Sunday, May 24, 2015

A Day in the Life

Well, I have two 13-month olds now!  Time is flying by.  The boys are becoming more vocal and mobile.  They both say "Mama" and "Dada/Daddy".  Both have said "Hi" a few times.  Benji has said "Happy" and "Puppy" (I think).  Zachary is walking 6 or 7 steps at a time and getting better day by day. Benji is now standing on his own.

Our days are tons of fun... as well as a lot of work!  We're at the point now that we need an outing everyday or they go a little stir-crazy.  Just going into our backyard on the swings isn't enough anymore!  We're heading into the summer now, any everyday I'm anticipating the scorching heat that comes with Arizona summers, but it has been pleasantly mild and even, dare-I-say, cool!  So the weather has been a life-saver as we can still visit parks without it getting too hot.

I always love reading day in the life posts from other moms, so I'm going to write about a typical day of ours.  I'll be glad to look back on it, too.  This is a day that goes off without a hitch ;)

5:00 am My alarm goes off.  I snooze until about 5:20.  (I know, bad)
5:25 am Let Penny out to go potty (oh, we have a puppy...) and get her situated and occupied
5:30-45 am Make coffee and get set up for my quiet time
6:30 am Start to hear laughing or talking and sometimes crying
7:00 am Get the boys up!  One of my favorite times of the day.  We sing "Good Morning" from Singing in the Rain and "Rise and shine, and give God the glory! glory!"  fun times
7:15 am Sippy cups of milk and play a little bit
7:15/20 am Breakfast!  fruit, toaster waffle and jam or syrup, turkey sausage, and yogurt are all options
7:30 am Play time in the living room and get dressed
8:00 am We go for a walk in the wagon around the neighborhood and usually end up at the park in the swings!
9:00 am Naptime
10:30/11 am Wake up and have water (sometimes a sippy of milk) and a little snack and play or run errands
12/12:15 pm Lunchtime!
12:30-2 pm More errands or an outing to the park or Marmee's house
2:00 pm Naptime
3:30 pm Wake up and have water and a little snack (yogurt or applesauce or puffs)
3:30-5 pm Playtime
5:00 pm Dinner time!
6:30 pm Sippy cup of milk, get in pj's
7:00 pm Bedtime stories, sometimes a dance party :)  then bedtime!
7:00 pm onward Andy and I clean up, make/have dinner, relax, and go to bed by 9










Monday, May 18, 2015

The Twins' First Birthday Party

These little guys, and Benji and Zachy's love for them, 
were the inspiration for their animal-themed birthday party!

   
    


We invited all of our "party animal" friends using this template we bought from an Etsy seller:

Our invitations encouraged kids to come in animal costume, and let me tell you--every single one did!  Even the 2 newborn babies we had!  There were a bunny, a frog, 2 leopards, a giraffe, a penguin, 3 lions, a turtle, a kitty, and a fox sighted that day.  Our buddies were the zoo keepers, keeping all the animals in line!  




Poor Zachary got his first gastro stomach bug on the boys' actual birthday, and Benji had a cold, so they weren't as perky and happy as they usually are, but we had such a fun day.  I spent hours planning and preparing the decor and food, and overall it was a really wonderful party.  I just felt overwhelmed with gratitude and awe that we have two one year olds to celebrate.  There were probably 30 people there... my family was in town and all of our close friends who could make it were there.  So many people came around us to pray and believe for these little guys to come into our lives, so we wanted to invite everyone to celebrate with us this great milestone!  Here are some pictures from the day... I delegate pics to my friend Courtney because my iPhone was too full!  She did a great job.

 

I made these little burlap banners for their highchairs.  The streamers in the background were meant to be a streamer wall but there was too much of a breeze and they wouldn't stay put!  Thanks, Auntie, for hanging them up :)



 Me and my red-cheeked one year old!


You can't really see these signs, but I wrote out info about each boy... what he likes, what he can say and do, what makes him happy, and their stats.  The middle poster are a bunch of pictures formed into a "1".  Benji still loves to look at it during mealtimes.  So cute.

 

John Wesley, the turtle!

 

The water table was a hit!


























There were plenty of my funfetti and chocolate cupcakes for the crowd. 



One of my favorite parts of the party was when my friend Shalyn, a music therapist, played a few animal songs for the kids!  I wanted music time as an activity, and it was a hit!

Did I mention how fun it was to have Auntie there??







Now, onto the cake smash!
I made a healthy-ish cake for the boys.  It was more like a whole wheat banana bread cake with very lightly sweetened cream cheese frosting.  They honestly had never had anything sweet, so I didn't want to hit them with a whole cake full of sugar!
Benji's cake had fondant elephant ears on it, and Zachary's cake had fondant bear ears.  The idea was to make them look like animal heads.  























You can tell with these photos that Benji is a much cleaner eater than Zachary... which is the case during most mealtimes, as well.  



That's a wrap!