Last night we celebrated Nathan's birthday with my family. Nathan wanted a Kermit cake, but one that was different from the Kermit cake I made for Matthew's second birthday. So we perused the web and found one that Nathan liked. Luckily for me, he chose one that is easy to assemble. We used Skittles instead of the M&M's of the original so that it would be Matthew friendly. I didn't have enough frosting for the lettering so I used some decorating gel that I found hanging out in the cupboard. I always think the gel is a great idea until I use it and remember how much I hate the stuff! It runs and makes a mess and then I get all frustrated and scrape it off and have to re-do things. But then I forget how awful it is and a few years later the entire event is repeated. I just need to remember that I always get frustrated, especially when the gel is old!
Since
the frosting was just white and Nathan wanted the cake to be more “Muppety,” we
colored the inside green and added sprinkles. It was my favorite thing about
the cake!
Today was Nathan's actual birthday. He decided he wanted to go to the aviary today so we got up bright and early to see the birds. There have been a lot of improvements to the aviary since the last time we were
there. We bought tickets to feed the pelicans since it was so fun last time. Nathan
was just as gung ho as he was before. Daniel actually touched the fish this
time. And Matthew, in spite of observing that the dead fish were “actually
really slimy,” did a great job chucking them out to the pelicans and seemed to
really enjoy himself.
Although
these pictures of Matthew have nothing to do with Nathan’s birthday, they just
made me laugh! They are proof that he has learned to work around his lack of
stature. When he wasn’t tall enough to look through the owl binoculars (for
lack of a better word-they were two tubes that when you looked through them you
could see a colorful metal owl mounted to a tree across the path from where we
were), he just did a pull-up to get to them. And while I knew that he rolled up
onto the very tips of his shoes to use the drinking fountain, I’ve never seen
him use one where I could actually see his face. I had no idea that he gets a
drink with his eyes closed so that they don’t get water in them!
Unfortunately,
once we fed the pelicans our plans for the day took a left turn. Kev received a
phone call from Connie (his sister) telling him that his dad was in an
ambulance on the way to a nearby hospital for emergency heart surgery. We spent
a few more minutes looking at birds while he made and took more calls. Once we
had all the info we needed, we were off to the hospital. The boys were
disappointed that our trip had to be cut short, but they understood that
Grandpa is more important. Matthew was especially disappointed that we didn’t
have time to visit the gift shop because he really likes to find new stuffed
animals on trips like these. At a point later in the day, Daniel, in one of
those moments that reminds me that he is growing up too fast, told me that he
had kind of wanted a new animal as well but hadn’t wanted it anymore once he
heard about Grandpa. Sounds to me like he is getting mature enough to be able
to put his priorities in the right places. It makes me proud of him. Anyway, it
only took us a few minutes to get to the hospital. Kev and Arrin (Connie’s
husband) gave Kev’s dad a blessing. We got the latest updates and then headed
home since there was nothing more we could do. The boys were pretty stressed
and although they were concerned because they didn’t get to see Grandpa (he was
in ICU and no one under the age of 14 was allowed in to see him), I’m actually
kind of glad they couldn’t go back to his room. I think it would have freaked
them out even more to see Grandpa in distress.
Although the festivities were somewhat subdued, Nathan opened his presents after we got home and ate lunch. He got a new soccer ball (he wore out the last one) and a jump rope (one of the ones with plastic links on it like the kind at school) which was exactly what he wanted. He also got an angry birds Frisbee and Daniel got him a book called "The Magician," the second book in a series called "The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel." Nathan received the first book in the series for his birthday last year. His cousin Ella gave him the fifth book in the series at his birthday party last week. Daniel had already purchased the second book when Nathan asked if he could read it on Daniel's kindle. Daniel told him no, knowing that the exact book in question was already wrapped and waiting! Way to choose the perfect gift!
After lunch, Nathan got out the new ladder ball set he got from Kev's mom. She brought it out to him on Saturday, before everything got all crazy. Nathan was so excited about it that he began building it immediately even though it was raining like crazy outside.
So it wasn't Nathan's greatest birthday ever, but he made the best of it!
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