Baseball, Parent Orientation, Guy's Mini Vacation

Nico and I had a weekend on our own last weekend! I sent Guy away on a vacation of sorts so he could have some time to just rest. We found a cool Airbnb cottage on a cattle ranch in Ola, Idaho about an hour north of here. He stayed 2 nights and came back Sunday.

I... ahem... spoiled Nico while Guy was gone. I told him it was an every-once-in-a-while thing, so he understood it wasn't becoming the normal.

Friday night we stopped by Chipotle for dinner after stopping by a toy store and getting him some "Mad Matter", which is a really cool sand-clay substance. After he was in his pajamas that night, I took him on a surprise trip to Blue Cow Frozen Yogurt. Watch the related video at the end of the blog! Saturday morning we went to Dick's Sporting Goods to buy some things for baseball. A helmet, a backpack that holds a bat, some batting gloves, and a new pair of cleats since he has already outgrown the ones from spring time.

After Dick's Sporting Goods, since we were right next to the mall we decided to go there! We had to wait in the parking lot for 10 minutes before they opened. We first hit See's Candies, then Jake's Dry Dock. Chocolate and a stuffed animal. He spent his own money on something too.

I made pizza that night and we watched "Bolt", it's a cute animated movie.

Guy came home Sunday but had to head to the church shortly after because Sunday night was Worship Night and there was lots of prep to do. It was a great evening. Nico came with us and all the kids were able to go in the back and watch a movie while the adults did the worship thing.

Monday was the first day of baseball practice! I only snapped one picture, and it wasn't really very interesting. It looks like he's holding his backpack but it's actually hanging on the fence next to him.

Yep. I'll be sure to grab a few better ones next time!

His team is much younger than him this time, but his coach is really good. He is really teaching technique and working on specific rules and expectations. He had two practices this past week and in the coming weeks there are no more practices, only games!

Tonight was Parent Orientation at Nico's school. Allicia and I walked over there together. I got to meet his teacher and learn about some of the things they'll be doing this year. He really loves school.

While I was at the orientation, Guy took Nico and Evelyn with him to band practice. They played in the kids room while Guy ran sound, and I picked them up after orientation was over. 

We are going to sign Nico and Guy up for this robotics camp on Saturdays in September and October. We were waiting until we got the baseball schedule before deciding, since in the Spring he had games every Saturday. He was so excited about this camp that he said that if he had games on Saturdays he really didn't have to go them... ha ha... I'm so glad he's going to be able to do this camp! I told him that Guy built a robot in college that was controlled by sensors. 

Nico's surprise trip to Blue Cow!

School school

On Saturday our neighborhood had a block party at the end of our street. I set up a little henna booth there just like last year, but this time the people who organized it said I should charge, so I did! There was a bouncy house just like last year, and just like last year Nico jumped so much he started feeling sick. Guy took him home to bed and he was soon feeling better.

Sunday was Aadam's birthday. He didn't have an official party but he did come over with his brother Sammy and the boys played out front at our table for a while, eating watermelon and playing. Aadam had treat bags for all the kids, it had some sweet treats in it that Nico could eat and a hotwheels car and a Minions cup.

Then another week of school started! Nico has been doing well. We figured out that library day is Tuesday. Our routine after he gets home from school is--> homework-->snack & iPad. It's been good so far. For a few days he wasn't eating his sandwich in his lunch but just eating his crackers and carrots. I told him to focus on eating his sandwich first and ever since then he's been eating his sandwich too.

Last night (Thursday night) was the Parents Orientation. We heard a speech from the principal (very good), and then we went to the classrooms and met our child's teacher. Nico now sits in the very front row. I sat at his desk and Mrs. Smith told us we could look through our child's stuff, so I did. I pulled out all the stuff he had in his desk and looked through it. Oh fun! She explained how homework works and the kinds of things they're doing in the class. "Walk to Read" and "March to Math" are both daily/weekly things that they do with the other 1st grade class. They are put into groups dependent on their skill. At the end she asked us all to write something to our child in their journals. That was very cool. He is at school right now and has probably already read it!

She also talked about "Mindset", about teaching kids that doing hard things grows your brain and making mistakes is how we learn. She said that a good question to ask our kids every day is "What hard thing did you do today, how did you grow your brain?" I did notice that he started saying something new just the other day, he was saying it to himself while trying to put on his suspenders without luck "I can do this, I can do this, I CAN do this." Way to go teacher!!

Thursday was a late night for me so that's why I'm updating this morning! Guy has today off and we are hoping to watch some Netflix together today while Nico is at school. It is a long weekend so Guy also has Monday off!

I perfected the gluten free tortilla! It can fold!!

15 minutes before bed: Can I have some henna? Nico told me where to put every part. "Put a vine here, and here, and here and here"