Happy Birthday Brent!

Happy Birthday Brent!! My sweetie turned 32 years old today. Wow, I can hardly believe I'm married to such an old guy! Brent was 22 when we started dating, and I still think we feel about that old inside. I think that's the sad thing about getting older. You never feel any different on the inside, but suddenly you look in the mirror one day and wonder, "Who's that old person!" Anyway, Brent has gotten to celebrate his birthday this year the way I prefer to celebrate mine--in the extended version! We went on Friday night to Elizabethtown to meet up with Brent's parents for dinner and presents. He chose a rib joint that we used to love, but it must be under new management and not so good anymore. We enjoyed seeing Chuck and Sherran, and Maura loved playing with her Nan and Poppa.


Nan and Poppa brought her a puzzle, which she loves. She's really gotten in to puzzles lately, and we're amazed by how well she's matching things. She had a great visit with her grandparents, and even got to stay out till 10:30 at night--that's even late for us!



Today, Wednesday the 19th, is Brent's actual birthday. He worked for the Army today, which was nice because that meant he got to come home for lunch and get home from work at a reasonable time. He was home at 4:30, which is a real treat for us, because we're not used to seeing him before 7:00. Maura loves playing with him. Here she's playing Dunk the Dolly. I don't know where she came up with this game, but that dolly gets dunked several hundred times a day. Only that dolly too. She must look particularly athletic!



I made Brent some guacamole when he got home and here's my guacamole girl! Notice the green mustache. She's not too picky--yet.



Maura helped Daddy open his presents. Of course he couldn't possibly do this on his own, so she offered LOTS of assistance. Once the present was opened, however, she was no longer interested and left.

Brent with his LMM. That stands for Little Metal Man. Brent has collected toy soldiers ever since he was a really little boy. As he's gotten older, they've become more sophisticated and therefore way more expensive. He usually gets one for his birthday and one for his Christmas present every year. He now has a great collection of Civil War era soldiers and we have a full scale war set up in our display case!

Bedtime for Maura. Brent puts Maura to bed every weeknight because he wants the extra time to spend with him. Bedtime is so much fun, because she's so into her books right now. She picks out the one she wants and won't listen to one she didn't pick out. Brent really enjoys the snuggle time because she doesn't really snuggle any other time. "Nite-Nite Maura."