Joseph's 10th Birthday!!!

Gosh, I can not believe Joseph is 10!!  A whole decade of this kind, funny, hard working, dependable, generous, focused, great brother of a kid.  We are so blessed having him as our only son and are so thankful for him.  He brings so much joy to our family and is such a great role model.  We have loved watching him grow over the past ten years and can't wait to see what the future holds for him.  He is such an easy going, happy kid and his birthday is the perfect example of his great personality because despite covid and having a doctor's appointment to get his cast right in the middle of his birthday, he had such a great day! 

What helped in making it a great day was that he got lucky this year because there wasn't any school on his birthday due to parent teacher conferences so that was a nice treat for him.   We celebrated in the morning by getting breakfast at Elmisa cafe and then came home to a surprise from Nani and Poppa stopping by to bring donuts (they are still quarantining from us since we travelled to Atlanta over Thanksgiving) but we got to see them, and Murphy, from the car.  Plus he got to open one present in the morning!

We picked Shane up around 11 and headed to In n Out to pick up lunch and go to a park in Carmel Mountain Ranch to play for a bit.  We then came home and the girls hung with Daddy while he and I went to his doctor's appointment. 

 

The orthopedist confirmed a subtle fracture in his right wrist and told him he'd have to wear a cast for 4 weeks-kind of a bummer but at least the timing is pretty good with only 4 days of school and then two weeks of Christmas break so it won't be too bad for schoolwork.  Plus, better now than during the summer where he'd have to miss out on swimming.  He took it all in stride and had a great attitude about it.  Sidenote was that they had us wear two masks at this appointment-this was a first but they said they are doing this to try to prevent a holiday surge in cases.  We obeyed but thought it was a little strange! 

After the doctor's appointment, Jer stopped by to wish him a happy birthday which was nice.

  

Then we did presents!  The girls all made homemade cards for him which were super sweet and Rich and I were so excited for this because there was a big surprise which we knew he'd love!  After opening up a few small presents he opened up a present that had a clue on it and told him that he was to go on a scavenger hunt.  His eyes got really wide and he said, "Maybe it's my trick scooter?!"  These were the ten clues hidden around the house:

His reaction at the end when he realized that he was opening up a laptop was everything!!  It was so awesome and brought tears to everyone's eyes.  He was so appreciative and excited and it was so fun to gift it to him. 

 

We had plans that night to go to Santee to go to a drive in movie for the first time to celebrate so Joseph couldn't spend the entire night setting up his laptop but we guaranteed him that he would have time the following day and that it wasn't going anywhere on him. They were all excited about the drive in and he was still in shock over the laptop! The Croods 2 was playing and we picked up pizza from Filippis close by and it was a fun time.  Unfortunately we couldn't hear the movie that great from the bed of the truck but I think everyone really enjoyed the experience still and now for next time we know how to make it really work.  Despite a broken wrist, covid, not celebrating with any extended family, it was still a super special birthday and the start to a fabulous year!  

Happy 10th Birthday, Joseph!  Thank you for bringing so much joy to our family.  You keep us smiling and keep us grounded with being surrounded by so many girls.  We are so thankful that you are our oldest and we are so proud of you.  We love you so much!