Organizing, Snow, and Grandma Gohl

Jeff & Allicia went out of town last week and they told us we could organize their library while they were gone (we asked if there was anything we could do). So, we did! We organized their library, and then also cleaned the rest of their house for them. The cleaning part was a surprise to them and they were delighted when they came home on Sunday.

On Saturday I made sushi for the first time. Nothing with raw fish, just veggies rolled up in nori and rice. It was very good! I think we'll make that a regular dish.

On Sunday, Guy and I and Nico took a trip to Best Buy to look around. We had a coupon, and Guy was trying to find something to spend his birthday money on. No luck! Then we went to Red Robin to spend his gift card. I love their sweet potato fries!

Starting on Monday morning, Allicia and I started going through at least one box of stuff in their basement to try to organize it a little better. We are trying to go through her whole house, getting rid of stuff and organizing it. She is due with her 3rd child in March, and I'm sure things will go more smoothly after the baby is born if her house is in order. We also created a chore chart. There's only one thing on it so far, but we are working up to more. Starting small is important.

Monday we also found out that Guy's Grandma Dee Gohl had passed away. We will miss her. Guy is going to the funeral which is on Saturday. I will drive him to the airport tonight. One thing clearly stands out in my head when I think of Grandma Gohl. I think of eating meals with her, and her always saying "Beautiful!" to describe the food. Then the girls (Mom Russell, me, Grandma), would sit around the table after everyone was done, and we'd continue to eat.. and eat.. and Grandma was always so pleased with me the more food I ate. And I loved obliging her! She will be missed.

Here's a picture of all of us the last time we saw her which was about 1 1/2 years ago:

We had our first snow fall yesterday! Nico and Evie spent a lot of time playing in the snow yesterday morning. When we woke up THIS morning.. more snow! And school was canceled, so they spent time  this morning out in the snow, too. Nico ate snow for the first time, and they built a fort with help from Allicia.

That's it for this week! We'll see you all again next THURSDAY night. I won't forget!

Arlingtown!

Last weekend was our trip to Arlington. It was Guy's Grandma's 90th birthday celebration, so we got to see a lot of family. I was able to meet relatives I had never met before! We also had a nice amount of downtime just hanging with Guy's parents and brother. We had an adventuresome walk/Strider ride to a local park, and we were also able to go to the River (the place Guy asked me to marry him!) Nico really enjoyed throwing rocks in the river, which he started to do after he saw Uncle Tom (Guy's brother) skipping rocks. Walking through the wooded area to get to the river was fun and damp, a little muddy, but beautifully green.

We were able to go to our old church on Sunday, which was nice. We saw old friends, and Nico actually did just fine in the nursery, and didn't want to leave!

Guy decided to switch to a day schedule on this trip so he could have more time with family (he's a night worker, so normally has a night schedule). He drank a lot of coffee, and was very tired, but he did it! He's still trying to get back into the swing of working nights after being back a few days.

We learned a lot of valuable lessons about traveling with a toddler. Keep everything simple! Don't put too much into the back seat so you don't have to go through more than one bag trying to look for something. Don't bring too many toys from home, they take up space and don't hold their attention. Bring several NEW toys for them to play with. Don't be afraid to use the iPad! And always keep the toddler fed so that low blood sugar doesn't cause breakdowns. That last one applies to everyone! :)

Without further ado - pictures!

Both boys sleeping on the drive over.

Right after arriving, Nico started playing with Grandpa's wooden toolbox

A room full of family

At the river

With Great Grandma Gohl - I love that her and Nico are exchanging looks.

Watching trains on the iPad with Grandpa

Our trip home - stopping at Miner Burger in Yakima - a ritual!

Beautiful day to eat outside

A video!

Crowned with Good Things

Saturday was opening day of the Boise Farmer's Market. This is a different market than the one we went to all last year. The Boise Farmer's Market is a bunch of vendors that have split off from the Capital City Public Market (the one we went to last year)... so every Saturday there will be TWO markets! We will pick the one that has dried apples. Which happens to be the Boise Farmer's Market! We bought some on Saturday and Nico was so happy to have those to eat again.

On Sunday, Guy and Nico and I all went to a Bible Study. Since Guy isn't able to go to church Sunday morning because of work, going to a Bible Study on Sunday night may become a common thing for us. It was fun to be out and about together, and though we couldn't stay long because Nico started melting, we will go back next week!

Nico had his first speech therapy appointment today (Thursday). If you remember, it was supposed to be last Friday, but it was moved to this Wednesday and then moved again to today. But it finally happened! Last Thursday I fed Nico a lot of a tasty food called pemmican. It is 70% beef tallow (FAT) and I think I gave him too much, so he got sick in the middle of the night. He was fine just fine afterward, went right back to sleep, and was his old self in the morning. But I called Marcia anyway (the speech therapist) to tell her. She said that since she works with a lot of medically fragile kids, that she didn't want to risk coming over and exposing herself and then possibly one of them. I agreed, and so we rescheduled for Wednesday. Marcia then had to reschedule that appointment for Thursday.

The first part of the appointment was her doing an evaluation of Nico's current speech skills so that she could report it to the school district for Nico's transition appointment which happens next Wednesday. I'm not sure exactly what this appointment will entail, but they need all the information they can get before they decide whether to accept Nico into the program. I will know more next week!

The rest of the appointment was Marcia and Nico playing with wind up toys. Whenever Nico wanted the wind up toy to go, he had to say something. She focused on the word "More" and "Car", since he has strong M and C sounds already.  He says "Mo" and "Ka" for More and Car. So from here on out we are supposed to have him say Mo or Ka instead of signing the words. He can still sign them, but he will have to say them, too. She was good, and it was cool to see Nico get into the habit of saying "Mo" even after just a little bit.

We took our first trip to the Fish Park this week, in fact we went twice! We spend most of our time in the lobby playing with the stream bed simulator.

This past week I won a contest. My friend Shaylen owns Custom Pop Art Portraits and she has a giveaway every week. I won this past week! I sent her a picture of Nico that Grandpa Russell had taken during Christmas. It is one of my favorite pictures of Nico (if not my favorite). You can see the pic I sent along with her pop art interpretation of it!

I love that it's black and white but his eyes are blue! And the morning after I got this picture from her, I read Psalm 8:5 and Joyce Meyer's commentary on it. Joyce says:

"You have been singled out by God, Who has placed His crown of glory and honor, or favor and excellence, upon your head, according to Psalm 8:5."

Psalm 8:5 says "You have made them [human beings] a little lower than angels and crowned them with glory and honor."

I thought this was pretty timely, considering Nico's crown in the picture. Nico has been singled out by God, and He has placed a crown of glory and honor, favor and excellence on his head. I am overjoyed to be his mom and I can't wait to see his life continue to unfold!

Tonight we went on a walk with the Strider. I adjusted his seat to a good level and Nico moved himself onto the seat instead of walking scooted in front and off the seat. While he's not "riding" it yet, he has started running with it. Soon I think he'll start actually sitting on the seat.

Oh and I can't forget to mention some exciting news about the near future - we will be taking a trip to Arlington! Nico's Great Grandma Gohl is turning 90 years old, and we will get to be there for her birthday. We are all very excited about this! This will be at the end of May.

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving. FaceTime with Grandparents Russell and Great Grandma Gohl. Walk. Shaun the Sheep. Sleeeeep.