Fun Easter Weekend! Swimming Success, Business Travel

We had a great Easter weekend! It started off Saturday with a library trip. Guy and Nico went together while I did some work. There was a robot there they could play with, and they were able to check one out from the library! There's an app you can download to interact with it. Nico played with it nonstop after they got home. Over the next few days it was one of the only things he did when he had free time. We told him it didn't count as iPad time, since he was "programming". There are some video snippets at the end of the blog!

Saturday afternoon we went to my brother Jonny's house for an Easter BBQ. There was yummy food, and an Easter egg hunt for the kids.

Ready...Set...

Go!

Nico made a new friend while we were there, and as we were leaving, his friend said, "I'm going to miss you. We really had a fun time." It was very sweet. Some video from the BBQ at the end of the blog!

Sunday we were at church early. Guy was running sound, Nico had practice with the kids group because they were going to be on stage for one of the songs, and I had practice for a piano/flute duet I was doing with another gal.

On the way to the church Nico said that he didn't want to do the thing on stage anymore, because he was nervous. I told him I was nervous about my thing, too, and that it's ok to be nervous and it shouldn't keep us from doing the thing. After I finished talking, a Parry Gripp song started playing, his songs are so silly, this one says "there's a young girl talking about herself. You can't stop her." And Nico said "Mommy, this song makes me feel better, because it's about a young girl talking about herself, and she's not nervous about talking about herself."

Engage Boise live streams all their services, so I snuck some screen shots off the video to capture these. Nico was in charge of waving the flag during the song.

And we played "Fairest Lord Jesus" during the offering.

Sunday afternoon, Guy was able to take a good long nap. Afterward, we decided to ride bikes. We biked on the greenbelt and we went far. Nico wanted to keep going but we told him we needed to turn around. It's a good thing we did, because the wind was actually helping us on our way out, and against us on the way back. We stopped every few minutes on our way back to check my map to see how much further. Nico's legs were aching and he was having a hard time riding against the wind. Guy rode in front of us on the way back to help block the wind for us. We were gone about an hour and a half.

Swimming on Monday.

Nico eating nachos, reading Peanuts. He is careful to delineate which of the two Peanuts books is his and which is Daddy's. It's important to keep track.

Nico excavating something from an Egyptian pyramid, from his Little Passports monthly subscription.

On Wednesday Nico passed Swimming Level 2!! It's the end of the swimming session and time to sign up for new classes, so Level 3 for him will start next week! I am very proud of him.

Wednesday morning after Nico left for school, I travelled up to Pullman, WA for a business trip. Since there's family in the area it's always a mix of business and family! My mom was already in Pullman when I arrived, along with my Aunt Mary Anne! My Aunt Liz came today, and I was also able to see my cousins and my Uncle Jerry.

It has been SO fun to be surrounded by family even while being here for business! I travelled to Farmington today for work and will drive there tomorrow as well, returning Saturday to Boise.

Now time for the video!

BIrthday Party, Chess Tournament, Nachos!

Saturday was a fun and full day. We celebrated Grandma Salisbury's birthday at Smokey Mountain Pizza. Our private gathering room has its own door to the parking lot, so I took a video of the kids after they ran out to greet Grandma and Papa when they arrived. Watch the video and beware when Nico starts running back toward me, WHACK! Yeouch!! The video is at the bottom of the blog post!

Happy Birthday (today!) To Grandma Salisbury!

Straight from the party, Guy drove Nico over to JUMP (Jack's Urban Meeting Place) for a Chess tournament/party. They went a little early because JUMP has a slide from the 5th floor of the parking garage that goes all the way down to the ground and Nico wanted to try it. But it was closed! Instead, they climbed on the jungle gym until the party started.

This afternoon I received this email from his chess coach:

We already signed him up for next year chess.

Saturday night we rented Mary Poppins Returns from RedBox, it was my choice. We all loved it. After the movie was over, Nico asked, "I want to watch ALL the Mary Poppins movies, are there any more?" Nope, shucks!

There was one evening this week (I think Sunday night) when Nico was very sad. We had said no to something he wanted. So here is Guy snuggling him on the couch. Guy sang to him the song he used to sing to him several years ago when we lived on Krall st. "The sun is sinking in the west...." Nico remembered the song and started crying. It was a very sweet moment. I'm surprised Nico remembered the song! When Guy put him into bed, he whimpered in his bed and started crying again and said "Daddy I want to spend more time with you." So Guy got up into Nico's bed and they hung out for a while.

On Mondays and Wednesdays, swimming nights, if we get to the Y a little early, Nico is able to play in the kiddie pool. Here's a shot of those shenanigans.

I love the Y swimming lessons. There are 4 life guards on duty. And, the air is very warm, not just the water, which means Nico doesn't get cold and shivery! He's able to make it through the entire 30 minute lesson. I am hooked and will probably never go back to lessons at the Natatorium. 

Tuesday night at Cub Scouts, the Birds of Prey were there!

Cub Scouts snack.

Nico has been on a nacho kick lately. He made these by himself.

Nico's friends across the street are moving in June, and I chatted with their mom about it and asked if she'd be willing to share their landlord's phone number with us so we could potentially move in after they move out. If across the street doesn't work out, we plan to move somewhere else THIS SUMMER! The time has come! We would love to stay in this area so we are hoping for the house across the street. We are super excited and being very dreamy about it. We are working hard to make it work!

This week was Nico's first standardized testing day for 3rd grade. It was a math test today. 1-2 hour tests, about 7 tests total in the next few weeks. We ordered him a vibrating wrist band that vibrates every 5 minutes to help keep him on task. I am looking forward to hearing from his teacher how it works for him at school. It will arrive on Saturday!

Enjoy the video!

Drama Performance!

We've had a pretty normal week this past week, the most exciting thing being Nico's drama performance this afternoon, which I'll talk about in a bit!

Saturday was a fun family day. Chores, then running errands. We wentto Fred Meyer and bought Nico some new shoes! Guy got some pretty nice ones as well and a pair of boots. He's been needing new shoes and boots for a while.

It was Guy's choice of movie for Saturday night, and he wanted to pick Mary Poppins Returns, but then he wanted to give Nico context for the movie so he decided to pick the original Mary Poppins. It was not available to rent on Amazon, and the library copies were all checked out. Thankfully, Allicia has the movie! We borrowed it from her. Nico really enjoyed it! I think I will pick Mary Poppins Returns this Saturday so we can complete the series.

Swimming, Cub Scouts, chess, swimming, then today was Nico's final day of drama class, and the play performance!

We walked over with Grandma Salisbury and Evelyn.
Check out the video to see him perform as The Lobster King! He really did great. He had a loud voice and enunciated quite well.

We've been getting veggie delivery boxes, which means, more veggies to eat! Kale chips were very yummy. Nico didn't care for them very much, but Guy and I sure did! We ate the entire bunch of kale that night (this picture is only 1/3 of them).

On Tuesdays we watch tv while eating. It's usually Three Stooges.

Here's Nico's performance! The first clip is separate and probably requires a back story. Nico was sad one night and went into his bed and put his head under his pillow. After a few minutes we saw a hand poke out to get a slice of cheese off his plate, and he brought it under the pillow with him so he could eat it. It was hilarious and Guy and I cracked up. He wanted to re-enact it on a video so I recorded it :)

Growing a Cabbage Plant, and Swimming Lessons!

Last Saturday was a busy day for us. We went through our hat rack and our shoe closet to organize and get rid of those things that we no longer wear or something that Nico grew out of. Our shoe closet looks great now!

Nico came home with a cabbage plant on Friday. The entire 3rd grade class was given a cabbage plant. They are supposed to grow them for 8-10 weeks, and then harvest them. After harvest, they are to be weighed and then pictured. It's a statewide thing (although they may do it in more than just Idaho?) The teacher chooses the best of her class, and enters it into a drawing. The winner gets $1000 scholarship. Nico named his cabbage plant "Leafy", and Jeff & Allicia let us plant him on the side of the house over by the back gate, on the other side. We planted him on Saturday.

As of today, he has one less leaf, and two of his other leaves are a tad eaten up. I mixed up an essential oil spray that he can use to repel pests, and we will give Leafy some plant food to help him grow.

Our church wrapped up their 24-hour Prayerathon by having an hour of corporate prayer with music and testimony on Saturday afternoon. All of us went. Afterward, it was time to start pizza! We watched Three Stooges, it was Nico's choice, and because Jeff & Allicia and family were out of town, we were able to watch it downstairs! The boys prefer the "New York" style crust, so that's the kind I've been making. (I prefer it too!)

Nico also spent some of the weekend working on his research project. He is transferring his data to Google Sheets, which he was already familiar with because he uses it at school. We were able to log in with his school email address and access his Google Sheets from home. 

Monday was his first night of swimming lessons. The downtown YMCA is a maze and Nico and I easily got lost trying to find the pool. It was a fun adventure and we finally made it. When Guy took him to his lesson on Wednesday, he picked up a map for me. Now we have a route of attack for next time, because after all that I still wasn't able to locate the locker rooms! But now I know where they are.

Nico asked me to put him into a swim CLASS and not private lessons. But for his first class, he was the only one there, so he got the instructor's undivided attention.

On Wednesday he told me that he wanted to do swim lessons EVERY day. That is quite a switch from where he was a week ago.

Nico has pulled out his Pokemon cards again. Him and I played an hour-long game on Tuesday after school (pictured below).

He has also been going through his huge binder of cards and alphabetizing them.

Next week is Nico's drama performance! He is excited. He has to wear all black so I just ordered him some black sweats and black long sleeve shirt from Amazon. He is King Lobster so I think he'll be in a lobster costume. Can't wait to see him perform!

I suppose that's it for this week!