No more crutches (and other updates)

I got the OK last Friday to stop using my crutches!  Friday also coincided with Rob and my 10 year wedding anniversary party - I didn't take a single photo, but I think everyone had fun!  We bought a lot of food and others brought food so I didn't need to cook (something to keep in mind for all future parties!!)

I am still very slow and need to take it easy; bending down is a no no right now but at least I can make dinner freely with the use of two hands!  I got off very lucky with this injury.

This Saturday coming up Loic turns 6.  I can't quite believe I will have a 6 year old??  We are having a small party for him next Saturday - he has requested a nature/lego party.  I am going to get the kids some nets and we are going to go to the local creek to look for insects and fish.  Then, lego at our house followed by a cake.....he has requested a chocolate cake that "has dines in it and on it and when you dig in it you find dino bones" we shall see about that!!

He was at camp up Mount Seymour last week and had such a great time - I am pretty sure they hiked the kids for hours a day - he came home on the Wednesday and just crashed.  He went with his friend Ezra and they had such a nice week.  It was a good camp, full of all things nature so Loic was obviously thrilled :)

This week he is at a shorter camp closer to home with his good buddy Holden - this is the craft heavy camp so I am off the hook for crafting for a bit longer :)

Quick garden update:

- Raspberries: have been attacked by an invasive fruit fly.  I did get about half the crop but then had to cut back all of the berries and canes left :(

-Garlic: harvested and looking amazing!  Giant heads this year - super nice

-Kale: tasty, as long as I am super careful to clean off the caterpillars and aphids.....

-Green beans: will now be eating every meal at our house for a while now :)  I have 4 colours this year!

- Blueberries: as nice as last year, I even had enough to freeze some for smoothies

- tomatoes: all colours!  Starting to ripen now.  I grew a black type that is very firm and not ripe yet, interested to see how they taste

- cucumbers: just starting to ripen now!  I planted better varieties than last year

- Cantaloup:  I have two plants in that mom started, one baby cantaloup is growing and there are a lot of flowers.

-Trombonchini squash: looking good, in the back garden.  We shall see how they taste soon!

This is my last week 'off' work to finish my thesis.  I cannot believe it has been about 11 months since I have worked full time.  School was amazing and I think it will take quite some time to fully process these past 11 months.

Off to work on my project!  It has been interesting for sure - my contractor survey has so far been eye opening.

-E

General updates

My knee is feeling good, I am still not walking on it though and am using crutches to get around.  I am also not driving (the downfall of having a standard!).

I am also feeling lucky - I went to physio and the physiotherapist told me how lucky I am to have not broken other important structures in my knee.  I have a follow up Dr.'s appointment on the 17th and hope to be able to stop using my crutches then.  That would be amazing - Rob and I are celebrating our 10 year wedding anniversary on the 17th with a big party at our house.  I am looking forward to getting together with friends and family - and potentially not being on crutches!

Chihuahuas pre-injury, waiting to go for a walk.  I love their ears!

The kids are doing well.

Loic is at a camp this week at the Rec Centre - they are doing a lot of art projects, which is amazing, because I am not very good at crafting and Loic has very.....specific ideas about crafting.  The combination is not pretty :)  We do a lot of cool things in our family: we have lots of neat pets, we hike, we look for bugs, we have a lovely garden, we spend time with grandparents and friends, we do fun outings - but crafting is not on our list.  We can't be good at everything!!

Maelle is doing well too - she is at daycare as per the normal schedule.  She is, however, scared of crane flies which is actually entertaining - we have a few in the house most mornings.  Poor kid!  Loic has swim lessons on Thursday nights - he isn't a giant fan but are making him learn to swim for safety.  Maelle swims with Rob while Loic has his lesson, she loves the water and it is great that Rob takes her weekly.  

Ok, back to work on my thesis - needs to be done by the end of July/beginning of August!

-E

That time I broke by knee

Oh, yeah, that was 5 days ago.

A friend and I had a get in shape/try new things plan.  First soccer game: broken knee.

The actual diagnosis:
Lateral non displaced tibular plateau fracture.  Aka: messed up broken bone in a bad spot in my knee.

Which is not awesome.  Through a convoluted story, it took until day 4 for this diagnosis.  I am day 2 on crutches (not fun) and hope to be off them in 4 weeks.  Oh, and my house has a lot of stairs.  And my 3 year old is taking advantage of her non-mobile mother :)

I am lucky it wasn't a worse break.  I am lucky I could afford to pay for the MRI that diagnosed this (thanks again to Barb for paying for 1/3 of it for us!).  I am lucky to have Rob.  I am lucky Loic is such a sweet, helpful, lovely boy.  I am lucky Maelle can provide humour to this situation :)  I am lucky my folks are nearby to help.

I start a new job opportunity in a month - dear readers (all 5 of you?) please send healing thoughts to my left knee.  And maybe a small thought to make dear M slightly better behaved??  Never mind, just send good knee healing thoughts :)

Thank you.

- E

Kindergarten year is over!

Where did the last year go??  Between my school and Loic's first year of school it sure felt like a whirl wind.  

Loic graduated from Kindergarten last Friday.  He is such a nice boy.  He still wants to be a scientist - but has now decided to be a Palaeontologist and an Arachnologist - no more cave science for him I guess :)  And his current obsession involves all of the Lego Mixels he can get his hands on, including asking us daily (hourly?) who our favourite mixel character is.  Adorable if not annoying at times :)  

We have a combo of myself, my folks, camps and Yma watching Lolo for the summer.  He is sure excited about a few of the camps!  One week up Grouse with his buddy Holden and one week up Seymour with his buddy Ezra!  Maelle will stay with her normal schedule at daycare where she tends to rule the roost.

I have one month to finish my thesis project before I head back to work; wish me luck!

 Adorable!

Jody and I spent 5 days in LA in June!  We had such a fun time.  Note to self: take Ativan in the airport lounge prior to boarding flight, do not wait until actually on the plane (sorry Jody - the flight there was awesome but I did have a 5 min unhelpful freakout on the way home.....I tried to make do without meds but clearly that is not a good idea.  At all. )

And Maelle is still as funny and sassy as ever!!  She likes to tell Loic that 'sharing is caring!' while taking toys away from him.....we are working on sharing with this one.....

All three dogs are doing well - Taz needs some major dental work, poor guy (and poor bank account).  I am sure Toby will need some work done soon too - why, oh why do these small dogs have such terrible dental issues??

We are coming up on the 12 year anniversary of when we adopted Tyler - seems so crazy to me!  I never thought he would a) be kind of normal b) live this long c) seem like a normal dog sometimes :) but I am so happy he is still with us, barking issues and all.

Well, back to my project!

- E

Motivation

My mom has told me that I have a lot of energy, something that I don't often think about but I have to agree with her.  I am at the very end of this term - my final paper is due this Thursday - and I am now running out of steam.

I have been in full time classes (5 classes each term plus my major project throughout) since September.  It has been so very rewarding.  Now, with my final paper due soon, I am for the first time dragging my heels.  I can't decide if I am just tired of writing or if I am struggling because this is a hard topic for me.  Oh well, my first draft is almost done and I did well presenting the topic last week - so close to being done!  I am debating using this paper as a part of my RPBio submission in the fall; it is not an easy topic for me but it clearly shows my new found statistical analysis skills.  Something to ponder.  I am sure going to miss going to class!  Classes appeal to my logical, orderly side: I like learning, working on the information and presenting my findings in either paper or exam format.  While exams do tend to cause me anxiety, I have certainly gotten much better in that regard over the past 8 months.

We had a nice weekend at our house - Rob and I had a rare date night out Friday, we went for tapas and drinks.  Saturday Loic had Taekwondo and we visiting with friends.  Yesterday I worked on this paper for what I hope is the last weekend day of writing for a few weeks!  We also ended the day yesterday with a lovely hike up Lynn Headwaters with the two kids and three dogs.  It was really nice, Maelle can now walk for most of it and the kids together are so funny.  The dogs also had fun - Ty still loves to run and wallow in the mud.  Yesterday was Rob's sleep in day so I met up with a group of friends and their kids at White Spot for an early breakfast.  My kids did well, Maelle is getting past the age of having to wander her around restaurants - three cheers for that stage ending!

This is the best photo of my attempt at a group shot.  Tyler is the only dog who stays where I put him!  Taz ignores me and Toby always tries to wiggle towards me - very funny.

Here is Loic on some old logging equipment on the trail.

 Ok then, back to my paper......

-E

A list of sorts

Here are some random thoughts; I can no longer do any stats today so I shall write a list instead.

1. I do not aspire to be a hydrologist.  I just need to get through this project and come out with an okay (not amazing, plain old pass is perfect) grade on the other side.  Presentation in one week, paper due in two weeks.  My topic?  Can I see a change in creek discharge, precipitation or temperature in one creek in N.Van looking at 35 years of data and can I see what the effects of PDO and ENSO might be.  Yeah.  Interesting but not easy for me at all.


2. We have figured out a way to stop Ty from barking!  It is a formula that looks like this:

Barky dog (Ty) + Barky dog (Taz) = quiet

This formula makes no sense but seems to work!  We have a drop cam that we use to spy on Tyler, and if Taz is with him he is far less stressed and therefore quiet.  Toby is always home with Ty but it seems that because Toby hides under our duvet during the day, Tyler feels alone and gets upset.  This has been a source of stress for us because Ty has been bothering our tenant.  We really like our tenant and want her to be happy.  We have been taking him with us, sending him to my folks (thanks for that Mom and Dad!) and have been planning to make sure he isn't alone at certain times.  This is a big breakthrough.  I did put him back on clomicalm and think that has also helped.  Oh, and he is now totally addicted to peanut butter stuffed kongs....

3. The kids are so, so funny.  95% of the time I find them hilarious and entertaining and fun to be around.  I think that is a great percentage for parenting a 3 and almost 6 year old!!  Rob finds them equally entertaining.  They are just pretty darn neat little people.  They have their moments for sure (Maelle, ahem, has been known to bite.....) but on the whole are just great.

4. Grandparents & Rob have been instrumental during this year of grad school.  My parents take the kids on Wednesdays and Loic Friday afternoons (and the dogs too).  Rob has been awesome on weekends when I work on school stuff.  Barb (aka East Coast Grandma) came out and really helped out over spring break, which is now two whole weeks.  A big thank you to all.  I need to think of a proper end of class thank you.

5. Still loving my garden.  Loic and I spent an afternoon in the front garden this week and it was great!  I also spent an hour or so out there with Maelle.  It is nice that they are at such great ages.  Loic built his own little garden and Maelle moved wood chips around for an hour; during these times I could weed and plant and putter - amazing!  It doesn't get a ton of attention right now but it will all be ok.  A lot of what I have out there is low effort - blueberries and raspberries just need to ripen and be eaten, garlic isn't ready until August and other warm weather plants don't go in for a month.  Oh, I did put in peas and lettuce and radishes by seed though.  

6. While classes and the work load can be intense, this year has so far been pretty good.  I love the program and I *think* I have balanced it all well, aside from a low point at last fall's apple festival (sorry to Dad, Rob and Erin for that day and the tears that ensued) and a few rough days this term.  All in all I have positive feelings about my decision to do this program and about the program itself.  I do, however, reserve the right to continue to complain about statistics and the fact that I can't do them on my Mac!!!!  And that my math skills are not awesome.  At all. 

7. Thumbs up for trading!  I have traded a few hours of stats tutoring (thank god) for dog training. What a great trade.  I really like the woman who helps me with stats, and I like her daughter and dog. I have helped her daughter clicker train their nice dog and next week we move on to some rally and agility; the perfect trade.

8.  Now some pics from Maelle's third birthday and the garden.

I am concerned that we might need a pony in a few years :)

Love, love love my front garden!

- E  (and three cheers for blogging!)

Hello out there

Hello out there!

Grad school + 2 small kids + three dogs + two bunnies + a husband leaves little time to blog.

I shall do brief updates and will add some photos.  I haven't posted since last fall so won't get into any details - but Christmas was great, same with the fall term.  I have realized that making lunches for kids is not fun (when will they be old enough to do this themselves??) and I still love my little front veggie garden, now complete with a steel T.rex that I got for my birthday.  Such an awesome gift!!

Grad School: what an amazing experience.  I am in the thick of things class wise, but it is pretty darn awesome.  I take 5 classes per term, plus have work to do on my major project.  This term is done for me April 30th then I have four months to complete my major project.  I am going back to work on Wednesdays only starting in May and am looking forward to that.  While I have cried (mostly last term, at apple fest - sorry Rob, Erin and Dad for that!) I am loving the experience and am learning so much.

The kids: Loic & Maelle are both so funny and so smart.  They are a total riot 98% of the time and we sure enjoy them.  Loic is doing well in Kindergarten after a rough start, and Maelle still loves her daycare.  Maelle turned 3 yesterday and Loic will be 6 in July.  Loic still wants to be a scientist and she wants to be a Dr. and a mommy.  Loic is still a soft, sweet lovely little boy who asks a million questions a day about science.  Maelle is so so funny, she has her dollies she loves and the things she says!  She adores the colour pink, dresses, jewellery and anything fancy - where did this come from??

Tyler, Toby & Taz: Tyler is doing remarkably well.  He will be 13 or so this summer and has recovered so nicely from his back injury.  We hike off leash a lot and he is loving it.  He is also back on clomicalm because he is quite barky during the day at home but we are working on it.  We bough a drop cam and can spy on him while we are out - a maddening thing to do but helps us sort out what is working (and mostly what isn't).  We take him with us or plan to be home with him when our tenant is home.  Oh dog, 12 years of your barking now - I guess he is predictable??  The other two are doing well too.  We know now that Taz is prone to pancreatitis so he is on a low fat food.

Bunnies: Messy & cute.  While Rob doesn't see the point, he is a good sport about them.  He built them an amazing two story hutch in the kitchen and is a good sport about moving them around and helping me out with them when I am in class late.

We lost Pinchy (the scorpion) this week.  No one is really heartbroken, and I am glad that we gave him a good life.  Loic wants fish or another insect but we have agreed to wait until I am done school to discuss any other pets!!

Riding Jeff last week (we rode Jeff and Teepee for her birthday, need to upload the pics)

Pancake - Easter is a good season to own friendly rabbits :)

Loic is an excellent artist - this is him and his T. rex

I LOVE my front veggie garden!!!!!  Thanks to Rob & my Dad for dealing with the wood chip drama of 2014 :)

Sassy little thing 

Funny how quickly Taz fit in - he loves Tyler 

Rob won another Georgie!!

An animal lover through and through (kind of have to be at our house!)

Such an awesome family pet

She insists on wearing dresses and as many accessories as she can fit on her body.  She is almost potty trained!  Yipee!

Loic loves his bike and is such a good rider!

Terrible hunting dog :)  

Maelle sure looks up to him.  He is awfully patient with his little sister.  They get along so well - I hope it continues for many years to come.

 - E