Nathan's 13th Birthday

Well it's official!  We have a TEENAGER in the household. I can barely even believe I just wrote that word and that we are at the teenager stage! Crazy how time flies and also please send help!  LOL!

To celebrate his birthday, Nathan had a very sweet, simple ask. He wanted to spend a day in Seattle just the four of us going to Pike Place Market, visiting the new waterfront, and eating dinner at The Pink Door. So that's what we did!  It was a wonderful day--so much fun to just be present with each other, wander around one of our favorite Seattle landmarks, enjoy a very yummy dinner, and explore the gorgeous new Seattle Waterfront area. It was a lovely day.

Then the following week we had a celebration BBQ with the whole family.  At one point we went around and everyone spoke to Nate about the character or personality aspects they love most about him. We wanted to send him into his teenage years feeling confident and being reminded about the wonderful aspects that make Nate the unique person he is. It was a really special evening. 

Here are the aspects and memories about Nate at 13 that we don't want to forget:

• Nate has an insatiable appetite and love for history and maps. He loves to especially read about history (really loves the Nathan Hale graphic novel history book series). And all the time we catch him looking at maps on his phone--he loves to learn about places, the geography of areas, and what exists in various towns. It's fun to see him so fascinated by these things.
• Nate also still loves art and drawing. He'll spend hours on the weekends drawing maps especially. He also loves to create and design logos for various sports leagues that he makes up. He's always making up pretend leagues for minor league lacrosse, soccer and baseball.  Then he researches the city where the team is from and creates logos related to something the town is known for. It's very fun to see what he comes up with!  He has pages and pages of logos. Maybe someday he'll be a graphic designer??
• Right now Nate's major sports are soccer (he's doing Cascade FC soccer all year) and skiing. This year he made the A team for his age group in soccer! They've had a tough season, but he's doing great and really developing in his skills. He also loves skiing. Last winter he did ski bus for the first time and got to ski with his friends every week. That helped him to up his skills so much! When we went as a family he blew by us and was waiting for us at the bottom of the mountain every run! He really bonded with his friends last winter on ski bus which was so great for him. He still LOVES sports so much and is constantly reading his Sports Illustrated magazines or looking at ESPN. He remembers players and stats like no one else I know. 
• Friend and social life has been a bit up and down all through middle school. And this past year hasn't been any different. Nate has a couple solid, consistent friends like Patrick, Carsen, and Colin. There is a separate group of boys and some girls that I think Nate considers to be the "popular" people that are kind of fickle.  Sometimes they include him and other times he's left out. So that's been tough and we've had a lot of conversations about what good, true friendship looks like. I think it's starting to click but I also think he still wants to be part of the "popular" crowd. So he's still trying to navigate all those dynamics. Our goal is to create a home that feels comforting and be a place where he can just truly be himself and take a break from going out and facing the tricky world of middle schoolers every day.
• One bright spot with friends this past summer was Nate went to Young Life camp for the first time with a group of guy friends from school.  That was an incredible experience for him and he definitely grew closer with those guy friends. But that group of guys have been friends since elementary school so it's a hard group to really be fully accepted into.  Still he had a really great camp experience with them. And it also helped him to grow in his faith a lot more. This was his first overnight camp experience and it was amazing for him! It took place at Washington Family Camp Creekside in OR and I think it'll be an experience he will never forget. Hoping he can go again next year!
• Speaking of growing in his faith, Nathan decided to get baptized this past January at our church. He was the only person to sign up to get baptized that Sunday morning so it was extra special. Both sets of grandparents and Jacky and Johnathin were there to support him. It was a really emotional and special moment and we were so proud of and excited for him. He made the decision all on his own and went to the preparation meeting with our youth pastor and everything. Such a major life milestone!
• Nathan's big gift for his 13th birthday was he finally got a cell phone! He had been begging us for a long time and was so excited to get a phone of his own. So far he's been doing pretty well with it and we're daily navigating how to allow him more freedom with appropriate boundaries. It's quite the challenge that we never had to deal with when we were kids so often we feel out of our league. As most parents do I'm sure. We'll see how it progresses....
• Nate still loves fashion and is very thoughtful about putting together trendy outfits and figuring out his own style. His hair is also a work of art. Great amount of fluffy bangs which is the style with boys these days. 
• He also has a very wide range of music tastes thanks to the influence of his parents and his grandparents. He loves rap, country, folk, classical,  and all the classic bands from the 60's, 70's, 80's, 90's and 2000's. 
• One thing we love is that Nate and Cam still have a special bond. They fight a lot of course as brothers, but they also still enjoy spending time together. One thing they love to do is make up mini sports games of either soccer or football in the living room. Those games keep them occupied for hours! Remind me of when they were little boys wrestling in the living room after dinner. 
• Finally even though Nate is officially a teenager, he still snuggles and gives us hugs. He's not afraid to give kisses on the lips too. I try to be really mindful of hugging him a lot because I think it's super needed in this time of life. Adolescent years are tough and I just want him to constantly be reminded that we're on his side and cheering for him. And also here to hold him accountable and help him build strong character. I'm grateful that James is affectionate because it's made the boys affectionate and I hope they keep that aspect as they move through adolescence and into adulthood.

Happy happy 13th Birthday Nathan!!  We love you soooo much!

See the great fluffy hair?  :)