Jake Turns 4

Our not so little boy is growing up! Jake turned 4 in June and we can hardly believe it. For months he was asking "Can I be 4?" and was very excited about his upcoming birthday. It seems like he is growing faster than we can keep up with and although it is wonderful to watch him grow up, we treasure the "baby moments" that still pop up every now and then. Seeing him now and thinking back to when he was an infant and young toddler, he is still the same sweet, loving and playful child...only with more energy! By the end of the day we are usually exhausted trying to keep up with his imagination and bottomless reserves of energy. And not just physically...he understands everything around him and will ask a million questions about what he hears or sees. He is an inquiring mind that wants to know everything!

And, not much to our surprise, he is a terrific big brother to Emma. He is extremely sweet and gentle with his little sister and is always looking out for her, making sure she has something to eat or play with. He loves to make her laugh and is very protective of her and always wants to make sure she doesn't get hurt.

He also entered into his pre-K year at preschool. If we were holding on to any bit of denial that he was growing up, being in pre-K definitely brought us back to reality as we start to see the academic side of preschool ramp up as they prepre him for Kindergarten. But he is thriving at school and we love the fact he is making lots of friends and enjoying his days there.

And even though each day he is exploring his independence more and more, he is and will always be our little boy.

Celebrating at his favorite place - Chuck E. Cheeses!

First day of pre-K.