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!

NYC

A week ago right now I was in a hotel room in the middle of Manhattan all by myself and I was nervous. Well, I was actually asleep at this point, but if I had been awake I would have been nervous.

My blog (not this one, the Crazy Little Projects one) actually sent me on a trip to NYC. Well, not my blog, but a company I work with through my blog. Amazing! I never dreamed blogging would take me there, especially not this early on in my blogging career. I was so excited but also a little nervous.

I was nervous to navigate the streets of Manhattan entirely alone, a little worried about safety and pretty worried about the trade show event that I was attending for my blog. It wasn't a blogging event and I knew that I would be a little bit out of my element and I was a little worried about it.

A week later I can say that I had success in all areas. The trip was fantastic, I navigated Manhattan easily and the blogging event went great!

Here are some details from my trip, mostly because I want to remember them. It really was a great trip. And also a few lessons I learned.

Lesson #1: Lane lines are completely optional in NYC. I had heard that driving in Manhattan was nutty and that taxi drivers are the worst. This trip gave new meaning to the line in Elf about watching out for the yellow ones, they don't stop. That's serious. My ride from the airport to my hotel was astonishing. The guy driving couldn't have been a worse driver. I'm talking skipping past long lines of cars waiting to pay tolls and forcing his way in at the front of the line, coming inches from running pedestrians down and the likes. Welcome to NYC.

I had hoped to go to Central Park and wander around that evening but it was very rainy and very cold. So I got dinner and then went to my hotel. People watching from the diner on a corner was a nice intro to NYC though:

Monday I headed to the trade show. It was pretty great except that the part that I was really there for was much, much smaller than I expected. I made some great contacts and did what I came to do, but I am not going to go into details about all of that. Just know that it went well and it was good to push myself a little and make the good contacts there. 

Later that evening I began to wander NYC a little. 

Lesson #2: I am not good at recognizing major landmarks in NYC. 

As I left the convention center and walked to the subway station I saw a neat building up ahead. So neat that I took a picture.

And thought to myself 'that's a big building. I wonder what building that is.' 

Fast forward 2 days when I was about to leave NYC I decided I needed to take a quick trip to see the Empire State Building before leaving town. And as I walked up to where it stands....I realized I had seen it two days earlier. And not realized it. Smart, smart girl. 

Anyway, back to my first day. I took my first subway ride:

And then did some walking to see the Statue of Liberty:

 

And the World Trade Center Memorial. This is a pond that is where the South tower used to stand. They also have one where the North tower stood:

And all around the ponds they have the names of everyone who died. These are first response fire fighters.

 

 I also hit the Shake Shack that day because it had been recommended by so many people. It was pretty great. 

After day 1 I was no longer nervous about negotiating NYC streets. That part was easy. 

The next day I had time to hit the Manhattan LDS temple. I had heard people say this, but I was floored by this temple. You are walking down the busy, crowded streets of Manhattan and out of the blue, there's the temple. You wouldn't even recognize it if I didn't have Angel Moroni on top. 

And then to walk through the doors. The contrast from that busy, noisy, dirty, crowded city to the peace and quiet of that temple is so powerful. Such a strong symbolism in leaving the world behind. The temple itself is so tiny and quiet. When I left that session and walked back out into Manhattan it was almost like walking into a wall, I was that taken aback by the contrast. (And by the way, this was just about a 5 minute walk from my hotel. Loved that!)

  

I also hit Time's Square and got a great price on a ticket to Cinderella!  

 

Cinderella was AMAZING!!! LOVED it! My favorite part were the mind blowing moments when Cinderella's dress changes as she spins in a circle on stage. This was the #1 highlight of my trip. 

Other highlights:

On the roof if my hotel I discovered a beautiful sitting area. I laid on a lounge chair out there and read for about an hour 1 evening and watched the sun set. It was gorgeous. This was probably my next favorite part of my trip. 

Here are some views from up there. This is looking South over Manhattan: 

 

And this is looking West over the Hudson as the sun set.

And here it is a night fall:

I ate lunch in Central park one day and walked around a little. But I admit that it was very hot and very humid that day and I was just worn out and happy to go back to my hotel room.

This is the entrance to Central park about 1 block from my hotel.

 

 And last I've got to show you my crazy hotel room. I found the cheapest one available in Manhattan and it was still $300 a night. So when I walked in to this I was floored. It was about 10 feet square and that was it. And there was just a window and a sheer curtain dividing the bathroom shower from the bed. Glad I wasn't sharing this room with anyone!

 Anyway, it was a fantastic trip, I learned a lot, grew as a person and had a ball! But I was SO happy to come home. And my boys were so sweet saying things like "I really missed you while you were gone!"

Easter

For Easter this year we had my parents in town. A true Easter miracle. They live 8 hours away driving (1 hour flying) but somehow we can't ever seem to get them to come visit. But this time they did! Hooray!!!

Then, in the first couple days when we had sick and grouchy kids I understood. I wouldn't want to visit us either.

No, really, we had fun. Here's just a couple of pictures for Easter Sunday.

Me and the boys decorated cupcakes.

 Lots of cupcakes.

We tried a new technique for dying eggs this year which the boys loved. Here's Dal doing it:

 

Here's a couple of sillies:

And one sick baby.

Home of a BoB Champion!

Time for a little mom brag. We now house a champion under our roof. A Battle of the Books Champion.

Each year at our elementary school the PTA hosts a Battle of the Books. The 3-6th graders have a list of 20 books to read throughout the year and then in March they have a competition with trivia questions.

Last year Nathan's team made it to the finals but ended up losing there (in other words they got 2nd place overall).

This year Nathan's team made it to the finals. Here they are. The Reading Machines:

They compete in front of the whole school in an assembly. They turn out the lights, put on some strobes and all the contestants run into the room (so much fun!) and there was a special guest:

Who posed with all of the finalists:

 

So much fun!

Here they are, set to go into the competition. It's 3rd and 4th graders and these are the top 2 teams:

And guess who won?!!? My Nathan. I was so proud of him. He read all 20 books (only about 20 kids in the school did that) and totally carried his team (mom brag).

Here he is getting his trophy:

 Here he is with Grammy who came to watch:

So proud of my Snood!

Top 10 Reasons Why Dallen is Rad

Dal's birthday was about 2 weeks ago (so sad because he was sick on the big day. Totally lame when you've been counting down to your birthday for like 7 months). So today, in honor of him turning 5, let me share with you the Top Ten Reasons Why Dallen is Totally and Completely Rad.

10. He's happy like 95% of them time.

 
9. He's silly and goofy and a total blast to hang out with.

 8. He likes meat. Favorite meal? Ribs. Followed by steak, ham, bacon and pork.

7. He loves pop music-favorite song: We Are Never Getting Back Together by Taylor Swift. But he can sing better than her. Just ask him to demonstrate sometime. You won't be sorry.

6. He has a ton of enthusiasm for everything and isn't afraid to try anything.

5. When he gets mad about something, he fights a good battle. Like 2 hours on the toilet refusing to wipe himself even though I told him I most definitely would not be doing it (since he is fully trained in that area).

 
4. He can do a headstand for hours. (And with completely straight legs now.)

3. Yes, that's a back flip and yes, he can land it.

2.He can do this.

1. He's just fantastic. I love him a million. Wouldn't you?

Best Christmas Ever

Sometimes in the past me and Josh have professed to love the Christmas season but not love the actual day all that much. It seems like in years past we have sometimes had grumpy, overstimulated kids or boredom by the end of the day. Not our favorite.

This year, somehow, was just about perfect.All morning Josh and I kept looking at each other sort of in disbelief-what's going on? This is amazing! The kids were so good, so happy and it was just so much fun.

Looking back through these pictures just made me happy all over again. Perfect Christmas.

These pictures of my 4 boys in their Christmas jammies on Christmas morning make me soooo happy. They look like total goofballs and that's great, because that's what they are. (I made the jammie bottoms. Nathan's split right up the bum later that morning. Bummer!)

Adam has a thing for ducks, so he got a of ducks for Christmas. Every time he opened one, he kissed it on the beak. It was fantastic!

Exhibit A:


Exhibit B:


He did it with the one from Grandma and Grandpa too but I didn't catch that on camera. He loves his ducks!


I love this picture of Adam enjoying his new Christmas book from Santa.

Jack got the Destroyer Dome that he was hoping for! Good old Santa.

Dal was happy to be the recipient of the big mystery package under the tree. It's great to be the little guy but have the biggest present.

(It was a snowboard.)

Here's Nathan when he opened his Monster Jam ticket:

And I love the sheer joy on his face in this one. It's so Nathanish. It's just a box of markers but he's so thrilled!

Jack has been begging me for long time to make him a stuffed leopard to match his pillow. He got it for Christmas. (On a side note, Jack had counted all the presents under the tree and discovered that he had 1 less than his brothers. He informed me that I hated him and that he was the least favorite child. I was still working on the leopard. He took his words back when he saw it.) He named him Snuggle Buddy:

Adam, fat and happy with his Goldfish from his stocking:

I feel so happy. What a great Christmas.