Ten Things I love about J: Birthday Edition

Our oldest son J just turned 14. So instead of just a regular birthday post I thought I'd do ten things I love about J.

1. He loves his baby brother. Every morning J comes in to see if the baby is awake, and to get him to smile. Sometimes teenagers aren't that interested in baby siblings, and I love that J loves Baby D so much.

2. J loves seminary. In our church when kids start high school, they also start seminary, which is an early morning church class (at least it is where we live) that is before school. J is not a morning person, and I wasn't sure he would be excited for seminary, especially since he is a year younger than most Freshmen, but he loves going despite being tired in the mornings.

3. He loves to cook. Cooking is something J and I have in common. He asks me almost every day if he can help cook dinner, and I love knowing that if I really don't feel like cooking, he knows how to cook a few meals and is always willing to pitch in.

4. I love J's freckles. I hated having freckles as a kid, but I love that I passed my freckles down to my own kids. D doesn't have freckles, so I know they got them from me.

5. His imagination. J has always had a great imagination.

6. He loves to read. J learned to read when he was three (not because of anything special I did-he just learned how to do it automatically). He reads even faster than I do, and I read pretty fast. I love it that he likes reading. Most of our kids will read if we make them, and they like it once they get started, but J just likes reading and we don't have to motivate him to do so. He also likes to read a lot of the same kinds of books as I do.

7. His sense of humor. J was diagnosed as being on the Autism spectrum when he was in Kindergarten. He has since been labelled as having Asperger's. When he was younger I wasn't sure he would ever understand sarcasm or subtle humor, but he has gained quite a good grasp of it as he has gotten older.

8. His laugh. You might think that this goes along with a sense of humor, but trust me, J's laugh is in a category all it's own. It isn't one of those forced laughs. I will admit that I sometimes call it a cackle. What I love is that when he laughs he does it from his core and you know he isn't faking it. If he laughs, he really means it.

9. His innocence. I suppose our kids have lived somewhat sheltered lives, and that is okay with me. I like that they are still innocent in so many ways. A lot of other kids J's age aren't so innocent and that makes me sad.

10. He is musical. J loves music. He plays the clarinet and he appreciates good music, including classical. I'd love to take him to see a symphony sometime, I know he'd love it.

Wordless Wednesday

The Tillamook Head Lighthouse.

Wordless Wednesday

After the fun I had making B's microwave, I decided to add a little stove to her collection.

It's just a small box, duct tape, sharpie and an old oven knob.

B loves her kitchen toys. She even has a real (but tiny) frying pan to pretend with.

Ten Things I Love About Living Where I Live...

1. Wildlife. There is a wide variety of wildlife in this area, especially birds. We love to be able to go on walks and see beautiful birds like the above Blue Heron up close.

2. Small town living. I love being away from the hustle and bustle of a big city. Sometimes I miss the conveniences, but generally, we have everything we need here, and bigger cities are less than two hours away.

3. The ocean and the beaches. I have always loved the beach and being able to see the ocean. At first I wasn't sure I wanted to live on the coast, but now I hope that we can always stay in this area. I love being less than five miles from the ocean. A plus is that the town we live in, while it has access to beaches, isn't a touristy town, so even though our beaches get somewhat crowded in the summer, our town doesn't.

4. The green. Green is one of my favorite colors, and I love that there is always green to be seen where we live.

5. The sunsets. There's nothing quite like seeing the sun sink into the ocean. The reflections, and the colors can be amazing. In other places the sunsets are beautiful of course, but the ocean just gives it something extra special.

6. The traffic...or in this case, that there is substantially LESS traffic here than in other places. I have gotten used to mostly driving on roads with just one lane in each direction. Big cities are scary for me to drive in now. And, as I mentioned earlier, our town is not one of the tourist traps, so while we do get a little bit more traffic in the summer, it is mostly on the highway and not so much through town.

7. The rain. Yes, I have been heard to complain about the rain on occasion, but I also know that it's the rain that provides a lot of the beauty in this area. Plus, when you have this much rain, you are bound to have more of these...

8. The fresh air. It's so lovely to be able to breathe and not be breathing in smog.

9. The rivers. There is a small river just a block or so from our house. The Columbia River is also nearby as well as several tributaries.

10. The stars. Living away from the big city means that there aren't so many lights around. I love being able to look up on a clear night and see the stars in a way that you just can't see them in a big city.