Jacob Scott Berning is six years old!
WHAT?!
This little man has been counting down until his birthday since Christmas! He has been so excited and I think {hope} it didn't disappoint! Jacob just loved everything from sun up to sun down.
It actually started a little bit the day before. Gramps, Grammy, Aunt Melina and Aunt Megan came up Sunday afternoon to spend some time with the birthday boy. He sure loves them!
Jacob was the first to get up birthday morning as Mark and I were busy in the kitchen making his requested birthday breakfast of strawberry and blueberry crepes with sausage and orange juice. YUM!
He made me laugh right at the start because while I was talking to him, I called him "bud" and he told me that when I talk to him today I should call him "birthday boy". Haha! Alright, birthday boy.
After breakfast we finished our final preparations for his birthday party and he loved helping to decorate and making sure everything was as he wanted. We then ate some lunch and waited for friends to arrive!
This was Jacob's first friend birthday party and he was very excited! Keller and Alexander came to celebrate with him and he was thrilled! They are both great boys and really helped Jacob feel special. Also, right about when the party started, Gus and Darlene came up to celebrate the birthday boy!
The boys played around the yard a little bit and then they had a water balloon fight.
Next up was painting with pudding. In my head, I envisioned this going differently. Mostly, I think they just liked eating the pudding and just making giant puddles...but either way it was a good time ;)
They all wanted to open presents next and Jacob was excited with all of the new exciting things.
The boys had fun just running around, swinging and being boys. They even worked together to build a robot which was fun. Then we had cupcakes and ended the party with a pinata!
After his friends had gone home, we cleaned up the party stuff outside, said goodbye to Gus and Darlene and surprised the kiddos with our first swim in the pool! It's been quite an experience figuring out things with the pool and we drained it a couple weeks ago and gave it a big cleaning. It's heated up with solar panels which is great but it just hasn't been consistently warm enough to make it as warm as we would have liked. But we jumped in and had a blast. Jacob and Sarah loved showing Mark the new things they had learned in swimming lessons and Benjamin even had a good time floating around...as long as his Dad was holding him.
Once we were done with our swim we all showered and headed over to Firehouse. Jacob is always begging to go to this place and I knew as soon as I asked him where he wanted to go that would be his choice! We had a yummy dinner, came home and hopped into our jammies.
We put Benjamin and Sarah to bed and then Mark and I went to Jacob's room where he thought he was going to bed. Mark surprised him by asking if he wanted to stay up late with us and watch Star Wars! I loved Jacob's face! He was shocked and absolutely thrilled! This boy loves all things Star Wars but hasn't actually ever seen Star Wars. We thought he was ready for it and so we watched Episode IV together. And by we, I mean Mark and Jacob, I fell asleep about twenty minutes into it. Jacob was in heaven and knew just what was coming {since he's read the stories before}. It was fun just to watch him be so excited. Plus, it was great to just have some alone time with our big six-year-old boy.
Here is a little birthday interview I gave Jacob:
-- What is your favorite thing to do?
Playing with my robots
-- Do you have any nicknames?
Honey bunny {according to Jacob!}
-- What do you want to be when you grow up?
A doctor
-- What is your favorite thing to do with the family?
Swim in the pool
-- What makes you happy?
Going on the swings
-- What do you like to learn about?
Math
-- What do you do really well?
Swinging
-- If you had a million dollars, what would you buy?
I'm not a Daddy yet, I don't buy things
-- What is your favorite thing to do outside?
Go on the swings
-- If you could go anywhere, where would you go?
To Macey's
-- If you could have one wish, what would it be?
To fly
-- What was your favorite birthday present?
Squirt gun
JACOB'S FAVORITES
-- Food
Apples
-- Holiday
Easter
-- Book
Winnie-the-Pooh
-- Toy
Robots
-- Treat
Suckers
-- Song
Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes
-- Animal
Polar Bears
-- Movie
Hercules
-- Color
Red and Orange
I feel like Jacob is our guinea pig sometimes. He was the one who made Mark and I parents and we definitely do not know what we are doing {a lot of the time}. But we try...so I guess there's something! Jacob brings a great spirit into our home and into our lives. He can be incredibly kind with his brother and sister and is stepping more and more into that big brother role every day.
Jacob is very smart. Getting to have a front row seat to his education this last year has been an incredible experience. I never envisioned that for our family - even a year ago - and I almost daily feel the Spirit confirming to me that it is what is right for us. I love being able to learn with him. I am amazed by him. And it has really opened my eyes to another dimension of who he is. He is an absolute whizz at figuring out puzzles and problems. But he is also incredibly artistic and lives for art and craft projects. I loves watching him get into his zone and really dig into new things. When he puts his mind to accomplishing something, he is unstoppable.
Jacob is curious. He loves to learn how things work together. I am convinced he is going to be an engineer someday.
I don't know if it is just his age but Jacob sees things mostly very black and white. Things are what they are. Which I think can be a really great thing...as long as he keeps this arrow pointing straight!
Just the other day he had fallen and scraped the side of his leg. While I was helping him in the tub we were talking about his scrape and he just looked up at me and says, "Why can't Jesus just come down and heal it and make it better?" This opened the door to a great conversation that we were able to have {and we've been lucky to have so many thoughtful spiritual conversations the last several months). I told him that Jesus could come down and heal him but right now he is up in heaven with Heavenly Father. And his immediate response was, "How much longer until He comes back?!" This question has come up so many times with Jacob and he cannot wait to see Jesus again!
We love our guy!
Happy Birthday, Jacob! Always know how very loved you are!
