backyard camping

Friday night we "camped" in the backyard. It's the only way to camp when you're nine months pregnant and have a one year old.

We went into the night with hopeful (though very low) expectations. Ivar was wired. He kicked his legs around like a donkey, diving into the sleeping bags and thermarests while yelling, "Mama! Daddo!" He laughed and screamed and in time, four of our neighbors had come over to see what kind of party we had going on in our backyard.

At 10:30 he still hadn't really settled down. We read our books, and he dove over our bellies laughing and saying our names as if to say, "Mama Daddo! What on earth are we doing? I am delirious tired and you still haven't put me to bed and we're all together and I love it!"

A bit before 11:00 Rory and I pretended to be asleep and Ivar lay between us. And then I felt a tiny finger go up my nose and heard Ivar say, "hello, nose."

We laughed so hard. And Ivar started kicking his legs again, force laughing and yelling, "Mama! Daddo!" I think that's about when we gave up on the idea that we might all sleep together in the tent that night.

I actually did fall asleep and at some point Rory took Ivar into his crib.

I slept soundly until 1:00 when I had to use the restroom for the fourth time. And then we decided we had nothing to prove and moved into our bed. I was achy the next day, but actually was surprisingly comfortable out there with my four pillows propping my back, belly, knees and head.

raspberry season

Earlier this week I gave Ivar a few raspberries to try and showed him where I picked them.

He didn't forget.

Now, when we go outside, he walks right over to the patch and helps himself. He does a decent job picking the ripe berries, but it doesn't really matter if the berry is fully red yet or not. And it doesn't matter if the stem is still on it when he picks. He eats it all and mmmm's while he feasts.

summertime

For Sale!

We did it. I cannot believe how much we accomplished in seven days. Every room, corner and drawer has been tackled. And our house looks incredible. Makes it hard to put on the market! My tip of the week: for anyone inspired to work on your own home, go get yourself some new accent pillows. They are an easy way to add a little something something to a room. :) 

we're selling our house

Oh how we love this house. Adore this house. It is the perfect South Minneapolis home...complete with a front porch, lots of windows and the best neighbors we could ever imagine. This move is sudden...we found another home with three bedrooms that I'll talk about in another post on another day. But things are moving quickly and we are planning on listing this house by the end of the week.

It breaks my heart though. All the memories stored up in every room. We began our marriage in this house, learning to live together, working things out. We brought a teeny tiny Ivar home to this house and rocked him on the porch and took countless family walks to the lake. We have utilized the laundry shoot with great joy (going to miss that feature so much!) and played hard in the back yard.

Most of all we have been loved by the neighbors who surround us. Moving away from our neighbors is the very hardest part to swollow. We have been well cared for and looked after and we will miss our neighbors so, so much.

All this to say, we are sad to go. And hope and pray for a great new owner to start their own sweet season enjoying the sun porch, gardens and laundry shoot. If you, or anyone you know is looking for a move, interested in the South Minneapolis area (we're one block from Minnehaha Creek and four blocks from Lake Harriet) and would like to take a look at one charming and fantastic home, drop us a line at: beccagroves (at) gmail.com

around here: garden edition

Around here our roses are spectacular. We do nothing to care for these poor bushes and yet they continue to impress.

 Around here we have four varieties of lettuce as well as spinach for literal fresh garden salads.

Around here our gardens are growing...potatoes sprung up between the two square beds. Obviously they were planted there, but it is clear that Rory is looking for every bit of possible garden space to plant more produce.

 Around here the snow peas are flowering, and they are beautiful.

 Around here we are growing carrots like Peter Rabbit. This will be quite the harvest.

 Our radishes are looking healthy. er...I guess I mean beats...

 And so are the potatoes.

And finally, around here our raspberries are beginning to ripen! I ate this one the second after I took its picture. Can't wait for raspberries on my cereal again.