35

Yesterday I turned 35! I can't even believe it. It feels like I am talking about somebody else, but no, I am actually 35. Wow.

My mom talked about our births all the time. Because of this, I know that the night before I was born there was lots of thunder and lightning. I know the heat was almost unbearable, and we had no AC in our house. I know that I was born at 12:14 pm weighing 6 pounds 12 ounces (the biggest baby in the family!) My mom always said she missed her lunch that day. In my great grandma's words, I looked like an "Indian baby" with lots of black hair and red skin. I know that just a couple of days after I was born, my mom suffered the devastating loss of losing her brother in a car accident. My dad always tells me that my birth saved my mama and helped her to heal. I know that my blessing dress was purchased with money that was found in my uncle's wallet. I was a good baby (naturally!) and slept through the night from the beginning.

I'm glad I know these details about my birth. My mom always made our birthdays special and fun. The celebrations were simple but heartfelt. I can picture her up early in our brown and yellow kitchen making cupcakes. Since I was born in the "dog days" of August, my birthday often including swimming, trips to the zoo, barbecues on the patio, ice cream cakes from Baskin Robbins, family vacations and other summer things. Once I spent my b-day at church girls camp which was really fun.

It's hard to believe I've celebrated 35 birthdays. This morning, Tod woke me up early to enjoy a breakfast he had prepared- we got to eat in peace before the rest of the house got up. He also took the day off work, and even though we had nothing special planned, it was so nice just to spend time together. We had gone out to dinner the night before knowing that he and Ashton had a church event on my actual birthday. It actually worked out because me and my other 3 enjoyed a simple hot dog feast! (Tod and Ashton despise hot dogs, while the rest of us enjoy them- strange, I know, especially since I don't really like meat in general!) It was a perfect day...filled with things that my life is full of right now...piano lessons, sports camp, a quick work out at the gym, back to school shopping, making banners, cooking meals, laundry...etc. It was fun to receive some emails, cards and phone calls from friends and family too. A perfect birthday...and oh yes, 35 is looking good!



(I have to share a quick story behind this last picture. My kids had gone over to one of my best friend's houses and for some reason they were discussing me...my "too kind" friend said something to Ashton along the lines of "your mom is so good, I bet there isn't anything that she can't do." To which Ashton replied, "Well, let me think about that and get back to you"- very typical Ashton. A while later Ashton reported to my friend that she didn't think I could hold all 4 of my kids at the same time. Of course, when she told me this story, I had to try just to see if I could. Here are the results...and I can hold all of them, if only for a split second! I'm glad that at least for now, that is the only thing that Ashton thinks I can't do...let's check back with her in a couple of years!)