special specialness

july 15th holds a special place in my heart

for one, it's my sister's birthday

which is a pretty good reason to celebrate in itself

but she's not only my sister

she's a best friend

who's been with me through every stage in life 

she was my live-in playmate as a kid,

let me climb into bed with her when i was scared,

listened and advised as i worked through teenage drama

and showed me the ropes when i hit university

she stood up to the bullies in my life,

(despite being smaller than me)

stood beside me when i got married

and let me stand beside her when her turn came

she taught me to not take things so seriously,

that taking a risk isn't always a bad thing

she encouraged me to pursue what i love

we've shared countless coffee dates

lunch dates

study dates

double dates

friends

recipes

clothes 

heck, we even shared time being pregnant with our firsts

...and the list goes on

suffice to say, she's a very special person in my life

and i am very grateful for her

SO HAPPY BIRTHDAY, SIS
my life wouldn't be the same without you
thank you for investing in me
encouraging me
teaching me
and loving me

and if that's not enough reason to celebrate, 

it's also my babies' half birthday!

today, i have 18 month olds!

(this is totally NOT them at 18 months - just a cute photo from a couple months back...)

i'll leave it at that and save the baby schmoozing for a later post

just so we can give each special person in my life their own special post

i mean, spreading celebration over a couple of days is never a bad thing, right?

*my wedding photo by the ever talented James Moes'
**my sister's wedding photo by Adam Loewen

***i also can't take credit for all others (except the one of the girls) - thanks to the friends / parents in our lives who snapped these so we could look back at them and relive some great memories!