Hunter turns SIX!

So, so crazy that six years has gone by...it's hard to remember a time without Hunter.  Yesterday he walked in the door after school and said, "What is that smell?  Smells like joy to me!"  It was the chocolate cake!
He is just so funny!  We had a great day...busy, but a lot of fun.  I will post the pictures tomorrow as there are a ton, but here are a few:

February 11, 2006:

February 11, 2007, age 1:

February 11, 2008, age 2:

February 11, 2009, age 3:

February 11, 2010, age 4:

February 11, 2011, age 5:

February 11, 2012, age 6:

Recap of our busy day on February 11, 2012...

(if you click on the photos they will get larger and be easier to see)

I took a picture of Hunter right around the time he was born.  6:04 a.m.  I was up that early thanks to Winnie who woke me up around 5:45!

Hunter's birthday breakfast...an Oreo donut.  He said, "Oh, I knew you were going to give me a special breakfast."  I wanted to make something nice, but I knew we would not have much time this morning.

Hunter and his basketball team had a little end of season party at William's Park at 9:30am.  Each child got a trophy. 

Hunter getting his trophy...

Hunter and Lucas with their coaches.

The kids played at the playground for a bit, but it was so cold!!

The cake is ready to go...I wrote Happy 6th birthday Hunter on the stars around the cake with an edible pen.

MooMa and Papa came to celebrate with Hunter.  He got to open his presents from them before we left for the party.  His friend, Lucas, helped him.

Winnie and Sadie always think people come over to see them.

Hunter with MooMa and Papa.

Four silly boys ready for a party.  I like the look on Austin's face as he is looking at Hunter.

The first 35 minutes, or so, of the party was in a bounce section.  The kids had a lot of fun.

Austin in a bounce house with MooMa.

The 2nd half of the party was in the gym.  Here is a group shot of most of the kids.

They had relays, did some shooting, and played a few tag games.

Austin had to get in on the action...as well as some of the younger siblings.

Chris and I on the basketball court.

Hunter blowing out his candles.

The last 30 minutes, or so, of the party was in the party room.  The kids had cupcakes, ice cream, and got their party favors before going home.  They also had a mascot that came by to visit the kids as well.

Opening up his presents back at home.

We had homemade pizza for dinner.

Austin would not eat, because he was too busy playing basketball with Hunter's new basketball!

After dinner we had Emily and Jay over for cake.  I was afraid to cut the cake after the hours of work I had put into it.  It was pretty tasty!

We printed out a picture of Great Wolf Lodge.  We are going soon...our present to Hunter.  He was pretty excited.  We got online and looked at some more pictures and videos of the indoor water park.  Can't wait to go!

Me and my boys opening and reading all of Hunter's birthday cards.

Such a busy day...I hope, some day, Hunter looks back and realizes how lucky he is.  He has so many sweet friends...some he has known since he was very young, neighbors, preschool friends, and now his kindergarten friends.  I think the day was a success!

Cakes, Cupcakes, Mario...OH MY!

It's 11:42pm...I am ALMOST finished with Hunter's birthday cake/cupcake display.  It has taken me a measly 12 hours from start to finish.  I will post pictures later or tomorrow!

I started off this busy Friday by helping out in Hunter's classroom this morning.  A neighbor friend watched Austin and Ella.  On the short ride across the street Austin wanted to be buckled into Hunter's seat and Ella wanted to sit in Austin's seat.

Then Austin had to check out my seat.

I got their lunch ready and started my long 12 hour cake making process.  First I made homemade chocolate cakes.  I was happy they all came out of the pan easily!

Ella being silly.

Hunter being silly.

Chris and Hunter kept asking to try some cake.  So, when I shaved off the tops of the cake everyone got to try some.  Hunter being silly, again...

I made four batches of butter cream frosting.  It was so delicious!

Here are the cakes and most of the cupcakes waiting to be frosted.

Austin had to try out the frosting as well!

Right around bedtime I had this much of the cake decorated.  I used all three cakes to make this main base.  I used the homemade butter cream frosting to frost in between each layer and on the inside...then ready made fondant to make the stars and man eating critters.

Last picture of my five year old boy!

It was not until close to 11pm when I finished the mushroom cupcakes.  It took forever to frost 40 plus cupcakes!  (not all shown in the picture)

It was just about midnight when I finished the cake.  The only thing I had left to do was the writing, but I wanted to wait until the morning to do that!



These two pictures were technically from 2/11/12, but I'm including them on this post, because I was up well past midnight.  I had to rearrange the fridge and the shelves to make all of this fit. 

Cake and cupcakes all put up for the night!

I thought I was going to have dreams about cake and frosting...but, I guess was too tired to dream.  My wrists hurt though...cake baker, I am not!  But, Hunter wanted me to make a Mario cake, and that's what I did!

Thursday Happenings...

I woke up a little stressed out when I realized how much time it was going to take to make Hunter's birthday cake and how I have very little uninterrupted time to do it.  After multiple trips to several stores and a few borrowed items, I think I am ready to start baking tomorrow.  Fingers crossed it turns out the way I want it.

Ella came over with a cute headband.  And, who liked it?  You guessed it:

We went to story time today...they did well.  At the end the librarian stamps their hands and blows bubbles.

Ella & Austin looking for bubbles:

Reading some books...poor Ella has hair in her face.  I made Austin give it back when we went outside to play.



Playground at the library:

They love this spin seat thingy...we had these on the playground where I taught.  We called them upside down toilet plungers.  Ella doesn't like to sit in them, but she likes to push Austin.

Today after school Andrew gave Hunter a small light saber.  They had a battle with them.  The funny thing about this video is how Hunter is telling Andrew what to do.  Whenever I play a game with him he tells me exactly what to do and say. 

Hunter's last basketball game was this evening.  He did well.  The team really improved throughout the season.  Here he is playing defense:

Deciding what to do with the ball:

 Yelling, "I'm open." 

We came home to find that the new container of cocoa I bought to make a chocolate cake was ripped apart and all over the dining room and kitchen floor.  The dogs were acting very guilty.  Thankfully it was unsweetened cocoa...so, it smells good, but tastes awful.

Wednesday Already?

Actually, all day today, I thought it was Thursday.  I had ordered some girl scout cookies from a friend and she delivered them right to my house today.  How nice.  I guess I like girl scout cookies because I had TEN boxes.  Yes, ten!

Austin wanted to try one...so I gave him a thin mint.  Actually two, because he had to have one for each hand.  He carried them around for a bit and when he finally took a bite he said, "mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm!"  The first picture is of him licking the cookie.

We went to the gym to play today.  Austin has been working on making a basket in this tall basketball hoop for about a month now.  Today he finally made it a few times.  He was pretty excited.

After awhile he discovered that the net was ripped in the back.  So he would stand on the back of the base and shoot and was able to make shot after shot.  Such a problem solver!

Then he wanted to be pushed around in this walker.  And, true to her mothering nature, Ella was happy as a clam to do so.  Back and forth they went...

They saw the playground on the way out so we had to play there for a bit, even though it was sprinkling a bit.  They did not seem to notice.

Not much to report from this evening.  I did some shopping for Hunter's party this weekend.  And, Hunter spent some time wiggling two more teeth that are a little loose!

Who knew what a little wrestling could do?

Nothing exciting happened today until this evening.  First, Austin had his own little tea party where he made me fill up this teacup with water about 50 times.

Then Hunter got a hold of the camera and took this cute picture of him and Austin. 

Then he took a picture of the two of us...and even though I look awful in this photo, I think it looks pretty funny.  I feel like I look like one of those dancing elves on jib jab where the heads are bigger then the bodies.  I know my head is big, but never knew it was THAT big.

Once Austin saw we were taking pictures he had to be involved as well.  There were multiple shots of the three of us...Hunter made a funny face in each one.

Moments after this picture was taken we all started wrestling...and this is what happened next:

Hunter got a kick to the face by Austin during our wrestling match.  He stopped and was like, "What is this???  My tooth, my tooth, he kicked out my tooth!"  He saw all the blood and I could tell he was trying to decide if he should freak out (his normal behavior when there is any amount of blood) or be happy.  When I started cheering, he did as well.  So, 2nd tooth lost on February 7, 2012 at 8:10pm!

***the red on both of their faces is paint...I put some on Hunter and then Austin wanted some on his face as well***