Tuesday, January 26, 2016

A Real Hair Cut

Guess what we did last weekend?

A real hair cut, with no tears, sitting in the chair the whole time, minimal distress, and some 11 year old street cred. Photo coming soon.

Thank you, hometown Great Clips hair salon! James picked you out and you made his day. Still making his week, in fact.

I have to give a big shout out to Ricardo, who didn't miss a beat and made James feel like a typical 11 year-old guy. His trimming technique around the ears was pure magic to watch.

One more of those "OMG, we're finally here" moments. Victory!

Birthday Boy is Eleven!

James had a very quiet birthday this year. He was sick, the weather was cold, and we were all pretty wrung out. He had presents, we made his birthday cake together using his favourite Lazy Daisy recipe. We saw The Good Dinosaur, the odd Pixar product and enjoyed pizza from Round Table.


James liked his books, movies, and Edward, from the Thomas Train Engine series. He liked the Star Wars movie we took him to, once he was feeling better and crowds had died down a bit.

His real birthday party is in a couple of weeks, once the playoff tournaments have finished at our local bowling alley. Happy birthday, James!

Homework, New Style

James has started to independently complete his homework! Rather than just leave him to it, I seem to get best results by being nearby, working on things of my own.

Tonight was novel: After finishing math on his own, James read aloud to me for 20 minutes while I dismantled the Christmas tree (still within the one month from Boxing Day: not bad for me). As I slowly cut the tree into pieces and loaded it into the recycling bin, James plowed through The Magic School Bus: The Electric Field Trip, making darned good decoding attempts on topics such as hydroectric power, geothermal plants, and nuclear energy. 

The big word we spent time on? Molecular. James kept at it until he nailed the pronunciation.

As I tackled the tree trunk with first the loppers, then the pruning saw, James wrote 3 sentences, all on his own. Upon review, he needed to swap verbs for the first and third sentences and completely reconstruct the middle sentence. They were simple sentences, but they covered key information about what James read. Yes!

Thanks Grandma and Grandpa! These books are gifts that keep on giving.

Friday, January 01, 2016

New Year Endorsement

Welcome 2016! I started the new year right by baking scones and cleaning a sink load of dishes while the pastries baked in the oven. It feels good to bake, especially because my picky eater requested it. James loves my scones.

I know, because I asked: "James, do you like my scones?" "Oh yes, Mother," he assured me in his best Announcer voice. "You can eat them!!!"

I rest my case. What are your requested recipes? If you don't have one, why not find one?