Right Now

Sharing a weekend walk

This was, by in large, a quiet week. Everyone has been shaking off the last vestiges of our respective colds, and finally (finally!) starting to settle into a bit of a stable-feeling routine.  With nothing in particular to report, then, I have decided to devote this post to the right now. The ins and outs of our days, and the particular idiosyncrasies that seem so very normal now, but will one day no doubt be remembered with fondness (or, in some cases, relief that it was only a stage!) 

One of about a thousand such mirror shots.  We need to take one every time we go by.

Aside from Mondays (which is a mama-Linden day), our weekdays typically involve a morning packed with all the busy-ness involved in getting everyone out the door in a timely fashion: packing a lunch for Juniper and maybe Clark; breakfast-ing and getting dressed; and then making it to the bus stop for shortly after 8:30am to wave Juniper off for her day at Kindergarten.  Often in the meantime I have taken off for a bit of a jog or a walk, so Clark hustles Linden into the car, and drops him off at the child center, then meets me wherever I have ended up, and we head to our respective work days (Clark at his office; me at home working on my thesis). Sometimes, if I've made it all the way to the Village, we have a bit of a coffee date first (or water as the case may be), which is actually really lovely.

Tractors and dirt. Anything better?

Linden is back home at noon, for lunch and nap. If he hasn't woken up by 3:30, then I wake him, in order for us to get out to the bus stop for when Juniper arrives home.  Sometimes this is really fun - Linden is still sleepy enough to be happy to snuggle in my lap and have a snack and maybe read a book while we wait. During these times he will often say things like "can I hug you? You are my special mama", or "I love you sooooo much!"  

Other times (more often than I'd like), he does NOT respond well to the wake-up. And let me tell you, he is one kid who can turn on the belligerent crankiness like no one I've ever met. Depending on how out-of-sorts he is feeling, he can range anywhere from acting sullen and stormy, to full-on off-his-rocker tantrum. Rather than sweetly crooning sweet nothings, he screams such gems as "get away from me - don't look at me!" A never-ending roller coaster, this kid.

"Construction site"

As long as it isn't down-pouring, after Juniper has gotten off the bus and had a snack (she is ALWAYS starving after school), both kids enter the "construction site".  This is a corner of our "garden" (a very sad excuse for a garden this year), which is now completely cleared of vegetation, and is home to any number of shovels, buckets and trucks for ongoing "construction" projects. Needless to say, both kids get completely and ridiculously filthy, but they have way too much fun for me to deny them the pleasure.

Random close-up selfie for Erin, who complained I'm never in any pictures. This, of course, is due to the fact that I'm always the one behind the camera. Because of the fixed focal-length lens that was on the camera for this shot, however, this was as far away as I could get, and it appears as though I'm gnawing at the edge. Nom nom nom.

Then it is supper, followed by a bit of play, and finally shower/bath and general getting-ready-for-bed time. If Clark and I are both here, we divide and conquer, each taking a kid after the pjs are on and the teeth are brushed. The lucky one gets Juniper. It used to be that Linden was a dream to put to bed - a story, a quick snuggle, and then we'd leave him, awake but quiet and content, and he would put himself to bed. Those blissful days are long gone. He is now a wild man. If we stay in his room, there is a whole lot of "reminding" him to lie still and GO TO SLEEP.  If we don't stay in his room, or if we leave before he is sufficiently asleep, then we will hear the inevitable "thump-thump-thump", and go up to find his light on, with him sitting in bed, surrounded by books. Then the process begins anew.  Juniper, on the other hand, will get a chapter of her book (currently Trumpet of the Swan), followed by a few little bedtime rituals, and then she is out like a light. 

Sunset at the Knob

They both get a song or two as part of the pre-sleep snuggle period. The current shared favourites are as follows:

"Everything's Alright" (Jesus Christ Superstar Soundtrack)

"Suzanne" (Leonard Cohen)

"Hallelujah" (Leonard Cohen)

"Let it Be" (Beatles)

"Blackbird" (Beatles)

They also each have their own requests - for Juniper, it is usually "Twinkle, Twinkle Northern Lights", and for Linden it is this crazy song we made up where he gets to choose how to fill in the blanks as follows:

No _____ walking on the tightrope (repeat 3 times)

Or else the _________ will get you.

So, for example:

No butterflies walking on the tightrope (repeat 3 times)

Or else the spider will get you.  

That is how it started out, but lately Linden has been expanding his horizons and choosing things like "trucks" and "tow truck". 

Sticks are always an important part of a walk

Weekends vary widely depending on what is going on.  Saturday mornings, however, always involve Juniper's soccer practice, and it is my time to escape to the pottery studio for a few hours. I love Saturday mornings!

Ben and Liz in a crazy post-soccer game of some sort

I was also going to include some of the funny/interesting things that Juniper and Linden currently say and do, but that is honestly all I can manage for the time being, so perhaps I shall aim to continue this next week.  Here are a few more random pictures from the week.  See you next Monday!

Trekking to watch the sun set over the Knob

The view as we were retreating

Someone got the best view!

Birthday Week

Celebrating the big 3-5

I got reports that there were a *few* people who were slightly disgruntled at the lack of kid-related pictures and stories last week.  Apparently my mushrooms were not nearly exciting enough.  I therefore had the camera at the ready this week, and was determined to take enough shots to make up for it.  Luckily there was a lot going on - A WHOI picnic, Juniper's first soccer practice, the first day of fall, and birthdays galore, including my sister Andrea, and also Clark, who turned 35 yesterday! 

Legs crossed, contemplating the deeper aspects of life, the universe and everything.

We have also succumbed to the first sickness of the season - a good old fashioned sore throat-runny-nose-coughing-achy-exhausted cold/flu. Linden was the first to get it, and spent all day Friday moaning and groaning in true man-cold fashion.  "I SICK!" He would wail pathetically, wait a few seconds and then add "I STILL sick!"  This would be punctuated throughout the day with reminders such as "I have a cold!", and "I don't like coughing".  Just wait until he's a bit older, and can really ham it up!  

I poke fun, but I got the full brunt of it yesterday, and it really is not very pleasant.  Juniper seems to have it as well, and so far Clark has been spared, though the sneezes have begun, so it is only a matter of time.  

After a birthday breakfast at Persey's Place

Besides that Friday, however, the sickness hasn't slowed Linden down much, and Juniper was feeling it the most on Clark's birthday, and so therefore refused to miss any of the fun.  I would have loved to have holed myself away and spent yesterday sleeping, but of course that was not in the cards on such a special occasion, so I too plodded on.  Here's to hoping it disappears soon!

Anyway, wah wah wah. Onto the pictures!

1. WHOI picnic.  Here is what one can enjoy at the annual fall picnic at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution:

Lounging and eating pizza

Cupcakes and glow sticks

Playing pretend baseball, complete with pretend players, pretend ball....

... and pretend bat

Playing with loads of other kids (including ridiculously cute babies such as Owen here)

2. Soccer: We decided to sign Juniper up for a fall soccer "league" for 4-5 year-olds.  The first day was actually last week, but we had apparently signed her up a day past the cut-off, so she was told she had to wait until the second week to get a team and her "uniform" (a shirt and shin guards). I was not entirely sure this whole weekly Saturday morning commitment thing was a good move (considering Juniper is still struggling to adjust to the 5 long days a week of kindergarten), but she was so excited, I couldn't say no.  Honestly, I think she is just as smitten with the idea of being part of a team as she is about actually learning to play soccer. So far, they have been spending their hour learning different skills, and rotating around the field doing drills. She is officially a part of the "catfish", and wears a white shirt.  She LOVES it. Here are a few pics from her first day:

All ready to go!

Action shot! (in her shirt/dress.  This is what happens when you are the last to get assigned a shirt, I suppose!)

Post-practice.  Linden is looking super disgruntled, either because:  a) He still has a cold.  b) He didn't get to play soccer. c) Juniper has him in a choke-hold.  d) Some combination of all of the above.

3. Everything else: I don't mean to lump Clark's birthday in with "everything else", but I have scattered most of the pictures from the day in various other parts of the post, so lump it I shall.

Fastidiously making crafts at Annabel's 6th birthday party

"TA-DA!" (What Linden was up to while the girls were outside playing at the party)

Movie night.  The opening credits of Shrek. That was as far as we got. As you can see, Linden was slightly disturbed; Juniper was petrified.  Movie nights are not as straightforward around here as you'd think.

At the annual Falmouth "Touch-a-Truck" event. Linden's idea of heaven.

Blowing out the candles on a store-bought ice-cream cake.  I had big plans to make one, but those got squashed when the cold/flu took over. Also, the party-goers were limited to our little family of four.  Juniper had suggested that we invite a large group of kids, and just get the parents to drop them off, but somehow I managed to skirt around that particular suggestion.  Juniper carried out the cake all by herself, and managed to get it to the table in one piece.  It was looking dicey for awhile!

OK, I feel that is quite a lot of post to have accomplished for this sickie. See you next week!

Mushrooms

Pre-bed piggy-back

This past week has felt very... epic.  This was Juniper's first full week of kindergarten, and Linden's first full week of child centre (though he doesn't go every day like Juniper does).  My mom and Clark traded places halfway through the week, and though we are all more than a little exhausted, we have tried grasping at the first blurry edges of a fall routine.
We are not quite there yet, of course - that will take time.  But I have to say I consider it all to be a pretty big success - if even because we have so far (KNOCK ON WOOD) remained healthy!  I know that the fall grossness will hit us at some point, but for now, we have been able to enjoy this fabulous time of the year, while we settle into all the newness.

So what, you may ask, does this have to do with mushrooms?  Nothing, really, save the fact that in all the busy-ness of the week and the new routine, I took very few pictures.  So instead, I bring you a little gallery of photos I accumulated in the height of summer, all featuring mushrooms.  Most were from around close to where we live in the Cape, though there are also a few from New Brunswick. Some were taken with the good camera, others were taken with my phone while I was out and about.

I actually know very little about wild mushrooms, other than I find them fascinating, beautiful, and a little bit magical.  So I became obsessed with documenting all of the ones I found while they were at their peak.  I also know that this may be of little to no interest to anyone but myself, but hopefully someone gets at least a little enjoyment out of them!

See you next week!