happy birthday husband father

I have to say happy birthday to Richard today. I'm glad he has no problem with me telling you that he's 39 today! That's one of the many things I love about him - he's not vain and he thinks getting old is cool. There's a lot more I love about him but I'll just list a couple:

 2.  Even thought he is pretty old, he still does fun stuff like this with his kids. And lots of other super fun stuff, like taking them fishing, working on their bikes, taking them to the park to fly kites, taking the boys on errands with him even though he'd get everything done more efficiently without them, playing in the sprinkler and pool with them, reading and watching movies, and of course lots of wrestling.

 

3.  He loves his girls. He loves to be silly and sweet with them.

 4. He loves me a lot. He still likes to be with me best, even after 7.5 years of marriage. He still thinks I'm beautiful, even after 4 babies/20 extra pounds/some gray hair/all the other *wonderful* changes that come between the ages of 24 and 31. He likes my cooking, he appreciates the work I do, he supports me in my mothering. He's totally, 100% committed to me, which I sometimes find pretty amazing.

4. He's pretty darn sexy.

5. He loves Jesus more than anything. That's really the best thing I can say about him and the basis for all the other good things.

6. He is an amazing provider and protector for our family. I know no matter what happens, he'll take care of us and he'll never leave us.

7. He's insanely funny and we totally get each other's humor and he makes me laugh all the time. I asked him what it's like to be so funny and he said it's a gift and a burden. See what I mean?

8. He knows how to fix pretty much anything, and what to do about any problem, and he's really handy. That's a pretty good feature in a guy.

9. When one of our kids does or says something super funny, he always glances and me so we can share a look that says, "these kids are insanely cute and amazing and we made them together and I'm so glad this is our life."

10. He changes diapers, even the most offensively foul poopy ones. No problem.

11. He's cool, without trying to be.