He requested a host of friends for his birthday party, so we compromised and invited two families and also had his cousins Elias and Cedar here (plus their parents, of course). He had a blast:
In keeping with the last couple years, Josiah requested an ice cream cake. I baked a thin chocolate cake base (using a recipe from Smitten Kitchen, in case I need to refer to this next year) and then spread a layer of mint chocolate chip ice cream, then a layer of crushed oreos, and then a second layer of ice cream. On top I piped (via ziplock) "Happy 7th Birthday Josiah" with chocolate sauce. It turned out decently and tasted great--and it wasn't a huge amount of work. I kind of like the ice cream cake trend--it eliminates the need to make a pretty-looking cake and frost it, at least!
Josiah with sisters and friends: l-r Abby, Leo, J, Niko, Lydia, and Massi
Niko, Massi, Josiah, and Leo
Lydia and Cedar
E and L enjoying watermelon
What fun to have cousins come visit!
cutie Cedar
We gave Josiah a dwarf mine Lego set from the bin Jeremy bought from someone on Craigslist. It was a hit! He's been designing impressive "sets" of his own, typically using a "map" (directions) as a jumping-off point and then embellishing or changing it based on his own imagination. He often has an extensive set to show off to Dad when he arrives home from work!
Josiah continues to be our socialite. He regularly asks if and when we can have someone--anyone!--over for supper, looks forward to every Friday park day when he can run wild with his friends, often declares a new acquaintance as "one of [his] best friends," and still says hi to random strangers in the grocery store. I love his outgoing frankness that encourages me to reach out to others and get out of my comfort zone!
But for all his extroversion, he does look forward to "nap" time every afternoon when he can get some time alone to work on Lego sets and listen to audio books. His recent favorites are Peter Pan, The Jungle Book, and Otto of the Silver Hand. He loves our history and literature books for Ambleside Online's Year 1, especially Just So Stories, Aesop's Fables, The Blue Fairy Book, and Viking Tales. While he struggles with phonics and has been slower than many of his peers to start reading, his capacity for good books delights my literature-loving heart.
I love overhearing the kids' discussion of books and watching them play out the stories they've heard. It's been a lot of Peter Pan recently--with gales of laughter over some funny exchange between Pan and Hook, or the way Peter tricked Hook on Marooner's Rock. In April our kids and some of their friends performed a scene from A Midsummer Night's Dream in a Shakespeare festival another mom hosted. Josiah was Puck and did a wonderful job remembering and delivering his lines! (The girls were fairies in Titania's train and dressed to the nines. They got a little shy and quiet during the performance, but they stayed on stage and said all their lines.)
