Party Time!

I think I've clearly established that I like to throw parties. I like themes, festive decorations, fitting food, the whole works. I even have a folder where I've been stashing birthday party theme inspirations and ideas all year. Then we threw theme parties for potty training. Then I threw a Valentine's party for the moms' group. Then we were in the midst of our home study and trying to finish it quickly. And I thought that maybe, just maybe, this would be a good year to go easy on myself. So I asked the twins to pick a color, and that would be the theme of the party, and that party would be just family. I asked. Allie picked yellow. Ryan absolutely refused yellow. He wanted red. Allie said she liked red. Red it was. A week later, after I had made red decorations and purchased red plates and napkins (hello post-Valentine's sales!), Ryan informed me that he wanted a yellow party. Thankfully he wasn't disappointed when I informed him that it was too late. Red it was!

Some of the decorations.

Ultimately, there are only 3 things that I care about having for the party. 1) the birthday banners, 2) the characters with their faces (the dinosaurs below...which will make more sense in about a week), and 3) the birthday outfits. In past years I have made themed shirts. This year, I could NOT find red shirts. So I made my own outfits. It was easier than I thought. I love the outfits. And now I have all sorts of ideas of other things I would like to try making for them!

We had a morning party, and went with a brunch for the menu. It wasn't until after I picked this that I realized I would need to come up with an egg-less breakfast menu. Thanks to some help from the internet we had a full menu (including this yummy breakfast casserole!).

Enjoying the food!

After we ate, they opened presents. I love the cousins helping :) SO hard, at this age, to just watch presents being opened.

After the present opening they all played with the presents. There wasn't a single present that wasn't a hit. In fact, they are still playing with their new things all day long. Ryan has a stronger affinity for the bike and has completely mastered pedaling. He has spent every waking moment we will allow riding his bike. Allie loves her camera, and we have downloaded another 200 photos. Separate hobbies are officially developing!

I asked him to smile...

D was having a bit of a rough morning. I had used a hole puncher to turn some of the leftover paper from the decorations into confetti. I figured there would be some point at the party that it would come in handy. I was right! She loved it! Morning saved.

We did muffins instead of cupcakes. Ryan wasn't a fan of the cranberries, and tried to eat around them. Allie loved them and swiped 3!

D was also a fan - eating them from the top down!

It was a fun morning. Relaxing and enjoyable. The twins were perfectly thrilled (which should make them even more excited for the birthday fun to follow). And I'm just trying to get over the fact that somehow three years have already passed!

Happy 3rd birthday, Twinners! We love you!!