this is our life...

have you been to she's crafty today?

i'm posting great crafty ideas for the family every other day or so for littlerockmamas.com...come check it out and support me and other mamas in the area!

life is slowing down

since saturday, i've felt like i can actually breath. all the gifts have been bought and wrapped (save aaron's and papa's movies.) cards were made and mailed. decorations were done and hung. save my reindeer from stampin up and the paper bead garlands, all my holiday crafts are done. class parties are over and treats for the center have been handed out.

I'm taking off today after lunch and won't be back until next monday. we need to deliver gifts for a few little friends, and i want to take nate with me to take the college's food donation to the arkansas food bank. i want to make cookies and do those couple of holiday crafts with nate. i have not watched "christmas story" or "miracle on 34th" street yet, but i've got a couple of days left. i just want to cuddle up on the couch and relax.

and then i'll think about what i'll need to do for next year to get more days like these in my christmas holiday.

he can write his name, and we never knew

i was composing nate's letter to santa, asking for a fishing pole and dragon for his castle, when for shits and giggles i asked him to come over and sign his name.

now, he's been singing his name song for a few months now, and it had not yet occurred to me that he could possibly write it as he SANG it. and he doesn't just know his nickname but the knows the full "nathaniel." he's been practicing his letters since september, so he just started writing and singing as he wrote.

i was so excited i almost cried.

the next day, he wanted to send a note to asher thanking him for the iron man pajamas, and he wrote his name again, but much more clearly.

 
 
he's written it several more times now, and i'm still amazed. he can write his name. my baby is growing up.

nate's christmas party

nate's class had their christmas party on friday, and ms jannis had a little surprise for us: the kids had been rehearsing several christmas songs, and they put on a little program for the parents! i took some video of their singing. nate is such a tard, he just cannot be in front of people without acting a fool. they did such a good job.

nate at work

The wednesday before thanksgiving, I brought Nate with me to work for a few hours. He did really well, considering I work at a computer all day! He helped me with some mailings and worked on the laptop for a bit. of course, i got a few pictures:

working the puzzles

loading envelopes into the printer

taking a break on pbskids.org

cracking up at the video gigi sent. He made Dao and Ed watch it before he would even talk to them.

folding the baby tshirts to be mailed to the children of alumni.

a very meticulous folder, indeed! got that from his dad.

licking the envelopes!

taking the packages to the mailroom.

and topping off the day with a cafeteria lunch with becca, his favorite.
 
 
 

Dec 7, 2009

nate's fourth birthday party was on Saturday. he shared the party with his buddy and classmate hayden. it was at CDC and the kids had a blast!! here's just a few shots, I hope to have more up soon.

I can't believe his birthday is tomorrow. he's such a big kid now, but still little in so many ways. like how he can count to 80 without hardly any help, but wants to snuggle with me before brushing his teeth. what a kid...I wouldn't change it for the world.

this is the first time i've used quick compose...it's a new feature on typepad. i figure i need to take advantage of anything that has the functionality of letting me do something quickly, seeing as i'm hardly ever on here anymore!



we've, as is our mantra, been busy here lately. nate actually went to work with me on wednesday, which was SO MUCH FUN. really, i am not being sarcastic. we had breakfast with dad then went to the college, where nate did puzzles, played on pbs.org on jon's laptop, insisted dao watch a funny video that his gigi had sent, and took pictures.



he did help me get some tshirts ready to mail and rode on the cart to the mailroom. he got a lot of attention on the ride through the building, which he loved of course! we met becca in the cafeteria for lunch and walked home "the wrong way" as he put it, right by the creek/draining ditch on plateau.



thanksgiving was crazy as usual, but it was so good to see beau, giga and noah and to hang out for a bit. we saw new moon on friday morning (thumbs up, even tho it is still really cheesy) and did some black friday shopping. who would have thought i could actually be shopping on BF a few years ago!



we had a birthday party yesterday afternoon, and nate was just not acting normal. he ended up with a fever around 1:30 this morning so we stayed home all day. i finally showered around 8:00 tonight. ripe, i know. he's been fever free all day but had a hell of a time going to sleep tonight. it's been an issue lately, but tonight was a bit more difficult.



nate's birthday party is saturday at cdc, with another little friend named hayden. it's a construction zone/tea party combo. should be fun! i'm making a dirt cake, like a mound of dirt...we'll see how it goes. i might change my mind.



anyway, off to either decorate the tree more or sleep. which one do you bet i end up doing. good night!!

what's your "_" word?

since early september nate's class has been focusing on a letter each week, beginning with, of course, A. each week they pick a word to go with that letter. if they don't have a word picked out already, ms. jannis gives them a few to choose from. i do not have a record of what the A, B and C were, but here's the rest:

D doughnut...big surprise!

E eagle

F float

G goat...this was the week after we went to grady and he saw all the goats at hardin farms.

H horse

I instrument...my favorite so far!

J juice

K kangaroo

and this week has been L for lemon! i told him that there was a song named 'lemon' that i really liked. i tried to sing it for him but he was not impressed.

M monkey

N nose

O oval

P parrot

a full morning

nate woke me at 7 a.m. today telling me he wanted to go outside and rake the leaves. really, why would you deny an almost-four-year-old this pleasure? so we put on jackets and i grabbed my tea, and we raked leaves. in the glory of the early morning sun.

i could hardly get him inside. we raked and explored from 7:30 until almost 9. then we got dressed and headed out to mc d's on our way to pinnacle for a morning hike. he ate an entire egg mcmuffin in the car, declaring it "good food!"

we've never taken him on the hike up the mountain, and i have not walked it in YEARS. it was beautiful this morning, and full of families and runners. about 1/3 the way up, we ran into the m-b crew with big sis and lil man in tow. nate and sis had a great time trekking up the rocks, which were getting bigger and more difficult to negotiate. i was so proud of them.

we stopped just short of the top, and worked/slid our way back down with no injuries. at the bottom we ran into the kyzer clan who had just arrived, and we all spent some time on the playground before leaving. nate was beat, but managed to eat some yogurt at home then watched some "ask this old house" with me before heading off for a nap. then i took a nap too.

here's some shots of our morning:

 

 

 

the haul

let's Halloween some pumpkins!

we are finally getting around to carving our pumpkins this morning....