God rest ye merry!

Merry Birthday! Happy Christmas!

The girls kept asking when we were going to see the "light animals" so we went to see the Festival of lights one evening.  

The "when will it be Christmas?" question was getting old so we made a paper countdown chain.

 This bottle is mine.

Why are we even bothering with Christmas presents?  The boxes they come in are the most fun!

Cadence's eyes! hehe.

So have I ever told you how much December birthdays stink?  This year they scheduled Wyss Christmas on my birthday... so I made Bob and the girls celebrate the day before.  Which was a school day.  Woot.  I took in benzene cupcakes in honor of the last day of the semester/my birthday. I also demanded that Bob pick up One World for supper. 

The best part of my almost-birthday was the 10 minutes I spent Google-ing and then FINALLY fixing Cadence's too cold bedroom.  It's only taken 5 years of adjusting heat vents, blocking drafts, covering windows.... it was just a closed damper.  Just the twist of a screw driver!  But now it's warm in there!  And the curtains move when the furnace is on!  There was great rejoicing! Seriously I was so excited and proud of myself. #stubbornwysswomen

We braved the ice on Saturday for Wyss Christmas, my birthday. We skipped breakfast because it was way too early, especially on my birthday. Did I mention it was my 32nd birthday? Emmy was glad to see Jakey again.

 Cadence was pretty good all day.  She got her very own dolly that she was mostly interested in chewing on.

Emmy kept herself busy all day... drinking unattended cans of pop while Cecily played with Neal's girls.   Dad was coloring with them.

Creepy monkey.

Grandma has a half dozen roses and we finally remembered to take a picture!  Grandma's middle name is Rose, and then all the oldest granddaughters were middle-named Rose, and then our oldest daughters... (Cecily and I've got the added bonus of being named for my Great-Grandma Rose Schlipf) Anyway, aren't we cute or something.  

 Sunday was church and then we spent the evening at the Beutel Christmas.  Someone found the caramel corn...

 "....oh by the way, I'm an angel in the play... I'm gonna sing, I'll need some wings..."

So the big girls had a great time and Cadence was grumpy and fussy...and just wanted Bob or I, poor baby.  Sometimes I felt like I was being rude, but Cadence really didn't like being touched and passed around and held by a whole bunch of strangers in that loud room.... after a long day in church.  And I don't like it when people touch her hands!  Seriously, she puts those in her mouth, when did you wash them last??  Ha.  I'm not a germaphobe, but sick babies are no fun at all.  (You can take her at church though! It's usually the second or third big event in row that she gets clingy and fussy!)

Monday morning Cecily lost her first tooth!

 And I came down with a bad sore throat and a cold that has lasted for a week.  Woot.  Actually we have been going through kleenex and tylenol like water around here- everyone is snotty and coughing. Yay.

Apparently it was crazy pants day.

Bob and Cecily made a "Tri-forrest" puzzle.  Triforce to the old Zelda game players... haha.

It was a quiet week trying to get over colds.
We had our family Christmas on Friday.  They were so excited to open presents.

Is it my turn?

Thankfully she slept.... she has been so fussy.... it's awful.

Hard to see, but she told me this was her favorite present- a kid sized push broom for outside.

 And a guitar...

And a singing bird like Cecily's!

Cadence got a rocking unicorn because... just because.  *grin*

 She's not really a fan yet.

Bob got me a serger!  I'm super excited, I just need to learn how to use it!
We did a puzzle.

 And the girls dressed up like Elsa and Anna.

It was a pretty great day over all.

Christmas eve we went to the farm.  We were passing out gifts and Emmy was quietly eating chocolate at the table, not sure how much she ate before we saw her.

New bike basket, bell, and horn!

 Little worker bee.

 Pardon me, I mustache you a question...  I thought Gideon needed a mustache pacifier. 

I made the little boys farm play mats.  They were very much spur of the moment make-it-up-as-I-sew so hopefully they hold up to playing.  

 The older boys played a game, and then we went home to bed.

The girls opened stockings at breakfast.  They were tired...

 We were running late, as usual, so this is the only picture I got Christmas morning.  Bob has a pocket square to match the girls' dresses... folded the most simple way so he would actually wear it... I have a matching scarf. I'm sure we looked very twee.

Emmy was so tired she was falling asleep standing up... she dozed off a few times in church and thankfully took a long nap at home.  We spent the evening with Bob's family. I forgot the camera... Cadence was pretty fussy though, or sleeping on my lap so I'm not sure I could have taken many pictures anyway. Cecily's highlight of the evening was playing Mario Kart with Susan and Grace and Eden.

 It's been slightly warmer and Cecily wanted to put her new bike stuff on her bike so we went outside briefly.  Haha.  Silly girls.

Otherwise we haven't done much.  Everyone is still getting over these colds.  Bleah.  Yay winter.
Blessings.

It's beginning to...

 feel like Winter!  Yikes it got cold fast!

We are in the middle of Christmas prep, which I love and also dislike if that's possible.  Mostly I just dislike finding spots to stash presents... our bedroom is getting crowded.

Oh life... mornings... Cecily's asking existential questions about good and evil and I'm just over here trying to read the comics... what is going on with Judge Parker!?  And Rex Morgan!?  I can't handle all this at breakfast!

Me: Why are the cookies on the floor?
Emmy: Because they were not listening to me! 
um.... I have no idea how she managed this:

We got to light the first candle on the advent wreath!  They were disappointed it wasn't the pink candle.

One of the van seatbelts is stuck... and since I'm a farm girl, and how hard could it possibly be?, I attempted to fix it.  It appears, though, that I would have to take off the entire side panel to get to the seatbelt mechanism so I was stymied.  Naptime is not long enough for that. 

The girls and I met Amy and Rylen for lunch one day- fun, but eating at a restaurant with four kids is chaos.  It was good to see her for a little bit at least.

This was NOT my idea and I was very glad when they were on the ground.

This year was a good Springerle year!  Hooray!!

We all went Christmas Caroling this year.  Fun times.  It always seems too short.  The girls were all good, and Cadence slept through most of supper at the fellowship hall, so that was nice.

Little Jack turned 1!  He's so cute.  Matt and Lena had a party for him and the girls did pretty well not taking his new toys and not being too overbearing.

His cute farm cake and smash cake and proud parents. 

It snowed!  They couldn't wait to get outside after church.

We made a snowman.  Cadence was not sure about this snow stuff.

And then Bob built a pretty cool fort for them. 

I gave them some frosting and cookies to make a mess with and lick.

We won't be sharing these with anyone.

Cecily was practicing her program verse and Emmy chimed in.  So I got her to say it again:

 

We went and got a Christmas tree!  They thought this one was cute.



They also thought the pink flocked tree was pretty, but we stuck with traditional green.

Cecily went to the Christmas program practice and was soooo excited to get a present. Emmy was a little jealous.

Cadence does not want to be left in the bouncy during supper.

Bob's coworker and his wife invited us over for supper Saturday night.  The girls had a great time playing with Abby and Miranda again.  Cadence has been extra fussy lately so I spent a lot of time trying to console her. *sigh* This too shall pass, right? 

Church is just so exhausting... can't even keep my eyes open until we get home.

Finally, finally, we got to light the pink candle and it was PROGRAM night!  Much excitement and frozen pizza because I was feeling lazy. 

All ready to go in their new dresses. 

It was a good program- Cecily did not distinguish herself and Emmy stayed quiet (with the help of grandma and 4 packs of fruit snacks).  Grandma-Lydiann-at-the-condos and Grandpa came with my parents so that was fun. 

 

Now they all have colds and we are lying low this week because festivities start this weekend.  It's also cold.    Blessings.

Thankful

Well, we made it through Thanksgiving.   Thank goodness. 
It was good, but Cadence has been fussy lately, and the girls get cranky when they are off routine and super exited and refusing to eat anything but bread and pie.  And a little turkey.
 Silly girls... it's not sandal weather anymore.

 She loves to watch the big girls play!

Oh Emmy.  Such a little corker.  I stumbled out of bed one morning just in time to stop her from taking a big forkful of butter.  *sigh*

Just chillin' in my shades.

 They wanted to have a picnic and it was not warm enough for a picnic, they settled for the kitchen floor. 

 Last week Grandma got invited to go quilting at Diane's, and she was gracious enough to invite me too.  (I like quilting but they are way out of my league!) So Cadence and I got to go stitch for awhile and the girls got to play with my mom... they all had colds.  

And this happened. *sigh*

 She was so pleased with herself though... "I helpin' you mama!"  We scrambled them for lunch.

 Cecily wanted to use her sewing kit so she "needled" for a while one afternoon.  I am not very patient, but she was having fun.  Emmy could not keep her hands off the extra needles. 

 Walmart doesn't have car carts.  She was running out of room so she sat on the frozen turkey, silly kid.

So motherly....

And domestic...  haha.  

We went to Washington and the farm for Thanksgiving this year.  Cadence played with a tractor while we got lunch ready.

So Mom made the turkey this year (delicious!) and I somehow ended up making the gravy.... (tasted great, not quite as thick as I'd like it...just call me Lydiann).  I love thanksgiving.  We had so much pie.  Because we are Wysses.  And the pie disher-outers teased me because I wanted small slices of three kinds.   

Then this happened because we weren't paying attention.  Maybe she was getting ready to put on a pilgrims and Indians thanksgiving portrayal? 

Nerdy games.  They were very patient and let Cecily 'play.'

Ok, so sad/embarrassing story....  I decided my beloved feather pillow could use a wash and a fluff in the dryer.  Well, said feather pillow is probably 20+ years old (it says Lois Schlipf on it... so, yeah...).  One of the seams split in the washing machine.  Wet. Feathers.  Everywhere.  And they were all over the sheets so they got all over the dryer too.  I tumbled them for a while and vacuumed out the lint trap every 20 minutes or so.  Mur.  So many feathers.  And then I had to sleep on a not-feather pillow for a few nights and my neck hurt.  Boo.

Anyway, I was worried that there were still feathers in the vent pipe so I had Bob check it out.  Not many feathers, but a dead mouse!  Maybe that's what we were smelling last week....  

 We got out the Christmas decorations and they decorated their little tree.

And Saturday we hosted some of my cousins for the evening.  We ate pizza; the guys and Cecily played games.

 The girls and Jack and Gideon played with toys.

We ate brownies that Emmy helped me make- and added some extra salt to- I made soft pretzels because they sounded good.  And then Trent and Clayton watched My Little Pony with Cecily... hehe. 

Otherwise, I've been trying to bake ahead for the holidays, and I made a bunch of crepes for Grandma to fill.  I finished sewing the girl's Christmas dresses (Cecily had her heart set on a dress that was more than I wanted to spend, and if I'm sewing for one, might as well sew for three.) So now it's almost December when it really gets crazy.... woot.  

Oh, and the girls are very excited that Uncle Jakey got a job!  (In Iowa, sadness.)  Emmy- "Who will play with we at the farm?" Cecily- "Grandpa will have to."  And Emmy won't need to sing her 'Jakey not hab a job to do' song anymore.   The golden key even made it out to decorate his new digs!

Blessings.

How 'bout them Cubs?!?

 To quote my favorite play, "The whole world's at sixes and sevens, and why the house hasn't fallen down about our ears long ago is a miracle to me!"  Thorton Wilder, "The Skin of Our Teeth"

Little dolly is still a big girl... we went to the Doctor last week and she is topping the charts.  And the older girls were so good that the Doc gave them extra stickers, which made me so proud... until they started fighting like cats and dogs again as soon as we got home... haha.

 The Cubs won the World Series!!  I'm not sure I would call myself a Cubs fan anymore; it's been years since I've given the sports page anything but a cursory glance....like the Mark Grace/Sammy Sosa era.  But back in the day I liked the Cubs, much to the chagrin of my Cardinal fan father... hehe.  It was the Kellenbergers' fault.  Anyway, it was fun to follow them this season since I went to HS with Ben Zobrist.  Also, "how 'bout them Cubs" is my favorite conversation changer so it's great that the answer isn't "they're bad"! 

What wasn't so fun was the crazy fans who thought they needed to blare "Go Cubs Go" in the cemetery at 1am.  I mean really, it's been 108 years, surely you could wait until morning to tell your dearly departed the good news??

We hosted potluck last Friday.  I have forgotten everything I learned in floral design class, but I can't resist fresh flowers.

Bob really, really, really wanted to serve Horseshoes.  So we did.  (and ran out of propane mid grilling... woot.)  Good thing the cheese sauce covers up dry burgers...  Oh and we served diner food on china.  The contrast was amusing.  

The girls went to the farm for the evening and I enjoyed the quiet, clean house.  Our potluck is always up for random things and they indulge my love of science... we made a sugar snake!  

The weather Saturday was delightful.  They wanted to jump in the leaves.

And ride their bikes.

And then since they all had on a similar shirt we tried to take a Christmas picture.... she's a corker that one.... no luck on the picture.

 My latest sewing project- copying a BR shirt that was out of stock... don't mind the kid wrinkles and that I'm not a tall, thin model. I was pleased with the result.

  

Oh Emmy.   She iss not adjusting to the time change... I heard her in the kitchen one morning and stumbled out to find her like this.  She was pleased as punch with her breakfast.

 

 Another morning she ate Oreos from a package she opened with a scissors... I need to get up earlier.
She gets her fashion sense from me. Hehe. 

On Tuesday we voted.  I voted independent so I left the polling place with a smile on my face and a clear conscience. #McMullin   Ha. We went to Eli's afterward for free cookies and cocoa. 

Today at school we polished silver chemically- hooray for old souvenir spoons! 
Otherwise it's been quiet- I think Cadence is teething so I haven't taken her anywhere I don't absolutely need to... woot.

Blessings.