Oh brothers!

I wasn't going to do birthday tributes this year but...

Oh well. I can break my own rules if I want to.

And this one's a two-fer.

Both of my fabulous brothers have birthdays this week.

Chris's is today, the Ides of March. (Beware!) 

He's in Mali on a Peace Corps assignment.

I miss him. We miss him.

He is a world-traveling,

music-making

(that's him with the guitar),

people-loving,

cool-styling

(in the middle, below)

good-hearted man.

Hard to believe my baby bro is 29.

(especially since he was 7 when I left for college)

Happiest of days to you, Chris.

Sure do love you.

* * *

Matt's birthday was on Friday.  

Matt is one of my favorite people.

If you know him, you know what I mean.

Funny.

Smart.

(or wicked smaht, as we say here)

Talented.

Interesting.

Tender-hearted.

Authentic.

And he seriously knows how to rock the Halloween costume.

blue Matt group ^

Love you, Matt.

And sorry for pushing you down the slide

at Dennis the Menace Park that time.

Et cetera.

xoxoxo

*pictures swiped from their Facebook accounts. Thanks, brothers.

Dear Mateo

Happy Birthday, brother!

Someone recently asked for words for her birthday. I thought it was a great idea but mine's not for a long time so I'm stealing it here to give to you. Here are some words I'm giving you for your birthday, for one reason or another:

bliss
technical difficulties (Sam's favorite thing to say)
siempre (I love to say this)
suitcase
spirit
gelato
whipsmart (because you are)
discover
google (the number, not the site)
sparkle
breeze
monarchs (butterflies, not the rulers)
haberdashery
sequential
melodic
aldena (because we loved her so & laughed)
frankness (get it?)
whistle
mania (especially around Christmas Eve)
imagine
buckstus
red wheelbarrow (so much depends on it, I hear)
machu picchu
manana
amen

Don't worry, there's a real present heading to your door.

{feel free to add your words to Matt here in the comments}

Thanksworthy this week...

^
Wellsville mountains in Cache Valley

1. listening to Sam try to play the Indian Song on the recorder and piano simultaneously
2. game nights with my people: my kids, husband, parents
3. sharing the exhilaration of hiking to Castle Rock (as well as the less exalted whiny moments leading up to reaching the summit)
4. mountains shrugging, surrounding this valley shoulder to shoulder
5. wooden ball and cup toys & the addictive hours of fun they provide
6. lazy days of hanging out, chatting, helping with the cooking, idly reading
7. incubating (or, sometimes, actually hatching) new ideas
8. catching up with old high school friends & picking up where we left off
9. brief, gorgeous bursts of show-off snowflakes
10. wide streets organized in grids
11. Stephen Paulus' Pilgrims' Hymn
    
12. caramel corn, chili, tortellini, and the anticipated Feast Day (oh, and Hires hamburgers when we landed in SLC...mmmmm)
    
13. laughing, really hard
14. playing flute-piano duets with Lauren
    
15. Enchanted, Dan in Real Life, Amazing Race, Bee Movie...(hopefully more to come)
16. Sam's casual, low key reporting that a crow flew down through the chimney and into the family room (good to know he's good under pressure)
    
17. Maddy picking out songs on the harp
18. reading aloud to each other
19. adding entries to the Count Your Blessings jar
20. thoughts of and long-distance thankfulness for my sibs: Matt, Nancy & Chris (we miss you!)
21. blocking out any obligations or to-do items for a few days

Have a peaceful, joyous, blessed Thanksgiving...

Bon voyage, mon frere!

My sister Nancy and Brother Chris in Philadelphia

We had a fantastic afternoon/evening together, walking the streets of historic Philadelphia and eating great Cuban food (thanks, Dad, for the recommendation). He's off. At the end there, other Peace Corps people were arriving and I could tell Chris just wanted to say his final goodbyes and be done already, ready to launch his new adventure. The old life and new life could only overlap for so long and then it was time. He's going to do great things but, boy, we'll miss him.

I made it back, safe and sound, early this morning. I did have a couple of those drowsy moments on the way home. You know the kind--where your eyes start trying to make little bargains with your brain that your body shouldn't keep {how about we just close for a couple of seconds. That would feel so good, wouldn't it? Just a couple of seconds?} but I wasn't falling for their flimsy logic.

I'm no good to anyone today, however. I'm whooped. Here's to having kids old enough to entertain themselves for a few hours...