Happy Birthday Austin & Caitlin

I love our kids. LOVE, LOVE, LOVE them to pieces! I can't believe birthday number 5 is in the books! Admittedly, this party was a little bigger than I anticipated...it kind of took on a life of its own because I was having such a great time with the planning. Next year it will be scaled down for sure.

The kids are so sweet. They are the most genuinely sweet & grateful kids I know. They have such joy even in the smallest things.

Details...

Friday night we had some wicked thunderstorms and a ton of rain. Thought for sure I'd be waking early to clean the basement for Plan B...but by morning things were calm (but soggy) so we still had the party outdoors. The first think I heard in the morning was Caitlin saying, "Happy Birthday Bear!" Oh my...totally melted my heart. They were soooooo excited that they were finally 5! It was so cute to see their excitement at getting older.

The day was nonstop from 7am to way into the night...I will not have a party on their actual birthday again...just too hectic. fun. but hectic. Rookie mistake.

The carnival theme was great. We had a concession stand set up with all kinds of goodies - popcorn, cotton candy, hot dogs, nachos, chips, goldfish, drinks. My Aunt Lynn was the concessions lady & she did a great job. Well, except when she was trying to figure out how to make cotton candy and it wound itself around her arm instead of the paper cone. :) I found it funnier than she did...by the end of the day she was covered in popcorn oil, grass stains, and even had some blue cotton candy highlights in her hair. lol

After we ate, the kids lined up at the ticket booth (thanks Uncle John!) and got their bags with tickets for the games! We have some great friends & family who volunteered to run the games. It was awesome just to stand back and look at our kids & their friends having a blast playing games in our yard. Most of the games were made by me so nothing fancy...we had a ring toss, bead dig, beanbag toss, penny pitch, quarter drop, lollipop tree, balloon stomp, ping pong toss, & soccer kick. They loved going from game to game collecting prizes.

THE BEST was the face painting! OH MY GOSH! Austin & Caitlin have been looking forward to getting their face painted since I bought the supplies about 2 weeks ago! They have been discussing what designs they would like and insisted they would be first in line. :) By the end of the party Caitlin had designs on her forehead, both cheeks, both arms, & both legs. Austin was sporting a pirate patch, mustache, & goatee along with the word PACERS down one leg & COLTS down the other leg. My nephew Ethan was rolling with a handlebar mustache, A & C's friend Max had a "Bob & Tom" 'stache & Jacob had the "Jack Sparrow" 'stache/goatee combo.

Austin & Caitlin requested red velvet cake, so that's what we had. The bakery did a great job with the decorations & it was absolutely delicious.

It was such a fun day and now we have two sweet FIVE YEAR OLDS!!!! :)

It's been awhile...

We are way behind in posting to the blog. We have quite a few pictures to get up, and of course, we have a big day coming up Saturday when Austin and Caitlin turn 5...(That seems impossible, by the way).

I haven't been home a whole lot the last month, and I probably won't be able to get the pictures up until the weekend of the 26th, but at that time I will post pictures that haven't been downloaded from the camera for a LONG time, as well as pictures from their birthday.

They are both very excited, and Kim is doing a great job of planning a carnival themed party. Not sure how many kids will be there, but from what I understand they will have fun. Lots of carnival games and carnival food.

Hope everyone is well, and I admittedly have been terrible keeping in touch with anyone of late. Lots of preparation for the draft next Thursday. I will resurface after that!