9 Years Old

Our nephew, Hunter, turns nine years old today.

I've introduced Hunter to you before.  Hunter's Dad married my sister Valerie (#3), and is also my husband's first cousin.  What I didn't mention to you about Hunter before is that he has an older brother, Jeremiah... who is almost 28 years old!! Jeremiah has two small children.  When Jeremiah's oldest was born, Hunter became an uncle ... and he was only 8 months old.  Valerie gave birth and became a grandma in the same year!   Hunter's family sure spices up our family tree!

Hunter is Jack's only child.  Jack was 42 when Hunter came along and Valerie was 38!!  Hunter was a complete surprise, so it has done our hearts good to be able to see Jack with a son of his own.  Especially since Hunter is a Wallace, through and through.  Dave says that picture above looks JUST like Jack when he was young.

He reminds me SO much of my second-born, Tyler.  Those two are so much alike it's just scary.  Val and I spend a lot of time comparing notes.  I tell her all the time that she's hoeing the same row I hoed for years!!  (There's more to come, Val!)

Ever since Hunter was born, he and I have had a special bond.  When he was a baby, I used to leave a message on their answering machine, "Hunter, I love you!"  He loved to push the play button and play it over and over.  

I love to hear him tell about when he shot his first deer with his Dad.  He says his Dad cried.  He asked him why he was crying... and his Dad said "I'm just so happy!"  (Hunter loves to tell that.)

The other day, he came in the gym with his Mom and was carrying a book called, "The Dangerous Book for Boys".  He and I leafed through it for awhile and talked about the contents.  I told him that he and his Dad needed to build a tree house like the one in the book.  He said, "Yeah, that's what I want so we can hunt from it."  Spoken like a true Wallace male.  I think his Dad may have started crying again if he'd been there to hear that!

Happy 9th Birthday, Hunter! 

We hope it's a great day.