Birthday, Rozum, Birthday

Happy birthdays to Phillip and Evelyn this week. It’s a challenge to celebrate birthdays during the week, we managed somehow. Phillip is now 16 years old. He opened his “big” gift on Sunday so he could enjoy putting his Lego together. I found a Star Wars Lego droid creator set at Target with Josie. He was thrilled! Warmed my heart to see Phillip, Josie, and Evelyn assembling different Lego sets together. Phillip mostly got new t-shirts and hats for his birthday. He also got a new phone a few days later when we switched over from Verizon to T-mobile. Justin was thinking about changing over and the deal cinched when he dropped his phone and damaged the screen last week. Phillip forgot his phone at school (again) after band practice on Friday. We cannot get his old phone because it is a holiday weekend. Karma. He requested cheese cake for dessert. While Phillip was at band practice I made raspberry sauce and Amelia made raspberry whipped cream. I got the pick up time wrong, Evelyn and I had to wait 35 minutes for him to finish up. We had Fergus with us as a fun birthday surprise. Fergus and Evelyn quite enjoyed running up and down the sidewalks. 

Tuesday after work Justin and I drove out to Carmax in Meridian to look at a van we had shipped from another location. The van is a 2018 Toyota Sienna, supposedly the most reliable year out of the Toyota fleet. It has about 78,000 miles on it and a relatively clean bill of health. It’s difficult pulling the trigger on huge purchases. Justin was very prepared with loan approval and everything in line. I was very sad the huge bow did not come home with the van. We drove home separately at 8 pm! Our first order of business was a stop at Chik-fil-a for dinner. The kids and Ostlers piled in the van for a christening ride around the neighborhood. I’m getting used to a very different approach to the van, no keyed ignition, buttons in various places, and quite a few screens to customize. We kicked around several names for our new ride: Inigo Montoya, Sylphrena (stormlight archives), Gray-g, and gray skull (again). A burst of inspiration sealed the deal, Rozum unit 3520, or Roz for short. It fits. 

Wednesday was Evelyn’s turn to celebrate her 12th birthday. She opened up her birthday shirt the night before (after pestering me half to death). Amelia and Josie took her McDonald’s for lunch at school. Josie stayed home with a cold or severe allergic reaction. Her eyes were nearly swollen shut the night before. She got to shoot her first gun at YM/YW activity that night. Justin went along to help at the activity. Evelyn got to try out the cricket pistol. She was almost crying before she tried out the gun, fear is a big obstacle sometimes. After the first shot she completely changed her mind and quite enjoyed the experience. I made her favorite greek salad for dinner and root beer cookie bars for her treat. She was very excited to open her own Owl-a water bottle and some cute HP doll stuff. The birthday song screeched terribly loud and obnoxious from our home twice in a week, most unfortunate. 

Phillip wanted a friend celebration for his 16th birthday. He wanted to take his 3 best friends to an escape room. We made that happen for him. He chose a gem mine escape room theme. Justin made smash burgers  on the new flat top, delicious. I took Phillip, Ben, Johvanni, and Bodhe to Meridian for the escape room. Evelyn came along for the ride hoping we could make it to Target in order to exchange one of her gifts. We indeed found a Target not too far away, enjoyed some shopping and lingering while waiting for the boys. The conversation was quite amusing: who is the best Marvel character? We had to wait a while longer, I figured out how to get Apple Maps connected to the van display. Yay! 

The girls had violin and guitar Friday morning with Emma, they are improving with each lesson. I picked up groceries and then a FB marketplace purchase. A guy sold me 12 Lego sets for $100 in the name of education. Yay. Justin worked on getting our new phones transferred over. He was on the phone for 2 hours figuring out how to transfer his phone number and creating himself as the primary for our new account. He was on the grumpy side for a good while. Evelyn really wanted to drive all the way to Boise to eat pizza at Tony’s. Yes, the pizza is yum, but no not going all the way there for a 3 hour meal. Tony’s pizza is so authentic you also have to wait European hours for your food. Instead we tried out Longboard pizza, a new place in Nampa. It was mid, yummy but not stellar. Imagine Blaze or Cafe Rio for pizza. They did have a legit pizza oven with high temps but missing the charcoal flavor. Justin was not impressed, the rest of us were satisfied. At the other end of the restaurant was a frozen yogurt bar with ALL the toppings. Phillip and Evelyn shared a cup with too many toppings, Justin and I shared a cup with three different frozen yogurt flavors…no toppings. 

Saturday Phillip worked on his Driver’s Ed course after a lecture from the parents. He avoided working on his course for 4 days because he couldn’t pass one of the quizzes. Instead of asking for help he mumbled his way around for days. That drives Justin and I crazy, we can’t read minds. The boys helped a new family move into their apartment around dinner time. I had Hawaiian kabobs and coconut rice ready for a late dinner. We got a free year of Netflix with our T-Mobile contract. Bring on the K-Pop Demon Hunters. GOLDEN.