Jake's Birthday!

Jake's birthday fell on a Sunday this year.  Sunday birthdays are tricky but we did our best to celebrate and help him feel special.  Jake's birthday is the last birthday of the year for our family, so now we're done 'til it's time to start shopping for Christmas and Lucas' birthday that comes just two weeks later.  

I still find it funny that all the birthdays in our family are stacked in the first half of the year, in a couple of clusters in March and July.  Lucas is the lone outlier in January. Those of you who have read Outliers may note that we could make him an outlier in more ways than one if we get him enrolled in hockey (hey hey!).

Jake was able to open his gifts after his morning meetings but before church.  As you can see, all four boys were very involved in the process:

Here is a "diaper bag" sent from our niece Amelia.  Uncle Jake was the lucky winner of a contest that coincided nicely with his birthday:

Jake received 16 books as gifts this year.  Quite the haul.  The title of this one in particular drew Daniel in.  He was very taken with the idea.

I was very excited to see the new Institute manual my Mom had sent and will probably try to steal it before Jake has a chance to read it!  We have desperately needed an updated version for a long time:

  Happy Birthday Jake!  We love and appreciate you and all that you do and are for our family.  I worry that someone as great as you can never be appreciated as much as he deserves.  For my part, I promise to keep trying until I get it right.  And I promise to keep reminding our sons how lucky they are to have you as their dad.