Happy Birthday Nick

Today is Nick's 15th birthday!

Mom usually shows Nick baby pictures on his birthday, but this year mom said, "all the pictures are packed up in the attic, I don't know where your baby pictures are, but thankfully they were not damaged in the storm."

Liza came by in the afternoon and gave Nick a present, a floating bed for the pool.

Mom and dad gave Nick a birthday cupcake and a present....

It was a new trampoline!  Nick has not had a trampoline since the storm, now Nick has a little trampoline in his room.  Mom said, "enjoy it, no more jumping on my bed!"
















Nick's grammy and aunties called to wish Nick a happy birthday.  Other family and friends sent birthday wishes or texts and facebook messages.  Mom said, "I say it all the time, you are so lucky and loved."

A visit from Lauren

On Saturday, mom got a call from Lauren.  She said she is in Long Beach visiting her friends, and she wanted to come see us.

Nick was happy to see Lauren, we gave her a tour of our fixed up house.  She said, "this is not the house I remember, very nice!"

Fancy Fruit Basket

Last week mom was sick, and grandma and grandpa sent mom an Edible Arrangement.  It looked like flowers but it was all made of fruit! 

Nick helped mom eat it up in two days, but Nick left all the strawberries for mom.

Happy Birthday Nana

Today nana would have been 100 years old.  Today mom showed Nick Facebook, mom said, "look, all my cousins are posting pictures of nana.  We all loved her so much."

Nick and nana had birthday's very close together, so they shared birthday cake for many years.  This is Nick's 6th birthday, sharing a cake with grammy and nana.

 

Mom said, "nana was the center of our family, we all miss her and the big family birthday parties we used to have in the summer."

Happy Birthday Grammy

July 20 was grammy's birthday.  We sent grammy flowers and Nick signed a card.  We called grammy on the telephone at night, she said, "thank you for the card and the lovely flowers."

This is an old picture of Nick and grammy visiting Aunt Hilary's house in Massachusetts.  It was a weekend celebration where we celebrated nana's 90th birthday. 

Grammy and Nick were born within eight days of nana, so we celebrated them at the same time. 

And here is grammy and Nick having birthday cake. 

 

 

Chillin' with Dad

Today mom came home from work and Nick was lying in bed watching Two and Half Men with dad.

Mom said, "well, isn't this fitting, two men watching Two and a Half Men.  At least you both do work around the house!"

Writing a Shopping List

Nick likes to write notes to mom and dad, and he keeps taking the shopping list pad from the kitchen.  Mom told Nick, "you have your own writing pads, this paper is to write down food we have to buy for the house."

Mom showed Nick the list and that they were all food items.  Then Nick opened the freezer.

Nick wrote Pizza and Chicken Florentine Farfalle on the list.

Mom said, "thank you for writing that, now we will remember to buy those things at the supermarket."

Long Beach Fireworks

This weekend were the Long Beach fireworks.  This year there is no boardwalk, so mom and Nick went down to the beach and sat on the sand.

After the fireworks mom and Nick walked along the shoreline.  Nick wanted to go in the ocean to swim and play, but mom said, "no, it is dangerous to swim in the ocean at night, maybe we will come back during the day when the lifeguards are on duty."

No More Yellow House

This week the workmen finished the outside of the house. 

Our house is not yellow anymore, it is brown with white trim.

For the first time since the storm there is no garbage in the side yard.  Soon we will be able to have our table back and eat outside.

Mom took this picture of dad and Nick outside the house.  Nick wanted to go get his ice cream so he would not smile for the picture. 

Happy to be Home

We are finally settling back into our house.  We are happy and grateful that we could fix the house and come back home.

 All the neighbors say, "Nick looks so happy to be back home, he is always dancing outside the house."

We moved Nick's computer desk into his room, now he has his own space like a big boy.

We don't have a lot of furniture yet.  Mom put patio furniture in the living room so we could have chairs to sit on.  This morning when Nick woke up he brought a blanket and pillow out and lay down on the two seater chair.  Nick's arms hung off one end and his feet off the other.  Mom said, "hopefully soon we will have a couch that you can lie down on."

Daddy set up Nick's pool, today was the first day Nick could swim.  Lot's of smiles from Nick today!