Nathan Turns 7!

Happy Birthday Nathan! We love you!!!

I can't believe my first born is 7-years-old already. Where has the time gone?! Nathan is such a great kid, and he is growing up so fast. He's funny, imaginative, obedient, and fun to be around. He's a great big brother; Sarah and Matthew look up to him, and try to be like him. We are so glad to have him in our family.

Life has been crazy around our place lately- what with buying a house, fixing it up, and getting ready to move. I really hadn't done anything (or really thought much about) Nathan's birthday coming up. He started making comments about how excited he was for his birthday etc. I guess I started feeling guilty, knowing that I couldn't just blow off his birthday because we were busy. Over a month ago he had come up with the idea for a Kung Fu Panda pinata. He thought that rather than hitting it with a stick, you should do kung fu to break open the pinata (kicking and punching anyway). What a clever idea!!! I can't claim any credit for that brilliant thought. Though it was almost too late to make the thing, I decided to do it. I really didn't have time or energy, but what the heck- I have a sinus infection and can't breath when I lay down anyway, so might as well stay up late working on a project.

We had our cousins that live close by, Nathan's friend Jake, and of course Aunt Terri, come over for cake and ice cream. I finished painting the pinata 10 minutes before they arrived. Thank goodness for blow dryers (I won't even explain how I got the pinata to dry as quickly as I did in my dryer)! I probably haven't done paper mache since 4th grade! I made the pinata look like the Po punching bag at the end of Kung Fu Panda, and I have to say I was quite pleased with the result. I have zero artistic ability, so ...

The kids had so much fun beating up poor Po. It was a riot. We laughed and laughed the whole time. It was well worth all the time and effort.Since it was dark outside, and we didn't have a place to hang it inside, Rob hung it off the end of a broom handle. Dangerous job! This is Sarah just realizing that she'd been punching her Dad instead of Po.Here are the kids laughing about Sarah punching Rob. I love Erin's face! Luckily Sarah's not very good in the punching category. It was so funny though. She loves telling people about it.

Ryan is a Kung Fu master! He did a lot of damage to poor Po. Po took it all like a champ, always with that same silly grin.
Adam was a bit shy about hitting Po.
The kids with big enough heads got to wear the "Pandana" as a blind fold. Nathan got it from saving tokens on cereal boxes.

If I ever make a pinata again, I need to come up with a better system for hanging it up. It tore off the hanger several times before it broke.

Nathan's birthday cake was dorky, but it was exactly what he wanted. I didn't have time to add any details to his Ninjas fighting in front of a cave cake. Whatever... it tasted good.He loves his Webkinz Yorkie. He made this "cowboy hat" to match the one he bought for Dr. Fluff (his Yorkie) on Webkinz World. Even though it looks more like a top hat, it's cute!

Happy Birthday Nathan. You're awesome!