a bit of snow

I don't know how I missed the memo that a blizzard was coming. I hadn't heard we were even supposed to get snow until Friday night when Rory came home excitedly and told me we were in for a lot of snow. Even during the day on Saturday I told my sister, "it's odd the snow is drifting in our yard so high. We don't usually get drifts in our yard." Turns out it wasn't drifting at all in our yard...it's just that 17 1/2 inches of snow (the reported final number in Minneapolis) makes the whole city look like one enormous snow drift.
This is the path Rory dug to the alley for us to get to church. Unfortunately, our Jeep was completely buried and had a four foot plow wall on the alley side, so driving the Jeep today was not an option. Rory's dad came to our house this morning to pick us up so we could make it to church.

This afternoon we spent two hours digging the car out, and we still can't really get anywhere because the side streets haven't been plowed. (So sad to miss Beth's party. Ergh.) So we're hunkered down again and staying toasty inside. We've got a predicted -25 windchill coming our way tonight. brrrrr....

hibernation day

Thanks to my Nebraska friend Betty Dasenbrock for this Christmas Quilt! She gave it to me in July and I remember dreaming of the day I would have my baby wiggling around on it during Christmastime. It felt so far off, and yet time flies by and here we are...

The snow is coming down and we are so grateful not to have any place to go…and nothing really to do, either. (Other than perhaps take a stab at the thank you notes that are waiting for me to write...) So given our clean slate of a day, we started the morning off with a photo shoot. And then we moved on to digging through the 12 dozen cookies I came home with yesterday from The Great Lisa Groves Christmas Cookie Swap Spectacular. I will have you know that I am trying to put these cookies in the freezer before this snowed-in mama and daddy eat them all up themselves. Twelve different kinds of cookies, twelve of each kind (oreo truffles might be the favorite). That is a lot of butter and sugar sitting on our countertop right now.

We actually would have needed to dig our car out this morning if we hadn’t played our part as first time parents so well. You see, Ivar was asked to be Baby Jesus in the Shepherd of the Valley Christmas pageant that is to be held today. He would be held by a 5th grader dressed as Mary with her robe cinched with a rope. There are stairs involved and even though the role of Jesus is clearly the role of a lifetime, we had Ivar decline. It just made us too nervous! I told the Christian Education director that she should ask us again on our third or fourth baby. By then we’ll probably drop the baby off at the curb and swing by an hour later to pick it up. (No, not really… But I do imagine we would be more willing.) At any rate, it’s snowing like crazy and I’m so happy we don’t have to hop in the car.

We got our tree last Saturday and last night Rory put the lights on it. Perhaps by next Saturday we will have ornaments on it. Projects like this just take a whole lot longer lately. I was thinking yesterday that the Food Network should have a one-handed cooking show. Similar to Rachel Ray’s 30 minute meals, this show would show you how to prepare family friendly meals while holding a fussing baby. Maybe the baby would begin the show in a swing or a rumble buns, but right at the crucial meal prep moment, the baby would start crying and then the host could show you what in the world you are supposed to do then…with an upset child and eggs and pancakes on the stove.

Thankfully the house did get decorated for Christmas thanks to my mom getting snowed in with us last weekend. (This has been quite the fantastic Minnesota snowy winter so far. And I love it.) Mom and I had attended a funeral together and then for her birthday I took her to a handmade craft fair downtown. By the time we were done at the craft fair, the snow was too heavy for dad to come and pick her up. So she held Ivar all night while I plowed through every Christmas box. I know it was her birthday, but I felt like it was mine. I am certain those boxes would still be sitting in the middle of the living room.

Anyway, I just wanted to drop a few lines here today. We got Ivar a swing this week and if we set it by the tree he is entertained/hypnotized to sleep for good chunks of time. Hence my ability to blog! Hooray! Happy Snow Day, everybody. Hope you can hibernate too.

keeping it real

I'm here.

Hello Blog. It’s been a while.

I have been wanting to get on here quite often since Ivar was born. A few days it has worked out, but most days it has not. I have lots to say… things I am really excited to share. Each day I begin hopeful that perhaps this is the day I might get those thoughts written down. But by bedtime I wonder, once again, if they will ever see the light of day.

This is okay, I suppose. I am enjoying my life right now in every way possible. I keep waiting for baby blues to set in or some sort of sadness. I know this is normal for lots of women, and aware these feelings could drop in at anytime. But at the moment I am still riding a happy cloud, loving my baby and my role as his mama. Even in the dead of night when I zombie-walk into his room, the moment I see him I am overwhelmed by how much I adore this baby of mine.

There is so much I want to remember and reflect on…which is primarily why I use this blog. So even though life is rich and full and therefore lacking time to blog, it is for those very reasons that I want so badly to blog.

I want to tell you about Ivar's baptism and how special it was to have my dad leading that service. I want to tell you about a dear friend’s funeral and how the miracle of life and eternity have been filling my thoughts. I want to tell you about the first five weeks with Ivar Nicholas and how quickly he is changing (he is smiling now!). Part of me wants to be sad that he is already out of his newborn clothes, but I decided recently I won’t be sad that he is growing. This is the whole point. It would be sad if he wasn’t growing…so I’ll just love him every growing day.

I really do hope to be able to blog more often. But know that when I do, it is because blogging outweighed whatever else I needed to get done in that pocket of time. For example, right now, my hair and bangs are air drying. I fit in the shower, but decided to hop on the computer instead of blow dry. (If you see me in the next 24 hours and my hair is dumpy, you'll know why...)

Here's to hoping I'll write something tomorrow. Or the next day. Or the day after that. Or this weekend sometime... Or maybe next week. Or the week after that...

seven grandkids under age seven

Alrighty. I can't just post a picture a day without some explanation. It's been bugging me since the second I posted these pictures. Also bugging me is the fact that my text is centered again. Rory talked me through how to fix this once, but I must not have been listening really well...

So this weekend we had my brother's family from Seattle and my sister's family from Montana all in town for one big Harrington Holiday. It was a blast. And loud. And very, very special. We feasted, celebrated my brother's becoming a partner in his law firm with a 'Howdy Partner' Cowboy party, decorated the Christmas tree, opened Christmas presents, played lots of twister, swaddled lots of babies and baby dolls, went sledding and had a beautiful baptism service for Svea and Ivar. The weekend flew by and today I am lonesome for some niece and nephew love.