Josiah's Birthday Celebration

On Joel's birthday, Josiah questioned whether he would get the "exact same treatment" or something different on his special day.  We didn't make any promises but thought, 'How easy can it be? A chocolate bar, some gum and a cake? You bet you can have the same thing, buddy!'  So on August 13th, Josiah awoke to a chocolate bar and a pack of gum at his place at the table - and he was thrilled!  Funny thing was two days after his birthday, he commented, "This is the longest I've made a pack of gum last!"  Truth.  He goes through a pack of gum in a day (sometimes a couple of hours) when it is his to have.  And truth.  He is not allowed to have his own pack often because he lacks self-control in that area.  It is the same thing with me and chocolate chip cookies.  I can eat the whole batch so I only bake them about once a year.  And then end up sick from the sugar overload.  It's nice to have the boys at the age where they really get it that the bikes we purchased the first week here were their gifts.

Joj requested to be able to pick out his own breakfast pastries so Tracy took him to Kaufland's right after he woke up...nice treat for me to not have to head out quite so early that day.  It's been more than once that I've had to go right away in the morning because we literally don't have anything to eat for breakfast but maybe a carrot or two and a handful of rice.  Still adjusting to shopping every day....I know, I've said that before!



For dinner, Josiah requested homemade pizza - I had only made pizza once up to that point as it has taken me a while to get in the groove with cooking like I did at home.  The boys thought that it turned out good enough that we've decided to make Friday nights pizza night.  Since I struggle to consistently menu plan one less night to think about is great with me.

 

Though it was fun to pick out a really cool looking torte for Joel's birthday, Josiah wasn't overly impressed with the taste so he asked me to bake his cake.  I had in my basket all the needed things to bake him a cake but discovered a really neat frozen torte as I made my way to the grocery check-out line.  It wasn't overly priced and was CHOCOLATE  - how could I go wrong?  Everything still takes me longer here so not having to bake a cake sounded really nice.  Thankfully, Josiah liked my choice of tortes.  The only real problem was that yet again, I purchased more than I could carry.  I ended up having to walk my bike home with the cake on the seat.  Now some would ask why I didn't just try to ride one handed.  Well, I've tried that before and decided I like my skin on my body rather than the road.  Actually, it wasn't that bad but close enough.

There is a photo of Tracy in his parents' kitchen when he was about 13 or 14.  He has the exact same grin on his face!  It's uncanny how much they look alike, except that Tracy's hair was darker by this age.

Just to show the yummy layers

Love these smiles!