Rat

There is a little rat in our house.  A rat who comes into the kitchen quietly and eats things that would get a "no" if the rat asked Mom.  The rat is clever and stealthy...his name is Jason.  At least that's what I assume from the brownie residue he leaves on his face and fingers...

 No one else really wants to eat the food that the rat has touched, so then we just let the rat eat the rest of whatever it is that he was after in the first place.  Dang, cute little rat...

Invited

Nate got invited to a birthday party.  The invitation was from a kid in his class, and he talked about it for a week straight.  It was a super hero party and lucky for us, we had a Spiderman costume that he could wear.  We picked out a gift and he helped wrap it.  He was so excited to go!  This boy loves friends.  There are only 2 other boys in his pre-school class, but he talks about them every day and really likes them.  I wish we lived closer to them, or had a few other kids in the neighborhood for Nate to play with.  Jason is his only option these days and it just doesn't cut it for Nate.
He had a great time at the party.  He came home with a huge rug burn on his face from when "Cash took me down and it made my face rub on the carpet".  I can imagine that it was a big wrestling mess of crazy boys.  Crazy fun.  Yay for Spider-Nate!

Arrow of Light

Jake went to scouts a few weeks ago and came home with his Arrow of Light award.  He earned it quite a while ago when he was still in cub scouts, but the night we went to pack meeting for him to be awarded, we were the only ones there, so we decided to wait to award him until more kids could be there.  Months went by, and I didn't know he was going to a court of honor, or I would have gone been there and taken pictures of him getting the award.  I was really bummed that I didn't go.  I thought it was just regular scouts.  I am proud of him for working toward these goals.  He has some great leaders who have helped him along the way.   Way to go Jake!

Random Art

I let the pictures hang from our door and fridge for a really long time because I never know what to do with them.  I don't want to just toss them in the garbage, but at the same time, I can't keep everything!  So, I have been taking pictures of things and this was a "clean off the door" day, so there are random pictures to post.

I thought this one was so cute.  For one thing, the way he traces his name is so cute, and I love the picture he drew of himself.  So cute!

I just thought this one was funny.

...and I love that his magic hat will turn him into a gecko.  I think it's from watching PJ Masks (a cartoon that he likes).

This is one of Jake's creations.  He doesn't bring home much anymore, but I thought this one was cool.

This picture made me smile every time I looked at it too.  It is Allie's art.

I just thought this nest of Nate's was cute, and the paper below is his name without the teacher helping him at all.  It isn't as easy for him to write his own name as it was for Allie and Jake.  He has more letters!  But he insists on using Nathan instead of Nate.

This last one is Nate's too.  He said that it's a picture of him and Jason playing.  He also ate the paper on the way home from church...nice.

Jason

I recently got a cell phone.  I haven't ever really had one and I have found it to be useful.  One of my favorite things is that if I carry around my phone, I always have a camera.  So, I had a camera when Jason started doing this thing with his hands and blanket that he does every nap and bed time.  I realized that I didn't want to forget his cute little fingers rubbing the material of his blanket, so I snapped some pictures and took some video.

I haven't had another kid who loves a blanket like Jason has loved his blankets (Black Blankey, Hedwig, and now Big Blue).  He finds so much comfort in snuggling his blankets and rubbing them with his fingers.  It is the cutest thing ever.

The camera on my phone isn't the best camera ever, but it is better than nothing and I am glad I have a picture of these cute little hands forever.  I love those cute hands...

Leprechaun Trap

Allie had to make a leprechaun trap for school.  It was in the middle of a busy week and I pushed the project onto Mike to help her, and I took off for book club.  That's how I prioritize :)  They did a great job.  I think Allie did all of the decorating and she did a great job.

 The boys were excited to go to Allie's school and check out all the traps.  Allie is a good sister and showed them all around.

I never did things like this in school, and I don't think I missed out on anything.  Sometimes it's hard to add a big project like this to the list of things to do at home in the evening, but Allie remembered Jake's leprechaun trap and had been looking forward to it all year.  I guess that's why they do it.  She had a great time, and I was happy to be at book club while she did it.  Thanks Mike!

Jammie Trouble

Sometimes Nate gets upset when Mike gets him ready for bed.  He cries and begs for me to help him.  It drives Mike crazy because he just wants to get the job done.  This is why Nate asks for me...

 I would never put his legs through the arms and the arms through the legs and then expect him to sleep like that.  Mike did...and does.

 Mike also doesn't care if the tops match the bottoms.  Nate does...and he knows that I'll help him find jammies that match.  He also knows that if his feet are at all inconvenienced (in footy pajamas), I will help him work it out.  Mike won't.  That's why Nate would prefer if I got him ready for bed every night.  Crazy dad...

Applesauce Helper

Allie was bored on a Saturday and offered to help me with my chores.  I needed to re-fill all our applesauce pouches and she thought that would be a fun job...so she did it.  

 It's so nice when kids are actually useful!

5!

I think 5 might be the most exciting birthday ever.  Nate has been looking forward to turning 5 and has been counting down the days for as long as I can remember.  I don't think he was disappointed and is happy to tell anyone who will listen that he is 5 now.  I love my sweet Nate boy and I am so happy that he is mine.  He and I are good pals.

 He chose Lucky Charms for his birthday cereal and didn't let me forget that he needed to drink from the birthday cup.

 He got to pick out his own balloons and requested lots of mustache balloons.  I am a bit sad that he isn't an exclusive green lover anymore.  He still loves it, but he also loves all the colors of the rainbow and especially blue.

 He requested a worm cake again and wanted to be able to see the worms that were in the dirt.  So, I borrowed a trifle bowl and even though you can't really see them, there are lots of worms floating in the mud layer.  He also requested green grass at the top.
Just in case you were wondering, congealed worms are really gross in a cake that has a layer of pudding.  As soon as I put on the second layer, I remembered that the worms seem to melt and then taint the flavor of the rest of the cake (experience from the last worm cake).  I just didn't remember it when it was early enough to do anything about it.  I guess you live and you learn...and then you have a lot of gross left over cake.

 Nate wanted to go bowling for his birthday.  Grandma came up and brought our cousin with her.  She also took Nate shopping and he picked out a Star Wars Lego set with her.  He is really excited to put it together with Jake.

 We really do love each other...

 He's actually a really good bowler for a 5 year old.

 Jake got some bowling lessons from Grandma...

After bowling, it was time for cake and gifts.  He ended up with some fun ones.  It was hard to narrow things down because he wanted so many things.  He ended up with a scooter, a race car track ,(my sister in law told us to get this blue track and it is a total hit!), some cars, Lego's, a Chewy for his xbox game with Jake, and a little hovering green thing that Mike picked out.  He was so happy with everything.  It's fun to give him things because he is so happy and so grateful for everything.  Like I said, I love this boy.

I am a bit bummed that he just keeps getting older, but I know it's bound to happen, so I am embracing it.  He still says cute things like "I love you for 19, 40, 60, 78 months."  He is the king of negotiation and he doesn't take no for an answer, so he wears me down after a while.  It's easier to agree to his demands than to argue with him for 3 hours.  I really do think he's a pretty smart kid and he listens intently and remembers things.  He will think about something I have said a long time ago and then ask me about it after he has formed his conclusions.  He really likes reading the books that we have about the Book of Mormon and he has a fascination with the Lamanites.  It's interesting to hear the questions he asks me days after we have read one of the stories.
He really looks forward to having a family of his own and being a dad to his kids.  He talks about his future wife and says it's going to be a girl in our ward named Sophie because she is nice to him and she wears pretty dresses to church.
Nate loves to ride his strider bike around the neighborhood and he loves to get a treat from the next door neighbors.  He tells me he hasn't had his "second" treat if he still has a sweet tooth after he has already had one treat.
He likes when it's nap time for Jason, and he reminds us all about it after lunch because he wants to play the wii.  He is really into Jake's Transformers game right now.
He likes to sit in the same spot at the table and gets really upset if Jason tries to sit at his spot.  He likes tomato soup and grilled cheese and would eat it every day if I let him.  He makes excuses about eating nearly everything else.  The cereal is too crunchy...then too soggy...then not enough milk...then too much milk...it goes on and on, until his treat is threatened, then he'll gag it down.  He eats several apples a day and thinks he's pretty hot stuff because he can get one out of the fruit basket, or down in the cold storage room, all by himself.
He loves going to preschool and loves his little friends.  We spend the whole way there arguing about whether or not he can have gum (he thinks he can chew gum at school, and I don't think he can), and the whole way back arguing about going over to his friend's house.  I really wish he had a little friend to play with around here...besides Jason.  He lives for friends.
We registered for kindergarten the day before his birthday and he rattled off his alphabet and numbers  like it was nothing.  He does need to work on writing a bit.  If there were tests on his gaming abilities, he'd pass with flying colors...bad mom here.
Anyway, I could go on and on about the boy, but I'll just end with saying that I love him.  I remember how hard he was as a baby, and how he tried his hardest to stress me out as he tasted every "pozen" (poison) he could lay hands on and escape every place we went.  He has a mind of his own and he knows what he wants.  Things are so much easier now though.  He wants to make me happy and he loves doing what is right.  He has a soft heart and really doesn't like getting into trouble, so he doesn't do it all that often.
I am just so grateful for the boy and for all he is to me.
Love you Nathan Joe!

A View

Jason and Nate are my little buddies.  6 years ago when Allie and Jake were their ages, they were my buddies.  I remember driving in the car and singing Backyardigans songs with Allie and Jake.  They sat on both ends of the middle seat because there weren't any other kids getting into my car, so they could be separate and not be tempted to fight.  I'd look into my mirror and only see Allie back there.  That was a cute sight for sure, but now the boys have to sit right next to each other so the seat next to them can be down and allow access to the back seat.  Now we listen to the beach boys, Taylor Swift, Kelly Clarkson, and all sorts of dance songs that make Nate sing along.  Now, those two boys fight like crazy if they want to, but mostly, the view from my rear view mirror is cute.  I have wanted to take a picture of that view for 2 years now.  My big camera doesn't zoom out enough to get them both in the frame, so I tried it with the cell phone.  I think the lady in the truck must have thought I was pretty vain because I tried for a really long time to get a picture that would work, and I'm sure she just thought I was taking a ton of selfies in the Lee's parking lot.  Anyway, I love these cute boys in my mirror.  I love when they try to hide from me in the mirror.  I tell them that I can see their ears and they hurry to cover their ears, but that leaves their noses in sight and they hurry to cover them too.  Nate has gotten smart about that and will just duck down below my sight line.  We don't spend a whole lot of time in the car, but when we do, I love to hear their excitement about the cars that they see, or the airplanes that are flying around us.  I love to hear them sing songs and recognize the places we are.  They are just fun little buddies.  The time really did fly by when Jake and Allie were my back seat passengers, so I am trying to enjoy these little friends as much as I can.  I don't even mind that sometimes we have to listen to Wrecking Ball from Miley Cyrus on repeat...   

A Play

Nate was directing a play and he asked me to take some pictures.  There were some frustrating moments for him when his main actor wouldn't "play dead" as well as he was supposed to, but I would say that overall, he did a great job on his play.  

It consisted of him shooting Jason...

...and Jason slowly dying...

...ending with Nate shouting victoriously at his death.

Poor Jason had to endure dozens of shots until he finally got it right.

It was a treat to watch.  Should I be worried?