Raising Multiples
Flashback Friday: Happy 5th Birthday!
Karlie with her Rocket Cake and Brina with her Princess Castle Cake made by Aunt Kristen!
Today we flashback to February 2010 when the girls turned 5 years old! It was a fun birthday party at our house. We did a dual theme for the girls this year which was a lot more work than I initially realized! Karlie was really into space and rockets while Brina was into princesses.
Half of the house and party was about Space and the other half was about Princesses. The nice part about the theme is that it appealed to both the boys and girls who attended the party. We did a castle out of cardboard in Brina’s room and a rocket out of cardboard for Karlie that was put on the front porch.
Somehow we didn’t get a picture of Karlie’s room inside the house where we put black trash bags on all the walls, stuck glow in the dark planets and stars on them, and replaced the lights with black lights. It turned out really well, but it was darker so none of the pictures actually turned out which is a bummer.
Aunt Kristen made the beautiful and delicious cakes for the girls birthday, which they LOVED! The girls had a wonderful time celebrating their birthday and we are thankful for our family and friends who helped with the party and came out to make this day extra special for the girls. Thankful for the blessing of these two girls!
Checking out the cool rocket that Daddy, Grandpa Russell, Uncle Lee, and Uncle Josh stayed up after the kids went to bed to build.
They had no idea that the guys were building a rocket (and castle, see below) for them! As they were eating breakfast the guys rang the doorbell and “delivered” their special party props! They were so excited!
Karlie hugging her rocket (notice she is wearing her favorite rocket pjs)! Too cute! She was thrilled and kept going back outside to play with her rocket!
Had to check everything out!
After a few minutes of coming back into the house the back doorbell rang and the guys delivered the other party prop, a giant cardboard castle! Daddy, Grandpa Russell, Uncle Lee, and Uncle Josh worked on putting this together and painting it after the girls went to bed the night before the party. They were super excited!
The castle was huge! They are standing on chairs in order to peek through it! The castle was a big hit in the princess room!
Dad and Grandpa Russell putting the finishing touches on the castle! It had a tower, door, and even a roman numeral “V” flag on it!
Time for all the princesses and princes to come to the party! The castle was a big hit with all the kids!
Karlie all smiles as she sits by the easel. She loved coming outside to check on her rocket which was next to the easel!
Hanging out in her rocket as people started arriving. Very content to stay right there with her special rocket!
Brina’s princess cake turned out beautifully – thanks Aunt Kristen!
Karlie LOVED her rocket cake! Thank you Aunt Kristen!
Lighting the candles! Kristen put candles at the back of the rocket so it looked like it was taking off – so cool!
Getting something to eat and hanging out with cousins!
Grandma Penny and Brina putting a puzzle together! Super fun!
Brina & Karlie’s Birthday Party
Silly kids! They wanted a goofy picture with the banner.
We did a small birthday party celebration this year for the girls 10th birthday. My parents were in town and my brothers family came over to celebrate with us. The kids had fun eating cake, opening gifts, and playing with family. We got to try out some of their neat gifts too which was fun! They are officially 10 years old (still cannot believe it).
It has been a wild couple of weeks with all the snow days from school. I have been spending more time playing outside with the kids since they have been home more the past two weeks. The disadvantage to all the fun is that I am behind on my blogging. It has been fun, but I promised to get caught up soon. A lot of fun stuff has been going on around our house lately!
Happy 10th Birthday Girls!
Ready for some strawberry cupcakes and blue velvet cake!?
Lots of flames! Happy Birthday Brina and Karlie!
Brina relaxing!
My nephews helped the girls open their gifts.
Checking it out!
Flashback Friday: Giggles & Sweet Cheeks
Brina and Karlie all smiles!
Today’s flashback Friday takes us back a few years to 2005 when the girls were only 7 months old. They had the cutest pinchable and kissable cheeks during those early growing years. When they were not exploring, eating, or learning new activities they were giggling.
It was adorable when they would make each other laugh over something silly. After 12 weeks bedrest, a month in NICU, and 5 months on house arrest it was nice to get out and explore with the little ones. Although leaving the house with two infant carriers, diaper bag, purse, stroller, and all other little necessities at that age was quite an adventure in itself.
At that age they didn’t have much hair so we would use washable Elmer’s glue to stick their little bows to their heads, ha. When we gave them a bath it would come right off! It is difficult to believe that these giggling 7 month olds turned double digits last month! Time goes by quickly when your having fun.
Hiking Through the Woods
The girls love going for hikes in the woods!
Recently the girls and spent a couple hours outside having a picnic, hiking through the woods, climbing on trees, raking our campsite, playing with the animals, and more fun. Thankful for some quiet and relaxing time with them out in nature. They love spending time outside. Hiking through the woods is always an adventure with them!
Skipper is always willing to join us!
Karlie hanging out by the big tree!
Waiting patiently for us as the girls play around and climb a couple trees.
Enjoying our time outside!
Hiking deeper into the woods!
Raking and trimming the thorny bushes at our old campsite. The girls are ready to go camping again!
Brina having a blast!
Intentional Living: Weekly Goals
Hello March!!! Last week the girls only had one full day of school. We had a great time playing in the snow and spending time together, however, our schedule was off with all the changes. There is so much going on in March I just know it is going to zoom by quickly. Our family has some exciting events planned in March and I look forward to sharing them with you soon! Spring is in the air and I think we will start seeing a little warmer weather soon. I have a lot to get accomplished this week, but hope to make great strides in a positive direction! Here are my goals for this week:
Last week’s goals
Family Goals
Finish reading Wonder’s Yearling (Thoroughbred Series #6) by Joanna Campbell to the kids– the girls LOVE this series, if you have a kid who enjoys horses this has been probably their favorite horse series that we have read so far. We finished this up with the extra snow days this week! 🙂Plan one special activity with the family– it was a spontaneous SNOW day playing outside for hours – building a snowman, scouting out animals tracks in the snow, sledding, eating snow cream, going for hikes in the woods, and more fun!Play a Game with the Kids– we got to play several games with them home more this week!- Prepare for Upcoming Winter Events – working on it
Spend time Monday – Friday helping the kids with Homework– we did homework even on snow days, but we had plenty of fun too- Attend After School Activities – a couple of these were cancelled this week due to the snow
Lunch Boxes & Book Bags packed the night before- Prep for upcoming Family Adventure – getting ready!!!
Pull out our Spring / Summer Clothes– Spring is around the corner!
Personal Goals
- Drink 8 glasses of water each day – I was so busy having fun with the kids I didn’t do great drinking all my water! Opps!
Continue my YouVersion plan(s)Go to my Doctor Appointments Scheduled this week
Home (Yard & Pets) Management Goals
All laundry for the week washed, folded, and put away in one dayWeekly Dinner Menu planned out for the week- Use up food items in our pantry and freezer – still going through items in the deep freezer!
- Clean House (Focus – Laundry Room) – playing in the snow with the kids took priority over laundry room organization
- Organize Chaos (Focus – Linens Cabinet) – didn’t happen….
- Yard Cleanup (Focus – Pick Up Down Sticks) – let’s just say there are more sticks now than at the beginning of the week due to the snow / ice storm
Pet Care (Focus – Pick Up Sweet Hay)
Business Goals
Work on ideas for upcoming blog posts- Respond to Inquiry – Business Relation Emails – have some items that need my attention
Keep up with the day to day items that need my attentionWork completed for clients
Ministry Goals
Meet a friend or family member for Breakfast or Lunch
Financial Goals
- Payoff the Car – working on it
- Payoff Medical Bills- working on it and made the final payment on a couple this week
- Payoff Other Outstanding Debt – (replacement microwave, refrigerator, hot water heater, bed, and other debt)- working on it
Pay Bills & File Paperwork- Attend “Financial Peace University” Class & Become More Accountable with our Finances – this got postponed due to the weather
Go grocery shopping one time to one store this week and stay within budget– I did it, so excited to finally hit my target budget this weekSale Items no longer using or do not need on Facebook / Craigslist / Ebay
My goals for the upcoming week
Family Goals
- Finish reading the new chapter book that gets picked out to the kids….still haven’t decided on the new one yet!
- Plan one special activity with the family
- Play a Game with the Kids
- Prepare for Upcoming Winter Events
- Spend time Monday – Friday helping the kids with Homework
- Attend After School Activities
- Lunch Boxes & Book Bags packed the night before
- Prep for upcoming Family Adventure
- Go on a Date Night with one of the kids
- Send out Thank You Notes
Personal Goals
- Drink 8 glasses of water each day
- Continue my YouVersion plan(s)
- Go to my Doctor Appointments Scheduled this week
Home (Yard & Pets) Management Goals
- All laundry for the week washed, folded, and put away in one day
- Weekly Dinner Menu planned out for the week
- Use up food items in our pantry and freezer
- Clean House (Focus – Laundry Room)
- Organize Chaos (Focus – Spring / Summer Clothes Organized)
- Yard Cleanup (Focus – Check the Boundary Fences)
- Pet Care (Focus – Pick Up Turtle Food)
Business Goals
- Work on ideas for upcoming blog posts
- Respond to Inquiry – Business Relation Emails
- Keep up with the day to day items that need my attention
- Work completed for clients
Ministry Goals
- Meet a friend or family member for Breakfast or Lunch
Financial Goals
- Payoff the Car
- Payoff Medical Bills
- Payoff Other Outstanding Debt – (replacement microwave, refrigerator, hot water heater, bed, and other debt)
- Pay Bills & File Paperwork
- Go grocery shopping one time to one store this week and stay within budget
- Sale Items no longer using or do not need on Facebook / Craigslist / Ebay
I think it is important to share and encourage each other as we seek to improve our lives and the lives of those around us. I want to live intentionally not just hope all my dreams and goals come true. When I focus on small steps of improvement I am able to see results as I get closer to my goals. Some weeks I get closer to the goals I have in my life and other weeks a take a few steps back (life happens, emergencies occur, people get sick). Once the goals are written down and shared it provides a guideline for what I aim to accomplish this week.
Why Share My Goals?
- To keep me accountable
- To share a piece of my life with you as I strive to be a better Child of God, Wife, Mom, Friend, Homemaker, Entrepreneur and the many other roles I have each week
- To have my goals consistently written down so I can gauge progress more accurately
- Create healthy habits in my life
- To encourage you to share your goals with me as you continue to grown and learn
How did you do this week on your goals? Feel free to share or link to your list of weekly goals.
The picture above is one that I created for my own purposes, however, The “SMART” acronym was originally coined 30 years ago by Peter Drucker in his classic work, Management by Results.
Flashback Friday: Happy 4th Birthday
Happy 4th Birthday!
Today’s Flashback Friday brings us back to the girls 4th Birthday Party Celebration! The theme was “Under the Sea”! We had a great group of family and friends join us for the celebration. The kids had fun playing games, eating delicious cake, and snacks!
We had two main games for the party – pin the tail on Willy the Whale and the favorite game for the event, for both the kids and adults, the Goldfish Races!!! We picked up the goldfish at the pet store the day before the party. We used a long and flat storage container to put the water in and divided it down the middle with a board. Two people were given straws to blow on the water to get their fish to swim faster. The person whose fish to got to the other side first wins! All the kids got to take a fish home with them at the end of the event (not sure this was the highlight for the parents, but the kids liked taking a fish home with them).
Grandma Kay made Karlie a shark cake!
Grandma Kay made Brina a turtle cake!
Fascinated by the cool cake! Thanks Grandma!
Grandma Kay and Brina racing their fish! Super fun!
Jack showing off the fish he is taking home with him. Karlie enjoying a treat!
Hung streamers on the wall and put a variety of fish on them!
Karlie blowing on the water with her straw to get her fish to swim faster!
Luke and Kristen racing their fish!
Mandy and Sam racing their fish!
The fish races were so much fun the kids did them several times!
Josh and Rachel racing their fish! Even the adults had fun doing this activity!
Fish snacks anyone?!
The kids enjoying some snacks!
Pin the tail on Wally the Great White Whale! The kids did pretty good with this game!
Creative Kids: Karlie’s Dry Erase Board Art
The other day I found this dry erase board on the ground after homework time. While going through review homework the girls are allowed to doodle as long as they are answering the review questions. Karlie’s doodle for this day turned out pretty well. She even put her “Karlie” card on her artwork. I love it when the girls get creative. Reminds me that the kids are growing up.
Karlie’s business card labeling her artwork!
Birthday Celebration
Happy Birthday breakfast
The girls got two of their birthday wishes on their birthday – one was that they would have snow on their birthday and the second was that they would not have to go to school because of a snow day. They got both wishes and were very excited. It’s not every day you get out of school on a Wednesday for snow in South Carolina. Thankful for these two girls and look forward to many more amazing memories this year with them. They each got to pick out what they wanted to eat for their birthday breakfast. For their special birthday dinner they wanted a Seafood Meal at home.
Karlie had eggs with spinach, mushrooms, tomatoes, and cheese in them.
Brina had a slice of cinnamon swirl breakfast cake.
My sister-in-law Becky shared a chocolate cake recipe with me that was both egg and dairy free so I decided to try it for their birthday. It turned out really well. They loved it. You couldn’t even tell that it was egg and dairy free. The flavor reminded me of my Grandma Doris Chocolate Mayonnaise Cake she used to make from scratch.
The girls wrote out a list of inside and outside activities they wanted to do on their birthday since they were home from school due to the snow. Even though they didn’t get to do all the items on the list I would say they did the majority of them. We packed a lot of fun activities into the day.
For their family birthday dinner they requested a seafood meal and specifically asked for King Crab. They love seafood and the King Crab was a hit and they are getting better at digging out the meat without assistance.
Jake and I picked up Mai-Mahi steak burgers to try as well for their seafood birthday meal. The Mai-Mahi steak with the fresh bakery bun, lettuce, and tomatoes were a tasty hit too! Thankful for our girls and that we can celebrate another birthday with them!
Flashback Friday: Happy 3rd Birthday!
Happy 3rd Birthday Girls!
Today’s Flashback Friday goes back to 2008 for the girls 3rd birthday! We did a Garden & Bug theme for this birthday party. It was neat seeing them getting excited as we decorated for the birthday party. They had a blast! It is amazing how quickly they are growing up.
The family is ready to celebrate at their 3rd birthday party! WooHoo!
Grandma Kay made the delicious birthday cakes for the girls. Brina had a bumble bee, Karlie had a ladybug, and the big cake was a flower garden. They looked adorable! Jake’s Mom makes some amazing cakes!
Brina and Karlie with Grandma Kay right before the birthday party!
Watching the candles as the guests sing Happy Birthday! So excited!
Checking out the candles and their cakes!
Karlie eating little bits while Brina digs right now!
Brina’s ready for clean up…I think it’s Jake turn to hose her down, ha!
Karlie eating her cake and enjoying the fun!
Snacking on their yummy party food!
When they were little we pulled the cooler up the counter so they could stand on it and “help” us cook. Food is ready now the party can begin!
Opening their birthday gifts!
Beautiful SC Sunrise
Gorgeous Sunrise!
The kids and I enjoyed this beautiful sunrise earlier this week. It’s not every day we see these great sunrises in South Carolina. Our drive to school was perfectly timed with the sunrise on this special morning.
Thankful for a chance to share this with my kids. All of us were glad that we got stopped at the stoplight that morning so we could soak in the beauty around us. It’s the little treasures throughout each day such as a beautiful sunrise that remind us of the many blessings in our lives.
What a great way to start a new day!
