Nate's Nine

Nate was very patient as he waited for the day to pass. I had the day off, but was trying to get things done. Eric grabbed Aurora as his day laborer and they went to Little Flower for a while and then to the properties to continue working on what everyone had spent all day Monday doing - painting and rebuilding the kitchen. Aurora was getting paid so she wasn't too upset and she knew I would come relieve her about 1:00 to get ready to go with the sister missionaries.

Anyway, so Nate played at home with his siblings, enjoying his birthday, no big activity, until dinner. He has said he wanted chicken enchiladas for his birthday dinner and it was after that when we did presents, cake and ice cream. Eric skipped the cake and ice cream because he was so tired. He had almost fallen asleep at the wheel on one of his supply runs (that poor man never gets enough sleep).

Typically I let the birthday person decorate their cake however they want. Nate, being a person who always looks to make the other person happy, wanted one thing, but Xela suggested something else and then when they looked things up online, that frustrated him because no one would let him borrow Lego pieces he needed to build what he wanted to build for his cake, so Graigry.... Finally, I told Nate to do what HE wanted to do and that everyone would have to either leave the room after the cake was cooled and frosted or keep their mouths SHUT!

SOOOO, here are some pictures from the evening's events. First,

Decorate the cake!

Xela's is trying very hard
to keep her lips zipped.

It went from Despicable Me minions, to Lego Movie.
The specs are the road.

Then...

Open Presents!!

Grandma Hibbert sent her traditional and much looked forward to "birthday box." Inside are always wonderful treats, edible and non-edible. :)

The kids all LOVED Perplexus.
Everyone wanted to try their hand at
getting the ball all the way through the maze.

YES!
Graigry got a Tumbler car for Christmas
and Nate got one for his birthday.

They raced and spun and pushed each others'
cars around the living room.
The cars light up, and can spin because
each wheel has it's own control.

Knex!
Guess what Mommy built after cake...

...while Nate built his Lego set from
Grandparents Scott.
He was allowed to stay up 
last year to build,
so he asked if he could stay up this year.
Alright, he didn't have to do to much begging 
to get that birthday wish.

Grandma Hibbert sent a 
small remote control car.
It took a minute to figure out (came in a "can") 
but kids had fun with it as well.

Finally....

Eat the CAKE!!

We sang Happy Birthday...

And then Nate forgot to make a wish
before he blew out the candles.
Oh well!

The last year off single digits. Nate is getting to be such a wonderful young man. He loves serving others, enjoys his school work (mostly), doesn't complain very often about practicing piano, is a good big brother and playmate for Neta and has a smile that melts my heart. I love my Nate the Great.