More Birthdays

Jason has finally entered his third decade. I thought he would never catch up to me, but it feels like he has!

And so we celebrated!

Swimming with the girls in morning.

Lunch date just the two of us (and we even remembered to take a picture).

Pizza and arcades in the evening.

Thirty gifts from the girls and I to celebrate every year Jason has been alive.

And then of course, German Chocolate Cake.

Happy Birthday Jason! We love you!!!

Look Who's Two!

Victoria turned two last week and boy did we celebrate! We took the girls out to eat for breakfast (something we do about once a year, and then we remember why we only do it once a year), then to swimming lessons.

When we got back Antalya helped her open her gifts just like a big sister should. Jason spent the two nights prior to her birthday repairing, sanding, and repainting a baby cradle that was my mom's when she was little. It had been broken for years and was on it's way to the trash pile when I rescued it and volunteered Jason to bring it back to life. Victoria loves it!

That night we had a birthday celebration at the park with many of Victoria's cousins. Victoria was heartbroken when the party ended!

Victoria at age two...

• never stops moving (I don't know where this girl gets her energy)
• constantly has bruises everywhere (just tonight, while I was in the next room, jumped from the desk to the bed in one giant leap which sent her flying across the bed smacking her forehead so hard against the wall it left a dent in the wall)
• loves to make up games to play with Antalya
• goes absolutely crazy for anything sweet - her favorite being marshmallows
• hates when I leave the room
• likes to do everything herself
• loves babies and all animals to the point of going a bit crazy whenever she sees one
• loves to laugh and scream (usually at the same time)
• adds so much fun and craziness to our family!

Thirty-One

You'd think turning 30 would've been the big one, but not so. Last year, my thirtieth birthday came and when in a blur of sick girls, jet lag, Christmas preparations, a family reunion, and my in-laws 50th wedding anniversary. It's easy to see how it just got overlooked, and I never bothered to spend much time thinking about the fact that I was entering a new decade of life. I felt like I could still hang onto the twenties for one more year.

But this one I saw coming! Turning 31 seemed to scream "grown up" all over it. The kind of "grown up" that means I know what I want from life, I know who I am, I take responsibility for my choices and willing accept the consequences, I stand up for what I believe, and fight for things I think are right. The kind of "grown up" that means I am no longer defined by what year of life I am in, or what year I graduated, or what I studied in college.

I guess in a way, for me, turning 31 is kind of like being handed a clean slate. The mistakes and follies of my teens and twenties are long gone, and my focus is now on the future- making my mark in the world, raising my children, strengthening relationships with loved ones, and building a life worthy of being remembered by my posterity.

Am I over-analyzing the growing old bit? Probably. But all the same, this year I feel different. I feel more confident, more sure of where I have come from, and where I am going. I hear my future calling and I am ready to take it on!

So, here's to being Thirty-Something!