Nathan turns FIVE!

I really can't believe that it has been five years since Nathan joined our family!  Five years. Half a decade. Whoa. I feel so lucky to have the privilege and responsibility of parenting this smart, funny, independent, emotional, busy, chatty, creative, sensitive soul.

Nathan's independence has really skyrocketed, especially in the last few months.  He gets dressed and goes to the bathroom completely by himself, can refill his water bottle (removing and re-sealing the lid) on his own, can microwave his food, load his dishes in the dishwasher, help with the laundry, and on and on.  Of course, he can still throw a huge tantrum about cleaning up the playroom, and Friday nights when we all are tired are prime for a meltdown. All those emotions are hard to manage!

Nathan is funny. He likes to tell jokes and stories.  He has started sounding out words, and reads lots of signs as we are driving around.  Every night after we tuck him in he can be found with his reading light on, looking through his books, most of the time it's one of the Berenstain Bears stories.  He rarely sleeps anymore for naptime unless he is really exhausted. At school he listens to Magic Treehouse and A-Z Mysteries books on tape while his younger classmates rest. He loves Legos, his family, his best friend William, his teacher Ms. Jennifer, and of course CARS!

At his 5 year check-up he got a clean bill of health, impressed the nurse and doctor with his high level verbal skills, and clocked in the 80th percentile at 45 lbs and 44.25" tall.  He had a BIG growth spurt this summer!  He's such a tall, grown-up looking kid, who has officially lost all of his baby fat.

Nathan's actual birthday was on a Tuesday this year, so the weekend prior to the actual day was full of celebrations with family and friends.  Saturday my parents and Todd's parents came over for pizza, cake and presents.

Nathan specifically requested vanilla cake with blueberry frosting.  His talented Grandma Nancy fulfilled the order beautifully!

My mom and dad got him a cool fort building kit, which kids, Grandpas, and the cat all found equally intriguing!

On Sunday we headed over to Jungle Joes for Nathan's kid party.  The apple did not fall far from the tree, and just like his mama, Nathan wanted to celebrate with ALL of his friends!  He even invited his friends who are in kindergarten this year, who he still misses a lot.  Since he made this appeal to his social mama, of course all of his friends were on the invite list and all but one of them was able to attend.  I am so thankful for the awesome community of kids and parents that we have found at Nathan and Natalie's daycare.  We all genuinely like getting together.  The party was so much fun!  Jungle Joes is an indoor space that is full of bounce houses and inflatables.  The kids all ran around like maniacs having a ball.  Within 3 minutes of this fun Nathan hurt himself. Ugh. Luckily it wasn't at all serious and Todd was able to help him forget his ailments and get back to the party.  All the kids got tokens for the arcade, and Nathan hit the jackpot on one of the games!

The whole gang! So fun!

JACKPOT!!!!

After all the running around the party coordinator (who was worth her weight in gold, btw) gathered all of the kids around the table in the party room.

The birthday boy got to weild a confetti throwing wand.  It was awesome because none of the kids (including Nathan) knew that there was confetti in it.  They were so surprised and thrilled!!  And even better? I didn't have to clean up a room full of confetti. :)

Cupcakes!

Presents!

Natalie ate just the frosting off the top of her cupcake! :)