Mercy is TWO!

Pure sweetness.  Absolute cuteness.  Total fun!  Mercy is adorable and a complete joy to our household.  Mercy turned 2 on July 19th, and is so enjoyable.  I wish you could all get to know her because it's hard to describe just how wonderful it is to have her in our family.  She's talking in complete sentences now, trying out new words all the time.  She loves to pick up her toy phone and "talk" to us.  "What's Daddy doing?"  Then "What's Joshua doing?" and on through every name in our family.  She loves having books read to her; one of her favorites is Sandra Boynton's Snuggle Puppy.  Watching Signing Time videos is also a favorite pastime for her.  Lately she seems to be becoming more of a daddy's girl, attached to him, not wanting him to leave.  So sweet.  When Daddy or I come home, Mercy will run to the door yelling our name because she's so happy to see us.  She adores her brothers and the feeling is completely mutual.  She will run behind them trying to do what they do.  (Though sometimes her running looks like she's running in place instead of moving forward.)  Mercy loves to "be silly" to make the boys laugh at her, putting on silly hats or wrapping blankets around herself like a cape.  Anything to be like brothers or to make them laugh.  She is a bundle of energy and likes to do little silly dances a lot.  She loves to "help" me set the table or "help" brothers pick up in their room (which is helpful since she's often the one who made the mess!).  Her name is so very fitting for her because she just oozes compassion.  When a brother is crying, she will immediately go to them and comfort them, patting them on the back and saying sweet words to them.  She will stick up for the "victim", too.  If one of the boys hurts another, she will march over to the perpetrator and shake her little finger in their face and sternly say their full name, then march back over to the victim and continue her comforting.  Of course, sometimes she gets the middle names mixed up and calls Luke, "Lukey Joel Wideman".  Joel is Micah's middle name.  :o)  

She enjoys coloring, stacking cups, and lately putting Duplos together.  She does not like strangers and will just stare at them and not smile - very unlike herself.  Once she gets used to someone, though, she will gladly share smiles, books, food, and toys.  She loves anything with Minnie Mouse on it and sleeps with a sheep named BaBa.  Amazingly, as small as she is, she can put away a serious amount of food.  The girl can eat a ton - if it's something she likes.  She likes to look at books even when no one is around to read to her.  Her prayers are priceless, making sure to mention everyone in the family.  Everything she does is cute, even when she cries (which, thankfully, is not all that often, actually).  She is already demonstrating a little flare for the feminine drama.  Once she was crying because I had told her she couldn't do something.  She was inconsolable, so I told her if she wanted to keep crying she could go get on her bed until she was done.  So, I helped her onto her bed and she just dramatically flung her head into the pillow and proceeded to cry even harder.  Then when she was finished, she got down and came out of the room completely calm.  I asked her if she was finished and she assured me she was.  Even in all that, she was so cute!  

So, without further ado, I will proceed with the millions of cute pictures I have of Mercy....

And here are the pictures from Mercy's birthday.  She decided to wear this dress because it looks like something Minny Mouse would wear.  That was her theme - Minnie Mouse.  Mercy enjoyed opening her presents from her grandparents and eating some of her favorite foods that day.  Of course, she thoroughly enjoyed her strawberry flavored cake.  Anything pink and purple!  We had some friends come over that evening to enjoy the cake with us.  Celebrating Mercy was fun for us all!

Happy Birthday, sweet Mercy girl!  We are all thrilled that God has blessed our family with you.  What a wonderful two years we've had together, and we all look forward to many more!!!

Micah's Turn - He's 4!

 

Four suits our Micah so very well.  He just seems to have changed so much in the last year.  His birthday was July 7th, and he's relishing being "older" now.  He even seems to look older than before as he's grown taller and slimmer, a big change from the "tank" that he was a year ago.  :o)  He's still quite strong (more so than he realizes himself), and has been known to accomplish feats his two big brothers could not simply by his sheer power.  Micah has a kind heart though, and does not use his strength to purposefully hurt others.  He enjoys playing with his brothers, but sometimes just would rather play alone so that he can do what *he* wants to do instead of always following what Joshua and Luke want him to do.  It's funny how each of the boys picks a character that they want to portray when they're playing imaginary games whether it's Hero Factory, Ninjago, Super Heroes or whatever.  Micah is rarely satisfied with being one character.  If his big brothers want to be the character that he wants to be, he'll just choose to not play with them and play his own game instead where he is all the characters himself!  He's forever asking Daddy and me to play these imaginary games with him.  I'm always the token female character and he's all the male characters at the same time.  Of course, this can prove to be somewhat confusing as he switches personalities, but he's usually good at telling me which character he's representing at the time and what role I'm supposed to be playing in that moment as well.  It's like he has the scenes all set in his mind and he really just wants someone to watch him act it out.  Ad-libbing from me is not usually welcome if it doesn't fit in with his well thought out plan.  He is very fun to watch, though, as he acts out his different ninja moves or flies from one place to another to get the "bad guys".  He takes it all very seriously. :o)  And he's extremely persistent in communicating his ideas.  His imagination is wonderfully developed and a joy to experience.  One of his latest things is for him to pretend he's done or seen something "back when he was 5."  For example, "When I was five, I could read and write."  Joshua responds, "Micah, you've never been 5."  Micah will very straight-faced respond, "I know.  I'm just pretending!"  Micah really is a joy to be around, and he's not so big that he's not still super cute.  Lately he's become more and more helpful with Mercy, too.  In the past, I couldn't really trust him to be gentle enough with her, but the two of them have been playing more and more together.  It's really sweet and super helpful to me, especially during school.  I'm not sure if Micah has become more gentle or if Mercy has just gotten tougher, maybe it's a combination of both.  Whatever the case, I love to watch the two of them playing together.  I will be doing some pre-K activities with Micah starting this week (as we begin the new school year), and Mercy will be joining in with us for some of those.  Micah is really bright and I think he will respond very well to all the things I have planned for him.  This summer he would beg me for a new workbook to do his own "schoolwork" in like his brothers were doing.  But every time I gave him a new workbook he would do the entire book in one sitting!  He catches on to things very quickly and absolutely can't wait to be able to read himself.  I'm not planning to push him in this at all, but I wouldn't be surprised if he's not reading by his next birthday for sure.  Micah has grown up in other ways this past year as well.  There are times (especially lately) when he's the first to help me in doing things.  He prides himself in being a good helper for Mommy and Daddy.  And though, there are still remnants of 3 year old Micah that comes out from time to time, I see him over and over again choosing self-control over pitching fits.  He really has grown up so much in the recent months.  With his active imagination, contagious laugh, infectious sense of humor, and desire to learn and grow, I'm really looking forward to watching my Micah-boy over the next year.  He brings much laughter to us all, and we're so glad he's a part of our family!

The day before Micah's birthday we took our family outing to a local park.  The boys visit one side of the park pretty regularly, but on the other side of this huge park are actually small kids' amusement rides and a little fun place.  This was the first time we had played in this fun place, and the kids had a blast.  It was perfect for Micah's birthday, there was a bouncy house, ball pit, several slides, and a few other things to play on/with. 

The actual day of Micah's birthday, July 7th, we began the day with birthday donuts, had McDonald's for lunch, and made yummy pancakes for supper after a little party with his friends.  The party theme was Batman in particular, but the other boys came dressed up as whichever superhero they wanted to; it was great fun.  One of Micah's favorite gifts was his new Green Lantern costume.  He immediately put it on and wore it for the rest of the day.  His brothers put their costumes on right after that and we were in for a great day! 

Our family is definitely well protected!

Another great gift was his Batman utility belt; he loved it!  It officially became part of his Green Lantern costume right away.  He was very proud of both gifts.

 

We played some great super hero games.  The kids had to tie up the "bad guys" with rolls of toilet paper to see which team could do it the fastest.  Then they played pin the bat on Batman (thanks to Gayle's fantastic art skills!).  We finished up with a super hero scavenger hunt for their party favors.  Each group had a clue that they had to figure out in order to find their gifts.  Super fun!  

 

Micah also really likes his new Superman and Green Lantern t-shirts.

We ended the day in all our super hero pajamas.  It truly was a fun day!  Happy Birthday, sweet Micah!

Bad Guys / Good Guys

So, Daddy was walking down the street in the rain the other day with Luke and Micah.  He was holding a big umbrella over the three of them when Luke commented that he looked like "The Penguin" (an umbrella carrying enemy of Batman).  Daddy says to them, "So you think I'm a big fat bad guy?"  Micah's response?  "No, Dad, you're not a big fat bad guy.  You're a big fat good guy!"  

At least Daddy's on the right side.

Joshua Is 8 Already?!

My Joshua boy...  where do I begin.  First of all, am I old enough to have a 3rd grader?  That, of course, is a rhetorical question not meant to be answered by those who know my true age.  :o)  Since I'm actually old enough to have a teenager, I'm thankful that 3rd grade is the oldest in our house right now.  June 25th marks a big day for our family - when our oldest turns another year older.  And Joshua is a great 8 year old.  He's very proud of being 8 already, and I've seen him mature so much in the past year.  When he puts his mind to something, there's not much that can deter him.  He's a completer (like me) and loves to finish things, hates to stop reading before the end of a section, paragraph, sentence, etc.  He's also an organizer and enjoys helping me put things in order.  Reading big books is kind of a hobby with him.  He's currently reading The Illustrated World Atlas, The Lego Ideas Book, Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary for Kids, Time for Kids - Presidents of the United States, and Children's Encyclopedia of American History.  There's always a stack of big books that he rotates through.  Of course, he also enjoys reading Geronimo Stilton chapter books as well as pretty much any other book that he comes across.  Add to his love for reading - his incredible gift of remembering everything, and you have a future Trivial Pursuit winner for sure.  I wish I could remember some specific instances (alas, my memory is not even close to his), but I do remember telling him something happened in a certain year and he was like, "Oh, that's the year that so-and-so was born and the year that such-and-such state became an official state."  Daddy reminded me of another time at dinner when he and I were talking about whether or not a certain event in history would have been on television, but we couldn't remember exactly when TV was invented. Joshua piped in with, "Well Franklin Roosevelt was the first president to appear on television..." helping us solve our mystery.  So his random facts memory is actually often very useful.  :o)  I thought math was going to be his favorite subject because he shows an amazing ability to understand mathematical concepts, but he actually seems to prefer and enjoy history better than anything else.  Teaching him this past year has been a joy as he studied U.S. history and absolutely loved it!  He and I are both looking forward to 3rd grade.  In fact, just yesterday he was jumping up and down because he was so excited about all the things he's going to learn in the next year.  :o)  I just hope that enthusiasm remains when I start giving him assignments all day long.  Joshua is not just a bookworm though, he loves playing with Lego Hero Factory or Lego Master Builder Academy, acting out super hero or Ninjago scenarios, and computer games.  He likes to make stuff whether it's building Legos or Trios or helping me bake or drawing elaborate super hero pictures.  When I asked him what is one word he would use to describe himself he said "creative" since he likes to make so many different things. Joshua is definitely "creative" in his own ways.  :o)  Where I see his creativity come out the most is when he and his brothers act out scenes when they're playing.  In the past he would only copy what he had seen or heard.  Now the stuff he and his brothers come up with whether it's ninjas or super heroes or whatever it is, it is incredibly imaginative and sometimes very fun to watch.  He is a natural leader both with his siblings and with other kids.  He seems to have the strong desire to convince others that his ideas are the best ideas, and he is often successful at it. 

Lately it's been really neat to see him step up and assume responsibilities that he takes on just because he is the oldest. He's learning more and more to notice others around him and think of ways to help them.  It makes me so proud when Joshua sees things that just need to be done and does them without having to be asked or reminded.  His sense of humor is developing also in that he has learned how to make clever jokes that are actually funny (which is not always the case when our children try to make up jokes).  :o)  One of the things that I love to see Joshua do is "teach" his younger siblings.  He'll sit and read to all of them, but he also likes to ask them questions to see if they're learning.  For a long time he would teach Micah new words from one of his picture dictionaries.  It's no wonder Micah's vocabulary is already amazing.  He has a great teacher already!  Joshua still has quite a few aspirations for his future.  Recently Luke was naming all the events he wanted to compete in in the Olympics when he grows up.  So he asked Joshua which event Joshua wanted to compete in and Joshua replied that he had too many other things to do already.  :o)  Running his own dessert factory is still near the top of his list, but he also says he wants to be an artist, an inventor, a scientist, and maybe a firefighter.  Whatever the Lord has in store for him, I'm sure it's great! 

This year we had Joshua's birthday party the day before June 25th because that was a Sunday and we already had everyone over to our house that morning for our weekly worship/church time.  Joshua's chosen theme was his favorite color - blue - as is evidenced by all the decorations and his cake, which I tried to make in the shape of a Lego.  We played some fun party games like blue, blue, pink instead of duck, duck, goose - you get the idea.  On his birthday day we had apple cinnamon pancakes for breakfast, hot dogs out for lunch, and my fried rice for his supper.  We took the kids back to the mall fun place and Joshua and Luke go to do the ropes course again.  It's such a cool activity for them!  Joshua also got to do the bungee trampoline again, too, which is always fun. 

 

Yay for more Geronimo Stilton books!  He's already read them all.  :o)

Joshua has recently stated that Thor is is favorite Avenger, but he likes Captain America too.  Notice who is on the computer screen?  We wanted him to open the gift from his grandparents while we were talking to them. 

His new cool Avenger pajamas from Grandma and Grandpa.  He was pretty excited.

I'm proud of the way Joshua is growing up and learning more about himself and other people as he learns about God.  My prayer for Joshua is that whatever he does with his life, he will live it for God's glory!