Mommin' It Up!

August 7, 2014

Be Glad I’m Not Your Mom: Minecraft Edition

Two nights ago, weary before bed, I said to my husband, “I think we should pay someone to come over here and talk to Joshua about Minecraft because I can’t stand to hear about it anymore. I’m serious. I cannot TAKE IT anymore. This is something I would pay money for.”

Bobby looked at me and with all sincerity said, “That’s a great idea.”

BECAUSE OH MY GOSH WE ARE BOTH SO SICK OF MINECRAFT.

Every time Joshua starts talking about Minecraft, or God forbid, WANTS ME TO LOOK AT THE SCREEN WHILE HE’S PLAYING (shudder), I tense up as if prepared for battle. I have to conjure up a mental happy place to go to to survive the ensuing minutes. Zombies, sheep, square ducks, swords, and lots of names I don’t understand (sounds like: hair-o-brine, no I DON’T want to know what the correct word is. Don’t. Want. To. Know.) and all the Minecraft stories are long, people, they’re LONG. So I have to stay rooted to one spot for entire ETERNITIES, people, listening to gobbledygook when I have SO MUCH TO DO.

Joshua’s so obsessed with Minecraft that he has started making Minecraft videos for KidzVuz. Like this one. I mean, he’s cute and all…but it’s just a video of him playing Minecraft. And there are like FIVE MORE that he’s done on my iPad that I haven’t had time to upload them yet. I mean we are probably going on 30 minutes of Minecraft videos here.

One of the reasons I can hardly wait for school to start is that at school, Joshua can talk to his FRIENDS about Minecraft and hopefully get it out of his system some. And then maybe, just maybe, when he gets home, he will just PLAY it…and not show it to me. A girl can dream, right? Dream that someday, she’ll live in a world where she doesn’t have to watch her son’s square doppelgänger climb all 567 steps on the giant high dive he constructed in his square pixelated dreamworld and then go shear some square sheep.

I dream BIG, people.

So, who wants to come over and talk to Joshua about Minecraft for real American dollars? Submit your resumes in the comments. I figured I’d ask you guys before I just hired some creeper off of Craigslist. I mean like REAL creeper, not Minecraft Creeper. Although they may be one and the same.

(P.S. this post was written with a 3-year-old on my lap. You may applaud now.)

August 5, 2014August 5, 2014

A Big First: The Boy Finally Likes Books!!

Thanks to Staples for providing the review item for this post. All opinions are my own!

I may have mentioned here a time or two that I am a voracious reader. I love, love, love books. The library was one of my happy places as a child, and still is really, although it’s more like DaytonMetroLibrary.org is my happy place because I LOVE requesting books online and then zipping in to pick them up at my local branch!

But I digress.

I’ve always read to the kids, from the time they were babies, hoping to instill a love of reading in them too. Sophie is her mother’s daughter, spending her free time reading – at 7, she can read an entire American Girl chapter book in a day. I know, crazy, right?

But despite the fact that he’s a great reader, Joshua has never liked to read for fun. I tried a couple different series to get him interested, but I never could come up with anything he LOVED.

Until this summer. Joshua had a BIG “first” (which is fitting since he’s about to have another big “first” – first day of middle school, eek!) – his first book series he loves. He devours these books, reading one in a day and then begging to go to the library to get another. What are these magical books you might add? Well, they are, of course, Diary of a Wimpy Kid. In just two weeks he has read 8 out of the 9! Because the 9th isn’t out yet! We are just back from vacation so he can’t wait to get the last book. Which leads me to another “first” for him – his first tablet.

Shortly before we left for vacation, my friends at Staples asked if I’d like to test out a Kindle Fire HD for my kids to read on. Of course I said yes! Anything to keep the kids busy in the car and keep them reading! But also, it was great because I was nervous about taking (and losing) library books on vacation. We loaded the Kindle up with two Wimpy Kid books for both kids to share (Sophie loves them too and as soon as he’s done, she reads the one he has just finished) and also one American Girl book for Sophie (which Joshua is of course free to read if he’d like, but…yeah, he’s not going to do that!).

Joshua kindle — Something I’ve longed to see: Joshua curled up in a chair reading a book!

Let me just say, even with them sharing the Kindle, we had our best, quietest, friendliest road trip EVER – and it’s a 7-hour drive! It’s easy for both of them to operate without our help, which is awesome since we are waaaay up in the front of the minivan and they are waaaay in the back. The screen is clear as can be and it’s so lightweight. I was impressed with how well they took care of it, too – they are definitely proving that they can handle the responsibility of this new tablet.

I also love that I can borrow electronic edition books for them from the library on the Kindle – helloo, it’s a mom’s dream! They’re reading library books that I don’t have to hunt down and return on time. Wheeeee!!!

Some other things I like about the Kindle Fire HD include it’s great battery life and all the apps the kids can get from the Amazon App store to help with everything from education to entertainment (no more borrowing my tablet to play Minecraft = priceless!)

We are really loving the Kindle Fire HD in our house, and I’m so excited that it’s going to make it even easier for me to give the kids access to the books they love from the library as well as special titles I’d like them to own on Kindle. If you’re interested in one for the reader in your life, head on over to Staples to check oneout – you’ll love it! And while you’re there, you can get everything you need for another big “first” – the first day of SCHOOL!! Ours is coming up in just 8 glorious days! From backpacks to pencils to big-kids supplies like combination locker locks, Staples has it all. AND they have a back-to-school 110% price match guarantee -whee!

And now that Joshua’s about done with the Wimpy Kid series, I could use some more suggestions? I’ve got him started on Origami Yoda and Encyclopedia Brown – what other book series are great for 10-year-old boys?

August 4, 2014August 3, 2014

A Champion Again! And then some!

So last week I told you (again) about my awesome Rubik’s cube-phenom nephew, Drew, and how excited I was that KidzVuz.com was sponsoring him to the Rubik’s US National championships this past weekend. Remember?!?!? I know you do. You may also remember that Drew was already the World Champion on the Pyraminx event, having won that title last summer. Since “Worlds”are only held every-other-year, US Nationals was the big competition for Drew in 2014.

Here’s a totally awesome LIVE local news segment he did the day before he left for US Nationals. I know I am biased, but I was pretty blown away by how poised he was during a live interview. I mean…he’s14. I know I was not that together when I was 14.

Nationals wrapped up for Drew last night and…he killed it! He achieved his long-time goal of setting the World Record for the Pyraminx…and he did it in the FIRST round of competition, solving it with an average time of 2.90 seconds (the previous record was 2.96). In the second round of the “regular” cube competition, he set a new North American record for a single-solve of the Rubik’s Cube, solving it in just 5.97 seconds and totally surprising himself! That wasn’t even one of his goals for the competition!

rubikscube — Drew is the boss of this cube in North America!

After setting the new North American Record, he went on to win the Pyraminx final with an average solving time of 3.07 seconds, not as fast as his world record but over a second-and-a-half faster than 2^nd place (#justsayin)! He also won third place in the Skewb event, which is this thing:

Solving it with an average time of 5.49 seconds. And finally, in the final round of the Rubik’s Cube 3×3 event (he set his North American Record in the 2^nd round) he finished in 13th place with an average solving time of 10.17 seconds. Not his best finish, but we will let it slide on account of the amazeballs North American Record he set in round 2! (He also had a killer round 3, which, if it had been the final round, would have made him 3rd or 4th place.)

Here he is setting the North American record on the ol’ regular 3×3 Rubik’s Cube. Hold on to your eyeballs, kids, THIS IS FAST!

WHEW!

This kid did a TON of competing in 3 days time, and his family sure is proud of him! Thanks so much to KidzVuz.com for helping to put all Drew’s practice and determination into action and supporting him in getting to Nationals! Make sure and get your kiddos started on KidzVuz to they can see and make product reviews of their favorite stuff in a safe, fully-moderated, bully-free online environment. Joshua is still loving making reviews of his favorite toys, book, and video games. You can check him out on KidzVuz here.

And finally, here’s Drew breaking the World Record on the Pyraminx. (Did I mention he was already the World Champ and North American record holder on this? Now he is World Champion, World Record Holder, National Champion, and North American Record Holder. Wowzers. All I have is a bachelor’s degree.)

Enjoy, and congrats Drew!! Your #FanAunt is very proud of you!