Bike Rides!

Last Saturday we spent the morning packaging up some product to ship to Amazon. That afternoon, while Guy was out running errands, Nico and I went for a bike ride. But first, a picture of Leafy the Cabbage.

Pictures by Nico.

This bike ride was on Friday. Guy and I and Nico went for a walk / bike ride. Nico was on his bike and Guy and I walked. Check out the green! It won't stay green for long!

This picture is from our bike ride on Saturday. This time Nico told me he wanted me to choose where we went, so I chose to stay in the neighborhood and head west. We ended up biking by our old place on Krall street, then turning around and coming home.

After we arrived home, we implemented an "open door" policy, it was the first time we tried it. I kept my door open and all the kids could choose where they wanted to play, whether the Clubhouse or the main house. Ivy hung out with me in the Clubhouse for a while but then settled next to Nico who was on their couch with their Tablet. Evelyn ended up downstairs watching Guy play video games.

Saturday night it was Guy's choice of movie, he chose a newer MST3K episode.

Monday we were invited over to someone's house for dinner and games, after Nico was done with swimming lessons. Olga and her husband are from Russia, and Olga is the kids pastor at our church. The pastor and his wife were also there, as well as the music pastors. Incredible food, including ice cream. We didn't have time to play games, though, since it was a late dinner and we had to get Nico home to bed.

Nico woke up this morning with teddy bear hair. It looks like teddy bear fur. He wanted to keep it like that for school but I made him comb it. Actually, I combed it. I pulled on it so hard he said, "Ouch! Watch out, that's me under that hair!" That is a quote from Three Stooges. Except instead of hair Shemp says "nail". Nico expertly adjusted it for the situation, and he didn't miss a beat.

This afternoon we went for a bike ride. Evelyn came with us. We stopped at Municipal Park for a bit.

Tonight was the book fair party at the school. Guy took him over there for a little bit after work. They bought tacos from the taco truck and Nico played on the playground. He said he wanted to buy a book but he didn't come home with anything.

That's it for this week!

Where the Sidewalk Ends, and Thanksgiving!

Saturday afternoon we took a walk in the afternoon and let Nico decide which direction to take us. Where the sidewalk ends!

We walked through a neighborhood on the way back, and ran into a few of Nico's school buddies. Nico said he wants to live next to them. That sure would be fun!

For pizza that night we rented Wizard of Oz, it was Nico's choice. We watched it downstairs because Jeff and Allicia and the kids went out of town on Saturday for 5 days!

On Sunday Nico and I attempted to walk to church, but turned around shortly thereafter because he started feeling pretty sick. We came home, he ate a ham sandwich, and then we drove to church. He has been trying to fill up his exercise chart before the end of November, that's why we attempted the walk. We might try again this weekend!

Monday morning bright and early Nico packed up his bags and I took him to my parents' house for Grandma Camp! He spent 3 nights there and we brought him home tonight after a day full of Thanksgiving!

They went roller skating, they went to Jump Time, they decorated placecards for everyone for the Thanksgiving dinner, and they generally had a lot of fun.

Guy had this whole week off, so him and I chose to watch the Jason Bourne movie series, since we ALSO had downstairs to ourselves the whole week! We also tried the gluten free chocolate cake that Amaru makes. It was very very good. We also went to Chipotle on Tuesday evening.

We watched two movies on Tuesday, knowing we wanted to watch the 4th, called Jason Bourne, on Wednesday, but we sadly discovered that you couldn't rent this movie on Amazon Prime, and though it was available for rent on RedBox at the Jacksons gas station on the corner of Broadway, neither of us wanted to drive over there and get it. Talk about stay-cation!! So we watched an episode of Father Brown instead. 

Wednesday afternoon we also received another shipment of red velvet ribbon, so we processed it fast and shipped it off to Amazon Wednesday afternoon.

Thursday, Thanksgiving!!! We arrived at my parents' house at about 10AM. Guy set up MST3K in the living room (the new season was released TODAY on Netflix) and most everyone watched that leading up to dinner which was at 2PM.

MST3K

Picture time!

After eating, we divided up the leftovers and then started the Lego challenge. The challenge this year was different than any years past. Instead of being on teams, we each had a Lego to do individually, and the twist was that the Lego had to be put together WHILE STILL IN ITS BAG. Some of the Legos came with two bags, so we dumped those into one Ziplock.

Ready, set, Go! Myself, Guy, and my brothers Jonny and David each had the same Lego set to put together. I won between the four of us, but we were also competing with Alanna, Bambi, and Karli, who had different sets. Karli won between the 7 of us!!

The kiddos also had to do this. They each had smaller sets.

Before the next game started...

Papa gave us all a retyped copy of the Boles Family History, written by my dad's great grandfather. After giving each family a copy, he read a story from it. Bud was his name, and he was 14 years old at the time of the story. He couldn't join the Civil War because he was too young, but he followed his brothers with the troops. He said he felt safer there than at home. By himself he went back home 100 miles on his horse, over 3 days. Wow!

There are so many stories like that in the book, I'm glad to have a copy of it! Thank you Pa and Ma!

We had a Christmas Song guessing game, and then a huge present the kids took turns unwrapping. Anything you found on your way to the middle you could keep. Each kid had 15 seconds. Nico won a kitchen dish towel, and lotion bar, a kaleidoscope, some other knick knacks, and in the very middle of all this wrapping and boxes there was a fanny pack. He was the one who unwrapped it, so he kept it, inside there was a $25 Amazon gift card.

When we arrived home tonight, there was a package waiting for Nico. He spent his own money on a game and it arrived while he was gone this week. You have to build a structure based on the top, side, and front views of it. He chose this game out of a 70-page toy magazine I received.

He also received his Little Passports delivery while he was gone. He will have lots to do this weekend!

We are super Thankful for all our family, and the ones we didn't see today, Grandma and Grandpa Russell. We can't wait to see you guys next month!

We came home tonight and I ate a huge slice of gluten free cherry pie! Amen!

Thanksgiving!

Last Saturday Guy took Nico to get a hair cut. He took him to the same place he goes to get his hair and beard cut, the Beardsmith. Nico got a cut called "The Good Boy", which he really really likes. Guy also picked him up some pomade. The part in his hair is a "hard part" which means they actually shaved a small strip of his hair where the part is, so the part is easy to find. This really has made it easier to part his hair.

This is what he looked like when he came home. He didn't want to pose for a picture so I caught him while he was playing with his legos (see the fire truck go zoooooooom on the floor).

That evening we had pizza with Jeff and Allicia and crew. Allicia has been gluten free for a while now so we made her crust for her, and they made Guy's crust for him since he can eat gluten. They had a whole bunch of personal pan pizza crusts they had baked up, so Guy was able to eat several different ones with different toppings and he said it was awesome to be able to do that. We had so many more toppings than usual. I stuck with a cheese pizza and Nico prefers just meat on his. Pepperoni and sausage. But we have noticed a trend, that Nico doesn't eat much when there's exciting things going on.

After pizza, Guy gave Jeff and Allicia each half a pumpkin roll that Grandma Russell had made and sent to us. They were so happy about that! Then we descended to the basement to watch part of an episode of Charlie Brown. 

On Tuesday we spent the day at the Salisbury house. Bruce and Rory were there for Nico to play with, and Grandma Salisbury and I cooked a turkey and made a few of the salads for Thanksgiving. In the afternoon when Papa was done working, we started watching Star Wars: A New Hope and Nico was interested for about 15 minutes before he went into the other room. He loves the Star Wars characters but he has never seen the movies, someday he will!

Getting ready to watch Star Wars

Playing legos with Bruce

It was a full and fun day. Guy joined us after work for dinner and then we headed home.

Wednesday was a day full of cooking for me. I made the stuffing, 2 pies, and deviled eggs. Guy wasn't here to taste test the stuffing so I sent him a picture of it and asked for a virtual taste test. He responded "😋  I can run home real quick. It's basically and emergency." Hehe. He didn't run home, and the stuffing turned out fine!

Thursday we headed over to the Salisbury house early. I started the sauerkraut and pork in the crock pot right away, and then we spent the morning slowly getting everything ready for the meal at 2pm. Guy turned on the MST3K Turkey Day Marathon for everyone in the living room. That was a hit!

When it was time to eat, Pa gave a short devotional about being thankful, then we each went around the table saying something we were thankful for. Most everyone said they were thankful for family. Guy said he was thankful for family, and for his job and his boss. Nico said he was thankful for his mommy 😍. 

After the meal was over, Grandma sent everyone out of the room except for the parents (me and Guy plus all my brothers and their wives) so that we could do the Lego Challenge. Grandma and Pa and Wanda (Alanna's mom) and the grandkids were going to go clean up the kitchen. Grandma gave each of us a lego that could be built into 3 different legos. After we built one of them, we had to take a picture of it, then take it apart and build the next one, etc. Guy and I won 1st place! Our prize was a light you can shine on your house that displays swirling snowflakes.

Here we are with the last lego we put together, a flying robot.

Left to right: Jeremy, Bambi, Guy, Joanna, David, Jill, Alanna, Jonny

Rory, Lily, Lexie, Nico

Rory and Nico

Playing baseball in the backyard with cousins and Papa

After the Lego challenge, we gathered in the living room to play games. 1 - Ornament exchange 2 - Treasure hunt 3 - Unwrap challenge.  The unwrap challenge required everyone to take turns wearing gloves and spending 15 seconds trying to unwrap this huge present. Whoever got to the middle first won the present. Inside that huge box was an iTunes Gift Card and Bambi won it! Watch the video at the end to see Guy and Nico both take turns trying to open it!

After games, we ate dessert, then we all started packing up leftovers and heading home. The grandkids all stayed overnight last night and will stay overnight again tonight, so we said goodbye to Nico and headed home! When we got home, we showed our snowflake light to Jeff and Allicia, and Ivy who was still up. Ivy rolled around in the lights for a good while while we chatted.

Nico has been having tummy aches, presumably from all the sugar we recently introduced into his life? They are not "sick" tummy aches, they are "pain" tummy aches. I am hoping to get a handle on them. He seems to be much better when he doesn't eat sugar. He doesn't eat a lot of the stuff anyway, but I think his body is just not used to it! 

Here's the video of the unwrap challenge!

MST3K, Splash Pad, video

Grandma Camp was a huge success. Here are some more pictures

Reading for 30 minutes after dinner

Pillow fight

 Breakfast

Hangin' with the boys

The next Grandma camp is less than a week away, the theme is Treasure Hunting. I was pleased to learn that Grandma had served chicken soup that Nico ATE! He liked it, too. I will start making it myself. He seems to be over his fear of ALL noodles, and can eat some of them now.

On Sunday after church, Tiffanie asked if Nico would like to go with them to the splash pad in Meridian. Yes! We had no sunscreen so I whipped up a batch real quick and slathered him in it.

On Tuesday was the MST3K Reunion Show. Guy and I had purchased tickets more than a month ago, so we had a DATE NIGHT! We went to the theater downtown to see it. There was supposed to be a pre-show for the 30 minutes before, with trivia and music, but the theater had started the live show an hour early (it was supposed to be an hour delayed for the Mountain & Pacific time zones) so we missed it. After the show was over the theater called all of us over to give us free movie tickets to apologize. Those that had showed up on time missed a big portion of the show :( Thankfully, we were early enough that we didn't miss any of the content. 

Then we went to Trader Joe's and bought Guy some ice cream, and came home at about 8:30 and Nico was still not asleep, he was awake reading books in his bed. I thought this might happen, since he had taken a nap earlier that afternoon! 

We implemented a summer schedule for Nico on Monday, he has "family contributions" instead of chores, and we have switched the use of the iPad around so that he gets 30 minutes of screen time every day. There is emphasis on the WHEN-->THEN of the schedule. WHEN he finishes his family contributions for the day, THEN he gets to have 30 minutes of iPad and can also then play with his friends outside. The schedule also has snack and meal times on it. We are also implementing an allowance, $3 each week with opportunities to earn more doing other jobs.

I've been promising a video, and you guys get one this week. It's not too spectacular but I had to start somewhere. I'll get the rest of the videos made soon.