Happy 1st Birthday Party!

Lots of dreaming. Lots of planning. Lots of lists.

Add in a little disbelief.

Not too fancy. Not too frilly.

But full of love and detail!

I wanted something super special for our little miracle twins 1st birthday celebration.

A party that centered completely around them!

Being surrounded by many of the people who prayed for their survival and have supported us over the past year. 

I remember missing parts of Addie's 1st birthday party, either in pictures or because I was taking pictures. And I knew I sure couldn't capture the memories I wanted with two birthday girls. So our friend Lori came and took pictures for us. She did a fabulous job, capturing the details and the people. She made sure she got a picture with the twins and each grandparent. I am so thankful for her talent and for the wonderful blessings she's given us in pictures in addition to allowing me to be the mom at the girl's party!

We have very few family-of-five pictures. There is a reason for that. Turning 3 has not changed that...much. No amount of bribing, begging, punishing, avoiding, or ignoring helps; but I'm determined that the pictures will be taken to show the reality as it is.

Buried faces and all.

And I love this one!

My sweet friend Anna once again helped me create the girl's birthday banner! Its so much fun (for me) to hang it up and see (in words) the reason for our celebrating!

The balloon wreath here is pretty special. Not because of the colors or because it took a ridiculous number of balloons and an equally ridiculous amount of time to create, but because the wooden initials in the center also hung on the girl's hospital door when they were born.

And here we are a year later!

This celebration was extra special because each of the grandparents (and my aunt!) were able to attend, except Gramma's husband Papa Al. I was a little concerned that Addie's head just might explode with so many people she loves, but she handled it pretty well considering! :)

(Gramma, Grandpa and Ms. Gail, Rie Rie and Nana, Mama Pat and Papa Ray)

Making/obtaining 2 of everything wasn't twice the work. As my mom says, it's three times the work! But it was so much fun to get everything coordinated, decorated, created and see it all come together!

I could say I made the cakes, but that would be untrue. I had so much help either directly or indirectly with the preparation for this party that I'd say it at least took the efforts of 5 people to create all of this! The initials on the cakes were done like the initials on the cookies below. I found Bake at 350 a very helpful read on this subject! I read about making party hats from this blog. Of course I made mine a little differently, but it's the general idea. I knew I wanted special bibs for the girls, so I jumped on etsy.com and found a seller who had designs that I liked. The SeamsSoSweet owner was amazing to work with: located and custom ordered the fabric and made the bibs complete with the girls names just for them!

After a yummy lunch of bbq, spring pasta salad and fruit, it was time for cake!

And a picture with everyone!

(first row: Thomas, Mandy, Cady, Gramma, Uncle Jay, Kira, Elijah Brooks, Jay (aka Mr. Steve), Ellie and Tyler. standing/second row: Anna, baby Kennedy, Papa Ray, Mama Pat, Nana, Rie Rie, Mommy, Daddy, Addie, Grandpa, Ms. Gail, Erin, Tim, and Diane)

Right after we put the cakes down, Lori snapped this picture. I think it's one of my favorites because they are looking at each other. 

The smash cakes had fondant dots on them to match the bigger cake. Addie had a few and then we let the other big kids taste them at well. But this is what the little girls thought about it!

Don't take my cake!

Anne Perry had a BLAST with her cake (kinda like she did with her cupcake!). She really hammed it up for the camera. A sign of things to come? Who knows, but this little girl had a blast!

On the other hand, Audrey Kate wasn't as eager to get messy and eat sugar. She was much happier with me holding her or at least not being in that highchair in front of that sticky mess! She looks like such a big girl sitting in Addie's chair!

But when we sat them both down next to Anne Perry's cake, they both seemed to continue to enjoy themselves!

They were stripped down, sticky, got a bath...and then we decided to do one more picture. It just so happens these next few turned out to be some of my favorite!

They just look so happy!

Of course what's a party without party favors?

I found a super yummy sugar cookie recipe at Our Best Bites and a fun new way to add initials to iced cookies without having to freehand them at Bake at 350 !

Completely imperfect in design but completely perfect for our party!

And just in case you haven't seen enough of our little girls, here's a video started by Daddy, finished by Ms. Gail, and edited a little by me!

For me, this day was perfect. I'm pretty sure our little girls enjoyed it just a little bit too. Although they won't remember their 1st birthday or anything much surrounding it, I hope these pictures (and words) provide them with good memories, even if they aren't their own.

There isn't much I could say about these little girls that I haven't already said over the past year. They are simply amazing. Completely amazing in my book. Little people with some big fight in them.  A tremendous blessing to those who know them.

And a testimony to God's goodness.

Blessed Be The Name!

Happy Birthday Anne Perry and Audrey Kate! We love you!!!