Happy Birthday to Me!

Totally weak to wish yourself happy birthday but I don't think anyone reads my blog besides me so it's ok to wish ME a happy birthday!!

So, self, wasn't September 13th just a wonderful day?

Yes, it was Me, I thought it was so cute that Drew asked your mom to set up a day at the hair salon for you to get your hair done.

I agree, it was so fun to feel pampered all day- how cute that Mom, Faith, Miss & Meg all came to join in the fun. Remember the monsoon outside made it so cozy to be inside just being girly?

I love how your hair turned out, BRAVE of you to try a few foils of hilights for the first time ever!

Yeah, it was fun but you can't even see them so I guess I'll have to be more adventurous next time.

How about the beautician saying I need to come in every 8 weeks or so and Mom said, "Oh, you mean she should probably come in more than ONCE a year?!"

Oh chuckle chuckle. Salon snobs are so last year...

How sweet was it when Drew and the kids celebrated at home with cards and the Red Velvet Cake? He made your favorite. Very cute.

Then wasn't it fun to go out with Mom and Missy shopping and out to eat? Just a girly day beginning to end. What a fun way to greet 34.

What do you think about 34?

Hmmm. Not sure. I think it feels creepy a bit like I'm slipping off the end of the earth. What is 34? It's not really "early 30's" anymore and it's dangerously close to 35 which sounds a heartbeat from 40. Ok, everyone over 40 says how young 34 is but duh, of course they think that. They're looking at it in the rearview mirror.

Then on the other end, college kids think anyone is old who has actually graduated, you go into some black hole if you add kids to your resume. You're like totally not relavent anymore. Remember when I worked in Admissions at SAU not long after graduating I swear the students thought I was like 90 and knitting in a rocking chair for kicks with my husband after work. How strange to feel obsolete so soon.

All that to say I guess we just don't GET what 34 is supposed to mean, huh?

Do you like the 30's more than the 20's self?

Are you kidding me? YES! I thought the 20's were way too much work and drama.

I hear every decade gets better and better.

Me too, we must talk with the same people. I think it's cool that we can be friends with people of all ages now and it's just kind of settled that you're all grown ups at various stages and experiences.

Remember when we used to wonder when people turned "old" and we realized that some people are fuddy-duddy old farts when they're 20 years old, member's only jackets and elastic pants, mommy high waisted jeans and old lady haircuts... they've just always been old.

Well, I think we want to be one of those people who is going to be fun and silly at every age be it 20 or 80.

Good idea- I wanna be the one in the old folks group at church leading Karaoke and get my old trunk of dress up clothes out and make movies with my friends.

34 really does sound young.

Well, enjoy the view, you're only passing through 34 once. Take it all in! I hope it's a good year!

Sweet Girl Turns Siete This Summer

My sweet wonderful sidekick turned 7 this summer and for some reason I didn't do a post to celebrate it. Summer is always so hectic and I'm not the most efficient or consistent blogger so this is to make sure I've documented this little miracle turning SEVEN!


We did celebrate Faith's 7th Birthday but it fell on the last day of school which was NUTS to begin with and we couldn't get the weather to cooperate with our waterpark or drive-in plans so we ended up taking Faith and her friends, Maddie, Meg, Hayden & Ally to our new found Mexican restaraunt in Albion and then to the movie "Kung Fu Panda" at the quaint little Bohm Theatre on the brick streets of Albion. We gave away "Summer Survival" gift bags to the girls with everything from a Barbie hat to toys for the pool.

It is impossible to adequately describe the essence of Faith in words. She has to be experienced one-on-one to understand the depth of her character and the purity of her sweet little heart. I cannot talk about her this way without bawling so I'm going to quickly summarize some of those things which scratch the surface to describe the second mother who lives in our house.

Faith is tender, thoughtful, funny in her own unique way, smart- a math whiz, her quiet nature hides the silly side and we have to work on keeping her worries from taking over control. A few things came from mama- she is creative and loves for us to do crafts or paint together, she is also a pack-rat (something mama unfortunately passed on in the DNA) and if we can't find something that happens to be small, shiny or sparkly around the house, we know to bring out Faith's purse collection and unload them in search of the item she squirreled away. Siete is 7 in Spanish and she LOVES her Mexican food. She likes things spicy, her favorite thing in the universe is "Chips & Salseee" and restaraunt of choice is Los Tres Amigos.

Faith is turning out to be our little athlete. She LOVES basketball and begged us to sign her up for soccer this fall. Our shy baby is the one on the sports field while her outgoing brother would rather watch from the tallest tree. Baby Grace is most likely to be the one running straight across all of the soccer fields holding something in her hand she wasn't supposed to touch and smiling with glee that one of us is running behind her in hot pursuit. What a joy to discover what makes each of them tick. Every mama thinks their babies are the most beautiful in all the land but this little girl was given an extra dose inside and out.

Your birthday was on the last day of school and it's funny that Mama is finally getting around to talking about it on the LAST DAY of summer vacation- tomorrow you'll be a 2nd Grader! Yikes!

Mama loves you Faith and I look forward to growing in our friendship and watching you unfold into the beautiful woman that the Lord created you to be.

I'm Brian Fellow

One of my favorite SNL characters.