Happy Birthday buddy!

Today, the sweetest little boy in the world turned four! I know I am more than a little biased, but Parker really is special. He makes my heart melt every time I look at him, and makes me laugh all day long. If you ever want a running commentary on all aspects of life, just come over to our house for a few hours. Parker notices everything, and is anxious to share it with whoever will listen. He sees every jet plane, beautiful tree, letter “P”, creepy bug, and will continue to strive to get your attention until you’ve come to appreciate his treasure too. A disinterested “okay,” “sure buddy” or “I see” just won’t cut it around here! Parker’s attention isn’t just limited to inanimate objects either. He is the first to find a paci for Reagan when she’s sad, always saves a bite of his treats to share, and is incredibly generous with hugs and kisses. Randomly throughout our day, he will stop playing just to tell me he loves me. His love is often quantified by the largest number he can dream up. Since he can only count to 20 (save the oft-forgotten number 13), it usually goes something like this: “Mama, I love you thirty hundred, fourteen, eighty two million, five! Is that a lot?” Of course, it is “a lot” but it precipitates an argument over who loves who more. Sometimes I let him win, but there is no doubt that I love this little boy far more than any number he’ll ever learn, and more than I ever dreamt I could.

God's gracious care

Dan's car before a semi truck decided to share the same lane:

Dan's car after:

Saturday morning Danny's car clearly got a little smushed, but by God's grace, Danny didn't. Aside from a little headache and the fact that we'll probably be buying a new car on top of the new house, one would hardly know that he didn't make it to a meeting at church without incident. Needless to say, we are incredibly grateful for what wasn't.

We saw it coming...

...but it's still a little sad to see a nearly-four-year-old accept hand-me-downs from his baby cousin. The cute suit Parker is sporting here once belonged to my sweet, tank of a newphew, Lincoln, who is just 8 weeks older than Reagan! It's not even that Lincoln is that big, or even that Parker is short, but the poor boy has the narrowest little body you've ever seen. I just couldn't bring myself to buy a new 6-12 month suit for him, but the ones he has have been used (by him) since Spring '05, and anything bigger ends up around his ankles. So my sister came to the rescue, and a entire drawer full of 12-18 month, 18-24 month, 2T and 3T swim wear will go unused for yet another season. At least Parker's muscles are big, right?!

What is $95.00?

The point at which the gas pump shuts off... even if the tank isn't full. Serves me right for choosing the big SUV over the more-practical, less-cool mini-van.

Before and after

I've had a few requests for an update on my home-reno projects while Dan was gone... sincere? I don't know, but here you are anyway:

Before: previous owner's furniture, no paint, can lighting
After: our furniture (mostly hand-me-downs from Mom & Dad), lots of paint, Great-grammy's chandelier

The rest of the house is unpacked and mostly painted, but not exactly decorated yet, so perhaps we'll have a second installment one of these days.

Enjoying our new yard

Parker's morning "roly-poly" patrol

Bathing beauty (not sleeping, just sunning!)

Dodging a splash

We're having fun, but are sure ready for Daddy to come home and enjoy it with us! By now Dan and his team should be nearing the end of a 7-1/2 hour layover in Kenya following a 3 hour flight from Lilongwe. He'll then fly 7 hours to London and sit in Heathrow for another 5 before finally boarding the last plane for home, arriving early tomorrow afternoon our time! I can't wait! I finished my garage and painting projects last Friday so I'm now actually getting caught up on the other stuff of life, like cleaning, bills, blogging...