Braden's cumpleanos {for the thirty third time}

Last week was Braden's birthday. I wanted to make it great for him because he has been so stressed out over this whole SD upgrade for deployment thing. It's been hard for me to watch because Braden is a champ at handling stress. He's the kind of guy that takes everything in stride and doesn't get too worked up over anything. Besides soccer...yikes. If you see him wind up for a clap, try to get as much space between your ears and his hands. But I digress.....That's how I know he is under some serious pressure. And I hate to see him like this. 

goodness gracious (33 cake) balls of fire!

I can see this being my contribution to Hank's wedding video

 Cody and MaShay came up for a surprise dinner on Sunday with their families. Cody's family stayed the night. That day was fun and I think he loved having his family around. The next day Jess offered to stay with the kids so that he and I could go to lunch. I had previously asked his boss if he could have the rest of the day off and she said yes. But Braden said no. After lunch and a movie he went back to work.

This is the game the girls like to "play" with Elise: they fill up her shirt with bunches of crap and then crack up as she tries to crawl around with it. Here she has been stuffed with the entire bucket of wooden blocks. 

We went to Boondocks that night with our kids. The girls thought that was just about the best thing in the world. 

I hope we never forget Lila's signature move demonstrated above. It's her signal for "one" or "tiny". This is her saying that they were number one on the race cars.

Not to show off, but Braden was number one again. 

Happy birthday to a fun Dad and a sweet husband. I really appreciate how hard he works for our family, both at work and at home.