Where Did This Year Go?

It is just too hard for me to believe that Christmas is next week. But, believe it or not I am almost ready for it. Just a few more gifts to buy and I will be ready to invite my husband to the wrapping party we will be having. I sure hope he wants to attend.

Nathan's class is having a party today since it is their last day before the Christmas break. Later today I will be taking in Cokes and Cheetos, and gifts for Nathan's wonderful teacher, Mrs. Flagg.

It seems every year I get a new revelation about the Christmas story. This year I have been pondering Mary's feelings after she gave birth to Jesus. I know how overwhelming my feelings were when I first held my newborn son. I waited thirty six years for him. I remember one time while we were still in the hospital, Nathan was having a squalling fit. My mother handed him to me and as I layed him on my chest under my chin, he snuggled his little head into my neck and settled right down making little cooing noises....kind of like when a cat is content and purrs. I'm sure Jesus did that to Mary. Can you imagine the face of God snuggling into your neck. WOW! It was the one time that humanity actually "held" God. It makes me wonder. Does He still feel like he can snuggle up to us and let us hold Him? Does He find contentment by being with us? I think when our attitudes, mind frames and intentions are pure, He does.

Straight A's!

From the looks of the above picture, I think 8:15 is way too early to have an awards ceremony. They had to have it early because the third grade was leaving at 9 to go on a field trip. Even though it was early, it was well worth attending.

Of all the third grade classes, only 10 students made straight A's. Nathan was one of those ten. He is so glad that he is finally getting real letter grades. Since kindergarten, he has received S's for "satisfactory" and E's for "excellent."

All the students were very attentive and they were very quite. The principal did a great job complimenting them on such good behavior.

Nathan was also a super pilot and received a window decal. This award is given for good behavior and good citizenship.

Mrs. Flagg is Nathan's teacher. The first day of school he got off the bus, walked over to the van and the first words out of his mouth were, "Mom, I love my teacher." She is wonderful and Todd and I love her, too. She is a great teacher and we are so thankful for the investment she is making in Nathan's life and education.

A Little Bit Of This And A Little Bit Of That.

That's exactly what we've been doing lately. We went over to April and John's for Halloween. Nathan didn't want to dress up but he sure wanted to go trick or treating. Which we did. Cruz was a little horse. The hoodie on his costume was the horse's mane. And, of course it was just too cute. The food was good and so was the candy! And...it still is.

Nathan has been the best boy ever. He is making straight A's and working really hard in school. He even got chosen to be on Student Council. He continues to get better in baseball and is just an all a round good boy. This morning he was watching TV in his room and I went in to get his dirty clothes. I picked up a big pile and on my way out he said, "Thanks, Mom."

I said, "For what, baby?"

He said, "For washing my dirty clothes."

And, he did that all on his own. Not after a big fat lecture from me or his dad. So, now he can do anything he wants to. Just kidding or not.

The Pitching Continues...On and Off the Field!

Nathan continues to improve with his pitching skills...on the field that is. He has started the last two games and pitched two innings. In the first two innings of each game, he struck two batters out.

Off the field, he needs to improve in his decision making skills. Twice now he has managed to make decisions that were less than wise. While his Daddy was away on a trip, he and I were outside by the barn. He decided to start throwing the keys to the barn in the air. I was busy trying to water some potted trees. The throwing got higher and higher until the keys landed on the roof of the barn. That's where they stayed until his Daddy got home and retrieved them.

Then, the other night we were at a church social after the evening service. None of his friends were there so he went into the youth hall and started entertaining himself by throwing his Croc shoe into the air. Harmless, right? It was, until the Croc landed between a built out wall and the wall of the metal building. Thankfully his Daddy and the pastor were able to locate a ladder, a flashlight, a piece of rope and a homemade hook. In a matter of minutes his daddy had fished it out saving us $30 on another pair of Crocs.
There is about a 6 inch space between the black metal wall and the blue sheet rock wall. Todd said the Croc was all the way on the floor between the two walls. Only my son!

Whooo Hooo! We finally won a game!

Yeah! It finally happened. We won our first game. Nathan started the game pitching. He made two of the 3 outs in the first inning. One was a strike out and the second one, was a fielded ball. He even bobbled it, but he stayed with it and threw it to first base just in time to get the runner out. He was behind the plate the rest of the game. Unfortunately, he wasn't feeling up to speed. He is fighting a head cold. So, he was a little sluggish. His hitting wasn't on tonight either. He struck out the first time up to bat and walked the second time. All in all, the team banded together and won 11-10. Way to go Pinecrest!

Pitching Debut!

Nathan had his pitching debut last night. The picture isn't good because all I had to take the picture with was my cell phone. I didn't think they would put him in to pitch because they really like him to catch, which he does really well. And, in my opinion he pitched as good as the other pitchers do. And that was after having caught a lot of wild pitches from our other pitchers for two innings. He only got to pitch for one inning, but hopefully he will become a regular.

I May Not Have To Cook Breakfast Anymore!

On Wednesday nights, Nathan attends Royal Rangers at our church. It is a boys program sort of like Boy's Scouts. They are trained in various aspects of safety and survival outdoors and they earn badges to advance in the program. Last Wednesday night, they were working on their cooking badge and learned to cook eggs. I am loving this badge! The next day he came home from school and wanted to cook some eggs. So, I let him, and he did a great job! I told him that I no longer have to cook his breakfast. He now can get up and cook his own. He really didn't know if that was a good thing or not.
He started by putting a little butter in the hot pan.
Then, he cracked the egg. He said this was his favorite part.
He used the spatula to bust the yolk.

While his egg cooked, he put a slice of cheese on his bread. Then he flipped the egg in the pan.

It wasn't quite done because I wouldn't let him turn the heat up real high.

I then had a brainstorm. I showed him how to cook bacon, so he could have bacon on his sandwich, of course. Okay, really so he could cook us all a full breakfast. And, no surprise here he did a great job!

He cooked it nice and slow and flipped it often.

I even got him to look at the camera while frying his bacon.

He drained the grease off on a paper towel.

Then put it on his sandwich.

And, the final product..."just bend it over like a taco, Mom."