Bean had a much harder time saying good bye to everyone this afternoon. I had just come inside the school and dropped off teacher Mimi and teacher Sienna's presents in the office when I came around the corner to Bean's class to find Bean curled up in Miss Sienna's arms and softly crying in the hallway. 

Teacher Sienna shared that Bean had been happy as a clam all day until moments earlier when they were pulling her things together for her to take home. The emotions started bubbling to the surface until Bean succumbed.

Bean had a tough time telling her classmates good bye, too. It was too overwhelming for her.

The moment we stepped outside school Bean understandably lost her composure again. She weeped a good part of the drive away while saying how she missed her friends and her BFF, Quinn, "...so much!"  And then she just would say pitifully over and over again, "Quinn. Quinn....Quinnn!"

I had to do something. So I did what any understanding mother does to try to cheer her kid up: we went to have ice cream at Baskin and Robbins. Halfway on the drive to the ice cream shop Bean squeaked out that she was "...nervous to go to kindergarten." Completely understandable! She has not known any other place except Grandma's Place for all but two months of her young life.

Ice cream does make things (temporarily) better.

Bean picked the three flavors for the banana split we shared. From left to right: Rocky Road (which Bean calls 'Rocky Mountain', pistachio almond and cotton candy.

Ice cream helped.  Well, until we got back into the car to continue home. The sadness took over again and I did my best to distract her by getting her mind off of her class and instead thinking about what she would watch on my tablet when she got home.

Below, the awesome going away card the school and Bean's class made for her. So sweet!!!

Below, Bean's BFF, Quinn to the left. They have been in school together until now for a number of years and are the same age. She and Quinn always refer to each other as "BFF" at school and when saying good bye when they leave at night. "Bye, BFF!" It's terribly cute.

I made a dress for Bean's teacher, Sienna, as a good bye present for Bean's last day of daycare/pre-K. Sienna has been an extra special teacher in our lives this past year and a half and we are going to miss her. Not often do you get a chance in your lifetime to meet someone who truly loves and adores children to their core at 110%. Even when they are being challenging, Sienna always sees the positive in them and the situation, no matter what. I know I have really admired her for this rare quality. And then there were the times when traffic proved a nightmare for me to get from work to daycare. One time, my normally 10 minute commute took a frustrating hour and a half. Sienna was totally chill about it and she and her helper Bean cleaned up and closed down daycare (which closes at 6 pm) since they were the last two people there.

And this was on a Friday night. I told you she was one-in-a-million!

So Sienna is a huge Dr. Who fan (10th doctor, natch) and when I spied this particular fabric on Spoonflower, I just knew I had to get it and make a special dress for her.

Never one to leave well enough alone, later on I determined it needed a contrasting fabric. Enter a fabulous purple and white gingham! Unfortunately, the gingham showed through to the cotton poplin side so I ended up getting a lavender cotton batiste to line the gingham parts with. A purple zipper seemed much more fun than plain ole white, right?!

The more I make these dresses, the smarter I become with the process. I knew I needed to line up the pattern for the front panels. TARDIS aligned!

And then so proud of myself and my clever ways, I almost sewed the zipper in backwards. 

Ooops!

As I mentioned earlier, Sienna is a big 10th Dr.Who doctor fan, played by David Tennant. I discovered this great fabric on Spoonflower as well. A swatch proved more than enough to have fun with on the inside dress yoke.

Inside pocket seams got a decorated stitch trim, utilizing my fancy new sewing machine from Xmas. See? 

Doesn't the gingham and toile look beautiful together?

The inside arm seams are finished in gingham, too. Here is the dress, partially completed. I just need to get the dress collar attached.

The Doctor pensively considers my next sewing construction move...

A better view of the inside arm seams.

Finished!!! The collar is attached and looks lovely. Considering I accidentally stitched that on backwards as well. 

It's not going to be a successful sewing project unless my trusty seam ripper gets some action!

The collar is done so when down, you see the toile fabric on the top. When it's worn flipped up with the drawstring gathered and tied at the neck (an elegant Victorian pie crust collar effect) then you see the contrast of the gingham there, instead.

As I make this dress I add my own tweaks as I go along. I took an extra piece of fabric of the Doctor and stitched it over the bottom of the zipper on the inside of the dress. I've gone back and done this to all of my earlier dresses in this style (using their respective fabrics to do so) because the bottom of the zipper is hard and scratchy and gets caught on your clothes if you wear it over other things like jeans or wide legged pants.

The dress from behind with the collar up. 

In the background, my French Market Rooster dress I referred to as I stitched along on Sienna's.

This is the BEST dress in the whole wide world!!! For starters, it has POCKETS. I know, I had you sold on it by that fact alone, right? But not only pockets, this dress is very flattering on many different body types and lends itself well to so many different ways of being worn. I prefer to make this dress sleeveless so then I can layer it when the weather is cooler over short or long-sleeved t-shirts or even a turtleneck. This dress looks fabulous over tights or leggings. I love to wear mine over jeans, and it looks particularly cute with the jeans rolled up at the cuffs.

When I go away for the weekend, one of my dresses comes with me. It travels so well and can be worn so many different ways. And bonus, it's lets me just have one small piece of luggage to deal with. I can take the dress, a pair of jeans, a pair of tights, two t-shirts, bootcut yoga pants and a jacket and scarf and I've got more than enough options for a weekend away.

And did I mention the pockets?  Awesome...

A lovely dress requires a beautiful gift box! I found the most appropriate box at the craft store, a box with Big Ben on the front and "London" printed on the top and sides.

Thank you Sienna, for being such an awesome and amazing teacher to our Bean!!! She is a better and smarter kid because of you. 

Today is Bean's last day of going to Grandma's Place. She started when she was a wee 2 months old!

We've loved Grandma's Place and their amazing staff these past years. Lulu started going there when she was 2 years old, so GP has been a huge part of our lives these past 7 years. I can't endorse and recommend them enough!

The plan had been to bring Frozen cupcakes to school for Bean's last day. Alas, there were no Frozen themed cupcakes to be found and I hadn't thought I needed to order ahead any ahead of time. Everything was decorated for the 4th of July and picnics (flowers with ants) but Bean would have none of it.

This lone blue swirled cake was the only thing that could save the day. It's chocolate cake though, so the teachers and other kids parents are really not going to be our biggest fans as we exit the building for the last time later today.

I asked the guy in the bakery for 20 Frozen themed plastic rings. I figure the teachers can stick one in each piece of cake before they serve it. 

"Crisis-averted!" as we say often at La Casa de Camarillo!

Bean getting a hug from her fantastic teacher Ms. Sienna...

And one more with Bean's patented News of the Weird Bat Boy smile for good measure!

Like me the day before my last day at work a few weeks ago, Bean is "done" with daycare/pre-K as well...

With Lulu heading with my mom to cowboy country, we were off to Astoria to cool off!

(It's been fricking hot in Portland for the last several weeks. I'm sure, though, it has nothing to do with global warming  it's just one of those years where the hot weather comes early for summer. Wait a minute?! I grew up in Portland! Nope, I believe it's global warming.)

We stopped at a new brewery brewpub Eddie had read about somewhere. It was called Buoy Beer and they had amazing cheese curds. Food portions were huge and delicious. My brother, who always has a huge appetite, left 1/3 of his cheeseburger behind on his plate, which never happens.

Me and Bean, who is doing her best News of the Weird "Bat Boy" impression. 

(Google it, you'll see she's got it nailed...)

You're never too old to make funny faces with your kid for the camera, or prove to the world that you do not use Botox, which I'm happy to say I do not! How on earth am I supposed to furrow my brow when I'm stressed, concerned or angry (especially when the kids are concerned)???

After lunch it was two blocks away to the bowling alley we'd visited for Lulu's 8th birthday celebration. Eddie kept score while Bean, Jeff and I played a game.

Jeff, avid bowler he is, even has his own bowling shoes and bowling ball. 

He also has the most impressive release and roll of the ball. So smooth and quiet...It's like its coming off plush velvet fabric.

Jeff beat both me and Bean for the game. He also got a strike at one point, too.

I told you he was good!

We had the bumpers up for Bean, who just had fun rolling the ball down the lane. I'd remembered everything for the day except socks for Bean for bowling, so she wore mine instead which were SUPER CUTE on her!!!

Before we headed back home to hot Portland, we stopped for a spell at Gearhart where we were actually able to drive onto the beach to park our car before heading out to see how cold the ocean water was.

Lulu left with grandma (my mom) for an 8-day trip to visit Cowboy Country. They'll land in Wyoming and start at Jackson Lake Lodge, then head on over to South Dakota by the end of the week. 

Monday they will raft down the Snake River!

Tuesday they will stay inside Yellowstone National Park.

Wednesday they will go on a guided tour of the Fountain Paint Pots and then explore some more.

Thursday will send them to Cody, WY where they will learn about cowboy life at the Buffalo Bill Historical Center. That night, is a western-style dinner before "Rodeo Night" where there will be professional steer wrestlers, wild buckin' broncos, barrel racers and rodeo clowns!

Friday they will head into the Bighorn Mountains.

Saturday Lulu sees Crazy Horse and Mt. Rushmore.

I've never been to Wyoming or South Dakota. It sounds like Lulu is going to have an utterly awesome time!!!

Here is Lulu heading into the Portland airport...

Lulu is SO EXCITED about her trip and rightly so! Still, it's hard to say good-bye to my big girl for over a week even though I know she is in excellent hands.

This is a particularly lovely picture of her below. Eddie said, this is our snapshot of her in the future when she heads off to college...

Eddie got his large post surgery bandage removed today...

I'd post the pictures of his arm with the stitches and then once they were removed, but it's probably too much visual.

You'll have to settle for xrays showing his new piece of body metal, instead!

Just cloth bandages where the stitches were removed on his wrist.

And now, a removable wrist brace for the next month. Quality of life has just improved substantially for Eddie, with this arm brace!

Bean always like a to make sure she mentions her dad's real name after she calls or refers to him at school. Funny kid!

Eddie is Jake from Adventure Time to which I am his Lady Rainicorn! 

The girls and I gave Eddie these limited edition Jake boots from Doc Martens for Father's Day and Bean drew and awesome picture of her with Eddie. 

Not sure if you can see it, but she drew him with his cast on and his Jake "Making Bacon Pancakes" shirt. That's Beemo in the lower left corner.

This is Beemo!

For the last six days Eddie has been sleeping like this, and mostly, sleeping.

I have been making sure he gets his pain meds every.four.hours since the night of his surgery.

No, I have not been sleeping, but thanks for asking.

Not what we'd planned for today.

Let me tell you a little story about luck...

Eddie's doctor's appointment this morning was supposed to be to check his wrist through his cast.

Originally, my mom was going to take Eddie (with Lulu, who is out of school) to this appointment to help out.

Today is my last day of work at ACME/North Highland.

I decided yesterday, that I wasn't coming into work today and though today is my "official" last day, I was done. (Things have been so boring with everything transitioned over and others who are now responsible for some of the things I did, were not stepping up to the plate since I was visible in the office.)

Originally (and now in hindsight, erroneously) I thought this would be a quick doctors visit and we'd all be back home where I could dive head first into some serious sewing bliss.

Nope, Eddie's broken wrist was not healing right and they needed to do surgery on it.

Today. Yep, surgery today.

Our last doctors appointment two weeks ago, things looked good. This past week, Eddie had a lot of pain in his wrist and arm. Now, we know why. The bones have moved.

Not good.

The bright side to this unexpected detour in our day, is that today is the last day we can incur medical charges that we can reimburse through our FSA account until we are set up on Eddie's work FSA plan. There is a bit of a balance in that account, and we have 90 days to submit receipts against what is in that account before what ever remains, if anything remains, is lost.

This surgery almost got scheduled for tomorrow but the doctor was able to get him in today.

Wow, did we luck out in that respect or what?!

Meanwhile, Eddie is currently under in surgery getting a metal plate and screws put into his wrist for support and stability going forward. The doctor is making a 4 inch long cut on his left wrist for the procedure. It's unfortunate that it has to be a long cut and in that particular place (once it heals, it's going to look like he tried to commit suicide and you didn't know the real story...)

The girls are at Grandma's this afternoon and I am sitting and waiting (and blogging and reading) with a pager attached to my waist for when the surgery is done.

We are lucky that I decided to not to work today on my last day and not have my mom take Eddie in for the appointment.  It also works out that I am unemployed for the time being, which let's me take Eddie into his upcoming follow-up appointments in the next days and weeks.

Funny how things work out in unusual ways, isn't it?

Thursday night, last night, was my Thank You party for my 7-years of working at ACME. The party was thrown at the Bent Brick in NW Portland, which has a private event space upstairs and is located just up the street from my old stomping grounds, Bridgeport Brewing Company.

I loved the artwork that was sketched on the board (I'm assuming Gaby did it!). Check out the cool Wonder Woman logo near the bottom?

Here I am below, helping you out. :D

You can also see just how HUGE that chalkboard is in their private event space. It's deceiving when there is not a person standing next to it for size perspective.

Gaby (who also took the pictures posted from this point down - Thank You!!!) brought me some beautiful flowers! Dan did, too. His was a gorgeous mostly white bouquet with peonies. I felt like Miss America with my arms full. Only thing missing was the sash and crown...

Isn't the picture they made for me cool? It was made up of words and phrases the people I work with came up with to describe me. What a keepsake!

David, below, in the untucked shirt, one of the three owners of (the now defunct) ACME, saying a few words of thanks on my behalf while I try to not get emotional and keep a stiff upper lip.

Gaby took a cool panoramic picture of the room with her cell phone camera. Click on the image to check it out!