Nate Turns 6

Where did the time go? I'm not exactly sure, but I really wish real life had a "slow" button. I'm not exactly ready for my youngest child to be 6. It doesn't seem that it was really 6 years ago that he was born.

But it was, none-the-less. And since it is his birthday, and he is indeed 6, I want to take this time to give my not-so-little peanut a little shout out.

Nate- not a day has gone by that you haven't brought sunshine to our lives. I love you from here to the moon, to outer space and back a million times. We love you and are so blessed to have you as a son. Happy 6th Birthday, Peanut!

3 months old

1 year old

remember the hair?

2 years old

3 years old

4 years old

5 years old

5 1/2 years old

almost 6!

Coldplay

Coldplay is hands down my favorite musical artist. I have ALWAYS wanted to go to concert ever since I saw one of their European concerts on TV once when Grace was a baby. The concert was soooo good it made me want to go, and usually I'm not really interested in concerts.

Anyway, I've been looking to see if they had any concert dates any time soon. I recently looked a week or two ago, and there were no US tour dates on the schedule. I wondered if they'd ever come back to the US. Then the other night, I saw a commercial for a presale that started today! I quickly looked online and sure enough there were US tour dates added. So today, we bought tickets to a Coldplay concert! I haven't been to a concert in over 10 years! I am so excited! I cannot wait.

The downside?

The concert is June 29th! A little over 6 months away. Oh well, I can wait. At least they're coming to America. :)

Speak To The Devil

The other day Ray had said the phrase, "Speak of the devil" while he and I were talking, and Nate wondered what that meant. So Ray explained it to him.

Today, we hear Nate try to explain to Grace what "Speak to the devil" means using the same explanation for "Speak of the devil."

We obviously corrected, after laughing of course.

Gotta love kids! I'm sure going to miss days like these when they're gone.

Unconcentrate

Nate: (quietly thinking about something)

Daddy: "Hey, Nate."

Nate: "Wait, Daddy. You made me unconcentrate."

So cute. I will certainly miss these days where my kids say the funniest things.

-

So Proud

of both my kiddos.

Like I mentioned previously, Grace was chosen to be on the math team at school. Well Nate is now going to first grade for math. Basically, he stays with his kindergarten class for everything else, but during math time he goes to the first grace classroom. He and another boy from his class are really good at math and they go together.

Not only that, but the math classes are split up into a slower paced, regular paced and faster paced groups within each grade level. Nate and his classmate are in the regular paced group. I had just assumed it was slower paced since they were coming from Kindergarten.

Ray and I feel so blessed and confident that we made the right decision when switching schools. The kids have been given such wonderful opportunities so far. Grace went on her very first field trip EVER this week!

But anyway, back to the topic of my blog......I am proud of my little math whizzes.

Wow

I think I am the world's ABSOLUTE worst blogger. Ever.

Usually I post a blog on Grace's and Nate's birthdays, at the very least, and I didn't do that for Grace this year. It is a month and a half after and I am finally posting a blog.

Better late than never.

This year Grace turned 9. It is her very last year in single digits. I canNOT believe its been sooooo long. Time goes by WAY too fast. I don't know if it's normal or not to be sad about your kids getting older, but I am. Whenever I think about it, it makes me sad, so I really try not to. At the same time I marvel at how much my kids have grown. How much they have learned. How smart they are. How beautiful they are. How kind they are.

Grace has such a beautiful, caring heart. I know that she can have her moments, but really, she is a good kid. She's so smart (she was chosen to be on the competitive math team at her school, which out of 45-50 third graders, she was one of only 8 or 9 chosen).

Grace, I can't imagine life without you. Your eyes light up the world, and my heart. I pray as you continue to grow, you will be just as kind and caring as you are today. The world needs more Graces in it. I love you pumpkin.

Robot

The other day, Nate had a homework assignment. He read about a robot and had to answer some questions afterward. One of the questions asked for him to draw something he would like a robot to do for him. He drew a robot doing something and wrote the word "Homework" beside it.

Clever little guy.

We Remember

Psalm 46

1 God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. 2 Therefore we will not fear,though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, 3 though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging. "Selah" 4 There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy place where the Most High dwells. 5 God is within her,she will not fall; God will help her at break of day. 6 Nations are in uproar, kingdoms fall; he lifts his voice, the earth melts. 7 The LORD Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress. "Selah" 8Come and see the works of the LORD, the desolations he has brought on the earth. 9 He makes wars cease to the ends of the earth; he breaks the bow and shatters the spear, he burns the shields with fire. 10 "Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth." 11 The LORD Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress. "Selah"

We will NEVER forget.

9.11.01

Goings On

Lots have been going on here. Been cleaning, organizing, reorganizing, hanging out, sleeping in, getting ready for the new school year at a brand new school. Grace started 3rd grade and Nate started Kindergarten.

So far, the kids are liking it. Grace LOVES it actually, Nate is Nate and just says "yeah" to every question I ask. But, he doesn't say he hates it, so that's just as good as liking it in my book.

Here are some first day of school pics:

My big girl gets a locker this year!

Now Nate, as I previously mentioned on the blog, has become quite the little math whiz. He's been adding and subtracting and we've worked up to double digits. He's been able to do them in his head. I've never once pushed him to learn any of this, he has grown an interest in math all on his own. I suppose it started with Grace asking for math problems in the car. Then he asked. We started very simply- If I have 3 cookies and I eat 1 cookie, how many cookies do I have left. Then little by little they got harder. Now that he is doing double digit adding and subtracting, I figured maybe it was time to move onto multiplication. First, I thought I would teach him counting by 2's, 3's, 5's and 10's, so today I asked him if he could count by 2's.

He did. All the way to 100.

By 5's.

He did. All the way to 100.

10's.

You guessed it (although that's the easiest of the bunch).

3's.

Well, he did it, but I could tell he was adding 3 to the previous number. And after 48 he asked if we could stop, lol. 3's need work.

The other day, before I thought it would be a good idea to work on counting by 2's, 3's, 5's and 10's, I taught him the 0 times table and the 1 times table. I think he's got that down pat.

Today we did the 2 times table. So that's where we are at.

He may beat out Grace soon with multiplication. She's still working on learning all of them.

Well, that's all I have to report about for now.

Math Whiz??

My 5 year old is great at adding and subtracting. No, he's not perfect, but he is really good at it. Yesterday in the car he mentioned something about negative one (-1). So I then asked him what Zero minus three is. "Negative three," he said.

Okay, that was easy.

I then asked what Negative three minus four was.

"Negative seven," he said.

Um. How did he know that?? I've since asked him several questions with adding and subtracting negative numbers and he has gotten them all correct. Well, all except for one. The one question I asked in front of Grandma to show him off. All of a sudden, he couldn't answer, ha ha.

But really. I don't even think they talk about negative numbers until 4th or 5th grade and then adding and subtracting is like 6th grade.

My 5 year old, a math whiz? Maybe. Maybe not. Either way, very interesting.

Old Soul

Grace is an old soul and if you know her, you'll agree and would have already known this. She is so hilarious. She loves Little House on the Prairie. And lately she is infatuated with HGTV. I asked her today what her favorite thing is to watch on TV and she said, unsurprisingly, HGTV. Her latest passion is to be an architect and she is constantly drawing homes, and trying to sell them to me, and she is even using HGTV terms when describing the homes to me. For instance, instead of desk, she said it was a work space. Ha! I think she even said something about a trundle bed in one house. I think she spends half the day drawing houses, its so funny. But hey, I love that she has a passion and I love that she loves HGTV. We'll have to see how this plays out in her life later on.

Happy Father's Day :)

Happy Birthday

to my little nephew Isaac, who turns 3 today! I love you and miss you. Hope you're having a great 3rd birthday!

My Husband.....

is awesome. Just wanted to say that.

But honestly, I realize in talking with some of the other nursing students how "abnormal" for a husband/spouse to do so much. Really? I thought all people would be just as considerate and caring, but apparently not.

Well Ray, thanks for being abnormal. I love you and appreciate all you do.

There's nothing better in the world

than to have your husband not only have all the dishes done, dinner made and just about ready when you walk in the front door, have all homework done, but also have both kids bathed and in their pajamas after a long 12 hour day at the hospital.

than to have your daughter hug and kiss you and smile at you because she's happy you're home after a long 12 hour day at the hospital.

than to have your son wrap his arms around your neck as you lay beside him in bed after a long 12 hour day at the hospital and tell you you're his favorite mommy in the world.

Of course this is all after you've washed the MRSA (sounds like mer-sah) off your body :)

My Birthday

I spent my birthday on Tuesday in the hospital for clinical. Despite the fact that I had to be there for nearly 12 hrs AND I was coming down with a stinky cold on top of it, I had a wonderful day.

First, my study buddy (as we call each other), Linda, surprised me with a box of donuts, a birthday balloon, a card and flowers at the hospital. Then she even ordered pizza for lunch as a birthday treat.

That evening I came home, surprised by the fact that Ray cooked me a fantastic dinner, totally not giving him enough credit that he can cook a real dinner. I must say, he did better than I would have! He made steak, broccoli and cheese, and homemade garlic mashed potatoes. Man, those were restaurant style mashed potatoes! He did a great job and I feel bad I underestimated his ability. He had asked me what I wanted to eat for dinner that night and honestly I was wondering why we didn't just go out since I couldn't think of something for him to make me.

But I was WAY wrong. My hubby has hidden cooking talents. Now he may regret being so good at cooking :)

Anyway, I can't believe I am 34. It just sounds so out of proportion to how young I feel. I am glad everyone is surprised when they learn my age and tell me I look like I am still in my 20's (I hope this continues forever!) But I see 34 and think that's older but its not. Its me now. I don't feel it, so I guess that means more than what my birth certificate says.

It amazes me how fast life goes by. I think back at where I was half a life ago. I was 17. It seems so surreal. I was excited about graduating high school in the next year. Here I am about to FINALLY graduate college; it only took me 17 years. Ha. That was also the time, the only time, I've ever lost someone I really loved- my grandfather. After this year, I will have lived more years without him than I did with him. Before, it was always the opposite. But I still remember him and I still miss him dearly. It seems so long ago but at the same time, time has moved so quickly. I think I'm rambling now.

I think getting older only bothers me for a few reasons.

1. I am going to start my nursing career at 34 when I could have had 10 years experience already.
2. While I don't "feel" 34, getting older snaps me into reality that our lives have a mortality factor that we can't ignore. I might not feel 90, but that doesn't mean my body systems are going to work according to how old I feel.
3. The older I get, the older the kids get. I miss the days when they were 2, still in awe by the things around them. Still so wide-eyed and wondered. They still learn about their surroundings, but its just different when they're 2 or 3.

This makes me think of one my favorite songs to listen to on the radio, by a group called Revive. The name of the song is called Blink.

Teach me to number my days

And count every moment before it slips away

Taking all the colors before they fade to gray

I don't want to miss even just a second more of this

It happens in a blink

It happens in a flash

It happens in the time it takes to look back

I try to hold on tight, but there's no stopping time

What is it I've done with my life

It happens in a blink (x2)

When it's all said and done

No one remembers how far we have run

The only thing that matters is how we have loved

I don't want to miss even just a second more of this

It happens in a blink

It happens in a flash

It happens in the time it takes to look back

I try to hold on tight, but there's no stopping time

What is it I've done with my life

It happens in a blink (x4)

Slow down, slow down

Before today becomes our yesterday

Slow down, slow down

Before you turn around and it's too late

It happens in a blink

it happens in a flash

it happens in the time it takes to look back

I try to hold on tight but there's no stopping time

What is it I've done with my life

It happens in a blink

It happens in a blink

it happens in a flash

it happens in the time it takes to look back

I try to hold on tight but there's no stopping time

What is it I've done with my life

It happens in a blink (x4)

I love that.....

my 5 year old was doing my 8 year old's math homework- not doing it for her, just that he was able to do it.