This year, we celebrated all three kids' birthdays with one party on Saturday, March 2nd, Caroline and Emily's actual birthday. The theme was candy, and I had so much fun with all the bright colors....and of course, the candy. ;) There was quite a build-up to this party because we've been remodeling the house since we moved in, and having something planned sort of forced us to finish up many of the little projects and put the finishing touches on some things that had been left unfinished. Even though it made for more work at the time, I'm glad we had a motivation to get some of those things done! {Don't be fooled...we're certainly not finished with the house, but at least we are at a point that we can put off some of the other projects and relax a bit.} So once we got the house ready to go, I got to decorate with bright colored pom poms, pictures, a birthday banner, and lots and lots of candy! We set up little tables for the kids to decorate cookie lollipops and make candy necklaces, and we put the bounce house and some of Will's cars and toys outside. We also had lots of food since the party was during lunch time...sandwiches, chips, rainbow veggie and fruit trays, and plenty of snacks for the kids. It was such fun, and we loved getting together with some of our close friends and family to celebrate these three amazing children!
WARNING....this is about to be picture overload. We were so lucky to have Holly taking pictures at the party, because we hardly had time {or hands} to even pick up our camera. :)
I didn't really get any good pics of the girls in their party outfits because they were pretty cranky during the days before the party {double colds and teething}...so we dressed up yesterday morning and I snapped a few pics to remember their fun lollipop shirts and tutus.
I love these because I was tickling her while Matt was taking the pictures, and the pic on the left shows her "tickle anticipation" face...love those eyes! And on the right...the tickle giggle. :)
Will wanted to join, of course! {I promise he really does wear real clothes sometimes...just apparently never early in the morning, which is when I always take the girls' pictures!}
trying to take pictures of these three is a challenge to say the least!
Now for the party day...welcome to candy land!
I hung the banner in the entrance to the living room, but the door frame of the entry area kept me from being able to get the whole thing in one picture. You get the idea...
candy table
if you need some candy, stop by anytime...we have plenty of leftovers!
For party favors, we had bags for everyone to fill with candy on their way out. I may have been harassing people to take more and more candy...we do not need pounds of candy around here!
I hung the girls' monthly pictures with clear thread so they were floating between the entry and the living room.
The way they were hanging allowed the pictures to spin around...how did I not notice that 10 out of 12 of Emily's were facing backwards when I took my picture?!
And I found the little signs that the NICU nurses made for the girls during their stay. These precious teeny tiny footprints amaze me!
I didn't leave Will out of the photo fun...he had a picture wall too!
And I hung some of my favorite pictures from the year around the rest of the house.
These were hanging over the stove, and I definitely set two on fire {at different times} while they were up there before and after the party. Oops!
A few of the party pom poms...easy to make and I loved the bright colors.
I was pretty excited about the cake. It was my first time to make one with fondant, and I loved how it turned out! Too bad we didn't ever cut it at the party...everyone ate cupcakes instead!
I made some little mini-banners for the kids' chairs.
And one of my favorite things....a Pinterest success story, giant lollipops for the sidewalk leading up to the house!
Before the guests arrived {the girls were still napping}
cookie pop tables
Will was in heaven with all the sweets. And who is going to say no to the birthday boy? He ate his cookie pop before he even finished decorating it!
sweet friends!
Ella's face is so awesome here! And she wins the award for getting the most decorations on her cookie!
candy necklace table
Bouncing!! This is where Will was for most of the party.
We put the baby swings up before the party, and Will hasn't wanted to get out of his old swing ever since. He loves it now even more than he did when he was a baby!
After all the playing, it was cake time! I made little cupcakes for the kids this year. I had a feeling that C and E would devour theirs {true}, so I didn't want to give them the giant cupcakes like I made for Will's first birthday. And Will requested that his be covered with ONLY green sprinkles and sour patch kids. :)
love little Madison's face as she is peeking up at the yummies.
Get after that cookie, Nolan!
Cake time!
{See those precious "I'm One" bibs hanging on their chairs? Totally forgot to put them on...so we had a wardrobe change after the cupcakes!}
Caroline
Reactions to the cupcake eating contest...
And Miss Emily loved hers just as much!
Caroline even tried to share hers with Aunt Ryan {ummm, no thanks, C.}
Much like his first birthday cake experience, Will's birthday cupcake eating was much less messy and extravagant than his sisters'.
he even took a canteloupe break!
look at those messy babies!
We were so lucky to have a nice day for the party so that everyone could play outside. You never know in early March!
After everyone left, Will opened a few presents from the family. One of his favorites was a new drum and cymbal set. These will absolutely be passed back down to Uncle Jonathan and Aunt Jordan's future kids so that they, too, may enjoy the music. :)
E and Nana!
Emily checking out an adorable peek-a-boo doll from Grandpa and Mama D
What a fun day celebrating our three amazing babies! Our kids are SO very lucky to have such a wonderful family and great friends who love them so much. And we are so so extremely blessed to be the parents of Will, Caroline, and Emily. Happy birthday, sweet babies!
