One misty, moisty morning

Hm... yes, I'm behind.  We've been fairly busy...

Bob and I went to Josh and Nicole's singing shower and left little miss at Bob's parent's with Grace and Eden.  His Dad was alone with all three girls... they all survived.

I dragged Bob to Menards to spend my Christmas money.  We came home with a bigger bookcase, more shelves for the basement, and a cabinet for laundry supplies.  Boring stuff.  Oh well, it fits the William Morris quote- "Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful."

We had Bob's family for supper Sunday night.  I didn't burn anything so I'd call it a success.

Monday evening I stopped at Grandma Koch's and got to bring home more treasures.  (Grapefruit spoons!  Vintage sheets!)  Then I went to quilting, which was fun. 

Stan D. came over and helped me pick out a color to paint our family room.  Now I just need to go get the paint.  And then actually do the painting.  woot woot. 
Thursday evening was sewing club... I'm slowly making progress on my knitting project... slowly...

Bob and I left little miss at the farm on Saturday evening and went with Jakey to rotating potluck at Elliot and Pam's.  She accidentally emailed me instead of Jakey and then ended up inviting us to tag along anyway.  It was an enjoyable evening with people I don't get to see very often. 

Yesterday was Michelle and Andy's wedding in T-town.  Church was packed and little miss was being really squirrely.  So we took her home after church and she took a nap with Bob and I went back to the reception and got to refill water for over an hour.  I'm getting too old for that job- my arms hurt and my feet hurt by the time I was done.  I'm glad I changed into more comfortable shoes...

Blessings. 

Tools

My dad likes to give me tools for Christmas, which I love.  He likes to give Bob tools too, and I may or may not take advantage of that at list making time.  *grin*  I have been using them a lot recently.  

So anyway, our green bathroom.  Black counter top, plain mirror, awful light fixture.  Seriously, we got a new one to replace it and I can't wait to put it up! (That's the box under the counter.) The old one is so dim and yellow and depressing.

I used my new staple gun to make a frame for the mirror.  And the miter saw, of course.  I'm getting better.  It's just glued to the face of the mirror with some kind of construction adhesive.  I love it.  It makes the whole room seem a little bit more classy, and makes the black counter top (would probably never be my choice) look less... black.

I've also been using my new palm sander on my rocking chair.  It's coming along.  Unfortunately, I can only work on the chair when little miss is sleeping, and the sander wakes her up every single time.  *sigh*  Oh well.  Slowly but surely.  Last night I got to work on it for a long time because Dang came over and she was having a great time upstairs.  She thought his "dancing" was hilarious...  and tried to mimic him. Silly girl.  

Blessings.

whirlwind

So we made a quick trip to Leo this weekend for Kacie's baptism...  we weren't even there for 24 hours...   not sure why we didn't go out earlier.  Anyway, we left Saturday morning and even though my car didn't start right away after a stop we got to Rita's in time to eat and change for testimonies.  Cecily did really good in the car (as long as she had plenty of snacks!). 

We left her at Rita's with all of the younger cousins and actually were early-ish to church!  It was a good night, although, Shelly and Kendra and I picked a very creaky bench.  *grin*

After church we spent the night at Abby and Tyler's with Matt and Lena, Pearl, and Paul and Jean.  Their house is decorated so cool!  And they did a ton of work to it so the kitchen and bathrooms are new and sparkling.  Little miss was wound up and had a great time exploring...  then she didn't fall asleep until 1:30 (IN time.  *sigh*).  It was an early morning for all of us.  

She was tired all day and not interested in sitting still so we didn't spend much time in church.  We left pretty fast after the baptisms because of the storm that was coming.  It rained most of the way across Indiana, and then the sun went down and the temperature dropped and it was ice.  It only ended up taking us a half hour longer than normal though, because most of the Illinois roads had been salted and were clear.  

So the drive home was fairly uneventful, other than my washer fluid pump is broken again, and the low coolant light is perpetually on.  Still not as bad as the drive from O'Hare in '99, or the drive to Ned's baptism in '07, or home from Minneapolis in '09.  

Somebody was so glad to be out of the car!  She put her tutu on herself.  Hehe.

Little Miss must miss Auntie Shelly.  I let her play with my phone on Monday while I was doing something else and all of the sudden I heard talking on the other end.  Thankfully she just called Shelly and not someone really random!   They talked for a while.  It was funny. 

Blessings.

Grey and white and winter all around

So I think we're all mostly recovered this week.  Bob went back to work, and Cecily has cheered up a little bit.  We walked past the discount flowers at the grocery store and she said "oooooh" and pointed at them so I got them for her...  poor girl has been sick and/ or teething for three weeks, and she loves flowers.  hehe.  And lets be honest, I do too.  

Grandma taught her how to use her oven mitt- hopefully she doesn't try it in the real oven.

Little miss and I met Lena and Shelly for lunch today at Chick-fil-A.  It was my first time there and I really, really liked it.  The food was good, but the service/ atmosphere was even better!  I loved the clean highchairs with the table mats for kids and a wet wipe- so nice!  And I got her a kids meal (that she barely touched because there were so many distractions... and french fries to eat... oh well) that came with a Franklin book.  So much better than a plastic toy.  We all went to the mall after lunch because I needed to exchange something and we left with lots of shoes.  Hehe.  Little miss had a great time wandering between racks and dancing to the background music.  

Then I went to target for wedding presents and came home with this mirror.  I think it's about the right size for above the mantel, but I'm not sure if white is the right color.  Advice anyone? Di?  If I painted it I could fix the small nick in the frame (I'm so proud of myself- I asked for a discount and they gave me one!  I'm not sure it makes me frugal though... this definitely was not a need...).       

Oh, and on the way home from shopping I stopped for a pick-me-up.  Somebody please remind me next time that medium means huge in fast food speak...  Anyway, little miss really wanted a drink so I let her have the last of the melty watery Dr. Pepper.  She was quite pleased with herself.

Blessings.

Happy New Year!

So far it's started out with sickness....  Both Cecily and Bob got the GI bug that's going around.  ugh.  Late nights and lots of laundry for me...  So far I'm healthy.

Little miss got to try out her new sled with Daddy.  She's not so sure about the snow suit or boots and refuses to keep her mittens on so she wasn't out long.

We had Dale & Meg, Greg & Mary, and Nic & Amanda at our house after church on New Year's Eve.  I really enjoyed having them, so I hope they all had fun too...  I think the kids did- they put all of Cecily's toys to good use.  Little miss was not at all sure what to make of it all.  She walked back and forth from the big kids to Bob and I all evening with a slightly shell shocked expression on her face.  hehe.  They were playing with her toys.  She didn't know what to do.  *grin*

So anyway, we ate lots of good food (including pomegranate seeds in the Brazilian tradition), played a fun game, and all but Hanna and Tirzah made it until midnight!  Max and Nora and Maria were very excited to count down and blow their noisemaker horns.  

Otherwise it's been quiet around here.  Trying to lay low so everyone gets better. We got the Christmas decorations down and put away.  Little miss is still not so sure about that tutu.  

On Wednesday little miss and I went and made a t-shirt quilt with/for Sprout.  I have a bunch of t-shirts from high school and college that I want to do this to someday, and I told her I'd help her make one for practice.  It's not quite as nice as Amber's (our inspiration!) but it still turned out pretty good.  And it only took us about 4 hours! 

Little miss had a doctor appointment on Friday.  She's skinny and healthy.  And she got a shot.  And she has two teeth coming in.  And she's running a slight fever.  And the GI bug earlier.  It's been a long week with a crabby baby.  

Bob's cousin Carrie got married today.  My mom came over to watch little miss during the wedding and reception.  It was really nice... simple and reverent and her dress was gorgeous.  Bob and I got to refill punch at the reception. Woot woot.

Blessings.