"Hammers and Nails" the twins turn FOUR!

It's been a while since I posted, simply because I have SOOO much to post. So many amazing memories, thoughts, pictures that it is so overwhelming where to even start that I just don't do it. In fact I honestly forgot how to post a new blog for a second.
However, it is birthday time and I am quite proud of the birthday party we just threw for Sean and Liv, who turned four. Yes, four. Not sure how that happened since they were JUST born.
There was a lot of interest in the party theme we chose for them this year as it is unique and we came up with it completely on our own. I knew I wanted to do a party at The Home Depot because it was different, but I just didn't know how to incorporate a girly theme for my sweet Liv. I discussed a few ideas with my husband ....hammers and bows, tools and crowns, ummm....no. He came up with Hammer and Nails, as in fingernails. Winner! Was very proud of his creative moment. Now, leave the rest up to me....

First I had to order the outfits and do the birthday photos. I immediately went to my niece who owns and operates Pickle Fish and she came up with the idea for the shirts.
I ordered tool belts from Amazon, the are the born tough brand.
Plastic hats from Amazon as well.

We recently moved to our new wonderful, awesome home, and I no longer have the wooden fence we use as a backdrop, so I found this cute little cabin at a retirement home minutes from our house. I love it even better!
I loved how it all turned out.

I used the wonderful ladies at my work  to do my design and printing again. We have these all on file, Leave a comment if you are interested in ordering any of these customized materials.
I did the usual, invitation, banner, water bottle labels and thank you tags.

The Home Depot was fantastic to work with. They normally only host these parties for 12 kids as it is a small room but with double the birthday comes double the guests. The did their best to accommodate 24 kids!
When you book a party with them and purchase the package it comes with all the paperware, balloons, building kits, paints, stickers, and they set it all up.
This was the less stressful, most fun birthday party to plan yet!

We welcomed each kid with their own Home Depot apron

The kids all began with building their kits with the help of adults and then painting them. We choose the toolbox kit since it went best with our theme. They have a few to choose from. It was chaos and noise at it's best. 24 hammers all banging down at once. It was awesome!

We had a nail painting station set up and my sister gave all the girls manicures. The girls loved it!

We then had some snacks. It was a morning birthday so we did fruit, pretzel sticks and doughnut holes. Easy. Yummy.

Time for happy birthday singing and cake time! Yesterday, I asked the twins if they each wanted their own birthday song and they said in unison "No, we want our names together". Can they stay like this forever? My heart melted, so sweet.
I opted for cake pops because I knew it was going to be a tight squeeze and lots going on. Minimizing the mess was definitely a priority. Another mom at my daughter's school made the cake pops and even went the extra mile and set them up in a tool box. It was perfect and they were delicious!!
We got them each their own doughnut for the candles. This was after I lost count how many doughnut holes they had eaten.

Time for presents. They went all in, opening left and right, paper flying, toys opening, chaos. They had so much fun! I have no idea who got what but that is OK, I just hope everyone knows how much we appreciate every single gift. They really got some great stuff, we are so thankful

Every birthday my sister makes them a keepsake number. They spent the last two days guessing what theirs would be!

We handed out some simple goody bags to add to their tool boxes they got to take home. Some squishy hammers, annies crackers and annies gummies and then the girls got a lil something extra...nail polish and emory board.

It appears all of the kids had a fantastic time but most importantly Sean and Liv had a blast celebrating with their friends.
Happy Birthday my miracle babies!!

How did we get here?
Twins birth story
Twins turn ONE (raggedy ann and andy)
Twins turn TWO (dora and diego)
Twins turn THREE (princesses and dragons) - no link, I just realized I never blogged this one. Whoops!

5 year old Cowgirl

Five years ago, I was laying in the hospital on my 32nd birthday in labor.  I was certain that my first born would be born on my birthday, but nope. She wanted her own Day. 27 hours later, Lyla arrived. You can read a part of her birth story here.

I just finished making cupcakes for her Kindergarten class. I am pretty sure this is how I am going to be spending my birthday night the next few years. Blogging about her party and making cupcakes for her class. Not sure there is any other way I would want to spend it. I love 'sharing' a birthday with her. It is so special to both of us.

We decided to celebrate her birthday a week early. Our best friends were out of town the weekend of her actual birthday, and Lyla is slightly obsessed with their daughter.  They are best friends too, and we couldn't imagine celebrating without them. Unfortunately, that meant that some of her classmates weren't able to attend as they were out of town, but we still had a great turn out and lots of fun.

We originally intended to have a cowgirl party at my in laws horse farm, but Lyla insisted on having it at the Creative Discovery Museum. She was downright passionate it about having it there. I was a little disappointed. I had so many great ideas for her cowgirl themed party, on a real cowgirl farm! But, we granted her little wish. It was a good thing too. This summer has been chilly and rainy, and her party day was no different. It would've been rained out and most likely canceled.  
A week before her party, I did a little photo shoot up at the farm before her horse show. Read about that here (link come soon).

Bow and necklace by Yarn Therapy
Shirt by Lady Bug Couture

The museum has a strict limit on how many people we could invite. That is always my biggest problem at any party that is at a paid venue.  In order to invite everyone she wanted we limited it to 1 child and 1 adult per invite, and that worked out very well. We were able to invite all the kids she wanted. But it meant a lot of our adult family couldn't come. So, we planned a hot dog cookout at our house directly afterwards. It made for a exhausting but fun day. The cookout almost got rained out, but we managed to sneak some dry time in.
Some photos from the fun times at the Museum

(Pinterest visitors - email me if you would like any of the printable files)

Present time! This girl racked up on cowgirl stuff and horse toys. She was in heaven, loved and appreciated every single gift.

Goody bags made with bandana and rope, filled with horse figures, bouncy balls, horse stickers, horse necklaces and bandana bracelets. Everything a cowgirl and cowboy need. These were my favorite goody bags I have put together, and turned out adorable. I printed personalized tags at DivCo as the perfect finishing touch.

Everyone had a great time at the museum. They give a great, easy, party. All you have to do is bring the kids! We ended up bringing a few snacks...carrots, grapes and pretzels with cheese. But they take care of everything else. It was a nice change.

Directly after the party, we headed back to our house to get ready for the cookout.  The rain held off, we hung the pinata, cooked the dogs, and had a fun evening with the family. We had cake leftover from the museum, so why not sing again for my little princess? 

Alexis getting everyone's attention for the big birthday song

While we were singing happy birthday to her, she closed her eyes, put a big smile on her face, and soaked it all in!

Just a few more presents, including a handmade doll by my mom!

I told her tonight at dinner, "I can't believe you are going to be 5 tomorrow. You aren't going to be my little baby anymore!". She responded with a little attitude, "mommy, I am not your little baby right now!". Ha. True, true my big girl.

Thank you to everyone that has spoiled, loved, and wished my baby big girl a happy birthday. It has meant so much to both of us!