Nathan's Birthday Party

We celebrated Nathan's 10th birthday this past weekend with a slumber party. I don't know why they call it that. Very little slumbering actually took place. Here's a photo diary of the party. Unfortunately since I was in charge of the events and the camera, I missed some good photos. My mother told me to take lots of pictures so here are lots of pictures.

The garage pre-party.

Table for 8, although we ended up with 11.

The gift table.

The slip 'n' slide was popular in the beginning.

Katie had fun in the water with the boys.

A few boys preferred rough housing to playing in the water.

We did a water bomb toss and ended it with a full blown water balloon fight.

Look out!

More slip 'n' slide fun.

Look at that arm!

Katie wasn't going to let the boys have all of the fun.

Here's a good action shot.

I had eight boys at this point. They decided to show off their muscles for the camera.

What a bunch of goof balls.

After the water fun, the boys played some hoops.

This is the worst picture of Katie I have ever seen. It looks like she's growing a mustache. Oh well.

Some boys were playing football and others were playing ladder golf.

Next, we ate and played some more. I don't have many pictures of that. Here is Katie eating a cupcake in the kitchen when she thought no one was looking.

Katie cleaning up after dinner. My little helper:)

More basketball.

Nathan and Katie grabbing seconds on dinner. You'd think I never feed these kids with the way they eat.

Katie decided to take a break on the couch while watching the boys play. Next, we held two tournaments at the same time. I ran a basketball golf tournament outside while Ken ran a Wii bowling tournament. The winner of the tournaments each won door prizes. One chose a disk shooter while the other chose a whoopie cushion.

After the two tournaments, the boys played sharks and minnows, hot potato, and limbo. The winner of the games won a rubber baseball, a water bomb football, and a pack of baseball cards. At this point in was getting dark. The boys were so loud, you could here them at the other end of the subdivision. Oh my! I feel sorry for my neighbors.

Some MORE late night basketball.

A little visitor stopped by for a few minutes to see his big brother.

Here are some shots of the Wii tournament.

A friend stuffing a cupcake in his mouth.

Finally time to settle down for a movie. They have popcorn in those red cups.

Still posing for the camera. They were wired and it was about midnight.

They finally fell asleep at about 2:30-3:00am. Not before watching two movies, playing hide and seek, and having a popcorn fight. Oh, I was NOT happy about that one.

Do you SEE my carpet?? This is the next morning.

I made breakfast and had to wake them up so that they'd eat. They were wound up again for another 2 hours before I sent them all home. I was never so happy for 9am to roll around. I was exhausted. I spent the rest of the morning napping and cleaning. Overall, the party was a success and the boys had a good time. No more parties for a loooong time.

Boys Being Boys

That is just a statement...not an excuse. Boys are rough. Boys think they're tough. Well, I had my first run in with the boys in the neighborhood being less than polite. Nathan told me that his good friend wanted to beat him up. This didn't sound like him at all. His friend is quiet and polite. Earlier today, Nathan tells me that three of his friends are punching him.

Okay, time for Mom to step in. I walk down the street and see the boys. They see me and begin to run. I yell, "You three come over here or I'll speak with all of your parents." They turn around and come over to me. One of the older sisters comes over too. I choose to speak to her, knowing that I'll get a better look at what really happened. Of course, I find out that Nathan was not innocent in all of this. (Big surprise.)

Basically, Nathan accidentally hit his friend in the eye. I truly believe that it was an accident because Nathan doesn't get physical with his friends. This said friend then threatens to beat up Nathan. Nathan does climb on the back of another friend and now they are all fighting. I asked Nathan to apologize for his behavior. He did, and one of his friends said it was okay right away. Another kid was reluctant to accept his apology. I'm not surprised by this kid.

So there are four prepubescent boys trying to beat up on each other. I hate being the mean mom that steps in, but I could see that they were not working it out on their own. This was just one more way that reminds me that I'm the adult. I know my mom finds that hilarious, but sometimes I still don't feel like the adult. I hope Nathan can make it through his childhood and teenage years without too many fist fights. Having only a sister, this is pretty new to me and I don't like it one bit.

What An Imagination

I sit in awe of my daughter's huge imagination. She has spent the majority of her day making a map of planets. These include shape planet, chocolate planet (my favorite), river planet, pencil planet, and robot butterfly planet to name just a few. Now it is time to build our spaceship. Unfortunately, Katie does not think that this is just make believe. She really thinks we're heading for space. The spaceship is going to be built from the vacuum cleaner, our computer, and a special cord to plug it in. Then we'll stick some fire underneath it and we're off! It will take 10, no 100 minutes to get into space! This, of course, because 100 is the largest number that Katie knows.

So I sit down with Katie and tell her that going into space is fun, but that it's just make believe. She almost burst into tears. I state to her that only astronauts can go into space. She told me that she was an astronaut. I announce that if she wants to be an astronaut, she'll have to do well in school and learn all about space. I asked her what planet we live on. She said, "the one where we are." I asked her what other planets are in our solar system and she began naming some of her pretend planets.

Katie's sitting in front of the TV with a blank look on her face while watching A Night at the Opera. I may have killed her fantasy of flying into space. I sure hope not. She'll just find another fantasy land to live in. The joys of preschool.

My Chillens

Here's my chillens just chillin' this summer.

Kate with her 36 piece puzzle. She was so proud to figure this one out.

Can you figure out whose job it is to straighten the shoes?

Katie passed out after a long day of swimming and partying at Grandma and Grandpa's house.

She's my ham for the camera.

One of my only shots of Nathan doing his school work. He's usually out with his friends all day, so I don't get to spend much time with him.

The kids' paintings. Who copied who (or is it whom?)

Katie working hard at her cutting and painting.

There's my ham again.

I decided one night at about 8pm to try to put together Katie's bike. This is why she's riding her bike in the dark while wearing her nightgown. Yes, I'm that kind of mom.

Nathan was catching fireflies while Katie rode her bike.

July 4th

Here are July 4th pictures. We spent the majority of our day with my sister-in-law and her family. I can't believe I didn't get any pictures of the fireworks, but I guess if you see them once, you've seen 'em a million times.

My brother-in-law grilling. All the food was great!

Katie enjoying the sun, but not the water slide.


Nathan definitely enjoying the water slide!

She timidly gave it a try. She never did make it down the other end.

Nathan sure did

Here's their cousin, Hannah.
Their other cousin, Evan

Hannah helped Katie give it another try.

The boys had the most fun.

This one shows all four having a blast.

Nathan soaking wet

This is Molly. She's the cutest little dog, and I'm not a dog person.

Nathan and Evan were playing with water guns.

Time to dry off and get dressed again.

My beautiful princess.

This is Logan, a friend's son. He thought the water fountain was just that: a water fountain! Thankfully the water was fresh and the fountain pretty clean. He kept sneaking drinks when the adults weren't looking.

Katie being silly while the bigger kids were playing with sparklers.

Katie looks so big next to little Logan.

June, my sister-in-law and our friend, Jenny.