Micah turns 2

Yesterday we celebrated Micah's second birthday. Micah has been talking about cake ever since Lucas' birthday so he was very excited about his birthday cake. He was so excited that he tried to eat the scraps off the parchment paper. His favorite gift was his blue tricycle - though he is still too short to reach the pedals.
Micah is a very sweet little boy. He still likes to sit with me and often asks me to hold him. I found myself thinking the other day that I really do not want him to get any bigger, but somehow I do not think that that is going to happen. He loves balls, jumping off of things, puzzles, being chased by his brothers, and playing outside. I love when he - hides behind something and says "you can't find me" - when he says "thank you mommy" - says "please mommy please" when I tell him to stop jumping on the bed - climbs up onto the back of the couch so that he can play with my ponytail - puts his finger on his nose and says "shhh" - runs to say "you okay?" when his brothers are crying.- plays with his hair when he is tired and wakes up with a mohawk because he fell asleep holding his hair. Basically we are so blessed to have this little boy!

Lucas' 4th Birthday

On Monday we celebrated Lucas' 4th birthday. It is hard to believe that when we moved here he was only 18 months old. Suffice to say, he has grown a lot. I was able to take a birthday cake to Lucas' school and he celebrated with his classmates. I'm not sure why, but Lucas was out of sorts on his birthday. At school he barely said a word and never smiled. Once we got home and he opened his presents we were able to get him to smile. His favorite thing was his guitar. He also requested to ride the small train at the mall, but ended up crying for most of the ride. In hindsight I think that he had not completely recovered from his illness the week before. He is back to his old self now - though I told him that once a kid turns 4 he can no longer do naughty things!

Merry Christmas

It is a little weird to be living in a country that doesn't celebrate Christmas. There are Christmas trees for sale and even some decorations - but those just hit the shelves last week as those are considered New Year's decorations here. Nonetheless, our boys still get excited about the holiday and for a month we read portions of the Christmas story for family worship and sang Christmas carols. Last night we had some friends over for a Christmas Eve dinner and we all really enjoyed that. The kids played different parts during the reading of the Christmas story - Josiah was a wise man, Caleb was Joseph, Micah was baby Jesus and Lucas decided to be a sheep. One family built a pinata for the kids which they really enjoyed. This morning the boys woke early to open their presents - Caleb and Josiah's centered around football, while Lucas' gifts were mostly car related. Micah's favorite things were his cell phone and punch balloons. We had a great day and are thankful that the Lord has poured out his grace on us in allowing us to understand and celebrate the significance of this day - the birth of our Savior.

Thanksgiving

I realize that it is really close to Christmas and I have yet to post the pictures of Thanksgiving. We were able to travel back to our old city to see friends/family this Thanksgiving. Our boys, especially Caleb, had a wonderful time. We saw friends, ate a wonderful Thanksgiving meal, and the boys were even able to play football. It was nice to spend time with those who have become like family to us since moving overseas.

Micah

He is just like his brothers! He is growing up so fast. He wants to do everything himself- even if it means that he gets food all over his lap and the floor. Unfortunately he is not big enough to clean up after himself. He is jumping off furniture and getting into everything. His favorite thing to do lately is write in books, not in a notebook with blank pages, but on anything that has printed words on it. He tries to copy everything his brothers do - including yelling touchdown and trying to play "rock-paper-scissors". He is getting to be a handful and we are loving (almost) every minute.

Josiah Turns 6

On October 16th we celebrated Josiah's sixth birthday. What kind of kid is he? He is funny, takes very little seriously, loves math, video games and card games. He is a pretty smart kid and is doing well in first grade - though I do not know how since it is a challenge to get him to sit still through a class. He likes to work math problems in his head and loves football (though I think it mostly has to do with the statistics). When he gets up in the morning he asks to watch game video on the ESPN website. He is sweet most of the time and still loves to sit in Daddy's lap. I am also convinced that he is colorblind since he cannot match his clothes (or maybe he doesn't really care). His favorite thing about school is that girls chase him and as a matter of fact he told us that he "is six and likes girls". Help us!

A Day in the Life

As you can imagine life with four little boys is a little crazy at times. I took this video of the boys (instead of trying to shush them) at lunch one afternoon.





The other day, after having to take a break from listen to Caleb read, he asks "Mom why can't we just finish with my reading now?". My response "Because I am only one person and right now I have an 8 year old who needs to read, a 6 year old taking a Math exam, a 3 year old pouring his own cup of milk and giving it to an 18 month old who is spilling it on the floor I just mopped, that's why!". I'll be sad when they all grow up though!