Another Birthday!!!

With the advent of the new year, we embarked upon birthday season in our household.  It's kind of cool that in our family, we have a birthday every month from January to July, except May!  Jake is first in the string of birthdays, followed by Shanan. When the big girls were quite little, we started a Zavocki birthday tradition.  Steve got them flowers & a balloon, and the birthday girl gets to plan her birthday meals as well as choose her own cake.  Obviously, once Jake is old enough, we'll have to modify slightly for his little masculine tastes. ;)  It's always fun to see what ends up on the menu for each kid each year!  This year, Shanan chose crepes for breakfast.  If we were still in Flower Mound, she would have chosen lunch at her favorite Vietnamese restaurant, but since we aren't there, we'll have to make good on that when we return for a visit!  Instead, I made chicken and quinoa vegetable soup, and she was happy! For dinner, she picked chicken orzo bake (sans the lemon & dill) with corn, broccoli, beets, and beet greens!  For dessert, she chose ice cream cake (with chocolate and caramel ice cream).  It was a super yummy food day, for sure!

We didn't have a vase so a decorated milk jug will have to do

Each time someone has a birthday, I take a little trip down memory lane.  It's hard to believe that eleven years ago today, I accomplished what was, at that time, the hardest thing I'd ever done in my 23 years of life...I gave birth to an 8 lb 13 oz, 21" long, beautiful baby girl.  We didn't find out what we were having in advance, but we had a pretty good clue we were having a girl.  The night before I took the pregnancy test, both Steve & I had the exact same dream---simply that I was pregnant, and it was a girl.  How awesome is that??!?

What an amazing gift we've been given!  Looking back, I was still just a kid, so naive and totally & completely unprepared for motherhood.  Oh, how many ways I have screwed up over the years, and yet, God is merciful and forgiving, and kids are resilient!  I regret to inform you, Shanan, but you are indeed our guinea pig!  We love you and adore you and we are so blessed to have you for a daughter.  You are beautiful, bright, creative, and ambitious.  I love watching you care for and fall in love with your younger siblings!  You are becoming an amazing, Godly young lady that we are immensely proud of!  Happy eleventh birthday, sweet Shanan!