Life by the Lake

Sometimes it is nice to live close to the lake, even if we're not big boaters or fishing people. Saturday was actually a cloudy, yet not rainy day, which made it a little cooler here, so late afternoon we decided to take a few things out and grill and play at the park. Nathan finds a friend everywhere we go and the little boy next to him on the swing is Trevor. They had fun swinging and playing on the new playground together. The wind picked up because a storm was coming in so we had to come in shortly after we ate but it was nice to be outside and just enjoy being together.

Monster Trucks

Nathan has watched a cartoon monster truck show in the past and has recently gotten into watching Monster Jam on TV. We let him play on our bed all the time. Now he likes to build a monster truck with the pillows and hold his Wii steering wheel and pretend to drive. He gets all into it pretending to do jumps and wheelies. Yesterday, I caught him standing on our bed talking to himself in the mirror about driving his monster truck. He told me he was the winner and he was "talking to the blonde girl." On the show the host/hostess does interviews and recaps with the driver and that's what he was doing. Well, today, he started handing off pillows to me and Noah. When the trucks crash on the show and a part falls off, the tailgate or the hood, sometimes the driver will run out to the fans and give it to someone. That's what he was doing today - giving us "his fans" parts of his truck! I wish you all could see this boy on a day to day basis!

First Soccer Practice

I will write some of the story of this practice later, but here are the pictures from Nathan’s first soccer practice.

Nathan's Soccer Stuff

Nathan has his first soccer practice on Thursday so Meredith took him to get shorts, cleats and shin guards. Of course when he came home he had to put on his Guatemala soccer jersey and all his new stuff.

New Albany Museums

Well, at least they are new to us. The other day when I was at the aquarium with the youth I found a museum and planetarium that looked pretty cool, but it was closed. One of the things that they had were old trains (like real trains as you see in the picture) and I thought it would be fun to take Nathan in to see it. The website made it look like these two museums (that are sort of connected) were big things with lots to see. In actuality the history museum was one and a half rooms and the other was just some interactive stuff outside of the planetarium. But they were both free and there were trains and the people in the museum were very nice, and even offered to change the planetarium show to the kids cartoon if we wanted to watch. Of course I couldn’t convince Nathan to go it, but both places were free so it wasn’t a bad day.

Afterwards we went to the mall to look for some soccer cleats. The only ones we found were black and red and I don’t know what color uniform he will have and I don’t want his cleats to clash so I passed and went looking at Target. We found a pair one size too big, but since Meredith is at the beach an not answering her phone I had to use my own judgment not to buy them. I guess he will go in tennis shoes for his “tryout” tomorrow.

Anyway, enough with the stories. Here are some pictures.

Waiting for our pizza at Mellow Mushroom.

Noah looking like he is in the spirit of “the Mushroom.”

  

 

Outside the planetarium.

 

This was pretty cool. You could turn a wheel and pick the date and find out what the sky looked like. Nathan thought it was fun.

 

In the history museum they had this big bear that someone had gone to Alaska and killed way back in 1976. Yes that’s right it is younger than me and in a history museum. Anyway, I liked the image of Noah looking scared and then laughing at it.

Nathan and Noah's Hand Motions

We Love You Andrea

Andrea holding Nathan a few days after he was born.
One of her first times to babysit Nathan.
Her first time to hold Noah.
Our visit at the Pilgrimage this Spring.
Sunday night after church, Andrea came to play Carcasonne, and Nathan who was supposed to be in bed, got to stay up and play with us. She was our first babysitter, and sniff, sniff, she left for college today. She is a beautiful young lady who loves the Lord with all her heart. She loves both the boys and they love her too! We will miss her much and Andrea, you have to come stay with us on your Christmas break!

First Day of 4 Year Old Pre-K

Here's my big handsome boy sporting his new Mario backpack he picked out. He's becoming so independent, even picking out his own clothes for school each day. :) He had no fears about moving to the "new" Mrs. Donna's room. He had Donna Nolin for 3 yr pre-k and he has Donna Swain for 4 yr pre-k. He was ready to go to his 4 year old class and see all his buddies from last year and meet some new ones! Lots of fun learning and fun things to look forward to this year!

Noah 13 Months

I feel like Noah has changed more in the past month than he has in a while. He is still crawling, still pulling up and holding on, but I think it won't be long before he lets go. He is about done with baby food. He pushes the spoon away when we try to feed it to him, yet he is pretty picky about the table foods he eats. He loves snacks - crackers, cheerios, etc. but is not digging other table foods too well. He does better with anything he can pick up whole and hold in his hand - corn dogs, fish sticks, bananas for example. He holds them and gnaws away on them. But chicken, peas, strawberries - he spits them out, makes a face and throws them in the floor. Not sure how to work through this. He is still taking a bottle, learning the sippy cup bit by bit, a sip or two more at meal times. Though we are struggling with these things he is flat out adorable. He is babbling more and playing more. Almost every day when I pick him up at daycare he is in one of Lindsey's girls' rooms playing with the girls. Friday she said he was chasing them down the hall just talking away with his crawl and babble. Today Shane was in the den with him watching TV and Noah brought the ball over to him and threw it down in front of him saying "play ball with me, daddy." Noah also loves music and though he can't stand up on his own he has a cute little dance waving his arms around whenever music plays. Maybe we'll get some new pictures and video up soon.

Just the Two of Us

There are lots of stories that I could tell about our Mission 36027 event last weekend, but I really liked this picture and wanted to share it. Nathan and I are leading the hand motions to the Tumbleweed song.

Summer Slam

First Boat Ride

Being a church secretary often has many perks, this time being an awesome boat ride on the lake. Bro. Glenn and Carol offered to take us out in their boat Friday and Nathan got to go along for the ride too. We set sail at a dock closer in town and rode on the boat up to the Lakepoint State Park Marina. We took a break their for lunch - lunch for us and for the ducks. Nathan just squealed in delight as the ducks fought over bits of his hot dog bun. Then we headed back to get in the car and cool off. It was hot, hot, hot but fun, fun, fun!