The perks of being sick?

One VERY happy missing-toothed lady

Let's start this morning off with the MOST important news item of the week: Juniper finally, FINALLY lost her first tooth.  Finally.  This was obviously a very long time coming (she turned 7 in July, remember), and it was a rite of passage that she was very conscious of having not yet achieved.  But one wiggly tooth + one very determined little tooth wiggler = one lost tooth. The tooth fairy, conscious of how long Juniper had been waiting for this event, left her a 5$ bill, and a little kit to plant her own forget-me-nots (so as to not forget to brush and floss her teeth, of course). She spent the next few days telling everyone she saw (including people she had only just met for the first time, such as Clark's boss's boss), her big news, and proudly showing of her gap-toothed smile.  

Waiting for piano lessons to begin

The other exciting news, of course, is that it is Hallowe'en!  Happy Hallowe'en!! Seeing as the actual event is taking place tonight, I do not yet have official costume or pumpkin pictures - only a taste of preparation and lead-up:

Preparing the pumpkins for carving (and extraction of roasting seeds)

Festive decorations

And finally, we come around to the title of the post: the perks of being sick (?). So, if you'll recall, last week I spoke of Linden's strange, seemingly non-contagious puke-fest .  Turns out it was not as non-contagious as we had thought.  I picked Juniper up from school on Tuesday morning, after she had vomited all over herself, and her book bag. Poor thing.  However, this particular bug ran its course over the span of the day (just like Linden), leaving both children to have a good sleep, and be perky and raring to go the next day (a necessary day at home, just in case).  So it was as though they both had this lovely, bonus day off to do with as they pleased.  And as the sickness was staggered, they each had their OWN day off.  For Linden, this involved a lot of outdoor fun, and helping with projects:

"sick"-day digging

Power-sanding Clark's old dresser in preparation for a Linden-inspired make-over

Priming said dresser

Juniper, of course, made a list:

We accomplished a fair number of items!

 And for me?  Well, I got to spend my week hanging out with the kids.  During the sick portions, I got to work on my fear of vomit (I'm getting better, I think!), and during the non-sick sick-day portions, I got to have some quality one-on-one time, which doesn't happen very often.  Thursday was the only day they were actually both at school (Friday was a PD day), and I mostly just spent the day trying to pick up the pieces of a crazy week.  Ditto for today, wherein I am fighting off a chest cold, whilst preparing for the "big" night.  I think there will be some last-minute costume fixes and candy-buying ahead of me... we are now in a neighbourhood where we will actually most likely have a large number of spooky visitors.

Official Hallowe'en pictures coming your way next week - stay tuned!

A strange and contradictory week

Park hilarity

As I sat down to write this post, I realized that this past week was, in many respects, a study in juxtaposition.  It was lonely and solitary (with Clark gone doing fieldwork for the week), then suddenly BURSTING with people once the weekend hit. It was stunning, calm, gorgeous, sunny weather, followed by crazy torrential rain and wind.  It was momentous (as I officially graduated from my PhD program on Thursday), and completely mundane, as I spent that day by myself, doing chores at home.  It contained both huge amounts of play and partying, and strange, intermittent bouts of sickness (on the part of Linden).  It was a relatively bizarre week.  But also pretty awesome, in the end. Here are a few pictures from the goings on:

1. The yard.  Seeing as the weather was so delightful, and that we are starting to close in on the end of October, I jumped at the chance to spend much of the week finally tending to our brand new yard -- both getting to know it, and figuring out how best to prepare it for the winter.  This mostly involved pulling out copious amounts of raspberry canes (and the resulting roots) from the garden plot (a multi day, aching-body process, let me assure you), and raking/cleaning up the grass.  Of course, when the kids got home from school, they were both quick to jump in and "help":

A serious raker (complete with gloves)

and another!

2. Guests: As I mentioned earlier, the fall convocation at MUN happened last Thursday, and as it turns out, I was included in the the group of Folklore PhDs receiving their degree that day.  This had not been a given - due to the timeline of my defence date, and the very close cut-off for needing to have everything in, I was not sure whether I would indeed be graduating this fall, or have to wait until spring.  Seeing as nobody from MUN whispered a word to me, I assumed it would be spring.  Then, after some sleuthing, I found out that - surprise! - I was going to be graduating after all. My parents had really wanted to go to this graduation.  They had even offered to pay my way.  But since I wasn't even sure I WAS graduating until a few days before the event was to take place, I just decided against it.

So instead, my parents came down to visit. Then Theresa also decided to come visit.  Then Linden started puking.  Then he was fine.  Then Clark threw a big surprise brunch in celebration of my graduation.  Then Linden puked again.  Then he was fine.  It was all very strange.  And fun, and frenetic, and calm.  And for the record, Linden is home today, seemingly fit as a fiddle, gleefully putting together a lego fire truck as I type.  Bacterial infection? Food allergy?  Who knows. At least it seemed completely non-contagious, and didn't actually keep Linden from enjoying all the festivities, so all's well that ends well (I hope).

There were a lot of cards and board games played.  Here, mom teaches Juniper the nuances of backgammon. 

We apparently promised Linden that when he turned 5, we'd let him cut his own bread.  He did not forget this promise.  All fingers are still intact.

Juniper, Eva and Sylvie, quick to get the dolls out.  In this shot, they are caring for their babies en route to Hawaii. Pretty luxurious plane trip, if you ask me. 

The celebratory gang!

 And now I must go help put together that fire truck.  See you next week!

needing a weekend for the weekend

Officially 5!

As I went to peruse picture choices for this week's post, I realized I had one.  One solitary photo.  This seemed unfathomable to me, as the weekend was so completely jam-packed - full of events and activities and non-stop motion.  It started off with Linden's official 5th birthday on Friday, for which we produced a meal of choice (Paprika chicken), a cake (specifically, a "tree cake that is both white and chocolate, but not together, and white icing, and maybe chocolate icing"), and, of course, some presents.  It was just the four of us, but after last weekend's Fredericton birthday blow-out, the four of us was plenty.

We then moved on to Saturday, wherein we had a school BBQ, followed by not one, but TWO consecutive birthday parties to attend. On Sunday we finally got to see Martha and family at a lovely lunch at their house, then dropped Clark off for a week of fieldwork in Cape Breton.  That night, as I hustled two very tired kids off to bed, Juniper looked at me and said "I feel like we just had four weekends. I need a break!" And that, folks, is what you get when you party too hard. I think if both kids manage to drag themselves through school today, we'll have some good old fashioned down-time this afternoon, followed by early bedtimes. 

See you next week - hopefully with a few more photos!

full circle

One happy little guy on the day of his long-awaited Fredericton Birthday Party!

Happy day-after-(Canadian)-Thanksgiving! I am writing this a whole day later than usual, but it is for a very good reason - we only just got back home yesterday evening.  You see, we are finally (finally!) living close enough to Fredericton that we can just pop home for a long weekend with relative ease.  This is particularly significant for Thanksgiving weekend, as it always falls within the range of Linden's birthday.  So for the first time ever, we were able to give Linden what Juniper gets practically every year: a Fredericton family birthday party.  And what a party it was! Clearly, we have a big family, who appreciates a good old-fashioned celebration. Here's a highlights reel:

Linden had been in consultations with my mom about the cake for weeks.  Here is the decorating committee.

The finished product.  Clearly, it is some awesome dinos hanging out in the forest. Linden was clearly pleased with the result.

Balloons are integral to any good celebration.  Especially when you have mastered the art of both blowing AND tying the balloon by yourself. 

Sigh.  This is currently the reality of asking Linden to smile for a picture.  At least Brad looks handsome.

David and Jess showed up! This, of course, brought up reminiscences of how both Liz and Clark used to babysit David when he was just a baby.  Such a strange coincidence! 

Some rope shenanigans

Linden and the Eddy boys, right before they jumped on a plane for the Jays game in Toronto.  Looks like they were good luck!

Look at those good looking ladies!

The most awe-inspiring present: a handmade wooden sword from Matt and family.  This is the first play weapon to enter our house, but I think with some ground rules and discussions, it will be a very well-loved item.

The next day, we got to visit Jane and Mike in their new house, which included holding darling baby Lily...

... and getting kisses from Poppy!

We also had Thanksgiving dinner, hosted by Deborah and Yvon.  Here, Bob and Linden look over some drawings Linden had made earlier in the day.

After supper:  all four Richards siblings...

... and two sets of grandparents!

And now, let me back-track a bit.  So, anyone who read the blog last week (or saw Clark's Facebook post), already knows that I recently came back from a trip to St. John's, Newfoundland. Though it is incredibly rare that I take off for a little solo trip, this one had an important purpose: I was FINALLY defending my PhD Thesis.  This was one long, long, long endeavour, drawn out by things like - oh - having a couple of babies, and moving a ridiculous amount of times.  But, shy of actually getting my diploma in hand, I am now DONE. The defence itself was not nearly as nerve-wracking as it could have been - there were not very many people there (my supervisor and two of my examiners, for instance, had to Skype in), and it was over in less than 3 hours. It was, in fact, pretty awesome to just spend a designated chunk of time talking about my work with some people who had read my dissertation cover-to-cover: a rare opportunity indeed!

Post defence, with Holly (who was on my committee), and Jillian (one of my examiners)

On Clark's very wise and generous suggestion, I specifically booked my plane ticket to spend a couple of solid days enjoying St. John's post-defence, as a little celebratory treat. Therefore, not only did I complete my large and scary task, I also had a marvelous, relaxing weekend.  This was in part, of course, due to the fact that I was back in a city that I had grown to love in my short time living there. St. John's is a pretty special part of the world, and I have nothing but incredibly fond memories of my almost-3 years there.  But I left a little over a decade ago (?!?), and have never been able to go back and truly visit.  This was, then, a pretty awesome opportunity.

Nothing compares to the Newfoundland coastline

Even better, however, was the fact that my aunt Janie is currently living in St. John's.  This meant that I had a homey place to stay, and partner-in-crime for all the adventures I wanted to get up to.  Truly, I couldn't have asked for a better hostess.  Do you know some of the things Janie most enjoys doing? Spending time at the pottery studio, playing music, and taking nice, long hikes. I honestly couldn't have asked for three better ways to spend the weekend.  And though my time in St. John's was bookended by foggy, cold, rainy weather, the three main days that I was there were perhaps the most glorious I had ever seen.  Sunny, crisp, fresh, GORGEOUS days.  I even took myself on a hike up and down Signal Hill on the morning of my defence!  I can't imagine a better way to clear your head and fill your soul with joy and goodness before a big event.  And guess what Janie and I did in the evening after my defence was done?  We went to the big arena in town, and watched... Jerry Seinfeld.  I kid you not.  He just happened to be giving a show that night in St. John's, and Janie got us tickets.  How cool is that? 

A bird's-eye-view of the city from atop Signal Hill

Anyway, other than my return flight being delayed by over FIVE hours, I had a pretty magical time. The circumstances are all different now than when I had previously lived in St. John's, of course, but at its core, the goodness of the city remains the same.  I have included a very large (but severely culled, I assure you) collection of photos from the weekend: they may not be as fascinating to you as they were to me, but I couldn't resist snapping shots of all the beauty:

The view from Janie's deck, on my very foggy, rainy first day there.

The morning of my defence: look at the sun sparkling on the ocean!

Cabot Tower, after climbing to the very top of Signal Hill

The armoury, as seen from the top of the hill.  Oh, how I've missed that particular hike!

Coming back down the hill. 

An old, familiar sign - and just steps away from Janie's house!

Janie's favourite point - and one I had never been to.  It was glorious.

That coastline!

Cool mushrooms in the forest. I couldn't resist.

Another fungus!

The view from a hike around Long Lake.  Not a bad way to get to the grocery store!

At the beginning of a Flat Rock hiking adventure

The waterfalls in all their glory

The beautiful and ghostly "tree bones", as I call them

The stratification is pretty impressive, even for a non-geologist

Janie, resting before climbing yet another very steep set of stairs 

The blueberries were still out!  We picked for awhile atop Red Head.

And finally, I'll leave you with a few random shots that have no particular place in the narrative of the last couple of weeks, but still warrant inclusion:

On a particularly still, sunny day in Shubie Park 

Shaggy Manes in my parents' yard

The view from one of my favourite places to walk in Fredericton 

Fairy gathering spot?

Alright.  I do believe that is enough by way of photos for one week.  It has been a very full... oh, last couple of months, to be sure.  But as the title of this post suggests, I really feels as though our lives have come full circle in that time.  I started my graduate life in St. John's over a decade ago, and was just able to return and finish it.  We began our family, and Clark's serious oceanographic career path in Nova Scotia, and are only just now able to come back and finally settle into what we started so long ago. It feels good to finish what you start, and to be granted to opportunity and ability to begin anew.  But perhaps I'll just take a wee little break first!