Birthday!

I felt a need to vacuum this morning.  Richie felt a need to jump into Papa Ben's lap.

Papa and I tried hard to make today a special day for Bradley.  He turned nine!

Bradley decided on a poke cake.  He cracked the eggs.

He laughed when he saw a face staring back from the bowl.

We used a recipe made popular by Ben's mother.  She greased her cake pan with Crisco and a brush.  So did Bradley.

When the cake came out of the oven, Bradley poked 100 holes in the top.  This created places for the lemon glaze to fill.

Aunt Martha came by with her two girls and took Bradley out for a special lunch.

During Richie's nap time, Bradley made something special with the perler beads.

A new brother is coming home from the hospital tomorrow.  Bradley told us his name starts with a J.

After naptime, these two horsed around big time!  I love watching them play together.

Bradley was willing to light the candles with a match until Papa found a better tool.

All Richie cared about was getting cake.

Papa and I sang a Happy Birthday duet.  We were pretty good, too.

Grandma Markham's lemon poke cake was delicious, as usual.

Richie was a little crazy after two bowls of ice cream.  We are all pretty excited around here, waiting for tomorrow!