Birthday Celebrations!

The Pack's real birthday fell on a Wednesday.  With Dave at work and Leah busy with therapies, there wasn't too much hoopla going on that day.  They did get yummy cinnamon rolls (Allison ate so many she threw up) for breakfast and some very special chocolate covered Oreos for dessert!  The Oreos came from a baker in New Jersey (Sweet Temptations) who saw me on LIVE with Kelly and Michael; she sent them just for their birthday.  I ate Leah's on her behalf and it was amazing!  They also received a few gifts from family on their actual birthday which I missed in pictures.  But what I did get in pictures is each kid with me just like on their 1st birthday (to be shown in next post).  I'm thinking it could be an annual tradition :)

Andrew, Caroline, Ben eating Oreos

Levi and Allison eating Oreos

Leah posing with her Oreo

The big birthday party was the following Saturday.  Although we cut the guest list in half from last year, it was still a pretty big party.  My goal was to tone it down a bit from last year and I feel we achieved just that.  What helped the most was whenever anyone offered to help with the party I gave them a job.  By the end of it, I didn't have to do very much :)  Everyone pulled through with their parts for a very successful party!

We found a great location at a close-by neighborhood's rec center.  The building was the perfect size and had access to playgrounds, splash pads, open field, and sand volleyball!  I loved that I didn't have to plan any activities during the party.  The theme was A Very Hungry Caterpillar and it turned out really cute!!  There were caterpillars everywhere thanks to my BFF from college's sister.  She made 95% of the decorations and did a phenomenal job!  A fellow high order multiples mom (she has quads and they were next door to us in the NICU) made their birthday shirts.  I sent her a picture of what I liked and she replicated it perfectly!  (Check out her Etsy shop here)  All the food served corresponded with what the caterpillar ate throughout the story, and  the favors were bags of M&Ms labelled "Caterpillar Food".   Everyone had a good time, especially the kids.  They were worn out from running around chasing bubbles in the field.  OH, and they ate a ton of cookies!

Cake Table

A Very Hungry Caterpillar in Pictures

Each kid had their own caterpillar with pictures of themselves throughout the last year

Caroline 

Dave and Levi

Allison and Andrew sneaking cookies

Time to eat!

Leah slept through most of the party.  I was forced to eat her cupcake.

Wanna bite?

Look who woke up just in time to go home!

Ben was loving my grandmother's hat

Presents!

I'm always told "the days are long, but the years are short".  No kidding!  I can't believe how quickly time flew between the 1st and 2nd birthdays.  I know it's not going to slow down either.  I will say I am loving my little toddlers.  It is a blast watching them learn and discover new things.  Yes, there are rough times and testing limits, but I'm thinking so far I like this stage way more than baby stage.  We'll see what I think in a year :)

2-year-old Photo Shoot

Since we hadn't taken real professional photos of the kids and family since their 1st birthday, I decided the 2nd birthday would be worth the effort.  As luck would have it, my talented neighbor friend Lisa Holloway offered to do the shoot for us!  She picked a great location at a local park.  We attempted the group shots first before they completely lost interest.  We plopped them in their chairs, handed out blocks and cookies, ran out of view, and Lisa snapped and clicked as fast as the camera could go!  Somehow we ended up with some great shots!

Ben, Leah, Levi, Alli, Andrew, Caroline

Alli, Levi, Leah, Ben, Caroline, Andrew

Best Family Shot

Best Family Outtake

Dave and Andrew

Next up were the individual shots.  I stayed with each kiddo to entertain them as she tried to take their picture while the other adults chased around the rest of the kids.  After the outfit change, Lisa chased after the kids with her camera.  One time she just grabbed an arm and clicked away when they looked at her!

Andrew

Allison

Caroline

Leah

Benjamin

Levi

Benjamin

Serious Leah

Allison

Happy Leah

Giggly Girl Alli

Caroline

I want a cookie! 

Thanks- Levi

Andrew

I am just in love with the pictures!  There are so many good ones it's hard to pick my favorites (obviously).  And we had a blast at the shoot!  If you're in the Houston area, please check out Lisa for your photography needs- if she can handle our crew, she can do any family!

Events in April

San Jacinto Day Parade
For the 2nd year in a row, we participated in West Columbia's San Jacinto Day Parade!  West Columbia is the teeny town my grandparents live in.  I think they might be the only town to really do up San Jacinto Day-considering I had never heard of it until last year.  But, I also took Louisiana history and missed out on all things Texas.  Any who, back to the parade.  This year we increased our walking group size by quite a few!  We had the 8 of us, my grandmother, great aunt, mom, brother, future sister-in-law, 2 cousins, fabulous friend, and the kiddos' ECI teacher who happens to be from West Columbia.  We were decked out in our red, white, and blue for Texas and the old ladies decorated the stroller up all fancy.  We had a great time walking and waving and even earned the "Best Walking Group" award!  Not sure who our competition was in the small parade, but we'll take it :)  We have determined that next year we'll have to outdo ourselves with candy and maybe even t-shirts.

Leah ready for the parade!

Easter
This year Easter happened to fall on the same weekend as the San Jacinto Day festivities.  So, we combined the celebrations into one momentous occasion.  Following the parade, we headed back to my grandmother's house for egg hunts and good eats.  I had to have an annoying mom moment and make the kids change from their parade outfits (red, white, and blue) to their Easter outfits.  I just really wanted the Easter pictures to be in their Easter outfits.  I mean, that's totally understandable right?

Once everyone was changed we headed out to the backyard to find eggs.  The kids really enjoyed it!  They liked picking them up and putting them in baskets (didn't matter whose was whose) and opening them.  We did not fill them with anything this year.  Maybe next year the Easter Bunny will be nicer :)  After most of the eggs were collected and we attempted some crazy family photos, we went inside to eat.  The kids gobbled up lunch while the adults ate in shifts.  We played a little bit then headed back home as the exhausted toddler meltdowns started in.  All in all a very busy day but also great fun!

Andrew helping Leah fill her basket

The winning family picture

Outtakes!

Levi stuck in his basket

Allison and her great grandmother

Caroline and her great grandpa

I totally love their Easter baskets!!  I took the plain white baskets we received after they were born (Easter themed gift baskets), gave them to my aunt, and she worked her magic to create these Pottery Barn-like masterpieces.  Brilliant!

March for Babies
At the end of April we participated in the March of Dimes March for Babies.  Last year it was rained out, so I wanted us to complete it this year.  We walked as part of a subgroup for Texas Children's Hospital along with my mom and some good friends.  The walk is 5 miles long.  The kids started getting restless past the half way point (no surprise there), but luckily all the snacks I packed kept them occupied enough to cross the finish line.  We only lost one shoe and one straw along the way.  Not too shabby.

Following the walk, the TCH tent had a hot dog/hamburger lunch for team members.  It's the closest we've come to restaurant style eating.  They really didn't do too bad!  The bigs were able to sit in chairs and eat off the table, but the little ones had to sit in someone's lap to reach the food.  I was impressed for a first time experience.

Although it was a tiring event, it was well worth it to raise money (THANK YOU to those who donated!) and awareness for such a wonderful organization!  Sadly, I didn't get any pictures of us, but all those random strangers walking by us did- maybe one good pic will pop up online somewhere :)

A Weekend of Celebrations

I know it's been over a month since I've posted.  In my defense, April and beginning of May had all sorts of events going on and I was barely keeping up!  I probably said the same thing about March.  It was true then too.  We are finally getting to a slower pace for the summer and I'm ready to catch up on a few things- like this blog!  Let's get to it...

A Baby Shower

My oldest friend (as in we've been friends since 4th grade) Lacie is expecting a precious baby girl this July!!  I had the honor of co-hosting a baby shower for her Houston area friends.  The other hostess also has small children at home and neither one of us wanted to have guests over, so we opted to host at a local tea room.  Why have I not hosted showers at restaurants before?!  It was so much easier!!  Other hostess handled invites and our joint gift.  I handled decorations, reservations, and cake.  We agreed that favors and games were not necessary as we were paying for everyone's meal and the restaurant limited us to 1 1/2 hours.  Since the tea room already had cute table decor, I didn't have to do much :)  Really this was the easiest shower to host.  It made it that much less stressful, so I got to enjoy time with my friend.  Ms. Lacie had a wonderful time visiting everyone, eating yummy food, and racking up on some great stuff for the baby girl!  I say it was a successful shower!

Lacie's gift from the hostesses

The table 

In addition to balloons, I made tutus for these animals to complete the purple ballerina animal theme

Me, Lacie, and the other hostess

A 25th Anniversary Celebration

Our church here in Pearland celebrated its 25th Anniversary in April!  To commemorate such an event, we held one service for the weekend at the Toyota Center in downtown Houston.  Our church typically has 5 services a weekend and the other 2 campuses have 3 services each; so, there was quite the crowd as we all went in together.  One of the amazing things about our church is that they have a ministry for children with special needs.  They even had suites reserved at the Toyota Center for families with special needs children.  I got us on that list as fast I could and it paid off!  We were even allowed to bring our entourage with us.

The actual service was awesome!  The music was phenomenal and my kiddos even got into it (especially Levi).  Willie Robertson (Duck Dynasty) was the speaker.  I didn't hear everything he said while I was chasing and feeding kids, but from what I did hear, he had some great things to say.  The kids had a blast running around the suite and snacking.  I'm thankful our church makes such considerations for families and that our friends volunteered to join our entourage!

Family time in the suite

A suite view!