Five years ago today...

...I was at the hospital gazing at this beautiful little boy...

(Photo taken yesterday afternoon.)

Well. He was smaller then. ;) And definitely less obsessed with Star Wars. He may, though, have had more hair, LOL! I haven't gotten around to doing a layout yet, but here's a quick journey through Micah's life thus far:

A picture each year, from birth (see! he really did have lots of hair!) to last year on his birthday. He informed me last night that when he woke up, he'd be five and would probably be a little bit less cute because of it. Silly boy. :)

Sigh. I can't imagine our lives without this third little blessing. Happy birthday to my sweet Micah!

To know Noah...

...you must know that the boy is a carnivore. I'm not sure I've documented that anywhere so figured I would mention it now. He's really rather obsessed with his meat and takes eating very seriously. We're frankly a little bit scared at the fact that he'll be a full fledged teenage boy in just over three years. He already can out-eat me and/or Nathan on a given day. Kid meals are no longer sufficient. It's almost as if he's trying to make up for how little meat his brothers eat by eating enough for three. Scary. (I have no idea where the boy puts all that he eats, by the way. He's a stick of a 9.75 year old who only just passed 60 pounds, lol.)

In any case, he's an admitted carnivore. Always has been. One of his first favorite solid foods was meatballs. 

Now. If you really know Noah, you also know that he's a little bit obsessed, too, with going green and finding energy solutions. He's already got big plans for his own car company, with the cars being electric or hybrid or some new solution that I don't understand. 

Recently he was watching a television show about energy and how we're using more than we should. He was nodding along in adamant agreement as they talked about vehicles and lightbulbs and everything else. And then they started talking about how much energy it takes to produce and process red meat and suggested that we all cut back. At that point, Nathan distinctly overheard Noah say, "yeah, like that will happen." 

Um, yeah. The boy has his priorities apparently. ;)

The Fifth...

...while you're waiting for me to finish sorting all those photos and catch up on things...here are a few of my favorite photos from our lovely *Fifth* of July. (If you'll remember, the fireworks show we generally attend was rained out on the Fourth and rescheduled for the Fifth.) First of all, let me just say that glow sticks make all the difference in entertaining boys while you wait for the fireworks to begin. This is something we've made into a tradition. Here's a layout I finished about a year and a half ago (I *think* pics are from July 2008?...sorry, too lazy to go dig out the actual layout and look (I'm sure it's noted on the back)):

And here are a couple (tweaked) photos from this year:

(Love how the low light meant I captured the motion as Noah twirled and dropped his glowsticks.) And here are Asher and Micah's collections by the time we made it back to the van:

 
Yes, I altered these photos in Photoshop to give them this "older" feel...one gets tired of such bright glowing pictures every year, LOL!

And, here are a couple (again tweaked) shots from the show, itself. By the way, all of these pictures were taken with my little purse camera...yet another reason for altering the photos to make up for the poorer quality. I hadn't intended to take any photos actually, so didn't lug in my good camera or the tripod this year. :)

So. That was our Fifth of July. :)

I continue to slog through the couple thousand pictures from our trip. This week, though, Noah and Asher also have soccer camp in the mornings, Asher and Micah have karate, and all three have swim lessons. Oh, and a certain youngest son has a birthday coming up on Friday. And we started our school work back up after a few weeks off. So, please hang tight...I'll get to it eventually. ;) 

Just quick...

Finally posted over at the Good Grief Blog...check it out. :)

Home again.

Whew. You may not have known it, but we're home again. We were on the road since July 9...attended a baptism, watched the World Cup with friends, helped finish wedding prep for my baby sister's wedding, went camping at Mt. Rainier, saw friends in Seattle, did the whole rehearsal and wedding and reception thing, went to a family reunion, spent a day in Yellowstone, and drove about 4000 miles altogether. Pulled in to our driveway about 3 am early Wednesday morning (and thankfully had the presence of mind ahead of time to move the garage door opener so we wouldn't accidentally try to pull into the garage with the cartop carrier attached, LOL).  

Just finished downloading (or is it uploading?) 2045 photos (not counting the ones Nathan took which are still on his iPhone). Spent all day yesterday just doing laundry. Finally tackling mail and such today. Will take me a bit to catch up...hang in there... ;)