The Little Nemeceks

We got to do some leaf printing at a playdate recently. The kids got to talk about fall, the leaves changing, leaf colors, and then painted the leaves and did a print on some paper. We also did some leaf rubbings with crayons. Nathan preferred the painting, David preferred the rubbings. Unfortunately, my camera battery died part way through and I only got pictures of the painting.

A leaf lesson:


Leaf printing:


Nathan's print looked really good - until he took a paintbrush and painted over the entire thing. Oh well...

Gymnastics Gold has been highly recommended by my mommy friends in the area, so when I decided not to keep Nathan at the small dance school we tried this summer, I enrolled him in the Mighty Mytes preschool class for 3-4 year olds. He goes on Saturday mornings, and he absolutely loves going. I think he likes making the girls laugh just as much as he likes jumping on the trampoline and walking on the balance beam! David is extremely upset that he is not old enough to participate - somehow I think David will be in activities at a much younger age than Nathan was when he started... The week I took pictures was the theme "military moves", so the kids got to salute on the balance beam, do an army crawl, obstacle course, etc. They also work on forward and backward rolls each week, do a bear/crab crawl on the parallel bars, swing around the high bar, and practice cartwheels. Nathan's teacher is excellent and helps the kids with anything they can't do on their own. (She reminds me a lot of when I was a senior in high school and teaching dance). I love the studio because they have an entire preschool room where all the elements are kid-sized. It's really been a lot of fun for all of us!

Trampoline:


Army crawling through a tunnel:


Obstacle course:


And the balance beam:

Nathan had a small family party this year, with just us and Aunt Becky & Uncle Greg. Becky and I made a Mickey Mouse cake for him, and he got to open his presents from Grandma & GrandJ and Aunt Becky & Uncle Greg. He got a space shuttle set from Grandma & GrandJ and a Mickey Mouse music player and Cars slide projector player from Aunt Becky & Uncle Greg. He loved his cake...actual comment "WOW!" when he saw the cake, and plays with his presents every day.

Cake batter is yummy!


Aunt Becky decorates the cake:


The finished cake:


Blowing out the candles:


Opening presents!

I asked Nathan what he wanted to do for his birthday, and he picked Monkey Joe's. So the morning of his birthday, we headed over for some jumping fun. Or perhaps I should say sliding fun, since most of what we did was sliding! Nathan and David both wanted my company, but David is, much to his chagrin, too short to climb the ladders for the slides. Thankfully, Aunt Becky came to join us, and we were able to switch back and forth between the kids. They both had a wonderful time, and then Nathan got to go to McDonald's for a birthday lunch afterwards.

Nathan hangs out in the baby area:



Just jumpin' around:


Becky and I take both kids down the large slides:


Both kids also liked going down the mini slide!

Happy Birthday Nathan! Nathan grew 4 inches this year! He has really sprouted up and is quite the little man. He learned to read this year, and has been doing soccer and tumbling. It would be very difficult to list all the new things he has done this year, so I asked Nathan what he wanted me to say about him. He says, "I love Aunt Becky". Awwwww! He was quite willing to pose for pictures this year, but getting him to smile was another story. So here are some silly Nathan pictures to celebrate his 4th birthday:



Ah...finally a good picture!

Yea, so we just went to Chuck-E Cheese, but the Moms Meetup went this week, so we decided to go along. We get great discounts with the group :) It was actually much calmer and better this time since we had the place to ourselves. I didn't have to worry about David getting run over by any teenagers ;). Also, Nathan got to meet and take a picture with Chuck-E himself!

Nathan had fun playing air hockey with a friend:

David just wanted to play ball the entire time:


Of course, he was also ok with following around his brother:

Nathan also got a picture with Chuck-E. David was afraid of him, so no picture of that!

We decided to redo Nathan's bedroom for his birthday this year. He's old enough for a big boy bed, and I was getting really sick of looking at all the drawing on the wall that I couldn't wash since our house has flat paint. Nathan has been really excited about outer space ever since we saw the shuttle launch in April, so we decided to go with an outer space theme for his room. We picked out Neptune Blue paint and went to work on the room. I used five magic erasers to reduce the "graffiti" on his walls before we prepped the room! After the paint was dry, we put up an outer space border around the top of the room, and planet stickers around his bed. The rest of his walls got posters with outer space facts. We also got him a twin size bed, including sheets and an outer space comforter. The finishing touch to his room is a new alarm clock that projects the time and a space background onto the ceiling. He really likes this :)

Prepping the room:


Painting:


The finished room (Nathan wanted a picture of himself in every possible room location):

This September marks the 4th birthday of the Mom's Meetup we participate in. To celebrate we had a lovely party at Prince of Peace with a balloon lady, potluck, and cake. Each of the kids got a balloon animal, most of them wearable, and got to participate in a story. Nathan was a fly, and afterward David got to be a slug. We all had lots of fun :)

Group photo:


The frog:


Nathan the fly. Apparently flies don't smile.

The frog chases around the flies, butterflies, slugs, etc. and eats them:


Then in comes the alligator and scares the frog so much that he spits out all the bugs:


And all the bugs live happily ever after:


Afterward, David gets to be a slug. Apparently slugs don't smile either.


Then it's time to blow out the candles:


And eat cake! Happy 4th birthday Mom's Meetup!

David just turned 18 months, a year and a half. He is getting so big! He has become quite the toddler, running away from mommy as fast (sometimes faster, resulting in scraped knees) as his little legs can carry him. He continues to charm everyone with his dimples and adorable smile. He has become very verbal, most likely because he has an older brother who talks to him all the time! I'm able to understand many of his words, but most of it is still gibberish. David has also become very attached to his routine and gets quite upset if I do something out of order. He reminds me what to do every single time ;) Taking pictures this time was quite difficult, as David whined because he wanted the camera every time I brought out the camera!

Hey mommy, whatcha doing?


This was the result when I gave Nathan the camera:

Pouty face: Mommy, I want to go outside!

Shuttle decided to get in on the camera action; this is him trying to snatch the camera wrist strap:


David riding his car:


Investigating what happens when you use a paintbrush with play-doh:


I finally got him to laugh!


And the cute, I'm thinking about getting into trouble face:


And finally, just for kicks, this is what happens when I get out the laser pointer to play with the cats: