Nathan's 6th Birthday

Another year has come and gone.  I am truly feeling the old adage that the days are long and the years are short when you have kids..especially young kids.  Some days are still really intense.  But then all the sudden I blinked and Nathan looks truly like a kid now.  No longer a toddler.  It makes me sad and long for the infant/toddler days with him.  But I also love this early elementary stage so far.  So I'm just trying to be present in this current moment and soak it up.

Here are some things I want to remember about Nathan at 6 years old:

• He completed his first year of Elementary School! Nathan truly had a magical Kindergarten year.  His teacher was Ms. West who set the bar so high as far as teachers go.  She was energetic, fun, engaging, and brought lots of years of experience teaching Kindergarten so she was a pro!  Nathan absolutely thrived in her class and found a love for school this year. He made some really good friends, grew in his confidence, and developed in so many skills.  I feel like Nathan grows into his true self more and more every year.  I love that about him and hope he never loses that. 
• Nathan is reading!  He's doing really well with Level 1 books and he reads about half a book every night.  So a ways to go until he's reading full books on his own, but he's made so much progress this year. One of the most enjoyable things is watching your kids learn to read. What a gift that we have access to such great education and the easy opportunity to become literate.  I feel like it opens up another world for people.
• I've asked Nathan his favorite subject in school and his answer is science.  Looks like he's following in Papa's footsteps with his curiosity of how things work, passion for exploration, and being drawn to the natural world.  
• Right now Nathan's biggest love is TRAINS (hence the birthday party theme below). He's gotten some really cool Lego train toys recently and loves reading about trains and visiting the train store in Kirkland. 
• Other toys and interests right now: Lego Ninjago (toys and the show), Legos in general, Magic Treehouse books, building train tracks, setting up imaginary places like stores, forts, restaurants, etc., making cards for friends, YouTube videos about trains and Legos, and setting up villages with some Christmas houses Gramma gave him and his Lego train tracks, drawing pictures, gymnastics, and playing on the Kindle or iPad.
• He's gotten much better with his pedal bike this year with more practice and being taller
• He'll start swimming lessons this summer and we're hoping he'll be able to swim on his own without a floatie by the end of summer
• Nathan is still very much a social kid.  He is still really good friends with Jazi and then also made some really good friends in Kindergarten this year including Teagan, Eloise, Declan, Teddy, Griffin, and Emma. He is always doing nice things for his friends like making them cards, taking care of them on the playground, or surprising them with gifts.  
• All these years of dropping Nathan off at day care, with grandparents, and at the bus stop have paid off.  He's doing summer camp for the first time this summer and he's embraced it right away.  We're only 3 days in and he's loving it so far!  It's nice to see him becoming more adaptable and brave with new situations.  

To celebrate Nate's 6th Birthday this year we had a much smaller party than last year. It was an easy decision to host the festivities at the Snoqualmie Train Depot--easily one of Nathan's favorite places.  They have a wonderful birthday party program and made things so easy and fun!  Nathan even told me the other day he wants to host his party there again next year!  :)  Here is a synopsis of the day through photos:

We got to host the party in an actual train car!  The Depot makes it really cute with decorations and they even provide party favor bags.  Score!  And a engineer hat for the birthday boy.

Grampa went above and beyond again with a fabulous train cake!

One of the activities during the party was a little photo booth with the train as the background and fun little train props.

We also enjoyed some snacks and cake.

The highlight of the party was getting to take an actual train ride!  The party fee includes tickets for all the guests to ride the train down to Snoqualmie Falls and back (about a 20 min ride).  Nate's favorite part of course.

What a perfect way to celebrate for the boy who loves trains.  You are loved Nate and Happy Birthday!