30 Things Before I Turn 30

This summer I'll be crossing the threshold into the wonderful land of my 30's (being optimistic here).
It's definitely a milestone. I'm not particularly dreading or fond of the idea of turning 30. Kinda seems like just another year passing so I tried to come up with some sort of list of things I would like to do before I turn 30. Unfortunately the only things I could come up with that wouldn't require a substantial amount of money (for places I'd love to visit and whatnot) were things I have yet to try to make myself.
So I guess that's what I'll do. I've started a list of the things I have yet to try to make myself or things I made a long long time ago that I'd like to give another go. If you have any suggestions I'd love to hear them!

1. Bagels
2. Sally Lunn bread
3. Butter
4. Pineapple pie
5. Naan bread
6. Tortilla soup
7. Barbecue sauce
8. Strawberry strawberry cheesecake
9. Chocolate chip baked donuts
10. Smothered chicken and biscuits
11. Olive bread (mostly for Phil since I'm not a huge green olive fan)
12. Boston Cream Pie
13. Sweet potato biscuits
14. Bread pudding
15. Tres leches cake
16. Spritz cookies (I have never been able to get these to work properly)
17. Eskai's recipe for vanilla ice cream
18. Paella
19. Chicken and dumplings completely from scratch
20. Caramels
21. Double Fudge Oreo Cookies
22. Rum cake
23. Marshmallows
24. Hmmm... I'll have to add to this as I think of things...
25.
26.
27.
28.
29.
30.

Jeremiah's Big Day

Today was Jeremiah's birthday. It was quite a day!

 It started with pancakes in bed for breakfast. Then we were off to the toy storeto buy a toy. He picked light sabers for both him and his brother.

Then we were visiting the zoo. We just learned about elephants yesterday then noticed they had plans to do something special with them at the zoo today. On top of that elephants are Jeremiah's favorite animals at the zoo!

They had made a 15 foot banana shaped pinata of sorts so we were able to watch them tear it apart to see what was inside.

We even took a train ride! Now that's how you know it's a special occasion! Jeremiah said, "Mom, that train ride was awesome!" Mission: accomplished.

If that wasn't enough, we made a trip to Chuck E Cheese for lunch. Jeremiah is finally figuring out skeeball!

Then after opening presents with Daddy on the phone we headed to a bounce house place here. Believe it or not, 6 months ago, Jeremiah wouldn't have much to do with bounce houses. He refused to go down even the smallest slide. You would never know it from how he was today! He was so impressed with his own bravery. Apparently now that he's 4 he is not worried about the bounce houses anymore (according to Jeremiah).
It was definitely a long day but also a really fun one! we couldn't have asked for a better birthday for Jeremiah. And to think... there's still a party to anticipate this weekend!

Joshua is 6!

Joshua just turned 6 last week. Here are a few of my favorite pictures from the celebration. This is Josh with his breakfast in bed. It is one of our traditions. The candle was added a couple years ago and now it's the most memorable part!

Of course, the other brother enjoys this tradition as well... even if the candle isn't for him on this particular day.

They always get to pick a few special things to do on their birthday. Every time it's Chuck E Cheese. I'm not a big fan of the place but the boys are, so 2 times a year I give in. They have a BLAST!

Then off to the Skinny Dip (our new favorite local frozen yogurt place) for a treat before heading home to play Mario Kart and wait for Saturday.

Saturday was Joshua's Mario-themed birthday party. Here are our friends Jim and Laura looking a lot like Mario and Luigi...

We had fun with some balloons and played a couple games.

He had a great time! He even was able to have his Aunt, some cousins and Grammy here for his party.
As far as presents go, he made out like a bandit! So many great toys! We still have some to open. I think it's a little more fun that way. His favorite? He got a DS this year and he is still really excited about it!

Happy birthday, Big Boy!! We love you in ridiculous amounts!

Jeremiah's Birthday List

Me: Jeremiah, what do you want for your birthday?
JC: Um... Um... Legos.... Thomas [the train].... and Daddy.
Me: You want Daddy?
JC: Yeah!
Me: Ohhhhkay. What else do you want?
JC: Oso [as in Special Agent Oso... for which there are no toys yet]. A puzzle... and me!

Birthday

Since my birthday came after a crazy weekend, we were a day late on the whole cake thing but that's alright with me. Last night the boys (with daddy's help) decorated my cake and even put the candles in. I wish I would have taken video. This is the boys singing Happy Birthday to me. I didn't even know Jeremiah knew the song but he sung it so loud! He hasn't quite gotten which line goes where so it was a lot of "Happy Birthday to you... mommy" and the like. I have never had anything else sung so well to me. I love my little boys growing up!

Jeremiah's Birthday Party!

This year Mickey Mouse Clubhouse was the name of the game for Jeremiah's birthday. I spent hours on Jeremiah's cake and cupcakes but they were a big hit! He loved having all the Mickey stuff in the house and getting all the toys for presents this year. Being the more shy of our two, he was a little hesitant when everyone started showing up, but got used to it with some time to adjust. I figure we had about 35 people here, give or take (which is a think is a record for us!). We all had a great party celebrating Jeremiah. Hope you enjoy seeing some of the pictures from our fun day.

It took him a few tries, but eventually he blew out two of the candles himself!

I tried a new technique with the cake to make it more colorful. I really like how it turned out!

Jeremiah opted for the cupcake option. Can't say I blame him since they were chocolate.

Yay! A ball!

Our Genius Son and Other Interesting Tidbits

Joshua is officially reading on his own. No novels or anything like that, but reading "popcorn" by sounding it out counts, I think. He is just barely 4 1/2 now. Actually, officially 4 1/2 today! Yesterday he points to the microwave and sounds out "p-o-p-corn." I couldn't really believe it. He's been working on small things like stop and go but I counted that as him just haven memorized the letter order, but this is now genuinely reading. We moved on to figure out potato farther down on the buttons as well. I have no idea where he gets this intellectual curiosity but I love it! I was so impressed with him I took a picture.We also got news the other day on the two showings we had last week for the house. In both cases the feedback was positive. One doesn't seem like a good fit for our house financially (it's at the top of their price range and they're wanting a lot of help from the seller for financing). The other liked it but decided to go with something else. We're feeling good about the house and the pricing of it and our ability to prepare it for a showing... which is a good thing since we had a 3rd showing today!
Here is the birthday cake on site. Everyone loved it. The kids even ate the leaves off the trees (which I thought was cool).Lastly, we have found out that our assumed time frame for things this fall concerning Phil was off. He has more schooling to complete after he arrives in Virginia in November so he'll be stateside longer then we originally thought. We'll still be separated, but just not as far apart. We'll have to find out more about this as we get closer. In the mean time, please be praying that the bonus money we are expecting any day now will come in a timely manner so we can take care of the things that need to be taken care of (and so we can visit Disneyland while we are in California as well).

Our Crazy Weekend

What a weekend!! 6am Saturday morning our friend Lyndsay had their baby, Logan. This is their 2nd baby born on their due date! Crazy, I know. You can tell they're really happy. Be praying for them since we know from experience that the transformation for a 3 person family to 4 can be rocky at times.

After visiting with them we headed to Sarai's 2nd birthday party. Bounce houses are a beautiful thing. Jeremiah crashed on the way home and Josh was very soon after landing in bed.
Today was somewhat business as usual until this afternoon when Damon (who Phil works with) called and asked if we were ready to do our tattoos. He had a cancellation so had time to do ours today. Yay! I figured it'd be easier if I didn't have days to get worked up about it, so we did it. Hours later we're both finally finished. We're going to touch mine up a bit later (when I'm not dying in pain already). This being my 2nd tattoo, I'd definitely recommend avoiding the rib cage area. Definitely more painful then the back in my experience. Phil has plans in the works for a few more before he leaves (since he can get them much less expensive through our experienced friend). I'll put up pictures as his latest art expression develops. In the mean time, here is what we finished today:

Happy Birrday, Mommy

What an eventful weekend! We took a trip to Chicago finally (now that we've lived here for more then 3 years) to try and catch some of the sites. We chose a horrible day to go! We sat it traffic for hours just trying to get in. Long enough to make Joshua car sick and... well... we'll say his car seat is in the kitchen waiting to be cleaned. Yuck! Great way to start the day, right? Josh has a brand new outfit now, though! We finally found a place to park and were able to walk through Lincoln Park Zoo, hit up Molly's Cupcakes (a place I've been wanting to try) and see some of the city from the truck. We're hoping for another weekday trip down there to see Navy Pier and all that when the parking isn't full or storming outside. In the mean time, here are some pictures from this weekend...




This part was called the barn at the zoo. Very cool!
Sorry this one is sideways still...



On the way home the traffic was horrendous again so we stopped off somewhere for pizza. The place we chose just happened to have 2 fire trucks full of firemen come in while we were waiting. Josh went over to say hello so they let him check out the truck.
Somewhat inspired by our trip to Molly's I decided to make my own version for the youth to sell at the cafe' Sunday morning. I think I did alright. They were so yummy! Chocolate cupcakes with peanut butter inside, ganache frosting and toffee topping. More please?? Mine is on the left, Molly's on the right.


So I'm officially 27 now. "Late 20's," we'll say. Saturday night I sat and looked through some old photo albums and realized I'm not 21 anymore. When did that happen? I've been so busy enjoying life I completely lost track of how much time has been passing. Not feeling "old" yet, but have definitely noticed that I'm a different person then I was a few years ago. We've gotten to do a lot in the last few years and I'm really grateful for that! If aging is the cost of getting to do all these great things, I'm willing to pay it. And there's always my consolation that no matter how old I get, Phil will always be older!

Transformers

Finally done and eaten! I think this was the most time-consuming cake I've made so far. I started over a week ago, I think. The only tragedy was losing one of the palm trees I made to the asphault on our way up to their house. Aydrien was the most excited which was the whole reason for doing it. We had a slightly busy but really enjoyable summer weekend!