Celebrating Seventeen
Goodness, seventeen years old! Jacob turned seventeen on Wednesday. To think that this is his last year of being a child is incredible. Next year, he will be an ADULT (and he'll be in his senior year of high school but let's not dwell on that). In the past year, he surpassed Donnie in height. He also started taking college classes through a program at his school called College Credit Plus wherein he takes two colleges classes (he's doing them online) that count as high school and college credit. So, he's now taller than both of his parents and he's taking college courses. Quite a few changes, especially considering last year at this time he didn't even have his driver's license.
We celebrated his birthday Sunday evening with family. I made his favorite flavor of cake into cupcakes and made his favorite icing for them. I also made his favorite kind of cookies, chocolate chip cookies. His favorite candy are Reese Pieces and Reese Cups so when I saw a recipe online for a Reese Peanut Butter pie that uses both Reese Pieces and Reese Cups, I knew I had to make it for him. Jacob is just so sweet that I wanted to make all the sweets. Well, he's sweet most of the time, ok, just some of the time- really mostly when he wants something. The reality is that he has a huge sweet tooth, a fast metabolism and teeth that are remarkably not prone to producing cavities. There was no reason not to make a bunch of sweets :).
His actual birthday was his last day of school for the first semester. School went through December 21st but the high school treats the last week of school differently than the lower grade schools do. It has exams and an exam schedule so the kids only go to school during the time that they have an exam. Kids can exempt an exam if they have a good enough grade in the class (but they can't exempt every exam for which they have a good grade; there's a limit). Anyway, based on the classes that Jacob was able to exempt, he had only one exam on Wednesday, his birthday. And, he had no exams on Thursday so he was finished with school for the semester on Wednesday at 9:30 am. Not too shabby, but I would be remiss to add that Jacob found it infuriating that his exam on his birthday was French. To say he doesn't like French is an understatement :-).
He was home from school by 9:45 am so he and I went out to get breakfast shortly after he arrived home. We brought it home to eat because we are homebodies and because the place from where we got it was McDonald's :). McDonald's doesn't have the best ambiance but, man, they make good sausage egg biscuits that Jacob and I both love. We stayed home for a little while and then ran some errands. After a trip to the bank and to DLM to get him sugar cookies, we went home and Jacob napped (sounds like I'm describing the afternoon of a two year old, doesn't it?? I swear we did those last activities- trip to the bank, grocery store trip that included a cookie, followed by a nap a dozen times fifteen years ago. These activities were a little different because, on Jacob's 17th birthday, we went to the bank so that Jacob could deposit money in his bank account; we went to Dorothy Lane Market to get Jacob two of his favorite sugar cookies as a birthday treat (Laura's cookies- at $2.50 a cookie, these aren't everyday let's-get-a cookie- every- time- we're at the store kind of cookies); as for the nap, teenage boys and toddlers both need their sleep :)).
I think Jacob had a good birthday. He ditched us for dinner and part of the evening to hang out with friends. He's definitely seventeen and not two... One day, we'll look back and say, "Remember when Jacob was only seventeen?" For now, it's like, how in the world is Jacob seventeen?
Here are some pictures from his birthday celebration and a few pictures from years' past. I was not going to get maudlin and post pictures of baby/ boy Jacob but then, just yesterday, my aunt sent me some never before seen (at least by me) pictures of Jacob. How could I not post them??
Birthday goodies...
This did not disappoint...
Jacob's gifts from us...
The birthday boy
with his grandma
If I've said it once, I've said it a thousand times, Jacob was THE BEST baby. He only cried when he was hungry. That's it. He slept great and when he was awake, as long as he wasn't hungry, he didn't cry.
Mama and Jacob- that belly!! (his, not mine, although I'm sure mine had its share of blubber :))
I wasn't going to post this but I happened to be looking at the above picture and noticed that I was about a foot away from another picture of Jacob and me so I took a picture of it and here it is. We were in the Bahamas, I think. Jacob was ten or eleven years old.
And, then I felt bad to only post pictures of me with Jacob so I found a couple with Jacob and Donnie. This one is from two years ago. Donnie is helping Jacob put on a tie before Jacob's choir concert. Note that Jacob is not Donnie's height yet.
From two years ago- Jacob was in that, I- don't- want- to- smile- too- big- and- risk- looking- like- a dork stage. He pulled off cool 15 year old pretty well :).
Jacob and his sisters- that cheesy grin!!
Jacob's first grade picture. This is one of my favorite school pictures of him...
This year's school picture. He's still cute!!
Happy Birthday, Bub- love you to the moon and back
We celebrated his birthday Sunday evening with family. I made his favorite flavor of cake into cupcakes and made his favorite icing for them. I also made his favorite kind of cookies, chocolate chip cookies. His favorite candy are Reese Pieces and Reese Cups so when I saw a recipe online for a Reese Peanut Butter pie that uses both Reese Pieces and Reese Cups, I knew I had to make it for him. Jacob is just so sweet that I wanted to make all the sweets. Well, he's sweet most of the time, ok, just some of the time- really mostly when he wants something. The reality is that he has a huge sweet tooth, a fast metabolism and teeth that are remarkably not prone to producing cavities. There was no reason not to make a bunch of sweets :).
His actual birthday was his last day of school for the first semester. School went through December 21st but the high school treats the last week of school differently than the lower grade schools do. It has exams and an exam schedule so the kids only go to school during the time that they have an exam. Kids can exempt an exam if they have a good enough grade in the class (but they can't exempt every exam for which they have a good grade; there's a limit). Anyway, based on the classes that Jacob was able to exempt, he had only one exam on Wednesday, his birthday. And, he had no exams on Thursday so he was finished with school for the semester on Wednesday at 9:30 am. Not too shabby, but I would be remiss to add that Jacob found it infuriating that his exam on his birthday was French. To say he doesn't like French is an understatement :-).
He was home from school by 9:45 am so he and I went out to get breakfast shortly after he arrived home. We brought it home to eat because we are homebodies and because the place from where we got it was McDonald's :). McDonald's doesn't have the best ambiance but, man, they make good sausage egg biscuits that Jacob and I both love. We stayed home for a little while and then ran some errands. After a trip to the bank and to DLM to get him sugar cookies, we went home and Jacob napped (sounds like I'm describing the afternoon of a two year old, doesn't it?? I swear we did those last activities- trip to the bank, grocery store trip that included a cookie, followed by a nap a dozen times fifteen years ago. These activities were a little different because, on Jacob's 17th birthday, we went to the bank so that Jacob could deposit money in his bank account; we went to Dorothy Lane Market to get Jacob two of his favorite sugar cookies as a birthday treat (Laura's cookies- at $2.50 a cookie, these aren't everyday let's-get-a cookie- every- time- we're at the store kind of cookies); as for the nap, teenage boys and toddlers both need their sleep :)).
I think Jacob had a good birthday. He ditched us for dinner and part of the evening to hang out with friends. He's definitely seventeen and not two... One day, we'll look back and say, "Remember when Jacob was only seventeen?" For now, it's like, how in the world is Jacob seventeen?
Here are some pictures from his birthday celebration and a few pictures from years' past. I was not going to get maudlin and post pictures of baby/ boy Jacob but then, just yesterday, my aunt sent me some never before seen (at least by me) pictures of Jacob. How could I not post them??
Birthday goodies...
This did not disappoint...
Jacob's gifts from us...
with his grandma
If I've said it once, I've said it a thousand times, Jacob was THE BEST baby. He only cried when he was hungry. That's it. He slept great and when he was awake, as long as he wasn't hungry, he didn't cry.
Mama and Jacob- that belly!! (his, not mine, although I'm sure mine had its share of blubber :))
I wasn't going to post this but I happened to be looking at the above picture and noticed that I was about a foot away from another picture of Jacob and me so I took a picture of it and here it is. We were in the Bahamas, I think. Jacob was ten or eleven years old.
And, then I felt bad to only post pictures of me with Jacob so I found a couple with Jacob and Donnie. This one is from two years ago. Donnie is helping Jacob put on a tie before Jacob's choir concert. Note that Jacob is not Donnie's height yet.
From two years ago- Jacob was in that, I- don't- want- to- smile- too- big- and- risk- looking- like- a dork stage. He pulled off cool 15 year old pretty well :).
Jacob's first grade picture. This is one of my favorite school pictures of him...
This year's school picture. He's still cute!!
Happy Birthday, Bub- love you to the moon and back
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