Jack is 15 Years Old!

Jackson is 15 Years Old Today! 

Let's take a trip down memory lane of what Jack's been up to this last year! 

Last year for Jack's birthday we got him a skateboard, we spent quite a few afternoons at the skatepark. Once the weather got hotter though we didn't go quite as often. Then the weather turned nasty and I swear it rained for months so needless to say we didn't go during the fall and winter. He hasn't really mentioned going, but I should probably bring it up to see if he's still interested. 

A few days after Jack's birthday we had the lowest tide in 11 years. We headed down to the beach to check it out! It was a yucky day out, but we didn't want to miss it! 

Our first camping trip of the year is always going to Oasis in Ephrata. The first night we always go to dinner at this local place called DK's. They have the yummiest milkshakes. Jackson wanted a banana split though. It came in a container that was shaped like a boat. It was so cute and it was HUGE! I was sure he wouldn't finish it especially since he just had eaten a cheeseburger. He found somewhere to put it all though because it was gone!

 

This was the first camping trip where we put up the tent and had the older two outside instead of in the trailer. It was so nice. The tent we have has two huge rooms. Owen and Jack's bedroom was on the right side. 

Their dining / game room was on the left side. It was so nice to have an extra table for the kids to play games at and not have it be at the picnic table. 

While we were there we decided to go hiking at the Lake Lenore Caves again. We had gone there in 2020, but the smoke was so bad we could barely see anything. Jack had found this cool rock that was shaped like a throne so we had to recreate the photo. The funny thing is he's wear that exact same shirt in both pictures. 

While we were there Jack really wanted to start a fire using the flint. It was a bit of a struggle, but with Daddy's help he was able to get it going. 

Fire!!!! 

Our annual trip to pick strawberries. Jackson LOVES strawberries. He especially loves waffles with strawberries on them. 

For the most part Jack hadn't really cared one way or the other about Charlie for quite awhile. This last year though he's really taken a liking to him. He still doesn't like to pick him up though. 

During our family bowling day Jack did really well....he even got a few strikes! 

4th of July at Ga-Ga & Pa's is always one of the best days of the year. These guys have so much fun usually playing games together upstairs on the loft. 

Jack and Zeke also had fun making volcanoes to put smoke bombs into. 

Trying Daddy's homemade Crème Brule...Jack was a fan! Jack will try most anything and he's a great eater. He doesn't like everything, but he loves dessert so much he'll find a way to get it down his throat. His nemesis is most definitely shrimp!  

 

During our camping trip to Taidnapam we went up to the Johnson Observatory to see Mt. St. Helens. We watched a movie about the eruption and at the end of the movie the curtains were supposed to open and then you'd see the mountain, but they had some technical difficulties so it didn't. We went outside to see the huge window just for fun. 

We also went on a hike to a waterfall while we were there. Along the way to the waterfall there were these little streams of water. It was SO hot during that trip that this nice cold water felt so good. I love this picture of Jackson. 

Once our advisor at Lighthouse Christian had reviewed all the kids' work and issued their official grades for the year; we could then toss their completed PACE's. So long middle school....hello high school! 

Owen and Jack had a great time going to youth camp last summer. They made a new friend...Eison. He ended up spending the night one night and then came to Wild Waves with us. 

The boys went on all sorts of rides together and we just happen to meet up with them when they were going on the Brain Drain. It was fun to watch them! 

Back to School Bash with a tower of yummy onion rings. Jack and Ella are the only kids that will actually eat them! 

First day of High School! 

Normally during your high school years you only do enough work to get 6.5 credits, but since Jack was still a little bit behind his workload was a bit more. He was slated to complete 7.5 credits. The crazy thing was he still ended up finishing his work earlier than the other kids almost every day. I even talked with our advisor to see if she could give him more work, but she said she couldn't. Jackson is just so focused! His normal school day he gets up at 7am, comes down eats breakfast, brushes his teeth and then he just jumps right in and starts working. 

Hiking with my kiddos. During this trip we found a nice place to pick blackberries. Jackson loves berries off all kinds! 

After a few weeks of school, Michael and I had a trip to Maui. Papa took us to the airport and only Ella and Jack wanted to tag along to see us off! 

Charlie's biggest fans! 

Our last camping trip of the year was our "Lets just relax, stay and recharge trip." The campground had horseshoe pits. The kids had fun playing with Daddy! 

 

Camping with these kiddos are some of the best memories! 

Time for pumpkins! 

I always tell the kids they can get a pumpkin as long as they can lift it up into the wheelbarrow. Now that they are getting bigger I think I might have to rethink that plan! 

This last year Jack officially passed me in height! 

He has no problem cleaning out the guts! 

Jack had some struggles with the design for his pumpkin so he ended up carving it on both sides. 

Jack had been a ninja for the last three Halloweens so it was time for a new costume. He ended up settling on a Knights Templar. It was a really nice costume and exactly what he wanted. I also bought him a sword to go with it. 

Picture proof that the two middle kids can actually get along with each other. It's a rare sighting that's for sure!!! 

Jack and Owen were both waiters at the Women's Christmas dinner. They did a great job and looked so handsome in their dress clothes! 

Jack volunteers for all sorts of things at church. At least once a month he helps out at the Kids Check-In desk. He also was a teenager helper last year at VBS and he'll be doing that again this summer. 

Checking out the Living Nativity....so glad it was open again after being closed for so many years due to construction and Covid. 

With Jack getting finished with school early, he would normally just hang out in the living room and read a book. This is usually when Charlie is napping on his perch in the living room. Jackson started putting a blanket on his lap and so Charlie started napping with him. 

This became an almost a daily occurrence.

It really was the sweetest thing! Charlie is definitely a more docile cat during the fall/winter months and Jack was taking full advantage of it! 

We joined a Homeschool Taekwondo program back in January of 2022. We had gone to this same program when the kids were really little. For the month of December they don't have class they just meet on the first Tuesday and have a White Elephant Christmas Party. We had such a great time. 

Jack is still on his loving the color red kick...as you can see by this sweatshirt, shoes and the wrapping paper he chose! 

Jack was a part of the Charlie Brown Christmas production at church. He was one of the Wise Guys....they did a rap song during the show. It was totally hilarious!!! 

Andrew & Jack...best buds since the womb! 

Christmas morning! 

Jack is still very much into Legos. This year he's really liked collecting all the cool cars. He loves to play this game on the Xbox called Forza Motorsports. He's really gotten good at knowing the different makes and models of cars. He'll even be able to tell us what the cars are when we see them out and about. 

Jack's love of the color red even extends to his candy choices....I got him two bags of all red Jolly Ranchers and he was in heaven! 

Christmas at the Cabin!!! 

Owen wore this coat the previous year and I kept looking at Jack and thinking he was Owen. He really did sprout up this year! 

Jack and Caleb BFF buds! 

Ga-Ga got all the boys these mini games. Jack got the mini version of Jenga...I can't even imagine how you'd have to play this...maybe with tweezers! 

The older 3 kids got to go to Winter Camp this year. They ended up eating Costco pizza for dinner prior to getting on the road. Jack has pizza stuffed in his face which is pretty normal for how Jack enjoys his food. :) 

Another way Jack volunteers at church is by being the Easter Bunny! Ms. Brenda loves being the Bunny Bouncer and we love Ms. Brenda!!

Look at these guys! They are growing up so much....all so handsome and all such great guys! 

This year Jack has taken up learning the guitar. Ms. Sarah one of the youth leaders at church gifted Jack this guitar. I didn't want to spend money on getting him a nice one and then have him decided he didn't like it. It's been a great starter guitar. It doesn't have the ability to be hooked up to an app so eventually we will get him another one. He also wants an electric guitar, but were just going one step at time. Jack's lessons are usually on Sunday's after church. His teacher is Josiah. He's 17 and he attends our church. Jack really gets along well with him. Lessons are going to be a bit more sporadic this summer though with all the adventures we have planned. 

For Jack and Zeke's birthday this year I just decided it would be so nice to have a BBQ with friends and family. The weather ended up being perfect for a backyard BBQ! We were so thankful for everyone that came out to celebrate our boys! I can't believe they are 15 & 11! I remember when Jack was turning 11 and Zeke was 7 and we had their 7/11 party. The years are short!!! 

Jack got to open the OJEZ box from Ga-Ga & Pa. That's a treasure box that has each of the kids initials on it. Inside of the OJEZ box is always $100 and then whatever the age the grandkid is that year. So Jack got $115!!! 

We got Jack this stunt bike LEGO set. It is super cool! I never even knew they had something like this until I saw it on Jack's list. 

Jack and Zeke also got a bunch of gift cards....they each got one for DQ & a Visa card. Zeke also got an Amazon gift card from his friend Kaiden. 

Jack wanted Rainbow Chip Cake for his cake. At the last minute I was worried that 24 cupcakes might not be enough so I went to the store and got a chocolate cake mix as well. I'm so glad I did because quite a few people wanted chocolate instead! 

For Jack's actual birthday he's requested Teriyaki Chicken Sliders for dinner. I've also assured him we'll have Waffles with Strawberries sometime this month. 

This summer Jack is embarking on something super cool. He's going to be attending the Summer Fire Cadet Academy through Puget Sounds Skills Center. It's the longest running Fire Academy in the nation! We have a friend who's firefighter and he told me all about it. I looked into it and then started the process of applying for him to attend. That entailed me enrolling Jack in the Federal Way Public School System even though he's not going to attend public school. Then I had to get a form signed by the school district so he could get an out of district transfer to the Highline School District which is where the PSSC is located. The application processed opened on May 10th. Jack had to write a short essay on why he wanted to attend the program. He also had to have a back up option just in case his first option filled up. He chose Criminal Justice as this second choice. Thankfully he got into the Fire Academy! I'm so excited for him! It's only a 15 day program that starts on June 26th and goes until July 14th. He gets the 3rd & 4th of July off. He'll be at the school from 8am - 1pm each day. I can't wait to hear all about his adventures. We're hoping that he'll be able to attend the program every summer until he graduates. 

Jackson will also be taking Driver's Ed this fall. He could technically take it now, but we decided to not try to shove too much in during summer break. Jack needs to have chill time too! 

As far as hobbies go Jack is still crazy for LEGO's...Andrew and him always make the coolest creations when they're together. Jack just recently got back into BeyBlades. He hadn't touched them for months and then he and Zeke started watching the cartoon and then playing again. Now they've been spending money on buying new Beys. They really love playing this game they invented call Trambole which is BeyBlades on the trampoline. Jack has also been into drawing and he's really good. He likes to draw faces that he sees in comic books. He especially likes to draw Hobbs from Calvin & Hobbs. 

Jackson you are a cool dude! 

I know you and I can butt heads sometimes, but I will always love you and be your biggest fan. You are my sweet surprise boy and I'm so glad that God thought we should have two boys so close together. You are such a good friend and you can get along with just about anyone. You still struggle with doing the same with your siblings though. We are working on recognizing those heart issues like being jealous and looking at situations from the other persons point of view. Jackson you are definitely a kids that sees things in black and white, right and wrong. Those grey areas are hard for you to comprehend. This is something that age and experience will help you get better at understanding and navigating. 

I'm so excited for the Fire Academy program this summer. I really think being a Fire Fighter would suit you. I think the coopetition and brotherhood would be right up your alley. You are also big on justice and even though it's not the same justice as the police force it's still a way to give back to the community and help people. We'll see how you like it! 

This summer is probably the last summer before you get a job. Just like Owen this year you'll probably have your first job next summer. I don't think I fully recognized that for Owen so this summer I'm trying to be a bit more cognizant of that for you. We need to really take advantage of this time and soak up all the fun! 

Jackson, I love you buddy and am so excited to get a front row seat to you growing up. I pray that you will remember that God is in control and it's not all on you. This is something that Mama struggles with to. I like to be at the reigns and so do you. That's probably why we butt heads! God has big things in store for you and you will reap the benefits if you submit to His will for you life. Love you so much! 

Happy 15th Birthday Buddy!