Happy Birthday, Jenni! (Jason's January Post)

I’d like to start off by wishing Jenni a very happy 30^thbirthday! This would also probably be a good place to point out that until few days ago, I was under the impression that Jenni was twenty-five or twenty-six. No, that’s not my way of giving her an underhanded compliment and saying she looks younger than she really is (the look test would probably put her at about 35-40 right now), it's just that I genuinely have no idea how old anyone in my family is.

Age discrepancies aside, I began to recall my reputation for slacking off on other people's birthday gifts. There was that birthday of Dana's that I felt it appropriate (and cost-effective) to give her an empty box completely covered in glued-on pretzels (surprisingly she wasn't that upset...I actually caught her nibbling away at the packaging a few hours later). Then, of course, there was that summer I gave Jamie a pet rock--complete with its own shoebox ecosystem. The only time she spoke to me that week was to make a threat on my life (#angryphase).

So needless to say, I figured that I really needed to step up my game for this important milestone in Jenni’s life. Then I remembered that the things that Jenni likes (houses, decorating, ect.) are not in the slightest bit interesting to me. So instead of getting Jenni something for her birthday, I decided to get Lillie something.

Now before you criticize my logic, let me at least pretend that there was an attempt to be thoughtful on my part. The gift that I got Lillie just happened to be her very own children’s digital camera so that she could in turn give Jenni a present.

The result (as you can see below) was a bunch of near-studio-quality photographs, complete with Lillie’s very own watermark! So while Jenni putters around listening to Tim McGraw’s “My Next Thirty Years” all day, sit back and enjoy Lillie’s handiwork!

"Happy birthday, Mommy!"

In an unrelated event, Jenni had a little difficulty putting the tree back in the box last night, and I felt it necessary to snap (and share) an incriminating photo before helping her up. Enjoy...

And this is why she won't be allowed to use the Baby Bjorn anymore...