Last Saturday night we joined my parents for the University of Washington vs Boise State football game. They ordered pizza for us all, it was fun! Thank you Ma and Pa!
Sunday was the Christmas program at church. The play this year was very good, and the kids sang some songs as well. I caught a video of Nico singing during the practice before the service, you can see the video at the end of the blog! Sunday afternoon we went to a Christmas party at the church for all the band members. One of the women on our team made everyone personalized coffee/tea/drink tumblers. She did an amazing job and I was very touched by her thoughtfulness.
Monday morning, Grandma and Grandpa Russell arrived! Nico went outside to wait for them, we were tracking them as they got closer.
Monday night we went to the Winter Garden Aglow. We were able to take GG with us! Nico got to sit on Santa's lap and we bought some kettle corn and saw all the beautiful lights. Thanks to Grandpa Russell for some of these pictures.
GG was the designated popcorn holder.
Tuesday morning, Guy and Nico and Grandpa Russell went out to breakfast to The Griddle. Nico chose french toast.
Before heading to the candlelight service on Christmas Eve.
After the service, Nico helped blow out all the candles.
And Wednesday was Christmas!
I went out into the living room at about 6:30 and found Nico snuggled on the couch surrounded by his stocking stuffers.
Nico's new hoverboard
Opening gifts
A new Peanuts book.
After opening presents and eating some lunch, we watched a few MST3K episodes.
It was a great Christmas!
Today I took Nico over to the Grandparents Salisbury's house for an afternoon Grandma Camp! Nico brought his hoverboard.
This will be my last blog! It's been a fun run with ya'll and I'll miss having the weekly record, but it's time to say farewell.
Late last Thursday night, after I was done updating the blog, I noticed I had a fever! It looked like I had caught whatever Guy and/or Nico had! I laid low the next few days. Friday morning Guy sent Nico off to school and then we welcomed the Grandparents Russell into town! Nico had an early release and Grandma Russell went to meet him. Nico opened a few presents that day, and I slept into the afternoon while the boys went up to the suite where Grandpa and Grandma were staying. They went to Fresh Healthy Cafe for dinner and brought me home a juice. It was yummy!
Guy putting together his hurdy gurdy.
Nico opening his Little Passports: World Edition from the Grandparents Russell.
Hanging out upstairs playing Life with Grandma
Saturday I was feeling mostly better. Guy made pancakes for everyone and we started our day. We had originally planned to see a movie on Saturday but we decided against it. We made Crabby Patties for lunch so the grandparents could experience them, and for dinner that night we made PIZZA and watched "I Want a Dog for Christmas, Charlie Brown". We brought a computer monitor upstairs so we could watch the movie in the suite while we ate our pizza.
Sunday morning, Guy had to be at the church at 6:45AM for play practice. Nico and I had to be there at 8AM. Practice went well, and the bell choir opened the play at 10:30.
GG was able to join us at church that morning, and after church we came back home and ate Jimmy Johns for lunch, then exchanged gifts with GG.
Presents from GG
Cup Stacking!
Monday the boys hung out with the Grandparents Russell while I worked for a few hours on Audio Pile stuff at my parents' house. I was able to give them their gift and say Merry Christmas!
Guy, Nico, and the Grandparents Russell went to Barnes & Noble that day and spent a gift certificate we had. Guy brought home for me a Nano Blocks lego (my favorite!) and some Fuji water (my favorite!). Nico got a few things too (wish I could remember what!)
Monday night was the Christmas Eve service at church. Guy and I had to be there at 3:45 PM. Guy was running sound and I had a piano solo. It went well! That night after coming home and putting Nico to bed, it was time to finish wrapping the rest of the gifts. We pulled out Nico's big gift from the garage and wrapped that up, and Guy had to carefully get the stockings down that were hanging above Nico's bed. Guy filled his stocking and then carefully hung it back above Nico's bed.
Christmas morning Nico was up about 6AM and he opened his stocking. I also let him open the gift that Jeff & Allicia had left for us outside our door. It was a lego that he put together right then. We ate breakfast then - cinnamon rolls, bacon, and eggs. After that, we opened presents!
Robot shirts from Pa and Grandma Salisbury!
Grandma took Nico to the park that afternoon to try out his new scooter.
We had a chicken dinner that night with rice and broccoli, and brought the computer monitor upstairs again to watch some Christmas shorts that Guy had grown up watching. We had poppers that we popped before our dinner so we could put our paper hats on. Looks like I didn't catch any pictures of that. Each popper also had a small toy plus a Christmas joke in it.
That evening we went to the Winter Garden Aglow.
We went into the gift shop while we were there, and Nico got a pair of glasses that turns all the lights into reindeers. We each took turns looking at the Cross through the glasses. It turns the Cross into a huge reindeer face.
We said goodbye to the Grandparents Russell the next morning, they had an early flight back. The time just flew by, we really enjoyed their visit.
I worked on Wednesday and Guy took Nico for a several-hour trip to the library. They had a pretend ice-cream stand set up and Nico "worked" there for almost 3 hours. Guy had plenty to do, too, they apparently had a sticker poster on one of the tables that Guy worked on.
Thursday morning we realized that the internet wasn't working. Apparently Centurylink had a nationwide outage and a lot of people were without internet. This morning, we're back in business! Yay!
I've separated the videos into two different ones, since it was easier that way. The first one is a compilation of videos that Grandma Russell took, the second one is made up of videos that I took, plus one thrown in there that Grandpa Russell took.
On Friday the Grandparents Russell arrived! They stayed up in the suite while they were here, so they were just a staircase away. Quick hanging-out access! Nico enjoys taking baths up in the suite's huge bathtub, so he did that on Friday night after dinner (which we ate in the suite!) He opened a gift that night, a very funny book called "The Dumb Bunnies Go to the Zoo". Grandma read it to him, then it was bedtime!
Saturday was a full day. Pancakes in the morning, then we drove over to Nampa to celebrate Christmas with GG and Aunt Pat. Nico opened a quilt that Grandma Russell made. My favorite is the Three Stooges fabric you can see in the corners, it has sayings from the Three Stooges like "Nyuk Nyuk Nyuk". It is an awesome quilt. We put it on his bed that night!
While we were in Nampa, Nico had a birthday party to attend, one of his friends from church was turning 8 years old. Straight from there we went to the Christmas Party at the Grandparents Salisbury's house. GG also came along with us! We ate pizza, sang songs, Papa gave a devotional and read the Christmas Story from the book of John. A fresh perspective! And then we played games! The saran wrap game started with a huge ball of saran wrap that had prizes wrapped up in it. (Thanks to Aunt Jill Marie for putting it together!) Everyone got a turn trying to unwrap part of the ball, while someone else rolled dice until they got doubles. If you unwrapped a prize while it was your turn, you got to keep the prize. Then the person who rolled doubles had a chance to unwrap the ball while someone else rolled the dice. It was so much fun! Lots of prizes for everyone.
Thanks to Uncle Jonny for catching this picture of us :)
I think Nico won both bags of M&Ms that were in the ball (they are his favorite candy) so he was a tad over-sugared that night. heehee. We had so much fun. Thank you Papa and Grandma Salisbury for the incredibly fun time!
On Sunday we went to church, a shorter service than usual and Nico read from his Bible Luke 2:10-12, part of the Christmas story. Then the children sang Away in a Manger on stage and everyone joined in. Sunday was a lazy afternoon, Grandma and Nico went out snow-playing. They walked over to Quarry View Park.
After we ate dinner, Nico opened a gift from Guy and I, a board game called Cat Lady. We played it that night before bed.
I finished wrapping presents that night and we stuck everything under the tree. Nico didn't stay up at all, and didn't hear Guy say "Ho Ho Ho, Merrrrry Christmas!", he was fast asleep. The first thing Nico did upon waking is open his stocking. Then all of us gathered for breakfast (cinnamon rolls, scrambled eggs, bacon), and started opening presents! While Nico was waiting to open presents he had pulled all of his from under the tree to make a big pile.
That afternoon we watched White Christmas while Nico played with toys and read his new books. What an enjoyable and laid back day! Grandma and Nico went on another walk that day to Quarry View to play in the snow again.
Some random pictures from our time!
Playing with his Alphabots
Most of these pictures are thanks to Grandma Russell!! And then below you will find a video of our time, most taken by Grandma.
Tuesday morning after breakfast the Grandparents Russell headed to the airport. We planned out a few of the next trips this next year, and we will see them again in March during Nico's spring break! They are adding a kitchenette up in the suite that will be there when the Grandparents come next. Yay! Thank you for the visit, the visiting, the sitting, the talking, the watching, the eating, the laughing, we enjoyed your visit very much!
Tuesday was a day of cleaning-up-Christmas for us. We don't necessarily take down our Christmas tree the day after Christmas, but this year we did, it was dried up and leaving its green petals everywhere. We pulled it out through the front door and parked it next to our front window in the corner until trash day. Then we packed up our Christmas box and shipped it back down to the cellar. That afternoon we sat around being lazy, reading, playing with toys, watching a movie.
Wednesday was the start of Nico's Hitting Clinic for baseball. Held at Timberline High School, he is doing 3 days of the camp where he practices hitting baseballs. He has had so much fun the past 2 days. Wednesday after it was over, Guy and I and Evelyn picked him up and then drove over to the mall. Nico received a Build-a-Bear gift certificate for Christmas from Jeff & Allicia so he could get a YOSHI stuffed animal! So we went there to redeem it. Evelyn also got a gift certificate for Christmas. Instead of getting another Build-a-Bear (she already has one, a dragon named Toothless, from How to Train your Dragon), she brought Toothless with her and bought him a saddle.
Afterwards we ate lunch at the mall, then stopped off at See's Candy to get everyone one piece. Nico chose a lime truffle, the same one he had chosen from Aunt Pat's See's candy box when she offered him one on Saturday. Evelyn chose a strawberry cream one. Guy picked up some Starbucks coffee at the mall using the Starbucks gift card I won doing the saran wrap game, then we headed back home.
Nico has been carrying Yoshi around everywhere with him. Feeding him food. He even brought Yoshi with him when he crawled into our bed in the middle of the night.
