Nine Years

Happy Anniversary to my handsome, witty, hardworking, sarcastic, caring, understanding, silly, loving husband.

I love you.

A Handsome 8 Year Old

Well...I'm coming out of my blogging sabbatical.  After a month of not writing, I've got a lot to catch up on!  One of the most important things that just happened is that my biggest little boy had a birthday!  I just can't believe I have an eight year old who is almost done with 2nd grade.  I mean, WHEN did that happen? 

This boy is awesome.  He is such a great kid.  Hilarious sense of humor, so kind and compassionate, smart, and an amazing big brother.  I know...I know...I'm his mom.  But it's true. 

Lately we have noticed Calvin changing....even struggling sometimes.  He's at that point where he still wants to be my baby....he wants to cuddle with me on the couch and stick close by my side.  At other times he wants to make his own decisions, stay up later, and have more privileges.  Honestly, I love that about him.  He's cool...playing sports with his friends and watching baseball with Daddy.  But at any time you could also find him playing princesses with his sister.  This is a great time in his life.

On his birthday he took his frosted cookies to school and then that night Papa and Nana came over and we went out to dinner.  Here he is with a candle in his scrambled eggs. 

Here he is looking for his present after we told him it was in the garage somewhere...

Found it!

He was so excited he ran to Daddy to hug him!

Opening presents from us and Papa and Nana...

Nathan and Jillian gave him a Twins shirt and some beef sticks.  What could be better than beef sticks?!

Papa and Nana gave him lots of cool stuff...the coolest being a metal detector.  He loves it!  But he was also very pumped about the jump rope....he's wanted one for awhile.





 Had to try it out right away...



So did Nana!

Nana got both boys robes for their birthdays.  They were SO excited.  They look like a couple of  adorable little old men. 

LOVE this picture.

This Friday we are having 3 boys stay all night for a birthday slumber party.  Should be a good time.  Papa and Nana have kindly offered to take Nathan and Jillian over night so they don't get in the way of the big boys.  Awesome. 

Happy Birthday my sweet, handsome, funny, kind, clever, God loving boy. 

We love you more than words can say.

A Sign of Spring

I love sidewalk chalk. 

It just makes a sidewalk look happier.  And now that we have our smooth new sidewalk we're just going a little crazy.

We just got it out for the first time this season.

Here is Jillian's first ADORABLE attempt at drawing a sun...

And here is her second.  She's getting good don't you think?

Here is her third.

Just kidding.  That's mine.  She'll get there.

Grandma and Grandpa got Nathan a new tractor battery for his birthday.  So this is how he spends most of his time lately.

We are all just TICKLED that spring is here!

Get yourself some sidewalk chalk!

Happy Birthday Nathan!

My sweet Nathan is six.. 

 I can hardly believe it. 

This kid, as I've said before, causes me a lot of worry and frustration, but oh SO much joy and laughter.  He is hilariously funny....sometimes without trying to be.  He also loses his temper at the drop of a hat and throws fits weekly, but we try not to focus on those things.  Someday I won't remember right?  Well, I kind of want to.  While the tough times with Nathan are really tough, somehow it makes the good times even sweeter.  He is a lover.  He genuinely wants to get to know every person he meets.  When we finish singing a song in church he claps and cheers....and he doesn't care who hears him.  He means it.  Marc and I both comment all the time that we wish we had his attitude toward others.  He sees the good in everyone.  He sees differences as exciting and interesting.  He asks a lot of questions.  When people meet Nathan they just love him....it's no wonder...he is easy to love.

Here are a few pictures from Nathan's first birthday just for fun. 

Nathan's birthday lasted awhile this year.  We had a small family celebration on his real birthday and then both sets of grandparents came over the next night for another party.  Then on Saturday we let Nathan have his first friend party.  He really wanted one, and we decided he was at the perfect age.  We were right....he had a grand time.  He are some pictures from all the celebrations!

Nothing like a good morning hug from your big brother on your birthday.

A candle in a bagel

This is the look I got when he blew out his candle before we were done singing!

 We had lunch in the park with some friends on the day of his birthday.  It was beautiful, warm and sunny.  A rare thing on March 21st!

When Nathan opened his presents from us he got a fishing pole, a lego garbage truck, and a gallon of bubbles.  He was thrilled!

One thing that cracked us up this year....every time we finished singing Happy Birthday, Nathan would clap and say, "Again...again!"  How could we not...we sang it twice every time.  I made cupcakes for the party at home, but for the friend party we got a Walmart cupcake cake.  I'm not one for buying cakes....I almost always make them.  Let me tell you why we love these cakes.  The whipped frosting is amazing....light and fluffy.  Just the cupcakes with this frosting would be great....but it doesn't end there.  Walmart uses a big glob of their very sweet buttercream frosting to hold the cupcakes onto the cardboard.  After the cupcakes are removed, we eat this glob of frosting.  It's as simple as that.  Try it friends, try it.

When we told Jillian we were going to the Science Center for Nathan's birthday party she said, "Can I rub a bunny?"  That's all she wanted to do.  Rub a bunny.

The giant fish tank was a big hit!

I do not know why, but all three of my kids held a snake while we were there.  I for one would not do that....neither would their father, but I was proud of them for being brave.



I love this last picture.  My boy was happy.  He had his friends and his family all together in one place.  He loved it. 

And we love him.

While I wish Nathan could stay my little boy forever, I can not wait to see what he'll be like as an adult.  Whatever it is he decides to be, one thing is for sure.....he'll be excited about it.  He will do it with his whole heart.  He will love everyone around him.  

Thank you God for my sweet happy boy. 



We have...

A brand new 6 year old in our house!

Yesterday was the big day, but we are still partying. 

 I promise to write a special birthday post about my special boy.... 

after we cram ONE more party in this weekend!

Finally!

Nathan lost a tooth!  He has been waiting for this for a LONG time...ever since Calvin lost HIS first tooth.  It all went down much quicker than I thought it would.  I noticed probably a month or more ago that his bottom two front teeth were a little wiggly.  I gave him the good news, but let him know that it would still be a while.  A couple weeks ago I randomly wiggled his top tooth and noticed it was even a little looser than the bottom ones.  Today when we were out and about Nathan asked a couple friends to wiggle his tooth and I noticed that it was getting pretty loose.  Still a long way to go though....or so I thought.  When we got home I told Nathan to go look in the mirror and wiggle his tooth simply because I thought he would be able to see it move.  It was SO strange....almost like he couldn't feel it.  A far cry from his brother's reaction to pulling a tooth.  He just pushed and pushed until it fell out and then he handed it to me.  No big deal.  I was absolutely cracking up!

Is this kid a crack up or what?  Every time I looked at him today I just giggled.  It's so unusual to loose this tooth before the bottom two.  I feel like it looks more like he got beat up!

I didn't think it was possible that he could be any cuter, but I think he just might be.

Now we're all on pins and needles waiting for the Toof Berry to arrive!