Nathanael

Instead of doing lots of little posts I decided to just do one big post about what's been going on with Nathanael lately.  On Thursday he had his very first tennis lesson - and he LOVED it.  His coach was teaching him to do everything with his right hand (because Nathanael told him that he writes with his left hand but throws a football with his right), and was really impressed with how well he was doing.  I finally interrupted and let him know that Nathanael does most things with his left hand.  So, they decided to give his left hand a try.  He did not miss a volley or overhand volley once.  His coach said that this created an interesting problem.  There's not a pro out there that is ambidextrous.  So, they are going to focus on his left hand (because he really did better with it), and still let him use his right occasionally.  I think we finally found a sport (other than running) that he is going to really love!

For his birthday, we bought him a bow.  He is so cute when he shoots it - he looks JUST like his daddy in this picture.  I can't believe how similar the two are.  The way they stand, the way they hold their arms after they've shot the arrow - all of it is identical!  He's practicing every day so that he will be strong enough to shoot a deer in the fall.

Today was his friend birthday party.  It was NERF themed, and everyone had so much fun!  No girls were allowed, so they stayed inside and watched the movie until the very end, when they came running out with guns and crashed the party.  I tried to take pictures of my cake balls, cupcakes and s'mores crispy treats (thank you Pinterest! Golden Grahams, marshmallows and chocolate chips) but they keep uploading like this:

I don't know why.  My pictures have been uploading like this for weeks.  We did everything with yellow, orange and black decorations, served pizza and yellow & orange Gatorade, "fire"crackers (another yummy Pinterest find - tiny saltines, cheez it's, 1/2 c canola oil, 1 pkg ranch dressing mix and a few shakes of red pepper flakes), and all of the aforementioned goodies.  Party favors were easy - Silly string (orange, yellow or black of course) and candies that stuck with our color theme such as Reese's Pieces, Heath Bars, Milk Duds, Rolos, etc.

It's been a great week!  11 more days until we are in Utah for the family reunion!  The kids are SO excited!

Girls Day!

Every one who knows me knows how much I love my nieces and nephews, and that I especially love it when I have excuses to spoil them!  In May, Victoria turned 6 and Cassie just recently turned 9, so what better excuse for a girls day!  

We started our day at 10:30 in the morning at the salon, and left two hours later with pink streaks in our hair.  Don't worry, the girls are washable!  After that we went to Queen Bee's for our favorite lunch!  Cassie and Victoria had the Princess plate with PB&J and all three girls devoured the Tomato Basil Soup. Carlye and I had their delectable egg salad sandwiches, and I sampled their Mushroom soup and it was absolutely divine.  Of course, all of our meals came with scones with clotted cream and jam, and a plethora of fruit accompanied by tiny little 'dainties' for dessert.

After lunch we headed to the spa for pedicures.  Aren't these little Princess thrones for the younger girls adorable?  I love them!

Matching dresses, ice cream and 'Sisters at Heart' necklaces completed our day out, with the grand finale at our house - playing with the kittens!!

Aren't they beautiful?!?

Family Party

Happy Birthday Dutchie!  See you soon!!!

and Happy Independence Day!!  Thank you to all the soldiers and their families who work so hard to keep us free!  

I've been trying to post this since Sunday.  It will not allow me to add pictures, I don't know why!!!  It really is a dumb post without pics, but oh well.

 Today we had Nathanael and Cassie's Birthday party up at Nani's.  Nathanael loves chocolate, and Cassie loves strawberry, so everything ended up being pink and brown.  I made yummy cake balls and cup cakes, and we had Strawberry Oreos, Birthday Cake Oreos, Choc "twinkies" and Strawberry "twinkies", Strawberry and Chocolate Whoppers, and Sparkling Strawberry Lemonade and Sparkling Grape Juice.  

It rained, so we couldn't go outside to do the piñata.  Carl came up with the idea of holding the piñata while the kids punched it until it fell apart.  I know, our family is some kind of special!

Happy Birthday, kids!