Sweet 16 and school starts

 Then Saturday was Lily's 16th birthday! She spent the morning at her dance studio helping out with their open house (her choice; she loves helping the little kids) but I got up early and made her cottage cakes for breakfast. I had an awesome playlist of all sorts of songs about turning 16 and she "loved" me singing to her. Curtis had baseball practice and Josh was supposed to go to a wedding but was too sick so he spent the morning at urgent care. 

That afternoon we played Skip Bo and Uno (Lily's request) and then we watched some videos from when she was little. Then I ended up taking her and a few friends from dance out to a fancy seafood dinner on the water. I just dropped them off and then sat on the river walk for an hour and a half while they ate and it was so weird. She is grown up enough to go out with her friends but I still have to drive her and pay. It was also weird to not eat dinner with my daughter on her birthday. Everyone else stayed home and had leftovers since Josh wasn't feeling good and I didn't want to spend the money for the other kids to eat out that night. It was what she wanted to do so I'm glad she was happy but I felt weird about it. 

 

 

When they were done we went home and had peanut butter chocolate cheesecake and then the girls left and Lily opened her presents from us. We got her a new leotard, some books, some bracelets and Curtis got her some painting stuff because she has gotten back into painting lately. I am so grateful for this girl and love her so much. She is growing up into such a lovely person and I enjoy being with her. She works hard at school and is a beautiful dancer and has a sweet and strong testimony of Jesus Christ. I'm a lucky mom! 

The next day Josh and I spoke at a Why I Believe Fireside up at the DC temple visitors center. I was very stressed about it, which is weird for me. I usually enjoy giving talks in church but this one felt very different and I was so nervous. I was nervous people would come and that no one would come at the same time. I didn't want to let the mission presidency down by not being interesting enough but didn't want a packed theater either. We had to drop Lily off at a meeting and then drove up and Noreen was so sweet and came with us, which was so nice. She hung out with the kids and was so sweet to support me when she knew I was nervous. Michelle sent me sweet texts too and about 5 minutes before it started I felt very calm. We had been asked to share the story of our testimonies so I shared the foundational experiences I have had in my life that formed my testimony. My throat got dry so I coughed a bit and needed water but other than that, I kept my composure pretty well and I think delivered my message well enough. Josh was sick and so I could tell he was tired and his talk didn't have his normal energy, but what he shared was great and made me love him all over again. His conversion is such a miracle to me and we have such a beautiful life because of it. Afterwards I got to chat with a Ukrainian missionary for a bit and then we drove home. It was a long day but a good experience and I was very happy when it was done. 

Monday was Curtis's open house so we went to freshman orientation and then walked his schedule a few times so he would know where to go. He seemed so confident and grown up and he's so tall that he fits in well. I really hope he has a great year. Then we went to Brandon's which was easy since I have had a kid at that school since 2013. We just dropped of his school supplies and said hi to his teacher and that was pretty much it. We tried to go to a pool party but there was a ton of thunder and lightning so that was a bit of a bust and Curtis had cross country and Lily had a goodbye party for a friend but we also had Emma's open house. She was so nervous so we walked her schedule a few times and all around the school so she would feel comfortable. We have both been dreading her going to middle school for awhile so I tried to stay positive but she was still really nervous. 

Tuesday we tried to live up our last day of summer. We went to Flag Ponds Park with the Rays and it was a beautiful day. I had never been there but it was quite lovely and Michelle and I just sat on the beach and talked for three hours while the younger kids dug in the sand and the big kids walked around and talked. It had been a long time since we'd hung out so it was good to catch up. We had been hoping to go to Mrs. Moo's per our end of summer tradition but it wasn't open in time so we went to Cold Stone instead and then Lily had to get to dance and Curtis to cross country and Brandon to baseball. 

 

We also found out that Emma's school had mold in it so she had a delayed start to school. She had nothing Wednesday, a short meeting with the administration Thursday and meetings with her teachers Friday. Today and tomorrow she has virtual school and then she finally gets to go Wednesday. The other kids all started well on Wednesday and I hope it is a great year. 

I've been cleaning and trying to reclaim the house after a messy and fun summer. I got to go to a birthday lunch with Sarah, Leisa and Michelle and that was really nice. I also went back to the gym and have just been trying to get back into a routine. 

Friday Josh and I went on a date and talked for hours; it was so nice because it had been a long time. He's finally starting to feel better so that's good. Saturday was our ward beach party and even though I got there pretty early, the parking lot was already full. I panicked and called a few people and finally decided to just make the best of it so we had to walk to the other beach. It is tough when you are carrying beach equipment but we made it and so did a few other families and we had a great time. The weather was perfect and there were no jellyfish. Mark came with his jet ski and gave the kids rides and we had our paddle board and kayak and the kids all had a great time. I'm not sure I could have done anything differently to make it work better but if we try it again sometime we'll have to do a weekday or evening or something so that we avoid the crowd. I also think they should just make the parking lot bigger but whatever. Actually they said next year they were doing a reservation system so we'll have to see how that works. 

 

I was so exhausted when we got home but we took quick showers and then went up to the Blue Crabs game with our free tickets from the library. The Wiests and Tripps came with us and the Callihans were there too. It was so fun to hang out and talk and while the game was disappointing for the Blue Crabs, the fireworks afterwards were awesome; one of the best shows I've seen outside of Disney. It was a fun night but I was very grateful for a day of rest yesterday. All we did was go to church and talk to my parents and I made dinner. It was good to relax. Josh had a very busy day and was only home for an hour all day though. 

 

This week is going to be very chill and nice with just baseball and school, which is great because next week my piano lessons start, as does seminary and dance. I feel like I'm at the top of a roller coaster looking down just waiting for the drop.