Our little getaway...

For four long days, we escaped the normal hustle and bustle of our ordinary life and settled in for relaxation, adventure and family time at one our favorite places... Sunriver.

Here's a sneak peek of our time there with some good ol' iPhone pictures...

More pictures and thorough rundown of our getaway coming soon. Stay tuned!

Happy Birthday

My first borns turned six yesterday... At exactly 6:17 and 6:18 pm, six years ago, we welcomed our identical twin girls into the world, into our family and into our hearts forever.

We love them so much. They bring a lot of joy to our family... And as their Mommy and Daddy, we feel very lucky to be a part of their lives as well.

I wanted to make their day special. So for starters, I woke up earlier and started a batch of their favorite muffins... I mean what's a birthday without your favorite food, right? I made sure to include all of the fixings... Butter, honey and jam.. Along with their favorite fruits... Strawberries and blueberries. And to wash it all down... Chocolate milk! Yum! Geez... They sure are lucky if I do say so myself. :)

When school time came around, the boys and I whisked them off to school... Then unknown to the Girlies, Daddy took half the day off of work to spend the day with all of us and to surprise them at school! So when we got to school, with cupcakes in hand to share, they were beyond thrilled!

Afterwards, per their request we went shopping at Target! (oh geez... They're only six and already want to shop on their birthday! We're in trouble! But I love it, they're girls after my own heart!) we also had the treat of meeting Memaw there AND we ran into one of our favorite people, Leila! :) The Girlies sure loved that! After Target, we headed to Build-A-Bear... They wanted to use their gift certificates they received in the mail for their birthday... So we had a merry ol' time there while they built their horses... "twinkle toes" and "horse shoe" hehehe.

Our last stop on the birthday fun day was dinner at Red Robin. Need I say more? We had a blast! And again, the Girlies both told us, they had the best birthday ever! I agree. :)

And now, pictures....

Birthday Carnival...

Our big girls are turning six on Tuesday. I can't believe it's been six years. I know I have said this time after time, but "time" really does fly by. My kids are just growing up too fast. In the blink of eye, to be exact.

This year, was no exception for party planning overload. We just had to plan a celebration that would exceed the previous years birthday. It's something we just can't help but do, just as we have done in years past with all of the other birthdays before.

Number six is big! What year it has been for our big girls. They've started Kindergarten. Both lost their first tooth (Ellie's up one on McKenzie, since she has lost a total of two now!) They both have their ears pierced... Ellie's was done this summer and McKenzie's was done on New Years Eve (Post on that, coming soon) Over the summer, they taught themselves how to really swim... ride a bike without training wheels, and are totally mastering rollerblading like pros. I mean, our girls are such BIG girls! It's just amazing. They are doing so many BIG things. So how could we celebrate in such a BIG way?

Carnival, baby! Yeay!

We brought out the big ideas and we just couldn't stop!!! We picked our venue... Pleasant Hill Community Center... and let me tell you people, it was the perfect place for our carnival extravaganza! My awesome hubs, really out did himself this year. To make a grand entrance for our guests, we wanted a massive balloon arch. So being the handy man that he is... he spent 7 hours making a very impressive balloon arch for his girlies birthday celebration. He did not come to bed until 2 am, because he wanted every inch of that arch to be perfect. And let me tell you... it was absolutely incredible.

Per request of the girlies... we invited Buttons the Clown to celebrate with us... (she put on a fun magic show, did a fab job face painting and made many fun animal balloons for all of the kiddos!)... we also had a fun lil ol' Photo Booth... TWO bouncy castles... a Pixar Film playing overhead... and a fun concessions stand with a mixture of both good eats and good sweets! We served, sparkling lemonade, homemade popcorn, mini corn dogs, chips and dips, veggie cups, a rainbow fruit tray and of course birthday cupcakes! It was a carnival atmosphere all the way... and it was a great way to help celebrate our sweet girls turning six!

As we pulled away from the Community Center, both of our girls said... "That, was the best birthday party, EVER!" Awww... music to this Mommy and Daddy's ears. :)

And now... what you have all been waiting for...

The highlights of our Carnival Extravaganza!!!

To all of our amazing family and friends who helped us celebrate our wonderful girls... thank you so much! We appreciate you and all of your great gifts! And to our amazing family for helping out in every way you did... Words can not express our gratitude! THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU! We love you all!