Happy Birthday, Mama!

Today is LinvilleUSA’s favorite Mama/wife/woman’s birthday – Erin is 32 years old! And though nothing we could do could possibly tell her how much we love her and how lucky we are to have her, we tried. And it was a ton of fun.

We kicked things off yesterday with birthday waffles, a sort of Linville tradition that we started about three or four years ago.  It is a tradition extremely popular with Natalie.

Happy Birthday, Mama! 32 never looked so good, eh?

While not part of the bday celebration per se, yesterday, we went to the park and met our friends Todd, Heather, and Henry (the “Van Hams”) and swam at the pool. Tons of fun! Despite the fact that I let Natalie’s head go under water for 1/2 a second on the the first jump off the edge, and she didn’t let me forget it. Literally, the conversation preceding the next seven jumps:

Natalie: “Dado, don’t let my head go under water.”
Jordan: “Ok, Nat, sorry about that. I’ll be more careful.”
Natalie: “D-d-d-don’t let it go under. Never again.”
Jordan: “I understand. Sorry. It won’t happen again.”
Natalie: “Never.  Ever.  Again.”
Jordan: “Ok, got it. Jump!”

Afterwards, we opened up some presents Erin had gotten from her mom and dad which included some sort of foot soak.  Erin and Natalie put that to use and I must say – their feet smelled fantastic.

"Mama, this mini-bathtub in a standard bathtub is just perfect for a pedi. Relaxing and not at all cramped."

"My feet don't smell like lavender, but don't my froggy towel and I compliment Mama nicely?" Crazy cute. Both of 'em.

Next up, we opened up some presents we got Mama including a Mountain Hardware jacket, a framed picture w/ art work, and a blue candle.   The blue candle was Natalie’s idea from two weeks ago when I said we needed to start planning Mama’s birthday.  I realize now that this was probably her way of saying she wanted cake (with a blue birthday candle in it), but oh well.  She was actually pretty excited about a blue scented candle as well.

my peeps

But on that note, what would a birthday be without some cake?  So this afternoon, we met up with our best friends, Molly and Megan Baltruzac, and went to Sweet Mandy B’s for cupcakes.  It was really funny because Natalie loves blue and Molly loves pink.  They were both wearing those colors, and they both picked out cupcakes in those colors, too.  They were quite the little splash of color (FYI – a very sugar-buzzed, noisy splash).

"Are you eyeing my cupcake?"

And we capped the day off with a trip to the park as well, where Elliott took is first ride on the swing and loved it.  It was also fun seeing just how active and mobile Natalie and Molly were at this park as compared to a year ago.  Keeps Dado more active as well!

All-in-all, a pretty awesome weekend for a totally awesome mom.  Erin is definitely the bright spot in the lives of all three of us – Natalie, Elliott & Dado – and I feel lucky every day to be able to raise kids with a mom like her.   And for the occasional date nights that we get, to be able to spend time with a women like her and call her my wife.  Seems a little crazy that she’s 32 and I met her when she was barely 21, but all the better!  The kids don’t know it yet, but I can guarantee that she will be just as fun – and beautiful – at 82 as she is now.