The big 13.

Jake turned 13 on Thursday, August 28th. He was sick but feeling a little better-mostly because if was his birthday I am sure.  I am still trying to figure out when this all happened.  Roughly 4,745 days went by rather quickly.  How is my baby 13 years old.  That annoying yet true phrase you hear is true: "don't blink or you will miss it".  We usually do breakfast in bed but we didn't this year (he had lunch in bed today, just for fun, to make up for it).  Jake was greeted first by his his best dog friend who was just as excited as he was that it was his birthday.  You can tell in this picture he still wasn't feeling great but he was going to make the best of it.

Aaron gave Jake his first present before he headed off to work (and a doctors appointment checking on his pinky which is healing very well.  He doesn't have to go back for 2 weeks and Aaron is hoping at that point we won't have to keep it wrapped any more and that he will not have to cover if with a plastic bag when he takes a shower), which he had been wanting and knew about because it is a Lego set that is retiring and he found it at Walmart on sale-so we bought it on the spot.  If you see Lego's on sale it is either Christmas time or they are retiring that set because they are never on sale other wise.

Then before leaving Aaron gave him an extra special birthday hug.

And Jake got down to business.

Sadie really wishes she could build with Lego's too.

I helped Jake sort that Lego's...

...while also cooking his birthday breakfast request (same as last year): bacon, egg, and cheese biscuits.

And we had chocolate and strawberry milk to go with it-you can do that on birthdays.

Before we headed out to lunch I gave him another gift he seemed pretty happy about too.

We went to Taco Dog for lunch and is was very yummy.

Jake got a few more gifts...

...and we headed home so he could rest because not even all this fun can keep you from feeling yucky when you are sick.

Sadie dutifully guarded the rest of his gifts while I made dinner and we waited for Daddy to get home so we could have Jake's favorite dinner: creamy crockpot chicken which I am pretty sure he as eaten the leftovers of every day since.

I got candles but when the fan blew them out before he could (later that evening) he said it was okay because we probably didn't want him blowing them out being sick any way.  See how smart you get when you turn 13?

We just couldn't take a good selfie for some reason...

More family time with gifts and cookie cake an ice cream after dinner.

And a special gift from Daddy: the Star Wars card game they have been wanting.

And the cookie cake minus any germs that would have been on it. ;)

After dessert while Jake got ready for bed Aaron turned on the first South Carolina game of the season that he was dvr-ing.  That is love: recording a football game (SC lost horribly) in order to celebrate the birth of the best 13 year old ever.

 Even being sick, I think Jake kicked off 13 pretty well.  I guess I must have blinked, but I am so glad I didn't miss it. :)