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!

GG, Stuck in the snow, Laughfest, and Lexie!

I wrote this on Thursday and thought it posted but whoops it didn't! So here it is!

Saturday we visited GG! We had a good chat and we had quite the adventure trying to get out of her driveway. As I was backing out, I started turning the wheel of the car too soon, and ended up backing into and over the berm, high-centering the car. Whoooooops.

I couldn't move the car in either direction so I decided to try to pop the trunk, maybe get the chains out, but the trunk was frozen shut. I figured chains wouldn't work anyway, the tires weren't even spinning, I couldn't even get them to move. So we went back inside and I called roadside assistance for a tow truck. GG cut us up an apple as we waited for notice of when the tow truck was going to be there. When I got the text it said the tow truck was 3 hours out. Woah! I decided to try the trunk again, but this time armed with a teapot full of hot water (thanks GG!) I headed back outside and saw cars slowing down to pass my car, since it was jutting out into the street. To give you an idea of how high the back-end was off the ground, as I was trying to open the trunk I didn't have to bend down at all, the trunk was right near my face. I saw someone stop to take pictures with their phone.

After pouring hot water around the trunk several times, it finally popped up. I returned the teapot inside and headed back out, and saw another car stopping to take picture with their phone. They stopped right behind my car, so I had to wait until they were done before I could get access to my trunk. They were there for at least a full minute while I stood there waiting. While I was waiting for them to leave, another car pulls up behind them and stops, because they're blocking the road. The guy who just pulled up rolls down his window and says he wishes he could help me in some way, and then has the idea that perhaps he can push me out with his SUV. Still, we have to wait for the other guy to be done taking pictures. The other guy puts his car in reverse and backs up to get a better shot. This time the shot has me in it. In fact, the camera is pointed straight at me, though I'm sure the shot also has the car in it too. (Search the internet, you may find me.. hehe) He takes pictures with his phone for about 30 seconds before he finishes. The guy who had rolled his window down to talk to me asks if the guy taking pictures is a friend of mine and I said "Nope, don't know who he is."

Finally after the guy leaves, we can try out our plan. He turns his SUV around and tries to push me out of the enbankment but I'm so high off the ground that his nose goes under me. So, he turns his car around and backs into me, and I put on the gas and scraaaaaaaaape... I'm free!

I was so happy I almost cried. I thanked him profusely, he happened to be one of GG's neighbors two doors down.

I went back inside and told them the news. Nico and I packed up into the car and we backed STRAIGHT out of the driveway this time, and made it safely to the road. And we got an extra hour with GG!

It was a pretty hilarious event, and I enjoyed telling Guy all about it later that night when we went on a DATE! Our anniversary was Friday, 11 years! We bought tickets to the Laughfest comedy show at the Egyptian Theater downtown, and went to that on Saturday night. We laughed a bunch and it was very fun!

Nico had a fun evening, and got to read books to Evelyn and Avery before bed.

I made Guy pumpkin pie for our anniversary, and Nico and I picked up some whipped cream from the market on the way home from school on Friday, also picking up some special soda. 

Nico helped Guy dispense his whipped cream from the can onto his pieces. 

On Tuesday night I got to see Grandma and Papa's NEW house! They just bought a house in town, and will be moving there in the next few months after it closes. I asked Nico if he was excited about their new house and he said "Yeah! I'm happy they won't be killed by bears in the summer!" Hehe!! 

School was cancelled again today because of the ice and slushy snow, so Nico got to spend the day with Lexie and Grandma Salisbury! He had so much fun he didn't want to leave. Thanks for the fun time Grandma and Lexie!!

Pokemon trainers

Playing karaoke. Nico didn't want to sing, just play the guitar!

Thanksgiving!

Nico and Guy had Saturday to spend together while I was at a festival doing henna. They went to the library, and the mall. We are not doing pizza on Saturdays for a few weeks while our oven is being fixed, so they didn't do pizza. Sunday they both went to church together while I finished up at the festival.

Monday was a day at home and Tuesday was an errand day. It's been fun to have the buddy at home for the week because of Thanksgiving.

On Tuesday we got a Thanksgiving box from the Grandparents Russell. Treats, and some art supplies, we've been playing with those the last few days. It was great timing to get some new supplies during his week off. Thank you Grandpa and Grandma!

He used his new art supplies to design a henna tattoo. He was very proud of it when he showed me. I asked him if he wanted to try doing it in henna and he said yes, here's the result!

Allicia and the kids were out of town earlier this week so we had the house to use during the day. We used their oven on Wednesday to make our pumpkin pie and stuffing, and then again today to heat up our turkey and bake our green bean casserole. We bought a cooked turkey breast from Costco that we just sliced up and heated.

We ate:
turkey
green bean casserole
cranberry sauce
sweet potatoes
stuffing
pumpkin pie

We pulled our table out from the wall so we could all sit at it. It was very nice. I made the stuffing with sourdough bread, Guy said it was good but I didn't prefer it. It was a nice experiment!

After we were done eating we played UNO

We FaceTimed with the Grandparents Russell tonight, Nico seems a little more on board with FaceTime now that he's a bit older. It was fun to see them!

We will get to see the Grandparents Salisbury tomorrow!

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!

Thanksgiving Prep

Today we spent a lot of time in the kitchen. We made stuffing, cranberry sauce, and the pumpkin pie is still in the oven. 

The picture is of Nico helping me sort through cranberries. He ate a few and puckered up from the sourness. While making the pumpkin pie he also enjoyed eating lemon zest and licking the measuring spoon after every spice we added. 

We went for a walk tonight after Guy left for work, he is still limping a tad.

Preparation

This evening Nico and I prepared for Guy's birthday tomorrow by making him a pumpkin pie and also making him a card. One from each of us. Nico really enjoys dumping things into bowls with spoons, so he enjoyed dumping the sugar and other spices into the mixing bowl for the pumpkin pie. Every morning he also helps me start laundry by dumping the detergent into the washer for me. He is a good helper.

The picture is from this morning. We went to the Botanical Garden with Allicia and Evie (and Liz and Miles were there too). We got in free because their pass allows one guest. All of the scarecrows are up, and the weather was mild and pleasant. We had a lot of fun. Allicia shared some of Evie's cheese with Nico.