Dan's

Wednesday was Dan's birthday and, as usual lately, he was away from home.  The good news though is that he was stateside so it's all good!

Dan is our 3rd child and our first son.  Our 4th child and 2nd son was born 10 minutes later.

Dan is a very important part of this core family,

this large, extended family,

and this beautiful family.

I wrote about Dan for his birthday last year in this post and visiting there will show links to all his previous posts and those posts have lots of stories and pictures so I'll just show a few here.

and talk a little about what's been going on in his life during the past year.  It's definitely been a jam-packed year for him because he's spent many hours in the air traveling to and from countries that most of us only hear about in the news.

And since those jaunts could take anywhere from a week to almost two weeks and rolled around pretty frequently, he tried to spend the time in between doing quality activities with his family.

like visiting us when we're in Sanford where a couple of times we got in some golf.

and visiting the giant theme parks near where they live

They even visited Michigan City for a weekend last summer!

And of course they spent the holidays in Gulf Shores with the big, extended family!

And a big change this year was that he started running (as regularly as possible) and back in November when Teresa was going to do a run at a Disney Resort, Dan said he'd join her.  Unfortunately (or fortunately as it turns out) he agreed to run with her so late that the only thing she could get him registered for was a back to back meaning a 10K on Saturday and a half marathon on Sunday and guess what.  He did it!

and then in February, they did a half marathon at another resort.  And I'm pretty sure they're both going to do back to backs this weekend in the Star Wars Dark side run.  

And a big highlight this year was the acquisition of his new baby and he's very fond of her.

The past few weeks have involved some very intense school work in preparation for his next assignment including the awarding of the Project Management Professional Certification which will be a valuable tool in the years ahead.

 And that next assignment meant selling the house in Florida

and buying this house in Georgia where he'll be a Brigade Commander.

Not a great picture but it is a great house!   So that pretty much wraps up Dan's very busy year but there are lots of other things I'd like to mention about him.

First of all, he may be career Army with some tough assignments behind him but he's a very kind and understanding person!  He'd do anything for anybody and has amazing insight which makes him a very fair, intelligent, and respected leader!

He's also a loving husband, father, and son, has an amazing sense of humor, and never shirks responsibility or work.  And to that end, I don't think there's anything he can't do.

He's a wonderful person who's done amazing things and we could not be more proud of him.  For these reasons and so many others, we're wishing him the happiest birthday ever (which he'll celebrate when he gets home this weekend) and a year that surpasses all others but is only half as great as the many more to come! 

Eli's 8th!

A week ago Thursday was Eli's 8th birthday!

He celebrated at home with cake and ice cream

and dinner at Royale with Cheese in Michigan City on Friday

Eli is an important part of this large family.

And of course a very important part of this beautiful family.

Eli was our 19th grandchild and our 12th grandson.

Here's a link to Eli's birthday post from last year.    And clicking on that link will take you to more links that tell a lot about Eli 'through the years' and show lots of pictures of how he's changed so I'll just post a few pictures here

and talk about what's been going on in Eli's life during the previous year.

First of all, he finished first grade with flying colors

and started 2nd grade.

He is active in scouting, is now a Wolf Scout, and his car placed second in the Pinewood Derby!

He went tobogganing for the first time, had his first reconciliation, and started basketball.

He visited California,

Florida, and Alabama.

And in California went on a big, scary roller coaster called California Screamin' which is great because he loves all roller coasters!

He's had a very busy year and he's practiced his many talents.... like dabbing,

dancing,

and magic!  He's a good magician and a great comedian.  He has many interests and is very scientifically inclined.  He loves to watch scientific experiments and he loves to learn how everything works!

And he loves to watch the biggest change in his life this year and that's the addition of baby sister, Sarah Jane, to the family.

Eli loves her with all his heart! 

But more important than his interests and his talents and his accomplishments is the fact that he's a sweet, loving, generous, kind, and wonderful boy.  He's smart and helpful and very observant.  He jumps to do anything that's asked of him and he does everything cheerfully.  Eli has been a joy since the day he was born and he continues to be a joy to this day.  We know he had a great birthday and a great party today even though we couldn't be there but we're wishing him a very happy birthday just a little late and we're hoping the coming year is his best one yet but not nearly as wonderful as the many more to come!  Happy Birthday, Eli !  We love you and we could not be more proud of you!