Bike Rides!

Last Saturday we spent the morning packaging up some product to ship to Amazon. That afternoon, while Guy was out running errands, Nico and I went for a bike ride. But first, a picture of Leafy the Cabbage.

Pictures by Nico.

This bike ride was on Friday. Guy and I and Nico went for a walk / bike ride. Nico was on his bike and Guy and I walked. Check out the green! It won't stay green for long!

This picture is from our bike ride on Saturday. This time Nico told me he wanted me to choose where we went, so I chose to stay in the neighborhood and head west. We ended up biking by our old place on Krall street, then turning around and coming home.

After we arrived home, we implemented an "open door" policy, it was the first time we tried it. I kept my door open and all the kids could choose where they wanted to play, whether the Clubhouse or the main house. Ivy hung out with me in the Clubhouse for a while but then settled next to Nico who was on their couch with their Tablet. Evelyn ended up downstairs watching Guy play video games.

Saturday night it was Guy's choice of movie, he chose a newer MST3K episode.

Monday we were invited over to someone's house for dinner and games, after Nico was done with swimming lessons. Olga and her husband are from Russia, and Olga is the kids pastor at our church. The pastor and his wife were also there, as well as the music pastors. Incredible food, including ice cream. We didn't have time to play games, though, since it was a late dinner and we had to get Nico home to bed.

Nico woke up this morning with teddy bear hair. It looks like teddy bear fur. He wanted to keep it like that for school but I made him comb it. Actually, I combed it. I pulled on it so hard he said, "Ouch! Watch out, that's me under that hair!" That is a quote from Three Stooges. Except instead of hair Shemp says "nail". Nico expertly adjusted it for the situation, and he didn't miss a beat.

This afternoon we went for a bike ride. Evelyn came with us. We stopped at Municipal Park for a bit.

Tonight was the book fair party at the school. Guy took him over there for a little bit after work. They bought tacos from the taco truck and Nico played on the playground. He said he wanted to buy a book but he didn't come home with anything.

That's it for this week!

Drama Performance!

We've had a pretty normal week this past week, the most exciting thing being Nico's drama performance this afternoon, which I'll talk about in a bit!

Saturday was a fun family day. Chores, then running errands. We wentto Fred Meyer and bought Nico some new shoes! Guy got some pretty nice ones as well and a pair of boots. He's been needing new shoes and boots for a while.

It was Guy's choice of movie for Saturday night, and he wanted to pick Mary Poppins Returns, but then he wanted to give Nico context for the movie so he decided to pick the original Mary Poppins. It was not available to rent on Amazon, and the library copies were all checked out. Thankfully, Allicia has the movie! We borrowed it from her. Nico really enjoyed it! I think I will pick Mary Poppins Returns this Saturday so we can complete the series.

Swimming, Cub Scouts, chess, swimming, then today was Nico's final day of drama class, and the play performance!

We walked over with Grandma Salisbury and Evelyn.
Check out the video to see him perform as The Lobster King! He really did great. He had a loud voice and enunciated quite well.

We've been getting veggie delivery boxes, which means, more veggies to eat! Kale chips were very yummy. Nico didn't care for them very much, but Guy and I sure did! We ate the entire bunch of kale that night (this picture is only 1/3 of them).

On Tuesdays we watch tv while eating. It's usually Three Stooges.

Here's Nico's performance! The first clip is separate and probably requires a back story. Nico was sad one night and went into his bed and put his head under his pillow. After a few minutes we saw a hand poke out to get a slice of cheese off his plate, and he brought it under the pillow with him so he could eat it. It was hilarious and Guy and I cracked up. He wanted to re-enact it on a video so I recorded it :)

Baseball and Chess

Baseball and Chess, two of Nico's favorite things!

Saturday was a fun day! First, a baseball game. It was rainy and a bit chilly, so I ran to Fred Meyer to get Nico an undershirt and a jacket. I was back just as the game started but I did miss Nico's first hit. Grandma Salisbury is back from Moscow and was able to join us! Her and Pa pulled up next to us in their chairs. We had to bundle up to stay warm.

Nico is #9, all dressed up as the catcher for this particular inning.

Jimmy John's afterwards!! We talked about Three Stooges during lunch and Guy got everyone laughing (especially Papa!) over his explanation of a Three Stooges episode. We are going to go over to their house soon for dinner and Three Stooges!

On Saturday night Nico had a chess tournament! Half of the tournament is an "official" chess tournament, Nico doesn't participate in these, he does the just-for-fun half. The just-for-fun group was split into 2 divisions and he was the champion of his division and got a 1st place trophy. His first! He played 4 games and won 2.

Sunday was Mother's Day, Nico gave me something he made in school, and a card. It was sweet. 

On Tuesday we went to visit GG and Aunt Pat. It rained hard that day and I think that's why the interstate was so backed up, we were about 20 minutes late! Great to see them as always! GG asked Nico what kind of animal she could crochet for him and he picked out the pink elephant, she said next time she'd have it for him. I can't wait to see it!

Wednesday, Avery came with me grocery shopping.

Wednesday night was another baseball game. Papa and Grandma Salisbury were able to come again! It was a comfortable weather day, too! Our pastor and his wife came to the game as well, that was cool!

Today after school all of us went down to the basement and I played Zelda while everyone watched. Avery always asks me when I will play Zelda next, so we decided to do it today. I don't know why they love it so much! But it's fun for me too ;)

Then I made a yummy new dish, Taco Chicken Pasta, and Evelyn came over for dinner and we watched Three Stooges while eating. She loves Three Stooges and laughs so hard while watching it. She also told me 3 times how much she loved the food I made.

😳

So that was pretty cool.

Here's Ivy sometime this week reading Curious George on our couch.

I love all these kids!

See you next week!

Flying Kites, Friends, and a Video!

On Saturday morning I drove out to Nampa to an Art Jury for the Nampa Public Market. My henna tattoos were approved for a booth at the market for this summer! I plan to be there about 10 of the Saturdays this summer.

That evening we made pizza again and watched Three Stooges.

I'm having a difficult time remembering what else we did this week! We had some incredible wind on Monday. Allicia took all her kids PLUS Nico to the park to fly kites.

We went to the Discovery Center 

Bed of nails

On the way in to the Discovery Center, Allicia said "Ok everyone hold hands!" Nico and Evelyn held hands and then he kissed her hand.

We sat outside yesterday morning to count birds.

He's been playing almost nonstop with his friends outside. They ride scooters, bikes, or play in their front yard. We "lock" them in their front yard (they have a fence) so they can play freely. They play with cars and other things. One of the friends goes to his school, Aiden, in 2nd grade, and Nico likes to wait for him when I pick him up from school so we can all walk together. They walk next to each other in front of me and Nico asks "Would you like to play with me?" and then the next day Aiden will ask Nico "Do you want to play with me?" Nico comes home and eats a snack first and then rushes outside. Aiden brings out all his cool toys, cars or Star Wars action figures and they sit at the little kids table in their yard. Adam and Sam join them as well. I go out to check on them throughout the afternoon, and Nico typically comes inside when Guy comes home. Guy "picks him up" from over there and brings him inside. Sometimes I go over and talk with Adam and Sam's mom, Tiffanie, and we sit at the "grown up" outdoor table in their yard. Sometimes Adam and Sam come over here for a play date, and they play inside while I make dinner and then I walk them home when Guy gets home. We've done that twice. Sam laments that instead of coming over to our house he wants to go to Evelyn's house. Hehe. Sometimes Evelyn plays with them too.

Nico and Evelyn have been getting along really well lately. They also enjoy playing outside, in the backyard, and there are days where that is all that Nico prefers. I think it was Sunday they were playing really well together outside and Jeff had to pull Evelyn away because he was taking the kids on a hike, and Evelyn was inconsolable because she wanted to continue playing with Nico, so they invited Nico along on the hike.

I taught another henna class on Tuesday.

And I finally got the April Snippets video put together! Enjoy!

 

Lexie, Parks, Signs, Stooges

Friday was Valentine's Day and Nico came home with a bunch of Valentines from his friends. It was very fun to open them all. Friday morning I had asked Nico if he wanted to give the bus drivers a Valentine and he said Yes. So we put two of them together. One for Dan, the morning bus driver, and one for Miss Donna, the morning bus attendant. Nico signed his name on both of them! He carried both out to the bus, gave them to Miss Donna as she helped him up the steps, and then stopped when he got to the top so he could take one and give it to Dan. He wanted to communicate something, I could tell, he kind of mumbled and stood there for a bit. They were both so happy and said thank you and Dan shook his hand. Dan and Miss Donna are so friendly and I am so happy Nico has them in the morning! Nico often stops when he gets to the top of the steps so that he can shake Dan's hand.

Then Friday night, we hung out with Lexie while Jonny and Alanna went on a date. Nico had a blast watching Curious George with her late into the night.

Lexie even introduced him to a different cartoon on Netflix about pirates! There is always fun and excitement whenever Lexie is around. 

We had some SUN and warmth this past week! We took full advantage of it and went to the Goose Park two days in a row. I woke up with sore arms after the first day, from pushing Nico on the swing! 

There were also several walks around the block this week. One of note was on Tuesday night. Nico emptied his lego bucket, the one with wheels, put a screwdriver in the bucket, and kept asking to go outside, and kept saying what sounded like "sun". Did he want to go outside into the sun? Guy took him for a walk, and Nico pulled the lego bucket behind him. When they got home Guy told me what the purpose of the walk was. Nico wanted to take his wagon around the neighborhood, not because of the SUN, but to collect SIGNS. An instance of Curious George mimicking! There is an episode of Curious George where he takes his wagon around the town and uses his screwdriver to take down a bunch of signs and put them in his wagon to take them home. Then he goes back out and returns them all. Nico got a good dose of pretend play, they pretended to unscrew signs and put them in his bucket, then pretended to screw them back on.

Other things that Nico wants to do because of Curious George: plant a garden, build a car wash, fly a kite, build a sand castle. I've started making a list of things to do this summer, I mentioned two of them already in a previous entry, but the list is growing, and here it is:

1. Fly a kite

2. Shoot off a rocket

3. Go swimming

4. Go to an apple orchard and pick apples

5. Plant a garden

6. Paddle Boats

7. Feed the ducks

8. Discovery Center

9. Apple Pie

10. Build a sand castle (if possible!)

And a few long term goals (ideas gathered from reading books)

1. Build a car from a kit

2. Fly a plane. Or at least, fly IN a plane.

There is also a ritual that has recently started. It doesn't happen every morning, but perhaps 50% of the time. After breakfast, Nico will get up onto our bed with Guy and watch an episode of Three Stooges before Guy goes to bed. Nico laughs and laughs and laughs and reenacts. We've had to talk to him a few times about not hitting, and Guy is being careful in what episodes they watch (he is, after all, in a mimicking mood these days), but it has been a lot of fun for both of them.

Guy's elimination diet has revealed a sensitivity to lemons and to peanuts! Lemons gave him a migraine and made his trigger finger swell. Peanuts gave him a migraine. We are slowly reintroducing foods, tomorrow we trial grapefruit. And an unexpected outcome: Guy has lost a lot of weight in just the 4 weeks we've been doing this.

This week in school Nico is learning about Dinosaurs. For homework, we had to ask Nico how to cook a dinosaur, with some leading questions, and then write down what he said. Nico agreed that the dinosaur had to have a bath first, and that he had to be boiled. I asked him if he needed to be cooked with vegetables and Nico said broccoli. When I asked him again later how to cook a dinosaur, he pointed to the oven and said "Rrraaaaarrrr!!" I wrote all that down on the paper and sent it back to school with him today.

This morning I taught another essential oils class for pregnancy/birth/babies. It was so much fun! I love teaching that class. I have one more planned for March.

Guy got up to go to the bathroom and when he came back, Nico had grabbed his computer. Multitasking with the iPad!

Watching Curious George on the BIG BIG computer while playing with cars.

 He fell asleep at 6 PM tonight while I was reading him a book about cars. Zonk.