Bike Ride, Speech

Nico had an early release last Friday, it was the end of the first semester.

Saturday is Nico's proclaimed favorite day of the week. Pancakes in the morning and Pizza at night, plus more iPad usage than a typical day. This Saturday we needed to get out and be active, we were feeling a bit cooped up. The sun was out too! We went for a walk and Nico rode his bike. We forgot to bring mittens for him, and the route on the Greenbelt we take is always very windy, so his hands got very cold. We decided the best thing would be to remove his socks and let him wear the socks on his hands. He loved it.

If I don't take pictures of stuff, I forget what we did! On Sunday Guy had a bit of a fever so he stayed back from church. We also skipped Bible Study that night. He stayed home from work on Monday and Tuesday.

Nico and Evelyn have been playing Minecraft after school every day for the past few weeks. On the days that Nico doesn't have iPad privileges, he just watches Evelyn play.

Nico not letting me take a picture of him at breakfast. hehe

Nico's speech teacher called me this afternoon because it's about time for his yearly review. She says that he is doing a lot better holding his attention during speech practice, and that he is very easy and pleasant to work with. We'll hear more about the progress at the review. She asked me how he is doing at home and I told her there are still times one of us (Guy or me) can't make out what he's saying, but usually the other one of us can fill in the gaps. And there are still times that others can't understand.

She told me when she went to his class to get him for speech yesterday, they were in the middle of doing a science experiment, and when she walked into the class he looked up at her in horror because he did not want to leave the class. They negotiated and he was able to stay in the class during the science experiment and he will get his speech work done tomorrow. Nico had told us about this science experiment yesterday, it involved microscopes, he didn't mention that he skipped speech for it. I'm glad the speech teacher is flexible with the time!

Day in the Life video!

It turns out that the book Nico checked out from the library last week, The Capture, was one that he chose because their class' library time was over and he hadn't picked a book out yet, so he just grabbed one off the shelf. It turns out the reading is a little too advanced for him. Perhaps he will read it when he's older! It comes highly recommended by Grandma Russell, so I ended up reading it and am excited to read the rest of the series :) I love a good book!

On Saturday while we ate pizza we watched An American Tail.

On Sunday we started up our small group study again. Guy chose the book "Free of Me" by Sharon Hodde Miller. It is a great book and I can't wait to dig into it again.

Here is Nico's 2017 year in review.
My best memory: Thanksgiving
My best idea: is make chess school evere day.
I always say: good moning.
I am proud of: Happynis
I like to spend my time: Doing reading
My friends are: Nick
My favorite animal: lion
My favorite book: Magic Treehouse
My favorite color: Brick Red
Favorite food: sushi
My favorite song: You can't stop me!!!!
Next year I want to learn to: be nice
go see: adult jumpropeing

Doing a workbook at bedtime, he was asked to write a friendly letter and this is what he chose to write:

I have something special for you guys this week, on Tuesday we did a Day-in-the-Life video. It will take you through a typical day for us. I hope you guys enjoy! 

Minecraft with Evelyn, G.G. visit

Nico came home from Grandma Camp on Friday after lunch. We enjoyed a nice afternoon, played some games, and hung out. We had a nice leisurely weekend as well. Nico was back to school on Monday. He was excited to go back.

After school Nico and Evelyn have been playing Minecraft. They gather downstairs, each on their own device. Sometimes Avery and Ivy join them. Ivy asks me in a sweet voice all the time, "Is Nico going to play Minecraft?"

On Tuesday I watched Avery and Ivy during nap time while Allicia was out. They didn't stay asleep and were up shortly after Allicia left, so we hung out downstairs and played Zelda. We had fun. That afternoon after school Nico and I went to Nampa to visit G.G!

Eating banana bread after school on Monday.

Putting together one of his Christmas presents

On Wednesday I went to lunch with my parents and some family friends I hadn't seen in a very long time, Glenn and Doris Loomis. They recently moved to Boise from Donnelly. We ate at Marie Callenders. 

I didn't take many pictures this week, I need to be better about that! 

It's a short update this week! Not much to report. Nico checked out a book called "The Capture" from his school library. He is reading that right now in bed. 

Until next time!

Evelyn's Birthday Party, and Grandma Camp!

Last Saturday was Evelyn's birthday! I tried to capture some pictures on my camera but I think the SD card is toast, so none of them were saved. Bummer! But I did catch one on my phone.

The theme of the party was "7 Evelyn". They even made her a shirt that said it using the 7-11 logo. So there was "gas station" type food, including sushi, which Nico actually loved. They were california rolls. He brought his chopsticks out and ate it with that. There were also fireworks, as usual. All the kids crowded around the front window, safely and warmly inside, while Jeff set of fireworks on the front lawn on a huge wooden board. 

Evelyn received a Zelda video game that the kiddos went downstairs to play after the party. Evelyn was nice enough to give Nico one of the memory slots on the game so that he could have his own account and play it too. He started his game on Sunday night I think!

Evelyn's cousin was in town for her birthday, and they invited Nico downstairs quite often to play Mario Kart or Zelda. They got along really well. They rough housed and played downstairs while they took turns playing video games. 

On Tuesday Guy and I dropped Nico off at the Grandparents Salisbury's house for a Winter Grandma Camp. I can't wait to hear all about it when he gets back tomorrow. Grandma has sent over a few pictures from their time:

They played Hide and Seek outside

Nico counting

Playing with clay

Eating breakfast with Bruce. Grandma said that Nico asked Bruce: "Can you be my friend?" and Bruce said "Yes, that would be awesome!"

Playing Jenga

I know they went to see a movie, Ferdinand, and then today they went ice skating. They also roasted hot dogs over a fire outside. 

Guy and I have been hanging out, watching movies, we also went for a very long walk along the greenbelt. Taking naps, reading books, playing games. We watched Guardians of the Galaxy 2, and The Case for Christ, and also a bunch of Burn Notice episodes. 

That's really it for this week! Nico comes home tomorrow after lunch, he starts up school again on Monday!

Oh one last thing! Nico told us he wants to hack when he grows up. I had visions of him breaking into computers but what he really meant was doing hacks, like those videos you see online of certain ways to do things that are supposedly awesome. "Hacks". He wants to do hacks. While packing for Grandma Camp he implemented a hack he saw on YouTube, where you fold up the underwear and the socks into the t-shirt that you're packing, and then fold the socks over the whole bundle after you've rolled it up. He was very excited about doing that.