So today is my birthday, I am now 36.

I’ve had a fairly relaxing day. The babysitter came. I worked a bit and then I went shopping. For me. By myself. I bought some skinny jeans, I tried to buy boots. I bought a pair of socks. A big cable knit sweater. Some tanks tops. and probably a scarf. or two.

Every year my kids’ birthdays I do a birthday interview. I wanted to interview myself but it got awkward during the first question so I had the bright idea to enlist the help of Anna and Noah. When I said “aaaand go!” they looked at me like anything they said would be wrong. It took a few moments to get them warmed up but they did just fine.

(Anna) Mom, do you like One Direction? ummmm….yes. but not nearly as much as you do. Not even close.

(Noah) What do you want to do when you’re 36? Good question, Noah! hmmm…I don’t know.  This year is going to be interesting to say the least, so I guess I want to make sure I keep my cool throughout. I’m also interested in seeing my business grow.

(Anna) Why do you like photography? Oh, I love capturing pretty things and pretty people and beautiful moments.

(Noah) What’s your favorite color? I am absolutely unable to answer that question at this time. Yellow? Gray? Mint green? Navy?  Coral? TOO HARD.

(Anna) What’s your favorite kind of coffee? oh, baby, good question. Starbucks Pikes. mmmm…. speaking of which, you should probably buy me some Pikes k-cups for my birthday, k?

(Noah) What’s your favorite hobby? Can a hobby be what you do for a job? If so, photography. If not, um…eating.

(Noah) What’s your favorite season? Summer.

(Anna) What’s your favorite state? (only Anna would ask that) North Carolina. Someday I WILL move there.

(Noah) What do you like about your kids? I love how soft and sweet they are. I love the way Eli and Clara’s breath smells when they wake up. (sorry big kids, you’re not part of that goodness.) I love the way Clara copies everybody and everything and I love the way she loves to wear only her diaper. I love the way Eli says he wants to “be like Clara” which means he wants to take his clothes off. I love how he sings and plays. I love the way Noah takes time out every night to play with Eli, even if it’s on electronics, he involves him. I love the way Anna loves to be hugged by the babies. I love the way she’ll wake up grouchy and tell me she just wants to snuggle with me in bed.

(Anna) What’s your favorite food? Pizza. And beer. What? That’s a food.

(Noah) What’s your favorite veggie? Now don’t tell you or the other kids but I do not like vegetables. If I had to choose though, I’d say green beans.

Thanks for reading friends.

Two of you cute people asked how we came up with the names for our children.

It’s a fine time to answer that.

Anna Helen

I always knew my first daughter’s middle name would be Helen. It’s my middle name and my grandma’s first name.  My grandma was one of those people that you want to be like when you grow up. She just did everything and knew everything. (or so it seemed.) Her home always smelled like home cooking, I always loved that. And I always miss it.

Anyway. When I was about six months pregnant Brian and I were out to dinner. I recall having a strawberry daiquiri (virgin, people) from Redamak’s. mmmmm….soooooo good. Anna just popped in my head. I said “Anna Helen.” And Brian didn’t grimace at me, which was a very positive response. I then realized that my grandma’s full name was Helen Anna Pauline and I almost died right at that very moment from OHMYTHISISSOPERFECT-itis.

It’s a real condition.

It was a done deal at that moment.

Noah Daniel

We just loved the name Noah. Daniel is my brother’s name. I had hoped and prayed that we may have another boy someday and we could name Noah’s brother using  my other brother’s name as his middle name.

When we were pregnant with the twins, I knew twin A was Jake David. Such a perfect name and named after my other brother (Dan and Dave are also identical twins). I always loved the name James but hadn’t really thought to share it as a possibility. I love that James could be president or James could be the guy with the guitar on stage at open mic night. It just fits…everything.

I can remember writing the names James Thomas on a piece of paper at the hospital before delivering them and handing to Brian as way to communicate twin B’s name. I couldn’t say it out loud. My emotions wouldn’t allow it. He looked at it and said “I love it.” That’s how our James and Jake were named. Thomas is Brian’s middle name and his Dad’s first name. How I would have loved to have yelled those names out in a fit of frustration or yelled them out as they ran across a field but instead they’re said, mostly silently, in our prayers or in our dreams. That’s perfect, too.

Elijah Harrison

I really wanted Eli’s name to be Harrison. My dad’s name is Harry. I loved the idea of calling my little boy Harry. I pushed and pushed but Brian really never budged except to make it Elijah’s middle name. Which was smart because Eli is so very Eli.

With Eli and Clara we didn’t just need agreement between Mom and Dad, we had older, opinionated kids involved. I recall, maybe at 8 months pregnant, finally coming up with his name. We were at lunch, the four of us. I read it out loud from a baby book, Elijah. Brian said he really liked it. We looked at the kids and they said “yes! We love it!” I remember getting emotional “his name is Elijah?” Brian nodded.

The funny thing about Eli now is that if you ask him his name or if he calls himself something, he always says “I Elijah.” Even though we always call him Eli. I say to him “I’m your Mama” and he says “I your Elijah,” so very sweetly. That’s my favorite.

Clara Catherine

Goodness, she’s so sweet. A few weeks before our ultrasound I was laying in bed when the name popped into my head “CLARA.” I thought, oooh, so pretty and also “and it ends with the “ah” sound that we accidentally used for all of the others. (that was totally not on purpose.) I became very excited, very quickly, I’m pretty sure I woke Brian and said “okay, it has to be a girl because I have THE MOST PERFECT BABY GIRL NAME EVERRRRRR.” He opened his eyes and I said “Clara.” He loved it.

I remember telling my mom that I had thought of the most perfect baby girl name and she said “yep, you have to have a girl.”

Catherine is Brian’s grandma’s name. She’s 99 and one of the most amazing and beautiful creatures to ever walk this earth. Both she and Clara have October birthdays. It’s a very special bond they have. Anna also calls Clara C.C.

There you go, an explanation into the names of our sweet little babies. It was fun reliving such beautiful, sweet memories. Thanks for listening, friends.

photos by Michelle Hamstra Photography

Our sweet, handsome, clever and funny boy turned nine today, which means it’s my favorite time of year when Anna and Noah are the same age for five days. (Anna’s least favorite, by the way.) As usual, I asked him a series of questions, all about Noah. Enjoy.

Hi Noah. Hi

How are you? Good.

What’s today? My birthday. I’m nine.

What did you do today? We went to Zao Island and we played in the arcade and we went to the mall to go shopping and Target and Best Buy.

We had lunch at Don Pablos or bon Pablos, I don’t know. It was my birthday, you told them that and they sang to me and I got to wear a sombrero.

Did you enjoy that? Yes.

Did you enjoy being 8? Yeah.

What were your favorite things? Turning 8 and going to the water park and playing with my friends.

Who are your best friends? My best friends are Cade, Fabio and Gabriel.

What’s your favorite color? Orange.

What’s your favorite food? Pizza and quesadillas.

What’s your favorite fruit? apples

And favorite vegetable? carrots, cooked, not raw.

What’s your favorite dessert? I like going to dairy dip.

What do you get there? vanilla and strawberry swirl cones

What’s your favorite breakfast food? Pancakes. Anything else? Egg sandwich Who makes that for you? Mommy

Is your Mom a good cook? Yeah, she cooks everything I want for dinner. On the chalkboard, she writes a menu and checks them off every time we eat that dinner.

Who is your favorite author? Roald Dahl

Why is he your favorite? I read a book he wrote, it was called The Witches and it was my favorite so I decided to read all of his books.

What’s your favoite season? Summer. Why? We can play in the pool and go to baseball or football and golfing and play sports.

Do you like school? Yes.

What’s your favorite thing about school? Math, lunch and recess.

What’s your favorite thing about Anna? She’s nice

And Eli? He calls me Elmo and today he got got my name right, finally.

Clara? She walks a lot and she screams and she always gives perfect kisses.

Are you good at smelling poopy diapers? Yes, because you always ask me to do it.

What do you like about being a big brother? I get to be a model for Eli and Clara.

What would you like to do when you’re 9? I want to take guitar lessons (which I am) and get more friends, take football and if there’s a lot of snow, I want to make a snow fort and go to a water park.

How much do you love your Mom? A lot. a lot lot lot lot lot lot lot.

And what do you want to be when you’re older? An artist

To read interviews from the past five years, click below.

4 years | 5 years | 6 years | 7 years |8 years