A deep and dark December

I think I shall dub 2014 as 'the year of the mediocre Christmas cookie.'  Seriously.  My sugar cookies are slightly crispy, the gingerbread is really crunchy and the frosting is runny, the spritz dough was so stiff it cracked the disks of my cookie press and they are crumbly, the springerle didn't rise.....  *sigh*  Woe is me.  I did learn a new word while searching for the solution to my springerle problems- Füssli.  Next year they will be better.  I am done baking for this year- I frosted my birthday cake this afternoon and called it quits until January 1st. 

Anyway, we had a busy week last week.  Grandma Wyss invited the girls and I for lunch on Tuesday because Abby was going to be in town with baby Boden.  And Kendra ("Krenda") and baby William came.  And Troy and Trent and Fred and Mom stopped in... hehe.  Good times.  Fred was regaling us with tales of his days on the rescue squad. At one point we were all laughing so hard and loud it made Emmy cry... she looks like a giant next to her younger cousins.

These two are very good at making large messes.

We had Barb and Marci over for supper before church on Wednesday night.  I enjoyed having them very much. Cecily was pretty sure they were there just to play with her. *grin*

I took Cecily to the farm on Thursday and went shopping.  I think I'm mostly done except for wrapping and hoping that everything I ordered online shows up in time.

While we were at the farm I packed up my doll house and moved it to our basement- I got Plexiglas to cover it to keep it safe from curious hands.  And used most of a can of Dust-off to clean it.  I hadn't dusted it since I got married... 5 years ago... and it was still decorated for Christmas from a few years before that... yeah.  Anyway.  The "window" will hopefully help with the dust too. 

 All kinds of cool things in there... miniatures are pretty cool. 

Cecily claimed the gazebo so it's sitting in chalk dust.

Friday was "teaching school" for the last time this year.   That went fast!  Then in the afternoon I made several frustrating trips to the DMV.  I did finally get my license renewed and a new picture in which I look exhausted.

The girls wore their Christmas dresses on Sunday.  They looked awfully cute all matching.  *grin*     

 Our very own princess coloring...

 "I'm Mary and Emmy is Joseph." They have the appropriate nativity figurines too.

Somewhere in there I've made two big batches of crepes for Wyss Christmas- 40 of them- and that isn't even half of what Grandma usually makes... she made the rest of course.  *grin*  

She loves food.  Or mostly she just likes to be doing what we are doing.

 So Bob has been giving me one small present every day of December until my birthday.  Cecily has claimed quite a few of them (the pink unicorn sticker kit, Cinderella pencil box, origami flowers...), but this one is staying mine.  It's the Lego research institute- there's a dinosaur skeleton and paleontologist, a telescope and astronomer, and my favorite- a chemist in her lab!!

Today is my Thirtieth birthday.  This is how I have spent it: on the couch with my sick girl.  So far she's just running a fever.  woot.  We've watched Frozen, Veggie tales, and Cinderella... and Emmy has been contentedly playing alone.  At least Bob brought home food from One World for supper... mur.  Yay for birthdays.

Blessings.