My Guys :)

I love these two.  I love that Darren is happily willing to work on projects with Nate.  Here they are working on a boat Nate designed. 

1st Grade

We started our school year on Monday, August 4th.  Nate is in first grade this year. We are continuing to focus on reading, writing, and math.  We have also added spelling, Story of the World (history), and three subjects from coop.    

We are participating in a different coop this year.  Nate is taking chemistry/physics, geography, and art.  He takes classes each week at coop and has assignments/projects to complete at home.  We enjoyed the coop we were in last year, but it requires a lot of parental involvement.  I knew I would not be able to teach and/or volunteer with a new baby.  I am so glad we made that decision.  We LOVE the new coop.  Nate is learning a lot and I am enjoying not having to teach. :) 

One perk of home school:  no shoes. :)

Baby Shower

At the end of July some sweet friends gave us a baby shower.  It was a huge blessing to receive some much needed items to prepare for baby girl's arrival.

These sweet ladies hosted the shower.  Each one of them is so special to me and our family.  

These women are very special to me as well. :)

And, that's all the photos I have from the shower. :)  I wish I had photos of the other guests and all of the great gifts I received.  It was such a special time with friends and family who are very dear to me.

Nate's Birthday Week

We do our best to celebrate Nate's birthday for an entire week.  He only gets one a year and we want him to feel special.  The week-long celebration doesn't have to involve gifts everyday, just little things that we know are his favorites or things he enjoys.

One of his favorite birthday activities was spending time at the creek with his friend, Gabe.  We met Gabe and his mom at the summer movie to see Walking With Dinosaurs.  After the movie we had a picnic at the park then the boys played in the creek.  

They had the best time throwing rocks and sticks.

I kept trying to get them to smile for me, but these boys would only give me silly faces.

We also enjoyed celebrating with our small group.  Words cannot express how special these families are to us. 

His birthday was Thursday, July 10th.  He requested breakfast in bed and hats for some of his soft toys (stuffed animals).  I was able to make the hats out of pipe cleaners, so no sewing had to be involved. :)

This is such an interesting age.  Nate's all into star wars, mine craft, survival craft, creepers, zombies, and werewolves; but he also still loves his stuffed animals.

We ended the week with a family celebration.  

My precious friend and running buddy, Teresa, made Nate this awesome cake.  It tasted as great as it looked.  

We were so excited that Aunt Lynn could make it to the party.  Her husband, Gavan, has been the in the hospital since January.  Thankfully, he seems to finally be making progress towards recovery.  

I've mentioned on this blog many times how close Nate and my dad are.  Nate's favorite thing to do is wrestle with Pops.  My dad, even at age 70, is always ready to oblige Nate's requests.  Tonight Nate wanted to ride him like a bucking bull.  I should have videoed this moment.  Daddy gave Nate just what he asked for, a wild ride.    

After dinner, Nate opened gifts.  Granna gave him a money tree!  It had 100 one dollar bills on it.  

My parents gave him a .410 shot gun.  He's not quite old enough to use it yet, but my dad wanted to go ahead and give it to him.  My dad's first gun was just like this one.  I love to hear him tell stories about being 12 years old and going out into the woods by himself to shoot squirrels.  Sometimes he would walk several miles and spend a couple of days with his grandparents, all by himself.  Times have definitely changed.

Can you tell this boy is excited to be 7?  We love this little guy so much.  We are so thankful God gave us Nate.  He is smart, funny, kind, and compassionate.  He is very thoughtful and considerate of others.  He is also very competitive and hates to lose (this is when we see his not-so-kind side). He loves to draw and read.  He does not enjoy handwriting or spelling.

To end the evening, we released 7 paper lanterns.  We saw some on the 4th and thought they were cool.  I will admit that they weren't exciting enough for Nate, but all of the adults loved them.  Nate would have preferred firecrackers. ;)

Atlanta Weekend

A couple of weeks ago we visited Atlanta.  We started the weekend at Stone Mountain.   

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The laser light show was really cool.  Nate entertained us while we waited. :)

Next stop: Lego Land.

Our final stop was the Fernbank Museum.  Nate wanted to see the dinosaurs.

There was an awesome whale exhibit, but photography was not allowed.  There was a full sized skeleton of an adult sperm whale, actual baleen from a blue whale, and lots of other cool things. 

The museum also had cool science exhibits similar to the McWane Center.

It was a fun weekend!  Our next family trip, we will be a family of four! :)

Science Camp

Nate had an awesome week at science camp.  He learned about several different scientists and did lots of cool experiments/activities.  His favorite activity was looking through owl scat for bones.  :)

One day the instructor dissected a cow eye for the class.  She invited parents to watch.  It was fascinating...and a little gross.  Nate did not want to watch the actual dissection but he did look at the individual parts.  God's creation is amazing!