Happy Birthday, Jungle Stud

Today is Lee's Birthday. He is 36 which really weirds me out because I remember when he turned 18 and he thought he was really hot stuff. Well, guess what? You're really old now! HAHA! JK babe!

(BTW, the above picture is our youngest shortly after birth)

In honor of turning 36, I decided to list 36 things about Lee. 36? Yes, 36. Can it be done? I don't know, but I will try. Probably only our family willlast trhough reading them all but here it goes. This is dedicated to the one I love...

1. Lee loves corn nuts and Twizzlers.

2. He loves soda. Dr Pepper, Mt Dew. Once in Mexico we got rear-ended and I was so mad his Dr Pepper splashed all over the dash. And once we borrowed my mom's car and it started on fire and he threw DR Pepper into the vent to put it out.

3. He's a great soldier and loves helping other soldiers.

4. He is an Eagle Scout and loves scouting and camping.

5. He loves road trips and traveling and is a super packer. I think he got that from his dad who is also very good at that.

6. He likes to drive and would drive all night on road trips while I got to sleep. I am grateful for that.

7. He is very good at cleaning and can come in a room and whip it into shape very quickly, where I get overwhelmed. He is also great at motivating the kids to clean where I find myself yelling alot.
8. He loves dumb movies like Blazing Saddles and Dumb and Dumber. Ok, Blazing Saddles has some funny stuff, I guess, but he loves potty humor and has the funniest laugh-out-loud-laugh when he likes stuff.

9. He is good at cleaning but not at folding laundry and often will sweep and not pick up the dirt pile. Drives me nuts. But at least he runs the laundry and tries sweeping. I mean, he can't be PERFECT, right?

(Wow! Only a quarter done?!)

10. Lee was born in Hawaii in the same hospital as our 2 little ones. We all think that is pretty cool.

11. I think being married to me got him more into cool shoes. For a man, he has a lot of shoes. It doesn't come near my collection, however.

12. He is great in the yard and I know it comes from his family. Genes or environment, I don't know. I hope we will have a big yard some day and he can have had it. He can make it look really nice and has the physical strength and ambition. I want it to look pretty but don't want to do the work.

13. Grass. It goes with the last one, but he really likes grass and mowing and growing the grass and remembers to water the grass and trim the edges. Needless to say, the backyard is really scary usually when he is gone.

(This is us at a ball when I was cute and skinny. I love my dress.)
14. Lee had PRK surgery on his eyes a few days after our youngest was born. I am jealous because his eyes weren't as bad as mine. He has said all I have to do is say the word and he will get my eyes done no matter the cost because he loves it so much. Some people may not even remember he used to wear glasses. He said he has forgotten most of the time. (if I felt we could afford it, I would do it in heartbeat,too. His was free.)

15. He is a career soldier. Yep he is in for good. That's ok. Just please no more deployments.

16. Lee is very picky about mashed potatoes. He loves real potatoes and I miss making them for him.

17. He can fix things. Is it a guy thing? Not really, because not all guys can do this. We bought a car from a friend with no A/C and he figured all it needed was that can to recharge it, Yep. And he figured out how to change oil and tires and all this stuff. Any mechanics or associates of mechanics will probably say "so? Those are not hard things." But it really impresses me.

18. Along with the car, he can fix stuff around the house. He likes to take apart the vacuum and stuff like that to make it work. He loves to figure things out and do home improvement stuff.

19. We are both the middle child of 5 children. And we are both the shortest in our family. I really enjoy that he is short and still he has a good 4 inches on me. I think he is the perfect height.

20. Along with fixing and hard working, he is a great helper at kids parties. When Charlotte had a Clifford party when she turned 3, he found these huge boxes and made them into dog houses for the kids at the party. And when Amelia turned 6 and we had an under water party he hung fishing line and saran wrap. (the dog houses were his idea, and the underwater was mine, but he did all the work I asked because he knew the kids would love it. They sure did)

21. Over the years, we have had our favorite shows we watch together: X-files, Lois and Clark, Iron Chef, Yan Can Cook, Law and Order, The Pretender, American Idol...Those are the ones that stand out right now. I couldn't watch X-Files by myself when he went to Basic Training and I don't watch Law and Order without him now. It is kind of sad and it freaks me out.

22. He loves my family and doesn't talk bad about them. This isn't true for a lot of couples so I am really grateful.

23. He has a great family and we love seeing them. They have taught him alot and so many things I love about him I can see came directly from his parents.

23. Lee is a great labor couch and I would recommend him if you need a doula. (He will think that's funny) Seriously, he is so patient during labor and birth and I am blessed he has been there for every one. Having him there helps me to be calm. I think I have begged every time "Lee! Help Me!" when I wanted to die and he has never left my side or complained during it. He will tell me later "I was really uncomfortable perched on the edge of the bed for 2 hours with you leaning on me." But during he is such a rock of strength to me.

24. I am glad he was willing, but I didn't like how he would try to give me insulin injections during pregnancy. I would need to give my belly and legs a a break and he would inject my hip or arm. Um, Ouch and scary! He liked to tease and act like it was a dart he was aiming. Yeah, he's a funny guy.

25. When the babies were really little he would get up with them in the night to feed them if I pumped milk. If the baby was in the same room, I would wake up easily at the cry and just nurse them anyway so it didn't matter if he woke up. So with Lydia (for only 2 months because he left to Afghanistan) and Henry he would take the baby downstairs to sleep so I could rest and he would feed them through the night. I needed more sleep with the last 2 and he made sure I got it.

26. He is crazy about his kids and we love to laugh and talk about them. I could write a million things he does with and for the kids. He wants them to be happy. Sometimes he is a pushover with them, but he wants to teach them and guide them. They all love him so much.

27. He was a really cute little boy with his dimples and dark hair. I always thought if we had a boy I just hoped he would look like Lee because he was a really sweet looking boy. Well, we have one who looks like him and the older he gets the more he looks and reminds me of his dad. It is really cool.

(Isn't that fat faced baby cute?)

28. Lee loves food and loves to try new things. He hates sushi though. But he loves my cooking. He used to not eat leftovers though and it bugged me. He will now though.

29. He is not as into sweets as I am and I can out-eat him anyday. He loves to have snacks when he is watching TV.

30. TV? Lee loves to watch TV. And he can't do anything while he is wacthing TV (go back to the folding laundry thing. It is too much for him to do something while he is watching TV.) He is getting better though.

31. He has permed his hair. A few times. Don't laugh, it was the late 80's and early 90's when he did that and he is such a babe, that he is the only permed guy I have ever been into. (but I am glad he is over that. I like his short hair)

32. He loves Belgium and wants to move back there and talks about it alot. I have no problem with it though and woudl love to go there, too.

33.He has a special patience with children and has been a Primary teacher over and over at church during the years. He is great with our kids and anybody's kids and puts up with more than I do. He will watch our kids and a friend's kid so we can have a girl's time out and I will come back to a clean house and everyone fed and happy. I would be ripping my hair out.

34. He loves to get free stuff and good deals. He cracks me up how excited he gets over this kind of thing.

35. He loves Hawaii as much as I do and hasn't been able to be here as much as I have. He loves the beach more than I do and it is sad he can't be home to enjoy it.

36. Lee loves me. He is a great husband but not perfect. But I know he loves me and I can never question that. He makes me feel his top priority is to make me happy. And he does.

Happy Birthday, my Jungle Stud, from Your Amazon Temptress