Brianna and Grandma Camp

The super-secret craft we did last week was for Grandpa Russell's birthday! We made him some coasters from clay. We rolled them out, cookie cuttered them and baked them, then painted the sides of them and glazed the tops. We had enough clay to make some for ourselves, too! Unfortunately we have found that the glazed tops tend to stick to hot cups, so I've been turning mine over.

On Friday Nico and I took our friend Brianna to lunch for her birthday, at Red Robin. Nico got a gluten free kids hamburger (perfect size). He reeeally loved it. She brought him a gift for his birthday - the game CLUE! After Red Robin we went over to my parents' house for a bit and then headed home.

Saturday we went to one garage sale together and then Guy went on his own for a few hours. Nico and I hung out at home, it was a relaxing day.

On Sunday Brianna came over and hung out with us for a while. We played a game of Clue, Brianna won!

Monday was the start of the last Grandma Camp of the summer! I dropped Nico off early Monday morning and received him back this afternoon. One of their first activities was Box City, where they used boxes to create a city. Bruce and Nico actually built a robot costume! Nico was then able to attempt to break into Lexie and Rory's box BANK that they built.

Then there was Papa Time, where they built a treehouse (in loose terms), what I think they did is attach boards onto the tree so they'd have a place to sit up there! Super cool!

They also had a hula-hoop contest where they had to see if they could hula-hoop for 3 straight minutes. Bruce and Nico won. 

Twice through the week Nico face-timed Guy and I in the evening before he was heading to bed. That was really neat.

Last night Nico lost a tooth while at their house, my mom sent me this story this morning:

It was evening time, we were all comfortably sitting in our chair of choice, jammies on, pillows and blankies around us and the kids waiting to hear a story from one of the books I had written.  These are special fun times  with my grandchildren because they can relate to the people in my stories, their parents!  As I was half way through one of the stories, Nico raises his hand.  I continue reading a bit and then stop in mid story and ask Nico if his question can wait.  He informs me with a calm, “no, I just pulled my tooth out” and with a raise of his other hand he showed everyone his bloody hand with a small tooth in it!   I sat my book down, jumped into action and escorted him to the bathroom where we cleaned him up and had him rinse well.  He was quite proud of the fact he had pulled it out, and even more excited that he could leave it under his pillow.  I suggested he take it home so he could show his parents and leave it under his pillow at home.  He was quite adamant that he leaves it at our house as he had heard about how leaving a tooth at our house under his pillow will bring him $20.  Bruce and Lexie confirmed that.  I decided to stop my story I was reading and offer up a story not written in my book about how one of their parents (can’t remember which one) after losing a tooth, had put it under their pillow at night.    I then went on to explain that in the middle of the night I had forgotten that they had placed it under their pillow and so got up to pull some money from my purse. But before I could finish the story on how I accidently pulled a $20 bill from my wallet instead of a $1 bill, my storytelling came to a staggering stop!  Across the room, snuggled in her chair, happily listening to my story, Lexie jolted upright, looked at me with shockingly big eyes and exclaimed, “You gave them money, I thought it was the Tooth Fairy?”  My gut tightened and my heart sank with the realization that I had just revealed the Tooth Fairies identity.  But it didn’t stop at that!  As the others were chiming in that parents were indeed the Tooth Fairy they began to offer other revelations which sent me into a quick motion of shaking my head at them to please don’t say anything further.  But Lexie is a clever girl and the revelation of who the Tooth Fairy was gave way to her conclusive mind and she looked at me and said, “My friends told me that parents are the Tooth Fairy, but I didn’t believe them until now.  So that means that Jack Frost, the Easter Bunny”, and then looking at me with eyes that gave a complete and desperate look of “tell me it’s not so” in a question like manner…exclaimed:” my parents are also, SANTA CLAUS???!!!”   

Oh, the agony of watching a child’s balloon pop as the truth sinks in.  I let her cry.  The cousin’s tried to console.  Through her sobbing tears she said, “that means that everyone that we can’t see is not for real”!  I finished our stories early and I got the cousins to bed and then went out to do some comforting of Lexie. She was sitting in Papa’s chair, cuddled with her favorite stuffed animals and a blankie around her.  She was in shock.  I had her come sit on my lap.  She apologized.  I asked her why she was apologizing.  She said, “because I’m feeling sad about this and I shouldn’t”.  I responded, “yes, you should!!!  I felt sad when I found out!  You can cry all you want.” So, she cried some more.  After a while we talked about the happy parts of Christmas.  We talked about how St. Nicholas was a real person and he had a big and generous heart and that is where the Santa Claus story began.  I then said, do you know there is someone else that you can’t see, but is real?  She asked who.  I told her, Jesus.  She smiled and sighed a happy sigh. We finished with a prayer and silly song and she was soon on her way to a happy dream land.

Today before Grandma dropped Nico off here, they went swimming!

Guy and I watched The Last Jedi on Tuesday night, that was a really good movie! Nico face-timed us during the movie. It was an entertaining intermission. Brianna and I were able to go see Christopher Robin in the theaters on Monday. Cute movie! 

School starts next Monday... eek! Can't believe it's here already!

Here's a video of Lexie teaching Nico how to play soccer.

Tummy aches, Brianna, Fitness Challenge

Last Friday Nico had off from school. Him and I took G.G. and Aunt Pat to Red Robin in Nampa. It was fun to shake up our normal visiting routine by going out instead of staying in. It was great to sit and chat with them for a while, and Nico was so excited to have his turkey burger. I'm pretty sure he ate too much. Before Guy came home from work he was outside running around, then he came back inside and said he felt sick. He did get sick in the middle of the night that night, and had a sore tummy the next day. Whoops!

On Sunday he was fine, but then got sick in the middle of the night again, I'm pretty sure this was another fluke because of some old fish oil we gave him that night before bed. He said it tasted funny. No, what he said was, "That tastes bad." when usually he doesn't complain. It was the bottom of the bottle, kind of milky looking. Um, anyway, we kept him home from school on Monday even though he ate normally and felt 100% the next morning.

Monday was Columbus Day, so we went searching for a way to watch an episode of Columbo (our Columbus Day tradition), but it is no longer on Netflix. So we went to the library to check a DVD out. Closed. It was Columbus Day, so library and bank were closed, the very two errands we had left the house to accomplish. Guy then took Nico out to a garage sale, and I took him later to the park. Evelyn joined us after school was out.

No more illness after that, and he was back at school on Tuesday after 5 days off!!

On Wednesday an old friend of ours that had moved away came for a visit, Brianna. She came over and Nico taught her to play chess. Guy has this whole week off from work, so he joined in the fun and helped Brianna learn. Then we ate dinner and brownies and said our goodbyes until next time she visits.

Guy is doing more of his buying/selling this week, focusing mostly on selling since he has acquired a lot of stuff and he wants to lessen his inventory. He scored a box of stuff for free at a garage sale, some of the stuff in there worth $100+. He is downstairs now working on listing stuff on eBay.

I think that's it for this week. Now I have to go search and see if I took any pictures!! I hope so!!

Evelyn and Nico at the park on Monday.

They are both participating in the Axiom Fitness Challenge (Axiom is the gym I go to!). The school sent home a paper and for every 30 minutes they exercise, they get to fill in a star on the paper. If they get all the stars filled in and return the paper by December 1st, they get a free pass to Wahooz, which is a game place like Pojo's, but with more stuff, including race cars and miniature golf. They are counting 20 minutes of walking every day going to/from school. And at the park on Monday they spent a solid 20 minutes riding around on bike and scooter. They're getting there!

Whiffle Ball, Day of Learning, Zoo

On Saturday we went to a garage sale down the street from us. Nico found a whiffle bat and ball for 50 cents that he bought. Then we went to both of the Saturday markets in downtown Boise to scope out spots for me to do henna. Oh, and to enjoy ourselves. Nico got a balloon animal and we watched a magician do magic tricks. Guy bought coffee from a local roaster and Nico got a free bunch of radishes just for being a kid. We came home and ate radishes.

Then I dropped the boys off at Memorial Park with the whiffle bat and I ran to the Co-op, then came and picked them up.  

Then we visited Brianna for the last time. While we were there, Nico asked her if she wanted to join us for pizza and she said no she had a lot of packing and dishes to do. So Nico said: "How about Daddy and I can help pack and you and Mommy can wash dishes?" And that's what we did! She still wasn't able to join us for pizza because her parents came into town that night.

We said goodbye to Brianna, then went to the Library. After that we came home and ate lunch. We had pizza that night and I then I left the boys at home to go see Allicia at her roller derby game. My voice was hoarse afterward from all the cheering. She is really good.

On Tuesday Nico brought his Day of Learning project to school. He carried it in front of him, the trifold Open so that everyone who walked by would see it. And it worked. Someone said as she was passing, "Cool project!"

That night there was an open house at the school so everyone could view the projects. There was only one other 1st grader that had participated, but lots from other grades. Guy and Nico went.

When Nico started out to work on his project, this is how it went down:

"I'm not going to fill up all the space"

As he's writing info about the Purple Martin in his lab notebook: "I think I'm just going to do 5 birds."

As he's writing info about the Purple Martin on the project board: "Actually, I think I'm just going to do one bird."

I was very proud of him! He got to present his project to his class, too.

Today was the Father's Day zoo trip. Guy met Nico's class at the zoo.

 Kookaburras! How did we miss these last time? Guy told me that Nico sat and stared at them for 5 minutes.

Nico has been coming home with all sorts of things from school, folders, notebooks, books that his teacher was giving away, summer reading packets... it's getting to be about that time. One more week and it's done!

Zoo, Brianna, Chipotle, Evelyn

Friday morning was Nico's first chess meeting. He loved it and is excited to go back tomorrow morning.

On Saturday I had a birthday lunch with just the girls to celebrate Grandma Salisbury. We went to a local eatery called Locavore. They have very good food with gluten free options! Happy Birthday Mom!

Afterwards me and the boys went to the library to see if they had any more comics for Free Comic Book Day, but they were out. That's ok, because Nico picked up a few comics to check out as well as some chapter books. He has lost steam on the Treehouse books and has stalled on #14.

Sunday was a fun day. We went to the Zoo with Brianna, who is moving in a few weeks and had never been to the zoo. It was also the first time Nico has been to the zoo in a very long time and it was fun to watch him as he saw the animals. We saw everything, I think, and then drove over to Chipotle for dinner. It was a very good day.

Nico helping Evelyn fold socks.

Nico has been spending more time with Evelyn ever since Aadam and Sam moved away. They've easily gotten back into the rhythm of hanging out.

They randomly wore the same shirt today, not planned.

Picking up Evelyn from school on Tuesday, Nico walks right up to her and puts his arm around her.

Our Monday night date, playing the intense game of Agricola. It took an hour, or more.

We will be seeing the Grandparents Russell tomorrow and Saturday! They are going to be in town for a short visit. Can't wait to see them! Hoping for sun tomorrow so we can venture to the Nature Center after school.

See you all next week!

Fuzzy, Lost tooth, Sore tummy

We went to Fred Meyer last Friday and Nico bought a little fox that he named Fuzzy. Fuzzy came with a blue bag (purse?) that he sits in, Nico calls it his bed. He brought Fuzzy and his bed to Bible Study on Sunday, and has been sleeping with Fuzzy right next to him in his blue purse bed.

Saturday morning, I made pancakes per usual, and Nico sat at the table and said it was hard for him to eat because his tooth was loose. He said he was going to pull it out and I thought that maybe he might succeed in a few days, but Nico sat at the table, determined, for about 10 minutes, pulling at his tooth until it came out. He wanted to enjoy his pancakes (it's his favorite day because of the pancakes in the morning) and pulled his tooth out so he could do just that. We forgot about the tooth fairy and in fact I'm not sure where the tooth ended up.. hmm. It's in a baggie somewhere.

On Tuesday, Brianna came over for dinner. We ate tuna pasta salad on a bed of lettuce and roasted veggies on the side.

Wednesday morning, Nico woke up with a sore tummy. He had a slight fever so I wrote his teacher that he wouldn't be coming to school. He laid on the couch and said "I don't think I want to eat fudgesicles ever again." He had eaten an entire fudgesicle the night before, right before going to bed. At about 10 am his fever went up to 101.3, he had a headache, took a nap, and felt a lot better after waking. He never threw up, but drank milk and ate banana bread all day long. He slept well last night and woke up this morning, stood up and said "Hey! I don't feel sick anymore! And when I walk my head doesn't hurt!"

I still kept him back from school for one more day. He has been watching iPad a lot today, lounging. He will go back to school tomorrow!

That's really all we did this week, short and sweet!

GG, Car, and Birds!

Friday Nico had off from school, he had a dentist appointment and then we went over to Bricks & Minifigs nextdoor to the dentist to trade in one of his legos for a new one.

On Saturday we all went to GG's house and we brought Josh with us, who was visiting from South Korea for a few weeks. I brought my camera with me but forgot to take pictures while we were there! When we were in college we would go over to GG's house every Saturday for pizza and Josh was always with us, so it was great to reminisce.

Sunday, Guy had to get to church early for band practice because he was running the sound booth. When he got to the church he called to tell me our car wasn't running too great. We borrowed Jeff's car for the rest of the day and also on Monday so we could get our car in to the mechanics. The cost of repair is much more than the car is worth so we plan to scrap the car. It still turns on and can move, but it is at half power, very difficult to accelerate and can't go above 30 mph. Fortunately, friends of ours from church have a 3rd car that they don't use so we are borrowing that for a few months until we can buy a car. It is a Kia Sportage and is pretty cool.

Nico had Monday off from school, too, and we had a chiropractor appointment that day. Nico recognized the Black Capped Chickadees on the calendar in the office. The painting next to this had Mallards in it that he recognized too.

Reading a car magazine waiting for the doc.

Brianna came over for dinner on Tuesday. We always play a game after dinner and this time it was Creature Clash.

He's been spending a lot of time looking up birds on his new iPad app from the Grandparents Russell. He finds a bird from his bird cards that is in Idaho, and then looks it up on the app. He looks at its range (location), looks at all its pictures, and listens to its sound.

Cute baby Killdeer 

He can now successfully get through the entire deck of bird cards.

GG, Winter Garden Aglow

Last Friday night was our church's Ladies Christmas Party. Tiffanie, Allicia and myself all went together. We have a fuzzy cell phone picture of all of us in our Christmas hats.

On Saturday we visited GG. Guy came with us! Nico brought a chalkboard Tic Tac Toe game that him and GG played.

We are looking forward to seeing her on Christmas Eve!

On Sunday we went to the Winter Garden Aglow in the evening with Brianna. Tiffanie and Allicia and family also went, we met them there. We discovered that there is no photographer there this year, so we had to improvise our family picture. Brianna snapped a shot for us. 

We also went to see Santa. Nico had me write down on a sticky note the three things that he wanted to ask Santa for. Watch the video at the end to hear him read his list. (1) A box of 50 hot wheels (2) A chessboard (3) A checkerboard. On Sunday afternoon Guy had taken Nico to Dawson Taylor Coffee House with him and they sat at the chess table and played chess for a while, so that's where those two requests came from. We are going to pull out our marble chess board and pieces for Christmas so that Nico can play with those. My brother Jonny brought them back for me from an overseas military assignment he had a long time ago. I am very excited to bring them out again.

Guy has this entire week off from work! On Monday we both had eye appointments. Both our eyes got dilated and we came home afterward and could barely see but we set up some Netflix to watch while eating lunch and it was a cozy afternoon. Another Netflix afternoon on Tuesday and Wednesday.