Ivar and his train talk

Ivar and I had dentist appointments today. It was Ivar's first dentist visit and he did awesome. His teeth look great and he found the whole experience to be quite the adventure. I was grateful for an awesome hygienist and the super cool sunglasses he got to wear so the light wouldn't shine too bright in his eyes.

On the way home we saw a police car with its lights flashing up ahead. Ivar said, "Mom! Let's ride the rails and go see that police!" His Thomas the Train world seems to be seeping into more and more of his every day life. More examples:

A few nights ago he was laying at the bottom of the stairs before bedtime. I asked him he thought he'd make it up or if he wanted me to carry him to bed. He replied, "I'll make it. I've got just a little bit of fuel to pump my pistons." Oh man. I hope pump my pistons sticks around for a while.

We were with friends, playing at a creek and Elsie walked in and got her shoes all wet. It meant we cut our playtime short and left our friends a little early. Ivar's friend Lily had a perplexed look on her face as we left. Later Ivar said, "Oh remember at the water when Lily was cross?"  Cross! That's a common word in the Thomas books, but so funny to hear Ivar use it in context.

And finally, everything around here is coupled. Ivar was using the velcro on the kitchen chair cushions and told me, "I'm just coupling the pillow back to the chair, Mom."

thegrovestead.com

Well, we have quite the big announcement. We have added another blog to the family.

This new blog is sort of an information sharing blog. Whereas joyfullybecca has more to do with family and stories and people, thegrovestead.com will be one part what we're learning and one part record keeping. Think of it as a public little log book, documenting dates, projects, and lessons learned from year to year. Sort of the blog we have been hoping to stumble upon during the last eighteen months.

I'm really excited about it. Mostly because now it is my husband who is saying, "can we start that movie in twenty minutes? I just want to finish up this blog post real quick..."

So check it out. Be sure to click on the black tab bar...it's pretty fun how he has his posts organized, covering all the little projects happening on our ten acres.

Feel free to pass the link along to anyone you think might be interested in joining our adventures. And if you want new blog posts sent right to your email, you can enter your email address on the right hand column of the site. Happy reading! Click here to get to thegrovestead.com

easter sunday

We got up on Sunday morning and went to our church to celebrate Resurrection Sunday. Then we came home and got ready for family. It was a glorious day in Minnesota and soon my parents, my sister and Svea and the entire Groves clan (except Maddie, who was at a wedding...a wedding! on easter sunday!) came to share a great big easter dinner.

In my head this prayer was going to be very moving...but my prayer was interrupted by a hungry rooster. That's what happens when you plan on your prayers being very moving. God calls in the rooster and keeps you humble.

We all fit in the sunny room at one long table. It felt very festive. And here's what is most amazing about my family. I made a creamed corn casserole. And that's it. Every single other part of the meal was brought by someone else. And, get this. My sister-in-law Lisa, made two hams on Saturday for our Easter meal. TWO. HAMS. She continues to out-do her out-done self. And everyone else brought two or three things too. It was a feast and felt completely stress free, because I have such awesome and amazing women in my family.

We had an egg hunt that spanned five acres of our property. It was so huge, and there were so many eggs that we didn't see a single cousin the whole time we looked for eggs! There is no competition when the eggs are so abundant and spread over so much yard.

The day concluded with tractor rides. Here is Svea taking her turn with Uncle Rory.

And then Troy wanted a turn too.

a hard worker

Friday night Rory evaporated our first 15 gallons of sap. Sunday afternoon he went for 20, and during the last five gallons it started sleeting on him. He came inside to watch the fire from the warmth of the living room and watched the syrup unexpectedly catch on fire and burn to char. I asked to take a picture, but he said he wasn't in the mood.

Last night he evaporated another 15 gallons, building the fire at 8:30. It was 12:30 when my sweet husband came to bed smelling like a lovely night of camping. We have rain and snow in the forecast, but sap has a shelf life and can go bad if you don't evaporate it within a certain window of time. We're down to the final fifteen gallons and I look forward to having maple syrup to put in my coffee again (so good...)

I decided to write this post though because of the conversation we just shared. It's 11:00. I am speaking for our women's bible study tomorrow morning and finishing up my talk. Rory is on the couch next to me mapping out a planting schedule and when each vegetable should go in the soil. And here's what's noteworthy: he's feeling frustrated because he's already behind. Which I think is endearing because he planted seeds five weeks ago. And there is snow forecasted for tomorrow. But he's frustrated because we should have had sweet potatoes sprouting in peat moss one month ago.

He's a hard worker, people. And fun to watch work.

april at the grovestead

+ The kids got to ride in the truck with us as we hauled a few loads of branches from the ditch out to the burn pile. Riding with no car seats through the field was pretty epic for them.

+ Ivar has become quite the helper lately. Here he was helping his dad remove the hay from the raised beds where Rory planted a lot of tulip bulbs last spring.

+ We had another great season for sap. We got 65 gallons this year, and have a garage full of five gallon buckets ready to turn into syrup. Rory is in full-on evaporator mode, already having boiled down his first fifteen gallons last night.

+ Thomas and Percy are adorable. Their little eyes always look sad, but I think that's just how kitten eyes look. They're tumbling out of their cat bed and beginning to walk around. They are so cute and make for a sweet way to welcome anyone who walks through our garage.

+ Our little seeds have been growing in mighty ways under the grow lights. We won't plant in egg cartons again...they seem to absorb so much of the water, it's hard to keep the little seeds properly watered. So we ordered a ton of plastic containers for the next round.

+ Our cats, Velma and Vernon are frisky as ever. We will have them both fixed at the end of the month so we don't turn into a cat farm. The way they tumble around the yard, I'm pretty sure we'd have another litter mid-summer!

+ Ivar has been very interested in the chickens lately. He brings them little dixie cups of cracked corn each morning and on this day threw them his yellow ball. He was a little sad that they didn't really play with it, or throw it back over the fence.

+ We had a picnic on Friday. Second of the season. I've said it before, and I'll say it again: parenting outdoors just feels like cheating. Lunch is lovely while eaten outside. I read a book while the kids played in the rock box. Elsie likes to sit in the baby swing, without being pushed. It was a stunning, quiet and warm morning.