Tis The Season

December is one of my favorite months of the entire year! This month we've had some snow (and ice), canceled school days, and time with the Fish Fam. Tomorrow we leave to spend a week in Seattle with my parents and the rest of my family.

We spent the first weekend in December sipping cocoa, eating pie, and doing a puzzle while we watched the Christmas Devotional. I think we will make this a tradition!

 . . . and then came the crazy weather! I had 1 late start and 4 snow days. While we did get a few inches of snow, the biggest problem was the ice!

this field by our church was completely frozen over

the parking lot was transformed into a skating rink

the ice was so heavy that lots of trees cracked and fell! 

view of our street

the ice was pretty, but the snow was even prettier! 

a street full of fresh new snow

Since nobody was out and we live on a one-way street, we let Luna run free for a little while.

I love seeing the tree in the window and the lights on the house!!

Because of all the snow days, this is how we spent most of our time. . . cuddled on the couch in front of a pretend fire. 

Another new tradition is to go to downtown Portland and listen to Tuba Christmas! It's a free public event in which hundreds of tuba players put on a Christmas concert. What's even better is that Cohan, Brodie's brother, played in the concert!

Danner was so excited to listen to his dad!

This is only about a third of them. Lots of tubas under one tent!

the whole crew

 December also meant a snowman art project with my class, a haircut, and an early Fish Christmas celebration!

aren't these sock snowmen are the cutest??

I hadn't cut my hair since last December, so it was definitely time!

Before everyone headed out of town for Christmas, the Fish Fam got together for a sleepover, Christmas breakfast, and gift exchange. 

 Christmas celebrations, report cards, and finals week must have been a bad combination for us because Brodie and I both got sick. I had a bad cold and Brodie had the flu. For 4 days, this is what it looked like around our house. . .

and this . . . poor guy :(

Can't wait to be in Seattle tomorrow!

Tree Hunting & Festival

The Saturday following Thanksgiving is reserved for Christmas tree hunting. We went to a u-cut natural tree farm in Oregon. 

The farm is 110 acres, so they take you on a hay ride out to the trees.

We found "the perfect one"! At least we thought we did. Until we realized it was way too tall and couldn't fit into our house. We had to trim it down a bit to make it work. Isn't it such a beautiful farm??

I told you the tree was a huge tree! Almost as huge as the jacket I borrowed from Dad Fish haha  

The farm also had horses, so basically it was perfect.

Each year Camas (our town) has a tree lighting festival, Literally the whole town comes. There's a big count down, the tree is lit, fireworks go off, and it even snows (aka fake snow made out of soap).

and here is our very own tree. . . it takes up the whole living room, but that's the charm of living in a tiny home :) 

November

November came and went so quickly! Here are some highlights: 

Jen came to visit and it was the best weekend! Even though it was raining almost the entire time, that didn't stop us from getting out and enjoying the beauty of the northwest. We hiked in the Columbia Gorge, shopped, enjoyed  a movie night, and stayed up late chatting. Even though it had been almost 3 years since we'd seen each other, we didn't miss a beat. I love this girl!

November means hand dipped chocolates! I have been part of the Heppler family tradition of chocolate making for the past 4 years. I have topped chocolates, rolled fondant, and this year I was promoted to "runner". Basically this job entailed 12 jobs. Melting chocolate, serving melted chocolate, serving fondant, serving toppings, refilling water, washing dishes, transporting finished chocolates to the basement, preparing new chocolate trays, and the list goes on. I wish I had been wearing a Fitbit, because I think I easily hit my 10,000 steps! I woke up sore the next morning, but I sure had a blast!

finished chocolates

November also means family comes into town! I think we had a different activity planned every single night. We kicked off the week with a Fish family home evening. 

new crazy socks for FHE

Tuesday we went to see Fantastic Beasts. As a HP fan, I was impressed and not disappointed!

The rest of the week was filled with game nights and family time. Ironically, I did not take any pictures on Thanksgiving day. We played Turkey Bowl football in the rain and of course had a Thanksgiving feast with Brodie's extended family. 

All month Brodie did not shave for "No Shave November". This was the result, and he was quite proud. I could live with it for the month, but as soon as December 1 rolled around, the beard was out of there!

New England Cruise: Boston

After the cruise was over *sniff, sniff*, we disembarked and had a few hours to tour Boston before our plane left. It was a whirlwind of sightseeing that included a trolley tour and a boat tour. I especially enjoyed seeing many of the sites that I talk about with my fifth grade students during our Revolutionary War unit. Unfortunately it was raining almost the entire day, but being from Seattle, it didn't bother us too much!

statue of Paul Revere

famous Old North church where Paul Revere was instructed to hang lanterns to let the colonists know which direction the British were coming from - "one if by land, two if by sea!"

U.S.S Constitution

old British Parliament building, right next to Boston Massacre site

this marks the spot of the Boston Massacre

Samuel Adams - a patriot who organized The Revolution

The Great Hall

Massachusetts State House

 views from the harbor boat tour 

Thanks for a fabulous trip, Mom and Dad! We can't wait for our next adventure :)

New England Cruise: Halifax, Nova Scotia

Port #4 was Halifax, Nova Scotia. At this port we toured historic churches, a citadel, the Province House, and the Maritime Museum. At the museum we learned more about the Titanic and the Halifax Explosion of 1917. I had no idea that Halifax suffered a nuclear explosion that killed 2000 and injured over 9000. This explosion was the largest nuclear explosion prior to Hiroshima. It was caused by two ships colliding together in the harbor, one of which was filled with TNT.

We also learned that Halifax was one of the closest ports to the Titanic's shipwreck site. Because of this, Halifax sent several ships to collect the bodies of Titanic victims. These victims are buried in a Titanic grave site cemetery in Halifax.

Moving on from this history lessons . . . here are some pictures!

we spent the morning walking along the boardwalk

Province House

 Catholic church - this church survived the explosion in 1917, but there is a piece of the anchor that is embedded near the front of the church. Pieces of the anchor can be found scattered about Halifax from the explosion. 

the church is located on this hill, so you can see how far the anchor had to travel in order to land that far from the harbor!

Fort George on Citadel Hill

 Public Gardens

Maritime Museum

a chair from the deck of the Titanic

Once we were back on board the ship we raced to compete in the dart competition. And what do you know. . . I actually won! I think everyone else was just as surprised as I was. All the men in the bar were chuckling at first when I joined in and asked, "How do you play?" I guess I had some beginner's luck haha. 

. . . and our favorite towel creation - the monkey!