A Very Fun November

November was just as fun as December, especially for me.  As a birthday present, Andrew sent me along with Terry and Amy to Universal's Islands of Adventures to see the new Harry Potter World.  If you know me, you know I'm a HUGE fan of Harry Potter.  You know when you were a kid and there were worlds in books that you wished were real?  For instance, I remember always wishing that Peter Pan was real and he would come to my window to take me to Never-Never-Land.  Now it's Harry Potter.  And for a day, the world of Harry Potter was real.  It was AWESOME! I also got to see Mom and Dad while I was down there which made the trip even MORE awesome!

Before we got to Harry Potter World, Terry decided to catch a wave

 One of Nathan's favorite Dr. Seuss books

Entrance into Hogsmeade- totally felt like a kid when I walked up to the entrance

 The Hogwarts Express

Butterbeer (don't worry, it's nonalcoholic and not the best idea to drink a whole cup right before a roller coaster)

Butterbeer stache

The Owelry

Mandrake Plants

The Hogwarts Castle- AMAZING!

Students from Durmstrang and Beauxbaton performing some dances

The greenhouse outside the castle

 In line for the castle ride.

How the points are kept between the Hogwarts houses

Inside the castle, the sorting hat

The Three Broomsticks, where we ate lunch

A couple weeks after my trip down to Orlando, our little family went to a cabin outside of Marion, NC with Vanessa and her family. The leaves had already all fallen to the ground, but it was still GORGEOUS out there.  One day we went for a hike to this little waterfall.  This was Nathan's first hike.  He did pretty well, though I'm grateful for Andrew carrying him most of the way. My favorite thing we did while we were there was after the kids were all asleep, the adults grabbed a bunch of blankets and comforters and went outside of the deck and looked at the stars.  I saw several shooting stars!  Why is it every time you look at the stars you can't help but feel so small?  It was beautiful!  After we were all thoroughly frozen, we decided to come inside, get a fire going and watch a movie.  Sooooo relaxing.

  My handsome boys

Playing chicken

Nathan loved playing with his cousin Brooklyn.  He basically followed her around everywhere.  His favorite thing to do was to sit on her.  He found this hilarious, but as Nathan probably weighs just as much as Brooklyn, she didn't find it too funny.

Feeding some horses on our way to Countryside BBQ

Some views

Nathan's hair.... is well, a bit of a mess.  It's quite poofy and it literally stands straight up on his head.  No amount of gel will keep his hair down for more than a few minutes.  So, Andrew and I buzzed his hair.  He looks so grown up now!

October

We are super behind with blogging so I'm playing a little catch up.  I uploaded all the pics and then realized these are all from October.  We had a pretty busy month!

 Looking cool, always.

 Little Mozart.

 Nathan's wise beyond his years and often he looks it.  He already has the "grandpa" look sitting in his favorite chair in the house- his rocker.

 Nathan enjoying one of his favorite past times.

 Three little munchkins before going on a hayride (from left: Nathan, Lisa, Aiden).

 Pumpkin checkers.

 Nathan's first hayride.

 Cornbox instead of sandbox. Soooo fun!

 Not quite tall enough...

 We took a flag with us in the corn maze in case we couldn't find our way out, we just wave the flag. Nathan got a good head start.

 The corn maze map.

 A couple weeks before Halloween I had my traditional pumpkin carving party. We carve pumpkins and watch "Hocus Pocus".

 Just cruisin' at the NC State Fair.

 Can't quite see him, but Nathan's first ride. He didn't like it much.

 Nathan's second ride with Daddy.  He liked this one MUCH more. So much in fact...

 That he rode the ride again with Grandma.

 Petting zoo. A creepy camel kept following us around looking for food.

 Andrew and I also hosted a murder mystery with a few close friends.  From left: Polly Abdool, Jessica Bunny, Lindy Lauper (the murderer), Toni Oregano, Spunky Brewster, Debbie Gribson

 From left: Nork from Pork, Danny Son, Howard Scott, Wee Pee Vermon, Alligator Dundee (the victim- death by Rubik's cube)

 Such a good sport... all I gotta say...

 Went for a little train ride at the Durham Life and Sciences Museum. Nathan loved the train!  And a new obsession begins.

 Halloween at Grandma and Grandpa Moore's house.

In case you couldn't tell... Nathan's the one on the left...

Nathan trick-or-treating in the rain, but loving every minute of it!  He knows exactly what to do: knock on the door, hold up the pumpkin and smile (he can't say trick or treat yet, but if he could, he would). I'm so proud.

Below are some videos to put a smile on your face. Video 1: Nathan just a bit too excited about some olives. Video 2: Nathan and Daddy playing with dinosaurs.  Mommy is not as good at playing with dinosaurs as Daddy. Video 3: Nathan playing the piano. Video 4: Nathan going down a slide all by himself (this was actually in August or September, but I just got it off the camera now).

Nathan: The Boy Wonder

Nathan loves bananas.  I admit I indulge his addiction.  Here is Nathan stuffing his face once again... so shameless.

Nathan is so lucky to have grandparents nearby.  Here he is enjoying his favorite past time with Grandpa Moore.  Actually, I think reading is Grandpa Moore's favorite past time too.  Hmm... maybe that's where Nathan gets it from.

Nathan's best friend, Maggie.  Maggie has begun following Nathan around the house whenever we go visit Grandma and Grandpa.  It's probably because Nathan walks around with food in his hand and occasionally drops  a few pieces.  I'm not convinced this is accidental.

When it's too hot to play outside, Nathan and I get a little creative indoors.  Here is a little fort we built.  I caught Nathan having a little quiet time on his own doing his favorite thing of course- reading a book.

Nathan is finally getting some decorations in his room!  He's had blank walls since he was born, so I finally decided to make a change.  I found these cute little stickers with monkeys and I couldn't resist.

 Nathan has been dabbling in a little art recently.  He's colored his first picture and in this picture I've captured Nathan doing his first finger painting project.  Things of course got a little messy. That's how I know it was a success.

So that's Nathan... the boy wonder.  He never ceases to amaze me.  Recently he's been learning something new every day.  He now can point to his belly, nose, eyes, head and if he's in a good mood, his ears.  He pops popcorn with his hands during the popcorn song and twists his fingers around when singing the itsy bitsy spider.  

My favorite thing that Nathan does, though, is dance. It's just how every man should dance- nothing fancy, keeping it simple.

 He also has recently said his first word... "achoo."  Yes, this is the sound a person makes when sneezing, but it's still a word and we're counting it.  Am I upset that my son chose to say "achoo" before "mama"? Upset, no, a little bitter? perhaps.  I blame Grandma Moore and Grandpa Fisher who like to use the sneezing sound as a way to coax giggles out of my son.  Maybe if I made the word "mama" hilarious I could get Nathan to say it.  I'll let you know how this project goes...

Today the sweetest thing happened that Nathan has never done before- he leaned over and gave me a kiss!  He puckered and everything.  It's difficult to describe how wonderful this made me feel, but to try and sum it up... all the poopy diapers, screaming fits, slaps in the face, spit up all over my clothes, food thrown everywhere, piles of laundry, late night bedside visits, and early morning wake-up calls were worth it. 

Since Nathan was teased so much about his weight at the family reunion, he has taken to jogging in place when he has free time so he can get into shape.  People really need to be more sensitive- my son has ears (I know because he can point them out to me) and he hears the name calling that goes on. So no more calling Nathan "Big guy," "Chubs," or "The Incredible Bulk." Oh, and no "Chunks" either.