Christmas, Christmas, happy time of year!

On Friday the Grandparents Russell arrived! They stayed up in the suite while they were here, so they were just a staircase away. Quick hanging-out access! Nico enjoys taking baths up in the suite's huge bathtub, so he did that on Friday night after dinner (which we ate in the suite!) He opened a gift that night, a very funny book called "The Dumb Bunnies Go to the Zoo". Grandma read it to him, then it was bedtime!

Saturday was a full day. Pancakes in the morning, then we drove over to Nampa to celebrate Christmas with GG and Aunt Pat. Nico opened a quilt that Grandma Russell made. My favorite is the Three Stooges fabric you can see in the corners, it has sayings from the Three Stooges like "Nyuk Nyuk Nyuk". It is an awesome quilt. We put it on his bed that night!

While we were in Nampa, Nico had a birthday party to attend, one of his friends from church was turning 8 years old. Straight from there we went to the Christmas Party at the Grandparents Salisbury's house. GG also came along with us! We ate pizza, sang songs, Papa gave a devotional and read the Christmas Story from the book of John. A fresh perspective! And then we played games! The saran wrap game started with a huge ball of saran wrap that had prizes wrapped up in it. (Thanks to Aunt Jill Marie for putting it together!) Everyone got a turn trying to unwrap part of the ball, while someone else rolled dice until they got doubles. If you unwrapped a prize while it was your turn, you got to keep the prize. Then the person who rolled doubles  had a chance to unwrap the ball while someone else rolled the dice. It was so much fun! Lots of prizes for everyone.

Thanks to Uncle Jonny for catching this picture of us :)

I think Nico won both bags of M&Ms that were in the ball (they are his favorite candy) so he was a tad over-sugared that night. heehee. We had so much fun. Thank you Papa and Grandma Salisbury for the incredibly fun time!

On Sunday we went to church, a shorter service than usual and Nico read from his Bible Luke 2:10-12, part of the Christmas story. Then the children sang Away in a Manger on stage and everyone joined in. Sunday was a lazy afternoon, Grandma and Nico went out snow-playing. They walked over to Quarry View Park.

After we ate dinner, Nico opened a gift from Guy and I, a board game called Cat Lady. We played it that night before bed.

I finished wrapping presents that night and we stuck everything under the tree. Nico didn't stay up at all, and didn't hear Guy say "Ho Ho Ho, Merrrrry Christmas!", he was fast asleep. The first thing Nico did upon waking is open his stocking. Then all of us gathered for breakfast (cinnamon rolls, scrambled eggs, bacon), and started opening presents! While Nico was waiting to open presents he had pulled all of his from under the tree to make a big pile.

That afternoon we watched White Christmas while Nico played with toys and read his new books. What an enjoyable and laid back day! Grandma and Nico went on another walk that day to Quarry View to play in the snow again.

Some random pictures from our time!

Playing with his Alphabots

Most of these pictures are thanks to Grandma Russell!! And then below you will find a video of our time, most taken by Grandma.

Tuesday morning after breakfast the Grandparents Russell headed to the airport. We planned out a few of the next trips this next year, and we will see them again in March during Nico's spring break! They are adding a kitchenette up in the suite that will be there when the Grandparents come next. Yay! Thank you for the visit, the visiting, the sitting, the talking, the watching, the eating, the laughing, we enjoyed your visit very much!

Tuesday was a day of cleaning-up-Christmas for us. We don't necessarily take down our Christmas tree the day after Christmas, but this year we did, it was dried up and leaving its green petals everywhere. We pulled it out through the front door and parked it next to our front window in the corner until trash day. Then we packed up our Christmas box and shipped it back down to the cellar. That afternoon we sat around being lazy, reading, playing with toys, watching a movie. 

Wednesday was the start of Nico's Hitting Clinic for baseball. Held at Timberline High School, he is doing 3 days of the camp where he practices hitting baseballs. He has had so much fun the past 2 days. Wednesday after it was over, Guy and I and Evelyn picked him up and then drove over to the mall. Nico received a Build-a-Bear gift certificate for Christmas from Jeff & Allicia so he could get a YOSHI stuffed animal! So we went there to redeem it. Evelyn also got a gift certificate for Christmas. Instead of getting another Build-a-Bear (she already has one, a dragon named Toothless, from How to Train your Dragon), she brought Toothless with her and bought him a saddle.

Afterwards we ate lunch at the mall, then stopped off at See's Candy to get everyone one piece. Nico chose a lime truffle, the same one he had chosen from Aunt Pat's See's candy box when she offered him one on Saturday. Evelyn chose a strawberry cream one. Guy picked up some Starbucks coffee at the mall using the Starbucks gift card I won doing the saran wrap game, then we headed back home. 

Nico has been carrying Yoshi around everywhere with him. Feeding him food. He even brought Yoshi with him when he crawled into our bed in the middle of the night.

Enjoy the video!!

Christmas Visit!

What a fun filled week! On Friday was Nico's Christmas Party at school. It was Miss T's last day (she was the student teacher). The kids had each written her a page in a book saying their favorite thing about her and drawing her a picture. Miss T went through the book and as each child's page came up, they had the opportunity to go up front and read what they had written about her. Miss Lung said to the children that if they were too shy they didn't have to come up front, and most of the class did not. Nico did! He went right up there and told everyone what he had written. After he said it, Miss Lung came up and pointed him toward the audience and whispered to him to speak in a loud voice and repeat what he had said.

"My favorite thing about Miss T is that she plays with me."

The kids were able to decorate cookies, decorate an ornament, pin the heart on the Grinch, and play Bingo. I was at the bingo station with the Grandma of one of Nico's classmates. Nico decorated a cookie and gave it to Miss Lung.

Here he is making an ornament.

Nico brought home a gift for me and Guy, it was to "Mom and bad" ha ha ha! It was a beautiful ornament that he had made at school.

On Saturday Grandpa and Grandma Russell came into town!! Nico spent the whole morning asking when they were going to come. When they were on their way, Nico went outside with his umbrella and waited for them.

Nico opened a few of his presents on Saturday, coming in a video soon, will it be tonight when I upload it? We will see! You will know by the time you reach the end of this entry whether or not there is a video at the end of it ;) (p.s. no video tonight, will work on it this week and try to have it next week!)

Nico got a beautiful new quilt from Grandma Russell - it has a winter side and a summer side, and fits perfectly on our bed. I'm sure Nico won't mind us using it, and hey he sleeps in our bed sometimes anyway right? :) He also got a stuffed animal that used to belong to Guy, along with the book, "Beady Bear". Nico was so excited about that! He slept with Beady that night (and has been sleeping with him every night since then). But that first night, he got up in the middle of the night to crawl into bed with us and as he was crawling over Guy he yelled, "MOMMY! I can't find Beady Bear!" I told him we could look for him in the morning and that seemed to appease him.

Quilt on the Winter Side

On Sunday G.G. came with the Grandparents Russell and we all went to church, it was the Madrigal play they put on every year. The content is always different but it always takes place in Medieval times. They fed us food and the play was good. 

I should have snapped a picture of the stage. It was cool to see our friends in the play. Lots of great costumes. Last year we didn't know many people at the church yet, and Guy wasn't with us last year. But Guy was with us this year!! Wahoo!!

We came home afterward and opened the rest of the gifts. It was a lot of fun. Nico claimed that his nose was hurting so we gave him an ice bunny we have in our freezer (a tiny ice pack surrounded by a soft bunny), he would put it on his nose and it helped.

He spent some time putting together his new lego from G.G. that afternoon.

Monday was a relaxed day. Talking, hanging. Gma Russell and I and Nico went grocery shopping in the morning and Nico claimed tummy ache and was feeling sick for a large part of the day, even after a nap that afternoon. He had a slight fever after waking up. (100.3) Then he spoke up all of a sudden and said "I want a hamburger!" all he wanted was the meat. After he ate 3 small hamburger patties he was fine. The fever was due to the cold he caught. Guy started feeling the cold coming on him Tuesday morning. I might be fighting it at the moment too, kind of a scratchy throat. 

Tuesday we were able to see Gpa & Gma briefly before they had to be at the airport. Nico and Grandpa played a bit of one of our new board games - Ticket to Ride. They also did a lot of color by numbers together.

Some more pictures from the weekend..

Snuggle City!

Watching the iPad

Activity Book

Putting together a wood tractor

Overall it was a great visit!

Nico has been enjoying doing advent candles every night. We let him light them and strike the match himself. Tonight was the last night for it, Christmas eve! Also tonight we had dinner with Jeff & Allicia and family. Turkey sandwiches. Then Guy was excited to bring out the pumpkin rolls he received from Gma Russell. Then for the third year in a row we put a candle in an orange and sang Happy Birthday to Jesus! Nico led us in prayer for the dinner and Evelyn led us in the Birthday song for Jesus. Then after the kids went to bed we congregated in the living room. Guy is currently playing Ticket to Ride with Jeff and Allicia and their friend Justin, and I am happily plucking away at the computer. Living here has been a blessing and I'm enjoying the times like this that wouldn't happen if we didn't live here.

Routine

We're getting our routine down surrounding preschool. Nico and I read books while we wait for the bus every morning, and when it gets reeeal close, we put his backpack on and hang out by the window.

 Waiting for the bus.

On the bus, getting strapped in. I wave at him from our front step until the bus drives off.

Coming home.

When he gets off the bus in the afternoon, I have lunch ready for him. I eat earlier, so while he eats I read him books. Then after that I give him 5 minutes with his beloved iPad, and then it's time for nap. Maybe. Twice he hasn't taken a nap. He fell asleep on the bus ride home on one of those days, but then today I'm not sure if he fell asleep on his way home, but he skipped his nap anyway. He's a tired buddy in the evening without a nap!

This week he has started counting things regularly. The steps across the bridge at Memorial park: "One, two, three, five, four, five, four, nine, ten!" He says it with his own sounds, but some of them are very close to sounding correct, like FOUR. My favorite is how he says "Siggy" for seven.

He also says the word "Down", and also signs it. They told me that they teach signs along with words, because his need to communicate is larger than his need to say words correctly. He used it (the word and the sign, at the same time) correctly at the park when he told me he wanted to get down from the equipment. They must have also taught him how to be a monkey, because he's been attempting to climb poles, like he has been taught how. Grabbing it with his legs correctly and everything.

Homework this week was a book called the "My Can-Do Book" with pictures to color of kids doing things that we should reinforce to them that they can do too: Brush their teeth, pick out their own clothes, ride a tricycle. They must be teaching him how to write his name, too, because when I wrote his name on the front of the book, he pulled out his crayon and wrote an N, and kept saying his name! But sometimes he would say "Tico" and he drew a bunch of Ts. He drew lots of Is, too, and one O.

I know I said this already, but I am looking forward to being able to ask him what he did in school! It is strange not being able to know exactly what they did. Except twice this week he did bring home projects that he had done at school - a finger painting picture of his hand prints, and a bracelet (which I am currently wearing on my wrist).

Guy said that this is the first of two times in Nico's life that we won't be hearing about his day at school. Now and when he is a teenager. :)

Doing homework

Also, notice his hair in the previous picture! We got a new hair cutting apparatus, so we tested it out.

It buzzes, so Nico cringed a bit.

Last but not least, I finally finished Nico's quilt for his new bed. Grandma Russell and I both worked on this quilt for Nico. He slept with it for the first time last night.