the birthdays...

I love the way it feels when my birthday is approaching... that sense of excitement that grows inside when you know something good is just around the bend. After all these forty-something birthdays you'd think it would get old. But for me... it never does. Maybe it is the joy and flurry of December strung around the days until my birthday that makes me smile, or perhaps it is that I still have not quite grown up. I love my birthday and the gathering of family and friends that make me me.

Of course, just ten days later, I have the joy of celebrating this fantastic young man and his love of adventure!  Twenty-two seems almost impossible, and yet he has really filled those years with some fantastic experiences, with a couple more just on his horizon.

ice cream cake with twenty-two candles, and his 2nd favorite penguin wrapping paper

And if it was not enough for my baby to be turning twenty-two... our beautiful girl celebrated twenty-five just two weeks later. I was so thankful to celebrate with her this year! She enjoyed her quiet day off doing something she loves - reading two books in her hammock - and we sang to her over a delicious birthday cheesecake. Twenty-five... and a whole new adventure ahead of her. I truly hope this is her very best year yet!

brownie turtle cheesecake, polar bear plates, and her traditional birthday wrapping paper

The morning after Laura's birthday, Eric said to me Finally! A clear path to my {July} birthday! I laughed loudly,,, and figure that he and I are indeed a perfect pair.