Monica in "Ya ain't gettin' any younger!"

Howdy party people!  We had a fabulous week here what with Monica having her birthday and all!  We had a great day and even made it back to Benihana, our old birthday tradition!  We haven't been there for a few years ever since someone got shot outside it... but with Monica's birthday coupon in hand we made the trek!  It was also fun to head back over by our apartment again.  We wanted to drive around and show the kids where we lived, but we didn't end up having enough time for that.  Anyway, this isn't the starting point of our week, so we should probably move on.

Earlier in the week Monica headed to Chick-fil-a with the kids, and let Winry sit on the table.  Winry is a super sitter now!  And a super snatcher!  Monica's cup was sitting by her and she stole it and started chomping on the top.  It was a Styrofoam cup, but Monica assures me nothing came off.

Our week was super packed!  We had the missionaries over for dinner on Tuesday night, but I don't have a picture of that.  Wednesday as soon as I got home from work I took Brooke out shopping to get birthday presents for Monica.  You'll see those later.  On Wednesday night Katie and David made the trip down, and photoshop DID get a picture of that!  Thank goodness, and welcome to the blog Katie and David (They're both super excited to have made it)!  They brought Monica a card, a cake, and flowers!  They're the best! We have some great friends out here!

So when Brooke and I went shopping we were going to go to Target, but I decided to stop at Goodwill on the way, and it did not disappoint!  Brooke really likes having kids games to play, and we typically just stop by Goodwill every now and then to see if they have any.  Well, I thought it would be fun for Brooke to get Monica a game they could play together, and we stumbled upon Yeti in my Spaghetti!  It's been a raving success, with conversations such as "Brooke, do you want to play with me?"

"No."

"Oh... but I really want to play..."  Good thing for Monica I am willing to play!! More on that tomorrow morning!

Thursday morning was HAPPY BIRTHDAY MONICA!!  I woke up and decorated the house some before Monica woke up.  Nothing special, just some streamers, so I forgot pictures...  So for dinner we headed to Benihana!  If you sign up for their birthday program you get a $30 "gift card" for the birthday person, so Monica's food was free!  When we got there Winry got hungry, so while we waited for the chef to come to our table I fed Winry yummy habachi mashed cold vegetables.

Brooke's menu doubled as a hat, and Monica wore her brand new Moana shirt (also from Brooke!!)!  Brooke loved the dinner show and thought it was a lot of fun.  She even started banging on the table with her fork and chopsticks "just like the cook!"  After a great time we zipped home to get the kids to bed.  It took longer than we remembered, so we were out pretty late... for our kids.... and us adults... :)

The next morning breakfast turned into a yeti spaghetti duel!  Monica and I were trading blow back and forth until we got to this point.  Then, the following happened.  Hopefully you watched that before you continued reading, but I was pretty sure I was going to win.  Who would have thought she'd slip that out of there...  Oh, you also may have heard, but once we got down to three noodles Brooke asks "can I take one?"  She likes to join in after the game is over, but apparently also likes to join in once it's impossible too.

Later that day Monica was having Winry do tummy time, and Brooke asked why.  Monica explained that it was to help her crawl, so Brooke made a wall of motivation, including several books, random toys, one spaghetti and the yeti.  Winry did not crawl straight to it, but instead was fed by Brooke?  That bottle is eye drops for Brooke's vet set (no actual liquid), but Brooke always says it's milk and feeds her animals with it instead.

That night we had some friends over for cake/brownies and ice cream.  Here are Monica's cakes with candles.  Other then the cake I have an ill timed picture of Monica, and a video of us singing happy birthday that is far too much only my voice audible to be put in here.  Those of you who know me best know a singer I am not.

On Friday and Saturday Brooke and Winry have been sick.  It's mostly just congestion in their noses, but no fun none-the-less.  Brooke did spend a bunch of time taking care of her stuffed animals though.  Here are several that all just needed to take a nap... under a towel.  She grabbed the towel off of the oven handle to use as a blanket!

Also, one of those nights Brooke wanted to read me a story about Jesus.  Those pictures are from a family home evening where we talked about Jesus' life.  I think my favorite part of the story was probably when Nephi came and saved everyone from the ship.

Saturday night is bath night, and now that Winry is older it's double tub night!  Winry loves to be around Brooke, so she loves taking baths together.  Brooke loves to play with Winry, but sometimes dumps a cup of water in her face trying to wash her hair... so we always have to watch closely!  Anyway, they get along great, and now bath time is double the fun!

Also, that night I headed downstairs for something and when I came back up Brooke was trying to rock her bear to sleep!  I sure hope that's not what I look like when I rock Winry...

When we checked on Brooke later that night we found her sleeping like this...  That seems preferable for an arm.

This morning we went for a walk as a family, and Brooke pushed a stroller with a bear in it around the whole block!  While we were walking she stopped in front of a house, pointed at it and said "Who lives here?"

"I don't know Brooke, who do you think lives here?"

"Um... Jesus! Or Eden."

At least there's never a dull moment with these two little cuties around!  We are truly blessed and I am so grateful for my wonderful little girls.  I hope everyone out there has a wonderful week!