embrace the camera: birthday hug

This was the hug I got after Micah opened the presents at his party.

That was one GOOD hug!

I pretty much loved embracing the camera this week :)

can you guess?

As soon as we got home from Micah's party he wanted to try on each of his outfits by themselves. Now he just likes to mix and match his favorite pieces from each one. In this picture he is wearing cowboy boots, a fireman jacket and policeman hat. Connor is wearing a police jacket and fireman hat. Can you guess which job they actually are? Trust me there IS a correct answer. I learned that the hard way ;)



If you guessed policeman for Micah and fireman for Connor you are CORRECT! Apparently it doesn't matter what clothes you wear it just matters what hat you have on!

You have to watch out when Officer Micah is on the case. No one is exempt from his mission to rid the world of bad guys. Not even Daisy!

p.s. Zach thinks Micah looks like the Gestapo in this get up but I think he's way to cute to be confused with that. Thoughts? :)

party day

Micah's birthday party was a blast! We had it at Game Time in Covington, GA which is an inflatables place. My parents, older two siblings and their kids came plus Zach's parents and all his siblings except for one along with all their kids. Add to that four church friends and one best bud from school and it was a P.A.R.T.Y! I have never seen Micah run around and have that much fun. He was beside himself with excitement to not only be there but be there with tons of friends. They were all so cute running and following each other to each slide or jumpy thing. All the aunts and uncles were plenty willing to help out as well since they adults weren't supposed to be on the inflatables unless they were assisting a child. Needless to say lots of adults "assisted" many different kids!

We took a break in the middle to have pizza, cake and open presents. Micah received some GREAT stuff! His favorite things to do right now are draw and dress up. After the party we are definitely not lacking in the boy dress up clothes. We are now the proud owners of a police man, fireman, Celtics player, Optimus Prime, and new boots for a cowboy. Don't worry he definitely can be all these things at the same time! He also got a couple of really cool cars and lots of great art stuff. THANK YOU FRIENDS!!!

As his friends left they each got a kid's rap CD by our friend TY Rumble because there's an awesome song about Super Heroes and a cute super hero sucker which we didn't get pictures of :( I think his friends had a great time and I KNOW he had a great 4th birthday party!

present time

We had a great birthday day with Micah. We went to the mall and picked out a new outfit for his party. He decided on a red shirt with spiderman, wolverine, captain america and somebody else on it. Then we played at the indoor playground and bought a sucker. For his birthday dinner he picked to eat a Tokyo which is a Japanese Steak House in Conyers and Micah's absolute favorite. He picked the same place last year! Our friends Sarah and Steven let Connor come eat dinner with them and play with their daughter Natalie so the birthday boy could have us all to himself. It was a really nice and relaxing meal and Micah talked up a storm the whole time. Before bedtime he finally got to open his presents and was super excited about it. We bought him an Iron Man mask, an Iron Man action figure and a Knight costume. He ended up sleeping with the action figure and wearing part of the costume all night. So cute! His party is on Saturday at an inflatables place in Covington and he CAN'T WAIT to see all his friends and family!

F.O.U.R spells 4!

And another year has passed! Micah has been more excited about this birthday than any other. I would assume it's because he's just so much more aware about what birthdays mean and is excited about getting bigger. Though the getting bigger part I still seem to have troubles with. It's so hard to not want to hang on to his present, but I know that his future is bright!

We talked in the car today about his 'favorites' so of course I will share them with you.

Favorite foods- ham and cheese sandwich, rice and soup (chinese and/or japanese food), Zaxbys

Favorite snack- fruit snacks

Favorite colors- red, blue, green, yellow, brown, light blue, orange. He's such a rainbow :)

Favorite games- tag, hide and seek

Favorite things to do- draw

Favorite friends- Ben, John Parker, Bella, Sawyer and Lucy

Favorite movie- Toy Story 3

Favorite show- Curious George

Favorite animal- elephant

Now here's what we love about our brand new 4 year old...

* He's learning so much!! He can recognize all the letters of the alphabet and tell most of the sounds (q and x are pretty tough!), write his first and last name, recognize zach, connor and my name, can recognize his numbers and count to at least 20 without messing up.

*His personality is erupting! He is seriously such a goofball. He loves to make funny voices and faces, do silly dances and fall, slip, slide anywhere as long as it gets a laugh. He is still however, super shy in new situations and around new people so if he shows you his silly side you know you're loved!

*He is very imaginative. He loves to create stories and scenarios and loves dressing up in anything from princesses to super heroes!

*He is becoming very independent and is a huge helper with cleaning up, feeding daisy, setting the table, etc. He also likes to get dressed completely by himself which is awesome however he does not always match.

*He has developed a love of cash money! He loves holding it, carrying it, folding it, making it flat again. It's pretty funny. We're excited that he is interested in it though because we want to teach him how to earn, save, and give money and since he's already interested we might start a chore/allowance system soon.

*He loves reading and talking about Jesus. Zach reads the Jesus Storybook Bible to him during their bedtime routine and listening to their conversations is just precious. They've talking numerous times about how Jesus can come into your heart and they prayed about it once but I don't know if that is true understanding or not! Either way we love that he questions thing and desires to know more.

Micah you are a COMPLETE JOY and we love you and will always love you exactly how you are!

our valentine's day

show the way

Zach sang this to me the night he proposed. I have loved this song since college and love that it has that memory attached to it. Happy Valentine's Zachary! I love you so very much and love that you love me better than anyone! You make my heart, mind and soul happier than I could have ever imagined and I am so delighted that God put my lil southern self and your Frenchyness together :)

SHOW THE WAY
David Wilcox
You say you see no hope, you say you see no reason
We should dream that the world would ever change
You're saying love is foolish to believe
'Cause there'll always be some crazy with an Army or a Knife
To wake you from your day dream, put the fear back in your life...

Look, if someone wrote a play just to glorify
What's stronger than hate, would they not arrange the stage
To look as if the hero came too late he's almost in defeat
It's looking like the Evil side will win, so on the Edge
Of every seat, from the moment that the whole thing begins
It is...

Chorus:
Love who makes the mortar
And it's love who stacked these stones
And it's love who made the stage here
Although it looks like we're alone
In this scene set in shadows
Like the night is here to stay
There is evil cast around us
But it's love that wrote the play...
For in this darkness love can show the way

So now the stage is set. Feel you own heart beating
In your chest. This life's not over yet.
so we get up on our feet and do our best. We play against the
Fear. We play against the reasons not to try
We're playing for the tears burning in the happy angel's eyes
For it's...

progressing through dinner

Saturday night 18 people gathered together for our 2nd annual CCC Valentine's Day Progressive Dinner. We had 7 people who had to cancel the day of but still had a GREAT time with our little group. There were 4 stops along the way and each one was delicious!! This is a favorite activity of mine. I love seeing other people's homes. I love having a different conversation at each place. I love the travelling and anticipation of what comes next. I love the love you can share with everyone single, married, young, older, whatever!

Our sweet salad hostess :)

Laughing at Crazy Beth I'm sure

watching Meegan McGlover on YouTube. OH SO FUNNY!

Adult Conversation

"Adult" conversation

Dessert time!

the lovely ladies :)

Just because I love him AND we're just so darn cute :)