Going to the Circus: First Birthday Style

I’m late. {Late to the blogging that is - babies are no longer a possibility around here for you crazy people who are thinking that} 

Story of my life these days!

I felt like the last half of 2013 was spent running around like crazy people. October got super busy and then it was November. November marked Kennedy and Kinley’s first birthday.

If you are doing the math…that was almost 3 months ago.  

I had been pinning ideas on Pinterest and browsing Etsy for months…but since life was just busy…the party got put on the backburner. The girls were also super sick with RSV at the beginning of November, which caused me to just not have time. That was until I realized I needed to get it in gear and just do it! I started ordering fun things on Etsy making decorations I knew I could make instead of buy, putting Justin to work, and just thinking how fast a year went by.

Looking back on November 2012 I remember being scared of what was going to happen at only 33 weeks, nervous about my first major surgery and being awake for it, excited to meet our little girls, and thinking a ton of what if’s. It was a fast 16 hours in labor and delivery and then we were off to an OR to meet the girls. Surgery happened quickly and before we knew it Justin was following them to the NICU where they were greeted by sweet nurses and doctors. For one month we were taken care of, loved on, and overjoyed to be in the Tripler NICU.

November 2013 was nothing short of amazing. We celebrated their milestones the entire month. We thought about how far they’d come in a year. Looked at their progress and couldn’t believe that we had survived a year with twins. Half the year was a pretty sleepy survival, but we did it.

At 12 months the girls had made crazy progress that I never thought would happen. We had predicted that they wouldn’t walk until over a year…they walked at 10 months. They both said “mama, dada, bye”. They had started eating table food (favorites are just about any fruit and veggie, grilled cheese, chicken, and pasta) and drinking milk. They play side by side more than anything. Love bath time. Don’t love the grass. Love watching Claire play and love laughing with their 6 teeth showing.

They are joy. Pure and simple joy. They love each other, love to snuggle, give kisses and hugs.

How we celebrated our girls {in a short recap mode}:

We rented a cotton candy machine, borrowed a popcorn machine from work and put Serena to work to decorate circus themed cookies (the night before the party)! I also had a mom at school make the cupcakes and smash cakes. We stuck with circus themed food: pretzels, corn dogs, candy, animal crackers. We also threw in some veggies and fruits that the girls like. 

I had seen signs printed on banners for circus themed parties, but decided to use the scrap wood we had in the garage instead. 

The best money spent on this party was the balloon guy. I might just hire him for every single party we ever have in Hawaii. He made the party so fun with his crazy designs. 

Since the girls were getting over being sick they were super grumpy and spent a large portion of the day in tears. They stuck to certain people and wouldn't have anyone else. 

Thank you to our friends that came out and celebrated our two tiny ladies. 

I never will wish that our girls grow up too fast, but there is something liberating about the idea of them getting to this point.They like to play, they are in to every single thing and they are thriving. One year ago could have had a different beginning, maybe one that wasn’t so scary, but we are blessed and have had an overall fabulous year as a unit of 5, mostly 6 with Tutu, but we survived.

I can't wait to look back on these pictures years from now and see how far they've come. 

Love you two!

4th of July...

Yep! Playing catch-up over here and it's going to take awhile. With the start of school, every single little girl getting sick once or twice since July blogging hasn't been at the top of my to do list that grows daily.

The only semi-okay picture of the 5 of us. I'm not sure what is up with Claire's crazy eyes!

Over the 4th Kim and Jared came in to visit! It also happens to be around Claire's birthday so it's the perfect time to visit. The girls were getting bigger and more predicable so we were able to do more stuff. We also scheduled a 4th of July party at our house considering it ranks in my top favorite holidays.

The morning of the 4th we went to the beach on Hickam Air Force Base. It was crowded, but not awful. We were able to secure a spot for the massive tent and enjoy the sand and water. The beach is not so enjoyable with small baby girls, but the big girl loves to dig and splash so we went for about 2 hours and tried to enjoy it.

That afternoon we came home and got ready for our friends to come over. All of our friends now have one or more children so it's always a crazy time. Our group of friends is kind of strange in our world. We've all been together 3 years or more without a lot of movement. Thankful for that. Having a steady group of friends for our kids (and us!) has been a huge blessing.

We blew up the jump house for the kids to bounce in outside, ate yummy food and enjoyed spending the holiday together.

Kennedy enjoying the party

There were no fireworks this year due to budget cuts in the government, but we could still see some from our street as you look down in to Waikiki. That is my favorite part about the 4th on our historic base. I hope they are back next year. 

As I get older I really love spending time with my sister. I'm looking forward to my solo trip to California in October! 

Ready, Set, Hunt!

We had two Easter egg hunting celebrations this year.

Our first Easter party was with our group of friends here in Hawaii. The Navy has given us the privilege of meeting some great people who have turned into our family since we are so far away. I know we will all continue to be friends for years to come. Between us there are 11 kids and the Brown girls win the prize for having the biggest party contributing to that 11. {Anyone is free to add to their bunch at anytime! Lets get going people!}

I have three children. Sounds so weird!

The party was organized by the Oren family {thanks guys!} and even though they didn't get to come due to other circumstances, we all had a great time. It was the first time for Kennedy and Kinley to be out in the fresh air for more than a few minutes and they seemed to enjoy it! The big kids played on the playground, the dads hid eggs and the moms talked around 5 wiggly baby girls. It was a beautiful day and to top is off Claire found the golden egg!

Over actual Easter weekend, Aunt Kim and her boyfriend Jared came in town. It was a very short trip! They got in Thursday night and left Sunday afternoon.

Friday we went to the Hale Koa and some of us swam and had drinks. Claire sat in the shade and refused to get in the pool. Some of us didn't put on sunscreen correctly and ended up with a special burn...Jared :) That night we went and ate the the new Monkeypod restaurant in the Ko'Olina.

**Holy moly. If you live on Oahu run to your phone and make a reservation. So so yummy!**

Saturday we got up and headed to North Shore for some shrimp truck lunch and looking around. At one point we had to feed the girls so Justin, Kim, Jared and Claire went to explore the shops...or so I thought. My mom helped me feed and when we were done we had a text that they were drinking margaritas with Claire. No one wanted to get in the sun that day due to the previously mentioned sunburn and getting little people ready for sand requires lots of preparation! We came back home and had an evening of pizza and egg dying. No matter how many times I told Claire the sooner she went to bed the sooner the bunny would come there was no budging. She stayed up later than normal over the weekend showing off, playing puzzles and running around.

When she finally got to bed the Easter Bunny got to work putting together baskets for little people and big people! Sunday morning it took a little coaxing to get her to get excited about the stuff in her basket. {No one in this family is a morning person} Then it was time to hunt eggs! A favorite thing Claire does right now is when she gets excited she is so cute and genuinely surprised. I love watching it. Finding eggs was the highlight of the weekend for her....so much so that the eggs kept getting hidden and she kept finding them.

Her eggs were stuffed with bows from this cute shop on Etsy, candy and other random stuff. I'm just glad she has started letting me put bows and clips back in her hair. Her hair is crazy town right now, but it's taken so long to get it long that I refuse to cut it...even if it does look like she is slightly homeless.

We had a brunch and then it was time to take Kim and Jared to the airport. We really enjoyed having them with us and can't wait to have them come back for more holidays or just because!

That afternoon we all joined back together with all our Hawaiian family and had Easter dinner. The kids played in the jump houses, dads supervised, moms fed the girls inside and talked, some kids got naked in the backyard {seriously so funny!}, we ate and then ended the night when some toy police car action.

I'd say our Easter celebrations were very fun this year. It's always fun to have such great friends and family to celebrate with.