3 years

He is a wild and crazy little guy. 

He loves sunglasses

 Often unpredictable.  Aggressive, a climber, a goody thief, and a professional mess maker. He is all boy. 

He's firey, friendly, extreme, and full of smiles.

He is affectionate, observant, and playful.  He is enthusiastic, mischievous, and still innocent.

Sammy is often the victim of Jake's affection

He loves animals and babies.

 He is my little Jakey.

He is still addicted to the binkey.

He has a huge imagination.

  He is fun. He is silly. He loves practical jokes.  He is always ready to play, always ready for a party, and will laugh at all your jokes.

He is strong.  He gives every thing he tries a full effort.  He is full of energy and when he crashes, he crashes hard.

 He is a rough houser.  He will jump on you, wrestle with you, sneak up behind you and put his arms around your neck in a "choke-hug," and he is tough. He is fearless.  He can mingle with the "big kids" without getting hurt because he's such a little scrapper.

Even when he's driving me crazy, that big smile with those sparkly eyes get me every time.  I love this little nut.

 Life is anything but boring with him in it.  There is always a new mess for him to make, a new skill to learn, a new "injustice" to fight for, and a new adventure to pursue every day of his life.  He has the potential to be great.  A great what, depends on the choices he makes, but he will be great.

He wanted a "Spiderman birthday".  His obsession with Disney's 'Cars,' has molded into an obsession with Spidey and all his foes instead.  So this year, all his presents were somehow related to Spiderman.

That pile of presents was sitting out on the table all day until his siblings made it home from school to celebrate him.  He did an amazing job at being patient.
He wanted me to take pictures of him for his birthday.  He loves the spotlight.

Of course he had to do an action move.  He wouldn't be Jacob if he didn't.

He loves birthdays.  He often asks to watch video footage of every one of his family members birthdays and sings the happy birthday song along with the people singing on the video.  

"It MY durtay!  I TREE!"

It was a great day.  It was also special for us because my parents were here from Utah and were able to celebrate with him.  Jakey has a strong bond with his Grandpa deHoyos.  Those two are peas in a pod.  He loved having "Gapa" here for his "durtay."

Love me some turkey

This year, Kelsey and Dan hosted Thanksgiving at their house.  They did an amazing job at hosting everyone from the fabulous decorations, to the impressive dining scene to the delicious turkeys and activities for the small kids.  It was a really well thought out day and a wonderful holiday.

Really quick, I had to post this picture of what the kids did to my front hallway on Thanksgiving morning before we left. They got me with the freaking Fruit loops.

Okay back to Thanksgiving afternoon.

Kelsey set up the most adorable kids table with a coloring table cloth and crafts.  Like I said, she really thought this one out and it showed.

The kids played down in the basement and the babies played in the family room while the cooking was going on.

This was our first year attempting deep fried turkey.  The men handled this one.

Dan setting everything up.  Deep frying a turkey can be very dangerous if you're not careful.

Lowering the bird in the pot

It's cooking!!  It was surprising how fast it took to cook in a deep fryer.  Not long at all.

The end result.

Since there were so many people present, there were two turkeys made.  One was deep fried as shown above and the other was a traditional roasted turkey.

Here is the beautiful table Kelsey put together.  The girl has class.

People snacked on small appetizers while we waited for the main event.

Time to eat!

Roasted AND fried turkey?!  Yes please.

Setting the food on the table

Meanwhile on the kiddie table:

It was a perfect, textbook Thanksgiving dinner.  Complete with great family, good conversation, and delicious comfort food.  

 Dan really likes eating the neck on Thanksgiving.  He used to fight for it with Nick in the past.  For Dan, part of the joy of Thanksgiving involves a really juicy turkey neck.  So naturally I had to take pictures.

 In another super cute moment, Tanner decided that it was his turn to feed his mom her meal instead of the other way around:

The tryptofan took effect quickly on Jacob.  It was Thanksgiving nap time for him not long after the meal.

Everybody else sat back after dinner and watched the Eagles game.  (Hence why everyone is wearing Eagles jerseys in all the pictures.)The Eagles were playing their nemesis, the Cowboys.  Luckily, just for Thanksgiving we kicked their butts.  Thank you Eagles for not ruining Thanksgiving for the Itri men.

Look at all the leftovers!!

Oh and lets not forget desert.  Aunt Kathy is an expert pie maker.  She provided amazing pies.  Cherry, Lemon, Pecan, Apple creme, pumpkin, and I can't remember the other.  I think chocolate was in it. 

 Kelsey also had a Thanksgiving craft for the kids to do during the game.  They all made a Thanksgiving turkey of their very own.

After the game Stephanie, Kelsey and I all hit the department stores for some early Black Friday shopping while the husbands watched the kids.  That was also a blast.  No pictures because Santa, but we had fun.  Sometimes it's just fun to shop with other girls because they enjoy it as much as you do, and it's a nice break.

It was a wonderful Thanksgiving.  I'm so thankful that I could spend it with my Itri family.  I'm writing it down in my memory as one of my favorite Thanksgivings.