Party times TWO!!

Twice the parties

Twice the work

Twice the fun

Twice the maddness

Twice the exhuastion

Yep, I think that about sums it up!!

This was the first year that we've done a friend birthday party. I was completely puzzled on what to do; A- have separate parties for Brooklyn and Blake on separate days, let them each invite 10-12 friends, or B- have separate parties on the same day (Matt in charge of the boys, me with the girls) and only have 6 friends each. Neither sounded especially easy for me, but we decided on the latter. We held the parties at the same time at the same place (in different rooms of the house) with separate themes. Brooklyn and Blake completely dictated their guest list, with my insistance that they invite at least one cousin, and that was really hard for me. I didn't want to leave their Primary friends out, but I didn't want to cut out their school friends either. I started thinking that Brooklyn and Blake might always get jipped in the birthday party department since they always have to divide their time with each other and I can't handle a zillion kids running around multiplied by two!!

Moving on.

Blake had a LEGO party. I had to let go of my control-freak self and allowed Matt to reign here. I gave him explicit directions on what I wanted accomplished and even though it wasn't done exactly how I would have liked, I think everyone had fun. The boys built Legos out the wazzoo with various different games. I didn't take as many pictures (hardly any) because I was in the other room with the girls. Conclusion = boys like Pizza Rolls and blue jello, not veggies. LOL!The boys in attendance - three out of six invited + a little bro + the bro of an invited guest. I don't understand this bringing the whole family and acting like you should just join right in on everything?????? Whatevs.

Brooklyn had a Fancy Nancy soiree. That's a fancy word for party. ;) Ooooooh, it was SO fun!!! And SO girly! We started off with me reading the original Fancy Nancy book {a must have for ANY girl} while the girls ate some fancy lunch.

Then we jumped right into making our own fancy wands.We put glitter on cheeks and painted fingernails.

Here are the girls, all fancied up!!

Brooklyn and Blake opened their gifts, then we sang Happy Birthday and had cake/cupcakes.We thanked all our guests for coming and sent them on their way with gift bags full of treats! The boys got a Lego Racer set, an Anakin Skywalker keychain and a little bag of candy bricks.The girls received a homemade flower clip, a candy necklace, a jewel ring, a feather boa and some Fancy Nancy coloring pages and activity sheets. Here are my big, partied-out 7 year olds!!!!!
I made Brooklyn's tutu. Too-too FUN!! I also did the shirt.Themed and/or character shirts are not my favorite.
But I'll make a special exception for birthday parties. ;)

******

I love hosting things like this, but I usually get so incredibly stressed out that I can't wait for it to be over and done with so I can collapse on the couch for a few hours and do nothing. But seeing the excitement and joy on Brooklyn and Blake's faces made everything worth it! So much fun, let's do it again! Maybe in 3 or 4 years....

Happy 7th Birthday, Brooklyn & Blake!!!

This day, seven years ago, I became a mom for the first time!!

(poor quality scanned pic and I look like a train wreck after giving birth via c-section)

I sent the twins off to school this morning, promising them that I would bring them lunch. I got busy baking cupcakes to take into their classrooms and ended up running a little late. I was completely frazzled as I drove halfway to McDonalds, turned around and went to Burger King instead. I wanted to call the school, but I forgot my cell phone. I race through the drivethru and over to the school, 15 minutes after lunch had started. As I burst into the office, the front desk lady asks me if I was Brooklyn and Blake's mom, tells me that I'd better hurry because they were just giving my babies cheese sandwiches. :( I felt sooooooo bad. Then I could tell that Brooklyn had been crying because she thought I forgot. Worst mommy of the year award right here!! When their teachers came to gather their classes, I explained that I was keeping them for a bit longer until they finished their lunches. Everyone was all smiles now, but I still felt rotten inside. *sigh*

I let Gav go with Brooklyn and Blake back to their classrooms as I ran out to the car to get the cupcakes. It was so cute to see them in their school environments. They each were sung to by their classmates and the chocolate chip cupcakes were devoured.

After school, Blake headed to another friend's birthday party for a bit. When he got back, we had spaghetti for dinner (Brooklyn's favorite!) and then headed over to Yogurt Jungle for dessert.

Quick change into jammies and time for GIFTS!!!!

Blake was excited for his Maxus Dragonoid (Bakugan) and Power Miners lego set along with a few other little things.

Brooklyn fuh-REAKED when she opened her ★AMERICAN GIRL DOLL!!!!! She's been poring over these catalogs for months and months and I always wanted one as a girl. I convinced Matt that Brooklyn neeeeeeded one and she picked which one was her favorite so I could make the purchase. I practically had tears in my eyes watching her spaz out over her new doll! She was so surprised and immediately in love with Lanie.

Me with my first babies

Brooklyn is 100% girly-girl and I LOVE it!! I'm so glad I have at least one girl of my own. She still wears hairbows and tutus and I'll milk that for as long as I can! She loves wearing jewelry and can't wait to get her ears pierced next year when she turns 8. Brooklyn does well in school and her handwriting is awesome. She likes to read and draw. She's enjoying her ballet class and we're hoping to add another dance class very soon as well as starting piano lessons. Of course, she comes with a little bit of drama too. Brooklyn can throw one mean tantrum!!!!! And she is a very good boss over her brothers. ;) But we love her lots and lots!

Blake is a smarty pants. Literally. He was tested for the gifted program at school and scored @ the 97th %ile. He has a hard time focusing on homework because I think he's just plain bored with it, like why should I have to do this when I already know it? He's super good at math in his head. He doesn't get that from ME!!!! I think Blake has found his niche in karate. He remembers the drills and combinations easily. The kid is also good at Legos!!! It doesn't take him long to put together a huge set! He can be a perfectionist and is a bit stubborn at times, but he's our Blakey boy!!

It's fun to look back over the years and see how they've evolved from babies into big kids!! I can't believe next year they will be getting baptized, which makes me feel OLD (even though I'll only be 28)!

few days
1 year

2 years

3 years

4 years5 years

6 years

7 years

Brooklyn and Blake are such good kids and we're lucky to have them as our firstborns. ;) We've learned a lot in the last 7 years of being parents and we know we have so much coming up ahead of us! We love you guys so much!!!

Happenin's Around Here....

This afternoon, we met up with my sisters & mom (dad snuck in there too!) for lunch to celebrate her birthday, which was last week. We went to Fuddrucker's. I haven't been there in AAAAAAAAAAges!

It's no wonder why American's are so obese!! Portion size is outta control! Look how ginormous that grilled chicken sandwich is! I don't even want to guess how many calories I consumed.

Getting Presty-boy to try a pickle! He had no interest in eating it, just playing with it.Gavin loved this "Dinoco" gas tank!

Tonight was the kids' school Family Math Night. Brooklyn and Blake were totally looking forward to going to the original scheduled night a couple weeks ago, but our power went out and it got rescheduled. These kinds of deals aren't really my thing, but I love that the kids are so eager to participate. Before we left, I had this quick convo with Blake:

Me: "Do you like math?"
Blake: "No, but I'm good at it!"

Haha! Yes, you are!! Matt's constantly challenging Blake all the time and he IS really good!

\\Playing BINGO @ the 2nd grade table//

\\Working on her money skills. It'll come in handy down the road {for shopping *cough*}, Miss! ;)//\\Doing some preschool-aged sorting. This kid takes after his older brother and even the kindy teachers were super impressed (after blowing through some of the kinder-games) that he'd JUST turned 4 and has one more year before going to kindergarten!//

GiRlS NiGhT OuT!!! We practically closed the place down and stayed out waaaaay too late on a school night! I regretted it the next morning when Matt's alarm went off!! Good times, girls!I've been keeping at least one new Years resolution -- DATING more!! ♥ In the span of the last two weeks, we've gone out 4 times!!

Texas Roadhouse just because ~~ This was our first time eating here. My oh my are the piping hot rolls and cinnamon butter deLISH!!!! Matt was a sweetie and got me a balloon flower. How romantical! We did a session at the temple. Always refreshing for the soul. :)

Matt got Suns ticket for the ladies that work with him in his office and their spouses for Christmas. They played the Charlotte Bobcats, which I think we all assumed would be a blowout, but it ended up being neck-and-neck the entire game and even went into overtime!!! Unfortunately, they fell to the Bobcats and I'm beginning to think I'm a bad luck charm to sports teams!! Most every time I go, our team loses!! Booooooooooooooooo!

This has become a Suns game tradition that Matt and I partake in. Yummy!

BUT, what matters most is that the Suns scored at least 99 points, which means 2 free tacos from Jack in the Box per ticket!!!! I can't hardly decide what to order from fast food restaurants any more (everything grosses me out) but those greasy Jack tacos just do it for me!! Our latest date was seeing When in Rome at the movie theater. Super chick-flicky and super cute . Just my kind of movie!!I could definitely handle this frequent dating thing!! ;) It was good to get so much alone time with my honey. It truly does make me fall a little bit more in love with him every time. ♥ xoxo

New Backyard Fixture & Winter Garden Reflections

About a month ago, our next door neighbor closed down her preschool/daycare and was getting rid of the playthings in her backyard. She posted on Facebook about the swing set for 100 bucks and I jumped all over that!! So they lifted the thing over the fence and now it resides in our backyard! :) The kids are in love with it and are out there almost every day swinging to their hearts' content! ♥

A couple weeks ago, we had some killer rainstorms that lasted for days. Ahhhhh, I love the rain! I made homemade soup and bread bowls one evening that happened to be just the thing to end a stormy day.The past couple days, the weather has been gorgeous - in the mid 70s - and we've been enjoying the fresh air. Poor dude, doesn't quite know what to do on the grass. I love the foot lifting! haha

Perhaps he's roaring at me like the dinosaur on his shirt???There he goes!!~~

Once again, we've loved having a garden right out the back door!! We've had some dang good salads lately with fresh lettuce straight from the ground. I've eagerly been anticipating the full growth of our 6 broccoli plants. We go through a ton of broccoli in this house (mostly due to my love for it) and I couldn't wait to try our own. I swear it was like one day they were tiny and the next day they were THIS -- already flowering!! I had no idea broccoli did this! Boohoo. :(But apparently it's not bad news for everyone. If you look closely (enlarge the picture below for better effect) this particular one is SWARMING with BEES!!!!! There had to be at least 15 or more, sniffing away at those flowers!
Next year, you can be sure that *I* will be enjoying my broccoli, not the bees.

Our crop of carrots are fiiiiiiiiinally getting around to being edible. We planted a whole mess of them close together, so some of them look a bit gnarly. We picked the last of the citrus off the trees. The grapefruits were good enough for me, but not the best I've had. The oranges, not so hot. We're still learning the art of watering and fertilizing and hoping for a better, more abundant crop next winter!Looking forward to our summer garden again with tomatoes, cucumbers, zucchini, melons and I think we're going to try corn, too!!! :) Makes me feel good to be a teense bit more self-reliant.