Happy 19th Birthday, Toukie!

Happy Birthday to the cutest baby boy ever born. :) Just a few days old in this photo, he looked like he was already 2 months old. :) Cheeks--that's all he was, just cheeks. :) He gets those from his father.

And on his first birthday, he was sick as a dog, as he usually was when he was little. We woke him up just long enough to get a bite of birthday cake, which you can see he thoroughly enjoyed:

We almost lost him a couple of times. If something goofy were to be going around, he would get it, that's for sure. He survived pyloric stenosis; a horrible bout with salmonella poisoning, various broken bones, crazy-high fevers...all sorts of stuff that made a 20-year old mom drop to her knees quite often in prayer.

And today he celebrates his 19th birthday. I can't believe it. I've said it a million times, but WHERE does the time go? Here he is all grown up:

He has all those curls cut off for now, but he is so handsome no matter what. :)

Happy Birthday, Toukie Bear. I love you so very much. :)

------
Today Marshall and I worked out in the yard all day long, well, until dark. We raked, mowed, and used the leaf blower. Of course, I'm sure by in the morning you won't be able to tell that we've done a thing. I really like the new rake that Marshall got me. It does not clog, as promised, but it does not rake up as many leaves as I'd like.

When it got too dark to see, I came in and took a very long hot shower. I made us some chili for supper to warm our bones, then cleaned the house. My house is a mess. I'm not going to do any major cleaning on it until next week, right before Thanksgiving. :)

Brookie will be home on Monday! Yay! I can't wait to see her.

Night!