Nathan is 3

Yesterday was Nathan's third birthday. He has been pretty excited about it all week. In fact a week ago we were at the store getting a little toy for Caelan to take to a birthday party. Nathan wanted to buy a car. I told him that we weren't going to buy it that day. He really wanted it. I told him maybe he would get something like that for his birthday - that is was almost his birthday. So, for the next week he used that as a reason to try and get me to buy him things every time we stepped into a store. "Can I get this for my birthday?" - He's a smart one, that kid. In fact, Ben and Nathan and I went to the store on Saturday morning. I was trying to be sly and sneak little things into the cart, but he pretty much knew exactly what we were doing and starting putting his own things in the cart. He snuck up to our bedroom on Saturday evening and opened all of his presents (except for one) - silly boy. He wanted a dragon cake, so that is what we made for him. He told everyone that it was his birthday - he was very proud of it. It was a great day.

Some fun things about Nathan:
* He is potty trained - YIPPEE (and let me just say he was leaps and bounds easier to train than his older brother)
* He loves cheese sticks, apples, crackers, cereal, eggs, plain rice, and almost anything with sugar in it
* When we have cake and ice cream for birthdays he will almost ALWAYS eat the cake and leave the ice cream (that is a total mystery to us)
* He loves to take a bath (or a shower) and will ask for one pretty much every day
* He also loves to swim in the jacuzzi
* He is a little talker and can pretty much communicate anything he needs to
* He loves to get my attention by saying, "Mom?" and then when I answer him he responds with "nevermind." He'll do this over and over again.
* He likes to play on the iPad and the computer and can maneuver around fairly well
* He loves cars, trains, balls, swords, little characters, riding the big wheel on the deck in the backyard, playing at the park and pretty much anything that his brother and sisters will include him in.
* He used to always ask for me to "spike" his hair, but in the last month or so he has switched over to always asking for it to be "down" (combed to the side). I think his brother is rubbing off on him.
* He loves to be tickled. He'll ask Dad or I to do it over and over and over again.
* He is a big helper when it comes to setting the table - even when it is someone else's turn he wants to be the one to put the plates and silverware on the table.
* He points out motorcycles, busses, police cars, big trucks, fire trucks and any other special kind of vehicle when we are driving.
* He regularly makes his way to our bed sometime in the morning and falls back asleep with us.
* He likes to tell people what to say to him ("Mom, say 'what'." or "Caelan, say 'what are you eating'?")
* He loves to get out of bed for some reason or another several times (when it is bedtime) and then he asks to be re-tucked in after every time (this is not our favorite routine of the evening, but it is pretty funny).
* He can count to ten (and sometimes up to 13 or 14) but he almost always skips the number 5.
* He loves to "help" people say the prayer.
* He would be happy to run around in his underwear all day every day.

We love Nathan to pieces. He is pure entertainment and joy in our home.

The Belly Shots

I'm not a real "belly shot" picture taker when I'm pregnant, but I do like to have a couple of pictures to document my roundness for each child. Here I am at about 38 weeks. I'm round and ready to go. My due date is in two days, but knowing my children (and how much they love the cozy home I make for them inside of me), I'm sure I still have several days before he comes. At least I've learned to be patient - in fact this time around I thought I would get involved in a little project during the last week. So, I'm refinishing my kitchen table and chairs. I've sanded and primed and painted the chairs (just did the paint this morning), and now I just need to put a sealer coat on and then do the table. Just a little something to keep me entertained at nine months pregnant...HE HE HE. I am super lucky when I am pregnant - I have a pretty easy time of it the entire time, but even still by the time I am nine months along I am READY to be done. It's time for the little guy to come. Here's to hoping we have a productive week.

Megan's First Day of Preschool (Again)

Megan started back up at Parky's Pals on September 6th. She was very ready to start (she couldn't understand why she had to wait an extra two weeks after Caelan and Ben started school). She is loving it. She has the same teachers as last year - they are great.

Crash and Burn

Sean was gone at a Scout Training camp out for the whole weekend. He got home Sunday night. The kids were excitedly running out to the garage to meet him. Megan ran out and slipped or tripped and fell and hit her face right on our brick hearth. I ran out to help her and noticed blood running down her face. She had a good gash on the side of her eye. We checked it out, stopped the bleeding (it actually stopped pretty quick) and tried to console her while we made arrangements for the other kids so we could take her to the ER. We headed down there, but by the time we got there she was doing much better, it wasn't bleeding anymore, she wasn't showing any signs of head trauma, etc. So we called Nurse Lindsay (Sean's sister) and talked to her about it. We decided to wait until Monday morning to call doctors, check out the wound again and then go to the Urgent Care if needed. She slept with us that night (so we could check up on her every so often during the night). The next day there was a good covering over the wound. I called the doctor and then the Urgent Care and asked them about it (they said the stitches would mostly be to help minimize the scarring). After getting all the opinions we decided to just butterfly it up ourselves and see how it heals. So she might end up with a little "character mark" (scar), but so far it's really been healing up well. She also got a good scrape down the bridge of her nose and a few little ones on the side of her nose. Today her eye was swollen up. Poor thing - looks worse than it is. She's a trooper and is feeling great.

Mr. Underpants

This is a common sight around our house these days. Nathan is being potty trained. I was completely and totally dreading it, but I really want to get it hammered down by the time the baby was born. I started a week before we went to CA, so I was pretty low key about the whole thing (I knew we would be leaving for a week and that would mess some things up). He actually caught on really quick. Last week he had four days in a row with no accidents, but since then he has had at least one every day (don't ask me what that is all about). I guess he is just keeping me on my toes - doesn't want to make it too easy. He LOVES to run around with just his underwear on...or not (naked buns works great for him too). Sean caught him on camera yesterday jumping into the Love Sac (a favorite trick around here) in all his fashionable glory.

First Day of School

Today is the first day of school. No more staying up late and sleeping in the loft watching movies and having sleep overs with friends and playing in the jacuzzi all day and having no schedule. Back to the grind. We prepared last night with haircuts, root beer floats and Father's blessings (which even Nathan wanted to be a part of). Then this morning Caelan and Ben got breakfast in bed. This tradition started a couple years ago when Caelan asked me on Father's Day, "When is kids' day? You know - where we get breakfast in bed?" I told her I would give her breakfast in bed on the first day of school....and it's become a tradition ever since. We got ready and loaded up the crew and drove them to school to find their classrooms and teachers: Caelan (3rd grade) has Ms. Coffee, and Ben (1st grade) has Ms. Fox. They were both excited to be back. Megan starts preschool in another few weeks. Goodbye Summer.

The Last Summer Hurrah!

We did one final summer adventure (actually one of our only two trips this summer). And it all started with a blessing in disguise. I drove with the kids to Arizona to visit Grandpa and Grandma Dick. We were planning on me taking the Suburban. It gets a little better gas mileage than the van, and with gas guzzlers like ours every little bit counts. Two days before we were supposed to leave the air conditioning went completely out on the Suburban. Since I was driving through the dessert in the dead of summer we changed plans and I took the van. No one ever likes when something goes wrong on their car, but we were lucky with this one. I made it to Casa Grande with no problems (and we drove through three intense rain storms, which were kind of fun). The very next day Sean called and told me that the Suburban had broken down on him. He knew what the problem was right away was able to get it fixed with no trouble the next day (his boss let him use the company truck for the night). If I had taken the Suburban, however, it probably would have broken down somewhere along the way leaving me stranded with 4 kiddos in the dessert. Plus, then I would have had to have it towed and taken it to a shop to get it fixed (which always costs at least three times more). So who would have guessed a broken air conditioner would have really ended up being a blessing in disguise. Anyway, we had a great time in AZ: mostly swimming....because really what else can you do when it's 110 degrees outside.


Megan learned how to swim under water and Nathan went from clinging on to me for dear life in the pool, to jumping off the edge with floaties on and wanting to do it over and over and over again. He was like a little fish by the time we left. We also got some dental work done while we were there - just cleanings and check-ups and such. We saw Kung Fu Panda 2, which was super cute. After 4 days there I drove to Murrieta, CA to visit the Sorensen clan. We had lots of water fun there too. We went to Wild Rivers. Caelan and Ben wanted to go on any slide they could. I mostly hung out in the Kiddie areas with Nathan and Megan (I'm a little too big and pregnant to go down water slides). They all loved it. We also took a trip to the beach. Caelan was way out in the waves finding good ones to boogie board in on. Nathan must have thought he was one of the hundreds of sand crabs we found - he was rolling all over in the sand. We played in the water and sand and later had a fire and roasted hot dogs and yummy banana treats. Grandpa Sorensen made an awesome fort with the kids which was able to withstand most of the waves that came up on it. The kids played in the slip-n-slide in the front yard one day and went swimming in a neighbors pool another day.

Sean flew in to LAX on Thursday. We went on a dinner date that night (always fun to do when you have free babysitting). Then Sean and Grandpa Sorensen and Corbin went deep sea fishing on Friday. They had to get up at the very crack of dawn to get down to the boat. They had a fun time, and then came home and crashed for the rest of the evening/night.

On Saturday Sean and I headed to the Redlands Temple for a good friends wedding. He is friend of ours from BYU. The whole Crusader gang (that's what Sean's group was called) was there - which was lots of fun. We hung out all day with old friends and ate some delicious Mexican food at the reception that night. We got home late that night and made the long drive home the next day. Fun times.