happy birthday, tyler

today is our nephew, tyler's, fifth birthday. five is a big number in kid world, or at least i think so. you can count how old you are on one whole hand. and you get to start kindergarten. let's just say that jamie and i thought tyler's fifth birthday was a big enough deal that we made plans awhile ago to be in ohio this past weekend to celebrate. for jamie, it's hard to fathom that tyler is five. when my sister-in-law, janelle, went back to work after tyler was born, jamie spent his summer home from college keeping tyler during the day. it's safe to say they have a special bond now because of that summer. when we first started talking about getting married, jamie told me he couldn't marry me if tyler didn't approve. i used to measure how much tyler liked me based on how often he didn't try to put me in prison, shoot me, or call me a monster. now i'm realizing that in little boy love language, how much they pretend to kill you is equally proportional to how much they love you.

tyler requested that he have his birthday party at an indoor water park. as my mom predicted, the adults -- specifically jamie -- were the biggest kids there. we had a blast going down water slides, floating down the lazy river, and playing in the kiddie pool. the day was so exhausting that tyler fell asleep before he could blow out the candles on his birthday cake. not to fear, however. we saved the cake for sunday. our 2 1/2-year-old nephew, trevor, threw a tantrum when he realized that it was not his birthday and thus the cake and the presents weren't his either. we always enjoy time with our nephews (and our other nephew and nieces that belong to jamie's brother, chris), namely because they make us laugh. yesterday, i was talking loudly -- no surprise there -- and tyler matter-of-factly turned to jamie and said, "uncle jamie, will you please tell your wife to be quiet?"