Nate is 8! [Part 2]

Even though Nate's birthday fell on a school day,

I was determined to make it a good one.....

 

Breakfast

For a few years in a row now, he has requested Daddy's famous French Toast for breakfast. While Greg was slaving away in the kitchen, Nate opened a few last gifts from Mommy & Daddy.....a Minecraft strategy book and two books from the "Hogwarts Library" (they not part of the Harry Potter series, but almost like encyclopedias with some back stories & additional history.) He was thrilled!

 



Sweet card from little sis



No, son, that is not ALL for you!

Every birthday, I ask the kids the same questions. It's fun to see how their answers do/do not change! I may be the only one that likes this in the family, but the kids humor me and always play along. Greg joked that I'll still be doing this to the kids when they are 25!

How old are you? 8

What makes you happy? Building new Lego sets

What is your favorite animal? Dog

What is your favorite thing to eat? Quesadilla

What is your least favorite thing to eat? Lettuce

What is your favorite thing to do? Play Minecraft

What is your favorite TV show? Lab Rats 

What are you really good at? Riding my bike

What is your favorite movie? "Inside Out"

What is your favorite color? Red

What is your favorite song? “Uptown Funk" by Bruno Mars

Who is your best friend? Tie between Jack & Evers (neighbors)

What do you and your Mom do together? Play games

What do you and your Dad do together? Ride bikes

  What is your favorite sport? Karate

Where is your favorite place to go? Lego Land in Atlanta

What is your favorite book? The first Harry Potter book

What do you want to be when you grow up? An engineer

Lunch
Three times a year, my kids get to have a Lunchable....I think they are gross but they think they are the coolest :) Nate had his pizza Lunchable and I joined him at school yesterday. So fun! I enjoyed meeting the 4 new kids in his class, handing out Krispy Kreme donuts, and just spending time with the birthday boy. I wonder if this is one of the last years I will be able to do this!? He might be getting too cool for Mom soon.... :(

Dinner

Every year, Nate requests "The Ninja Place" for his birthday dinner. (Translation: our favorite Japanese steakhouse, Hokkaido.) Abby decided to dress up in her "church clothes" and wear a new homemade headband :)



Watching the onion volcano on fire!



Kid chopsticks!



He caught a shrimp in his mouth on the 5th try! :)



We had the best chef ever, and he interacted with Nate
the whole meal. Even let him do this, which is a first! (And yes, the grill
was turned off at this point!)



We were all so full we didn't each touch the dessert



Not sure if he's trying to stab Greg or just really excited about his "fancy chopsticks!"

 

 It was fun day celebrating our favorite boy!

 

 

Nate is 8! [Part 1]

My boy is turning EIGHT today!!!

 

I can hardly believe it. That saying "The days are short; the years are long" could not be more true! It seems like just yesterday I was reading pregnancy books and buying his nursery bedding and feeling him kick in my belly :)

 

As a mom, you never forget the day your babies were born. Mine was an excruciatingly hot day, and I had been having contractions for days. The labor & delivery was much different than what I expected, but in a good way thankfully. And I'll never forget the first time I held Nate....that was when it all became R.E.A.L!

 

(Click here to read more about my labor story.)

One of my favorite parts of the kids' birthdays is looking at old pictures. Without further ado, let's take a stroll down memory lane....



1 month



6 months



1 year



2 years



3 years



4 years



5 years



6 years



7 years



8 years

And here we are, 8 years old already. Greg and I are SO blessed to have this little man to call our own. I've said it before and I'll say it a million time.....he is hands-down the sweetest boy on Earth. He is silly, he is smart, he is kind, and he is an amazing big brother too. How did we get so lucky!?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

For those that don't see Nate often I thought it'd be fun to share what he's "into" these days....

 

-He loves Minecraft.  (Duh, did you see the party post?!)

 

-He still loves to read, thankfully! Though now that he's finished the Harry Potter series, all books he reads seems to pale in comparison. He does enjoy the Minecraft strategy books, as well as the Spiderwick Chronicles and he's starting to get into Percy Jackson books.

 

-He is becoming quite the bike-rider, like his Daddy. In fact, there is a new fancy shmancy bike headed his way in a few weeks. It's a "big boy" bike.....Greg custom ordered it from his bike shop. I love that the two of them already have this interest in common. I see lots of trail rides in Nate's future...

 

-He is still Lego obsessed. I think we're going on 4 years here. We may have to start moving some of his "creations" into the guest room b/c his room is running out of space! :)

 

-He is newly interested in cars. His favorite: Mustangs! EVERYWHERE we go, he is pointing out Hondas, Saturns, Nissans, Fords, and every now & then, a Porsche! He has gotten Abby into too; they are so funny.

-Other interests: building, science, outer space, facts, circuits, gears. Yep, we have a future engineer on our hands!

 

Happy birthday to our sweet 8 year old!

We have a lot of fun stuff planned for today,

so stay tuned for "Part 2!"

Birthday Visitors!

My parents ("Nanny & Poppy") arrived last Thursday afternoon, anxious for a visit with the kids and excited for Nate's birthday weekend.

 

For the first time EVER, Nanny did not bring any new clothes with her for the kids. Now that they are both in uniforms, I told her they didn't need much. I think she cried the whole way here :) But, she did bring Abby a new blanket (similar to a one Abby was obsessed with while at Camp Nanny & Poppy), and I think Abby wore it around all weekend long. My girl loooooves a soft blanket.

 

Friday while the kids were at school, Nanny helped me with some last minute party stuff, while Poppy did what he does best....taking care of the cars! We had lunch at Manna Grocery & Deli, and though Mom & I loved our meals, I'm not sure Dad did. It's a bit of health-food place, and when he saw green bits in his turkey & cheese Panini, he asked if it was seaweed :)

 

Friday afternoon, Poppy & Nate disappeared to look up Pokémon card values on the computer, while Nanny & Abby had a karoke and dancing contest in the playroom. This girl is a n.u.t.....she just LOVES seeing herself dance on the tv!

 

 Friday night, we took N&P to Summer Snow for the best sno-cones on the planet!

Saturday was Nate's birthday party in Birmingham. Click here to read more about that. We left at 8:45 am and didn't get home till almost 3 pm! Needless to say, we all went to separate rooms/corners of the house for much needed rest time.

 

Nate was dying to open his presents, so we finally let him later that afternoon. As usual, his friends & family went above & beyond, and he got some great stuff!! Legos, Minecraft swords, books, movies, SpyGear, Barnes & Noble gift cards, Snap Circuit sets, and Pokémon cards. This kid is SET!

 Greg had planned to grill out steaks Saturday night but it was too stormy. And did I mention we had had a long day?! So we got take-out from Mr. Chen's (best Chinese ever!) instead.

 

Sunday morning, I fixed a big breakfast and then there was some snuggling, target practice, Pokémon card trading, and sword-fighting before church.

 Sunday afternoon, we took N&P to a new attraction called the Space Net. It's at a local park, and contains a 40 foot high rope climb. Nate is able to do it without any help, but Miss Priss got some assistance from her very patient Daddy. (While I stayed with both feet firmly planted on the ground. Someone's got to take pictures, right?!)

We have been to the Space Net once before, and Abby got about halfway up before deciding to come down. Well, this time, she decided she wanted to make it to the top! Thanks to her Daddy & awesome big brother, she made it!!!! #fearless



After you climb the netting, you travel across a tunnel, and take
the slide down to the ground.



Look how high up they are!



Coming down the slide

 Abby clearly has no fear of heights - she literally was singing and shaking her booty at one point while climbing! - but Greg said she was scared to go down the slide because it was so dark! Luckily, she went down on his lap and did great. And she says that next time, she'll do it alone! So proud of my girl. There were a lot of older kids there - like 12, 13 years old - that were too scared to climb the whole Space Net.

 Sunday night, Greg finally got to grill those steaks, even though it was still raining on & off. We played a new game called PicWits after dinner, and it's a new family fave. (I think it was a Christmas present from Mum Mum & Granddaddy!?)



Look what I found in the living room before bedtime :)

Nanny & Poppy headed out Monday morning, as the kids were getting ready for school. As usual, we had a great visit and I'm so thankful for the time they get to spend with my kids. And this visit, they were a tremendous help in getting the party set up & transporting whiny kids to & from Birmingham :) Thank you again for everything!!

(Sidebar: after 2 days and a combined 7 hours, Nate finished his Lego set from N&P! It's the Legends of Chima Flying Phoenix Fire Temple, with 1301 pieces. He was pretty proud of himself!)

 

Nate's Minecraft Party

We celebrated Nate's 8th birthday on Saturday, with a party at Off The Wall in Birmingham. Now, this was something we've never done.....ask guests to drive an hour away to a party. So, we decided to keep the guest list short - a few classmates, a few neighbors, a sister :) - and told parents we'd be happy to chaperone. Here was our van on the way to the party:

Jack, Nate, Mason, and a whole bunch of balloons!

 

We had never been to Off The Wall before, but a friend recommended it and it looked great from the pictures online. It had everything....ball pits, arcade, rock wall, obstacle courses, slides, an indoor jungle gym, rope climb, and bouncy houses.

The roller slide was a favorite

Those chicken legs are strong!

Abby got to invite one friend and she picked our next-door neighbor, Kate

As usual, I a *little* carried away with all the décor. I love doing this stuff! Nate told me his favorite things from the video game, and I was off & running......(and pouring over Pinterest!)

#love him

After an hour of playtime, we settled in for pizza & snacks. These boys were sweaty and hungry!

Nanny & Poppy have yet to miss a party!

He always gets embarrassed/shy when we sing "Happy Birthday".....

Telling me what he wished for :)

Love these ladies!

Someone enjoyed her cupcake :)

After lunch, we gave each kid a bag with $3 worth of quarters for the arcade. You would have thought it was $100; they were so excited!

Poppy, the ticket master

I love Kate's "game face!"

He racked up!

She did too!

As part of our package, the birthday boy received an additional 800 tickets.
He was soooooo excited to get "big" prizes!

She killed the rock wall!
#wearinggoldshoes

 

It wouldn't be a party if Daddy didn't fall asleep at the end...

Boys with their Creeper goodie bags

Everyone had such a great time and I think it was my favorite party yet! The only bad part was on the drive home.....we ran into major traffic (due to construction), and it took us over 1.5 hours to get home!! We had some restless kids in the car, but we survived. (And we didn't run out of gas, yay!)

 

Nathan Eric Givens.....

you are my favorite 8 year old in the whole world, and I am lucky to call you mine!!