Straight From Nate

Nate has not been giving Mark the proper amount of love lately. I told Nate that Mark needed a hug. Mark happened to be shirtless. Nate replied, "But Daddy has too much fur on him." Feeling the love.

My sister was visiting. On Tuesday morning, she took Nate (still in pajamas) with her to get some donuts. The lady behind the counter made the mistake of being friendly and trying to interact with him. She complimented his pajamas and expressed a desire for some and was informed that they were too small for her. She continued to talk to him until he had had enough and informed her, "You are not my mother". She explained to him that she wasn't trying to be his mother, more like a friend. "You aren't my friend. (Child's name) is my friend." I think she finally gave up. That Nate, he is a polite one.

My sis later took Chase and Nate to a store to get a few shirts for Chase. While shopping, Nate started crying. They found him with his hand down his pants crying out loudly (with people around), "My (insert boy part) is big and it won't go down!" Repeat several times, loudly.

He is a fun one, that Nate.

I Blame It All on the Cute Baby

We were a few minutes late to church on Sunday (shocking, I know). The 2 younger boys had been delivered to their classrooms, and the rest of us made it to the auditorium. I was sitting next to Mark, Chase was next to me, and Dylan was next to him. A little further down the row was a friend of mine with her ridiculously cute baby boy. I demanded the baby, and she graciously obliged. Ummm, sweet baby boy smell. Sweet baby sucking on his paci as I patted his bottom and he slowly drifted off to sleep. Cute stick-em-up hair. Sweetness all around. Then it happened. I was instantly transported back to when the almost 13-year-old sitting next to me was a baby, and I was holding him in church while he was sleeping. Oh, how I loved holding my babies during church while they slept. Out of the blue, the tears came. Once they were turned on, there was no stopping them. They flowed, and flowed, and flowed. I returned the baby to my friend who now probably knows that I am a bit insane. Mark wasn't surprised by my tears. Poor man has seen my insanity many times. I did not even have to explain the tears, because he knows me too well. Unfortunately, giving the baby back did not stop the tears. I had to go home for a bit and clean up. Stinkin' cute baby and stinkin' boys that are growing up way too fast. Where oh where have my sweet babies gone?

Straight From Nate - Happy Father's Day

Oh my sweet yet sour Nate. He has been a little bit jealous of his daddy lately. He informed us that he does not like for Daddy to love on me. So of course, Mark loved on me which led to Nate falling face down in despair on the couch. When he sees Mark hugging me, then he will come and squeeze in-between us. If Mark happens to hold my hand, then Nate will pull my hand away. What a way to say, "Happy Father's Day". Stink.

Straight From Nate

As Nate was getting ready for bed, he pulled off his shorts, peeled off his underwear, and then announced, "And now for the grand finale!" Cracks me up.

I have many things to blog, and no time to blog them. Hopefully I will catch up on my work soon.

My Boy...

....is stinkin' cute. That is all.

Straight From Nate

Here are a few things before I forget them.

Nate was eating a piece of candy the other day. I thought the candy was a bit large, so I told him to be careful so that he wouldn't choke. "Don't worry. If I choke, then I just do this (placing one hand on his belly) and then this (placing his other hand on top of his hand on his belly) and then push up like this (demonstrating a Heimlich maneuver) and then the candy would come out like this (running his finger up his throat opening his mouth and pretending that the offensive candy comes flying out)". Good to know.

At swimming lessons, he was spooked by a dragonfly. His awesome swim teacher told him not to worry because dragonflies don't hurt you. His reply, "But they breathe fire!"

There was another one, but I didn't write it down and now it has left my mind. Must be a better blogger!

Run On

I was in the 7th or 8th grade. It was a scorcher at the track meet being run at our rival's school (rivals in our heads at least, this town always kicked our bootie in athletic events). The starting gun went off, and I ran my heart out in the 800 meter race (I think that was the length of the race). The finish line was in reach, and the crowd was cheering for me, for ME. "You can do it! Don't give up! Don't quit!" If only the story could end there. You see, they weren't cheering for me because I was in the lead. They were cheering for me because I was so very far behind. Everyone else had already finished the race. That is how fast I am! Have I ever mentioned how fiercely competitive I am? Don't let my quiet exterior fool you, I want to win and be the best at everything that I do. Play Word with Friends with me and you will discover my true competitive self. I do not like to lose/fail/not be the best. I fail miserably at track. I am the slowest of the slow. Why oh why would I participate in track when I was such a failure at it? I went to a microscopic school with mandatory track participation. For some unknown reason, my coach did not make me participate in track in high school. I cannot imagine why. Why am I revealing this and opening myself up to further public humiliation? I tell you this to help you understand that running and I are not friends. We just don't get along. Running has always shown me my weaknesses. So, can anyone explain to me my urge to start running? Is it because I am tired of being in miserable shape? Is it because I enjoy torturing myself? Maybe I have developed athletic abilitly? I don't have the answer, but I have started a running program and am determined to stick to it. My first run was PAINFUL. Can't-breathe-and-fat-particles-in-my-legs-banging-against-each-other-and-screaming-at-me-in-protest kind of painful. My second run was not so bad. Maybe running and I can become frenemies. Stay tuned.

Bonus embarrassing story: Another one of my all-time-crawl-in-a-hole-to-curl-up-and-die moments happened at this same track meet. There was this cute boy I liked. He happened to be in line ahead of me at the concession stand. A friend of mine was giving me a hard time about my pasty whiteness (don't you wish you could have known me in junior high?). He wanted to know why I was so white. My moment to impress the cute boy with a witty comment had arrived. I MEANT to say, "Because I am Caucasian", but for some reason, "Because I am a les*ian" came out of my mouth. My friends, there is no recovery for that blunder.

May Phone Pictures

Random phone pictures from May

Nate was thrilled that his cousin sent him his old lunch box. He was also super excited about the shirt that his aunt made for him.
We were able to eat with some friends before they move to Virginia. Cade was so excited about his "fish chip" He asked me to post it on Facebook.
We are going to miss sweet V and her parents
Chase and his buddy going into their band concert.
Chase's class had a cardboard boat project. Mark helped to transport the boats to a pool. The students then raced the boats across the pool. Chase and his partner won their race.
Mark opened up his camera at work and found that Nate had inserted a self-portrait :)
Turtle - Nate's last day of museum school
Nate's preschool class took a "field trip" to the McDonald's across the street. He was way excited about it. He got more of a field trip than Cade did this year. Field trips were cut from the budget :(
Cade loved eating at Babe's

Deer Lease - Final Group

Some of the guys slept outside in a tent.


Nate did not make it through the night