G.G., Pojo's, Paddle Boats!

On Friday Nico had another trip to the cabin and another sleepover! I went up on Saturday to pick him up. We had a great time as always! My brother Jeremy and my nephew Kai were up there helping Papa chop down a tree. They used a chainsaw and I was hoping to see the tree fall, but it is still standing! It is HUGE! The chainsaw started smoking so they figured they'd give it a rest. They had been at it quite a while.

Monday was dance class, and I took a video! Unfortunately Nico didn't want to dance that day, so the video just has Evelyn in it. Well it does have Nico in it for a short second, but he's not dancing. Still, I will post it at the end of this entry. You'll get to see the moves they were learning in class and the dance and the cheer that they learned. Nico was happy that it was over and kept saying instead that he wanted to learn Hip Hop dance, like the dancing found in the video of his favorite song, Ready Set Go by Royal Tailor (I've often caught him singing "Oh! You put my life in motion so Oh! Your Love makes me want to give my ah ah ah ah ah ah ah all, ready set go ready set go oh oh!"). Or one of the songs from VBS, like the marching song, or the power shuffle. I overheard him telling his dance teacher about the Ready Set Go song.

So anyway, interpretive dance, ballet, and cheer, are not forms of dance that Nico enjoys. At least now we know :) Next year we'll choose the Hip Hop class.

On Tuesday we went to see G.G. I got to see her new smart phone. I am so proud of her using that thing! I showed her how to do some things, she is learning fast! I even set up Scrabble on my own phone so that we could play scrabble back and forth with our phones. Speaking of which, let me check if it's my turn... nope not yet :) Playing Scrabble with G.G. has been the highlight of my days since Tuesday. She gave us some green beans, tomato, and cucumber from her garden, yum!! Looking forward to seeing her again next month.

Wednesday was a grocery shopping day. We were planning to go to the School PTO Social at Municipal Park in the evening, but Nico fell asleep in a snuggle a little after 5 PM and slept until 3 AM, when he changed his clothes into PJs and then went back to bed until 5:30. Wow! He must have needed that.

Today I took Nico and Evelyn for a fun adventure. First to the dollar store where they each picked out a toy. Including me. My toy was index cards and some labels. Then I took them to Pojo's where we played for about an hour. Then it was off to paddle boats. I was feeling pretty seasick by the time we returned the paddle boat. I'm sure it was because I was trying to take video while on the water.

Tomorrow is when we go meet his teacher in the afternoon, and bring his school supplies. Nico is excited that Michael and Acelyn from his preschool will both be in his class.

Forgot to add some pictures..

Drinking soda at Whole Foods. He spilled half the can on the floor.

 Dawson Taylor's on Sunday picking up some coffee.

Now to the videos...

Dance Class

Pojo's, Paddle Boats

Christmas in July, dancing, and a skateboard

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!!

Then the Skateboard video