That’s me – THIRTY-FUN

My 31st birthday was Sunday, July 18. It was a great really relaxing Sunday and I enjoyed every minute of it. Jon’s nephew was staying with us, so he was able to help with the kids and I got my breakfast in bed. It was yummy –

French toast with a fried egg, ham and cheese atop, a banana (with “I love you” carved in it) with a strawberry on top (Jon’s “strawberry tree”, but it looked like a weird phallic symbol to me) and a wedge of watermelon. Very creative. And weird. Anyway, after breakfast we brought the kids to my moms, got take-out sushi and came home to watch movies. We watched one at home on the couch, went to a movie in the theatre, then watched another movie at home on the couch. That is one thing you never really get to do with kids – lay on the couch and watch movies. So that is what I wanted to do on my birthday. Then we went back to my mom’s for cake and to pick up my cute little girls. It was a really great day and I’m glad I got some good alone time with my hubby to just sit around and do nothing…

One of my favorite bloggers, also turned 31 this year. I have decided to take on her attitude about this 31st year. She is calling it Thirty-fun. What a great idea! I told Jon that 31 is so much different than 30. Thirty is like you just made it to 30, so you're not really "in your 30's" yet. Now that I'm 31, I'm in my thirties and it doesn't really matter what number follows the 3, I'm just somewhere in there. And it will be like that until I'm 40. I don't FEEL like I'm 31. I still feel like I'm around 27...except that at 27 I was a newlywed and a DINK (Duel Income, No Kids). I don't know how I still feel that age, with all these other responsibilities and nightly bedtime of around 9:30 pm. I guess I'm in denial, but nevertheless, happy in this life.

Another blog that I love to read asked her readers, “On a scale of one to ten, how would you rate your current happiness level of today, July 22, 2010?” as part of a giveaway. I don't always enter these things, but the more I thought about it, I couldn't think of any reason my answer shouldn't be a 10. Right now I am truly happy with the way things are right now and how our little family is turning out. So I entered the contest with my Level 10 happiness and I REALLY hope I win her giveaway. A kitchen-aid mixer? Hello?!! Put me in the running - I would love to have that really expensive mixer!! I don't even have a hand mixer. When I make a cake or the infamous "cake cookies" (yummmm), my arm starts to feel like it will fall off before I'm done hand mixing the stupid thing. So, good luck to me....

For my 31st birthday present, I got something that I have really been wanting since we bought our really expensive camera and I took a photography class. It’s a new lens for my camera. A Nikon 50mm f1.4 lens to be exact. I know you may have no clue what that means, so to translate, it means - a lens that will allow me to take many more AWESOME pictures of my adorable kids. Here are some so far...

That’s me…behind the new lens!