Island Life in the US: 6 year old in the house

On April 11th our first born turned 6. Hard to believe. I still call him 5 sometimes (well, not anymore). He has graduated Kindergarten, looks like he has grown a foot and over the past two months has lost three teeth. He was beginning to wonder when he would ever lose a tooth since his best friend has lost so many. Nicholas still loves his trains, but now has a new love of tiny little legos. I was putting off letting him have them due to the little ones in the house, but decided he would be 20 before he could actually have them if I stayed on that path, so I decided to go ahead and let him get them. :-) He can follow instructions on building something "real" or make up his own designs. They keep him busy for sure. He also loves to play soccer and tennis and ride his bike. He learned to ride without training wheels soon before he turned 6 and hasn't looked back since then. We have upgraded him to an even bigger bike which is just crazy. He really looks like a big boy on it. He would ride all day if he could. He is a great reader and loves to do workbooks to keep his mind strong for 1st grade. This is a blessing that I don't have to force it on him. All and all Nicholas is such a smart, fun-loving, joyful, caring, spirited 6 year old. I love how he is growing in the Lord and asking more and more questions and giving us insights that only children can give. It is fantastic. I pray he never loses that desire.

For his birthday we celebrated by having a joint party with his best friend Christopher at the arcades. It was wonderful. No real set-up or clean-up needed. Simple, simple. Brittny and I bought tokens for the kids to play the games with, had snacks and drinks and of course cake. Everyone had a great time and it made our lives that much easier, especially since Lucas was only three or four weeks old when we had the party. Fun was had by all. And even better we planned it for when Brandon would be home to visit so he could partake in the festivities too.

Lego theme of course.

No, we did not make this cake ourselves.

Brandon playing with Christopher and Sophie.

Joshua and Daddy exchanging their tickets.

Nicholas was very into this game. He also wanted to hold on to his ticket receipts. You would have thought they were gold or something.

Olivia hit the jackpot of all ages.

Zachary joined in too.

Oh, and by the way, we do have a fourth little boy now, even if there are no pictures on the blog yet to prove it. Here little Lucas is, although he looks nothing like this anymore.