Happy Birthday, Nathan!

Nathan turned 5 years old on May 12th and I am determined to get this blog posted before May is over so here I go...

Nathan is obsessed with birthdays. He knows his friend's birthdays, his brother's and cousin's, our babysitter and her mom's, his grandparents - you get the point. He has been looking forward to his birthday for a long time so the pressure was on to make it really fun for him!

We started off with balloons being dumped on him when he woke up while we sang Happy Birthday. He told us the night before exactly how he wanted this done so we tried our best to follow his directions and he seemed happy with it!

He then had to go on a little treasure hunt to find his first present.

The treasure was a new bike!

When he went downstairs he saw his birthday decorations and was excited that it was finally his day to celebrate. He requested streamers hanging over the sliding glass doors so once again we followed through with his directions!

He also wanted the Family Room decorated...

His preschool class celebrated by singing to him, letting him pick a toy out of the treasure box and eating the cupcakes that we brought.

After school I took Nathan to the party store to get some stuff for his party. He really wanted this big '5' balloon so I caved and bought it for him. He took it home and attached it to his new bike and rode around the backyard. After one lap the balloon got a huge hole in it and deflated. That's $10 down the drain!

Nathan's Primary teacher dropped off a plate of cookies and a really nice card. This was one of the highlights of his day- he loves her!

That night we went to Disneyland for a few hours. We rode some rides and got corn dogs for dinner and then decided to head home for presents and cupcakes.

Nathan wore his birthday hat around the whole time so everyone kept wishing him a Happy Birthday! He loved it!

It was getting pretty late once we got home so he quickly opened his presents.

He asked for a vacuum (random) and so I got him this little Dirt Devil dustbuster. This was seriously his favorite present. He spent the rest of the night cleaning up any mess that he saw which made it my favorite present as well!!!

We then sang and Nathan blew out the candle on his 5 cupcake configuration (another request) and it was off to bed. I think he had a really good day!

Nathan's friend party was a couple days later. He wanted a baseball themed party so we invited 14 boys over and had the party in our backyard. I was a little worried about all of those boys being crazy, but they were awesome! It was such an easy party.

We served food that they would eat at a baseball game...

and had baseball cupcakes.

The party guests...

Nathan with his cousin, Jack, and his good friend from preschool, Gavin.

We did a baseball toss...

played musical bases...

had a hitting contest to see who could hit the farthest...

made personalized baseball pennants...

and had a baseball pinata!

The mad dash for candy!

The goodie bags complete with Cracker Jacks, candy, and Big League Chew for the game winners!

We then ate cupcakes...

and opened presents.

Nathan was excited about all of his new toys!

Nathan with his good friend, Trent. I have to give credit to Robyn (Trent's mom) who came and helped out at the party and took all of these pictures! She did a great job and was so helpful!

After the party I noticed these cupcakes that Jake had eaten. Apparently he only likes the frosting!

Today we went to my parent's for swimming and a BBQ and to celebrate all of the May birthdays. Carli did her spotlights as usual which are always a highlight for everyone!

Nathan and Laney are 5 days apart so it's always fun for them to be able to celebrate together. A few weeks ago Nathan asked me if he could marry Laney and I told him no because she is your cousin. Nathan literally broke into tears and was so upset because he really wants to marry her. Sorry, dude! I promise you'll find someone else!

Nathan ended his birthday celebration with cake and ice cream and opening presents from Grandma and Grandpa. I'd say that he had a really fun birthday this year! He's already talking about what he wants to do for his next birthday- crazy kid!

Five things that I love about Nathan:

1. I know I brag about him too much, but Nathan really is a smart little boy. He can read, can add and subtract single and double digit numbers, can write and count to 100 and is really good at mazes and puzzles. The other day we were at the doctor's office and he asked the doctor how old he was. The doctor replied by asking Nathan how old he was. Nathan told him he was 5 and then the doctor said that he was 8 times Nathan's age. I forgot about it and continued to talk to the doctor and a few minutes later Nathan yelled out, "You're 40!" That kid's mind is always going.

2. Nathan still can't say his 'R's and I love it. It's going to be sad when he goes to speech therapy and learns to fix it. He gave a talk in Primary yesterday and I just had to laugh everytime he said a word with an R in it into the microphone! (I also had to laugh at the fact that he wet his pants while giving his talk, but that's a whole other story!!!)

3. Nathan is a good brother. He is pretty tolerant and understanding of Jake and his special needs. He is just starting to understand why it is hard for Jake to behave how he should. I worry that he is going to start resenting us for how much attention we have to give to Jake, but so far he seems to be handling it well.

4. Nathan is a good helper. He can now get Max out of his crib by himself and get him a sippy cup of milk. It's awesome- I can sleep in a little later now! He is always willing to get things for me and help set the table.

5. Nathan is competitive and hates to lose. I wonder where he gets that from??? We used to let him win games, but now we have to seriously try so that he learns that you can't always win! I love that he loves to play games!

Happy Birthday, Nathan!

We're so glad that you are part of our family!!!