Saturday, September 18, 2010

300 Hours

At dinner tonight Nate told us
"300 hours ago was before my birthday."

We said yes.

He said, 
"300 hours ago was when I was still FIVE 
...and I didn't have a DS."


300 hours ago must have really sucked.

Mustachio Man

As I mentioned in his birthday post, Aunt Lori & Uncle Chris sent Nate a sheet of mustaches for his birthday.


He loves them.

There were twelve mustaches on the page.  Six styles.  They have names like "The Scoundrel" and "The Party Boy" and Nate has been wearing them all.

He wore "The Party Boy" on his birthday and fell asleep in it.  I found it curled up in a little ball and stuck to his comforter in the morning.


He switched to "The Scoundrel" after school the next day and wore it while he played his DS.


Later, he switched to a different one for dinner.


Today, while I was out, he wore yet another one.  I know this because, when I got back, Paige was on the front porch in her bare feet in the rain.  I asked her what she was doing.  She said, "Nate stuck his mustache on a tree and then it rained and now I'm going out to find it again."

I bet your kid never stored his fake mustache in a tree during a rain storm.

E.T. Flashback

I walked up the stairs last night and found this:


He stayed there long enough for me to run back downstairs,
grab my camera, and run back up.

Sarah

I went to the kids' school on Thursday.
I found this on the wall outside of Sarah's classroom.

Cute, huh?

Moon Pies

Ever eaten a Moon Pie?

When we were on vacation, "The Restaurant" served a mini Moon Pie with each kids meal.

My kids loved them.  They were marshmallow and cookies dipped in chocolate and they were a hit.

The other day I saw Moon Pies at the grocery store.   I don't remember ever seeing them before.  I'm sure they were there but that's not the kind of thing I usually buy.  However, now that my people have a passion for Moon Pies I had to buy them.

A bonus was that there were four different flavors!  We'd only ever had chocolate and peanut butter.

I bought one each of chocolate, vanilla, orange, and banana.  Doesn't sound very tasty to me ... but my people were THIRLLED.  Really.

When they got home from school I surprised them with the new treat.  I cut each little Moon Pie into quarters and arranged them on my new cupcake stand (like it??) and let everyone take a variety of flavors.

Didn't think to take a 'before' picture.  Sorry.

Paige re-assembled hers.  Of course.  What else would you expect her to do.

Nate's 6th Birthday!!


Nate turned SIX this week.  It was an exciting day, for sure.


I don't think he's been more excited for a birthday, yet.  It's difficult to believe ... he's been pretty excited for certain birthdays to arrive (Think: "Now can I have my Buzz Lightyear birthday cake?" and "I'm Gustus and I want to live at Nate's house."  ... but this was a BIG day for my boy.


He wanted a Nintendo DS.  Everyone knows this.  Also, I've been telling him for TWO YEARS that I will not buy him one.  I told him nine quadrillion times that I won't buy one because he'll want to play it 32 hours a day and, as a result, I'll miss him.  I felt quite confident that my video game-crazy boy would forever be sucked into his DS.  And, for two years, he has sworn that he will, in fact, still talk to me.  I will not lose him to the video game gods.


He was sure sure sure that I would not buy one.  He was basically pinning all of his hopes on my parents ... even though I told him that they wouldn't buy it either.  He was scheming to the point of obsession.  He would talk about it the instant he woke up each day and talk about it with his last bit of energy each night.  He talked about it with his friends.  He had even planned to immediately rip up any receipts that Grammie might send with the DS she was sure to send him.  He was a crazy, obsessed, plotting maniac.


It will come as no surprise that we did, in fact, buy the poor kid a DS.  
He had NO CLUE that it was coming.  


He was one happy happy boy.  Very happy.

He was also thrilled to get DS games from Paige, Grammie & Poppy, and Cheeky & Jamie's crew and a gift certificate from Matthew, Joey & Juila.  (Thanks, everyone!!!!!!)

Sarah gave him a penguin Pillow Pet (the only other thing he asked for).

Also, he got a really cool (and popular/noisy) voice changer AND a whole sheet of fake mustaches from Uncle Chris, Aunt Lori, and Henry.  I plan to write a whole extra entry about those mustaches!!  They are the surprise hit of the week!

It was a great birthday.  For sure.






Nate's special dinner request??
His favorite food, of course ...
Ramen Noodles.
(Lucky us.)





They stayed up late huddled around that DS.
It hypnotized them.  I'm sure of it.
(But it gave me a chance to use my new tripod.)

He went to sleep wearing the "Party Boy" mustache
and listening to his singing birthday cards.

Happy Birthday, Nate!!!

First Day of School

I can't believe I never posted 1st day of school pictures!  What was I thinking???

Here they are ... in all their glory ...



Sarah is going to 4th grade:



Paige is going to 2nd grade:



Nate is going to 1st grade:



Everyone is happy!


Here's the 4th grade crew (all of the 4th graders at our bus stop):



Here's the 1st grade crew:



Here's the HUGE 2nd grade crew:



And here are some random before and after school pictures:

Papa, Paparazzi!

Peek-A-Boo!


My people at the end of a successful First Day!
This is actually a 2nd day picture ... but
Paige's new backpack didn't arrive until
5 minutes after the bus left on Day One.
Here she is modeling her new 'pack.  Cute, eh?

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

The Cats Help Out

The cats helped me get the kids ready for the first day of school. 
Aren't they nice?

Tucker helped me make a Science Fair Committee poster.  

Truman was my #1 quality control man on the school supply front.

Last Day to Swim

Labor Day is the last day that our 
neighborhood pool is open.  


It is our tradition to go swimming on closing day.  


This year it was 59 degrees and rainy. 


We went anyway.