On the Beach

Josh finally turned 33! It takes some people longer to jump on the wisdom train. We had fun, but very low key, birthday celebrations, mostly centered around food; it was Joshua’s birthday after all. Friday night we had Uncle Anthony over. Anthony is a friend of Josh’s from high school who moved to Dallas just about the same time we did. He is one of the good people of the earth. The girls have adopted him as their uncle, so we hope to be able to lure him up to suburbia as often as we can. We feasted on homemade rye bread, savory sweet potatoes, honeycrisp apples, and stuffed flank steak with proscuitto and provolone cheese inside. I have a bad habit of trying new recipes when we are having company, but fortunately, this one turned out well.

Last night we had our friends the Larsens over. They have been our closest friends in the ward since we moved in. We do babysitting exchanges and game nights with them. They are the kind of friends you can call and invite over when you make too much dinner or call for help when you are in a bind. Unfortunately for us, life is taking them back to Utah. We are trying to make the most of the time we have left with them and they were nice enough to join us for Josh’s birthday. Things didn’t come together super well on our side for the evening, however. I burned the birthday cake. Josh got so involved in a pruning project in the back yard that he lost track of time. The girls invited all the neighbor kids over to play and when I went up to give them a clean up warning every toy, game, dress up, and craft supply we own was scattered across the floor. By the time I finished cleaning that up, pried Josh away from his chain saw, and threw the birthday cake in the trash I had had it! The Larsens arrived amidst the chaos, but being the patient friends they are they still stuck around. We ordered pizza and let the kids watch a movie. I made the cake again and the adults played games while it baked. Finally around 10:00 we sang happy birthday and let Josh open his present, which I hadn’t even gotten around to wrapping. It was just one of those days! I hope we pulled it together enough for everyone to have a good time, especially Josh.

Josh is in between projects at work, “on the beach” as they call it. It has been incredibly nice! His first beach day we sat down to dinner and after the prayer Kate cranked her neck around to look right at Josh sitting next to her and said, “Dad, you are never here for dinner!” He’s been home for dinner every day since. We are all loving it! We have gone for family runs, he has picked up and dropped off Kate at school, we have chipped away at our to do list of things that may or may not ever get done, and he has helped me out immeasurably. I have to remind myself that this will not last forever, but we sure are enjoying it while we can.

Jane’s surgery went perfectly. She charmed all the doctors and nurses at the hospital. The nurse who took me back to meet her after the surgery said, “She is such a sweet girl. She is very calm and in control.” She has been cleared by the surgeon to resume normal activity and she definitely has. Her thumb is straight. She uses it without hesitation, so that is a success.

Kate has been riding her bike to school again now that it is getting warmer. We went for a family run the other day and she rode 5 1/2 miles while Josh and I ran and Jane rode in the chariot. When we got home she went straight to the computer and typed:

12345 i ran 5 milse i am so clde aaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhh

Did I mention it was a little chilly? It was a great temperature for exercising, but her little hands were frozen like popsicles.

Jane is in a great stage for one liners. Her favorite response to any direction from mom or dad these days is, “That doesn’t make any sense!”

Mom: Jane will you please clear your dishes?

Jane: That doesn’t make any sense!

Dad: Jane, if you eat all your dinner you can have a cookie.

Jane: That doesn’t make any sense!

Mom: Jane, run potty before we go.

Jane: That doesn’t make any sense!

Jane got to stay up late the other night because she took a nap. Josh and I were sitting in bed reading our scriptures. She crawled up in between us with her bright pink Disney princess book, opened it up, and said, “These are my scriptures”--pretty accurate for a 3-year-old girl.

Kate and Jane were playing a game the other day. Jane often gets designated as the baby in games because she is the littlest. Not this day, however. She proudly announced to Kate, “I’m an UPPERCASE ghost!”

Josh took Kate and Jane to an ice cream shop in town to meet up with one of his classmates from Wharton. Jane was alone with the friend for a few minutes and she announced that she was pretending to be Kate. The friends said, “Okay, if you are Kate you should say something that she would say.” Jane thought for a few seconds and then came up with, “No, Jane!”

Happy Beach Week #2!