Elsie Bah!

+Elsie has started playing with a dolly. She calls her, "Baby!" And today I played with Elsie and Baby and we had the sweetest time. I fed Baby some pretend food we just got at Ikea. Elsie watched me amazed and laughed at Baby eating watermelon. And then she'd look at me sideways and slowly fed Baby some watermelon too. I could see the dots connecting inside her head as we kept playing pretend. What joy.

+Elsie begins every sentence with a determined, "No." I'll ask, "Elsie, would you like some apple?" And she'll respond, "No." But seconds later in a panic she'll cry out, "Apple!" And it goes on like this for all waking hours of the day.

+She speaks in lots of sounds. Rory commented that she only really says B words. Bah Bah for bottle, Ba for ball, Baa for bath, Bu for book. But she also says Dadoo for Cat and Chicken. I am fluent in Elsie Bah.

+Elsie is extreme. Her joy is so joyful. Her happy is delightful. Her frustrated is furious. Her anger is hot. Her nose always has a booger and her chin is always wet. But her sweetness is tender. Her determination is powerful. Her love is palpable. And her laugh will slay you. She is the best.

forts in the living room

Lately we've been big into forts. And to be totally honest, fort construction is one of my best gifts. I honed this craft over the course of my entire childhood, creating fortresses on the clothesline with my best friend Jennifer. Now I have kids to build them for, and let's just say they lucked out with getting me as their skilled fort-building mama. 

This round I discovered a new trick up my sleeve: use bottom bed sheets for the walls of your fort. The elastic holds secure around the chairs and can be tucked under the feet of the chair. It's so handy. If that doesn't make any sense to you, go build yourself a fort in your living room (go, do it) and come back and tell me how awesome those bottom sheets are. Also helpful: pony tail holders work wonders for keeping the roof attached to the chairs. 

I used to love playing in forts once they were built. But now I find a good magazine inside a fort is the perfect combination.

high on vitamin d

The weather these past two days was cause for celebration. Ivar has pink eye and so we're home bound. But with weather like today and yesterday, we were able to get outside and it was awesome. We did lots of stuff...

...like shovel snow from one pile into another.

And Elsie gave stroller rides to a very willing Velma, the cat.

Each kid spent a whole lot of time in the baby swing, dragging their feet on the snow.

And then we had a picnic lunch with ham, cheese and apples. It was Ivar's idea and I was thrilled. Picnics are my favorite and now I know they are Ivar's too.

And finally, when it was time to come back inside after two hours of play and a picnic, Elsie had a canary. She was livid. She did not want to come in, even though her hands were red and raw. She kept shoving her boots into my belly yelling, "Boo! Boo!" Which meant, put these back on you fun killer. I actually had thought while we were outside that parenting outdoors feels like cheating. The kids were so busy doing their own things, I was so happy to be out in the sun. But when we came back in and Elsie was so furious and Ivar was crying because his socks got wet, then I knew I wasn't cheating. I was still the mom, working hard.

And now I will leave you with a video I like to call "The one where Ivar asks the cats if he can play."


winter cats from Becca Groves on Vimeo.

valentine's day

I just got off the phone with my mom telling me to get a blog post up. She misses her grandkids. So here we go. I think I have a few I can fire off. I believe I left off on Valentine's Day. I had a lovely post all about Rory and how recently he told me that he would be thrilled if I made Hamburger Helper once a week. He loves the stuff and is so excited when I make it. He even called it one of his love languages. This little-known-fact used to bother me. I felt I was above Hamburger Helper. But two kids later, Rory's love for Hamburger Helper is one of most endearing, wonderful parts about this easy-to-please Valentine of mine. 

We had a great Valentine's day. I followed in my mom's footsteps and had a heart supper. We had finger jello hearts, cupcakes from our favorite shop, and a heart pizza from Papa Murphy's. Anyone else get Papa Murphy's? When I picked up my pizza, there was palpable excitement in the store. My sister said her's was like this too. The manager was all happy telling everyone it was their busiest day of the year. I got swept up in the giddiness, and then got back into my car and remembered I had only been in a pizza shop on valentine's day. It was as if I had walked into some sort of unexpected christmas joy or something...

And my funny Valentine, while eating his pizza, kept telling me how he couldn't quite figure out how a place like Papa Murphy's broke on to the scene. Rory said, "Just think about it. After delivery was invented, why would anyone open up a pizza shop with unbaked pizza's? It seems backwards."

And those are the sort of sweet nothings my Valentine discusses over a romantic dinner with our children. :)

i love big, colorful, world market wall art

A few weeks ago we were walking through World Market with the kids. I saw this painting and was in love. For a while we had it in the living room, but it loses something when you look at it from afar. I love it up close. So I brought it up to our bedroom where, due to it's size, everything is up close...

World Market art seems to fit us well in this season of life. We have three big paintings in our house that add color and break up our bare walls. Obviously they're not originals. But that's why we can afford them. One day, when we are collecting large pieces of expensive art for our estate (I kid!) I will purchase lots of paintings from that gallery just outside of the Barnes and Noble in the Galleria. Anyone ever been in there?!! Have you seen the magical birch forests that look like blobs of rainbow paint up close, but when you step back you can see birch trees?!! Oh they're awesome. This painting from World Market sort of reminded me of that, but for thousands less.

(And just because I thought it was noteworthy... As I took the pictures of this new painting over our dresser, I also took a shot of all the clean clothes I washed on Monday that each evening we put back on the floor and each morning put back on the bed. If only someone would put it away!)