Joshua:  I love Jacob because he’s a great wrestler.

Jacob:  Yep!  Including Kung Foo.

Daddy:  Kung Foo isn’t wrestling.

Jacob:  Kung Foo and wrestling mixed with karate.

Autumn:  Well, I like that Jacob gives me piggy backs.  And don’t forget horsey rides.

Andrew:  I love that Jacob plays the Wii with me.  Mario Kart and sometimes I fall down holes and when something wiggles it means holes are coming.  And your balloons pop.

Katey Belle:  Jaaa-cob!!  Fun-ny and silly.  (This comment leads to silly, funny faces from the two of them.  Katey calls them “monkey faces”.)

Mommy:  Jacob has very nice hair.  And he is very good when I cut it.  He’s a patient guy.

Jacob:  Yeah.  Just don’t cut it too short.  I don’t want to be close to bald.  Or even close to close to bald.  Just cut it to a good length.  Okay Dad, your turn.

Daddy:  I love Jacob because he is such a good helper around the house.  Any job I have to do, he does without asking any questions and is cheerful about it.  He loves to help!

Jacob loves soccer, pizza, pokemon cards, the Wii and the treehouse.  His favorite dessert is cherry cobbler.  He is very good at math, spelling (he gets 100% almost every time), and reading.  He says he’s “extremely good at reading” and he’s right.  We love our smart, handsome, sweetheart of a boy.

Daddy:  I love Autumn because she is the embodiment of the word exuberant.

ex·u·ber·ant [ig-zoo-ber-uhnt]     –adjective

Andrew:  I love Autumn to keep our house and temple clean.  (Can you kinda tell what our Family Home Evening lesson was about?)

Joshua:  I love that Autumn makes up great songs.  When she goes to the potty she sings and makes up beautiful songs.  My favorite is “Sunlight Over the Water”.

Autumn:  (*singing*)”I love my Heavenly Father…”

Daddy:  She does sing lots.  “Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing”, “Jesus Once Was a Little Child”, “Beautiful Savior” and “I Love to See the Temple” are ones I hear lots.  (Those are her very favorites right now.)

Jacob:  I love that Autumn loves to have little parties and mini-campouts in her room.

Daddy:  That’s true.  There have been some good tents in her bedroom lately.

Andrew:  Sometimes I make tents for Autumn.

Mommy:  Autumn is my big helper.  She is always willing to grab a diaper or a kleenex or a drink of water for someone.  She is my biggest kiddo when the boys are gone to school and she really helps out.  I also like that Autumn tells and shows me what she’s learning in dance class.  She tells me all about her beautiful purple costume with white umbrella and I’m very excited she has a recital coming up.

We love our beautiful, silly, often loud, smiling, happy, dramatic, wonder of a little angel.

Daddy:  Duke is so loving and gentle with all of us.  He would never hurt any of us on purpose.  Katey is just the right height though and sometimes he knocks her down or hits her when he wags his tail.

Jacob:  Duke follows me where ever we go.  One time I went to a friends house and Duke followed.  He barked loud at my friends mom because he probably thought they were trying to take me.

Joshua:  He is a great guard dog.  And he goes with me on my chore to feed the chickens.

Autumn:  Duke is so fast.  I run with him outside a lot.  Like by the house and by the flowers that are by the house and …

Andrew:  I like when he’s outside with Autumn and me.

Mommy:  I love that Duke has a sheep dog instinct and herds all the children.  It comes in handy when they are wandering too close to the edge of our property.  I also love how he puts his paw up on my lap when I stop scratching behind his ears.  He is just sure I should not be done yet.

Katey:  (in bed again – but tonight when she was saying her prayer she blessed “Dukey” quite loudly)

One little funny fact:  Duke must have his food and water in the dining room near where we eat.  We tried the laundry room – no luck, the sun room and then the corner of the kitchen – nope on those.  He refused to eat until we moved it back to the dining room.  Silly pup.

We sure love our black lab and something mix of a sweet dog.  He is so patient and just a little bit quirky.  Perfect!