5 months...

Why is it when you have 5 months left in your pregnancy it seems to take forever, but get those little people here, and it flies by.

My little Micah is now 5 months old! He has given me 5 months of joy, smiles, giggles, love, hugs, and kisses...but you already know that, since I don't seem to hide my feelings for him.

So, I wanted to do a brother comparison, since I found the outfit Caleb was wearing just after he turned 5 months. I do have to say, the following picture is my favorite of him, and well, just about the cutest thing ever. I can't believe he was sitting up (very well) on his own and that I just snapped this at the right time...so perfectly. I say that because trying to recreate this with Micah led to Pooh Bear in his mouth most of the time!

My 2000 baby boy...

My 2009 baby boy...

Christmas Scavenger hunt....

For Christmas this year, Mike and I decided to do something different. My kids have toys upon toys and clothes upon clothes...and truth be told, they were stripped of all of their toys earlier in the Fall because of poor attitudes...

So, with Christmas coming up we decided we didn't want to just give them a whole new batch of "things." A friend of mine, who had a baby a month after me, told me how they were going to Disney in February. After my initial "are you nuts? with a baby?" reaction, I realized taking them now would be a pretty good idea becuase once Micah starts walking, and wanting out of a stroller, it might be more challenging...that and Caleb is an "adult" by Disney standards after March.

And so, the idea was born for a Christmas morning scavenger hunt. (thanks to Lydia) And I will say that yes, they did get gifts under the tree, mostly from the Disney Store...but not quite like they are used to....and Elisa pointed that out when she came to get me Christmas morning...

"Good morning, Mommy, Merry Christmas. Our tree isn't very full this year, but at least my stocking is."

Mike is the one who came up with the scavenger hunt since I wasn't feeling so great Christmas Eve...and I am so glad he did because it was so much better than what I had in my mind...and the kids loved it...

Clue#1 :
(picture of Cinderella's castle)
A beautiful princess has a wonderful home.
Bekah, take your family to this castle in our house.

#2:
(pic. of map of Florida)

Way down south there is a state where Mommy grew up.
Elisa, take your family to a place in the house that has a map of this location

#3:
(pic of monorail)

You may get tired walking all day. It might help if you ride on a train.
Caleb, take your family to a place in the house that used to have a lot of trains.

#4:
(pic of glass slipper)

I sure wouldn't want to lose this shoe if I wanted to marry my prince.
Bekah, take your family to a place that would be a good place to keep shoes.


#5:
(pic of Pirates of Carribean)

We love to "ride" with Pirates of the Carribean.
Caleb, take your family to a film that was inspired by this idea.


#6:
(pic of Snow White)

I sure would like to eat breakfast with you, but you must be dressed right.
Elisa, take your family to a dress that would be suitable to wear to breakfast with Snow White.


#7:
(photo montage of Disney movies)
Lots of wonderful movies put out on the "big screen" over the years!
To figure out the reason for this hunt, politely find a seat in front of our "big screen"

At this point, Mike turned on our Disney planning dvd and we watched their faces. I am crying because I am so excited and they just watch the show...so we finally said, "Does anyone know what your gift is?" And they looked at one another and then us and finally Elisa said, "Are we going to Disney?!" (yes, they can be taught!) And then shreiking and screaming commenced!

I really think they were scared to ask for fear that was NOT what the gift was!
It made for a great morning for us and we actually ended up watching the whole dvd and got excited as a family for this trip, one month from today!

I love...

I love this...

Precious

Chubby cheeked

Happy

Upside down

Curious

Giggling

Thumbsucking

Baby boy

Snow!!

Last Saturday the girls ran into my room to wake me up announcing "We have snow!" We haven't had much snow in the last three or four years, and certainly not this early, so this was a fun surprise...

And so before heading out to our church's Happy Birthday Jesus party, the kids ran out to play for a little bit...

and then back out for sledding after the party...

Why Rebekah decided it was ok to go out without a coat, I don't know...

Micah enjoyed watching the snow fall...but as far as actually being out in it...

...not so much...

Christmas craft project...

Thanks to Sarah for the idea from this blog...and my mom who gave me her old sewing machine
(and taught me how to use it) I have had a great time making these for Christmas presents this week...

It's beginning to look a lot like...Christmas!

This past weekend I was able to get out all my Christmas totes and start decorating for Christmas. No small feat for me with Micah...but he has started napping for little bits at a time on his own. Anyway, I love this time of year, as most do I am sure...I don't decorate for any other season, and I really like to do it at Christmas.

Mike had to work night shift until Monday morning, so we didn't get the tree out until Tuesday (since he is a bit comatose the whole day when coming off night shift.)

The kids were thrilled...Mike was "thrilled" and Micah loved looking at the ornaments on the tree...we can forgo the gym this month, we just put him under the tree with some "safe" ornaments for him to reach for and grab.

I love watching the kids put up the ornaments and asking how old they were with this one, who gave them that one, and then asking if they can put mine up as well.

They are getting bigger and better at this, and my compulsion to go behind them and move them is getting smaller...though I did have to have a talk about a few being too close together!

We have an angel at the top of our tree this year. We rotate between an angel and a star...I love this angel. I bought her at a local drug store in WA the first year Mike and I were married...she makes my tree look so cozy with her raffia body. I love our tree. We don't have a "theme"...we put up what is given and collected over the years. The generic bulbs Mike and I bought our first Christmas have now been replaced with many "baby's first Christmas", souvenirs from the beach, St. Nicholas day gifts, and special ones the kids have made. I like to think our tree tells a story...it is all about us and how we went from a party of two to a party of six...I can't wait to open St. Nick's gift to Micah tomorrow and put up his first ornament.

I miss blogging...

I blog...I do...it is just blogging in my head lately. See, I have this precious baby boy, who I think the world of...I still look at him and can burst into tears because I can't believe he is here and he is mine....

And for almost four months I have held him at just about every nap time. See, he loves me very much and would just like to have me hold him. All the time.

And, so, I blog in my head, which doesn't do much for my poor memory which seems to get worse every day. But I sure do love the snuggle time with my little Micah.

Today I am going to try to get this little guy to sleep on his own without me. It is not going so well as he is crying in his crib at this moment...and my other three keep reminding me "Uh, Mom, Micah is crying"....yes my dears I realize this....and it is hard....

So, I am going to blog for a moment to try to block out the fact my little miracle is in his own crib. crying....

Here is a glimpse of what our party of six has been up to:

Caleb received the White Star Award for Upward Soccer this season, which is the most Christlike award...we are so proud of him!..one of the cool part about this was he was nominated by someone who wan't his coach...

My little Elisa turned six...complete with a princess tea party the day before...
...and Rebekah keeps losing teeth, while waiting for many to come in...

and this little cutie...is almost 4 months old, laughs so hard, smiles so much and loves his hands and thumb...

We went to Nemo on Ice...

Micah got to meet Grandma (and Papa) Lacy

...and we celebrated Thanksgiving...and we are so thankful for this newest addition to our family...

From the mouth of a little boy....and God's providence...

Yesterday afternoon I started going through the seven totes of clothes I have of winter clothes for the girls. (we are very blessed to have people hand down clothes to us and we have an abundance.) I was having the girls try on pants to see which ones would fit for this winter. One pair Rebekah tried on were way too short.
I said "Bekah, those won't work, you can see the top of your socks." To which Caleb said, "then just buy her longer socks!" Mike was so proud!

Last night around midnight I woke up having a chill down my back. I sat up, looked out my window and laid back down. A few minutes later I was woken (soory if that is the wrong word) up again and saw Mike looking down in Micah's cradle. Mike sleeps downstairs on the nights he has to work so the little guy doesn't keep him up and he can be coherent the next day. Anyway, after I screamed, since I wasn't expecting anyone in the room, he told me he was asleep but woken up because he felt something wasn't right. He looked over at one of the wall in the basement and there was smoke coming out of the socket.

He took it out and it was melted. We don't know why this happened, we don't even use that socket, but for some reason it began to smoke...and for some "reason" Mike was woken up to see it, and he was asleep in the basement the night it happened.

Caleb was brought upstairs and the ciruits were turned off downstairs...There wasn't a lot of sleep around our house between the two of us, but a lot of thanksgiving to God that we are safe.

Three beautiful things...

Thank you, Sarah...for reminding me to not only think of three beautiful things today, but to post them...

Sunshine...on my shoulders makes me happy...especially in the fall, and especially after a week of rain and wondering if we would have to purchase a boat on Saturday with the flooding...

Smiles...Micah is smiling so much now...especially when he first wakes up...so precious

Silence...Micah and I have had a few car trips to ourselves lately, and when is is asleep, I have found I don't even turn onthe radio...silence is golden to me right now....

I do have to add one more...
Roadside assistance...I got my first flat tire on Saturday exiting I 40...so thankful my husband got roadside assistance with our new van...rain plus flat tire and newborn baby...not a good mix...

So, what are three beautiful things in your life this week?

Singin' in the Rain...

Dark clouds started rolling in yesterday late yesterday afternoon, after we had had a beautiful sunny day. My kids were outside playing when the skies opened very quickly and it started to pour. Mike asked where they were and I thought maybe they had come back inside and I just hadn't heard them...then I look out my front door and see Bekah walking on our rock wall...in the rain...soaking wet.

I remember doing this as a child and loving it...yet it is nothing I had let my kids do. Why? I don't know...I get uptight about things I shouldn't and I guess that was one of those things...but I looked and they were having so much fun...so I grabbed my camera and wached them run, jump, twirl and leap in the rain...it was really fun!!

Once the thunder started, and they came inside, I asked them what would be a good rainy evening movie to watch together and Bekah said "Singin' in the Rain." She had learned a dance to one of the songs this summer and never seen the movie. I wasn't even sure I had it. But, I went through all my VHS tapes and sure enough, it was there! And the front cover said "Helen" on it. I had my Grandma's copy. As the movie started, I teared up remembering watching this with my Mom and Grandma as a little girl. We watched it, and many musicals together growing up. My tears soon turned to laughter as my kids watched Donald O'Connor sing "Make 'em Laugh" The same song that gets my dad rolling on the floor laughing every time and is all our favorite scene.

And now when I tell my kids "Moses supposes his toeses are roses..." they know what that means...I love remaking old memories into new ones with my kids.

Week in review...squeezing in a little blog time...

For the past month, I have not been able to access blogger at all...

That is a month being out of touch with my blog people, and a month that I didn't get to share pictures of my sweet new little boy...

So, hopefully I am back now and will try to get all caught up.

6 weeks...that is how old my precious little boy is now....here are some pictures to catch up...

We started back to school very "loosely" 2 weeks ago, thanks to my husband getting it all started for me. Not only am I a bit bleary eyed in the morning, I have a little boy who loves to be held. All day. And I really love to...it just makes getting all school done a bit hard...but I know how quickly it will go...

Our first two weeks were so nice and slow paced. We just stayed at home and got done what we could. Slowly, our school year activities are creeping back in...and I realize even though I thought I had backed off some things, we are still in for a busy year.

We are back to piano...our first trip back there was quite adventurous with my transmission going out in my van...which led to us getting a new one since the other was on its last leg anyway...

Caleb and Bekah have started a geography and map making class at our local Montessori school on Tuesdays. That is Elisa's all kindergarten day with me.

Thursday we started back to scouts. This year is Caleb's first year as a Webelo,Bekah is a Tenderfoot 2, and Elisa is starting AHG as a Pathfinder. She said to me on Thursday, " Does this mean I really don't have to go in the nursery anymore during scouts?" She is very excited. She calls her group her class..."who is teaching my class?...which of my friends will be in my class?"

This is the first year I won't be a leader in AHG...and she is a bit put out by that, so I had to promise one year I would be her leader. This year, I will just enjoy Micah...and do whatever Sarah may call on me to do...

We also have started back to soccer...our first game is today. Elisa is playing for the first time, Caleb is on his fourth or fifth year, and Bekah...well....that is just too much running for her....

And during that game, I will be shooting pictures with my new camera that came yesterday...a Nikon D90 that I have wanted for a long time...

Soon the kids will be starting science classes at the Discovery Center, Caleb will be taking AMSE classes, and we will have swim lessons once a week...yup...I did a good job backing off on our activities this year...