Happy 11th Birthday Nate! [Part 1]

Happy 11th birthday to my first born!!!! It's so hard to believe that he made me a mom ELEVEN years ago. This little guy has been smiling and capturing our hearts since day one. He's the most kind-hearted, funny, hard-working, intelligent, and best big brother I know! Nathan Eric Givens, you're my favorite boy in the whole world :)

"Birth" day

1 year old

3 years old

5 years old

7 years old

9 years old

11 years old

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I ask the kids the same questions every birthday, and it's funny to see how their answers change....

How old are you? 11

What makes you happy? Playing with Evers

What is your favorite animal? Dog

What is your favorite thing to eat? Bean & Quinoa Burritos

What is your least favorite thing to eat? Grits

What is your favorite thing to do? Play Fortnite

What is your favorite TV show? Anything on YouTube

What are you really good at? Running

What is your favorite movie? “Jumanji”

What is your favorite color? Blue

What is your favorite song? “Glorious” by Macklemore

Who is your best friend? Evers & Mason

What do you and your Mom do together? Snoogle

What do you and your Dad do together? Wrestle

What is your favorite sport? Basketball

Where is your favorite place to go? Apple Store

What is your favorite book? Hunger Games trilogy

What do you want to be when you grow up? Computer Scientist

Nate's Birthday Sleepover

I've always told my kids that their last "big" birthday party will be when they turn 10. (This was a rule in my house as a kid, so I've just carried it over to my own family).

So this year, as we approached Nate's 11th birthday, he knew there would not be a big party. Instead, he asked if he could have a few friends come over for pizza, video games, and to spend the night. Easy peasy!!

Despite me being the one to lay down the law & downsize his parties, it took *all* of my self-control to not send out cute invitations, buy lots of décor, do goodie bags, make a banner and cupcake toppers, etc. Yes, I am a #partyaholic.

Instead, I just did this on the kitchen table. Took me 10 minutes! :)

The only "favor" I bought was these Fortnite cups for the boys to use while at the party and then take home. For those that don't know......Fortnite is a video game that has taken the world by storm this year! Even Abby is obsessed! It involves lots of funny dances, and those are the silhouettes on the cups I bought.

Nate requested a cookie cake and since that is MY personal favorite too, I was happy to oblige! :)

The most handsome 11-year-old I know!

Abby decided to make all of the boys bracelets :) How cute is her sign!?!?

Nate invited 3 friends from school, as well as our neighbor Evers. They all arrived between 5-6 pm, and then it was time for pizza!!

Once it cooled down a bit, they went outside to play GaGa ball - also a new obsession, thanks to Scouts. It's similar to dodgeball but the ball stays on the ground.

Once they came in, this was the scene for the rest of the night......lots of devices and lots of yelling/cheering. Nate was sweet enough to let Abby be in there most of the night with all of the boy since she loves Fortnite too.

It looks like they are all doing their thing, but they are actually all logged into the same Fortnite game, and just playing on their own devices. So fancy!

I made the boys take a break from video games for 5 minutes to eat some cookie cake and sing to the birthday boy....

Greg finally told the boys to turn off the lights around 11:30 pm. They would have played Fortnite all night if we had let them!!!

Then we had a big breakfast in the morning - chocolate chip pancakes, bacon, and fruit - and a few more Fortnite games before they were picked up at 10 am.

Nate said it was his most favorite birthday ever :)

Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah 5K

Our favorite race of the year, the Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah 5K, was held on August 18th and it was a surprisingly "cool" morning for August.

Nate was excited to run because some of his friends were participating, AND he always looks forward to any opportunity to beat his old man :)

2 minutes into the race - the only time Greg was beating Nate :)

About to start mile 2....feeling the burn!

Nate was battling it out with this kid the whole race and *almost* beat him! Literally the 14-year-old (!) beat Nate by half of a SECOND. Nate was disappointed he couldn't catch him, but I was so proud of him!!! He ran the 5K in 22:06 and got 2nd in his age group of 10-14.

Greg was *very* close behind Nate and finished at 22:20. He did awesome! (Especially for someone who hardly trains/runs at all)

It shows Nate as 17th overall, but he actually got 12th overall! (The first 5 times were a mistake; people that quit the race early but still went near the finish line and their chip was tripped.) And seriously, look at the time difference between Nate and Oliver.....00:00.6!

Nate with Evers, Thomas, and Beau

(Beau's parent are in charge of the race and always do a phenomenal job!)

Proud Dad with Lad :)

Nate & Greg's biggest cheerleader!

Altar Server

Nate was an altar server at Campus Mass on August 15th!!

I'm so proud of him and at the same time, so sad I missed it. We had *no* idea he would be serving at mass that day....he had signed up the first week of school to be an altar server, and just assumed he & the other 5th graders would get a little training from Father Deering since this new to all of them.

Nope!!

He said Father Deering gave them about 5 minutes of instructions and then it was time for mass! He was paired with his buddy Anthony, also a 5th grader and fellow newbie, as well as a 6th grader named Evan.

I was working at a consignment sale that day, and around 10 am my phone starting blowing up. I had 3 friends and 2 teachers send me all these wonderful pictures of Nate and share the news that he was an altar server! I was so thankful :)

Handsome boys! Nate & Anthony

Nate said it "wasn't as scary as he thought it'd be," and he's happy to do it again. (Hopefully next time I will be there to see it!)

Goodbye Summer

School started *super* early for the kids this year.....they went back on August 2nd!!

They were excited to see their friends and truth be told, I was excited to get back on a regular routine. (No surprise there!)

Class lists and teachers were emailed out late on July 31st, and BOTH kids got the teacher they wanted plus they were paired with a great group of friends. (This is one of the many things I love about our school …. since there are only 2 classes per grade, the kids will always have 2-3 of their close friends in their class!)

We headed to Open House on August 1st to meet the teachers....

Abby got Mrs. McNamara ("Mrs. Mac") for 3rd grade. Mrs. Mac was a new (to our school) teacher last year, and Abby seemed infatuated with her from the start. She said she saw her dancing down the hallway once, sitting on the window sill to teach, and she always seemed happy. So, she is a good fit for Abby and I'm thrilled for the year ahead.

More brownie points for Mrs. Mac: she let the kids pick their own seats at Open House! Abby snagged one next to her bestie, Cate. I assured her it probably wouldn't last long, so to enjoy it while she could! (Update: 3 weeks in and seats have been changed for the whole class. Ha!)

Nate got Mrs. Collins for 5th grade, who is also a 20 year seasoned teacher. I have heard great things about her and have worked with her on a few PTO events, so I'm looking forward to Nate's year. He got placed with his best bud, Mason. So this is destined to be a good year! And there are only 16 kids in his class so I was pleased with that!

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On Wednesday morning, the kids jumped right out of bed at 6:20 am, excited for their first day. I *know* this won't continue, but it was nice to have at least one easy morning :)

They have both become pretty picky about their uniforms.....Nate only wants to wear the red dri-fit shirts, and Abby only wants to wear skirts with white shirts. Makes picking out clothes easy though! :)

This might be the last year Nate lets me take this picture in front of the school!

 Their first day was a 1:00 dismissal  - and just happened to coincide with National Ice Cream Day - so we headed to Baked Bear for treats and to catch up on their day...

Abby told me about 100 times that she LOVED SCHOOL! (Like, seriously, she screamed it. Over and over!) She loved Mrs. Mac, she loved sitting with Cate, she loved the reading center with cozy chairs, and she got to be the line leader!

Nate was excited to tell me about the 2 binders that they put together in class (with color-coded dividers for each subject)! And he thought it was cool that his class got to sit with the other 5th grade class at lunch. (In years past, they have to sit with their assigned class.)

So, 3rd and 5th grade are off to a great start!!

Camp Nanny & Poppy

The kids rode home from the beach with Nanny & Poppy, and made a few stops along the way at fruit stands and for homemade ice cream!!

Sunday

Nate went on a run with Poppy in the morning, and everyone went to see Incredibles 2 that afternoon. As usual, Abby hogged the popcorn! The kids FaceTimed me after the movie and said they loved it.

Monday

They took at trip to Raleigh to go to the Museum of History & Museum of Science! This was the first time for the kids and I think they really enjoyed it.

 Tuesday

The rain cancelled their pool plans, so they went to a new trampoline place called Surge! They loved all the trampolines plus the rock wall obstacles. AND they got to see a 2nd movie that afternoon - Hotel Transylvania 3! #spoiled

 Wednesday

The day they had been highly anticipating.....they picked up Anderson & Gibson in Charlotte and headed to the Great Wolf Lodge!! (It's an indoor water park & resort in Concord, NC.) I don't know if Nanny & Poppy were extremely brave or crazy to attempt this overnight adventure with 4 grandkids!!!

 As soon as they checked in, they headed to the water park - duh! Poppy said it was hard to get pictures and I totally understand. And from what I hear, these pictures don't do the place justice --- it was huge! The kids had the time of their lives.

 After an afternoon of water fun, they headed back to the room to change, settle in, explore, and play. The kids FaceTimed me to give me a tour of their room and the "kids cabin." They had bunk beds in their room and thought they were *very* cool!!

 Here is the kids cabin - Nate slept on the single bed, and Abby & Anderson got the bunk beds. (Gibson slept out in the "normal" part of the room with Nanny & Poppy, on a pull-out couch.)

 They ordered pizza in the room for dinner, and then headed down to the water park for some Dippin' Dots before bed! They also got to play in the arcade and apparently Abby - who is literally the world's luckiest human - won 2000+ tickets!!! She was over the moon and divyed up the tickets among her cousins so they could all spend them on junk prizes.

 Thursday

The kids woke up and wanted a few more hours of water park fun. I don't know how Nanny & Poppy had the energy for that, but they did! And here is the cutest pack of wolves, howling with fun before they checked out.....

And if they hadn't already had a ton of fun......all 4 kiddos got to go to the mall and do the Mall Jump!! (Nate & Abby have done this before and loved it. They jump up & down about 20 feet in the air while tied to ropes!

Steak & Shake.....dinner of Champions....

Friday

After a cousin sleepover Thursday night at Nanny & Poppy's, everyone headed back to Charlotte to drop off Gibson & Anderson. Then they continued on to Commerce, GA to meet up with us. We missed them soooo much! 

A big THANK YOU to Nanny & Poppy for spoiling taking such good care of our kiddos for a few days! The memories you guys made are priceless ! :)