Last Friday, Jeff and Allicia and their whole crew left for the weekend. We took advantage of the extra space and watched movies and shows downstairs throughout the weekend.
Friday night we finished up a craft project after dinner - we made a bookmark for Grandma Russell's birthday. We made two and chose the best one to send to her, with a book.
Saturday morning we went for a bike ride! We suited up and rode to the library along the greenbelt. We had put several books on hold to checkout so Nico could pick one for his Book Project he'll be doing at school. We sought help from our favorite librarian, Grandma Russell!! She gave us a few ideas to get us started. He hasn't chosen one yet, and has been spending most of his reading time reading a HUGE Spongebob Squarepants comic book that he also checked out while we were there.
After the library we went on further to the post office, which is also along the greenbelt. I dropped off some stuff I was mailing, and then we rode home, stopping once to take a break.
Backpack full of books
Saturday it was Nico's turn to choose the movie and we watched episodes of Captain Underpants while we ate our pizza downstairs. Monday afternoon we watched Ponyo downstairs. It was a GREAT 3 day weekend and we got a LOT of relaxing in!
Tuesday was Nico's first baseball game. They are the Royals (unofficially the Dodgers). They got their uniforms on Tuesday, Nico chose #12 this time.
Playing 3rd base
Suiting up to be the catcher.
Snuggled up. It was warm but the breeze was cool!
Playing games after dinner on Wednesday.
That's it for this week! Enjoy the slow-motion Baseball Hit!
Last Friday was my 20 year High School reunion. I took Nico over to Papa and Grandma's house so he could stay the night, and Guy and I headed over to the reunion. It was great to see a few close High School buddies.
Saturday morning, Guy picked Nico up from the Grandparents' house because I was participating in Allicia's sister's baby shower back at the house, in fact, I was doing henna there! It was a fun morning. I hadn't done henna in a very long while, but I practiced the week before and I think I remembered all the important stuff :)
I was able to hand out a few packages of henna powder to two different girls who were interested in trying henna. I have a bunch of the stuff in my freezer, you see! I certainly will not get around to using it all!
Anyway, Guy and Nico headed to Guy's work picnic. Nico made a friend and him and his friend fished in the lake and jumped in the bouncy house all morning. They returned around 2PM. Pizza that night, of course, and my turn to choose the movie, and animated movie called Mary and the Witch's Flower. Very cute. The last part of the movie the girl yells joyfully, "WE DON'T NEED MAGIC!" and I guess that was the moral of the story :)
Sunday after church we invited Avery over. He heard about last Thursday, about how Evelyn came over and got to watch shows with Nico. So we invited him over for an hour or so, and him and Nico watched videos of people playing video games. Mario, and Geometry Dash. It was a mutually beneficial arrangement!
Sunday evening we ate dinner outside. Then Guy and Nico hung out there for a little while reading Amphigory Also by Edward Gorey.
Monday after dinner we did a very special super secret craft. I'll tell you more about it next week! ;)
The next day, Guy texted me and said we needed to do family crafts more often. It really was a lot of fun. I agree.
Wednesday we were invited to go bowling with Allicia and kids, with Jeff's mom at the BSU SUB building. Since she is an employee there, we got to bowl free! This was the first time Nico ever bowled. He did really well.
That night, Nico and Evelyn camped out in the backyard inside a tent. Nico was up past 11pm! They spent the evening reading books and playing games in there. He kept running inside for more books. He let Evelyn read the first Captain Underpants book, which she finished, and Nico finished the rest of his Squish books.
That's about it for this week! Check out Nico's bowling moves in the video below!
Last Friday Guy had the day off from work, but he was unfortunately sick with a cold and wasn't able to really enjoy the day. He was bed-bound for almost 5 days total, taking him through Sunday, and he was back to work on Monday. Thankfully he also has THIS Friday off and ALL of next week off! So hopefully he'll get to make up for it.
On Saturday Nico and I made a Christmas wreath from stuff we bought from the Dollar Store and Joann Fabrics. I made the wreath part and then let him choose where to put all the decorative stuff. He put "Jesus" (a bundle of pine-looking things with a present and red decorative stuff on it) on the bottom of the wreath surrounded by jingle bells, and the candy canes were all the disciples bowing down to Jesus.
The rest of the weekend was pretty laid back.
On Monday after school, Allicia invited us all for a Christmas craft - making pine cone bird feeders. You cover pine cones with peanut butter and then roll them in bird seed. You tie them up and hang them somewhere outside so that birds have something to munch on during the winter. Grandma Salisbury had a large box of pine cones that she gave to Allicia for the occasion. They worked perfectly!
We had our first SNOW on.. Tuesday? And then today it poured snow all day, the kids played outside in it after school and we are wondering if school will be closed tomorrow. We celebrated the snow tonight by making snow ice cream out in the main house. We mixed milk and maple syrup and vanilla in with the snow.
Last Friday was Nico's snack day at school. He wanted to bring apple sauce and string cheese so that's what we did. He also got to share something with the class and he wanted to bring the Advent Christmas tree with him so we put that in a bag and carried it along.
Friday night was Guy's work Christmas party and it was held at Winter Garden Aglow. Nico stayed home and got to play with Evelyn and Avery. We walked all the way to the top, as high as you could go, and we got a pretty good view of all the lights below. We talked a lot with one of Guy's work buddies, Derek, and his wife (I can't remember her name!) They also went to NNU and that is where they met. They are pregnant expecting their first next year, and they love board games, and we left with the understanding that we would be getting together at some point to play board games. The party was held in a large heated tent and food was served buffet style. Then they gave away awards, and Guy got his 5 year plaque plus a bonus check. Then they did a raffle.
I told Nico that if he was really good for Jeff & Allicia on Friday that on Saturday we could go to Joann Fabric's and pick up some stuff for a Christmas craft. So... we did! We bought glitter and jewels and sequins. When we got home, I brought out a folder I have that contains all of the Christmas cards we've received in the past. We took turns choosing which ones we wanted, and then we proceeded to decorate our individual poster boards with cut up christmas cards and glitter and jewels. This craft is one my brothers and I used to do as kids, a Grandma Salisbury original! Nico cut out a few of his cards and glued one portion of a card onto his poster board, but he preferred instead to just use glitter.
He kept looking at mine and saying "It needs more detail. There's too much white space." Probably learned that from school, so I tried unschooling him a tad and told him that when you're doing art you get to decide exactly how much detail you want and it's ok if there's white space. But he kept telling me anyway :) Every time I paused what I was doing to look at my picture, he would say "You need more detail. It needs more detail." The funny thing is that when we were done, Nico's poster was mostly white space.
Sunday evening, Guy and I sat down to talk about the budget. It wasn't very encouraging at first. We had been thinking about getting another car so that he could have one to drive to work. But when we started talking about NOT saving up for a car, and plugged in all our numbers, it looks like we will be able to pay off our last debt in 1 year exactly. So we decided we would do it. We can make it one year without a second car if it means paying off our debt so much sooner! We also decided that after we are done paying off debt we will move to a bigger house! We will rent, not buy just yet. It's exciting to think about.
On Tuesday we visited G.G. Nico wanted to bring one of his games, so we did, and G.G. and Nico had a fun time playing it. They took turns. (see video at end!)
We will see her again in a few short days when Grandma and Grandpa Russell come into town!! Wahoo!!!
On Wednesday morning Nico had a dentist appointment to get two of his cavities filled. Allicia let us borrow their white car that day since Jeff was out of town, so that Guy could have a car to drive to work and Nico and I would have our own car. Nico did great at the dentist. The day before I had told him what they would be doing and I told him that afterward we could go get him a small toy. They described everything to him before he sat on the chair, showed him all the tools. He brought his stuffed dog Alvedo with him, and he sat on the chair next to Nico. The hygienist also put a little paper bib on Alvedo. They hooked him up to the nitrous oxide and boy, Mommy was more nervous than Nico was! Nico did awesome while I was in the corner shaking in my boots. When the dentist came to work on Nico, he would talk to Alvedo every once in a while and check his teeth too, along with Nico's. Nico responded once "He can't open his mouth because he's not real!" hehe. This dentist is the same one I've had since I was 8 years old, and I've had many a cavity filled by him. I love that he still whistles and hums while he works.
After the dentist we went straight to Fred Meyer where he picked out a Spiderman lego. We came home and he put it together. He said he wasn't hungry but I put some food in front of him and he ate it. He chewed too much on the wrong side and his mouth started to hurt. Right before school he said "I'm sick, I can't go to school." because his mouth hurt and he had a tummy ache. I rubbed some diluted clove oil on his teeth and gums and cheek and told him I was going to take him grocery shopping with me if he stayed home. He said "Ok let's go to school!" and he was his happy chipper self.
Guy was able to work from home today. His boss last week texted him and thanked him for something and told Guy to take some time for himself this week. So he's been home today. Pretty cool!
Nico woke up several times in the middle of the night on Friday night, to ask me if it was time to go to the cabin. On Saturday we got ready and drove up there early. There was a Christmas in July craft that my mom put together for all the girls, and the kids had a craft of their own that Alanna organized. We made Christmas trees from styrofoam and fabric squares, cotton balls, and pins. It was a lot of fun, and I got to see an old friend plus all my sisters! It was a great event that my mom organized. She actually organized it for last November (or was it December?) but they got snowed in and so had to cancel it. To avoid that problem again she decided to do the craft in the middle of July :)
The craft the kids did looked like fun. Painting on canvases with hand prints and foot prints making Christmas shapes like reindeers and santa claus. Nico decided he was done after painting his canvas completely brown with nothing else. I asked him at home just today if he wanted to add anything to it and he said "No". So, brown canvas it is! We'll hang it on our wall. I'm proud! :)
After getting home on Saturday, we woke Guy up and then Guy and Nico went out for a bit. They stopped by the PO Box to pick up a package that Grandma Russell sent Nico. VBS music! (more on that later) They were back by 6 so that we could venture over to Red Robin to celebrate the fact that we paid off our first debt. More yummy food.
On Sunday Nico had a fun day. After church I dropped him off back home so I could go out to eat and a movie with friends from church to celebrate a birthday. Nico got to go with Jeff & Allicia, Evelyn, Avery, and Ivy on an adventure to the "beach". They rode their bikes to Municipal park and then went to the little beach area at the river, near the Fish Park. Nico stripped down all of his clothes but they had him put his underwear back on. I'll have Allicia send me some pictures that she took of Evelyn and Nico playing in the water. When Jeff asked the kids what they should call the place so they know what to say when referring to it, Nico said "Minnow!" So they're going to call it the Minnow Pond. I wonder if they saw minnows there and that's why he said that?
Monday afternoon was dance class. I drove Nico and Evelyn there and then pulled up a chair right outside the window so I could see them in the studio. They did clapping and skipping and hands above the head like a ballerina. It's a jazz/cheer/ballet combo class. I think for the last 2 minutes of class they must have done free dance, because all the kids were dancing all over the place doing whatever they wanted, instead of taking turns walking across the studio doing a specific move. It was fun to watch. I tried to study my aromatherapy flash cards, but I was too intrigued with the dance class to really pay attention to the cards.
Wednesday morning we took Evelyn with us to Target to buy Nico his skateboard for his birthday. He asked if Evelyn could come and I said Yes! Nico chose his skateboard, and wouldn't you know it, they had spiderman knee/elbow pads, so we bought them. Then we went to the park. See the video below for that.
I've told Nico over the past few weeks that skateboarding will take a lot of practice and that it's normal to fall down but that if he keeps at it he will get better and better. He can push himself on the skateboard but he can't yet bring his pushing leg up to the skateboard and coast. That will take some practice!
While driving around with Evelyn, we were listening to our new VBS CD and it turns out that the first VBS that she went to this summer was one that used those very songs, so she knew all of them. I think this irked Nico a little bit and once Evelyn started singing along with the songs and telling Nico that they were HER songs, he told me to switch it to Sneaky Snake. haha... but then this evening I caught him singing Song #2. And he is very fond of Song #3, having said "This is my favorite song" the very first time he heard it. Thanks to Gma Russell for the CD! Nico told Evelyn several times that Gma Russell gave the CD to him.
Here is the promised VBS Video. But first, a story. Halfway through the VBS week, Nico started asking for a shiny armor costume for halloween. One with shiny boots, and a shield and a helmet. He kept saying he was going to ask Grandma to buy him a shiny armor costume for Halloween. Then I figured out what he was talking about. Shortly after singing one of the VBS songs, he turned to me and said "I want to get a shiny armor costume for Halloween" and I finally put the pieces together.
Hehe... you must watch the video to figure out what he was talking about... it's the last dancing scene and I spell it out for you there in case what they're singing about is hard to hear. Yes Nico, you can be that for Halloween!!
For the 4th year in a row we went to Winter Garden Aglow to get our picture taken. Nico had so much fun looking at all the trains running around the tracks. Very cold but at least this year we remembered to bring his mittens.
On Tuesady Nico and Guy got to hang out with Jeff and Evie! I was holding an essential oils class at our house, so they left to hang out with Jeff and Evie while Allicia came to the class. It turns out that it was just her and I there, many people wanted to make it but the time/day didn't work for them. But we had a great time catching up, just the girls, it was very refreshing. And Nico came home sacked, went right to bed after a snack, and woke up an hour later than usual, so, 6 AM instead of 5!
This week at school he's done a lot of Christmas crafts, same as last week, and they're starting to roll in. We hung them all up on our wall. I love it!
Then he turned the camera on me. It's only fair, right?
And then to himself. Pretty successful self portrait, I think.
Last night we also pulled out the window markers and since it was dark outside and I didn't want the blinds open, we decided to write on the mirror in the bathroom. I drew a Christmas tree and he helped decorate it. We also drew a snowman.
Lots more words. His speech therapist, Susie, sent home a worksheet for us to fill out. A list of words for him to do every day and at the end of the week, return the sheet and he gets a prize! (he got a cool plastic lizard) Words like house, bus, off, cough, tough, yum, game, come. He does all of them really well. He also says home and cave just fine, you can absolutely understand him!
With all the watching of Finding Nemo, we now have a new "thing" we do as imitation. "Fin" then we bump hands, "Noggin", then we bump heads. "Duuuuude", just like the sea turtles do. He loves doing that.
Random craft time before dinner.
I'm looking forward to this next week with the Grandparents Russell coming into town to celebrate an early Christmas with us. Much fun and pictures will be had!
This evening Nico and I prepared for Guy's birthday tomorrow by making him a pumpkin pie and also making him a card. One from each of us. Nico really enjoys dumping things into bowls with spoons, so he enjoyed dumping the sugar and other spices into the mixing bowl for the pumpkin pie. Every morning he also helps me start laundry by dumping the detergent into the washer for me. He is a good helper.
The picture is from this morning. We went to the Botanical Garden with Allicia and Evie (and Liz and Miles were there too). We got in free because their pass allows one guest. All of the scarecrows are up, and the weather was mild and pleasant. We had a lot of fun. Allicia shared some of Evie's cheese with Nico.
