Twins Birthday Party Decor

Hello my wonderful readers! We had so much fun at the twins first birthday, pictures of them will be in another post. Today I'm going to share the decor of the party with you. Aaron and I talked after Penelope's first birthday that with all of our kids we would have a bigger 1st birthday and I would go all out with decorations but birthdays 2-4 will be very close family only and just a couple store bought decorations. The twins first birthday I wanted to be just as grand as I did for Penelope's first because I didn't want them to look back and think we skimped just because they weren't the first kid. So their birthday was Winter ONE-derland! I had to come up with a gender neutral kind of theme since they are a boy and girl and in December this would be perfect to do I thought. I made pretty much everything, we did recycle some stuff from Penelope's Frozen birthday and also from Penelope's first birthday that was Paddington Bear. The colors I chose were black, white, blue and red.

I did an invitation that said, "Waddle on over for some fun, our little penguins are turning ONE! join us for Andrew and Juliet's Winter ONE-derland"

I took the same penguins that I drew for the invite and drew them bigger and put them in the front window to greet everyone that came to the door.

We decided we wanted to do something warm and easy for food so a chili bar was what we came up with, with chips and dip and veggies. We had some toppings to go on the chili also.

We also did a small hot chocolate bar with lots of toppings.

 

We also did a bunch of pictures on the board from the last year of them.

I really wanted to do something individual for them so I did their 12 months of pictures separate and made them each a banner.

The Happy 1st Birthday banner is actually a recycle of from Penelope's 1st birthday.

I made a couple simple high chair banners that I think turned out wonderful so they could eat their cake and not a big deal if they get messed up.

I also made the canvas guest book like I did for Penelope's first birthday so they can each have one.

I put together a little kids table for them to eat and not have to worry about them messing up the carpet. 

 The party favors were a cups worth of hot chocolate mix with a handful of mini marshmellows and the tag says "Thanks for making my birthday so ONE-derful"

 I made two small funfetti cakes and cupcakes with vanilla frosting and blue sprinkles.  

 At the last minute I put together this paper snowflake decoration with cotton balls and some string, we might keep it for our Christmas decor if it lasts. 

Hope you enjoyed this look at the decor for the twins first birthday winter ONE-derland. I still can't believe they are one! Lots of love to you and yours.

Twins at 1 year old!

Hello my wonderful readers! I can not believe I have 1 year old twins! Andrew and Juliet turned 1 a couple days ago and we have just had the best and hardest year of our lives to be honest. We were not expecting twins when we got pregnant with them and if you have followed a little while you will know that we didn't see two little people on the first ultrasound at 8 weeks, it wasn't until 13 weeks when I found out at my routine physical that there were two and not just one in there like before. It has been a roller coaster of year physically, spiritually and emotionally for all of us. I am so happy though that God brought them both to our family and that they are ONE!! We went to the doctor Thursday and they got a bunch of shots they were not too happy about of course, but thank the Lord for their daddy being able to be there and help me! Andrew is 20 lbs and 28 inches. Juliet is 17 lbs and 28 inches. Both are healthy and on track growth wise.

Diaper size: Andrew is on the second size snaps on his cloth diapers and Juliet is still on the first and they are still wearing a size 3 disposable diaper for now but not for much longer I'm sure.

Clothing size: Andrew is growing out of his 9 month clothes and headed into 12 month and 18 month clothes, while Juliet is growing out of some of her 9 month but still holding strong in that size for now she is wearing some 12 month clothes.

Sleeping: They both still take 2 naps a day, even though big sister keeps them up sometimes when the afternoon nap should be happening. They sleep through the night just fine when our neighbors decide to be quite.

Feeding: They are still eating 6oz bottles 4 times a day and 7oz bottle before bed. We are now going to start on milk slowly. They eat breakfast and dinner now and we are going to start lunch now that they are one to take the place of one of the bottles.

Routine: Routine is still the same as it has been for awhile, see past post on that.

Firsts: They had their Last First Holiday which was Thanksgiving and saw outdoor Christmas Lights for the first time at a local church drive thru lights display. They also had their First Birthday party (other posts on this to come!)

Movements: Andrew has taken a few steps without holding anything he is gets more confident each time but Juliet has yet to have any interest in walking without holding onto the couch or anything.

Teeth: Andrew has 3 teeth with more coming in. Juliet just has 1 but more I think are coming in.

Their last first holiday ended with me feeding them and snuggles before bed.

I don't know if I have ever shown this onesie, we only had one of them, both twins wore it and now Juliet is about to grow out of it but one more time for fun.

Juliet is loving sitting on this little couch we got Penelope a year or so ago. 

She reminds me so much of Penelope when she is pointing and staring at the Christmas tree. 

We win for the worst Santa picture of the year, no one but Juliet is looking at the camera and Andrew is screaming. 

First Christmas jammies for them, these were both Penelope's her second Christmas.

They got another walker toy for their birthday from their great grandma so they are both on the go having lots of fun "racing" as Aaron puts it haha.

They experienced decorating for Christmas for the first time, it was so much fun to see their eyes look at the tree for the first time since last year they were only 10 days old or so at Christmas.

 This will be the last monthly picture! I can't believe it, it was so hard to get them to stand there and smile, I will try to take one at 18 months but who knows how crazy they will be then haha.

Every year on Penelope's birthday so far Aaron has taken a picture with her just the two of them so I decided that I would take one with the twins each year so maybe on their 18th birthday I can give them each a book or something, we will see. 

Hope you enjoyed the update on our little twinnies! Love to you all!

Christmas Decor 2017

Hello my wonderful readers! Today I'm just going to give you a glimpse of the decor we have in our home this year. After taking last years decor down I got rid of some stuff and simplified my stuff. We also have 3 under 3 on the move so everything had to be put up where they can't reach it haha.

 This is my little cabinet in my dining room I've got a nice bow on and my NOEL nativity on the top of.

 These two little reindeer are one of my favorite decor they are so cute, I have my tealight holder and my big wonderful smelling cinnamon and clove candle. 

Santa and Frosty are hanging on either side of the tv. 

 Since we moved our china closet there has been this blank white wall that I can't stand so I hung some tinsel and a bow with this little elf guy. 

 Our stockings and my Christmas wreath are my favorite to put up every year. 

 My classic nativity is up where the kids can't reach it but where Penelope can see it so we can talk about it. 

 Between Aaron and I we have accumulated a few nutcrackers so they all went into one place this year with two snowflake fake candles. 

 This is a little Christmas decoration that Aaron's dad made a long time ago. 

 We have our little no breakable decorations on the closet doors so Penelope could help decorate and can touch them. 

Also kid friendly is the felt Christmas tree I made Penelope last year, this year it is in the hallway outside the kids room so the twins can't really get to it because they don't quite understand not to just eat everything haha. Next year we will put it in a place that all 3 can decorate it together. 

And last but not least is our Christmas tree, plain and simple, only used not even half of my ornaments but Penelope helped put them on this year. Also this year it is behind the couch again so the littlest ones don't hurt themselves. 

Hope you enjoy our Christmas decor this year! Lots of love for the holidays!

Routine for 3 kids 3 and under

Hello my wonderful readers! As I have been saying a post was coming forever on the routine of the kids. Here it is! We have had the same routine for awhile now which is good everyone knows what is coming so it works well for us. There are times that we don't stick to it like the holidays coming up will be hard with a lot of time in the car and just eating at different times than normal but we will manage. There are also days like Moms group that our schedule gets a little messed up. Speaking of schedules Aaron and I both feel like it's really important with 3 small children to have a schedule, I know that some people do just whatever their child wants to do and that's fine, I'm supportive of every family doing what is best for their family, our family just functions better on a schedule. Saying that, it is really hard to get that across to people who want to go do all these things or wonder why we can't go somewhere at 2pm. We try our very hardest to participate in all we can when it comes to family functions but when we know that our babies will all 3 be in a bad mood and crying we don't go because the event then is not enjoyable at all for Aaron and I and people don't understand that. It is a very hard thing to get across. With time it will improve and we will be able to adjust things like we do now for Penelope depending when we go somewhere. So here is the routine we are used to on most days:

7:30a-8a: Everyone wakes up, pants changed and babies get bottles and P gets milk
8:30a- We all eat breakfast
9:30a-10a- We all change clothes, twins get diaper changed and bottles then off to nap
10a-12p - Twins nap, P and I have "school time" (post on this later) then we watch a movie together
noon- Twins get changed, babies get bottles and P gets lunch
12p-2p - play time, I clean the house up a bit
2p - Twins get diaper change, P gets a pull up on, Twins get bottle, Everyone gets a few books read to them and then all go down for nap
2p-3:30p/4p - Nap time, I usually fold laundry and pick up the house or work on the blog
3:30p/4p - Everyone gets up, twins get diaper change and P gets milk
4p-5:30p - play time until daddy gets home, I usually start dinner around this time and get the house squared away for bedtime
5:30p/6p - we all sit down to dinner together
6:30p/7p - We do bedtime routine: half the days we put all 3 in the bath then everyone gets jammies and twins get bottles and P gets a story then all off to bed; the other half of the days the twins just get jammies on then drink their bottles while Aaron gives P a bath, she gets a story then all off to bed.
7p-sleep - Aaron and I watch what we want that includes no cartoons haha.

Hope this answers any questions about our normal day time routine.

Month 11 with Twins

Hello my wonderful readers! I cannot believe in 1 month I will have no more babies! They are getting so big, I have to use the stroller now to take them to the car because I can't carry both of them they are just too heavy haha. 

Diaper size: Both are still in cloth diapers 95% of the time, both are size 3 disposable diapers, Andrew has moved to the next size snaps on our one size cloth diapers.

Clothing size: Andrew is in 9 month clothes and starting to move into the next size, Juliet is going out of 6-9 month clothes and mostly in 9 month clothes. 

Sleeping: They are still sleeping the same 2 naps and all night long.

Feeding: They are still eating 5 bottles a day, 6 oz each bottle except the night time bottle is 7oz and they no longer have a 4pm bottle. 

Routine: We have the same routine post to come soon!

Firsts: First pumpkin patch visit at Apple Hill of course, First trunk or treat, First Halloween, First big sister's birthday party

Movements: Both walk holding onto the furniture no problems, they also push the push toys around no problems. Andrew did take his first couple steps unassisted on 11/10 but hasn't done it again since.

 Here are a few of the million I took at the pumpkin patch, we had a good time and got there early we were one of only two families there. 

 This little activity table has become a push toy, they both push it around all over the place.

 We did a pumpkin carving party, it lasted a total of like 10 minutes haha, to celebrate big sister's birthday. They did like sitting outside in their bumbos holding their tiny pumpkins. 

 This picture was too cute to not share, it was daddy day for onesies haha.

Andrew was sick with a fever until Monday night but still managed to smile big for his picture! Hope you enjoyed this update on the twinnies! Lots of love!

Penelope's 3rd Birthday Party

Hello my wonderful readers! We recently had Penelope's 3rd Birthday party. We decided after going all out for her first birthday party that 2-4 would be tame and just close family, really simple. The theme was her favorite movie right now....Frozen! I got most of the decor from Hollar.com for such a good price, most stuff was $1. I made the invites just blue paper cut out in the shape of a snowflake and wrote all the info on it for the party. We also had 3 balloons that didn't quite make it into pictures, 2 foil ones that had Olaf, Elsa and Ana on them and 1 blue latex that had a white 3 on it with what looked like snow. 

 The "Happy Birthday" banner, "party" door poster and crowns and necklaces (for Penelope and my niece Sophia) were from Hollar.com. I made the "Let is Go and get a drink" sign from just some paper and cardboard.

 Olaf was freehanded on a piece of cardboard then I cut out paper for each piece and glued him all together, he might become a regular Christmas decoration.

 The plastic table cloth was from Hollar also and then I just made little cards from paper and cardboard: Melted snowman dip (ranch dip) and chips, Sven treats (veggie tray), Cold cuts (turkey, ham and cheese sandwiches), Frozen Ice cubes (blue jello jigglers), Frozen magic mix (vanilla with blue sprinkles muddy buddy mix) and then funfetti cupcakes with vanilla frosting and blue sprinkles. 

 I did a collage of pictures of Penelope from the last year and pinned them up to my board and it forced me to put some in frames and hang them up finally haha. 

Penelope was Elsa for Halloween this year so it was fitting that she wore her costume (get our moneys worth) again for her birthday. We also had an Elsa shirt she changed into to eat cake so we didn't mess up the costume.

I hope you enjoyed this Frozen fun birthday we had for Penelope, I still can not believe she is 3 already! Lots of Love.