Nate's 3rd Birthday Party!

I decided to book Nate's 3rd birthday party at The Giggle Factory this year.  It allows for unlimited guests, and the climbing structure is the perfect size for Nate.

Here are the pics...

 As stated in previous posts, Nate asked for a train themed party.  I provided snacks, water bottles, cupcakes, and a couple party favors.  I set up most of the snacks into square containers to look like train cars.  The front of the train was a Thomas the train Easter basket. 

 I made multicolored chocolate cupcakes with train sticker pics.

 The front of the snack train held Thomas the train PEZ dispensers (one of the party favors).

 Thomas fruit snacks, and the Lumber Car (pretzel sticks).

 The Circus Animal Car (animal crackers), and the Coal Car (mini Oreos).

 Chew Chew Chips, and Diesel Fuel (water bottles)...

Homemade train shaped cookies for another party favor...

 

 The birthday boy with his blue cupcake...

 The whole group!

There were a total of 20 kids at the party.  All of the kids and parents had a great time!  We are so thankful so many people came out to celebrate Nate! 

I forgot to take pictures of the play structure, but I have old pictures from a birthday party ET attended there a year back...

 

Nate's 3 year Stats...

Nate is a very healthy and very intelligent young man.  He is meeting or exceeding standards in all areas of development except for expressive language.  He is still enrolled in Speech therapy at Children's, and attends every Thursday morning.  He continued to pass for services through the district for intervention, and is now attending an articulation class at the District Program Service Center Tuesdays and Thursday with a class of 7 other children.
Nate's hearing is great and the ear tubes are still in place.  It has been almost a year since surgery, so we are curious how much longer we have before they fall out.

Here are his growth stats...

Weight: 34 lb. 9.6 oz. (78.33%)
Height: 3' 2.75" (74.24%)

He grew a total of 3 inches, and 6 lbs. 9.6 oz. from last year.  WOW!

One small issue... His doctor detected an innocent heart murmur.  Innocent heart murmurs are also called functional, normal, vibratory, or physiologic murmurs.  They do not cause any problems.  The doctor wants to recheck him in another month.  It may have just been a fluke and she won't hear it again during the next check-up.  If for any reason, she continues to hear it, Nate would need to go in for further testing.  He is not showing any of the signs related to a heart murmur whatsoever (fatigue, shortness of breath, trouble keeping up, trouble sleeping, not growing).  My gut tells me everything is fine, so I refuse to worry too much at this point.

Nate, What we love about you...

Nate,

What we love about you...

• Your sweet kisses, hugs and affection.  You still LOVE to cuddle with a blanket, Eddie, and Mumford the Moose.  Your new favorites are your car blanket and dream light!
• When you say, "I love you" out of the blue.
• Your Faith!  You are always first to remind us when to pray!  I love looking at your adorable little hands folded and your eyes closed!  
•  Your singing!  ABC's, Frosty the Snowman, Jingle Bells, and I Will Wait (Mumford and Sons).
• Your ongoing love for cars and trucks!  We still find parking lots of cars all lined up in the living room or in your bedroom.  Maybe we won't need to pay for a mechanic some day!
• Your eagerness to learn!  You always want to be doing what the older kids are doing.
• Your intelligence!  You know all your letters and their sounds, you know the shapes, and how to count.  You are learning to write the ABC's.  You can even spell and write your name.  You know how to put together basic jigsaw puzzles, and you can cut on the lines (large shapes or straight lines)!  You are still learning your colors...You can point to the correct color, but you cannot recall the name yet. 
• Your crazy questions!  "Where's Lilly Lucy?"  We haven't heard that one in a while, but it was a regular question for quite some time.  We would answer with, "hiding under your bed," and you would always giggle!
• Your bravery and courage to try new things!  You started school recently.  To go on a bus somewhere all alone at the age of 2 is amazing!
• Your willingness to talk and try new words and sentences!  You work so hard at that!
• Your ability to play alone and entertain yourself.  You can concentrate on one thing for a long time, and you have a great imagination! 
• Your playful nature and silly smile!  You know how to make us laugh with your dancing!  Sometimes you really define the statement, "Dance like no one's watching!"
• Your excitement!  You always jump and down and say, "Yay! Yay! Yay!" when I tell you we are going to do something fun!
• Your willingness to always lend a helping hand.  You LOVE helping Mom with the laundry.
• We love that you are potty trained!!!!  You managed to give Mom and Dad a few gray hairs, but you pulled it off!
• We love that you are still such a great eater!  Your favorite foods are: bread (sandwiches, muffins, toast), veggies with ranch (you love anything with ranch), Letter of the day cookies, french fries, pizza, and much much more.
• You have a long attention span for movies.  Your favorite movies are: You still love Dora and Diego and the Cars movie, and you love watching Chuggington and Mickey Mouse Clubhouse on TV.  Another favorite of yours is Cookie Monster, although you don't watch Sesame Street all that often.
• Your favorite toys: CARS, and choo-choo trains!  You have really started to enjoy puzzles lately.
• Favorite Book: You listen well to all stories.  You have no real favorite, but you can recite all of 5 Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed!

You are an amazing little man, and I watch in awe of you everyday!  Your Dad and I are so blessed to be your parents.  We love you with our whole hearts!   May God continue to shine on you with each passing day!

Lot's of unconditional love,
Mommy and Daddy

Nate's 3rd birthday!

On Friday, January 18th we celebrated Nate's birthday at daycare with the traditional cupcakes and balloons.

He asked for chocolate cupcakes with blue frosting, and a "choo choo" train theme.

Friday night we had date night with the daycare kids (I will write more on that later).  Saturday was Nate's actual birthday.  I spent the morning with ET at Superhero training (we signed up for this long ago).  When we came back home, we headed out as a family to The Children's Museum.  Luckily, both sets of Grandparents went in on a family membership for us as a Christmas gift this year.  I was thrilled to learn that the Dora and Diego exhibit would be opening up on Nate's birthday!!!  I am just so elated knowing we can go anytime we want now!

This was one very happy birthday boy!

 

 

The boys favorite place to play was the ant hill.  Nate was terrified at first, but after Paul and I crawled around with him for a bit, he was okay to go independently.  Both boys did not want to leave.

We spent almost three hours exploring and we still did not make it to all the rooms!  What a great place for a child to learn!!!

We left and when we arrived home Nate and ET begged to open Nate's presents right away.

 

Nate received a Plasmacar, a Melissa and Doug wooden birthday cake, Monster feet stilts, and some learning activity books (Hot Dots).

The car was a big hit, of course! 

Here is the cutest thing ever... ET had "Teddy Bear Picnic" day at school on Friday.  He was given Gummi Bears as a snack and math activity.  He decided to save his bears to give to Nate as a birthday gift.  I nearly cried when he pulled his bears from his pocket to explain this to me when he got home from school.  We also decided together that he could "buy" Nate his birthday dinner with one of his Pizza Hut Book-It coupons.  They ate pizza, Gummi Bears, and a cupcake together.  I love seeing the brotherly love!  It seriously melts a Mother's heart!

Nate will be having his friend birthday party at The Giggle Factory this coming Friday night!

Mother/Son Superhero Training!

On the morning of January 19th, ET and I went to Superhero training!  ET begged for me to sign him up for this, and I was so glad I did!  This was such an awesome event put on through the community!  We will definitely sign up again next year!  I look forward to taking both boys some day!

Belly Bumpers...

 Dragon obstacle course/slide...

 Superhero bounce house...

 Angry birds live...

 He spent a lot of time play floor hockey at the end.  There was also basketball, and a batting cage.

 I am one proud Mom!

 Whoa!  I think his muscles grew from all that training!

Christmas Break Cont.

We took December 26th to get caught up before heading up to my parents for the next two days.  I did a little shopping, but didn't find much.

We watched the Santa Claus movie as a family, but Nate did not last very long...

The next morning we headed up North.  We celebrated Christmas with my parents.  We had a great time together!

The boys got new fishing poles that they can keep at the cabin.  My Dad plans to take them fishing this summer.

We went sledding with the boys for the first time.  ET loved it, but Nate cried.  I forced Nate to try going down 3 times with me, but after he kept shouting, "NO!" I let him be.  Maybe next year.

Sunday we watched the Viking/Packer game with friends.  We stayed home and did not do much for New Years Eve.  ET tried his hardest to stay up, but we all only lasted until 10:30 pm.  We were pretty tired from a week of celebrating Christmas.

I loved being with my family for 12 straight days!  We had a wonderful time together.  It was hard to start back at work, but I need a routine to stay healthy.  I gained one too many pounds from Christmas cookies this year! ;)

Christmas Day!

The boys didn't get to bed until late so they slept in and we were able to get up before them.   

Nate woke first and was excited when I reminded him that Santa had come while he was sleeping.  He was content waiting to open gifts until ET woke up.  ET rolled out of bed around 8:30 am, and went straight for his stocking.


I bought our whole family coordinating stockings with our names stitched on them this year.

ET received a Thor hammer, and an Okee Dokee Microphone.  Nate received a stuffed talking Mickey Mouse, and a Mickey Mouse microphone.

The boys opened their gifts from Jay and I right after their Santa gifts.  We spent the rest of the day playing with new toys and enjoying our time together.  I made a delicious brunch and a turkey dinner with wild rice, mixed vegetables, and a salad.  It was a great day.  I could not be more thankful for my family!!!!