Snow and Ice and all things nice

I like January.  So far we haven't been overly sick- Perrin had a fever for a few days, and the kids keep coming home with very large tallies of kids that are out sick so it is probably coming for us, but I'll take all the healthy days we can get. 
We finally got a little bit of snow- the kids were hoping for more, and a snow day, but a little is better than nothing. 

I thought I was adding a package of balloons to my pick-up order.  I must have been tired, because what I got was one solitary helium balloon.  Perrin was pleased anyway. 

Practice sounding out "Hop on Pop" requires a lot of moral support.

Cecily and Cadence built a snow fort wall so they could have  a snowball fight.  It wasn't really packing snow, though, so it ended up being very Calvin and Hobbes-esque. 

Emmy and Miri tried so hard to roll a snowball big enough for a snowman.

They ended up just making a head.  The "X" for one eye also made me think of C&H. 😆

Buster Brown likes the snow.

Cadence plopped chinese checkers in front of me while I was eating my cereal on a Saturday morning.  Somehow I still beat her pretty easily. 

 We get excited when it's cold enough for ice!  The Braker's invited us to come sledding and skating.  Matt and his boys, Dad, and Garrett and his family were there too.

We borrowed some skates from Uncle Ron and Miri really liked the PINK double bladed skates that were her size. 

The snow was a smidge too thin for good sledding and one of our sleds didn't survive the rocks at the lake shore.  Emmy collided with a tree and decided to stick to skating (wound up with a black eye), but the boys kept sliding.

Perrin was perfectly happy playing in the snow.

Cecily won her 3rd school Spelling Bee!  It only went 5 rounds this year before she clinched 1st... the tough competition seems to have moved on to HS. 😋

 

Another trophy!  She was glad that it was over and the pressure was off!

I took the kids to the ice rink when we had a half day.  We tried getting Perrin in skates, but he didn't like them.  "Want off! Hurt my socks!" So he was content to play and eat snacks in the bleachers.

Cadence is skating more confidently this year, which is fun.

Our cheering section.  😄

Miriel still is pretty unsteady on single blade skates so she had help the whole time (skate aids and conning people to skate with her). 

Good times. 

Bob got two different mushroom kits for Christmas and we've got mushrooms on the kitchen counter. 

Eventually, when we convince Perrin that he's too big for the high chair, he'll get to sit in one of the chairs we fixed up.  It's too cold to refinish them outside and I don't want to do it in the basement (too dusty and stinky) so I used Restor-a-finish and Feed and Wax for now.  

Buster Brown.  Fell asleep one night on his blanky, on top of the vent. 

He's also very helpful...  or something.

It was already a really cold morning and they forgot to turn the heat up before Co-op started so it was 59 degrees in the kitchen while we were doing our lab.  I pre-heated the ovens, turned them off, left them open a crack, and some of the students were huddled around them in their coats. 😂 

The temperatures held and the ice was still good so we invited ourselves back to the Braker's on Saturday. Perrin stayed home with Bob this time.  

The ice was probably the smoothest I've ever skated on outside! 

I brought my not cool Stanley thermos bottle so we could drink cocoa on the ice.

It was already starting to warm up, but it was great for skating.

Emmy was the last one off the ice and she would have skated longer.

Cadence switched to sledding down the five feet of snow that was left and she looked so much like a punk snowboarder.  😂

I had a table out to put stuff on while I reorganized closets and the kids decided they were going to have a "Snack Stand."  First they fought and argued all the way through making an Easy Bake oven mix.

And about the unicorn ice cream dispenser.

But in the end, we all got a tiny bite of lackluster brownies,

and a small serving of unicorn poop ice cream.  *sigh*  It's better than screens, right?

Blessings.

Christmas, New Years, more Christmas

I'm only a little behind on blogging.... or something.  :)  Backing way up, Beutel Christmas was the Sunday prior to Christmas.  Perrin loves the toys at the FH.  

The girls were excited to be in the Christmas pageant.  The angel appeared to Mary...

 The heavenly host...

The wise men. 

Big Koch Christmas was Christmas Eve.  I was assigned baked potatoes so we put 30 lbs of potatoes in roasters and 1.5 hrs later we had perfectly baked potatoes.  Not to shabby, considering I'm not sure I've ever turned on a roaster before... (I know, I know)  Some of the kids were excited about the Food gift grab.  Others thought they were excited but then remembered that they didn't like the stealing involved in the middle of said activity.  😑

I am personally not a fan- who needs more random snacks and food you wouldn't normally buy and may or may not even like in your already full of Christmas cookies and food you have to take to all the things kitchen?  No thank you.  So Perrin and I played with toys. 

We were planning on going to Bob's parents' on Christmas Day, but there was sickness in the house.  

I made the kids wait to open stockings until after Church.  So much better than trying not to be late, and it gave them something to do while I got lunch ready.

They have decreed that tomato soup and grilled cheese is our traditional Christmas lunch and who am I to buck tradition? 

On china, because why not. 

Buster Brown likes tomato soup.  He also got construction equipment silverware in his stocking.  😋

Presents....

Cadence's face when she opened her new book: "Butt or Face?"  haha.

Perrin got a human body magnet set, which just so happens to be anatomically correct.  Cecily: Ah! this is not for children's eyes!  hehe. 

Since we weren't planning to be home on Christmas Day for supper I hadn't totally figured out what we were going to eat, nor did I have anything made ahead of time.  I ended up throwing the ribs I was thawing in the crockpot, used leftover baked potatoes to make twice baked potatoes, heated up some frozen corn, and opened a can of mangoes.  Oh, and a bottle of sparkling grape juice left over from Passover (right before we all got sick in S. IL.).  It was fancy-ish.

And since I didn't have a dessert ready, Emmy quick whipped up some instant pudding.  😊

It ended up being a fairly relaxing day.  It was nice not to have two big family days back to back.

They soaked the bathroom "washing" their scrubby toys.

So the rescheduled Koch Christmas just happened to coincide with the other Kochs cutting down a walnut tree.  Much excitement. 

It didn't quite fall they way they were hoping it would. 

Miri and Perrin were far too entertained by the recliners.

And classic vintage mask. 

The girls were convinced that they were going to stay up until Midnight.  Woot.  So after church we ate snacks and let them watch Anne of Green Gables.  It would have been more fun if Perrin would have gone to sleep, but noooo "I wake up! I not sleep!"

They were tired in the morning, but excited to go to the farm!  Line up in age order...

except Perrin, who totally refused to cooperate.  Eh. Whatever. 

Presents!

I a construction worker!

Toys...

Games...

I think they mostly just giggled and looked at their food. 

Some of the cousins spent the night, but we took our exhausted children home to sleep in.  In the morning I was still dragging and Emmy asked if she could set up Perrin's sink in the bathroom.  Sure whatever.  They were playing in the bathtub.  😆

Fred's boys borrowed my guitar a long time ago, and we brought it back home.  I never took lessons and I never really got the hang of it. My hands are too small to play chords easily- my fingers are short and stubby, and I'm not coordinated enough to figure out strumming, but it's fun to pretend.  The kids think it's fun to pluck around on it. 😊

Emmy, Cadence, and Miri still wanted to have a sleepover at Grandma's so they went back to the farm the next night.  They got to sleep in separate rooms AND play with Jack and Logan in the morning. 😋 Cadence was really quiet when they came home the next day and mentioned that her throat hurt, and of course she had a fever.  *sigh* So we went to prompt care and came home with a different antibiotic for Strep.  bleah.  She felt better really fast though, so I'm glad we went right away.

I reached my limit of 'Christmas decorations make the house so cozy' and crossed over into 'this house is so crowded and there is so much stuff out we have got to clean right now' so it was time to find homes for Christmas presents and to take down the tree.  Emmy helped me siphon the water out of the tree stand.  So much less messy than bailing, and Science! 

Poor Perrin was very sad when we took the tree outside.  "Noooo!  That not go out! Chwismas tree go right here! Bring it back!" 
One minute he's bouncing off the walls and insisting I wear a construction worker hat too, the next he's totally zonked out in his firetruck pajamas. 

My youngest cousin got married.  So crazy.  I feel old.  And he's only 5 years older than Cecily which used to seem like a lot... haha.  Anyway.  We went to Morton all day for the wedding and the girls went to Sunday School without much hesitation.  Perrin was pretty good in church, and none of his cars went rolling down the steep aisles.  😆  I was excited to see Carol and Natalie and Fred and other Morton people I never see anymore.  I took no pictures, all I have is this hilarious 'cousins picture' in which they stuck us all up front at the reception and no one is looking at the camera.  😁 Congrats to Cliff and Alyssa!  

Blessings.