Brothers and Friends

Micah and Jacob get along well, for the most part. Every now and then there's a scuffle over who got more Goldfish or who's turn it is to choose the game we play. But it is fun to watch them play together. Micah's a big help with the little guy, showing him how to put his dirty clothes in the hamper, teaching him the "three-point stance" at the potty and of course, helping him play games on Daddy's phone :-) I hope they get along just as well while sharing a room next week!

This kids are excited about Grammy and Papa's upcoming visit this weekend. Micah already has a list of things he wants to do with them and projects he wants to make for them. In fact, there are already a whole bag of projects sitting over in the corner where the Christmas tree usually is, just waiting for the grandparents to open them up :-) We don't get a lot of time with our families since we live far away from everyone, but we sure are glad for these visits, and for Skype in between. We might not be seeing all of our family this holiday season, but we think about you all the time and we try to show pictures of everyone to the kids to keep it fresh in their minds, too.

Happy 6th Birthday, Micah!

Halloween surprise!

bein' sweet

"Nobody messes with my pirate tattoo"

opening gifts

little bro wants to help

"Awesome!"

"Cool!"

Daddy doles out the cake!

"And now for my birthday happy dance..."

Our little "bean" has turned 6! Micah's birthday was this Saturday. We celebrated by taking him to lunch at McDonald's (his favorite place) and then a movie--Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs 2. We had fun and enjoyed having that special time with our oldest. When we got home Jacob helped Micah open his gifts (thanks, gramma/y and pop pop/papa!) and then we had cake together. Micah spent the rest of the weekend playing with his new things--a Lego set which he has almost completed put together, a bed tent that he's been sleeping in every night and a CD player for his room and some relaxing music to listen to before bed. We discovered two Halloween cards earlier in the week, that Gramma had sent, but we had forgotten to give the boys on the 31st. They always love surprises, and this was no exception. That first picture is Micah and Jacob opening their cards and discovering the money inside!

Micah has grown up so much this year. Since it is his birthday, I will take this chance to share some of the things he is doing now. He is starting to read things around the house. The other night at dinner, he read the label on his favorite BBQ sauce--"it is the Boss!" and he has been asking us to spell things out for him. Usually we do math on the way to school. "Mom, 2+2+3 is 7!" We have graduated to reading chapter books from the library with him, since he enjoys a more developed story now. In his latest progress report from the teacher, he was right on target for all of the areas they track progress and was even "advanced" in art and music--that's our boy! He has made some new friends at school this year and it has been fun to see him grow socially. Last night, he earned his first wings and red jewel at AWANA. He is fiercely protective of his little brother, and I love hearing their giggling voices when they run into Micah's room to play in the closet, make a tent or chase each other around the house. He does get frustrated when Jacob tried to steal his snacks or mess around with something he's working on, but if Jacob gets upset, Micah's right there comforting him.

I still remember the day that Dan left the hospital room to get lunch for himself and left me alone with this new baby for the first time. He started to cry and I worried that I would not know what to do to help him. Well, we've navigated those waters time and again now. But it always seems like we are facing new kinds of challenges with him each day. He's been so many "firsts" for us. I'm so thankful for his quick laughter and resiliency that forgives our clumsiness at times and shows us the kind of admiration we don't deserve. We are proud of him and hope we can always appreciate him for who he is, expectations aside.

Happy Halloween!

The doctor is in

"You have an acute case of Daddy-itis"

Jacob helps himself to thirds :-)

Ready to trick-or-treat!

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Trying on brother's mask

"Love you, little bro!"

Our little Spider-Man

"I'm Blue, from Blue's Clues!"

Taking candy from a princess

Little brother doesn't want to be left out

The trick-or-treat gang

Surveying the loot

"Are you sure all this is for me?"

"I couldn't decide which one I wanted first..."

sorting and counting

Hope everyone had a wonderful Halloween! Let's face it. One of the best things about this holiday (for the parents anyway) is getting to see your kids dressed up in cute costumes for pictures. It was like pulling teeth to get them to sit still before we went out for candy, but I managed to snap a few before they got too antsy. I decided to put them all on here because they are just so adorable.

I started this post with a few pics of Jacob from this week. Unfortunately he had some kind of viral infection that gave him a sore mouth/tongue so he had to stay home for a day. We got out the doctor kit so he could give us checkups. Too bad I couldn't get a photo of him with the scrubs on too :-) As you can see he is feeling much better now, good enough for seconds and thirds on the cornbread Micah and I made. We had left the kitchen and I came back in several minutes later to find him raiding the dish for leftover crumbs!

Both boys had parties at school yesterday and were already loaded with sugar, but we trekked over to the girls' dorms at OBU and trick-or-treated there. We ran into several friends from around town and ended up going around the halls with them. By the time we were done, both baskets were filled to the brim. We hit one more house on the walk home and called it a night. Of course, Micah wanted to sort his candy right away, choosing his favorites to eat. Jacob pretty much just tried to get as much candy in as fast as he could! This represents the difference in their personalities to a "T"! After a few minutes of the Curious George Halloween special on TV, they were both ready for bed.