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!!

First Day of School

It's hard to believe that it's time for school to start already!

 

The kids had Open House on Wednesday, where we got to meet their teachers & see their classrooms. Nate has Mrs. Wagner, who I've heard is fabulous and very challenging :) Should be a good year! He went right to his desk and wanted to see all the textbooks inside! #nerdalert

 Abby has Mrs. Bullard for Kindergarten, who I'm absolutely thrilled about. Mrs. Bullard's youngest son is friends with Nate, so we've known their family for awhile and I think the absolute world of Mrs. Bullard. Abby was greeted by her friends at Open House with lots of kisses, hugs, and giggles! :) Girls will be girls.

 

And then yesterday was the kids' first day of school!!! 6:30 came early for my two sleepyheads but they quickly rallied when I reminded them that I had packed a special lunch for them....a lunchable! :)

 

Here is my handsome 2nd grader:

And my Kindergartener's first time wearing a uniform! Big day! (Translation: no more battles

every single morning regarding picking out clothes. I'm so relieved!)

New lunchboxes!!

Let's go, Mom! Enough of the pictures already!

I can't handle the cuteness :)

Nate is so excited that Abby is finally in the same
building as him!

My Slim Jim :)

Greg and I walked Abby to her classroom to help her get settled. She was a little bit confused and definitely pretty clingy, which is not like her. Also, the school is trying something new this year, where half of the kindergarteners go on Thursday, and the other half go on Friday. It's a way to ease into the transition into kindergarten, have a smaller group, etc. They split up the groups alphabetically, and unfortunately, all of Abby's friends have names in the 2nd half of the alphabet. So, she was not happy that her friends weren't there! I told her on Monday everyone would be reunited :)

Finding her cubbie

Not thrilled

Daddy has the magic touch.....pointed out her pretty purple pencil
pouch and she was all smiles :)

 

Let's do this!

I was nervous to hear how their days went, but when I picked them up (from the same building! same carpool line!), they were both ALL smiles. And very very very talkative. In fact, they started fighting right away b/c they had so much to tell me, ha! We met some friends for ice cream at Orange Leaf and I heard all about it....

The first two things Nate told me about were incentive programs and rewards they can earn, ha! He was excited to visit the computer lab, his lunchtime was way too short, he liked how organized his desk was, and he thinks his teacher is very strict :)

 

Abby had fun going on a scavenger hunt around the school for Pete The Cat, made two new friends (Bella & Roberto), got rained on at recess while she was swinging, thought lunch was too short, liked the reading center in her classroom, and said her jumper was very comfortable :)

 

I'm excited for another great year at Holy Spirit!

Nate's Author Celebration & Spring Sing

**I recently received some new pictures from a friend, and wanted to blog about these two events, even though they took place back on May 19th!**

 

Nate's class worked VERY hard on creating their own books. Seriously, from start to finish, I think it took close to 3 months! :) Each child came up with the concept for their story, wrote it down - many, many times to get the spelling & grammer correct - and they did their own illustrations as well. It was turned into a hardback book, and each parent received a copy of their child's book!!

 

Nate's book was about Pokémon, of course. I was so proud of him for working so hard on the storyline & all the detailed drawings. His teacher invited all of the parents to the classroom for an "Author Celebration," where each child read his book aloud. And there were lots of fun snacks too!

Click here to hear Nate read his Pokémon book and his excerpt from the class book. (The class book was where each child drew 1 picture and wrote 1 short story.)

So proud of my little author!

That same afternoon, the elementary school held its' annual Spring Sing, where each grade performs one song. The 1st & 2nd grade boys were assigned Michael Jackson's "Beat It." It was hilarious and adorable, all rolled into one.

Click here to hear the boys sing "Beat It."

Nate could not get enough of his sequined glove.
He was so excited to be able to bring it home & keep it!

#justbeatit

Camp Nanny & Poppy

"Camp Nanny & Poppy" is something my parents started 4 years ago, where the grandkids (well, just Nate initially) get to spend a few days at their house in NC without any parents. Not as many rules, and lots more fun!! So obviously, my kids look forward to this every summer. (And so do I!)

 

The one requirement to attend Camp N&P is that you are potty-trained, so this was Anderson's first summer to go!!

 

But first, Nate & Abby got a few days alone with N&P. They rode home with them from the beach on Sunday, stopping at a few fruit stands and enjoying homemade ice cream along the way. Yum!

 



#selfies with Poppy

 Monday morning, Abby jumped at the opportunity to go to the carwash with Poppy. Usually this is Nate's favorite thing to do, but apparently Blondie wanted in on the action too. Her reward for helping to vacuum & clean the car?! A stick of gum :)

 Then it was time to go the pool! (This is the neighborhood pool I grew up going to every summer.... I have such fond memories there; we'd spend all summer there with our family, friends, and doing swim team.)

Abby's first time on the diving board!

 

 That afternoon, they went to the new Minions movie. And I'm told that Abby hogged the popcorn & coke, as usual. Good thing she's cute!

Tuesday morning, they were off to Dan Nicholas park, which is in Salisbury, NC and about an hour away. Here, they got to play on the playground, have a picnic lunch, ride the carousel (Abby's fave), go to the Barnyard, ride the train, and mine for gems (Nate's fave)!

 Wednesday was the day they had been waiting for! They travelled to Aunt Bebe & Uncle Mike's house to meet cousins Anderson & Gibson ....and rent a boat on Lake Norman!!

 From what I hear, this girl was fearless. She tubed for the first time, and loved swimming & jumping off the boat.

 Nate got to tube for the first time too, but enjoyed floating & relaxing more than anything :)

 Such a fun day! And surprise, surprise....even Poppy got in the water!!! (This a rare occurrence when it comes to lakes, believe me!) Uncle Mike was a great Captain all day, and even Aunt Bebe got in on the tubing action with Anderson. Gibson slept through most of it....#partyanimal

 Anderson came to Camp N&P that afternoon, spent the night, and then Thursday morning it was off to Chuck-E-Cheese. I asked my parents why they didn't get a lot of pictures of the kids other than these - um, that's because I think they were a little outnumbered and busy chasing Anderson around, ha! All 3 kids had a blast eating pizza & playing games, and most of all.......redeeming their tickets!

Abby picked out a bracelet & make-up ring, while
Nate got a coin holder. #perfect

 While the kids were in good hands in NC, Greg and I went on a rare date night. We ate at a local seafood place and then topped off the night with a donut.

#weareold

 Friday afternoon, Greg and I met N&P and the kids in Commerce, GA (the halfway point between here and NC, and also the home of some great outlets)! It was sooooo good to see the kids....I couldn't get enough hugs & kisses!

 We checked into our hotel and walked to a nearby restaurant, La Hacienda, for dinner. My Mom & I went early, so I could buy her a well-deserved margarita!

Once again, it was a successful "Camp Nanny & Poppy!" We are so grateful for the time our kids get to spend with you guys, and the quiet time we get to have here.

 

Just 350 days until next year's camp!! :)