Happy 4th Birthday

Nathan went to preschool and brought a special treat to share (fish sugar cookies). Then he went to his buddy, Jonah's house for a couple of hours. Tuesdays are our busy nights, but we managed to get dinner in before we headed off to soccer practice and such. Originally he told me he wanted noodles and rice for dinner. I asked him several more times to see if we could get something other than carbs added to the menu. Two days before his birthday he told me he wanted "the same dinner as last night. Only no peppers and no meat and no zucchini." I said, "so you want corn on the cob?" "Yep, just corn on the cob." HE HE HE. I managed to get him to agree to chicken, so we had chicken, rice, corn on the cob and red peppers ("not cooked"). He had been telling me for months that he wanted a shark cake (I'm thinking he got the idea from Jonah who had been saying the same thing). Then about a week before his birthday he changed his mind and said a wolf cake. Then he changed his mind again. The day before his birthday I went through thing after thing (cars, race track, truck, shark, monkey, any other animal I could think of, beach, etc, etc - probably 30 things, showing him pictures of different options and everything). Sometimes he would said yes to something and then a minute later he would say no. Finally I gave up and decided to make my own choice. So I made him a snake cake, which he was happy as could be about. It was a fun day. The next morning he asked me if it was still his birthday. I said, "no, but guess how old you are," and he got a big grin on his face and held up 4 fingers. Nathan is quite the character in our home. He is a real mix between the personalities of all our kids. He is just an all around fun kid - fun and happy. He's smart. We can see the wheels moving around in his head (about all sorts of different things). He is a sneaker. There has been more than one occasion that we have found big chunks taken out of the middle of cakes or brownies during the night (realizing it was him). He likes to ride bikes on the back deck and jump on the trampoline and jump from the couch to the love sac (despite the number of times I tell him not to). He loves cottage cheese, other cheese, most fruits, red and orange and yellow peppers (he will eat them like an apple), anything sugary (he must take after his Mom), chicken, rice, plain noodles, pancakes, and lots of other things. He will ask me if he can help me drive once we get onto our little dirt road almost every morning...and he has some pretty good control. He LOVES his little brother. Austin can make anything better for Nathan. He says great prayers. He finally likes our dog but isn't very fond of most other dogs (well, he likes them....from a distance). He is pretty independent and capable: can buckle himself in the car, put on his own clothes and shoes, take his own showers, help himself to his own snacks and is even pretty good at cleaning up (when it suits him). He says some awesome things. We just love him to bits and can't imagine life without him. Grandpa and Grandma Dick sent him a Swat costume in the mail for his birthday. At first he wasn't sure he wanted to try it on - he had another costume on at the time and was pretty content wearing that. But we convinced him and then he didn't want to take it off all day.

State Fair

State fair time in Albuquerque. We love to go to the state fair. We tag along with a home school group (so we get in for free). The day we went was "Military Day" so they had military gear for the kids to try on. Nathan loved going into the military tanks and vehicles. We got a milkshake to share from the Dairy Farm. They climbed the rock wall. We watched the pig races and walked through the McDonald's Farm.

Dirty Dash

We ran in our first ever "Dirty Dash." I ran earlier in the morning and then brought the kids later for the "Piglet Punge." This is just a one mile race where they still get to go through some of the mud puddles, but not as many of the obstacles. Nathan was all excited to do it, but after the first puddle the novelty had definitely worn off. He was DONE after the second puddle, which was super slippery and hard to climb out of. I pretty much held him for the last 1/2 to 2/3 of the mile. And then he wasn't very fond of rinsing off with the hose once we got home either. Maybe next year he'll like it a little more.

First Day of Preschool

Yesterday was Nathan's first day of preschool. He has been talking about going to "Megan's school" since her last day in the Spring. We have been counting down the weeks and days for the entire summer. And it got even worse once the other kids started school. He was so excited to get ready and go. He was ready to go get in the car a half an hour before we had to leave. When I went to pick him up at the end of the day he said, "I loved it Mom." His best little bud, Jonah, is in his class with him.

World Travelers....almost

We had a great summer trip in July/August.We were gone 18 days, we traveled through 10 states, we attended 3 family reunions and we traveled almost 4,000 miles (and our van made it without a problem the whole way). Here are some of the highlights of the trip:*Camping at Carlsbad State Beach - we were literally right above the shore and we could hear the waves crashing at night. We stayed here during the Sorensen Family Reunion. We spent an entire day at the beach. Of the 7 hours we were at the beach, Caelan was in the water for 6 of them (she is our little fish). Sean went out in the water, intending to just wade for a bit, but a wave caught him and took him down. Unfortunately he was wearing his glasses, which were taken right off with the wave. Luckily we found an Optometrist office that gave us a trial pair to take for free. We enjoyed another day at the park visiting, playing volleyball, eating yummy food etc.*Caelan made friends with a bunch of my cousins' daughters, which was fun to watch. Nathan also made a friend, Brinlee. They played and played together. One day she fell and got hurt and Nathan put his arm around her and walked her to her dad (it was so cute). I sent my cousin a message after we left the reunion telling her how fun it was to watch those two little ones play together. She wrote back saying that Brinlee had been telling her that Nathan is now her boyfriend. HA! Love it.*We hit up Los Hermanos on our way from southern CA up to Northern ID, which is always tasty (and brings back fun memories).*The trailer story (but that deserves a post all on it's own)*Camping at Farragut State Park (about 20 miles outside Cour d'Alene, ID). It was beautiful. We played at the lake, went boating, had campfires, took a day trip to a mountain resort, found a delicious ice cream parlor and got homemade ice cream cones and had a fun time visiting. *We made the next trip to the final reunion in Boise, ID. For this reunion we stayed in an empty house with some mattresses for beds. *For this reunion, the Taylor Reunion, we had a couple of swimming pool parties, we watched "How To Train Your Dragon" outside, and I actually got to watch a little bit of the Olympics....finally.*We spent one day floating along the Boise river. There were only three decent drops and Grandpa Sorensen fell right out on the first one, which gave us all a good laugh.

*We spent one night camping at a Reservoir about 30 minutes away. The grassy campground was right on the lake, and the water was super shallow so the kids spent lots of time way out in the water. We boated and jumped off the dock and made smores and had a fun little overnighter. *I met Corbin in Eagle Mountain, UT at Charity's house and we caravanned together back home to New Mexico.

Sneaky Sneakerson

About a week ago after putting the kids to bed we were watching TV in the living room and I heard a little noise. It didn't last long and I didn't hear any little voices so I just ignored it. When Dad and I went up to bed we noticed Nathan sleeping on the landing of the stairs that are right outside the living room. It was almost like he laid there and watched the show with us through the doorway. The next morning I got up to get the kids ready for school and I noticed in the kitchen that the cake (that was made for one of Dad's boy scouts for his birthday the night before) was stripped of it's frosting as well as being picked at. Dad sent me a text later that morning saying, "I guess Nathan was too full to make it back up to bed....HE HE HE." Silly boy. He is our sneaker - this is not the first time he has snuck out of bed to eat a treat.