As the weather improved we tried to get James outside more. This meant working on his bike skills again!
Jim determined James' current bike to be too small so they picked out a new one. It is the right size but since james isn't quite confident yet we're still practicing on the smaller bike.
We need to keep at it!
I received some fancy ice skates for Christmas (thanks Ana!) and I really wanted James to try skating. No pressure. Just enjoy it. And he was willing so I looked up the hours for a local ice arena that rents skates and we were off!
The ice arena had these support thingies so James was pretty confident scooting around. The actual skating motion escaped his efforts, but he'll learn!
And then he wanted to try without the support. I was patient and supportive. And I let him fall. It's good for him.
He just kept getting back up!
I used to skate a lot in my youth.. And I was excited to see if I could still skate well but I ended up needing to stick with James the whole time. One day I'll show him my moves :)
Proud Mom.
And we celebrated with ice cream afterwards. Of course!
We only made it skating once but maybe next year we'll get him some used skates and we can try the Blaine parks and warming houses.
We celebrated with the Tauers a few days late because Grandma Laura was under the weather. Later in the week she, Uncle Joe and Lisa came over for dinner and presents!
From Uncle Joe- a Nerf drone! Yikes!
First thing James does is try and shoot his uncle!
And then Uncle Joe decides to play.
And then the boxing.
What you don't see is the rough housing and the crying later. James always thinks he can handle it but then it goes too far :(
Jim and James had a surprise for Grandma Laura. James practiced reading his book and then read it to his Grandma.
It's a favorite of ours! The Sweet Smell of Christmas. What a lovely Christmas!
We finally sat down to write a letter to Santa. I got James started and then walked away.
I want...! No no no! I told him that that's no way to start a letter.
We changed it up.
And James asked Sneaky to deliver the letter to Santa.
And don't you worry about this list. Santa has it covered with his MasterCard!
The Blaine fire department drives by with fully decorated fire trucks and Santa (!!!) every year. Often Jim misses it because he's at pool. This year he missed it because he was out of town. Sad face.
We joined up with some neighbor friends and decided to watch together. We waited a long, long time. The kids played together outside. The adults took turns huddling inside to keep warm. Santa ended up being about an hour late.
By that time the kids were crabby and there was a wrestling incident that made several kids crabby.
James never snapped out of it, even when Santa finally rolled around.
The firemen took our nonperishables for the local food shelf.
When we made it home I quickly snuck upstairs and arranged Sneaky like this for James to find on his way to bed.
James did see it and he hung his head down in sadness. I didn't mean to make him sad but he did end up missing out on the Santa joy because he couldn't let go of a friend conflict.
Well, we saw Santa!
We like this fall tradition. We may not buy our pumpkins from the farm, but we like the fall activity of visiting!
He really loved the goats this time!
Mmmmmm mini donuts :)
Watching the Farfel the Dragon show. Kinda ridiculous, but silly humor for kids.
Apple cannons!
We rode the tractor to the pumpkin patch.
And a quick visit to the playground.
And that's a full day!
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