Eight Going On 18

An administrative note: Jake informed me the other day that I am no longer allowed to tell stories about him to my friends because I embarrass him when I do. I don't believe he is a blog follower of mine, but I'm going to go out on a limb and guess he wouldn't appreciate his antidotes on this site either. Sadly, he is the best material I've got of late, so if I strictly adhere to his advice, this blog just got a whole lot less entertaining. So my dilemma is if your blog is boring, what is the point of blogging at all? So I can't pretend he doesn't exist but I have to raise my standards as to what is bloggable as it pertains to him, meaning if it would cause embarrassment to him now or in the future I will have to abstain, unless I can't help myself. As far as I know DB and Sophie are still fair game until they wise up and figure out that their every move is chronicled on my public web site.

So anyway, back to Jake. It seemed like he had matured and grown up a lot recently, but it seemed really stark when I got his spring school portraits. He looks four years older not four months older when compared to his fall photo. He refuses to cut his hair, thinks it's ridiculous that he can't stay home alone or roam the neighborhood until dark, and has been put in charge of grading papers at school. He even comments on the papers like "You Rock, Holy Cow, Nice Job!" His teacher says the comments are hilarious. Jake has always been in a hurry to grow up.

This spring break we stayed close to home. We've braved Disneyland the past couple years but decided that March is our sweet spot weather wise and we may as well save those vacation dollars for when you can fry eggs on the sidewalk. The kids took full advantage of the gorgeous weather and played outside from dawn to dark. Jake, Dylan and the neighbor boys caught over a dozen unfortunate lizards. Jake's Valentine's box magically transformed into a lizard habitat. As it turns out DB is a lizard whisperer of sorts. (I'm not sure the long term value of that particular talent, but who's to say?It's worked out pretty well for Grandpa Jim.) Sophie rode her princess bike like there was no tomorrow and by the end of the week was asking to take those pesky training wheels off. We hiked up Squaw Peak at Grandpa and Grandma Hatch's house and took in our annual spring training game. Wes and the boys were in the ice cream line at just the right time as a foul ball bounced into the vendors box. She gave the ball to the boys. Once you've got a ball and ice cream it's time to go home. So we did.

Last night we took the kids to the dress rehearsal version of the Easter Pageant. That show is unbelievable. It is a truly professional production that keeps getting better every year. I don't know if it because we got there early enough to have front row seats or that this is the first year that I didn't have a wiggly, whiny, and bored kid on my lap but we all thoroughly enjoyed it. It was fun that a few of the kids' friends in the neighborhood have starring roles in the play. Even Sophie was enthralled by it. She got so excited during the part where Jesus was blessing the children. She started to sing a primary song about Jesus and the children and stopped just long enough to ask if that was the real Jesus. So for one final plug: if you haven't been to the pageant for a few years, you need to. It's only an hour long now and really well done.