Disneyland!!

I honestly didn't think the day would come when I would go back to Disneyland, without my sweet Karissa. We went with Karissa a few months before she died. Had no idea it would be the last. I have such vivid memories of her laughing hysterically on Dumbo. She loved going up and down, up and down. So very sweet. I will always cherish that last trip to Disneyland.

We decided to take Preston & Ethan for their first birthday. We got our annual passes, too! Yay!! I was excited but anxious at the thought of how I would react emotionally. I was fine until the minute I walked into the park. I stopped and just buried my face in Mark's shoulder and cried. It was a bittersweet day for me. I was so happy that we were taking the boys to Disneyland for the first time but I was also sad that Karissa couldn't be with us.

We happened to go on a Monday, the week of Thanksgiving. That was a BIG mistake. The park was wall-to-wall people. It was kinda miserable. Especially since I really, really hate large crowds and usually try to avoid them at all costs! It also happened to be that day when the Christmas tree on Main Street was lit to kick of the holiday season. 

We ended up going on just a few rides. We didn't go on Dumbo. We've been back to Disneyland twice since the boys first trip and still haven't taken the boys on Dumbo. Just can't handle it. Anyways, we headed over to California Adventure, ate dinner, went on a few rides, saw World of Color (amazing!!) and then went home. It was a great day, minus the crowds of course! We took lots of pictures....here are just a few.

Preston & Ethan's First Birthday Celebration!

This post is very overdue! Life with twins is definitely crazy! So, back in, um, November, we celebrated  Preston and Ethan's 1st birthday with an awesome party! The day couldn't have been more perfect. We were so afraid it was going to rain. Thankfully, there was not a single cloud in the sky and the sun was plentiful.

I love to plan parties. LOVE. IT. I love it so much I obsess over it. Just ask my husband! I know I lost some valuable zzzzz's with my party planning extravaganza! The planning and creating, the ideas and the projects are so much fun for me. With that being said, I started planing their big celebration back in August. Crazy, but true. I searched the Internet and thought a lot about a party theme. I decided on a nautical theme. It was perfect. I got most of my ideas from others who planned a nautical themed party...thank you!! All of the decorations were handmade by me! Yes, it was a lot of work but so, so very fun! I made a ton of banners. My absolute favorite was the banner I made using the pictures I took of the boys every month. It was so fun to see how much they've changed and grown over the past year!

I made chocolate and vanilla cupcakes with a vanilla buttercream type frosting. I have to give my mother-in-law all the credit for frosting around 90 cupcakes! She did a fabulous job! I made the little sails out of scrapbook paper with little red ribbons on top. There were 2 large cupcakes with the number "1" that sat on the top of each cupcake tower. During cake time, Ethan devoured his cupcake. Preston, on the other hand, didn't want anything to do with his...he's like his daddy and doesn't like sticky, messy fingers! Our photographer, Christine Racz (Racz Photography) took a lot of amazing pictures of the cake smash but for whatever reason, blogger won't let me upload them. So frustrating!!

This is Karissa's garden. We put her slides and swing out for our party guests to play on. It was a hit! Our photographer took a bunch of amazing pictures with the boys in Karissa's little red wagon.

 

Preston and Ethan were dressed in nautical-type apparel. They were adorable and just melted my heart (and still do)!

I decorated each table with mason jars, filled them with sand, and put little flag banners in between. I  had a kids table with yummy snacks which included goldfish crackers, animal crackers and cheerios beacuse what kid (or adult :~) ) doesn't like yummy snacks!

~Party favor bags filled with fun!~

We were so blessed to have our family and friends celebrate two precious lives with us! Now, let the party planning for Preston and Ethan's 2nd birthday begin...

Cake Smash!

We celebrated Preston and Ethan's 1st birthday by going out to dinner at Famous Dave's. We really wanted to go to Disneyland but Mark was working most of the day. We decided on Famous Dave's because, at only 10 days old, it was Preston and Ethan's first outing to a restaurant. Since then, the boys' are referred to by many of the employees as "The Famous Dave Twins!"It was fun to go back on their birthday and show them off! Everyone was amazed at how much they had grown.

Ethan chowed down on chicken strips and potato wedges (super healthy, I know). I think he ate almost the entire meal. His brother, on the other hand, preferred to eat my tomatoes off of my salad. I LOVE how my boys are sooooooo different!

Following dinner, we returned home for the cake smash! Once again, Ethan ate half of his cake but Preston wanted nothing to do with his cake! Maybe he would have preferred the vanilla over the chocolate?!?! The day was perfect. We had a big party for them which I will post pictures of soon.

~What's this?~

~He's not too impressed!~

~Just like daddy...he HATES sticky hands!~

~Much better!

~Ethan and I~

~He used the candle as a spoon to dip in the frosting~

~Yummy!~

~A face full of frosting~

12 months! 1 Year Old!

~Preston~

~Ethan~