Haircuts, Cousins, Jimmy John's, and good news at the dentist!

On Saturday Guy and Nico both had haircuts. Here are their "new" styles.

Saturday we had the pita pizzas again. We are going to transition to doing these pizzas for a while, even after our toaster oven is fixed. Everyone seems to like them! We watched a collection of Disney shorts on Netflix while we ate pizza. It was very good, several of them tear-jerkers.

On Sunday after church and lunch I took Nico over to the Grandparents Sailsbury's house for a sleepover with cousins. This is what Nico needed for 1 overnight stay. 4 stuffed animals take up most of that backpack space. :)

When we got there, Grandma had an activity set up where the kiddos were teamed up and had to plan and execute a plan for the boxes. Bruce and Nico built a toxic waste city. The girls built an animal hospital.

Grandma also got Nico to eat and enjoy Kipper Snacks. I had tried to get him interested in the past, with no luck. Leave it to cousin pressure to convince him he had to try them! He came home with his own can of kipper snacks. 

On Monday Guy and I met at their house for dinner with Jonny and Alanna and the kiddos. Grandma made a yummy salmon loaf with dill sauce that was incredible. With mashed potatoes and salad and rice and all the fixins. Everyone loved it. Nico ate all of the food on his plate. 😳😳😳  The Schwann man delivered some ice cream bars and push pops right after dinner. Perfect timing. All the kids ran out there like he was the ice cream truck! Then Nico had his very first push pop! After that they were sent into the living room to read books for 20 minutes while the grownups talked at the table. When it was time to go home, he begged to stay.

Thanks for the fun time Papa and Grandma!

Wednesday was grocery shopping day, and I forgot to buy a very important ingredient for dinner that night and so when Nico asked what we were having for dinner I said "I don't know... nothing?" Then he asked about Jimmy John's, and I thought to myself, "Hey, today is budget day! Let me just adjust the budget a bit.. and... voila!" And so Guy picked up Jimmy John's on the way home from work. 

Today Nico had a dentist appointment. I picked him up from school for it. One of the sealants on his molars had fallen off so they redid it. The hygienist said sometimes food can dislodge a sealant, which prompted me to ask about chewing ice and she said "YES! That will do it". She told us that Nico's teeth looked surprisingly clean for his age. The only trouble spot was along the gum-line in the bottom front. She said "Nico you're doing a great job!" When she gave him his mouth back he said "Thank you."

He got to pick out 2 prizes because he had to have the sealant put back on, he chose gum for both of his prizes.

Afterwards we walked over to Bricks & Minifigs to pick out a Minifig.

This is the one he made!

On our way back to his school, he ate his lunch. While I was walking him into his school he said "This was my favorite day of school EVER!"

Haha

Nico doing his chess homework.

Guy and I playing QWIXX

See you all next week!

IEP Meeting, GG

Last Friday was Nico's annual review for his IEP (Individualized Education Program). Every 3 years he goes through testing again to see if he still needs the speech services, that is happening next year in 2019.

His SLP (Speech & Language Pathologist) says that Nico is improving and has come a long way in some areas. He has stopped puffing his cheeks out when he says "S" or "SH" sounds. At home we are just supposed to have him try again if he says a word wrong, she also gave us exercises we can do with him if we are ever inspired. We were able to meet the new principle, Jason Adams, and he was very nice. The principle sits in on the meetings and takes notes. The notes then have to be read through and signed by all of us at the end of the meeting. Ms Lung, his teacher, says that it is getting harder for her to understand Nico even since the beginning of the year. We think this is because he has started talking faster.

Guy and I walked home from the meeting and then Guy actually got to work from home that day. Every month his boss lets him take an at-home work day, because he can super-focus and get a lot more stuff done.

Saturday was the laziest day ever. We did force Nico to go for a walk with us. He always tries to get out of it by saying that Jeff or Allicia could watch him while Guy and I go for a walk. But we always need the exercise on a lazy Saturday!

We also restarted our weekly Family Meetings. I'm hoping we remember to continue doing these. This is where Nico gets his allowance, we also exchange compliments and appreciations for each other, and we go over any new family business. I added one chore to Nico's daily routine, and during the family meeting we practiced it. When he gets home from school he now has to unload his backpack and lunch bag before he can have his snack. Also at the family meeting we go through the next week's calendar, and then we play a game. We couldn't agree on one until I found the dice game we had bought Nico for Christmas and hadn't yet played. It's called QWIXX and it is VERY fun. It's a quick game requiring a bit of strategy and I really love it.

Then because our toaster oven is broken, we made pita pizzas in our smaller borrowed toaster oven. I forgot to take a picture. We are having them again this Saturday so I will try to remember! They were tasty. We watched Lego Ninjago while eating pizza.

On Monday we all had eye appointments. Guy and I had ours right before lunch. So afterward, we went to lunch! We went to Boise Fry Company. I had purple potato fries. Nico had his eye appointment after school so I went back there with him. His eyes are fine! We will recheck them every year.

On Tuesday I went over to Pa & Ma's house for lunch then after Nico got out of school we went to see G.G. and Aunt Pat.

I told Nico that the next time we come visit them we'll get Jimmy John's afterward. He asked me to print out a tiny calendar that he could take to school to X out the days as they go by, until we reach March 20th. He told me to circle the 20th and write "JJ" (Jimmy Johns) and "GG" on the day.

On Wednesday Ma and I went out shopping and had lunch together. It was a wonderful day!! We went to Thai Basil for lunch.

Sorry I didn't get more than one of this shot, and caught Ma with her eyes closed. Doh!

Thanks Mom!!

Today Evelyn had dinner with us again!

Nico was mentioned in the student-led video announcements at the school. For being an All-Star! 

And.. hmm.. I think that's it. Here's a video of Nico and Evelyn playing in the clubhouse tonight!

Papa's Birthday!

We celebrated Papa's birthday on Sunday at Smoky Mountain Pizza! We reserved a room and it was perfect! We ate pizza and then ate cake. Papa's favorite dessert is cherry pie, so I made some cherry pie filling to put inside and on top of his cake. Then he opened presents. It was great to see most of the family (Jeremy and Bambi weren't able to make it) and fun to celebrate Papa!! Happy Birthday Pa!

Now unfortunately I forgot to take pictures the rest of the week, doh! Except one tonight when I remembered that I was updating the blog. On Thursdays we are watching Evelyn after school and she eats dinner with us. After dinner I let them play in the clubhouse until shower time. They played with cars and micromachines tonight.

Other things we did this past week, we rented Wall-E on Amazon for Saturday pizza night. Our toaster oven broke and we have ordered the part for it, it will take a few weeks for the part to arrive so we have borrowed a toaster oven from Allicia. In the meantime I purchased gluten free pita pizza crusts from Trader Joe's that will fit in this smaller toaster oven so we can continue to have Saturday night pizza while our oven is broken.

Guy checks out Donald Duck comics from the library and him and Nico enjoy reading them together  before bed. 

Last Friday I drove Evelyn and Nico to chess class before school. I drove because I had a doctor's appointment directly after. Instead of pulling into the school parking lot, I pulled over and parked on Warm Springs, then got out with them and waited as they crossed at the crosswalk light. While they were crossing the crosswalk they decided to start asking me questions about why I drove them to school. 

Nico: Why did you drive us?

Me: I have a doctor's appointment.

Evelyn: Why do you have a doctor's appointment? (I couldn't hear what she said, they were across the street from me)

Me: Huh?

Nico: *YELLING* WHY DO YOU HAVE  A DOCTOR'S APPOINTMENT?

Me: INSURANCE!

Evelyn: Is she getting a flu shot? (again I couldn't figure out what she said)

The crosswalk light turns green for the cars so the cars start zooming by.

Nico: ARE YOU GETTING A FLU SHOT???

Me: WHAT?

Evelyn: ARE YOU GETTING A FLU SHOT??

Me: NO!

Evelyn: WHAT??

ME: NO!

They run off.

Heehee.

That's it for this week!

Chess Tournament and Sushi

On Friday our friend Brianna visited from Pullman, WA and we ate dinner with her. She brought Nico a book of birds in North America and he sat in bed and read it that night. He wants to try some of the experiments in there, like making a bird feeder out of a 2 liter bottle (looks very hack-ish, right up his alley).

Nico had a chess tournament on Saturday at Smoky Mountain Pizza. He LOVES these chess tournaments. Before we left this one he asked, "When is the next one??" He won 4 out of 7 games, he is improving! His last tournament he won 1 out of 4 games. Everyone received a trophy, and his was 2nd place again. He seemed discouraged over this and said he wants to practice more so that he's better next time.

Instead of making pizza at home while Nico was at his tournament, we ordered it! We tried a new pizza place, Extreme pizza, with unique signature pizzas. Guy chose 2 of them and had a half-n-half pizza. He said it was good! We watched Burn Notice while eating dinner. Then I picked the buddy up. 

Sunday the kiddos put on a "show" for us in the backyard that included remote controlled cars and fireworks (smoke bombs and sparklers). 

Ivy sitting on my lap during the show.

Doing his chess homework. He answers the questions on the paper then sets the board up to mimic the problem.

At Evelyn's birthday party in December Nico ate sushi. He now says it's his favorite food, so I thought I'd try to make it. I have done it in the past but haven't for a while. We got a sushi kit to help us do it, but the cutting guide really made a mess of the first roll I tried to cut.

So I abandoned the cutting guide and the rest of the rolls turned out looking fine. These rolls just had cucumber, avocado, and carrot in them. No fish. Nico says, "These don't taste like the ones at Evelyn's party" Hehe... I will keep trying. There are a few ingredient upgrades I will do that may help.

For the next month, Avery has parkour classes in the afternoon on Thursdays. Evelyn stays back at the house with us while Allicia takes Avery and Ivy with her. Evelyn and Nico played Minecraft for a while and then Evelyn sat at the table with us and we all ate dinner together. Oh Nico was so excited to have a friend for dinner! Then afterward they had a chance to play in the clubhouse (rare opportunity!) They chose to play cars. In this picture Nico is pretending to be a cow while eating his sprouts.

Nico checked out Big Nate from the library at school today and is reading it in bed right now. It's not quite a graphic novel but it's somewhere between that and a chapter book. He says he doesn't like it because there is some text that doesn't have a picture :)

That's it for this week!

Bike Ride, Speech

Nico had an early release last Friday, it was the end of the first semester.

Saturday is Nico's proclaimed favorite day of the week. Pancakes in the morning and Pizza at night, plus more iPad usage than a typical day. This Saturday we needed to get out and be active, we were feeling a bit cooped up. The sun was out too! We went for a walk and Nico rode his bike. We forgot to bring mittens for him, and the route on the Greenbelt we take is always very windy, so his hands got very cold. We decided the best thing would be to remove his socks and let him wear the socks on his hands. He loved it.

If I don't take pictures of stuff, I forget what we did! On Sunday Guy had a bit of a fever so he stayed back from church. We also skipped Bible Study that night. He stayed home from work on Monday and Tuesday.

Nico and Evelyn have been playing Minecraft after school every day for the past few weeks. On the days that Nico doesn't have iPad privileges, he just watches Evelyn play.

Nico not letting me take a picture of him at breakfast. hehe

Nico's speech teacher called me this afternoon because it's about time for his yearly review. She says that he is doing a lot better holding his attention during speech practice, and that he is very easy and pleasant to work with. We'll hear more about the progress at the review. She asked me how he is doing at home and I told her there are still times one of us (Guy or me) can't make out what he's saying, but usually the other one of us can fill in the gaps. And there are still times that others can't understand.

She told me when she went to his class to get him for speech yesterday, they were in the middle of doing a science experiment, and when she walked into the class he looked up at her in horror because he did not want to leave the class. They negotiated and he was able to stay in the class during the science experiment and he will get his speech work done tomorrow. Nico had told us about this science experiment yesterday, it involved microscopes, he didn't mention that he skipped speech for it. I'm glad the speech teacher is flexible with the time!

Day in the Life video!

It turns out that the book Nico checked out from the library last week, The Capture, was one that he chose because their class' library time was over and he hadn't picked a book out yet, so he just grabbed one off the shelf. It turns out the reading is a little too advanced for him. Perhaps he will read it when he's older! It comes highly recommended by Grandma Russell, so I ended up reading it and am excited to read the rest of the series :) I love a good book!

On Saturday while we ate pizza we watched An American Tail.

On Sunday we started up our small group study again. Guy chose the book "Free of Me" by Sharon Hodde Miller. It is a great book and I can't wait to dig into it again.

Here is Nico's 2017 year in review.
My best memory: Thanksgiving
My best idea: is make chess school evere day.
I always say: good moning.
I am proud of: Happynis
I like to spend my time: Doing reading
My friends are: Nick
My favorite animal: lion
My favorite book: Magic Treehouse
My favorite color: Brick Red
Favorite food: sushi
My favorite song: You can't stop me!!!!
Next year I want to learn to: be nice
go see: adult jumpropeing

Doing a workbook at bedtime, he was asked to write a friendly letter and this is what he chose to write:

I have something special for you guys this week, on Tuesday we did a Day-in-the-Life video. It will take you through a typical day for us. I hope you guys enjoy! 

Minecraft with Evelyn, G.G. visit

Nico came home from Grandma Camp on Friday after lunch. We enjoyed a nice afternoon, played some games, and hung out. We had a nice leisurely weekend as well. Nico was back to school on Monday. He was excited to go back.

After school Nico and Evelyn have been playing Minecraft. They gather downstairs, each on their own device. Sometimes Avery and Ivy join them. Ivy asks me in a sweet voice all the time, "Is Nico going to play Minecraft?"

On Tuesday I watched Avery and Ivy during nap time while Allicia was out. They didn't stay asleep and were up shortly after Allicia left, so we hung out downstairs and played Zelda. We had fun. That afternoon after school Nico and I went to Nampa to visit G.G!

Eating banana bread after school on Monday.

Putting together one of his Christmas presents

On Wednesday I went to lunch with my parents and some family friends I hadn't seen in a very long time, Glenn and Doris Loomis. They recently moved to Boise from Donnelly. We ate at Marie Callenders. 

I didn't take many pictures this week, I need to be better about that! 

It's a short update this week! Not much to report. Nico checked out a book called "The Capture" from his school library. He is reading that right now in bed. 

Until next time!

Evelyn's Birthday Party, and Grandma Camp!

Last Saturday was Evelyn's birthday! I tried to capture some pictures on my camera but I think the SD card is toast, so none of them were saved. Bummer! But I did catch one on my phone.

The theme of the party was "7 Evelyn". They even made her a shirt that said it using the 7-11 logo. So there was "gas station" type food, including sushi, which Nico actually loved. They were california rolls. He brought his chopsticks out and ate it with that. There were also fireworks, as usual. All the kids crowded around the front window, safely and warmly inside, while Jeff set of fireworks on the front lawn on a huge wooden board. 

Evelyn received a Zelda video game that the kiddos went downstairs to play after the party. Evelyn was nice enough to give Nico one of the memory slots on the game so that he could have his own account and play it too. He started his game on Sunday night I think!

Evelyn's cousin was in town for her birthday, and they invited Nico downstairs quite often to play Mario Kart or Zelda. They got along really well. They rough housed and played downstairs while they took turns playing video games. 

On Tuesday Guy and I dropped Nico off at the Grandparents Salisbury's house for a Winter Grandma Camp. I can't wait to hear all about it when he gets back tomorrow. Grandma has sent over a few pictures from their time:

They played Hide and Seek outside

Nico counting

Playing with clay

Eating breakfast with Bruce. Grandma said that Nico asked Bruce: "Can you be my friend?" and Bruce said "Yes, that would be awesome!"

Playing Jenga

I know they went to see a movie, Ferdinand, and then today they went ice skating. They also roasted hot dogs over a fire outside. 

Guy and I have been hanging out, watching movies, we also went for a very long walk along the greenbelt. Taking naps, reading books, playing games. We watched Guardians of the Galaxy 2, and The Case for Christ, and also a bunch of Burn Notice episodes. 

That's really it for this week! Nico comes home tomorrow after lunch, he starts up school again on Monday!

Oh one last thing! Nico told us he wants to hack when he grows up. I had visions of him breaking into computers but what he really meant was doing hacks, like those videos you see online of certain ways to do things that are supposedly awesome. "Hacks". He wants to do hacks. While packing for Grandma Camp he implemented a hack he saw on YouTube, where you fold up the underwear and the socks into the t-shirt that you're packing, and then fold the socks over the whole bundle after you've rolled it up. He was very excited about doing that.