a little later, but hey, better than never!

"Who cares about utensils!! I just need my hands." At least he ate a little more neatly with his hands this year than he did last year on his first birthday!

Nathaniel turned the big 02 on August 27th...as mentioned earlier. We waited to have the big celebration on the 31st, however because everyone could attend. And then we could also celebrate Great-Grandma Darlene's 81st birthday (which was actually Sept. 2nd) as well. This was also Labor Day weekend, so there was some extra company...Aunt Sarah & Uncle Dave and Aunt Carrie and her friend Ben (who wasn't a boyfriend at the time, but I guess he is now...Joshua slipped up and called him Uncle Ben a couple of times and lately when I say Carrie's name, Nathaniel hollers out "BEN"...he thinks Ben is pretty cool 'cause he watched "Finding Nemo" with him TWICE when he came with Carrie to help me pack the last time I was in Winters)...anyway, they'd all come up for the weekend and were staying at Grandma's.





Brian didn't get back up here until around 8 Sunday morning (he left Winters around 3 am)...I stayed up late Saturday night (well, I had to wait for the boys to go to bed) so that I could decorate Nathaniel's cake. Last year, at the San Diego Zoo, we got this cup that had a big ol' lion's head on it. I thought it would look cool coming out of a cake. And Nathaniel likes Lion King, so I worked that into it too, using some Lion King toys that someone gave Joshua a few years ago. It didn't quite turn out how I'd envisioned it, but it still turned out okay, I think...everyone ate it and Nathaniel liked it.







Nathaniel had more fun opening his presents this year than he had last year...big changes from being 1 to 2. Grandpa and Grandma got him a sand table for their backyard...he likes it, but keeps getting in trouble because after about 10 minutes (or less) he decides to toss it (the sand, not the whole thing) into the air so it rains down on him and Joshua, or throw sand at Joshua (which doesn't go over very well for Joshua) or just dump it on the grass.







Grandpa Bruce was hobbling around using his old cane...he'd gotten a blister on his toe, which got infected. The Thursday before Labor Day Weekend he'd gone to his dr. who prescribed him an antibiotic and told him to stay off of it for a few days...it didn't get much better...and by Monday morning (Labor Day) it was much worse and Grandma ended up taking him to the ER to get it checked and he spent the next week in the hospital! Today he went back to his dr. and got the okay to go back to work tomorrow...for the first time in almost 3 weeks. He's glad and ready to get back and try and get caught up on all that's piled up on his desk, but Nathaniel is going to be very sad that Grandpa isn't home all day...he's enjoyed climbing up in Grandpa's lap at just about anytime throughout the day to get a story read to him.

"I'm TWO!"...need I say more?