nice part of the day. We had a picnic, got out the bubble machine (the kid's picked out as Rory's father's day gift... greatly encouraged by their mom), ate two homemade strawberry pies, held kittens, gave garden tours and barn tours and played a few rounds of family kick ball.

I'm so grateful for my own father. I was telling him about how I was at a kid's birthday party on Saturday and knew everyone there with just one degree of separation. Either I knew them or we quickly found mutual friends from college or bible camp or my family. Dad is a connector, always meeting people, finding things (friends, home towns, cabin locations) in common and helping introduce new acquaintances to old. That's what he did every Sunday at church. He'd find the fun fact and then tell the visiting family, "Oh, you have to meet the Johnsons, they have a cabin in Spooner too!" and then introduce the families and move on to the next family. Even on Saturday night at my sister's huge summer party in her backyard, Rory commented that Dad just worked his way around the perimeter of the yard, visiting everyone, making sure he knew how they knew Annika. It really is a gift, and so important. He's a community builder and I love that about him and how I get to reap so much relationally from all the connections he has made throughout his life.

In light of all that we see on the news and read in the paper, it seems to me our greatest hope would be for more Rory's and Paul's, leading their families with intention, creating community and building relationships wherever they go.

silkey's strawberries

This was our forth year strawberry picking at Silkey Gardens and man I love this annual tradition. I first went when I was pregnant with Elsie, then when she was almost one, then almost two and now almost three. My kids are getting increasingly helpful, putting a berries into their baskets as well as their berries. But the best part is that the Silkey family is incredibly gracious and generous encouraging "the future berry pickers" in their strawberry snacking. Ivar was on a quest to find the "winning strawberry" always looking for the biggest one. And Elsie didn't start stuffing her face until check out when I was talking for a while with the owners. I think she had 25 strawberries while she stood and waited.

Tonight we ate our first strawberry pie of the season and plan on going back tomorrow for more berries for another pie for Father's Day. Nothing beats a fresh strawberry pie. 

Firmoo Eyeglasses

Whew. That's a close up head shot, isn't it? But I'm about to tell you about those there specs on my face, so a picture seemed in order. Before I tell you all about these glasses, I want to throw out a little disclaimer. I have never tried to monetize my blog. Rory has encouraged me, telling me if I'm pouring this much time and effort into these posts I might as well get some sort of kick back. And there are enough of you reading that I probably could do something with ad space or giveaways.

But here's the thing. I have read lots of blogs that have gone that direction and first I'd like to say, more power to them. Truly. There is nothing wrong in finding a little reward for all the words and images poured onto these pages. But I have noticed two things often happen when a blogger transitions from personal to promotional. The first is that you can sniff it out real fast. It's easy to know when someone is trying to sell you something. Second, I have found that bloggers can lose their voice in the process. They struggle with what to write about, thinking it needs to always fit into their advertisers niche. And it seems to tie up their tongues.

I love this blog space because I feel beholden to absolutely no one. If I fancy it, I write it. Lots of times I don't even read through a post before I hit publish. I feel free and uninhibited and for that reason I don't think I'll ever go the route of ads or sponsored blog posts. But never say never and time will tell, I suppose.

All that said, have I got a deal for you! Step right up ladies and gentleman, step right up for the best deal of your eye glasses lives!

So I have this long and emotional tale with eye glasses. Mostly that I have been wearing eye glasses without the anti-reflective coating for three awful, glaring years. It had something to do with the deal at America's Best and how you could get an eye exam and two pair of eye glasses for some serious deal, but as a result, your glasses were the basic, no frills specs you'd expect from a deal like that. About a year ago one of the lenses popped out of the first pair, and a few months ago one of the nose pads fell off so that I've had a screw digging into my schnozer whenever I go without contacts.

You can then imagine my delight when I got an email from Firmoo Online Eyeglass Store asking if I'd like to try their site and order a pair of glasses in exchange for a review. I was thrilled because I still drive 45 minutes to my old eye place, and because my prescription was still current...all I needed were glasses that didn't leave a dent on my face every time I wore them.

So I got on their site and looked at all of my choices. Glasses shopping always gives me a little identity crisis. I have no idea who I am when I am trying on glasses or sunglasses. So I went with a pair that I thought might be a fun change, a pair that looked sort of like what I see other people wearing lately, a pair that frankly felt a little out of my comfort zone. I plugged in my prescription that my eye doctor, after a phone call, had gladly mailed to my house and I ordered my specs.

They came and I really like them. They're totally different, I laugh a bit at their size, but again, this seems to be what people are wearing. And as I told Rory, the size of lens is actually awesome. There is no frame blocking my view in any direction!

I am pleased as punch to write all of this about Firmoo because it was truly that easy, and I really am that pleased and as one who hates making appointments with two kids along for the ride, this was so slick! And the real reason I can promote them is because the prices are awesome. Frames all range from $20-$40. Everyday they add new frames to choose from. And if you click here, they have sent me a link so that you can get 15% off your order.

Again, I'm not usually peddling anything on this blog, but folks, I got a pair of free eye glasses out of the deal, I didn't have to go sit in a lobby and try on fifty pair and wonder who I really am, and I am pleased to pass this site along to you.

a special reset button

Look at those pictures! That was all yesterday, another epic summer day. We went to a beach, had a picnic, played at two different parks, stopped by the Dairy Inn for strawberry malts and ended up driving by an airfield and watching all sorts of little airplanes and gliders land and take off just feet in front of us. The day was stunning and I was a happy mama.

But the day didn't start out that way. My whole crew was a moody mess when we woke up, including me. I tried to get us out of the house for almost two hours. I threatened all sorts of things that I never followed through on. I gave Elsie a choice of swimsuits and she screamed, "both of them!" Which was fine with me. I told her she could wear both. And then she screamed even more because I think she was looking for a fight, and I wasn't giving it to her. She did end up fitting both of her bottoms on and wore them proudly all day long.

We had nothing in the house for a picnic (mayonaise on hotdog buns, anyone?) So I gathered an odd mix of prunes, graham crackers and a brown banana that made me feel better but I knew no one would actually eat. I was loading sand toys, camping chairs and beach towels into the back of the jeep, listening to my daughter cry about something in the garage when I found a bag of bread Oma Zina had given to me to give to the chickens. I took a loaf over to the chicken yard, breaking it into bits, and was thinking about calling it quits on the whole outing, sending the kids to their rooms to regroup and staying put for the day.

And then Ivar shouted, "Patsy's here!" I continued to feed the chickens, took a deep breath and then turned around with a forced smile and welcome on my face and walked over to Patsy's car. Patsy is our neighbor who lives at the end of the road and seems to only stop in on the days when I am about to give every member of my family a spanking. She catches me right before I'm about to loose my mind (or have already) and then stays and talks for a long while. Her timing is so uncanny that just yesterday I saw quite clearly that Patsy is the way God helps me press the reset button on my day. Because after fifteen minutes of catching up on her kids, her grandbaby, our barn, the kittens and the volatile morning we were living through, I seem to be breathing normal again and can continue my day back in my right mind.

She left and I loaded the kids up. I filed up water bottles and we put on their favorite kids cd and took off for a 45 minute drive through the country to a beautiful county park that has this incredible playground and huge beach.

When we were all back home I was looking through the pictures of our stunning, epic, summer day. And I thought about Patsy and how glad I was that she showed up right at the wrong time and got me on my feet again.

north house folk school

Last fall we had our friends David and Jenny over and they told us all about a folk school up in Grand Marais. They showed us the webpage and we got on their mailing list and started reading about all of the courses they offer. The variety of workshops was astonishing and really inspiring.

So this past Wednesday, Rory loaded up his truck to head up for four days to North House Folk School to take a course on blacksmithing. He got a camp site that was walking distance to the folk school and right on Lake Superior. And then he was taught how to heat and hammer metal into useful things. (That's his classroom up above.)

I was so excited for him to go. He was so excited to get to go. And based on pictures he sent to my phone, texts and late night conversations, he really enjoyed the entire experience. He got home at 11:30 Saturday night and we stayed up talking and he showed me everything he made. Then tonight we had a family slide show, showing us the campus, the station where he worked most of the time, and a few of the other classes and projects in progress while he was there.

There are so many workshops offered throughout the year and now we're trying to figure out if there is anything we can go back and learn together before baby comes. The North Shore is my favorite destination and I'm so thrilled to have one more awesome reason to make the drive up to that beautiful part of Minnesota.