Story # 6

 Jay is a daddy's boy and always has been.  And rather he chooses to admit it or not, he loves his brother and I'm not quite sure what he would do without his brother.  Nick may talk way more than what Jay wants to hear (ha) but they enjoy the same things.  They like sports, fishing, shooting, playing air soft, you name it, they enjoy it together. 

                                                        One of my favorite pictures. 

                                                         I love this picture too.

 Another example of the boys enjoying the same thing.  They caught these frogs together and then came home and ate them. 

 A really old picture.  This was taken when Jay was two.  Jay jokes this was taken when dad had hair!

 A favorite family photo of mine when we were a family of three.  Jay was three in this picture.  Time sure does fly.

 Another old picture.  Jay was two in this picture too.  It seems like a life time ago.

Story # 7

 Silly is not a word I would use to describe Jay.  So when he is silly it gets my attention and he usually gets a big belly laugh from me.  Jay also hates to draw attention to himself.  The only reason he agreed to wear the reindeer ears above was he was around family and it was Christmas. 

 Jay is three in this picture.  Every now and then I see this exact same, silly smile.  Love it. 

 Another silly pose.  I think he put this get up on one night and pranced around the living room.

And one of my favorite pictures because Jay is so living outside his box.  It was mis match day at school.  As I'm blogging this, Jay is standing behind me saying, "I look really stupid in that picture."  Personally, I think he looked pretty good and it sure made me laugh. 

Story # 8

Jay is three in this picture.  If I remember right he had a stash of chocolate in his pocket and decided to eat it on the way home from daycare.  Jay loves sweets.  He comes by this naturally.  My mom's family, the Schmidt's, love sweets and ice cream and Jay's Grandpa Siebert LOVES sweets.  However, there is a catch to Jay's love of sweets, he barfs.  Yep, he barfs if he eats too much junk/sweets.  He's done it since he was a baby.  If I fed him a bottle and if he would eat it too quickly, he would projectile vomit.  When he was a toddler and in early elementary school he would go out on the boat with his grandparents and eat too many Chee too's and always come home and vomit.  It was a vicious cycle.  Now at almost 13, it is not uncommon to find Jay sprawled out on a towel in front of the toilet after indulging in too many sweets.  I try to warn him but now I think he just has to learn the hard way.  He knows this about himself but he's a gluten for punishment.  I am constantly finding wrappers in his backpack, his room, you name it.  The ironic part is, the kid doesn't have an ounce of fat on his body.  I remember this summer when he went on his mission trip he was really nervous about throwing up.  Let's just say that when Jay travels, he takes pepto with him. 

Story # 9

 I couldn't write reflections about Jay without including Copper.  Copper is Jay's girl right now and has been for about three years now.  They sleep together every night.  Jay's only disappoint in her, he's never been able to teach her to fetch and return.  Ha.  But the two of them really are thick as thieves. 

                          Riding the four wheeler is one of Copper's favorite past times with Jay.

Okay, I posted this picture and I think it just might be Cole in this picture.  LOL!  Oh well.  Both dogs are our family dogs but Copper is more Jay's dog and Cole is more Nick's dog. 

Story # 10

 This blog is a reflection of sickness and sports.  My pics didn't quite go in the order I wanted them to go but Hey, I can roll with that.  Ha.  When Jay was a baby, he was sick, A LOT.  He had tubes in his ears before his first birthday.  He had his tonsils/adenoids out when he was 6.  He was tested for cystic fibrosis before he was 2.  He had pneumonia when he was 5.  As far as injuries go, he fractured his finger in third grade which then became infected.  He had surgery on his finger and was hospitalized for 2 nights, 3 days.  I remember when he was little everyone kept telling me that he would be the healthiest kid into elementary school.  I think I did a lot of eye rolling back at those people out of frustration.  Ha.  But it turns out, they were right.  Jay had perfect attendance in 5th grade and middle school (so far).  He is never sick - only when he eats too many sweets and barfs (that's another story/blog). 

 Sports has been vital to Jay (and us, ha).  He played football in 4th and 5th grade.  He wasn't crazy about it though.  He didn't like the contact. 

 Basketball is Jay's true love.  He started playing in 4th grade and is still playing.  He loves it and we all love watching him on the court.  I think the picture above was taken in 5th grade.

 And here we have another injury.  He was two in this picture and took a tumble on a driveway.  Jay was and is always on the move - always!

 Jay and his nebulizer got to be very close when he was little.  In the picture above he was 5 and had pneumonia. 

 And here he is out on the water with his grandparents.  His grandpa likes to tease him that when it  comes to adventure on the boat, he's a trooper but when it comes to water skiing, he's a pooper.  Ha.  Jay isn't crazy about skiing (just like his dad). 

 Jay ran cross country in 6th and 7th grade.  I wouldn't say he's in love with it but he realizes the benefits of it.  It remains to be seen if he runs in 8th grade. 

                                                    Jay ran track in 6th grade and enjoyed it.

And here is he in the present time, 7th grade ball.  I'm really proud of Jay.  As I write this, he's managed to run cross country and play basketball and get all A's and B's on his report card.  What an accomplishment! 

Story # 11

 This isn't so much a story as a memory or reflection.  Jay's friendship with Faith and Curtis which ties into his friendships in general.  Jay's choice of friends and who he chooses to surround himself with speaks to his character and it's one of the reasons I am proud of him.  Jay is fairly introverted but he's picked a lot of extroverted friends - go figure.  Jay and Curtis have been friends since birth.  They are 4 months apart, to the day. 

                                       In this picture I believe Faith is 6 and the boys are four.

 TN!  I couldn't write a blog about Jay without including TN.  Jay and Nick LOVE TN and they love going with Faith and Curtis.  It wouldn't be the same without them. 

This picture was taken the summer of 2014 so the kids were 14, 12 and Nick was 8.  Although I didn't include pictures of Jay's other friends, I did want to write that I truly enjoy all his friends.  He's made really good choices in that regards and I pray he continues to do so.

Story # 12

This picture was taken in June 2008.  It's one of my all time favorite pictures.  Jay was 6 and had just started losing teeth.  When he lost his first tooth I had a conversation about the tooth fairy with him that went like this:
Jay: "Mom, how do I know you and dad didn't leave the money under my pillow?"
Me: "The tooth fairy is just magic, Jay." (That's me, short and simple and good enough)
Jay: "But how does the tooth fairy know I lost a tooth?"
Me: "The tooth fairy has 'helpers' who watch kids around your age very closely and then they report back to the tooth fairy so she knows which kids have lost teeth so she can give them money."
Jay: "Oh yeah I've seen those helpers, they wear camouflage!"

Jay was (and is) 6 years beautiful!  Adorable and his grin was even sweeter.