Nathan's 5th Birthday

Last month we celebrated Nathan's 5th Birthday.  How can he be 5 already??  That's crazy!  This is going to be a big year for him.  In the fall he begins Kindergarten so we are officially entering the world of elementary school.  I'm so excited for him and yet sad to be leaving his baby and little kid years at the same time.

Here is a little capture of what Nathan is like at 5 years old:

• One of the best words I can think of to describe Nathan is sweet.  I call him my "sweet boy" all the time and it's really true.  He is thoughtful, aware of others, polite (most of the time), good natured, and has a big heart.  He's always making cards for friends, wanting to host his friends at his house, doing kind gestures or gifts for family members, and doing good deeds at school.  In fact he has a hard time connecting with some kinds in his class if they use "potty" words or they are too wild and crazy.  He tends to stick with friends who are caring, calm and kind.  Let's hope that trend continues!
• Nathan is incredibly creative.  The things he comes up with continue to amaze us.  And he has the best imagination.  He'll build amazing Lego creations, put together forts or imaginative scenes, events or parties in his room or in our house (using every single material from around the home he can think of much to our chagrin sometimes with lots to clean up....trying to let it go :)), and has wonderful artistic abilities as well.  Thankfully he has his papa's and uncle Ryan's right brain genes.
• It is so fun to observe the learning that occurs at this age.  Nathan is reading and writing letters and numbers, learning math skills, and just absorbing so much information from school.  It's like he comes home with a new skill or knowledge every day.
• He is learning to ride a bike with pedals and no training wheels! 
• Some of his favorite activities include playing Legos, coloring, riding his bike, playing with trains or building elaborate train tracks, playing on the Kindle, reading books, playing with friends, gymnastics, and playing t-ball. 
• Nathan is our social kid and his friendships are very important to him.  One of his closest, most long time friends is Jazi.  They met each other in infant class (at 4 months old!) at the Early Learning Center and have been close ever since.  Nathan would consider Jazi his "girlfriend" and plans to marry her.  :)  Luckily she will be going to Snoqualmie Elementary as well so the long time friendship and plans for marriage can continue!
• Different than Cameron, Nathan is more cautious, hesitant, anxious, and fearful.  Sometimes this is helpful because he thinks before he does things.  But we have to work with him to push him a little bit and also have to be patient with him as he does things in his own time.  We are learning as parents that that's ok and the tricky balance between letting your child be himself and challenging/pushing a little bit to grow.
• I appreciate that Nathan is pretty self aware and confident in who he is.  He doesn't worry too much about what other people think or what he "should" do based on other people's expectations.  He is confident of what he wants, what is best for him, and what he needs most of the time.  And he communicates it.  I take lessons from him on that every day and so admire that trait about him.  I hope it sticks around as he gets older--especially in adolescence.

With 5 being such a big birthday in our minds and also because his school friends will all scatter to different elementary schools in the fall, we decided to do a big bash this year.  We splurged on doing his birthday party at Kidz Bounce.  Most of his friends' birthday parties have been at Kidz Bounce this year and they're always so fun.  Plus they can accomodate lots of people.  And they make it really easy by providing plates/napkins/utensils and help with set-up and clean up, ordering pizza, etc.  But when I say splurged--I'm not kidding.  Man when did kid birthday parties get so expensive??  It was worth it to us this year, but I think next year we'll go back to more simple, reasonably priced parties. :)

The theme of the party that Nathan chose was Dinosaurs.

Nathan had a great group of friends from his class attend his shindig along with family and family friends.  I was so proud of him as he was a wonderful "host" for his own party.  He waited at the door for people to arrive, made sure everyone was well cared for and having fun, and handed out his party favors as people left.  We definitely didn't experience any spoiled "it's my birthday" behavior.  I also wasn't sure how he would do with such a large group of people with lots of stimulations as sometimes Nate gets overhwlemed in those situations.  But he was in heaven and had a blast.  It was such a great party.

Here are some photos to capture it:

Grampa and Pops :)

Fun with Uncle Ryan

Amazing cake made again by Grampa.  Thank you Grampa!

After the party we went back to our house and Nate opened up this presents.  This was the year of Legos for sure. He probably received about 10 boxes of Lego sets.  Even now he's still in the process of opening them and building them.

We're so grateful for our sweet, thoughtful, curious, smart, happy, creative little boy and we can't wait to see what year 5 brings for him.  Happy Birthday Nate and we love you!!