Happy Birthday, Jake!!

Today, my nephew, Jake, turns 14! I can hardly believe that fourteen years have passed since he was born. I remember that day and how excited we all were for him to finally arrive. He is now in 8th grade and stands taller than I do. I was lucky enough to live with Natalie and Alan for a few months when Jake was a baby so I was able to spend a lot of quality time with him at a young age. I feel like I’ve always had a special bond with him because of that.

When Jake was younger, he used to love to go for rides in my car. He would stand by the door, holding the car keys, quickly repeating “I go bye bye, I go bye bye, I go bye bye” until we left.

I remember Jake being obsessed with Thomas the Train and spending hours looking at the catalog, picking out all of the different trains and tracks he wanted for his collection. He knew the name of every train, every bridge, every piece of track that was available to buy. He even had a special table Alan had made for him to build & construct on. I think it was part of their family room décor for almost two years!

Jake has always been one who you can just tell that the wheels in his head are constantly turning. When he was around two or so, he used to take all of my credit cards, my driver’s license, library card, etc. out of my wallet and line them up in a perfectly straight row on the floor. He would look at them very proudly, then scoop them all up and do it over and over again.

Whenever he came to stay with me, he always wanted to do a project of some sort. He loved doing arts and crafts and building things from scratch. Still to this day he loves creating things, building things, constructing things from the ground up. He is the master of making just about anything out of Lego's. He is the first one outside after a snowstorm building a giant snow hill in his backyard to sled down. Not just a regular snow hill, but one with stairs to climb up on and a jump at the bottom with sides that hold the sled in and a curved corner at the very end. It was quite the masterpiece!

He is a whiz on the computer and has been the one teaching me how to text message, create a blog, get on Facebook, etc. I would be lost in cyberspace without him!

Jake is a great big brother to Derek and Megan. Whenever I have the three kids together, his is always so patient and helpful. He is easy going and just plain fun to be around! I have always dreaded the day that he won’t want to hang out with his old Aunt Mel anymore. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that day never comes!!

Jake is a great kid who is growing into a great young man. He received a 4.0 each quarter in school last year. He participates on a competitive swim team, sometimes practicing up to four days a week. He surrounds himself with a great group of friends who consider the Peterson house their home away from home! Judging from the number of texts he receives/sends on a daily basis, I’m pretty sure he isn’t suffering much in the social arena:)

I am so proud to be Jake's Aunt!

Happy, Happy 14th Birthday!!