Such Sweet & Simple Play

All our love to you, always and forever,

Mommy & Daddy

xxxooo

Hugs & Kisses XXXOOO

You are SO loving! 

And I love you to the moon and back! 

XXXOOO 

All About Me

Hi! My name is Nathaniel and here are a few of my favorite things!

Name:  Nathaniel James

Nicknames:  Bugaboo, Bug, Buggy, Buggy-boo, Love Bug, Cuddle Bug, Nat-Nat, Stink-Bug

Age:  3

Birthdate:  December 24, 2010
Favorite Toy:  My big garbage truck

Favorite book:  Thomas the Tank Engine

Favorite song:  "Let it Go" from the movie Frozen

Favorite food:  Macaroni and Cheese

Favorite animal:  Giraffe

Favorite color:  Black and Green

Favorite game:  Monster Truck Hoopy Hoop

Favorite movie:  Monster Trucks

Fun fact about me:  I love to play in the water!

What I want to be when I grow up:  A Locomotive
A little bit from mommy & daddy:  You are so lively and energetic, and you have the biggest heart, and the most contagious smile! You notice everything around you and are very curious about all that you see. You are very loving and cuddly, and you like to give big hugs and raspberry kisses! And, you also like to wrestle and roughhouse, which is why we call you our little tumbleweed!
What we enjoy doing together as a family:  We love to take hikes together after dinner, we love to play trains together at your train table, we love to play tractors and trucks in your sandbox, we love to dance and be silly and have fun, and we love to play ball in all sorts of different ways!

All of our love to you always and forever,

Mommy & Daddy

xxxooo

Using Your Imagination

Dear Buggy-Bear, Today, I cleaned out the kitchen pantry and encouraged you to play with cans and boxes! You played for hours making different structures and became very creative, building towers and race tracks!

Mommy asked, "Nathaniel, what are you going to build with these cans and boxes?"

Nathaniel said, "I'm going to make a road here. And vroom! Up high!

Later on in the day Mommy asked again, "What are you going to build now?"

Nathaniel replied, "I'm going to build an ocean hole, like in the beach!  I'm going to build a BIG hole!"

You are so imaginative! I took lots of videos of you playing, but you weren't wearing any clothes, and I didn't want to interrupt your creativity to put them on. But you played all day with your little toy cars, and kept on building bigger and better "race tracks" for them!  I will be sure to post more pictures as soon as I have a chance to capture them from the videos. 

All of our love to you always and forever,

Mommy & Daddy

xxxooo

Apricot Picking 2014

We are lucky to have an apricot tree in our backyard, and today we picked lots and lots of yummy apricots!   

This morning, you and I went apricot picking, and you also played "construction site" inside the flower bed underneath our apricot tree. : )

 I showed you how to eat your apricots down to the seed so that none of the fruit gets wasted.

You helped me wash the apricots, and you learned how to seed them, too.

We had so many bags full of apricots that we made apricot jell-o, apricot jam, and gave some away to our neighbors, too. 

One of these days you will be climbing this tree, and picking the apricots from the very top for me! : ) 

Thank you for picking apricots with me today!  We had so much fun together!

All of our love to you, always and forever,

Mommy & Daddy 

xxxooo

The Cubbie Hole

Dear Buggy, Here you are on your first day of preschool!  Wow, I can't believe the time has gone by so fast! You are sitting next to Ms. Sheila, one of your new preschool teachers. Ms. Sheila and Ms. Nicole are both very nice, and they made sure that you had a wonderful first day! At first you were a little bit nervous, but I told you that once you started playing with your friends that you would have lots of fun, and you did! Ms. Sheila likes to send me little pictures to show me how you are doing throughout the morning. She also likes to tell me little stories about all the cute things that you do at school. One day, you traded your pumpkin brownie for a little girl's goldfish crackers. : ) Another day, you painted a watercolor picture and named it, "Cars, Trains and Trucks." : )

Here you are at the water table. Ms. Sheila said that after all the children were finished, you still wanted to keep on playing in the water. This doesn't surprise me at all! You have always loved playing in the water, and any activity involving water makes you happy!

Here you are playing at the water table again!

Ms. Sheila set up some blocks for you and you had fun pushing your trains through the tunnels : )

Here is one of your first craft projects. Ms. Sheila always has a lot of fun activities for you and for all the children to do! You attend two mornings per week, from 9am to 12 noon. Before I drop you off, we do our hugs and kisses and you give me raspberry kisses and pinky kisses in the car.  and then you carry your backpack in and put it in your cubby with your snacks. After I drop you off, I like to go to yoga, and on some days, I come home to spend time working on your scrapbook. When I come to pick you up at noon, all of the children sing the goodbye song and come out of Ms. Sheila's backyard. You look like little duckies all in a row : ) You run over to me to show me your latest art project. You also like to play chase (your favorite game) with your friends, Stella and Natchia.

We are so happy to have found Ms. Sheila, Ms. Nicole, and the Cubbie Hole. They are both so sweet and nice, and Ms. Sheila's home is very cozy. They have been such a blessing to our family and you absolutely love going to your new preschool!

All of our love to you, always and forever,

Mommy & Daddy 

xxxooo

Your Very First Goal...Kevin!

Dear Bugaboo,

At the age of 3, you are almost completely finished meeting your very first goal!!   You really, REALLY want Kevin from Thomas the Train, but instead of mommy and daddy buying it for you, we want to teach you the importance of saving money. So, we made you this cute little goal board. It hangs in our kitchen with a picture of Kevin and holds all of the quarters that you have earned by doing chores.

Here you are standing proudly in front of your "Kevin Board!"For each job that you do, we give you one quarter each. Then we attach velcro to the quarters and you hang them on the stars on your "Kevin Board."  You LOVE helping with all of your little jobs, and you have been so good at them, too!  Sometimes you help daddy by taking out the trash, and other times you help by setting the dinner table. Other jobs that you have done are sweeping, picking up your toys, helping to empty the dishwasher, vacuuming (with your toy vacuum), and dusting.

To make your Kevin Board, first I printed a picture of Kevin and glued it to the top of the board. Then I added 36 stars ($9) and stuck velcro circles in the center of each star. So far, with all of your jobs together, you have earned $7!  That's a lot for a little guy!  Kevin costs $18, so once you have saved $9, we will match you $9 for the rest. And of course, we will ask you to take out a few for giving, and put them in the offering plate at church on Sunday.

We are super excited to see you so excited about saving your money!  You have been talking about Kevin everyday and enthusiastically doing all of your jobs.  You are such a good little helper!  You only need to earn six more quarters and we will take you to the store to buy him!  Yay!!!  Mommy and daddy are so very proud of you!!!!

All of our love to you always and forever,

Mommy & Daddy 

xxxooo

Strawberry Ice Cream with a Sugar Cone

Dear Buggy,

This week we had so much fun because we've been celebrating Valentine's Day early! Our celebration started when you and I went out to go get some ice cream from this cute little ice cream shop. When I asked you if you wanted to try some chocolate-chip cookie-dough ice cream, you said, "No, I want buggy-dough ice cream." How cute! : ) And when I picked you up to show you the different flavors, you told me that you wanted to try the banana. I asked you if you wanted to eat the banana, or if you wanted to try another flavor first, and you said, "Try another one." You tried several little spoonfuls before you finally settled on the strawberry. : ) Strawberry is one of my favorite flavors, too! Here you are eating your ice cream cone. We bought you a lollipop, too!

 Happy 3rd Valentine's Day, Buggy! I had so much fun with you today!!

All of our love to you, always and forever,

Mommy & Daddy

xxxooo

If you Give Nathaniel a Nickel...

Dear Sweet Nathaniel,  

At bedtime lately, we have been reading all of Author Laura Numeroff's books. Your favorite one is, "If You Give a Moose a Muffin," and my favorite is, "If You Give a Pig a Pancake."  We like them so much that I thought it would be fun to make up our own story based on these books. When you get a little bit older, maybe we can draw some pictures to go with it! That would be fun!!

If you give Nathaniel a nickel,

He will want to go for a train ride through the park.

If you ride the train through the park with him,

He will want to chase the wild geese that he sees there!

You will chase him chasing the geese,

And afterward he will be hungry.

So, the two of you will sit down for a picnic,

And Nathaniel will ask you for some chocolate milk.

You will put a straw in his chocolate milk,

And he will blow bubbles through the straw.

He will get chocolate all over his face,

And then he will need a bath.

You will go home to give him a bubble bath,

And he will ask you for his fishing pole.

You will find his fishing pole for him,

And he will catch lots of fish in his bathtub.

After his bath, he will run through the house,

And you will catch him and put on his pajamas.

Next, he will find a cup of coins on the counter,

And chances are, the nickels will remind him of the train ride.

He will ask you to play trains with him,

And you will play together until bedtime. 

All our love to you always & forever, 

Mommy & Daddy

xxxooo

You are a Blessing

Dear Nathaniel,

This prayer was written for you on a blessing card at Trinity Lutheran Church in Ann Arbor, Michigan.  Trinity used to be our church, and every week Daddy and I prayed faithfully for God to help us start our family. We would go to church on Monday evenings, and, when nobody was around, we would sit in the sanctuary, listening to the baptismal fountain, holding hands and praying for you and dreaming about what our lives would be like with you. We kept on going every week for a year until it came time to move to California. The Trinity prayer group also prayed for you, and so did the prayer group from Grace Lutheran Church (Grandma and Grandpa's church, and mommy's childhood church) in Ridgecrest, California. So many people prayed for you! After you were born, Pastor Lori Carey created this blessing card specially for you. It was given to the Trinity congregation one beautiful Sunday morning when you were two-years old.

As you go on your way, may you travel in safety

Maneuvering smoothly around any obstacles

May there be laughter along the way

Sights worth seeing

And may you acquire stories worth telling

May the holy angels accompany and protect you

May there be harmony among you and your companions

May strangers regard you with kindness

May your time here bring you joy, refreshment, and restore your peace

And when you return may you be welcomed home in love.

All of our love to you always & forever,

Mommy & Daddy

xxxooo