Birthday week!

 Tuesday was Josh's 45th birthday. I would have planned a party or something fun to celebrate but he isn't the most social guy and we have been trying not to spend any extra money lately so we kept it low key. We actually went out Monday night for his birthday dinner of Nicolletti's and then I spent most of Tuesday grocery shopping and baking. Brandon was supposed to have a baseball game that night but it got cancelled for rain so that was kind of nice timing so we could actually celebrate Josh. Since we'd already had pizza I got fancy (expensive) sourdough bread and made banana bread muffins and his favorite donut muffins and we had fancy egg, cheese and bacon sandwiches with the muffins for dinner. His main gift was a surfing day when he was traveling in San Diego but I also got him a new shirt, book and an alarm clock, then the kids got him trail mix, another book, kitchen shears (his request) and Lily got him the Dog Man movie. He was the only one who wanted to go see it, except Brandon I suppose was willing to go with him, and we all teased him for wanting to see this movie but he insisted it looked good. So she got him the DVD and now he can watch to his heart's content. I made a cinnamon streusel pecan cake that was a bit too lemony (I thought lemon zest was weird but that's what it said!) but it was still good enough that Josh liked it. 

 

 

Josh is the most patient person I have ever met and he is so calm and easy going. He is a dedicated servant of the Lord, a wonderful dad and the most amazing husband and I'm grateful for every day that he is healthy and well and here with us. I had a good friend recently tell me her husband had an affair and they are separating, which will of course crush her children (who don't know yet) and my heart just broke for her and her kids. I feel such sadness that her husband is unrepentant and doesn't feel badly about what he did at all. I wish I could punch him in the face for treating her like that. Then two of my sisters are widows and it all just makes me grateful for Josh every day. He said he felt very loved on his birthday so I guess that means mission accomplished. 

Emma's birthday was Wednesday and it was also a pretty busy day but she was happy she got to see her school friends, her dance friends and her church friends all in one day. She got sung to many times and she soaked in all the attention and fun. Josh was going to take her out to breakfast but she wasn't feeling hungry that early so she had a normal day at school and then I took her to dance and we had a quick dinner (beef ravioli but then I got bread sticks from Olive Garden to make it feel special) and then she was off to youth activities. When the kids got home she opened her presents and she was thrilled with her new converse sneakers and we also got her a dress and a skirt and some books. Josh also got her a new San Diego lifeguard sweatshirt just like the one she got when we went a few years ago that she had outgrown. Lily is taking her out for dinner this week, Curtis is going to 3D print whatever she wants, Brandon got her new watch bands and my SIL got her a new bed spread. Emma is the most fun person in our family when opening gifts; she squeals and laughs and gets so excited about each gift. Then we had angel food cake with strawberries and whipped cream and now we have a 12-year-old! 

 

 

Thursday I went and helped out with picture day for three hours and then I chilled all afternoon, knowing it would be my last alone time for almost two weeks. Friday was Josh's day off and we had decided to go look at a few used cars in Virginia. We were hoping to buy something this summer but with a crazy president in the White House throwing tariffs around like a mad man, we were concerned the price of cars was going to go up and make it not affordable for us. We got up and it was pouring rain so we were pretty close to just getting back in bed but we headed out. It took almost 2 hours to get there and when we did the lot was so small and cramped and it was really not fun to look at cars in the pouring rain. To sum up the day, we drove a few different cars we had seen online and none of them were quite right and the place was kind of weird. We had seen a few papusa places so we decided to go get some lunch and we found the perfect place; full of Latinos, everyone speaking Spanish, Josh even ordered in Spanish and the papusas were amazingly delicious. I even got horchata and it was so good; made my day. We decided to go back and see if they would knock the price down of the one Josh liked best but then the financial stuff got weird and we just decided to go. It just didn't feel right to me or him so we left. We had a pretty drive home all along the Potomac and Mount Vernon and it wasn't raining quite as hard. I was looking on Car Fax and found a car at a dealership right by our stake center, which we were going to go right by so I suggested we stop. 

The Toyota dealership was so nice and the guy we met was awesome and the car was perfect; it was meant for us! It was late in the day and we needed to get home and we had to work out our financing so they agreed to hold it for us and we picked up Curtis and got home by 7pm. Since we had left at 9am it had been a long and not so great day overall, but the food was great and the fact that we found the perfect car was great. 

Saturday morning we worked out all the financing (this is much longer story but not so interesting so I am summing up) and then Josh and I headed up (an hour away) and got there about 3:15. We had a church activity so I was stressing about getting done and getting home and things of course took forever. As soon as we were done I left and hurried to the church. Luckily my kids are awesome and they had baked the sweet potatoes I had said I would bring and gotten themselves to church so I showed up in time to eat with them. Josh got there about 40 minutes later and was totally in love with the car. It is just what we were looking for; 50,000 miles, 2021 Toyota Corolla in a lovely blue color, no damage/accidents. In fact it was a loaner car for the dealership so no one has actually owned it, which means it is super clean and smells wonderful. It is perfect for us and seriously an answer to prayer. So, happy birthday to Josh--we got a car! Lily is pretty happy too because now she gets the Kia, although she can't drive to school without a parking pass so really it just means she can go to dance and where she would like on the weekends. 

Yesterday was a lovely Sabbath day to just relax and enjoy being with the kids (Lily did another NHS dinner and she made it all on her own--it was great!) and we are excited for spring break this week; we have been waiting! Yesterday we cleansed our house, just like Jesus cleansed the temple on this day in Holy week, so I am doing laundry and the kids are cleaning bathrooms. But we started off with crepes for breakfast and I even had the Ratatouille soundtrack playing so it reminded us of our morning in France at EPCOT. We took our spring break trip in November so trying to remind the kids of the fun we already had. They seem cool with just hanging out this week, especially since the boys still have baseball games and the girls still have dance today and tomorrow before their dance spring break starts. Lily has a big AP Research paper to write and presentation to prepare so she's grateful for the time and we have a few fun things planned to sprinkle in with our projects and relaxation.