The last day of Chemistry before break was the day before my birthday, so I forced my class to celebrate with me. I made benzene cupcakes. :) We also celebrated Christmas- and sang Chemistry carols with much gusto! Well, I did, anyway. 😁
We had Christmas plans ON my birthday, so I picked up lunch, and opened my birthday presents from the girls the day before. Somehow they always seem to enjoy them as much as I do... :P
Wyss Christmas was on my birthday, starting with an amazing lineup of 14 breakfast casseroles. Of course, my kids would only eat cinnamon rolls.
Coloring and paper airplane making.
Presents! Perrin was not impressed with my new sewing book.
Miri took it upon herself to feed Logan snacks. 😝
Walkers are Perrin's favorite toys.
Cecily got in on a game of pedigree, breeding Jersey cows like a good Metzger.
There was even a birthday cake for me.
There are kind of a lot of us...
Beutel Christmas was the following evening. Miri thought she wanted to be in the nativity play.
Cadence was an angel.
Cecily was Mary. 😂
Emmy's in the angel choir too.
And Miri got shy at the last minute and just wanted Grace to hold her. Whatever.
Other families got nice pictures with Grandma Beutel... 😂😜
Then it was on to the double feature of grade school programs; K-1, short break but not long enough for food, 2-4. Woohoo! Perrin was not happy to be there and spent most of the night in the hallway. Miri was also not very cooperative.
If you squint you can maybe see one of them...
My first batch of springerle dough was so super sticky and then almost raw after I baked them. Why?!? How?!? It's the same recipe I've used since high school. *sigh* To borrow a phrase, I binned them.
I decided to let the girls string the orange slices for garlands. Fun, simple craft right? "Ew, these smell gross!" "I don't like how they feel!" Haha.
Miri's still figuring out needles.
Finished product!
We hung them on the windows.
I wouldn't have thought the dried orange garland look fit my Christmas decor style,but it ended up looking rather cozy.
Second attempt at springerle made a stiff, dry dough. (the.exact.same.recipe. grr) I baked them a little hotter, just in case the new oven isn't quite calibrated right. They turned out perfectly. So. I have no tips.
It snowed! And got super cold and windy... due to the weather and cold and illness Koch Christmas got moved, so we celebrated with our family on the 23rd instead. The girls set the table with china and bendy straws.
Grilled cheese...
tomato soup...
and chocolate milk! So fancy. 😋
Then we opened presents.
I had taken them to dollar tree to shop for each other, and they are so bad at surprises. Soooo many hints were given... haha.
Of course, egg cartons are just as fun as new toys!
Poor Bob, after I strongly hinted NOT to get me any random kitchen gadgets, he ended up with an egg cooker. (In my defense, he likes making things like tuna salad at random times and I don't like hard boiling eggs on a whim, so... now he can quick cook them himself!)
Cadence was pretty excited about her new headlamp, and wore it all afternoon. We had extra gingerbread dough and I cut out some house shapes to play with.
Gingerbread houses are so cool, but a whole house seemed like a recipe for disaster: lots of work, lots of fighting, and not much space to keep the finished product. Multiple houses sounded absolutely overwhelming, even the graham cracker and milk carton kind.
This worked out pretty well, and was pretty fun for all of them.
It was really too cold to play outside for very long. They wanted to go out so badly though- they maybe lasted 20 minutes.
Christmas Eve was with the Kochs. Bob was not feeling well, and Perrin had a slight fever, so the boys stayed home. As we drove in past the church, I noticed the strobe lights from the fire alarm system were going, and there was water spraying into the church foyer. Um. Yikes! We sent some people over to check it out and the fire department got there a few minutes later. Such excitement. Thankfully, not much damage was done, though it did change Sunday church plans slightly. Looky-loos...
Christmas morning stockings...
(I was so close to finishing the table cloth the night before but I ran out of embroidery floss at 2am. I know, I know. Also, most of it was already stitched when I got the table cloth, it was from someone's unfinished craft stash.)
Even Perrin got a few things. :)
Sunday mornings are quite often rough... no matter how early we start. *sigh* But, we made it mostly on time and dressed, and Perrin did get socks on before we left.😵
After church we went to Bob's parents for food...
and presents.There were also games played and cats terrorized. :P
We went to the farm the following day. I had never seen this picture of the farm before- looking west in 1938 towards the unfinished house. The windows aren't in yet. :)
The kids were relatively quiet for a little bit... ha... coloring and crafts.
Dad pulled out his drafting stuff and looked over my very rough sketch house plan... ha. Much adding of beam lengths and drywall widths and things I know nothing about. :P He should have been an architect.
And then there were presents!!
Because they know I love packages... 😂
Christmas crackers for all.
"Liezel is my best friend!"
Perrin and Elodie are about the same size... just a year apart. :P
And of course games to end our Christmas celebrations.
The rest of our year was pretty quiet. We didn't have any big plans. Probably good because I ended up not feeling quite right for a few days. woot.
We hadn't checked the grow tent in a few days, so of course the radishes were ready. Haha. So many! The kids will eat them cooked- they lose their sharp flavor and are more like a potato than a carrot/turnip texture. Emmy: I tried them raw once, the first bite is fine and then your mouth is on fire.
When it's cold and the snow is gone they play with water... lots of water and get completely soaked.
Meanwhile, Cecily was lining up all of the books in her favorite book series.
I put Chinese Checkers on my Christmas list this year- I have fond memories of playing it with my Grandpa when they would babysit for us. It was always after we ate a snack and were waiting for Mom and Dad to get back; he'd bring out the Chinese checker board. So fun. The girls mostly enjoyed it, but there were tears because not everyone can win, and that is hard.
Emmy worked on her pillow kit.
The older two got a science/lip gloss kit they played with.
Another new game, a different child in tears... haha....
Miriel spent New Year's Eve on the couch with a fever, and insisted on sleeping in the living room. "I'm sick! I need to sleep on the couch!" (She was not very sick...) We didn't let the girls stay up, because of church in the morning. I still wasn't feeling quite right, not ill, not 'sick', but also not normal, huzzah, so I stayed home with the little two. Then Cadence started looking and feeling warm after church. She was fine the next day though, so weird. I used to like winter...
Overall, it ended up being a really delightful December. The girls made it to all of their events, and maybe more important to them, I made it to all of their events. Though it wasn't all sunshine and roses, 2022 ended up being a pretty great year, in which God did exceeding abundantly above all that we asked or thought.
Blessings.
