Feeling better, and a new Halloween costume

Last Friday, Nico woke up feeling a lot better. He was able to get out of bed and sit/stand/walk around. He ate breakfast and by all accounts he was all better! His first order of business after eating breakfast was trying on his Halloween costume.

It fits!

I took him to his doctor's appointment that day for his foot.

Besides it being dry and flaky, he has a huge bump on the bottom that they said was a wart. The doctor froze it off! She told him to raise his hand whenever the pain got too much to bear, and they did it 3 times. She said he will likely need to come back again to get it re-done because it is so big.

On Saturday, Guy drove to Nampa to pick up the tv that GG gave us. It was the one she used to have before she moved. It's huge! Thank you GG! While in Nampa, Guy stopped by a gluten free restaurant that just opened. They sell donuts on Saturday and he bought one of each type for us to try. He had to wait so long for the chocolate donuts that they gave him two. Nico's favorite was the twist donut.

Nico had a chess tournament on Saturday. He got a 1st place trophy, and he won the prize for best costume!

Raking leaves

Trying out his Switch on our new TV

Rough draft TV Stand setup.

Wednesday we had a parent teacher conference. We both LOVE his teacher. She is my favorite by far of the teachers he's had. She said a few days ago that Nico took over teaching the class about what "scale" means on maps. He stood up in front and brought out a ruler to demonstrate on the huge map at the front. He asked her if he could stay up there to teach the whole lesson and she said, well, No. Heehee.

No school today and tomorrow! Nico had scrambled eggs and toast for breakfast this morning.

After lunch we put together our new TV stand.

This afternoon, Allicia picked Nico up and took him to the Farmstead with the other kiddos. Guy met them there tonight because our church is doing the corn maze.

Here's a condensed video of the Trailing of the Sheep parade, plus some video of Nico walking around in his Halloween costume. I left the entire sheep part of the parade in the video, you'll see sheep passing by for 1 minute and 20 seconds. The rest of the parade part of the video is just snippets of the other acts that passed by.

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!

The Watershed, and Parent Teacher Conferences!

Nico didn't have any school on Friday, so him and I and my mom ventured out to a market in Caldwell that we'd never been to before - Cliff's Country Market. They had so much gluten free stuff! We will go back there before Thanksgiving to buy a gluten free apple pie, and rolls, and stuffing cubes. While we were there we bought some gluten free bread and snacks, and a few new flavors of Zevia (the most common soda brand in our house these days!)

Friday night we made hamburgers again (Crabby Patties). Nico has decided that he wants to open a burger joint when he gets older. He's working on the menu right now, coming up with all kinds of different names for burgers. It will be called the Diamond ... uh... forgot the last word. Oh yes! Diamond Dominion. There will be the Diamond Patty, and Hot Diamond, and a bunch of other types of burgers. There will even be one with 4 patties on it. And one with a patty on top of the top bun.

On Saturday, Guy took Nico to the Watershed. They learned about what happens to toilet water once it gets flushed. Ew! He also got to hold a snake? This is a python!

Then Saturday evening was the Halloween Chess Tournament. Evelyn joined him. Evelyn was a dinosaur in an egg! Everyone was really impressed with her costume :)

Coach Vellotti handing out trophies. Nico got 1st place in his division. He played 4 games and won 2 of them. Evelyn was in a different division.

All the chess kids from Adams Elementary!

On Tuesday we had our friend Brianna come over for dinner. Wednesday was Nico's Parent Teacher Conference. We took him with us and he played on the playground while Guy and I went in to talk to his teacher. She said that Nico is great, of course! He is excelling in Science and Math. She says he can see problems and understands them quickly. He is struggling with paying attention and getting distracted easily. We've noticed this being more of a problem recently, as well. His teacher was also concerned about him during his recent stretch of tummy aches. She said we could bring in an essential oil roller bottle and can bring in any kind of gluten free snacks that he can eat when the other kids might be having a snack he can't eat. She intuitively didn't let him have any of the gluten free cookies I provided her, ever since that week that he was struggling with his tummy. She said without prompting that she knows that the wrong foods can play a big role in tummy aches. She emphasized that Nico is a very kind and smart boy but is having trouble being all that he could be because of his trouble with being distracted. I sure love his teacher! She is so kind and seemed genuinely interested in working with us to do everything we can to help him! Guy and I will sit down this weekend to talk over some things. It will likely include: less sweets (oh no Halloween!), less iPad, more activity, and more of a commitment to essential oils and supplements (we've been lax...) And, more prayer. His next doctor appointment is in 2 weeks so I'll bring this up to her then.

This morning I took him over to my parents' house for Grandma Camp! He has no school today and tomorrow. Guy picked him up from their house tonight to take Nico to the Corn Maze at the Farmstead farm. Our church was meeting there to do the corn maze tonight. Unfortunately they have been there since 6:30 and have not seen anyone from the church! Sure hope we got the day right! Hehe.

Guy sent me these pictures just now:

I think Nico is playing "9 Square" in this photo.

That's it for this past week!

Baseball and Chess

Baseball and Chess, two of Nico's favorite things!

Saturday was a fun day! First, a baseball game. It was rainy and a bit chilly, so I ran to Fred Meyer to get Nico an undershirt and a jacket. I was back just as the game started but I did miss Nico's first hit. Grandma Salisbury is back from Moscow and was able to join us! Her and Pa pulled up next to us in their chairs. We had to bundle up to stay warm.

Nico is #9, all dressed up as the catcher for this particular inning.

Jimmy John's afterwards!! We talked about Three Stooges during lunch and Guy got everyone laughing (especially Papa!) over his explanation of a Three Stooges episode. We are going to go over to their house soon for dinner and Three Stooges!

On Saturday night Nico had a chess tournament! Half of the tournament is an "official" chess tournament, Nico doesn't participate in these, he does the just-for-fun half. The just-for-fun group was split into 2 divisions and he was the champion of his division and got a 1st place trophy. His first! He played 4 games and won 2.

Sunday was Mother's Day, Nico gave me something he made in school, and a card. It was sweet. 

On Tuesday we went to visit GG and Aunt Pat. It rained hard that day and I think that's why the interstate was so backed up, we were about 20 minutes late! Great to see them as always! GG asked Nico what kind of animal she could crochet for him and he picked out the pink elephant, she said next time she'd have it for him. I can't wait to see it!

Wednesday, Avery came with me grocery shopping.

Wednesday night was another baseball game. Papa and Grandma Salisbury were able to come again! It was a comfortable weather day, too! Our pastor and his wife came to the game as well, that was cool!

Today after school all of us went down to the basement and I played Zelda while everyone watched. Avery always asks me when I will play Zelda next, so we decided to do it today. I don't know why they love it so much! But it's fun for me too ;)

Then I made a yummy new dish, Taco Chicken Pasta, and Evelyn came over for dinner and we watched Three Stooges while eating. She loves Three Stooges and laughs so hard while watching it. She also told me 3 times how much she loved the food I made.

😳

So that was pretty cool.

Here's Ivy sometime this week reading Curious George on our couch.

I love all these kids!

See you next week!

Pinewood Derby

On Saturday mornings we have been getting together with Jeff and Allicia and playing games while the kiddos play. In the past we've done games in the evening after bedtime but we are always tired, so doing it on Saturday morning means we're awake and the kids get some play time too! We usually play cribbage. We introduced them to QWIXX as well.

Saturday afternoon was the pinewood derby race! We got to the church and his car weighed in .1 oz more than it should, so they shaved some weight off of it and then it was good to go.

Nico's car is the second from the left.

Nico and his church friend Liam.

Most of the participants were adults! When Nico saw all the cool cars he wanted to make his look cooler. We are new to the pinewood derby and didn't realize that making the car look awesome was part of the fun. I'm not saying that his car didn't look awesome, I mean, it does have a spare tire on it!

He won just a few races. See the video at the end for a taste of the excitement!

I now make the communion bread for the church, since it needs to be gluten free and I am the girl for that! The first communion I provided bread for was fine, but then the leftovers were frozen and thawed for the next communion the following month. Something in that process really changed the flavor. I was almost embarrassed when I chewed my communion bread during the service and realized everyone was also tasting the same thing. It tasted like it was spiced. Someone asked me if I had added cumin to it. Ick! I love cumin, but not in communion bread! I told them to toss the rest and I would experiment and make a fresh batch for next time.

On communion Sundays, the kiddos stay in the main service during worship and communion, then they head back to the kids room. Nico usually chooses to draw while waiting for the service to start.

He's been coming home from school with random drawings he's done in his backpack. Like this one.

Reading Donald Duck comics at night

Tonight Evelyn came over for dinner again, they were wrestling and rough housing right after dinner and Evelyn kisses Nico's head a few times. Nico says "EVELYN KISSED ME!" I said "I kiss you all the time!" And then he asked Evelyn, "Do you love me? Like, do you love me and want to marry me?" and Evelyn said "No!" and then it was back to rough housing.

They spent a few minutes playing a balloon game on the iPad.

Now on to the videos! The first one is a video of Nico getting his trophy from his last Tournament. I forgot to include it in last week's blog!

And then the Pinewood Derby one!