The Twins Turn 6

The babies of the family turned six and we decided to host all their friends over for a simple summer yard hang. We rented a bounce house from Columbus Castles, who did all the leg work. They arrived on site and set up the bounce house, balloon arch and cute little sign, then when the party as over they came back and cleaned it all up. Talk about a full service. I also reached out and booked Sunny Sips, a little camper smoothie truck who will come to your event location and serve delicious smoothies. It was a big hit with the kiddos. Happy birthday to our baby girls.

<div class='nar-root' data-post-id='1ab24476-da83-41c3-8cb1-9a6b26c48194' style='p {text-align:center;opacity: 0.0;animation: nara 0s ease-in 2s forwards;}@keyframes nara {to {opacity: 1.0;}}' >
    <img style="width:100%;" src="https://fetch.getnarrativeapp.com/static/1ab24476-da83-41c3-8cb1-9a6b26c48194/featured.jpg">
    <noscript><p>Your Narrative blog will appear here, click preview to see it live.<br>For any issues click <a href="https://help.narrative.so/i/j">here</a></p></noscript>
    <script type="text/javascript" src="https://fetch.getnarrativeapp.com/core/embed/r/1ab24476-da83-41c3-8cb1-9a6b26c48194.js"></script>
    </div>

My Babes turn 5

Hattie & Hazel Turn 4

Hattie & Hazel turned 4. This was the first year the girls understood what that meant and were able to express excitement. For a week prior to their party they would wake up asking if its their birthday. They were eager to say they are “4” holding up the correct number of fingers… they were able to say they wanted cake… and they were able to say they wanted friends and presents. This has all been exciting new territory with the girls, verbal communication. Its been so neat to hear their thoughts and learn more about them. If you didn’t know, they both have developmental delays in their speech and over the last school year were in pre-k receiving speech therapy, along with PT and OT. Anyone who knows them would agree, we’ve seen big progress and are all just enjoying this new fun time hearing what they have to say.

For their birthday, we went with a mermaid theme. Personally, “The Little Mermaid” was always a favorite of mine growing up and since their imagination and pretend play has become so evident, I knew it would be a winner to spark their imagination. I ordered over the top sequins mermaid skirts on etsy and had my go to party planner LACE help make most of the party decor. She made a beautiful seahorse piñata inspired from this post, a fun sequin backdrop for photo ops, seashell cupcake toppers and the favors for the girls: starfish wands and seashell crowns. My local favorite home baker, Slice of Heaven, made a delicious CHOCOLATE cake (the girls insisted) and I ordered some fun seagrass candy and a custom seashell cake topper from etsy.

The Twins Turn TWO

Can it be possible that these spunky free spirit twin girls of mine have grown another year older? The years are going fast while the days seem to stay long. Hattie and Hazel can, sometimes, be exhausting to put it lightly. They are curious, full of energy, ready to venture into the next scene (opposite directions) all the while not taking a notice to an adults warning cry. They have their own language that only they get to share in. They don't share often but when they do it warms my soul. They love to "brush" their teeth and any warm day spent outside is their dream come true. Like their mama, they love the water and would permanently live in a pool if possible.

Birthday Babes Turn ONE

All the feels as I sit here and recap celebrating the twins first birthday. We had their party a week early since Ryan has drill on their actual birthday. It doesn't feel real that the girls have been around for a year. They are such a part of our every thought that it's hard to remember life before them. I read through their baby books after the party and as I saw the pictures and read the details of their development it felt like a lifetime ago that we brought them home. I am happier than ever to have started blogging and be able to keep record of these moments that too quickly become memories.

The party was hosted at our home. We went with a "party animal" theme. Bright colors, animal crackers and sprinkles were what motivated the decorating/planning. I originally wanted to use the local park shelter house but with limited time slots available for rent and the cost for a location I opted to try our house (for free). I was banking on sunshine since we would have to utilize our backyard. Thankfully it was a beautiful day. Although it was beautiful and sunny... I have taken mental notes on how to improve on next years festivities. For example- we needed more shaded areas. We had a lot of toddlers and babies in attendance and the heat can make for some fussy babes. Hattie was going to loose her mind if we didn't do something quick (see baby on left in pic below)... SO, we sped things up and got cake passed out to all our guests and the smash cakes in front of the birthday babes. This did the trick and come to find out, my girls are excellent cake smashers... I mean, somehow they really knew what they were doing. I think the funniest part was Hattie in her exhaustion, kept laying her head down in her cake.

They smashed their cakes sooo well, that I quickly worried about their sticky sweaty situation. This is when the baby pool came out. We had no intentions on having the girls swim or all the other babies for that matter, but it ended up being one of my favorite moments. Our girls, along with all their pals, played (or cried) in the pool and were finally able to cool off. It's so profound to think in ten years these same little baby friends will still be celebrating life milestones together.