Seventeen

Micah turned 17 yesterday. Yup, my baby is seventeen. I'm having file storage issues at the moment so can't include more pictures...so please see last year's post for previous height comparison photos. Here are this year's...

Unlike in past years, everyone was wearing shoes of differing heights, so it's not totally accurate but you get the picture, lol. The boys are all roughly the same height (within an inch or less altogether)...Nathan remains the tallest...I remain the shortest. :) (That bottom left photo was me trying to stand on tip toe and Micah pushing me back down.)

And here are some birthday photos of the boy...

Clockwise from the top: Micah was a bit grumpier in the morning so I didn't get many shots...Micah when I said to take a picture...Micah picking berries off his cake...Micah enjoying steamed bao at Chopstickers, where he'd wanted to go for his birthday dinner.

And I got a picture of us with the boy...

So. Micah's definitely grown up more this past year...

1. School: Micah finished his junior year with a mix of in-person and online classes at CEC, Front Range and home. He took ACTs and SATs and started looking at colleges. He's looking forward to his senior year and more college visits.

2. Work: He's fairly industrious...has gotten himself a couple different jobs (solar sales & the UPS Store) and explored at least a couple different business opportunities/plans on his own. 

3. Health: Fortunately, he's had his juvenile idiopathic arthritis under control for the past year (with the exception of when he had to go off his medications each time he got Covid vaccines). Other than that and a very brief stint of mostly asymptomatic Covid at the start of 2022, he's been pretty darn healthy. (He also got his wisdom teeth out this summer without complication. Yay!)       

4. Extras: While Micah's continued with karate demo team throughout the year, he mostly concentrated on weightlifting...putting on even more muscle. He's also continued to climb on his own and finished his first Spartan Race.      

5. Other: Beyond all of that, he's volunteered with Habitat for Humanity, watched lots of anime and read lots of manga, done a road trip with Asher and friends, attended prom, and just generally had a good time.    

And now he's gearing up for his senior year. I'm sure it will be quite the ride. :) Happy birthday, my boy!