Happy Birthday Jake!

After we returned from the U.S. we had just a few days in Olomouc to catch up on work, be with friends, settle a little, and then we were off to Germany for the annual European Family retreat held just before Thanksgiving time each year.  It's a chance to see dear friends, be encouraged and uplifted, and to worship with a larger church family.  More on that later.  Before we left for Germany, though, we wanted to make time to celebrate his upcoming birthday alongside the birthday of his closest friend, Mikulas.  Above is the cake I made.  I had very big intentions of it turning out spectacularly with a construction site on top and trains running around the side.  I did not, however, anticipate how bad jet-lag would be on top of pregnancy.  I barely pulled this event together and the cake was the last thing I managed to do just as our guests were arriving.  It's a good thing they are like close family and I just smiled through it and said oh well, at least it has chocolate on top.  That's all the boys will care about. :)  Yes, it's missing a section of cream cheese icing, but as most of you know Josh is now allergic to milk so I left him a piece of the blueberry cake plain.  It was yummy, even if it's not the cutest thing.

He received many sweet and fun gifts from Stana, Tomas, and Mikulas.  Our boys are so close and play together so well, and in true brother-like fashion, that both Stana and I thought ahead to get them the same gifts so they won't fight over them.  We didn't talk to each other about it first, so it was pretty funny that we did the same thing.  The boys loved it all and played well.  Jakub's favorite thing was his new Spiderman car and action figure.  He's a big fan of anyone he thinks is a superhero. :)

Another favorite gift from Mikulas to Jakub was a matching Star Wars umbrella. The boys loved them and now they will have the same umbrellas to walk to and from school with.  Speaking of school, Jakub starts in the morning.  As he sleeps soundly in his bed I kind of have the feeling I'm not going to.  I have the first-day-of-school jitters like I did before my own semesters started.  I'm so excited for him and a little nervous to let him go.  Please say a prayer with me that God watches over him daily, that he's safe from harm.  I can't wait to take pictures of him and I hope he'll be as excited to go as he's seemed to be every day leading up to it.

We also celebrated his birthday a little in Germany and then a little as a family when we got him.  I'll have more pics of that later. 

Our little man is 3 now.  The time truly does fly by!!