Fr. Matt Blesses Derek's Arm

Fr. Matt saw Derek's arm as Mass was starting and told him he wanted to sign it after Mass.

Derek forgot and went out for donuts. Then I saw Fr. Matt in the back and remembered. So I ran out front
and retrieved Derek.

He signed:
"God Bless this Arm. + Fr. Matt"

When we got the cast cut off I saved that elbow part.

Boating trip

Dad, Derek & Coco took a trip out on the boat.

Coco driving the boat... the wind in her ears.......

New Craft Project: personalized charms

See what I've been working on.... stamping on charms.

I haven't been updating my blog, and have not finished documenting our trip to the East Coast because I've been distracted by this new craft.
Well that's my excuse for this week.
2 weeks ago it was Derek's birthday, then his birthday party.
I was crocheting for a week after we got back. I made 3 scarves and a shawl.
I've been reading 2 books about St. Padre Pio.
Blogging is taking a back seat for now.

first time for a cast

Derek was on the trampoline on a bouncy ball.....yes a terrible combination.

Which I had to explain to multiple nurses & doctors, to my shame.
He rolled off the ball and as he says, "Mom, my elbow bent the wrong way!"
After James experience of falling off the monkey bars at school and having a hairline break
at his elbow I knew to keep an eye on Derek.
THe next day he was still complaining about it, even through the field trip to the
bird sanctuary. So I called the doctor's office as soon as we arrived home and they were
able to get us in at 4 p.m. They took x-rays and sent us over to the hospital
to see more doctors and they were all unsure, so we decided to cast it just in case.
He had a RED one first.
After 2 weeks we went in. They took x-rays and determined that there
was a hairline fracture and it was not healed yet so he had to get another
cast, this time Blue, for another 2 weeks.

Audubon's Bird Sanctuary Field Trip

A great field trip out to see the Bird Sanctuary. Audubon's Silverwood sanctuary in Lakeside, CA.
We met 7 other unschool/hs families there in the parking lot and were met by the kindest, happiest hostesses and host. You could certainly tell they loved their work.
So welcoming to everyone, especially the kids, they couldn't wait to get started and share their space. They started right in the parking lot with the carpenter ants underfoot and the bushes and plants surrounding our cars.

R2D2 Birthday Cake

Derek’s birthday party theme is Star Wars. His cake is R2D2. I looked up other cakes online to get some ideas that other people have done. For a couple days I thought I would make a stand up R2D2, but then I would have to borrow a few round pans and make a LOT of cake. (probably 6) I worried about the fondant sticking to the upright cake.

This was my 2nd time working with fondant so I decided to stick with a flat cake.

First I measured the 2 pans I have and made the paper the same size.

Then I drew the R2D2 to the size I would make it. I only made 1 leg and would do it twice.

I baked 2 cakes. Derek chose white cake with rainbow colored sprinkles inside.

Here are the baked cakes with the cut out pictures before I cut.

I cut everything out. Because the pan on the left was smaller, the cake came out thicker. The two legs are higher than the center body.

I used a thick thread to slice through the legs using the middle section as my height guide.

I rolled out the fondant. I bought a 5 lb. box and ended up only using 1 of the 2 bags in the box.

I rolled it out using powdered sugar on the counter and on the rolling pin. I used the small knife to do the cutting.
After laying the fondant over the pieces of cake you mold it down the sides and cut the leftover off the ends and sides.

I did the middle first. I moved each leg off the tray (which is a foil covered cookie sheet) and then covered the legs and moved them back onto the tray.

All of the scraps were used to make the additional squares, circles & rectangles.

I wet the pieces (they dried out quick) and that helped to smooth out the edges and glue them down onto the cake.

I used powdered sprinkle color. The instructions were to wet the area with water and sprinkle on. However I needed detailed areas and it was too messy. First I started mixing the powder with water to make “watercolors” then tried using coconut rum (shhh don’t tell the parents) so that the alcohol would dry faster than the water. (nope I didn’t drink any… too much to do…) This was the blue and the red.

Derek helped with the sliver strips on the legs and the half circles. We did the wetting & sprinkling for those parts. Also on the silver top part.

I also did the gold circle that way. It turned out pretty, like glitter.

I found some Cookie Decorating markers and that is what I used for the green, the purple stripes, the yellow ring around the blue and finally for writing Derek’s name and new age.

Family picture

Family picture at dinner. Grandma (my mom), Me, Katie, Geoff, James & Derek.
Celebrating Derek's 6th birthday dinner.