Time to catch up on the blog! We had another birthday around here and it was a big one--Nate turned 8! I loved this birthday list he made, complete with a drawing of a cake with Mario charcters:
For his cake, Nate requested a blue toad (his favorite character) getting a flyer power. I was pretty proud of how it turned out:
On the day of his birthday we did the usual birthday breakfast (cinnamon rolls) and dinner (homemade pizza) that night, followed by cake and presents. He got some he was pretty happy about.
A new game:
And a ripstick:
A bunch of the kids in our neighborhood had them and he worked hard to practice on theirs. Now he's an expert ripstick-rider!
We gave Nate a choice about baptism dates and he decided he wanted to be baptized as soon as he could. So, we scheduled it for the Saturday after. It was a bit of a stressful morning since we nearly forgot to fill the font but it was just done in time.
Some quick pictures before the baptism:
Nate asked Natalie to give the talk on baptism and me to give the talk on the Holy Ghost. Natalie did a great job! She seemed really confident up there and did the demonstration with the penny in vinegar. I talked about how strongly I felt the Spirit when we were deciding whether or not to have more kids after the girls were born. Of course I cried more than I wanted to but hopefully Nate felt how much we love him. Joe did a great job with the baptism. Nate did get to be baptized twice since his toe came out the first time (the low water level made it a little tricky).
We had some light refreshments after the baptism for all the kind people from our ward who came to support him, then we went back to our house with our family for a BBQ and to watch the BYU football game.
All the family that made it:
(Including Andrew who took the picture)
I loved this shot of our family, even though I'm laughing about something. It was a great day!
It was a birthday party year for Nate so the weekend after we invited some of his friends to come over for an American Ninja Warrior party. I got some free wood and along with some that was already in our backyard, and some from Home Depot, made some obstacles throughout our yard. I was kind of worried everything would fall apart but it held together well and the party was a success.
We folded some ninja stars when they first arrived:
Then it was time for the course!
All the boys with their ninja gear:
They crack me up. :)
I wish I would have gotten better pictures but here are a few I got...
The course started with these blocks:
Then they jumped on the tramp to try and reach a handkerchief that I held up with a pole. Then, the floating steps:
Then, these PVC pipe over and under type of obstacles:
Then, a skinny wood balance beam I didn't get a picture of, followed by a climbing rope we hung from the tree in our front yard. The tricky thing was some boys cared a lot about being timed and it not counting if they fell off, and other boys didn't. Plus, we got a little log-jammed at the tree at the end. Other than that, they all had a a lot of fun playing on everything.
Nate's other request was a pinata so we did that, too:
Present time:
Nate is at such a fun age right now. I love watching him discover new things he can do. Physical things definitely come easier for him, still, so he doesn't like it much when something is hard for him to figure out (like the ripstick) but he works hard to figure it out. He's got great coordination and strength. He still loves tetherball and plays it at school all the time. He's starting to play basketball on the neighborhood hoops, too, and getting better at that. He also played fall baseball and did really well. He could be really good at baseball if he keeps working at it.
He is learning a lot in school, as well, and it still a really good student. About a month into the school year, Nate got into our neighborhood school. This was great news to me--no more driving everywhere to pick up kids from 3 schools, but Nate was very sad. It is hard to switch schools, especially mid-year, and it was a hard transition for him. He still misses his good friend Pedro from Cabrillo and his teacher, Mrs. Jain-Sharma. He is starting to feel more settled there, though, and I think it will continue to improve. He is doing great in his schoolwork, especially math. He started reading chapter books (Magic Tree House) and is getting to be a fasted reader.
Nate and I took time most nights leading up to his baptism to read from the Book of Mormon together and I loved that time so much. It was amazing to see what a good reader he had become and I loved reading and talking about the scriptures together. One funny thing--Nate loved to emphasize every word that had a footnote on it and was very concerned about keeping track of which verses had the most footnotes. :)
He is funny and makes us laugh a lot! As much as he claims to hate dancing, he will often do a crazy dance when he's feeling silly and make us all laugh. He also still really loves video games and loves to play whenever he can, by himself or with friends or family. Nate is still such an easy kid--my least pickiest eater and usually the best at getting up and all ready for school by himself and getting his homework done. He had his moments, but overall he is a really helpful and easy-going kid.
We've started having one-on-one time with the kids every Monday night and it has been great! One night I wanted to remember was taking Nate to the local little pumpkin patch with inflatable slides and stuff and then getting ice cream after. We had fun guessing each others numbers and Nate thought it was hilarious to tell me he was thinking of a number between 1 and 2000 and then it would end up being 1. :) Nate has a really great laugh and we were laughing hard and having a great time. I just wanted to remember that moment with my Nate Nate.
We sure love our Nate!
