Happy 9th Birthday Jacob!!!

We can't believe our baby is turning 9 years old today. I will never forget the struggles we went through to bring him into this world and the incredible day of his birth. The last 9 years have flown by and what a ride it has been. He is such a sweet, loving boy. He is passionate about riding his bike and reading books. Two complete opposite hobbies but both things that he loves to do. And, he is a great big brother. We always knew he would be but he has surpasssed our expectations. He loves to just sit and play with Bryce and understands that babies are sometimes very demanding. He has not once complained about us giving Bryce more attention than him when Bryce needs it. I thank God each and every day that we could answer his prayers with giving him a sibling.

His bday present from us is a new mountain bike. We plan on bringing the guys bikes with us to Durango, CO this summer and Shane is looking forward to riding the trails around our house with him.

His party is at an indoor rock climbing party today. What a special day this is for him. We love you and are so proud of you Jacob!!!

Here is a great picture of him jumping at the track:

Pictures of Bryce

Bryce is now 10 1/2 months old. Man, how time flies. He weighs around 22 lbs as he lost some weight while sick (another post) and is still trying to gain it back. He is into everything. He is walking behind his push toy and looks like frankenstein when he walks....too cute. He will put anything, including dog hair, in his mouth. He is crawling up the stairs, pulling up and walking around things like the table while holding on. He loves to clap and play patty cake. He loves to wave at people and the animals. He will lay his head on Sadie and pat her (melts our hearts). He copies us with his tongue and he has this thing about sticking out his lower lips and making a silly face.

Here are some pics of him:

Yes, that's a mohawk on my head :)

Funny, isn't it?

I have a sweet face and gorgeous eyes!

I like to sit at the window and watch the boys playing in the driveway. Sometimes Sadie sits by me and we stare out the window together. We won't stay put for mommy to get our picture together, though.

This is my high chair. I love to eat and have never given a sign that I am full. I just keep eating and eating. And, if I don't like a food, I just throw it over the side. No big deal!

I can pick up a sippy cup, when I feel like it.

My first 2 teeth...see there, on the bottom....this was about a month ago. Mommy thought those teeth would never come in.

Playing Catch Up

I need to apologize for being so quiet for so long on our blog. There has been lots going on and I will try my best to remember everything exciting, good or bad, that I can to tell you about. Just a glimpse into what is to come....lots of pictures of Bryce including his first teeth and holding a sippy cup, Jacob's baptism, Bryce's first ER visit for rotavirus and, of course, a BMX update.

Let's start with Jacob's baptism. Unfortunately, the lighting in the kid's chapel was so bad that the pictures did not come out. I do, however, have an amusing video for you to watch if Shane will put it on his youtube account. Jacob was baptized on February 7th with several other children in elementary school. I had always imagined him being baptized in the big church, but this was great. Several of our friends from our small group and our family came to witness it. Shane did the dunking, which was very special to him. They had cake afterwards to celebrate the kids' baptisms. Then we went to Hido, a japanese steakhouse to celebrate with our parents. The food was great and the chef was very entertaining.

Jacob first accepted Christ when he was just 4 years old. He doesn't remember it, and I would not expect him to as he was so young. I remember Shane was out of town and Jacob and I were reading this big board book about the life of Christ. It is a pretty long book and I kept saying "let's finish this tomorrow night" but he pressed me to go on. When I read the pages about what they did to Jesus and his crucifixion, Jacob began to cry about the suffering Jesus went through and asked "He did that for me?" The next page talked about what a Christian is and he said that he wanted to become one, so we said the prayer together. I was amazed by his understanding of it all at such a young age.

When he attended VBS at church a few years later, we told him that they would be giving the message of salvation to the kids and reminded him that he was already a Christian but if he wanted to say the prayer again, that was fine. He did, of course, and has a vivid memory of it.

I used to keep a little kids bible in the car and he would read it everywhere we went. He would ask me if I knew the story of someone important and I would always ask him to read me the story. This not only improved his reading but his knowledge too.

We are so proud of Jacob's decision to tell the world that he is a Christian and pray that he will grow to become a God honoring man, husband, son and father. Of course, we can expect a few rough years somewhere in there. I mean, he is Shane and my's son, right???? Yikes!