First Day of School

Both Brielle and Nathan now attend the same school...Bre as a kindergartener and Nathan in 4K.

Man, was she excited for this day to finally arrive. She had such a wonderful time. It is fun to watch her love school so much.

Nathan was happy about going too, I think. Though he doesn't show it like Brielle does. He did a great job. I can't believe he is this old already.

Good luck getting a picture of Nathan looking at the camera when there are buses to be seen, admired and enjoyed. At least it got a real smile out of him. Man, I love that kid. The buses were compelling enough to even draw Brielle's gaze.

Brielle has wanted to ride the bus for SO long. She finally got her chance.

It was fun to wait out front for her to get home. She was BURSTING with excitement. We didn't even get inside before I had heard about most of her day...though more wonderful tidbits kept coming out all evening long. I loved it. We sat on the front porch so she could tell all. Her favorite parts?

• Riding the bus
• Eating lunch at school
• Art class (they get to do art class and gym class everyday. She was pretty excited about that)

How was Nathan's day you ask? So do I. I have quizzed the poor guy til I am blue in the face and can't get much info. Here are the few precious tidbits I got:

• "We didn't have time for recess or snack",
• "We went to the bathroom twice"
• "I colored a truck on paper and teacher hung it on the wall"
• "I played with trucks"
• And, my favorite, "We had pretend marshmallows in our mouths when we walked down the hall". What a great way to keep 4 year-olds quiet in the hall.

Nathan turns 4

Egg in a Nest - B-day Breakfast

Action shot

One thing I love about my children's birthdays is that it gives me a chance to be creative. I don't make time to make things very often in the busy schedules of life, so birthday cakes have become a fun outlet for that creative desire and I look forward to making one for each birthday.

I loved my helpers today! They have gotten old enough that the process is just as exciting as the cake itself and they stayed with me for a large part of the project. They were quite the helpers. I envy Brielle's creative brain. She gets it from her Dad. But she sat there making great suggestions all day (well except for the complicated building of a "sky with Popsicle sticks and then frosting it blue"). She thought of putting the candle actually in the fire (cute!) and solved my building a deer problem by suggesting that it be sitting instead of standing. She also kindly pointed out, as I put the tent together after it fell for the 3rd or 4th time, that if I simply put some frosting along the top it would keep it together. Duh, Mom. Nathan was mostly interested in helping with the eating of off-cuts and leftovers. He was pretty high on sugar today.

The final creation...Nathan suggested the stepping stones across the water. It was a group effort. So fun.

There's our boy!

"Happy Birthday" phone call from family. Man, that makes his day. Thank you for calling and singing to him. :)

Jakie wants a turn at the goods! It is only 2 months away little man.

His present-opening cheering squad.

Brother and Sister love each other

Nathan's Birthday Breakfast of Choice: Egg in a Nest (Chocolate Chip pancakes were a very close second)

Nathan's Birthday Dinner of Choice: Green Crepes with strawberries, blueberries and whipped cream (a boy after his mother's heart) then a cinnamon/sugar crepe or two for good measure.

Favorite Color: It has been green all year. Just this week he announced that it is "all the colors."

Favorite Word: "NON" Just as he was beginning to be interested in letters he wrote this "word" on a page and proudly asked what he had written. I read it to him and he was happy as a lark. Ever since, he has to add "NON" to almost anything that he writes. That is HIS signature word.

Favorite Movie: Cars...I think. Thanks to the recent release of Cars 2. Where ever we go, Nathan is on the lookout for race cars. And just so you know, anything with a spoiler is a "race car" in Nathan's book. He loves going fast and will often encourage me to "drive on that fast road" if someone in the lane next to us happens to pass us.

Words to describe Nathan: Intense, Thoughtful, Sweet, Energetic, Silly

Endearing trait: He pronounces a lot of his "th" sounds with and "f" sound. So, for a long time he was "Nafan" and he was "free" years old. Several months ago we taught him how to say his name correctly and he has been very conscious to do it correctly ever since. Then Brielle taught him how to say 3 correctly. Then another word. Then another. Pretty soon that cute little speech will be gone, but I hope I can remember it and his sweet "free" year old voice forever.

Story: I can't remember all of the details, but few months ago I made a big to-do of giving Brielle a kiss on the cheek...like as a prize for doing something. Nathan looked over and said, "Luuuucky!" Now when we give or receive kisses from him he often reminds us how lucky we both are to get the kiss. I love those little reminders.

Hardest Part of Turning 4 (for Mom): Now I have to send him off to preschool (4K). Sniff. Sniff. Why do our children have to grow up? I just want them home with me!!

Happy Birthday Buddy!

Jacob crawls...the normal way. Hooray!

Here's for all of you family members who don't live close enough to see this in person. What a blessing technology is!

PS. Sorry about the birthday present chaos in the background...The Mackrory family, unedited. :)

Happy Birthday Song to Nathan

We celebrated Nathan's 4th birthday today. He is such a sweet-hearted boy. We sure love him. Here is his birthday song. I particularly enjoyed his comment about why he blew out the candles in the middle of the song the second time around. (Because of Nathan's love of birthday candles since he was a small boy we have fallen into the tradition of lighting the candles and singing the song numerous times. Different, but really, why not? It just happens once a year. :) )

Today's snapshot

Every afternoon the kids and I all read a couple of stories and then settle in for a some quiet time in our respective rooms. Today after reading some books on his on Nathan turned on the seminary New Testament CD full blast. The next time I peaked in on him I found this...

Poor little guy. His sheets (and, consequentially, his pants) were in the laundry, so this was the best he could find...right next to his BLASTING music. I'm all for it...as long as his choice in music remains this wholesome.

Man, I love this kid.

Nauvoo Trip

We just got back from a short family vacation to Nauvoo. It was wonderful! We have decided that we may need to make it a yearly tradition while we live so close. It is just about 6 hours away and the drive is beautiful. We packed our own food (as our hotel room had a fridge), so the whole trip only cost us about $300 in hotel fees and gas. That is cheap when one considers the treasured memories we made and the spirit we felt. Here are a few pictures from the trip:

Brielle spent about 15 minutes sitting quietly looking at the Christus on Friday morning while I waited in line for carriage ride tickets. It was sweet to witness her feeling Christ's love for her.

We all loved the Nauvoo temple. There is such a special spirit here. I am so grateful for the sacrifices the early saints made in order to receive the blessings of a temple. It makes me so much more grateful for the 130+ temples we have throughout the world now. Jared and I both enjoyed doing an endowment session here.

Good morning Jakes! Brielle piled all the extra pillows in Jakie's pack n' play after he woke up. They both loved it.

Snow cones and hand cart rides at the fair that they have before the pageant. What a blast.

It was the first time any of us have seen the pageant and we all really enjoyed it. What a wonderful, fun evening. We were impressed with the families who donate 2 weeks to come and run the fair and play the support roles in the pageant. What a wonderful family service opportunity. We hope to do it when our children are old enough to enjoy and participate in it.

Jakie loved the braided necklace craft Brielle made. It was one of many children crafts that they could do at the fair. And it was all free of charge. Wow.

Brielle has become quite the braider. :)

Our whole family enjoyed the carriage and wagon rides throughout Nauvoo and the surrounding countryside. We loved learning about the early saints and feeling the spirit of Elijah.

We stopped out in the countryside to sing "I am a Child of God." Since Nathan was on the front row of the carriage he was chosen to lead the music. He did a great job! Yay for all that practice in FHE. (That makes it sound like he actually beat out a 4/4 time. He didn't. He just waved his arm. But at least he felt comfortable doing that.)

Nathan "takes a shot" with the camera. We love this statue garden and this statue was the favorite this year.

Brielle's turn with the camera.

Nathan's first primary talk

Nathan gave his first talk in primary today. He talked about the temple and did it all by himself. He did a great job. His parents and older sister were pretty proud of him. It took quite a bit of persuading to get him to give the talk for the camera, so he wasn't real focused on the task at hand, but you get the idea. :) Isn't he cute?!? Oh, and apparently I should have held the camera the other direction. Sorry.