And with that, I bid 2015 goodbye. Have a very happy new year! See you in 2016!
Thursday, December 31, 2015
Happy New Year!
We're about to head out for a New Year's Eve party at our friends' place across town, but I wanted to get one last post in before we go. For the first time, we're spending it apart from Lucas as he is celebrating at his best friend Zach's and we're going to the aforementioned party. In "honor" of that, I decided to post a couple of pictures of Lucas and Zach from their hockey game against each other a few weeks ago. (and yes, they were delighted when they found out they had the same number)
And with that, I bid 2015 goodbye. Have a very happy new year! See you in 2016!
And with that, I bid 2015 goodbye. Have a very happy new year! See you in 2016!
Wednesday, December 30, 2015
Merry Christmas 2015
My apologies for the delay in Christmas pictures. We've had some sort of social gathering nearly every day since Christmas Eve, and since adult beverages tend to be involved, it's easy to forget about the computer in the late night hours when I tend to post.
Marilu shows off her main gift from Lucas and me, an Ottawa Redblacks jersey. That's our CFL team, for those of you from out of town.
After Lucas opened his presents, we sent him downstairs to get something, at which point he discovered this fine piece of equipment.
Lucas and I model our (almost) matching Kylo Ren t-shirts.
Every year, Lucas gets Lego sets, and I always want to do them myself. This year, he got me my own.
So without any further adieu, here are the highlights from Christmas morning. Starting off with some gift openings. You'll notice Lucas's eyes are bug-eyed and psychotic in some of them. For whatever reason, he tends to partially close his eyes in a lot of pictures that use a flash so I told him to force his eyes open. The results were amusing, particularly in the 4th picture below.
Marilu shows off her main gift from Lucas and me, an Ottawa Redblacks jersey. That's our CFL team, for those of you from out of town.
After Lucas opened his presents, we sent him downstairs to get something, at which point he discovered this fine piece of equipment.
Lucas and I model our (almost) matching Kylo Ren t-shirts.
Every year, Lucas gets Lego sets, and I always want to do them myself. This year, he got me my own.
Don't worry, I haven't forgotten Christmas Eve or any other events surrounding Christmas. I'll have those posted soon!
Thursday, December 24, 2015
Preparing for Christmas
As promised, I've got pre-Christmas stuff in this entry. Specifically, the visit to Santa at the mall as well as our trip to the tree farm.
First up, Santa. We went to the same Santa we've gone to for all but one mall Santa visits. Lucas realizes that it's not the "real" Santa (it's a helper), but he enjoys the visit all the same since the helped reports back to Santa. Here are my two favorite photos.
For the first time ever, we went to a tree farm to get our Christmas tree. Accompanying us were my mom and Kevin, who were visiting us that week. It was a fun time since they had other stuff to do besides cutting down the tree. Speaking of which, it took us what felt like forever to choose a tree. It's so much easier when they are all wrapped up and sitting in a parking lot since there's not much to see, and it's basically a crapshoot. I don't know if we'll do this every year, but I'm sure we'll do it again at some point.
Getting ready to head over to Tracey's for our annual Christmas Eve get-together. I'm sure I'll have pictures of the boys from that so keep an eye out for something tomorrow. And if I don't talk to you before then, have a Merry Christmas!
First up, Santa. We went to the same Santa we've gone to for all but one mall Santa visits. Lucas realizes that it's not the "real" Santa (it's a helper), but he enjoys the visit all the same since the helped reports back to Santa. Here are my two favorite photos.
For the first time ever, we went to a tree farm to get our Christmas tree. Accompanying us were my mom and Kevin, who were visiting us that week. It was a fun time since they had other stuff to do besides cutting down the tree. Speaking of which, it took us what felt like forever to choose a tree. It's so much easier when they are all wrapped up and sitting in a parking lot since there's not much to see, and it's basically a crapshoot. I don't know if we'll do this every year, but I'm sure we'll do it again at some point.
Getting ready to head over to Tracey's for our annual Christmas Eve get-together. I'm sure I'll have pictures of the boys from that so keep an eye out for something tomorrow. And if I don't talk to you before then, have a Merry Christmas!
A Boy and His Elf
It's 1:30 in the morning, and I just wrapped up a Lego project involving Lucas's Elf on the Shelf, Awkward. Don't remember what an Elf on the Shelf is? Read this post from last year to get caught up.
Since Awkward "goes back" to the North Pole after Christmas Eve, tomorrow is the last day Lucas will see him until next year. Now as I said in last year's post, by the time Christmas rolls around, we're usually getting desperate for new ideas on where to put Awkward and aren't too sad to see him go. However, I find I'm a little anxious and/or depressed with his departure this year.
You see, Lucas is 8 years old and will be 9 next year. Based on various articles I've read online, a majority of kids stop believing in Santa by age 9 and by 10, it's only about 1 out of 5 kids who still believes. So clearly, the jig will be up soon, if not next year then likely the year after that, and the thought of that makes me sad.
I know there's been some debate in recent years as to whether parents should "lie" to their kids about Santa. I am firmly in the corner of YES, screaming it from the rooftops, in fact, for this particular argument. If I were to name the top 5 things that made childhood magical for me, Christmas and Santa Claus would definitely be at the top of that list. As far-fetched as a lot of it is as an adult, it was wonderful as a child, and if I could, I'd love to still be able to believe that a jolly fat guy in a red suit flies through the night once a year, delivering toys to all the good little boys and girls of the world. So why would I want to take that away from my son?
To an extent, I believe that once a child stops believing in Santa (and Easter Bunny, Tooth Fairy, etc), once they give up on that "magic," they have moved on from being children and have started that march toward teenager or tween or whatever comes next. And I'll be honest, I don't want Lucas to be there yet. I still love him as my little boy who looks up to us and thinks we can do no wrong. In my mind, once he moves past Santa, he'll be one step closer to moving away from us, emotionally and socially at first, and then further down the line, physically.
I know I'm probably overthinking the situation (I've been accused of that before), but that's why I sit here late at night, a little bit of a lump in my throat, typing at my laptop as Lucas sleeps and Awkward waits downstairs for what could be their final meeting.
For what it's worth, I fell asleep early so Marilu set up Awkward as you see in the picture below. As you'll recall from my post about Santa's video message a couple of days ago, Santa didn't render his naughty/nice verdict this year so we decided to have Santa send Lucas a direct message so he knows where he stands.
Since I'm typing this right now, I obviously didn't stay asleep, waking around 11:30, a common problem when I go to bed too early. The perils of being a night owl! Wanting to add a little more to Awkward's last night of 2015, I created the following message in front of the basement TV using Legos.
It may be a little hard to read, but it says, "Goodbye Lucas." I'll be honest, I thought it was going to be a simple task that I would wrap up in 10-15 minutes. However, Lucas has a LOT of Legos and trying to find the right pieces (mostly small ones) in that massive pile was an ordeal. It ended up taking me over an hour. I'll acknowledge that part of that is because I am just plain awful with Legos, but most of it was spent searching.
Anyway, I hope he appreciates this, and years from now, if he happens to read this as an older kid (or should the blog survive, as an adult), I'd just want him to know that doing stuff like this was some of the best times I've had as a parent: helping to create the magic that makes a child a child.
Back tomorrow (or later today, as the case may be) with Santa pictures.
Since Awkward "goes back" to the North Pole after Christmas Eve, tomorrow is the last day Lucas will see him until next year. Now as I said in last year's post, by the time Christmas rolls around, we're usually getting desperate for new ideas on where to put Awkward and aren't too sad to see him go. However, I find I'm a little anxious and/or depressed with his departure this year.
You see, Lucas is 8 years old and will be 9 next year. Based on various articles I've read online, a majority of kids stop believing in Santa by age 9 and by 10, it's only about 1 out of 5 kids who still believes. So clearly, the jig will be up soon, if not next year then likely the year after that, and the thought of that makes me sad.
I know there's been some debate in recent years as to whether parents should "lie" to their kids about Santa. I am firmly in the corner of YES, screaming it from the rooftops, in fact, for this particular argument. If I were to name the top 5 things that made childhood magical for me, Christmas and Santa Claus would definitely be at the top of that list. As far-fetched as a lot of it is as an adult, it was wonderful as a child, and if I could, I'd love to still be able to believe that a jolly fat guy in a red suit flies through the night once a year, delivering toys to all the good little boys and girls of the world. So why would I want to take that away from my son?
To an extent, I believe that once a child stops believing in Santa (and Easter Bunny, Tooth Fairy, etc), once they give up on that "magic," they have moved on from being children and have started that march toward teenager or tween or whatever comes next. And I'll be honest, I don't want Lucas to be there yet. I still love him as my little boy who looks up to us and thinks we can do no wrong. In my mind, once he moves past Santa, he'll be one step closer to moving away from us, emotionally and socially at first, and then further down the line, physically.
I know I'm probably overthinking the situation (I've been accused of that before), but that's why I sit here late at night, a little bit of a lump in my throat, typing at my laptop as Lucas sleeps and Awkward waits downstairs for what could be their final meeting.
For what it's worth, I fell asleep early so Marilu set up Awkward as you see in the picture below. As you'll recall from my post about Santa's video message a couple of days ago, Santa didn't render his naughty/nice verdict this year so we decided to have Santa send Lucas a direct message so he knows where he stands.
Since I'm typing this right now, I obviously didn't stay asleep, waking around 11:30, a common problem when I go to bed too early. The perils of being a night owl! Wanting to add a little more to Awkward's last night of 2015, I created the following message in front of the basement TV using Legos.
It may be a little hard to read, but it says, "Goodbye Lucas." I'll be honest, I thought it was going to be a simple task that I would wrap up in 10-15 minutes. However, Lucas has a LOT of Legos and trying to find the right pieces (mostly small ones) in that massive pile was an ordeal. It ended up taking me over an hour. I'll acknowledge that part of that is because I am just plain awful with Legos, but most of it was spent searching.
Anyway, I hope he appreciates this, and years from now, if he happens to read this as an older kid (or should the blog survive, as an adult), I'd just want him to know that doing stuff like this was some of the best times I've had as a parent: helping to create the magic that makes a child a child.
Back tomorrow (or later today, as the case may be) with Santa pictures.
Tuesday, December 22, 2015
Portable North Pole 2015
Click here to see Lucas's video from Santa this year (via Portable North Pole). Unfortunately, they switched it up so that it doesn't have as many features as previous years. Most importantly, there isn't a part that indicates whether the child is on the nice list, the naughty list, or somewhere in between. It's available with the premium video, but I didn't feel like buying it when I made the video. Lucas was disappointed, particularly since he's definitely on the nice list this year, so I may have Santa send a last minute video in the next day or two, letting him know he's good to go.
Monday, December 21, 2015
Football Videos
Whoops, it's been longer than I thought since my last post. What with my mom visiting for a week, studying for exams, and then all the hoopla to do with the holidays, I guess I lost track of time. I'll make up for it with daily (or near daily) updates between now and the end of the year.
Before I get to the good stuff, I wanted to mention that we saw the new Star Wars this morning. I won't spoil anything, but I will say it was fantastic and everything I was hoping for. Let the countdown begin on Episode 8!
Toward the end of the November, I posted the rest of the pictures from Lucas's football camp and mentioned I would upload videos. Well, better late than never I guess so here they are.
First off was a blocking/pushing drill. I think it's safe to say the other kid had the size advantage here.
The next two videos are plays where Lucas is either a running back or full back. He's probably supposed to be blocking in them, but oh well. He'll learn those moves next year. :)
Chatting up one of the coaches on the sideline.
And finally, even though he wasn't able to catch and/or tackle the opposing player with the ball, he hustled after him so that was good to see.
I'll be back tomorrow, probably with Christmas-related stuff.
Before I get to the good stuff, I wanted to mention that we saw the new Star Wars this morning. I won't spoil anything, but I will say it was fantastic and everything I was hoping for. Let the countdown begin on Episode 8!
Toward the end of the November, I posted the rest of the pictures from Lucas's football camp and mentioned I would upload videos. Well, better late than never I guess so here they are.
First off was a blocking/pushing drill. I think it's safe to say the other kid had the size advantage here.
The next two videos are plays where Lucas is either a running back or full back. He's probably supposed to be blocking in them, but oh well. He'll learn those moves next year. :)
Chatting up one of the coaches on the sideline.
And finally, even though he wasn't able to catch and/or tackle the opposing player with the ball, he hustled after him so that was good to see.
I'll be back tomorrow, probably with Christmas-related stuff.
Monday, November 30, 2015
Hockey Photos Finally!
Unfortunately, the Zombies dropped their second in a row yesterday, 2-1. However, it was a completely different game from last week where they showed up looking like they didn't want to be there. They played really well, and it was an extremely competitive game. The problem this game was the other team's goalie, who stood on his head and kept them in the game. I'd heard his previous 2 games were shutouts so obviously he knows what he's doing.
Lucas had a really good game as well. No goals, but he had 4 decent shots including a phenomenal one from the left side with less than a minute left in the game that had everyone on their feet, thinking it was a goal, but unfortunately, the opposing goalie had an equally spectacular kick save that prevented the tie. I'm still shaking my head as to how it didn't go in. Whatever the case, losses aren't as bad when the team plays to its full potential, and like usual, the kids had a fun time.
Finally, by popular demand (or at least, by my mom's demand), new hockey photos! I took these during yesterday's game. I stood down by the glass all of second period to avoid getting netting in them. I'll probably do that for most future photos since it's a much clearer shot. If I could do it over again, though, I would have taken the camera off auto. It's been a while since I used it, and I now realize I should have used the sport setting since some of them are a little fuzzier than I'd like. Oh well, live and learn. Here you go!
We'll start off with the pregame chat while waiting for the zamboni to finish with the ice. Incidentally, Casselman (Carter) is our current top scorer.
Lucas was the starting center so I felt obligated to photograph the first faceoff. He says he won all of his faceoffs, but I wasn't paying attention so he may be right. You can see why the netting inspired me to move closer to the ice.
Some action shots from around the ice.
I was glad there was some action at the goal near me so I could get these closer-than-usual shots of Lucas.
Fight for it!
And a few more from open ice to close out this installment of hockey photos.
The last one's my favorite. I like the look of him getting ready to charge.
That's all for now. I'll try and get some more next time they are at one of the camera-friendly rinks.
Lucas had a really good game as well. No goals, but he had 4 decent shots including a phenomenal one from the left side with less than a minute left in the game that had everyone on their feet, thinking it was a goal, but unfortunately, the opposing goalie had an equally spectacular kick save that prevented the tie. I'm still shaking my head as to how it didn't go in. Whatever the case, losses aren't as bad when the team plays to its full potential, and like usual, the kids had a fun time.
Finally, by popular demand (or at least, by my mom's demand), new hockey photos! I took these during yesterday's game. I stood down by the glass all of second period to avoid getting netting in them. I'll probably do that for most future photos since it's a much clearer shot. If I could do it over again, though, I would have taken the camera off auto. It's been a while since I used it, and I now realize I should have used the sport setting since some of them are a little fuzzier than I'd like. Oh well, live and learn. Here you go!
We'll start off with the pregame chat while waiting for the zamboni to finish with the ice. Incidentally, Casselman (Carter) is our current top scorer.
Some action shots from around the ice.
I was glad there was some action at the goal near me so I could get these closer-than-usual shots of Lucas.
Fight for it!
And a few more from open ice to close out this installment of hockey photos.
The last one's my favorite. I like the look of him getting ready to charge.
That's all for now. I'll try and get some more next time they are at one of the camera-friendly rinks.
Thursday, November 26, 2015
Football Redux
As promised, here are the last of the summer sports pictures. I know I posted a few of them around the time his football camp happened (end of August), but here's the rest as well as some videos. These were all taken on the last day when they had an open practice/scrimmage for the parents to come out and watch. (for a refresher, you can see the previous pictures here)
Here you can see the size differential between Lucas (just to the right of center) and most of the other kids. I'm pretty sure he was one of the youngest kids there, if not the youngest.
Push the other person drill!
Huddling up. The size thing just plain amuses me.
It was hard to get action shots of him, due to the number of the people on the field, but directly in the center of this one, you can see him trying to tackle the runner, who has the stiff arm out.
Resting between plays.
That's him in the backfield, on the far right, ready to go!
I think it may have been a run for a loss, but he did have a rushing play. That's him with the ball on the ground.
More lining up.
In today's edition of Where's Waldo/Lucas, see if you can find him!
In case you're tired of looking, he's in the last kneeling row, on the left side, and he's yelling so you can see his open mouth. I know I posted one of him posing for the camera in the other blog entry, but here's another one since why not?
The videos are going to take a while to process in YouTube so I'll wrap this up here, and add them to a second entry tomorrow or this weekend. See you then!
Here you can see the size differential between Lucas (just to the right of center) and most of the other kids. I'm pretty sure he was one of the youngest kids there, if not the youngest.
Push the other person drill!
Huddling up. The size thing just plain amuses me.
It was hard to get action shots of him, due to the number of the people on the field, but directly in the center of this one, you can see him trying to tackle the runner, who has the stiff arm out.
Resting between plays.
That's him in the backfield, on the far right, ready to go!
I think it may have been a run for a loss, but he did have a rushing play. That's him with the ball on the ground.
More lining up.
In today's edition of Where's Waldo/Lucas, see if you can find him!
In case you're tired of looking, he's in the last kneeling row, on the left side, and he's yelling so you can see his open mouth. I know I posted one of him posing for the camera in the other blog entry, but here's another one since why not?
The videos are going to take a while to process in YouTube so I'll wrap this up here, and add them to a second entry tomorrow or this weekend. See you then!
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