A Birthday!

So it was my birthday this month. It came and went and was actually very fun with no big incidents. I am now the BIG 3-1 which puts me in my thirties for sure. When I was 30 I was still barely out of my twenties now I'm really there. My cousin has an English PHD and reads great inspirational books. She quoted this author a few years ago on her birthday. The story has stuck with me since then and I re-read it this year and had to smile all over. It sums up my feelings about age and birthdays just like it did for my cousin. The authors name is Sandra Cisneros it's from short story "Eleven" in her book Woman Hollering Creek.

"What they don't understand about birthdays and what they never tell you is that when you're eleven, you're also ten, and nine, and eight, and seven, and six, and five, and four, and three, and two and one. And when you wake up on your eleventh birthday you expect to feel eleven, but you don't. You open your eyes and everything's just like yesterday, only it's today. And you are--underneath the year that makes you eleven.

Like some days you might say something stupid, and that's the part of you that's still ten. Or maybe some days you might need to sit on your mama's lap because you're scared, and that's the part of you that's five. And maybe one day when you're all grown up maybe you will need to cry like if you're three, and that's okay. That's what I tell Mama when she's sad and needs to cry. Maybe she's feeling three.

Because the way you grow old is kind of like an onion or like the rings inside a tree truck or like my little wooden dolls that fit one inside the other, each year inside the next one. That's how being eleven years old is.

You don't feel eleven. Not right away. It takes a few days, weeks even, sometimes even months before you say Eleven when they ask you. And you don't even feel smart eleven, not until you're almost twelve. That's the way it is."
Thanks Catherine! Someday I will feel like I'm 31, but maybe not today!

Sarah turned THREE!

Sarah is THREE (going on 6). It happened in March and I'm posting to remember her at this age.

She is often voted, "the Funniest person in the house". (yes, this poll does happen quite often here). She wakes up singing, "Part of Your World" at least once a week. She quotes movies: her two favorites, Up, ("You don't talk too much, I like you.") and her Dad's favorite Beauty and The Beast, ("My father's not crazy, he's a genius.") -see clip below. Maybe she watches too many movies.

She loves all vegetables and anything sweet. She loves to help me cook and clean. She loves being with her sister. She still takes a nap almost daily (usually in the car). If she is quiet it's usually because she is doing something she shouldn't. When you find her doing something she shouldn't she put's her finger over her lips and whispers, "SSSSSHHHHHH". It's hard to be mad when she catches you off guard like this. She is smart. She loves to snuggle especially with her Dad. She loves playing UNO and playing with iphones. She loves dressing up and pretending. She is so much fun!