Birthday, Count Arthur Strong, Jan Brett, Baby Pushups

Last Friday it was dark in the early morning when the kiddos had to leave for chess. So I think from now on I'll try to walk with them on Fridays. Nico said he didn't like walking in the dark because he was afraid of monsters?

Friday after school I drove Nico over to the Grandparents Salisbury house for a sleepover! He had fun there and they went to one of Lexie's soccer games the next day, then went to Jimmy John's for lunch before he came back home around 1pm.

Friday was Guy's birthday. He had a late work meeting. After he got home we watched some Netflix while eating dinner and then he had a piece of Nico's leftover birthday cake from the freezer. I asked him what he wanted for his birthday dinner and he said "potato salad". I convinced him to let me also make him some sausage to go along with it. I bought him a large container of Meat Magic for his birthday (a seasoning that we love on our pizza crust!)

Saturday we had pizza and then I took out a few more pieces of Nico's leftover cake, and put a candle in one of them. We sang Happy Birthday to Guy and watched cartoons.

Sunday was a pretty fuzzy day for me, I had started getting a cold on Saturday and had a fever and aches all day on Sunday. Guy took Nico to church, then out in the afternoon to garage sales, and then out again in the evening for Bible Study. The in between times they were downstairs on the computer or the Wii to give me a chance to rest.

My fever lasted until the very end of Wednesday when it started going down. I've been spending part of the nights downstairs on the couch because I've been coughing.

Guy has been SO HAPPY listing all his things for sale on eBay and Craigslist and then selling them, packaging them up and shipping them off. He's been stopping off at the Thrift Store on his way home from work several times this week to check the stuff out. He passes my 2 different thrift stores on his way home. Yesterday he came home with a very large bag full of stuff. He is storing it all downstairs. Nico has been tagging along on a lot of his purchase quests.

Whenever Guy and Nico go somewhere in the Ford Escape they listen to Count Arthur Strong through bluetooth. Nico is QUITE the fan. They came home yesterday after an outing and Nico had me and him re-enact a Count Arthur scene. He told me what to say, and this is how it went:

Me: Hi Arthur Strong
Nico: You forgot the Count
Me: 1, 2, 3, Arthur Strong
Nico: Thats's not right!

Then Nico stormed off, muttering about how people always get his name wrong.

There was another one he told me about but I have forgotten!

Nevermind, Guy reminded me: Why did the lemon stop running in the race? Because he ran out of juice.

Grandma Russell sent me a text with a picture that I just have to share. If you are familiar with Jan Brett (thanks to Grandma Russell for introducing me), there is a book called The Hat written by her, about a hedgehog that gets stuck with a sock on his head that had fallen from a clothesline. Before I share Grandma Russell's picture, you first have to see the clothesline from the book:

And here is the picture Grandma Russell sent me

I just thought that was so great!! I showed it to Nico, I had to remind him of the book (it's been a while since we've read it!) 

A sunny 74 degrees today, probably the last time we'll be eating outside this year! Tomorrow we are due for cold and rain.

Yep, the table is a mess, when you're sick it just happens (and sometimes when you're not sick😅 ) Nico is doing math problems while eating his breakfast.

"Baby pushups"

Compared to 7 years ago

Guy says that if he does it every few days, he'll get super strong as Nico gets older. They've been committed to it for a few weeks now!

Next Thursday is the Boo Bash at Nico's school. I'm not sure if I'll have time that night to update, but if not, then expect the next update that Friday instead!!

Tummy aches, Brianna, Fitness Challenge

Last Friday Nico had off from school. Him and I took G.G. and Aunt Pat to Red Robin in Nampa. It was fun to shake up our normal visiting routine by going out instead of staying in. It was great to sit and chat with them for a while, and Nico was so excited to have his turkey burger. I'm pretty sure he ate too much. Before Guy came home from work he was outside running around, then he came back inside and said he felt sick. He did get sick in the middle of the night that night, and had a sore tummy the next day. Whoops!

On Sunday he was fine, but then got sick in the middle of the night again, I'm pretty sure this was another fluke because of some old fish oil we gave him that night before bed. He said it tasted funny. No, what he said was, "That tastes bad." when usually he doesn't complain. It was the bottom of the bottle, kind of milky looking. Um, anyway, we kept him home from school on Monday even though he ate normally and felt 100% the next morning.

Monday was Columbus Day, so we went searching for a way to watch an episode of Columbo (our Columbus Day tradition), but it is no longer on Netflix. So we went to the library to check a DVD out. Closed. It was Columbus Day, so library and bank were closed, the very two errands we had left the house to accomplish. Guy then took Nico out to a garage sale, and I took him later to the park. Evelyn joined us after school was out.

No more illness after that, and he was back at school on Tuesday after 5 days off!!

On Wednesday an old friend of ours that had moved away came for a visit, Brianna. She came over and Nico taught her to play chess. Guy has this whole week off from work, so he joined in the fun and helped Brianna learn. Then we ate dinner and brownies and said our goodbyes until next time she visits.

Guy is doing more of his buying/selling this week, focusing mostly on selling since he has acquired a lot of stuff and he wants to lessen his inventory. He scored a box of stuff for free at a garage sale, some of the stuff in there worth $100+. He is downstairs now working on listing stuff on eBay.

I think that's it for this week. Now I have to go search and see if I took any pictures!! I hope so!!

Evelyn and Nico at the park on Monday.

They are both participating in the Axiom Fitness Challenge (Axiom is the gym I go to!). The school sent home a paper and for every 30 minutes they exercise, they get to fill in a star on the paper. If they get all the stars filled in and return the paper by December 1st, they get a free pass to Wahooz, which is a game place like Pojo's, but with more stuff, including race cars and miniature golf. They are counting 20 minutes of walking every day going to/from school. And at the park on Monday they spent a solid 20 minutes riding around on bike and scooter. They're getting there!