I'm a bad mom

This is an up-to-date post, not a catch-up one. I've been sick all weekend with a nasty head cold/cough/aches, etc. I'm finally feeling a bit better, but not 100%. Last night, Nate came in my room and woke me up, probably somewhere around 2:30. Don't know for sure, I was way too groggy. The conversation went something like this (read my part in a mumble and Nate's in a whisper):

Nate: I feel like I'm going to throw up.
Me: Then go in the bathroom.

two minutes later...
Nate: It's too dark in the bathroom.
Me: Then turn on the light.

a minute later:
Nate: The light is too bright. Can I go in your bathroom?
Me: Yes, but close the door so I don't see the light.

Note: Closing the door doesn't completely block out the blinding glare.

a minute later:
Nate: That light is too bright too.
Me: Then don't turn on the light. Now go back to bed.

five minutes later (or maybe 30, I have no sense of time when I'm asleep), my door opens again :
Nate: Can I get in bed with you?
Me: No, go back to bed.
Nate: But I just want to snuggle.
Me: And I just want to sleep. Go back to bed.
Nate: How about Dad?
Me: No, he's sleeping. Go back to bed.

shortly thereafter, I hear Nate's voice, this time not a whisper, in the hallway and I realize he is talking to a brother. Great, who has he awakened?? I fly out of bed, run down the hallway, just in time to discover that he is in Jon's room, and the door is locked. Apparently Jon said that Nate could snuggle with him. I pull Nate out of Jon's room and send him back to bed. Nate starts to sniffle. I take him in the hallway and explain to him that he cannot go waking people up in the middle of the night to snuggle. People need to sleep. I tell him to give me a kiss and go back to bed. He does, but I hear him begin to cry. I stand in the doorway of my room and say, "Don't you dare cry!"

I climb back into bed and try to go back to sleep. Charles is snoring, as he has been throughout this whole thing. And then I hear:

Holy Ghost/voice of reason/conscience, all at the same time: He's only five. He's just a little guy. In not too many years, he won't want to snuggle any more. Charles would have snuggled with him [ha, retorts me, he's too busy sleeping to even notice]. Just go give him a little love and then get some sleep.

So I throw back the covers, walk into his room, crawl into his bunk, hug him and kiss his sweet little cheek. And realize that he has a fever.

I am a bad mom.

Nate's actual birthday

March 26, at home. We had a homemade cake that Tim and Nate decorated. Nate really wanted a number 5 candle, so we got one of those for him. This was probably the funniest present. It came from Mormor, and made both Charles and I laugh out loud. If you don't get why, I can give you the full explanation, but the short of it is that my parents are not Al Gore fans. Does that make sense?

Nate's birthday with the Worltons

We celebrated Easter with the Worlton clan. Dan and Nate share a birthday, so we also celebrated that. Nate had asked for some very specific things, so when Grandma and Grandpa asked what Nate wanted, we said, "a duck plushie that says quack and a ball that looks like an eye". Well, they found both those things and more. Turns out that the ball that looks like an eye is the EyeClops, which is essentially a magnifying glass that hooks up to the TV. It really does a good job magnifying things, especially the carpet. lol! Not sure how Grandma and Grandpa figured it out from Nate's description, but we're glad they did! Nate also got art supplies and a colored pencil sharpener that looks like a monster and burps when it's done sharpening.

Easter

We celebrate Easter (the pagan way) on Saturday, the day before. So we colored eggs

and handed out baskets of candy. We had carefully sorted the candy into the baskets, making sure that no candies with nuts went in either Greg's or Tim's baskets.
But then we had to hide eggs for Tim and Nate because they really wanted a hunt. So of course, the hiders (Charles and Ben) didn't think about putting Tim's in one room and Nate's in another! They hid them all in Tim and Nate's room, and we had to re-sort the candy once it was all found. doh.

Nate plays piano

Nate has a pretty good ear, and a pretty good memory. He can play a couple songs. Here's one of them. (video taken 3/15)

Blue & Gold Banquet

Our Pack's Blue & Gold Banquet was on February 22nd. We used the theme of Chinese New Year (from the Cub Scout Program Helps, of course), so we had Chinese decorations and food. We had the cake decorating contest, which had been done away with in the last few years. I'm glad we brought it back! Greg's cake is the fortune cookie on the far right. Greg was awarded his bear patch, and got to wrestle the bear on the stage. See his wounds?