birthday celebra-shee-own

my birthday celebration seemed to last a while this year. on my real bday, we had just come home from my dad's race so we were whipped and the house was a disaster. but i decided that since it was my birthday i wasn't about to do anything. :~) nathan went to work....so i thought.... he came back a few minutes after he left with my favorite brefix-- a swiss melt and a diet coke. love it! and i can't remember the last time i had it. what a perfect treat. that day i got an applebees gift card from nathan's parents so we had dinner on them.... perfectly delightful! i got tons of text messages so i felt super cool and popular (yeah, i said it. and yeah, i'm 27.... so what? i can't feel super cool and popular??)

then this weekend my mom and dad had a bday party for me and nic. our birthdays are only 2 days apart, so we've always had our parties together. it's pretty cool to always have your party with your sister, and it cuts down on your yearly cake intake. i'd say that's a win win. believe it or not my sister and my gramma have the exact same bday so the three of us always share our party with the big fam too. but in that case, we all get our own cakes so that kind of shoots my previous cake statement down, huh? no matter. this year was a fun week of celebrations.

we went over a little early for dinner at my parents and they had the kiddie pool set up and the sprinkler going. connor jumped right in... he loves water. he played in there until it was time for dinner. then after dinner he wanted to go back in with ava. he didn't have any more swim diapers, so i tried to keep him out..... what a waste of energy. everyone was rooting for him to get in, so i caved. he dumped a huge bucket of water right down the front of him and then had a ball with av. it was great.

we came in for cake and connor impressed me yet again. he knows the words to "happy birthday"... he used to just know the 'cha cha CHA' part, but he was really singing this time. i taped when we were singing to aunt nic.

the family party was great.... it was loud, crazy, and opinionated. the white noise seems to help me digest; don't ask how, it just does. connor is getting used to it too. what choice does he have? after dinner connor was trying desperately to have any of the guys come build blocks with him. he sucked daniel into it, so i snapped a quick picture. not so much that it was cute and connor was playing with the big boys, but more b/c daniel actually caved in and went to build with ace. that was a pretty amazing sight. usually the big boys don't leave the couch if they're watching sports.

alright, pictures for the reading impaired.

oh, yeah, did i mention i got a haircut from this really cool chica?

she did a pretty good job, huh? but i am a wicked good model. haha!

uh..... could someone please put some warmish water in here?? ..... oh, wait.... nevermind!

i think i can.... i think i can....

it's all in the hips

"i seeeeee you, mommy!"
honestly, that's what he was saying.

my pretty flower that connor got for me with bb

moments later it was chucked in the river. spaz ball.

wow! connor you were right! this water is wicked warm!

splish splash

this is a mallard duck's nest that was in my mom's flowers. they pretty much waited and waited for the eggs to hatch so they could see the ducklings. the stupid things hatched while we were at the canoe race and this was all that was left. half a summer of staying out of the backyard and this is all we get. oh, well. it's still pretty cool. we could barely see her sitting on the nest if you pressed your face against the window just right. there are smudges all over... shh.... don't tell my mom.


by the time i got the camera he had dragged austin and hope in too. it was too cute.