House sitting, and Matilda!

I was a day late with this July 4th treat, but it was still yummy! The cream cheese frosting turned out brown because I used coconut sugar to sweeten it. It turns out Nico is NOT a fan of cream cheese frosting. Oh well! All the more for me and Guy ;)

After pancakes and chores on Saturday morning, we headed over to the Idaho Food Bank where we volunteered for a few hours bagging up cherries. We had signed up for this a few months ago (they are booked that far in advance!) so the day finally arrived! Afterward, Nico and Guy went to the birthday party of two brothers and friends of Nico from church. They have a 3rd brother as well. Nico and them have gotten close lately, they are often "stranded" in the game room at the church together while both of their parents (me and Guy, and the brothers' parents) are practicing in the band on Thursday nights and early Sunday mornings. They play Minecraft together and watch Minecraft videos back in the game room.

It was a pool party. They stayed for several hours!

I texted Guy to ask if he was having fun and this was his response. This means YES he was having fun.

On Sunday we went for a walk after church. Guy and I walked the dirt loop next to the park while Nico played on the playground.

On Tuesday for Grandma Camp, they went to the zoo!

This week I have been dog-sitting and house-sitting Jonny & Alanna's house while they are away in Kentucky. On Wednesday, I brought Nico over to the house and Guy joined us after work. 

Playing Pokemon.

We ate camping food for dinner. Hot dogs and Smores.

Nico and Guy are going camping this weekend with the Cub Scouts and Guy wanted to try the tent out (we haven't opened it up for 10 years!), so we brought the tent over and they set it up in the back yard.

They slept in the tent last night and I stayed inside (heehee). It went well. They konked out early (8PM!) Nico went right to sleep and had trouble waking up at 7AM. He must have been tired. We learned that it would be good to have sleeping mats. They are going to borrow some from Jeff & Allicia for this camping trip. They leave tomorrow after work!

Today at Grandma Camp they went to the Kleiner Park splash pad.

And then tonight Nico got to cash in an early birthday present from the Grandparents Russell! They got us tickets to see Matilda the Musical in Nampa, ID, put on by The Music Theater of Idaho. We weren't allowed to take photos or video during the performance, but here's some before!

After it was over Nico said his favorite part was when Miss Trunchbull did somersaults through the air. They had her hanging from invisible strings. 

It was very nicely done! Nico stayed engaged the whole time.

Here are some pictures from this week with the other kiddos. We played Zelda and went to the park with them this week. And of course talked about Pokemon! Here Nico is showing Ivy a Pokemon in his Guidebook.

Nico teaching Avery how to play a new game on the iPad.

That's it for this week!

Grandparents Russell!!

Last Friday, Nico had an early release from school, and guess who picked him up?? Grandma Russell! The Grandparents Russell came into town shortly before the end of school day, so Grandma walked over to the school to pick him up. That afternoon we made our way to the Botanical Garden.

That evening, Grandma Russell had an activity for us that she had planned superbly well - sugar cookies in the shape of a circle, yellow frosting, and a variety of colors of squeezable frosting. We were to make EMOJI cookies! This was so fun and that first night we made two pans full of them.

Reading a new comic book from Grandma Russell

The next day, Saturday, we went to the James Castle House. This was the house where the artist James Castle used to live, in Boise/Garden City off in the Hill Rd area.

The last time that the Grandparents Russell were in town, we visited the art museum and had seen some of James Castle's works. James Castle was deaf, he made a lot of his drawings using an ink he made himself from charcoal and spit. I loved seeing the house where he used to live. It was inspiring. I saw several of his works that reminded me of art that Grandpa Russell has done. The similarities were astounding!

A few pictures of James Castle's work.

After that, we went to the Boise Art Museum. We're typically not allowed to take pictures in the Art Museum, but they had an exception this time. There was an exhibit by Jae Yong Kim called Donut Ever Forget Me. Several hundred donuts he created (not edible) and decorated.

Tacos for lunch

Nico ate both of these! This was at Madre, a gourmet taco restaurant close to downtown. Excellent!

After lunch, Nico went to the Grandparents Russell's hotel and did some swimming with Grandma! For dinner on Saturday, of course we had PIZZA! We watched Three Stooges while we ate. 

Nico building his pizzas

 Making more emoji cookies after pizza

Sunday was church, and hanging out!

On Monday morning, Grandpa, Guy, and Nico went out to breakfast. Nico ate a pork chop, two slices of bacon, and scrambled eggs. After they came back home, I stayed back while the crew went to visit the Discovery Center and Zoo.

We said goodbye to the Grandparents Russell after dinner on Monday, and they headed back to Arlington Tuesday morning. We will see them again shortly at the very end of May when we make our trip to Arlington! We are looking forward to that. 

Tuesday was a lucky day for Nico because his glasses arrived!! He is taking great care of them, cleaning them often with his little spray bottle and cloth.

Guy and I had a trip to Moscow planned for Wednesday, so we spent a bit of Tuesday packing and getting stuff ready. Plans changed on Tuesday evening and it was decided to postpone our trip. My mom still offered to watch Nico for a few nights, so Guy and I decided to turn our next few days into a staycation. We went to the library, we ran errands, we watched shows and went to Chipotle for dinner. On Wednesday night we took Guy's acoustic bass guitar that used to belong to his Papa (his mom's dad) and had it restrung with new strings. 

You could tell that the guy who did it really enjoyed his work. After taking the old strings off, he conditioned the neck of the guitar with a castor-oil based oil and let it soak in. It instantly brightened it up. 

This afternoon was Ivy's birthday party. Nico wasn't with us but we went anyway! It was at Quarry View Park. Pizza and cupcakes, a pinata, and presents.

Oh, and what has Nico been up to???

They went to Altitude

They went swimming at the hotel that Nico and Lexie and my parents are staying at just for fun.

Hotel breakfast. HAVE to have bacon!!

And now for a thrilling spring break adventures video! Some videos taken by Grandma Russell and Grandma Salisbury. Oh, and some of the pictures in the post were taken by them too!