Dad's Birthday!

     Yesterday was Dad's 42nd birthday! He's not the type of guy that enjoys large parties, so we invited some close friends and his parents over to eat chili (that he made) and pecan pies (that Emma made). It was yummy. 

Almost every year, Dad either gets a pumpkin pie or pecan pie for his "cake." 

Kate made him a really cute card that we all signed. 

Jonah is at the age where he reaches for other people's food, and if you don't give it to him he cries. Luckily, he's still adorable so we love him. 

Ally's been taking an art class at the high school, and they were assigned to make a portrait of a celebrity. So she decided to make a portrait of Dad's favorite president, Ronald Reagan, for his birthday present. 

 It is amazing. I mean, AMAZING. Worthy of being both capitalized and italicized. So that's pretty amazing. 

After opening presents, Annelise Gardner and I did a little concert for my Grandma. We've been working on a couple songs together for fun. Carol and Jasmine, the Gardner's college friend, wanted to sing too, so we started singing Gravity in 4 part harmony with Annelise on the piano. It was so much fun! We had to stop after a while because Jonah had to go to sleep, but it was awesome while it lasted. 

Quickly, I want to share something that happened about 30 minutes ago. Mom, Landon, and I were talking about how tall he is getting. I'm estimating that he will be as tall as I am within a year and a half. I am so not ready for that! 

Anyway, Mom challenged Landon and me to race down to the mailbox and back. I declined. There's no way I'm going to lose a race to my little bro. Not yet. I have my dignity. 

So, Mom said she'd race him herself. She was super confident she could take him... 

She started off well. 

Here we are waiting for them to get back to the finish line. 

My hair got all up in their faces. Not the best picture. 

Landon beat Mom by a TON. He even took a little break at the mailbox before heading back. Oh, and Mom even tried to cheat by grabbing him and holding on. 

Do you see those two tiny, white specks in the left top corner? Yeah. The front speck is Mom. Losing. 

When she finally crossed the finish line, all she could say was that she forgot what a long way that was.  Now she has to live knowing that her son can finally beat her at something! It's ok though. She had a really good attitude about it. She loves to win, but she's also really good at losing, which is a great trait!  Lots of people aren't good at losing. 

Good job, Landon!