Thankful...

for this precious child and the time we got to spend with her today.

Nate's Birthday Celebration Continued

We continued Nate's birthday celebration in Atlanta.  We went over on Monday, July 9th and spent the afternoon at the aquarium. This was our first time to visit this aquarium.  It was so much fun!  Nate had a great time and enjoyed taking his time looking at all of the exhibits. 

Nate's favorite exhibit was the tank with the whale sharks.  There were lots of other kinds of sharks in that tank as well.  Nate had a great time identifying all of the different kinds of sharks.  He was so cute when I would ask to take his picture.  He would stretch his arms out wide in front of the fish. 

This was Nate's favorite touch tank.  It had sea anemones, sea urchins, and starfish. 

 

That evening we spent the night downtown.  We got up the next morning (Nate's birthday) and headed for the Imagine It! Children's Museum.  Nate had a great time here also.  Darren and I had just as much fun watching Nate have fun.

We finished up the week seeing the new Ice Age movie with one of Nate's friends from preschool. 

Nate is also really interested in dinosaurs right now.  He used some of his birthday money to buy a dinosaur dig kit at the children's museum.  My mom's cousin, Donna, was visiting from Arkansas.  She was very patient to help Nate dig for the bones...and it was hard work.  It actually took several days of digging to uncover all of the bones. 

Finally!  The finished product:  velociraptor.

  

Nate's Birthday Celebration - Part 1

We kicked off Nate's birthday celebration on Saturday, July 7th.  We celebrated with family at our home.

I was very pleased with our party snacks.  My favorite was the individual seven-layer dips.  I wish I had a better picture of them.  They were super easy to make and very cute.  I was also very pleased with the cupcakes.  I decided to make them from scratch and they turned out perfect thanks to the recipes and cupcake tips from Glorious Treats.   I must admit that I bought a box mix just in case they didn't work out.  Thankfully, no box mix was needed. :) 

Nate is really into sharks right now.  I found these cute cupcake toppers and his banner on Etsy. 

The birthday boy looks so grown up with his short haircut.

We love this kid so stinkin' much.

After our snacks, Nate movie (slide show of pictures of Nate from the year), and presents; we all went outside to shoot fireworks.  Nate loves fireworks and we thought it would be fun to wait and shoot them at his party. 

This year Darren let Nate help light some of the smaller fireworks.  I am pretty sure that this was Nate's favorite part.

Happy Birthday Nate!

Five years ago today Darren and I were given the most precious gift.  God allowed us to be parents after many, many years of praying for a baby.  Happy 5th birthday, Nate!  We love you and are so thankful that God gave us you!!!

Picking Fruit

A couple of weeks ago we met some friends and picked blueberries at Petals from the Past and peaches at Mountain View Orchard.  We had a great time and came home with some great fruit, but I must confess that Nate and I ate more blueberries than we put in our container. :)

Nate was mesmerized by baby Cora.  Her mom was kind enough to let Nate hold her for a few minutes. 

Ashlyn's Graduation Trip - Disney World

Nate and I had the privilege of being invited to go to Disney World to celebrate Ashlyn's high school graduation.  We were supposed to celebrate at the beach, but about three and a half weeks before our trip, my mom decided to go to Disney.  I was completely shocked and very excited.  If you remember, we just went to Disney World in October.  I thought it would be YEARS before we went back.  Thanks Nan!!!

My mom, Jill, Ashlyn, Nate and I left on Monday, June 11 and returned on Saturday, June 16.  Thankfully we were there before tropical storm Debbie showed up.  It was hot and crowded, but not as bad as I anticipated.  We had a great week and got to do just about everything we wanted.

Since we were there such a short time ago, I am just going to list some of my favorite moments from our trip and include a few of my favorite pictures.

• Riding the big roller coasters with Jill and Ashlyn was so much fun.  Expedition Everest was Ashlyn's first big roller coaster ever.  It was fun to experience her nervous & excited energy as we waited to ride.  She was even more excited about The Rockin Roller Coaster.  It made Expedition Everest seem like a kiddie ride.  It was very intense from beginning to end, but we loved it and rode it three times.  It was our favorite roller coaster.
• Ashlyn and I decided to be brave and ride Tower of Terror.  Mother, Nate and Jill were watching Beauty and the Beast.  We were supposed to meet them before the show but didn't make it in time.  There was only a 20 minute wait for Tower of Terror so we decided to just go for it.  It actually wasn't that bad.  I would ride it again, but it's not a favorite.
• I loved Nate's reaction to the new Dinosaur ride at Animal Kingdom.  As soon as the ride stopped, he said "I will never, ever ride this again."  The ride isn't bad, but the scary Jurassic Park like dinosaurs hiding in the absolute darkness are kind of scary.

• The gorillas at Animal Kingdom were amazing.  I don't know how we missed them the first time.

• Nate was so excited to ride the "fast train" (Thunder Mountain) again.  It was his favorite in October and his favorite this time also.  We rode it five times.
• A monster told Nate's joke at the Monster's Inc. Laugh Floor:  What happened to the cat that ate a ball of yarn?  She had mittens!
• The five of us riding in the first two rows of Splash Mountain was priceless.

• Watching the fireworks at Magic Kingdom was truly magical.  Darren, Nate and I did not get a good view of the fireworks in October.  I had no idea that they did all of the fun, colorful stuff with the castle before the fireworks.  I understand why it is a must do.

• The parade at Hollywood Studios was so much fun.  It was fun and energetic and had a lot of Nate's favorite characters in it.  We missed it on our first trip.

• This was Ashlyn's first time at Disney and seeing her excitement everyday was so much fun.  This was also the first time just the girls (and Nate) have taken a trip.  Usually my dad and Darren are with us.  Here are a few more favorite pics from the week...