Dare I Update?

There is SO much to tell about the holiday season. It is too overwhelming to post, so you'll get it in bits and pieces while I try to focus on the more recent present.

And, speaking of presents...

Our birthday week is finally OVER!! We now have 5 birthdays in one week in my immediate and extended family (mine, Averi's and Casey's birthdays are the 4th, 7th, and 8th, respectively). We just added the 5th this year: little Oliver James Davis was born to my sister, Marissa, and her husband, Jacob, on January 3rd, early in the morning. I am SO EXCITED that I can hardly stand it! I want to be there holding that baby so badly! I have only seen ONE photo of him, taken from a cell phone, and I am dying for more. Hopefully I can update later on the inevitable cuteness.

But I digress slightly. I said, speaking of presents...

We celebrated Averi's birthday in the unusual way of: quietly. I'm pretty sure I'm the only mother who didn't dress my baby in frilly fru-fru, splash darling pink decorations and photos all over my house and invite 700 people. Call me an unfit mother. Say that Averi's 1st birthday party should have been written up in the New York Times, but I will politely turn the other cheek and throw practicality and sentimentality over my shoulder in the meantime. Grandma Cheryl made her a sweet heart-shaped cake and all of her Jacobs extended family sang to her (including great aunts and uncles who she just met, no less) in Colorado, so on her actual birth date we changed gears.

I just couldn't do it, people. I felt like Averi should celebrate her birthday the way she would enjoy it the most: crawling all over the house, getting into everything, following Gavin everywhere like a little shadow, surrounded by the people she knows and loves the most, stuffing a cupcake into her mouth, opening a simple present that is girly to the max (it's a talking purse with lipstick, bracelet, and other one-year-old necessities) and laughing all the way. In short, we celebrated similar to the way Averi entered this world: quietly, reflectively, emotionally (oh yes, I was weepy all day), sentimentally, and with her daddy, mommy, and favorite brother close by. It was sweet, simple, and very...Averi.

...But that's not how to celebrate a 30th birthday, is it?

Casey needed a surprise. Not the kind where people jump out of cakes or out from behind sofas and yell at him, but the kind where he knew something was up but couldn't tell you for the life of him what it was. Little did he know that HE would soon be up!!

I made him drive an hour and a half out of town to Eloy, AZ where he suddenly realized he would be indoor skydiving in about an hour. I'll let the photos and video speak for themselves, but let's just say that it was pretty fun to watch him fly and even better to watch his reactions to the surprise and the actual flight. I hope he had a great time and hope it made him feel as special and loved as he deserves.

Suited up pre-flight

The classic, "What the heck is my dad doing?" look

Flying!

Yes, that blur is my husband (and his instructor)

Gavin said, "I want to go in there!"

The post-flight expression

This may have been his favorite part...

***Disclaimer: I'm sorry the fonts in this post are so messed up but I.cannot.get.Blogger to do anything I want it to. I've tried and tried to change the fonts the way I want them, and they look fantastic in the edit window. It's only when I press the "publish" button that things go crazy. I'm superbly frustrated and astounded at the time I've wasted in trying to fix this (perfectionism is a curse. Always a curse for me.) so I am going to let stupid font sizes be stupid font sizes and risk that someone might not think I'm so clever after all.

***Disclaimer to the Disclaimer: if you didn't already know I'm not so clever in the first place, read on through the archives of this blog. Ridiculousness abounds.