Grandparents Russell!

Grandma camp finished up with success. They were planning a water fight when the parents got there to pick them up, but Grandma was notified of a water shortage Friday night, so they canceled it. Two wells had run dry and on Sunday they were notified that there was no more water. She was without water until Tuesday! And now they are on a boil order. This means that before drinking the water, you need to boil it. Here's the pictures from Grandma Camp: Movie Marathon!

Nico is reading his book "Stinky" to everyone

On Saturday GG came to visit me at my henna booth, she brought me green beans from her garden and sat and talked for a while. I even gave her a henna tattoo! 

This week Nico and Evelyn and Aadam and Avery have all gone to VBS. Avery is 3 years old now and was able to join the bigger kids. This has been the most fun VBS so far.  Nico says he wants to go to this one ALL the time.

On Tuesday Grandpa and Grandma Russell came into town! We weren't expecting to get to see them that evening, but they got in early enough to head over. Wahoo!

On Wednesday they brought GG with them, and we all went to the Discovery Center. Their new display is called ZAP, lots of things to do with electricity.

Nico also opened some presents.

Grandma and Nico working hard to put all Nico's quarters in his collection folder. 

Reading a book before bed

Today was the last day of VBS. I showed up a bit early to pick them up and they were starting a prayer line so anyone who wanted to pray out loud on stage could get in line. Nico did it! Unfortunately I couldn't hear what he said and the video I took, the background noise was very loud and you can't hear. He told me he forgot what he said when I asked him about it later.

Then we saw Grandma and Grandpa again this afternoon. I put some henna on Grandma Russell! (I'll have to take a picture of this to post next week). Grandma and Grandpa took Nico to the library and they came home with some great books.

Tonight I am putting Nico's presents on the table so that when he wakes up he will see them. He has spent a bit of time this week searching for where I hid them. Heehee. I'm excited for him to open them. 

Here's the video from Jeff and Avery's birthday party. I put it together with them in mind, so it's not really a "Nico" video, but I put it here anyway if you'd like to watch, Nico is in it too. You can see him light the birthday candles, and hit a piñata, and throw water balloons :)

Birthday Party, and Grandma Camp: Movie Marathon!

Jeff and Avery had a joint birthday party last Saturday, catered by Chipotle. Wow they have good food! It was my first time trying it. We each had our own burrito bowl. YUM! We played games and had a piñata. Video will be coming soon.

Because we missed our pizza night on Saturday because of the party, we made pizza on Sunday. We had pepperoni and Nico was very excited about that. He will eat this whole pizza while we sit and watch two episodes of Three Stooges.

On Tuesday we went to see GG. He played with her toy cars and then we watched some Paw Patrol on tv. It was great to see her, and I am excited we will get to see her again next week for Nico's birthday!

Tuesday afternoon a fire began in the foothills off of highway 21, completely closing off the highway. Grandma Salisbury had to take the long way home after dropping Papa off at the airport for a business trip (3 hours to get home!). She lost electricity Tuesday night. When Guy was putting Nico to bed that night he told Nico that if the highway was still closed the next day that we may not be able to do Grandma Camp. So he started coming up with all the ways that we might be able to get to Grandma Camp, like taking a helicopter or something. In the middle of that night he crawled into bed with us and he whined. I asked him what was wrong and he said "Mommy, I know how we can get to the cabin if the fire is still going. We can go to the airport and the plane can pick up our car and carry us to the cabin. Then I can say Hey, excuse me? Can you put our car down here? And it will be at the cabin." I said that was cool and that we could talk in the morning. Then zzzz.

The highway was open in the morning! And the electricity was restored by 2 PM. When I drove to drop Nico off, the foothills were still smoking. We saw a helicopter heading over to the mountain to drop his big bucket of water on the fire. Another helicopter was making its way to the reservoir so we pulled over and got out of the car and watched as the boats in the reservoir stopped and the helicopter dipped its huge bucket into the water to fill it up. Then it pulled up and went straight to the mountain. Thankfully the fire never got close enough to Wilderness Ranch to cause any worry.

The theme for Grandma Camp this time is Movie Marathon. Nico brought Paddington Bear to watch. Nico was so excited that he wrote a list of what he needed to pack.

Thursday was a full day for both Guy and I but then in the evening we went on a date to watch The BFG. It was a good movie and worth owning. Guy has today off from work (Friday) so we were able to go for a bike ride this morning, and then watch a movie downstairs together. Jeff & Allicia and crew are all out of town for the weekend so it's very quiet around here!

double espresso shot for Guy before the movie

Next week we will have Grandparents Russell in town!! Birthday week!!! Excited to see them!!

Update tomorrow!

Guy and I had a date tonight!! We went to see The BFG movie. But we are home late, and the blog update will happen tomorrow! Goodnight!

VBS

A few more pictures from last week's Grandma Camp.

Watching "Watcher in the Woods". This is a scary Disney movie that we used to watch when we were little. EEK!

The aftermath of this movie. Grandma's bed, with no room for Grandma!

Apparently at every meal they have a Grandkid Spotlight, where everyone says nice words to the chosen grandkid using the letters in their name. Nice, and Intelligent, were two of the many that Nico's cousins came up with for him. Here is a picture of him during his Grandkid Spotlight. Love that look on his happy face.

Saturday was the market again for me, but this week I got a special visitor. G.G. came to see me! She kept me company for a while, which was great because it was really slow. She must have been a good luck charm because that day turned out to be the best one yet for business.

On Saturday night, instead of doing pizza we were invited over to someone's house for dinner, someone from our church. There was a group of people they invited and they made the best food! Nico and I ate salmon and Guy had some of the beef.

Sunday was supposed to be the Parktacular event where I was going to have a henna booth. We woke up and got everything packed in the truck and were on our way, only to find out the start time had been delayed because of the weather. 60s and raining, in the middle of July! So we decided to take a detour and go to church. We then found out that the event was cancelled. Bummer! But I think it was a blessing in disguise because we were able to go home and relax like a normal Sunday :)

Monday started VBS for the kids. Nico, Evelyn, and Aadam are all going. Sammy is in summer school. Allicia offered to take them all in the mornings, so we've been packing everyone into her van. Then a few hours later I drive Allicia's van to go pick them up. Easy peasy.

Today was interesting, I went to go pick them up and while I was gone they chip-sealed our road. I came home and there it was, the road was done. Bummer that the kids missed getting to watch it, but WOW they must have been quick to get it done while I was gone. Allicia called me while I was out to tell me that there was no way I'd get back into the driveway because they were blocking the whole road. But, zoooom, they finished quick.

It's been a mild week temperature-wise. Lots of playing outside. We sent out Nico's birthday invitations this week, everyone who reads this should be getting one!

This update is short and sweet and to the point. Until next time!

Grandma Camp, Water Slide

Saturday was the Sensory Friendly Movie, they played Zootopia. What a great movie! Nico had already seen it at the last Grandma Camp but was really excited to see it again. And then again on Wednesday he watched it downstairs with Evie while Avery and Ivy were napping upstairs. We went to the theater for the sensory friendly movie with Tiffanie, Aadam, and Sam.

Monday was a holiday and our crew spent 2 hours at Quarry View Park and it was magical. All the kids got along really well, including Avery. They played and then we fed them a snack and then they played some more.

Tuesday was another magical day, we went to the Natatorium behind Nico's school for the very first time. It has a swimming pool, diving boards, and a smaller wading pool for the little ones. It also has a water slide, which you can pay extra to experience. I bought a pack of 10 rides on the slide, and split them up between the kids, whoever wanted to go. Before we went down the slide, I took Nico and Sam and Aadam to where the slide ends and it dumps you in a pool 4 ft deep so they could see what happens at the end of the slide. They still wanted to try it so I took Nico first. He sat on my lap. I was more nervous than he was I think. Splash! Sammy, Adam, and then Avery all wanted to go. I took Avery on my lap and it took some coaxing once we got to the top of the slide, but we finally got in the water and pushed off. When we got to the end of the slide, I lifted him up while I went almost under, so that he wouldn't get too wet. It was so fun to be able to walk to the pool. We ate snacks on the way home.

The wading pool

Nico has had a loose tooth for the past few weeks, but it hasn't been going anywhere. On Sunday Guy told me that the permanent tooth was starting to come in, in the wrong spot! Inside Nico's mouth, poking in toward his tongue. So we really tried hard to get his tooth to come out over the weekend (see video). But, it didn't work, so I called the dentist on Tuesday and made an appointment on Wednesday. But then, when we came back from swimming on Tuesday I looked in Nico's mouth again and his loose tooth was GONE! Mystery! Nico searched for it everywhere and told us he probably accidentally ate it while he was eating his sandwich at lunch. The dentist said that since the baby tooth is gone there's really nothing they can do now for the crooked tooth, so there was no need to come in.

The tooth before it fell out (see the new one coming in behind it)

On Wednesday started the 2nd Grandma Camp of the summer!!! We packed everything up and I dropped him off at the cabin at 5 PM. This is Grandma Camp - Treasure Hunter! My mom has the best treasure hunts. When we were little she would do a treasure hunt for all of us and neighbor kids on the last day of summer vacation. I am inspired this year to do the same for Nico and his neighbor friends. He has built himself quite a little community of friends here and I know they would all enjoy doing an epic treasure hunt. I decided this last night and have already commissioned the invitations to be made by my friend Brianna. Thanks for the inspiration Mom ;)

Here are some pictures Mom sent me today.

Nico told us Wednesday morning that he wanted to either be a cop or a construction site worker when he grows up. Guy then told him that Grandpa Russell used to be a construction site worker and Nico looked at me and said "Tell Daddy what I'm going to be when I grow up. I already know." he whispered it into my ear that he wanted to be a construction site worker for sure.

Driving in the car later that day he told me he was singing loud so that Grandma and Grandpa [Russell] could hear him! (see video)

Wednesday we also hit up the Library where we picked up another free book and several other prizes because Nico has been reading for 20+ minutes every day.

VIDEO TIME!
Check out Aleesh the Beast in her first ever Roller Derby game!

May and June 2016 Snippets

Snippet - Nico singing in the car