Halloween 2015

I know I'm very, very behind on my blogging.

Don't you want to see what James looks like these days?

It will be hard to see because he's under a mask :)

 

He is SUPER. A superhero, Captain America!

 

At around 6pm he went to go see if his friend Caden would be trick or treating soon. He ran back and wanted to leave ASAP because kids were out! He hurried into his costume and we were off. He joined up with his neighbor friends- Caden, Sawyer, Gunnar, Logan.

 

 

 

This year James requested Minecraft pumpkins.

 

 

We didn't stay outside for very long. Less than an hour? Some quick circles around the neighborhood.

James and his haul. Smaller than usual but that's okay because he's kinda picky.

 

And some hot chocolate and a good book. Captain America loves to read, you know!

 

James declared Halloween his second favorite holiday, after Christmas of course!

 

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Grandpa Frank Winter 2015

Grandpa Frank came to Minnesota for his annual ice fishing trip. I didn't get any pictures besides this one (and I'm kicking myself) but this shows James teaching his Grandpa all about Minecraft. Poor Grandpa Frank!

 

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Minecraft Winter

Our winter break was full of Minecraft and Skylanders. Xbox games.

James received an Xbox Live subscription for Christmas, enabling him to play online with "friends". The friends are approved, obvious children also playing on Xbox. I liked this particular kid because he seemed sweet and a kid of color!

 

James also discovered iTunes and bought a few songs. A Minecraft song?! Who knew!

 

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End of Fall

In mid October I was admiring our fall and thinking already that snow would soon come. Sigh.

 

School release days equal play date! With his good buddy George! George's Dad is also a teacher, and had the day off, but he seemed kind of relieved to drop George off for the day!

They got right to Nerf play!

 

I love love love this picture. The reds, the oranges!

 

 

Neighborhood friends came to greet George. They all played well with each other. I hardly a worry.

 

 

 

 

Inside, for a little Minecraft play.

 

After George left James went over to the far neighbor's house to play. I don't like him that far, especially when they play on the side and front of that house, but the kids seem nice enough. The family has several (6-8??) foster kids ranging in ages 3 to 16, I think.

 

It was a pretty fun day for James!

 

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Man Cave

I dared to intrude on this day to see what my boys were doing.

 

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Gaming future

James follows a few gamers on YouTube and he's told us that that's what he wants to do in college- collect Nerf, make videos about Nerf and Minecraft, have lots of followers, and then make money to buy more Nerf.

So he still hasn't perfected his gaming and video making skills, but here was his first attempt. His buddy Chris joined in.

 

Notice he's wearing a headset but they're not really plugged in. He sees the other gamers do this, using their microphones.

The video never turned out.

 

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Nature Camp 2014

In late July we had James signed up for a nature camp at Springbrook Nature Center. The huge bonus was that it was also a Spanish Immersion camp! So a bit of Spanish to practice some skills. The neighborhood moms had emailed back and forth to get our kids involved. We also arranged a carpool. I'm the Mom with the most (summer) time at home so I did most of the driving. I needed to borrow a minivan to fit all the booster seats.

I was a minivan driving carpool Mom! Whoa.

Clayton always makes a face. James is probably thinking, Sigh. Another picture! Carter was new to me so the most cooperative for a picture.

 

Because of the other Moms' work schedules, it did work better to have the boys dropped off early at our house. Like 7am early! So we were a mini daycare for a week... Before and after the camp time (9-4).

The boys kept busy with connecting worlds in Minecraft.

 

I even provided some meals once they realized the beauty of pancake balls. This was on the first night when I made them breakfast for dinner. I called their Moms and asked to keep them a bit late, since the first day is always so fun. They came over for breakfast each morning too to partake in pancake balls. Good thing I always freeze a bunch!

Our guests ate 10 pancake balls each! I think it became a challenge.

 

Oh, so about the camp. James didn't complain all week but it wasn't his favorite thing ever. It was a lot of outdoorsy, get dirty activities. Lots of bug bites too. He told me on Friday that it would be okay if we didn't sign him up next year.

Hey, we tried!

 

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Minecraft Lego Camp 2014

We had signed up James for a Minecraft class in the spring. He was all about all things Minecraft so we thought it was a perfect fit. His interest started to wane but luckily he still wanted to attend, didn't mind it was tech-free and mainly dealt with Legos and crafts, and he ended up having lots of fun. Anytime we mentioned that he went to Minecraft camp to other friends, they were slightly jealous. We just happened to see it in the city newsletter!

It was a drop-your-child-off-and-come-back-later deal so I don't know exactly what they did for those few days. I saw art projects and then the last day's chaotic fun because I arrived early for pickup.

 

The kids were just finishing up their Lego torches.

 

And then the teacher turned out the lights for the full effect...and chaos.

 

Hey, this looks like a light saber!

 

Just lots of torches stumbling around in the dark..

 

 

And then they came together for a group torch. It was cute.

 

The eight bit artwork-

Ender man, a skeleton, and a pig.

 

So big thumbs up for the Minecraft Lego camp!

 

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Minecraft torture

I often sync up iPads and play Minecraft with James. It seemed like he would come up with multiple ways to torture me within the game...

"Mom, come up here and stand on this tree." KABOOM!

 

"Mom, I built this roller coaster for you.." Through fire?!

 

 

Through a lava waterfall...

 

With a couple cows...

 

More fire.

 

That boy loves his Minecraft!

 

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Clayton

Clayton lives on the other side of the pond. That's not all like the other side of the tracks. Ha!

 

Clayton's a rough and tumble kid. He also is quite the little personality and we enjoy having him over for the occasional play date!

 

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