five

Today Luke turns five and, as I shared in yesterday's post, it also is our 10th wedding anniversary.

Dave hoped we'd have a baby on our anniversary and God worked out the details to honor his prayer. My two favorite memories of Luke's arrival are this picture (see how he held onto the side of the baby warmer :) )...

  ...and Reese's expression when he was brought to the hospital to meet his little brother.

Not impressed.


Five years later and Reese has warmed up to the little guy.

He was so excited to buy Luke's birthday gift this past weekend - a Star Wars Lego kit. So excited in fact that I suspect he might have "hinted" as to where he, Reese, had hidden it. After all, what soon-to-be five year old boy goes near an over-brimming laundry basket unprompted?

Though the cat was out of the bag, Dave and I figured we could at least keep the standard of waiting until Luke's actual birthday before opening the box.

Not so much.

At 10:30 Saturday evening and well past his bedtime, Reese padded downstairs where Dave was working.

"Dad, we have a problem?"

"What is it, son?" asks Dave, thinking the boys had been asleep for more than an hour.

"It's upstairs."

Dave obligingly goes upstairs only to find the lights still on and Lego, new Star Wars Lego, neatly arranged in piles on the carpet. Reese rapidly begins explaining,

"See, we put this flyer together and started on this ship, but we can't figure out the next step. Can you help us?"

Seeing Luke's rather glazed eyes, Dave thought it best to put the Lego-problem on hold until the morning. Tucking them in bed, he turned out the lights and headed back downstairs. Peace had settled over the house.

Trex impersonation

Until five minutes later when Reese again appeared downstairs.

"High five for getting that far, right, Dad? And can we get up early tomorrow morning to finish putting it together as a surprise for Luke?"

Yes, Reese. High five.

And happy birthday, Luke! You can now officially play with the Star Wars Lego...except we might have to hunt up the pieces because, you know, they've unofficially been played with already. ;)