Aaron's 5th Birthday

My first baby turned 5 years old last week. I'm feeling a little old but so grateful for this amazing boy we have been given. He is such an interesting combination of both my husband and I. He likes computer programing and high tech stuff, but he also likes cooking and crafts. Energetic and imaginative he has lots of adventures everyday right here in our home.

Aaron is generally a good example and big brother to his younger brothers, which we are very thankful for. Aaron and Andrew are best of friends most of the time, and best of irritants some of the time. These two, so close in age, make up all kinds of crazy games and wonderful make believe worlds all the time. Aaron also loves his baby brother ton and is sometimes a little overprotective of him when we go out and everyone wants to see and hold him.

Aaron has always been an extremely verbal child and gifted with words. Even though we intentionally exposed him to written language from infancy, and he read his first words at 9 months, he continues to surpass all our wildest imaginations. This spring he started reading Beowulf and discussing it with daddy, and he accomplished his goal of finishing it before he turned 5. Something else also seems to have clicked on in his brain this spring as he is now flying through math, trying to beat all of the math computer games as fast as he can. Addition and subtraction quickly became too easy, so he finished multiplication to ten, and he is starting to work on division.  If he continues at this rate, we're going to have to review our Algebra through Calculus much sooner than we anticipated. He is also a big helper in the kitchen and around the house. He can pick up toys, set the table, sweep under the table with a small broom and dustpan, and help with laundry.

Even with all he has learned it is so fun to see the "normal," goofy, little boy side of him too. These attributes combine to create an amazing unique kid who reads Curious George and Beowulf, plays Candyland and Chess, watches Winnie the Pooh and documentaries, and talks about the craziest nonsense and rather deep concepts.

We celebrated Aaron's 5th birthday at home with a checkers and chess party. I'll share some of the ideas we did more in depth soon, but we had lots of fun with lots of games and game themed food and decorations. One other really special thing about Aaron is how he turns almost every book, computer or board game into a "real life" game or adventure in our living room. Aaron and Andrew are always becoming Tiggers bouncing up and down all over the place or knights ready to slay dragons or capture pawns.

Checker cake

Checker puzzle punch button pinata

Checker puzzle bean bag toss

Sword fight

Tastiest checker game ever

Pin the checkmate

Decorations

Chess bozo buckets

Fabric chess set

Making weird noises with a plastic frog while he plays chess