Daniel Harry - Yesterday and Today

Today was Dan's birthday!

Dan is an important part of this large family (where his story began),

a very important part of this larger family,

and an even more important part of this wonderful family.

I wrote about Dan here and if you follow the links in this post you'll know a lot about his yesterdays. Then if you scroll through the following pictures you'll see how he's changed over the years.

 Here he is being sworn into the Army.

So mainly I'm going to talk about what he's been up to for the previous year.  Before he was reassigned, he spent some time camping with his family because he knew it was going to be a long year of separations.

They re-united at Christmas in Florida and Gulf Shores through the New Year but were separated again until about a month ago when they started a house hunt for their new home in Florida.  So it's been a year of college for him - maintaining two households and staying close to his family from far away.  He's never forgotten to stay in touch with his mom and dad and the rest of his family despite an - at-times - crushing schedule and he's learned a lot about facetime!

And although he's not 'deployed' he spent his birthday at home tonight, alone, eating the dinner he prepared, and connecting long distance with his family.  That's the way of his job and he does it with professionalism, loyalty, and pride.  He doesn't complain and is grateful for the many opportunities he's been able to take advantage of in his career.  And speaking of career, he was placed on the promotion list and should be pinned sometime this summer.

We are incredibly proud of Dan, our firstborn son by 10 minutes, and we're grateful to call him our son. We're wishing him a happy birthday, a little late, and a year ahead filled with fulfillment, family, and fun!

Elijah Harrison - Yesterday and Today

Eli's 6th birthday was on March 29th.

He is an important part of this large family.

And an even more important part of this family.

I wrote about Eli in these posts:  2010, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015 and those posts tell you a lot about him.

And the following pictures will show you a lot about how he's changed through the years.

 

And now I want to talk about what Eli has been up to in the past year.

First of all, he graduated to kindergarten.  That means school all day, every day and riding the school bus.

and even doing homework.

This year he also got his glasses and he looks very handsome in them.

And when he vacationed in Florida over the winter, he graduated to big indoor roller coasters and full size outdoor coasters that would have most of us turning the other way but which he enjoyed immensely.

He rode the giant carousel without holding on (for a few seconds with Mom keeping a watchful eye).

and drove his Grandma around the track in an almost full size car,

He performed magic tricks with his very own wand in the Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Studios!

And he jumped in the big pool for the first time.

And maybe not as exciting but more importantly, he's learning to read, loves math and science and has a great interest in bugs!  He also enjoys Rubik's cubes, has his very own iPad mini and invents interesting things all the time.  He spent a week in Michigan with his dad last summer and spent the Christmas/New Year holiday in Gulf Shores with his mom's giant family.

All in all it's been a busy, productive year for a a very smart, very sweet boy!  We know he had a wonderful birthday and we're hoping the coming year is even better than the last!

So Happy Birthday, Eli!  We love you and could not possibly be more proud of you!