This week we celebrated Jimmy's 10th gotcha day, 10 years ago, he chose us as his forever family and has set out creating memories and life lessons for us all.
Who knew his love for sports, music, family and friends was going to take us where we are today. Jimmy is now in a boy band, if you hear them sound awesome! He has met and conversed with several sports legends from Joe Kapp to Chuck Foreman and has a pair of Timberwolves tickets signed by Wayne Ellington!
Jimmy has brought us such excitement and joy along with all the madness that goes with a 10 year old boy! He is currently all about baseball and his team the Marlins. Practice has begun, the opening day is set for May 5th and Jimmy said yesterday " Dad, this year, if we loose a game, I am going to take the loss like a man", we will see. For those of you who do not know Jimmy is a serious competitor and losing is not something he does well, he is hard on himself and very critical of his performance which is good and bad, being passionate and wearing his heart on his sleeve gives young James spirit.
He is a generous and thoughtful friend. He thinks nothing of sharing his toys/electronics/sporting equipment. In fact, at a recent Timberwolves game, he caught one of the "flying" tshirts from Crunch. He turned to Tom and said "I already have one of these tshirts, can I give it to the kid next to me?". Now...if only he were as kind to his brother and sister. Typical, I suppose:)We celebrated his Gotcha day in typical fashion with stories, his "birth" book and cupcakes. So here's to Jimmy and all the love, laughs and life that you bring to us and all your family and friends!
We love you, we bless you and we are glad you chose us to be your forever family!
The below is a show Jimmy was on and won a set of tickets, he is at the 28 minute mark
http://www.gameontvmn.com/shows/recent-episodes/gallery?videoid=n-dp7foDHRc#youtubegallery
In the craiziness of things we forgot to mention Jimmy and his band was featured in the West Bank School of Music Newsletter:
The Making of a Band at WBSM
Thanks to last summer’s annual Youth Rock and Pop Band Camp, three West Bank students now have their own band led by guitar, dobro, and summer camp instructor, Ryan Kimm.
Will, 14 and Jimmy, 10 met last year at the camp where they rocked out and learned some new tunes. They liked the camp and their experience so much that last October, they decided to start their very own band and were joined by Will’s friend, Isak, also 14. Already their rehearsals of the past five months have paid off as the students had the chance to record their music in a professional recording studio, one of Minneapolis’ best, Creation Audio. They recorded songs like “Pumped Up Kicks” by Foster the People and “Someone Like You” by Adele. You can hear a couple samples from their studio experience at our YouTube channel.
We sat down with the students to learn more about them, their band that has yet to choose a name and why they like WBSM so much. Will says being in band is a lot of fun because “you get to jam with others once your learn to groove.” Well said, Will. Isak likes WBSM because “they have good teachers” and they enjoy learning to play a variety of new music. Their favorite music to play? Jazz standards and music incorporating the foundations of jazz. The students practice together about an hour and a half a week but also practice at home whenever they can. Outside of playing in their band, the young trio enjoys pop, hip-hop and rock. They are also all very involved in sports. Jimmy plays football, baseball and snowboards, just to name a few. Will and Isak like to skateboard and hang out with friends.
This year’s summer Youth Rock and Pop Camp has two sessions that run June 18-22 and June 25-29. The earlier session is filling up fast, so be sure to register your music student(s) soon! For more information on the camp click here.
