All packed up and ready for some fun!!

I think this is our best departure time yet.  Go us!  We're becoming beach packing professionals...ok, maybe not.  But we don't care--we're off to the beach!!

Seven

At first I put off the birthday post because Micah was sick.

Then I put off the birthday post because we hadn't done the funny face pancakes yet.

Then I thought I might as well wait until after the party.

Then I forgot.

Or maybe all this time I've really just been waiting for his sea monkeys to hatch...Yeah, that's it!

So my Micah man is seven. Ack! These kids keep getting older and I know I've told them at least a million times to stop it. When will they ever listen? :)

My mom likes to remind me how huge I was when I was pregnant with Micah. Aren't moms the best? :) Haha. She's right, though...check this out--that IS a HUGE belly!

But now check out this cutie. He was worth every stretch mark. :)

Seven years later and this is what we have...still a cutie!

I can't even tell you how happy this boy makes me. I love that he climbs over everything, doesn't understand why anyone would walk from A to B in a straight line and has made all of those Family Circus comics make complete sense. I used to think they were just filler comics...now I know Bill Keane had a Micah, too. :) I love that Micah can forget things as easily as I can and I love that he still wants to be tucked in at night. I love that he loves math and that he loves to play with his siblings. Long story short...he is an awesome kid!

I've mentioned that Micah was pretty miserable on his birthday. We skipped the funny face pancakes. We skipped the special dinner and the cake. But we DID do the presents! He was still feeling puny, though, as you can tell from these pictures:

The girls were good helpers and brought him all of his presents:

And Josiah had fun getting excited for with him about his gifts.

Naw...Micah got excited, too! :)

Everyone thought the sea monkeys were pretty awesome (and they hatched--FINALLY!)

But Micah's favorite gift was definitely the new baseball helmet. I know, seems like a strange gift, but it was one of the few things he said he wanted...and clearly he did!

I mean, he REALLY likes it.

REALLY, REALLY likes it.

Someone even asked me if he sleeps in it...I suppose that's a fair question. :)

We did finally get around to the cake a few days later.

With the most awesome candles EVER: Sparkler re-lighting candles!

Micah thought they were so funny! He kept cracking up at them re-lighting...I didn't think he'd ever get those candles out!

And the cake had a cool blue center for my favorite lover of blue.

About a week later was the bounce party (yay for Groupon!). I don't have a whole lot of pictures from the party because my camera battery died about 15 minutes into the party. *sigh* I just can't remember everything! Thankfully, the birthday boy didn't miss my camera AT ALL. He was completely happy to run around and jump with his friends without me taking pictures--who knew??

The bounce place had a rock wall that the kids could climb and luckily Micah climbed it before my camera died. :)

He looked pretty impressive making his way up there. But I wasn't surprised that my little monkey did well at this.

He was quite proud of his accomplishment, too!

Had to put a picture of these cupcakes--they turned out so good!

So in the end it was a happy, happy birthday for this superb, silly seven year old!

I'm so glad he's my son because he is one cool dude!

And I love him completely.

Today

Day 1 of 2 of being a single parent:

We all survived and I even got a shower.

I must be bringing my A game because that doesn't always happen! (The shower part...so far we've always survived, although there has been a close call or two)

In other news:

I even made dinner tonight (which doesn't always happen, either), including homemade biscuits.

I taught my children what it means to "half-ass" something. Probably not the best parenting decision.

The boys and I finished "Peter and the Starcatchers" tonight, too. They LOVED it. (Who am I kidding, the whole reason I read it to the boys is because I love it so much.) It is a GREAT read aloud for kids, especially if they like Peter Pan.

Audra has decided, again, that she isn't interested in potty training. The problem here is that by the end of the day and after accident number 4 or 5, I just don't have the stick-to-it-ive-ness to persevere. So, really, the problem here is mine. I've gotta work on my follow through.

And that, my friends, is all I know tonight. Other than that I still have about 10 things on my "things I must do today" list that just aren't gonna happen. Story of my life.

I'm gonna be thankful for my shower. :)