Nathan

Nathan has had a very busy year in First Grade. I didn't realize until I actually looked back at all of his pictures that he has grown so much! I have captured many highlights from his year in this very long post as a reminder to me (and him) just how much he has grown and experienced.

This is Nathan at his desk on his first day of first grade.

Nathan holding one of his first big school projects.

Nate being silly.

Nathan lost the first of many teeth in first grade.

Nathan meeting his new cousin Jaden for the first time!

Mommy and Nathan at the Gaylord Texan. We went and saw ICE!

One of Nathan's favorite things to do at Christmas is put the star on the tree.

Ethan, Megan, and Nathan on Christmas Morning!

We had a big snow fall this year. Nathan got to make a snowman and throw snowballs.

Nathan decided to walk into the corner of a wall. This is Nathan after a hospital visit and 4 stitches.

Nathan got to go see many of Allan's hockey games this year. His favorite was when Grandma and Pa came to see one too.

He usually likes to help Allan out by carrying his hockey sticks into the rink.

During Sprink Break, Allan and I suprised Nathan with tickets to a Dallas Stars game. Here are the boys waiting for the train to take us to Dallas.

Even though Nate has been to many hockey games, nothing compared to him being able to go to the STARS game. He had so much fun!

Another Spring Break event was going to the Stockyards with his cousins. They had a free petting zoo and lots of attractions to look at.

The highlight of the Stockyards visit for Nathan was being able to pet a real longhorn.

Together we saw lots of movies. Most of them in 3-D. Here we were about to see Alice in Wonderland.

All of that fun however didn't keep Nathan from working hard in school. He always loved working on his homework as soon as he got home so he could get it over with.

All of Nathan's hard work paid off when he received the "Citizen of the Month" award at school in January. He was picked by his teacher out of his whole class for the "overcoming obstacles" theme.

Nathan had his 7th birthday at Chuck E. Cheese. As you can see, he had a blast.

Allan spent the day with Nate at his schools "Field Day". Nathan won first place in the Tug-of-War, and second place in the 50 Yard Dash. I was a very proud Mom!

Nate on his last day of first grade! So grown up!

Nathan,

Mommy and Allan are so proud of you. We have watched you grow and learn so much this year. It has been fun listening to you excel at reading and loving your math problems. You make us laugh when you are the loudest person cheering Allan on at his hockey games. You give the best hugs and tell the best stories. Your imagination is full of life and creativity. We are so proud of all the struggles you have overcome and accomplishments you have made this year. You've worked hard and it shows. We love you and will love to continue watching you grow.

Love, Mommy and Allan

He Went to Jared!

Allan and I celebrated our two years together on March 21st. We had Nathan that weekend so we decided to postpone our dinner plans to the following weekend. (We love our weekends we have Nate, so we try not to plan date nights on those weekends, we save those for when he is at his dads.)

We decided to go out to dinner on Saturday, March 27th. Earlier that week Allan asked me if I thought it would be fun to go to the Botanical Gardens during the day since it was supposed to be really nice out. I thought it would be nice so a plan was set. Little did I know Allan had much more planned than I thought.

That morning Allan went out the store and bought some picnic finger food so that we could sit, have a snack, and enjoy the Gardens. On the way out there he mentioned that our friends Jamie and Scott were talking about going the the Gardens that weekend too because they had a really neat butterfly display going on. Sure enough when we arrived and found our spot, there was Jamie and Scott. We invited them to sit and enjoy a snack with us. After about 20 minutes Allan asked me to go for a walk with him. I complained because I didn't have any shoes on, but he insisted. Stubborn me jumped up and started walking towards him barefoot. Next thing I heard was, "Hey guys!" I turned around and saw Ed, Jenn, and Joe walking towards us. Then I knew!! Allan was up to something and I knew it was something big.

This is us walking towards the beautiful water fountian in front of the pond there.

Allan kept having to tell me to breath and relax. HAHA!

Here Allan is professing his undying love for me! :)
He got down on one knee and asked me to marry him!!
I of course said, YES!!!
This is me crying tears of complete happiness.
Showing off my ring to all our friends.
After the proposal we all went back to the blanket and celebrated. Toasts and congratulations were said by all. It was a very neat experience to have our friends there to celebrate with us.
I love him so much! I have found my soulmate.

I coudn't wait to get on the phone and call my mom.

Allan has changed my life in so many ways. He is my constant, steady rock. He is my best friend and my soulmate. I am so blessed to have him in my life and I thank God everyday for giving me my Allan.

The First of Many...

(DISCLAIMER: Post contains graphic pictures, not for the squeamish)

The first of many hospital visits for injuries, that is.

Yes, I have a boy and he is all boy.

If he is not Kung Fooing this, then he is Karate choping that. If he is not on his scooter, then he is on his skateboard. If he is not jumping off the side of the couch, then he is jumping off of a chair. If he is not sliding around the ceramic floor in his socks, then he is begging to have ice skates on and be at the rink. And so on, and so on. You get the idea.

The great part however is that Nate rarely ever gets hurt when he is being his rough and tough self. I am very blessed in that way, or should I say HE is the blessed one!!

You would think that when I got the call Saturday that Nate had gotten hurt that I would be surprised and upset but I took it rather well. Nate's dad called me around 3:30 p.m. Saturday (I was camping with Allan and friends) and told me Nate hit his head, but he was ok and for me not to freak out. My first thought was he was riding his bike and he fell off, or he was rough housing and bumped into something. Well, he bumped into something alright. The wall. Not because he was being a rough and tough dude, but just simply by walking and not watching where he was going!! What a kid! Anyways, everything was ok. The bleeding had stopped and Nate was bandaged up. Great! I talked to Nate and he was a bit upset, but nothing a little Mom love over the phone couldn't fix. I hung up and went on with the camping trip.

4 hours later, Allan checked my phone and noticed I had missed many calls. It was 7:30 at this point and most of the calls were from Jon. I called him immediately only to find out that they were sitting in the emergency room. Nate's cut apparently hadn't stopped bleeding and Jon felt that Nate needed stiches. I couldn't grasp why after 4 hours would he need stiches now. It wasn't until Jon sent me a picture to my phone and that is when I lost it.

Now if you don't like open cuts and such here is where you should stop reading. I am showing you a before picture and then an after picture.

Now this picture freaked me out!! How could you not think that this didn't need stitches!! After an hour of talking on the phone with Jon, and Nathan begging me to come to the hospital, I left the campgrounds in Fort Worth and drove to Baylor in Irving. I got there in plenty of time for the Doctor to tell us that Nate in fact needed stitches.

My little trooper did amazing. He and I went on an imaginary safari and talked about all of the animals we would see. Before he knew it, Nate was the proud owner of 4 stitches right in the middle of his forehead!

We did get a good laugh telling Nate that he now looks like Harry Potter. I personally am hoping it won't scar too bad. I am putting all of the Neosporin I can on it now, and I am already preparing creams and such for when after the stiches come out to hopefully eliminate as much scarring as possible!

BOYS!!

OUR American Girl

For Christmas Megan got an American Girl Doll, but instead of picking one out for her we let her pick out the one she wanted.

This is her jumping up and down when she found out where we were.

I had to make her stand still long enough to get a clear picture.
She had a really hard time trying to decide which doll to get.

Megan got a little help from daddy.

Here is daddy showing Megan a doll that looks just like her.

Finally, Megan picked out her very own American Girl Doll.

I think they look a lot alike. Don't you??

Megan LOVES her doll! She didn't put her down the rest of the time they were here. Megan even lined up their shoes together.

Wordless Wednesday!

Merry Christmas!

Christmas was so amazing this year. Allan and I surprisingly woke up before the kids. After sitting in the living room for a while waiting, we couldn't stand it anymore and went and woke the three of them up.

This was taken Christmas Eve.

Here is the tree with all the presents.
Megan opening her presents.
What did you get Nate??

Opening the family gift! What did Santa bring us?

It's a Wii!

What did you get Ethan?

After we opened presents and had breakfast at home we went to Grandma and Pa's house to have Christmas with the family. Here are the kids with Grandma and Allan playing Go Fish.

That weekend we loaded up and drove to Tyler to have Christmas with Allan's family. His mom was so excited to see us and the kids had a great time opening even more presents.

Allan and I are blessed with the most amazing kids. They were so greatful for everything they got for Christmas. Next year will be a little different though because we will have no kids with us on Christmas. Hmmm....maybe we should plan a trip somewhere.