Happy Birthday to Micah

Micah just celebrated his 7th birthday, and 5th with our family.  Crazy how fast time flies!

He had a "friend" party this year at Andy B's.  They did Laser Tag and the arcade.  I felt sorry for him in a way because his birthday is right at the beginning of the summer and people are traveling.  He didn't have a huge turnout, but it was enough friends to have a good time.  I think he had a great time at the party.

The whole group

 Ready for some laser tag

 Sister of a friend - she won the jackpot

On his actual birthday, Maddie had practice so we went out to dinner the night before.  He chose Compadres for his dinner which was yummy because we hadn't had Mexican in a while.  Then the day after his birthday, we had the family over for a cake and ice cream.  I think he had a great 7th birthday!

Yay for a new bike

So we thought all our celebrating was over, but after church the Sunday after his birthday, we went out to lunch with Cole and Christy, one of the staff members at our church.  By complete coincidence, we discovered that a group of youth from the church were eating lunch at the same place.  Micah mentioned to Cole that he had just had a birthday and then before you know it, he had called the group over to sing to Micah.  I was able to get it on video.  Micah had no idea what was happening until they were well into it but he loved every second of the attention!

I love this little 7 year old boy with all my heart.  He is so sweet and has the most loving heart.  He is still having some behavior challenges (typical for a boy, I know) but he's also shown some growth.  He is an incredible reader, and is also good at math.  He still loves Legos the most of anything and is awesome at building them.  He can follow the instructions but can also make his own unique creations.  I'm looking forward to watching him grow and mature through this next year!

Baseball 2014

Micah played baseball again this year.  He played for the same team which was good because he had very kind, but knowledgable coaches who were patient with his occasional lack of focus.

His team was many of the same kids from last year, but the improvement from one year to the next was phenomenal.  Now to be perfectly frank, Micah did not improve all that much because baseball is not going to be his thing.  However, I was very proud of the way he paid attention in most games and always went for the ball when appropriate.  This is a big deal at his age so I was pleased that he generally did what he was supposed to be doing, even if he might not be the most athletic on the field.  The improvement of his team resulted in a 2nd place finish for the league.  He was thrilled to add a trophy to his small collection.

Here are the 2014 Bixby Titans, the 2nd place team:

Happy 10th Birthday

My little girl is now officially in double digits.  Ten years old.  Sigh.

I love this little girl with all my heart.

She is such a good daughter.  She is kind-hearted, sweet-spirited, obedient, loving, disciplined, and many more wonderful traits as well.  I could say a million good things about her.  And of course, she definitely has a few short-comings too (as well all do!) but I can honestly say that she is a true joy to me.

This year her birthday was a hodge-podge of various celebrations.  On her actual birthday, we were at a ball game so we didn't celebrate too much that day.  The weekend after her birthday we were in Oklahoma City for another activity so we celebrated with Nana and Grandpa.  And then we also had another celebration later with Mimi and Papa.  But I think the highlight for her was a party that she had with her friends.  Her friend Olivia Flynt as well as some of Olivia's friends, started a ministry called "Pillow Pals".  They sell pillows for $5.00 and then you get a pillow and they donate pillows to the Laura Dester Shelter for Children.  They also do parties and so Maddie decided to have that kind of party.  She chose all the material and Olivia and Jill purchased it all and brought it to the party.  Then the girls made pillows.  They each got to take one home and then they made a huge volume to donate.  I think everybody had a great time and I was reminded again about what a sweet group of friends that Maddie has been blessed with!

Here are some pictures from our various celebrations:

 The birthday girl

 The cake (was supposed to be more pink and less red, but oh well!)

 Daddy and his little girl

 Hard at work

 Taking a break to smile

 Pretending to sleep on all the pillows

 The girls and all their pillows

Make a wish

Yummy birthday donuts

Easter 2014

As always, we had a great Easter holiday.  Here are some pictures from our celebration.

Happy Birthday to Mason

Cannot believe that it is possible.  How can this little cutie already be three years old?

Mason had a very good and busy birthday.  Well, it was busy for me at least!  We had a full day of activities before his party so by the time we celebrated, I was 100% worn out.  But he didn't seem to know the difference and had a great time opening presents and eating cake with his family.

This little boy is amazing.  He is the sweetest little guy and frequently climbs into my lap and says "I love you mom" and of course that melts my heart every time.  He still loves to watch tv more than any kid ever, but he also loves to play with hot wheels (or warm cars as he sometimes calls them!).  He also really, really loves to play in big brother's room whenever he can get away with it.  He also loves to be outside playing.  And he loves to play board games - which fits right in with the rest of us because we all enjoy games as well.  We are working on potty training.  He surprised me and got the pee-pee part right away but the other part is proving to be a big challenge.  I know he will get it though.  It is hard for me to watch all of my kids grow up but it is the hardest watching my baby.  I just want to keep him little.  But I am also greatly enjoying seeing his sweet little personality develop and he just makes me happy.

Happy 3rd birthday, sweet Mason!

Watch Dog

Today Mark was the "Watch Dog" at Micah's school.  Fun day for him!