First Snowfall, and Advent Calendars!

Last Friday I had Ivy and Avery over for lunch. Avery looked at my calendar and said "how many more years until you play Zelda again?" he pointed to November 11th and said "That's when you're going to play again, ok?" They love to watch me play Zelda, and I had played right before lunch.

After school on Friday, Nico was excited to hear the news that Grandma Russell purchased him the online advent calendar again this year. He couldn't do much with it on Friday but he did play the games available as we waited for December 1st to arrive.

Saturday morning, Guy took Nico to a sensory friendly movie, Small Foot. I had some work to get done that day so Guy took Nico out for a bit. I'm pretty sure Nico got another Italian Soda that afternoon, too!

Saturday night it was my turn to choose the movie, Incredibles 2! And then later that night as Nico was reading in bed, we heard a knock on our front door. Avery was outside, frantic to ask Nico to come out and play in the snow. It was wet snow, and after a snow ball fight, Nico arrived home looking soaked to the bone. He had his first chance to play with our new neighbors across the street. They have 3 boys. One of them threw a snowball at Nico and it got him on his right ear.

Sunday morning, Nico was invited to the field behind the school with Jeff & Allicia and the kids, to play in the 4 inches of snow that fell overnight. I picked him up for church and he was making snow angels.

Sunday night, he was invited to build a snow fort in the front yard of the boys' house across the street. He was over there for at least an hour before we called him in as it was getting dark.

Advent calendar, reading important things about Scotland.

Two Saturdays ago, when we watched the Labyrinth (which Nico now claims is his favorite movie), we encountered some "impossible shapes" near the end. Ever since he played the Monument games on his iPad, he has been interested in impossible shapes. At the library he picked up a book of optical illusions.

Playing Life. Nico is getting more and more interested in board games, he asks to play them a lot. He got this new game called "Dos", similar to Uno but with different rules. It is really fun. We play that a lot. Whenever there's a free moment, he asks if we can play a game.

That's about it for this week! Here's a 4 second clip of Nico making a snow angel.

Red Robin, Weather, Turkey Burgers

Saturday was the Sensory Friendly Movie - Trolls was playing. We brought Evelyn with us, they both enjoyed it! It was cute, I enjoyed it too.

Sunday after church we met the Grandparents Salisbury and two of my brothers and their families at Red Robin to celebrate Papa's birthday! Happy Birthday Papa! We love you!

Waiting in the waiting area, we took over this corner! It was great to see everyone. We were missing Jeremy and family.

Monday was a pleasant day outside, and we noticed someone riding their scooter to school. After school Nico put his helmet on and played outside on his scooter with Aadam, Sammy and Evelyn for the first time since last year before the snow came. The sidewalks were finally clear enough, and the temperature wasn't too cold. Winter is losing its grip on us!

But then Tuesday morning came, and Nico said "I want to ride my scooter to school!" So I said OK! We got his helmet on. And I said to him "Hey Nico, try wearing your regular shoes instead of your boots today, I don't think you need to wear boots anymore!" And he put on his normal shoes. So we're all ready for school and we open the door...

SNOW!

It was snowing big heavy snowflakes and there was 1/2 inch accumulation so far on the sidewalks.
"Well, Nico, put your boots back on!"

We had 2 inches accumulate that morning, until around 1 PM when it started to melt. By the time I picked Nico up from school it was all gone! Phew! Disaster averted!

On Tuesday our friend Brianna came over after Nico got home from school. She stayed for dinner and I made blender banana pancakes with strawberry topping and sausage on the side.

After school on Wednesday we took another trip to the Discovery Center. We tried out the bed of nails a few times, and watched a demonstration about a metal that contracts when you get it hot.

We've made every Thursday "Turkey Burger Day". Nico loves them.  We were going to make it on Tuesday so it could be "Turkey Tuesdays" but Brianna comes over for dinner on Tuesdays now and I'm sure she'd get tired of eating the same thing every time she came over!  

It's nice having routines. He loves Saturdays because it's "Pancake and Pizza Day"

He is reading...

Garfield comics (checked another one out from the library on Saturday)

He is watching...

Pokemon 

Home Season 2

We are playing...

The Game of Life

Bird Matching Game

Diggin' Doggies (with Daddy)

Piggie and Gerald!!

On Friday Nico and I went to see G.G. at the hospital. He had the day off from school so it worked out really well. While we were there she wowed us with how well she was getting around even after being cooped up in a bed for a few days!! She was released later that day. Yay! We will see her this Saturday again!

Last Saturday was the Sensory Friendly Movie. We went with Tiffanie, Aadam and Sammy and we met friends from church there as well. The movie was Kubo and the Two Strings. It was kind of scary. Near the end of the movie Nico said he wanted to go home and I asked him why and he said he was tired. The last few times we've been to a movie he has started getting antsy about 30 minutes before the movie is over. He always asks me "How much longer?" I'm not sure we'll go to the movie next time.

Sunday after church we went to a Piggie and Gerald party at the library. Not the library downtown but a different one over on Overland. Tiffanie and kids followed us there, and then we met Grandma Salisbury and Lexie there too. They had reader's theater, which Nico and friends participated in, and coloring and painting and decorating cookies. There was a drawing for free tickets to the LIVE Piggie and Gerald show at the Morrison Center this Friday. Each family could put one raffle ticket into the fishbowl, and so we did. When the drawing took place an hour later, there were only a handful of us still there, so we all waited eagerly to see if we would win. They had a lot of tickets to give away. Name after name after name after name... most weren't in the room so they moved on to the next one. Then, Lexie won!! They gave her 3 tickets so her whole family could go. Then name after name after name... Tiffanie won! 3 tickets to her. More names were called and I could see we were getting to the very last of them and he still had tickets available. Finally, the very last ticket which he struggled getting out of the fishbowl because it was stuck - OURS! That's right. 3 tickets to the Piggie and Gerald Show - TOMORROW! We are going. We might be a little late, but we're going!

Reading "Let's Go for a Drive!"

Reading "My New Friend Is So Fun!"

I can't remember which book this was! (That's Lexie in the middle) They did a great job!

Reading "Today I will Fly!"

On Monday it was G.G.'s birthday. Happy Birthday G.G.!! We will have your present for you on Saturday (you already know what it is!)

That night we had our last night of Financial Peace University. Everyone graduated and we all got a certificate. Nico fell asleep while we were there, with Guy holding him. He had to put Nico down on some of the chairs to take this picture with us.

Guy and Nico bought a few games at Fred Meyer. Life, and Uno. Here's Nico playing Life with 3 of his stuffed animals. He woke up early that day and spent about an hour before breakfast doing this.

That's it for this week. See you all next time!

The Farmstead!

On Saturday we had a special day that started at the Sensory Friendly Movie that was showing Finding Dory. We took Evelyn with us, and Tiffanie and Aadam and Sammy also came with us. Afterward, Nico and I drove out to the Farmstead in Meridian to celebrate Bruce's birthday!! The Farmstead has a corn maze, hay rides, corn pits, and a bunch of other fun activities to do.

I lost track of Nico once and almost freaked out. He had taken his shoes off to go jump on the bouncy pad and I was talking to family and turned around and he wasn't on the bouncy pad anymore and his shoes were gone. Ack! We deployed the forces (my brothers) and the special forces (sisters in law and Grandma) and we went searching. Nico turned out to be at the attraction right next to the bouncy pad, which was the zip line. I looked over and he was ON one of the zip lines. I had a talk with him. But then an hour later I noticed him quietly leaving where he was and walking away from us and then running toward an attraction across the field. I ran after him and had another talk with him.

Nico, Bruce, Rory and Lexie

Check out the video below of Nico going down the slide with Bruce. It was a fun time, we were exhausted after! We came home and made our Saturday night pizza and discussed what we should watch while eating. Nico chose Penguins the movie.

Sunday Guy went early to church to practice doing the sound board. He has been going on Thursday nights during worship practice to learn how to do it. And this Sunday he watched while someone else did part of it, then he took over. He did a good job.

"No Spendtember" is over, so Nico and I took advantage of the two days off that he has and we went shopping today! We got him a Halloween costume, and a few other needed things from the store. Nico spent some of his money on some Grosseries (like garbage pail kids, but figurines, groceries that have molded over, like "Disgusting Mustard" which is a mustard bottle with green goop coming out the top).

After we got home he put the costume on and wanted to show Aadam and Sammy right away but they weren't home, so he sat on a stool reading the Rube Goldberg book outside in the driveway, waiting for them to return (he gave up before they did)

Then we had a treat and went to Boise Juice Company and tried their Pumpkin Smoothie bowl. It was so good! Nico also chose a fresh beet juice with carrots and apples, it was very tasty and he drank most of it. And he was convinced my pumpkin smoothie bowl was ice cream.

Then this afternoon he went over to Aadam and Sammy's house. They watched Hotel Transylvania 2. Tiffanie posted these two photos of them having fun:

That's pretty much it for this week.

Here's the video I told you about, Bruce and Nico going down the slide then Leah follows.

Nico's Journal, Bike Ride, and Tornadoes

So last week I told you that at the Parent Orientation I wrote a note to Nico in his journal, well on Friday afternoon I received an email from his teacher and she had taken a picture of the note Nico wrote back to me in his journal. I assumed that she had done this for all the kids and parents, but when I talked to her this past week she told me it was just him because what he wrote was so adorable and he did such a good job writing :) Then he wrote a journal entry for Guy, too...

Guy took Friday off from work and we watched Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell on Netflix, the first of the mini series. We have both read the book and so this was very fun. We went downstairs in the basement to watch it.

This past weekend, Allicia's sister got married, so there were lots of family in town and they actually stayed at a house rental in Eagle for the weekend. It was strangely quiet around here. I didn't have any henna booths so we were able to really enjoy spending time together. Nico and I went to the Sensory friendly movie on Saturday, they played Ice Age: Collision Course. It was funny. Tiffanie and boys also went.

Tiffanie took the boys plus Nico for a bike ride on Monday, everyone had the day off! They went by the golf course.

Nico is always excited to go to school in the mornings. This past week he has had to wear certain colors to school so he searched for the right shirt every morning. He's been struggling to eat all of his lunch so this morning he told me to just pack him half a sandwich. It doesn't seem like enough food, just half a sandwich and some veggies, but he did eat it all.

He likes to chatter while we walk to school and tell me things and ask me questions. I love it.

No Spendtember is going swimmingly. Would you believe it if I told you we only have $850 left of our debt?!??!?!??!? I can't believe it! The blog update in 2 weeks might have some super good news about debt payoff... Nico is excited about the huge Star Wars lego we are going to buy when we pay off debt.

Not much else happened this past week!

Oh but I have a funny story. A few nights ago Nico crawled into bed with us and seemed a little restless. Then I heard "Mommy?" and I said "What?" and then he asked me if there were any tomatoes in Idaho. Tomatoes? Yes, there are tomatoes.

N: There are tomatoes in Idaho?

M: Yes

N: A boy at school told me there were no tomatoes in Idaho

M: Oh, well, Jeff and Allicia grow tomatoes in their garden and we've eaten them!

N: But there are no tornadoes?

M: OH, tornadoes? Yes there are tornadoes in Idaho but they are small and don't last long

N: I don't want to live where there are tornadoes

M: Oh but you know what? If there is ever a tornado in Idaho we are in luck because Mommy knows exactly what to do when a tornado happens and we will be fine.

N: I don't want to live in Idaho

I assured him that tornadoes in Idaho are rare and small. They get confused around mountains. Then he fell back to sleep. A few weeks before this, we had been watching tornado videos on YouTube because Nico didn't know what a tornado was, and then I told him I had to turn it off because it was making me nervous because I didn't like tornadoes. Whoops. I'll have to work on that.

Grandma Camp, Water Slide

Saturday was the Sensory Friendly Movie, they played Zootopia. What a great movie! Nico had already seen it at the last Grandma Camp but was really excited to see it again. And then again on Wednesday he watched it downstairs with Evie while Avery and Ivy were napping upstairs. We went to the theater for the sensory friendly movie with Tiffanie, Aadam, and Sam.

Monday was a holiday and our crew spent 2 hours at Quarry View Park and it was magical. All the kids got along really well, including Avery. They played and then we fed them a snack and then they played some more.

Tuesday was another magical day, we went to the Natatorium behind Nico's school for the very first time. It has a swimming pool, diving boards, and a smaller wading pool for the little ones. It also has a water slide, which you can pay extra to experience. I bought a pack of 10 rides on the slide, and split them up between the kids, whoever wanted to go. Before we went down the slide, I took Nico and Sam and Aadam to where the slide ends and it dumps you in a pool 4 ft deep so they could see what happens at the end of the slide. They still wanted to try it so I took Nico first. He sat on my lap. I was more nervous than he was I think. Splash! Sammy, Adam, and then Avery all wanted to go. I took Avery on my lap and it took some coaxing once we got to the top of the slide, but we finally got in the water and pushed off. When we got to the end of the slide, I lifted him up while I went almost under, so that he wouldn't get too wet. It was so fun to be able to walk to the pool. We ate snacks on the way home.

The wading pool

Nico has had a loose tooth for the past few weeks, but it hasn't been going anywhere. On Sunday Guy told me that the permanent tooth was starting to come in, in the wrong spot! Inside Nico's mouth, poking in toward his tongue. So we really tried hard to get his tooth to come out over the weekend (see video). But, it didn't work, so I called the dentist on Tuesday and made an appointment on Wednesday. But then, when we came back from swimming on Tuesday I looked in Nico's mouth again and his loose tooth was GONE! Mystery! Nico searched for it everywhere and told us he probably accidentally ate it while he was eating his sandwich at lunch. The dentist said that since the baby tooth is gone there's really nothing they can do now for the crooked tooth, so there was no need to come in.

The tooth before it fell out (see the new one coming in behind it)

On Wednesday started the 2nd Grandma Camp of the summer!!! We packed everything up and I dropped him off at the cabin at 5 PM. This is Grandma Camp - Treasure Hunter! My mom has the best treasure hunts. When we were little she would do a treasure hunt for all of us and neighbor kids on the last day of summer vacation. I am inspired this year to do the same for Nico and his neighbor friends. He has built himself quite a little community of friends here and I know they would all enjoy doing an epic treasure hunt. I decided this last night and have already commissioned the invitations to be made by my friend Brianna. Thanks for the inspiration Mom ;)

Here are some pictures Mom sent me today.

Nico told us Wednesday morning that he wanted to either be a cop or a construction site worker when he grows up. Guy then told him that Grandpa Russell used to be a construction site worker and Nico looked at me and said "Tell Daddy what I'm going to be when I grow up. I already know." he whispered it into my ear that he wanted to be a construction site worker for sure.

Driving in the car later that day he told me he was singing loud so that Grandma and Grandpa [Russell] could hear him! (see video)

Wednesday we also hit up the Library where we picked up another free book and several other prizes because Nico has been reading for 20+ minutes every day.

VIDEO TIME!
Check out Aleesh the Beast in her first ever Roller Derby game!

May and June 2016 Snippets

Snippet - Nico singing in the car

Library, Lexie, GG

Saturday was Sensory Friendly Movie day, they showed the same movie they showed last time, Kung Fu Panda 3. Nico got bored after an hour into it so we left. We went straight to the library to pick up a free comic book for Free Comic Book day. Nico then picked out a board game to play while we were there.

This is the game we played, but this picture was taken on Wednesday, not Saturday! We went back to the library on Wednesday :)

Sunday was an extraordinarily fun day. The message at church was fabulous! After lunch we all went on a bike ride on the greenbelt until Nico said "My legs hurt." That was our cue to turn around. There was a part of the greenbelt that Guy had wanted to investigate, with the question "Where does that path go?" And now we know where that path goes. It dwindles into nothing as it reaches Park Blvd downtown.

After the bike ride, we relaxed for a bit before heading over to Jonny and Alanna's house for dinner! We are going to be house and dog sitting for them while they are on vacation, so this was a good opportunity for them to show us their house. We had BBQ and kabobs and then after dinner Nico and Lexie had a dance party, and then they did a workout along with a workout video, Nico worked out during the whole thing! That workout was pretty intense and was 20 or 30 minutes long, can't remember exactly. We just sat back and watched Nico and Lexie exercise. Check out the video at the end of the entry to see part of it.

Happy Mother's Day to both of my moms!!!

On Tuesday we visited GG!! Evelyn came with us. Nico and Evelyn have been getting along lately, though I had to jump in right away when we all got into the car, to stop the name calling which was just about to start. I told them that if they were good and could follow the rules, that when we came home they could watch an episode of Curious George. Rule #1 - No name calling, Rule #2 - Keep your hands to yourself. They pulled it off! They got a tad rambunctious at GG's house but we were able to stop that. GG was a very gracious host! :)

After going over the rules.

Wednesday evening, we had a "house dinner", which I think we are going to try to do more often. Allicia and Jeff had leftover Spring Rolls from their dinner on Sunday, so we had those.

Tomorrow we are starting something called a screenfast with Nico, where we take away all screen time for 3 weeks at least. I told him that we were going to do this just today, and explained to him why (I told him it would be good for his brain, which is the truth!) So tonight before bed, Guy and Nico took the iPad downstairs and put it into Guy's desk drawer. We won't be seeing it for a while!

We went over to see a friend, and Nico showed her son (Paul) his pokemon card that Lexie gave him, and Paul got excited and said "I've got something for you!" and ran upstairs and brought down a large collection of Pokemon cards to give to Nico. Paul is older and isn't interested in them. Guy was so excited about this, when he got home from work Nico and him sorted through all of them and made new playing decks. for each of them. Nico has also been taking his cards to school to show his friends.

Wednesday his class went to the Botanical Garden!

I think that's it for this week.. this next week is very busy, so next week's blog should have some fun stuff in it!

Cabin and Doctor

On Saturday we had the sensory friendly movie, they played Kung Fu Panda 3. It was a good movie with a good message. I loved it! We met some friends from the church there.

Saturday afternoon, Papa picked Nico up, they met up with Lexie and Grandma Salisbury and all drove up to the cabin for an overnight visit! When we were at the cabin on Easter, Jonny and Alanna had brought a game called PieFace:

Nico kept asking to play it and we kept saying "later, after the egg hunt..." But when the egg hunt was over, it was time to head home! So this sealed the deal for him coming over on Saturday, because the game would be there. And here he is on Saturday...

Papa and Grandma also took Nico and Lexie to Elk Pond where Grandma had heard a bunch of frogs croaking earlier. The frogs were still in full force when they arrived (see video below for the volume of frog sounds they heard!), and they even found some pollywogs to bring home. The pollywogs were in the egg sack and are still currently there, growing tails, in a jar on our windowsill. 

Here they are today. When Nico brought them home, they were just dots. Now they have some tails growing.

Apparently Grandma returned to the pond yesterday and there was no sign of any frogs or pollywogs! Did a raccoon get them??

Nico also got to eat coconut milk ice cream, and chocolate chips! He returned to us Sunday morning right before church. Thank you so much Papa and Grandma for the fun time Nico had!!!

While Nico was gone on Saturday, Guy and I attempted a hike. But, it was 2 in the afternoon in full sun and we wilted very quickly. Hehe. We need to build up some endurance! We then decided to go see Star Wars: The Force Awakens! We have been wanting to see this movie for a very long time, and we wanted to see it together. And, we finally did! We used some movie tickets that Allicia had given to us a few months ago.

And did you know... that this movie is the very first movie Guy and I have seen together by ourselves in a theater? There was one time where we went to a movie with a group of people. But this was the first time we have been by ourselves. Pretty exciting! So we had to take a picture, though there is no indication that this is a movie theater we are standing in front of. We couldn't fit everything into the picture :)

On Tuesday Nico had a nutritionist appointment, to help us figure out what Nico could eat based on his allergy testing. She said we should take him off dairy completely for 6 months, though an occasional cheese is ok. So, no cream cheese or sour cream. She gave me ideas for how to replace those, and I diligently went and bought some cashew cheese to spread on his sandwiches, and then dutifully attempted to make vegan mayonnaise. The cashew cheese made Nico feel really sick, so that's a no go. He went to school on Wednesday with a tummy ache. And the mayonnaise didn't emulsify so it's just a cup of liquid. But, we're learning :)

A few more random pictures...

That's it! Enjoy the sound of frogs in the video! :)

Cop, Cough, Food Allergies

Nico came home from school last Friday with his backpack full of art projects and things he had done at school. Every Friday is like this. They had several different people from the community come in to talk about their jobs, community helpers, like nurses and cops and firemen. Then they got to write out what they want to be when they grow up and as expected, Nico said he wants to be a cop. He drew himself with a frowny face because he's angry, because there's a bad guy.

Saturday we went to the Sensory Friendly Movie, they were playing Norm of the North, a cute entertaining animated movie with no real involved plot. Nico enjoyed it, even though he kept asking "When is it going to be over?" hehe. 

We ended Monday night with a slight fever (99.8). He had been sick with a cold for a few days and I  didn't really take heed like normal, he played outside a lot that day in addition to going to school. In the evening after dinner he wanted to go back out and I said yes, then he came back in 5 minutes later and said he was done. He kind of curled up on the couch and I took his temperature. He wasn't hungry and his cough was picking up. There's nothing like a sick child to get you kicked into Mom Gear. I went to the Co-op that night after bedtime to pick up some supplies for his cough. His fever was gone the next morning and his cough is almost gone completely. And he loves his "medicine"...

We got a call from his doc on Tuesday morning letting me know results of most of his blood work except the food allergies. Vitamin D was low so we are putting him on Vitamin D drops. His white blood count was low but that may be due to his cold, or his food sensitivities wearing down his immune system. We will recheck in 3 months. Thyroid was fine, and everything else looked good. Then I got a call this morning saying that his food allergy results were in and asked if we could come in. We weren't expecting results until the end of March, so this was awesome! Went in and found out he has a lot less sensitivities than we thought. Eggs, whey, and peanuts are the only ones he has to avoid completely until we heal his gut. Then there were almonds, potatoes, and red grapes that he shouldn't eat more than every 4 days. Because he does not consume gluten or corn, those results were not accurate, but the doc said that because of mine and Guy's sensitivity, it is safe to assume that Nico should also avoid gluten almost assuredly. No problem there. 

I went shopping tonight for supplies. Nico eats pancakes with peanut butter and syrup for breakfast every morning. I have been making them in the shape of numbers. Can you believe we had gotten up to 85??!?! That was this morning's pancake. It will be his last pancake for a while. I bought some cottage cheese, fruit, sausage, and supplies to make apple muffins. I also found a gluten free bread that is free of potato and egg. It was hard to find that! Potato starch is a common gluten free starch found in bread. He has been loving sandwiches spread with cream cheese instead of mayo (oh no! No more mayo! Just thought of that!) and then with deli chicken meat on top, with mustard.

Nico had a little bit of a hard time accepting the no peanut butter thing. The doc says that after a year we can start reintroducing foods. Apparently kids bounce back from leaky gut a lot easier than adults do. We are supplementing him with L-Glutamine to help heal his gut. 

Ok enough doctor talk. Are there any more pictures? Ah yes! Today we took care of Avery while Allicia and Evelyn went to Adams Elementary for Kindergarten registration! Evelyn will be in Kindergarten next year. Miss Lung (the kindergarten teacher) went up to Allicia and asked "Is this the Evelyn that Nico is always talking about?" Miss Lung told Allicia that she hears about Evelyn at least 4 times a week from Nico, telling everyone what he does with her and when her birthday is.

So here's a picture of Nico and Avery watching the washing machine. Avery can spend literally hours watching the washing machine. Sometimes I'll walk into the bathroom and see him sitting on top of the dryer, naked, looking through the top of the washer. He's even fallen asleep while leaning on the washer. Anyway, Nico joined him for a bit, and pulled up his own stool.

Other than that, we have just been planning and looking forward to our trip to Arlington in 1 week!!!!!!!! Nico knows the exact day we are leaving and tells us almost every day about tit. He is very excited to travel and see Grandpa and Grandma. 

See you next week!