lots of laundry

It's pretty awesome when you take your kids to a going away party and your son throws up in the middle of the kitchen in front of everyone. Yep. Awesome.

It was a long, long night of the flu, sleeping mostly on the floor of Ivar's room hearing him moan, "Mom, I need you."

That was Monday night/Tuesday morning and we took it easy all day. Even cancelled plans for Wednesday.

Wednesday night Ivar started back up again. Apparently a relapse. The only perk of this round is that he learned my lingo and would tell me each time, "Mom, take this bowl. It's grody." His saying grody made me happy to know him.

 Not to be left out, Elsie woke up at one in the morning with the flu too. Thank God for Rory. I thought I was going to die.

We've been washing bedding all week, snuggling on the couch while watching tv, eating cinnamon toast and apple sauce. We're going to survive, but this was a doozy. (And so far, all friends with us on Monday are still feeling fine. Phew.)

a visit to Alison's

Friday night we went to Edina to visit Alison, our next door neighbor when we lived in Minneapolis. She had made the sweetest sign on her door to welcome us. Ivar said, "I,V,A,R! That's Ivar!" And then Alison explained what an exclamation mark means. "A line and a dot means I'm excited you're here!"

Alison moved shortly after we did, and sold her house this summer. We helped a bit and she showered us with gifts for stopping by. She gave Ivar his big boy bed, gave me a picnic table and all sorts of awesome wrapping paper and she gave Rory a huge plant and light set up so he can start his garden in March, down in the basement.

When we were there Ivar sang his latest favorite song for her, This Little Light of Mine. When it's time to hide it under a bush, Ivar covers my finger and I try to get it away. A silly little game. Then when we sing, "don't let Satan hoo it out" I try to blow on his little light. The forth verse we sang, "All around Alison's apartment." Usually we switch that one depending on where we are, (all around the neighborhood, all around the whole wide world, all around our little house...)

But since visiting Alison's, that's all we ever sing. "No, Mama! Sing Alison's Apartment! All around Alison's Apartment!"

Elsie and Ido

 

+Elsie calls Ivar, "I do." One day she'll speak those words at her wedding. Until then, she uses them first thing when she wakes up, standing in her crib with her wrist twisted, palm up, shoulder scrunched "I do?"

+The kids play together all the time. It's a noticeable shift in their relationship. They mostly wrestle and roll on top of each other. It lasts long enough, until someone starts crying. (Not always Elsie...)  

+Elsie wakes up before Ivar during their afternoon nap. We'll play downstairs, but if I'm not watching her she will sneak upstairs, push his door open and poke him in his bed. This does not go over well with Ivar. Or with his mom. If I catch Elsie sneaking up the stairs, she will laugh and squeal, totally busted and then look at me very seriously as I carry her back down the stairs saying, "no. no. no. no. no."

+Ivar and I made up a new favorite game this week. It's called, "Ah! Company is coming!" During this game, I race around a chosen room trying to clean it as fast as possible. There is no company coming, but it's a pretty great mind game for me. Ivar loves how spazzy I become and runs around telling me, "Mom! The company is coming!" And then I scream and yell that I've got to hurry! 

+Along those lines, often when I go to pick up the living room and sunny room, I wish I had a rake to gather all the randomness that is strewn on the carpet into one big pile. I'd call it The Toy Rake or The Knee Saver.

 +Our kids are a blast. And the days seem to be going smoother. I recently told Rory, "What if we end up loving them being so close together?!!" (So far it has been trying and hairy and we'd space our next kids more than 20 months apart next time around.) But they're becoming play friends (which was the hope and plan from the beginning. The 20 months were intentional.) It's a joy to watch them play and wrestle and snuggle.

...and a joy to tuck them in for the night so that mama can have her alone time.

polar bear plunge

...or a santa bear plunge. Either way, super fun.

stockings and the christmas box

I've been wanting to blog about this for years. It's my favorite Christmas tradition, and one that I married into: The Groves family christmas box. 

Every Christmas, each person in the family writes on a smaller piece of stationary for about ten minutes. During that time we are to write two paragraphs. The first paragraph tells of the things you are thankful for from the past year. Or just thanksgivings in general. The second paragraph are hopes and prayers for the year ahead. What you pray might change, the parts of your life that may require extra grace and strength.

That's it: 1) what you're thankful for from this past year 2) what you're praying for in the year ahead.

Then the next year, we read those two paragraphs aloud to each other, each person taking their turn to read their own writing. It is so powerful. It is powerful to remember your own joys from a year ago and to remember burdens you were giving to the Lord. And even more amazing, to hear the hearts of every member of the family (everyone does this...I wrote Ivar's thankful list this year to be read next year) and the way God has moved in each of our lives in the 365 days since.

Last night, after we read aloud our paragraphs from last year, Lisa collected the papers and put them in The Christmas Box where they will be held with the previous 10+ year's worth of thanksgivings and prayers. Then she handed out new paper and we wrote our words that will be read next year. Those, too, were collected and put in the Christmas Box.

It's the coolest tradition, trumps presents by long shot (in my opinion) and one that I think every family should begin. 

The other part of this Groves family gathering is Stockings. Each person in the family has a stocking. The year before, each empty stocking is put in a paper bag and each person is secretly and randomly given another family member's stocking. And all year long we are to purchase things as we think of that person. For a long time it was to get something for your stocking person as you traveled, which meant as the stocking was unpacked, stories were told of where that object came from and why they chose that gift for you. This year we streamlined a bit (the stockings were coming with side bags, overflowing with gifts and a bit out of control...) and gave four gifts: something your stocking person would want, need, eat and read. It was good, but I guess I'm partial to the travel gifts. (Maybe with a set limit of gifts in the stocking.)

I adore this tradition too. The presentation of the stocking is always very dramatic, with the stocking giver walking around the room, faking each other out, pretending they're setting the stocking on someone's lap only to pivot to the other side of the circle. The surprise is so fun, especially because few remember what their particular stocking actually looks like (you never have it in your possession, except for when you're unpacking it...) The night is very organized...one person begins by handing out their stocking and then the person who last opened their own stocking is the next to give the stocking they've been filling all year. This year we added family clapping, applauding for gifts we were particularly impressed by. Which was hilarious and never got old (to me and Lisa.)

And for his first time, Ivar got to take home a stocking last night (he was too young to understand last year) and he is so excited. I told him we get to buy presents for this person all year and Ivar has all sorts of ideas. I'll bet we don't make it until Christmas before he leaks the surprise of his stocking person, but in the meantime, the boy is thrilled.

I wanted to share these two favorite traditions now, because I would guess there are some families out there who might adopt them. Now would be the time to shop clearance stockings, or to have a family member sew some up for the next year. And you don't need a fancy box for the Christmas Box. You just need someone to head it up each year, to collect pens, have some sort of paper and to get the family to begin this beautiful ritual.