Saturday was a full and fun day. Nico had a baseball game in the morning, and Papa came to cheer him on! Grandma is up in Moscow visiting Grammy for a few weeks otherwise she would have come, too!
It was a little chilly at first but once the sun came out it started warming up. I tried to get some slow-motion video of Nico hitting the ball. You can check out the video at the end. I missed his big hit because I was trying to stop/restart the video when I realized I had it portrait instead of landscape.
Afterward, Papa took all of us to Jimmy John's. Thank you Pa! Believe it or not Nico only ate one sandwich. He ate so many snacks during the game itself that he wasn't as hungry as usual. It was such a fun time hanging out with Pa for a few hours!
After lunch we headed over to some church friends' house. Elizabeth and Matthew and their three kids. The four adults played board games while the kids played. They played SO well together, there was no yelling or arguing, and the neighbors even invited them over to run through sprinklers and jump on the trampoline.
In the evening we ordered pizza and then ate cake for dessert.
Nico had baseball practice on Monday and then another game on Thursday (tonight). Papa was able to come again and was actually helping out in the outfield to help coach the kids! He came back for sips of water between innings. We started out with our chairs in the full sun, but the temp was up to 82 degrees and it was hot in the sun, so I pulled my chair back to the shade. They played a good game and Nico got several hits.
Pa helping at 3rd base
Guy has band practice on Thursday nights so he wasn't able to make it to the game.
Nico and I went to the park last Friday to practice hitting and throwing and catching. We did that for about 10 minutes before he said he wanted to play with the other kids at the park, some he knew from school. They played 4 square and then dodgeball. It was hard to drag him away!
I made enchiladas this week, I hadn't made them for several years. Grandma Russell's recipe! Yummy!
So here's the video! The slow-mo is pretty cool, enjoy!
Last Friday I got an email from Nico's chess teacher.
Subject: Nico is Epic
Hi there,
Nico did a very nice job on his Chess FunWork. Please give him a high-five for me!
Happy Checkmates,
Coach Vellotti
Nico was excited.
On Friday after school Nico and I went to the see Papa and Grandma Salisbury. Nico needed time to plan how he was going to reveal the "printer mystery" to his cousins the following day. He planned it on Friday while we were there, and then we ate dinner with them. Grandma made Nico some rice & ground beef. He devoured two helpings, pausing long enough to tell us that Grandma makes better rice and ground beef than I do!
Guy worked late that night so we met him at home later.
On Saturday we played board games in the morning with Jeff and Allicia. We played a game called Splendor. Nico and Evelyn played chess and then did some iPad.
Nico had practice soon after, Guy took him while I stayed home and made a chocolate cake! After practice, I took Nico over to my parents' house and dropped him off there. He stayed the night Saturday night and I picked him up Sunday before church.
Nico explaining the printer mystery.
Grandma made porridge for everyone, they loved it! Don't tell Nico that porridge is OATMEAL, ok?
While Nico was gone, Guy and I made pizza for just the two of us, and since Jeff & Allicia were going out that night and wouldn't be around, we decided to watch a movie downstairs! It was my turn to choose so I chose to watch Valerian. It was a good movie!
On Sunday after church, we met Grandma and Papa and the cousins and Jonny and Alanna at Smoky Mountain Pizza to celebrate Grandma's birthday! I brought the cake I had made and Alanna brought some fudge she had made, Aunt Mimi's fudge! It's the best. She cut up some of the pieces and I put them on top of the cake. Then we ordered some yummy food, sang Happy Birthday, and Grandma opened her gift. Unfortunately I COMPLETELY forgot to take even one picture of our time there, so it will just have to live on in our memories. Happy Birthday Mom!
Sunday night we had Bible Study as usual, and then on into Monday...
On Tuesday Nico had his FIRST baseball game. Check out the video at the end to catch some glimpses from that. They play the game differently than normal rules. They play the game in a time slot, so it's not based on innings. And each player gets 5 chances to hit the ball, then they move the ball to a T so the player can hit it off that. If you go up to bat, you get to hit the ball. You can only run one base at a time, but everyone gets to run. Outs don't count against you and don't change anything, but the coach still asked the kiddos to try to get more outs. For practice.
Nico is #9
For one of the innings he was the catcher.
Today Evelyn came over for dinner. I tried a new meal, and of course made broccoli. Evelyn LOVES broccoli and it makes my heart soar to see her eat so much of it. I tried to make Hot Pockets tonight. They dough was very crumbly and the finished pockets were a bit crunchy around the edges but generally a good success.
Evelyn brought this jar of flowers with her for our table, she picked all these from her yard.
The recipe made 6 total, here's the first batch.
After dinner I got a knock on our back door and it was Allicia, asking us if we wanted to see their new electric car! Nico and I went outside to take a look (Guy is at band practice on Thursday nights). Jeff calculated that the cost of electricity for commuting one day to/from work would be .67, compared to $3! They are going to sell their white car, and they will park their new one in the back so they can charge it every night.
It's been a pretty low-key week here. Nico had another baseball practice on Saturday that Guy took him to. We had pizza that night like usual. It was Guy's turn to pick the show and he chose an episode from the new season of MST3K.
On Monday I took Avery out to lunch at the Boise Fry Company. There was no one else there, we chose a spot in front of the tv playing a hockey game. I bought him a carton a milk with his food and we filled up his 3 dip containers with fry dip and he said "I love this place so much." Then I took him to preschool.
I know that's not Nico news, but it was super sweet so I had to share :)
Tuesday we visited Nampa to see GG and Aunt Pat. Aunt Pat gave him a bird book that used to belong to Uncle Fred!
As always, so fun to see them. Nico brought a game with him to play called "Rush Hour" where you need to get the red car out of the grid by moving around other cars.
We had bought him a new set of cards for the game for Christmas, plus a new car, and he re-discovered the unopened new card set on Tuesday and has been very excited about it.
Today was supposed to be another baseball practice, but it was cancelled due to wind. I was expecting a cancellation due to rain, but right after school the clouds opened up and the sun came out! But then the wind. Oh well! On Monday we had gone to Dick's Sporting goods to pick up a few more items we needed - baseball pants (he got his team shirt on Saturday, he is #9), a bat, a hat, and some grip tape for his new bat.
We had a nicely full day on Saturday. Nico and I went to Grandma and Papa's house so that Grandma could explain the Printer Mystery to Nico. Nico had told us about the printer randomly printing pages during Grandma Camp, so Nico texted Grandma on Friday to ask her if she had figured it out yet, he seemed a bit worried about it, so she decided to spill the beans! When we visited them on Satuday, Grandma told him to check the printer. He checked it and found a paper that had been printed on! They read it and then she sent him back to the printer to see if there was anything else. YES there was another paper! (Which Papa had secretly snuck in there). Grandma and Papa worked together like this until about 10 papers had been revealed, each one telling a piece of the Printer Mystery story. View the video at the end of this entry to read through the papers and discover the mystery!
From there, we drove to Timberline High School, where our church was putting on a Glow-in-the-Dark Easter Egg Hunt. Guy was working the sound, and I was set to work at the Face Painting table. We helped set up and then people slowly started to arrive. I realized after a time that between me and Guy, there was no one to watch Nico. It wasn't a big deal when it was just our church there setting up, he could run around the huge field and everyone knew him. But as thousands of people started arriving, I realized I may need to figure this out. The line for face painting was long and I had no visual of the field. Nico would run over every once in a while for water, which made me happy. I told him to keep checking in and then prayed that God would take care of him. The next time he checked in, he had Lexie with him! The next time after that he told me he was going to be with Jonny and Alanna and Lexie. I looked up and Jonny was waving at me. HUGE SIGH OF RELIEF. The crowd was really packed now. I didn't know they were going to be there, but I am so grateful they were!
The face painting line went to ZERO as soon as Pastor Tim got on the mic and started preparing everyone for the countdown. We started cleaning up and I was able to catch a video of the countdown and field rush. (check out video at end of entry)
Thank you to Alanna for taking these pictures!! They estimated 4,000-6,500 people showed up!
Sunday was a relaxing day. We decided to have pizza that night since we weren't able to on Saturday. It was Nico's turn to choose the show, and he chose Garfield.
Monday came along and it was back to school for Nico!
Tuesday was an interesting day! In the morning Nico lifted his shirt up and asked me why there was a painful lump on his stomach right above his belly button. It was about the size of peanut and painful to the touch. I calmly said we would go to a doctor that day to figure it out. I called the office at the stroke of 8, and got Nico in at 9:30. The doc said it wasn't a hernia, but was definitely a lump, she could move it around with her finger (ouch!). The next step would be an ultrasound to determine whether it was "vascular" or just an easily removable cyst. I didn't know what vascular meant, when I asked her she said that if it was vascular it meant that the lump had blood vessels involved with it and it would be harder to remove and could possibly continue growing. The outcome we should hope for would be the cyst. They could them remove it right in their office instead of doing surgery at the hospital. She told me the imaging center would call soon to schedule the ultrasound.
I dropped Nico off at school and then called up my prayer team. My mom and Guy's mom, then texted Aunt Mary and Ellen Gray. I did this from the school parking lot. When I was done, I started driving home. As I was turning onto our street my phone rang. I thought it was the ultrasound place to schedule the appointment but instead it was the doctor's office. She said she consulted with Dr Eck (the main doctor at the office) and he said it sounded like a "liquefied hematoma", which is much less scary and much more common (especially in active children). I don't know much about it, but I understand it to be like an internal bruise where blood is collected in a spot and can produce a lump. The fact that it was very painful was a good sign. She told me to watch it over the next few days and if it became less painful and the slight bruising started turning yellow, that means it's healing and it's not a cyst or other kind of lump. PHEW.
I gave all my prayer team the update. Apparently they're goooood at what they do! I didn't even have time to worry about it before it was resolved. I went back to Nico's school to tell him the news. The doctor had told him all about ultrasounds and said "It might hurt because they'll have to press the spot, BUT, there won't be any needles!" So I'm sure he was relieved at the news.
On Wednesday morning he woke up and I asked him how it felt. Still painful but not as bad... and look it's starting to turn yellow!
I learned that my cousin Rick (Aunt Mary's son) and my Uncle Jerry both had similar lumps like this when they were younger, and they both went away! Not sure if they were the same thing, but it was still reassuring to hear stories of disappearing lumps :)
Wednesday was Nico's first baseball practice. The doc had given us the OK to continue normal physical activity, since it wasn't a hernia. Nico got to wear his new cleats and made sure that I brought the towel that Dick's Sporting Goods gave him, "in case I sweat!" Hehe.
We found the practice field, and once practice started his team huddled up. The coach talked about the 3 things to remember about baseball:
1 - Have Fun
2 - Work Hard
3 - ?
Hmmm.... Oh well.
The coach showed them how to hold the ball, and they practiced the "creeper stance", while you're in the outfield waiting for the batter to hit the ball.
Video down below with more baseball stuff!
Tonight we had Evelyn over for dinner even though her family was home. Avery felt a little bad about it, I'll have to figure out a way to make it up to him. We had mandarin chicken and fried rice. I don't think I could ever make those two dishes again at the same time. If Guy wouldn't have been home early tonight I would have ruined both dishes!! It requires two people and a few more burners, and a few more dishes.
BUT, it was REALLY tasty and everyone loved it. In the future I could probably make the rice ahead of time so I won't be doing both dishes at once.
Afterwards they did some rough housing. One of their favorite things to do.
