Tackle Louise Chapman

After dinner, the boys love to bike or play soccer or football or hockey or...something active.  I love playing football with them.  Kai loves passing but Koen loves the tackling!  He just kept shouting, `Tackle Louise Chapman!'.  He's so cute.   He's also sick.  Just a cold, but he always gets it bad with his asthmatic breathing.  Thankful for humidifiers!  I had to keep him home from preschool yesterday.  Unfortunately my throat hurts this morning...better gargle with salt water. 

That's my Kai Bear, he got the throw off while being tackled:)  Nice follow through, bud!

I hope you have an awesome weekend!  I get to teach my first photography class tomorrow and I'm looking forward to it!  Also, I'm looking forward to wearing fall clothes.  I'm hoping the sun returns for next weekend (or at least the rain stays at bay) as I have three sessions then.

 You see the pants I'm wearing in these pictures?  I've had them since 2004.  I got them right before Africa (from my sisters for my bday).  The only time I was allowed to wear pants (trousers really, pants are underwear there), was when I got up to run early before people were awake.  I was in a really rural village where only men wear trousers.

 Kai Bear is a reading machine.  Last night in his book, he breezed through the word `photograph'.  Koen has taken a huge interest in drawing and writing his letters now!   He likes to draw a line for the sky, a line for the grass, and then a sunshine.  Then he draws one person and writes his name.   I love seeing him excited about it:)

Okay, better feed babe.  The sweetest little babe ever.  Who still gets up at 11pm and 4am.  

Love, Louise

What's Going On

Not a whole lot:) I'm not very good at titles.

Koen is afraid of a lot of things. We made a spider out of a paper plate and pipe cleaners at Noah's Ark Learning Start this week and he couldn't even carry it to the van. Today in Sunday School, he was fine the whole time and then during story time, the kids all growled like a lion and Koen ran off crying and hid in a tent there. He is also afraid of swings and won't go on one. Meanwhile, he is fearless in so many other situations. I can't believe how big he's getting. He takes up his whole toddler bed. He is adorable. He also is helping me work on my patience. One more thing, he loves to play `camping'. Every day for a month now, he gets all the pillows and blankets from the couches and makes a `sleeping bag'. We are not allowed to touch it and we put it away when he goes to bed. He's cute.

Kai starts swimming lessons this week. One of the reasons I wanted to do part time kindergarten is because I wanted him to have ample time for extracurricular stuff that wouldn't be too much for him (or me!!). I think he'll love it and I'm thinking we'll do skating again this winter. I get to help out in Kai's classroom in two weeks, I'm totally excited about it. Can't wait to see what it's like (and what he's like!) in class. I taught Kai's Sunday School class all month so it was good to see him in that environment. He loves the singing with actions that we do each week.

I played two football games in a row yesterday. That's 4 hours including the warm up. It was humid. I did not stretch afterwards (I had to rush home, shower, and go to a photo session). I'm having a tough time walking properly today:) So sore. So fun though! I love being active. Also, we have one more wedding this coming weekend and then it's just family sessions. The perfect amount is 2 sessions per week, and that is what I have to look forward to. LOVE IT. Thyroid wise I am starting to feel better. Still shaky and `nervous'. I'm not really nervous, it's just how my body feels, does that make sense?

Gary is busy back into school (and watching football on tv). He does love his job so that's so good. Kai starts full time kindergarten this week so Gary will now drive him both ways, yippee for me! Gary and I have been writing up meal plans which has been great. We split meals so we do every other day. Awesome. I know I'm very fortunate to have a husband that not only cooks but kicks my butt in the kitchen:)

Have a great week!

Love, Louise

Busy Busy!

Wow, it's almost been a week between posts! What's been going on?

{I ordered some professionally printed and mounted photos for our bedroom, excited to see them!}

Photographed a beautiful wedding Friday. Loved it. I had taught both the bride and groom in grade 9 science and now they're all grown up and the bride is a science teacher herself and the groom is doing his masters in Biology. Awesomeness. They were so sweet. During the ceremony, she sang to him (beautifully!!) and near the end was overcome with emotion and couldn't finish. It just ended with them holding each other. Lots of tears from everyone!

Saturday morning I had my first football game of the season. I love football. I don't necessarily love the pressure of being a QB because if we lose, I feel like it's all my fault. Gary and the boys came which was nice. I got to wear the socks that Koen picked out for me for my birthday (I need high socks because I tuck the plays in there). Gary was then able to give me some feedback after the game which I appreciate. I want to get better. I had one terrible punt which of course is all I can focus on now:) We lost, but it was still fun.

{These football pictures were taken with our 7D. I am not a fan. Our 5D's are way better.}

Saturday afternoon we headed to Granville Island. I had an engagement session that went super well. While I did that, Gary and the boys just played and got a gelato. I like that they can have fun while I work.

{Kai giving his advice at half time}

Sunday we skipped church and then went to my sister's place in Mission for a bbq with my whole family. They have a great yard which is one thing I really wish our house had. However, I'm not into upping my mortgage or moving to Mission to have a great yard. So, we will make this work! It's hard in the sense that I grew up on an acreage with a forest, trampoline, tree houses, pool etc. A whole lot different than the itty bitty patch of grass we have now!

I am so, so, so ready for Kai to go to school. I think the hardest part about being a mom and working full time from home is that there is a lot of guilt. I feel bad that my kids watch tv while I work. I try to limit tv to an hour after lunch but still, I feel like I should be taking them to the park and playing with them etc. I just need one hour of solid work where I'm not helping them with activity books or breaking up fights:) I'm definitely tired as is typical for this time of year. I'm really looking forward to doing less weddings next year....got to keep it fun! Anyone have any great tips for being a mom and working from home?

Gary is back at work today. Crazy. Thankfully the boys all slept in until 8am!

All right, time to hit the park. Wonder if Gary will make dinner tonight?:)

Have a great week!

Love, Louise

Sweat

Four Things:

1. My blog list is not updating for some reason. People have updated their blogs but it's not showing. I'm assuming this is a blogger gadget problem but if anyone has a solution, please let me know!

2. Gary and I did the `Insanity' workout tonight. You are supposed to do it 6 days a week for 60 days. We are going to do it 2-3 times per week and see how it goes. It was a great workout and probably produced more sweat in 42 minutes than I've had in a long time! I love working out with Gary. It's great to have someone to keep you company, to keep you accountable, and, I don't have to impress him as he already thinks I'm awesome:) The only part I am not a fan of is the plyometrics. Give me cardio and strength exercises any day.

3. It felt really good to get back into routine today. I'm sure it will get old fast but Spring Break was so incredibly rejuvenating for me.

4. My back was better-ish in time for football. I put A535 on it which really helped. We won our first game! It felt so great to have our whole team there, in the sun, and have everyone participating. There were a whole lot of completed passes which made my day:) It feels good to QB again and I'm so happy that I'm healthy enough to do it as well as I want to!

Sunshine

Such a great weekend. The sun was out and Gary was home. So good.

On Friday night we went out for dinner. I don't actually enjoy going out to eat as a family because you basically spend 4X the amount of money that you would to make that food at home AND eating out with the kids isn't what I call relaxing. Anyway, Kai has his first Pirate Pack and only ate the grapes. Immediately I knew he was pretty sick because not eating is the biggest indicator for him. The next morning he woke us up saying `I just threw up'. Great. All day Saturday he just laid on the couch and ate nothing except for a bowl of ice cream at dinner time. He had a fever on Saturday night which always stresses me out so I didn't fall asleep until the meds brought it down. In positive news, Koen is now healthy-ish!

{Getting Koen in the morning. One hand on `Blue' the other on his sippy cup with water. Always.}

Koen and I ran spent Saturday together buying him some used ice skates and then going to Riley's first birthday party. I probably should have brought my camera. I can never decide whether to take it or not but after seeing Riley's gorgeous eyes in the natural light, I knew I should've brought it:)

On Sunday morning we skipped church due to Kai being so sick and I went to Queen Elizabeth Park for a family photo session. How have I never been there before? It was gorgeous! After that, I went to our first football practice of the season. It was so nice to be outside exercising, with friends, and playing football. So good for the soul, ya know?

When I came home, Gary had done 3 loads of laundry, washed the van with the kids, and made dinner and dessert (chocolate mousse!!). Wow, it sure was nice to have some time away and come home to that! Having Gary home every evening is so awesome.

So many photographers are at the WPPI (Wedding & Portrait Photographers International) conference in Vegas right now which is for photographers of all levels. One day I will go. One day. I would really love to go with Gary but he is always working during that time.

Okay, time for tea:) Hope you all had a lovely weekend!

Love, Louise