Happy Birthday, Son!

While the goodies and gifts were gathered...



...the guest of honor was resting up for his big event.



After Jeremy woke up and greeted his "people" (about 25 family and friends), he knew exactly what to do with his cake and ice cream. Alas, it is probably the only time that smearing his food around will elicit such happy approval from the adults in his life.



After all the gifts were opened and guests thanked, the assembly of the police car took center stage. Uncle Ross (legs sticking out horizontally below at right) checked under the hood, Cousin Lindsey supervised the detailing, while Jeremy familiarized himself with the console.



Once the vehicle passed quality assurance, Jeremy hopped in with a little help.



Officer Ross provided the fuel for Jeremy's first patrol!



Jeremy loved his party. Because not all of his family members and friends spend as much time on the Internet as Mama Hawk, I printed out the entire blog, dating back to when we first learned about Jeremy back on February 16, 2005. I processed the pages on archival paper and collated them in a nice album. The process took me about a week of late nights, mostly because I reread each and every entry, and sobbed and laughed all the way along memory lane. Having the album at the party allowed everyone who loves him to hop and skip down memory lane, too. Much laughter and sweet murmuring was heard in that part of the dining room. In addition to saving the blog pages on CD, the album hopefully will be a special keepsake for Jeremy. He might appreciate it when he is 32.

Happy Birthday, Jeremy Paul. You are one year old!