sunshine for your day

It's snowing and blowing here...a real blizzard! Rory just went out to feed the animals and we talked about Pa Ingalls tying a line from the house to the barn to find his way back from chores. We still have visibility, but he did walk out there backwards since the icy snow is so harsh on the face! 

Hattie wore a new dress to church yesterday, from her Seattle cousins. Usually I can't get Hattie to stay still for a picture, but when I told her I wanted a picture to send to Claire, Simon and Nellie, she lit up and posed so nicely. And after each picture she confirmed, "Nanoo?!" Which is how she says Nellie, a beloved cousin friend who took great care of Hattie during our Thanksgiving visit.

...and casually leaning against the book shelf.

the laundry flu

We are in the middle of our third week of having to clear everything from the calendar because of sickness. We have been passing around some version of the flu to each other since the new year. I have been out of the house a total of six times in 2018. No lie!

I had a pretty chipper attitude about it for a while. It was so cold, I didn't actually want to go anywhere anyway. We have had a roaring fire heating our house and it's cozy to stay put.

But then Ivar got a high fever on Sunday afternoon and I had to call my sister to tell her we wouldn't be coming to her house for MLK day. We would, instead, stay put again. It was a low blow and it got me down. I was really, really excited for a day at her house with all of our kids.

Later that night Rory found me baking cookies in the kitchen. "Wow. Why are you making cookies?"

"Low morale," I replied. And then laughed at the absurdity of it, as well as the absolute truth.

And probably because I'm slowly losing my marbles, I imagined a little Mystery Science Theatre commentary happening while I was baking cookies. I heard a narration team in my head, "Ah, folks, it's too early for her to get the winter blues. We haven't even hit Valentines Day, her typical low point of winter. In fact, that's still a long ways off. Is she going anywhere this winter? Um, not unless you count Iowa in March for her great Aunt's 100th birthday. Right. That's not very far south. Also, it's two months from now. Well, I'd say she's doing the right thing by baking cookies. We agree. And good for her for using Gluten Free flour. They're basically healthy now. Absolutely."

And now, since Sunday night,  Hattie has had what I call The Laundry Flu two different nights. Ivar has The Kleenex Flu with achy bones and a lack of energy. And yesterday I got some version of the flu too. And to be honest, I blame those cookies. I haven't had that much sugar in months, and I think I crashed my immune system. But they were good solace during Hattie's sickness for me...

Anyway, I am about solutions! God made me quite proactive, optimistic and excitable when he formed me, so here's my winter plan for 2018. (And, it's FORTY DEGREES TODAY!!!)

My solution to this long and ill month, and making it through the next two months of winter is to relax on my to do's and play with my kids every chance I get. (My to do's get undone immediately anyway...) The picture above is a huge ship we made on Monday that had to cross the ocean. We could only get off the ship when we docked at a restaurant to eat snacks (Elsie's idea). There were terrible storms, and most fun was nighttime when we'd all lay down and snuggle and snore and talk about the sharks circling our ship.

I also am big into having a lit candle each day, calming music (just discovered DappyTKeys on youtube) and other good Hygge things.

And my latest, greatest idea was two nights ago when we took a Family Re-cation. I hooked up the projector and after supper we all looked at every picture I took from our family vacation last December to Kentucky. It was so, so fun. And it did feel like a little virtual get away. :)

So I'm fighting back. Remember when I regrouped the winter months: January, February and March? Because those are the actual winter months in Minnesota. December was nice and mild until the very end. It usually is. So we are just at the beginning of the winter, in my mind. Way too soon for low morale! So bring on all the cozy things. And the boat rides in shark infested waters.

barn update!

While everyone has been sick in the house this month, something very exciting has been happening out in the barn. The guys that built our barn have been back to enclose the animal and storage area from the rest of the barn. This was done mainly to create a hay mow to store our small square bales of hay for the animals. Tada!

So now when you go up the stairs you can go left or right on the first landing. Going left will lead you to four stairs and to Floor 1 1/2. It's a whole huge room, 8 feet tall at the highest slope and then gradually getting lower. (And don't worry. We will soon build a deck railing all across the top. I am certain my dad's heart rate is up just looking at this picture of Ivar!) 

This new ceiling and walls also means that our storage room is now enclosed so our stuff won't always have saw dust, hay and animal dust all over it. 

It looks so good and feels perfect for this barn. The craziest part is that when we designed the barn, we hadn't planned it this way. It was an idea that came after the barn was built, but when you see it, it feels like it was always a part of the master design. How great is that?

plot lines and writing lessons

On Friday I decided to teach the kids about character development, setting, plot lines, climax and resolution and how to write a good story. I drew out a little story about a boy and a girl who lived on a farm. I described the kids, one liked legos the other liked jewelry. And these kids got pigs on their farm. But something crazy happened and the pigs got out. The story was a real raucous until the pigs were safely back in their pen and the story resolved nicely.

I explained each part of the story, the rising action, the climax, the resolution, and since he had just finished reading the book with his dad, I asked Ivar if he would map out The Hobbit on the white board.

I know.

But in my defense I was thinking he would say, "Bilbo lived in the Shire and found a ring, it led him on an adventure and he ended up back home at the end of the story."

But not Ivar. Ivar had a lesson for me. First he totally panicked and scribbled wildly on the board, "Mom, there are new characters in ever chapter! And the place is always changing! There isn't just one hard thing they have to get through, it happens over and over and over." He was overwhelmed at the enormity of the task I had just assigned to him (duh) and I tried to back track and said he could just draw out the story arc for The Three Little Pigs. But it was too late. He took my challenging assignment and began to draw out Bilbo's storyline.

And he did so well. Can you see in the picture above his drawing of the shire? And next is the meeting with the dwarfs (those dots are their faces and that is a wood burning stove with puffs of smoke coming up), then they began their adventure into the woods, 14 days of rest in Rivendell and on and on... I actually learned quite a bit by Ivar's explanation of Tolkien's storytelling.

I wrapped up the lesson by telling Ivar, "I guess I started you with the best." And then took a picture of the white board to remember the day Ivar taught me how to write a good storyline.

cup towers and old ladies

Our church had a New Year's Eve party and it was so much fun. Our friend Eric led lots of minute-to-win-it type games and there was so much laughter. We love our church family and it was fun to play together. Usually it's all Sunday morning together-time, but this was really special.

The last game was a huge cup relay with different tasks to accomplish with plastic cups. There were hundreds of cups and after the games were over Ivar and a 10-year-old and a 27-year-old built a cup pyramid up to the ceiling. I love that sort of intergenerational goodness.

But the reason I'm writing is to tell of one hilarious moment. One of the games was to empty an entire box of kleenex in with one hand. The person who did it first, won. There were 16 boxes of kleenex set up for 16 kids and at the end of the game they were going to throw away the waste. But I shouted out, "wait! No! I'll take all of them! Wait for me to get a garbage bag!" I came back with a huge trash bag and Eric repeated, "Okay, kids. You heard Mrs. Groves. She would like to take all of these kleenex home with her so please pick them up and put them in her bag..."

I laughed so hard. I am suddenly old lady Groves. You know, the one who re-uses tissues?

Maybe you had to be there to see the teenagers' faces as they put their kleenex in my bag. But I'm pretty sure I've got some sort of reputation now...though I'm completely pumped about our TWO GARBAGE BAGS FULL of practically brand new kleenex!