Happy 32 to me!

I had the best birthday and already love 32.  I woke up to this:

Ben hung some decorations, had the house clean, breakfast cooked and helped the kids make cards for me.  Apparently food is a big part of our celebration, so here is breakfast; farm fresh eggs, uncured bacon and homemade hash browns.   

Ben even got Colin to say 'Happy Birthday'!  I think it's ironic that you can barely hear him in this video over Eliot.

They got me a sun hat, a wine rack and wine stoppers.  Really, it's a gift that keeps on giving.  You can't have a sun hat without going to the beach and an empty wine rack just looks silly.

I can never uncork the wine after it's been opened, so these were a great gift for me.  

Did you know that I can't slice bread in straight lines either?

Just a little Jen trivia for you.

Ben declined leading worship this week so he could sit with me and I greatly appreciated the gift.  It was so nice to have his extra helping hands that morning!

After church we spontaneously decided to make it a "fix the bikes" day.  I have been dying to get our bikes set for a long time, so this was a great gift for the day.  Alison got a new bike on Saturday that she had earned through learning the catechism.  So we dug out our bikes and trailer that have been sitting since Alison was a baby and fixed all the tires.  I say we, but really Ben did all the work and I sat and "supervised".  We were having a debate over what to do with Eliot and ended up getting him a new bike too.  He has a tricycle but I feel like Alison is behind in learning how to ride a bike and I don't want to keep him behind too.  Thankfully Alison didn't notice that he didn't have to earn his :)

on their bikes for the first time!

It's perfectly normal to buy your kids bikes on your birthday, right?

Well, I can tell you that the huge smiles on their faces was the best present ever. 

It was simply the best to be on a bike ride as a family.

Colin loves being in the trailer, but we knew he would want to be like the other two, so we got out the like-a-bike for him.

Just his tippy toes reach the ground, so he's not quite ready for it.

Don't you love the duct tape hat?  I've gotten lots of weird looks.  It's Alison's old princess helmet and it's still in perfectly good shape, so I covered in tape to make it look more masculine.  I don't think I succeeded, but he likes it.

I requested flank steak for dinner and something peanut butter/chocolate for dessert.  Ben Shear does not mess around and made this amazing creation.  Peanut butter cheesecake with an oreo (birthday cake oreo, to be exact) crust, topped with a chocolate ganache and sprinkled with Reeses peanut butter cups.  Oh my.  I ran 4 miles the next morning and maybe burned off the topping.

It really was a great birthday.  All of the little things added up and I really enjoyed our day.  I think 32 is going to be a great year!