4th Clubhouse Anniversary, and a RAISE!!

Last Friday Nico was able to take his microscope to school with him, the teacher said it would be ok for him to do that. He's been bringing it with him every day since, and whenever the class has time, they open it up.

After Guy got home from work on Friday they went for a walk and picked up some water to put on slides for the microscope. They collected some water on the side of the road, and sure enough it had swimming things in it.  They tested the canal water next and it was clean (I still wouldn't drink it - he he).

On Saturday we celebrated 4 years in the Clubhouse by having a pancake breakfast with Jeff & Allicia and the kiddos. After breakfast, the kiddos played together while the four grown-ups played a new board game. It was a fun way to celebrate 4 years. All of us agreed that among all the people we know, we have the best housemates. It just seems to work so well around here.

Nico had baseball games Monday and Tuesday evenings. Monday when we got home from the game, I had set up the table with two pieces of leftover birthday cake (I froze them after Nico's birthday) and then a wrapped present for Guy. We lit candles and sang Happy Birthday and Nico and Guy both ate some cake. Guy's birthday is not until October, but the present I got for him he was wanting and was planning to buy it himself, so I told him not to buy it, and gave it to him that Monday, the day it arrived. We will still celebrate on his actual birthday, too, but this was a fun precursor!

On Tuesday evening, Nico's cousin Lexie had a soccer game in the same sports complex as his baseball game, so I walked over to try to find her game. I found Jonny and Alanna and sat down with them for a while and watched Lexie play, she is an awesome goalie! After both their games were over we met up again in the field, Lexie and Nico ran toward each other when they saw each other, and gave big hugs. It was really sweet.

On Wednesday Guy stayed home from work because he wasn't feeling well, but we got a call telling Guy that he got a promotion and a 9% raise! That was great news!!! I am so very proud of him. He is a Technical Engineer II now. They told him it would be more responsibility but that he's probably already doing all of it anyway. Hehe. His boss said that when Guy called in sick he said Oh Shoot! because that was the day he was going to tell Guy about his raise. I am glad that they called to tell us :)  And Guy had today off from work and has tomorrow off too! He has been working non stop the past two weeks, evenings and weekends. He's been working on issues that were popping up at work, so his boss gave him a few days off. 

Tonight Evelyn came over for dinner. They did art. Well, Evelyn did art while Nico did a workbook on how to write cursive. After dinner they made Halloween decorations at Evelyn's art desk in the garage.

Nico wearing his new Newport, OR sweatshirt from Grandma and Papa's recent vacation. He also received a chocolate truffle from a chocolate shop. He says "All this Newport, Oregon stuff makes me want to move to Newport!"

Readathon is still on the back burner for Nico at the moment, but we have still been accruing reading minutes. He gets minutes when someone reads to him, so several hours have been spent lately reading the book Matilda. Guy reads this to him. When Guy was younger, apparently he liked this book so much that as soon as he finished it for the first time, he went right back to the beginning to start again. We are up to about 16 hours total for Readathon. 

The moment when Nico sees the swimmers in the ditch water!

Library, Readathon, GG

On Saturday Nico and I met some friends at the library. Nico checked out a bunch of books to read for Readathon which started last Friday! Then we played some board games, and took a walk on the greenbelt which was right next to the library.

For several days Nico was all about the Readathon and he accrued 11 hours in 4 days! He has since stopped the effort. I tried to encourage him not to give up, about how when you're older, being able to stick to something is an important skill to have, you know, I said the most parenty thing I could think of! But I think he's done! He wanted to read the most minutes of the whole school and win the Chromebook. But on Monday he found out that someone already had 20 hours because they stayed up all night to read. I think that deflated his drive a bit. I reminded him that anything could happen and to not get discouraged, but I think he wants to be done with it. 

Here he is in bed at night with his timer and his book.

Sunday we had Bible Study in the evening and one women brought her son with her (10 or 11 years old maybe?). Nico brought the State game and wow they had a LOT of fun playing it! 

Monday was a baseball game and Tuesday we went to visit GG and Aunt Pat. We heard all about their trip up the Mississippi and saw some pictures! Afterward we went to Red Robin and picked up some food to bring home and eat. Nico has been asking to get Red Robin for a while. He says, that because he's been reading SpongeBob and about the "Crabby Patty" (a cheeseburger in the comic), that he's been hungry for a cheeseburger. 1 patty, 1 bun, 2 cheese, ketchup, 4 pickles. So that's what we ordered!

Last night Guy taught Nico some algebra using his Numberbots and Alphabots.

That's pretty much it for this week!!

Microscope, Baseball, and CHESS!

Jeff and Allicia went out of town again last Friday so we watched our Saturday movie downstairs again. It was Guy's choice, he let Nico choose between 3 things and Nico chose MST3K!

Nico had a sore throat and cold over the weekend, so we didn't do anything extravagant, except Guy did take Nico to Lakeshore Learning and Nico bought a microscope with his own money. He came home, got into bed because he wasn't feeling well, but brought his microscope with him.

Nico had baseball games on Monday and Tuesday. He was not feeling well at his Monday game, he came back to the bench from the field during an inning because his tummy was hurting. He was able to rejoin the game later. And after the game when the snacks were handed out, he was all over that. His last up-to-bat during that game all his team was cheering him on. You can catch a video of that at the end of the blog!

Evelyn came with us to Tuesday's game. Her and Nico's cousin Rory played in the huge field next to us for part of the time. Guy worked late that day so I brought him dinner, he works very near the baseball field.

On the way home in the car, Evelyn sat in the middle so she could read a book to Nico while he ate his snack.

Wednesday was the FIRST DAY OF CHESS CLUB! It was like the first day of school all over again, Nico woke up early and got dressed right away. He put on his chess shirt, but I reminded him it was picture day that day so we decided on the airplane shirt. I tried to get him to change his shorts, too, but he made a good point. "The picture won't show my pants!" True, true. So this is what he wore to school on Wednesday.

Wednesday after school, we went to the Tropical Smoothie Cafe, because a coupon had been sent home the day before for a FREE 12 oz smoothie. It was right downtown. It was a fun quick outting before dinner. He taught me a new game while we were waiting for the smoothie. It's called Sticks and you use your fingers. It was fun.

Thursday is today. Evelyn came over for dinner, we had tacos. Afterward, we all went to the church, Guy and I are part of another small group that meets once a month on the 2nd Thursday. That was tonight. Nico and Evelyn came with us. They hung out in the kids room while the group met. 

Here's the baseball video!

Library, Baseball Game

Last Friday, Jeff and Allicia and their whole crew left for the weekend. We took advantage of the extra space and watched movies and shows downstairs throughout the weekend.

Friday night we finished up a craft project after dinner - we made a bookmark for Grandma Russell's birthday. We made two and chose the best one to send to her, with a book.

Saturday morning we went for a bike ride! We suited up and rode to the library along the greenbelt. We had put several books on hold to checkout so Nico could pick one for his Book Project he'll be doing at school. We sought help from our favorite librarian, Grandma Russell!! She gave us a few ideas to get us started. He hasn't chosen one yet, and has been spending most of his reading time reading a HUGE Spongebob Squarepants comic book that he also checked out while we were there.

After the library we went on further to the post office, which is also along the greenbelt. I dropped off some stuff I was mailing, and then we rode home, stopping once to take a break.

Backpack full of books

Saturday it was Nico's turn to choose the movie and we watched episodes of Captain Underpants while we ate our pizza downstairs. Monday afternoon we watched Ponyo downstairs. It was a GREAT 3 day weekend and we got a LOT of relaxing in!

Tuesday was Nico's first baseball game. They are the Royals (unofficially the Dodgers). They got their uniforms on Tuesday, Nico chose #12 this time.

Playing 3rd base

Suiting up to be the catcher.

Snuggled up. It was warm but the breeze was cool!

Playing games after dinner on Wednesday.

That's it for this week! Enjoy the slow-motion Baseball Hit!

Baseball, Parent Orientation, Guy's Mini Vacation

Nico and I had a weekend on our own last weekend! I sent Guy away on a vacation of sorts so he could have some time to just rest. We found a cool Airbnb cottage on a cattle ranch in Ola, Idaho about an hour north of here. He stayed 2 nights and came back Sunday.

I... ahem... spoiled Nico while Guy was gone. I told him it was an every-once-in-a-while thing, so he understood it wasn't becoming the normal.

Friday night we stopped by Chipotle for dinner after stopping by a toy store and getting him some "Mad Matter", which is a really cool sand-clay substance. After he was in his pajamas that night, I took him on a surprise trip to Blue Cow Frozen Yogurt. Watch the related video at the end of the blog! Saturday morning we went to Dick's Sporting Goods to buy some things for baseball. A helmet, a backpack that holds a bat, some batting gloves, and a new pair of cleats since he has already outgrown the ones from spring time.

After Dick's Sporting Goods, since we were right next to the mall we decided to go there! We had to wait in the parking lot for 10 minutes before they opened. We first hit See's Candies, then Jake's Dry Dock. Chocolate and a stuffed animal. He spent his own money on something too.

I made pizza that night and we watched "Bolt", it's a cute animated movie.

Guy came home Sunday but had to head to the church shortly after because Sunday night was Worship Night and there was lots of prep to do. It was a great evening. Nico came with us and all the kids were able to go in the back and watch a movie while the adults did the worship thing.

Monday was the first day of baseball practice! I only snapped one picture, and it wasn't really very interesting. It looks like he's holding his backpack but it's actually hanging on the fence next to him.

Yep. I'll be sure to grab a few better ones next time!

His team is much younger than him this time, but his coach is really good. He is really teaching technique and working on specific rules and expectations. He had two practices this past week and in the coming weeks there are no more practices, only games!

Tonight was Parent Orientation at Nico's school. Allicia and I walked over there together. I got to meet his teacher and learn about some of the things they'll be doing this year. He really loves school.

While I was at the orientation, Guy took Nico and Evelyn with him to band practice. They played in the kids room while Guy ran sound, and I picked them up after orientation was over. 

We are going to sign Nico and Guy up for this robotics camp on Saturdays in September and October. We were waiting until we got the baseball schedule before deciding, since in the Spring he had games every Saturday. He was so excited about this camp that he said that if he had games on Saturdays he really didn't have to go them... ha ha... I'm so glad he's going to be able to do this camp! I told him that Guy built a robot in college that was controlled by sensors. 

Nico's surprise trip to Blue Cow!

GG, Treasure Hunt, First Day of School!

Last Friday we visited GG and Aunt Pat. A great visit as always. They told us about the trip they're going on soon, they are excited!

We also went to Walmart on Friday to buy Nico's school supplies, and also a rug and reading pillow for under his bed.

He chose black. I wanted to buy him a first-day-of-school outfit but Walmart doesn't have a great selection so we skipped it. We also got him a hair cut! Friday for lunch we visited Grandma and stayed for a few hours. It was a fun day!

On Saturday we woke up super early so we could be at a garage sale right when it opened at 7:30. They were selling Nintendo 64 games for $1 each. By the time we got there (at 7:25) they were already gone! doh! Nico had brought some of his money to buy games with. Instead, he bought some lizard goggles. Totally worth the trip. You can see behind yourself! He wore them the whole way home.

Saturday night we watched the animated movie Coco while eating pizza.

Sunday was the last day before school started which means we did our yearly TREASURE HUNT!!

Allicia came up with the bulk of the clues, I wanted to make sure that each kiddo had clues that they would be able to figure out themselves, that were specific to them. It turned out really well. While the grown ups hid the clues we put the kiddos downstairs in front of some cartoons. Then, it began!  Watch the video at the end of the blog to see clips from it.

The boys hanging out while the kids ran around

After they found the treasure, eating their candy and hanging out.

Putting together legos side by side

 Then of course the next day was school! Nico woke up early and was dressed and ready to go by 6:30AM. He put his backpack on and laid down on the couch: "I'm just going to lay here until school starts."

Other things he told me that morning: He wants to live in Japan because they don't have summer vacation. And also "I feel like I'm going to throw up." hehe... I asked him if he wanted to stay home from school and he said "NO!"

Here are Evelyn and Nico on their first day of school. 2nd grade for Evelyn, 3rd grade for Nico. I walked with them to school this first day.

Nico in his classroom with his desk behind him.

As soon as he got home from school he opened his backpack and took his homework out. He had to read through the classroom morning and afternoon procedures three times. He has had to do that every day this week. Tonight his homework was to wash his feet. He he.

He has had a good week at school so far. Last night he told us that he was feeling something in his heart (I like the way he put that), about how there are kids on the playground that are mean and that he's afraid they're going to start bullying him. Everything else he's told us about school has been great. His library day is Thursday. We've been praying with him about the possible bullies.

Today he had a dentist appointment. No cavities! A few months ago he did chip one of his front bottom teeth. Guy and him were rough housing and I think Guy's elbow somehow ended up on Nico's mouth and his tooth got chipped. The dentist recommended waiting to see how the teeth grow in before they try to patch it up. There is no pain or sensitivity, otherwise they'd do it now. The dentist said that boys tend to get banged up a bit in their youth.

Evelyn came over for dinner tonight. They put together legos at the table before dinner.

Other photos from this week...

Playing The Cure

Eating cheese and reading DogMan before bed.

Now it's time for the video!! Enjoy!