Alden's Day 2018

You will never believe this. I woke up, mom got me out of my crib and brought me to her bedroom window...and there were guys on my roof. Lots of them. I stayed very, very still and kept a close eye on them. I knew right then this was going to be an interesting day.

Then Elsie woke up and she helped me keep an eye on the roof guys. Mom didn't seem concerned, so I relaxed a bit. Which was good because this day was going to get noisy!

It was only after making Peanut Butter and Jelly Toast that Mom thought of the last time I took over her blog and shared pictures from a typical day and she decided maybe it was time to do it again. The crazy thing is, it was almost a year to the day that we did this last year! So Mom committed to keep her camera out and take pictures all day long. To be noted, new this year, Elsie can make the PBJ Toast! This is a great step forward for Groveskind. Mom is so thrilled. Also, we don't always have PBJ Toast, but we go in streaks for breakfast foods, and right now we're once again on a PBJ toast streak.

Hattie got all sticky while eating her toast and was so glad to be told to go and wash her hands. That's basically all Hattie does anymore. She just stands on the step stool and squirts the soap, adds some water, squirts some more soap, makes faces in the mirror, makes bubbles, talks about the bubbles... and it goes on and on until Mom remembers that she sent her to wash her hands and tells her she needs to be done.

I'm not there yet. I just sit in my high chair until Mom takes the time to hold me with her one arm right under my arm pits, and then uses her other arm to quirt soap into each hand while I splash and squirm and try to get my feet into the sink. Sometime mom procrastinates on cleaning me because it can be quite the mess.

So she puts off the inevitable and makes her own breakfast while I watch. She's doing another Whole 30 right now, with a few modifications this time (like rice) and is happy to be off of sugar again.

But it's too bad she didn't wash my hands when she took that first picture! Because guess where I put my sticky fingers?!! When I said I was "all done!" I meant it. so get me out of this thing so I can go dump something on the floor!

Meanwhile, when Hattie washed her hands, and Mom ate her eggs and I discovered hair gel, Ivar and Elsie got to work up in Lego Land. This is part of the upstairs closet where they can play and not be terrorized by people like me, people who love to destroy lego creations. Also, if they are playing in Lego Land, it means they are done with their morning chores. Or at least they are supposed to be!

Mom loves this wall in her bedroom and just wanted to show you.

So I wish you could hear the audio of this day, but since you can't I will tell you that those workers were ripping off every shingle on our house and then nailing in new boards on the existing roof before pounding in the shingles. Sometimes the house positively shook. It was so loud and exciting! The workers were fun to watch, but we all agreed they looked terribly cold. So Hattie and Mom decided to make them Monster Cookies.

Hattie is always happy to help in the kitchen.

And I'm happy to help too, but it does seem I continue to get set in my high chair. This time I had feelings about that. I was so mad! I wanted to be right there by the mixer, making sure the blade was spinning in that batter by testing it with my own hand. So Mom put me in lock down...I mean, in my high chair and I was not happy. But then she gave me a little tootsie pop from the halloween candy and then I was happy.

Hattie and I went down for our naps, which was a little bit of a stretch since the workers were walking around right above our heads. But we stayed in our cribs and listened for a bit, while Mom got Ivar and Elsie working on school stuff. Ivar is learning about the 13 colonies as a part of his US History. Recently she was telling them about the constitution and Elsie said, "The thing that is embarrassing about the Constitution is that it sounds like constiTOOTion." Let me tell you, we are never at a loss for potty humor around here. Everybody just loves a good toot joke!

And Elsie is almost a full-blown reader! She has been working so hard and is almost done with her reading book and it is so fun to watch it all come together. Also, when Ivar took this picture he said to her, "Elsie, you look very beautiful right now." Later Dad told Mom that he had told Ivar to stop looking for things Elsie was doing wrong and to look for opportunities to build her up.

Look at this sweet Ewe. Just walked right up to Mom when she was walking out to the cabin. Our sheep are so tame and friendly.

And here's Dad working out in his office. He is writing a book right now and it is almost finished. Also, if this had been a Monday or a Wednesday, he would be working at the butcher shop. He is learning so much!

Now look at that guy! And I'm trying to sleep right under where he is working!

Well, my nap didn't last too much longer and guess who was in our house when I came downstairs?!! Hershey the Rabbit!!! Mom had rescued her because her hutch was covered with tarp and nails kept falling on her metal roof. So she went and got her for a day in the downstairs shower. Ivar was thrilled and brought her out to play many times this day.

Then Hershey went back in the shower and we tuned into our favorite show, Shingles at Sundown.

Then it was time to make dinner! This was a big day in the kitchen. Mom made cauliflower rice, monster cookies, scalloped potatoes, a ham and a loaf of bread in this one day. Her cooking ebbs and flows, sometimes she's into it and sometimes she's not. But lately she has been enjoying her time in the kitchen which is good news for good eaters like me.

 

This was our own pig, our own potatoes and our own onion. We love meals like this!

After supper we all tidy up the house. Elsie is super duper helpful in the kitchen and adds a lot of joy to Mom's work in there. That's fun when a 37 year old can be inspired by a 6 year old's chipper attitude.

And then we got the projector out and watched the videos of Mom and Dad when they went to Tanzania just after they got married. They liked remembering that season of life. They kept saying to each other, "do you remember our life back then? what were we doing with all of our time? I hardly remember our day to day..." I mostly liked snuggling with mom and Elsie.

And then we had Family Worship. That means: we sing a hymn, read a portion from the Bible and pray together before bedtime. Hattie and my favorite hymn is Holy, Holy, Holy. We sing it all night long when we are trying to fall asleep. Holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy... Mom uses her Hymn Cards so we all have a copy of the words and it has become a very favorite part of the day. And Mom and Dad are so glad we are learning these important songs. Otherwise we'd never hear them! They are very aware that the Hymns rarely say "me" or "I" or "us" or "we." The hymns are mostly about God and how good he is. It is refreshing! So we end our days singing of how good God is, and then I hit the hay with the other three. And these days, Mom and Dad come to bed pretty soon after. Thanks for joining me for another day! And be sure to read the disclaimer at the end of last year's post if this all looks a little bit too perfect for you... ;)

halloween 2018

This year was a first, as I made one of our costumes. I was so, so proud! Ivar wanted a Batman cape and I hand stitched the whole thing. (I was too nervous to re-thread my bobbin in the sewing machine with black thread...) It is definitely one of a kind...I made half sleeves for his forearms and then what I am calling "backpack straps" to keep the cape on his shoulders. I knew he wouldn't like something tied around his neck, so this was my own innovation. Ivar was so thrilled that I made it. He told many proudly, "and my mom made this cape!" Made me feel like wonder woman. :)

My mom always made this pumpkin guy each year. Now I have the milk can thing (is this what it is called?) so I brought him back to life for another childhood of Pumpkin Guy! Here Batman is trying to take him out....

Elsie made a last minute switch from princess to lion (thanks for the costume, Beth and Presley!) and Hattie brought back the honey bee. Honestly, I just get out the dress up clothes and let the kids pick that afternoon. Then Rory showed up at 6 after a day at the meat locker, dressed up as a butcher. I asked him if he wanted to change his blood-stained pants and he said, "no the pants add authenticity to the costume."

And here is the Boo Crew! We met up with friends at a neighbor's house and then all headed to a local church for Trunk or Treating. It was a fantastic Halloween.

3 fun gatherings

Have you noticed my lack of photos? My computer is full with no more storage for my SD card. For two years I have been deleting other photos to make room, but now I'm having a hard time deleting photos because I still want them. Anyhoo, that's the reason I don't have pics on here lately...

I have three fun gatherings I wanted to write about though all set in our living room.

1) Lego Movie Night
Ivar had planned for this night for months and months. He is super into making Stop Motion movies using his legos with his friend Blake. So he had this idea to invite six families for a movie night where he would sell popcorn, monster cookies and apple cider to earn some money. And in exchange everyone could enjoy his great movies.

It was pretty awesome. He explained each movie a bit (most last like 10-15 seconds) and he had them organized in categories: the early years (his first videos), Batman and Robin, Barf Monster and Favorites. After the movies and concessions, we brought out two huge bins of legos I checked out from our library and all the kids could build their own creations. It was a super fun night of family fun.

2) Hattie-Rory-Ivar Birthday celebration with the Groves
We had the Groves clan here to celebrate these three and it was a really great day. We went to church and then came home for chili and corn bread. But something terrible happened. When I sat down to eat my chili, I took a bite and it was gross. Something was seriously wrong. Have you ever had this happen before?!! As a host, it's like the worst thing possible. I couldn't figure out what had happened. I make great chili and I genuinely found this chili inedible.

I told my table not to eat theirs, but they were polite. I brought it up to Rory later and he said he thought the chili was great. (ha! what on earth?!!) But he was wrong. It was the opposite of great. Not until everyone left and Rory went to put the leftover chili tupperware did we figure it out (I had told Rory to toss it all). But he still liked it and wanted to save it, so it was then that he found one solid inch of burned chili on the bottom of my huge kettle. I had come home from church, tried to heat the chili real fast, and as a result there was an added smokey (charred...) flavor to my usual soup.

Honestly, while it was happening I was thinking, "I think I'm done entertaining. It's just too stressful. I always forget something or ruin something..." But I think God heard that because after we opened gifts I had each family give a life update with prayer requests so we could know what was really happening in each other's lives. And that part was so, so good. There is a lot that doesn't come up during regular conversation and I loved hearing where everyone was at. And it was during that time that I decided maybe I would host another gathering again sometime.

3) Rory's 41st birthday
Which was a good thing that I decided that because I had four other couples coming over one week later for Rory's birthday. For months we have wanted to get these four other couples who are hobby farming like we are together in one room. So I sent out the invite and asked everyone to get a sitter.

We had each couple share their dreams for their farm and any prayer requests they had. And it was so rich. There were so many similarities in prayer concerns given our age and life stage and I felt so grateful for this time together. These were also families that showed up to help immediately after the tornado hit two of our farms. So we talked about the goodness of community and working together and already have our next gathering on the calendar to all help butcher one family's 120 chickens. And we are genuinely enthused!

So I will continue to invited people into our house. :) I will say that I never seem to get everything right, but I still think it is worth it to invite others over in the name of community, fellowship and friendship.

these are the days

***I just bent down to pick up a used band aid and yelped when I grabbed it because it was actually a piece of cold, wet ham.

***On a whim last Thursday we decided to potty train Hattie. She was totally ready. Understood what was going on, and proved so by only having two actual accidents. The best part is that every time while peeing she will happily announce, "water comin' out!"

***Alden was climbing up the steps and clearly had a lego wheel in his mouth. I told him to spit it out, and he just clenched his teeth. I stuck my finger in there and did a full mouth swipe, only to find there wasn't anything in there at all. I said, "well what is in your mouth?" And clear as a bell, he looked up and said to me, "teeeeeeeth."

***Alden's vocabulary is hilarious because he is quite verbal but seems to only say what needs to be said. For example, he calls Rory Dada and me Dada. It works. But if he sees something round and flat he will muster all his perfect diction to be sure he is understood, "Coo Key! Coo Key!"

***Today we took the kids to Cabella's so I could try on Carhartt coats and overalls. I don't actually want a Carhartt coat or winter overalls, but Rory said I should have winter farm work clothes so I will be warm working outside in the cold and stop ruining the coat that I wear all other places. So we went as a family and when I tried on the first coat, Elsie's face fell. She was positively mortified. Sure Carhartt coats look like an actual box on a woman's body, but it wasn't that bad. But Elsie has an eye for lovely things, and this coat did not make the cut.

Then I tried on the overalls in the dressing room. When I came out to show the whole get up to Rory, he was on his phone, price checking with online sites. Turns out Cabella's prices were better than online. Turns out while he figured that out, Hattie wandered off. We all split in different directions, looking under racks of clothing, down aisles, and then heard the intercom, "Hello Cabella's visitors. We have a darling little girl up here with us in Customer..." And Rory was up there before the announcement was completed. Followed by me, all stuffed and hot in my winter overalls and boxy Carhartt jacket.

expectations reset

Last night I had my home school mom meeting and at the end we shared our prayer requests. I shared that my temper is short some days, and that I hate that I am not filled with peace and kindness every moment of the day. I really want to be.

Earlier in the day I had just come back into the kitchen and found that Hattie had grabbed the bag of pistachios from a high shelf and dumped most of them on the floor. At the same time Alden was up on the kitchen table taking flowers out of a vase and dumping the water on himself, the table, a chair and the floor. And then Elsie ran in the house screaming that she hit her head with the shovel. She had on her rain boots, caked with mud and had run from the back door, on our carpet and into the kitchen where she paced and cried and I tried to console and calm her down. But mostly I was upset with my muddy, wet, nut-filled kitchen floor.

Another mom who has older kids shared very wisely that once she realized that most of her frustrations stemmed from unrealistic expectations. I tested her theory.

I have an expectation that my kids should note the lovely, put-together home they wake up to and then pick up their messes as they play all day. Ivar and Elsie are genuinely great help and pretty good about meeting my expectation. But Alden and Hattie miss the mark. Because they are 1 and 3. Hattie is actually very, very helpful and loves to have a task, so she is learning. She was pleased to pick up the pistachios. But she makes so many messes, it is hard to keep up. Alden is a professional dumper these days. Which is exactly what one-year-old's do. He sees books on a shelf and hustles over to brush them all onto the floor. He sees anything hanging off the counter or table and he reaches up to investigate. I should expect no less.

I wanted to share this today because I already feel a little lighter. My expectations were throwing us all off and I think by simply resetting my expectations we will have a better day. That includes letting go of the floor for a period of time, and deciding in each moment not to get annoyed by how quickly the house is messy again.

So far it's going great. Though I imagine it will be harder when the kids get out of bed...