Nathan's the Big 1-0!

It's birthday month in our house and the second string of birthdays is about to start...so, I figured I better blog about the first two before the next two hit.

Nathan's big 1-0 hit just a couple of days after school got out...unfortunately on a Sunday. Not too much fun to have a birthday on a Sunday but we did our best to make it fun. He of course opened presents and he chose to have pizza poppers (like mini calzones) for dinner and cookie dough eggrolls for his birthday treat. (That's my boy!) We had the uncles over to celebrate:

But the real fun started the next day...when we had his birthday party! He invited a crew of boys over for a Plants vs. Zombies (it's an ipad game) Party!

Here's the crazy bunch:

We had pizza and cake and ice cream and did a bunch of wild games involving zombies trying to attack and plants fighting them off (weird I know-who makes up this stuff?.

Here they are chucking large marshmallows at each other:

And we did a pinata-painted by dad (we just used a box we had on hand and dad painted it up with characters from Plants vs. Zombies):

 Here's Nathan with one of his best friends Sam:

And another best friend Blake:

Nathan has a good group of kids in the neighborhood to hang out with and I love it. These are good kids that he had at his party.

And here's the pretty awesome zombie cake. It took me all of 10 minutes to decorate and the kiddos all LOVED it. Nice. 

It's funny. A friend drove past the house when the parties were going on (Jack's was the next day-more on that later) and commented that with all those little boys running around having a ball it looked like a perfect ad for happy family life. Funny she said that. We had tears at both parties, grouchiness, meanness, the works. But in the end I think we had a good time. (Just didn't want anyone to think these parties were perfect. No blog facade here.)

I love this picture of Nathan.

It's so him. Such a sweet joy and innocence in that face.

I feel like every year I list the things I love about my boys and every year it's the same because I still love the same things. This is true with Nathan. I say it every year, but the thing I think I love most about him is the way that he is so unassuming when he interacts with people. He doesn't care if you are rich or poor, smart or dumb, tall or short, or growing three legs. Fact is he probably wouldn't notice (observation would not be listed among his strengths). He's just going to be nice to you and treat you the same as anyone else. The kids at school have caught on to this and they are all his friends. I've sat at lunch at school with him and was surprised how many kids stopped to say "hi Nathan!" Now, in true Nathan form he didn't actually notice most of them saying hi because he was in his own world, but I could tell that they liked him.

Nathan is happiest when left to his own schedule. It's hard during the school year because he hates to be rushed SO much. Summer is perfect for him because he can take things more at his own pace. I toyed with the idea of putting him on a swim team this summer but just couldn't bring myself to do it because it's at 9 every morning and he would hate being rushed out the door for it. He just likes to be able to move slowly and do things when he is ready to do them. He is very much like his dad and his dad's dad in this way and in many other ways.

Nathan is PERFECTLY content to be by himself drawing, writing or reading. He is becoming a talented little artist and can draw and draw for hours. He loves to read (love that about him) and he loves to learn. I'm sometimes surprised at how long he can entertain himself quietly in a corner.

He still dresses up in costumes all the time. All the time. He's been this way since he was little.

It's fun to have him getting older and to be able to see more clearly his strengths and his weaknesses and just who he really is. And to figure out ways to parent him and what he needs in life. And to just really get to know and understand him. As he grows I can see his strengths-kindness, intelligence, a desire to do good-so clearly and I can understand the things he struggles with-keeping a cheerful attitude and recognizing the good in his life and being responsible-more clearly and I can better help him grow to be the man I want him to be. I love it. I love watching him grow and progress.

Nathan's a good kid. I love him and I can't believe he's been in my life for 10 years now!