Spring Break!!

On Friday Grandma Russell walked with me and the kiddos to drop them off at Chess class. Avery was able to come with us because it was sibling day at chess!

Grandma was able to see the library at Nico's school and also his classroom and where he sat.

Guy and Grandpa and Grandma were able to experience the paella at the Basque Market in Boise for lunch. They make a huge batch and when it's gone, it's gone. They got their tickets ahead of time and it sold out fast.

Nico had an early release that afternoon and we headed over to the Botanical Garden. Check out the video at the end of this entry to see snippets of Nico's Spring break, including some from the Botanical Garden!

On Saturday we went to Birds of Prey. We listened to a talk about the birds at the center, and then walked around the building to see all the interesting bird facts.

Afterward we went to Jimmy John's for lunch

From there, the Grandparents Russell took Nico and Guy to visit Aunt Ruthie and GG and Aunt Pat. I headed home to bake some bread, cookies, and meatloaf.

Saturday night was pizza night, we ordered in from Smoky Mountain Pizza, and we watched Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole on the TV downstairs while we ate pizza. Jeff and Allicia and their crew had gone out of town for the weekend, so we were able to use the downstairs area for a movie!

Sunday was church, and then a visit to the Library for a talk about birds in Boise and how to recognize them. Each time the speaker came to a new slide with a new bird, she would ask if anyone knew what it was. Nico was in the back with us and so she would rarely see Nico as he raised his hand to answer. Such a good student to raise his hand! Grandma told him that he could blurt the answer, and so he waited patiently for the turn of each slide, and then would blurt out the bird.

Afterward, he told Grandma he wanted to check out a story book with birds in it, and our Grandma Librarian was on the case and found the exact kind of thing he wanted. It was amazing, I'm not sure how she did it.

She found this one, along with some Bird and Squirrel graphic novels and a few others. Perfect options for Nico. 

Nico and I read this one before bed tonight, the whole thing. It was a cute story. 

Sunday night, Guy and I attended Bible Study like usual but Nico stayed home with the Grandparents. He was able to take a bath upstairs, and then Grandma read him books before bed. After Guy and I got home, him and Grandma and I went downstairs to watch an episode of Father Brown on Netflix. Totally worth staying up late for!

Monday morning, Nico and Grandpa Russell and I went to an art store in downtown Boise to get some art supplies. Idaho Blueprint and Supply. Quite a nice selection!

We came back home for a bit and then headed out for more adventures. We first went to the downtown library to check out a few more books, then to the Discovery Center. We ran into friends from church there, Nico's friends Lazarus, Leona, and Matthias.

From there went to the Boise Fry Company to eat some lunch!

Nico loved the food there! Afterward we went to the MK Nature Center.

From there we came home, and spent the rest of the evening relaxing. Grandpa and Grandma left the next morning. It was such a fun time having them here for a few days, we will see them again in June when we visit Arlington!!

Tuesday mid-morning another batch of fun started for Nico. Grandma Camp! I dropped him off Tuesday and picked him up this afternoon (Thursday) before dinner. 

On Wednesday Grandma sent me these pictures with this note: 

"Nico discovered the girls were wearing "fake" glasses and wanted a pair!  So while we were in the mall I sat outside Claire's and the girls took Nico into the store to fit and find him a pair that looked good on him.  It was adorable to watch them trying them on him and commenting their opinion.  In the end this is what he chose!"

This evening at dinner he told us all about the mystery of the printer that kept printing without anyone initiating it. He told us how on Tuesday night it printed "Shouldn't you be in bed?", and then another one on Wednesday with a symbol from Watcher in the Woods (scary movie), and then another note in the DVD case of the movie. 

Other things that happened while at Grandma camp: Smores, Pizza, Easter egg hunt, Jump Time. They even met some new friends. A family friend, Robin, came over with her 4 grandchildren to participate in coloring egg cartons and then of course the egg hunt. They also played games with a parachute, one in particular where they bring the parachute up and then all go inside (see video) to have a "government meeting". They spend the time in their meeting saying "You're guilty!" and voting people out. It's hilarious. I witnessed them playing this game when I came to pick Nico up this afternoon.

Government meeting time!

Robin reading a book to the kiddos.

 Ready to decorate their egg cartons.

Grandma sent me this picture this morning:

And then tonight before his shower he told me his tummy didn't feel very good, and I asked when it started and he said that he felt sick this morning like he was going to throw up (picture him pretending to throw up), so "I did iPad and drank milk" and that made him feel better. Before dinner he was whining of a hurt tummy and said "I feel like I'm going to throw up some day." he he. But then when he saw what I had made for dinner - TOAST on white bread, he said "Ok I'll eat". I had also made spaghetti and salad but he was only interested in the toast. 

Evelyn was over for dinner as well. After dinner they did art using the new supplies. Evelyn was in heaven.

I gave Nico a little back massage with some essential oils before bed. I hope he feels better tomorrow! I didn't send his supplements with him to Grandma Camp. Perhaps I should have! They are good for tummies.

Video!!

Sunny With a Chance of Leprechaun, Emojis, G.G., and Grandparents Russell arrive!

Last Friday Nico had a school program, Sunny With a Chance of Leprechaun. Both Evelyn and Nico were in the production. Guy and I and Allicia and the rest of the kiddos went to the 10:00 showing. See the video at the end for the highlights!

Nico has been pretending to be a chicken lately. In fact, when his baseball coach's wife introduced herself (did I mention this already last week?), Nico shook her hand and said "bock bock?" like a chicken. Guy and Nico play this game where Guy says a fact about chickens and Nico acts out the fact. "A chicken can lay up to 300 eggs per year" for example. When the acting out gets annoying, Guy "cuts off" his head and Nico crumples to the floor. Then Guy sews his neck back on and says another fact for Nico to act out. 

Anyway, I bring this up now because as soon as Nico got onto his riser for the performance, he started pretending to be a chicken. We noticed the girl next to him on his left (his crush from last year) telling him to stop doing it. Heehee. He stopped for a minute and then started up again.

Saturday was a full and fun day. When Nico and I were snuggling after the day was over, I asked him what his favorite thing was and he said "All of it!" 

Guy's work had a family day (Photronics Phun Day) that he took Nico to. I stayed home and precooked our pizza crusts for that night and did some chores around the house. At the Phun Day, they made slime, did a scavenger hunt, and ate hot dogs and hamburgers. 

Shortly after they got home, I took Nico to Lexie's birthday party. The theme was Emojis. It was a wonderful party!! So many fun things. They jumped on the trampoline at first, then they made tie dye shirts, played pin the poop emoji on the toilet, then did the Seran Wrap ball game.

 Nico and cousins Rory and Lexie, Grandma in the middle.

Two of his prizes

We came straight home afterward and had pizza! We've been taking turns choosing what to watch, since we've had a difficult time agreeing on anything. It was my turn to choose but gave my rights away to Nico. We watched Garfield. 

Sunday after church I took Nico to Dicks Sporting Goods to buy him some cleats, it was the last day our 20% off coupon was good. Since he was in a league, they gave him a free towel and a pair of sunglasses too.

Tuesday was our trip to Nampa to see G.G. and Aunt Pat. Aunt Pat was so sweet to let Nico play a game on her computer where he tries to get the grandma to the end safely. We learned that the field behind their house will soon be houses! We picked up Jimmy Johns on the way home, and since it was Tuesday we watched some TV while we ate, Nico chose Garfield again.

Wednesday evening was Ivy's birthday party! Allicia made an incredible spread of Chipotle copy-cat recipes so we could all have burritos or burrito bowls, it was really amazing. I don't have any pictures of this, but it was a fun time!

TODAY Grandma and Grandpa Russell arrived!

We have 4 more days with them, it should be a FUN weekend, I'll update about that next week! Tomorrow starts Nico's Spring Break!

Until then...

I thought I was recording Nico's entire pin-the-poop-emoji-on-the-toilet, but in fact I was NOT, and when I hit the "Stop" button I was actually hitting the "Record" button, so this is the very tail end of his experience with the game. Oh well!

Spaghetti Feed

On Monday we went to a spaghetti feed for Nico's baseball season that is starting up. It was at Timberline High School. 

They also had a huge table full of treats and wouldn't you know it they had gluten free stuff as well! Nico picked out a vanilla cupcake. When he discovered that it was vanilla he told the lady it was his favorite flavor like "HOW DID YOU KNOW?!??" He didn't eat much of his spaghetti, but he certainly ate his cupcake.

After eating, Nico and I wandered around trying to find the table for the Pirates, which is the name of his team. We found them and we were able to meet the coach and his wife and their son who is also on the team. Then we were ushered into the auditorium where they talked to us about the upcoming season. The season lasts 6 weeks and Nico's team will have 12 games total. 2 per week, plus one practice per week. We are gearing up for a busy April. His first practice isn't until the 4th.

Tonight (Thursday), we usually watch Evelyn and she eats dinner with us, but tonight we had everyone over! Jeff and Allicia were under a time crunch to get the countertop installed today in the suite before their guests arrived, so I offered to feed everyone. I was planning to make a ton of dinner anyway, so it's nice I had enough!! Nico only ate a few forkfuls and said his tummy hurt :( He went to bed with a sore tummy, I'm hoping he feels better in the morning. Tomorrow he has his St Patrick's Day program at school. He has been singing the songs from this program for a few months now. If you read this Thursday night, say a prayer for him that his tummy ache goes away!

The time change means Nico has been sleeping in a bit more than usual, even after I turn the light on. But at least I got this cute picture of him snuggling Guy.

Reading Donald Duck in the morning. He also checked out a Garfield comic from the library that he has been reading.

Nico took this picture of our Bible Study group. Missing 3 people. Guy usually isn't the only male! While we do Bible Study, the kiddos watch a movie in the living room.

Walking to school for early morning chess.

 That's it for this 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!

Preparing for the Pinewood Derby, plus friends and Legos

Last Friday I started feeling like I was coming down with a cold, so Saturday was pretty laid back for us. In the evening Nico had another chess tournament. He said he played 4 games and won 3 of them, and also 3 games of "pawn wars" and won all of those. He got a 3rd place trophy. And is indeed excited for next time!

Guy met up with his friend Moreno at Red Robin on Saturday night, and I stayed home and watched a movie! Not a typical Saturday in that we all did something different, but all of us thoroughly enjoyed the things we were doing, so it was still an A+ night.

Sunday after church we stayed after a bit so that Nico's Pinewood Derby car could be cut to his specs. The Pinewood Derby race is this coming Saturday at the church. He drew an outline of how he wanted it cut, and so it was! He wanted it to look like a convertible. Then last night Guy took Nico to the church where they were doing a test run for the cars. He got to paint it, attach the wheels, and add some lead to the bottom to weight it to the max weight allowed.

Tonight we had not just Evelyn over for dinner, but Ivy as well! I made a huge batch of rice and ground beef and a ton of broccoli (Evelyn loves it!) Then I cut up a whole tub of strawberries and they downed all of them.

NOTICE that Guy got NEW glasses!

Then they all played in the clubhouse. 

Then a few other tidbits from our week: Nico drawing. He turned around and said "NNoooooo!!" because he didn't want his picture taken.

We had some snow last week and over the weekend. And yes we still have Christmas lights up! :)

Nico and Evelyn playing Minecraft in the main house.

Nico finally spent his Christmas money and picked a lego out online. He chose a Lego Architecture set, of Berlin. He sorted out each type of piece before he put it together.

The finished product!

I am REALLY enjoying putting together the teeny tiny legos in the Pokemon set we got him for Christmas. He told me they were too hard to put together and didn't mind me doing it. There are 12 pokemon and I've gone through 2 of them so far. 

Nico has been enjoying reading Stick Dog. He finished the 1st book and checked the 2nd book out from the library today. He is reading it in bed right now.

That's all for this week!