All about Micah

Here are some tidbits about 5 year old Micah:

1.  He's a picky eater.  If he doesn't like the look of something, and I insist he try it, he will sometimes gag.  He has some definite bad feelings towards tomatoes and mashed potatoes. 

2.  He likes to play outside.  This summer he improved a lot on his bike.  He decided he wanted to try it without training wheels but after a couple of near falls he changed his mind.  I think he will get it next year. 

3.  He loves to tell stories.  He has an amazing imagination and he comes up with all kinds of stories.  Sometimes he will get into a certain kick and continue to add onto a story for weeks.  This summer he went through a phase where he was a good guy and there was a bad king named King Sombrum.  He and King Sombrum battled often and sometimes Micah would be frozen in a crystal, and sometimes King Sombra would be chased out of the land.  It was really fun to listen to. 

Micah with his Junior Ranger pin:

4.  Micah still takes naps.  When he turned 5 he still napped 4 or 5 times a week but he is down to only once or twice a week now.  In August I found him napping on a shelf in his closet.  The boys said he said something about going to a new level - I guess he meant it literally?!?  He was curled up on this little shelf, fast asleep:

5.  Micah loves Legos and especially Lego guys.  He builds all kinds of fun stuff.  He especially loves treasure maps, treasure chests, skeletons, weapons and Lego food. 

Funny sayings:
"I noticed that" - he says this often, and he uses it when most people would say "I know that"

"There are none-ee guys mom!"  He says none-ee when he means none.

"mock-a-mole"  This is how Micah says guacamole.

We watched the new Annie movie as a family and found ourselves humming the tunes for a couple of days after.  A couple of days after watching the movie Reed asked Micah to wipe the table.  He wasn't very happy about it but he started to wipe and then he started to sing "It's a hard knock life".  Reed and I laughed so hard that we actually got a smile out of Micah.

Favorite color: white
Favorite food: bread
Favorite show:  the Croods
Favorite book:  Very Hungry Caterpillar (he also really likes Llama Llama books right now)
favorite song: I am a Child of God
favorite toy: Lego fish (a tiny Lego piece)
favorite thing to do: play with Legos
what do you want to be when you grow up?: "A fireman! (pause) um, too dangerous.  A doctor."
At this point I said I was done and left the computer.  A couple of minutes later Micah pulled me back to the computer and told me he had more to tell me. 
Apparently his favorite paint color is blue.
His favorite color of car and shoes is purple
His favorite Lego set is the pirate set with the banana


Random pictures:



Happy Birthday Micah!

 In September Micah turned 5 years old!  We had a family party with Grandma and Grandpa Pitcher.  It was hot (high 80's) on Micah's birthday so we were able to have some fun outside.

 

Here are the boys and Grandpa P. filling some water balloons for a game later on:

Micah was SO excited about his birthday.  We counted down the days for a couple of weeks until the big day finally arrived.  Micah showing how old he is now:

Micah decided he wanted a knight birthday party.  So the week before his birthday we made catapults out of popsicle sticks, rubber bands and plastic spoons.  At the party we set up his knight castle as well as all of his knights and knight toys.  Reed manned the castle defenses and the kids took turns using the various catapults and marshmallows to attack the castle and knock the knights down:

Micah's knight getting close to make an attack:

The older boys thought this was pretty fun too:

Then we went outside.  I told the kids that some unicorn horns (white paper cones) had been stolen and that if they found them and returned them I had a reward for them (chocolate coins).  I also told them that there were dragon eggs (plastic easter eggs) hidden in the yard and that those had treasure in them (dollar store goodies). 

Micah searching:

After everything was found I told the kids that the dragon was mad that we stole his eggs.  We had a cooler full of water balloons and I told the kids that they would have to defeat the dragon, or in other words, hit him 4 times with water balloons.  Then Reed came running around the side of the house, dressed as a dragon.  He had his own bucket of water balloons so that he could attack as well.



This game was wildly popular:

The dragon:  I didn't have a proper dragon costume so Reed put on a pair of wings and he used a turtle costume tied around his waist as a tail.  Such a good dad!:

Then it was inside for cake and ice cream.  Micah wanted a castle cake:

I had fun making it.  I had a lot of help from my mom and the kids:

We even made a moat out of blue jello and graham cracker crumbs.  I wasn't going to do that but with some encouragement I tried it.  I'm glad I did because I really liked how it turned out:

Blowing out his candles:

Then it was time for presents.  Micah got some new clothes and money.  He also got a pirate lego set:

And this ninja costume.  He found this costume in my closet about a month before his birthday so it wasn't a surprise but he was excited to finally be able to put it on.  I think I know what he is going to be for Halloween:

It was a wonderful, fun-filled day!  Micah seemed really happy with everything.  Happy Birthday Micah!

Start of School

 Alan and Conner started at a new school this fall.  They were both nervous but they have both adapted and adjusted.  They both seem to like their classes. 

Alan - ready for 4th grade:

Conner - ready for 2nd grade:

A couple of days before school started Conner got glasses.  Then he lost one of his front teeth.  It took me a few days to get used to the new look.  It took even longer to remember to wear his glasses to school everyday.  What a handsome kid!

Summer time fun

This summer by the numbers:
Number of states/provinces visited:  8 (Montana, Wyoming, Idaho, Nevada, California, Oregon, Washington, Alberta)
Approx. number of miles driven on road trips: 4500
Great Grandparents seen: 5 (all of them)
Hours spent in the car:  Don't want to remember that part

It was a fun to see so much of our country as well as to visit family.  But we didn't spend the whole summer on the road .  Here is a quick glimpse of the normal days of summer:

Enjoying a freezie outside after playing in the sprinklers:

The kids have all been really interested in crystals lately so we decided to make our own crystal rock candy:

Alan's turned out the best.  Some of the others turned into a solid rock in the jar and we couldn't get them out until I poured hot water on them:

Alan really got into reading this summer.  Usually its hard to get him to sit down and read but this summer he spent lots of time reading of his own free will.  He finished the Percy Jackson series and started (and almost finished) the Fablehaven series by the end of summer:

We went to the local fair.  Here's Alan doing the tractor pull:

 

Conner:

Brooklyn and Micah on a ride:

Reed and Conner on the bumper cars:

Alan and Conner on a hang glider ride:

Alan is on the left and you can just see Conner's arms and the top of his head:

Visit to Grandma and Grandpa Bassett

In August we headed over to Grandma and Grandpa Bassett's house.  We had a lot of fun and also got a lot of work done.  We filled the trailer with stuff from the storage room and from the garage and took it to the dump.  We also organized one wall of the storage room and added a new cabinet with shelving. 

While we were there Grandpa demonstrated his awesome watermelon chopping skills:

The kids thought it was so funny and cool:

I love Brooklyn's expression while she watched Grandpa go to town on that watermelon:

Enjoying the watermelon afterwards:

The kids spent some time exploring the pond and grassy area and trees below the house.  Here they all climbed up in the old tree house:

Alan climbing a tree:

The kids devised some fun new games.  Alan spent a lot of time giving his siblings rides on this:

Micah trying to pull Brooklyn in the wagon:

Alan and Grandpa playing Battleship:

On one of the hot days we got the waterslide out and the kids had fun cooling off.  Conner sliding down:

Micah sliding down:

Alan sliding down:

Micah:

 

It was a great trip!