Baptism #1.

Noah turned 8. I am still in shock. How can my baby be eight?? Because he turned eight, he was given the opportunity to be baptized. He has been so so so excited about this...like beyond excited! He has been looking forward to this day for years! 

His birthday fell the Tuesday before Thanksgiving this year. So, I thought it would be perfect to host Thanksgiving at our house, and have the baptism the Saturday after. I planned it years ago! It was going to be perfect. However, you can never make everyone happy. It's impossible. Times that will work for some family, won't work for everyone. It just isn't that simple. A Baptism is pretty important. And we wanted Noah to know how important it was, so we decided to do it as soon as we could...we'd plan it the soonest we could, and do it, and everyone else could plan around it. Afterall, it was NOAH'S Baptism! ;-) 

It turned out to be a great day. Carol drove down from Provo with Matt and his family, Kim drove from Rexburg with her family and they spend Thanksgiving with us. And then my Mom and Dad drove down after Dad's Black Friday shift and got here late Friday night. The baptism was on Saturday. And the Jensens journeyed back on Sunday morning. Quick trip? Yes. But, memorable? Yes. Definitely so. 

Since we live in California, we have the option of doing Family baptisms. There aren't enough kids turning eight to always have stake baptisms. In fact, the next Stake Baptism wouldn't be for several months, so we were given the go ahead to do our own. It made it extra special.

The talks were perfect, the songs were the best, and it was a good day. And, we now know for the next baptisms that we should bring a towel for Dad and for the child. We should probably bring a back up tie in case the one we had breaks. And, we should probably not forget hair pomade for afterwards! Just a few minor details we overlooked! Oops.  BUT, our Home Teacher volunteered to make homemade vanilla ice cream, which was a complete hit! It went perfectly with the other treats we already had.

Afterward we had the family over for a luncheon of Italian Nachos, Italian Sodas...and swimming. In November. In the FREEZING pool. 

It was such a special day for Noah. He told me that he never felt better. He was all smiles afterwards and is so excited to be baptized. We are SO proud of you, Noah, and your decision to be baptized and to make those covenants with your Heavenly Father. I know that you were ready and are ready to learn. You are such a great kid with such a great heart! I love you, Buddy. You're pretty great!!

I promise that the eight is not upside down. I flipped it several times and it always looks the same. Odd, I know, but I PROMISE it is right!

Peter Pan Party

Jacob wanted a friend birthday party this year. He has been talking about it for months. I adopted the idea a few years ago that the kids could invite the same number of kids as they were in years. So Jacob got to invite four kids this year. He was pretty excited. He wanted to have a Legolas birthday party. Don't worry if you don't know who Legolas is. I didn't. Apparently he is in Lord of the Rings. He has a bow and arrow. Who knew?! It evolved to just a Bow and Arrow party. How do you do that? Then it was a "Weapon Party". I didn't think parents would let their four year old come to that. So, then it became and Indian Party. However, I wasn't sure that was so much politically correct. So then it became a Peter Pan party. Yes, he has a Peter Pan party last year. But who cares? I had so much ideas that I didn't execute last year that I happily obliged. A Peter Pan Party it became. 

Jacob was the brains behind the party planning. He told me the following: "I want to have three areas. A Peter Pan area to play Follow the Leader. And then a pirate area and play with swords and find a treasure. And a Indian area and shoot bow and arrows and play in a teepee." His requests seemed harmless. But, do you know how long it takes to make a teepee?? Lets just say I underestimated how long it would actually take! After a few sleepless nights, I didn't finally finish it! We had mini bow and arrows, which I didn't get a picture of. It's killing me! They were so cute with a popsicle stick and twine with q-tips as arrows. We made their "shadows" on black paper, which was the highlight of the party! We did in deed play Follow the Leader around the swimming pool, after they got Pixie Dust sprinkled on their heads to take them to Neverland. We also did have a sword fight in the Pirate area and found the buried treasure of candy in lieu of a pinata. 

A few hours before the party started, I got a phonecall from the bakery making the dozen cupcakes. They said, "We're sorry, but we are too tired to get your order done by 12. It will be ready around 2 or 4. Probably 4, though. You should go somewhere else." WHAT?? You are too tired to make my cupcakes? Nice of your to drop the ball 2 HOURS BEFORE the party. You lost my business. And probably others when I tell them what happened! It was insane. So, a quick trip to Costco to get cupcakes was in order. However, being a week before Christmas, they were all Christmas cupcakes. Jacob was pretty disappointed to see Christmas decor on the cupcakes, and told me that he couldn't have Christmas cupcakes on his birthday. So, we settled on chocolate muffins. That worked. 

 It seriously was the best party ever. Five little boys that age were perfect. Seriously. I was a basketcase leading up to the party, however...so it was JUST what I needed. A party to run so smoothly! Peter Pan was playing the background. So there was always something for them to do. It was simply perfect.

Four.

On December 19th, Jacob turned FOUR! {Poor guy, though, has to have a birthday a week before Christmas. His birthday blog always gets the shaft! I feel terrible about it, really! I'm contemplating celebrating his birthday in June rather than December. We'll see.} I can't believe it's been four years since Jacob graced us with his presence here on earth! He is quite the kid. Really. He has the charm that melts hearts...melts the toughest people.His smile is contagious. Everyone who has met him has been changed for the better! When we moved this past year we were at church for our final Sunday. The sister in charge of Primary that day got up to the front and said that it was the Christensens last Sunday. She called Macie and Noah up, and then remembered that Jacob would be leaving too. As she said his name she welled up with tears. Not to say that the others wouldn't be missed, but there just is something about Jacob that gets to people! Like, I said, he's quite the kid...there just isn't a way to explain it!

This past year he has been many different people. His favorites are Lane Frost Peter Pan, Captain Hook, Legolas, and Captain America. There isn't a day that goes by that he doesn't wear a costume of some sort. He doesn't play with toys a whole lot, it's mainly dressing up and playing make believe. With Jacob, we have to pick our battles. There are quite a few. He doesn't like tags, certain clothes, or underwear. So if he wants to wear a costume without a fight, we won't put up a fight either...at least he's wearing clothes {which sometimes is a fight in itself! ;-)}

He loves learning. Since the other two are in school and learning things all of the time, he is learning right along with them. He knows his alphabet. He knows the continents. He can count pretty high. He doesn't have much desire to write his name yet, but he's still got TWO more years until Kindergarten. He'll be okay!

I love this Jacob kid. Every day is an adventure with him. Sometimes good, sometimes not so much, but you know what, I wouldn't change it for anything. He has taught me some pretty amazing lessons on love, patience,and innocence. He's pretty great!

Here's to another great year, Jakey.