The first week- and Emmy turned 5!

Miriel arrived Tuesday afternoon.  I will probably post more about that later, and separately, so if you're not a birth nerd you can skip it. Or if you're squeamish. 

Isn't she squishy?    

 Oh hello, Daddy!  

 Our hospital stay was uneventful, thankfully, and we were itching to get out of there as soon as possible.  I can only watch so much HGTV at a time before I start being annoyed with them taking all of the historic character out of the houses... and all of the walls....some of us like walls... and start yelling at the screen.... 
So we were discharged after 24 hours and made it home by 8pm Wednesday.  

 Cecily had made a to-do list. "wait for mommy"  awww.

 Mom and Dad brought the girls home after church.  They were excited and tired.

So far she's been a pretty easy baby. Almost too easy, I'm half nervous that she's sleeping too much and not eating often enough.

 Poor Bob.... (don't worry, he's smitten with all of them)

 Emmy turned 5 on Sunday!  She was soooo excited for presents.

 Her sisters were too, and also maybe a bit jealous.

 Poor kid really wanted a "How to Train your Dragon" cake. What she got was a kroger cake with a new Dragon toy stuck on top of it.  None of them noticed it until about halfway through supper- "is that a light fury?!" So of course they had to go check it out. 

 Happy golden birthday Emmy!

 Grandma Koch and Grandma Beutel stopped by and brought more birthday presents and baby gifts.

 Miriel was super fussy and grouchy all day the day we had scheduled family/newborn pictures. She screamed the whole time and Cadence was really squirrel-y so I doubt any of the family pictures turned out, but Bethany is a baby whisperer and got Miriel to sleep finally.  At least her newborn pictures will be cute... on her baby quilt, which I love.  

 The older girls are all adjusting slowly.  The seem to be just slightly off schedule and waking up too early and not able to fall asleep at night, so we end up with tired and grouchy little girls who fall asleep while playing a game on Daddy's phone.

 She's very popular.

 Mom and Dad, Shelly, Gideon, Aurelia, Lena, and Jack brought lunch one day to celebrate Emmy's birthday. Emmy was quite pleased.

 And very excited about all of her presents.  Poor Cecily was at school and missed it all... she was disappointed, but Emmy has been very good about sharing her new toys. 

Otherwise we're been laying low.  We're tired, but that's to be expected.  
Blessings.

Introducing

Miriel Violet
4:21pm 4/30/19 8lbs 4oz 
#littlewomenfamily #xoxo 

Easter, Weddings, and Everyday life

We had a good Easter... not too busy, thankfully.  

To continue the saga of the lane... it makes me so frustrated sometimes- why do we even own the alley??? Bob was out in the lane picking up sticks and discovered that someone had dumped several piles of ashes back there.  Ashes that were full of nails, screws, broken glass, random metal things, etc.  Grrr.  Apparently the whole "no trespassing- private drive" signs are invisible or something.  He picked up a lot of it, and we borrowed a magnet (and then it's been raining so who knows when we'll get to use it...), but still.  Why would you dump that in an alley anyway?  

 So then we were getting ready to go to Koch Easter and there was a weird buzzing noise in the bathroom that we could not figure out where it was coming from.  We were flipping breakers, and checking outside.... turns out, one of the girls' bath toys got turned on accidentally and the tub acoustics were making it sound like it was coming from anywhere but the tub.  *sigh*  So we were a little late to supper, but at least the house wasn't burning down.  
Egg hunt!  

 They were pretty excited.  I didn't get any pictures of the older group, sorry Cecily.

 Maybe next year I'll remember to save Easter baskets for after church...  

 I think they were pleased, candy, church activities....

 and Hatchimals!  Yay for more tiny toys... :P  

 Guess who was not interested in taking an Easter morning picture?  Uncooperative might be the best description of the rest of her Sunday.... haha.   I was not sad that we didn't have any plans after church. 

 There wasn't any school on Monday and it was a lovely day so we spent the afternoon at the farm.  And so did Jack and Gideon and Aurelia.  It was only slightly chaotic.

"I yike ah sit right here!" On the coffee table books... in an outfit that rivals Emmy's choices...

 I'm not really sure if we have enough vases (or flowers to fill them!).

 The trees we planted last year survived the winter! Yay!  

 The flowering crab is blooming...

 Signs of spring everywhere, which we love.

 Friday was our anniversary... Bob wasn't sure if he'd even be home after the long, late week they had at work.  But they managed to finish up enough that I dropped the girls off to play at Rocke's and picked up Avanti's so we got to eat supper in peace and quiet, which was lovely.
Bob's cousins found a bunch of mushrooms and they were kind enough to share a few with us.  They were delicious.  

 Sunday was Clayton and Jessica's big day!  We went at noon, which I think was a good decision.  It was a good, successful, wedding, complete with the passing of notes to cousins...  Cadence was pretty much done with being in church at the end.  So instead of waiting in line we just sat at a table at the reception for a while before it started... shh...don't tell... haha.   I took no pictures. And we didn't stay until the bitter end.  I was tired, Cadence was grouchy, and we were dealing with things like chocolate frosting in hair... it was definitely time to go home.
There are a lot of people in our cousins pictures anymore!  And we were missing the bride and groom and three other cousins and their families... there could be 14 more people in this picture!  (That's not counting all of the babies that are on the way... between September 2018 and 2019 every eligible Wyss cousin will have had a child... craziness.)   

 And since Trent got announced that same day, Austin getting married in June, Bob's cousin Dale getting married in June.... and who knows who else will bite the dust... we may have a busy wedding season coming up.  My little cousins aren't little anymore- they just grow up so fast.... haha.
Only one of these two is playing dress-up.  Hehe.

Blessings.

10 Years of Wedded Bliss

Time flies.  Ten years just seems like a really long time, and at the same time, it feels like we haven't been married long enough for it to be ten years already!  I mean, we should have this all figured out by now, right, and have a totally picture perfect marriage and life!? Or something.  I'm just glad that Bob puts up with me, and I'm so thankful that he is who he is!  

So, ten years ago on a lovely Saturday in late April we got up way too early and drove down to Champaign to take wedding pictures!! (Most of these are pictures of pictures- back in the dark ages before digital files were standard.) It was a very good decision... campus is gorgeous in the spring.       

 I mean, all of the flowering crabapple trees were in bloom on the quad... it was so pretty!

 Awwww.  

 When your bridesmaids are awesome, you get unplanned amazing pictures like this!

 I think the guys have changed more than the girls... hehe.  

 Sunday April 26, 2009 was a good day.  

Is it really a good reception without plenty of Dr. Pepper?

Or flowers arranged in lab equipment?

Look at how little Cliff and Nina were!!  

You didn't have to defend yourself against "friends" with squirt guns when you left your wedding reception?  hehe.  We do have pretty great friends.  :)  

To quote the Statler brothers... "Oh sweetheart it's so much fun to be reminded

Of how we used to look and what we used to do
And each time we make a memory I'm reminded

I can't picture me with no one else but you."

It's kind of a shame that if you have a bouquet for your wedding that you really only get to enjoy it for a few hours.   By the time we got back from our honeymoon they would have been long wilted (except Mom dried them for me).  But definitely not the same as these lovely fresh blooms. 

Soooo.... I asked Bob if, instead of him ordering flowers for our anniversary, I could recreate my wedding bouquet a few weeks early so I could enjoy them again and for longer. His answer- Yes! Please! (Hehe... not his favorite thing to do, obviously.)  It's not a perfect copy (the colors aren't exactly the same and some of the flowers would have been prohibitively expensive in such a small quantity) but it was still gorgeous and I loved them!  

Maybe only slightly obsessed with them... I took a few more pictures than necessary.... so worth it!

Some people get to go on trips for their tenth... and wear their dress....  I dressed up the girls instead and had them pose with my flowers. 

I had to bribe Cecily.  haha.

So grown up already.  *tear*

Emmy was probably the most excited about it.

Awww.

Oh Cadence.

Such a goose.

But those eyes.... 

Helpful(ish) second shooters.  

Don't anyone start singing "Sunrise, Sunset" or I may just lose it... we could easily be here in another 10-15 years...

Not so good at pictures of myself, and the ones the girls tried to take of Bob and I didn't turn out well... we were missing heads and the light/colors were terrible.  I haven't changed a bit in 10 years and almost four kids, right?  (Lie to me.) :P  

God is good.

Blessings.

"...And we went dancing in the minefields

We went sailing in the storms

And it was harder than we dreamed

But I believe that's what the promise is for

Well, "I do" are the two most famous last words

The beginning of the end

But to lose your life for another, I've heard

Is a good place to begin

'Cause the only way to find your life

Is to lay your own life down

And I believe it's an easy price

For the life that we have found

And we're dancing in the minefields

We're sailing in the storms

And this is harder than we dreamed

But I believe that's what the promise is for

That's what the promise is for

So when I lose my way, find me

And when I lose love's chains, bind me

At the end of all my faith to the end of all my days

When I forget my name, remind me

'Cause we bear the light of the Son of Man

So there's nothing left to fear

So I'll walk with you in the shadow lands

'Til the shadows disappear

'Cause He promised not to leave us

And His promises are true

So in the face of all this chaos

Baby, I can dance with you

So let's go dancing in the minefields

Let's go sailing in the storms

Oh, let's go dancing in the minefields

And kicking down the doors

Oh, let's go dancing in the minefields

And sailing in the storms

Oh, this is harder than we dreamed

But I believe that's what the promise is for

That's what the promise is for"   

Dancing in the Minefields- Andrew Peterson