four years

last month we celebrated a 4th birthday.
it was almost a month ago already - hard to believe.
but it's also hard to believe he is four.
we had a wonderful day on his birthday - just the four of us.

and we also had a great time celebrating the following weekend with friends and family.

we love you ben!

happy 30th birthday little brother

today is my little brother's birthday -
his 30th!

 me and paul - 1987 vacation in denver, co

we fought all the time when we were kids, but have grown super close as we've gotten older,
and i am so thankful for our friendship.
he may not know it, but i think a lot of him.
even as a little kid he was always true to himself and never one to follow the crowd.
he wasn't worried about being popular or having the most friends,
and honestly as a big sister i can remember being concerned about the way he was styling his hair
or what he was wearing. 
(and obviously i was not as cool as i thought!)
but you know, he was the one who had it right.
he's worked super hard to become the man he is today,
and i am one proud sister.
i may still be a bit bossy or opinionated at times,
but that's just because i'm older and i know best.  ;)

happy birthday paul!
we're sending you lots of love from kansas

a new year

i like to think of my birthday (it was yesterday) as a good time to make goals and resolutions -
you know, just like you do on january 1.
and my birthday seems to be well timed to do this -
just enough time has gone by since january 1 that i may have "slipped" a bit from those new year's goals.

this year i hope to work on simplifying, focusing and being more intentional.
(of course i'd also like to exercise more, cook more from scratch, be more crafty/artsy, do more projects with ben, sew more, garden more, etc.)
but i also know that i have a husband, two small children and a home... 
those (very important) things take most of my time - which i love.

so for now i will focus on a couple of words that seem to be running through my mind quite often...

SIMPLE & SINCERE

 my mom sent me this gorgeous flower yesterday.

orange is my favorite color and i love gerbera daisies.

it is beautiful ~ thanks mom!

a garden party

this year we decided to have a destination birthday party for ben.
our destination - botanica, the wichita gardens.
not only does ben love visiting there, but they just opened a children's garden over the summer -
it was AMAZING!

dad made an early morning run to get donuts to start the day.

 listening to raffi radio on the way to wichita.
ben still has no idea "where" we are going.

 totally spoiled with undivided attention from nanna and grandma.

 the butterfly house

the vegetable garden

 the playhouse - complete with a great kitchen for our chef

 making music

 so much fun!

in fact we were having so much fun,
we missed taking pictures of many other features in the children's garden.

so you'll just have to go yourself to see it all.

after exploring the gardens, we had our picnic lunch.

ben opened his gifts - playing with each one before going on to the next.

then it was time for cupcakes - YUM!

happy birthday ben!