Aria is Seven!

When making plans for our trip to California we contemplated coming home before Aria's birthday.  When Aria heard of the possibility she pleaded to have her birthday in California.  She has spent every birthday there and it has become a tradition.  She loves spending her birthday with Grandma Hunt, her Aunts and Uncles, and her cousins.

Since her birthday was on Sunday this year we thought we would celebrate a day early.  We started the day with a trip to the movies to see Frozen.  This was such a sweet movie and perfect for a 7 yr olds birthday.  Later that evening we headed out to Walnut Creek to meet Uncle Steve, Aunt Shannon, Jaxon, and Jordon at the Cheesecake Factory for dinner.  The waitress at the restaurant treated Aria like a princess and the Oreo cheesecake with the candle on top made her night.
On Sunday Mike made his special Lasagna for her birthday dinner and then we opened presents with the family afterwards.

 Aria had been asking for this Lego set for months.

She was bummed when she didn't find it under the Christmas tree but so happy and surprised when she tore through the paper that night.
For a birthday cake she got a tower of yummy gooey brownies.  It was fun watching her blow out the candles.

I can't believe she is growing up so fast.  We all love her so much and are so thankful she is a part of our family.

7 Fun Facts about Aria:

1.  She can do back walkovers, one handed cartwheels, and the splits!
2.  She loves fashion and putting cute outfits together.
3.  Her smile melts all the boys' hearts.
4.  She is super smart and loves to read.
5.  She doesn't like bananas or oranges.
6.  She loves to help Mom make dinner.
7.  She has lost 8 teeth.

Christmas with the Hunts

Christmas Eve we told the kids that they weren't supposed to come out of their room until 7:00 am.  They always try to sneak out early and they end up waking me up in the process.  This year I didn't want them waking up Laina too early because then she would be a grumpy mess by lunch.  I thought I had finally won when I didn't hear a peep when I walked down the hallway at 6:55.  Too my surprise I heard giggling and laughter in the kitchen as I got to the door.  Sitting in the dining room were my four monkeys happily eating cereal and rummaging through their stockings.

They had taken the screen out of the bedroom window where they had all been sleeping and climbed out.  My sister saw them from the kitchen window where she was working on her dough for sweet rolls.  What a bunch of stinkers!  I had to laugh at it of course, the persistent little imps, but at least Laina got a full night of sleep.

The morning was spent opening presents.  The kids were all so happy to get what they had asked for.  Michela got clothes and shoes, Hunter opened Legos and robots, Chase found Legos and a ripstik, Laina got Barbies and Princess Legos, and Aria opened Barbies and a scooter.

 

Everyone was so helpful with ideas for Christmas this year, the only one who threw me for a loop was Aria.  I thought I had her all figured out until she came home one day from school the last week before Christmas.  The first graders had a Polar Express Day and Santa Claus came to visit.  Aria came home so excited and told me that the REAL Santa had come to their school.  I asked her what she had asked him for and I expected to hear one of the things she had told me, but I was so surprised to hear, "Elf on the Shelf" come out of her mouth.  Of course I was already done with shopping, but a request to the Real Santa couldn't be ignored.  There was a special present under the tree with a tag that said,"To the Girl who Believes".

The look on her face when she opened that present was the best moment of the morning.
Steve, Shannon, Jaxon, and Jordon all came over a little bit later to open presents.  Jaxon was tearing through them and Jordon was more interested in getting into everything but his presents.

After that we started in on our Christmas Brunch.  Tiff's sweet rolls, fresh fruit, frittata, and tons of bacon.

Tiff had to make extra bacon because Shannon's pregnancy cravings for bacon are on overdrive lately.  It was all delicious!
This was probably the most beautiful weather we have ever experienced in California at Christmas.  We got to spend lots of time outside in the sunshine.  We got to go on lots of walks, play at the park, and even had a family kickball game.  I've never seen anyone kick the ball as far as my brother Kurt and Grandma even played.  I had to crack up when Chase got up to kick his first ball and I caught it.  He looked at me with utter surprise and yelled, "I didn't know you could catch the ball!"  Ha, Ha, …  we grownups showed those kids a thing or two that day.

We were excited to go to the BYU bowl game in San Francisco.  Mike, Mauri, Michela, Chase, Tiff, Craig, Steve, and Uncle Russ all were able to go.  We rode BART over and had a nice walk beside the bay over to AT&T park.

Sadly they lost, but we had a lot of fun together anyways.  We had a lot of laughs, got a surprise visit from our friend Tyler, and we will never forget the cry for "Hot Chocolate!"

Aria is 6!

Aria had her 6th birthday while we were in California.  We always keep it pretty low key which seems to please her just fine.  She helped Grandma make waffles for breakfast, her favorite.

 She even got a candle to blow out.

 We waffled on the idea of where to go for dinner, wondering if we should try somewhere new, but we ended up back at Fat Apple's again and she loved her "burger sandwich", just what she asked for.

After dinner we headed home for presents and cake.  Aria couldn't wait to open presents so we did that first.  Gosh, she is such a beautiful girl!

She loved getting her own girl Legos.

Michela decorated the cake and I loved what she came up with.

We had to hold Laina back so she didn't blow out the candles for Aria.

Such a sweet girl we have and she is growing up to be such a beautiful and talented little lady.

6 Things About Aria on her 6th Birthday:
1.  She just recently cut her own hair.
2.  She loves to dance and do gymnastics.
3.  She is getting to be such a good reader!
4.  She is a bit of a Fashionista.
5.  She is so Loud!
6.  She loves Kindergarten and going to school everyday.

Pretty Ballerina

At Aria's dance studio they are really big on teaching the kids from the very start proper ballet technique.  I am always in awe of how graceful and poised she is when I see her dance.  Right before Christmas they let the parents come in a watch their class so the girls could show us all they have learned so far.

Aria is at the end on the left.

I don't know where she got that flexibility from.

Prima Ballerina

Aria is the tiniest little thing, she looks like the youngest one in class.  After watching her though a Grandmother came up to Mike and I and asked us where Aria had taken dance before.  This is her first serious ballet class, but she has always just been a natural when it comes to dance.  Love watching how she just lights up when she is out there dancing.

My Little Mermaids

We have been spending a lot of time at Seven Peaks this summer.  The big kids take off as soon as we get there and ride all of the fun slides.  I've even taken Aria and Laina down a few of the tube slides.  It's so much fun hearing them squeal as the clutch my arms in sheer terror.  By the time we get down to the bottom they are yelling for more.
Aria, Laina, and I spend most of our time at the Kiddie pool.  They love to splash in the water and pretend to be mermaids.  Aria has the mermaid kick down pretty well.

 They are so cute in their little pink suits.  They are the sweetest sisters.

 I also had to include this shot of Chase.  He was taking a quick little cat nap in the tube.  Funny kid.

The Graduate

Aria had her graduation ceremony at Preschool today.  I can't believe how fast the year has gone by!  She looked so darling up there in her red cap and gown.  They put on a little program, singing songs and playing a slide show.  I always love the songs and the little boy next to Aria was cracking me up the whole time.  He always sings with the loudest voice and gets all into the actions.  This picture makes me giggle every time I see it.

Here she is with some of her classmates.

She loves her teacher Miss Valerie.

Proud Momma with her sweet little smarty pants.

I totally started crying when I saw her standing there with her little diploma.  It is unbelievable to me that she will be starting Kindergarten next year.  Then it will just be me and Laina at home.  She has worked so hard this year and is starting to read so well.  She has loved going to school and has had such a great experience.  She is growing up way too fast for me, will somebody please tell her to slow down!  I love her so much and I am so glad I get to be her Mom.  I am so proud of you Aria!

Operation Egg Drop

Chase had an Egg drop project for school.  He thought about the best way to do it.  One thought was to stick in a jar of peanut butter, he saw it on Shake It Up, but I thought that could get way too messy.  The next idea was a parachute.  Parachute number one didn't fair too well.  We tried using a plastic garbage bag tied to a gift bag, but the bag didn't catch enough air and the gift bag was too heavy.  Next we cut out a big circle from a trash bag.  We put the egg inside of a plastic easter egg lined with cotton balls, and put the egg into a paper lunch sack lined with light weight cloth diapers.  We tied it all together and it was ready for launch.
Chase was so excited when the janitor called his name and threw his parachute into the air.
 

It floated gently down and landed with a soft thud.  Chase was so happy it had worked so well.

After opening the bag and tearing the tape off of the plastic egg he found that his egg was still intact.  The project was a success!

After we said goodbye to Chase I took Laina and Aria over to the park for a little play time.  Laina charged right up the stairs and climbed all the way to the top of the tallest slide.  I yelled at Aria to go with her, but Laina didn't even balk about the height and just launched herself down the slide.

 Of course I panicked a bit seeing her up there so high all by herself, but when I saw the pure joy on her face when she came down I quickly got over it.  They had fun climbing up and sliding down every slide the park had to offer.

By the end their hair was standing on end from all of the static electricity generated by those plastic slides.  It was a beautiful sunny day and the girls had a perfectly beautiful time together.  I can't wait for more days like these.