Happy 30th... to me :)

I turned 30!  And I'm still alive.  I'm only mildly surprised.  I realize I've just alienated all of you who are over 30... except perhaps you remember feeling the same way.  After all, when you turn 20, you have 21 to look forward to.  When you turn 30 you have... umm, well you see my point.

To celebrate, I ran my first half marathon on the last day of my twenties, something I'd been training for for four months.  (Read about my journey on my other blog, www.iamrunningthis.com)

My husband then surprised me with a birthday party where he rented a bouncy house and invited all of Will's playgroup friends and some of our favorite neighbors over for a wonderful afternoon of fun, complete with Qdoba catering so none of us had to cook or clean up from dinner.  The toddlers ate like champions, the weather was perfect, my parents were in town and helped with everything, it was a wonderful time!

If you're looking for the perfect gift to give anyone who is having a big birthday, my mother spent hours and hours putting together an amazing photo book of my last thirty years.  Since I grew up before the world of digital cameras for the most part, she had to recruit my Dad's help in transferring images from slides and prints, as well as choosing from hundreds of images and organizing them to tell my story.

It was such a heart-warming, powerful, and beautiful gift.  Many of these photos, since they were in slide format, I haven't seen in years.  Even the recent ones were often from their cameras rather than ours, and it was fun to see memories I shared but different photos than the ones we have.

My friends at the party enjoyed laughing with me over photos of my teenage years, and smiling at what a happy childhood I had, which is very obvious from those early pages.

It almost... almost, makes it easier to leave my twenties behind ;)

Yeah... We hired a babysitter on a weekend

This was such a revolutionary idea the first time we did it, but there's a lot to be said for hiring a babysitter on the weekend!

We had lots of family time, friends over yesterday, a long morning at the playground today, car washing and a snack this afternoon... And then 3-6 with a babysitter so Greg and I could have a break and get stuff done.

I wrote a post for my running blog and tackled a closet that was driving me crazy, he went for a swim and is trying out running shoes.

(Wow, they didn't even use it as bonding time... Yikes!)

I know.  We're rebels.  We love it.

And in fifteen minutes, we'll have a nice meal together as a family and then bath and stories.  What a great day :)

Teaching toddlers to empty the dishwasher

I've been trying to embrace Montessori principles in our house, helping the boys learn to do things for themselves when I can.

This morning, I discovered that they were both very eager to help me empty the dishwasher! Will, almost 3, has helped me in the past.  But this was the first time they both helped together.

Will emptied the glasses one by one, carefully setting them on the counter under the cabinet they go in.

Andrew took utensils out one by one and chucked them into the silverware drawer.  

Yes, I had to rearrange the silverware and put the glasses from the counter into the cabinet... But for the whole time I emptied dishes, it was quiet, they were happy, and each felt like they contributed something.  And you know what?  They did.

I didn't think an 18 month old could help... Makes me wonder what else they can do that would please them and help me!

Sort napkins from clean laundry?

Andrew set the table along with Will?

Teaching them to be part of the household helps all of us!

Teething strategy - napkin!