We Had to Buy Another Candle

You know those numeral candles for birthday cakes?  We've got them all.  0-9, we've got it covered.  We were ready for anything.

Except 11.

So we had to buy another candle because how could our beloved firstborn turn 11 properly without it??  :)

Rather than a cake, Josiah chose to have grape pie as his dessert.  Knowing his great love for rainbow sherbet, we threw that in as well.  Two desserts?  Only on VERY special nights.  :)

Because someday I'll find this interesting--and Josiah will, too, I think--I'll record here that when I asked Josiah what he wanted for his birthday dinner, he said, "White rice," (that's a given--the boy LOVES it).  When I suggested having something to put on top of it, he decided on curried lentils.  Then he wanted "some kind of vegetable--green beans or peas or something," so we had green beans.  He also requested "some kind of fruit," so as part of his lunch I gave him mandarin oranges (possibly his favorite food of all) and for supper I made raspberry jello salad.  And then the grape pie and rainbow sherbet to finish it off!

Josiah showed more patience this year than is customary for a child to show when they know they have gifts to open, but I knew he was excited and eager to find out what was in those packages for him.  He began with the cards...

...and as always, he had a cluster of watchers around him that didn't want to miss a thing!

As we were getting started with the gifts, Kevin the Painter "happened" to come by--so convenient to arrive at dinnertime!  ;-)  He got to join the party, too.  :)

We gave Josiah a card that plays music when opened, and it had a bike on the front.  That was his first clue, but he missed it.  ;-)

After the cards, he chose to open first a sparkly silver bag...

...which contained...

...throwing knives!!

That was one thing Josiah had specifically requested for this birthday, and his daddy was happy to get those for him.  :)

The next gift was Scrabble Slam, which I'm looking forward to playing with Josiah tomorrow.  :)

Next was...

...another game...

...Battleship!

Then something that David and Jeff had found at a thrift store recently...

 ...a microscope!

Josiah will be able to get help from Grandpa...

 ...as he learns how to use it because Grandpa has often used a microscope.  :)

 When Tobin was born, a dear friend made a hooded towel and gave it to him; and then when Shav was born, another friend did the same for him.  When Moriah was born, I bought a towel (light pink, of course!) and asked my neighbor Wilma to make it hooded for her.  But the big boys didn't have a hooded towel.

 For David's birthday in April, we gave him a hooded towel (also made by Wilma)--green, of course, because it's David's favorite color.

 And now it was Josiah's turn.  We couldn't possibly choose any other color but purple for him!  (Do you think the fact that Josiah was named for a king influenced him to choose purple as his favorite color??)  ;-)

One last gift bag to open...

 ...and here was Josiah's second clue: a bike helmet.

But he still didn't have any idea, so Jeff told him, "There's one more gift for you.  Go down to the cellar, and you'll find it."  So he did.  :)

 I don't know if you could hear Josiah's words, but the first thing he said when he saw his new bike was, "Oh my goodness!" in an awestruck voice.  :)  He had to take it for a little spin right away (and by the way, our boys DO wear helmets when they ride bikes...except in this case, when he was literally just going up and down the driveway once to try it out).  ;-)

 It's definitely a big-boy bike!  He'll need to grow into it a little, but that won't be a problem.  Growing is one thing he is certainly doing!  :)

 By the way, just like the dinner menu, here's some more info that probably isn't very interesting now; but I'll be glad I jotted it down in years to come.  :) We are totally comfortable giving and receiving used gifts in our family, and we save a boatload of money by doing so.  For Josiah's gifts, for example, the throwing knives were a purchase from Ebay.  The Scrabble Slam game was bought from a friend of ours.  The Battleship game we found at the Used Curriculum Sale at the homeschool convention last weekend.  The microscope was from a thrift store. The towel and the bike helmet, however, were new.  :)  But the bike itself was a used one that Jeff found on Craigslist.  We strive to be wise with our money, and buying things secondhand is one HUGE way we do that.  :)

Welcome to 11, my dear boy!  We are as proud as can be of you, and we can hardly wait to see what God has in store for you this year!!  :)