Happy Birthday Sam!

Yesterday was Sam's birthday. I forgot to get him a card, so I will record here what I wanted him to know about how happy I am to spend my life with him. There are lots of things I love about Sam---too many to list here, but since this is a record of things I don't want to forget here are some more random reasons that I love him at this moment in life.

1. He can find just about anything. We often joke about it being his "super power". When something is lost around the house, whether it be a shoe or my wedding ring (it happens way too often), Sam is always the one that finds it. He's so confident in his finding abilities in fact that when I say "I can't find the ___" he will sometimes say, "Do you want me to find it in less than 5 minutes?" And amazingly enough he usually does.

2. I love to listen to him sing Ruby to sleep over the baby monitor. Sam has been so good about singing our babies to sleep. He is much more patient with that activity than I think I would be. I am amazed sometimes by how long he will try. That is probably one of the reasons he knows so many song lyrics----the real ones, not the ones I sing most of the time.

3. He's trying to use a day planner. Sam has an amazing memory....for certain things, but no one can remember everything they have to do all of the time without writing it down once in a while. I've been trying to convince Sam of this for years and he is now finally giving it a try. I know he's not completely sold on the idea of a planner since we often call it his "paper weight" but I love that he is willing to try just for me.

4. He is willing to watch chick flicks and old movies with me. When we rent a movie he usually lets me pick. This is especially nice considering I can't remember the last time I made it though a whole movie without falling asleep.

5. He works hard. The other day Sam needed to get the lawn mowed before other things on our agenda for the day, but we were crunched for time. I couldn't help but laugh when I looked outside and saw him nearly sprinting across the lawn running the mower back and forth. I tried to get a picture, but video is what I really needed.

6. He's supportive of the things I try to do. I don't know if there is ever a project I get involved in that he doesn't end up helping me out with. Most recently he helped me finish up Ruby's crib bumper which had stayed unfinished for way too long. He cut out all the strips of material I needed to do the ties and as he said himself, "They were perfect!"

7. He loves his family. I know this is very general, but the list wouldn't be complete without it. From the moment he arrives at home from a long hot commute in his 'sauna car' he jumps right in to help me or play with the kids.

8. He loves to make BIG dreams and plans. Unfortunately he doesn't share my same affinity for making a plan for the day or week or monthly budget, but he does LOVE to dream and talk about more outrageous things like what our dream house would be like--emphasis on the DREAM. Last time we spoke of the dream house it included a basketball gymnasium, an indoor racquetball court with a glass wall through which the pool can be seen, and secret passageways.

9. He will do "embarrassing returns" (i.e. returning almost everything on the receipt, or return an item we've had for too long, etc.--he wants to create a family crest with "No sale is ever final" on it in latin) and he will do "super coupon deals" for me ( e.g. going to 3 grocery stores late one night for me so we could get 24 boxes of cereal and 4 movie passes for $20). He was actually really excited about the cereal thing--less excited about the returns.

10. I know it will drive him crazy if I stop at 9 and not 10 (I guess years of watching Monk have had an effect on him) so I will add one more. I love that he loves to have fun for the sake of having fun. Sam often seems like a big kid to me. I know our kids enjoy it, but I too love that because of him we have a lot more fun in our family. This last reason leads perfectly into a quick recap of Sam's birthday celebration.

Yesterday was a scorching hot day so as soon as Sam arrived home from work we ambushed him with water guns and then continued our war in the backyard. It was amazingly refreshing on a 90+ degree day. I don't have many pictures since you can't shoot water guns and pictures at the same time.

Max didn't quite get the concept of a water gun fight at first and was not happy when people squirted him.

After our water gun fight we set up a slip and slide, which was fun but not quite what I remember it being like as a kid. The ground was much harder, the slide was much shorter, and I am not as slippery as I used to be. Even so we had a great time.





After our water activities we had a dinner of Lasagna, watermelon and some truly awful bread (3x the yeast=gross). At least we didn't mess dessert up. Sam requested brownies from a box with ice cream. Sam got the brownies and Ruby got the box.


Happy Birthday Sam! I love you and hope your 32nd year is your best yet.