Chess Tournament, Slapping

On Saturday Nico attended his very first Chess Party & Tournament. It was at Smoky Mountain Pizza, for 3 hours, I just dropped him off and then picked him up later. They had charge of the two banquet rooms, one of the rooms was where they played chess, and the other room was where they ate pizza and watched a movie. Nico played 4 games of chess, winning 1 of them, and came home with a 2nd place trophy. Everyone got a trophy, so that was cool! They made sure he had a gluten free pizza and he said he ate 4 pieces while watching the Batman Lego movie. At the end they had an awards ceremony where the parents could see Coach Vellotti hand out the trophies. On our way out the door he handed out candy canes. Nico chose a strawberry one.

Sunday was the church Christmas program. Nico sat with me in the service while Guy ran the sound. It was a fun drama. Afterward, there was a taco bar lunch. It was very good. 

Guy has had this whole past week off, which has been awesome! We have been eating lunch together while watching some Burn Notice on Netflix every afternoon. Nico had a half day today and Guy joined him at school during the Christmas Around the World Buffet lunch they had in his class. Nico is now officially on winter break! 

Tonight Guy took him to band practice with him for a little bit so he could practice reading Luke 2:10-12 from his Bible while holding a microphone. Apparently he did well! We will see him do this in front of the church on Sunday.

A few of the ways we have been passing our time in the morning. Playing "Chessers", which is a combination of chess and checkers, rules by Nico.

Playing Bird Bingo

Nico asked Guy at the beginning of the week that every day he comes from school could Guy slap him in the face when he comes inside the door. ????? Guy, of course, agreed to do this. See video below of how Guy did this on Monday. Every day after this Guy has chosen a different way to surprise Nico with slapping. Yesterday he waited outside in the alley right next to the clubhouse. As Nico came home he was telling Evelyn that his Dad was going to slap him when he came home so he asked Evelyn to go inside first. But before they could even get inside, Guy jumped out and slapped Nico. Then this afternoon Guy was hiding inside again and Nico made Evelyn go inside first. Guy of course didn't slap her. heehee.

Tomorrow Grampa and Gramma Russell are coming into town!! We are so excited to see them. It will be a fun Christmas!

And without further ado, the slapping:

Summer Break, Children's Race, Cousins!

Friday was Nico's last day of school - we are officially on summer break over here!!

Saturday Nico participated in the St Al's Capitol Classic Children's Race.  For ages 6-12. I picked up the race packet on Thursday with all the instructions on where to drop him off and where to get him after the race was over. The race was from the Train Depot all the way down to the Capitol building.

It is 1.4 miles. 

Driving to the race dropoff

We had to drop him off between 9am and 9:15, but the car line was so long going up Capitol Blvd that it would have been about 9:30 before we got him there, so Nico and I got out of the car and we walked up the hill to the Train Depot. Guy picked me up and then we drove down to Capitol Park and found a place to park. We had some time to wander briefly around the downtown market before the race started at 10am. The girls ran first. Watching that big group of kids running down from the Train Depot on the hill was so cool, all their green shirts and all the clapping and yelling. Zoomed in you can't quite catch the detail but you can see the green mob.

The boys were released about 15 minutes later. I went out to cheer him on from the sidelines while Guy waited at the finish line for him. I saw him and clapped and yelled and only was able to snap a picture after he had already passed me. 

They had smoothies available for free for all the racers, (plus frozen yogurt and Blimpie sandwiches!) but the line for the smoothies was long and we had already before decided we would walk down to Jamba Juice to get him a smoothie, so that's what we did instead.

They gave every child a medal after they crossed the finish line.

Nico's time was 14:33

Nico didn't feel well the rest of the day, he seemed very subdued, even when we drove out to find a bike for him. We found a bike at the Boise Bicycle Project for $20 and they even adjusted the brakes on it for him to make it easier for him. They also gave him free bike LEDs. On the 1st Thursday (or 2nd?) of every month, kids can bring their bikes in if they are broken and they will teach the kids how to fix their own bikes for free.

Nico said he had a sore throat, so I gave him all the stuff to help him feel better. The next day he had a low grade fever but felt fine, saying his sore throat was gone. He had a bit of phlegm but it resolved quickly. Which is good, because he was invited over to the Grandparents Salisbury's house with cousins for a few nights of sleepover! Nico asked me the other day when we were going to have more kids because he wants someone to play with in the clubhouse. I'm so glad he has cousins that he gets to hang out with, and Evelyn who is right next door! I dropped him off on Monday after lunch, and Guy picked him up Wednesday after work.

Playing bird bingo with the cousins

Thank you Grandma and Papa!

The only cousins not there were Leah and Karli.

Wednesday night when he came home he asked: "When do I get to go back to Grandma and Papa's house?"

He'll be staying there a few more nights this summer.

On Monday night, Guy and I picked up Chipotle and an Izze Pop for dinner and watched Guardians of the Galaxy on Amazon, with the intention of going to see the 2nd in the series in the theaters on Tuesday night. But we didn't plan ahead, and Guardians of the Galaxy 2 was sold out on Tuesday! So we came home and watched shows at home. Jeff offered to let us use their new couch downstairs to watch shows on the big screen, so we did that. Super fun!! It was like having our own living room!

And then that's it! On to next week!

Grandparents Russell, Tea, Bird Bingo

On Friday Nico's class had a Mother's Day Tea that I attended. They had the classroom all set up and I sat across from Nico at his desk. He pulled out his journal and we read through the entire thing while we waited for the other mothers to arrive.  I can't wait to share some of his journal entries with you all when the journal comes home at the end of the year.

When everyone was there, Mrs. Smith went around the room and each child got to introduce their guest and tell the others why they're special. When it got to Nico, he said "My Mom is special because I love her so much!" And while he was saying "I love her so much" he pretended to faint and laid down on the floor.

After everyone went around, it was time to serve the food. Nico asked me what I wanted and then he went and told Mrs. Smith and she handed Nico my order. I ordered one fruit kabob. After all the moms got their orders, the kids got theirs. Nico ordered a fruit kabob as well and also went and got each of us a glass of apple juice.

After eating, we got to open our gifts. Nico made me a cut out of his hand with clay, signing "I love you" with a rose between his fingers.

It came in a sweet bag.

He said to me this week: "Mommy, when you die... and then when I die, and in heaven, I will come find you because I love you sooooo much!"

Later on Friday we got to see the Grandparents Russell because they came into town!! They came over and hung out until Nico's bedtime. It was so sweet to see Nico snuggling with them! They brought Nico a Bird Bingo game and we played it that night, too!

Saturday morning we drove over to GG's house to visit her. It was the first time Nico and Guy had seen her new place living with her sister Pat. They have a pasture that lines their backyard and they often see horses back there close to the fence. We didn't see any this time, I am sure we'll catch them on one of our visits. The Grandparents met us at GG's house and we played another round of Bird Bingo with everyone, then headed home for lunch. After lunch we headed off to the Aquarium! 

We spent about 45 minutes there and then drove over to where the Grandparents were staying so we could take a dip in their hotel pool. Here's Nico and his sweet new spiderman towel!

Then we ventured back home with everyone and made pizza for all of us. 

It was a VERY fun and full day and I'm so glad we were able to spend that time with them! We will see them again in June when we *FLY* out there!

On Sunday at church I applied henna to someone on stage during the sermon. The tattoo illustrates the sermon, which was about clothing yourself with inner beauty instead of with fancy clothes. 

After church we went over to the Grandparents Salisbury house armed with our Bird Bingo game, and played a blackout round with everyone. Uncle Jonny, Aunt Alanna, and Lexie were also there! Oh fun was had!

On Tuesday, Brianna came over for dinner for the last time before she moves away. She will be visiting every few months so we will get to see her, but not as often as we have been.

Nico worked on his "Day of Learning" project today. It's an optional research and presentation project that anyone at the school can participate in. Nico put together a tri-fold poster presentation about the Purple Martin (bird). He is proud of it, and will take it to school to set up next Tuesday. We are checking out a bird book from the library this Saturday that may inspire him to add more to his poster, but he says he's happy with it the way it is. Fine with me!

Ok that's it for this week! See you guys next time!