Happy Birthday Micah!

Four years ago today, our beautiful baby boy was born and our lives have never been the same. :) Time has flown by so quickly. It seems like just yesterday I was holding him in my arms and starring at how cute he was. Now, I can't get him to hold still long enough to hold him, but he is still the cutest little boy I have ever seen.

Today, I told Micah that we needed to get him dressed and he said, "No, it's my birthday." So, for his birthday, he got to wear his pj's all day. We played Monsters v. Aliens, Hullabaloo, watched Goosebumps, and had a little party after dinner. We had cupcakes and opened a present. It was a computer (just a little Leap Frog one) and he loved it. We just spent the last 2 hours playing Thomas the Tank Engine games. Seeing Micah's eyes light up and hearing his sweet giggle made the perfect ending to an already great day.

Happy Birthday, Micah. We love you!

Update & More Funnies from Micah

Thanks to all of you have called, emailed, etc. to ask about my dad. For those of you that don't know, my dad has Colon Cancer (Stage 3). Last month, he had surgery to remove 18 inches of his intestines. The surgery went well, except it was discovered that the cancer had spread into his Lymph Nodes and he developed an infection from the pick line. So, what was originally going to be a 10-day stay in the hospital, turned into two weeks. He is now home for a few days until next Monday when he will begin chemo and radiation treatments.

He will have both chemo and radiation daily for 28 days and then will get a short break before starting another round of treatments where he will again receive both chemo and radiation every-other-week for 2 days at a time. That round will last until mid/late October. Hopefully, at the end of that, he will be happy, healthy, and cancer free. He has a good attitude about the situation and lots of support around him, so we fully expect him to be back on his feet in no time. Until the treatments are complete, he and my mom will be staying with us, so they have better access to the hospital. We have basically had them staying with us since his surgery and we have loved having them around. Please continue to keep my dad in your thoughts and prayers. We really appreciate all your love and support.

On a lighter note, Micah will be 4-years old next Wednesday, April 15th (yes, tax day). He continues to grow, develop, and say the funniest things. Here are a few things that have happened recently to put a smile on our faces...

A couple of weeks ago, Micah and I came out of church to see a huge, red truck parked next to our car. Micah was absolutely fascinated with it and excitedly exclaimed, "Look mom! It's Optimus Prime!" For those of you that don't know, Optimus Prime is the leader of the AutoBots from the Transformers cartoon series. I laughed out loud at that one. As we continued to check out this "Transformer", the people that owned the truck came out of church. When they walked over to their truck, Micah was still staring at it like it was the coolest thing he had ever seen. I told them that he thought it was Optimus Prime and they almost fell over laughing.

Last week, we had everyone over for dinner. After we had eaten, my sister-in-law, Danae and I were sitting on the couch. She was holding little Colston (7 months) on her lap and Micah came over to play with him. He absolutely loves Colston and was being really cute with him. Danae then said, "Micah, do you want a baby brother?" Micah said, "No, I want Colston." I told him that we can't just have Colston, and he simply replied, "We can just borrow him." So cute...

Most of you know that Micah loves Star Wars. He loves all the characters and is building up quite the collection. A few weeks ago, my mom bought him a "Mace Windu" action figure. Mace Windu is the character portrayed by Samuel L. Jackson in the movies and is the lone black character. The other night, we were watching "Dancing with the Stars" and the camera panned to the band. There were several African American members of the band. This caught Micah's attention and he yelled, "Look mom! There is a whole bunch of Mace Windu's." While we have been laughing about that since it happened, it is also clear that we need to get this kid a little more exposure. :)

Aren't kids fun? Mine are the best and I love them so much. Abby is 18-months now and is quite the firecracker. She doesn't talk much, but has no trouble letting you know what she wants or how she feels. She loves her Cinderella and Belle dolls and adores purses. She doesn't go anywhere without one swung over her shoulder.

Our desk top computer died and I don't dare mess around with the lap top since Heath uses it for his Garner Accounting business. Hopefully soon we will have a new one and I will be able to download some pics. Until then, thanks for reading!

More Micahisms, Pics, Disney Playhouse, and the Bean Museum

Micah is the funniest kid. The other day, we were driving to Training Table to meet Heath for lunch, and Micah kept saying, "Are we there?" "Where is it?" "I want to be there." I said, "Micah we'll be there in a minute, just wait." He then says, "I have a hard time waiting." His innocent remarks make me laugh so hard sometimes.

The other night, I had just gotten him in bed for the night (or so I thought). My parents were in town and Beau was over, so we were all sitting in the living room talking about the good old days. A few minutes later, Micah walks in and puts something in my hand. he says, "Mom, can you put this in the garbage? It fell out of my nose." I look at my hand, just as Micah says, "It's a doogar" (his word for booger). Thanks, Micah. :)

Micah started a computer class this week. Tuesday was his first day and he went before preschool. When we got to preschool, he walks up to his teacher and says, "You have a computer?" She says, "Yes, I do." Micah says, "I know how to do it now." She says, "Wow, Micah. That's great!" He then takes her by the hand and says, "Come on, I'll show you." Isn't my boy a cutie?

Here are a few pics to show you what we've been up to these days.

Abby is a daddy's girl, which Heath loves. Here is a picture of them watching tv together. Who thinks they look alike?

Micah got some new basketball shoes last week. He loves them and actually slept with them that first night. Who does that remind you of? (Cory? Popi?)

Last week, we took Micah and Abby to see the Disney Playhouse Live tour. Micah was mesmerized by it. He was so excited to see all his favorite Disney characters. He got to see Handy Manny, Little Einsteins, Tigger & Pooh, and of course, Mickey, Minnie, Donald and Goofy.
The Little Einsteins


Goofy, Winnie the Pooh, Tigger


Donald, Mickey, Goofy, Minnie

Mickey's first appearance. Micah got so excited. He said to me, "That's the real one, huh?"

Heath and the kids during the intermission. Abby made it through the first half of the show and just into the second half. She wanted to run around though and there just wasn't room for her to do that, so Heath ended up taking her out and letting her explore Energy Solutions Arena. I think she enjoyed that more. Micah and I finished the show and even did the Hot Dog dance at the end. Those of you that watch "Mickey Mouse Clubhouse" know what I'm talking about. :)

We went to the Bean Museum for FHE took weeks ago. It was a lot of fun. Micah and Abby loved seeing all the different animals. This Rhino was huge!

Micah loved everything. He would stop at each display and say, "What's that?" We hardly had time to tell him what it was though, because he was so excited to see what was next.

This isn't the best picture, but it was Micah's favorite part of the night. He got to see an Alligator. He thought it was amazing. In this picture, you can see one of Micah's distinct physical characteristics. He has two crowns on the back of his head. Makes for quite the challenge when combing his hair. :)

The one time we actually got Micah and Abby to be still.

We go to see a Reptile show that night too. Here is some kind of lizard. Micah thought it was pretty cool that he got to touch it.

I wish I could remember what kind it was. It's the cousin to the Hela Monster (sp?).

Grateful

Micah Heath Garner

I am so grateful for my sweet Micah. Honestly, I must have done something really right to have been the lucky one chosen to be his mother. He is sweet, kind, a good helper around the house, gentle and loving with Abby, and just an overall good kid. He loves to play and considers everyone his friend. He looks forward to preschool and speech everyday because he considers his teachers and fellow students as friends. He is always drawing a picture and telling me he wants to give it to his teacher. Almost every time I pick him up, he is standing next to someone and has invited that person over to our house. The other day, he was standing next to one of the girls in his class. When I got to the door to get him, he said, "Mom, can she come over?" I said,"Who?" He then goes over to the little girl and says, "Do you want to come to my house and play Star Wars?" She smiled and said, "Yeah!" With a huge smile on his face, he turns to me and said, "She said 'yes'! She likes Star Wars too!"

Being friendly is only one of the qualities I admire in Micah. He also understands how to treat Abby. He knows that she is smaller than him, so he understands about being gentle, but he also really knows her, protects her, and looks out for her. Today, she was crying and I kept offering her things like milk, crackers, toys, hugs, kisses, etc. But, nothing seemed to work. Micah walked over to her, hugged her and said, "She just wants to play mom. Sit down. Let's play." It worked too. That's exactly what Abby wanted.

Thank you Micah, for being my example.

Tons to Catch up on

I haven't been very good at updating my blog lately. So, here goes...

We spent Christmas in Rexburg this year (pictures a bit later in this post). We couldn't take all of Micah and Abby's presents with us, so we had another Christmas when we got back to Utah. Here is a picture of Micah and Abby having a tea party on Abby's new table and chairs. They are so cute and just the right size.

Abby playing in the ball pit. Both kids love this thing!

Micah playing with his new tool set. The tools are really cute and quite life-like.


Uncle Ian got Rock Band for Christmas. The whole time we were in Idaho, the Garner brothers played this thing non-stop. Micah got in on the action too and he loved it!

This is a picture of Abby on Christmas morning. Micah got her this purse and he was so proud of it. When we went Christmas shopping, he was certain that he wanted to get Abby a purse. We looked everywhere until we found just the right one- a cute, pink and white one. Micah was right, Abby loves it and carries it around everyday.

Here is Abby trying to put on the new shirt that Jared and Stephanie got her. It's really cute and says, "Here comes trouble" on the front of it. It's perfect for Abby.

Here is Micah opening the remote control car that Jeremy got for him. It's a cool, red Corvette.

Micah and Ethan opening presents.

Abby pushing her baby in the stroller Santa got her.

Here is Abby playing with her new tea set. It talks and even teaches manners. It's perfect for her little table.

Micah with his Bat Cave. He wanted 3 things for Christmas- this and...

these. A red light-saber and a Storm Trooper Helmet. He was so happy to see that Santa got them all for him.

This is a picture of Gammy and Popi's tree. It was huge and so pretty. Abby had a hard time staying away from it. It had so many lights and pretty things to play with.

On December 15th, we had a Dunn family Christmas Party. Here is Micah posing with his gift from Grandma and Grandpa. It's a really cool track that goes along with the characters from the movie, "Cars."

Santa even came to the party! As you can see, Micah and Zoey loved it. Abby wasn't too sure.

See what I mean?

This picture is actually from a little earlier in the day on the 15th. Micah had a Christmas party for all his friends in the neighborhood. Santa was there and everyone had a blast.

Here are just a few random shots of the kids. This picture is of Abby playing in one of her favorite spots- the kitchen cupboards. I think she looks so grown up too. She's not a baby anymore. :(

Heath bought the kids Santa hats. They wore them around a few days before Christmas. I didn't get a good one of Micah though.

Abby in her snow hat.

Abby's beautiful blue eyes.

Micah and his friend, James playing in the toy box. And I thought toys were supposed to go in there?

Micah proudly gazing at the cookies he decorated all by himself.

Our Christmas tree. I really wanted a cute pic of Micah and Abby sitting underneath the tree, but we couldn't get Abby to sit still long enough.

Isn't Micah a handsome kid?

My cute boy.

This is a picture of Heath's birthday. I asked Micah what we should get daddy for his birthday and he said, "A game." I said, "What kind of game?" Micah thought for a minute and said, "Gator Golf!" He had seen it advertised on tv and I think he thought this was a clever way to get it for himself.

Dad opening his birthday presents. You can see how much Micah loves presents.

Micah and Abby all dressed up and ready for church.

I am really fortunate that Micah and Abby play really well together. In this picture, Micah was teaching Abby to dance. She loved it!

A rare moment- both of them sitting still.

Micah is very sweet with Abby. He is gentle and loving. Abby adores him and follows him everywhere.

We spent Thanksgiving in Annabella with my family. After we ate our traditional turkey dinner, we made Gingerbread houses. Below is the one that Cory, Danae, Zoey and Colston made. Danae is so creative and artistic. I was amazed at how she was able to build and decorate this.

Beau and one of his roommates, Layne made this one. It was actually a Gingerbread Temple.

And here is ours. The roof kept caving in, so we finally decided to do most of it flat. In the end, we called it a Gingerbread Wigwam. Micah loved it though and when we brought it home, he showed his little friend, Kate'lynn. They even made plans to eat it once Christmas was over.