Thursday, December 31, 2009

happy new year

Christmas was wonderful, thank you everyone for the thoughtful gifts.
Tonight we'll be mellowing out at home with a friend and bringing in the new year with firecrackers and sparklers.
I hope you all have a happy and healthy new year!
-cameron

Monday, December 21, 2009

:)

merry christmas all!!!

Tuesday, December 15, 2009

merry xmas

Jasper, of course, is excited about xmas. This morning were sending off his wish list to santa.

Wednesday, December 02, 2009

:)

So today some things were figured out and I got the good news that means a bit of financial security for us. It really couldn't have come at a better time.
I have been a complete stress case for a few months worried about this so it is definitely a huge weight lifted.
The book we were working on with our friends had to be put on the back-burner due to illness in our house and theirs. Hopefully it'll be done next week.
It seems like the sickest fall/winter yet, I swear every other week were dealing with a cough or sniffle of some sort. Right now I have a nasty head-cold that is also messing with my lungs, but I feel I'm on the mend. Jasper has a slight cough but seems otherwise to be fine.
I look back on recent posts and see a lot of "we're sick", hopefully our health will improve in the coming months.

Jasper really blows me away. He is so much like Elise it's almost like having her here. His blond hair, her eyes, her smile, her passion for reading and funny little behaviors and tendencies she had. Today I asked him a question, which he answered by talking about what I asked about but never answered the question. Elise used to do that all the time and it would always make me giggle when she did.

We had a good Thanksgiving with a turkey roast(I'm not even trying to cook a full bird). I think it might have been my first time cooking a Thanksgiving dinner. It came out great and we even had a friend over for the dinner.
So happy holidays all,
cameron

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

effort

this book project is more work than I thought it'd be, but worth it. So it's not done yet.

my little author

Ya so I haven't been keeping the blog up too well, I'll do better I swear......maybe.

Anyway, we just dealt with Jasper having some nasty chest cold, but he's back in the saddle rockin the school work. He reads like crazy now, all you have to do is leave out a book and he'll read it. We were at our friends house and his friend showed him a book he got and Jasper sat down and read it right away lol.
So to further encourage our boys to read my buddy Patrick and I sat down with our boys and started writing a short book, with them creating the story.
When I had the idea to do this I thought it'd be easy. Not really, getting two six year olds to agree on an idea is like nailing jello to the wall, but we finally got that jello nailed.
So we got the characters, their attributes, story and initial layout done today. Tomorrow we attack the illustration side and hopefully finish. Patrick and I will draw the story and the boys will color our artwork.
Been interesting so far and hopefully I'll be able to scan the book after were done so I can share it with everyone.

-cameron

Thursday, November 05, 2009

Wednesday, October 28, 2009

pumpkin carving and scholastics

Tonight we carved our Halloween pumpkin, it was a lot of fun. Jasper had a blast gutting it.
First he was making funny faces feeling how slimy it was then just dug in.

In other news I attended my first Parent-Teacher Conference which for the most part was a good experience. Jasper is excelling, as I thought he would, academically, and learning a lot about the social end of school.

(jack-o-lantern: the making of)



Sunday, October 11, 2009

one year

It's been a year since Elise passed, hard to believe. She is still in my thoughts as I'm sure she is in all of yours. We miss ya Elise!


Sunday, October 04, 2009

ugh

Man, Jasper and I spent the last week really sick. I had to have him out of school for a whole week, hated doing it but couldn't send him in like that.
We have been recovering though and are almost back to 100%. So back to the grind I guess.

Monday, September 28, 2009

the joy of school

Jasper has gotten a cold that went away then came back. He is home with me today out sick from school.
It's a nasty cold that ht me pretty hard, the initial horribleness was over in a couple days but I've had this brutal cough that hasn't. Oh well.
Otherwise we are doing good.
-cameron

Wednesday, September 09, 2009

first day of school

Well Jasper had his first day of school. I underestimated how hard it'd be for me.
He did great, not a tear as he went off to class in a single file line with the other children. He had fun and said he liked it. Even brought home a picture he drew of the school and a windy slide at the playground.
I on the other hand cried a little once I got back in the car. My baby, is in school. Elise would have loved to have been there, and so proud of his love of reading. She was a big reader and it was important for her to share her love of books with Jasper, and she did.
He has so much of his mom in him, it's great to see.
-cameron
from the vault circa 2007

Tuesday, September 08, 2009

orientation

Wow, today we are going to Kindergarten Orientation. We'll meet his teacher and other staff.
I'm nervous, Jasper is excited.
Tomorrow is the first day of school, wow, where does the time go.

Tuesday, August 25, 2009

:)

We celebrated Jasper's 6th birthday this month. He's still getting used to saying he's six. The last picture I posted is from his birthday, we had some fun that day and had a party for friends and a party for family separately due to schedules. Lots of fun was had by all.

Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Thursday, July 30, 2009

Heat Wave

Wow, it's been pretty hot, actually we're having record heat with heat warnings/advisories.
It's been so hot all I seem to be able to do is lay inside and be miserable or swim. So ya, we've been swimming a lot, sometimes twice a day. Even the cat has been feeling the heat, laying upside-down spread-eagle, I saw him outside in the shade like that and poked him just to make sure he was still alive.
Hope you all are managing to stay cool.
-cameron

Sunday, July 19, 2009

camping

Seems I have neglected the blog a bit, sorry about that.
Everyday seems to present it's own challenges, isn't that the truth for us all though. We have been doing good though.
We are preparing for school for both of us. Jasper will be attending Kindergarten and I will be finishing my degree in computer stuffs.
Although the impending scholastic endeavor, we manage to have a bit of fun as well.
Recently was a camping trip with my friend and his son who is Jasper's friend. It was a lot of fun.

my artsy camping pic


lolme


jasper enjoying the sunny day


Jasper and Aiden.....RAWR


Jasper lounging at home

Monday, June 08, 2009

summerish

Hi all,
The weather for the most part has been amazing. Jasper and I have taken advantage of it by getting in as much swimming as we can. Suanne got Jasper swim lessons and he my little fish now, always wants to swim and he's doing great at it too.
John, Elise's stepfather , got an amazing tribute tattoo for Elise. I was blown away. I know Elise would have really been impressed and loved it.






all for now
cameron

Sunday, May 10, 2009

Happy Mother's Day

Here we are, Mother's Day, and I figured I should write a little something. It's been a bit since I said hi anyway.
First, thanks for the great comments, it lets me know people are still reading and gives me a reason to continue.

Next on to this holiday.
I'm up late tonight thinking a lot, it happens, and thinking about mothers.
My mother is a beautiful, strong and gentle woman. She was always there for me in my youth and gave me an abundance of love. I learned a lot from my mom, mostly the look from a parent that says "you messed up, fix it", I use it now on Jasper, and other things of value too.
I also think of Suanne, who has been amazing through everything. The apple really doesn't fall too far from the tree because I see so much of where Elise got a great deal of the amazing qualities she had.
And of course I think of Elise, cause she's always there in my thoughts smiling back at me.
Elise was one of the most amazing moms I ever had the pleasure of knowing. She is a inspiration to me as a parent because she was patient, understanding and nurturing to a level I have never seen. She treated all people with that kind of respect and care and that is one of the many reasons she touched so many peoples lives.
Although she is gone, a mother's love never truly dies for it is one of the most strong and beautiful loves one can experience, and to know it at all is to know it always.
Happy Mother's Day
-cameron

Thursday, April 23, 2009

spring

We buried Elise's remains on the first day of spring in the Fall City Cemetery. It was harder than I thought it would be. It was a good thing, some degree of closure.
Jasper and I have been busy. We had our friend Robert visit from Massachusetts and then helped our friends move.
Jasper got swimming lessons as a gift from gramma Suanne so he's been doing that for the last few weeks and loving it. Me, I've been stressing on where to move and we both are trying to adjust to all the changes life is still throwing at us.

Elise had tattoos of humming birds...

She told Jasper that before she died she would come back to check on us as a hummingbird. We have managed to be visited by them a bunch, even in the heart of winter, and I love spotting them with Jasper. We were visited by one yesterday that landed outside our patio and watched us for a while, we came out to say hi and to tell the hummingbird we are doing ok.
-cameron

Sunday, April 05, 2009

pressing on

Elise's remains were buried on the first day of spring, she is buried in the Fall City Cemetery, a small and beautiful one with a great view. It was hard on Jasper, but we took it in stride and now have a place to visit to think of her.
April 11th would have been her 31st birthday, so we will do something special to think of her.

After feeling kinda crappy for the last month I am finally feeling much better, so Jasper and I went out for a fun day. We saw Monsters Vs. Aliens in 3D and it was awesome. It was our first 3D movie, and we already want to go watch it again.
Just a side note, I'm awfully bad about returning emails in a timely fashion, but I'm working on it. So please understand if I'm slow on it.
I have received some great emails, I love getting emails from her friends telling me stories from her past, a lot of fun. Keep sending them if you think of one.
-cameron
p.s. today was fun, Jasper's best friend came over and we had a picnic since it's so nice and then they had fun with water guns.
Here is a couple pics of Elise from the archives.

Elise with Zach Condon, the mind behind her favorite band Beirut.


Elise from a camping trip with us and Suanne.


cute pic

Sunday, March 15, 2009

wii fun

So Jasper and I lately have been playing Mario Kart over the internet with people. I know we have some friends and family with Wii systems too, so if you'd like to join us in some racing email me your Wii friend numbers at:

cameron.the.pirate@gmail.com

We probably have some other games we can play too. Also we have Xbox 360 too, so if you wanna game with us shoot us an email, well game it up.

-cameron

Tuesday, March 03, 2009

lil update

Jasper and I have been getting over being sick, Jasper is all better and I still have a cough.
Today is sunny and warm so he is outside playing and having fun.
I am thinking about our impending move, our lease is up at the end of the month and I can't wait to move. We are looking to move closer to family, so we aren't such an island to ourselves. I think it'll be a good thing to have a fresh start too.
Jasper as been adjusting pretty well to losing Elise, he's to the point now where he can talk about it more, still hard for us both though. I'm proud of him, he's an amazing kid.
-cameron
Jasper playing Guitar Hero

Friday, February 13, 2009

been a while

Hi all,
I know it's been a while, Jasper and I have been laying low and taking some time to ourselves.
We had a great new years out at Suanne and John's house...


and today Jasper lost his first baby tooth. I was so excited, what a milestone.
Jasper looked at me with confusion and said sadly, "Why are you so excited daddy, I'm not excited, my tooth fell out.". He was a little upset about parting with his tooth, that passed as I took him to a mirror and showed him his "grown up tooth" that is poking out where his missing tooth was and explained the process.
This all brings back a funny memory of Elise and Jasper. When Jasper was younger maybe about two years old, Elise was telling Jasper that when he's grows older he will lose his baby teeth and get his adult teeth. Something was lost in translation
because Jasper took it as all his teeth all going to fall out. It took a few minutes to explain, but the look of horror on his face was priceless, poor kid. He was all laughs after he understood and we had family giggles about it for a week.