Nate is Eight!

Last week this guy turned eight years old! I woke bright and early to pickup donuts for his friends to celebrate at school and he happened to have a half day, so we had time to do other fun things that day. After school, I picked up some lunch from one of this favorite places to eat at home. Then, we were off to Flipside ( a bowling, arcade, bumper car, etc sort of place). The boys did games, played on a play structure and Nate and I did bumper cars.

Afterwards we went to his favorite pizza joint for dinner. He had a good day of his favorite things.

We're glad he had this fun day, as, since the beginning of last week our family had begun passing around a coughing/fever virus. Aaron began with it, then I got it (and literally had to drag myself to do things on Nathan's birthday, sadly) then quite unfortunately the morning of Nathan's birthday party he came down with it, within an hour before our guests were to arrive (we were just having it at our house).

So for the first time ever, I have a few pictures of what would have been Nathan's party - we were doing a Minecraft/Magic theme.

I also had shirts we were going to decorate Minecraft style as well as bead necklaces and Nate was going to some magic tricks from a box of magic he received as an early gift.

I know he's disappointed he didn't get to have his party, but as long as he still receives the presents (kids!) that seems to have lessened the blow. We thought about re-scheduling the party but ultimately decided against it, as sad as it seems. It's just too hard to find a weekend that works for everyone and with what we're trying to accomplish at our house, personally I would rather not mess with it. Especially now since we've been sick, we've fallen behind on work at the house. Too much going on sometimes.

So, some things about our new eight year old --

**Has still only lost two teeth. There are supposedly four loose teeth that he's had for months.

**He survives on chicken nuggets, pizza, macaroni and cheese and PBJ. I can get him to eat some fruit but hardly any vegetables. He's good about drinking water and milk. He's so timid about trying new food.

**Like any child, likes to play games on his tablet he got for Christmas. He looks forward to weekends when we allow that a bit more.

** His good pal this year is Ben, who is in his class. They're also in Running Club together.

**Strives to be a good boy at school. He doesn't like to disappoint his teacher. In general he's just a kind guy, unless he's around his brother sometimes.

** Speaking of little brother, it's cute to see sometimes how he helps me parent. I don't mind, I appreciate it. " Aaron, don't do that you could hurt yourself". " Aaron, you need to hurry and put on your shoes so we're not late". They're pretty good play buddies for the most part, which is pretty fun to watch.

**Wants to be an astronaut. I point this out a lot especially when we're doing math homework - I'm sure astronauts need to know how to do a lot of calculations, right? (well, let's hope so because that's how math gets done).

**Has gotten brave enough now that he can sleep without a lamp/nightlight on.

**Still thrives on routine. This day of the week he has school lunch, this day of the week is movie night, this day of the week we do something fun after school, etc. 

** Second year in Boy Scouts. For his birthday we bought a four day trip over the summer to go with daddy and fellow cub scouts to a camp - not an ordinary camping trip, but one that is full of horseback riding, archery, etc. He is looking forward to it and we continue to enjoy that this is something for the boys in our family to do together.

**Did I mention how the boys in general are excited about us moving? Their musts for the new house : stairs, and an added bonus would be a swimming pool. Oh and room for a new playhouse.

**Doesn't really have any particular favorite movie or show at the moment. Though he does like to play Angry Birds.

**Enjoys Sunday School at church. We're hoping our church doesn't get rid of it as they're beginning to go through changes and stages. 

It's been nice to see as each year goes on a more responsible, independent boy. Parenting gets easier in that way. I don't really have to nag on him too much since he aims to please for the most part.

Happy Birthday Nathan! We love you.