8 Years

This past week we celebrated Micah's 8th birthday.  

Of all of Micah's 8 years, this one was probably the hardest.  He had a rough year dealing with anxieties and fears that are far beyond his years.  But I honestly feel we've come through the worst and most hopeless season of it and for the progress we've seen in these last months, I'm very thankful.  Talking with others in similar situations, gathering information online, and doing a lot of praying have all been helpful parts of this process.  

When it came time to plan his party, we decided to keep it simple and have a party at home doing all the farm things that Micah loves to do with his Daddy - mainly hockey!

(Balloons decorated by the birthday boy)

I found a fantastically simple hockey cupcake idea on Pinterest.  White icing (with some sprinkled sugar for a snowy effect), pretzels and a chocolate chip for the puck.

We were prepared for typical rainy December weather, but thankfully the rain held out and the kids had a blast playing hockey on the street and no one complained about being cold.

After the kids were tuckered out from their game, it was time for a hayride.  These boys got a kick out of the cows and calves following the tractor.

Then to end the party, we all headed inside for hot chocolate, snacks and those delicious hockey cupcakes :)

My prayer for Micah these days is a spirit of joy and optimism.  I also pray that what he is experiencing will shape him in a positive way and make him sensitive to others who are anxious and fearful.  Lastly, I pray for the innocence of childhood to stay with him as long as possible.

We love you so much Micah :)

Seven

Seven years ago, I became a Mama for the first time when Micah Josiah Erik was born into the world!

Micah's life has changed significantly in this past year, from going to half-day kindergarten last year to full-day grade one at a whole new school this year. This transition was not easy for him but I'm proud to report that we are finally managing the morning drop-off without any complaining, tears or clinging to Mom.

His teacher tells us that Micah is very detailed - something that we've discovered as well, especially with his drawings. Micah's also excelling in reading and seems to be able to read everything in sight!

Micah is still very snuggly and affectionate (though he doesn't realize his own strength and often jumps at me when I least expect it... and believe me, I can be tackled to the ground quite easily). I've noticed that he is getting better at being a respectful and kind big brother, quick to tell me how much he really felt like punching Keziah but stopped himself ;)

At our church, someone put together a video of the elementary-aged kids talking about what "joy" is and showed it this past Sunday during the service. Micah's definition of joy was "that my sister asked Jesus into her heart a few weeks ago."

So sweet.


Micah's present this year was Super Mario Brothers for the Wii.

He was pretty pumped.


Opening his birthday card from Granny & Grandpa Harder (and wearing his new watch from Grandma & Grandpa Toews):


The kids were all dressed up this morning for their school Christmas concert and they even let me take a picture of all three of them...

Happy 7th birthday Micah... We love you!

She's Broke

The tooth fairy that is.

The teeth in this boy's mouth are dropping like flies.

And the tooth fairy is getting lazy.

Let me rephrase that, the male half of the tooth fairy is getting lazy. The other morning Micah woke up to realize that he was given the same little ziploc bag of coins that he had received just a few nights before. For a different tooth.

Yeah, you can't pull too many fast ones on this 6-year-old.

In other news, this is how we found Silas last night when he was supposed to be sleeping.

I'm thinking it might be time for a big boy bed...

Camp

We had another first in our family. Last week Micah went to camp for the first time!

Turtle Mountain Bible Camp had a Pee-Wee camp for 2 nights and my 6-year-old nephew Liam was already registered. We talked to Micah about it a few times but he was unsure, and we decided not to push it. Then, when he saw all of his older cousins heading off to camp the week before, he told us that he would like to try to go to camp too.

Since Micah has always been our anxious child, fearful of new and/or unknown situations, I wasn't sure how it would go. I was a little worried when his older cousin came home early from camp the week before due to homesickness. But it didn't seem to deter him. Then, my other concern was that Micah and Liam don't always see eye-to-eye.

But when camp day came, they were best buddies.

Two short nights later, we drove back to pick them up - mildly surprised that we hadn't received any homesick phone calls.

They were still smiling!

Micah told me that he hurt his arm falling off the swing but didn't seem too upset about it. It helped that the camp directors are sort of related to us (their son married Erik's sister) and they made extra-sure that Micah had a great time at camp. He even got a "Get Well" note with an extra treat from the tuck shop :)

Micah also told me that he felt lonely at night and that it was hard to fall asleep, which doesn't surprise me. I think 2 nights was just the right amount of time for him. Any longer and I'm sure his camp experience would've felt too long and lonely.

And I'm glad these two 6-year-olds were able to put their differences aside and enjoy their first time at camp :)

We've Arrived

The three full days of driving are a bit of a blur, but here's what I do remember:

~ Driving through tunnels. These are always a big highlight for the kids and even warrant the pausing of any DVDs that might be playing.

~ Animal sightings. The most exciting was a black bear and her 2 cubs (which makes 3 years in a row of spotting a bear! ... For anyone who cares.)

~ Tallying up the money spent on gas. (I believe the grand total was close to $500... yikes.)

~ Most frequent phrases from the backseat. "I'm hungry" (most commonly heard about 5 minutes after the last snack was eaten). "Make a bottle... Home!" (heard by the young Mr. Siley-Bear who is sorely in need of intervention for his bottle addiction) and "When are we gonna be there?" (Most commonly answered by "In a little while!!")

But all in all, I can't really complain about the drive. In fact, I read an entire novel on the trip - which seems to indicate that I wasn't doling out snacks, switching DVDs and pacifying Silas the entire time.

We made our customary stop in Revelstoke where we feasted on McDonald's and released some pent-up energy at the park.

It was also the scene of our very first injury. Nothing a band-aid wouldn't fix though.

(I'm really praying that we don't come home with any broken bones or head lacerations this year.)

After a stop in Alberta with some old friends and a stop in Saskatchewan to see Erik's grandparents, we arrived at the farm, ready to settle in for another Manitoba summer.

Sunday morning pancakes - in lieu of Saturday morning pancakes.

(This classic Corelle pattern totally brings me back to my childhood... Anyone else??)

Erik is slightly concerned about Silas' shoe and purse fetish.

I happen to think it's pretty cute.

For now.

Yesterday (Sunday), Erik figured it was as good a time as any to finally take Micah's training wheels off.

Micah caught on quite quickly, There were a few scrapes and a few tears but we're trying to keep him positive and excited about this new-found skill.

Growing Up

I came across this picture the other day...

(spring 2008)

Which I then compared to these pictures...

(last week)

Seriously, where has the time gone??

Winter

It's a nice change of pace to look out the window in January and see white instead of brownish-green...

We've endured a marathon of sickness this month. Whatever week-long virus Micah had after Christmas has cycled through the other two. On Sunday we opted to stay home from church, but we were all suffering from a serious case of cabin fever. So, even though Silas wasn't feeling 100%, we decided to bundle up and head out to the fresh snow. We went down the street to Delair park where we found a little "mini" hill that was perfect for our inexperienced sledders.

(For the record, it was Erik's idea - not mine - to send Silas on the sled against his will.)

We woke up this morning to even more snow and a cancelled day of school.

Erik piled a bunch of it up for us before leaving for work and then me and the kids worked at hollowing out a nice little snow fort.

The kids can't seem to play in the snow without the dire need for hot chocolate immediately afterwards. And since snow is rare around these parts, we can afford to keep up the hot chocolate tradition after leaving a pile of dripping wet boots and mitts and toques by the back door.

Maybe you caught the news in the video, but Micah lost not just one, but TWO teeth over the weekend. Like I predicted, he was easily swayed to let Daddy pull out the second one once he had that first tooth fairy visit. Unfortunately, the tooth fairy was a little forgetful that second night and had to get creative with how the coin-age got into Micah's possession. But I don't think we'll have to keep up the charade for too much longer. I'm pretty sure the kid is onto us.

Another Milestone

It was August, at my parents' farm, when Micah suddenly freaked out while chewing his pancakes one morning. After some questioning, we figured out that he had his first loose tooth!

I don't remember my teeth taking this long to fall out, but Micah had that loose tooth in his mouth for over 4 months. Erik finally convinced him to let him pull the thing out last night. And it pretty much fell out into his hands.

There are at least 3 more teeth in his mouth that are loose, and I'm thinking -- after his first visit from the tooth fairy -- they might not be too far behind :)

Next comes the awkward stage. Adult teeth coming in to a mouth that is a little too small for them. I feel sorry for any of my children who inherit the buck teeth I had as a child...

(kinda wishing I had a picture handy right now to prove it :)

Little Performers

I'm on a blogging roll! So many new things to post and I finally have the time to post them :)

Last week was full of Christmas events. I was able to watch Micah's school Christmas concert two afternoons in a row. Micah seemed to know all the words, and if there was an award for the most serious performer, I'm sure he would've won. Someone's gotta tell this kid that it's OK to smile...



Then Friday was Keziah's ballet recital. I didn't quite grasp what an ordeal this was going to be. We had to be at the Abbey Arts Centre at 3 pm and, other than a very quick supper pick-up at McDonald's, we did not leave that place until almost 9! The dance studio has TONS of performers. I'm bad with numbers of people, but there had to be about 40 preschool girls alone. Plus all the older dancers and even some adult students. So, that makes for a long dress rehearsal, a long recital, and a lot of chaos backstage! They put all of the younger girls into a holding room together and expected them to stay there (quietly?) while they waited for their performances. Most of the girls did quite well, but it was crowded and loud and the ratio of adults to kids did not seem like enough. Keziah was doing great right up until the point when I told her it was time for me to go. She clung to me SO tight and cried silent tears into my shoulder. It was so heart-breaking and I decided to stay for a bit to get her settled. I tried leaving one more time, and was even half-way down the hall to the auditorium when I stopped and realized there was no way I would be able to enjoy the recital from my seat if I thought she might be upset backstage (and I knew she would be too shy to let anyone see how upset she really was). So, I quickly got over the fact that I would miss the rest of the recital and decided to stay backstage (with a couple of other moms who also had the same idea). We ended up consoling a few other teary-eyed preschoolers as well, so it was probably a good thing that we were there to help!

Anyway, when it was time for her to perform she did SO good. It really melts my heart to watch her dance.

The first video is of the dress rehearsal:



This was a portion of the actual performance which I filmed from just off-stage. I loved how she smiled so sweetly as she danced.

(I lost track of her near the end of the video because I wasn't really watching my camera screen.)

So cute! Keziah is such a shy little girl, and it's good to see that she's not afraid to perform. Her and Micah also sang some Christmas songs with their Sunday School classes in church on Sunday. Her Sunday School teachers tell me that she barely says a word in class, but when it's singing time, she sings all the words!

All Aboard!

When Micah first told me that he wanted a Polar Express birthday party, I tried to talk him out of it. It seemed like a really random party theme. But the more I thought about it, the more I realized how great it would be. I printed out some golden tickets, invited the kids to come in their pyjamas, and served hot chocolate. And having everything decorated all Christmas-y fit in perfectly with the theme. I just might see if I can convince Micah to have a Christmas-related theme every year...

Tickets, please! Tickets!

We started off the party with a foam sticker Christmas craft - a la Target.

I put all the "goody bags" (mini-stockings filled with treats) in a box and wrapped it up at least 15 times. We passed it around, hot-potato-style, and I loved the boys' reactions every time they unwrapped a layer to find even more layers of paper :)

Micah and I created this snowy light-fixture for the party...

Simple cupcakes... but cute :)

"Cheers"-ing their hot chocolate...

For the last bit of the party, we put the Polar Express on and served popcorn twists and juice boxes.

6 boys out of the 9 that we invited were able to come. All of these boys are in Kindergarten together. This was my first time hosting a full-on drop-off-your-kids-and-pick-them-up-later kind of birthday party, and it went pretty smoothly. Not having the other moms around actually made it less stressful (I wasn't so worried about the little details maybe). It did get a little bit wild and crazy by the end, but Erik and I were able to keep everything under control until the parents came back. I call that a success!

Birthday Number SIX!

My oldest baby is turning 6 today! It's hard to believe...

This year, especially, brings back memories of his birth because his birthday falls on a Monday - the same day he was born back in 2004. My water "sprung a leak" on Sunday morning, the 12th, just before church started. But since I still felt totally normal (and wasn't convinced anything had happened), I sang on the worship team and went on with my day. Finally in the afternoon my mom convinced me over the phone (after talking with older sister and nurse, Nichole) that I should probably get myself checked out. Sure enough, my water had "broken". But, because the hospital was full, I wasn't able to get induced until Monday morning, the 13th. Thankfully my labour started on its own during the night, but I needed a little boost to get things going. At 2:30 pm on Monday afternoon I finally had my first son in my arms. A surreal moment to touch and hold that soft, warm little bundle for the first time and try to let the truth sink in that he was really mine.

I look frightful in this picture, but isn't Micah adorable?

Micah spent his first night in the room with me and then the nurse noticed that his breathing was very fast. I had thought his rapid breathing was interesting, but being naive and totally new to the whole baby thing, I had no idea that I should be concerned. His rapid breathing turned into a chest x-ray, IV antibiotics and an extra 3 nights in the hospital (in the special care unit)... Finally on Friday, the 17th, we were able to go home.

And now he's turned into such a handsome and grown-up boy!

Micah is thriving in Kindergarten. I wrestled so much with the decision to hold him back, but I'm thankful that I did. He is one of the brightest in his class and doesn't seem bored in the least. Micah's history of anxiety (particularly separation anxiety) has almost disappeared this year. And I'm also pleased to say (maybe not too loudly, in case they hear me) that him and Keziah have been getting along amazingly well lately! I think Micah has settled into his routine enough that he doesn't come home cranky and tired after a morning at school. Instead he seems energized and excited to see everyone.

This morning we let Micah open his birthday present (from us as well as Granny & Grandpa):

I love when I find the perfect gift that I KNOW will make the "receiver" happy :) His very own Buzz Lightyear was just the ticket for this 6-year-old!

Happy Birthday big boy! We love you!!