Happy birthday, Aunt Ber-Rae!

New rule when you come to visit: When you're here, it's your birthday. Okay, that might be a stretch. But because Becca came to visit a week after her birthday, and Amber-Rae came a few days before, we've gone ahead and thrown them a party. And by party, I mean pizza and cake. What more do you need? So if anyone else wants to visit, plan a trip near your birthday and we'll make you a cake and you can blow out candles. And Mabes will sing to you all.day.long.

Amber-Rae had just gotten back from a week in Italy and Greece and stayed with us for a couple of nights before heading back home. When I told Mabes it was her birthday, she decided that she needed to wake Aunt Ber-Rae up with a rousing rendition of the happy birthday song. Despite the jet lag, the birthday wake up was appreciated.

We made Amber-Rae help with the cake, because we're mean like that. I don't know why Mabes is making that face, but she's making it in all the cake-making pictures. But I'm posting it because Amber-Rae looks cute, and I guess this picture conveys Mabes' excitement level.


But we then let her have the beaters, as is the birthday custom. She was nice enough to share with Mabes, and Mabes thought it was glorious.

Note the new Greece t-shirt from Amber-Rae.

I realize this isn't the most flattering picture of her, but I think it's hilarious. For that reason. I'm sure my parents have a least a couple pictures of me making this face, and my dad has, on many occasions, made this face to demonstrate the faces I'd pull to make him laugh. And now I get why he laughed:


In honor of the birthday girl, we got her favorite pizza, Hawaiian. Mabes thought this was the greatest--ham AND pineapple on pizza? GENIUS! She was very excited. She then quickly turned her attention to the cake sitting on the counter, begging us to light the candles so they could blow them out.

She can't take her eyes off the candles:

We did it! That was a lot of candles...
I like birthdays.