Jake turns 8 !!

Jake recently turned 8. April 28th to be exact. He has been waiting for this birthday. Here are a few pics from his birthday and baptism.

Do the words "Mini Me" come to mind? They even have the same gap between their teeth. When Jake was born, the doctor said he was going to go buy some little round black glasses (Dan wore glasses then) for Jake, because he had never seen a baby that looked so much like his father before. It's amazing. This was after Dan had given Jake our gift, which was some video games. This is explains the excitement, although Jake is known to make faces like this whenever a camera is near. Dan does this as well, must have caught him at a moment.

These are the 3 Amigos, or Stooges, or whatever you want to call them. When you get the 3 of them together, we could just call them trouble :-) Just kidding guys.

This is Jake's little birthday party he had with his two best buddies. Max is in the back and Caden is in the middle. I'm sure you all recognize Jake's mug :-p

Dan took them to McDonald's and had some dinner, then went to Nickelcade and played video games for a while. They came home with these cool skull rings. Hmm, Jake was not happy when I wouldn't let him wear it to the baptism.

This appears to be Caden trying to drive . They had loads of fun playing all sorts of video games. Apparently so did Dan.

This is the picture that they always take before baptisms. A picture of the one being baptized with the one doing the baptizing. Dan has baptized and confirmed all four of our kids. We are now done with this . Jake is our baby.

I'm going to have to find a way to get the picture on the front of the programs on here. It was perfect. Cameron and Nicole did a great job making them.

Jake and Max have been friends since they were 2 1/2. It was very fitting that they had the opportunity to have this experience together. They really are like brothers. They play and even argue like brothers.

This is another pic of the boys. They are looking pretty snazzy in their suits and ties, although Jake shed the jacket as soon as possible.

We had a luncheon with both families of these boys afterward and it was wonderful.

I had some other pictures that I tried to download, but I think it made the file on the blog too big or something. Anyway, I need to leave something for Dan to post about.

I have had so many thoughts running through my head the last few days. It's humbling to realize that your baby is not a baby anymore. I can't believe that he is 8. Seems like it hasn't been that long. However, life certainly moves along whether we like it or not. I am proud of Jake for making the decision to be baptized, and hope that through the experience of being able to do this with his friend, he will have a lasting memory and they will help each other. In Jake's 8 years, he has had much to deal with. He has had Grandparents live with him, a mother who is not always able to do the things that she would love to do with him, he has watched his father have to work and be gone more than he should have to be, in order to keep us afloat. Jake is a great kid. He seems to have a special spirit that helps him to be able to deal with things as they come. I am happy that even though I may have some shortcomings as a mother, my kids seem to know what's right (Not that they always do it) and to love us and each other. This is all parents can do. Teach them right and hope they listened.

We are proud of Jake especially at this time. We look forward to the next step. Although I am feeling old now, what will it be like then? :-/

~Christy