Garage sale, Kestrel

One night before bed, Nico asked Alexa to play his favorite lullaby which is called Australian Lullaby. We started talking about playing the song on the piano and I asked him if he wanted to learn how to play the piano and he said Yes so I started talking about it and after I was done I hear this almost silent whine come from Nico. I look over at him in his bed and he has this sad look on his face and I ask him what's wrong. He says, "I don't WANT to learn how to play the piano."

Wow! The first thing Nico has declared he doesn't want to do. And I am A-ok with that! I really just want to give him opportunities to pursue the things he wants to pursue. If it's not piano, then OK!

Last Friday, the entire new season of MST3K was released on Netflix and Guy took the day off to watch them. I watched some with him, but some of the day was spent getting ready for the yard sale which we had on Saturday!

We had everything priced in boxes, so Saturday morning we moved boxes and tables and then just unloaded all the boxes onto the tables. This was actually a bit more work than I was expecting, but we had it pretty much unloaded by the time 9AM rolled around. Papa came that morning to drop off some moving boxes to give away at the yard sale, and to help haul boxes. Thank you Papa!

Nico and Evelyn went up and down the aisle and picked out things to buy. Evelyn was purchasing stuff for her Grandma's cabin. Nico chose to buy Papa's old wallet, a cherry pitter, and an empty tin.

Relaxing in the afternoon after a hard morning of selling his toys

Nico sold a lot of his toys and was a very eager salesman. He asked people outright if they wanted to buy some of his stuff, and when one lady paused to look at his toy table he said to her: "I think your dog would like this gorilla. Do you want to buy it?" When someone tried to haggle with him and lower his price on his train set, he said "No. $10." She laughed and said he drove a hard bargain and bought it from him. He made $32 total! 

And it turns out, about an hour before the end of the garage sale, he grabbed his gorilla and said "I think I want to keep this." so he brought it inside.

We ended at 3PM. A lot of stuff sold but we still had a lot of stuff leftover, so we loaded up our car and Jeff and Allicia's van and Guy and Jeff drove a load to the Youth Ranch to donate it. On the way home they picked up Chipotle for dinner and some Izze Pops from Whole Foods. We ate our dinner on the front lawn, picnic style. We were beat!

The day was sunny but it started out very cold! We were thankful for the sun.

That evening, though we were beat, Guy took Nico to the glow-in-the-dark Easter egg hunt that our church was putting on. Because it was glow-in-the-dark, it had to start late. The mini-sermon started at 8:00 and the hunt wasn't until 8:45. The church was expecting about 100 people but they had about 500. The hunt itself lasted maybe 3 minutes and some kids didn't get any eggs. Nico grabbed 3 eggs and then they sped to the car to get out of the parking lot before the rush. Nico came home and was asleep instantly.

Sunday was Easter, it was a good sermon. Then we went to pick up the eggs and milk from Papa. Grandma Salisbury was out of town visiting her mom in Moscow. Papa told us how to make egg nog with the milk and eggs, so we tried it that night. Guy liked it so he put some in his coffee! 

Since we weren't able to do pizza on Saturday night, we did it on Sunday. We started watching Star Trek: The Next Generation. Nico actually enjoyed it! Guy told us that he used to watch this with the fam while eating pizza on Saturday nights. I remember watching it with my brothers all the time and it will be a fun tradition to continue.

We played a game Easter night that we learned last time we were in Arlington. Grandma Russell sent us what we needed, a list of nursery rhymes, which we cut up and put into all the eggs we could locate which was just 4. You go around and pick an egg, and then sing/say the nursery rhyme. Then it's the next person's turn. Video link here if you'd like to see the round we did: https://goo.gl/photos/cVRu4d1ZtwjPPLVS7

Thanks Grandma Russell! :)

Yesterday was a sunny day, so I picked Nico up from school on my bike. He had his scooter, and we rode to the MK Nature Center (aka Fish Park). I wanted Nico to see the American Kestrel they have there. The greenbelt path was closed due to risk of deterioration because of the height of the river, though everyone was still using it. We rode it to the Nature Center but used a different route home. It will be hard to get around this summer on our bikes because all the paths are closed. They don't think they will get around to assessing danger until August.

Nico found a shady spot and asked if he could finish his lunch that he didn't finish at school.

We went into the lobby of the Nature Center and saw so many animals that had been stuffed. We saw some different birds, a crane, a heron, lots of different ducks, quail, even a bald eagle! All stuffed. Then we went out to meet the American Kestrel. Meet Fiona. American Kestrels are a bird of prey but they are surprisingly small! They have Fiona at the nature center because she is missing an eye. 

Nico told me his leg was hurting from pushing on the scooter, so we figured out a way for him to stand on the lowest bar of my bike right in front of me and I swung the scooter over my handle bars. We rode that way about half of the way home. It was so nice to be outside!

Nico is on Magic Treehouse book #13

We are waiting for its arrival at the library along with #14.

Until next time!

Garden, Fish Park, and the iBee

We tried several times this past week to fly a kite. The gusts of wind seemed wild enough to carry a kite but when we got to the park there was hardly anything! Oh well. We keep the kite in the back of the car in case we need to make an emergency kite flying stop.

On Sunday after church we went to Louie's for lunch with family. Then afterward, Nico drove to Nampa with Papa to pick up the eggs and milk from the farm. The Grandparents Salisbury gave us 2 dozen farm fresh eggs this week (thank you!!), the darkest orange yolks you ever did see! Papa also let us borrow his wheelbarrow and a big shovel (we already have a small Nico-sized one) so that we could move the dirt from our garden. On Tuesday we moved it to the area under our pine trees. We don't plan to take the dirt with us when we move, but will definitely be bringing our garden bed!

Nico happened to be wearing a nice shirt that morning and me a skirt. But it turns out all you need is good shoes and you can get the job done. We were done quickly.

Cold water, juice, cheese stick, and iPad to relax after digging dirt.

On Monday we went to see Allicia and crew in the morning and brought some bins with us to store in their cellar.

Tuesday, Fish Park!

His favorite part of the Fish Park is the stream-bed in the lobby and the big sturgeon fish that swim under the bridge. So we just did those two things.

We've been… eating cinnamon raisin bread, going for bike rides in the morning, sorting through closets, snuggling, reading, and playing iPad games and watching videos. He is really enjoying read-along books that come with a CD of the story. And of course truck/car books from the library.

Two more weeks until school starts! I am mentioning it to him every so often so he knows it's coming. I've also been trying and trying to remember to enforce him saying "iPad" instead of "iBee". It was one thing that his speech therapist wanted him to work on, but I am so used to him saying "iBee" that I haven't remembered to correct him! We practice saying "iPad" on purpose and he can do it just fine, but it's a habit to say iBee and it's a hard one to break.

Onward!

Dinosaurs and Tigers

Went to the Zoo on Friday. Nico was ok with one of the dinosaur exhibits: the one with two small dinosaurs.

All the other ones we needed to stay away from. He would yell "MOMMY MOMMY MOMMY NO!" whenever I'd try to go near another one. Our zoo circuit was reduced a bit and we stuck around the giraffe slide and the prairie dog tunnel. Not sure how visiting the zoo in the future will go, I'm hoping he'll be interested in trying to get through his fear, but he had no interest in it on Friday. Perhaps I don't have quite the same touch as Grandma! :)

Prairie dog tunnel

On Saturday we went to the market. Nico was intent on getting a balloon in the shape of a yellow train. The young girl that usually does our balloons wasn't there that day but we found another few that were making them. The only vehicle they could do was a motorcycle, and Nico picked orange. He was very happy with it. It was very well done!

Saturday night Guy took Nico to Movie Under the Stars in Julia Davis Park. They were showing Despicable Me 2, starting it at dusk, but the fun started at about 7 PM with activities for kids plus music. Guy and Nico met Jeff and Evie there. Guy said the music was very loud and Nico looked a little shell shocked at first, but after a while he wanted to go up front with the other kids and dance, so they did that. Then after Evie arrived, they ate snacks, sat on the blanket, and waited for the movie. Sunset was at 9:30, dusk was at 10 PM. Nico asked to go home at 9:30, so they left, and they started the movie about 10. 

They had fun, but I think they'll skip the rest of the movies this summer. They'll choose another type of outing to enjoy some bonding time. I think they'd both prefer to go to Red Robin or something!

On Tuesday morning we went to see G.G. She pulled out her piggy bank and Nico had fun putting all her spare coins into it. I think we emptied her purse completely of any change! She gave him a "credit card" (a used Applebees gift card) which he held onto the entire way home until he fell asleep and dropped it. He woke up briefly and said "Oh no my credit card" and then went right back to sleep.

Tuesday night I taught my last essential oils class for the summer. Nico's speech therapist from school, Miss Susie, came to the class with her daughter-in-law. Guy and Nico went out for a while but stayed long enough to see Miss Susie. Apparently Nico kept asking to go back home to see her again! He was very excited about it and I know he just wanted to talk to her and tell her all about everything, he just stood in front of her saying "Miss Susie" again and again, like he was working up to saying something important for her to hear, but I think in his excitement he just couldn't come up with anything more important than just repeating her name. He was very pleased with it. Guy and Nico did come home early enough to see Miss Susie again, which Nico was very excited about. She left soon after and said "see you when school starts!"

Wednesday morning we went up to the cabin. Me and my Mom made a double batch of Cowboy Casseroles so we could put some in our freezer, and so she could show me how she makes it. We finished in record time and spent the rest of the morning just hanging out. Nico wanted to join us in the kitchen with an apron so we let him choose which one he wanted. He wanted the LEOPARD one!

And then later we pulled out the old TIGER costume after we remembered that they existed and that Mom probably still had one. When we were younger, my Mom made me and my brothers tiger costumes. I think there were 4 originally, and this is the one that is left. Just Nico's size! After putting it on, we went upstairs to show Papa.

And then that night, I asked him if he wanted to go for a walk in his tiger costume and he said YES. He decided to ride his tricycle instead. All the neighbors thought he was just so cute. I could hear laughs as we walked along and one of them opened their front door so their 3 year old could look and say hi. He got too hot halfway through so we took the costume off.

Stopping to "fix the sidewalk"

Some more of this week in pictures:

Fish Park

 Beetle

 Playing hide and seek as "Double-O Nico" (Curious George is Double-O monkey)

And, all the snippets from June in a video! Extra points if you can find where I messed up writing one of the text descriptions.

Family Visit

The Grandparents Russell came into town on Saturday morning. Nico was so excited to see them that he spent the first hour or so pulling out the stuff from the top drawer of our desk in the living room, because he wanted to show them everything. We took a trip to Camel's Back park that afternoon.

Saturday evening Guy made everyone Pad Thai, which was excellent! Grandparents brought Nico some new books and a new sticker book, too! And a really cool Curious George activity book.

Sunday to church. G.G. joined us on this day, and surprised Nico with a new watch for an early Easter gift. Nico loves it! It is color coded to help in learning how to tell time.  For dessert on Sunday, Guy made strawberry ice cream made with coconut milk. Nico's first time trying ice cream, and he really liked it. He also really liked going on adventures with Grandma Russell outside. Using his magnifying glass to look at moss on rocks, exploring tiny rock caves, and throwing rocks into a "river" (puddle).

Relaxing after dinner.

G.G. and Nico playing.

The wind up...

The grab!

Monday was a short trip to Allicia's house so the Grandparents could meet Allicia and crew. In the afternoon we went to the Fish Park. It was a beautiful day! We walked over to Municipal Park afterward.

We will see them again soon!

Other things this week:

Nico's class picture. He can name all of his teachers, and most of the kids! (sorry for picture quality!)

Fun with Youtube. Pirate Nico!

On Tuesday his school was celebrating " The Week of the Young Child", emphasis on healthy living. They invited parents to participate in a little event in the gym, so I went to Nico's school that morning. There were stations set up, each one with a different theme. Teeth brushing, reading, exercise (yoga), gardening, art, building. Then outside was an obstacle course. I got to go to all of these stations with Nico. It is always great to be there at the school with him because Miss Candace his teacher always tells me little tidbits about what/how Nico is doing at school. I love those little tidbits. She asked if Guy was an engineer, because Nico is very precise, loves to build and work on things and has excellent fine motor skills. She said she is having a hard time coming up with academic goals for him for next year because he is doing so well! Most of the goals for Nico next year will likely be social and speech related. But academically he appears to be doing great. We will find out more about all of this at the IEP meeting next Tuesday.

Valentines and a Muddy Park

Nico had his very first snow day on Friday! We were still struggling with illness at the time, so weren't able to take advantage of it by going outside much, though we did take a trip to the Co-op. We needed to buy some walnuts because we just got a nutcracker and we needed to try it out. We cracked some walnuts and talked about squirrels.

On Saturday we had a special dinner. I had asked on Facebook if anyone had the Cars movie that we could borrow, and someone told me she had two copies and that we could have one. Yay! So on Saturday we picked up the movie, and then for dinner I made buffalo burgers (hamburgers made from ground buffalo) and we watched Cars while eating. For dessert we had freshly made cashew butter with molasses (Nico's current favorite treat). I know, molasses, right? It actually tastes pretty darn good, though :)

Saturday is also when Nico's fever started coming back and I started getting sick again too. We hadn't quite gotten over the last cold before this new one hit us. Guy caught it just yesterday, so he's going through it right now. We stayed home from church on Sunday because Nico still had his fever. But we had fun building parking lots with memory game cards.

Monday it was so sunny! Almost 50 degrees outside. We still had the sniffles, but we ventured out to go to the Co-op, and once that fresh air hit me I KNEW we had to stay outside much longer than the few minutes we were planning. So we went to the Fish Park after the Co-op. Snowy and muddy there still, but fun. We also crossed the big stretch of grass to get over to Municipal Park for a brief stint on the playground. The grass was covered in goose poop and mud holes, and we did NOT make it out unscathed. Nico had a bath when we got home and the shoes stayed outside.

This week in school he is learning about Valentine's Day and the post office. They are having a Valentine's party tomorrow, decorating cookies and handing out Valentines. We got Nico some Cars valentines that we put together on Wednesday. The school provided us with a list of names that we cut out (Nico is so good at cutting straight lines, wow!!) and then glued on.

Nico asked me to take a picture of him with this white clippy thing on his nose. He brought me the camera and said "take-a picka Mommy". 

He's been experimenting with saying "Mom" instead of "Mommy", and still says "Guy" sometimes because he knows we think it's funny. He enjoys telling us what he learns in school, and has started singing along to the songs in the car. My favorite one is the Tom T Hall song where he says "and I love you too".  Hearing Nico say that out loud along with the song is just so sweet. He also quotes long sections of Curious George cartoons, in action and in sound effects and in speech. He has a lot of them memorized. One of his favorite things to do is eat his bowl of cashew butter and molasses while lying on the floor watching Curious George and lining up his cars along the edge of the iPad.

Foods

On Monday we went over to see Allicia and Evie and Avery. We hung out in their garage (heated!) Nico got to ride on Evie's tricycle and there was also a sand box to play in.

Evie loading up the tricycle so Nico can ride it.

Monday was also mine and Guy's anniversary. It was actually Facebook that reminded me of it! And even after that, I forgot to mention it to Guy, who also forgot. I didn't wish him a Happy Anniversary until the next morning. Whoops! :) No biggie, though, we are buddies and we understand that life is busy. It has been 8 years!! 

Tuesday, while Nico was at school, I went with Allicia and Evie and Avery to a "Mothering Connections" meeting. A group of moms gets together and talks about all the things related to mothering. To offer support and to receive support if needed. It was very cool.

We had some warmer days this past week. Enough to go for a looong Strider ride, a trip to the Fish Park, and then a walk around the block. Not all on the same day:) Nico has been talking a lot about playing outside. "Play outside. Go Strider ride." We've already come up with a list of things to do this summer. Well, a two item list: Fly a kite (we have one sitting in our closet that we've never used) and shoot off a rocket. We'll expand the list as we think of things. We do have a long term list of things we want to do but not necessarily this summer: go for a train ride, go to the beach and build a sand castle, fly in a plane.

Building a tower with Daddy before breakfast.

Playing outside. Digging a HOLE!

Yesterday (Wednesday), we hit a milestone in that I experienced my very first call from the school to come pick Nico up because of illness. Apparently he was lying down on the floor in the classroom and when they took his temperature it was 101.4. I came and picked him up, and as soon as we got home he crawled onto the couch and fell asleep. He woke up for about an hour and told me he felt sick. I rubbed some essential oils on his tummy, he fell back asleep for another hour and when he woke up in his bed he popped up and started asking for food. He burned off his fever last night and woke up fine this morning. I kept him home from school, but he will go back tomorrow. I'm pretty sure this episode was food related (well, supplement related). We have been introducing many new foods into his diet recently, per doctor's orders "Expand his diet!" she said :) He has enjoyed oatmeal, quinoa, cream of buckwheat, eggs, chicken, tomatoes, potatoes, brown rice, carrots, onions, and tonight: salmon! He ate more than I did at dinner. Unfortunately we are still dealing with bad flares of his rash and his emotions, but we are pushing through. But back to this fever thing. He was perfectly fine Wednesday morning until after he ate his supplements. It was almost like he was a robot that had just been turned off. You can imagine the power down sound, as he slumps his shoulders in his high chair and says "no eat", crawls onto the couch, and asks for a nap. This had been happening on several mornings, so I didn't think it was any different. But I think he reached his threshold for one of the supplements that hadn't been agreeing with him. I will be talking to the doc tomorrow to see what she wants us to do.

This week in preschool they are reading "Snowmen At Night" by Caralyn Buehner, "Snowballs" by Lois Ehlert and "That Hat" by Jan Brett. They are learning about winter clothing and animals. And tomorrow is the end of the quarter, so they have an early release!

Advent Time

Catch up on Pictures from Thanksgiving. Thank you to Alanna for setting up this photo op. It was so much fun!

 The Fam

Papa and Nico

On the Friday after Thanksgiving, we went Black Friday shopping! For the first time ever, I participated. We went to Fred Meyer. It was crowded, but not bad. I got myself a new scarf and bought Guy a pair of jeans. Grandma Salisbury blessed Nico with two new toys, one of them having a Thomas the Train engine in it, which we have spent many hours this past week playing with. You CAN race your trains around the track FAST for 10 minutes straight without stopping, it's absolutely possible.

Then Grandma came over for lunch, it was a great day!

On Sunday we went to a new church. We are going to start going to the one that my parents and brothers and Aunt go to. I am so excited! Nico got to play with Lexie in the church preschool room. He did just fine. Since he's been in school he has had no trouble saying bye to Mommy and Daddy :) Sunday was also the start of the advent calendars, which we have 3 of this year! (We actually have 4, but decided to save one for next year). Grandma Russell gifted us an interactive computer-based advent calendar (love this tradition!) Every day you get to experience something new. Nico loved the intro scene with an old fashioned car driving around, we repeat that one every day. The ritual for this calendar is to do it when Daddy wakes up every afternoon, after we've eaten dinner. Nico remembers, and asks for it.

The second calendar we have is actually our Christmas tree. We aren't getting a real Christmas tree this year, we are using this little one instead. There are little drawers to open for every day and in each drawer is a new ornament to hang on the tree. Nico gets it, and has strung together one of his longest sentences because of it: "Open number four tomorrow". He says this throughout the day, depending on which number he gets to open tomorrow. Then in the morning he asks "Open number four?" As SOON as four is on the tree, and yes even as he is opening four's drawer, he says, "Open number five tomorrow!"

The tree has lights and can also be wound up to play a song

"We Wish You a Merry Christmas"

Our third advent calendar is a chain that they made in Sunday School. Each chain has a verse on it and every morning before breakfast we break a chain off and then read the verse while eating. The chain is out of order, so we read about the birth of Jesus on December 1st.

On Monday we went to visit G.G. She had Nico's Christmas present all finished and I was able to see it. He is going to LOVE it and I am SO excited for when he gets to open it! The Grandparents Russell will be coming into town before Christmas and all of them will be coming over to celebrate and exchange gifts. I am so looking forward to seeing them!

Today I volunteered at Nico's school again. Cutting out gingerbread men and stars and making copies of the story of "The Mitten" and "The Hat" - great children's books by Jan Brett. Thanks to Mom Russell (aka Grandma Russell, depending on context) for introducing me to those stories.

I came to the school a little early so I could sit in and watch Nico as he got his speech therapy session. Suzie takes two students into the kitchen area where they have a little table set up. They play games where in order to take a turn you have to first say a word that you're working on. Nico was working on final "M" sounds, like "ham" and "mom". She told me that Nico has learned how to do final "S" sounds and final "F" sounds already (off, house, mouse). He demonstrated while we were there and I was so proud of him. She said she will send home with him a list of words to practice so that he can start to use them consistently instead of saying "bus" correctly at school but not at home. Also, when his friend sat down at the table next to him for the speech therapy session, Nico said "Hi, Ben!" Woah! 

He LOVES speech therapy and was so excited that I was there to share it with him. When I had first arrived and knocked on the door to the classroom, I could hear him say "Mommy!" over and over inside, even though he couldn't see me. I had told him I was coming to see him today, so he was prepared. One of the teachers said "I don't know, is it your Mommy? Let's see!"

I hope I'm not forgetting something.. hmm. YES I am! We went to the Fish Park, probably for the last time this year. We had a mild day outside on Monday so I took advantage of it. 

Fish Park and Botanicals

We did much more this past week, and I was sure to bring our camera along so as to catch a few moments. It's been getting cold here, but we went to the Fish Park on one of the warmer afternoons. 

On Monday we went to visit G.G. in Nampa. We brought Nico's "Brown Bear" book with us so he could read it to her (check out the video at the end of the post to see this book). She sent us home with some of the tomatoes from her garden. Wow they are good! We had a few more ripe tomatoes on our own vines at home, but the rest are green.

On Tuesday ALL of us went to the Botanical Garden with Jeff, Allicia, Evie, Avery and Sheila (Allicia's Mom). The Garden was decorated with a lot of fall pumpkins, leaves, and the scarecrows from last week's Scarecrow Stroll. We saw a frog and a bunny (you can see them in the video!) It was a very nice evening and we had a lot of fun. It was the first time that Guy had seen Jeff since that fateful afternoon when we all first met. 

Guy has been working over over overtime. But he's been going in at 10 PM for overtime, so we are still able to hang out with him in the evenings like he wasn't working. But then after we're asleep, off he jets.

Nico has today and Friday off because of teacher inservice, so this morning we went to Fred Meyer to buy him a fuzzy poster to color. He's been doing great work coloring pictures and staying in the lines, and we thought he'd enjoy a fuzzy poster. He DOES enjoy the fuzzy poster! I was sure to tell him beforehand that we weren't going to be buying any cars at Fred Meyer. I forgot to prepare him like this the last time we went, and so the trip ended in a lot of tears. But we practiced on the drive there and in the car before going in, we both would say "No Cars. YES Poster! No Cars. YES Poster!" So when he saw the cars in Fred Meyer (and boy there are a lot of them!) I just had to say "Remember, No Cars, YES Poster!" And he would say it with me. I adapted this strategy from my something my Mom used to implement when we were younger. "Looking days" versus "buying days". It works!

We also went to the Library today to pick up some more books for all of us. We sat in on story time for a little while. Nico sure does like singing and moving with other kids!

That's it for this week, enjoy the video!