happy happy birthday marky dear

My little brother requested that I update this here blog and since he is leaving on a mission in under 2 months AND because today is his birthday, I suppose I better grant his request. So Marky, this post is for you. Happy Birthday! I love you more than words. Here's a little bit about what we've been up to lately. 

The boys love to help me in the kitchen. I love it too, I really do. But I'd love it a lot more if the floor didn't end up under 2 inches of water. Oh, these boys. I know I will miss these moments.

Johnny has a thing for princess shoes. All of his little girlfriends (friends that are girls - you wouldn't know anything about that, Mark) have a couple of pairs of these, and its the first thing he goes for. I'm not too worried about it yet :)

My visiting teacher asked if she could bring me a fresh strawberry pie for Mother's Day. Um, let me think about that... YES. Yes, you can. It was deeeeeelish!

Johnny and Tyler made me some sweet cards with the help of their dad and nursery teachers. It was a really special day for me. Johnny said, "Happy Mother's Day!" all day long and for a couple of days after that.

We celebrated Brian's 31st birthday on the 16th. I asked Johnny what we should do for his dad's birthday. He said, "We should make him cupcakes and party hats!" Sadly, the party hats didn't happen but the the cupcakes did. These were soaked in raspberry jello, Brian's favorite, and topped with coolwhip and raspberries.

Uncle Mikey came to town! We took him to a Dodger's game. I've been to a lot of these games and this one might have been the best. The weather was perfect, no sun in our eyes, we weren't sitting by blaring speakers, we had a great view of home plate AND we had dodger dogs, garlic fries and ice cream in a baseball cap. How can you beat that?!

We also went to see Grandma Shirley while Mikey was here. We always have so much fun at Grandma's house. She is so good to us. Johnny and Ty absolutely love to go. And I love getting to take my siblings when they come into town for a visit.

Here's Tyler being bribed with a cookie to sit on Grandma's lap. It worked!

The boys love to get out the pots and pans and make "chin-yada soup." I think that's short for enchilada, but I'm not sure. They make it out of legos, blocks, animals, cars, trucks, whatever they have on hand.

One pot quickly becomes two after the wooden spoons turn into weapons.

I'm pretty sure I wasn't interested in tools when I was little. These kids are obsessed. It must be a boy thing. Whenever anything needs fixed they are on it like flies on... well, you know. Tyler says, "I fix it."

We turned the patio into a water park one evening while trying to clean an area rug. It was getting late and the sun was setting fast but the boys couldn't get enough of the water. Ty's lips were turning purple but he didn't want to stop. It was too much fun.

Random side note - Johnny wore this red onsie, buttons barely snapping under his bum, when he was 11 months old. Ty is 18 months and its still a little loose.

I asked Johnny to stop for a picture and just then a huge shiver overtook his entire body. Here he is mid-shiver.

One last shot of Johnny serving up a bowl of chin-yada soup. 

Alright, Marky. No birthday post is complete without some shots of the birthday boy. So, I picked out some of my favorites from our adventures in L.A. together. Remember those strange waterbeds on top of The Standard in downtown? We are so cool.

Roscoe's Chicken and Waffles. We'll go there again when you get back!

 Huntington Beach. We can't surf but we're dang good at volleyball :)

Happy birthday to my best littlest brother! I love you so much!