Happy Birthday, Laura!

Today my sweet sister Laura turned....should I say it? 32! We are getting old, aren't we? Luckily, she's just as beautiful as ever. Here are just some of the many things that I love about her:

1. She is a great mother to her kids.
2. She is an awesome aunt.
3. She is a loving and committed wife, who puts up with Joe ;)
4. She loves her mommy.
5. I can always count on her for advice or just to listen.
6. She only recently started expanding her artistic abilities, and has already surpassed me.
7. She's a great cook and always willing to share recipes with me when I'm in a cooking rut.
8. She always has her toes and nails painted. And when I do my toes, my kids say I look like her.
9. She is not afraid of color.
10. Green is her favorite and she's got me sort of liking it too.
11. She makes her home inviting and interesting and is always changing or working on some decorating project.
12. She's not afraid to hold and care for my spit-up baby.
13. She lets me sleep with her on our overnight art show trips.
14. Sometimes we can just look at each other and know what the other one's thinking (and it usually involves mocking Mom - with love of course.)
15. She loves God.
16. She has good fashion sense.
17. She doesn't mind if I buy the same clothes as her.
18. She introduced me to chunky jewelry and layering and now I feel naked without them.
19. She has a great sense of humor.
20. She has a really weird tolerance to pain - she'll laugh rather than cry.
21. We share a love for reading and she shares her recommendations with me.
22. She's a Guitar Hero expert.
23. She's always up for a rummaging expedition or a trip to Hobby Lobby.
24. She's patient - even when her 2 year old repeatedly draws on her artwork.
25. She created Lily Margaret.
26. She was able to handle being a very young first-time mom with incredible grace by putting Jesus first in her life.
27. She shares my love for chocolate.
28. She shares my love for blogging.
29. She accepts me for who I am and is not critical.
30. She supports and encourages her kids in everything they do.
31. She forgave me for all the years growing up that I was mean and nasty to her.
32. She's just a great sister -she's always there when I need her.

Love ya lots, Laura! Happy Birthday!