Fall Birthdays

Should I be including some of these things from Sep/Oct in The Great Catch Up? It's getting kind of ridiculous (the back up) but I'm torn between making this blog a complete photographic family history blog, or a random ramblings blog like my last two posts (noticeably picture-less). I'd like to do both, but I just don't think I have that kind of time. Waaaah! 


My 40th birthday was one of the best I've ever had. It wasn't so much what happened, but how I felt.

I started out my day with a bike ride. (And let me tell you how much fun I have going on my bike rides in my regular exercise clothes or even just every day clothes on a bike I bought with the intent of toodling along the beach in California. Every time I'm out there I come across at least five or six serious cyclists on their road bikes in their spandex and sponsor shirt, and they give me this look like what the heck are you doing out here in/on that and I just smile and give them a look that like just having fun and feeling the wind in my hair.) I rode to a small, lovely cemetery not too far from our house. (I like cemeteries. I think they are beautiful and peaceful. Is that weird?) I didn't really intend to go there for any other reason than it was the right distance for the right amount of time I had, but once I was there I started thinking. Thinking about how everyone gets just one shot at this life, how we never know when it's going to come to an end, and how I want to live mine to the fullest.

Brandon's Thursdays can be flexible at times, so he got the morning off and we went to lunch together. Afterward, we tried to get a pedi/mani together at a cheap walk-in place (I had to talk him into that one), but they were actually full. I didn't want to be late for my scheduled hair appointment, so I left him to enjoy an afternoon at Amara Day Spa all by my little self. (These are the people that are going to fix my eyebrows this Thursday! Big day.) Just when I thought life couldn't get any better, there was a RAINBOW over my neighborhood as I was driving home. Not kidding. Here's the proof:

We went to one of my favorite nearby places for dinner as a family:

Then we had a "party" back at home. The kids are always more excited than I am:

My dear friend, Betsy, sent me a bunch of stuff to make Japanese style bento boxes for my kids' school lunches. I'm not there yet, but when I finally get it together I'll have the supplies! Thank you, Betsy!

I'm going to pass on the BEST birthday present idea ever that came from my awesome sister-in-law, Angie. She had everyone in the Reynolds family send her all the reasons why they think I'm just swell, and then she put them all together in a little book for me. It was like an early eulogy or something. Fantastic! (I should put reading that little book on my list of things to do for S.A.D this winter . . .)

Brandon and the kids used my birthday as an excuse to buy some seasonal candles. We're kind of crazy for fall around here, and Brandon in particular loves the scents of the season. This pumpkin one is already almost all gone:

What Will did during my party:

Brandon made some homemade cupcakes for dessert. Every once in a blue moon he likes to get adventurous in the kitchen. He used a german chocolate cake mix, poked holes in the top, poured sweetened condensed milk over the top, then topped with whipped cream and crushed heath. Impressive. Look! I'm turning 2:

Next up, Kate. I took her out of school for some In-n-Out:

Had a little party for her that night:

Isn't she cute? I CANNOT believe she's 14!

She's already plowed through several of these:

What Will did during Kate's party:

Pyromaniacs:

This picture reminds me of the 80's when all we had were land line phones. I spent many hours in uncomfortable positions with the cord stretched as far as it possibly could to get some privacy. (Just a little tip: if you have a power outage, your cordless and cell phones will be useless after awhile. That's why I have one land line phone like this.) Kate talking to well wishing family members on our 80's phone:

The other kids made this for her:

Last but not least, Wachael:

Can you guess how old she turned? Can you tell her mom had to smash her birthday party into a really busy weekend with lots of other stuff going on and didn't have time to make a homemade cake? Does it look like she cares?

Get ready for some awesome facial expressions:

Grandma and Grandpa Reynolds just happened to be in town. Great timing!

She REALLY liked this musical Cinderella card:

Look at the toes:

What Will did during Rachael's party:

Her actual birthday was the day after her little party, so she followed our family tradition by choosing a sugary cereal for breakfast. I'm so glad I can still see some baby in those cheeks:

And she got to be spotlighted at her pre-school and hand out a little treat:

Happy Birthday to us! (And my mom, and Betsy, and my sister-in-law Shauna, and my nephew A.J., and my Aunts Ginny and Jan, and my dad, and my sister Joanna and her husband Tino . . . all in September/October!)