Happy 41st birthday, Natasha!

In what is apparently becoming a tradition around here, I (Dave) am taking over the blog to celebrate Natasha's birthday. At first, I thought I'd choose some pictures from the past year that would describe her, but then the process of choosing these photos started feeling awfully familiar, so I decided to get a bit more creative this time. (If you missed it last July, you can check out the "40 Photos of Natasha" series by following the links in the preceding sentence :)

What follows is a handful of photos from the past year that celebrate the highlights of the past year, from Natasha's perspective. These are the things that made her 40th year exciting, amazing, stupendous, and otherwise fantastic. Enjoy, and happy 41st birthday, Natasha!

Our Kids

We've both had a lot of fun watching Sam and Rachel grow up over the past year, and one thing that never ceases to amaze me about Natasha is the energy and enthusiasm that she puts into engaging the kids in activities, whether it be outings, crafts, or baking projects.

Friends

One of the best things about moving back to Kitchener/Waterloo has been reconnecting with old friends (that is, since before we left for Edmonton in 2007). Natasha has re-formed close connections with friends from church and university, some of which go back 15+ years. The fact that many of these friends have kids (some of whom are close in age to our own) just makes the connection that much closer.

 

Gardening

Although Natasha has shown a remarkable talent for getting flowers to grow in adverse conditions, she has really enjoyed having a garden plot of her own this past summer, and also being involved in her friend's CSA, Fertile Ground.

 

Our New House

As you may have noticed, buying a house has been a pretty significant focus of our past few months. Thankfully, we found an amazing house in March, and all of the negotiating, financing, etc., came through, so we will be the proud owners of a new house this summer! For those of you who are curious, you can check out the full story.

 

The Blog

Yes, this is a pretty self-referential topic, but Natasha has been both an avid blogger and a conscientious blog reader over the past year; it has been a way for her to connect with other women across Canada and the U.S., it has helped us be more intentional in writing about our lives; and, most recently, it has inspired Natasha to attempt her "41 before 41" challenge, which has included giving blood, baking homemade bread, and shopping at Target (yes, that made it on the list of highlights of the year -- this should make both Natasha and Jen very happy :)

 

To finish things off with something completely different, here are a couple of random pictures of Natasha being silly, both involving crescent-shaped food. There might be some deep and meaningful metaphor here, but really they're entertaining pictures that didn't fit anywhere else :)