Happy Birthday Jacob

Jacob turned 7 on Friday, January 28th. He'd pretty much been counting down days since his 6th birthday last year, so needless to say he was pretty excited. Especially since he had some extra family here to celebrate with this year. I took Mom & Emily with me when I drove him to school that morning and we delivered some cupcakes to his class for a birthday treat. Then we ran a few errands during the day to get a few last things for the birthday dinner, and party the next day. We picked up Jacob from school and even took him with us for a little while, he thought that was great!
If you ask Jacob what his favorite food is, he'll give you three answers: fish, shrimp, and pizza. My mom decided that she wanted to do a special dinner for Jacob so we did bbq salmon and coconut shrimp along with homemade rolls, fresh pineapple, salad, peas, red potatoes, and of course cake and ice cream. We went with a baseball theme this year. Although the cake isn't the best version of a baseball, it sure tasted good!

Kylie surprised her family by coming home for the weekend from Utah State, and the Colemans still made it over afterwards for cake and ice cream. It's always so fun to have them here. We love having them close. I love being able to sit around and talk and catch up with everyone. There are always some good stories, and I love hearing all about school, sports, boyfriends, etc from the 'big' kids. It brings back lots of fun memories.

"Haworth" girls

Cousins: Me, Cole, Kylie, Kourtnee, Kenlee, Kaden

Jacob was excited for his presents and had a few eager helpers willing to help him unwrap his gifts. He really got spoiled this year. Jeff and I got him a baseball bat, t-stand, bases, and a few other things. The Colemans brought him the Nerf gun, and the other really fun and thoughtful gifts came from grandparents- Jacob was in heaven!

I think Matthew must have swiped the baseball bat during the picture... :)

Jacob has been such a perfect first child and we are so grateful to have him in our family. Seven things about Jacob:

1. Jacob was 8 lbs 3oz, and 22 inches long when he was born, by far my biggest baby. Surprisingly enough, he is still pretty big for his age. (60 pounds 84th percentile, 51.5 inches 94th percentile, and size 3 in shoes) Jeff and I are both the tallest in our 'shorter' families, and just figure the 'tall' genes must have passed to Jacob.

2. Jacob is kind and thoughtful and such a great example to his younger siblings. I know kids come in the order they do for a reason. He is a peacemaker and is a pleasure for both primary teachers and school teachers to have in class. (I believe it, I've worked with many of the kids. :)

3. He loves all sports, especially baseball and football. He would love to play sports at BYU someday.

4. Jacob is exceptionally smart and excels in reading, writing, spelling, and especially math. I'm amazed at the problems he can do in his head. While taking the kids to ChuckECheese, I told them we were getting 120 tokens to which Jacob immediately replied, "That means we each get 30." This happens on a daily basis. He can multiply and divide numbers in his head up to the thousands. He especially loves to work with numbers when he's working with money. He loves to save and keep track of his money and wanted an atm bank more than anything for Christmas. He has a great concept of time as well.

5. Jacob has a great memory. He has a knack for remembering both people's birth dates and ages. If you ever tell him your birthday and how old you'll be, chances are he'll remind you of your age for years to come. I should know, he's often shared my age with many people. Now I just need to let him know that's not always a good thing! :)

6. He loves to make lists, come up with fun ideas, and when he gets excited about something he can hardly sleep- must be related to me.

7. His best friends are his family members. He loves spending time with his brothers, sister, parents, grandparents & cousins.

We sure love having Jacob in our family. Now that he's seven, he's already counting down days until his 8th birthday next year when he'll be baptized. Are we really to that point? Good thing I have a whole year to get used to the idea!