1,431 pictures by Ivar

Ivar found my faithful, red, digital camera last week. I had lost it for a year and then found it in my golf bag after the winter. There are years of my life when this little camera never left my side. I took nearly every picture for this blog with Little Red until I got my iphone. I love that camera, and now Ivar does too. I told him how to turn it on and take a picture last week and in the six days since he has taken 1,431 pictures! I know that for certain because I just downloaded every one of those pictures onto my laptop.

Have you ever heard of Week in the Life? It's a picture project that Ali Edwards encourages all of us to do. To capture the every day, the ordinary. To see the actual life happening around us. I love the idea of this project and have tried to accomplish it in the past, but it's a big undertaking. 

But Ivar did it for me! At age five, he captured the most honest, true slice of time that I can imagine. You have no idea how many pictures he took of my hiney loading and unloading the dishwasher. And all the different Elsie outfits he documented. He took pictures of his Cars and Planes and Legos from every single angle, up close, far away. He took pictures of our cats and chickens and it is quite obvious that he adores baby Hattie. 

I didn't let him bring his camera along on any outings, but now I can't wait to have him document our trips to Target, Sunday at church, ECFE and playdates. It's so fun to see life from his perspective. (And it should be mentioned that these are my favorites combed from the thousands...and I cropped them, which is a magic touch. But other than that, these are Ivar's pictures.) He's got some unique vantage points. Enjoy!

farm kids

Yesterday we spent the afternoon moving stuff from the garage out to the barn. Then our friends showed up to deliver the post hole digger that we purchased together, our first shared implement. We have fruit trees arriving this week so it was time to start digging. It was suppertime, but Rory needed me to help decide where the next trees should be planted. So I grabbed the box of graham crackers put the baby on my lap and drove out to the orchard to find Rory and the tractor.

It was as I was bouncing around in the pick up, driving through the field with the baby on my lap that I began to feel it. We are becoming quite the legit farm family.

and now a message from hattie...

hattie6mo from Becca Groves on Vimeo.

Hattie turned six months old yesterday! SIX MONTHS!

She is the queen of the exersaucer, proud to be upright. She loves standing on our laps and looking right into our eyes, making us smile. This week she started rice cereal and loves the stuff. She talks a constant babble and makes silly sounds that make us laugh. She spends most of her time watching Ivar and Elsie, and they spend most of their time watching her. She barrel rolls all around the living room and is showing signs that crawling will be her next big trick. She continues to be calm and chill, and very happy to be alive. Hattie Joy, our joy.

early spring at the grovestead

Everything is coming to life around here. The lilac buds are growing every day. Rory and Ivar got the onions planted and the tulips are coming up the fullest yet. I'm so excited to see them bloom!

The other sure sign of spring is my sudden need to purge, clean and get rid of all of our stuff. I went through our kitchen cabinets on Saturday, rearranged everything, wiped every surface and brought a big bag of food items that we apparently never eat to the church. Then I cooked all our random almost empty boxes of noodles and our expired (!!) brown rice and gave it to the chickens who were quite thrilled with my cleaning efforts.  I love springtime. There are so many possibilities ahead. One year ago we still had the old barn standing in our yard. It's amazing all that will get done in the next six months! Goats! A Mama Garden! More fruit trees! And we just got an email that our asparagus crowns will be delivered this week. Let the games begin!

the goodest

This morning I told the kids, "Grandma and Grandpa are going to be driving to Minnesota today!" Elsie gasped and said while running towards the stairs, "Then I must wear something lovely!" She came back all ready for their arrival. Which may not even happen today, but at any rate she is ready.

Then, a few hours later, she said to me, "Mom, are we going anywhere today? Because I just look so nice." I looked at her and thought about it for a moment. We have been on lock down since Monday when Rory and Elsie were diagnosed with Strep. Then Tuesday Ivar and my throats started to hurt and our doctor called in a prescription for us too. On top of that, I woke up early Tuesday morning with the world in a tailspin, and an awful bout of vertigo. Usually the half somersault exercises will set the world right again, but this time I got way worse before I got better. Rory called his folks in a panic, as we were both out of commission and couldn't parent. His wonderful mom came for the first half of the day, tag teamed by his wonderful dad who brought dinner and watched the kids the second half of the day. Also, we believe Hattie has her first tooth coming in. She had to do something to get a little attention around here.

So when Elsie asked if we were going anywhere, I looked into her bored eyes, did the math that we have all been on antibiotics now for 48 hours and told her I'd take her out to lunch to her favorite (and mine) hoagie place for soup and a sandwich. You wouldn't want an outfit that lovely to go to waste. She clapped her hands and said to Ivar, "Oh! I am the prettiest! You are the handsomest and Mom is the goodest!"

I'll take it.

We had a really wonderful Easter. I hope you did too. I worked in the church nursery again and like getting to know all the kids in our church. I told them, "now, when you see me, you have to say hi because we're church family. So don't be shy or pretend you don't remember that I brought in my parachute, but instead say, "Hi Becca! How are you?" And I promised to say hi to them too.

Then we went out for Easter brunch with Mom and Dad Groves and Oma Zina. The five in our family and the three of them were the only family in town this year, on both sides! We went back to Marlene and Madison's and I played Elsie Monopoly, a version that keeps you on your toes with its ever-changing rules. Then Marlene hid a whole lot of eggs all over the house, filled with either candy or quarters, and two with a dollar bill, which thrilled Ivar to no end. We rested and ate pie and it was just the perfect relaxed easter for our family, especially since we were about to head into this week of strep, teething and vertigo...

The sun is coming out this afternoon and I am thrilled with how green the grass is already. The lilacs all have huge buds and are about to burst open, the song birds are back and I am again interested in learning as many bird names and bird calls as I can. It's spring in Minnesota, my family is on antibiotics, the Lord is risen, my folks are coming home today and I'm in a good mood! Can you tell?

happy easter!

happy birthday mimi!

It's Mimi's birthday today! And we are so glad to celebrate her! I took these pictures almost a year ago, but how fun are they?!! We get to celebrate Mimi tomorrow and the kids are very excited to have a birthday party thrown into our Easter celebration! We love you Mimi, and are so grateful for your love and care and prayer for our whole family.

painted easter eggs

We had a random snow day this week and decided it was a good time to dye our eggs except that we didn't have any egg dye. I was looking up how to use food coloring when Ivar said we should paint the eggs. At first I dismissed his idea because I'm a creature of habit, but he insisted, "just get the easel paints out and we'll paint the eggs!" So I blew out two dozen eggs, washed and dried them and stuck a pencil into one end for the kids to hold onto and let the kids paint. It was very messy, but they turned out so beautiful. Our traditional lilac branch easter egg tree is gorgeous this year!

watering the seeds of faith

I started teaching Sunday School when I was 14. My friend Becky and I signed up to teach a class together and were assigned 10 first graders who were in our care for an hour every Sunday morning.

We are a bit infamous with the parents of that first class because of the day we taught about the land flowing with milk and honey. We dressed the kids up in Israelite costumes from the costume closet. I don't imagine we were supposed to just help ourselves to that closet now that I think about it, but I knew where my dad kept his keys, and because he was the pastor I knew he had the grand master key which meant the church was basically my playground.

We dressed all the kids up in robes with ropes tied around their wastes and brown fabric draped on their heads and took them outside where we wandered around, until Joshua led us into the promised land. At that point, we unknowingly led the kids in front of the church windows so that everyone in the sanctuary could see us. I hadn't pieced that together when I hid the twelve pack of mountain dew and box of long john donuts behind the trees. We arrived in the land of milk and honey, and told the kids that this was actually the land of mountain dew and donuts, sat down and gave each six year old a can of dew and a donut.

For years after those parents would bring that day up with me, and it's only now that I have kids of my own that I realize it wasn't the lesson itself that those parents remembered. It was likely the Sunday afternoon they all had to survive with their children all sugared up.

Becky and I taught all four years of high school and helped with VBS too and then I went to college where my friend Lindsey and I taught at a local church for two years. Both of those years we taught our students all the books of the Bible through hand actions that we made up. In the summers I worked at different Bible camps in Montana and Minnesota where I had cabins full of campers as a counselor. Then I worked as a program director in Minnesota and Nebraska and had college kids in my care and trained them to teach the campers that came each week.

I've been thinking about all these kids that have come across my path for the last two decades because I am now experiencing the receiving end. Ivar and Elsie love our kids church. They have 20 minutes each Sunday with a different adult from our church, but often it is our friend Kelly. And Kelly teaches them a lesson and they play a game or do a craft. And my kids soak it up and love every minute.

Today Ivar lost a beloved lego toy (lots of drama...) and then found it. And he came and told me, "Mom! When I found my lego boat it was like when God found his lost sheep! I was so happy when I found it because I made it, just like God made us!"

My heart exploded inside of me because 1) this is a pretty huge connection to make! and 2) I was so grateful for Kelly! To be a parent and to hear the things of God pouring out of your child's mouth that another person has helped pour into their heart is incredible. And it left me so grateful for Kelly and her husband Danny and the way they are helping me train my kids in the way they should go. I felt so thankful for the whole church body and every faithful soul that is doing their small part. For every volunteer that taught my Sunday school classes growing up. For the ladies who got the snack ready for VBS each day. For the college students who were my hilarious and fun camp counselors and pointed me towards the joy of knowing Jesus.

I felt proud and glad that I have been a part of the body, used to help water the seeds of faith in all of those kids throughout the years. But mostly felt excited and inspired to see that the faith in my kids continues to grow and be nurtured. I believe it is the parent's responsibility to train their children in the ways they should go. And that has to be done in the home...one hour on a Sunday just isn't enough to truly pass on the faith. It has to be a part of the parenting and instruction of a child. But one part of that is making sure that my kids have faithful teachers and mentors who also help water their seeds of faith, just like Kelly is pouring into my kids, just like I poured mountain dew and donuts into all of those first graders 20 years ago.