Brandan's a Birthday Boy & Male Bonding

Brandan turned 31 last Friday and the boys could not have been more excited.  They were nearly as excited for his birthday as they get for their own, but I guess that is because they kind of made his birthday into everything they wanted.  For instance, they were sure he wanted a pinata shaped like a basketball and they were also sure he would want them to hide his presents in the yard and then draw complicated treasure maps that he would have to follow in order to find them. 
The pinata was supposed to be a surprise the boys and I made Brandan, but none of us are very good at keeping secrets.  I left pinata making instructions up on the computer, Dash told Brand his surprise started with a 'p', and Colt, well Colt told Brandan "your surprise is not a pinata".  The boys had a blast making the pinata though.  All the while we were painting, Colt kept bouncing around asking "whobody is going to keep Daddy calm?"  If Brandan had half as much fun on his birthday as the boys did, then he had a fantastic day.
I will say, however, that now that Brandan's birthday is over, Colt is dying for his own birthday.  We got him through Dash's birthday by promising him that after Dash's birthday was Daddy's birthday and then it would be his birthday.  So the morning of Brandan's birthday, Colt asked me if his birthday was the next day.  He was pretty devastated when I told him he still had 43 days.

The family with Brandan's presents, his pinata and the treasure maps.

Breaking the pinata.

I always knew Brandan was a good Daddy, but lately I've realized just how important he is in his children's lives.  The boys idolize Brandan and they couldn't have a better role model.  We are all so grateful he is in our family.

Brandan, Dash & Colt on the roof installing the new skylights.  Scary.

Sport didn't get to go on the roof (you can imagine how happy he was about that), but he did holler encouragements from the trampoline.

Colt decided he wanted to try riding his bike without training wheels so we headed over to the school parking lot for a trial run.  He still doesn't know how to make it work yet, but Brandan got a great workout.



Sport chased the bike riders around the parking lot.  You'll notice his shoes are 3 sizes too big.  He outgrew his favorite shoes and now he refuses to wear anything, but Dash's old Sponge Bob flip-flops.  Classy.



Daddy and the boys wrestling.  This happens at least 4 times a week, or really anytime Brandan is lying on the floor.

This looks posed, but I swear this was just another snapshot of the action.