birthday boy

earlier this month, we celebrated micah's 6th birthday,

so before i completely miss my chance to post about it, here goes...

while each of our five children are incredibly unique,

none are quite so different from the others as micah.

just to begin with, he looks different... the others having a baloche look,

while micah is definitely looking like a sell (just look at the easter pics).

far beyond looks, though, micah has a very different spirit.

while i love the perserverance and challenge of my three strong willed children,

micah tempers the others with his gentle nature.

although he is not necessarily softspoken, he is relaxed almost all of the time.

he is unbelievably attentive to his younger siblings...

willing to not only take mara joy to the potty, but wipe her bottom, too :),

and is the only child in the household who can claim the honor

of being able to single-handedly get jonas to sleep.

he has quite a sense of humor... this is where he is definitely not softspoken,

for he loves to make others laugh.

and he has two abilities in particular that joel and i

definitely know did not come from either one of us.

he is an absolute sports fanatic,

as you will see by his football jersey and basketball cake

(this i can attribute to uncle justin)

he is constantly kicking, hitting, or bouncing anything round in his path.

and he is quite good at it, too.

he also has an awesome sense of rhythym and can really dance.

(who wants to claim this honor?... for its certainly not joel or i, as some of you know!)

anyway, happy birthday to my sweet micah!

easter

the day began at 7 in the morn with a backyard hunt for resurrection eggs

(if you haven't used these w/ your kids, they're really neat..

they're 12 plastic eggs each w/ a symbolic token and a verse

which tell the story of the cruxifiction and resurrection.

we made ours from directions online, but they can also be bought.)

it was also the first time we were able to have an egg hunt in our own backyard,

while we missed our traditional egg hunt in the city park w/ our old home group,

we were very grateful for our own little place of green and trees in the city.

afterwards, the kids enjoyed their easter baskets and a homemade breakfast

before we went to the easter service at church.

finally, we made our way to oma and papa's house

where we took these lovely pics...

they remind me alot of my brother and sisters and i's easter pics,

poised in easter clothes in front of the fireplace,

so i'm certain some you will share in their sentiment w/ me.