a sweet memory

On Sunday I sat in our church service with all three kids. Rory was out for most of the service talking with a friend, so I held Elsie on my hip and Ivar stood on the chair next to me wanting me to hold his hand. Then he went to kids church but Elsie decided to stay. I took Hattie out of her car seat and before I could put her on my lap, Elsie had climbed on my lap so that I had both girls on me, Elsie proudly "holding" Hattie. We stayed seated and sang songs and clapped our hands and I felt blissfully happy.

Then the Lord brought a sweet memory to my mind. When I was little I lived for Sunday mornings so that I could go to church to see all of my favorite babies and toddlers. I had some serious favorites: Christine, Jonathan, Sarah and Joel, and topping the list was Naomi. Those last three were the kids in the other pastor's family and I love, love, loved them. Naomi in particular was basically my best friend from her birth until age five or so when they moved away. And I must have been nine or ten when she was born. (Her mom was also my piano teacher, and Naomi was my greatest reason for sticking it out during those years.)

Anyway, God reminded me of this season of life and how every Sunday I would watch the mom's with little babies all throughout the church service. I even followed a mom I didn't know very well out of the service once, when her baby was crying, and offered to hold it for her! She declined, but I was so earnest. I remember dreaming about having my own baby or even just that my brother or sister would have one that I could hold during the service. I just wanted a baby in my hands.

So this past Sunday, while I sat in church with my own redhead on my lap, with my baby stacked on top, my heart completely burst open. I felt so grateful and happy. And  I worshiped the Lord with so much gladness.

There is no season I can imagine that is more fulfilled than this one. I am tired. My patience is tried each day. But this joy and gladness for these little lives in my care cannot be topped. I have waited for this season for a long, long time and I am so glad it is here.

kindergarten boosters

Our new ecfe classroom has this pool of balls. Ivar got in it and I had to take a picture because this was his favorite place when he was a baby at ecfe. Remember these pictures?

Yesterday we took Hattie in for her six month shots. While we were there we started talking about Ivar's kindergarten booster shots and decided on the spot to get them over with. You can imagine how surprised Ivar was at this turn of events. He thought he was just going along to play with the toys in the lobby.

He was very brave and got two shots that hurt quite a bit. He cried until the doctor said, "you won't need another shot for another eight years." I said, "Ivar! You haven't even been alive for eight years!" And then he stopped crying and his whole face turned into a giant smile at this very good news.

I told him about when I got my kindergarten booster shots. I don't remember getting the actual shots, but I know I got one in each leg, because when we got home I made my best friend and next door neighbor, Jennifer, push me around in the stroller all night. I remember this vividly...that she pushed me in circles around our garage and I pretended I needed to pick something up and put it in another part of the garage.

I think I was pretty bossy to Jennifer, but I also know that I could make her laugh really hard with funny jokes and barbie story lines (our favorite was when Barbie's hair caught on fire at her beach party because her hair was so full of hairspray and she got too close to the grill with the hot dogs. She would go berzerk with her head on fire, running around to all the beach party goers, her head aflame, asking if anyone had butter to put on her head. Then she stuck her head in the butter to help with her obvious burns and everyone would be grossed out because her head had been in the butter at her beach party.) Jennifer liked to laugh and I liked to make her laugh. We laughed a lot.

Anyway, that was a funny story to tell Ivar after he got his booster shots and made me laugh again as I retold each part. And it was good to have a funny thing to think about because he woke up in the middle of the night with a fever from the shots and then got sick up in his top bunk so that I had quite the mess to clean up. That was when I got really glad it will be another eight years before he needs his next shots...

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...