Peartree Purveyor: A Decade!

Last week we celebrated that we became parents a decade ago -- Nathan turned 10 years old! It is hard to remember him being a little guy, and yet it seems that the last 10 years have flown by way too quickly!

Nathan on the day of his birth in 2001

10 months old

about 2 years old

Since his birthday was on a Sunday, we spread out the fun over a few days. On Friday night, Nathan and I went to Brick Oven --his favorite restaurant. (Thanks, Ryan, for letting me be the one to take him while you wrestled the other kids at home!) I really cherished this one-on-one time with him. The two reasons he loves Brick Oven: Pasta Shells with Cheesy Sauce and the balloon animals.

Yum!

I think the balloon person spent a good 20 minutes working on this top hat and bunny! She was so nice to the birthday boy!

Standing on the bench while the staff sang Happy Birthday

While Nathan was in bed Saturday night, we hung "10 Things we love about Nathan" on his wall so that he'd wake up to it on his birthday.

I know that Nathan would have preferred not having his birthday on a Sunday. But I was so impressed at some of the things he did because it was his special day:

* He woke up nicely and was in a great mood (often hard for him on Sundays).
* He chose to share his testimony at church. He said that he knows it is important to be a good example and that he's grateful for the example of his parents.
* He LOVED that they sang to him on his actual birthday in Primary -- he jumped up to the front so fast when they called his name!
* He wanted to go Home Teaching with Ryan and was sad that it didn't work out for his birthday.
* He often comes with me to choir practice, but on his birthday he wanted to stay in his church clothes to go. Ryan left to go on a business trip just after presents and right before choir practice started. Nathan was excited to go to choir on his own. I found out later from other choir members that Nathan did well and asked questions :)

After church we did presents and cake before Ryan had to leave for his business trip.

A microscope

Nathan got a little too excited about the money in the cards from his grandparents. What he didn't realize is that it's the same amount he gets every year -- we just always take it and put it in his savings account since he gets other presents. Those dreams of a DSi will have to wait!