It's Great to be Eight!

My little Jacob turned eight this year.  I can't believe how time flies so fast.  Sometimes it still feels like yesterday that I was waiting around in the hospital for him to come.  Apparently, his desire to come to our family early was stalled a bit by the fact that he wasn't quite ready.  November 22, 2004 my water broke unexpectedly, for he was not due till December 26th!  Because it was so early, I had to be taken up to Yakima Memorial Hospital so as to be close to their NICU.  However, during the long ride my contractions stopped.  By testing the fluid they discovered that his lungs were not yet fully developed, so they didn't want to get the contractions going again.  Finally, after nine days of waiting they started up again.  Other than the days in the hospital it was a short labor.  Starting at about 7pm, Jacob was born December 1st at 1:00am.  Now my boy is eight, and so grown up.

The month of December seemed to be all about Jacob.  We had a couple of parties and he received birthday gifts throughout the month.  Because Jacob's birthday was on the first Saturday of the month he got to be baptized on his birthday.  We had so many come to support and celebrate with him!  I hope to have pictures from the baptism soon to post here.  But, for now, I will post the birthday photos.

* Baptism photos

Jacob on his big day with Daddy.

Here is everybody that came!

Here is the birthday cake!  It looks a bit different here than it originally turned out.  I discovered that the little boys had eaten everything off of it the night before Jacob's birthday, so I made all new pieces for the cake.  I suppose I can be glad it was the night before and not an hour before.  :)

Jacob loved the cake.  He was pretty excited about it.

Jacob is really into science, so we got him a little kit to do experiments with regular household things.

A scripture case for his new scriptures!  He loves it, and makes sure to grab it every Sunday for church, and every night for family scripture study.  He has even set up his own system for marking verses with the colored pencils that came with the case. 

Loving the Legos!  Jacob can spend HOURS building and creating things.  He has gotten really good at it.

So that party was a big family party to share with everyone who was in town for the weekend.  I am so grateful that we have so many family members and that we are so close that we love being together and supporting one another.

Later we put on a party for Jacob to invite his friends for.  I continued on with the pirate theme, but instead of a cake I went the route of cupcakes.

I put together a treasure hunt.  I made clue cards for them to find till the got to the final prize.  This is the first clue card.  I had a lot of fun with my Cricut getting ready for this party.

I also made this banner.  Definitely something I can save for future birthdays.

Jacob had five of his friends from school and church come to his party.  They had so much fun.  We had a couple of other games to play.  There was a gift unwrapping game and a balloon stomping game.  It turned out really well, and Jacob and his friends had a great time!

Jaxon and Abbey

Jacob R.

Jacob R. , Dylan, and Logan  (Emma in the back )

This was definitely a memorable month for Jacob.  I can't believe he is already eight.  I love him so much and will remember all the moments we have had so far and look forward to the memories we will be making in the future.