Party Animal

Nate's social calendar was pretty full this weekend. First he hosted his first dinner party and slumber party with Amanda and Jackson. It was not an easy task to get a picture of the tiny diners....by the time I got my camera out, Nate had left the table....notice Jackson eyeing all of the food Nate left on his plate.

After an evening of playing and eating outside, the party-goers went upstairs and put their PJ's on, read some stories together, and retired to their rooms (but not before a photoshoot) for a few hours of sleep so their parents could eat their dinner. We had to give ourselves a pat on the back for having three amazing toddlers that all went down at the same time without a peep!

On Saturday morning, Nate had another party to attend....Jack's 2nd Birthday! Jack had an awesome car wash party...Nate was a little confused at first and thought the soap and sponges were to wash himself with, but ultimately he got the hang of it. It was a beautiful (and warm) day and we had fun playing with everyone - thanks for having us Jack (and Paula and Clay)!

Sunday was Nate's second swim lesson. I guess all of the parents had the same idea....last week all of the mommies were in the pool and the daddies were on the sidelines with the cameras and this week all of the daddies were in the pool. Nate did great this week....he actually did some kicking with the kick board and jumped in from the sides. He got really caught up in the counting to three part of the jump....he would watch his fingers and count "one....two....blee" and then jump to daddy! I was very proud!

We spent the rest of the day on Sunday at my tennis match where he got to hang out with Amanda and Jackson some more...it was really hot and Nate didn't get a great nap in between swimming and playing at the courts, but he hung in there and cheered me on to victory. I could hear him from the sidelines saying "shot!"

After a fun-filled weekend, Nate was in bed early Sunday night and slept soundly...

Weekend in Knoxville

Last weekend we took a road trip to Knoxville to see Nate's CC and Papa Steve. Some of the highlights from the weekend were:

We went to the arts and music festival and Nate did some dancing

The Easter Bunny came again and brought Nate a new scooter! He even learned how to ride it!

We blew lots of bubbles

Checked out some Fire Trucks

Went to the Orange & White game

Bumped in to Phillip Fulmer

And had some quality Grandparent time

After a long weekend of playing, we headed home extra early on Sunday morning because we had to get back in time for Nate's first swim lesson. He did great for the first 30 mins - blowing bubbles and splashing around - but I think the exhaustion caught up with him towards the end of class and he got a little antsy. So, as soon as class wrapped up we headed straight home for a nice long nap.

Thanks for a great weekend CC & Papa Steve!

{I finally uploaded a new web album with more pics....click on the "Spring 09" link on the right for more Nate!}

Happy Easter!

We had a wonderful and relaxing Easter weekend at the Cox house.

Saturday started with yet another haircut debacle (that is a post in and of itself, but I will just say that it ended with a first aid kit and not being charged). But things picked up once Nena came over for some egg dying! He was very serious with his magic crayon and made sure he had an egg in each color, then finished them off with stickers. I think the grin below saysit all....

Nate sat in "Big Church" for the first time on Easter Sunday. He loved the singing and then managed to stay relatively entertained during the sermon thanks to the stickers and crayons the Easter Bunny brought:

After church, we had a great lunch, played with Nate's Easter basket goodies, and then hunted eggs. It was a beautiful day...but after all the Easter excitement, we all watched the Masters (i.e. took naps). We hope your holiday was as nice as ours!

Pre-School Drop out

Nate's last day of school was last week. He had cut back to two days a week a couple of months ago but we recently made the decision to pull him out altogether. The main reason being the expense of the place he was going - for that price we think can find a better part-time school and closer to our new house. But for now....it is him and Daddy...all day every day. I think they are both adjusting...but I need to publicly declare that Michael has been AMAZING!!

I used to use my pictures as my memory jogger of what to blog about each week....I upload my pics each week and was reminded of all the things we did. But the past couple of weeks I have realized that I have made mental notes of funny things Nate has done, or little things he has picked up, but when I sit down to actually blog I don't have pics of any of them so I completely forget! There has been a major shift in my picture taking abilities as of late...mainly because he is so much harder to keep up with that I don't find the camera in my hands as much. I have a few pics from this past week but none of the "blog-worthy events" so I will recap a few little "firsts" Nate had recently.

1) First Kiss - it was adorable. Nate and Amanda were playing on the playground during mine and Susan's tennis match on Sunday and there was a "Little Tykes" house that they were both playing in. Nate walks up to Amanda and kissed her on her cheek (I told you he was a kisser) and then he stood beside her and put his around around her. It was, quite possibly, the cutest thing I have ever witnessed. And not a single parent had a camera on them...

2) First Handyman Project - we went in to Lowe's last Saturday morning to pick up a few things for the house and they just happened to have a Kids Project Class going on so we stopped in to see if he would be interested. He put his smock on and his safety goggles and he and Daddy built a wooden rain catcher/measurer with his little hammer. It was adorable...and no camera (well, MC took some pics with his phone....I will get him to show me how to put those on here). UPDATE - found a pic with him wearing the goggles:

Funny handyman side story....The other day we were in the car and I pulled in the driveway and said "Nate we're Home!" and he responded with "Depot!" (He and daddy spend a lot of time there during the day!)

3) First Skinned Knee - playing in the driveway on Sunday. Nothing major, just a little boo boo...I kinda think it is cute (is that weird?)...such a little boy.

Besides that, Nate is just perfecting his tantrums (he truly has a gift) and adds a word to his vocabulary daily it seems. Right now, his favorite words are "tractor", "no puppy", "apple juice", and "hug"....and he says "careful" when he goes up the stairs on climbs on his playset (I guess I hover more than I think). He can get to "E" singing the Alphabet (and he kinda just grunts the tune for the rest), and if you hold up fingers he can count them to "5". Thank you Sesame Street!

Mom, Nate and I went to Gadsden on Saturday to visit family and we spent a gorgeous day at the Falls and Playground...here are some pics:

Nate with my cousin's Great Dane (puppy)...he wasn't even a little bit scared.

Nate and his 2nd Cousins - Baylor, Langley, & Corbin

Nate and the Waterfall