A photo of Jasper from last weekends BBQ. Thought I'd try and keep things going despite the buys school life i have going on at the moment. Maybe I do better at posting when i'm super busy....something to be said about being more productive when you have tight time constraints!
We've had 2 runs this year iand n all my business i completely forgot to bring the camera to the first one, which was the TC10km.
Angus and James on the bus down for the Oak Bay race!
At the start line all ready to race!
Angus ran the 10km in around 43:16, ang James ran the 1.5km in about 13 minutes (a mother's timing). The second one was the kids run as part of the Oak Bay 1/2 Marathon, which james ran Last year. Last year James ran the Kids Krazy Kilometre, this year they offered 2 runs, one was 2km and the other a 400m fun dash. After the 1.5km race at the TC10k we asked james if it was too long and explained the next race he had the choice of doing one that was longer or one that was much shorter. In the end he askd to do the bigger race. We were glad he went the longer race as we were pretty sure if he only did the short race he would dissapointed that it was over so quickly. After registering him for the race we found out the 2km race was at 11 and the 400m fun dash was at 11:30, so we told him if he was back in time from the big race and wanted to do the smaller one he could. James (and angus who was home that weekend) finished the race in just shy of 20 minutes, and in enough to head back up and doing the 400m fun dash with his friend Noah!
James on the 400m dash (which i (Brit) ran with him, which means angus took photos, which means you get much nicer photos:)
See with Angus taking picutres you get some great action shots...
James coming in through the finish line on the 400m fun dash (After running 2km, he gets it from his father!)
See i (Brit) do still shots! James with his finsiher medal and his 'trophy' , some flower he picked up along the way with Angus on the 2km race.
Post race snack! You need to refuel after that much running, especially when the weather is as nice at is was! Last year (if you remember) was a wet rainy day, so this year it was much nicer running in shoes rather than gum boots!
A couple weeks ago on a walk over on campus we passed by the SUB (student union building) and found an Autism Resource Fair was going on. They had a fair amount of things set up for kids and James was keen on checking it out. So we wandered through and played in the play area they had set up with tunnels, slides, balls and toys, he even saw a lady sitting at a table with a palette of paints beside her. James has never been keen on the whole face painting scene and has never asked or been willing to sit through the process, but on this particular day he went over and chatted with her for a few minutes and asked if she could paint him like a tiger, but only if it could be green. So here's the result.
here's a few pictures of a few neighbourhood deer that James took a few weeks ago! We have quite a few that hang out our complex. I've gone out for a quick walk to a friends place in the evening before, no more than 100ft from door to door and it's not too uncommon to pass a few deer along the way, of course the night i passed 8 deer and had to go around to my friends back door because i didn't trust the deer hanging out in the front i thought things might be getting a little crazy.
After we took a few photos of deer we headed over to campus for a bit of a walk. Campus has proven to be a great close-by get away. James usually hops on his bike while i get Jasper sorted in the stroller, we pack a few snacks, water bottles and a ball or two and head over to the fountain by the library. This location is fairly ideal as it has some great flat grassed areas ideal for soccer, and a nice path that is perfect for james to have a few races on his bike, the path is big enough he gets away and gets some speed but is ideal because i can see him the entire time too.
Jasper trying to catch up to James....
I thought it would be a good idea to clean out my phone. You know delete random photos of trees or sidewalks james had taken, switch up the music to stuff i'm currently listengin to, and get rid of all those apps i don't really use. And in the process of doing all these things I came across a couple of folders full of pictures, some from over a year ago some from almost 2 years ago. So in the name of procrastination i bring you a gift of photos from a camera's past...
Photo Shoots with Daddy
Maybe the posts won't be so sparse if I post in the name of procrastination :)
I'm refering to my posting here on the blog. I realise it's been a few weeks and i'm thinking i won't get too many chances in the coming weeks. Todays post is brought to you by the fact that Angus has both the boys out doing a shopping trip while i (in theory) and am doing homework. The homework is actually coming along really well and i'm rewarding myself with a little break! Anyway, we finished up the winter semester and had a nice 2 week break before i started in on my spring semester. This semester is by far more intense with me being enrolled in 2 on campus courses that finish in a 7 week span (rahter than a traditional 14 weeks) and 1 online course, which i do have 4 months to complete. I explain all of this by way of front loading the fact that my posting over the next 5 or 6 weeks maybe (not maybe so much as WILL BE) pretty bare bones. I'm hoping for a photo here and there but probably not much. The other reason i explain this is because i feel if i lower the bar of expectations you will all be amazed at posts of any kind!
So here's a few photos from our long weekend. Which Angus has been home for, yeah!!
James on Saturday at a little BBQ we had by our place!
Jasper at the same BBQ....
Jasper strutting his stuff sans clothes!
Until next time....whenever that may be :)
Our semester started out in january with us being carless and heading out each morning to catch the bus to get to preschool/daycare/classes, this was often an early event with us needing to catch an early bus due tto the some what sporadic timing of the buses out to school, and the fact that school is on the other side of town. Then we'd spend the day at preschool/daycare/classes and then catch the bus home again in the afternoon. While it was only one bus in each direction the drive time onthe buses was around 25 minutes in the AM and 40-45 minutes in the PM. This time along with the 5-10 minutes wait before the bus arrives (sometimes more as we learned pretty quickly the afternoon could easily be 10 or more minutes early, and with wait times of 30-45 mintues in between buses i didn't want to risk waiting) worked out to us spending around 1 1/2 hours in commute each day, over 2 hours if we missed a bus, luckily that only happened once or twice. After a month or so of this commuting I decided that perhaps we should look at getting a vehicle, after some searching and a weekend of looking at a few we hit a great deal from a family selling one locally. Now we still have early mornings, (mostly because these boys don't know the meaning of 'sleeping in') but they are less rushed, more relaxed, less eating on the way to school and we spend an average of maybe 30-35 mintues daily in the car. I formally enter into my program in the fall and will be moving to a campus that is much closer (5 minute drive or bus), so i'm looking forward to parking the car more often and getting back on to the bus as the campus i'll be at in the fall has 2 or 3 buses that go by their and much closer departure times!
Jasper doesn't seemed too fussed about the car rides these days. he's happier with being front facing and so long as James is in the car he's usually pretty content!
James doesn't seem to mind the rides too much either, he usually keeps himself occupied by telling which way i should go and what he sees, and then there are days when he's content with his blanket and a bit of down town.
And as for me, I enjoy not having to contain or occupy two boys on the bus everyday, and the added bonus of not doing as much hauling groceries on the bus with both boys too! On the sunny days we still pack up and take bus to school when i don't have an early class and our weekends we usually use the buses as well becuase when you're 3 they are a lot of fun:)
I like this picture. Something about it makes him look so big. I realise maybe he just is big, but still, I like it! James has been out and about on all his outside toys lately, he's crusining around full tilt on his bike and I'm thinking we might try him biking while i run with Jasper in the stroller on a nice sunny day, there is a nice trail around campus that woud make for a good trial run (no pun intended). James' newest stunt desire is to learn to bike down or skateboard down stairs. Thanks big kids in the neighbourhood for that one! So far i've managed to avoid it but i'm not sure how long that will last. Maybe until he's 7?
Sorry Id on't have a ton of photos from Easter weekend, and I did already post the Easter BBQ video, but in honouring my whole back tracking the motnh of april statement i thought i'd post what i do have. Easter weekend we had a visit from Logan and Jared, which coinsided with Jasper's birthday. We did a little hunt for james around the back patio and ended up doing it while jasper was sleeping, so it was really low key.
Visit from Auntie Logan.
And a visit from Unlce Jared
James find a hidden gem right off the start.
"What do you mean BBQ an Egg??"
Getting some pointers from Dad.
|"Now if only i could reach that egg withhout touching the tree"
"FOUND ONE"
HAPPY (BELATED) EASTER
Can't believe he's almost at the 1 year 1 month marker as I'm stiting here writing this. At the beginning of the month we had a little cupcake after dinner dessert in honour of Jasper's passing his first birthday, joined by Auntie Logan, Uncle Jared and Caitlin (Brit's friend) we let Jasper go crazy on a cupcake. Here's a few pictures of the event....
Happy 1st Brithday Jasper. Much like James on his first birthday Jasper wasn't completely sure what he was supposed to do with the cupcake, but we helped and he figured it out pretty quick after that.
Ps. Anyone else think this picture above looks like one of JT's baby pictures?
Jasper is definitely leaving the world of babyhood and entering into toddlerhood. Here's a bit of an update list on how he's doing....
1. He's a walker now, all the time. He's been walking for some time now (around 11 months) but it took him a while to decide it had the potential to be faster than crawling and when you're trying to get away from your big brother (often with one of James toys in his hands) speed counts for something! And he reverted to crawling outside for a lot longer before he decided to make the switch to walking around too. But now he's pretty much given up on crawling and is trying to figure out how to 'run' which looks a lot like a zombie walk.
2. He talks! More like he babbles but he sounds like he knows what he's saying. He has some signs but is far more interested in sounds and 'words' that in signs. Words he is saying. "da-da" "Don" for down, oftern accompanied by pointing to the ground, "pa" Used when he's reaching up to let you know he wants up. "mmmmm" often goes with the sign for milk, "Bye" Guess what that one is for? "Hi" I'm sure you can figure it out! He also has signs for please, thank you, yummy, food, milk, and he's just figured one for outside (slighting modified), all done, and Daddy. I'm sure there's a few more but they aren't coming to mind at the moment.
3. He loves being outside. By far his favourite place, and anywhere outside counts, and weather isn't a deterrant. He's a pretty gun-ho outside kid and on the up side he's not super crazy about putting things in his mouth so the concern about our playground being covered in pea gravel hasn't been a concern-Bonus!
4. Still growing like a weed. Jasper just had his one year shots (4 shots, no tears, just a pretty unimpressed grunt towards the nurse on the 4th shot), and weighed in at 28 lbs and 31 inches. For those interested that's roughly 50% for length and 97% for weight. I've noticed the weight gain has started to slow down and i suspect the walking and getting outside more has been the culprit of it. My guess is he'll start to slow down on the weight gain and start to stretch (unless he takes after his mother)
5. He sleeps. He's a solid sleeper, minus those stretches of waking up a lot during what seems like a never ending teething sessions.
6. But he doesn't sleep without his blanket, while he can but he has a preference. His beloved blankey, which we knew was his favourite around 8 or 9 months, and thinking fast and knowing how much easier it was with james to have multiple blankets i found a great deal on the blankets he likes and picked up a few extra. We now have a large number that get rotated through the laundry and a few that stay at daycare, which means we always have one handy, which makes things easier!
7. In the team of Mischief and Mayham, he is definitely mischief!! James gets to hold the title of Mayham.
8. James. Jasper loves him. He loves being around him, playing with him even if james isn't or doesn't want to play with him. Jasper loves pretty much any and all (and always good) attention he can get from James. They are recently starting to figure out a way to play with each other and without it ending with someone in tears. This is a real bonus as it leaves me to make dinner quickly without having to mediate the two of them.
I'm sure there are a million other little things I could talk about Jasper but none that come to mind at the moment. He's our happy, walking, talking, nothing but fun and full of engery little boy!
Happy Birthday Jasper
