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.