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Two Birthdays, Two Days Apart

The first week of September is always a little bit hectic. My birthday, followed by Joseph’s birthday, followed by a party for Joseph…but we survived another year of it. 😉 For my birthday, we had take-out and Paul picked up a little cake at the store. For Joseph’s, he and Paul went and saw a movie together. Then for his party (the next day), we had a few of his friends over for pizza, cake, and an epic super-soaker battle (the boys got to take their super-soakers home as party favors). Let’s see…what else? Oh, we had Orientation for Joseph’s class (Abigail’s class still doesn’t have a permanent teacher, so Orientation for her class will be another time). Outside the classroom, his teacher had put up their “all about me” papers. One fun thing I learned about Joseph is that he wants to be a beekeeper when he grows up, but only for carpenter bees. At first I was wondering about the distinction, but then I remembered that carpenter bees (for the most part), don’t sting. Smart kid. Oh, and I can’t forget to add that I saw my first hummingbird moth. They’re huge. One got into our garage just as Abigail and I were getting back from dropping Joseph off for school. It buzzed around us a bit (they actually make a buzzing sound and they flap their wings fast, like a hummingbird) before it (thankfully) found its way out. I was glad, because I had no idea how we were going to be able to get it out without harming it. The joys of Texas living!

I added one more candlestick to my collection (the tall one). This one is extra special, though!
It’s actually signed by Clint Harp, who is the wood working guy from the show Fixer Upper. The two smaller candlesticks are the ones that I purchased in his shop in Waco when Tracie and I went last October, but this taller one I ordered during a special weekend where Clint said that he would sign every candlestick purchased that weekend.
She used her animals, monkeys (from the Barrel O’ Monkeys game), and trees to make a campfire. I love her imagination!
Pretty birthday flowers.
Fun birthday cake and a cute llama candle.
My birthday presents: rain boots, a sun hat, and new Crocs. I also got a powered USB hub so I can consolidate a few of my charging cables.
One thing I’ve been trying to do the last few days (and ideally I would like to get to the point where I’m doing it every day) is taking a walk around the neighborhood. I love the area I walk along. It’s got some pretty scenery. Paul had the day off yesterday, so after I dropped Joseph off at school, I left Abigail at home and off I went!
The beginning of Joseph’s birthday cake. I used gel food coloring to make the different colors so that he could have a tiered cake with two different colors.
Out of the oven! They got a little browned on top, but that’s okay. 😉
Cooling off! I love my stackable cooling racks!
All frosted!
He wanted a symbol from one of the Legend of Zelda video games. The symbol starts out orange but turns blue when activiated (hence the two colors of the cake). I looked at the picture of Joseph’s backpack (which has the same symbol) to make sure I got it done correctly.
I snuck in an extra walk last night…the cicadas were sooooo loud (I should have recorded them), but I could also hear crickets chirping and frogs croaking. It was nice!
I decided to start off my Saturday with another walk. I’ve decided that walking outside is way more interesting than using my elliptical.
Breaking in my new sun hat while I watered and did a bit of pruning this morning. I really like that it’s open on the top so that the heat can escape…and yes, I promise to remember to put sunscreen on my part so that it doesn’t burn. 😀
Opening presents…
Nerf gun for the win!
Books, Pokemon cards, and candy…
A new SD card (for much needed storage).
Legend of Zelda gaming stuff.
Cake time!
I actually put ten candles on there this year. Usually we get number candles, but the store I went to didn’t have any zeros in stock (so that I could make a 10).
Cake and ice cream! I was so happy with the vibrancy of the colors. Gel food coloring is amazing. I only put eight drops in for the blue. For the orange I had to use a bit more (I think I put in twelve drops), but that’s still way better than having to use a ton of regular food coloring (and trying to combine the red and yellow to get just the right orange…the gel food coloring already had orange pre-mixed).
Super-soaker battle! They were using the boxes and slide as extra cover.