Jennifer's 365 Project

We've been playing lots of Minecraft together. My preference is survival and the little one humors me.

He had a fun day, video chatting with the grandparents today.
In the evening we buried his snail (named Lamp), who was older. He's buried next to Lights, the betta fish who passed earlier this summer. He decorated the area for them.
 

We made another Popin' Cookin' candy kit today. He loves doing these and was happy with how they turned out.

The 5 year old has taken to converting his Minecraft socks into plushies. This guy is our companion on our walk today.

Some Minecraft-themed workbooks arrived and he's been excited to go through them today.

 A lonely sunflower has bloomed. The rest were all eaten before they could even sprout.

Some cucumbers from the garden. I'm enjoying this a lot of more than I thought I would, and want to set up a proper area next year. I didn't want to commit too much this year since I've always tended to kill plants, but I've been pleasantly surprised this year at what has grown, for what little effort I felt I put in.

Today would have been the first day of Kindergarten, had this been a normal year. With the pandemic, it's been anything but normal.
Instead we're keeping the little one home this year. Chris has been working with him daily for the past 7 weeks or so, working him up to a morning and afternoon session of schooling. They've been doing the gambit of subjects you'd normally have while I've been in downstairs office working. It's great to be home and see what he worked on at lunch and then again in the evening.
 

We went hiking at Palmer Park today. Lots of nature to explore.
And rocks to climb, of course.
 

Today we opened the August Sago Mini Box. It's space themed!
We had to walk around the neighborhood with the backpack and helmet.
In the evening we were surprised by packages from Uncle Jeff! Lego sets, which had to be put together right away.
And then Minecraft books, which had to be read in bed.
 

He's doing action figure photos like his father. Adorable.

 Just...why. Sometimes this cat makes things too difficult.

We flew a Where's Waldo paper airplane at the park today.
 

A beautiful day to take a stroll at the park.

Chris 3D printed the little one a Batboat, which we had to try out in the pool.
He had a lot of fun zooming these guys around the water.
In the evening, he finished enough books to earn a prize and he picked out a papercraft Where's Waldo book. Of course the first thing we made was this adorable Woof finger puppet.

The weather has been wonderful, so we've been spending outdoors when we can.
I've also started making some home made pizzas. It's been awhile, and I decided to try it with cornmeal this time. I can't believe I've been making pizza all these years without using it. Makes a world of difference.
 

We decided to make our own version of Nook's Cranny today for our cat.
 It took some coaxing, but he eventually went and and hung out.

He's not a fan.

 There is an interesting "nest" in one of our bushes. The little one has this tucked away to nest with the birds.

 This is what my son served me this afternoon as dinner.

 Little one was far less impressed with tofu parmigiana than he was with the pizza. He did not like it one bit.

We spent a little bit of the afternoon playing Animal Crossing with my brother and my dad. Grandpa seemed to enjoy the game, which is great. I think Animal Crossing is the perfect chill game for staying in doors and just relaxing when everything else right now is so crazy. So we did video chat and the four of us played for a bit exploring Quinn's island.

We made pizza together today. This time I used cornmeal, which I think helped tremendously. This was the best version of pizza I've made in years.
I also think making his own pizza helped him really enjoy the finished product. One thing about staying in so much is we've been more strict with having him try new things. It's the only variety in some of our days! He's really expanded the food he will eat, so that's a great success.

 We had a fun night enjoying snacks the grandparents shipped and playing video games with Uncle Jeff.

We found a little toad in the backyard, so we placed it in a container for a little bit. We let the little guy go an hour or so later. We have so many in the yard this time of year, it's hard not to step on them.

Lights, the 5 year old's betta fish, passed today. So we had a little burial after work in the back yard.
 He decorated the grave with some stones so we would be able to find it.

 We have more cucumbers growing in the garden!

 We took an early morning walk and wandered over to Buck Creek.
We saw deer and lots of mosquitoes. The water is low compared to earlier this spring, which means it's easier to walk around and less muddy.

We had a fun day with lots of drawings and other random things. This little guy is a scary ghost yelling Boo!
We spent a few hours in the afternoon with grandma, grandpa, and uncle Jeff. We played Animal Crossing and then Quinn took them around to show off various things in his room.

 He insisted that breakfast should be a picnic, so we ate outside near the tent.
We then hung out on the deck and played some Animal Crossing.