abundance

On one level this can seem common sense. And if you're shaking your head and thinking, "welcome to the planet, Becca." then just hear me out. The conversation of abundance is probably the most frequent conversation Rory and I have since we moved to the country. We knew this stuff before on some level, but to see it with our own eyes, is actually blowing our minds.

When we first tapped our trees for maple syrup we couldn't believe how much goodness was flowing through each tree. And yes, it was a bumper year, but this happens every spring no matter what. The snow thaws and the sap begins to flow. The trees begin to grow new life and inside every maple (and silver maple, red maple, even boxelder!) tree there are gallons of sap to be tapped.

When we plant one tiny piece of corn, a strong stalk grows that supports two or three ears with hundreds of little kernels that could be planted again. We have trees that rain down walnuts and blackberries that grow thick in our woods. There is firewood for our lifetime in our woods and eggs popping out of our chickens.

We tried to save as many seeds as we could from our garden this year and were wide eyed while digging through the "dead" sweet peas to find the dried out pods and gather the little peas that would each grow into new plants yielding hundreds of pods next year, all summer long.

I know this is elementary. But it is also wondrous. That our world is set up for abundance. That there is enough. That everything is created to reproduce and multiply. That in the natural world we always end up with more than what there was at the start.

I suppose we could go political at this point, but let's not.

There is a Creator to this beauty. And his presence is just so obvious when we're digging in the dirt. There is a joy and contentment that is deep and true. The afternoon my mom showed me how to collect my zennia and cosmos seeds my heart was full and grateful. What a wonderful world. What fun. See what great love the father has lavished upon us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!

That's how I feel when I'm out digging around, peeling walnuts to be dried, tapping into trees for syrup, eating tomatoes like candy, gathering flowers to bring inside. I feel lavished upon in this world full of abundance.

october at the grovestead

+The brothers who planted our barley and alfalfa came to harvest and found the barley was still too green. But the day they came our neighbor was combining his soybeans which meant we had two john deere tractors in our field. And poor Ivar slept through it all.

+This past Sunday as I took the kids to the car I was greeted by the seventeen turkeys that frequent our yard, two cats, three chickens and some barn swallows that were swooping in our garage. I had Elsie on the hip and Ivar by the hand and I had to navigate through a zoo to get my kids to the jeep parked on the gravel. I think I have a legit farmyard.

+Rory and I booked a little getaway, just the two of us. But before we left to check into our lovely hotel I told him, "hey, I really should take care of those black walnuts before they mold on me." And he replied, "Great, I was wanting to put a roof on the wood shed." While I took the outer layer off the walnuts it dawned on me, we are my grandma and grandpa with a list of chores to be done before we can leave with peace of mind...

+We went wading through the tall weeds where the big barn used to be. This spring we had planted pumpkins, squash, cantaloupe and watermelon there but then never took care of this garden patch. While gone on vacation, the weeds grew tall and intimidating and we just let it go. So the fact that we got anything out of this little garden patch is amazing. Each orange pumpkin, green pumpkin, tiny cantaloupe(!!) and squash felt full of grace to me. I don't deserve you... 

+I did use a lot of those weeds to make a pretty swag to hang on our house. And that felt like a sweet victory over the weeds that bothered me for so long. You are now quite lovely.

+My mom helped me dig up all of our gladiolas and calla lily bulbs, cut the flowers off and knock the dirt and then told me I needed to wash them, make sure they were perfectly dry, and hang them in a mesh bag in a cool dark place for the winter. I told her, "mom, I don't think I'm in a season that can handle bulbs." Instead we planted hundreds of tulips in our raised beds (which don't have to be dug up! Ever!)

+I got Ivar his Minion hat at a local handmade art fair. He's never seen the movie, but knows minions from his happy meal toys. The hat makes me very happy.

the kittens return

Our water went out again today. It did last Thursday too. So we called Tony, our well guy who leaves the top four buttons of his uniform shirt unbuttoned. Tony is great and told us what he told us a week ago. A mouse had fried itself in the circuit box in our well house, just like last week. But this time he added that it seemed we had a serious mouse problem in the well house, not near the water, just eating our wires in the circuit box.

So we called for backup. 

Farm Cats. Velma and Verna. The kittens we have been waiting to grow into cats.  

Since we last had Velma and Verna to our house, we have learned that Verna is in fact a boy. We now call him Vernon. Or as Ivar called him today, "no, it's Burnin' like a fire!" Which is handy because Vernon is orange like a Burnin' fire. (and now you'll never forget...) 

Velma and Vernon (or Burnin'...depending on who you talk to) came back this afternoon and they are sweet as ever. They are tame, affectionate, playful and I just love cats so much. It made me miss Toonces, and grateful I have cats in my life again.

They spent the afternoon working out a new pecking order with the chickens. I'm not sure how it all played out, but I do know Elsie is for sure on top and then it's hard to say if it's cats or chickens on the bottom. I might order it: Elsie, Vernon, Legos, Velma, Butterscotch Cookies, and then Zumbrota.

And then they got to work, manning their post at the well house, ready to catch mice.

pumpkins and a corn box

We stopped at a produce stand today to see the pumpkins and look at what we found behind the pumpkin display: a corn box! It was better than a trip to the park. It kept our interest for an awesome amount of time. Elsie worked hard to scoop the corn into a bucket, but eventually gave up and just chewed on her shovel. Ivar was diligent to keep corn out of his rain boots, but the corn kept sneaking in. So he would empty them again. And again and again and again.

I took some time to nap on my back in the corn box. It is a lovely day here in Minnesota and you might be interested to know, similar to those fancy swedish memory foam mattresses, corn molds perfectly to your body.

It also helps stabilize little legs for better shoveling. 

We left the corn box and drove the apple orchard down the road where we ate warm donuts, honey crisp apples and wisconsin string cheese for lunch. Which sealed the deal that this was in fact one of the best days ever. 

Elsie is a Joy

Elsie learning to walk from Becca Groves on Vimeo.

Elsie is non-stop sweetness. She is so determined. So proud. So willing to try. So happy to fall down and pick herself back up again. I see a million life lessons in how she lives her days and it makes me want to be more joyful. More proud of what I do. More strong willed in what I believe in.

She only says a few words, but the ones she does say are hilarious to me.
Cheese and Chicken- she says "chs" for cheese and will kick her legs in her high chair happily until you split her string cheese in two. She says, "chi-in" for chicken and is usually the first thing she says as she lunges from my arms to the window to see if they're out for the morning.
Thank You- perhaps the most polite and gracious one year old on the planet, Elsie says her own form of thank you with a sweet "tay tu" She says these words after I give her anything on her high chair tray. Or when I give her a water bottle or a toy. She is so gracious!
Poop- a few days ago she crawled up on the ottoman with a diaper and said to me in a very high pitched, staccato voice, "poop" while tapping her hips. I was blown away. And sure enough, she had a dirty diaper.

Other than those, her most used words are Mama, Dada, and her personal favorite: Baba, which is her bottle. And now every time we open her animals book, she flips to the page with the sheep and says proudly, "Baba." As if to say, those sheep like Baba's too.

Our awesome neighbor girls come over often after school to help coach her walking. She is a happy learner, and they are so eager to be here for her first steps. Elsie will let them know she's done by laying her head on the carpet for a rest. This girl is so sweet.


elsie's coaches from Becca Groves on Vimeo.

Loving the Little Years

It's hard to find public role models in the stay-at-home world because if someone has written a book or has a platform like a money-earning blog, it means they're not solely a stay-at-home mom. They're doing something external to their mothering that would satisfy that nagging voice always inside a stay-at-home's head, "should I be doing something more?"

This little voice is the greatest challenge I have found as a stay-at-home mom. It's always asking, should I be working? am I supposed to be contributing to the world in a more meaningful way? I'll wonder these thoughts over and over and finally come to the end of myself and ask, can I stop worrying about all of these wonders and just be content where I am at for this split-second-season when they're tiny and at home?

Those wonders linger over everything. And because everyone walks through their season of motherhood differently, it's hard not to compare with how other mom's are walking this road. And wonder.

I checked out a whole stack of books from the library on mothering and stay-at-home mothering this summer. I read a lot. Some of it helpful, some of it not.  But this book, pictured above, is by far my favorite mothering book. The subtitle is Motherhood in the Trenches and it feels that way from start to finish. There is something candid and endearing in how the author writes (it's not masterful writing, but it's so honest) that you really believe she is in the trenches with you.

When I checked out this book from our library it had greasy and sticky residue all over it. I had to give it a special warm washcloth bath before I started reading it. Some mom before me had returned this book after her little one had smeared oily crud all over it.

That, is motherhood in the trenches.

Loving the Little Years is a short read, full of little stories and helpful attitude shifts that helped me refocus my days. It will be the book that I give to new mom's and especially the one I recommend when they're starting to feel the toll of being a mother.

heat for the cabin

It's getting colder here in Minnesota, which means Rory needed to find a heat source for his office in the woods. It actually was a bit of a dilemma because the cabin is off grid, 10 by 12 feed large and most wood burning stoves must be three feet away from any wall...which would put the stove pretty much smack in the middle of his office. And would also mean he'd basically be working in a sauna.

So with some searching, he found this awesome stove. It was created by two former Marines, designed for fish houses, deer stands and other small spaces. Perfect for the office in the woods.

Now that he has a heat source, part of me is worried he might just move into his little cabin for good. It's a good thing I have the food and the toilet in the big house...

But if I see him building an outhouse, I'll know there's trouble.

on the Mississippi

Rory and I took the kid's to Marlene and Madison's early Friday morning so we could have a little get away. We went to Lake City on the Mississipi where we ate ice cream cones out on the pier. We were blissfully happy to discover this cute little water town just one hour from our house. The day was warm and windy and the sailboats clanked loudly, sort of like wind chimes. I love Lake City.

Then we drove to Wabasha and read our books under the bridge. I spent some time in a bookstore, at the eagle museum, and walking around the town while Rory happily kept reading. We had only been gone a few hours from our home, and we were so fully on vacation it amazed me. The whole day and a half we kept saying, "this is perfect. this is such a great trip."

Rory and I made a list of the things that have to be present for me to feel like I'm "on vacation." There must be a large body of water nearby. Lakes are great, but this trip the mighty Mississippi was perfect. We must get ice cream cones and eat them while walking near the water. And we must take a drive that is pretty enough that I roll down the window several times, with my camera flapping wildly in the wind, as I attempt to take pictures in front of the windshield. If those three things happen: water, ice cream and passenger pictures, I'm having a very good time.

We crossed the river and saw signs for Laura Ingalls Wilder's birthplace! The house is a replica, but this was the place where she was born. These were the Big Woods she wrote about. We were so excited!

Then we drove through Stockholm, the cutest little town of adorable shops. I cannot wait to get back there when the stores are open...

We had our anniversary dinner in Pepin at the Harbor View Cafe. It was awesome. I remember going there when I was little girl and being blown away by the lasagna. Two decades later, and the lasagna did not disappoint. It was amazing.

We stayed in Wabasha at the AmericInn and I got my fill of HGTV. It was glorious. We woke up and read some more, then reheated our leftovers for lunch. The day was rainy and slow and we drove back to pick up our teething daughter and active son.

Thank you so much Mimi and Papa for taking the kids! The 30 hours we were away were magical.

Elsie walking

Elsie walking from Becca Groves on Vimeo.

Well, sort of walking. She's really close as you'll see. And really proud and impressed that she can push this little cart on her own. (She's pointing at the chickens when she yells and gets so excited...)

the sunny room: part two

Monday we painted. Tuesday they prepped for tile. Wednesday they laid the tile and we painted the first coat on the base board and casing (starting at 9:45 pm...). Thursday they grouted the tile and installed the trim, base board and casing. And today Elsie put the base boards to good use as she rammed her little blue cart into every wall. 

We wanted something nice and light for the walls. I told Rory I wanted a blank canvas when we were done, ready for colorful quilts, bright book shelves, fun throw pillows... The color I first found and liked was called File Cabinet. Seriously?

This color is called Antique White, but if I were naming tape I'd call it Masking Tape. Because if File Cabinet can be a name, so could Masking Tape. And it's that exact color (we know that, unfortunately, because I was too hasty and didn't want to go back to Menards to buy blue paint tape. Big mistake. Lesson learned. Don't do this. Your husband will have to go inch by inch with a razor blade to get the tape off the wall.

Our contractors were awesome. I wish there was a National Contractor Day because I'd send them flowers. They were great with our kids, and would not cut corners. Even when I didn't really care one way or the other they'd say, "we're doing it this way, or it will just look shoddy. And we don't do shoddy." They left today and I'm going to miss them!

Next week we'll paint the door, the insides of the windows, grout the nail holes in the trim and give it another coat. We'll put the ceiling fan up and hook up the outdoor light. We'll change the socket covers and plug them up for safety.

And then we'll wait six months until our funds replenish and we can buy furniture for this lovely, sunny room. :)

lately we've been...

I've always loved Elise Blaha Cripe's posts called Currently. They're a quick and easy way to get a little glimpse into life at that very moment. Here's my version.

Lately we've been...

walking outside again to get from our kitchen to our bedrooms as we wait for the tile to set.

crawling into bed by 9 pm. It's my new self-imposed bedtime and I must be in bed. I can read as late as I want, but I must be in bed.

cheering for Elsie as she walks across the room pushing her grocery cart. She's so, so proud. And we are too!

loving a sweet little 2nd grader as she spends a few nights with us.

finishing Rory's office in the woods: installing a little wood burning stove, finishing the siding.

drinking a morning cup of coffee. This is still pretty new for me. And one of the new joys of my life.

swatting lots of flies when Ivar is out of the room. "No, don't hit him! He is nice! He is a nice fly!"

watching the workers. Ivar is in love with our contractors, Mike and Tom. The rest of us are too. Their work is quality, they are hard workers and easy company to have in our home. I am so grateful for them.

marveling at how our kids sleep through the nail guns, circular saws and hammering.

picking up Beth Moore's Jesus the One and Only for the umpteenth time. If you're looking for a personal devotional workbook, I recommend this one with my whole heart. It takes about fifteen minutes and day and always leaves me feeling filled up and grateful I took the time.

comforting Ivar in the night after bad dreams.

planning our trips through Menards so as to avoid the Halloween displays. They are terrifying. When did Halloween become so terrifying? I miss the animated ghosts and happy pumpkins and this new level of scary is really awful.

laughing through season one of Arrested Development. Thank you library for having this dvd set in the mix.

reading How to Cook without a Book. Wish this book had been our home economics text book.

eating fanny farmer chocolate bars I purchased from Mara and Sonna. What a delicious way to support my nieces and their school.

listening to Rory comfort Ivar, "oh Ivar, that is such a scary feeling. you hit your solar plexus. that means you got the wind knocked out of you, and you couldn't breathe. your solar plexus is right here, see?"

eight years

Rory and I are celebrating eight years of happily ever after today. To honor the day, Rory is working in the house and helping with the kids, so that I can paint the sunny room. I think you'd agree it's hard to get more romantic than that. (Unless you wrote a love note to your man with a ceramic kleenex box cover from the hotel before the sun came up while on your honeymoon on Waikiki. That would be pretty romantic too...)

We stayed up late last night talking in bed, walking through the last eight years, talking about the years to come. We had the curtain open and the room was filled with moonlight. Those moments in marriage are so precious. To feel fully heard, fully understood, fully one. To not want to go to sleep, to keep that sweet connection.

It felt like seconds after we fell asleep the roosters started up and Ivar fell out of his bed and just like that it was morning. Time to start a pot of coffee, time to function as if we're fully rested.

But I wouldn't trade the late night and long conversation for anything.

Happy 8th Anniversary, Rory.

I'm glad I picked you. I'm glad you picked me.

Happy 3rd Birthday Svea!

Annika and her family came last night to celebrate Svea's birthday and to drop their girls off for the weekend! Clearly the whole family was so excited to be here that no one had time to close the doors on the van after they got out. We had chili on a borderline chilly night. And chocolate cupcakes with purple frosting that Svea had made with her mama.

Svea got a sleeping bag to match her sisters' and a baby doll. She was super excited about both.

We've been very busy already today: went for a walk with three strollers, built a fort, played with play dough, colored, made pancakes and sausage with helpers, watched Clifford and played in the rock box. And now it's quiet time. Which isn't actually that quiet and seems to involve a lot of tape, string, muffin liners and crayons.