Zack vs. the 50cc

Here's Zack on the dirt bike! Love it!

He's 7!

Well, it might be a month too late to post it, but Zack DID have his birthday and we DID have a party. I can't believe that Zack is 7 already... So exciting. Here are some random pictures of his party that we had a few Sundays ago; we had his friends over in the afternoon and family over in the evening. A busy day, but so much fun! It was a Mario themed party (surprise, surprise), and I had a great time doing the decorating and baking for it (surprise, surprise)!Above: This is what we had in place of birthday cake - cupcakes and sugar cookies!
Below: Zack's friends over for the afternoon. One of Zack's friends got him a skateboard that he thinks is pretty awesome. He got lots of different kinds of toys and crafts and games to play with, he was very excited!

He Can Do It!!

Pete's been working hard with Zack, and last week it finally paid off. Zack can ride a 2-wheeler. He's known he could ride his bike for so long, but it's taken him until now to work up the confidence. Yay Zack!

Sweet Moment

Yesterday, the boys and I were having breakfast, and I looked up from my cereal and saw that Zack had tears in his eyes. Worriedly I asked him what was wrong. He smiled and said, "Mommy, I'm not crying. It's just the birds outside are making such wonderful noises."

Getting the Prize

So yesterday when I picked up Nathan from Kindergarten, he ran up to me with a Tim Horton's card and said, "Mommy! Look what I got! I got the prize!" Puzzled, I glanced up at Miss Fraser, and she explained the story.

At chapel (the K-4 kids have chapel together every Wednesday morning), the speaker asked the kids what Jesus means. Not what His name means, what HE means. A whole bunch of kids started yelling out other names of Jesus from the bible, and words like love and kindness. After pondering this for a minute, Nathan (in the front row) put up his hand. The speaker quieted the kids down and called on Nathan to give his answer. The room was quiet as Nathan said, "Salvation." The speaker was floored. Then excited. He fished around in his pockets and pulled out a Tim's card, saying to the teachers, "Now THAT deserves a prize," and gave the card to Nathan.

Such an adorable video...

6 Going On 60

My Zack has always been old for his age; he doesn't like change, he thinks so differently from children his age. He seems to pull his thoughts and ideas from places in his mind that I didn't think kids posessed. Here are some examples from the past few weeks.

In the car. "Mommy, I've noticed that I'm so tired in the morning on the days I have school. I think I need to start going to bed earlier on those nights." So logical.

After I got my nose pierced (not a ring or anything - just a tiny little jewel stud). "Mommy, I hate to have to tell you this, but the earring in your nose just looks weird." He didn't want to hurt my feelings, but he just didn't like the change.

He also uses phrases like, "I'm sorry to say that..." and "Unfortunately, the problem was..." He ties in the emotion first, and then directly points out the issue.

Pete and the boys had "Man Supper" one night and Pete went and got them a grocery store pizza to bake at home. Zack didn't like it. Not because the pizza tasted bad or was overcooked or had too much crust, etc. It was because of the shape - the pizza was square. He couldn't stand the idea of eating a pizza that was not round. It was like he would be betraying all he held dear.

Go Team!

Nathan is extremely aware of our family's likes and dislikes. He loves to know when there is someone else in the family who likes/has the same thing as him, and his excitement about it increases when he is at the table for a meal. Every time someone has the same thing as him; everything from ketchup or the same color of bowl, he fist bumps the person across the table and says, "Go team!" If Pete and Nathan both have the same cereal in the morning, Nathan puts his fist across the table toward Pete and says, "Go team same cereal!" If Zack and I and Nathan all have black plates and Pete has a white one, Nathan fist bumps the two of us and says, "Go team black plates!" He loves to both encourage people and feel included, and it's an adorable way to do both.