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!