Isaiah the Teenager

It wasn't long ago - about half a year, I think - that we had all sorts of little people running around....when number 5 was born the oldest wasn't quite yet 7. So I am not sure exactly how I got to the place where as of today, we have three teenagers in the house. We realized that there will be a 17 day period (18 if it is a leap year) when we will have 5 teenagers in the house. We ought to take a really crazy road trip during those seventeen days. Teenagers get a bad wrap....I love my teenagers. That's a good thing becuase there is a new one in the family - Isaiah turned 13!!! Wow. Here he is with some of his birthday gifts. He is really into Army gear right now. Isaiah's birthday always falls on our trip back from San Diego. He has been such a sport about it, but this year he asked if maybe we could NOT be in the car on his actual day. So, we stayed a day later in San Diego. Isaiah is a very cheerful and easy-going kid. He is so quick to forgive others and admit when he has done something wrong - not that it necesarily changes, but at least he admits it!! He is a very motivated kid - when he was little, he would come to my bed at around 6am with his math book in hand, wake me up, and ask if I could do his math with him right then....um, I just figure that in my sleep, I must have had a look on my face that said "I wish I was teaching math right now instead of sleeping". Which is strange, because I am pretty sure that when I had 5 very small children, I really wanted to do a lot more sleeping than I did.

Isaiah is still driven. We love who he is and watching him grow. I can hardly believe that he is 13 years old....where does the time go. One thing that I love about Isaiah is that when he is done with his chores, if someone else isn't done - and that person might miss out on something fun because of their lack of dilligence - Isaiah jumps in to help them get their things finished. Not sure how great that is for the slacker, but I love the compassion that Isaiah has towards them. Here are some of my favorite photos of Isaiah when he was little. I had to take photos of them from his album and then upload them, so some of them look a little weird.

Brand spanking new, with Daddy. Oh, he was so yummy, and a sweet, easy baby.

About 3 months.... and ready to rock and roll.

With his new baby, Elias - just a few hours old.

We were re-doing the front yard in San Diego and it was a disaster....dirt, mud, dust, topsoil everywhere. Isaiah was in the middle of it. He took his little chair out there and sat amidst the loveliness of it all. He was about 18 months old. He found this little crack/hole in the sidewalk where water pooled and he stuck his nose in it and stood up with the above pirate's mustache and goatee. We all laughed so hard. OH, I miss his little 18 month-old self.

Love this photo.. Happy little guy!!

this is my favorite Isaiah photo, I think...it is just SOOOO him.

Cute little guy!

He is always covered with sand at the beach

football stars - they were constantly playing football or baseball at our house

Elisha's first day of school, but Isaiah was so excited to be doing school

he had to get in on the action

Isaiah got baseball clothes and gear for his birthday this year. He wasn't old enough to play teeball (so he must have been 4), but he was so ready. He wanted me to take photos of him pretending he was playing baseball. Here he is "running the bases"

Getting so big even here

And here he is as a new teenager - 13 big years old. We love you, Isaiah and we are glad that you aren't going to be a waitress when you grow up (private joke!).