Yikes! There' a teenager living in my house!

Well, today I am officially the mother of a teenager. I don't know how this happened. My body frequently feels old but in my mind and heart I don't feel old enough to have a teenager. We had Caleb's party on Saturday. We invited 5 of Caleb's friends over for pizza and cookie cake. They were a noisy crew! After eating and presents, Kenneth and our youth minister, Lane, took the boys to play Laser Tag. They had a lot of fun! Caleb got lots of cash and gift cards which he was excited about. He had been saving up for Guitar Hero World Tour. Yesterday I went and got it and the boys tried it out. It's a lot of fun! It has a guitar, drums and a microphone. It definitely should be an interesting ride - life with a teenager. Hopefully we can afford to keep feeding him. He eats constantly!

A noisy bunch of boys!

Trying out Guitar Hero World Tour.

Caleb and Jacob enjoyed using the empty boxes. Caleb is all legs and eating (as usual).

Space Derby

I felt bad that the boys didn't get to do the Pinewood Derby this year. We didn't have the right tools and I had no clue how to do it.
They decided to do a Space Derby with rockets and it sounded easier. It wasn't as easy as it sounded. Thankfully, we had some family in town for Jacob's birthday and they were a lot of help. We didn't get them very rounded because sanding them was taking a lot of time. They still worked well though. In fact, Joshua won a trophy. He won three of the four races that he participated in. He got a trophy because out of his den his rocket did the best. It was a lot of work but the boys had fun. I owe a big thank-you to the grandparents for all of their help!

Joshua's rocket is the one on the right which is winning.

Jacob was disappointed that he didn't get a trophy but he still had fun.

Joshua was very excited about his trophy!

Joshua decorated his rocket with a patriotic theme.

My WILD child!

Jacob is full of life, energy and craziness!

What a cutie! I enjoy watching him try things even though it scares me sometimes.

Jacob sticks his tongue out when he concentrates. His brothers and his Dad do this too.

Jacob is definitely the most daring of my three boys. I let him try things that I never would have let Caleb do at that age. He's been bugging us for almost a year to get him a skateboard ramp. I was really afraid we would end up with some broken bones (which we still might). We got him a small beginner's ramp - complete with helmet and padding. We had told him that he had to be seven to have a ramp. The morning of his birthday when I woke him up the first words out of his mouth were "Will you buy me a ramp now?" He didn't know that we'd already gotten him one. He's still getting the hang of it with his skateboard but he loves using it with his bike. He even caught some air (his words) once after building up a lot of speed. Now he thinks he needs a grinding rail. I said no for right now. He got some rollerblades from his grandparents so he's into blading now too. I'm sure it won't be long before he wears his rollerblades and uses the ramp. It's pretty amazing that he hasn't had any stitches or broken bones yet (knock on wood). Seven years without serious injury is pretty good for this kid.