Ought to give Iowa a try

Christmas break got extended for a few days due to cold.  We didn't mind.  They played with all the new toys.  And looked at pictures of themselves on my laptop.  

We went to the farm one day and got to open presents from the Schlipf Christmas (that got cancelled). 

 When it warmed up a little bit closer to freezing (it felt positively balmy) we went outside to play in the snow.

 And built a snow queen!  

 Safety glasses are a must... obviously.

Jake and Rachel had a weekend of wedding showers so we made plans to spend the weekend in Iowa.  The girls were a little confused- they thought the wedding was happening and Emmy really, really, really wanted to make cupcakes for it.  "There will be a lot of people so we will need a lot of pans."  I talked her out of making cupcakes. 

 Instead we made some cornbread to go with our chili. Too many Kochs in the kitchen.

 Friday after school we headed to Iowa!  We decided to make it a little bit of a getaway so we stayed at a hotel.  The girls think hotels are amazing. 

I'm not such a fan... there's no table, for one thing... but we contrived.  And then we went swimming!  Which they loved.

Saturday morning was the church shower.  Jake was quite excited... 

 In the afternoon the girls and I went swimming again and Bob went with Nathan and Shelly to play games at Reilly and Katie's.

We spent the evening at Rachel's parents' house.  The girls were relatively well behaved. They really wanted to see Rachel's room- so funny.   

We went to Uncle Jakey's church, and they were pretty much wild... *sigh* Then we visited their new house and headed for home.  It was a good weekend.

Monday was MLK Jr day so no school and no work... we unpacked and I put up some shelves in the game closet.  The closet is still a mess, but the shelves are nice.  

Samantha is now approximately 24 years old.  She's in great shape but her hair needs some help.  I think the sunshine from being displayed in a window for a few years degraded it... anyway, we sent her off to the doll hospital for refurbishment.    Cadence was very confused and kept trying to get her out of the box.

They made a Rose Parade float out of their toys... pink for flowers, brown for the dirt. 

It got cold again so we didn't get to play in the fresh snow until it warmed up a little bit.  Cadence needed a nap.  She also really, really wanted to go outside.  And she really, really wanted to take blankie and kitty with her.  She was in her snowsuit, face down on the rug crying because I had the audacity to take kitty out of her hands to put on mittens.  Soooooo..... we put kitty in a ziplock bag, dried her tears, and had a wonderful outside adventure.

 I don't know if I've ever seen anything so ridiculous... 

 Poor kitty...  

 Thankfully it was a little bit too powdery for snowballs.

 She is ornery.   First she pulled out her cute little pig tails, then she climbed up into her chair with yogurt and bit it open with her teeth.  Because it was 5:30, she was hungry, and she was not in the mood for waiting for supper.  Pretty proud of her accomplishment too.

 Friday we did colorimetry in class.  One of my favorite labs- they make a standard curve and determine the concentration of an unknown.  It's a blue copper sulfate solution so it's pretty.  

 Saturday we hosted our potluck at Roger and Sally's barn/shed.  Bob bought a turducken on a whim and we tried it out on them.  It was cajun spiced and we were worried it would be too spicy for some... so I made pork loin also.  So much meat- turkey, duck, chicken, and pork.  Ha.  

 I was expecting the layers to be more defined.  It tasted good, but the stuffing reminded me a little too much of liver sausage, and I am not friends with liver sausage anymore.

Rustin did the carving honors.   

It was a good evening.  We actually left before some of our guests so my Mom and Dad could get home at a decent hour... ha.  It was kind of nice to not have to get the house all picked up, but I still like having people at our house.  The conversation is always good no matter where we are- where else can you talk about copyright laws and Robert's Rules of order?  
Thankfully we've all been fairly healthy.... colds abound but nothing else.  But we all just went to church so the next 24-72 hours could change that.  Yay germs.  
I spent part of the afternoon collecting signatures from our neighbors for our driveway easement agreement.  Slightly nerve-wracking, but everybody signed and I met a few new people and they were all nice about it.  phew.  
Blessings. 

Remembering Warmth and Color

Well, it maybe wasn't very warm- barely 40 degrees, but it was more colorful than the bleak melted grey wastes outside right now.

I don't think I ever posted these... from way back in the fall when I asked Bethany to take some pictures of the girls and maybe get a few with me in the picture too.  And then Cadence wouldn't cooperate and it turned into a mother/daughter photo session.  Oh well.  They make me smile.

 "A Time to Keep" by Tasha Tudor

Snow had fallen snow on snow

Well.  (Deep subject)  We made it through the holidays.  Cecily finished up her first semester of school and promptly woke up with a fever the next day, poor girl.  She was complaining that her neck hurt, which we figured meant her throat, but I was paranoid enough to call the nurse.  Since it was two days before Christmas there were no appointments open (of course), and the wait at prompt care was 2.5 hrs, so we opted to wait it out.  (Strep, if that's what it was, usually goes away on its own in a few days with or without meds.)  

We tried to keep the younger two away from her... which meant poor little Emmy was so bored.  We dug out some crafts one day when the other two were napping.   

 Cadence was ready for Church Sunday morning!  

 We did not go to the big Koch Christmas because we didn't want to spread our germs around so we had a quiet evening at home.  
Christmas morning Cecily still had a fever...

 A candy cane- with candy inside!  

 Emmy got to go to church with Bob that morning.  She really, really wanted to take Baby with her in the new dress she got in her stocking.

 After lunch they opened presents from us.  Cadence wasn't actually interested in opening her presents.

 She got a puppy that moves and barks- it took a little bit for her to warm up to it.  

 When the toy catalogs started coming months ago the girls saw these pillow kits that they absolutely HAD to have.  They were so excited to make them.  We worked on them in the afternoon for a while.

 Then the sun went down and one side of our house started feeling cold.... the furnace wasn't working.  It was Christmas day.  And below freezing.  We had someone come out, but they didn't have the right part and you can't get the right part on Christmas day.  Thankfully we have two furnaces!  The one for the original part of the house was working great and with some fans it kept the addition part of the house around 60 all night.  It still felt really cold to walk from one side of the house to the other...

 It was not the most magical of Christmas days... I posted this on Instagram:

O Come, O Come, Emmanuel... Honestly, it's not been the merriest Christmas Day. Fever, snotty noses, selfishness, unmet expectations.... top it all off with a broken furnace.
But: Mercy calls you; Break your chains! Come and worship CHRIST the newborn King!

 Not surprisingly, it's also hard to find furnace parts the day after Christmas.  So we hung out in the warm living room watching cartoons using my new projector (from Bob- I didn't even know I wanted a projector! Ha.).   

 We went outside to play in the snow for the first time since Cecily was finally fever-free!  Woot woot!  Cadence refused to keep her mittens on until she fell in the snow.  Then she changed her mind.

 Such fun!  

 Then we came in to our half warm house for cocoa.  The furnace got fixed around 3 pm and I finally could take my socks off when the floors warmed up. Hooray!  (I don't like wearing socks in the house.  For multiple reasons.)   It was about as expensive as you'd expect a Christmas Day/Boxing Day service call would be... sigh.

The 27th we were with Bob's family in the evening.  

 So excited for presents!

 More legos!

 Cadence was completely uninterested in presents again, until we got them home.  Then she didn't want to go to bed because she was too busy playing with her new duplos.

 We went to the farm on the 28th.  The girls were wound up and excited and not all that good, and it was kind of crazy, but such is life. Emmy got her hearts desire- a Unicone swirl maker! Ha.  Also, Jakey can be seen in the background with his hearts desire... hehe.  

 Cadence and Gideon were fighting over who got to sit on Grandma's lap.  Cadence also got her pants dirty and I didn't have any extra clothes (when will I learn); at one point she took her diaper completely off.  Aaahhhh Rachel probably thinks we are out of control and will dread our visits.

 Emmy was so excited to dish up ice cream for us.  Silly girl.

 Mom got the girls matching pajamas for them and their dolls.  They look so cute.  

 On the 29th we were planning to go to the Schlipf's... but they were sick.  Which was a bummer, but it snowed more that day and I was glad we didn't have to drive to Gridley on snowy roads.  
Instead we made an EasyBake red velvet cake!  

And made potholders!  And played with Cadence's new play tablet! 

 We were all healthy Sunday morning,  so we took a belated Christmas dress picture.  

 And a three cute little girls in red coats picture.

 Michelle and Nathan and Gideon came over after church to hang out.  Gideon and Cadence had fun making messes.

 The rest of us played Nathan's new game.  It's called "Viral" and you put your viruses in various body systems and try to put them in crisis... yeah.... maybe a better game for summer when it's not sickness season.

 They ate supper with us and then we were going to go to New Years Eve services.... except I suddenly got the chills and felt dizzy and tired and weak.  Ugh.  I took a nap and we listened in instead.  (Thankfully it just heralded a nasty sinus/head cold and not something worse.)
We let the girls have these mini Pepsi cans for a fun NYE snack... and then they were all in bed by 10.  Because I was tired and not feeling well.  

And now it's the new year, I'm feeling better, the tree is down, the cookies are eaten, Bob's back to work, and somebody thinks she's such a big girl.  

Blessings.