This post is sponsored by ShoeBox. My husband’s birthday was a few weeks ago. It also happened to be the day of our Beer & Hymns gathering. The two guys who lead Beer & Hymns with me are two of my husband’s closest friends, so we decided to parlay this month’s afterparty into a bit of a birthday celebration for Mark. (We do a themed afterparty after most of our events where we perform cover songs and lead the crowd in a rowdy sing-along.) We wanted to do some songs that Mark loves, and he had specifically requested How Sweet It Is by James Taylor. But I knew a secret about my husband . . . his actual favorite song in the world is Mmm Bop by Hanson. It’s a running joke, but he really does love that song. When I presented this song idea to the band, everyone else was skeptical. Too old. Too cheesy. And would our crowd even know the song? We finally made a compromise: we wouldn’t do the whole song, but we would just break into the chorus as a fun surprise for Mark and then move on. Well, apparently Mark is not the only person with a secret affinity for this Hanson song. We broke into the chorus and the crowd went insane. It was hilarious. Then we did Summer of 69, which we coaxed Mark on stage for, and some Brown Eyed Girl. After the after-party, we had an after-after-party back at our house for our good friends to celebrate Mark. We had some cake and then sang Happy Birthday, and then it devolved (evovled?) into another sing-along. God bless friends who know my husband’s love language. We sat around for several hours singing everything from John Denver to Social Distortion. It was a blast, and Mark said that the sing-along was his favorite gift. 
The next day, we opened gifts with the kids. I recently discovered the hilarity that is ShoeBox, and gave Mark this card for his birthday: 
And the kids gave him this one, which they thought was HILARIOUS. 
Per his request, I got him a bocce ball set for our front yard. He was intentional in explaining to the kids that “nobody touches daddy’s balls but daddy.” I think we both repeated this about 10 times while trying not to laugh. Because we have the sense of humor of a teenage boy. 
It was a fun celebration this week. And I will leave you with a meme created by the birthday boy. 
You can pin that if you want.
Rage Against the Minivan sometimes earns revenue through sponsored posts, which are clearly labeled, and occasional affiliate links to recommended products. I only feature products that I truly like, and my opinions are always my own.