Nathan Carves a Pumpkin

So today Nathan helped daddy carve his Halloween Pumpkin.

Happy Carving, So I asked Nathan what the name of his pumpkin was going to be? Nathan says, "Jacques." I said, "Didn't anyone  tell you I thought his name was Jack-o-Lantern."

Katelyn & Nathan's Jack-o-lanter

Mothers and Sons

You know for the last four years I have been trying to discover the relationships between mothers and their sons.  I have seen great ones and not so good ones.

I try my best to teach Nathan, right from wrong, good from bad, nice from  mean.  This is an ongoing lesson.  Sometimes I feel defeated, challenged, and beat.  Other times I think break through.  For the most part, I think I say it enough that one day when I am not with him, Nathan will make the right decision and become a Fine Young man, which is what every mother wishes for their boy.

Today we ventured to tackle some baseball practice and hone in some actual skill development.  We practice running bases, which he did, practice our catching.  I can tell his attention span was very limited,  and instead of his mom I was trying to be a coach along with his dad.  If you have ever met Brian or I, you should know we are the most impatient people and together we are worse.  Poor Nathan, but none the less he did good.

Lil K on the other hand will be wayyyy ready.

Nathan was very testy all day.  Even after an hour practice, we figured he would tire out and take a nap. NOPE!!!

I was so tired from running bases, I crashed, Lil K crashed but not Nathan.  The chaos was on.  So Nathan refused to take his nap.

Since Nathan didn't want to play by the rules, he did not get to carve his Halloween pumpkin. He seem to understand that he didn't get what he wanted, but it still didn't stop him.

Now fast forward to the evening, after coming home from some errands, I sat down in the office to work on the computer.  Nathan thinks it's funny to stick his fire truck ladder inside the printer. REALLY???

Nathan, how many times has mommy told you not to touch things, that aren't your.  Apparently, I can turn blue in the face and he will still try to get to things that he is not suppose to.  A little upset at his behavior I sent him to his room for the night.

Brian tucks him in, and asks me to go inside his room and say good night.  I did.

About five minutes later, Nathan comes out of his room, and walks into mine.  He asks me to kiss him good night and if I could sing him a song.  I was so upset at his bratty behavior through out the day.  I responded, "when you listen to my words I'll sing you a song, not tonight maybe tomorrow."  Nathan was so upset he walked away crying.

After a few minutes, I returned to Nathan's room.  We had a little talk, in which I tried to explained to him, that he needs to use nicer words towards mommy and he shouldn't talk back.  As I am talking to him, he interrupts me and says, "wait mommy wait one minute."  He had to stop me from talking because he had to put some toys away.  AHHHH.  Here I am trying to have a heart to heart with my four year old son.  Obviously not that important to him.

Nathan did get his song and he felt much better.  Relationships are always hard, but loving relationships between mothers and sons are complex. There is a fine line between nurturing and disciplining.

Nathan plays little League

OMG,  Nathan's first T ball game was today.  How did it go you ask.  It was apparent it was Nathan's first time playing T BALL.

First inning, Nathan is up to bat, he gets a HIT,  Yehhhh.  You would think good thing right?  Nathan drops the bat and runs, runs, to THIRD Base. Opps.

I guess no one including yours truly ever talked to him about the bases.

Second time up to bat, Nathan hits the ball, again... And instead of running to first base, he chases the ball into the field,,ay ay ay.

We aren't even discussing the outfield yet.  Apparently, Nathan is bored and decides to place his glove over his face.  No one told Nathan that when you cover your eyes, you can't see the ball coming at you either.  I can hear myself,  "NATHAN" get ready.
The game was only one hour long  but it was the longest, most tense hour of my life.  I know I know he is only four but give me a break.

It would have been hilarious if it wasn't my son in the field.  Not to mention as he is in the dug out, he starts talking to a girl.  All I can think is if you don't have game in the field, you don't have game at all.

Or maybe he does, he sure looked handsome in his uniform.

Cranky

So Nathan decides to ask daddy and me, "what is cranky",  I try to say, "well it's when you are tired and angry".  Brian adds, "you know what mommy usually is in the morning." So Nathan decides, "I am cranky too." It's fascinating to see and hear how much this little guys imitate and decide how they are going to be based on what they see.  Umm,,,that explains A LOT.

So after swim class, Nathan asks if we can go to taco restaurant place for dinner,  I actually was craving that place too.  Eating out with kids under five can always be a challenge.  I say bring snacks and order a double Cadillac margarita.  Well apparently Lil K was not in the mood, she went off the entire time.  But like always Nathan is the one who gets in trouble.  Daddy could not enjoy anything.  Anyone can relate?

Somehow, by the time I came back inside the car, Nathan was crying saying, "Nathan is not fair, he said something very hurtful."  I asked Nathan what daddy said?  Daddy said, "He wasn't bringing me back to the restaurant." Nathan must really like going to Miguel's

So  on the ride back home,  I mean the whole ride home, I had three children in the car
Daddy: Stop it
Nathan : no you stop it
Katelyn: daaaa daaaaa!!!

ten rounds of that ,, Nathan ends up telling daddy, "I 'm gonna whip your ass out of this car"....WHOA....
Talk about being Cranky.....


Ah the joy of parenting, like I said double up and keep them coming....

Good Bye Lake Powell

Well today Nathan completes his Lake Powell excursion.  He got to see a lot of breathtaking scenarios.  Even though he is probably too young to understand he has just witnessed one of the seven wonders of the world.

He was more interested in climbing rocks.  So here we go.  Nathan was persistent every time we beached the boat that he wanted to climb up the rocks. I am not a hiker, however I do like pushing the limits and I think subconsciously the kids are learning to become dare devils. Nathan asked me, "Mommy what is hiking?" I said,  "it's when you walk up rocks." Nathan says, "OK lets go hiking then mommy, wanna go?".  I couldn't resist. So we walked and we climbed, so here it is:  Can You See Us?

For a four year old Nathan did very well.  We would have gone further if I knew how to read the rock trails a little better.  Nathan was on a mission to catch up with a group of hikers that was hiding a Geo Find.  Needless to say they were experienced hikers and later told me that trail they took  was going to be rated difficult.  However Nathan and Katelyn were given kudos.

After talking with them, we come to find out that "The Storm" we were a part of, was thee worse storm they have seen Lake Powell have in the last twenty seven years they have been going there.

So we ended with that..Until Nathan's next venture.

Nathan goes Rafting

Today we got to enjoy  a lot of the lake's fun stuff, Nathan got to go riding on a raft, went to Glen Canyon Dam, and even got to jump of the rocks.

Just the girls

Nathan jumping off the rocks and dad going after him

Even though the day turned out to be  a very nice one, here come those black clouds again, we can hear thunder from the other side of the canyon.  Nathan said it would be ok, " we could just go to the houseboat next to us in case of an emergency."  Even went as far far as to tell dad to hurry up, because the storm was coming.

You think we would learn our lesson, but this time we packed up.  But instead of running away from the black cloud, we went looking for it.  Really, didn't we learn our lesson.

Nathan was already requesting to go inside his cabin, fortunate for us we were close and docked our boat before it came down.

Even though we were a day late, Mommy still got a birthday dinner...

The End

Nathan at Rainbow bridge

It was a long ride to get to Rainbow Bridge.  But we finally made it.  Nathan didn't get to jump off a rock just yet but he got a whole other experience.