a new home: phase one

Some at-home glazing

I am writing this a whole day later than usual, trying to prop my eyes open for just long enough to pound out a bit of an update. I owe this exhaustion not to the kids (well, not entirely to the kids - they always have at least something to do with exhaustion, if we're being honest), but rather to a very delayed flight that found me and Clark stumbling home at almost 2am. "A flight?", you ask?  It's true! Clark and I spent a ridiculous whirlwind of a weekend in Ottawa, looking at pretty much every viable rental house we could find in the Kanata area.  Our hope, of course, was to secure a place to live when we move next month.

Juniper reads to Grandma and Linden

But let's back up, shall we? How did Clark and I find ourselves in Ottawa sans kids, perusing Kanata townhouses?  It all began with an offer from Grandma and Grandpa (Clark's dad and stepmom), who heroically drove down to the Cape and took on the challenge that is Juniper and Linden.  Meanwhile, Clark was already in Ottawa, putting in a couple of days of work with RBR, so I showed Bill and Barb the ins and outs of how to manage things around here, then hopped a plane myself.  It felt like a kind of crazy idea at the time, and involved more planning and logistics and money than you might imagine. We packed almost 15 viewings into a day and a bit, and were, on top of being completely exhausted by the whole endeavour, a little disappointed with the offerings.  

I got to meet Ruth for the first time!! (and tried unsuccessfully to be included in the selfie) 

The very last house we saw, however, right before heading off to the airport, was pretty much exactly what we want. It met our criteria (bright, close to Clark's work, enough space, a place for people to stay when they visit, a good fenced backyard); Juniper's criteria (she gets a room to herself, and the stairs aren't creaky); and when I figure out Linden's criterion (a big hole), then perhaps we can accommodate him as well. We have not officially signed a lease yet, but we are almost there, and I am actually pretty excited with the prospect of setting up in this new home. It was also amazing to have the opportunity to hang out with some of our dearest friends, with whom we will very shortly be sharing a city! 

Meanwhile, Grandma and Grandpa handled the kids like the pros that they are.  They even took some photographic and video footage so that I could share a bit of their weekend here.  The highlight, it would seem, was a road trip that they took to Skaket beach, on Cape Cod Bay.  The draw to this particular location was the huge chunks of sea ice that had washed ashore - a pretty unique occurrence, by all accounts.  I must say I'm a little jealous! Here are some photos:

And finally, a little video of the creative sliding that took place in the driveway!  If you want more videos, please don't forget to check out JuniperAndLinden.org.  Linden has some pretty sage pieces of wisdom for you all. 

The last full month

Sitting on top of the couch (not allowed); Juniper reading Magic Puppy to Linden (too cute to shut down)

 A full week of March has now passed us by, which is relatively unbelievable.  This is, you see, the last full month that we will be living in this beautiful little corner of the world we've called home for the last two and a half years. Everything is moving forward, and it seems to be happening incredibly fast.  With that in mind, I'll pause here and paint a little picture of life as it is right at this very moment.

Linden is much more serious than you'd think when it comes to trying Juniper's violin

Linden:

Linden has been coming up with some hilarious expressions and words, as you might expect a feisty 3-year old to do.  Some of them, however, have such a nice ring to them that we have stopped trying to correct him, and sometimes find ourselves using them.  In particular, he has found an excellent way to mark time.  It used to be that everything that happened in the past was "yesterday", and anything in the future was "tomorrow".  He has swapped these terms with the highly adaptable phrase "a few whiles".  For instance:

"Linden - where did you get this bruise?"
"I fell".
"When did that happen?"
"Oh, a few whiles ago".

or:

"I'm going on the train to Boston"
"No - we're going to the grocery store"
"I know.  I'm going to go on the train in a few whiles".

Another turn of phrase that has persisted for many, many months now is Linden's habit of  replacing to "laugh" with with "to be funny".  This is often said indignantly: "stop being funny at me!", or "Juniper was being funny at me, and it made me sad!", but can also be used as a request: "I'm going to tell a joke, and then you need to be funny at me, OK?"

Bright yellow lemons in a hand-made wave bowl

As anyone who interacts with Linden can attest, he is a real charmer.  This is, I have come to realise, a particularly important personality trait for a child who also has an unparalleled knack for inciting frustration.  Sometimes, he'll come up to me, touch my face, and say "I like you, mama".
"I LOVE you", I'll respond, and Linden will reply, "I love you too, but I also really like you. You're my special mama, and you make me happy".  Who can resist that without your heart melting?

He is also unusually generous with compliments, often letting you know that he is fond of your outfit.  "I like your dress - you look very fancy", he'll proclaim.  Or "those are great shoes.  They are a very nice colour brown".   Last night, he looked up at me at the table, and said "thank you for making dinner, mama.  The basagna is delicious".  This morning, he climbed into bed for a snuggle, and remarked, "I like your nose.  It is a beautiful nose".

So very devilish, and yet so very charming.  And ridiculously cute. This will undoubtedly spell disaster in about 10 years time.

Kea and Juniper skip through the group at folk dancing

Juniper:

Juniper has been singularly obsessed with her upcoming 6th birthday.  And by "upcoming" I mean a good half a year away.  She has big plans.  HUGE plans.  She talks about them daily, and they change at an alarmingly fast rate.  She has been through any number of themes, including ones you might expect (a princess party; a costume party), and others that clearly came from some deeper, more creative space (a "rainbow" party, where everyone comes dressed as a colour of the rainbow; or a "bug" party - I'm fuzzy on the details of this one).

Currently, she has decided on a "shop" party.  The idea came from the shop party that WHOI throws every year, so called because it is held in a gigantic machine shop (I blogged about it last December).  Juniper first wanted to find such a machine shop in Ottawa, and hold her birthday there.  She quickly amended these plans, however, when she realized that her new friend Ruth (who she has, incidentally, not yet met), would only be about 9 months old at that point, and that it might not be safe for her. So now, "shop party" has morphed into an event to be held at our (as yet theoretical) new house.  It will involve Clark building a play house in the back yard, and Juniper setting up a store, with food and other items for sale.  Guests at the party will be invited to buy items from this shop, each of which will range in price from 0.01$ to 0.09$ (Canadian). If Linden plays his cards right, it looks like he might be invited to work the cash register with Juniper.  I'll be very interested to see how this epic shindig actually shapes up in the end!

And with that, I will sign off for now.  There is one video to check out on this week's Juniper and Linden newscast - you can find it here.

Emerging from the gloom

Someone FINALLY got to touch the fiddle and take it home with her

Well, folks, I basically do not have any photo documentation from the week.  No one likes to read about sickness ad nauseum, so I'll spare you all the gritty details.  Suffice it to say that my flu turned into a sinus infection, Clark and Linden's into a cold, and Juniper's into a brief but uncomfortable ear infection.  So. We were clearly all a bunch of happy adventurous people this week.  I'm still only barely dragging myself through the day.

But I did want to post at least that one photo of Juniper and her fiddle, as she is so very excited to actually have it at home with her.  She is taking after school fiddle lessons, but the weather somehow managed to cancel them for 4 straight weeks in a row.  So this week was the first time she was able to get her fiddle.  It is adorable.

Oh!  And here is a photo from the S.T.E.A.M (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math) event at Juniper's school, which was actually quite fun.

Juniper shows off her paper plate car, which Clark helped build.  It actually moved across the floor! 

I also have a couple of videos to share on JuniperAndLinden.org: some live fiddling, and a piece on maps.  Take a look at them here.

Hopefully I'll have more to share next week!

It was the best of times...

Group shot before Theresa and Scott head home...

... and one more with "normal" faces.

... it was the sickest of times. I may have mentioned last week that Juniper seemed a bit under the weather.  That was, as it turns out, a pre-cursor to flumageddon, 2015. By the time Theresa and Scott left us on Friday morning, it had been all the way through this little family, leaving us all relatively incapacitated at one point or another.  It was one of those all-inclusive dealies: respiratory distress, vomiting, full-on body aches, chills and sweats, multiple-day headaches, exhaustion. The FLU.  I got it the worst, by all accounts - the whole week is kind of a blur.  If you want a more "technical" explanation of events, you can check out this week's JuniperAndLinden.org.  You can find it here.

Juniper tries to eat some soup while sitting at the radiator - the only way she felt warm.

It was an indescribable blessing that Theresa and Scott were here - they were able to pick up all the slack that we could not manage, and treat the people who were not ill to some fun and adventure while the others convalesced. It also, of course, sucked, not to be able to actually take advantage of the rare opportunity to just hang out and have fun.  Sadly, this flu also seemed to follow them home - last we heard, Scott was in the grips of it.  Here's to hoping Theresa remains unscathed!! 

A daddy-Linen snow morning

 I do have a few photos to share from the weekend - Linden and I are both a little draggy still, but that did not deter Linden, at least.  There were some outdoor adventures on Saturday morning (while I was at pottery), including the exploration of a massively snowy playground, and the wonders of some sea ice on Buzzard's Bay.

Check out that sea ice!

It goes on as far as the eye can "sea"

Trying to find a buried tire swing (which indicates the depth of the packed snow!)

Sliding, taken to a whole new level!

  See you next week - here's to hoping it is a very healthy one!

Look what the storm blew in!

Some very relaxing blizzard reading

The blizzards have been continuing to rage over here on the Cape, piling snow drifts on top of snow drifts, and whipping the wind around so strongly that there are times I have almost felt like I was back in Newfoundland.  There are many here who are beginning to grumble about this state of affairs (so cold! so much snow! so many school closures!) - and I have to admit, despite having no qualms about the actual snow, the constant school cancellations were starting to get to me as well.  

A raucous game of go fish

This week, however, is very different.  Not only is there no school to cancel (we are currently at the beginning of the week long "February Break"), but this blizzard brought with it some very special guests.  For the first time since we moved here, we got a visit from the much ballyhooed Theresa and Scott (Theresa is Clark's youngest sister). 

Full-on snow play

To say that the storm blew them in is actually not far from the mark - their original plan was to make their way to the Cape tomorrow (ie, Tuesday), but they decided to come a few days early to try and beat the storm in.  Consequently, they arrived around lunchtime on Saturday, and have been whooping it up ever since. In fact, both Juniper and Linden were playing outside when Theresa and Scott rolled in, and Theresa didn't even bother to come inside - she just pulled her full-body snow gear out of the trunk, and joined the fun.  You can see why these two are such special visitors!

Linden has had a full-time train and block companion, which is his idea of heaven

 Despite all the fun and excitement, we are all actually recovering a bit around here - Clark and I decided that we would try staging a trial "sleep-over" for a couple of nights, wherein Juniper and Linden would share a room.  The lofty goal of this exercise was to to see if maybe (maybe!) our two bedrooms could be a Linden/Juniper and Tara/Clark split, vs a Linden/Clark, Juniper/Tara split.  It seems reasonable, right? The kids share a room, and the parents share a room.  Our trial, however, reminded us of why we had fallen into our strange arrangement in the first place - to maximize sleep.  The sleepover resulted in two very bad night's sleep for everybody, which meant a bunch of general crankiness and some actual sickness (Juniper, of course, ended the day yesterday by vomiting). FAIL.  We will must assuredly find a 3-bedroom place to rent when we move, which will hopefully make everything better.

Group yoga, obviously

 Anyway,  Theresa and Scott just left this morning for a little Boston get-away (assuming that the city is even up and running today), but will be back tomorrow for the rest of the week.  That gives us some time to just quiet down a bit and maybe recover from the failed experiment, and rest up for what is sure to be a crazy awesome rest of the week when our visitors return.  Likely this "resting" will involving a sledding adventure today, however, because - really - how can you resist some post-blizzard play?  I hope everyone else who got walloped by this storm (I hear it was twice as bad up north!) gets to have a bit of post-blizzard fun today as well!

Also, if you are so inclined, visit juniper and linden's newsite for a fitness-themed broadcast this week!  Follow the link here.

See you next week!

The Enigma that is February

Snow buddies

I honestly do not have much of note to report from this past week, except for the fact that on Wednesday, things finally started to settle back into a bit of normalcy.  The kids enjoyed three full uninterrupted, uncanceled days at school, and I started to emerge from the never-ending-snow-day haze that had settled over our little house.

Linden proudly displaying his creation:  a train, en route to Boston

The weekend, though - man, did we pack it in.  There were outdoor adventures, a breakfast with Ben and Liz, some impromptu family time at the pottery studio, playdates, family folk dancing, a girl's dinner-and-a-movie night out for me (whee!), and to top it all off, we had Nick and Becca (and, as it turned out, Juniper's friend Kea) over for dinner on Sunday night.  Can you imagine the energy levels that evening? Off the charts.  I thought Linden might well explode.  But I do believe good fun was had by all, and that everyone is now raring to begin the one full week we have left before the week-long "February Break" .  No,  I'm not kidding.  So much for actually getting anything done in February.  Anyway, I'll leave you with some random pics and a little video from the week.

There has been a whole lot of popcorn these days

Exploring the cool branch sculpture at Highfield Hall

The picture of studiousness

I now have proof that, at least for this small moment in time, I am considered Juniper's BFF

Ben and Linden, drawing trains (and animals on trains) at breakfast

Becca made it on the blog!! With Kea and Nick (and Juniper and Linden, of course)

Finally, here is a little random video from the week.  If you want a few new newscasts, don't forget to visit JuniperAndLinden.org!

Oh, THERE'S the snow

The first hints of snow

It seems as though winter is finally here, and Mother Nature clearly decided to make up for lost time.  I'm sure there are many, many east coasters who can relate.  In our neck of the woods, this particular storm threw the town into a tither.  The snow started flying on Monday afternoon, which meant all after-school activities where cancelled.  Then, of course, everything shut down on Tuesday, including WHOI.  Wednesday, school was still cancelled, which was understandable - though it was a gorgeous day, there was still mountains of snow to be cleared.  

What is this fluffy white stuff?

But then Thursday, and FRIDAY, the town still hadn't gotten its act together.  Everything was open, except school. Juniper actually got really upset on Friday when she realised that the next day was the beginning of the weekend, which meant that she wouldn't get to go to school AGAIN.   And here we are, on Monday, with another storm.  This will be the fifth day in a row that school has been cancelled. I may never get back to writing my thesis again, ever.  And the kids may never get back to school. Anyway, it is not as bad as all that -- for instance, we miraculously never really lost power through the whole ordeal. And there was, of course, a crazy amount of snow week fun to be had, which I documented as faithfully as I could.

Linden helped a whole lot with snow removal

Juniper did her part, mostly trying to eat her way through the drifts

Making "snow bread" and "snow cakes"

Check out the blizzard raging in the background - we were undeterred!

The digging out of our HUGE quinzhee begins

Close-up excavator

Check out how roomy it is! Keep in mind that Clark was way at the back, taking that photo.

Kunio braves the blizzard to come hang out

The next day: Sledding at WHOI! (We tried to go to the golf course, but were stopped by diggers trying to plow through 6-foot drifts on the road to get there)

The picturesque setting where we decided to forge our sliding slope

Forging forward! (Some very determined sledders)

Nick joins us for a few runs down the hill, creating "team yellow".  Maybe one day Becca will make it on the blog.

Clark steers, and Juniper covers her eyes

In between our outside romps, there was a whole lot of popcorn and hot chocolate.  There were also some quiet snow day activities, including:

Diligently "helping" with the dishes

Group reading.  Safety first, of course.

If you follow "juniperandlinden.org", this week you're in for a treat:  it's all about snow, and it's all done by Linden!  Check it out HERE

And finally, I'll leave you with a snow days compilation video.  Stay safe and warm out there!