Right Where I am Supposed to Be

I started the post last week when I was having a moment of complete gratitude. Then then the weekend hit and my feeling got unhinged. Monday was, well, exactly as one would expect Monday to go. The complete opposite of the feeling the picture below creates.

 

Summer, you  let old man winter push you around again and only graced us with your glorious presence for a short time. We made the most it. Fantastic smiles from time spent with friends and cousins in the beautiful sunshine accompanied by too many hamburgers, hot dogs and s'mores.  Perfect.

 

The summer included birthdays, Jack is now a teenager though still not overly acting like one (*sign of the cross*) and Kamden is 10.  Time flies.

Kamden is trying his hand at tackle football this fall. He was pretty anxious, as was mom, but it's going really well.  

This picture cracks me up. His face. White pants to practice on a grassy, muddy field...so funny. Oh wait, no, that's a reminder to buy stock in a laundry stain removal company.

 

This boy of mine is a conundrum. So happy and easy going by day, by night, anxious and full of fear. That is the cause of my Monday blahs, this.

 

It's hard to watch him struggle.  In this, we are in new territory.  My arsenal of possible tools is quickly running dry.  We are in the process of seeking help but in what is typical of my style, I think, just one more day and we'll be through the worst.

It involves many peaks and valleys. All I want is my happy go lucky boy back.

Yesterday, if at all possible.

 

I am so very grateful that I am not doing this alone.  Also, what I wouldn't give to be back on that beach in Jamaica right at this moment. Oops, sorry, not being overly grateful, really, am I?

September has arrived with crisp mornings and falling leaves just in time for school. The boys were less than impressed with the arrival of the first day of school but have settled in nicely.

Grade 8 for this young man and grade 5 for his brother. As has become typical in the last couple of years, the first day of school photos have more outtakes than goodtakes but I kind of love it like that.

These two can make me laugh like no one else.

 

 

   

 

And that's what I will hold onto as we weather this minor storm because I am right where I am supposed to be.

Kamden Is Nine

Two days ago, this little blondie turned nine.

(better late than never, right?)

How he went so quickly from that little boy to the cheese ball below, I don't know. That smirk above?  Cute.  And now?

Well let's just say you could never accuse him of not having a personality.

He is funny and smart and full of energy.

Exhibit A:

An end of school drawing brought home on the last day of school noted that "Summer Rocks".  Then he put "Ow, my feet." 

You know, because of the rocks.

Yuk, yuk yuk.  Or hardy har har.

(I didn't get it at first, I must admit)

Smart, Exhibit B, his grade 3 report card. 

And Exhibit C, full of energy.

This kid would play sports all day long every single day.  Not only does he love it but one of his football coaches noted that he was so fun to coach because he takes direction well.  As a parent, that makes me super proud. 

I just wish he would listen to my direction a little better sometimes but we can't have everything now, can we?

(the next paragraph is for the annual photo book - feel free to skip and ignore my blatant bragging!)

He scored multiple touch downs in the flag football season that just ended (parenting fail as there are no photos or video) and as a defender in soccer managed to score a goal in the tournament they played in.  It was a gorgeous goal - he raised to the top right corner.  His coach took off his hat and bowed. Kamden, cool as the cucumber he is acted like he did this on a daily basis. This only served to crack us up.  After we finished screaming with glee.  (We cheer loudly whenever his team scores but because he plays defence 99% of the time, we may have cheered extra loud this time).

Happy Birthday to the kid who never fails to make me smile and make me proud as a Mom!

The one where Kamden threw snow at me....

Yes, another post on skiing. It's exciting for this family, what can I say. We have been slowly accumulating our own equipment on sale. A sporting store was closing out and we scored all of the below at 70% off. A steal of a deal.

Jay and I still need skis and a local ski shop was going to be at a hill in MB with their demo skis this past weekend so we took a trip.

 

It's a three hour drive so we drove up the night before and stayed in the adorably adorned hotel that screams Prairie alpine village.  What?  I'll let you figure that out.

 

We swam and slided and then had treats before bed.  It was a fun night.

 

 

In the morning we headed to the hill.  A hill with more than three runs we could do! We were excited.

 

We did a few runs and then headed to grab some skis to demo.  We strapped them on and headed to the chair.

 

That's where things went a bit awry.  It's a quad chair so all four of us were able to ride together.  This was not the first kick at the can as we had done a few runs already but something didn't go as planned and just after our skis left the ground I realized Kamden was not sitting on the chair but rather being pushed by it.  I grabbed his coat with one hand and decided there was no way I could pull him up.

 

 

 

Rather than hanging on to him longer and potentially meaning he would fall further, I let  go.  Don't ask why I didn't try to, you know, use two hands. I can't even remember my thought process beyond this.

 

The lift operators took him into the little hut and let us know they would keep him there till we returned.  So we rode up and skied our butts down as fast as we could. I am sure it was an eternity for him.

 

I knew he would be upset.  I had a similar incident as a kid only my dad fell off too. On top of me.  Apparently I was less that pleased by this and naturally blamed it all on my dad.

 

I expected no less from Kamden.

 

 

First he hugged me and cried.  Then he fell onto the snow and ....

 

Threw snow at me.

Yes, he threw snow at me.  I think he beat my reaction..  Pretty sure I just yelled or gave the look 'o death. 

I can't stop laughing about it.  I totally get why he was so upset.  And I couldn't be prouder that he got back on that lift and skied the rest of the day with a smile on his face.

Of course I was holding onto him with a vice grip the next eight times we loaded onto the chair, just in case.

And then, just because that wasn't enough fun, I accidentally took Jack on a black diamond run.  In my defense, it was not that difficult and in my opinion more of a blue run.  Jack hated it.  It was like he knew it wasn't the blue run I thought it was.  Later we figured out we turned left one run too soon.  Oops.  I guess he can cross that off his bucket list, you know, the one he wouldn't make in a million years because he's not the adventurous type.

Amazing family memories that have to be documented for future laughs.

What We've Been Up To

Tap, tap, tap...blows off dust. So, a month has gone by again. Remember when I used to blog every day? Yeah me too. *shudders involuntarily*

We've been busy here at the Lahti house.

My camera has been in overdrive with some fall photo shoots.  I even forced my own two men to pose.

 

Mostly they were happy to.  You will see what I mean later.

 

 

Jack is having a good year in grade 6.  He's also continuing in piano and enjoying private lessons much more than the class he attended up until last year.  Who doesn't love one on one instruction?

 

However, the one downside is that we discovered there is a situation that has been ongoing since sometime last year at school.  It's helped us to understand where his behaviour at home has been coming from. Naturally I feel like an arse because our approach was so, so wrong.  I am so glad it's come out and we can deal with it in a more appropriate manner.

 

I love this kid more than words can say.  He has so many many amazing qualities and I think one of his classmates put it best in their nomination of Jack to win the award for Respect this month at school:

 

"I nominate Jack because he never makes fun of other people."

 

Hmmm.  So what you are confirming is that other kids in the class do.  Duly noted.  And to all you kids who make fun of other kids, just wait until you are an adult and your peers finally figure out that the reason you did that was because you didn't like yourself all that much and it was the only way to make yourself feel better.  Uh huh.  See how far that gets you in the real world.

 

Meanwhile Jack will be travelling through time in the machine he invented because he spent his time learning in school instead of being a complete butt head.

 



 

Then there is Kamden.  I love this photo because is shows his crazy, fun, make us laugh regularly side.  This year he is continuing his love of all things sports.  He played touch football earlier in the fall and is now fully entrenched in the indoor soccer season.

 

He moved up an age category this fall and had to go through assessments for the first time, though we were told that all kids in their first year would be in Division 2.  We took him to the assessments anyway because he will never pass up the opportunity to play.  Turns out he was selected for Division 1.  Talk about a moment of pride.  Long story short, his coach and the parents of the other boys selected for Division 1 decided to hold them back into Division 2 so the team could stay together with the coach.  This coach is half the reason Kamden is so good so it was an easy decision.

 

Kamden is also doing well in school.  And another moment of pride.  One of Kamden's soccer buddies is also in the other grade 3 class at school.  His mother informed me Monday that this child is being bullied by another child.  Hence where the "situation" came out with Jack. Another reason I do not believe in avoiding the discussion of difficult situations in front of the kids.  You just never know when something will spark a conversation that is important.  Anyway, I asked Kamden to seek out his buddy at recess and invite him and the bully to join him.  The bully "plays" with the buddy and tries to keep everyone away.  It seems to be working.  Crossing fingers.  This little guy is a bully for a reason and I just hope the school can work with the family to get to the root of the problem.  His behaviour makes me (an accountant!) think he is screaming out for help.

 

Long winded today, aren't I?

 

 

Okay, less yammering on about my wonderful kids (sorry but they are, can I help it?) and more pictures.  I told you my camera was busy.  This family is on their third year with me and I couldn't be happier to do photos for them.  Kamden is very successful in making this adorable guy laugh which is so helpful.

 

 

And guess what?  He is also very effective at getting Pop to smile too!  Score.  Now if we could just figure out how to have him in the same picture as Pop and also be behind the camera making Pop smile. 

 

 

Can't have everything, now can we?  At least all 11 of us are in the picture and looking at the camera.  About all we can ask for I think.  And it only took 120 shots to get this one good one.  I wish I were kidding.  A professional I am not.

 

 

My niece, Anna, was up for posing for many a shot and this is by far my favourite.  I told her to sit in the grass and instead she did this.  I think she may take over the family photographer gig in the very near future and in the meantime she can be my assistant.

 

 

The next day, we tried for a shot of the four of us. This one was one of the test shots I took before I forced the boys out to join us. It's not bad.

 

 

Minus the wind blown look I am sporting, I like this one too.  It will have to do as there is no way we'll get another session out of those two.

 

Christmas card photo done and calendar is nearly complete.   Two things off the list.

 

This past weekend, I did some maternity shots of my massage therapist/yoga instructor.  Personally, I think she is the hottest pregnant lady in the history of all pregnant ladies.  37.5 weeks and she looks that good?  If I had looked half as good at 5 months. By this point, I looked like I might explode if you poked my belly button.

 



 

I was encouraging her to get professional photos done but she wasn't sure. I offered because this had to be captured permanently.  I would have forced her if I had to.

 

 

I love my hobby.

 

 

*end monthly long winded blog post about nothing in particular*

 

PS I can point out 100 things wrong with each of my photos, so whatever you are thinking about them, yes, I know.  I am not a professional nor do I profess to be. 

June So Far

June, it's here and almost half over already. We've been busy. Kamden is playing both soccer and flag football. Here he is lining on the defensive line.  I don't actually know what I am talking about but I fooled you there, didn't I?

The day I brought my camera he got a tackle (ie ripped a flag off the ball carrier) in the first few minutes of the game.  He was also about 5 feet from me and my zoom lens.  When you look at the picture below, envision his arm extending above the top of the photo holding the yellow flag.  Then look at his face.  He was proud.

He also went to a birthday party and got his face painted.  Adorable, no?

Then we had a birthday.  Jack's 11th to be exact

This card had Phineus telling us what I breath smelled like.

I love the look on Kamden's face!

I found this book while browsing in the books with Jack. Kamden and I managed a covert operation to get it to Dad at the till without Jack's knowledge.  Mom's got some stealth.

Jack, being my son in every way, only wanted to invite three friends to his party plus his little bro. They battled with Nerf guns for three hours in between pizza and cake. Good choice Jack, good choice. Next up, Kamden's birthday.

Because I Doubt the Grandparents Check FB

As always, on my last post I received sweet, supportive comments. Thank you, you are a big part of why I will continue to use this space. It is nice to know that no matter how little I put into this, there will still be people interested in reading.

Now on to my much neglected camera. I haven't been spending much time with it lately and I have missed it. I did take some pictures of my neice doing gymnastics. But, for obvious reasons, those will not show up online on my watch. She was so fun to work with - holding your entire body weight up on your hands is hard work while waiting for Kami to get organized...

So yesterday I invaded the boys space while they played their DS's or as I like to refer to them, the crack cocaine for the under 14 crowd. We limit their time on there because seriously, there is so much more to life that Super Mario Brothers and Pokemon. Though if you talked them you might wonder if they know that.

My biggest pet peeve is how much kids today seem to spend on electronics. I judge. I shouldn't but I do. I get judged too so it's all fair, right?

I am going to sound so old now but when we were kids, we were outside. You remember that? Like the opposite of inside. Where there grass and trees and FRESH air are? Yeah. My kids, it's like pulling teeth to make them go outside. Actually, to be more specific, it's one of my boys that refuses to play outside.

"There's nothing to do."

Uh huh.

I show you what you can do, little darling. (That right there, one of my applications for Mother of the Year. I have many.)

So I limit their screen time. And the rest of the time, they play with their action figures in the living room. I love this but be darned if they aren't re-enacting the very video games they are not allowed to play to their heart's content.

You win some, you lose some.

Growing Up J & K

A few years ago, longer ago that it seems (I am positive!) we repainted the boys' rooms. They each picked decals to stick up to decorate (we really go all Martha Stewart up in our house), Jack chose Cars and Kamden chose Toy Story.

At the time, they were what both were right into. Today, that has changed. Today, Jack started peeling them off. The topic came up a couple of days ago and I told them that if they wanted to remove them, they could. I know that growing up means changing tastes. Heck, I am no longer growing up (well the jury is actually still out on this one, I am predicting a hung jury - bets are still open, get in while the getting is good) and my tastes change.

They seemed surprised,which I found a bit funny. Go me, being all hip and proactive! (I am about 1 for 850 on that front so don't be jealous)

It's weird. Part of me thinks I should be all sad and nostalgic for those two little boys who once so loved the characters from those movies. But a much bigger part of me knows that this is a moment to rejoice in.

They are growing up.

And to be honest my reaction is, wow, this is cool. The next stage in this journey from boy to man. The journey that I get a front row seat on. It can be rough up here in the front (I have the war wounds to prove it - or are those from my clumsiness?) but hey, it comes with the territory.

And quite frankly, I would not have it any other way. This is exactly how it's supposed to be.

I am not, however, looking forward to when Star Wars the Clone Wars and Phinneas and Ferb are replaced by Selina Gomez(or whoever is hip or groovy or what are they even calling it now...groovy, how old am I?) or (this is hard to even type) (gasp!)
Lady Gaga.

Okay, maybe I am. Because if the Star Wars the Clone Wars stays, my house may become something akin to The Big Bang Theory.

Now that might be something to worry about.

Seven

Today, Kamden Jaymes turned seven. SEVEN.

He into all things sport, particularly soccer. He would play it all day long every day if only he had someone to play it with.

He is still goofy and falls off his chair at the supper table at least once a week. He also knocks his own teeth out. With his knee of course.

But he still needs his Momma to sing him a song at bedtime. Although lately he has been requesting I go out of my 3 song repertoire and make up a song instead. And then he giggles his little heart out. He is laughing with me, right?

Time is flying but this boy is growing up just as he should, full spunk and vinegar!

Score!

It is soccer season! And Kamden's uniform is made for him, not me.

He was pretty pumped for his first game this past Monday.

He was not as impressed with my need to liberally photograph him in his new uniform (that doesn't make him look like a third world orphan donning a donated women's uniform!).

But I couldn't help myself. I mean look at him!

And then for icing on the cake, he scored the first goal in the first game of the season! Kind of makes up for his sad little face at the end of the indoor season when he didn't score any goals.

Soccer Mom is going to make a resurgence! Be afraid, be very afraid!