It's begining to look a lot like Christmas...

Although, there is still one present floating around somewhere in the postal system...  crossing our fingers it gets here in time. 

 

Jimmy M. and Tom fixed my car Thursday night... so, so nice of them.  It was a late night for them too, not sure we can thank them enough.   

 

Anika and Kenna came to play Friday morning... Cecily was still sleeping when they got here; when she woke up she came running out-  *stumble, stumble* "Hi!!" *stumble, stumble.*  I believe they were making supper in this picture.  Cecily is still in her fishy jammies (the only pair she will wear even though they are getting small) and her hair isn't combed yet... 



 

We went to our first Christmas Sunday evening with the Beutels.  Good food, good times, and Cecily had a great time running around with Anika and Tirzah.     

 

Someone is very interested in all of the presents under the tree.  But not in pants.  And I had her hair in a cute little French braid this morning that lasted about 10 minutes before she wanted it "out."  *sigh*



Blessings.

Gray and White and Winter All Around



Last Friday Little Miss and I and my mom stopped in to see the Happy Man's widow, Shirley.  He used to bring us his special Polish nut bread every Christmas, and when he died, I got the recipe from her and make it for our family.  It's yummy, though it uses 10 egg yolks... and we end up eating excessive amounts of French toast to use up the whites.  Anyway, she lost everything in the tornado, including the Kolatch recipe, so we brought her a loaf.  It was good to see her, and Cecily was relatively well behaved while we were there.   Cecily and I went Christmas shopping afterwards...  she picked out a few of her presents...  good thing she has no idea what's going on.  *grin*

 

On Saturday we played in the snow!  We had a great time once she got over the fact that she couldn't wear her brown boots outside.  (I bought you snow boots, you are going to wear them! hehe.) 

I helpin Daddy.



 King Queen of the Hill.

 It was a little too deep for her to wander in easily...

 We made a snowman, but apparently I didn't take a picture of him.  She likes to make sure that he is still outside the window every morning. 

We decided to have my siblings over for pizza that evening.  Pretty spur of the moment.  It was fun.  Little miss was wild.  I think they all still like her/ us.

One morning somebody found the window crayons that I bought to decorate Nathan and Shelly's car.  So we drew pictures on the front door. 

Tuesday was my 29th birthday.  Usually I love my birthday....  but for whatever reason I felt like I got up on the wrong side of the bed all day... I'll blame the hormones (ah, how I love a scapegoat).  We went grocery shopping and I got Jimmy John's for lunch ( Cecily got "Pepperfries"...and a shake from McD's...).  Then we spent the afternoon at the farm.  Little miss got a sled ride from Tate and she got to see the three cows that escaped a trip to the locker.  Bob joined us for supper and cake and presents after work.

So I thought my car has been sounding different off and on lately, but not in a describable way, and not when Bob drove it.... sooo... yeah.  We were on the way home and it was doing it again, only this time the car wasn't heating up and at one point the lights dimmed all the way down and it sounded like the engine was slowing down.  And then the temperature gauge went all the way up.  (Why yes, my Dad did teach me to watch my gauges.)  I pulled in at Tom and Carol's to wait for Bob since he was following me home.  They are so great... not only were they unfazed by Cecily and I knocking on the door at 9 at night, Tom went out in the cold with Bob to help figure out what the problem was, and Carol entertained a tired little girl in the house.  And, he lined someone up to come replace my water pump tomorrow.  Makes me think of Proverbs 17:17.

Anyway, not the best birthday I've ever had.  However, we are very glad we did not take my car to Athens.  And that Bob just happened to be following me.  And that it happened where it did.  And that I really don't need to go anywhere the rest of the week.  I just feel like a 50's housewife- have to ask Bob for the car... haha.  Or something.  Little miss and I didn't go to church tonight though, because Bob was working late and I didn't think about getting a ride until it would have been too late.  Ah well, thankfully we can listen online.      

Blessings.

Here we come A-caroling

Here is a picture of our lovely and altogether too large Christmas tree. Cecily thinks it's pretty awesome.

On Friday we were on the Christmas Caroling committee... we got to spend the evening making sandwiches and stirring large amounts of cocoa.  Little miss had fun running around with Grace and Eden and 'Bro-dee.'

Saturday morning I went to Esther's funeral.  Dear Esther.  I will miss her very much.  I've been wishing I would have at least gone to see her one last time... she was a wonderful woman and a dear friend.  It was awfully nice having her in T-town on Wednesdays... it made the transition easier when I got married.  She gave us our kitchen table... she brought us cinnamon bread because 'she was trying to think of something she could do for us'... she brought supper when Cecily was born... 

I took a lot of cold medicine that day so by Sunday I wasn't feeling that great; it's a trade off- breathe, but deal with the wooziness the next day.  We ended up coming home at noon because Cecily was acting like she wasn't feeling well again either. 

Wednesday Little miss and I headed to W-ton to help make lunch for the volunteers.  It took her a while to warm up, but then Grandma came and they went and played in the Sunday School rooms and ate chips... I walked in and she gave me the guiltiest look I've ever seen.  hehe.  Then she got to eat lunch with a whole bunch of men... 

Gingerbread is a powerful motivator for eating supper... or maybe just frosting...  

 
This morning she was playing with the phone and wanted to 'talka Grandma'... so I let her since I needed to call her anyway...  hehe.  She paces around the house and jabbers away.  It makes me laugh. 

Anyway, that's what we've been up to.
Blessings. 

We Gather Together

Well, we recovered from our trip down south.  Bob took the whole week off, which was really nice. 

 

Little miss ornery was glad to be home...

 

 

We spent Thanksgiving with the Koch's.  I got to make pies, which I love.  (I confess, I'd much rather have leftover pie...) 

 

I did not go out Black Friday shopping.  I did some online shopping... for me... not presents.  *grin*  Don't judge, I have no warm clothing that fits and I'm freezing already! And apparently whoever manufactures maternity clothes got a good deal on dark blue, black, and dark purple fabric because those are the only options right now...  I wouldn't mind a little bit more variety... anyway.    

 

We spent Saturday evening with Bob's family because Susan followed us home from Athens. 

 

And Cecily came down with a bad cold.  So she's not sleeping well, not eating well, and is just plain cranky in general.  Woot woot.  I caught it too...  all of the aforementioned are also true, except the eating part.  No problems there.

 

So yeah, we split watching her at home on Sunday because she was in no shape for church (It takes a few hours for her sinuses to clear out from the night since she doesn't do great with blowing her nose.. and she's very grumpy until they do.)  And other than venturing out for groceries and a Christmas tree we haven't done much this week.

 

We met my Mom for lunch before we went Christmas tree shopping.  And then I picked out a tree that is lovely, even though it's way too tall and too wide.  *grin*  We had lots of fun getting it into the house and into the stand.  Somebody remind me next year that the narrow trees aren't as narrow inside... and I need narrow. 

 

I sweepin', mommy, mommy.  On a box of Christmas decorations.  With a princess.    

Blessings.