Happy Birthday!

Andrew and my daddy share a birthday, and it is one of my favorite days of the year! My aunt taught me cake decorating basics just before Lauren's first birthday, and I have enjoyed making lots of their birthday cakes over the years! This year, I had a very special helper ~ he was so excited about his Spiderman cake! It turned out to be one of my favorites!

I bought this metal plaque from a street vendor in Central Park in New York City. He loves it far more than I ever dreamed he would!

Andrew was most excited about opening his presents, so after lunch, we did just that! He had so much fun!

He looks so big to me in these pictures! He is growing way too fast for me!

I love, love, love this picture ~ for so many reasons!

Mama and Daddy bought Andrew a game called Headbanz ~ the Disney version. He absolutely loves it! Lauren and Jonathan, along with lots of their friends, have also enjoyed playing it! It was the perfect gift!

Tammy bought Daddy a book about Haywood County ~ I think he is really going to enjoy looking through it! I'm sure he will know/remember lots of things since he has always lived there! It is a really neat book! 

After playing his new game for a while, Andrew decided he was ready for cake and candles. Since going through an extremely tough round of radiation/chemotherapy treatments for throat cancer, Daddy's tastes have changed. His favorite cake has always been Devil's Food with Mama's homemade chocolate icing. Chocolate tastes bitter to him now, but peanut butter cookies taste pretty good. His sweet Lauren made a special batch, just for him. We wanted him to have a 'cake' and candles, too ~ it's just not a birthday without them!

These pictures just melt my heart! I love these two so very much!!

 Grandpa with both of his boys! Grayson was super excited for Andrew! 

Something funny I want to remember ~ a couple of weeks before his birthday, Andrew told me that he didn't want Grayson to come to his party. I told him that wasn't nice ~ that Grayson loved him and they always have fun together. He said, "I don't want Grayson to come, for him is not sticking his finger in my cake!" That just cracked me up! Once Grayson arrived, Andrew asked me several times if I had asked Grayson not to stick his finger in his cake! I didn't, but Grayson was super sweet, and he didn't put his finger in the cake!

 Such a sweet face ~ still so hard to believe we've celebrated his 4th birthday!

 These two love each other so much ~ it is fun watching them grow up together!

It was such a special day! Last year, we had no idea what Daddy would be facing a few short months after his birthday. He had an extremely difficult summer, but by God's Healing hand, he is cancer free right now, and he is improving every single week! I feel like we have been given an incredible gift ~ we are so blessed ~ and I try to cherish every moment God grants me with friends and family! God is so incredibly good!!!

Happy 4th Birthday, Andrew!

Happy 62nd Birthday, Daddy!
It is my prayer that we will be blessed with many more shared birthday celebrations! I love you both more than you could ever imagine!!!