Happy 7th Birthday JaKe!

Happy Birthday to the best boy in the world.  We love you so much and are so happy you are in our family.  Here are some of our favorite memories of you...

1.  When we brought you home from the hospital you quickly decided the best place for you was in our bed.  That has just recently ended.  When you were about eighteen months we decided that enough was enough and tried the tough love route of making you cry it out.  We put you in your bed and shut the door thinking that you would eventually cry yourself to sleep, with us coming in at 5, 10, and 15 minute intervals to check on you.  What we did not expect, however, was that you would get out of bed and use your little head as a battering ram to knock down the door.  You screamed in a rage, ran at the door, slammed your body against it, fell down, and repeated several times.  Finally we thought we should intervene.  We didn't want to deal with a brain damaged kid over sleep habits.

2.  For the first three years of your life you avoided pants like they were the plague.  If I had cared more I would have put up a fight, but it wasn't worth the effort to get you to stay dressed.

3.  You have a deep abiding love for chocolate chips, or chocolate of any kind.  For the past three years your cake order has been the same:  chocolate cake, with chocolate frosting, with m&m's on top.  It never gets old.

4.  You are an environmentally friendly little man.  When Grandpa day began you quickly learned the joy of picking up aluminum cans.  You will pick up any can, anywhere.  You also really enjoy going and cashing in the "luners" for cold hard cash.  You are also a little bit of a miser when it comes to your money.  I will also never forget the time when we were at Grandma's and you "made an announcement" asking everyone to save their cans.  A little later you discovered some in the garbage and you started to cry.  You were devastated to see what could be recycled in the trash.

5.  Along with the above the other day you brought home a green pen tube.  I asked you what it was and you told me it was a pen tube and you were thinking that Grandpa Mark might have some parts so you can repair it.  Thank you for taking the recent campaign of reduce, reuse, and recycle so seriously.

6.  You do not like contention.  You are the family peacemaker.  Any yelling, loud noise, or arguing makes you upset.  You are also really quick to stand up for someone who is getting picked on.

7.  You are also affectionately dubbed "the perfect child" because when someone else is in trouble you always pipe up with "I didn't do that" or "My room is always clean."  Your sisters really appreciate that.

8.  I will never forget the day that you said, "It is not fair that you and Dad get to share a room, and Taylor and Torey get to share a room, and I have to be all by myself."  It gave me a new perspective on what you were thinking, and showed me that the grass is indeed always greener.

9.  When you were in nursery you approached the nursery leader and said, "You look beautiful today."  I think she cried.  Ever since she has really liked you.  You have always been a flatterer and it has saved your bacon many times.  One day I was really yelling at you for something and you interrupted my rant with the same words: "You are so beautiful."  I stopped mid-sentence because you can't really respond to that!

10.  You make us so happy and we are glad to have our "Bobba" in our family.  You are the best little boy ever.  You are a good listener, you try your best to be good, you clean up when I ask, and you are very affectionate.  

Happy Birthday to Jake!