Boop Snoots

On Friday we had a game night here and invited some other couples over to play board games. Jeff & Allicia also participated, so we were able to use their living room. We had Cassi and Cory over and a couple from our church, Matthew and Elizabeth. Their kids played downstairs in the basement. Nico and Evelyn, Avery, Ivy were all asleep. We played a really fun game called Takenoko.

At one point Nico poked his head out of the clubhouse and furrowed his brow: "YOU GUYS!" and then closed the door. Guy followed him and tucked him back in and Nico told him that we were being too loud.

While we were helping to clean the house before the guests arrived, Nico crawled onto the couch while Guy vacuumed, and Avery came over and watched him play on the iPad. The slide was on the couch so Guy could vacuum.

On Saturday, Guy took Nico out for a few hours so one of my friends could come over so I could show her how to mix henna paste. Guy took Nico to Camel's Back Park and they followed one of the trails there, around and around and then afterward they played on the playground. Outside for 2+ hours, Nico was pretty exhausted that night.

Monday morning we went to the Discovery Center again! We skipped the first two rooms straight away, since we had spent our whole time there last week. We went to a new room with things we had never seen before.

Nico told me his tooth was hurting on Monday. It was hard for him to eat. I took him in to see the dentist Tuesday morning. I was afraid it was Nico's cavities getting worse, but it turned out it was just 3 of his molars coming in! Ouch. But so glad it wasn't worsening cavities.

On Tuesday I volunteered in Nico's class. I'm sure the teacher had forgotten I was coming in, because she had nothing for me to copy/cut/produce so she put me at one of the centers to help the kids write numbers from 71-80. They were celebrating their 80th day of school that day! It's interesting to see how Nico interacts with his classmates and his teacher. His teacher is very strict but I think the kindergarten class needs it.

Nico often asks me when he will get to go to 1st grade, and I tell him it will be about 8 more months. He told Evelyn very succinctly today what was going to happen. Evelyn told him that he was going to a different school than her next year and Nico responded, "Not a different school, just a different classroom with a different teacher. I'm going to be in 1st grade tomorrow. I mean, in 8 months." I was proud of the way he expressed his thoughts!

Guy and Nico have been doing this cute thing when they snuggle in bed before bedtime. Guy takes Beady Bear and does "boop snoots" which just means that they bump noses. So Guy says "boop snoots" and then taps Beady's nose on Nico's nose. He does this a bunch and then Nico will take Beady and turn him around and tap Beady's bottom onto his nose and say "poop snoots". Guy just told me this and I laughed! I have to admit that I have been quite the encourager with saying that word, for some reason right now we all just find that word hilarious and Nico and I add it into most of our silly games, especially games where we have to come up with silly words or phrases.. For example, reading books at night, he will cover one of the words in the book with his finger and I have to guess what the word says. I often already know what the word is, but I make something silly up anyway. I'm sure this is just a phase...

Guy and Nico have also played the "laughing game"where they take turns trying to make each other laugh. If you make the other person laugh, you win.

Wednesday was mine and Guy's 10 year anniversary! Here's a throw-back for you: NNU graduation, about 10 1/2 years ago.

Guy has wavy hair!

This morning Evelyn had 2 cavities filled at the dentist. We played with Avery in the main house while they were gone. Ivy was asleep and actually slept the whole time they were gone. When they got home, they all climbed onto the couch and watched some Chitty Chitty Bang Bang until lunch time. They also got to play a little more tonight.

Sledding and the Discovery Center

On New Year's Day, Nico and I headed up to the cabin for the day. Guy was meant to come, too, but his cold had worsened and he needed sleep, so he stayed home to rest.

There was SNOW at the cabin and Nico enjoyed playing in it. The porch was covered with the stuff so he went outside on the porch to poke around. He ate some snow and stomped around and had fun.

Later that day he also went outside with Papa to go sledding! Nico went down first with Papa in back but then decided he wanted to be in the back, so they switched spots for the next round. I even went down the hill a few times with Nico. It has been a long time since I have done that. You can catch a video of this at the end of the post.

We had a nice lunch and dinner, we put together some of a puzzle, I even had a bit of a nap! It was so fun to spend the whole day with them!

Saturday was the sensory friendly movie. They played Peanuts. Afterward we went to Toy World to spend the $20 that Nico received from his Great Grandma French for Christmas. He bought a new lego and a couple smaller things.

On Monday we all went to the Discovery Center with Allicia and kids. We spent an hour there and only got through the first two rooms. We paid $10 to be added to Allicia's membership so now we can go whenever we want. There are so many cool and interesting things there. This time there was a suspended tunnel/bridge made entirely of packing tape that the children could walk through. I don't have a picture of that, unfortunately.

Discovery Center was in the morning and then Nico went back to school that afternoon.

The rest of the week has been ho hum. I think. Nico has been enjoying connect-the-dots. I download the really hard ones with 600+ dots on them. We have about 5 ones that are half done, as Nico likes variety and has been getting discouraged whenever he messes up.

We hooked up the Wii and introduced Nico to Wii Games like golf and bowling. We are limiting his time on the Wii currently because he has been very demanding about wanting to play games.

He was up at 4:30 this morning and is struggling to fall asleep tonight and it's almost 8 PM. Not sure why he's had such an awake day today!

Now it's time for the videos! Up first is Evelyn's Birthday video. Then, sledding!

 

Playing with Papa, and Parties

I forgot to mention last week a special gift that we received at Christmas, from G.G., a story written by her late husband, Walter Russell. It's called Cowbells and Ice Cream, very cute story about the Boss Cow (the one with the bell around her neck), and how taking care of cows is worth it in the end because you get to make ice cream. She had it bound into a little book with illustrations. I am so happy to have this keepsake!

I caught the cold going around, the next day after writing my last blog post. I am feeling pretty good now. It lasted a few days.

A few pictures from Christmas morning.. Nico putting together a small lego from his stocking

Sunday was special because Papa came over to play with Nico, Alexis with him. They tried going to the park first but didn't stay long, it was coold! They came home with rosy cheeks. I turned on the space heater and they warmed their feet by it. 

Wednesday was also a fun day with Papa. Papa and Grandma Salisbury took Nico out to Chicago Connection for lunch, then Papa and Nico came back here and played for about 3 hours while Grandma and I took a trip to Costco. They played games, and played games, and had a really fun time. 

On Monday our car wouldn't start, so after trying to jump it unsuccessfully, we called roadside assistance and a tow truck came and towed it. Turns out it was just the battery, which lasted almost exactly a year! We upgraded to a better quality one this time, since this is the second time our battery has died within warranty, same brand, the first time the battery had only lasted a few days! 

Today is Evelyn's birthday and we celebrated with her twice! This afternoon she had a party at a ceramics place. Every child got to pick out ceramic figurines to paint. Nico chose a boat, airplane, and tank and painted each one. We left the pieces there so they could fire them in a kiln and then we'll pick them up next week.

Nico asked first before helping Evelyn open aaaaall her gifts

I got some video but that will have to come later. Then this evening we celebrated Evelyn's birthday again but over here at the main house with their family.  None of Allicia's extended family were able to make it because they are sick, so it was just a few of Jeff's extended family. It was a pretty low key party and was very fun! The theme was a hotdog party a la Pigeon. Then we set off fireworks, just like last year. Then before bed Jeff read all the kids "Don't Let the Pigeon Stay Up Late." It was very cute. All will be included in a video to be posted later.

Now it's time for the Christmas Snippets Video! I couldn't seem to locate the snippets from the Thanksgiving "Christmas" we had at the cabin. So this video picks up in December some time.

Christmas Visit!

What a fun filled week! On Friday was Nico's Christmas Party at school. It was Miss T's last day (she was the student teacher). The kids had each written her a page in a book saying their favorite thing about her and drawing her a picture. Miss T went through the book and as each child's page came up, they had the opportunity to go up front and read what they had written about her. Miss Lung said to the children that if they were too shy they didn't have to come up front, and most of the class did not. Nico did! He went right up there and told everyone what he had written. After he said it, Miss Lung came up and pointed him toward the audience and whispered to him to speak in a loud voice and repeat what he had said.

"My favorite thing about Miss T is that she plays with me."

The kids were able to decorate cookies, decorate an ornament, pin the heart on the Grinch, and play Bingo. I was at the bingo station with the Grandma of one of Nico's classmates. Nico decorated a cookie and gave it to Miss Lung.

Here he is making an ornament.

Nico brought home a gift for me and Guy, it was to "Mom and bad" ha ha ha! It was a beautiful ornament that he had made at school.

On Saturday Grandpa and Grandma Russell came into town!! Nico spent the whole morning asking when they were going to come. When they were on their way, Nico went outside with his umbrella and waited for them.

Nico opened a few of his presents on Saturday, coming in a video soon, will it be tonight when I upload it? We will see! You will know by the time you reach the end of this entry whether or not there is a video at the end of it ;) (p.s. no video tonight, will work on it this week and try to have it next week!)

Nico got a beautiful new quilt from Grandma Russell - it has a winter side and a summer side, and fits perfectly on our bed. I'm sure Nico won't mind us using it, and hey he sleeps in our bed sometimes anyway right? :) He also got a stuffed animal that used to belong to Guy, along with the book, "Beady Bear". Nico was so excited about that! He slept with Beady that night (and has been sleeping with him every night since then). But that first night, he got up in the middle of the night to crawl into bed with us and as he was crawling over Guy he yelled, "MOMMY! I can't find Beady Bear!" I told him we could look for him in the morning and that seemed to appease him.

Quilt on the Winter Side

On Sunday G.G. came with the Grandparents Russell and we all went to church, it was the Madrigal play they put on every year. The content is always different but it always takes place in Medieval times. They fed us food and the play was good. 

I should have snapped a picture of the stage. It was cool to see our friends in the play. Lots of great costumes. Last year we didn't know many people at the church yet, and Guy wasn't with us last year. But Guy was with us this year!! Wahoo!!

We came home afterward and opened the rest of the gifts. It was a lot of fun. Nico claimed that his nose was hurting so we gave him an ice bunny we have in our freezer (a tiny ice pack surrounded by a soft bunny), he would put it on his nose and it helped.

He spent some time putting together his new lego from G.G. that afternoon.

Monday was a relaxed day. Talking, hanging. Gma Russell and I and Nico went grocery shopping in the morning and Nico claimed tummy ache and was feeling sick for a large part of the day, even after a nap that afternoon. He had a slight fever after waking up. (100.3) Then he spoke up all of a sudden and said "I want a hamburger!" all he wanted was the meat. After he ate 3 small hamburger patties he was fine. The fever was due to the cold he caught. Guy started feeling the cold coming on him Tuesday morning. I might be fighting it at the moment too, kind of a scratchy throat. 

Tuesday we were able to see Gpa & Gma briefly before they had to be at the airport. Nico and Grandpa played a bit of one of our new board games - Ticket to Ride. They also did a lot of color by numbers together.

Some more pictures from the weekend..

Snuggle City!

Watching the iPad

Activity Book

Putting together a wood tractor

Overall it was a great visit!

Nico has been enjoying doing advent candles every night. We let him light them and strike the match himself. Tonight was the last night for it, Christmas eve! Also tonight we had dinner with Jeff & Allicia and family. Turkey sandwiches. Then Guy was excited to bring out the pumpkin rolls he received from Gma Russell. Then for the third year in a row we put a candle in an orange and sang Happy Birthday to Jesus! Nico led us in prayer for the dinner and Evelyn led us in the Birthday song for Jesus. Then after the kids went to bed we congregated in the living room. Guy is currently playing Ticket to Ride with Jeff and Allicia and their friend Justin, and I am happily plucking away at the computer. Living here has been a blessing and I'm enjoying the times like this that wouldn't happen if we didn't live here.

G.G., dentist

Last Friday was Nico's snack day at school. He wanted to bring apple sauce and string cheese so that's what we did. He also got to share something with the class and he wanted to bring the Advent Christmas tree with him so we put that in a bag and carried it along.

Friday night was Guy's work Christmas party and it was held at Winter Garden Aglow. Nico stayed home and got to play with Evelyn and Avery. We walked all the way to the top, as high as you could go, and we got a pretty good view of all the lights below. We talked a lot with one of Guy's work buddies, Derek, and his wife (I can't remember her name!) They also went to NNU and that is where they met. They are pregnant expecting their first next year, and they love board games, and we left with the understanding that we would be getting together at some point to play board games. The party was held in a large heated tent and food was served buffet style. Then they gave away awards, and Guy got his 5 year plaque plus a bonus check. Then they did a raffle. 

I told Nico that if he was really good for Jeff & Allicia on Friday that on Saturday we could go to Joann Fabric's and pick up some stuff for a Christmas craft. So... we did! We bought glitter and jewels and sequins. When we got home, I brought out a folder I have that contains all of the Christmas cards we've received in the past. We took turns choosing which ones we wanted, and then we proceeded to decorate our individual poster boards with cut up christmas cards and glitter and jewels. This craft is one my brothers and I used to do as kids, a Grandma Salisbury original! Nico cut out a few of his cards and glued one portion of a card onto his poster board, but he preferred instead to just use glitter.

He kept looking at mine and saying "It needs more detail. There's too much white space." Probably learned that from school, so I tried unschooling him a tad and told him that when you're doing art you get to decide exactly how much detail you want and it's ok if there's white space. But he kept telling me anyway :) Every time I paused what I was doing to look at my picture, he would say "You need more detail. It needs more detail." The funny thing is that when we were done, Nico's poster was mostly white space.

Sunday evening, Guy and I sat down to talk about the budget. It wasn't very encouraging at first. We had been thinking about getting another car so that he could have one to drive to work. But when we started talking about NOT saving up for a car, and plugged in all our numbers, it looks like we will be able to pay off our last debt in 1 year exactly. So we decided we would do it. We can make it one year without a second car if it means paying off our debt so much sooner! We also decided that after we are done paying off debt we will move to a bigger house! We will rent, not buy just yet. It's exciting to think about. 

On Tuesday we visited G.G. Nico wanted to bring one of his games, so we did, and G.G. and Nico had a fun time playing it. They took turns. (see video at end!)

We will see her again in a few short days when Grandma and Grandpa Russell come into town!! Wahoo!!!

On Wednesday morning Nico had a dentist appointment to get two of his cavities filled. Allicia let us borrow their white car that day since Jeff was out of town, so that Guy could have a car to drive to work and Nico and I would have our own car. Nico did great at the dentist. The day before I had told him what they would be doing and I told him that afterward we could go get him a small toy. They described everything to him before he sat on the chair, showed him all the tools. He brought his stuffed dog Alvedo with him, and he sat on the chair next to Nico. The hygienist  also put a little paper bib on Alvedo. They hooked him up to the nitrous oxide and boy, Mommy was more nervous than Nico was! Nico did awesome while I was in the corner shaking in my boots. When the dentist came to work on Nico, he would talk to Alvedo every once in a while and check his teeth too, along with Nico's. Nico responded once "He can't open his mouth because he's not real!" hehe. This dentist is the same one I've had since I was 8 years old, and I've had many a cavity filled by him. I love that he still whistles and hums while he works.

After the dentist we went straight to Fred Meyer where he picked out a Spiderman lego. We came home and he put it together. He said he wasn't hungry but I put some food in front of him and he ate it. He chewed too much on the wrong side and his mouth started to hurt. Right before school he said "I'm sick, I can't go to school." because his mouth hurt and he had a tummy ache. I rubbed some diluted clove oil on his teeth and gums and cheek and told him I was going to take him grocery shopping with me if he stayed home. He said "Ok let's go to school!" and he was his happy chipper self.

Guy was able to work from home today. His boss last week texted him and thanked him for something and told Guy to take some time for himself this week. So he's been home today. Pretty cool!

Winter Garden Aglow, Christmas Tree

On Saturday Nico and I went to the Sensory Friendly Movie in the morning, they were playing Inside Out. Nico had already seen most of it at church, but we both enjoyed seeing it in the theater. It is a very cute movie!

Sunday we got our Christmas tree after church. We went to a tree lot we had never been to before. The trees were very fresh. Nico said he wanted to get one that was as tall as him, and then next year get one that was as tall as him, etc. But we couldn't find one short enough this time. The tree we picked out had a nice flat side which was perfect for our use, since we stuck it right up next to the fridge.

That evening we went to Winter Garden Aglow. 50 degree weather! It was perfect. They switched photographers this year, so instead of getting the traditional picture we got several others in several different spots around the garden. 

Then we watched the trains for as long as Nico wanted to, which was about 20 minutes. 

Then we went and saw Santa! Nico has never visited a Santa before, so when he asked Nico what he wanted for Christmas he was shocked and said "What do I want for Christmas? Umm.. ummm.. ummm... ummm.." So I stepped in and mentioned Legos and Nico said "Yeah, Legos!!" We didn't pay for a Santa picture, but we were able to take our own pictures. Then we saw a reindeer and got to pet her.

Two Christmas activities in one day! It was a great day.

The rest of the week has been normal. We did "the loop" with Allicia and kids. It seems Nico and Evelyn are getting tired of it, so we might need to think of another thing to do every week. Neither of them wanted to go this time. This is the second time we've gone and it's been raining hard, so perhaps that's it :) Although Nico doesn't mind walking/riding in the rain. We have walked to school several times this week with a downpour. He has his BAT umbrella that makes it all worth it.

Evelyn and Nico played really nicely on Wednesday. That was a hit.

Nico is getting very creative in the stories he is telling Guy before bed. Guy started out telling Nico stories while they snuggled in bed, but then Guy started asking "and then what?" or asking Nico to come up with a name or come up with details. Nico started taking over, though, which I think was Guy's goal. He told a very thorough story last night (I wasn't here, but Guy relayed it to me) about aliens going to different planets. He went to Uranus and got dizzy because Uranus rotates on its side, and then went to Pluto and bumped into something! It was.... a bump! Because Pluto has bumps everywhere.

Here is Nico after doing homework on Monday, he wanted to continue writing, while watching iPad.

Thursday I taught an essential oil class and got home really late, hence the late update! So there you go, that was our week, we should have another good one coming up :)

Late Post

The entry for tonight is going to be posted Friday in the morning or the afternoon, stay tuned!