Aaron turns 5!

Yesterday was Aaron's 5th birthday. It was a fun and fairly relaxing day. We had fun making some presents for him. Jonathan made him a bow and some arrows, Mara made him a gecko and some handkerchiefs (he had announced the other day that he needed some).

One of the gifts I made for him was this quilt. This was a fun and fast project. I was using some old squares (corduroy, jean and other heavy weight materials) that my siblings and I had cut out as kids while listening to Mom read aloud stories like "David Copperfield" and "Evidence Not Seen". (My mom used to read aloud to us for hours, even as teenagers. We loved it and would work on lots of projects while she read.) The middle square is a piece of needlework I did as a child and then I also used some animal picture fabric that my Grandma had given to me.

Another gift that Aaron had been wanting was a horse outfit. I tried to make one from some heavy weight fabric that had been given to us. The head was a bit of a challenge and I still need to put the eyes on (I was waiting until he had tried it on) but it worked out okay. Jonathan actually was the one that ended up wearing it a lot of the day, but Aaron didn't seem to mind.

I made the horse outfit to also work as a regular outfit. Here it is without the "head" or the "tail".

For his cake Aaron decided on a fire engine cake. It didn't turn out very well. My red wasn't very red, the frosting was to runny and the cake to warm but Aaron seemed to like it all right. Everybody else could tell what it was too (At least after we told them! ). The kids also made some fire men for table decorations (we also had candles for their fire).

We had invited my parents and siblings over to join us for supper and cake and ice cream. Jake asked if he could come as well, and that sounded fine to me so we had him as well. Shortly before they were to come SuSan called and wondered what we were doing and I mentioned it was Aaron's birthday, She asked "Are you having cake and ice cream?" I said yes so she thought she had better come too. :-) She was able to get a ride from Jake (after I talked her out of riding her bike as it would have been rather dark and cold). When SuSan arrived she noticed that Megan had been cutting paper in her room and had failed to clean up (Megan is great at making paper messes!), she wondered if she could pick it up, I was busy finishing getting supper ready and I said "sure!" She then proceeded to clean the girls room. After supper SuSan decided to wash all the dishes (we did help!). She is thinking maybe she should move in with me to help me clean. :-) I think I rather like having SuSan over!

All in all it was a pretty good day.