Monkey turns 5!

Our little Monkey turned 5 in July.  I remember celebrating his 1st birthday in this house just weeks after we moved in.  He enjoyed opening some presents in the morning before Shafer left for work. 

It's nice to find a toy that actually makes them sit down and be quiet to play with!! 

 With a birthday on July 11 this boy will always get a free Slurpee on his big day.  We headed to our local 7 eleven and partook of the slushy goodness.  I think it was a hit! 
Later that evening we headed South to visit Granny & Grandpa Taylor.  They had scheduled a time for us to swim at the 'Train Man's" house.  It was raining the whole drive down so we thought it would be a bust, but it cleared up enough for us to go.  Well, I didn't swim, but the boys had a fun time.  Then we headed back to my in-law's place and had some cupcakes.  Here's Monkey with his cousin-buddy Z:

The next day we continued the celebrations with my parents and grandparents.  They came over for dinner and some more cake! 

We sure love our little Monkey man!!!

Monkey is a real tender guy.  He still loves to sit and cuddle with me.  He'll randomly walk up to me and hug me real tight and give me a kiss on the cheek and say 'I love you Mommy!'  It melts my heart every time!  Plus it gives me something to remember when he's being a little pill!  He is the biggest tease in the family.  His main efforts used to be used to torment Cheeks, but now that Puppy is getting bigger and more involved, he is the new target!  Fighting and screaming between those two is pretty much all I hear all day!  There's a downside to the teasing for Monkey though because he's constantly getting pounded on by the older brothers for the teasing.  He comes to me multiple times a day crying (screeching really) about some injury he got after teasing someone.  I'm hoping that these are lessons learned for him and he won't repeat the teasing again, but that day has yet to come! 
Monkey is a lot of fun; he loves to have a good time!  He loves laughing and singing made up songs.  He also still holds doors open for me and loves to run errands for me.  He's a real sweetheart!  We love him!!