Better Late Than Never

Jack set this picture up himself. He's getting to be such a good writer...thoughtful too. Happy Belated Birthday to My Sister Kate!

So many reasons why I'm glad she's my sis.

I'll list a few. 1. As a small child, I sported what some may call a

(he hem) "mushroom-do". Kate would give me what was referred to as a "whippee" to spice things up.

Note the pictures below:

Now, while this is a pretty modest whippee, you get the idea. Styling genius! She never turned down one of my requests, either.

2. While my sister Annie and I would play school each and every day, Kate was typically way TOO COOL for SCHOOL to play.

As the older sister, she was too busy hanging up pictures of Christian Slater and listening to R.E.M's "everybody hurts."

Every once and a while, she'd humor us and make a guest appearance as the PE teacher.

Man, we lived for those days.

We worked out like this.

3. Now I may be wrong on this, but as I looked at this picture from earlier in the post, I remembered that the amazing aqua-teal shirt Annie is sporting was thanks to Kate (kudos to Annie if she stole it). Let me highlight the picture again below:

That's right, it reads, "Learning is Doing and Doing is Fun."

man that just makes you feel like learning... or doing....

Perhaps I have it wrong, maybe that was Annie's shirt and it was Kate's awesome night shirt that read "The Night is Young and So Am I."

PS to the both of you...thanks for wearing night shirts with such profound statements...really shaped me.

4. Ok, a serious one. When I was in 8th grade, Kate got hired at my Junior High to teach English. Now, some might find having your sister teaching your friends to be lame or embarrassing. Me, however, nope. I absolutely LOVED having her there and as my own teacher.

I even got to be her slave and work overtime to help her grade, etc. We spent so much time together this year, and to a little sister, it was a dream. To this day, that is one of the coolest things I can claim- my sister was my teacher (and a great one at that).

It's been really cool to work in the same school district as Kate and to be around "big wigs" and hear them talk about her. I'm one proud chica to claim her. She's so respected professionally, is an amazing teacher, and is essentially the reason I went into teaching.

5. I'm not sure if you blog readers remember how totally HOT I was in 8th grade, but just take my word for it. (I'm not going to post a picture because you'd be so jealous.) Well, despite my beauty, Kate still went rollerblading with me almost everyday after a long day of work (yes, like, as a workout). We burned so many calories. Granted, I was in 8th grade, so rollerblading wasn't that weird, but Kate...you were one ballsy 21 year old! These people can only wish they looked as good as we did.

#6. Need I say more? Thanks, Kate, for these 2 adorable mugs.

#7 She watched a fussy Jack today while I got my hair cut. ... As much as there is to admire about the above contributions of Kate in my life, there truly are so many, many more. I think that she essentially set the example that lead Annie and I to do so much of what we've done in life. She always succeeded, so that was always our goal, too. Lastly, just so you all know... this little lady is capable of ANYTHING she puts her mind to and SUCCEEDS in EVERYTHING she does. I admire her dedication, her smarts, her drive, and her role as a big sis. Happiest Birthday, Kate. Love to you! (now will I get a comment out of you?)