The Birthday Boy

Or more accurately, the birthday man.  But that just doesn't have the same ring to it.

Yesterday we got to celebrate Josh's 28th birthday!  So I wanted to take a few minutes to write about how much we absolutely love this guy.  I don't mean to be too annoyingly mushy most of the time, but this occasion allows for it, right?  Because we (me and the kids, that is) can't get over how great he is!

So without further ado, here are just some of our favorite things about Josh.  For starters, take a look at this photo:

It's a letter Josh wrote to the kids on our white board before he left for work.  This has become a morning tradition around here.  The kids can't wait to run into the kitchen first thing in the morning and have me read the note to them.  And of course, they love the pictures he draws!  (He's quite the artist if you didn't know.)

Secondly, Josh has truly stepped up to lead our family towards a more healthy lifestyle.  For the past six months, he has worked so hard in establishing good sleep and exercise routines and he has showed immense self-control in what he eats and drinks.  He has lost over 30 pounds!  (I know, amazing!!!)  Better yet, his habits are starting to rub off on me and the kids... such a servant leader he is!

Lastly, Josh is totally FUN and FUNNY!  I mean, this guy cracks us up all the time.  I have always loved that he can make me laugh no matter what difficult situation we're going through.  And he can make any task fun no matter how boring you think it will be!

In closing, I have to share that our little Riley has become quite the party planner.  She's gone to a few parties and has figured out that the party themes are usually based on the birthday person's preferences.  As soon as Jack's birthday was over, she wanted to start planning the next birthday, which for our house was Josh's.  She knows that Josh has a little obsession with bears so she came up with the idea to give him a bear birthday.  She has been talking about this for months and she had lots of cute little ideas.  Thus, Josh got to enjoy a "Papa Bear" birthday set-up yesterday.  He was super sweet to play along and Riley was stoked to see that he loved it.