Merry Christmas from The Jacobson Clan!

Merry Christmas and Season’s Greetings
From The Benjamin Jacobson Clan.


Yes, we have moved from a Duo to a Clan! The clan now includes our two terriers Ipa-Mae and Marley-Moe, and in November we added to the crew our little black cat named Dosey-Doe. They make life full and interesting in our little downtown home. We love being in a hub of activity surrounded by family and friends.

This year has been a year of building deep friendships, and growing closer together as a couple. In March Benjamin was diagnosed with Type I Diabetes which initially sent us into a tail spin, but quickly developed us into a well-oiled machine and a really great team. Swiftly we were able to get our bearings, learn a lot, and adjust our lifestyle. We were blessed to become a part of a medical study at Virgina Mason’s Benaroya Research Institute in Seattle and feel so lucky to have a wealth of resources and information at our fingertips. The Lord met our needs in unbelievable ways.

Benjamin is still working full time for Higuera Imports, a hardwood flooring company in Poulsbo; and part time for newlife in Port Orchard. Alex is in the middle of her third year of teaching at Christ the King Academy and is so blessed by her friendly, genuine, and loving group of First Grade Friends on a daily basis. They bring SUCH joy to her life.

With home improvements continuing, Ben has almost completed his outdoor studio in our garage and installed new wood floors for Alex this past July. The studio should be the site of some great creativity and inspiration, thank you to ALL who contributed. Ben also celebrated his 21st birthday “Chopped” style with a cook off competition and Alex celebrated her twenty-fifth year with a “Twilight” birthday and camping trip to Forks, WA.

Ben has embraced his most favorite hobby of cooking and has even taken to baking extravagant cakes. See our facebook albums for a few photos: The “Wicked” House, a free standing grizzly bear, an erupting volcano, a werewolf, and most recently an Eifel Tower cake. Alex’s newest hobby is playing the piano and with a year under her belt she is feeling proud and accomplished, especially with the newly learned skill of reading music.

We are so blessed to have friends and family involved in our daily lives and to engage in enriching and challenging relationships. We are growing and changing every day and thank the Lord for his continued goodness in our lives. Love and prayers to you all!

Philippians 4:19 But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.

Our girls this Christmas!

Ipa-Mae, Marely-Moe, and Dosey-Doe are truly "our girls" and have become such a part of our lives. Just had to share a few favorite holiday photos!




These photos of Dosey were taken by our friend Douglas, from Ireland, when he was visiting. He really imortalized her personality in these shots. :)


Tonie really captured Moe-Moe in this one. Such a sweet girl.



Here's our Ipa girl always alert and trying to figure out what's going on. And this is fairly typical Dosey - looking for someplace away from the big girls.




Here are some more mischievious ones!





They will follow her wherever she may go. She's like a living toy!



And to be honest, Ipa might think of Dosey as a bit of a snack. Kind of appropriate since Ipa is after IPA a pale ale, as is Dosey who is named for the Hood Canal Brewery's special ale - Dosewalips!



We just love them! They bring so much joy and laughter into our lives!




Thanks to Tonie Duchemin from Perspectus Imagery Photography for capturing our girls so well, and Douglas Harper friend and photographer extraordinaire!

A cake portfolio.

Ben started making cakes for competitions with his family when he was a boyscout.

His first cake, since he met Alex, was a 9 inch monkey that was part of a the 12 days of birthday he gave Alex in 2007.



Then came the idea that Ben would make a groom's cake for their wedding. He began learning how to make fondant frosting (from marshmallows) and the practice began.



He created several groom's cakes and each time he got better and better. Getting more creative a needing more specific tools to execute his craft!



About this time he became even more interested in cakes after watching many episodes of Ace of Cakes. Duff, the owner, was a new found hero!


In February of 2008 Ben made Alex's Valentine's Day card out of cake. It read "Lovey whole heart."



In April he took his cake decorating public at Alex's 25th, Twilight themed, birthday party. He made one cake with fruit and the other in the shape of a werewolf's head.








Once he'd gone public the requests started to pour in and each time Ben has tried to out-do himself. As a novelty, a diabetic cake maker, we think he should have his own show on the Food Network!

Amanda's survivor party warranted a volcano - but not just any volcano, one that actually used dry ice and errupted. Complete with the slogan "out wit, out last, out play" on the sides and with chocolate covered candles as the torches at tribal council, it truly was a Survivor cake!






Ben's Mom requested a cake for a bridal shower she was hosting. One specific request. The top layer of the cake needed to be gluten free as the bride had a gluten allergy.





Next came Nate's 3-d grizzly bear in honor of his Bear Grylz Man vs. Wild themed party. Ben started a new tradition with the delivery of this cake. He even dressed to fit the part!







Dave Raley cake decorating contest as his birthday theme and Ben's submission was inspired by our trip to see Wicked this September at the Paramount theater. (See blog).

It's the house on the Wicked Witch's feet!




And as recently as Friday, December 18th, Ben took on his most ambitious cake yet. An eifel tower, french themed cake for Heather Raley's birthday.







What will be next? Stay tuned... A Diabetic Baker in action...

We're Thankful For...

We have so much to be thankful for our Thanksgiving Season extended from October 12th until November 27th.


We kicked off our festivities on October 12th by celebrating Canadian Thanksgiving with our small group. Because most of our group travels through the holidays they started a tradition three years ago in order to celebrate together.

So every year we celebrate Canadian Thanksgiving with a traditional Thanksgiving Dinner. We are thankful for friends who have become family.


We are thankful for family! On November 21st we spent the evening with Grandma and Grandpa Munson at our home in Poulsbo.



It was such an honor to serve them dinner on the dining table we inherited from them and we shared an evening full of food and laughter - we watched UP, how can Russel not make you laugh!

Then on Tuesday November 23rd we headed to the home of Brad and Monica Duchemin. We rocked the house with their kids Bri and Hunter as we played a rousing game of Guitar Hero.



Bri and Hunter kicked our tails and we're practicing for next time!



On Wednesday the First Grade Friends sported their homemade Pilgrim hats and ate an incredible feast. They were thankful for things like: water, legos, family, pets, and God's love.



Alex is so grateful for the First Graders and the joy they bring to her life each and every day. She truly feels like she is doing what God created her to do!




Then off to the Rich Jacobson home for Thanksgiving dinner and the tradition of gingerbread house decorating.





We worked extremely hard on our gingerbread house entry this year and were very proud.

Especially of Ben's extreme self-control since this is the first year he was unable to eat the frosting or decorating goodies. Not so diabetic friendly. BUT he has had great practice and shows great restraint with his cake creating so this was not so much of a challenge as you might suppose.



At dinner Ben expressed his gratitude for the Virginia Mason study at the Benaroya Reasearch Institute and Alex said she was very grateful for brothers - She's never had brothers before and Elliot and Luke have become very dear to her.



Our Thanksgiving Season concluded with a trip to the Duchemin's for Thanksgiving with family, old friend Dougie from Ireland, and new friends Aaron and David.







Thankful for the simple things - laughter, food and being able to eat, family, friendship, time together, and gaining a better understanding of ourselves an others are what the Duchemins are thankful for. What a blessing they are to us.




So very much to be thankful for: friends who are like family; work; time with those we love; and life's simplest gifts like health.

A year of thankfulness!