the groves family best of 2015:

It was only as I looked through the pictures from 2015 that I remembered this was they year Rory incubated two eggs in the downstairs bathroom and successfully hatched them. I couldn't believe that happened within this year. And that this was the year we tried to sell bee-friendly flower seeds. Also notable was that Rory started blacksmithing and we got our first apple harvest. Most definitely 2015 will be remembered as the Year of the Barn and the year we finally got honey from our bees. And obviously topping the list, 2015 will go down as the year Harriet Joy joined our family.

This is still my favorite way to process the end of a year. Sometime I'll share how I go through all our pictures...because it's actually a system that I find really enjoyable. So much happens in a year and I often have forgotten about half of it until I look through the thousands of pictures we have on the computer.

Here's a look at a few other Best Of's from years past. And soon I will share pictures with you of what will certainly be the Best Purchase of 2016.\

2016 is sure to be a good time.

the force awakens

I got to go see Star Wars with these fine kids, their folks and my uncle Mark. My parents stayed home with my three kids and Svea. Thanks Mom and Dad! Jedd and Rory purchased the tickets days in advance and apparently read the map wrong so our seats they thought were in the last two rows were actually in the front two rows! Whoops! The kids sat in the second row, leaving the first row seats for the rest of us. This theatre had the reclining chairs so that by the time I had my seat back it felt as if I really was laying on my back, gazing into a galaxy far, far away...

It turned out fine and I really enjoyed the movie. I hadn't read a thing about it, so every bit was a surprise and super fun. I didn't even know Harrison Ford was in this one! Ha! After the movie I took these five in the minivan with Uncle Mark to Cub Foods where they used The Force to get me to buy them peanut butter cup ice cream. The force is strong with these kids. And man I love being their aunt so much. It was so fun to have some time to hang out just with them. I love that I can remember each one of them as babies and toddlers...and now it's so fun to see who they are growing up to be. I love each one to pieces.

acting out the nativity story

Mom put me in charge of directing the christmas pageant this year. It's always a precarious task with lots of expectations and emotions to sort through. This year I had to figure out how two girls could be Mary, a dilemma that often ended in tears in my own childhood. This year we had a Mary switch up during Angels we have Heard on High in order to accommodate both Mary's. We also had a Frozen princess visit the baby Jesus, as well as two firefighter helicopters from Fire and Rescue. 

We sang The Little Drummer Boy with Grandma Margaret and played the drums on our legs, there was a flute and keyboard duet by Mary 1 and the Wise woman and this year's surprise highlight was Simon playing the Star Wars theme song just after I read the portion from Matthew telling of the star that led the wise men to the babe. 

Harriet's baptism

Harriet was baptized when my brother and his family was in town. It was a really nice morning that included Sunday worship at the church we all grew up at, family pictures, a little luncheon and her super special baptism service led by her grandpa Paul. We had promised Elsie that she could wear her Frozen dress for the baptism as a compromise because she wanted to wear it the whole morning but we knew she needed to wear something a little less spectacular for family pictures. But it was fitting, I thought. Baptism is all about proclaiming that we recognize that Harriet is God's kid and we promise to raise her to know her Creator, hear His voice and to know Jesus as her Savior. She is a daughter of the king...which makes us all princes and princesses. 

This blog as become so fun for me to look back at Ivar and Elsie's special milestones. Here is the post I wrote for Elsie's baptism. And the post I wrote about our decision to have our babies both baptized and dedicated.

harrington family christmas

Based on my pictures from our five days together, it would seem we sledded most of the time. But actually, I just recognizing that I have a thing for sledding pictures. They're colorful, bright, happy and it appears that I have taken more pictures from the two times I was with the kids when they went sledding than all the other events. (But don't worry Mom! I have more and I'll post them next...)

You may have noticed that when my brother and his family come to town we stop everything and hang out. It's the best. I love that family so much, and soak up every second together. And now that my kids are getting a little older I have the joy of watching them interact with their cousins. And their cousins are so good to them. They helped them while sledding, played camping, included them while playing jailbreak and I am so grateful for every one.

I decided to call this slight change of elevation in our field Aunt 'n' Uncle Mountain because it required an aunt or an uncle to get each kid's sled moving in the right direction. :)