Happy Birthday, John!

Yes, John did in fact turn 2. November 5. Almost 2 weeks ago! I had intended to write a happy birthday post, but something happened. I don't know what exactly... just lots of busy somethings. And here we are! How do all those super-blogging-mommies do it?

We had a fun family birthday celebration. My dad turned 54 on November 1 (yay Dad!), so we had a joint party at our house. Here's John blowing out the candles on their birthday carrot cake. (Perfect for both because Dad is in the construction business, and J0hn yells "TRACTOR!!!!" every time we pass by any large piece of machinery.)

We are so thankful to the Lord for John! His quick smile, funny sense of humor, attention to detail, focused problem-solving skills, ambitious running, love of books, sweet obedience (as he says "ooobeeeeyyyy! obey! obey! obey!"), loud kisses, silly faces, delight in shoes of all sorts, contagious laughter, gentle concern for people's ouchies, and creativity (which includes complimentary designs on walls, floors, doors, tables, books, Bibles, bed comforters, furniture, clothes, computers, and -- the only approved object-- paper!).

Here are a few more of our favorite birthday pictures:

Playing in their new sandbox.

Riding his new Big Wheels.

Our happy birthday boy!

Pucker up, piggy!

Last weekend was Austin College's homecoming. Every year, there's a student organization that does a fund-raiser (during the week of homecoming) where they select several professors that get to "compete" against each other for the privilege of kissing a pig. The winning professor is the one with the most money, deposited in his/her jar by students and other faculty, at the end of the week.

So this year, the winner was Dr. Brad Smucker! I felt pretty confident that he would be the winner (if you consider kissing a pig "winning"!). And he kissed it twice! First he kissed it on the forehead, and they told him that didn't count... he had to kiss it on the snout! Eeeww. He said that a few seconds after kissing the snout, his lips started tingling. Eeeww. Not sure if that was a figment of his imagination, or something real. But just to be safe, I waited a long time until I kissed him again!

Here's a picture that one of the students took and posted on facebook. (I was so far away that my pictures didn't turn out.)

In other news, John has gotten his two-year molars. Ouch!

Coming soon... pictures and updates from John's birthday celebration!