The kiddos

I have four wonderful children. I know, the blog so far has been a little more focused on the younger two in the family! Mostly this is because they actually LOVE to have their pictures taken, whereas the two older kids are either not here, or are ducking away from the camera at every turn! So here is some info on the elusive teenagers in our family! OK, Adrienne is 16 years old and is absolutely beautiful, though she may not realize it yet. Yes, she is a very sweet 16 years old. She is a fun teenager to have around. She is happy and always willing to help out with the little ones, or around the house, or with my business. She does a lot of babysitting in the neighborhood and is so good with kids of all ages. She is very artistic, likes to draw and design web pages. She loves to text, luckily she has the unlimited plan which she pays for herself. She worked hard to get a laptop a couple years ago and she is often online at either myspace or facebook. So far, I haven't seemed to embarrass her too much. She still claims me as her mom around her friends and even lets me drive her and her friends places-what a privilege. But really, as far as teens go, she is a dream come true. I really love her and appreciate her in my life! I am looking forward to having her home this summer! It is often hard for me to imagine she only has two years of high school left and could someday choose to make her own way in life, outside our home! Message to Adrienne: You will always have a place in our home and you will always be my little girl! I love you!

Isn't she beautiful!?!

Jacob, or Jake as he now prefers to be called is a multi-faceted guy! He left the refuge of a video game centered life to venture into sports and has succeeded tremendously! He loves to run(whose kid is this??) and joined the track team the last two years. He runs the 1500 pretty fast and took second place a couple of times this year. He often goes running on his own around town. I think he enjoys the freedom of being out on his own! This year he decided to play basketball for the first time. Actually he wanted to join last year, but me, the big meanie mom, told him he had to learn the rules of how to play before he could join a team. Well, he did. He looked up things online, he asked grandpa lots of questions and he watched a lot of games. And when he finally joined he was the tallest kid on his team. He learned with every practice and every game, he just seemed to soak itup! By the middle of the season he was making a third or more of the points at each game. Well, I have a lot to say about Jacob and basketball, so watch for another installment on that subject! We will just leave it that he is a basketball fanatic! Needless to say, the NBA has Jake's attention in a BIG way! He loves the Blazers and the Utah Jazz, and would love to join one of them someday! Jacob is going to be 14 this summer and already has a great work ethic. If I tell him to do something he does it. He has several chores each day and he gets up first thing in the morning and does them right away. He watches the dishwasher like a hawk and if the clean light is blinking he unloads it right away. Same goes for the kitchen garbage. He empties it when it is needed. This is so nice not to have to constantly remind him! Jacob has come so far since his early rocky years, again another post for another time! Jake is a fun kid, he can be quiet and thoughtful and he can also be wild and crazy! I am always hearing from teachers, counselors, parent's friends what a great kid he is! I just have to agree. I am Jacob's biggest fan, whether he sees that or not! I adore my Jacob!!

Surfer Jake...life is never dull with you around!

All photos above were taken on our last vacation to Depoe Bay last November.