Nathan's 7th Birthday

I think I've said it before but more and more I'm realizing the old adage is true: when you are a parent, the days are long and the years are short.  How in the world Nathan is already 7 is beyond me.  This such a fun age, but I also am feeling the need to stop time because it's just flying by. 

We celebrated his birthday a couple weeks ago with a fun Art Party.  He invited 6 of his friends along with his brother to do a painting party at Color Me Mine.  What a wonderful party idea.  The Color Me Mine Studio in Snoqualmie did such a nice job.  They have a separate little party area with a long table.  Their staff was so friendly and helped the kids the entire time with their creations.  Each kiddo got to pick one item to paint.  It was such a calm party too because everyone was enthralled in their project.  Plus what a nice favor to take home!  After painting, we enjoyed the beautiful, creative and delicious cake made by Grampa. 

Earlier in the day we had family over to enjoy lunch and Nathan got to open his presents.  It was a really nice, low key, fun day. 

Amazing cake made by Grampa!

Laila joined the party too!

For Nathan's actual birthday on May 10, we went out to dinner as a family to Chipotle and then enjoyed some Baskin Robbins ice cream. 

Nathan's favorite gifts this year were Zoobs (building set), Legos (of course), a make your own comic book set, a build your own birdhouse set, Pokemon cards, and a movie gift card.  He's definitely much more into gifts that allow him to be creative or that involve art which is fun.

Here are aspects about Nathan at 7 years old we don't want to forget:

• He is an extremely creative kid: always building things, drawing, making things, setting up forts or imaginary situations, etc.
• He has a true love for learning and enjoys school.  He's constantly bringing things home from school or talking about things at school that's he loving learning about
• Nathan plays well with his brother--involves him in his plans or imaginary scenarios, shows him how to do things and appreciates his companionship (although there are lots of conflicting times too ;))
• Nathan can fully read now!  He's getting more into chapter books such as Magic Treehouse, Magic School Bus, Andrew Lost, etc. and he still likes being read to.  Lately we've been reading James and the Giant Peach and Harry Potter
• Nathan constantly says he wants to be a scientist when he grows up.  We wouldn't be surprised.  He loves all things science: animals, plants, weather, earth, experiments, etc.  And he has an uncanny memory--he retains tons of information and loves to teach us what he knows.  
• We are definitely at the age where Nathan is sometimes crafty and tricky and experimenting with lying.  So we as parents are at a new stage of trying to navigate discipline and character development in a slightly different way than when our kids were little.  It's definitely not terrible and our kids are really good in general, but we're definitely more in the character building territory of parenting now.  
• It's fun to see Nathan get more coordinated and active.  He's swimming more on his own, loves riding his bike all over, improved a lot this past season in skiing and is getting more into sports such as soccer and flag football.  And man that boy is fast!
• Luckily even though he is now 7, he still loves and appreciates lots of snuggle time.  In his classroom presentation on family day this year, he said his family is a superhero family because we like to snuggle.  Melts my heart that that is so important to him and stands out to him.  
• He has started learning the piano!  He started lessons a couple months ago and it's been fun to watch him learn yet another skill.  It's so nice to have regular music playing in the house too.  
• Nathan is still very social and his friends are very important to him.  We're grateful he has some really kind, thoughtful, and interesting friends at school.  They build each other up and like to just have fun and play at recess.
• One of the things I love most about Nathan is he is utterly comfortable in his own skin.  He has great self awareness and likes just being who he is.  Even if other kids tease him, he just laughs it off and doesn't let it get to him.  Although I know it will be challenging in the adolescent years, I pray he can keep a lot of this trait as he gets older.  

Each year is fun and challenging in new ways.  Loving this parenting journey and grateful to witness these little lives as they grow.

New Sports

This spring the boys have tried some new sports that they've never done before and it's been really fun!  I have found a true joy in watching my kids try something new, bond with teammates, and ultimately have fun playing.  Plus watching little kids learn and play sports is just pure entertainment.  I think we take for granted to that we just know and understand the rules of sports like baseball and football.  But when you think it about it it took years of watching and playing to fully grasp all the aspects.  So no wonder Cameron ran to second base after hitting the ball in T-Ball.  So much more efficient!  Why run to first when you can just go straight across the field to second?   :)

This spring Nathan wanted to try Flag Football for the first time.  When he heard it was kind of similar to soccer which he did in the fall, and because he loves watching football with Papa, he was totally excited to try Flag Football.  We're doing the sport through the i9 Sports organization which has been very organized and well run.  Plus both practices and games happen only on Sunday which gives us one less thing to manage during the week.  Also, every week the boys play on the nice turf field at Mt. Si High School which is bonus close to our house.  Nathan knows many of the boys on his team because they attend Snoqualmie Elementary School too which has instantly helped him feel more comfortable and have a lot of fun. 

Flag Football is really fun to watch.  The coach has to set up every play because truly the boys really have no idea what they're doing.  But once they hand off the ball to someone, they know they need to run as fast as they can to try and get down the field for a touchdown.  And there's been some really good runs including from Nathan.  Passing and throwing is still a challenge, but totally understandable since they're 6 & 7 and don't quite have all their coordination yet.  Our coaches have been great--very fun and patient.  Nathan has also done quite well on defense.  He's fast and has stopped numerous runs by the other team grabbing the opponent's flag.  Nathan's team name is the Wildcats appropriately named after our high school mascot.

Cameron's new sport this spring has been T-Ball!  We found out that he could start even though he's not officially 5 yet which made him so excited.  He's been wanting to start sports for a long time.  He's on a co-ed team through the Snoqualmie Valley Little League program, also a very organized and well run organization.  We're spoiled with really good neighborhood sports leagues in our area.  The kids on his team are so cute.  Their team name is Team Flash!  He practiced for about half the season and then now twice a week they have games against other little T-Ball teams.  The games are hilarious and so cute.  Each team gets to go through their full batting lineup each inning.  There are technically no outs and there are only about 3-4 innings depending on how long the coaches want to play.  Most of the time the ball is hit and all the kids rush towards it at the same time--leaving their bases or positions so then whoever actually grabs the ball has no one to throw it too.  It's hilarious!  But they're happy and having a grand old time.  Cameron is naturally really good at throwing, is improving on his catching and is pretty good at batting.  I think he's just so cute in his little uniform!  He's made some good friends as well and we lucked out with really calm, positive coaches. 

Can't believe these boys are now old enough to be playing sports!  It's made for a really fun spring!  This summer they'll shift to swimming lessons and then both boys will play soccer in the fall.  Skiing in the winter.  :)