Good Old Fashion Update

This last week Nate completed his first science fair project. It was optional for first grade, but Nate LOVES science so we jumped in with both feet. We googled first grade science fair and I read him some of the things we found and he decided his topic would be "Will it Float?"

Nate chose several things to test to see if they would sink or float. He made his predictions about each item. He was right 2/3rds of the time. Then we changed the water around - we tested sugar water and salt water to see if that affected if each object sank or floated. It was a lot of fun. Some of the observations Nate made was the plain water was clear, the sugar water looked yellow and the salt water was cloudy. He found out that about 1/3 of his objects floated in plain water, about 40% floated in sugar water and almost half of them floated in the salt water. "The thickness of the water changed mom". I got to teach Nate a new word - density. He had discovered how it worked & he loved having a new big word to use.
Nate has a pretty extensive vocabulary and uses the words correctly. Every once in a while we'll get a zinger that just cracks us up. A few weeks ago they were talking about the Joseph Smith First Vision story in primary when the teacher asked how they would feel if Heavenly Father and Jesus appeared to them, Nate's response was a 1 word zinger - Flabergasted. Needless to say the teacher laughed. We had to explain to him at home why that was such a great answer and why it made the teacher laugh. Kids say the darndest things.

Yesterday Abbie was invited to a friend's birthday party. A princess tea party, she got to wear her favorite princess dress. She had a great time! Towards the end of the party the girls decided to play hide-n-seek. Abbie & Nate play this a lot so she's pretty good at it. The birthday girl was the first to count so Abbie & the other little girl ran to hide. The Birthday Girl found the other guest right away and off they went to find Abbie. They couldn't find here anywhere so after about 5 minutes they started calling to her "Abbie you won. Come out." She didn't budge. After about another 5 minutes they were about to give up so I went to help find Abbie. She had hidden herself in the corner of a closet & shut the door. I couldn't believe she had sat in there so quietly for so long, by herself in the dark. She was very upset that I found her not her friends. I had to do some fast talking to get her to calm down & join back in the game. Every time after that when it was Abbie's turn to count they other 2 little girls hid in the closet where Abbie had been - it was such a great hiding space surely she'd never find them in there. It was hysterical. A great time was had by all.
It snowed about 3 inches today - Abbie loves to play in the snow and took advantage of Nate & Kassie not feeling well and commandeered Dad to help her make a snowman. They had a great time & there was hot chocolate for all when they finally came in.
I'm guessing that Kassie's going to be crawling very soon - if not any day now. If you set her on her bottom on the floor with a toy just out of reach she'll lean forward, get on all 4 and start rocking back and forth. It won't be long now! She's also about to pop her first 2 top teeth to join the bottom 2 she's got. Man time has just blown by with her - it' s hard to believe in a week she'll be 8 months old! How cute is she in Daddy's hat?!
Today I am grateful for Tyenol/Motrin - Nate & Kassie were both under the weather - they are both finally resting peacefully.

A "Gold Medal" Day

This week we got to attend the awards ceremony for Nate's Reading Olympics Program at school. He participated last year (in Kindergarten) and got a silver medal, but this year he went for, and got the gold. He was really great about reminding us that we needed extra reading time. He would come home from school and ask to read instead of asking to watch TV. Although it was challenging for us time wise it was very rewarding to get to spend extra time, often one on one, reading books he had chosen. We had to read 1200 minutes in 4 weeks to get the gold medal, and while Nate is learning to read, the books he likes best are often above his reading level, so this meant mom & dad had to commit to Nate's goal too. One of the greatest things, I think, about all of this is that when it was all said and done, Nate asked us one last special favor... could we come see him get his award. How can you say no to that? Dan took the day off work (but actually just ended up working from home - he never seems to get a real day off anymore) and I had an unusually hectic Friday but when the time came, we grabbed the camera and off we went! Nate was so happy to see us there & so proud of his accomplishment. The school mascot was there (Nate LOVES Whiskers), his teacher read of the names of the medal winners, they got to shake the principal's hand, walk through a tunnel, shake Whisker's hand and get their medal. It was his first "Gold Medal" and he was as happy as we were proud. We feel very blessed to to have such a great little boy to be our son!

Today I am grateful to have a son, and even more grateful that Nate the Great is my son. He's the best big brother, and a joy to our family. You'd be hard pressed to find a boy with a more caring, gentle heart. I love him for all that he is!