21 years ago today....

...this precious little after Christmas gift arrived.


Our second little boy, born on his grandma's birthday. Happy Birthday, Mom!

He started off pretty scrawny, then rapidly turned into a butterball. I love squishy babies. His feet were square, and Nordstrom had the only shoes that fit. We only had one style option and the sales girls said they had never seen little feet that wide (fat) before.


For a while when our boys were little, we had no grass in the backyard. I would give them each a hose with a trickle of water, and they played for hours. Good, clean fun and at least two baths a day.


For the longest time, he spoke his own language.

Once he started speaking English, every single thing he said was funny. He was the most entertaining kid ever. He was so good natured and never met a stranger.


He loved to collect rocks, read books, and take apart pretty much everything that crossed his path.


He had a real life encounter with the tooth fairy one night, and protected the family from space aliens. He heard them coming through his baby brother's nursery monitor, and was extremely frustrated that we didn't take the threat seriously.


He and my husband hatched some rescued goose eggs in an incubator. They truly thought he was their mother and followed him everywhere.


Time flies. It goes too fast. Before we knew it, he was done with high school. Where did that little boy go?


Then, last spring he joined the National Guard and is working toward becoming a helicopter pilot. In August of this year, we watched him graduate from boot camp along with 1200 other young men and women.


The proud parents with our boy.


Today we went for a drive in his new wheels, a Subaru something, turbo something...I've never been able to retain car model and engine info. We braved frostbite for a few pictures, and saw a bit of the countryside on a pretty winter day. His birthday. His twenty first birthday.


Happy Birthday Buddy. We are so proud of you and love you to pieces. We can't wait to see where your life leads, and look forward to watching you grow into the man you're meant to be. Thanks for being our boy.