Brooklyn & Blake are 5 years old!!!

(my wall signage that took entirely too long to do!)

Five years ago today, I became a mother for the first time! And times two at that!!! My sweet bundles of joy, born 3 1/2 weeks early at 6 lbs 6oz (Brooklyn) and 5 lbs 11.5 oz (Blake) - I'll never forget that day!!!

I always get questions about whether or not it was hard having twins. Honestly, I think Matt and I were very, VERY blessed with Brooklyn and Blake! They were such good babies, pretty good toddlers and growing into great little kids! Good eaters, good sleepers, happy babes! I'll admit, the early days are a complete blur. I'm sure it was rough at the time, but we're still alive, five years later! ;)

Today, we spent the day celebrating our twinners. They woke up to find a mylar balloon tied to their chair at the table, which has become a little tradition the past couple years. That alone would have made their day! I made a nice, homemade pancake breakfast, which everyone devoured! We got numerous phone calls from friends and family - thank you all! Each call brightened MY day! Then Grandma and Grandpa LeBaron paid a visit bearing gifts. Such a special treat!

Next, I took the kids to McDonalds for Happy Meals and some running around in the Playplace. The nicest older gentleman chatted up with Brooklyn and Blake and his brother offered to take our tray to our table for us, since I was running short on hands at the moment! Thank you, kind sir!!After McDs, we ran over to WalMart to pick up something for tonight's dinner and a little surprise for the kids. We bought Snow Buddies, a super cute Disney movie, for the twins to watch during quiet time. Brooklyn and Blake love the original Air Buddies, so it was no surprise this one was a hit too!

When Daddy got home, he made these cool, funky balloon hats for the kids. Brooklyn's was a flower bouquet and Blake's is a monkey in a palm tree. :)Dinner tonight was spaghetti, Brooklyn's #1 favorite!! Every bite was gobbled up!!!This cute face by Gavin was pretty much all we saw after dinner. He wasn't happy that Brooklyn and Blake were receiving all the attention with their balloons and candles and presents!A unique birthday dessert- chocolate pudding! I'm making two cakes for their birthday party on Saturday so I decided to do something a little different. They still knew exactly what to do!!!

Make a wish!

Time for gifts!! I had stashed their wrapped loot in the laundry room last night. Blake came to me while I was getting dressed and said, "Mom, I found something." I instantly knew what he was talking about (heard the door close) and he just couldn't contain his excitement once he saw that Spiderman wrapping paper!!!

Blake loves these little dudes! Thanks for turning us onto them, Grandma Palmer!

Since Christmas, Brooklyn has been telling me she wanted slippers
"just like Mommy's." Imagine my giddiness when I found these
babies on clearance for like $1 at Target!!! She was overjoyed!More games! B&B are game-a-holics!!! I love it, though! Yay, an Island Princess Barbie! I think she was
most excited about this one!Blake couldn't even contain his excitement while opening this one! Can't wait to try it out!In order to keep "everyone" happy, I had to pull from the

stash of goodies and give Gavin a gift to open too. My cute 5 year olds!!!

I'll try to add some more pictures for this walk down memory lane tomorrow.