Celebrating a Happy Birthday (in more ways than one)

A few weeks ago we celebrated Sarah's ninth birthday.  Our little girl is growing up so fast!  Kate, one of her best friends from school, has the same birthday.  They're fascinated by the thought that they were in the same hospital at the same time, born just hours apart from each other.  It was a pretty low-key birthday this year, but Sarah really enjoyed it.  Especially being able to stay in her pajamas for most of the day.  She even enjoyed attending Kate's birthday party, and tried hard to be gracious and not too jealous about celebrating a friend's birthday on her own special day.

At church a few Sundays ago I was trying to help Michael keep quiet by writing letters and numbers on the magna doodle.  He's been able to sign his letters and numbers for a long time and enjoyed signing as I wrote them.  Then I tried writing words on the magna doodle so he could finger spell them.  The first word I wrote was MOM, and like a champ he finger spelled M-O-M.  But then he did the sign for mom!  He actually read that word!  Next I tried DAD, and he finger spelled it and did the sign for dad.  I wrote down harder words, like BABY, CHEESE, CRACKER, and ICE CREAM.  He read them all and did their sign.  He even read a few with two words, like HAPPY BIRTHDAY.  Liz and I were both in tears as we watched in amazement as our 3-year old read these words to us.  I wonder if the person speaking in church thought we were particularly moved by his sermon. :-)  As much as Michael can't do because of his disabilities, we never cease to be amazed by what he CAN do.

Here are a few other random pictures.

Whenever we get the ladder out the kids always beg us to let them climb it.  Michael and Brooklyn are no exception.

Whitney and Spencer dressing up as Mary.  Or shepherds.  Or something like that.