Tree Number Three.

I can't believe this is already our third Christmas together! We're so excited to be celebrating in our new home :) Steven and I aren't normally the type to decorate for Christmas a week before December but we decided to take advantage of the temporary sunshine and do our Christmas tree picking out while it wasn't raining. I'm so glad we did! The weather was perfect for our little adventure.

 

For our third Christmas tree we went to a farm in Issaquah to find and cut down the perfect one. The moment we arrived we were instantly overwhelmed. The parking lot was packed and there were people everywhere! I thought it was a little too crowded but everyone was so happy to be there, and there was Christmas music, and a bon fire, and free hot chocolate, so it was actually a pretty fun holiday experience.

Steven found the fire right away. I actually really liked this outdoor heater thing. I always love outdoor heater things and hope to find a reason to own a couple in the future. This one looked really cool and the metal on the outside didn't get hot so it's perfect for curious little fingers.

Steven's favorite trees are the tiered ones. He seems to like them better if there are a lot of branches bunched together and then just the bare trunk and then another bunch of branches... I told him I didn't think I would be able to love this particular tree.

Aren't we cute? (p.s. I found out this weekend that my husband is not a fan of my new straight-across-bangs so they won't be sticking around for much longer.)

Kisses. 

We didn't have anyone to take a picture of us carrying our tree so I took one myself.

This farm also had an old fire truck just hanging out so we took a few minutes to inspect it.

One of my favorite photos :)

Steven had the marvelous idea to do our tree with all white lights and only red ornaments this year. It looks beautiful!! We had to go buy white lights and a few red ornaments but we actually already had a lot of them. Target had some fun ornaments and Steven even picked up a Santa hat while we were there.

It was kind of sad not using all of the hand-me-down family ornaments and the few that I've collected for us over the last two years but Steven had a solution for that as well. His suggestion is that on the even numbered years we get a nice tree and decorate it all elegant and pretty like this, then on the odd numbered years we get a funky tiered tree and use the colored lights and all of the crazy mismatched ornaments. Could be fun, could be crazy. I guess we're going to find out. (A tiered tree?? Seriously???)

Taa-daah! And aren't the red curtains just fabulous with the tree! I love it!! It's just perfect for our new grown-up house.

Here are two of our new ornaments. The one on the left is from Molbaks and the "candle" one on the right is from Target. I like that the "candles" clip onto the top of the branches.

So there it is! And I'm glad that we got it early because now we just have that much longer to enjoy it. I can't wait until school's out and I can just lay on the couch with a cup of hot chocolate and look at the Christmas lights. Mmmmm, sounds so nice!



A Parducci Family Thanksgiving.

The very best kind if you ask me. It's an evening that I look forward to all year long! Steven and I had a nice relaxing day together. He was supposed to work at the climbing gym today but the class we was scheduled to teach was cancelled. I was SO HAPPY to hear that! Heather and I were off to Zumba bright and early and when I got home, I made breakfast for Steven and I. We made pies, and watched TV and just sort of laid around. He even managed to squeeze in a few minutes of Halo with the Piehler boys. We went up to my mom's late in the afternoon and played a couple of games before going over to Grammi's.

 

Look at these rolls! Aren't they perfect! I want to eat five of them right now.

And here's the turkey. Have I told you about my tradition? It's a pretty strange one. I love turkey and I especially like it straight from the oven and right off the bird. It's true. So a few years ago I learned how to make gravy so that I would be allowed to stand in the kitchen near the turkey. If you've ever been to a Parducci family dinner then you know how much Grammi likes to complain about how small her kitchen is and how she's constantly asking everyone to leave the kitchen so she can get things done, but as long as I'm stirring, I'm permitted to stay. So I have become the gravy maker and I stir with my left hand while picking at the turkey with my right hand. Am I seriously admitting this on a public blog? Apparently so. And then after a while my mom usually walks by and snags a finger full of turkey and then Uncle Barry comes in to carve the turkey and we both stand there and eat all of the little pieces that fall off. By the time it gets to dinner, I don't really need much turkey on my plate and am usually already somewhat full.

Oh, that's nice guys. They really didn't want to take a nice picture.

Our beautiful dining table with all of the crystal and the fancy silverware. It's getting more and more difficult to fit everyone around the dining table so we also had a "kids' table" set up in the front room. It's nice to all be able to eat in the same room even if we can't be at the same table.

A little pre-dinner cribbage lesson.

Dinner! Everything was so tasty! Even the dishes that aren't normally my favorite were absolutely fantastic. We had chocolate mousse pie and pecan pie for dessert and we played lots of Catch Phrase. My favorite moment of the night was when the Catch Phrase was passed to Uncle Barry and he just started to laugh and said "does anybody know who Hermoin Granger is?" I couldn't believe he completely missed the whole Harry Potter craze! Come on! He's usually pretty caught up on the pop culture stuff. I love my family. We had a wonderful holiday together.

I helped Grammi pick out her Christmas tree this morning. She was feeling a little stressed about getting her Christmas decorations up before they leave for Puerta Vallarta tomorrow morning so I went over there to help her out a little bit. Her house looks all nice and Christmassy and the tree is ready for Uncle Scott and I to decorate it sometime soon.

Mom and Tara and I braved the terrential downpour this afternoon to do a little Christmas shoping at at craft bazaar in Country Village. We got a couple of fun gifts and I finally found some vintage looking firefighter fabric to use for Steven's Christmas stocking. Now to find a perfect Christmas fabric for myself and then all I had to do is figure out how to make a stocking. I'm hoping it will be a fairly easy process.

We're off to have a second Thanksgiving dinner at Dad's tonight :)

Thankful Students.

My kiddos have been hard at work decorating the classroom for Thanksgiving. I've really hit hard on the "thankfulness" theme this month. We've done multiple projects that required them to write about what they are thankful for and they were specifically told not to write toys, ipads, or video games. They actually did really well! I made them fill out a list of "25 Things I am Thankful For" and about 10 lines into it they had to start getting creative. They started writing things like "Education, so I can get a good job" and "my health so I can come to school and have fun" and "my home, so I don't have to live in the cold and the snow." I was so proud of them! I felt like they were really getting it. They were starting to think about the things that they're lucky to have even if they take them for granted most of the time. Some of it is still a bit difficult for them to grasp but it was a start anyhow.

 

 This particular project didn't have a whole lot to do with actually being thankful for anything but it sure was fun.

We read the book 'Twas the Night Before Thanksgiving and then they each got to decorate a turkey. All of the turkeys are picketing and holding signs that say things like "East More Fruit." They turned out pretty darn cute and the kids LOVED the project!

 Here are a few of my favorite turkeys:

This huge cornucopia is supposed to be overflowing with things we're thankful for. The students wrote all kinds of things they're thankful for on the foods before coloring them. The photo above includes all of the food items that I printed out for them to write thankful things and color.

This photo (above) shows what the board looked like after they brought in a bunch more food items that they made at home. Wow!

Phew! Now I just have to come up with projects to cover the boards for the month of December! Yikes! These holidays during fall quarter are a bit too close together. We have been busy busy busy. The other day I overheard one of the kids say, "Another activity? Wow, we're certainly never bored in Mrs. Lentz's class!" That's what I like to hear!!

Oh man, this was the longest short week ever! Heather and I went to Zumba tonight and have a special Thanksgiving Zumba class in Enumclaw bright and early tomorrow morning. Can't wait! I love it. It feels so good and it is so much fun and it's so good to be around lots of other smiling happy women.

Happy Thanksgiving tomorrow -- yay!

Fleece Sheets.

Oh, yes. Yes, I did say fleece sheets. I love them. They have significantly improved my quality of life in the past week. It has been a little freezy as of late and on the nights that Steven's at the station I've found myself shivering all night long in bed even with extra blankets pulled up over my head and a hooded sweatshirt on. I went to Costco the other day to pick up some flannel sheets but I saw the fleece ones first and that was the end of that. They're positively heavenly. Just about the coziest thing I've ever experienced. And even better when paired with a warm rice sock! (This update was obviously a top priority. This post isn't even about fleece sheets at all. It's about wonderful fall things. But I'm just SUPER excited about the sheets so there you go.)

 

Have I told you about my friend Heather? I love, love, love having a work friend!! Heather is so sweet and fun and we have such a wonderful time together! She and I have been going to Zumba together a few times a week. We even go out to Enumclaw for Zumba. It's nice to have the long drive just to visit and complain about school a little bit. She and her husband came over for dinner a couple of weeks ago and guess what -- even our men enjoyed each others' company! It's hard to make couple friends and it's always nice when all four people genuinely enjoy spending time together. Now if only we could get enough free time to have another dinner date with them... I made guacamole, Mexican lasagna, and this lovely fresh apple cake with a caramel glaze. This dessert was the epitome of fall. And delicious too.

And what a beautiful fall it has been! One of the prettiest I can EVER remember. I normally drive around all fall (and then again when the flowering cherry trees are out in the spring) thinking "oh wow! I really need to take some pictures of the trees!" but this time I actually pulled over on the side of the road and took a few pictures. I was glad I did too because the leaves started dropping just a couple days after I took the photos. This is on Sunset on the way to the library. The perfect fall color sampler.

 

Heather is from Southern California and is still learning her way around the Seattle area. So, naturally, I had to introduce her to Leavenworth. It's amazing how quickly you can switch from "loving absolutely everything about fall!!" to "oh my gosh I can't wait for Christmas!!!" but Leavenworth is just so stinking charming and on a brisk November day (high of 39!) with the twinkle lights and the horse drawn carriages, you can't help but be in a Christmassy mood.

Have you noticed how many wineries are within walking distance in the small town of Leavenworth? The very first shop we went into had three different wineries represented in it. This was the first time I've ever gone to Leavenworth and gone wine tasting. So fun! It wasn't even part of our plan but we ended up doing tastings in 4 different wineries. Two of the wineries served wines with a "hint of green pepper." Seriously, gross! Why would I want my wine to taste like that. And they really did too. The first winery was my favorite. I can't remember the name but it was only $2 per person and we were served 8 pours! Including a port (LOVE!), an ice wine, a mulled wine, and the chilled version of the mulled wine. It was fantastic.

We did a bit of shopping and Heather bought a super cute dress for her honeymoon (spring break -- woo!). We had lunch at Gustav's, thoroughly explored the Christmas shop, and walked around until all of the Christmas lights were on and we were too cold to stay outside any longer. It even snowed while we were there! Just tiny little flakes but still, it was fun :) On our way out of town we saw a bride climbing down from a horse drawn carriage in front of the wedding chapel. She was wearing a red velvet cape over her dress. Sigh. It was perfect. I instantly decided that Steven and I need to have another wedding and I'll need to be dressed as a snow princess for that one.

Of course, Leavenworth was a hit with Heather -- she loved it! We can't wait to go back and stay in town and go wine tasting with our boys.

Tara's event planning class organized a big holiday event over Veteran's Day weekend at Molbak's so I stopped by to see all of their decorations. She was more than happy to show me around and we had fun looking through all of the Christmas displays. Check it out: our very own Poinsettia tree Christmas card photo.

 

I have bangs. For now. I'm guessing they'll probably grow out pretty quick and I definitely don't go to the salon often enough to maintain them. I was really nervous when the hairdresser suggested them. I was worried I would feel like I was in kindergarten all over again. And the process of growing them out as an awkward chubby little (big?) preteen was more than a little traumatic for me. I'm guessing this time around it will be far less painful. I was also worried they would be a bit too edgy for me but I've gotten lots of compliments and my boss told me I look like a super model -- I think that was the same day our secretary referred to me as a "fashion diva" :) Works for me!

Last night we had Friends Thanksgiving!! Our Favorite! It's fun to see how much the event changes with each passing year. This one was HUGE! We had 25+ people here and it was quite the party. We practically ran out of food and I very quickly discovered that I am not at all prepared for parties of that size. I ran out of plates, silverware, glasses.... you name it. It was a little embarrassing but everyone seemed to have a great time and I don't think they really noticed.

Scott and Kristen came up from Vancouver and spent the weekend with us. They helped me to clean the house in preparation for the party (what awesome friends!!) and then Kristen and I spent Saturday evening in the kitchen.

Isn't that pumpkin pie beautiful?!?

 

We also made a chocolate chip pecan pie (SO GOOD!) and a huge vat of apple butter, which made the house smell absolutely incredibly and is actually quite tasty.

I love having friends in the kitchen with me! It's such a treat. Definitely good for my soul.

One thing I'm always bummed about after our parties is that I never remember (slash just don't take the time) to take photos of the food. There was SO MUCH food at this party! We had salmon, and two salads, and roasted potatoes, and fruit, and green bean casserole, and rolls, and crackers and cheese, and the biggest pot of Cuban rice and beans you could possibly imagine (see it all the way at the top of the picture above). The dessert buffet was pretty impressive as well. Chocolate chip banana bread, cupcakes, flan (Oh. My. Heavens. I didn't even know I liked flan! It was amazing!!) and the pies and, of course, Tim and Annika's peanut butter cups. Phew! Not to mentions the dozens of bottles of wine and beer that were consumed.

Scott and Kristen were such a blessing to me! They did tons of dishes during the party and made my kitchen clean up at the end of the night fairly easy. I can't even tell you how much I appreciated all of their help! I need to learn how to be a better host though. I still have a habit of sticking near the kitchen and wish I had made time to talk with everyone there even if only for a few minutes each. The number of people at the party was a bit overwhelming but we all ate well and it was a blast.

Thank God for a short week at school! Can't wait until the holiday weekend with my handsome husband :)