2, 2 Year Olds

My babies turned 2 this past weekend! I'll admit, I had a moment of panic when I feared how this year would go down trying to parent 2, 2 year olds as my usually very compliant and content little girl started throwing fits. But then I was reminded to not fear (Philippians 4:6) but to pray!  Thankful for scripture to speak to the heart.

So onto their birthday party. My brother and sister in law came into town so I decided to keep it low key and just get to spend quality time with them and a few close friends. My goal was to have good food, good fellowship, and balloons (since my kids go crazy over balloons).

Menu
Appetizers- guacamole and spring rolls with peanut sauce
Grilled romaine hearts with herb dressing
Yummy bread (from my brothers restaurant)
Grilled pork chops with peach salsa
Dessert- Key Lime Pie

The day went exactly as I had hoped. It was so fun celebrating the twins and getting to see them interact with family and friends. I loved celebrating their lives and bringing us back to the time they were born. I'll admit, I got a little emotional if I thought about it too much. I pretty much love being their mom and getting to be with them everyday. Don't get me wrong, many many many times during the days are very hard, but overall it is a blessing that God has given us these two to help grow and point them to Him. I can't wait for the rest of their lives!

Let's go down memory lane!

34 Weeks and about to give birth

Meeting Mae for the first time

Little Luke in the hallway

Everyone is tired

Sleeping buddies

Fall time in VA

Don't look so surprised!

Hanging out at the River

Learning to walk

Playing with Dad 

In my opinion, 2 really cute 2 year olds!

Readers are leaders

Do you have catch phrases you use in your house to inspire greatness?  This is one we use often.  Sometimes we just have to throw a party and it makes things so much more appealing.  So a friend and I joined forces to have a youth book club.  We have sugar, activities, and a little class like fancy drinks and such.  It's all very appealing(;  This month's read is ' The Lemonade War'.  I guess there's even some economics thrown in!  We are re-convening in mid-July to share thoughts and have a super-successful lemonade stand.  We are brainstorming charities that we could give some of the profits to as well.  So lots of learning, but lots of fun too!

Naturally some lemonade!

Pink lemonade cookies

Oatmeal chocolate chip muffins

Reading the first chapter to kick things off!

DIY Birthday Banner Invitations

This is the twins birthday month so naturally I am starting to think about a party for them. I came across their invitations from last year and thought I would share them with you. They were a really fun DIY project I thought up after seeing that people actually sew on paper! I LOVE that idea. That's how these Valentine's cards in the Etsy shop evolved too.

  
Materials
Card stock/envelopes
Printer
Fabric scraps
Sewing machine

Directions
1. Type and print out what you want your invitation to say making sure to leave enough space where you want to sew on your scraps
2. Cut out your scraps into small triangles
3. Line them up on your paper and simply sew right where you want them attached

I made this version at the same time b/c I knew we would be celebrating their birthday again with family after we moved to MI but I didn't know any of the details yet. This was a perfect way to just fill in the information as I decided what we were going to do.

It would be a great idea to make up some of these generic cards and give them as a little gift set to someone, maybe as Thank you cards or "Just to say Hello" cards. Really the possibilities are endless!!!

Time to start really putting some thought into this years party. I'm about to have 2, 2 year olds running around my house. HELP!!!!!!!!!!!

Nature Themed Baby Shower

I threw a baby shower for a friend last weekend and thought I would give you a tour of the decorations. I have been planning this shower for a while and used Pinterest and www.ontobaby.com for a lot of inspiration. Our friends baby room is going to be a nature theme with yellow walls and green accents. So I made it easy on myself and decided to follow suit with the shower theme! Why make it difficult right???

The invitations. This was a free printable I found on ontobaby.com. It was so easy! You just picked the colors you wanted (about 25 to choose from), typed in your info, hit create, and then print as many as you want! 

Center Piece.
Remember when I showed you these birds I was working on?

They were for the center piece. I gathered twigs from the back yard, put them in a mason jar, tied strips of yellow, green, and brown fabric on the branches and hot glued the birds to the branches. I also made a scrappy strip banner that I draped over the chandelier. 

There was a station with little cards that had thoughtful things for people to do for the couple after the baby came. i.e. drop off muffins, vacuum/sweep, walk their dogs, babysit for a date night, pray for a safe delivery etc. Guests could take a card and put it on their fridge to remind them to follow through. There was also a meal sign up and some paper to write thoughts/encouraging words on if guests wanted to. 

I had my husband cut 1 inch thick pieces of wood to write out what the food/drink items were exactly

 

I set up a station for people to make onsies for the new baby. I found the idea on Pinterest here. The website had all the directions written out which I just printed up for people to use.We did this instead of a game and everyone LOVED it!

       

That's it! A nature themed baby shower for sweet friends expecting their first baby boy at the end of the month. So excited for them!