Julia and Aidan's Sweet Shop

One day after dinner, Julia, you had an idea!

You asked me if I had any cardboard. 

I did! 

You asked me to set it up just the way you wanted.

I did!

Then you got to work.

At dinner you asked us for help spelling a few words, and then presented us all with MENUS:

Then you needed a partner. You asked Aidan if he could help you and if he wanted to play. 

He did!

So the two of you discussed the plan, got the crayons and markers and got to work:

Before your Mommy and I knew it, the two of you had built a RESTAURANT in our LIVING Room!

Presenting: Julia and Aidan's Sweet Shop!

The restaurant walls were decorated 100% by you, with designs of ice cream cones, cupcakes, and other delicious sweets and treats. 

This restaurant promised to serve REAL food! And the two of you got to work - by yourselves- grabbing bowls, and waters, and pickles, and cheese, and grapes from the fridge to stock your restaurant's kitchen.

Special care was taken to make sure that two four-legged friends couldn't invade the kitchen.

...but...there appeared to be two other pests in the kitchen who ate the rest of the food. 'Who?' you may ask. Let's find out the answer to that, and many more of the mysteries and joys of Julia and Aidan's Sweet Shop in this informative commercial for the restaurant:

 You guys crack us up and inspire us with your creativity. It is so much fun being your dad or your customer...even if you ate all my dinner!

Julia's Three Fifth Birthday Paties

Celebrating a birthday is so fun, that we do it a LOT!

So when you turned 5, Julia, you had three parties!

One with friends at the Arcade:

One with family:

And one at school:

The presence of your friends and family at your parties was definitely something to celebrate! So many people are so glad to have you in their lives that they couldn't wait to celebrate you!

At the arcade we ordered about 4 too many pizzas, but that's okay! We had about 4 times too much fun!

You were a huge helper in setting up for your own party:

And you were a superb host, greeting all your guests and sharing the love:

It was a nickel fueled fun zone! Asher and Sawyer, Brady, Aidan, Jeet, Ella K, Ella G, Wells, Riley, Zoey, Penelope, Penny, Matilda, Ryder, Lennon, Harrison, and Natalia all came to help you celebrate the big F-i-v-e!

SCORE!

Brady got you that sticker for 100 coupons! 

We gave you this Moana costume and headed to Yaya's house where your Aunt and Uncle had a surprise for you!

One of the two keys to my heart. Happy Birthday!

Then we celebrated at school with the traditional Montessori Birthday ceremony...

...and march into the woods for snacks...

...and traditional chase...

Surrounded by good friends, family, and amazing memories, we rang in your 5th year on this planet. We're so glad you're here, Julia Sekina. You make the world a better place!

You are amazing.