The Birthday Boy is F-our

A tradition that we had in my house growing up was birthday cereal. I love doing it with

my kids. They wake up on their birthday to their favorite kind of cereal. Who wouldn't want this tradition with the pure joy that comes with it?!

WOW! What a cute kid. Aaron was so excited about his birthday this year. The actual date was on a Sunday so his party was to be held on Saturday but he took cupcakes to school on Wednesday and gymnastics on Thursday. On Wednesday at school he was given a birthday badge that said, "It's my Birthday". Aaron was thoroughly confused. He knew his birthday was Sunday the 31st, we'd been telling him that for the last 3 weeks, but then why did the badge only his shirt say that it was today?!?! "Am I F-our today?"

We couldn't resist bringing cupcakes to church on Aaron's actual birthday. It was so fun to watch his shy up while the primary kids all sang "Happy Birthday" to him.

By the time we had cake on Saturday and cupcakes in his primary class on Sunday, a birthday dessert at Lindo Michocan on Monday (a favorite mexican restaurant of ours) and yet another birthday "burger" with an ice cream sundae at Red Robin later in the week (compliments of Gee), it was safe to say that Aaron's 4th birthday was memorable.

Branson Reeve, Andrew Gardner and the birthday boy

This year we decided to let him take some friends to the Mini Gran Prix or the "go carts" as we

call it. He invited his two little buddies Andrew and Branson, and their dads. So Bill and Aaron set off Saturday afternoon to pick up the other

party goers and head to the go carts. Livi and I stayed home to get ready for everyone coming over. The families of the boys who went to the go carts as well as some other friends were going to join us for cake, ice cream and presents. When the boys got home there was much excitement in the air. They seemed to have had a lot of fun. I am so grateful to Bill for having taken the pictures of the events. They rode the go carts and then the airplane ride and the big slide. Apparently Aaron was the only one of the 3 boys who enjoyed the giant slide. All week, leading up to his party he would tell anyone who he knew, who he saw, that they were invited. The boys were invited to the go carts and he would tell the girls, even his teacher, Mrs. Powers, "You can come to my house for my birthday cake but only boys at the go carts." So fun!

"Do I have the coolest dad or what?!"

The cake was a huge hit. Aaron, after having seen a race car cake was sure that he wanted a motorcycle cake on a race track. So...

...the awesome cake (1/2 chocolate, 1/2 yellow), with the ramp made out of yellow.

He loved it. He kept telling me "It's AWESOME!" It was pretty awesome, everyone at the party loved it. I love being able to do such cool stuff for my kids. (Thanks mom for adding that to our lives.

Aaron was so much fun to watch open his gifts. Everything he got was so spectacular in his eyes. A coloring book and crayons, games, horse shoes, a "hoppy ball", crocs and a kite from Mom and Dad, books and a leapster game from the Ellisons, snazzy clothes from Grandma and Papa T. He loved it all.

My favorite is always to watch him open what his sister got him. Big score on the Bat Mobile!

I've been trying to make holiday pillow cases for the kids for every holiday. I thought a Birthday pillow case would be fun. It served better as a chair cover though. In the middle of the night our sensitive sleeper wanted it off his pillow, he said that it was, "too scratchy". It was a cute idea anyways.
Aaron's choice for his birthday dinner was our homemade pizza. (Good choice!)
Brother and Sister Hirschi are Aaron's Sunbeam teachers. He absolutely adores them. Sunday evening they brought a bag full of birthday presents! So fun!

What can I say about our "sweet love"?. He always has been and remains so very tender hearted. It is something that Bill and I make a conscience effort to remember and to tell others because he is so rough and tumble, it's easy to forget his soft side. And it is just under his skin. Currently he weighs about 44 lbs, is 42 inches tall and wearing, pretty comfortably, a size 5 in clothes. He loves meeting new people and talking to them. He of course always asks their name, first and middle, and how old they are. It doesn't matter how many times he asks you, he'll ask you again. But don't confuse this repetition with forgetfulness, Livi has found her match in the memory bank. At four years old he can spell out simple beginning-middle-ending sound words like; cat, dog, car, red, etc. and easily knows colors, shapes, letters, head locks and body slams. Oh yeah, wrestling is a favorite past-time of his. His favorite time of any day is a good wrestling match with Annie and Dad. Aaron is excellent at letting us know when he doesn't think something is fair, and even better at letting us know when we're "not making [him] happy". He is very quick to obey when requested to help with Annie and loves electronics.

We've recently started paying him an allowance... "TV tickets". He has a chore chart and gets paid his tickets according to how many of his chores he gets done. 1 TV ticket = 1 show. If he does ALL his chores he gets 5 tv tickets for the week. (Plus a ticket for each night that he sleeps in his own bed for the entire night, which he has yet to accomplish for a week's time since we moved into this house 1 year ago! Since we started this 2 weeks ago, he's earned 1 ticket for sleeping in his bed ALL night.) He discovered the loop hole in the tv time though. He figured out how to watch his favorite shows online. (He showed Livi how to do it the other day!) Up until then I hadn't been collecting tickets for computer time... something needs to be adjusted. I told him, "Aaron, you need to play with something other than electronics."

A: "What are electronics?"

M: "Things that have batteries or plug in. Go play with your blocks or your Geo Trax."

A: while kicking his feet and flailing his arms, "But MOM! My Geo Trax have BATTERIES!"

He got me there.
Aaron got this lion from a friend of Grandma Susie's upon his birth. It came with a counterpart, an elephant we named Eli, but recently Aaron gave it to Daxton. (He wanted Daxton to have a friend to sleep with at Papa's just like he does.) His lion, Leo as it was named, has been his comfort and friend forever. He has taken him on every trip and he has been lost several times. My favorite was when he was lost on Wall St. in NYC. Bill ran back several blocks and actually found him. We almost left him on the NY subway as well. There's no more stuffing in the little guy and his nose string had to be snipped when one morning I found Aaron (maybe 18 months) crying at having twisted his finger in the loop so tightly it was turning purple. Everyone who knows Aaron and has spent any significant amount of time with him also knows Leo. Tonight he told me, "Leo is my best friend. He makes me happy."

What a treat to have in our family. Aaron, we all love you so much. Your Granma Claycamp would be so proud of who you are and the love you give to those around you. The tender heart you have and the gentleness you show to others... Aaron, those qualities come from your granma. Happy Birthday big boy!