Birthdays All Around

Ok, so I know I've had a string of quite boring blog posts and this one will be no different for most people who might read it. But since this is the only thing that resembles any sort of a journal for me, and since I hope that one day my kids will read it, I will continue to record the "boring" stuff...mostly for my own sake. So read on if you wish, but you've been warned.

I am a few days late but I wanted to give a Birthday shout out to my little sister Noelle. Noelle is two years younger than me; I spent the first 18 years of my life thinking of her as little more than a pest. She never did anything to make me not want to hang out with her, but I thought I was much too cool to bring my little sister to hang out with my friends so I constantly told her "no" when she asked to do anything with my friends and me. As far as I can remember she was very well-behaved and didn't embarrass me at all the very few times that I actually allowed her to tag along. Right around the time I was getting close to graduating from high school I finally realized how cool she actually was and that maybe I should consider being friends with her, rather than just tolerating her. Ever since then I've considered her to be one of my very best friends. In some ways I think that Noelle and I are very similar and in other ways we're quite different. One thing I am sure of is that she is way cooler than me and it should have been her snubbing me all those years.
Noelle is very mellow and laid back. She's one of the easiest people to get along with that I've ever known. She has always been much more stylish than me...more willing to try new looks. She is an incredible mom who adores her kids as much as they adore her. Even though she's my little sister I really look up to her and hope I can be half as good of a mom as she is.
Noelle is literally great at everything she ever does. She excelled at sports and academics. She has the best hair around. She can cook up anything your little heart desires and she has recently taken up photography. By looking at the pictures she takes you would never guess that this is a new hobby for her; she's amazing. Anyway, I am glad that I finally realized what an awesome person she is and I just love her to death. Happy happy happy birthday Belly!

Today is my big brother Jeremy's birthday. I have a feeling that he would not appreciate a big long post dedicated to his greatness so I will keep this brief for his sake. Let me just say that Jeremy is the most unique (only in a good way) person that I have ever known. He is also the most intelligent person I know in real life. He chose a FABULOUS person to marry, for which I will always be grateful. They make darn cute kids and he is an awesome dad to said cute kids. I am really glad to have such a good older brother who has always been a good example for the rest of us. Love ya bro!

My iPhoto is frozen up right now so unfortunately you don't get any cute photos of Noelle and Jeremy but hopefully I will add a couple soon (I'm sure Jeremy loves having photos of him called "cute")

P.S. So since I started this little birthday shout out exercise I have missed doing it for one very important sibling - my baby brother Josh. I know that he doesn't know, nor care, because he's far far away in Paris. So rather than backtrack I will catch his birthday next year right before he comes home from his mission. Also, I started this after Deco and Kera's birthdays had passed so I'll catch them next year too.