Snow Days in Corvallis

Thursday night (yes, last Thursday!) brought snow to Corvallis.  The kids woke up to two surprises - eight inches of snow, as well as a visit from St. Nick.  St. Nick brought gingerbread house kits, gold coins and kiwis.   The snow brought a snow day from school, and the kids were immediately off to play.  

The snow was absolutely beautiful, and the kids had so much fun tromping around, playing with friends, and sledding.  Of course, they also got a bit cold, so some hot chocolate was in order.

The snow also resulted in the cancellation of the Corvallis Waldorf School's annual Winter Lights Festival, which was disappointing, but we filled our day with Christmas preparations.  We got out all of our decorations and hung the wreath.  This year, we broke from our tree farm tradition to visit our friends in Dallas who invited us for dinner and to cut down a tree on their property, as they have many noble firs growing around.  

Though the roads were a bit dicey, we enjoyed our trip very much.  The kids got to play with their friends, and the parents got to enjoy a backyard bonfire in the snow in the country!  It almost felt like Wisconsin, and was quite a treat.  

Sunday was full of more holiday prep, and we got the tree up.  The kids love having a tree in their house - in fact, we have two trees as our friends let the kids cut a small one for their room.  Kyran wanted to hold hands and dance around the tree, and kept saying how lovely it was.  

Monday brought another snow day, as the temperature had stayed freezing and the snow and ice hadn't melted.  Tuesday, Wednesday, and even today (Thursday - a week after the snowfall) brought even more snow days!  The kids are going a bit stir crazy, but they are filling their time with holiday activities, like building gingerbread houses and watching Christmas moive classics.  

Christmas is certainly on it's way!  We are missing all our friends and family very much during this time, but have been blessed with some midwestern weather to bring us a taste of home.  

  

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving was wonderful this year - I took the whole week off of work with the kids (who were off of school), and it was sunny the whole time!  It was very relaxing to have some home time with the kids.  We are so fortunate to be great friends with our neighbors, who host us each year for the Thanksgiving meal.  Our neighbors to the north join as well.  It is so amazingly ideal to share backyards with such wonderful folks with kids the same age - they have the freedom to roam and play, and the adults can trade off watching them.  A little mini-community.  This year, the meal was held at 1 pm, and we brought sweet potatoes, green salad, and maple walnut pie.  I also made the gravy (which worked, thankfully, since I'm no expert!).  The food was delicious, and the sun was shining in the back windows.  I think it kept us more awake and alert than previous years.  After eating, the kids headed off to the nearby playground, while the adults cleaned up and then played a new game, Quelf, which was a blast!  I'd highly recommend it for an adult group setting.  Very fun and interactive.  Our neighbors also hosted a Thanksgiving dance party from 6-8, so we stayed for that to work off some calories!  I think it was entertaining for the kids to see their parents dancing, and Sylvie told me it was her favorite part of the day.  After we put the kids to bed, Ryan, Leah, and I watched a Thanksgiving movie (Pieces of April - could not find Home for the Holidays, which is another T-day fave).  

Friday was another exciting day, as Ryan, Leah, and I were heading out to Portland to catch a Cat Power show and have dinner at a Cuban place with a Wisconsonite friend who was in town.  The kids had their first sleepover, which took place very close to home (at the neighbors, of course!), and were excited to pack their sleeping bags and pajamas.  The show was a heart-wrenching pleasure.  I love Cat Power.  The kids had a blast at their sleepover, and didn't come home until close to noon!  

Saturday was yet another big day, as Sylvie was in her first parade!  Each year after Thanksgiving, Corvallis has a "Winter Lights Parade" downtown, which culminates in the lighting of the tree at the Courthouse once the final float (with Santa on it!) makes its way down the street.  This year's theme was Hawaiian.  Sylvie marched with her Girl Scout troop, and wore the grass skirt and shell necklace I brought back from my trip to Honolulu this past spring.  We missed having her spectate with us, but it was great fun to see her smiling face and wave to her during the parade.  

And then on Sunday we got ready for getting back to school and work...

Fourth Birthday Party

We had a sweet little fourth birthday party for Kyran the evening of Sunday the 17th, with just a few close friends and neighbors.  We decorated the house with fall leaves and the lanterns from Martinmas.  Kyran wore a crown of bright red leaves I collected from the north side of town, which he said looked like a "fire crown."  

After our guests arrived, we decorated forest gnomes as our craft, painting wood pegs and adding felt capes, wool hair, and acorn caps.  We then played "spin the bottle" - the child who the bottle landed on got to present his or her gift to Kyran. 

 The next game was "pat the pan" - a blindfolded child is given a wooden spoon then must crawl around the floor trying to bang into a pan that is placed upside down with a gift underneath.  This was enjoyed by all, and was very entertaining for the parents to watch.  The gifts were baby forest gnomes inside leaf pouches.  

We then moved on to cupcake decorating, and the kids were free to use any frosting, leaf cookies, or candy acorns they wanted to make their creations.  We gathered all the cupcakes together to form Kyran's birthday cake.  

We ate a little supper together -Kyran's choice of tacos, then sang "Happy Birthday" and had cake.  We closed the evening with the story of "The Great White Egg" that tells how a little boy named Kyran joined his family one joyous day.  The last line of the story is: "Every year after that, on a day in November, a feast is prepared and candles are lighted to remind us of the starlight on the mountain and the gift of the great white moon bird, and the day that Kyran first stepped down to the earth."  While reading this, I lit votive candles and let Kyran present one to each of his guests.  

Kyran's Birthday Celebration -- Rainbow Bridge

Today Ryan and I attended Kyran's birthday celebration at his preschool classroom.  Sylvie was able to come too.  The ceremony is so sweet and special, with all the children sitting in a circle around a "rainbow bridge."  The birthday boy is dressed in a white silk cape with a golden star crown, and his teacher tells a story about the heavenly children doing their work up above, when one gets word he has work to do below...and he crosses the rainbow bridge to find the family he will be joining (his mama, papa, and big sister Sylvie).  At this time, the teacher leads the child to walk across the bridge to physically join his family, but our little Kyran was too shy during the ceremony and ran right to his daddy's lap.  The teacher then proceeds to tell the story of Kyran's life on earth, sharing special stories from when he was a baby and each year, lighting a candle for each birthday.  She then presented him with a present (a lovely blue silk cape), and invites him to snuff the candles (he needed his sister's help for this due to his persistent shyness), then all the children share the snack of finger fruits Kyran brought to celebrate his day.  Below are the special memories and some pictures of the ceremony. 

When Kyran was a baby, he enjoyed watching his sister jump on the bed. He took his first steps at the Halloween celebration. 

When Kyran was 1, he moved to a new house and got his own room and had a big yard to play in, with his own swing. 

When Kyran was 2, he made new friends at Little Acorns and Curiosity Corner and had so much fun pressing apple cider in the backyard with our own apples.

When Kyran was 3, he loved to play with puzzles and games. Kyran went camping with family several times, helped his dad paint a house, and swam almost every warm day in the summer. Kyran also went on a roller coaster with his dad and sister, and braved a haunted house! He also and so much fun visiting with his grandparents and family in Wisconsin over the summer, and just recently went to the coast and caught, cooked and ate crabs!

Martinmas -- Lantern Walk

This evening, the kids and I participated in the Corvallis Waldorf School's annual Lantern Walk in celebration of Martinmas. The authors of the book “All Year Round” write: “The traditional way of celebrating Martinmas is with lantern walks or processions, accompanied by singing. St. Martin recognized the divine spark in the poor man of Amiens, and gave it the protection of his own cloak. When we make a paper lantern, we, too, may feel that we are giving protection to our own little “flame” that was beginning to shine at Michaelmas, so that we may carry it safely through the dark world. It may only be a small and fragile light- but every light brings relief to the darkness.” As daylight savings is upon us, keeping light with us seems so relevant in the dark nights, and participating in the Lantern Walk is a meaningful way to embrace that with the children. The walk was held at a nearby park, and the children brought their lanterns they had made at school, most with jars and autumn leaves. There was singing as we walked around the pond, and the procession of lanterns in the darkness was lovely. The sweetest song, sung by even the youngest, goes like this: "I'm walking with my lantern, my lantern walks with me, above the stars are shining, below shines my lantern for me, my light grows dim, I must go in, la bimba, la bamba, la bu."

Crabbing in Newport

This past weekend, we went with the kids and my parents to Newport to do some dock crabbing in Yaquina Bay.  We stayed overnight in a Rogue suite at the Embarcadero, and were able to use the dock and cooker there.  We've been told that the best months for crabbing are the ones that end in "ember," or, alternatively, the ones that end in "r."  Also, the word on the street is that it has been a "strange" season for crab.  Fortunately, we were able to catch enough red rock crab (no limits on size or sex) plus one keeper dungeness to feed us that evening.  Yum!

(We did NOT keep this starfish!)

My Work

I often get questions about things I'm working on at the Tribe.  I'm lucky enough to work for an organization that publishes its own newspaper, the Smoke Signals.  Below are some articles featuring recent projects I've been working on:

Tribe Acquires 338 Acres In Marion County

Tribe Receives 100 Acres at Rattlesnake Butte

Tribe Celebrates Return of Ceded Lands

General Council Briefed on Fee-to-Trust

BIA Official Meets with Tribe About New Police Force

In the past year, I've also presented at two seminars.  Last October, I was invited to speak at "Government Law and Indian Law: Critical Issues and Recent Developments" held at the Oregon State Bar.  For more information about the CLE, see: http://osbarcle.org/Brochures/2012/GOV12.pdf and http://osbar.inreachce.com/Details?category=dee3c2ea-f57e-4e4b-8920-084f8c66678e&groupId=7e1e1b73-2d6c-4a83-8cdc-892365436253.

I also presented at the National Conference of American Indians Mid Year Conference in Reno Nevada in June, and sat on a panel titled: "Land to Trust Acquisition: The Patchak Patch, New Challenges, Streamlining the Process, and a New Potential in Alaska."  For more information about that conference, see: http://www.ncai.org/conferences-events/ncai-events/Mid_Year_2013_Agenda_-_Final.pdf

Halloween In Corvallis

This year we had a lovely fall day to celebrate Halloween.  Our kids chose to be Hansel and Gretel this year, and their Grandma Biesack found some wonderful costumes for them.  We attended the Corvallis Waldorf School Halloween Celebration, which was held outside this year.  Such a magical experience for young children!  We then joined up with the neighbors to trick-or-treat around the neighborhood.  Here are some pics of Hansel and Gretel.