Birthday Parties, and Grandma Camp!

Last Friday was a busy day for us. Nico's friend from church, Reese, had a birthday party at Circustrix in Nampa. Lots of trampolines and foam pits to play in. Check out the video for a slow-motion jump! Nico did lots of flips.

After Circustrix we went to Reese's house for cake and presents. Reese's mom had made a gluten free pie for Nico's sake! She let us bring the rest of it home so Guy could have some too.

Friday evening was my brother Jonny's birthday party. His wife Alanna put it on and she did a wonderful job. It was Star Wars themed and I got a kick out of all the Star Wars names for the food, like "7 Leia Dip". Hah! They also had Star Wars episodes 4, 5, and 6 playing in various places around the house.

There were friends there that I hadn't seen in a while, and it was great catching up. Nico played with the kids that were there, including Lexie. He had a good time too and I barely saw him. The kids spent some time in the garage fighting with light sabers made from huge floppy foam cylinders, kind of like pool noodles but much thicker.

Saturday we had another birthday, Evelyn's! She had her party at her Aunt Julie's house. They live about a 2 minute drive from our house, in the same East End neighborhood. And they have a geothermal pool in their backyard! Check out the steam on the pool!

Whenever anyone would leave the pool and come back inside, you could see the steam rolling off of their skin.

After pool time was over, all the kiddos gathered inside and made their way to the huge windows in the living room that look into the back yard. Every year, as you might remember, we do fireworks on Evelyn's birthday. This year was no exception.

Then we had pizza, and opened presents and ate cake.

On Sunday, we made pizza! It was my turn to choose the movie, and I picked Big Hero 6. It was well-liked by all of us.

Monday we made sure to match our shirts. We wore the shirts that Grandma and Papa got us for Christmas. Nico and I headed over to my parents' house and Guy joined us later that evening for dinner. We ate good food and answered questions around the table. Nico was asked: "If you could choose any pet to get tomorrow, what would you get and what would you name it?" He said he would get a cat and name if Fluff McGuff. We also had interesting conversations about ants and tornadoes.

Tuesday, I left the boys at home and had a shopping day with my Mom at the mall. Yay! I got a text from Guy while we were there, telling me that Nico was very sad that Grandma Camp would be starting tomorrow instead of that day, and Nico wanted to know if he could stay over at Grandma's house a night early. Grandma said YES, so after we were done at the mall, Grandma Salisbury came and picked Nico up from our house and took him back with her.

Grandma Camp officially started the next day, Wednesday, when all the other kids arrived. And he's been having fun from what I hear! They went roller skating again, and though he didn't seem to like it last time they went, Lexie spent some time helping him skate and he has started to enjoy it. I also know they went to a new jump place called Altitude.

Various Grandma Camp pictures:

Now you can check out the video! Mostly from Circustrix, but also a shot of him skating.

Christmas and Grandparents Russell!

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. 

Internet down

Our internet has been down all day today, so I am updating from my phone to say that the update will be late this week! When we get our internet back I will update the blog! Sorry, and stay tuned!

Cub Scout Uniform, Bell Choir Practice

Last Friday Nico woke up okay and ate breakfast, but right before school complained of a tummy ache. Friday was his holiday concert, and he didn't want to miss it, but he told me he needed to stay home because he felt so sick. He seemed very tired, too.

A few hours later, he felt fine! But the tummy ache came and went that day. Evelyn came over for dinner that night and they had a lot of fun.

He woke up Saturday morning and I have this joke I play with him, "Would you rather have oatmeal, or pancakes?" (He doesn't like oatmeal). But when I asked him that on Saturday morning he said "Uhhhh... I'm not hungry." You know it's serious when he turns down pancakes! He didn't eat much that day, and had some diarrhea, and the next day he was halfway better. He skipped school on Monday because he wasn't 100%.

While Nico was home on Monday, Allicia lent us a bunch of movies and activities for Nico to do since she knew he was staying home. He watched movies in his bed all day long. My old computer wasn't working so I moved the touch-screen into his bed. He loved it. He wasn't this close to the screen all day, don't worry! He mostly leaned back on his huge spider man pillow and dangled his legs over the side of his bed. He got some serious resting in. He didn't get dressed until 3pm.

On Tuesday he woke up and said, "Hey! My tummy doesn't hurt when I stand up anymore!" Sweet! Off to school he went.

We've been keeping the tradition of doing advent candles every night before bed. 

On Tuesday I went to the Boy Scout store and bought Nico his uniform. Cub Scouts was Tuesday night.

Check this boy out!

Even though Guy wasn't feeling well, he valiantly took Nico to Cub Scouts on Tuesday evening. They handed out Pinewood Derby cars, they are doing a race in January!

Guy got sick, too, but it was different. He was exhausted with a fever for a few days, but nothing else, it was very strange. He is feeling better now though! 

Nico is in the bell choir at church, and they are doing their performance this Sunday. This Sunday is also the day of the Christmas play. We went to the church tonight for practice. 

Guy has been going to play practice almost every night this week because he is the sound man. He brought home a keyboard for me, so I could practice the song I'm playing in the Christmas Eve Service.

We've been wrapping presents over here, and putting some under the tree. Nico wrapped a handful too, I showed him how to put ribbon on a package. 

He accidentally saw one of the gifts I bought for him. Ooooops. 

I suppose that's it for tonight. Tomorrow Nico has a half-day and we are welcoming Grandpa and Grandma Russell into town! 

Until next time!

G.G., Cub Scouts

Last Friday we watched all the kiddos in the evening while Jeff and Allicia went out, they ordered pizza for us all and we ate pizza and watched shows. I went to a Ladies Christmas Party that night with our church, so Guy was on his own with all 4 kids for a while. I should have got some pictures, but I completely spaced it!

The weekend was so laid back, we had nothing to do so we just soaked in the rest. For pizza night on Saturday we watched the newer Sponge Bob movie. It's one that Nico and I had seen in the theaters several years ago. I remember being in the theater and googling on my phone, "How long is the sponge bob movie"... ha ha. This time, it didn't seem as bad.

Tuesday was packed from start to finish. After school we went to see GG. Nico asked if they had Scrabble, and so we found their Scrabble game, the Upwards version. I played with Nico and GG sat an helped him form words.

On our way home we picked up Jimmy John's. After eating quickly at home, Nico and I rushed to Cub Scouts.

A few weeks ago, Nico had asked if he could join Cub Scouts out of the blue. I didn't even know that he knew what that was! So I looked up local packs and they have one downtown. I emailed them and they got back to me on Tuesday, I talked it over with Guy and we decided to try it out that night. They meet every Tuesday. Guy worked late on Tuesday so we met him there. 

Currently the 3rd grade pack (called the Bears) is working on tool safety. They get to design something they want to build, and then build it. Nico had a chance to use a hammer and a saw. His favorite was the saw. The thing Nico designed is a periscope. They design it on paper first.

We officially signed him up! We have to go get him a uniform, then we're all set.

Today we received a special package from Grandma Russell containing some gluten free Christmas cookies and treats, Nico and I tried one right away after school. SO yummy. A cool thing she also does when she sends us packages - she sends all her saved up comics from the Sunday papers. Nico and Guy both love reading these. Thanks for the package Grandma!!! (Another one should be arriving tomorrow full of other yummy things!) And then a week from tomorrow they will be HERE in Boise!!

Nico has been enjoying reading and re-reading all of his DogMan books. He ordered the newest one from Amazon with his own money. He ordered the pre-release because it is not released until Christmas Eve. He is very excited. There is a part in one of the books that he doesn't like, and it makes him super sad and he always skips over it. It's when Cat Kid is convinced by the evil Petey to be bad and break the rules. He showed me the one scene that is the saddest. He said that the first time he read it he stared and stared and stared at it for a long time because it was just so sad. It's the panel where Cat Kid throws his trash on the floor "plop", instead of putting it in the trash can. You can see it below. I included the surrounding panels so you can see it in context. 

Also, there is a new soda we've been enjoying called Blue Sky. It's similar to Zevia in that it's zero sugar, but it's cheaper and tastes better, not as much of a Stevia taste. We tried the Cherry Vanilla this time. Very good!

That's it for this week!

First Snowfall, and Advent Calendars!

Last Friday I had Ivy and Avery over for lunch. Avery looked at my calendar and said "how many more years until you play Zelda again?" he pointed to November 11th and said "That's when you're going to play again, ok?" They love to watch me play Zelda, and I had played right before lunch.

After school on Friday, Nico was excited to hear the news that Grandma Russell purchased him the online advent calendar again this year. He couldn't do much with it on Friday but he did play the games available as we waited for December 1st to arrive.

Saturday morning, Guy took Nico to a sensory friendly movie, Small Foot. I had some work to get done that day so Guy took Nico out for a bit. I'm pretty sure Nico got another Italian Soda that afternoon, too!

Saturday night it was my turn to choose the movie, Incredibles 2! And then later that night as Nico was reading in bed, we heard a knock on our front door. Avery was outside, frantic to ask Nico to come out and play in the snow. It was wet snow, and after a snow ball fight, Nico arrived home looking soaked to the bone. He had his first chance to play with our new neighbors across the street. They have 3 boys. One of them threw a snowball at Nico and it got him on his right ear.

Sunday morning, Nico was invited to the field behind the school with Jeff & Allicia and the kids, to play in the 4 inches of snow that fell overnight. I picked him up for church and he was making snow angels.

Sunday night, he was invited to build a snow fort in the front yard of the boys' house across the street. He was over there for at least an hour before we called him in as it was getting dark.

Advent calendar, reading important things about Scotland.

Two Saturdays ago, when we watched the Labyrinth (which Nico now claims is his favorite movie), we encountered some "impossible shapes" near the end. Ever since he played the Monument games on his iPad, he has been interested in impossible shapes. At the library he picked up a book of optical illusions.

Playing Life. Nico is getting more and more interested in board games, he asks to play them a lot. He got this new game called "Dos", similar to Uno but with different rules. It is really fun. We play that a lot. Whenever there's a free moment, he asks if we can play a game.

That's about it for this week! Here's a 4 second clip of Nico making a snow angel.