Today we celebrate Dana and count our blessings for having him in our lives.

44 reasons to be thankful for Dana as we celebrate his birthday….

1. He’s a great dad
2. Anna Grace lights up every time she sees him
3. He’s a good provider
4. His faith
5. He’s a total goofball
6. He tries not to laugh at my geographical impairment
7. He has his own vocabulary….
      i.e.  "put on gas" = filling up the car with gas. 
              "hot dish" = a casserole.
              "spendy" = expensive    
              "pudder" = frog
              "ufdah" = oh my
8. He keeps a full supply of diet coke on hand at all times.
9. He has interesting interests (robots, panelized(?) housing, etc)
10. He’s gettin’ the hang of this marriage thing
11. He does what he thinks is right… even if that involves voting for Ralph Nader
12. He’s very even tempered
13. He helps with housework and he puts the laundry away.
14. He puts the dishes away too.
15. He puts up with me
16. He buys me knitting stuff for gifts
17. He’s fascinated with tree houses
18. He drives me to knitting stores when we’re on vacation
19. He even does "tombstone tourist" things with me
20. He introduced me to Wallace and Grommit
21. and Pixar too
22. He tries to be a little bit flexible with his picky eating
23. He comes home as much as he can
24. He loves the cats as much as I do
25. He pretends to like things (that I know he doesn’t) just because I like them
26. He’s not much of a complainer
27. He used to get up in the night and do AG’s feedings (I’m an insomniac.  When he got up he went right back to sleep and never remembered that he’d ever been up).
28. He always helps with Anna Grace
29. He does a great job of being a big kid and playing with Anna Grace
30. He’ll run to the 7-11 to get me a candy bar regardless of what time of night it is.
31. He always sat with me while I suffered with morning sickness (although one time he actually critiqued the way that I "threw up")
32. He thinks I’m smart
33. He supported me in going to grad school
34. He sticks with me on parenting decisions
35. He’s such a farm boy
36. He kills spiders
37. and chases racoons out of the kitchen
38. He warms up my cold feet
39. He often brings me breakfast in bed
40. He tries not to snore
41. and he tries not to grumble too much about the thermostat
42. He’s pretty good at fixing things
43. He designs and builds great furniture/mantels/shelving units, etc
44. He’s pretty cute and I love him!

Happy Birthday, Dana