New week, new month.

Rob is back in Guam, now, or at least very nearly, and Josh has finished his Best Birthday Ever! We saw lots of friends, and I went out two weeks in a row. Unheard of! So, according to the schedule, I should finally have some post-Christmas down time now, right? Um...no. I have to schedule Grant for another dentist appointment because another filling fell out, and next weekend we're having a Superbowl party at Chris' house, and I'm going to a wedding this month. Then, taiko season starts, apparently. I'm trying to talk Josh into letting me sign up for one more...but two weekends in a row...he's not loving the idea.

So! Friday we had dinner at Texas Roadhouse Grill. We were supposed to meet at 6:30. Heather called ahead for us, but they couldn't seat us until 7:15....which actually became 8pm. Really not so easy to keep pre-schoolers in a waiting room that long. Heather and Chris left their kids, so it was just Grant and Abbie and Brianna. Our waitress was actually really awesome. Josh's food was great, and mine was okay. The guests were: Me, Josh, Grant, Abbie, Rob, Lisa, Chris, Heather, Jason, Kirk, Becky and Bree (our neighbors!), and Sarah D., who we didn't know would be able to come, so we were super excited to see. Josh's sister, Sarah, came and got the kids during dinner, which was so nice of her! After dinner we switched cars at Lisa's house and headed to Charlie's on First Capitol. We'd never actually heard of it before. Our neighbors had to go home after dinner, but when we got to Charlies, we discovered that we had been joined by Tiffany, one of Josh's old friends, and also Natalie from taiko! And then Julie and Joel got there, and fun times were had by all, with the possible exception of Jason, who had a headache and wasn't digging the karaoke. I am sad that my camera battery died, though. I don't have a single picture of Natalie! Josh says he took some, but it might have been with Lisa's camera. (Or he was pointing the dead camera at people not realizing that no photo was being taken...)

After karaoke, some of us went back to Lisa's house and talked and played cards and laughed. I tried to go to bed, but I was back downstairs pretty soon. Just wasn't going to work. We got the kids in the morning, and then dropped Rob off with lots of goodbye hugs, just in case we didn't see him later. And we didn't.

The boys got haircuts in the afternoon, and we did some grocery shopping and ate Chinese take out for dinner. Then, I finally went to sleep. It was nice.

Yesterday was taiko practice. I had fun learning the oodaiko part to Isami Goma. I learned the "Julie way" because, frankly, it's the best. I also played a little bit of Ashura. It was a pretty good practice, I think. :) I took Michelle all the way to her house. Then, I got lost, had to turn around at a closed road, found my way out of the subdivision and ended up on 40 instead of 70, but that was no biggie. Don't tell Michelle. I was a little late getting home, but it didn't effect the birthday cooking. I made the cake first, and it was cooling while I made the dinner. We had pork chops with sweet potato and apples. It sounds weird, but it is a fantastic dish. Super yummy, and a tad rich, very savory and not healthy AT ALL. Unless you count that it includes veggies. We also had salad with tomatoes, cucumber and mushrooms. It was served on the pewter plates that my brother gave us for Christmas a few years ago. Josh calls it the "man china". He poured a beer into a giant pewter mug, too. Very "Lord Of The Castle".

Josh has been saying it was the best birthday ever. That makes me feel very happy.

Next Saturday, we are going to Josh's mom's house for another birthday dinner, and Sunday we go to the Superbowl party. I'm making a jambalaya for that, and bringing meatballs, cocktail shrimp and maybe bacon smokies.

No plans for today. That's the plan. I am planning to plan for no plans. If a nap happened all by itself, however, I would not object.

Off I go to make some yummy lunch. Probably leftover Chinese. I hope that whatever you are doing today, that it is making you smile. Happy February! It is chilly, but sunny.