Birds birds and more birds and some other animals

We spent all of Saturday morning working to rebuild our Eiffel Tower lego, and in the afternoon we went to an engagement party at the church. We were planning to leave Nico here for Jeff and Allicia to watch but the kiddos in the main house caught a stomach bug, so we took him with us, which turned out to be the BEST thing we could have done. It was a family-friendly event at the church, there were games for kids and he had several church friends there with him. It was announced that whoever found the most toy rings won a prize at the end, so Nico searched everywhere for rings throughout the whole event. There were games that Nico and I participated in too. Then a "jeopardy" type game with questions about the couple getting married. Whoever raised their hands first got to answer first, and Nico raised his hand almost every time. He answered enough questions right to win 2nd place and picked out a BIRD FEEDER for his prize!! When he brought it over to me I was so excited, it was beautifully hand crafted by the father of the bride. Everyone was cracking up that Nico was answering all the questions right. He stole the show.

Then the couple opened presents and Nico brought them all their gifts. He had so much fun.

Then everyone counted up how many rings they had found and Nico had 13, which means he tied for 1st place! He chose a Squirrel Feeder for his prize and with all that we came home with I am just exceedingly grateful. We are SET for watching birds and squirrels and we can't wait to hang them. We are going to let Tiffanie use our squirrel feeder until we move since she has 2 lively squirrels living in her tree and we all get a kick out of them. Check out these little stools for the squirrels to sit on!

I'm so glad that it worked out that Nico came with us!

He says he wants to study animals and birds when he grows up, and wants to be an ornithologist (we had to look up what a bird scientist was called. I didn't know. Guy probably did but he was at work). We spent a few minutes looking online for what it would take to be an ornithologist and he said he wanted to go to college in Seattle near Grandma and Grandpa Russell. We signed him up for a nature camp this summer that's just a week long over at the Botanical Garden, it's called Bugs, Birds, Bats, and Botany. The description reads: This week focuses on winged wonders and the plants they call food and home. Use nets to capture insects, hold a wild bird’s nest, and learn how living things fly."

He's been taking pictures of animals with our phones. Not just real animals but pictures of animals in comic books or wherever else he sees them. He also snaps pictures of birds with my phone on the way to school.

I understand there's room for him to change his mind about what he wants to do when he grows up, but it is awesome to see him so passionate about something and it makes me want to give him everything he wants that is bird related. 

Coloring some mandalas

Guy let me put henna on his foot, which we washed off right after.

Sorting lego bins.

He's been playing over at Aadam and Sammy's a lot after school.

He's been reading...

Heidi Hecklebeck books

Bird and Squirrel comics

Dogman

Late Post

Late henna night last night, update is coming this morning!

IEP, Spring Break Plans

I forgot a few pictures last week! On the Friday that Nico had off, Guy came home from work early and we attempted to hike the Table Rock trail but when we arrived there there were signs saying the trail was closed due to mud. Nico was very sad about it, he was looking forward to hiking and spying out birds with our binoculars. He had packed his fanny pack with a Lara bar, sunflower seeds, and pistachios.

Guy looking up the trail report after we saw the signs

We got back in the car and drove instead to the library where we played two board games. One of them was called "Secret Code 13+4" where you are trying to pass through lasers to get to the end of the game, and each laser has a number. You roll 6 dice and try in some way to get that number by adding, multiplying, subtracting, whatever it takes. We all enjoyed that one.

Ok now on to this past week!

Whenever I see birds, I take a picture, even if it's a goose, so that I can show Nico and ask him "What kind of bird is this?"

We sold our car on Saturday. We posted it on craigslist and 30 minutes later had a call about it. Then he came over and bought it right then. It was so rushed we didn't have much time to think and plan about what we needed to do to actually sign the title over to him. We signed the title over right but forgot two things - to remove the license plates and to detach the release of liability from the title so we could mail it in. We were very anxious over the next few days as we tried to get it all sorted out. But, it is all sorted out now.. phew!

On Tuesday was Nico's yearly IEP meeting. Guy and I arrived a bit early so we sat on chairs in the hallway that just happened to have a straight shot to where Nico was sitting in his class. He never saw us so I had to take a picture.

The IEP meeting went well, Nico will continue to receive speech therapy in 2nd grade. His speech therapist said that Nico has come a long way since starting in Kindergarten, and even in this last year. He is very polite, has a sense of humor, and is always looking out for his friends and helping them. It was nice to hear all the good things they had to say about him. 

I tried a new recipe this week, a quiche with sweet potato crust. Nico liked it. That is a great thing. Honestly, a lot of the recipes I try are flops!

We made the hard decision to cancel our trip to Arlington over Spring Break. Due to our car situation we think it's best. We will really miss being able to hang with the Grandparents Russell at their house and also just being in Arlington. We may try to take a trip in June, we will see how things go!

Over Spring break we plan instead to find some places around Boise to visit. We are thinking Birds of Prey and perhaps the Bruneau Sand Dunes. 

Nico was reading "Heidi Heckelbeck Makes a Wish" to Sammy and Aadam today, Tiffanie took a picture for me. They were laughing and laughing.

That's it for this week!

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.

Lost tooth, Bible Study, Valentine's Day

Nico lost his other front tooth Sunday after church! He is toothless. For a few days before this he was having me cut up his sandwiches into strips because biting them hurt.

We had our first Sunday night Bible Study group that night. Guy is leading the study at the Pastor's house and we had a good group of people there. Nico had Sammy and Aadam to play with since Tiffanie was there. I brought some train tracks and car tracks for them to play with. They have a dog, Lucy, that Nico enjoyed petting.

Nico rode his scooter to school every day this week, and has no school tomorrow or Monday. Just today it started raining and the wind started blowing, but the rest of the week has been mostly sunny.

Tuesday was Valentine's Day, Nico was so excited to bring all his cards to school to give his friends. I came to pick him up after school and I was 5 minutes early and saw they were having their party, so I went in. Nico saw me and ran to me and hugged me and said "Mommy you're LATE! You missed most of the party!" Hehe. They were finishing up Bingo.

Nico got a booster pack of Pokemon cards for Valentine's Day and he put them in his Pokemon binder.

Building monsters with the Creature Clash card game

We hooked Alexa up to some speakers, but she's sitting right next to them, so when there's music on she can't hear us. Often times you can hear Nico yelling: "Alexa, Stop! ALEXA, STOP!!!!" We still use her to set alarms and play music and to find out what time it is. "Alexa, what time is it? ALEXA! ALEXA! WHAT TIME IS IT?!?" We should probably move her away from the speakers! She is an integral party of every day. We often listen to music in the morning. Nico has been favoring the "Happy" song, and "What Does the Fox Say?"

He is reading...
Captain Underpants books

He is watching...
Home season 2
A new Pokemon series

We are playing...
Match a Pair of Birds (the official name of the bird matching game)
Creature Clash
New games on the iPad - jet skis, programming, running/jumping games

Red Robin, Weather, Turkey Burgers

Saturday was the Sensory Friendly Movie - Trolls was playing. We brought Evelyn with us, they both enjoyed it! It was cute, I enjoyed it too.

Sunday after church we met the Grandparents Salisbury and two of my brothers and their families at Red Robin to celebrate Papa's birthday! Happy Birthday Papa! We love you!

Waiting in the waiting area, we took over this corner! It was great to see everyone. We were missing Jeremy and family.

Monday was a pleasant day outside, and we noticed someone riding their scooter to school. After school Nico put his helmet on and played outside on his scooter with Aadam, Sammy and Evelyn for the first time since last year before the snow came. The sidewalks were finally clear enough, and the temperature wasn't too cold. Winter is losing its grip on us!

But then Tuesday morning came, and Nico said "I want to ride my scooter to school!" So I said OK! We got his helmet on. And I said to him "Hey Nico, try wearing your regular shoes instead of your boots today, I don't think you need to wear boots anymore!" And he put on his normal shoes. So we're all ready for school and we open the door...

SNOW!

It was snowing big heavy snowflakes and there was 1/2 inch accumulation so far on the sidewalks.
"Well, Nico, put your boots back on!"

We had 2 inches accumulate that morning, until around 1 PM when it started to melt. By the time I picked Nico up from school it was all gone! Phew! Disaster averted!

On Tuesday our friend Brianna came over after Nico got home from school. She stayed for dinner and I made blender banana pancakes with strawberry topping and sausage on the side.

After school on Wednesday we took another trip to the Discovery Center. We tried out the bed of nails a few times, and watched a demonstration about a metal that contracts when you get it hot.

We've made every Thursday "Turkey Burger Day". Nico loves them.  We were going to make it on Tuesday so it could be "Turkey Tuesdays" but Brianna comes over for dinner on Tuesdays now and I'm sure she'd get tired of eating the same thing every time she came over!  

It's nice having routines. He loves Saturdays because it's "Pancake and Pizza Day"

He is reading...

Garfield comics (checked another one out from the library on Saturday)

He is watching...

Pokemon 

Home Season 2

We are playing...

The Game of Life

Bird Matching Game

Diggin' Doggies (with Daddy)

Birds birds and dinosaurs!

On Friday Nico got a package from Grandpa Russell with a nice surprise in it, a deck of bird cards with pictures and information about the birds on it. Nico promptly started memorizing them. I was also surprised how many birds Guy knew. He said he grew up learning birds and talking about birds.

Going through the bird stack with Daddy

At the end of Sunday the stack on the left are ones he knew by heart.

The game we played in the car on the way to church - see how many birds you can spot and then tell everyone what kind of bird you saw. This didn't work for most birds, because they were too far away and flying. BUT, we did see geese!

On Wednesday after school Nico and I went to the Discovery Center because they have SUE there. Sue is the largest T-Rex skeleton in the world and it is stopping in Boise for a while. No longer afraid of dinosaurs??

They had a lot of exhibits about dinosaurs to interact with. 

Nico has been making up knock knock jokes and other jokes, but he doesn't understand quite yet what makes jokes funny. Knock knock. Who's there? Tree. Tree who? A tree fell down and no one pushed it!  

We have been reading... 

Amelia Bedelia

Calvin and Hobbes

We/Nico has been watching...

Pokemon

Castle of Cagliostro

Short one today. See you next week!

Aadam and Sammy, Bird Matching, Trains

Not much to report this week! Nico has been hanging out with Sammy and Aadam at their house.

Tiffanie says they get along really well when they play with building-type toys. But they tend to bicker a lot more when they play cars or Grosseries. 

Every day we play the bird matching game at least once, usually more than once. He notices birds and pictures of birds now. He noticed how many cardinals GG had in her house last week, on her rug, some of her figurines were cardinals, and some in her kitchen. If he sees birds he asks what kind of bird it is. He then says whether it's in the bird matching game or not.  When we play the game, when we're down to the last match, we have to guess what the match is before flipping it over. Sometimes we know right off the bat, but other times we lay out all the cards that each of us has and then we go through the little pamphlet that came with the game and turn over each bird as Nico calls it. When he gets to the bird that neither of us has, we have found the last match! There was once we separated all the females from the males on either side of the table, that was fun.

On Saturday Guy took Nico to the library and they had trains there!

Nico has been reading Bird and Squirrel comics. Guy has been reading him an interesting and gross book about mummies. He has been watching the movie Coraline on the iPad, that and the new Garfield cartoon and Pokemon. Guy and Nico have been playing video games downstairs, he played Super Mario Kart for the first time. Guy later told me that he thinks we started Nico playing video games too LATE! hah. Nico gets frustrated and walks away when he can't play well, Guy's reasoning is that if he was younger he would just push buttons and not care :)

On Wednesday I did a chalk mural on the wall at Awakenings Coffee House. They have an artist wall and local artists can do murals and they keep them up on the wall for a month. It took me four hours but it was super fun. They gave me free tea! And a free latte for Guy as I was leaving.

GG, Stuck in the snow, Laughfest, and Lexie!

I wrote this on Thursday and thought it posted but whoops it didn't! So here it is!

Saturday we visited GG! We had a good chat and we had quite the adventure trying to get out of her driveway. As I was backing out, I started turning the wheel of the car too soon, and ended up backing into and over the berm, high-centering the car. Whoooooops.

I couldn't move the car in either direction so I decided to try to pop the trunk, maybe get the chains out, but the trunk was frozen shut. I figured chains wouldn't work anyway, the tires weren't even spinning, I couldn't even get them to move. So we went back inside and I called roadside assistance for a tow truck. GG cut us up an apple as we waited for notice of when the tow truck was going to be there. When I got the text it said the tow truck was 3 hours out. Woah! I decided to try the trunk again, but this time armed with a teapot full of hot water (thanks GG!) I headed back outside and saw cars slowing down to pass my car, since it was jutting out into the street. To give you an idea of how high the back-end was off the ground, as I was trying to open the trunk I didn't have to bend down at all, the trunk was right near my face. I saw someone stop to take pictures with their phone.

After pouring hot water around the trunk several times, it finally popped up. I returned the teapot inside and headed back out, and saw another car stopping to take picture with their phone. They stopped right behind my car, so I had to wait until they were done before I could get access to my trunk. They were there for at least a full minute while I stood there waiting. While I was waiting for them to leave, another car pulls up behind them and stops, because they're blocking the road. The guy who just pulled up rolls down his window and says he wishes he could help me in some way, and then has the idea that perhaps he can push me out with his SUV. Still, we have to wait for the other guy to be done taking pictures. The other guy puts his car in reverse and backs up to get a better shot. This time the shot has me in it. In fact, the camera is pointed straight at me, though I'm sure the shot also has the car in it too. (Search the internet, you may find me.. hehe) He takes pictures with his phone for about 30 seconds before he finishes. The guy who had rolled his window down to talk to me asks if the guy taking pictures is a friend of mine and I said "Nope, don't know who he is."

Finally after the guy leaves, we can try out our plan. He turns his SUV around and tries to push me out of the enbankment but I'm so high off the ground that his nose goes under me. So, he turns his car around and backs into me, and I put on the gas and scraaaaaaaaape... I'm free!

I was so happy I almost cried. I thanked him profusely, he happened to be one of GG's neighbors two doors down.

I went back inside and told them the news. Nico and I packed up into the car and we backed STRAIGHT out of the driveway this time, and made it safely to the road. And we got an extra hour with GG!

It was a pretty hilarious event, and I enjoyed telling Guy all about it later that night when we went on a DATE! Our anniversary was Friday, 11 years! We bought tickets to the Laughfest comedy show at the Egyptian Theater downtown, and went to that on Saturday night. We laughed a bunch and it was very fun!

Nico had a fun evening, and got to read books to Evelyn and Avery before bed.

I made Guy pumpkin pie for our anniversary, and Nico and I picked up some whipped cream from the market on the way home from school on Friday, also picking up some special soda. 

Nico helped Guy dispense his whipped cream from the can onto his pieces. 

On Tuesday night I got to see Grandma and Papa's NEW house! They just bought a house in town, and will be moving there in the next few months after it closes. I asked Nico if he was excited about their new house and he said "Yeah! I'm happy they won't be killed by bears in the summer!" Hehe!! 

School was cancelled again today because of the ice and slushy snow, so Nico got to spend the day with Lexie and Grandma Salisbury! He had so much fun he didn't want to leave. Thanks for the fun time Grandma and Lexie!!

Pokemon trainers

Playing karaoke. Nico didn't want to sing, just play the guitar!

More Snow Days!

On Saturday we spent the morning purging some stuff to donate to the Youth Ranch, clothing mostly. We made pizza that evening, I have been trying to figure out a good recipe to use for Nico's pizza, but I haven't hit on one yet that is very appetizing for him after needing to pull out the previous crust we were using, and not being able to do tomatoes. But, I've got a good recipe I'm going to try this next Saturday for both the crust and the sauce, so hopefully we can get back on track.

We've had to become creative in how to spend our days because we ended up having 5 snow days in a row. He went back to school yesterday (Wednesday) but then had another snow day today. Jeff and Allicia have a kiln, so the kids painted some pottery one evening that was fired overnight, the next day.

 Waiting for the paints to be ready in the garage. Watching Swedish Chef videos on YouTube.

On the windowsill in the kitchen

On Tuesday Lexie came over to spend a few hours with us! Nico was so excited. They played games and ate lunch and watched a movie. I also gave them some henna. When Uncle Jonny came to pick Lexie up, he stayed for one game of Bird Memory.

On Wednesday night Brianna came over for dinner. She came early enough that her and I and Nico were able to play some games before dinner. Mostly the bird memory game, but also Spot It. We played the memory game after dinner as well with Guy.

Nico telling us how to put on and take off a backpack.

Birthday Party, Cabin, SNOW!

Saturday was Evelyn's birthday party! Allicia had asked me if I would be interested in doing face painting for the kids at the party, she had a face painting kit I could use. It sounded like fun so I said yes! I had a lot of fun painting faces. Here's a few.

Nico wanted to be spider man.

Aadam and Sammy

We also did fireworks like usual for her birthday, it was a very fun party.

On Sunday The Grandparents Salisbury and Lexie picked up Nico and they all went up to the cabin! Before he would go he had to be reassured that all the bears are sleeping during the winter. They had a sleepover, and I went to pick Nico up on Monday afternoon. They all had a great time together, sledding down the driveway, watching Old Yeller at night and popping popcorn. Apparently neither Lexie or Nico are heavy enough to make the sled go down the driveway by itself, even if they both sit on it together, so Papa went with them! They told the story of Papa and Lexie going down the hill and Papa reaching over and grabbing Nico as they passed. And the story of Papa and Nico going down the hill and Lexie jumping onto the sled as they passed. 

Popping popcorn

Spiralizing cucumbers

Thank you for the fun time! Nico asked if next time he was going to get to stay 3 nights like in Grandma Camp.

On Tuesday Guy took our car to Dowdy's Automotive and we had it fixed up! That was the next step in our plan and now we are saving up for a 2nd car. Getting there bit by bit! After we have a 2nd car we will save up to move.

Wednesday was supposed to be the first day back to school but it was a SNOW DAY! We have had so much snow this week! School was also cancelled today and is cancelled tomorrow as well.

Yesterday afternoon Allicia and I and the kids ventured outside to try to do some snow shoveling. One of our neighbors joined us and we made a nice dent in the snow. As we were finishing up, Guy came home and got stuck trying to pull the car up to the sidewalk, and then Jeff got stuck trying to make it into the driveway. It was slick! Several neighbors helped them both dig their cars out. Guy and Jeff both worked from home today.

This afternoon, Jeff and Allicia let Nico put some of their children-sized skis on, and he was skiing down a small hill in the front yard made from all the shoveled snow.

Allicia helping Nico down the slope.

He eventually got good enough to go down the slope without falling. Guy came outside and helped build up the slope.

Trying to slide down on a plastic bag. Didn't work!

I think that's it. Hopefully I'm not forgetting something! It was a fun week. Perhaps school will start on Monday! ;)