Happy 5th Birthday Micah!!

Happy Birthday to our sweet Micah!!

We had quite the adventure in celebrating Micah's 5th birthday!  We started out the day, as requested by Micah, at a small water park in our town.  It was a delight for each of the children.  There were several water slides that all the kids enjoyed.  Micah and Luka both, have become very bold swimmers this year. Noelle even enjoyed the water this time around.  We had a great day as a family and we were thankful to escape the hot weather and be in a refreshing pool.

After the water park, we were planing to conclude our day with a Tinkerbell party back at our house.  I had made all the preparations beforehand; however about 45 minutes before the party was to start, my stomach started to hurt.  We had a quick change of plans and decided to move the party out to the garden area of our apartment complex.  Jason really saved the day by hosting Micah and her friends in a total girl party.  There were a few other moms and siblings there to help but Jason did an amazing job of standing in the gap.  Each of the girls got fairy wings, we painted nails, and put on make-up.  I enjoyed watching from our balcony.  I was sad to miss the actually party but Micah and the other kids were having so much fun, I don't think they even noticed I wasn't there.  Jason is such a wonderful husband, he took lots of pictures and video footage for me to enjoy later.  After the party was over, we all enjoyed watching her open her presents from family.  

Thank you to everyone who helped at the party, sent a card or present, and/or called to wish Micah a happy birthday.  

Micah is an incredible young lady and we are so thankful that God has blessed us with such a special joy by giving her to us.  It's hard to believe she is 5 and will be moving on to kindergarten this year.

So here are a few pictures from the water park...

 Noelle eating her sandwich like a big girl

 Micah loves posing for the camera...my beauty queen!!

Our little handsome man

Moving on to the party...

 Noelle even got a pair of wings

 Time to prepare for "fairy take-off"

 "İyi ki doğudun!" (or, "Happy Birthday!")

 Aunt Gay Lynn's amazing cake!

5, yes, 5 layers!

Noelle struggled until Uncle David came to the rescue...then it was all smiles.

Yay for the Beach!!

 We went to the beach last week with some friends and had a blast.  I think the kids actually enjoyed the pool a little bit more than the beach but we still shared a few sweet moments with our toes in the sand.  Noelle is terrified of the ocean and she would scream as we got closer.  She wouldn't even put her feet in the water or sand.  Luka, however, loved the waves crashing in on him.  In the evenings, the water was rough enough to have waves but in the mornings it was like a lake.  Micah preferred the mornings when it was calm and she could look for shells in the water.  She has started quite the collection from the Mediterranean.   We had a sweet friend get some pictures of our family, mainly the kiddos, and they turned out awesome!  

 Luka doing what he does best!

 When we put Noelle in the sand, this is what happened.  Nobody can say we didn't try.

 This one is one of our favorite family ones.

 The pictures above were taken in the evening but the following pictures were taken in the morning.

 This was as close as Noelle got to the water and sand.

 The pool was terrific.  Luka loved doing belly flops and Micah has really started swimming well.  She liked to through her rocks and shells to the bottom and dive down to get them.  This is the first year she has been excited about using her goggles.

Luka had a swimming ring and water rings, there was no way he was going down. He loved being in the deep.

 Here we are at breakfast one morning.   We got pancakes which were a big hit for the kids!!