September Stuff

Have I really not posted since The Gnoming?  I am trying to figure out where the time went and I can't account for it.

On the 15th we went to our annual Homeschool Field Trip at Kah Nee Ta, a full day in the pool and 6 hours of driving always wipes us out but we did enjoy a stop at Timberline Lodge.

Boba Fett started Cub Scouts a couple weeks ago and lost a tooth.

The 20th was my 33rd Birthday and it was an absolutely perfect day.  The weather was glorious and I did just what I wanted all day long.  I knit, I watched North By Northwest, I went to Sushi Town with Boba Fett.  Dinner was the Surf Side at Benihana.
 

The most fun gift I received was a plot by Paula where everyone who stopped by brought me some yarn!  Two of my favorite gifts were a hug from Zac and a hug from Brock. And as it has turned out the most thoughtful gift was from Moose, he downloaded a bunch of Relief Society podcasts for me to listen to while I sew.

I sewed 2 dresses, one because it had to be done before the end of summer.  I am calling it "The Diner"

 

 The other was for the train excursion on the Mount Hood Railroad that was a really fun double date.

    

There was dancing in a very unstable car

 The fellows refused to take a serious photo

 and our conductor was named Roman.

Tomatoes are being harvested and the sunny days are at an end.  Soccer season is in full swing and I am getting ready to do the Boutique at the Barn again.

My sweet friend lost her husband to cancer this month and we have loved her, served her and held our husbands extra close with a prayer of gratitude for them on our lips.

The Gnoming

The Gnoming happened this morning. 
As I had planned, Boba Fett was blissfully sleeping while the gnome watched over him, it was strategically placed so he would see it when he awoke.

He came down to me (asleep) to ask me why a "idiodic dememted dwarf" was in room.  I asked him what he was talking about.  As he headed back through the house he saw that there were gnomes everywhere. For example this guy was having a bowl of cereal on the table.

The pictures had been replaced with pictures of gnomes.

And all of his photos had been replaced with gnomes.

As well as other small gnomes in other places.

I told him I heard someone at the door and when he went to it he saw this terrible act of flamingocide.

Fleeing from this terrible scene he saw the Starlings' Chalkboard had been tampered with

.

In the back yard he was confronted with an army

 Whilst other kept watch from the foliage

There were also a dozen parachuting gnomes which were genius but were tangled in knots within 30 second of landing.

Which was too bad because they were really good parachutes.

 

There were also a bunch of gnome tattoos that doubled as stickers.

 

It was a sucessful gnoming and I think a cure for Gardengnomeaphobia.

Not What We Had Planned

It started out so well.  Boba Fett's birthday was on a Sunday this year so we spread out some of the fun stuff to Saturday.  I was the Boba Fett wrangler while Moose took the other kids to their 3 scheduled soccer games.  

First, we went to a friend's bowling birthday party, then Boba Fett and I headed to The House of Reptiles so he could pick out his gift from my parents. He was really excited.

He chose a baby crested gecko and we headed home to get his habitat set up.

His name is Glacier.

As he has been planning for more than a year, he and I went to Sushi Town to get his free birthday sushi plate.

After dinner we went to catch the end of Commander C's second game of the day. It was a long walk from the parking lot to the field but it was a nice day and we were all healthy at the time. Moose and I were watching the game while the kids played by the stream and berry bushes. 

They were trying to get to a cattail when suddenly  they BOTH came running and screaming.  I thought some one had been killed, there certainly had to be blood and lots of it from the way they were screaming but it turns out Nutmeg disturbed a wasps' nest and Boba Fett went in gallantly to save her.  Boba Fett really freaked out, he ran franticly to the car where my first aid kit was wailing all the way.  Parents on several fields were alarmed to see a freaking out, running boy trailed by a sobbing, crying girl and 2 bewildered parents.

We got to the car pulled out stingers, counted bites, distributed apis and headed home where more remdies were applied. Once we were in the car Boba Fett seemed fine, certainly better off than Nutmeg.  He had only 2 bites to her 3 and he was acting fine like a regular boy.

By morning on his actual birthday his ankle was all swollen and he was acting very subdued for a birthday boy.  He stayed home from church and watched movie, I made him dutch puff, lego cakes and we opened the gifts.  He was barely even pleased.  He was just not himself yesterday.  He couldn't even ride his new bike and he doesn't spend every waking minute looking at his gecko.  This is not normal.

Today he is much the same, swollen and melancholy.  

The gnoming didn't happen because my package of parachuting gnomes didn't arrive in time so we are going to have to do it another time.  It is probably just as well since he wasn't feeling very well and I think that all parties need to be in a good mood for a successful gnoming.

I just feel so bad for him.  This kid looks forward to his birthday more than any kid I have ever known.  He is so animated and seeing him like this is so sad.  I can't help but wonder along with him why he with 2 bites in different places is doing so poorly while Nutmeg with 3 bites on the same arm is doing just fine.

I just wonder why he always has such a hard time with everything; his eyes, his speech, bug bites, reading, chores, sports, anything involving coordination.

Aurora Glorialis

I started this dress 5 years ago.  It was meant to be for Nutmeg but it never got past the cutting stage and it sat in my scrap bin until just before my niece, little Aurora arrived! (P.S. I made the darling head band too.)

In its former life it was a ladies' blouse. I LOVE that the buttons and button holes are the original holes from the blouse

  and what was the collar is now the bow. Isn't the fabric divine?
The sleeves are the caps of the original sleeves and the skirt, oh, the skirt  hemmed with the original hem.  Making reconstructions and trying to keep as many of the original details as possible intact is one of my very favorite things.  It was a blouse, now its a dress!  I just love that.

Oh and it has pleats.

Gardengnomeaphobia

Gardengnomeaphobia is a rare but serious condition that affects...Boba Fett.  Boba Fett's "fear" of garden gnomes will come to a head on his 8th birthday (a phobia like this is just begging for a prank.) If you feel compelled to help us treat this serious condition known as "Gardengnomeaphobia," please deliver your gnomes, gnome artwork and gnome accessories to Starlings by the 10th of September.

Coming September 11th, 2011

The Gnoming

Washcloth

Today I washed her face tenderly and worked the marshmallow out of her hair.  Her moist cheeks shined like the blue eyes in the mirror and I realized there will not be many more times when I wash her hands or face.   She chooses her own clothes, does flips on the trampoline and reads books with chapters. She is so smart, and independent and her legs are so long.

An Oregon Summerlet

 While most of the country is sweltering, we here in Oregon are enjoying 60 degree temperatures!  Occasionally we get a sunny day and a couple of times we have had 2 in a row but for the most part still cloudy, still chilly, still rainy.

I really truly believed that after last year's disappointing summer we were in line to get a nice one this year.  This just goes to show that no one asks me when planning the weather.

We have had a busy month none the less.

On the 4th we went to the ward pancake breakfast, the Oak Hills Parade and the Oak Hills fireworks display.  Springville ward had it's own mini fireworks show while we waited.

On the 9th we traveled to Salem to visit our dear friends (who moved in May) for a birthday celebration.

I promise, she really has 2 perfect eyes.

 On the 14th my niece Aurora was born, she didn't want to nurse so there were 5 anxious days but now she has the knack.  We were to visit the weekend after she arrived but Moose is busy doing the work of 3+ men at work and so we postponed our Montana vacation and baby snuggling.

On the 16th we went to the Portland Highland Games and it was awesome. I love kilts!!  All of the mooselings participated but Boba Fett was particularly excited about tossing the caber.

On the 17th our ward was split and a new ward formed in our stake.  We were sad to lose some very dear ones including our entire Relief Society presidency to the "Tomahawk Ward."

Monday the 18th is the day I became mentally ill and began taking yoga classes and seriously considered joining a gym.  The gym illness has passed but I will be continuing with the yoga classes.

 

Last weekend we celebrated Pioneer Day at Fallbrooks Farm, and on Sunday La Keira was called as Relief Society President.

I'll just let that sink in for a few moments.....

Being the "besty" of the Relief Society President is weird, really weird.  We are still trying to figure out how it is going to work.  I can't imagine how she managed to keep it a secret for a week!  It is just surreal and it will take time to sink in.

And all month long I have been preparing for the 5 night, 50 mile hike that Commander C, La Keira, Jonah, myself and assorted members of the Hanna family are taking next week.  I have been planning meals, shopping for gear, borrowing gear, breaking in boots, and training.

I just have one thing to say: I am going to DIE.

Someone Should Take Away My Pie Pans

It is no secret that I am pie crust challenged.  I make tasty fillings but the presentation is bad, bad, bad. No matter what I do my pies are UG-LY!

Lately I have tried buying pre-made crusts already in the pan. No improvement.
Today I even  bought the Marie Callender's crusts for my marion berry pie.

 Fail.  Please, someone put me out of my misery.  Why do I have to like pie so much?

Spurious

"And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise your head, And you shall bruise His heel.”Genesis 3:15

This passage has been running through my head frequently of late.  For the last several months my right heel has felt like it has been bruised and over the last few weeks I started to think "Maybe this is an actual 'thing'" and today I googled it.

Ignorance is bliss.  It is probably (based on my googling 3 or 4 phrases and my non-existant podiatry degree) those ugly words you sometimes hear on foot ailment commercials  but never know what they mean and are too grossed out to find out.

Doesn't this look awful?

"Heel spur" and/or "plantar fasciitis"

Great, because I didn't already think that being in your 30's is lame. Now it is literally.

Now Genesis 3:15 has meaning to me, I know that a bruised heel hurts and is really annoying but you can get on with life.


My mom claims to have some essential oils for it and that is good because I am supposed to go on a 50 mile hike in 2 1/2 weeks.

 

These are to only kind of spurs I want on my feet.

Splitsville Ward

They are splitting up our ward. 

This only can end in tears. I have been in our ward for 9 wonderful years and the thought of losing anyone from or being put into a new ward is just too sad. I look at the map of the ward and I love every single family.

The worst part is that there isn't a readily apparent split, and 3 wards will be affected as they form a new ward, and we have to WAIT AN ENTIRE WEEK to find out the changes.  A week?  A week of thinking about all the wonderful people our ward family and wondering if they will still be in my ward next week and how much I will miss seeing them several times a week.

Also, La Keira is on the opposite side of the ward from Starlings no matter how you carve it up.  This doesn't look hopeful.

I know it will all be for the best and any new ward will be fantastic but it just isn't the same when you don't see someone regularly.

Last time we only lost a handful of families and gained a whole bunch of really awesome people, maybe we will be so lucky again?