Tooth #3

Nate lost his third tooth last night!

 

It was a bit traumatic, though it had been loose for a while and he was very ready for it to come out. Daddy had to help pull it a little, so there was blood and some tears.

 

But quickly after I reminded him that the Tooth Fairy would be coming, he was all smiles :)  He woke up this morning, happy to see his $2 from the Tooth Fairy!!

Truth be told, I'm not quite ready for this big boy smile :(

 

Even though he's already lost his bottom two middle teeth, it was losing this tooth that made me really sad. His beautiful smile will never be the same!! And it's like he's finally entering the "awkward" stage, which really just means he's getting older.....

Hangin' Tough

 

About a month ago (before Nate received his uniform & yellow belt), he had professional karate pictures taken. From looking at posters in the studio of previous year's pictures, he saw that he was going to be able to use REAL weapons and was super pumped!!

 

He picked the sais first (think: TMNT Raphael - his fave)! I started to get a little nervous once the photographer said to him "Show me your tough face." Oh dear. We don't have one.

 

But this is what she got:

 Hilarious, and adorable. Then, she wanted him to do a series of high kicks. I was impressed he could kick this high! Again, with the serious/tough face.

 Then, the classic Nate pose with his beautiful smile. Not so tough, but oh so sweet!

 I couldn't make up my mind so I bought all three and got this as a bonus! Love it! Nate wanted it printed and framed in his room :)

So proud of my little tough guy!!

(**Family - let me know if you want to print any and I will email you the images. I got mine printed at Office Max.)

Birthday Visitors!

(Yes, I am STILL posting about birthday stuff! I swear, it is never-ending around here!!!)

 

My parents & sisters came into town last week for Nate's birthday party, and we had a full house!! Just to let you know how full....

 

-Bec & Mike were in the master bedroom, with poor Anderson in a pack-n-play in the master bathroom (Let me tell you people, we have a SMALL master bath! Poor A)!

-Abby slept on the trundle bed in Nate's room

-Nanny & Poppy were in the guest room

-Lora was in Abby's bed and I was on an air mattress in there (sister slumber party)!

-And poor Greg got demoted to a couch in the living room!! (Don't feel too sorry for him; the man can literally sleep on a concrete floor. Seriously.)

 

Anyways....

 

Nanny & Poppy arrived Thursday afternoon, right as we were getting home from school pick-up. After the unloading process - if you know my Dad, you know he likes to bring lots of goodies!! - I heard some giggling in the playroom and found this:

Poppy & the kids taking "selfies" :)

Thursday we had a low-key dinner at home and the kids took turns fighting over who they wanted to play with. Usually it ended up with Nate & Poppy looking at Pokémon cards, and Nanny & Abby coloring / playing games / do perler beads.

 

Friday, after the kids went to school, Nanny & I headed out for pedis. So fun! Then we met Poppy & Greg at a great local place called Rama Jama's for lunch. It's in the shadow (literally) of Bryant-Denny Stadium, and a great local place with UA memorabilia everywhere. And the best cheeseburgers in town.

As we were eating, we get a text from Bec that they are en route from NC. Aunt Lora drew the short straw and got to sit next to Anderson on the airplane :) (Just kidding - he did great! They watched Mickey & Dora, went over safety regulations, and talked. A lot.)

 

 Bec, Mike, Anderson, and Lora rented a car from the B'ham airport, and arrived at our house while I was at school pick-up. The kids were delighted to come home to their favorite cousin!!!!!

 The last time Anderson was at our house was August 2013 - for Nate's 6th birthday. Of course, he was only 1 at the time and doesn't really remember it. So it was fun seeing him get excited about our house and all of our toys! The play kitchen in Abby's room was an early fave....

While Anderson cooked, Abby looked in the mirror and sang/played dress-up....Lord help me!

By far, A's fave toy was our doctor kit!
 

Friday night was Nate's belt ceremony at karate, so our group split up. Me, Greg, Lora, Nanny & Poppy went to see Nate. While Bec, Mike, Anderson, and Abby stayed at home. Bec did a great job entertaining the two littles!!

Cousin strangle or hug!? Not sure.

Late dinner

Bedtime stories & snuggles

We had a big of an early wake-up call Saturday morning. One of the smoke detectors started beeping around 5:45 am. I ran downstairs to get Greg, new batteries, and a ladder. I hurriedly had him change the batteries on the one I thought was beeping. Oops, wrong one! When he disconnected it, the house alarm went off. Awesome! Ran downstairs to turn that off. Then we searched the house for the -still- beeping smoke detector. It was in the guest room, so of course N&P woke up. Got the batteries changed but everyone was wide awake by then. So.........it was an early morning and these two were on the swing set by 7 am!

Aunt Lora joined in the fun

Anderson loved playing the clubhouse (aka "the lighthouse")

Peeking in on our neighbor's dog

Forts & playtime in Abby's room

We had to get out of the house (!!), so we headed to the Airport Park. The weather was perfect - windy and not too sunny. Nanny made friends with a few people who were there trying to adopt a puppy. She does this wherever we go! :)

These 3 pics were taken in the span of 2 minutes....

Such a moody girl !!

Playing "grumpy old troll" with Nanny

After lunch, we had more playtime and Nate finally got to open some presents.

Thanking Abby for his gift

And the thing he most wanted, a lego set from Legends of Chima.....

He got it! The Cragger Command Ship

.....And right to work he went! While the little ones napped, this one hibernated in the craft room for 2 hours.

Done!!

Getting the cupcakes ready for the party!

Nanny took the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge

We had the party Saturday night and it was a huge hit, despite the fire alarm incident. I don't think the kids went to bed before 9:30 pm that night. Crazy!!

Back at it, the next morning. Another new lego set.

Cra-Z-sand cousin playtime outside

Bec, Mike, Anderson, and Lora all headed home Sunday morning. We were sad to seem them go!!! This little one had a FULL weekend and slept the whole plane ride home....

Nate worked tirelessly on this Pikachu during naptime. Instead of legos, they are nanoblocks and oh so small!!! He said it was one of the hardest sets he's ever put together.

Since we had free babysitters in town Sunday night, Greg & I got to go on a rare date night !! Dinner at one of our faves, Five Bar, and then drinks at Black Warrior Brewery (where I may or may not have schooled Greg in shuffleboard) :)

 

What a great birthday weekend, celebrating Nate!

Pokemon Pool Party

My little fish wanted a pool party for his birthday this year, and insisted on the "Triple P" as a theme - Pokémon Pool Party! :) We rented out the UA pool last Saturday night, and were happy to celebrate with so many family members and friends!

 

The candy "energy" bar

That's supposed to look like a pokeball, lol

Goody bags! Complete with lots of treasures and an added bonus thanks to Poppy - each kid got to take home 10 Pokémon cards!

The best sisters ever

Summer in Alabama = melted cupcakes

We got the pool, lazy river, baby pool, and waterslide all to ourselves!

Definitely has Daddy's neck :)

"Look, it's Nanny & Poppy coming down!!"

 The party was slated to last from 6:15 pm - 8:15 pm.....well around 7:30 the frickin' fire alarm started going off and we were all ushered outside the pool. After a few minutes, a police car appeared to check it out. The kids were thrilled!!!

 Then, a few minutes later.......two fire trucks pulled up!!! They were worried there was a fire in the pump room. So again, we used this time outside for some photo ops :)

"HOT MOMMAS!"

Luckily, after about 30 minutes, we were able to re-enter the pool area and continue our party. And they allowed to stay 30 minutes past our end time, hooray! It was so fun swimming and sliding in the dark, and of course we were thankful there was no real fire (just a malfunction of one of the alarms).

 

Definitely a party that will go down in history as one of our most exciting!!! :)