Cub Scouts Crossover Ceremony, Field Day, and Baby Chicks!

We got a new game - Apples to Apples Jr. We invited Evelyn over to play it last Friday. 

It's a 4+ player game, but we play with 3 people since sometimes that's all we have! It's a fun game.

Parry Gripp is creating a video for his new song: Star Cat. He asked for kids to illustrate the song and then he puts all the illustrations into a video on YouTube. This was Nico's submission.

Tuesday morning Allicia and I made ocarinas out of clay. The kiddos love to watch me play the video game Zelda: Ocarina of Time. Usually every Friday morning, Avery and Ivy and I are playing Zelda downstairs right after the big kids go to school. Ocarinas are like flutes. It took me a few tries to actually form it well enough for it to make a tone. I had to move the mouthpiece once. It finally worked! Testing our ocarinas out while the clay was still wet gave us white lips!

The placement and size of the holes was somewhat random, so the sounds it makes aren't scale-worthy, but it DOES make sound! 

Tuesday evening was Nico's Cub Scouts crossover ceremony at Kathryn Albertson Park. It was the last time he'll wear his blue shirt and scarf, so I took a picture.

After arriving, the scouts gathered on the lawn for a few announcements.

The Bear Den giving their monthly report of what they did.

We walked along the path to different stations. At each station, an older scout or two would do a reading. I wasn't able to hear what they were saying, but I think it was regarding the character of scouts (honesty, loyalty, etc). At each station they got another colored ribbon to make a tassel for the bookmark they received earlier.

Along the path we eventually came to a bridge. All the parents crossed first, and then each den "crossed over" and graduated to the next rank. Nico moved up from Bear to Webelos (We'll be loyal Scouts). They ceremoniously removed his blue kerchief and replaced it with the Webelos plaid kerchief.

Nico received all the rest of his badges.

He received another "Baloo the Builder" badge accidentally, so he has two now.

His next uniform will be a tan shirt, green pants and a different kerchief clasp. We'll pick those up from the Scout shop in a few weeks.

Wednesday night my cousin Jamie graduated from High School. She was valedictorian and gave the speech. We were all very proud of her! She did a great job. Nico and Guy came straight from swimming lessons, so Nico didn't have his glasses, and he had to wear his water shoes. Oops! Should have thought ahead.

We sat next to my parents and my Aunt Ellen, and Jamie's family. There were a lot of people there!

Today was Field Day. Nico asked Guy if he would volunteer today and Guy was able to! I emailed his teacher to let her know and she wrote back and said "Yay! Thank him for me, please!" He was at the parachute station. Here's a few pictures he took of Nico being pulled under the parachute by some "sharks".

Merek was in his Field Day group (Group A) and so Nico and him were able to do all the different stations together, even though Merek is a grade ahead of him. Guy allowed them to both be "sharks" at the same time under the parachute.

Guy told me he ran into the librarian. She recognized him from when he read to Nico's class, she said "I don't know your name, but I know you're Nico's dad! You can come back any time to read to the kids, you were the best!" Guy says next year he'd like to volunteer more at the school.

This afternoon Allicia and I went to Boise Fry Company for our birthdays. Her birthday is today, and mine is coming in a few weeks, so we traded and bought each other lunch! After lunch I took Avery with me to give Allicia the afternoon off. We ran to Whole Foods and then to the library for a little before we went to pick up Ivy from preschool on her last day.

After school, Guy and Nico came home together, then we gathered in the main house to hold baby chicks. 2 days old, just arrived yesterday from a farm in Caldwell. The more you hold them, the less they are afraid of people. They gave their older chickens away before receiving these chicks. They have 10 of them though they ordered 6. If any of them end up being roosters they will have to get rid of them. Cock-a-doodle-doo!

This is Sapphire.

Guy holding 4 at once.

You guys, we leave for Arlington in 2 DAYS!!! Nico's last day of school is tomorrow, then we are OFF TO WASHINGTON! Stay tuned for a mega fun update next week!

Here's a video to end this week, snippets from our various adventures!

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!