Go Twins!

The weekend of Nathan's 3rd birthday, also brought his first Twins game. On Sunday afternoon, Nana and Papa took us to our first game of the season, and Nathan and Ella's first game ever. We got to see our Twins play and beat division rivals, the Chicago White Sox, 13-6! It was a fun game; 2 homeruns even landed right in our section, though not quite close enough to catch.

Here's Papa, Ella, Nathan, & Matt walking to the Metrodome.

Ella had fun watching a "mascot game" prior to the real game. She mainly just liked that there were people dressed as giant animals running around the field. She did a lots of pointing and clapping!

Here's Nathan at the start of the Twins game. He can proudly identify, or at least name, 3 Twins players: Joe Mauer, Justin Morneau, and Joe Nathan. He even knows 4 players if you count "Pants Dirty"! We were sitting in the left field section behind Denard Span, and whenever he came out Nathan would call him Pants Dirty (because he had dirt on his pants, of course:)

Nana, Papa, & Nathan during the game.

Since the game started at 1:10, that meant there were no naps. This is what that looks like at about inning 6.

Getting tired...

Ella actually had one bout of screaming during the 3rd inning, we left to go get popcorn, and then she was fine. In the next inning though she fell asleep in my mom's arms and slept for at least an hour and a half. It was really best for everyone, and I'm so thankful that she slept or it could have been a loooong game!

Here she is just waking up from her dome nap.

Though he had his tired spouts and brief periods of whining, Nathan did great throughout the entire game. He enjoyed pointing things out and learning about what was happening in the game. He also liked watching the "big TV". I didn't get a picture, but in between innings Matt and Nathan held up a "Circle Me Bert" poster, my mom made...perhaps we were on t.v.!

Because it was a Sunday game, it was kids' day. This not only meant that we got Nathan & Ella's seats for free, but also that all kids could go on the field and run the bases following the game. There were hundreds of kids, so once getting onto the field you have to wait in line. It wasn't so bad though, Nathan spent most of his time jumping against the outfield wall.

Here's a quick video Matt took:



As we were approaching the bases, I was pretty sure someone would have to run with Nathan so that he would know what to do, where to go, etc. But as soon as we got to first (where they started), Nathan just took off running to second-then third-then home. I was quite impressed, and he LOVED it. If it were up to him he would have kept doing it all afternoon, but unfortunately it was a one-time thing. Matt didn't realize he had the camera until after Nathan had rounded second base, but here's a video of Nathan running from 3rd to home.

WOB: Part 3.

After parying it up mid-week, it was time to get ready for Nathan's birthday party at our house. The Widmans started rolling in Friday night. Papa, Nana, Uncle Mike, Aunt Lynette, and cousin Katlyn all went out for another birthday dinner for Nathan, this time at Davanni's for pizza. It was an excellent choice by Nathan! The best part was every time they would call an order over the loud speaker, Nathan would burst out in laughter! My mom even had them say "Happy Birthday Nathan" before we left...he was pretty tickled!

Later that night Uncle Jeremy, Aunt Amy, and cousin Mayah arrived...everyone was here for the party! Unfortunately Uncle Mike, Aunt Brenda, and cousin Kendon couldn't make it:(

The day Nathan had been asking about all week was finally here...he got to see "Pirate Larry" on his birthday cake! Previously he kept commenting, "but, I thought I got a Larry cake!" So, to go with the VeggieTales Pirate theme, I made a Pirate Larry cake. Nathan was pretty proud, and kept asking everyone if they had seen his cake! I'm glad he's easily impressed.

Here's a shot of the much anticipated cake:

We had a grill-out, what else would you do in July, and afterwards, we of course cut into the Larry cake. Here's Nathan blowing out his candle!

Ella's all about cake, it makes little difference to her who is on it!

Here's the 3 of us: We love Nathan soooo much!

Playing outside after lunch. Ella's definitely into whatever everybody else, especially Nathan, is into. At this time it was playing catch.

Nathan playing on his tractor before opening gifts. This was actually his birthday present last year from Nana & Papa.

Katlyn, Nathan, Mayah, & Ella. Too bad Kendon couldn't make it.

Such a goofy girl, and with her piggies in it's difficult to not take her picture!

I didn't get any pictures of Nathan opening gifts, but he got lots of cool SpiderMan gear, a new truck, some books, clothes, and the biggest excitement of the day, was his new bike! Here's Nathan and Ella helping Papa put it together.

It took Nathan about 10 seconds to figure out how to ride his bike. He had rode tricylces before, so this wasn't much different. I was still quite impressed with his riding skills! Nathan would have rode his bike all day that day if we let him. He rode on the L-shaped sidewalk in our backyard that afternoon for 45 minutes, until I finally stopped him and said we could go for a ride around the neighborhood. We've gone for bike rides everyday since his party...it's definitely a new obsession!

It was a great party and a beautiful day. Ella tried to stay cheery, but it was quite obvious she was ready for a nap! Nathan just continued to ride...I didn't even mention a nap for him.

It may be cliche and redundant, but I can't believe that my precious baby boy has turned 3 years old. I love the laughter and joy he brings to our family, and look forward to many more birthday parties...Nathan is already planning his theme for next year!

WOB: Part 2.

So, the big day is over, but not the celebrating! Since Matt's dad and his wife were going to be gone for Nathan's party at our house, they decided to throw a mid-week celebration for Nathan. On Wednesday, July 8 we went to "City Grandpa & Grandma's" condo for food, family, and fun! Attendees included: Great Grandpa Bird, Great Aunt Jodi and Uncle Brian, Uncle Josh, Aunt Angie, Logan & Julia. Nathan had a great time...and of course the highlight was cake and presents!

Here is Nathan with his very cool racecar ice cream cake.

Yummm, cake! Eating here with cousin Logan.

Nathan was very excited about his VeggieTales gifts! Besides a sweet lunch box, he also got a VeggieTales Pirate shirt. He really was super thrilled...thanks Uncle Josh & Aunt Angie!

Nathan & Daddy opening a gift from Grandpa & Grandma. You can't see it here, but Nathan got a mini basketball, which he plays hoops in the driveway with every day! Of course, Logan's got to get in on any present action!

Week O' Birthday: Part 1.

On July 6, our precious baby boy turned 3 years-old! It is so fun to watch him grow into his own person, so spirited and funny, yet also so head-strong and challenging! I see a lot of his father in him! I'm thankful for his sensitive spirit and his desire to learn about God and His word. My biggest prayer of course is that very soon Nathan will understand what it is to have a personal relationship with our Savior Jesus.

Since he was turning 3, Nathan thought it was very fitting that he had 3 birthday parties! It all started on Monday the 6th; Matt and I wanted to make his actual birthday special, so Matt went out early and bought some "Pirate Cereal" to have for lunch (a.k.a. Captian Crunch). Nathan loves pirates, and was very excited about his sweet breakfast! He also got to open a birthday

package from Grandma Jan and Grandpa Joe that had arrived in the mail a couple days earlier.

aargh..."Pirate Cereal".

Nathan with his loot from G & G Crowson.

For lunch, we planned to meet cousins Logan and Julia and aunt Angie at Nathan's favorite place to eat, McDonalds! Though some kids eat at McDs alot, for Nathan this is actually a special treat-he was quite pleased. Then we loaded up and went to our new favorite park, TeddyBear Park in Stillwater. The weather was perfect and it was great for Nathan to get to play and have fun with Logan.

Here's Nathan enjoying one of the Birthday cupcakes at TeddyBear Park...

& Ella doing the same.

Logan wanted nothing to do with cupcakes, there was a park to be discovered!

So cute...Julia & Nathan in the caboose of a train at the park.

Whee...let's go down the slide together!

Those girls! They enjoyed checking each other out. Julia would even yell, "Ella"!

I think the boys were taking a potty break; the girls very wisely choose to find a piece of shade.

Before we left, I made Nathan pose with one of the TeddyBear statues. I asked him to say "cheese", so of course he had to do it in a "now are you happy, I'm saying cheese" sort of a way. He's also holding up 3 fingers, because he's 3 of course!

Following the park, we went home and Nathan got to watch his video he picked out at the library, Wall-E. We only made it about 25 minutes into the movie though, when there was a scene with lots of explosives and Nathan decided he did not like Wall-E. Again, here is his sensitivity coming out, but I don't think it is a bad thing. So, instead he watch a Berenstain Bears video he received from Grandma for his birthday. We then made some home made pizza for dinner per Nathan's request, and later went out for a free b-day sundae at Culvers.

Pirate Cereal. Presents. McD's. TB Park. Videos. Pizza. Custard.

All-in-all not a bad birthday!

(and that was just the first birthday party!)

Sparkle.

This year to celebrate Independence Day, we went to the LeCuyers, some good family/high school friends of Matt's. It was a lot of fun for everyone, and we even stuck around extra late (like 10:00 p.m., whoa) to watch them set off some fireworks. Unfortunately, our sensitive first-born was horrified of the loud noises! He stayed in the house while the fireworks were going off, cried much of the way home, and would only go to bed if the radio was on to drown out the fireworks still going on outside. I feel bad for the little guy as it's taken him over a week to get back to a normal sleeping routine that doesn't require music, and he's been waking up in the middle of the night to come into our bed.

Although scared of loud noises, he was not bothered by the sparklers, which we did first. Nathan got to hold one all by himself-he was very careful and very proud!

I wanted a picture of Ella with her sparkler, but of course by the time I got around to it she had had enough! She did enjoy it the first few seconds, but then I think it set in that she was way to tired to enjoy this.

Here's Matt with his good friend from high school, Brian LeCuyer. I immediately smiled when we arrived because it was quite obvious that they were wearing the same shirt:) Too bad Brian didn't choose blue, it would've looked a little more festive!

Blessed.

Though this season has been one of many challenges and a true test of our faith and patience in God, it has also been a time of rich blessing. A time when we can focus on how God is working in our lives, and a time we can wholey seek Him, the Giver, and not just His gifts. I'm thankful that during this season His Word has seemed richer and sharper and cut even deeper. I continue to better hear His still small voice and feel His presence in quiet times with Him as well as worship time at church. I know all this is a blessing from the One who gives and takes away.

One way in which God provided for us was an opportunity for Matt to do some work on my dad's farm. We went to De Smet for one week, where Matt worked tearing down an old 1957 wooden grain bin. It ended up being a very hot, humid week for Matt-but he was gratfeul to be outside doing work.

On Wednesday during the week, Auntie Amy came over with cousins Mayah and Katlyn to play. We thought it would be fun to run through the sprinkler...though Katlyn was the only one who fully enjoyed it!

Mayah was reluctant, so she ran through with her mommy!

Ella enjoyed it for a brief period, but was never too sure of the idea!

The party eventually moved over to the swing set...

Poor Nathan just wanted to watch. We discovered later that he actually had a temp of over 102; he was in bed for the night at 5:30 that evening. We can't seem to take a trip to SD without someone getting sick!

Ella took a liking to Papa's crossword puzzles. Just like Papa she would "do" her puzzle every day...though I do see here she is "checking her answers" as I like to call it.

Also, most days, because of the heat, we would visit Matt for a mid-morning and mid-afternoon water and snack break. Both kids really enjoyed the ride over in the pick-up (no carseats!) and playing on the old tractor daddy was using for his work.

VBIS.

Fear Not! June 15-19, Nathan got to participate in his first Vacation Bible School, held at Trinity Baptist Church in Maplewood, MN. Each day of the week they learned an important Bible point with a key verse; such as, God is with us, God gives us life, God does what he says, etc. Repeatedly throughout the day, when the Bible point was said during a session, the kids will yell back, "Fear Not". This has ended up being very useful with Nathan as he is going through a "fear" stage....dark, bugs, anything loud, the list goes on. I honestly feel that he is starting to get that God is always with us and we can always talk to Him and tell Him how we are feeling.

It was a great, but tiring, tiring, week for all of us. I helped as one of the preschool leaders, Ella spent the mornings in the nursery, and Matt got to work on his projects around the house. Nathan took 2 days to warm-up, but by the middle of the week was soaking up VBS. Despite being corrected everyday, Nathan always referred to VBS as "VBIS"; an apparent hybrid between VBS and KTIS (the local Christian radio station)!

The final day of VBS, all the kids made stuffed turtles filled with a booklet and a messgae to send to children who were victims of natural disaster and lost all their toys, etc. Except the preschool-they opted to just make turtles for themselves! Though Nathan did faithfully put his coins into the offering basket in the mornings to help fund the project!