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The Nutcracker

I want to welcome you to our rendition of that holiday classic, The Nutcracker. . . as directed by none other than Nora, world-famous four-year-old choreographer. . .

The scene opens at the Stahlbaums. . . please ignore the fact that there are four nutcrackers behind the Christmas tree. . .

Little Clara (played by Nora) has received her nutcracker from herr drosselmeyer. . . and she is apparently later going to first communion, or she is getting married. . .

After the Christmas party, little Clara falls asleep. . . she drifts into a dream. . .

. . . and wakes up as big Clara (played by Clara aka Mommy, of course). . .

The mice (played by Daddy and Uncle Wade) come to save the day (at this point, I am not sure why the mice are the good guys, but I went with the director on this one). . . they look like noble mice (why is everyone wearing gray sweaters?). . .


The mice defeat the rats by tying them up with a bumble bee jump rope (and apparently changing costumes). . . the sugar plum fairy rejoices. . .

The sugar plum fairy and the flower/snowflake/other sugar fairy dance for Clara at the kingdom of sweets. . .

The end. Merry Christmas (and a happy new year!)

Okay, I am not convinced. . .

That anyone reads my blog. :) I could be sending these musings out into the void. . . But look at that, two posts in one week. . . and with photos!

Anyway, Thanksgiving was rather uneventful. Wade's mom, my parents, and my grandparents came for dinner. Yes, that makes seven people, and I made a total of four pies. Each person was responsible for a little more than half a pie. One of you math geniuses can figure out the exact fraction if you have that much time on your hands. However, please note my cute little leaf crust on the pumpkin pies, flower on the mincemeat (ew!), and heart-shaped apple on the apple (I later realized the heart shape made it resemble a turnip rather than a "heart apple").

I still refuse to make turkey (the whole stuffing a turkey thing), so I made ham and au gratin potatoes. I was very happy though because I got to use my china and my Grandma Short's crystal. I ran around all over the stinkin' Tri-Cities trying to find a place setting I liked, and what I came up with is pictured below. I was pretty pleased with it. Anyway, it was a nice Thanksgiving with plenty of pie. . . oh, and Wade made homemade pumpkin gelato.

We also bought a new tree this year! Okay, it is a little big for this house, but we plan to move in the next year or so anyway, so I am hoping it won't look so overwhelming in the next house. Right now there is no topper because the old topper was too tall. I guess we will go shopping for that once I do my homework. Oh wait, that is what I am supposed to be doing now. . . Note my collection of nutcrackers (still a ballerina at heart) and tiny tree in corner.

This is our new friend. We call him Fuzzy right now, but I started having allergy symptoms when we brought him home. This is weird because we used to have a cat, but we are going to wait it out a few more days and see how it goes. I felt much better today, so I am hopeful. Say 'hi' to Fuzzy!

Aloha and Go Cougs!

Again, so much for blogging on a regular basis. . .

Well, ALOHA! We returned from Kauai last week, and I am already online shopping for the next trip. We are thinking Oahu next. :) I totally have the Hawaii bug, now I know why so many people go back year after year after year. I told Wade we should start looking for jobs there. . . :) Besides, we totally fit in: Asian girl and white guy. Haha. We, of course, did all the normal Kauai stuff. We went to the beach. . .

I tried snorkeling, I really did. I just cannot get past my totally irrational fear of fish. The first time, I went in, swam around, and jumped out as soon as a fish, I am sure, tried to eat my foot. The second time, I went in and stood several feet away and peered at the fish from there, but I know they were really plotting how to take me down. The third time, I went in clinging to Wade, saw some fish, ran out, then tiptoed back in, then ran back out. Hmph. Maybe next time. . .

. . . we saw the lighthouse. . .

. . . we met some winged friends there. . .

. . . we went to a luau. . .


(We went to Smith's Tropical Paradise, which a lot of people said had average food, but we thought it was quite good. Of course, this is the only luau I've been to, so I guess I can't really compare it to any others.)

. . . we went up to Waimea Canyon. . .




I kept joking, "yeah, we get to go look at a giant hole in the ground!" But it was actually very cool, particularly when we got up to the Napali Coast view. . .

. . . we went kayaking (well, Wade kayaked, I worked on my tan -- I actually did try, but he said I hindered more than helped, so I gave up), and ziplining! This was our second time ziplinging; we did the zipline on our honeymoon in Ketchikan. That was a "canopy adventure," meaning we went from treetop to treetop. The worst part for me was standing on those tree platforms between zips. This one was much easier for me to do because we zipped from solid ground to solid ground. We loved it and can't wait for the next one!

Anyway, we had a great time, and I cannot wait to go back. . .

In other news. . . school is still going well; I am glad to be done with that first class. This second one, even with the vacation in the middle of it, is a lot less stressful and much more enjoyable. I feel less like I am running around like a chicken with its head cut off. Family is good. Work is good. Life is good. I can't believe Thanksgiving is this week. . . where does time go?

Cougs beat the Huskies. We are NOT the bottom of the Pac-10. 'nuff said.

Ack!

I always take on too much, too fast. Last year, I decided to take a management ops class at WSU - TC, plan a wedding that would take place two weeks after the end of the semester, and put in a new yard. . . and work full time. Needless to say, I was a little stressed out. . . Now, apparently, I do not learn from the past. I am in school, putting in new floors, and working full time. The last few weekends, I let my class work slip, and now I am going to pay for it. . . EEK!

So much for blogging on a regular basis. . .

Well, I can't believe it has actually been more than two months since I last blogged, and I am not even sure that anyone checks this, so I could be sending my random thoughts and musings out into the void. I can say that I will try to be better, but that seems to just make things worse. I guess I have a little catching up to do.

Let's see. . . Currently, Wade and I working on replacing our floors. The carpet that was here when we moved in was UGLY. That's right, me the anti-capital-letter girl just used all capital letters. Of course, as all home projects do, this one sort of exploded on us. Instead of ripping out the carpet and going to town, it turned out we had to raise the floor to meet the subfloor of the kitchen. Then, because we had to raise the floor anyway, someone, I think it might have been Casey, said "well, you should just go through the kitchen too." So, two weekends later and double the cost, and tons of help from family. . . here we are. . .


Dad and Wade were hard at work raising the floor. Looks like fun, doesn't it?

It looks like I am in the bottom of a chip-board box. Who ever thought I would be caught with a belt sander in my hands?

This photo is not safety approved. No gloves, no hard hat. Please note that I do have hearing and eye protection.

This photo is not safety approved either. Safety glasses belong over your eyes, not on the top of your head, Mr. Richardson.

I must be getting old if new flooring is now my source of excitement. Oh well, it WAY better than what we used to have, so I suppose it is okay to be excited. :)


Let's see what else is new. . . Okay, besides flooring. . . we received one of our wedding present from my parents, which I need to show off a little. :)

Yes, my dad made it, and yes, it is awesome. :) You just can't put a price on something like this. I love it. . . Now, we just need that wedding quilt to go on top of it.

Finally, I started working on my masters degree through Gonzaga University. I am one class into my master of arts in communications and leadership studies. I am really excited because I have been looking for a communications masters program that fit my needs, and this one fits perfectly. Right now, I am in the thick of a communication theories class. Okay, theory was not my favorite part of my undergrad, but it's not too bad. :)

Speaking of which, I need to get back to my homework. . .

Nobody likes you when you're 27. . . ???

Well, at least we are closer to 25 than 30. . . until December. We had our birthdays (Wade is the 5th and mine is the 3rd) over Fourth of July weekend. We were camping with my family at Lake Wenatchee, which was fun, except that we were being eaten alive by mosquitoes. I think I came home with 16, and Wade came home with 17. It would have been more, but we doused ourselves in Off every chance we got. Wade tried out Nora's chair -- kind of reminds you of Goldilocks, huh?

The weekend before, we were in Seattle, and, on Sunday, we went to the Museum of Flight. Neither of us had ever been, and my parents were also in Seattle, and my aunt wanted to go, so it became a group trip. I was surprised how big the museum is. I mean, obviously, it has to be big enough to hold planes, but I was surprised at how many planes there were. We didn't even see everything, and we were there for four hours or so. We got to walk through President Kennedy's Air Force One, and tour the WWI and WWII exhibits.

And Wade has a message for everyone. . .

And, if you are going to do that, you might as well do it right. . .


Life is good, next weekend we are staying home. . . too many weekends away and too many weeds to pull. :)