Corrie and I have been without the girls this week (at Christian Camp), which has given us some extra time with our son. I have always taken such wonder in the way he reacts to the most simple things we all (adults) take for granted--The warmth of the sun on his skin, the sand between his toes, when he is genuinely surprised, when I showed him that his bike makes a motorcycle sound with a baseball card between the spokes, when he stares at a sunrise and asks me, "Papa, where does the sun go everyday when is leaves over there?"

He melts my heart, makes me feel younger, and reminds me everyday why to take joy in the simple things...

Thanks Bub.

Are you going to be a dog or a cow in the future?

This little guy absolutely refused to pose for his birthday portrait. I was disappointed but also proud that he's learning to set personal boundaries...and that no means no.

But, I was able to catch this one a week later.

Finishing off birthday cake, wearing his new Kraken hat (and the same dino shirt he wore for his 6th birthday portrait).

7 years + 1 week

51.2 Lbs

Because his kite broke :-( But also because his brother's and sister's didn't...

Joshua is shown at a church Halloween party with three of the girls in his class. He is the only boy in the class so he is usually quite popular. He is dressed as an angler fish - the only angler fish costume I have ever seen - while all three girls appear to be some type of princess. When Joshua wore his angler fish costume to school, kids kept trying to pull off the little light that dangles in front of his face. Hopefully it lasts through trick or treating and Halloween night. Plenty of missing and growing teeth in these seven-year-old smiles.

For more of my creative projects, visit my short stories website: 500ironicstories.com

For "Brothers I" click here:

www.flickr.com/photos/40032755@N06/8225377051/

Whiskey Hayners Rye 'Seven-Year-Old'

an advert from Lippincotts Magazine. 1903