Gluten Week! And Thanksgiving!

On Friday Nico woke up with a sore throat. He wanted to stay home from school but I sent him to school anyway. An hour later, the nurse called me and told me Nico had been to see her twice, she said, "You know how determined he is when he wants to go home, do you just want to come pick him up? Or do you want to talk to him?" I said I would come pick him up. I couldn't help laughing and giggling when I went to meet him at the school. It cracked me up. He was fine. We ran to Whole Foods to return an Amazon package and pick up some strawberries, and then visited Allicia and Avery and Ivy that afternoon to play video games.

He had the sniffles over the weekend but nothing much came of it.

Saturday started Gluten Week. We told him he could choose one meal and one dessert a day with gluten. We didn't want to overwhelm his system with 3 meals a day. Saturday he chose Pizza Hut. It was also Odd Saturday at Jeff & Allicia's that Guy and Nico attended. They came home in time for Swiss Family Robinson (my choice) and Pizza Hut! Nico loved it. And he didn't appear to have any negative reaction to the gluten. 

Sunday he chose to eat a cheese quesadilla from Taco Bell where I dropped him off after church so he could eat with cousins and the Grandparents Salisbury. Afterward, they went roller skating.

Monday I took him to Blue Sky Bagels for breakfast. The place smelled sooo good. And he was soooo excited. After his first bite he said, "Why does this taste so good?" He chose a cinnamon and sugar bagel with berry cream cheese. He said next time he would get the same kind of bagel but different cream cheese. He couldn't finish it so we wrapped up the rest for later. He ate the leftovers as his chosen "dessert" for Monday.

Monday afternoon and evening was Grandma Camp. Guy picked up dinner for me and him from Thai Basil and we watched a few episodes of Dr Who while we ate.

Tuesday's chosen meal was Jimmy John's. He got a sandwich with cheese and guacamole on it (that's it). I also got him a Jimmy John's cookie and a bag of their salt & vinegar chips (which also have gluten so he hasn't been able to eat them.)

We were going to meet Guy there, but Guy wasn't able to get out of his meeting in time, so we took Guy his sandwich after we were done.

Wednesday we had Evelyn, Ivy, and Avery over for a few hours in the morning. Then in the afternoon, Nico went over to their house for a few hours. A good way to spend a day off. They took turns playing Mario Kart on our Wii.

Nico's chosen meal for Wednesday was Papa John's pizza. He loved it. He couldn't tell a difference between Pizza Hut and Papa John's, he says he loves them both. He had some snickerdoodles for his dessert.

And then today.. Thanksgiving! Nico could eat anything he wanted. He loved the rolls. He ate chocolate cream pie for dessert.

After the food, we had the lego challenge. Grandma Salisbury planned this one well! It was a family challenge so we all worked together to put together our car. Bruce, Rory, and David won that challenge. The next challenge was to see whose car could go the farthest and the fastest. Each car could be pulled back and released. Lexie won both of those challenges; way to go!

Ornament exchange.

Unwrapping the box! This box Nico is working on is covered in duct tape. An entire roll. It took the kiddos quite a while to unravel it. Each kid had about 15 seconds to get what they could from it. The initial box was a large box, and this smaller one was just one box inside of bigger and bigger boxes.

After the box, it was time for dessert. Pie pie pie pie!

It was a wonderful Thanksgiving!

I have a video with Thanksgiving snippets and some snippets of gluten week which I will post next week.

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!

Thanksgiving!

Last Saturday Guy took Nico to get a hair cut. He took him to the same place he goes to get his hair and beard cut, the Beardsmith. Nico got a cut called "The Good Boy", which he really really likes. Guy also picked him up some pomade. The part in his hair is a "hard part" which means they actually shaved a small strip of his hair where the part is, so the part is easy to find. This really has made it easier to part his hair.

This is what he looked like when he came home. He didn't want to pose for a picture so I caught him while he was playing with his legos (see the fire truck go zoooooooom on the floor).

That evening we had pizza with Jeff and Allicia and crew. Allicia has been gluten free for a while now so we made her crust for her, and they made Guy's crust for him since he can eat gluten. They had a whole bunch of personal pan pizza crusts they had baked up, so Guy was able to eat several different ones with different toppings and he said it was awesome to be able to do that. We had so many more toppings than usual. I stuck with a cheese pizza and Nico prefers just meat on his. Pepperoni and sausage. But we have noticed a trend, that Nico doesn't eat much when there's exciting things going on.

After pizza, Guy gave Jeff and Allicia each half a pumpkin roll that Grandma Russell had made and sent to us. They were so happy about that! Then we descended to the basement to watch part of an episode of Charlie Brown. 

On Tuesday we spent the day at the Salisbury house. Bruce and Rory were there for Nico to play with, and Grandma Salisbury and I cooked a turkey and made a few of the salads for Thanksgiving. In the afternoon when Papa was done working, we started watching Star Wars: A New Hope and Nico was interested for about 15 minutes before he went into the other room. He loves the Star Wars characters but he has never seen the movies, someday he will!

Getting ready to watch Star Wars

Playing legos with Bruce

It was a full and fun day. Guy joined us after work for dinner and then we headed home.

Wednesday was a day full of cooking for me. I made the stuffing, 2 pies, and deviled eggs. Guy wasn't here to taste test the stuffing so I sent him a picture of it and asked for a virtual taste test. He responded "😋  I can run home real quick. It's basically and emergency." Hehe. He didn't run home, and the stuffing turned out fine!

Thursday we headed over to the Salisbury house early. I started the sauerkraut and pork in the crock pot right away, and then we spent the morning slowly getting everything ready for the meal at 2pm. Guy turned on the MST3K Turkey Day Marathon for everyone in the living room. That was a hit!

When it was time to eat, Pa gave a short devotional about being thankful, then we each went around the table saying something we were thankful for. Most everyone said they were thankful for family. Guy said he was thankful for family, and for his job and his boss. Nico said he was thankful for his mommy 😍. 

After the meal was over, Grandma sent everyone out of the room except for the parents (me and Guy plus all my brothers and their wives) so that we could do the Lego Challenge. Grandma and Pa and Wanda (Alanna's mom) and the grandkids were going to go clean up the kitchen. Grandma gave each of us a lego that could be built into 3 different legos. After we built one of them, we had to take a picture of it, then take it apart and build the next one, etc. Guy and I won 1st place! Our prize was a light you can shine on your house that displays swirling snowflakes.

Here we are with the last lego we put together, a flying robot.

Left to right: Jeremy, Bambi, Guy, Joanna, David, Jill, Alanna, Jonny

Rory, Lily, Lexie, Nico

Rory and Nico

Playing baseball in the backyard with cousins and Papa

After the Lego challenge, we gathered in the living room to play games. 1 - Ornament exchange 2 - Treasure hunt 3 - Unwrap challenge.  The unwrap challenge required everyone to take turns wearing gloves and spending 15 seconds trying to unwrap this huge present. Whoever got to the middle first won the present. Inside that huge box was an iTunes Gift Card and Bambi won it! Watch the video at the end to see Guy and Nico both take turns trying to open it!

After games, we ate dessert, then we all started packing up leftovers and heading home. The grandkids all stayed overnight last night and will stay overnight again tonight, so we said goodbye to Nico and headed home! When we got home, we showed our snowflake light to Jeff and Allicia, and Ivy who was still up. Ivy rolled around in the lights for a good while while we chatted.

Nico has been having tummy aches, presumably from all the sugar we recently introduced into his life? They are not "sick" tummy aches, they are "pain" tummy aches. I am hoping to get a handle on them. He seems to be much better when he doesn't eat sugar. He doesn't eat a lot of the stuff anyway, but I think his body is just not used to it! 

Here's the video of the unwrap challenge!

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 Pictures, and Dentist

As promised last week... Thanksgiving pictures!

Papa and Nico playing games

This was Guy's set up for most of the morning until the rest of the crew came. MST3K Turkey Day marathon on his iPad while playing on his computer.

Preparing to chop onions

Nico and Lexie stuffed themselves with olives shortly before turkey was served. 

Nico and Lexie playing a game

Other pictures from last week...

Playing in the snow

Well deserved hot cocoa after coming back inside (cacao powder, maple syrup, water)

Now on to THIS week!

We were planning to go to Winter Garden Aglow on Saturday, but the temp that day only got up to 22, and it was super super cold. Not to mention Guy and Nico were getting over colds (well, Guy was just starting to get one...) So we stayed inside! It was a nice 4 day weekend. 

On Monday Nico had a dentist appointment, and they took X-rays for the first time and he had *ahem* 8 cavities. None of his front teeth are touching, but the molars in the back are all touching, and right at the spot where each of them touch the other, that is where the cavities are. So 4 on each side, two on the top and two on the bottom. That will likely tell you how much we FLOSS his teeth. They also said he had a lot of plaque, and recommended buying him a spinning toothbrush. 

He is getting two of his cavities filled on Dec 16th. The other 6 we are letting sit. The dentist agreed to allow me try some stuff to see if we could get them looking better (always an experimenter...) if we come back in 3 months for additional X-rays to see his progress. The two we are getting fixed on the 16th are two that the dentist didn't feel comfortable waiting on. Fine with me, that gives me 6 others to play with :) I'm trying some essential oils and other things... more bone broth too which I'm conveniently making more of this very night. More flossing of course, and a spinny brush that has Mario on it. I went to WinCo Wednesday morning and texted back a picture of the spin brushes they had there so that Guy could show Nico (they were both at home), and Nico chose Mario. We started his new brushing routine last night with some tooth oil and flossing. And I taught him how to spit. Swish swish spit. 

Nico requested pancakes in the shape of letters. We just finished H the other day, but here is the E one. 

This morning he told me to do a number instead, so I did 100. Oh our routines, they are fun, and Nico reminds me if I forget. I'm trying to get him to not tell me I forgot something in a whiny voice. "Mommmmmyyyyyyyyy, you forgot my waaaater!!! Mommmmyyyyyy where's my fish oil??!?! WE FORGOT TO PRAY!!!"

OH, you may not remember, but Nico used to say six as "sickie". He was randomly counting the other day and absentmindedly said sickie instead of six. It was funny, I mentioned it to him and he laughed. It was strange to hear it again, makes me remember that at one point all he knew was signs and couldn't say many words at all! Here's a flashback for you..

On Tuesday I volunteered in Nico's class. For some of the time I was pulling kids out of the class to practice letters. They have a list of letters and they have to say them as fast as they can. They are tested formally on this specific thing every quarter I think. So they practice a lot. And also so they can get used to the test format. They have one minute and I used a timer.

We received an advent wreath with candles for Christmas from the Grandparents Salisbury, so we have been lighting the candle every night since Sunday (except Monday when Guy wasn't here and I forgot). Nico can light the match himself and then the candle. He likes "accidentally" blowing the candle out. (He's been playing with the idea of "accidentally" doing all sorts of things this week!  As his hand is scraping across my keyboard "Oh look, I accidentally typed some letters. It was an accident!" So we've had to talk about calling things accidents when they were actually done on purpose.) 

We've also started our Christmas Tree advent calendar, and the computer one that Grandma Russell buys us every year! We put it on his iPad this year, and left to himself for a while on it he says "Mommy, 3 isn't working"... that's because it's not the 3rd yet. It's a good thing it prevents you from going ahead, or else he'd be all done with it already! It's fun to have something new to do every day on it. Here's one of the snowflakes he made.