BIrthday Party, Chess Tournament, Nachos!

Saturday was a fun and full day. We celebrated Grandma Salisbury's birthday at Smokey Mountain Pizza. Our private gathering room has its own door to the parking lot, so I took a video of the kids after they ran out to greet Grandma and Papa when they arrived. Watch the video and beware when Nico starts running back toward me, WHACK! Yeouch!! The video is at the bottom of the blog post!

Happy Birthday (today!) To Grandma Salisbury!

Straight from the party, Guy drove Nico over to JUMP (Jack's Urban Meeting Place) for a Chess tournament/party. They went a little early because JUMP has a slide from the 5th floor of the parking garage that goes all the way down to the ground and Nico wanted to try it. But it was closed! Instead, they climbed on the jungle gym until the party started.

This afternoon I received this email from his chess coach:

We already signed him up for next year chess.

Saturday night we rented Mary Poppins Returns from RedBox, it was my choice. We all loved it. After the movie was over, Nico asked, "I want to watch ALL the Mary Poppins movies, are there any more?" Nope, shucks!

There was one evening this week (I think Sunday night) when Nico was very sad. We had said no to something he wanted. So here is Guy snuggling him on the couch. Guy sang to him the song he used to sing to him several years ago when we lived on Krall st. "The sun is sinking in the west...." Nico remembered the song and started crying. It was a very sweet moment. I'm surprised Nico remembered the song! When Guy put him into bed, he whimpered in his bed and started crying again and said "Daddy I want to spend more time with you." So Guy got up into Nico's bed and they hung out for a while.

On Mondays and Wednesdays, swimming nights, if we get to the Y a little early, Nico is able to play in the kiddie pool. Here's a shot of those shenanigans.

I love the Y swimming lessons. There are 4 life guards on duty. And, the air is very warm, not just the water, which means Nico doesn't get cold and shivery! He's able to make it through the entire 30 minute lesson. I am hooked and will probably never go back to lessons at the Natatorium. 

Tuesday night at Cub Scouts, the Birds of Prey were there!

Cub Scouts snack.

Nico has been on a nacho kick lately. He made these by himself.

Nico's friends across the street are moving in June, and I chatted with their mom about it and asked if she'd be willing to share their landlord's phone number with us so we could potentially move in after they move out. If across the street doesn't work out, we plan to move somewhere else THIS SUMMER! The time has come! We would love to stay in this area so we are hoping for the house across the street. We are super excited and being very dreamy about it. We are working hard to make it work!

This week was Nico's first standardized testing day for 3rd grade. It was a math test today. 1-2 hour tests, about 7 tests total in the next few weeks. We ordered him a vibrating wrist band that vibrates every 5 minutes to help keep him on task. I am looking forward to hearing from his teacher how it works for him at school. It will arrive on Saturday!

Enjoy the video!

8th Birthday!

Friday the whole crew of us (Us and the Grandparents Russell) went to the Art Museum. We passed through the Rose Garden on the way there.

Nico was drawn to art that had shapes and numbers in it. When we found the kids exploration area, he tried out all the toys and built a symmetrical shape on the wall.

Afterward we went to the Boise Fry Company for lunch and then walked over to the library, then headed on home.

Grandma and Nico went outside and had boat races in the water.

Saturday, we split forces, the Grandparents with Nico and Guy went to the Saturday Market, I picked up the cakes and got some last minute things for the party. On their way home they stopped by a shop to pick up some stuff so Grandpa could improve our table a bit.

He used markers and then later some leather dye to fill in the rough spots on the table. Then he polished it. Verrrrry impressive.

It's like a brand new table!

Grandpa brought us this tiny build-it-yourself arcade game. So stinkin' cute and it plays lots of games. 

Saturday afternoon we went to Blue Cow Frozen Yogurt. We saw a sign for an open house and decided to follow it on the way home! We toured a house across from Municipal Park. It was very nice.

Before bed on Saturday night I set up the table with presents for Nico.

One of his gifts from us was a monthly subscription to "Little Passports", he will receive a new box with stuff about the United States in it every month for 6 months. This first box contained a US Map and a field journal, plus some other stuff.

We celebrated Nico's birthday at Smoky Mountain Pizza. Check out the video at the end of the blog to see some of the highlights!

Waiting for friends and family to arrive!

His super-cute hug of the pink elephant GG made for him

Playing tag

 Playing Ball

When we got home he went straight to work playing with Kanoodle. Consistently this has been the game he keeps coming back to after playing other games. He loves it!

On Monday, Nico and Grandma Russell and I joined Allicia and kids at the Natatorium to swim. I forgot my phone so I have no evidence that this happened, but it did! :) They have a nice kiddie pool there, big, only gets up to maybe 1 1/2 feet perhaps? It was a bit warmer in there than the big pool, so Nico lasted much longer swimming this time! It was also over 100 degrees that day, so I think that helped too ;) He did spend some time in the big pool, but most was in the kiddie. 

We ordered Chipotle for dinner that night! Yum!

Tuesday morning we said Goodbye to Grandpa and Grandma Russell. We had a blast with them here and are looking forward to their return at Christmas!

We packed Nico up shortly after and I drove him over to Papa and Grandma Salisbury's house for another Grandma Camp! I received some pictures and video throughout, here is Nico riding the zip line at Urban Air! (Also check out the video at the end of the blog!)

Playing Scrambled States of America

While Nico was gone, I worked hard to sort through his toys and clear out the area underneath his bed so we could set up a little play area. I boxed up 3 boxes of toys for the storage unit. Guy sawed one of our cube shelves in half, giving us two 2x3 cube shelves, one for either side of the area. We also purchased LED lights to hang under there so he can see what he's doing.

I picked him up from Grandma Camp this afternoon, he showed me his new light-up shoes! They even came with a charger!!

When we got home I showed him his new play area and he was happy about it. Evelyn came over for dinner tonight and I let them eat under his bed while watching funny shows. Then tonight instead of reading in bed, he went under his bed and played. He spread out his US Map for a bit, then discovered some other toys and played with quite a few of them. He did keep bonking his head. And after a particularly hard bonk he whimpered and said "Mommy WHY did you put this play area under my bed?? WHY didn't you put it somewhere else?!?!??!"

When he was done playing he unplugged his LED lights and crawled into his bed.

Goodnight! But first watch this video!

First Baseball Game

Last Friday I got an email from Nico's chess teacher.

Subject: Nico is Epic

Hi there,

Nico did a very nice job on his Chess FunWork. Please give him a high-five for me! 

Happy Checkmates,

Coach Vellotti

Nico was excited.

On Friday after school Nico and I went to the see Papa and Grandma Salisbury. Nico needed time to plan how he was going to reveal the "printer mystery" to his cousins the following day. He planned it on Friday while we were there, and then we ate dinner with them. Grandma made Nico some rice & ground beef. He devoured two helpings, pausing long enough to tell us that Grandma makes better rice and ground beef than I do!

Guy worked late that night so we met him at home later.

On Saturday we played board games in the morning with Jeff and Allicia. We played a game called Splendor. Nico and Evelyn played chess and then did some iPad.

Nico had practice soon after, Guy took him while I stayed home and made a chocolate cake! After practice, I took Nico over to my parents' house and dropped him off there. He stayed the night Saturday night and I picked him up Sunday before church.

Nico explaining the printer mystery.

Grandma made porridge for everyone, they loved it! Don't tell Nico that porridge is OATMEAL, ok?

While Nico was gone, Guy and I made pizza for just the two of us, and since Jeff & Allicia were going out that night and wouldn't be around, we decided to watch a movie downstairs! It was my turn to choose so I chose to watch Valerian. It was a good movie!

On Sunday after church, we met Grandma and Papa and the cousins and Jonny and Alanna at Smoky Mountain Pizza to celebrate Grandma's birthday! I brought the cake I had made and Alanna brought some fudge she had made, Aunt Mimi's fudge! It's the best. She cut up some of the pieces and I put them on top of the cake. Then we ordered some yummy food, sang Happy Birthday, and Grandma opened her gift. Unfortunately I COMPLETELY forgot to take even one picture of our time there, so it will just have to live on in our memories. Happy Birthday Mom!

Sunday night we had Bible Study as usual, and then on into Monday...

On Tuesday Nico had his FIRST baseball game. Check out the video at the end to catch some glimpses from that. They play the game differently than normal rules. They play the game in a time slot, so it's not based on innings. And each player gets 5 chances to hit the ball, then they move the ball to a T so the player can hit it off that. If you go up to bat, you get to hit the ball. You can only run one base at a time, but everyone gets to run. Outs don't count against you and don't change anything, but the coach still asked the kiddos to try to get more outs. For practice.

Nico is #9

For one of the innings he was the catcher.

Today Evelyn came over for dinner. I tried a new meal, and of course made broccoli. Evelyn LOVES broccoli and it makes my heart soar to see her eat so much of it.  I tried to make Hot Pockets tonight. They dough was very crumbly and the finished pockets were a bit crunchy around the edges but generally a good success. 

Evelyn brought this jar of flowers with her for our table, she picked all these from her yard.

The recipe made 6 total, here's the first batch.

After dinner I got a knock on our back door and it was Allicia, asking us if we wanted to see their new electric car! Nico and I went outside to take a look (Guy is at band practice on Thursday nights). Jeff calculated that the cost of electricity for commuting one day to/from work would be .67, compared to $3! They are going to sell their white car, and they will park their new one in the back so they can charge it every night.

Squished into the trunk

 Now to the video!