Let all things now living, a song of thanksgiving

to God the creator, triumphantly raise!

Last weekend was full of snow and singing.  Saturday morning I braved the cold and snow covered roads for the Messiah dress rehearsal.  That was really fun... I've never sang with an orchestra before so I guess I can cross it off my bucket list.  It made me nervous though. 

Cecily wanted to go play in the snow as soon as I got home.  We made her wait until after lunch and when the wind died down a little.  She would have stayed out all afternoon.

 The little marshmallow liked it too, though she was getting frustrated with her mittens. 

 We made them come in because we were cold and Emmy needed a nap. And then it all melted.  Poor girls.

Sunday afternoon was the performance.  The girls stayed home with Bob.  It has been a long time since I've sung in front of a crowd that big... or in front of the Wyss family fan club.  It was so much fun.  I'm not sure which choruses are my favorite, but I know I was grinning by the time we got to the end of the Amens.  It was an amazing experience.  I didn't want it to end.  And now I want to sing all of the songs but I don't need to practice and I don't want to drive Bob crazy...  woe is me. 

Silly kid found a tomato.  She eats them raw like an apple. 

 We spent Thanksgiving with the Kochs. I have kind of decided that Thanksgiving, Easter, Father's Day, Mother's Day need to be one-and-done the day of holidays.... there is little to no reason to go to more than one get together.  It's silly.  And stressful.  But then I was regretting not getting to eat my grandma's turkey and dressing since she's pretty much the best cook ever.  And they had lots of pie.  Oh well.  Next year.

I'm just fishing....  if you can believe it all the toys and books were picked up just prior to this so that I could clean.

 She was stacking her hot dog pieces like grandpa's hay bales.

 We cleaned really well on Friday (including mopping which I don't do often enough) in preparation for Christmas decorations.  Today the girls and I went to W-ton for a little bit.  I wanted to drop off the crepes (60 of them!  and that's not all we need!) for Grandma to fill for Wyss Christmas, and it had been awhile since we'd gone to visit.  The girls had fun playing with their toys, and Grandma fed them tootsie rolls, chocolate, and Oreos.  Then we walked down to Pearline's and she gave them chocolate and let them play with her snowmen and nativity... the only casualty of the day was Joseph's arm.... *sigh*.  They didn't want to leave. 

Emmy was sleeping when we got home so Cecily and I started decorating.  She is most excited about "her" little tree and she doesn't think she needs to share. Emmy woke up when we were about halfway through.  Everything delights her... the nativity, the little tree, and she wants to touch all of it.

Oooooohhhh!!

 Look! Look!

 
The rest of the afternoon was spent with Emmy moving sheep and shepherds around and trying to steal ornaments off "her" tree and Cecily getting mad and yelling dramatically, "Emmy is ruining Christmas Eve! She's going to ruin Christmas!"  Ayiyiyi.  It might be a loooong month.  And Cecily is pretty sure that we need to get a big Christmas tree right now, which Emmy will also love. 

Tonight was pizza night.  When we said 'pizza's here!' Emmy said "YAY" and ran to the door.  Silly girls.

Blessings.

Title.... title... title....

It's been really quiet around here, which I love.  But it makes for boring blog posts. 

Just chilling... for some reason Cecily needed her Elsa jammies and church shoes on.  And I have no idea what Emmy is wearing. 

 One morning they got out all the dress up clothes and Emmy wanted it all on at once.  So her outfit included the snow white dress, a fairy dress, a scarf, etc. over her pajamas. She looked hilarious.

 My mom came and picked up the girls Friday morning and took them for the day.  I got to go to Peoria to pick up my sewing machine and went to the mall all by myself!  It was so peaceful.  And so easy.  I didn't have to unbuckle anyone! Or carry anyone! 

Bob and I went to potluck that evening at Greg and Mary's.  It was a good time, as always.  When we went to pick up the girls they had taken a bath; Cecily had found herself some pj's and she was determined she was going to spend the night with Grandma.  So we let her.  And Emmy fell asleep on the way home so we had a very quiet evening. 

Mom and Grandma and Lori and Di brought her back in the morning.... after they took her to all the shopping and open houses in town.  She brought home several treasures.  "Grandma Lydiann at the condos" got her some slippers and she picked me out some potholders and she got a white purse... she was quite pleased with her whole morning.  Then she got to show them all her toys and her room.  Ha.

We spent the afternoon raking leaves.  Well, sort of.  All of the wind we've had pushed most of them into drifts, so we just had to rake a few spots and then Bob mulched them up with the lawn mower.  So much easier than hauling them.

This silly girl was sitting in the shoe basket trying to put my sandals on. 

 

Cecily got her song and verse for the Christmas program.  Should be interesting.  She has a tendency to segue into the Messiah version of "For unto us a child is born" so I'm not sure if I should hope that she'll start singing it at the program or not.  It would be awesome.  She does great on the syncopated "and the government shall be upon his sho-o-o-o-o-oulders" part. And now Emmy wanders around singing along with Cecily's singing birthday card "Goooooo!"  I love it.

 

After last years Christmas picture attempt fiasco I decided that I would save my sanity and have Elsie take it.  So we did that one morning.  It was fun-ish.  It took a while to explain that her name was Elsie, not Elsa.  And they sort of cooperated.  Emmy was more interested in her fuzzy pillows than looking at the camera, so we shall see how they turn out.  But hey- I didn't have to try and take one and I won't be getting all frustrated with them and annoyed.  Win-win. 

Blessings.

Hobbits and Houses

I'm falling behind... I think I will blame it on our wireless router.  It stopped working and so I couldn't connect my camera to the computer.  Yay technology.

Anyway, Tirzah and Griffin came to play one day after story hour.  They all played so nicely and it was so quiet upstairs.  

 Sometimes when I'm trying to cook I ignore Emmy and she does things like this...

 Lena's church baby shower was the 30th.  The girls and I went to the farm that afternoon and they ate supper with Dad and Jake... then we went to "Shirley's house" (aka Cheryl) for the shower.  They had fun playing with her toys and I got to talk to Elise so it was a good night. 
I took the girls to Grandpa and Grandma Beutel's house on Halloween.  Emmy was a hobbit lass... Cecily has a matching dress but "I will wear my Elsa dress," so whatever. I can pretend like she's an Elvish princess or something.

 Such a cute little hobbit.

 We walked to several of our neighbor's houses- it's kind of our last chance for interaction before winter sets in and we all hibernate. We spent the rest of the evening keeping Emmy out of the candy bowl. 

 Our potluck had a wiener roast on Sunday evening.  Thankfully we had good weather and a shed to hang out in so we didn't freeze.  The girls had fun running around and being crazy.

They made me 'lunch' one day. 

 So our next door neighbors are moving and they brought over two big boxes of toys and clothes that their granddaughter is done with.  It was like Christmas.  And there was a leotard and dance skirt in the box.... someone found my old ballet book and wants to be a ballerina and was sooooo excited to get a ballerina dress. Now she wants pink shoes.  *sigh*

 Saturday I got to do something awesome!  If you've ever driven I-55 between Bloomington and Lexington and seen the huge old house rising abruptly out of the cornfields, we go to go tour it!  It's called Duncan Manor and its history is quite fascinating.  And it's gorgeous.

 The current owners are working on restoring it- since they bought the place last summer they now have new plumbing, electrical, and working HVAC.  The exterior and interior walls are solid brick (6-12 inches!) so it makes all of those things rather difficult. There was a lot of damage/ vandalism inside so some rooms are down to the lathe.  Cecily is checking out the wall in the servants staircase. 

 Emmy was very unsure, but she liked the antique couch.

 Look at those corbels...

 I didn't get many pictures inside- it will be gorgeous when it's done.  I was also busy making sure Cecily wasn't getting ahead of us or falling over short they-didn't-have-building-codes-in-1870 railings.  The three story spiral staircase is pretty amazing, even in mid-renovation shape. And the high ceilings....  swoon.

 "Oh look, that would be a great Christmas card picture spot. Cecily go sit by Emmy."  Yeah.  No luck. 

 So for a long time this house was rented out....  it sits on an acreage and it was built by a farmer, so technically it is a farm house.  Can you imagine cash renting the farm- 'Oh by the way, the property has a house on it so if you need a place to live....'  Ha!  Why sure I'd love to farm your ground and live in your seven bedroom Italianate mansion!   

So fun.  I asked Cecily what her favorite part of the big house was and she said the round windows (in the 3rd floor), and the little stairway (the steeeep servants stairs). 
Today after church we went back to the farm.  One of my mom's cousins was in town (they're retired and spend their summers touring in their RV and their winters in Texas) so she had the Roemersbergers in to see them.  Good times.
Blessings.