Bouncy Houses, Books, Scooter

Last Saturday was a full fun day for Nico. A baseball game started the day off and in the afternoon a 3 hour birthday party at the park. We dropped him off there at 3, picked him up at 6. They even had gluten free pizza and cupcakes!

There were two bouncy houses.

I stole a few pictures from the event page, several people uploaded their pictures to the site and I downloaded the ones with Nico in them.

Before Nico went to the party, Evelyn asked where he was going and he told her. Soon after, I got a text from Allicia saying that they were headed to the park and wanted to know if we'd like to come. I told her Nico was already there and she said "I wonder if that was why Evelyn was so insistent on going!" Heehee. When we came to pick Nico up, we saw Allicia and the kids there, and we all walked (ran) home together. It was a fun day.

Nico received a package from the Grandparents Russell this past week, with a few surprises in it! An activity book for our road trip (which he studiously started on already.. hehe), a nice zippered pouch for art supplies, and inside the pouch... a book! Captain Underpants!! I have not been up on the Captain Underpants books and didn't realize there were 12 of them!!! This was #9, as Nico told me. I had told Grandma Russell this was a good book to get Nico, thinking it was #4, hah! Well indeed it was a good choice, just not in the way I was expecting. heehee. And one thing about Nico - if he gets a new book as part of a series, he has to read or re-read all of the first books in order, before he reads the new one. He was luckily already in the middle of re-reading book #3 when this one arrived, so he finished that off and then we checked out #4 and #5 from the library for him to read.

Reading book#3 outside before bed.

We got Nico's baseball pictures back!

He is still loving baseball so much, his last game is this Saturday! He is already talking about next year. Nico's baseball practice was cancelled on Tuesday, so instead we went to the park so he could practice on his new scooter! 

We are going to pack this in our car and take it with us to Arlington when we visit in a few weeks (1 1/2 more weeks!!!) I should have taken a video of it, but to make it move forward you move your hips back and forth. Guy looked at him and said "we should give him a hula hoop!"

Jeff was out of town this week so we spent a lot of time with Allicia and the kiddos. Allicia's birthday was Wednesday, so we celebrated by making pizza and coconut milk ice cream in her new ice cream maker. We also spent a lot of time downstairs playing video games. It was a great week!

Eating ice cream

Here's a slo-mo video of Nico hitting!

School school

On Saturday our neighborhood had a block party at the end of our street. I set up a little henna booth there just like last year, but this time the people who organized it said I should charge, so I did! There was a bouncy house just like last year, and just like last year Nico jumped so much he started feeling sick. Guy took him home to bed and he was soon feeling better.

Sunday was Aadam's birthday. He didn't have an official party but he did come over with his brother Sammy and the boys played out front at our table for a while, eating watermelon and playing. Aadam had treat bags for all the kids, it had some sweet treats in it that Nico could eat and a hotwheels car and a Minions cup.

Then another week of school started! Nico has been doing well. We figured out that library day is Tuesday. Our routine after he gets home from school is--> homework-->snack & iPad. It's been good so far. For a few days he wasn't eating his sandwich in his lunch but just eating his crackers and carrots. I told him to focus on eating his sandwich first and ever since then he's been eating his sandwich too.

Last night (Thursday night) was the Parents Orientation. We heard a speech from the principal (very good), and then we went to the classrooms and met our child's teacher. Nico now sits in the very front row. I sat at his desk and Mrs. Smith told us we could look through our child's stuff, so I did. I pulled out all the stuff he had in his desk and looked through it. Oh fun! She explained how homework works and the kinds of things they're doing in the class. "Walk to Read" and "March to Math" are both daily/weekly things that they do with the other 1st grade class. They are put into groups dependent on their skill. At the end she asked us all to write something to our child in their journals. That was very cool. He is at school right now and has probably already read it!

She also talked about "Mindset", about teaching kids that doing hard things grows your brain and making mistakes is how we learn. She said that a good question to ask our kids every day is "What hard thing did you do today, how did you grow your brain?" I did notice that he started saying something new just the other day, he was saying it to himself while trying to put on his suspenders without luck "I can do this, I can do this, I CAN do this." Way to go teacher!!

Thursday was a late night for me so that's why I'm updating this morning! Guy has today off and we are hoping to watch some Netflix together today while Nico is at school. It is a long weekend so Guy also has Monday off!

I perfected the gluten free tortilla! It can fold!!

15 minutes before bed: Can I have some henna? Nico told me where to put every part. "Put a vine here, and here, and here and here"

Graduation, Field Day, Last Day, Oh my!

Last Friday was Nico's graduation. They sang songs and received certificates and talked into a microphone about what they learned in Kindergarten. I don't even remember what Nico said, though I have it on video. I will post a video next week since I didn't have time this week! What I do remember is that he said something that I didn't understand. I'll have to watch it again to see if I can discern it.

Nico and his teacher Miss Lung

I brought a little potted flower for Nico to give to Miss Lung. And then for HIM I brought a bag of his favorite mint chocolates from Trader Joe's

Brodie, Nico, Olivia

On Sunday we went to church and after church there was a potluck with a water slide. We brought tuna pasta salad. Guy tried out the blow-darts and then told me I should try it out, so I did. It takes a LOT of lung power to propel those things! I couldn't even get my dart to the first target. Guy got his to the furthest target, I was impressed!

Our neighbors, Tiffanie, Sam and Adam

Tiffanie and Sam

Adam

Sunday afternoon was fun. Nico and I got some snuggle time in while Guy took a nap and then Guy mowed Jonny & Alanna's lawn. 

Here's a good shot of the cul-de-sac across the street from Jonny & Alanna's house. On Monday Nico was able to introduce himself to the kids and play with them for a few hours until lunch time. They even let him ride on some of their fun  toys. Here is Nico riding on Lexie's EzyRoller while Guy mowed the front lawn.

Playing with the Panorama option on my phone. This is the view from their backyard!

Dot-to-dots on the couch

 Being silly eating "hockey pucks"

No school on Monday, and Tuesday was Olympic Field Day. Guy was able to take that morning off to take Nico!! He took lots of pictures.

Tuesday was also our last day at Jonny & Alanna's house! It was such a fun experience being there. I will miss their dishwasher!! 

Tuesday night Nico came in from playing with his friends with a 102.2 fever and a really bad headache. We thought it might have ben heat exhaustion, but weren't sure. It went up to 103.2 in the night, and the next day it was hovering around 101 all day, going to bed with it right at 100, and then this morning he was all better. With the fever, at least. He woke up this morning whining that his stomach hurt :( He got sick once so we couch-bound him and them had him take a nap, he woke up feeling fine and so off to school he went for his LAST DAY!!!! I'm so glad he was able to make it to his last day. 

He did make an observation this morning after he got sick. He was pretty matter of fact. "I had throw up in my tummy, and then it just came up. That's what was wrong, it came up, like this *re-enactment* and then I was fine!" I thought it was great, it seems like he doesn't have any fear of it. His tummy ache reappeared shortly and he asked me "Mommy, why didn't my tummy ache go away?" I told him that last time (a few weeks ago, remember that?) he felt better after sleeping, so that's where the nap came in. 

This is all stuff I'm writing down to tell to his doctor next Tuesday when we have a follow up appointment. This doesn't bode well for our gut-healing attempts, but I'm confident we'll get to the bottom of it.

That's it for this week! Expect a video next time :)

Another Birthday Party!

Saturday was Michael's birthday party. Michael is a boy that went to Nico's preschool and now they are in Kindergarten together! The party was at Quarry View, so Nico rode his bike. They had a bouncy house, and cake and snacks. And Michael's older sister was doing face painting! Nico asked her to do a lion! I got a rose on my hand.

Nico jumped so much on the bouncy house that he came out and said he had a tummy ache and wanted to go home. This was right at 3 PM when the party was over, good timing! We came home and turned the swamp cooler on and relaxed on the couch. He was soon feeling better. 

At the party I met the mother of another one of Nico's classmates, she helps out on Wednesdays in the classroom with the weekly art project they do. She invited to come help this past Wednesday because they were doing something that could use an extra hand. I agreed! Nico was very excited that I was coming to his class. He made sure I stood in line with him.

For the art project they had to wrap sticks in yarn and then we (the helpers) tied them to another stick to make mobiles. There was glue and yarn everywhere!!

Every month, Guy's cousin Missy (I call her my cousin too) puts together a girls night out for a small group of girls. I was able to go this time and it was a blast! We went out to eat. Nico got to stay home with Guy. Missy said she may try to stop by G.G.'s house the next time Nico and I go there. Looking forward to that!

Nico has Thursday and Friday off this week.. teacher inservice!

I have my Aromatherapy Registration Exam on Monday. I've been studying. Pray for me!

Still no word on Guy's job. I'm in charge of Guy's phone during the day in case they call, and I've been carrying it with me everywhere for 4 weeks now!

(Forgot to mention us climbing Camel's Back Hill! See next week's blog for pictures and video!)