Yo-Yo Gomm

Random has been playing the cello now for 3 months. He has rehearsals every Tuesday and Thursday mornings at 7:20 which is quite early for all of us. He practices regularly and loves to whip out his cello for all the people who come to visit.

Last week we finally got to see him perform! As you can see from this picture he's the Principal Cellist of the Boeckman Creek Primary School Beginning Orchestra. WOOHOO!

The concert was combined with the Middle School and High school orchestras. The Middle School sounded a lot like the elementary school but without the muting power of parental pride. The High School was pretty impressive although Troy and I were confronted with our age when the boy we thought was some polite and helpful student when we saw him in the hallway turned out to be the director.

Random did really great and Troy and I gained a new appreciation for our parents who sat through years and years and years...and years of these fine performances. All I can say is, Mom, Dad, thank you and I'm sorry. :)

Sleeping Beauty

Those of you that know Scout know she never stops. Sleep only comes when she's used up all that energy that she normally focuses on talking, dancing, talking, skipping, talking, running...oh and did I mention...talking. Last night I went in to check on her after she had been quiet for long enough that the only explanation was that she was unconscious. Here's what I found:


When Random asked Scout why she put on the crown she said very matter-of-factly, "Because I was a Princess" and off she danced.

I thought I should explain that we do have pillow cases for TheScout but she prefers the feel of the pillow itself and takes them off whenever we try to put them on. Also, I have no idea what that pen is doing there but I'm thinking it has something to do with the writing on the pillow and yes, I'm going right now to confiscate it.

Halloween 2007

Now that it's December I think it's finally time to take the lid off of the closely guarded Gomm Halloween photos!

This was our first Halloween in Oregon and it was great! Last year (in Michigan) we had to all wear thick coats and drive around trick-or-treating in a nice warm car. The temperature here was GREAT and there were plenty of autumn leaves swirling around to make it very spooky.


Scout dressed as a fairy princess, Savannah was an über-goth vampire, and Random was Link. The fabulous Link costume was tailored by Grandma Bryan!

I wore my warmest shirt which doubled as my costume. In case you're curious I'm a Totoro from Tonari no Totoro - a great Japanese movie. (By the way, I highly recommend all films by Hayao Miyazaki).

At the first door, Scout came running back to Amanda with wide eyes saying, "Mommy! They gave us CANDY!!" The kids all had a lot of fun and scored about 13 tons of candy. By the end of the evening, Scout was so tired she couldn't hold her bucket anymore. All the sugar lasted them until mid-November.

Happy Halloween!