Thursday, March 28, 2013

Insert Cute Title Here

One afternoon I was cooking or something and I saw James playing quietly on the couch. I look closely and don't understand what he's doing. He told me, "It's boys vs. girls!"

Where does he learn this from?!

 

Well, it was still cute.

Later, he got Dad involved in the puppet play. It was an Awwwwww moment.

 

And then WHACK! WHACK! Cute puppet play moment gone.

 

Boys!

 

Saturday, March 16, 2013

Snow Day

One glorious morning I woke up and just KNEW something wonderful had happened. I checked my phone and sure enough I had about 18 texts from my wonderful teacher friends that school had been CANCELLED DUE TO SNOW! Snow day!! James' school district's information was a bit harder to find, so it took me a couple of minutes to confirm that he also had a snow day. And by then I was kind of wide awake which defeats the purpose of a snow day (= sleeping in!) Oh well!

James and I had a great time! An extra day together!

We went outside to check out just how much snow had fallen.

 

It was a good 8-10 inches of fresh, fluffy white snow!

 

 

This is our sledding hill after just a few runs down. It was slow going at first trying to get through all that snow, but soon enough we had worn out a small sledding track.

 

 

 

 

Snow saber. It really is for summer water fun, but he was having a good time with it.

 

 

My selfy. I always wear this hat in the snow. It's my warmest, most cheerful hat. And handknit by Ana!

 

The fun continued inside. Hungry Hungry Hippos! James always win. Just so you know.

 

Yay for SNOW DAYS! But really, we are done with the snow now. Spring can't come soon enough!

 

Sweet Miracles

Jim always tells me that when James is about 14 or 15 years old that he will truly appreciate the foods that I cook and bake. And he'll be bringing all his friends over to the house. Right now it's hit or miss whether James will try something new. He is pretty particular about his foods. He likes things plain plain plain.

This includes his sweets. I made these Oreo cupcakes for a special group of kids at my school (they did me some big favors)... and James took one look at them and said YUCK!

 

But I explained that they are white cake. He likes white cake. And then there are Oreos mixed in. He LOVES Oreos right now. And there is cream cheese frosting. He can't get enough of cream cheese sometimes. So why wouldn't he like these all together??

He actually tried it.

 

HE LIKED IT! HE LIKED IT! It's a miracle!

Well, he ate most of it but called it quits after that. He wouldn't have another, which was fine. All in moderation, you know.

 

Bunny egg. Just because it's cute. I think this was one for me, I can tell because it has salt and pepper on it.

 

Friday, March 15, 2013

Money doesn't grow on trees, that's what my Mom used to say...

Dad gave James a valuable lesson on money and credit cards. He has been asking to buy all sorts of things, but not saving his allowance.

 

The credit card lesson. "Can you buy all the toys with that?"

 

Money lesson. James needed to understand the value of money. I think this helped!

 

A few weeks ago James saw me clipping coupons from the Sunday paper. He took the Toys R Us ad and clipped his own coupons.

 

He was very sad when I told him that you canNOT get the toys for free with coupons. He didn't believe me!

 

SI School Carnival

I'm sure this was a fundraiser... We just showed up and paid for our wristband.

They rented these little carnival games for the kids and gave out small prizes like stickers, pencils,etc. James tried each of the games. He was on a mission!

 

PLINKO!

 

Football toss.

 

Baseball Velcro ball thingie.

 

 

These older kids were in charge of helping the kids "fish". James knew there was someone behind the screen. He's no dummy.

 

 

Pinguino!

 

Inflatable jumpie thingies, several of them.

 

Horse racing. (No betting allowed.)

 

James didnt have a chance, not when he was up against this little firecracker girl! Pretty darn cute though!

 

 

James and Mom

Art from his Leapster.

 

I hope I'm the one on the left with the long lean legs!

 

I Love to Read

To finish out February, which was also I Love to Read Month, here is James with a new book that I brought home.

 

 

Grandpa Frank, Winter 2013

Grandpa Frank came for his annual fishing trip in late February. James was super excited to see him. I showed him pictures of him and Grandpa from our SD visit and he laughed at how silly Grandpa was. (Grandpa was sitting on James' lap at the SD Zoo.)

James jumped right into interacting with his Grandpa, like there had been no absence.

He was anxious for his Grandpa's attention.

"Hello!"

 

"These are Angry Birds. I call them Pajaros Enojados."

 

We headed to the Mall of America. I don't think my Dad is a shopper but I figured we could watch James have some fun!

Right out of the car, "Can I hold your hand, Grandpa?"

And then Happiness.

 

 

We went to the SeaLife Aquarium. It's very cool that it's inside the mall. Unexpected!

Inseparable. Grandpa showed James the manta rays. He told James about fishing in the ocean and that sometimes he catches them.

Jellyfish. James thought they were spooky.

 

 

 

 

 

 

You can barely see it but Grandpa had a staring contest with this alligator. I told James that Grandpa won, of course.

 

Back at home. James was nice and comfy with his Grandpa so he went into full attack!

 

 

 

 

 

We went to Benihanas's for dinner. We like that it's interactive.

James surprised us by trying shrimp. He said he liked it! No shrimp on this plate, but huge portions for kids.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We love Grandpa Frank!