Double Birthday Party!

For the last two years I have done a double birthday party for my girls since they are only 2 1/2 weeks apart.  They have mostly the same friends so instead of having everyone come to two parties we just throw one big one.  This year we actually did it on Riley's birthday because we have lots of friends moving soon so we wanted everyone to be able to come. 

We had a splash party which is always pretty simple to do.  Luckily summer decided to grace us with its presence so it was actually in the high 70's on the 7th.  Both of the girls were thrilled to get in their swim suits and head outside to test the water before their friends came.  

 Casey took care of setting everything up outside while I stayed mostly in the kitchen finishing up the last minute prep. 

Last year I made the cake for our girls and I made all of the food of the BBQ and it was so stressful.  So this year we did pizza and I asked my next door neighbor to make Riley's birthday cake and cupcakes for everyone.  They came out adorable!!  And they tasted great!  I love my new neighbors :)

Everyone started showing up and so all the ladies headed outside and the men congregated in the kitchen.  A little backwards right?.. But Casey was makin the pizzas so thats where the men went.  

All of the kids that came had a blast playing outside in the water!

After pizza we headed to the front yard to bust open our cupcake pinata.  I just love this first photo of some one the first kids out their waiting for everyone!  We let them all take turns hitting the pinata, but I wasn't brave enough to have them blindfolded so we let them take a whack at it with their vision in tact.  

My awesome friend Rose helped out each kiddo as they came up to hit the pinata.  This is Tins in all her glory going at the pinata.  She was thrilled to death to be hitting something and not getting in trouble.

We then headed inside for cake, and everyone sang happy birthday to miss Riley.

All in all it was a great day and we were so happy to see all of our friends that were able to come!  We will miss our friends that are moving, but we wish you the best of luck!!

Happy Birthday Riley!

Our little Riley turned 4 on July 7th!  Its hard to believe that 4 years ago I gave birth to a 25 week baby girl who only weighed 1 lb 10 oz. She is now a whopping 28.5 pounds and is the biggest helper to her mom and sister. She has grown so much!  Even though she has her moments of craziness we sure do love this little stinker!  

She woke up to a house full of balloons and so her and Tinsely kept themselves busy all morning playing with the balloons.

Riley is a pancake fanatic, so Daddy (thats right I said daddy) made her pancakes for breakfast.  Both girls were so excited.  We did presents after breakfast.  Ry is still in love with princesses so thats the main theme of her gifts this year.  Princess coloring book, Ariel swimming suit, a princess scooter and even a small tiered princess cake.  She also got lots of clothes from Grandma Ahn and Grandma Ballatore.  Thank you both!!

Oh and bubbles! My girls have a thing for bubbles :)

Our little artist

In the past few months Riley has found that coloring makes her heart happy.  So happy in fact that she has drawn her excitement all over our walls.  Each time we have walked into a room and seen this she explains that it was Tinsley who drew all over the walls.  What she doesnt get is that blaming someone else for doing something only might work if that someone colors exactly like her. And Tinsley is still in the scribble stage.  Riley however is in her caveman stage.  Caveman? you may ask, Well I added a few of her latest drawings so you can see for yourself.  They dont do the works of art justice.

 You cannot see this one very well but it is someone carrying a cake in each hand.  She loves to draw cakes.

Sometimes she actually gets her pictures down on paper, its just not as often as this mommy would like.  But for now I have a home thats walls, garbage can, laundry basket and step stool are decorated with this little artists work.

Happy 4th of July!

Happy late 4th of July! My girls were excited to get all dressed up. We had a church BBQ that we were attending so I got the girls dressed up in what I could find that was Red white and blue.  I also luckily ran across these little flags that the girls got in the parade last year, and they were so excited to play with them.  

I have to mention that Tinsley HATES having things in her hair, but she left this bow in all day!  Thats Tins for ya.  She does what she wants when she wants.  Im just happy she "wanted" to keep her hair nice that day.

Our church building is right across the street from the park, so after lunch daddy took the girls over so they could play.  And play they did.  They both cried when we had to leave. 

Tins enjoyed swinging for about 1 min. and then she got mad that dad wouldnt let her sit in the big kid swing.  

After the BBQ and park we loaded the kids in the car and went to Walmart to finish getting Riley's Birthday presents and get some things for their party.  

We went to another BBQ at a home of someone that Casey works with.  The girls had fun, and got spoiled with toys and food and coloring books right when we got there.  We only stayed until about seven because they were acting up and to our great astonishment and pleasure they both passed out in the car.  So we got home put them in bed and Casey and I watched a movie in peace and quiet then headed to bed at 10.  We were totally lame and didn't even watch fireworks, but we were okay with not keeping the kiddos up.  It seems like more of an effort to watch fireworks because they aren't allowed on base, but maybe next year we will take them to the park or something

....maybe.