Evelyn at Baseball Game, and Doctor update

Nico had another game on Saturday. His team has been improving quite a bit, it was a fun game to watch! Nico did very well. After the game we went to Jimmy John's again with Papa!

Saturday Nico was supposed to have a chess tournament, but on Saturday morning I received an email from the chess coach telling everyone they had to cancel it because of a mix up about the reservation at Smoky Mountain Pizza. Nico was sad. But he was able to join us for pizza at home. Nico's turn to choose what to watch and he chose Three Stooges.

On Sunday I was back helping in Children's Church during the service, it's always fun to be there when they sing their songs. They watch a song video and dance along. Nico dances big. It's great.

On Tuesday we all went over to the Pastors' house for dinner for a new member meeting. Pastor Tim talked about what it means to be a member, and then we signed the papers. So, I guess it's official!

Wednesday was the busiest day we've had for a while. Well, I'VE had for a while! Doctor's appointment in the morning for Nico. Just a follow up visit, to give updates on his tummy aches and all that. We are trying to get to the bottom of Nico's increasing car sickness. It is to the point now that he feels sick just driving down Warm Springs from our house. We are trying a few new things and we hope it helps! (On a side note, his "liquified hematoma" has almost disappeared. Nico says he can still feel the lump but it is no longer visible and is causing no pain.) I dropped him off at school after that (10:15am) and then spent the rest of the day grocery shopping. Then I prepared food to take with us to the game (Guy was meeting us there, so I brought him a sandwich), collected snacks for the players (our week to bring treats), and loaded up Evelyn and Nico. Evelyn joined us at the game. She knew several of the kids on Nico's team because of school.

Evelyn reading a book before the game.

After the game. For the snack I brought some "Popcorners" which I found at Costco on sale. They were a hit with everyone. I brought a few extra bags too. I gave Evelyn one before the game and one after.

And some more random pictures... Here's Guy and some of the kiddos playing Minecraft. Guy has Avery on his lap.

Our pretty flowers framing the door.

That's it for this week!

Bike Ride, Speech

Nico had an early release last Friday, it was the end of the first semester.

Saturday is Nico's proclaimed favorite day of the week. Pancakes in the morning and Pizza at night, plus more iPad usage than a typical day. This Saturday we needed to get out and be active, we were feeling a bit cooped up. The sun was out too! We went for a walk and Nico rode his bike. We forgot to bring mittens for him, and the route on the Greenbelt we take is always very windy, so his hands got very cold. We decided the best thing would be to remove his socks and let him wear the socks on his hands. He loved it.

If I don't take pictures of stuff, I forget what we did! On Sunday Guy had a bit of a fever so he stayed back from church. We also skipped Bible Study that night. He stayed home from work on Monday and Tuesday.

Nico and Evelyn have been playing Minecraft after school every day for the past few weeks. On the days that Nico doesn't have iPad privileges, he just watches Evelyn play.

Nico not letting me take a picture of him at breakfast. hehe

Nico's speech teacher called me this afternoon because it's about time for his yearly review. She says that he is doing a lot better holding his attention during speech practice, and that he is very easy and pleasant to work with. We'll hear more about the progress at the review. She asked me how he is doing at home and I told her there are still times one of us (Guy or me) can't make out what he's saying, but usually the other one of us can fill in the gaps. And there are still times that others can't understand.

She told me when she went to his class to get him for speech yesterday, they were in the middle of doing a science experiment, and when she walked into the class he looked up at her in horror because he did not want to leave the class. They negotiated and he was able to stay in the class during the science experiment and he will get his speech work done tomorrow. Nico had told us about this science experiment yesterday, it involved microscopes, he didn't mention that he skipped speech for it. I'm glad the speech teacher is flexible with the time!

Minecraft with Evelyn, G.G. visit

Nico came home from Grandma Camp on Friday after lunch. We enjoyed a nice afternoon, played some games, and hung out. We had a nice leisurely weekend as well. Nico was back to school on Monday. He was excited to go back.

After school Nico and Evelyn have been playing Minecraft. They gather downstairs, each on their own device. Sometimes Avery and Ivy join them. Ivy asks me in a sweet voice all the time, "Is Nico going to play Minecraft?"

On Tuesday I watched Avery and Ivy during nap time while Allicia was out. They didn't stay asleep and were up shortly after Allicia left, so we hung out downstairs and played Zelda. We had fun. That afternoon after school Nico and I went to Nampa to visit G.G!

Eating banana bread after school on Monday.

Putting together one of his Christmas presents

On Wednesday I went to lunch with my parents and some family friends I hadn't seen in a very long time, Glenn and Doris Loomis. They recently moved to Boise from Donnelly. We ate at Marie Callenders. 

I didn't take many pictures this week, I need to be better about that! 

It's a short update this week! Not much to report. Nico checked out a book called "The Capture" from his school library. He is reading that right now in bed. 

Until next time!

School, Legos, Minecraft,

School is in full swing, and not much else happened this past week! 

Nico has been putting together Legos and wanting to keep them set up, so we've cleared some space to put them. He has also adapted his outlook on Legos, so if he doesn't have a piece he needs according to the instructions, he is OK finding a similar piece. One of his favorite movies is The Lego Movie, which has "Master Builders" in it, the heroes, and they make Legos without instructions. Nico was missing a piece for a set once and all Guy had to say was "Oh, you can just be a Master Builder, and pick a different piece to go there." and Nico was all over that! This is a big deal, because Nico is typically a by-the-books kind of guy.

The other change, perhaps thanks to The Lego Movie, is that he's spending a lot of time playing with the Legos after they are built, instead of just building them and stopping after that.

Tonight was back to school night at the school, the parents met in the gym first to meet the new Principal and to hear from the PTO, then we went to the classrooms. I got to sit in Nico's desk, and his teacher told us all about what they do on a daily basis. His teacher is a recent empty-nester, so she said she really enjoys coming to school and being able to still kind of be a mother. They changed the way they grade - there are no more "E"s for "Exceeds Expectations".

I took a picture of this picture Nico drew of himself.

When I came home from the school, Nico was in bed and he had chosen to write in bed instead of read, and he was writing a story. When he was done, this is what he had:

Nico and Evelyn have started walking to school together by themselves! I'm so grateful he has a walking buddy!

For his birthday we got him a Minecraft account, so now him and Guy can play Minecraft in the same world at the same time. This has been super fun for Nico. Minecraft days are Mondays, Wednesdays, and Saturdays, where they go downstairs and play together at Guy's desk. Nico uses the laptop that G.G. gave to him. When Nico has iPad time he usually spends it watching Minecraft videos of people doing cool stuff in Minecraft, and then he tries out these cool things when he plays himself. 

Yesterday Nico had a dentist appointment to fill a cavity. It was set to be at 3:30 but Nico was complaining that his tooth was hurting yesterday morning, so I called and had it moved to 11:30. He did such a great job! I think I was more nervous than him. hehe.. They gave him a card to redeem at Bricks and MiniFigs nextdoor for a free Lego MiniFig. He begged to stay home from school for the rest of the day with his numb cheek, and I said yes, so he got some extra time to play Minecraft yesterday afternoon. Last night he asked me, "You said I didn't have to go to school tomorrow, right?" hehe. He sometimes complains that school takes too long. 

After the first few days of school Nico told me to put more stuff in his lunch. He asked specifically for "chips, fruit punch, and red pepper" in addition to his sandwich. So, that's what I've been sending. Last year he very specifically just wanted a sandwich (but I always put some red pepper or other vegetable in his lunch anyway.)

That's all the tidbits I can think of right now! 

Until next week!

Minecraft, Birds Bugs & Botany Camp, Discovery Center SHARKS!

Last Friday was Avery's birthday party. Guy and Nico were able to attend and it sounded like fun. They had yummy food, and a chocolate fountain, it was Charlie and the Chocolate Factory themed.

On Sunday Nico and Guy played Minecraft in the afternoon downstairs. Evelyn, Avery and Ivy joined them, as they also had the Nintendo 64 plugged in and they were all rotating which games they were playing. They had so much fun!

On Monday started the Bugs, Birds, and Botany camp for Nico at the Botanical Garden. As we were walking into the garden, Nico asked me, "Why did you sign me up for this camp since I already know everything about birds?" I told him that I thought he might want to learn even more about them.

When I picked him up that day, his teacher said that Nico knew more birds than she did! And that he had recognized a Wilson's Warbler.

They only spent Monday on birds, they then talked about bugs, and today was about bats. Nico has been enjoying it.

Yesterday he pleaded with me to go to the Discovery Center in the afternoon because the current exhibit is all about sharks. So, we went! Most of the rooms had been switched over to the shark exhibit, where we saw huge shark jaws, teeth, and shark cages and wet suit from the JAWS movie. There was also a sand bin that had topographical projections on it that changed as you shifted the sand around. That was a very very very cool exhibit, we spent a lot of time with that. There is a short video at the end of this entry that will show you.

Each shark had a danger rating. Bull Sharks have all 5 caution symbols highlighted. Same with Tiger sharks. There are some tiny sharks that aren't at all dangerous. We also learned about prehistoric sharks. One of them had a jaw that curled out and down and around in a spiral under his chin. You can't see it in this picture.

This afternoon we went to see the Grandparents Salisbury for a quick visit. Nico is building a house in Minecraft on their iPad that he can only add to when we're there, so he spent a lot of time working on that. Grandma discovered a goat's cheese mozzarella at a local farm, that Nico loves on his pizza! She gave us more of that today as well as some sprouts and milk and eggs. Thanks Grandma!

Nico's birthday is in a few days and we will soon be seeing the Grandparents Russell's arrival tomorrow! Party time!

Here's the Discovery Center Video!

Lego Landmarks, GG, Squirrels, Swimming

On Friday Nico got to spend some time with the Grandparents Salisbury in the afternoon! I had a henna booth to do so he hung out with them until Guy got off work and picked him up.

Nico has declared that Mondays, Wednesdays, and Saturdays are Minecraft days, so on Saturday, Guy and Nico play Minecraft while I'm at the market. Nico is getting pretty proficient in building things in that game. He loves it.

On Sunday, Nico woke up with a slight fever. I didn't know about it until breakfast was ready and Nico said he wasn't hungry for his pancakes. NOT hungry for pancakes? Yikes! His fever was only 99.1-ish, and he ate his pancakes shortly after, but we did miss church that day.

On Monday we ran errands in the morning, and at the end we stopped by the Mall. They were displaying large US Landmarks made out of legos. We saw Mt Rushmore, the Liberty Bell, the Statue of Liberty, the White House, Capitol Building, and then various other fun lego assemblies.

I got a kick out of this next one. You can see that several letters from the mall's name have been removed, they were lying on the floor of the lego display like they had fallen off.

The middle of the mall held miniature lego displays of the larger lego monuments that were in our mall. Clever!

Then on the other side you see the mall sign in-tact, but you can see Darth Maul preparing to cut some of the letters off. heehee.

On Tuesday we stopped to see GG in the afternoon. We get a double bonus when we visit her because we also get to see Aunt Pat! GG Showed us their new patio furniture and we sat outside for a while in the lovely weather. Not too hot that day! GG also gave Nico her old laptop, and he right away found a place to plug it in and start it up, we downloaded Minecraft onto it right there and then realized we needed a login so had to close it up until we could get Guy involved.

It was a really lovely visit!

The squirrels have found our bird feeder. This one has removed all the bird seed from the bird feeder and snacked only on the sunflower seeds. At least he left the rest of the birdseed, though it's scattered everywhere now! hehe

On Wednesday we went grocery shopping. This is usually what I have Nico bring inside. He likes to pile it high.

Swimming lessons are going well for him. He has learned how to hum underwater. I may have said that last week, but he is getting better at it. He LOVES his goggles, I'm so glad we got some for him! They are blue, and whenever he takes them off he tells me everything looks red. We've run into several of his classmates at the pool also getting swimming lessons, including Linus and his sister, and Eli. We also heard back from Nico's friend Olivia, her mom let me know that Olivia would be coming to Nico's birthday party. Next week I plan to send out invitations to family, but if you aren't already aware, his party is happening July 29th at 1 PM at Pojo's! Anyway, in swimming class, tomorrow they will get to go down the Hydrotube all by themselves!

Grandpa Russell, Library, Water Park

On Friday we welcomed Grandpa Russell into town! He came over in the afternoon and we all went over to Red Robin for dinner. Nico asked the server for soda water with coconut after Daddy asked for soda water with lime.

Then it was home to play The Game of Life. Nico is really into this game right now, we play it every day. Grandpa won!

On Saturday morning Grandpa brought Nico some coconut soda. I went to my post at the Saturday market to do some henna, and the boys had a fun morning hanging out and going places. They went to the Dollar Store so Nico could buy his marbles, and they also came downtown to go to the market and to see me. They also took a trip to the library before they dropped Grandpa off at the airport. It was a fun visit. We are all really looking forward to seeing the Grandparents Russell NEXT WEEK when we fly in to Seattle and stay with them for a few days! Next Thursday's update will happen from Arlington!

On Sunday Nico and I went over to the Grandparents Salisbury's house, Nico played Minecraft with Papa and I hung out with Grandma and my Aunt Ellen. 

On Saturday, a big moving truck went down the alley and severed our cable internet line. We were without internet until Monday night. So on Monday I loaded up my computer and we went to the library so I could get a bit of work done. We discovered his school friend Linus hanging out there with his sister, and they were on iPads playing Minecraft, and it turns out the library lends out iPads while you're there so you can play on them. We got one for Nico and he sat right next to Linus and all 3 of them played Minecraft. I sat next to Nico and got some work done. It was so cool we decided to come back on Wednesday. We were hoping to run into Linus again but they didn't make it to the library that day. But, his step-mom and I exchanged numbers and Linus and his sister will be going to Nico's birthday party! Mark your calendars! July 29th, Saturday, 1PM at Pojo's.

Playing Minecraft

On Tuesday we got to see GG in Nampa! Nico wanted to bring Life over to play with her, so we did that. GG won!! :)

This morning we went to the Roaring Springs water park and met some church friends there. Nico's friend Leona took him around to the smaller slides and rides and he had so much fun, and lasted about an hour. He was shivering so much. It started out around 70 degrees and windy, so I can understand that! I was cold at a few points and I didn't get in the water! He curled up under his blanket in the sun and warmed up, then we headed home. He took a shower, we ate lunch, then we went downtown to get a smoothie from Jamba Juice.

A few random pictures from this week

When was the last time Nico fell asleep in the car??

Park play date with Allicia and crew

 Silly picture time

Fidget Spinner, Church Picnic, Turn up the Beet

Saturday was a full day for all of us, I had a henna booth at a festival and Nico and Guy helped with sound at a wedding for a couple in our church. In the morning they went downtown to the market and over to a bookstore that sells fidget spinners. Fidget Spinners are the new thing, apparently! He came home from school one day talking about them and asking for one. He saved up a few dollars and they went and bought one at the bookstore. Blue.

At the festival, Grandma Salisbury was at the booth with me being my helper. Thank you Mom! We had a fun day, it was the perfect temperature to be outside.

After the festival was over, the Grandparents Salisbury helped me pack up and load up and unload at home. Thank you!! Then I headed over to the wedding to pick Nico up. It was past 8 already and he was tired. He had made some friends at the park there that were selling slime. The whole ride home he talked about what he was going to sell at the park next Saturday. "Maybe cars?"

Sunday was the church picnic at Municipal Park.

They had games for the kids, and the area was all in the shade. Yay! It was fun. Then Nico and I went over to pick up the milk and eggs from the Grandparents Salisbury's house. Nico played Minecraft with Papa on the iPad. While we were pulling away from the house Nico called out of the open window, "Bye! I hope you have fun building your house in Minecraft!" 

Monday was a holiday that Guy had off. Nico and I had doctors appointments in the morning, then we stopped by Boise Juice Co. to get us each our favorite juice, "Turn up the Beet". We took note of the ingredients and decided we would try to make it at home. 1 apple, 2 carrots, 1/2 a beet, 1/2 a lemon, and 3 slices of ginger, that's what we're going to try. I got all the ingredients on Thursday and we will try this next week.

We had pizza Monday night since the weekend was too full for us to enjoy it then. 

Nico has had a full week of fun and party things at school. Wednesday was science day at Municipal Park. Thursday was Field Day, and Friday he has a half day. He came home with all of his school stuff yesterday (Thursday) including his journal! Here is a sneak peak. 

This was early in the year. They didn't put dates on anything, but it was in the first few pages.

That's about it for this week. Summer is starting!! I wonder what next week will hold!