Happy Birthday, Aria!

Yesterday, our little Aria turned 7! How can that be?!?!

I'm not too crazy about having big birthday parties. Don't know why, besides maybe the fact that I just want to avoid any extra stress or commotion that comes with them. Hmmm. But Aria really wanted to celebrate her birthday with a couple of her new friends in our neighborhood. I wasn't too excited about having more kids over for a party while David was spending all day at school and I was by myself, but, wanting Aria to have a special birthday, decided to go ahead and have a simple party. So, Wednesday afternoon, three of her new friends came over for some cupcakes, bubbles, and games, and then spent time playing outside. She had a great time (and I survived)!

Thursday morning, her actual birthday, we took some cupcakes to her school and she had a little party with her class. Her teacher really did a lot to make her day special, including her blowing out a candle, being sung to, she was tossed in the air by her classmates, and was able to choose a small toy from the 'birthday box'. Aria loved it.

We were planning on just having Aria's favorite food for supper (soft tacos) along with a cake, celebrating just as a family together. Then, David and I realized that this was the first birthday Aria has had in Germany (if you don't count the day she was born). All of her other birthdays were celebrated in R-land. So, we decided to invite her Oma and Opa and Ur-Oma over for a little party, as she's never celebrated a birthday with grandparents before.

For our kids, the birthday cake is very important. They like the candles and seeing how it's decorated especially for them. Aria mentioned wanting a butterfly cake, so that's what she got!

Oh, and for her birthday, she was also allowed to bring Josie, her teacher's turtle, home for the day/night. Aria took great care of her. =)

Happy 7th Birthday, our sweet, sweet Aria! We are SO thankful for you! You are such a beautiful girl, such a big help to mommy and papa, and a wonderful big sister. (Your little sisters and brother sure do look up to you!) We are SO thankful that you are a part of our family and are so proud of you! We love you, our sweet one. Have a wonderful year being seven! =)