Happy 6th Birthday Alia!

 Alia and Banana 6 years!

 She was opening gifts and ran into her room to grab a picture.  She drew herself a sausage for her birthday.  I love her personality!

 She wanted to show Grandma and Grandpa how her American Girl dolls were sisters.  Thank you for Samantha!

 Waiting for her friends

 
9 - five and six year old girls sure made for an exciting birthday!

 Alia chose a magical theme this year.  They made magic wands and magic glitter bottles.  After the glitter I would say the whole house became magical.  Hours later and I am still finding glitter everywhere!  Avery even found glitter on his pizza when we were eating super.

 
The wands and glitter bottles were a hit.


Avery put on a magic show for the girls.  This was his first paid gig : )


 For snack we had magic cupcakes with pop-rocks for sprinkles, color changing spoons with the ice cream and magic candles on each cupcake.  Some of the girls were concerned when their candles wouldn't blow out!

 Of course we allowed the girls plenty of play time, it was one huge play date!

And as always the yearly questions....
1.  What is your favorite color?  pink
2.  What is your favorite toy?  Sparkle, my zebra
3.  Favorite game?  Made up games
4.  What is your favorite animal?  A horse
5.  What is your favorite book?  Books I learn from
6.  When I grow up I want to be a zoo worker because I like animals.
7.  What is your favorite thing to do at school?  Play outside and have choice time.
8.  What do you like about yourself?  I like that I help Avery do things like put away his laundry.
9.  What is your biggest accomplishment this year?  I got my ears pierced.
10.  What do you want to do next year?  Have another fun birthday.
11.  I like to collect rocks.
12.  What is the funniest thing you did this year?  I asked for a ship for my birthday.
13.  What is your favorite family tradition?  Hiking
14.  What was your favorite memory this year?  When I found an octopus.
15.  What is your favorite thing to do with friends?  I like to play outside.

Games, Exploring and Ear Piercing

It's been awhile since I've posted so I thought I would give an update of life lately.  Winter here has been interesting.  It's not as rainy as we thought and we have blue skies every week or so but it is always wet.  There is even moss on the roads.  The ground hasn't dried out since October.  The rain is no where near the downpours we experienced in Florida, they are more misty. The kind you really don't need an umbrella for to stay dry.  Instead of the snow in Wisconsin we have rain interspersed with sun or clouds.  The temperatures have been great, hoovering right around 50 degrees everyday.  

 

The kids have been playing really well lately and coming up with so many fun games and activities.  I love watching them play.  On this day they made a post office and delivered mail to one another.

 

 This was our mailboxes.

 

 Another day they decided to set up a massage station. 

 

 I love the grumpy face....he hates his picture taken.

 There is a puzzle on the ferry to keep us entertained.

 We spent a few hours at a climbing wall in Seattle.  It was a pretty cool wall with great bouldering spots.  I loved how the routes not only had the specific routes taped but they also had the route marked with the same color holds so it was easy to see the route.

 The kids love playing in the mud during low tide.

 Enjoying one of the sunny moments on the docks at Dockton Park.

 
 We found a dead Giant Pacific Octopus at KVI beach.  It grows bigger and lives longer than any other octopus.  They average 16 feet and 110 pounds.  They only live about four years and die after breeding.

 Alia wanted to get her ears pierced for her birthday.  I recently read an article from Time magazine about getting ears pierced at a tattoo parlor instead of at the mall.  You can read it here if you are interested.  With all of the research I did I realized that the tattoo parlor was a far superior option for Alia.  The tattoo parlors don't use the old fashion piercing guns, instead they use a needle to pierce the ear.  It just so happens the article I saw that was posted on Facebook was for a tattoo parlor in Seattle.  I asked other moms around the island and there were quite a few that highly recommended this place so we headed there today.  It was a great experience.  They were very professional, knowledgeable and gentle with Alia.

 

All done and very excited!  She said, "It just hurts for a second.  It's fun doing my ears because I like my earrings too."