Happy Birthday to My Handsome Man!
Wishing Jake a HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!
I am so thankful for my amazing husband and all he does for our family. He is generous, kind, and loves me despite all my craziness. Wishing him many more awesome years packed full of great memories. I am looking forward to celebrating this special day with him.
Another really cool part about Jake’s birthday is he shares it with two other family members – his Grandpa Conklin and my Uncle Rick! Happy Birthday to Grandpa and Uncle Rick! May it be a wonderful birthday for both of you!
I Love You Sweet Girls!
I have always enjoyed this book and thought the quote was appropriate with today being the girls birthday. No matter how old the girls get they’ll always be my babies. Thankful for the opportunity to be a Mom to Brina and Karlie!
Happy Birthday Brina & Karlie!
Happy 7th Birthday to Brina & Karlie! We love you sweet girls. It is amazing how quickly these last few years have gone by and we are thankful for the many wonderful memories we have shared. Wishing both of you many more awesome years of great times! 🙂
Family Celebrations: Happy Birthday Jake!!!
Happy Birthday to my Handsome Man!
Today I have the honor of celebrating Jake’s Birthday!
You are an amazing Husband, wonderful Daddy, and my best friend.
Thank you for all you do for our family.
Your girls want to wish you a very Happy Birthday full of great memories!!!
Love you babycake!
Photo by Theresa Thompson
Family Celebrations: Happy Birthday Skipper!
Best Buddies - A Girl and Her Dog (Brina and Skipper) The fifth member of our family is full of energy, a loyal friend, loves to play outside and adds a lot of laughter to our family…….Skipper! She is our sweet black lab who the girls absolutely adore! Our little Puddle Skipper Hayes was born on March 14, 2010 and she had fun celebrating her 1st birthday with us! It was a busy day full of a lot of activities but ended it with a little celebration for our furry family member. The girls were so excited to celebrate Skipper’s birthday.
Here are a few pictures from our fun together!
Brina and Karlie wrapping Skipper's birthday gifts! The girls wrapped Skipper’s gifts in newspaper and A LOT of tape! They even had tape on the floor when they were done (you can see a pile in between them on the carpet). They were so excited and had a blast doing the wrapping for their furry sister!
Skipper's Special Birthday Meal! The girls thought it was hilarious putting Skipper’s candle in her special meal. They thought it was funny she would rather have a special birthday meal with “bacon” then a birthday cake. The girls were worried that Skipper was going to burn her nose so she barely got close to the bowl until the candle was blown out, glad they were looking out for her. It was great watching them trying to keep her away from the candle while we sang Happy Birthday!
Skipper eating her birthday treat! The best puppy birthday meal you can ask for – Meaty and Moist, simply delicious! Plus she got to eat her special birthday treat all by herself (no one was wanting to share it with her).
The unwrapping part of the birthday celebrations was exciting and confusing for Skipper, good thing the girls were there to help! Skipper was very excited to get new bones and a toy! She immediately took one bone into the yard, then realized the other one was still on the porch so went back for that one. I really think she stayed up all night playing and eating her bones!
Happy Birthday Skipper! Hope you enjoyed your play time with the family, your feast, bones, and toy! The girls had fun picking them out, wrapping and celebrating with you!!!
Family Celebrations: “Welcome Ranch” Birthday Party
This year did the girls birthday party celebration at Welcome Ranch. It was our first year doing their party outside of the house and after calling several locations we made the decision to do it at Welcome Ranch. Brina and Karlie’s personalities and tastes are very different (one of the many joys of having twins), however, they both LOVE animals especially horses. Jake and I booked the party and when we sat down to tell the girls they were thrilled. They were okay that we wouldn’t be decorating the house since they would be riding horses for entertainment this year. I think every day after telling them they would ask “Is it this week?” When the day finally arrived they asked every few minutes “How much longer until we can ride the horses?” Thankfully we had another activity planned with friends earlier that day so that distracted them for a couple hours. They were very excited when we were on our way to the horse ranch to celebrate. Here are a few pictures from our day at Welcome Ranch:
The sign at the entrance of Welcome Ranch said "Happy Birthday Karlie 6 & Brina 6" The girls were thrilled to see their names on the BIG sign at the entrance of Welcome Ranch! “We have never had such a BIG sign to wish us Happy Birthday!” They were pleasantly surprised and excited!
Brina and Karlie listening carefully to Ms. Lisa's instructions! Lisa did a wonderful job of getting the kids (and parents) attention while making the whole experience fun for everyone. She even got a few laughs when explaining the rules. Brina and Karlie were listening carefully so they wouldn’t miss out on anything! They picked out their ranch hats earlier that week at Wilson’s Five & Dime store on Lauren’s Road. I was surprised they wore the hats the entire time!
Karlie and Brina leading the way with Ms. Lisa to the horses! On our way to ride the horses! Karlie and Brina led everyone with Lisa to the horses. They were ready to ride!
Brina talking and riding Montana! Loving it! 
Karlie all smiles riding Chocolate their miniature horse! 
Brina having a blast at Welcome Ranch! 
Karlie riding with Daddy on Montana! Hang on tight kiddo! 
Brina LOVING her time with the horses! 
Karlie riding on Mickey! 
Brina riding like a pro on Mickey!!! 
Brina and Karlie riding together on Montana! 
Karlie riding on Chocolate! 
Mommy and Brina riding Montana! 
Karlie volunteering to ride again! Always ready for another turn on the horses! 
Brina going for another ride on Mickey! 
Brina and Karlie on top of the Firetruck!!! 
Karlie putting out the fire! 
Brina putting out the fire! 
Firetruck at Welcome Ranch 
Daddy putting out the final flames! 
One of their signs at Welcome Ranch, love it! 
Happy Birthday Brina and Karlie!!! 
Karlie and Brina taking the candles out of their cake! 
The birthday girls enjoying a slice of delicious cake - Brina and Karlie! 
The girls liked their cat - Supervisor! They thought his name was very funny! 
Karlie had so much fun she crashed in the van on the ride home, too funny! 
Brina playing with her toys on the way home, love the crazy hat hair! 
Skipper joining in the birthday fun by wearing Karlie's hat! The girls had a wonderful birthday party at Welcome Ranch! Lisa, her Mom, and the crew did an amazing job. The kids loved riding the horses petting the animals (goats, donkey, dogs, cats, etc…) eating pizza, drinking ice tea, koolaide, a delicious cake and enjoying time with their family and friends. Thanks to Welcome Ranch for making their birthday extra special and memorable. We had a lot of fun celebrating with everyone that came to their party.
Happy 6th Birthday Brina and Karlie!
WE LOVE YOU!!!
Book: “Green Eggs & Ham” by Dr Seuss
In honor of Dr. Seuss’ birthday this week the girls have been celebrating by reading his books at home and with their class at school. One of our projects earlier this week was to pull the Dr Seuss books we have in our home library and take them to school so they could read to the class. After gathering all our books together I was surprised to see how many we had accumulated over the years but after much exploration I realized that we only have just a handful of the ones he wrote. Since Dr. Seuss has been on my mind this week with all the celebrations and he was a successful children’s writer I want to highlight one of our family favorites by Dr. Seuss – Green Eggs and Ham. We have read this book so many times over the last 6 years I think we have it almost memorized. One of the reasons I like this book is because it teaches a valuable lesson, sometimes we have a preconceived notion that something is bad or that we won’t enjoy it but unless we try it we will never known. Taking the opportunity to try something different (it can be as silly as a strange looking meal as illustrated in the book) can often lead to a pleasant surprise and had we not tried it we would have missed out on fun, excitement, blessings, or even the simple pleasure of eating strange looking food.
We have several other Dr. Seuss books that we read quite frequently but “Green Eggs & Ham‘ ranks pretty high up there with my girls. Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss thanks for writing some amazing books that we can read to our children!
Family Celebrations: Girls Birthday!
Happy Birthday Banner for Brina and Karlie!!! The girls had a blast celebrating their sixth birthday! We made the day special for them and had fun! It is still hard to believe that they are growing up so quickly. Here are a few shots from our adventures on their birthday!
Birthday Breakfast - Blueberry Bear Pancakes & Banana Pudding with Star Candles 
Brina and Karlie LOVE writing in their notebooks. At breakfast they got a pretty princess notepad with purple fluffy pen! Super exciting and cute! (Even better is I found them on clearance at Walmart.) 
Karlie playing with her little pony at TGI Friday's 
Brina playing with her little pony at the restaurant - TGI Friday's 
We celebrated their birthday dinner at TGI Friday's! 
Brina and Karlie enjoying their caramel & chocolate ice cream birthday sundae's at TGI Friday's!!! So delicious they got it all over themselves! 
Karlie and Brina using their gift certificates at Toys R Us! 
Brina picked out a pink & white puppy and baby doll supplies at Toys R Us! 
Karlie and Brina sharing their birthday goodies! 
Daddy helping Karlie putting together her Hot Wheels truck! 
Brina LOVES her horses, the stable, and books! We read one right away then put the horse and book back in the stable! 
Karlie so excited about her Stomp ROCKET! She even blasted a few off in the house that night! 
Brina and Karlie coming downstairs for some more birthday fun! 
Brina having a blast riding the go cart in the front yard! Peddle FASTER!!! 
Look Out MOM!!! Karlie's driving fast and you're in the way! Use the breaks!!! I have been very blessed with a sweet family. Even though I am still in shock that my baby girls are 6 years old I am thankful for them and the privilege of watching them grow up. Wishing them many more awesome years together!
Happy Birthday Brina & Karlie!!!
Today is my little ones birthday! It seems like it was yesterday we were in the hospital and NICU with them. Even though their due date was in April they decided to come 7 weeks early. They have brought so much joy and laughter to our life! It has been wonderful watching them learn and grow. We pray daily that God will continue to develop them into beautiful young women with a heart for Him.
Happy 6th Birthday Brina & Karlie!!!
Our sweet girls - Karlie and Brina! This picture was taken a couple months ago. Now both girls have glasses!
