Happy 13th Birthday, Jude!

April means birthday month for Jude and Selah! And we had a great time celebrating our 13 & 11 year old this year. We still can't believe we have a teenager! Seriously?! It's making me kind of sentimental... because the other kids are hot on Jude's heels. In just five years our youngest will be a teen and our oldest will be voting! Their lives will change so much in the upcoming years, and I want to savor every moment of them still being here in our home. These are precious days. I heard a mom once say that your kids come with an expiration date (you only get them in your home for 18 years) and I want to make the most of the time we get to be the Fegles Five!

Look at how big this kid is getting!

Jude had a great birthday! He wanted to have family over to our house, decorate his own cake, and to be able to do Virtual Reality. So we made that happen! We baked a chocolate cake and he chose lemon frosting, strawberries and skittles for his topping.

Jude wanted to open gifts first thing that day. 

He had been hoping for a big Lego set that is no longer in production. Josh hunted it down and made his dreams come true. ;) He was over the moon thrilled!

Jude's favorite Youtube channel is Unspeakable. It's a guy who makes videos about Minecraft. We ordered Jude an Unspeakable t-shirt and sunglasses and he was pretty excited about that. All day long he said, "Mom, I can't believe I got Unspeakable merch!" :)

Selah and Ben each gave Jude personal gifts or things they made. And they also gave him a Technic car.

Jude had lots of wonderful family visitors that weekend! Granddad Kevin & Grandma Janet brought by his special tradition of two dollar bills, thirteen of them this year.

Grandpa Mike & Grandma Chris came by to bring him a gift and we gave Grandpa Mike a gift too, since he and Jude share a birthday!

Grandma Jill took Jude to the Lego store to pick out a new set.

And she also brought Granny & Old Papa to visit! They hadn't seen the house since we had remodeled it. It was fun to get to show them.

Papa played us a fun old song. Loved that!

And all of these wonderful family members (Aunt, Uncles, cousin) came to celebrate Jude with us that evening!

We had a yummy dinner that Jude requested of chicken, potatoes and green beans. We let the kids have the dining table. :)

Then Uncle Caleb set up Virtual Reality so that Jude and the kids could play for hours! Jude loved everything about that. 

We paused for cake and ice cream.

And I marveled at the gift that this boy is. Every year is sweeter and I love the man Jude is becoming. I tell him regularly that He is a gift from God. He's changed my life for the better and I'm so grateful I get to be his mom. We love you Jude! From the bottom of our hearts. xoxo

Happy 13th birthday!