Christmas Time!

Friday, Nico really wanted to decorate for Christmas but I wanted to wait until after his chores were done on Saturday so we could decorate on a clean slate. If he wanted to decorate on Friday he'd have to do his chores Friday. So, he did! After he finished, we opened up our Christmas box and unloaded everything except the tree ornaments, which we saved for Saturday when we got our tree.

Here's our tree advent calendar. Nico wanted to replace the batteries so that the lights would work. We didn't have replacements, so Nico and I walked over to M&W in the dark to buy some.

Then Saturday was Christmas Tree time! When we rearranged the Clubhouse a few months ago we inadvertently got rid of the spot where we usually put the Christmas tree. We thought for a while that we wouldn't be able to get one, but then we decided we could just not use the back door during this season, and we put the tree next to our bed near the back door.

We stopped by Flying M on the way home and got some coffee and an Italian Soda for Nico. He is going through all the flavors, and this time he chose English Toffee.

That night it was Guy's turn to choose the movie, and he chose to watch Labyrinth. Nico stayed enthralled for the whole movie, which he rarely does.

Sunday evening we went to the Botanical Garden's Winter Garden Aglow with Jeff and Allicia and kiddos.

Hot cocoa and hot fire

We visited Santa right off the bat. Nico brought his Christmas List with him. Watch the video at the end of the blog to see that. After he was done, Santa told him to hang the list up where Santa could find it and he asked Nico if it was ok with him if he visited on Christmas Eve to deliver presents. Nico whispered to me afterward, "Is Santa really going to come over Christmas Eve?"

Hollow log lit up with lights.

There was a new attraction there this year, a huge "Tree" of lights, like a teepee, that was controlled by a bunch of aparatuses (aparatii?) inside the teepee. You can catch a glimpse of it in the video below. At first we didn't think that all of the neat tools had any effect on the lights, but after playing with them for a while we were blown away with what each of them did. The rain stick, when used, made the lights on the teepee look like they were raining. The metal wheels you could turn made certain colors of lights go around the teepee, up or down the teepee, or get bigger. There was also a TNT pump and some gongs. It was pretty incredible. That was my favorite part of the night.

We came home frozen, and ate dinner. I heated up some coconut milk from a can (leftovers from a meal I made), and added some maple syrup and vanilla flavoring and put a little bit in a cup for Nico and I to drink. It tastes like hot ice cream. It has quickly become a favorite of ours. Better than hot cocoa I think.

On Monday after school, Nico and I walked our bikes to George's Cycles down on 3rd street. We walked them there because Nico had a flat. I had accidentally poked his tire the week before with a screwdriver while trying to push the intertube back into the metal frame. Oooooops. Nico was very agreeable to the endeavor, because he still needed a few hours of exercise to finish up his Exercise sheet. We made it there and back in about an hour and a half.

Tuesday was Guy's work Christmas Party. They held it at the Botanical Garden, so Guy and I got to go back! They had a tent setup with food being served. We ran into someone I knew from Toastmasters. Her husband works at Photronics, too! We sat across from each other and it was great to talk to them and get to know her better. We had fun. After the dinner, Guy and I walked through the garden, up to the top and then back down. It was a rainy night, so there was hardly anyone there!! It wasn't raining while we were walking, which was nice, and it just started to sprinkle as we were getting into our car.

Tonight, Nico was invited out to help them decorate their tree.

They gave us tea. And that ends the night, and the blog! Enjoy the video!

Where the Sidewalk Ends, and Thanksgiving!

Saturday afternoon we took a walk in the afternoon and let Nico decide which direction to take us. Where the sidewalk ends!

We walked through a neighborhood on the way back, and ran into a few of Nico's school buddies. Nico said he wants to live next to them. That sure would be fun!

For pizza that night we rented Wizard of Oz, it was Nico's choice. We watched it downstairs because Jeff and Allicia and the kids went out of town on Saturday for 5 days!

On Sunday Nico and I attempted to walk to church, but turned around shortly thereafter because he started feeling pretty sick. We came home, he ate a ham sandwich, and then we drove to church. He has been trying to fill up his exercise chart before the end of November, that's why we attempted the walk. We might try again this weekend!

Monday morning bright and early Nico packed up his bags and I took him to my parents' house for Grandma Camp! He spent 3 nights there and we brought him home tonight after a day full of Thanksgiving!

They went roller skating, they went to Jump Time, they decorated placecards for everyone for the Thanksgiving dinner, and they generally had a lot of fun.

Guy had this whole week off, so him and I chose to watch the Jason Bourne movie series, since we ALSO had downstairs to ourselves the whole week! We also tried the gluten free chocolate cake that Amaru makes. It was very very good. We also went to Chipotle on Tuesday evening.

We watched two movies on Tuesday, knowing we wanted to watch the 4th, called Jason Bourne, on Wednesday, but we sadly discovered that you couldn't rent this movie on Amazon Prime, and though it was available for rent on RedBox at the Jacksons gas station on the corner of Broadway, neither of us wanted to drive over there and get it. Talk about stay-cation!! So we watched an episode of Father Brown instead. 

Wednesday afternoon we also received another shipment of red velvet ribbon, so we processed it fast and shipped it off to Amazon Wednesday afternoon.

Thursday, Thanksgiving!!! We arrived at my parents' house at about 10AM. Guy set up MST3K in the living room (the new season was released TODAY on Netflix) and most everyone watched that leading up to dinner which was at 2PM.

MST3K

Picture time!

After eating, we divided up the leftovers and then started the Lego challenge. The challenge this year was different than any years past. Instead of being on teams, we each had a Lego to do individually, and the twist was that the Lego had to be put together WHILE STILL IN ITS BAG. Some of the Legos came with two bags, so we dumped those into one Ziplock.

Ready, set, Go! Myself, Guy, and my brothers Jonny and David each had the same Lego set to put together. I won between the four of us, but we were also competing with Alanna, Bambi, and Karli, who had different sets. Karli won between the 7 of us!!

The kiddos also had to do this. They each had smaller sets.

Before the next game started...

Papa gave us all a retyped copy of the Boles Family History, written by my dad's great grandfather. After giving each family a copy, he read a story from it. Bud was his name, and he was 14 years old at the time of the story. He couldn't join the Civil War because he was too young, but he followed his brothers with the troops. He said he felt safer there than at home. By himself he went back home 100 miles on his horse, over 3 days. Wow!

There are so many stories like that in the book, I'm glad to have a copy of it! Thank you Pa and Ma!

We had a Christmas Song guessing game, and then a huge present the kids took turns unwrapping. Anything you found on your way to the middle you could keep. Each kid had 15 seconds. Nico won a kitchen dish towel, and lotion bar, a kaleidoscope, some other knick knacks, and in the very middle of all this wrapping and boxes there was a fanny pack. He was the one who unwrapped it, so he kept it, inside there was a $25 Amazon gift card.

When we arrived home tonight, there was a package waiting for Nico. He spent his own money on a game and it arrived while he was gone this week. You have to build a structure based on the top, side, and front views of it. He chose this game out of a 70-page toy magazine I received.

He also received his Little Passports delivery while he was gone. He will have lots to do this weekend!

We are super Thankful for all our family, and the ones we didn't see today, Grandma and Grandpa Russell. We can't wait to see you guys next month!

We came home tonight and I ate a huge slice of gluten free cherry pie! Amen!

Geode, and our new Sign!

On Saturday Nico and I went over to Grandma and Papa's house in the early afternoon. We stayed for a few hours and met Jonny and Alanna. The grownups discussed Thanksgiving while Nico and Lexie played. I left Nico there and he stayed overnight!

Guy wasn't able to come with us because he had a very bad migraine :(

Nico's tummy aches started back up again, we left church early on Sunday because he was feeling too sick, and we skipped Bible Study on Sunday night because he wasn't feeling well (Guy was still able to go!) He's gone to school every day this week with a tummy ache, it seems to start shortly after eating and can last a very long time. We are still trying to get to the bottom of it.

Nico found a Geode in his stash of toys and so he broke it open.

Playing Clue on top of an unfinished puzzle. The rules of this game were as follows: You can't talk. It was quite a challenge to communicate without talking to play this game, but we did it. Well, THEY did it, because I lost the "no-talk" challenge about halfway into it. Oops!

Nico rediscovered the National Geographic Kids magazines. He told me all about "Urban Sprawl" that he learned about at school, about how people were tearing down animal habitats to build housing that no one needed. He said that if he was president he would stop it from happening.

He also seems to have an interest in traveling, to all over the world, and expressed interest in being a photographer so that he could join National Geographic Kids.

He asked us tonight that if we could move to any place OUTSIDE the US, where would we move to? Guy's answer was New Zealand, Nico's answer was London. I'd have to agree with Nico, I think that would be fun.

Tonight all of us went to band practice together, it might become more of a regular thing, as I work up to maybe playing the piano in the church band every once in a while. When we got home, we saw the new sign that Allicia got us for The Clubhouse!

Gorgeous!

Here are some pictures that are from Grandpa and Grandma Russell's visit last last week, when they went to the Botanical Garden.

They had the Scarecrow Stroll going on during their visit

That's it for this week!

Grandparents Russell and Happy Birthday GG!

I came home from Moscow/Pullman last Friday and stopped by to see my Aunt Mary Anne in Lewiston on the way home! Nico stayed Friday night with Papa and Grandma Salisbury, and we picked him up Saturday morning.

A puzzle Nico completed on Friday. I heard him and Papa played a ton of games after school on Friday!

From their house, Guy and Nico went straight to the airport, where they surprised Grandpa and Grandma Russell as they were flying in from Seattle! They came to Boise this past weekend to surprise GG at her 90th birthday party, which was Saturday night.

Before the party, Grandma and Grandpa took Nico to their hotel to take a swim in the pool. Yay! We met them at Jaker's that night, where GG stopped in at 6 PM and was surprised by everyone there.

Nico chose the kid's steak. Oh my goodness does this boy love meat! The kid's steak comes cut into strips. It was so handy, and he ate it all up.

Happy Birthday GG! They had a beautiful cake for her.

Sunday before church, I was resting on the bed after telling Nico to do his chores. He took the trash out and then, on his own, without asking, he started fixing the front doorknob. We discovered Saturday night that it was low on batteries. So he got his toolbox out, and screwdriver, and took the handle off. He discovered it needed a 9V battery, which we didn't have, and this is when I found out what he was doing, because he asked me where the 9V batteries were. We walked over to M&W Market to buy a 9V battery and came back. He had a hard time reattaching the screws. Even with me helping him we couldn't do it, but we soon figured out the problem and reattached the screws. I told him I was so proud of him for seeing something that needed to be done, and doing it without being asked.

After church the boys were able to hang out with the Grandparents Russell for a little bit while I visited my Aunt Liz. They brought over a new brand of Lime Soda Water we had never tried before. It is very good! It is not sweetened and contains no juice, but to me it tastes like lime cotton candy. Crazy! Waterloo brand. They left Sunday afternoon to fly back to Seattle. It was a quick visit but so fun to see them. I am sorry I didn't get more pictures! Can't wait to see them again in a few months for Christmas!

Monday night we did a bit of an assembly line to package up the huge Red Velvet Ribbons we got shipped to us. We needed to put each into a bag, seal it, and then put a label on it, and place it back into the box. There was 60 total. I let Nico do 8 of them Monday night. He was so super careful with each one and did a great job. We would have used our table instead of the floor, but there is currently a puzzle on it! Someday we will own a table just for puzzles, whaddya say?? ;)

There's a short clip at the end of the blog with Nico putting one of the huge ribbons in a bag. You can watch him be super gentle.

6 of the 8 boxes we shipped out Tuesday morning

Tuesday Nico and I had doctor's appointments. I picked him up early from school. After the appointments I took him to a new food and smoothie place I had never been to before - Fresh Deli? Hmm.. Can't even remember the name. It is downtown next to the Edwards Theater. I bought him a Chunky Monkey smoothie, and myself a juice. I asked if they made any of their wraps or paninis gluten free and they said yes. Oh my! Nico picked out the Turkey Bacon Avocado wrap, and I chose a Turkey Pesto Panini for Guy. I can't believe they had gluten free wraps!! I was very impressed. Nico super duper loved it.

I can't believe I didn't snap pictures of all that! I had a really fun time with Nico that afternoon. 

Nico checked out a Geronimo Stilton book at the school library last week. He read it and returned it today, and picked up a new one!

Speaking of books, the Grandparents Russell brought Nico the next installment of Dogman!! He has already flown through it.

He has chosen the book he is going to do his book report on next January. Stick Cat: Tail of Two Kitties. He got it approved by his teacher. He has chosen to create a crossword puzzle for his report. 

Ok on to the video! See you next week!