Birthday photos...finally

I'm ashamed that it's taken me three months to post photos of Maggie and Carolina's joint birthday party, but not so ashamed that I won't post them! Better late than never, I suppose.

In this post I'll include the decorations and in the next one I'll put all the photos with people.

Although I usually have so much fun doing a themed party, this time I didn't really have a theme. I basically just put bunting (you know, those cute little banners/garlands of fabric or paper?) on anything that was standing still. For instance, here is the front of our house with a bunting I made three years ago and have used many times. It says "Happy Birthday" but it's a little hard to read in the photo.
It was October, so that's why the pumpkins are out! I made another bunting by tying ribbons onto a piece of twine I had and I think it turned out pretty cute (and way girly). And by the way, how sweet is my husband? He knows I always want photos of the decor so without asking he just went around and started photographing everything for me. Do you see him in the mirror?
We had about 20 people at the birthday party (family and practically-family only!) and since the air was getting a bit chilly I decided to make tomato soup and fancy grilled cheese sandwiches for everyone. I have to say, that is one of my favorite fall meals. I got some good crusty bread, four different kinds of cheese, mustard my dad brought back from France, fresh basil, and tomato slices, and then my sweet mother and sister (Erin) assembled a custom sandwich for everyone. Oh my goodness. They were so tasty. As a side note, did you know that if you're making grilled cheese for a crowd that you can make a bunch at one time in the oven? They taste just as good. Simply brush the bread with melted butter and put the assembled sandwiches in the oven at 350 for 10-20 minutes (just keep an eye on it).
I had to make the cake from scratch. First birthdays are a big deal! I made the ubiquitous rainbow cake. I only told one or two people that I was doing it and it just looked white from the outside. When people asked what the flavor was (prior to cutting it) I said "vanilla," which was true. When I cut the first piece it might have been my imagination but I swear I heard people gasp in surprise. It was so much fun. I was really happy with how it turned out.
Here's the outside, looking rather plain and with my little cake bunting on it:
And then...
Here is Maggie with a slice.

Do you remember a few months ago when I said I would be using the glass milk bottles at every party I ever had? I wasn't lying. Here they are with various shades of pink striped straws. We put apple cider in them.This is kind of a boring photo to end on but I wanted to show these craft pumpkins that I bought for 50% off and then spray-painted pale pink. The color's off because of the filter on the photo but they were really cute in real life. I guess you'll just have to trust me.
Okay, check back soon for more birthday photos! I was just thinking back to Finn and Maggie's first birthday parties and remembering how much fun they were, and Carolina's first birthday was, too. I'd say each of my kids' first birthdays are tied for first place in my mind. It was just a warm and fuzzy kind of night!

Funnest Dad Ever & a bunch of other random things

I think I mentioned that Grant built a swing set for the kids for Christmas, as a gift from us; Grant's parents; Grant's brother and sister-in-law, Blake and Jenny; and a coming-soon swing from Grandma Mathis. Here are Carolina and Finn playing around on it on a chilly day earlier this month. It was 42 degrees but in the sun it felt warm enough to play outside. We've been outside playing on the swing set nearly every day since Christmas!

Carolina loves it, too.
And here is proof that my kids have the funnest dad ever:
A random Finn funny:
We were discussing the fact that he was a boy and Daddy was a boy and I asked him what I was, and he said, "BOY!" I said, "I'm not a boy, I'm a girl!" to which he retorted, "You're not a girl, you're a MAMA!"

Here is Carolina at the downtown library a few weekends ago. We went for the puppet show (non-locals, they do such fun story times and marionette shows at our main library, that I think I would go sometimes even if I didn't have kids! But the other parents there might think you were a pervert if you showed up with no kids. Just a thought.). Carolina wanted to walk around which doesn't work well in a dark room crowded with children, so we went out into the lobby of the children's section. She climbed up into this kooky chair.
She is still a crazy climber. She figured out how to pull out a chair from the kitchen table, climb up the chair, and then stand on the table. Once up there she dances around. She's only 15 months old! And here are a few more funny things she's said lately: "kooky brother," "want it first" (guess where she picked that one up from?) and "mean mom." Seriously, her siblings are teaching her so many crazy things.

Is this thing on?

I thought if I put this photo of my sweet, adorable little guy that you would forgive me for being MIA.
We haven't had anything major going on, just normal busy-ness. Maggie just brought home her second report card of the year and got all E's, as expected. I'm thinking more about putting Finn in preschool, but, y'all, I'm having so much fun with him and Carolina that I just can't bear to part with him two days a week yet! So I'm thinking I'll start him in the fall, when he's closer to 3 1/2. Most of the time he and Carolina run around, giggling, climbing, building forts, and making messes, and occasionally he pushes her down or they get mad at each other for taking toys. They're so sweet together and I love to watch their relationship grow.
Here Finn is pushing Carolina around the house in Maggie's doll stroller (forgive the messy face).
I'm pretty sure the big bruise on her forehead was from some crazy climbing accident. She loves to climb. Once we forgot to put the bunk bed ladder up in the morning and in half a minute she climbed up there. If we hadn't heard her saying, "help. help. help." who knows what would have happened!
Finn's favorite song lately is the Doxology, which he calls "Praise God All Blessings Flow." When I say, "Do you mean the Doxology?" he says, "No! Praise God All Blessings Flow!" And so I sing the Doxology with him and as soon as we're done he'll say, "Now let's sing the Doxology, please." so we sing the same song twice in a row but he calls it two different things. Crazy kid.
Carolina seems to be following in her very verbal older sister's footsteps. My friend Susan (our children's minister) today told me that she's never seen a 1-year-old who talks so much!
She says too many words to count but she's putting multiple words together and I wrote some down the other day.

bye-bye elevator (we say goodbye to the elevator at the YMCA every day. Don't ask.)
Maggie Howard (she hears the carpool line teacher say it on the walkie-talkie when we're waiting to pick Maggie up)
night-night, Finn
love you, Mama
hello, daddy-o (not kidding!)
up the bed (when she wants to climb up onto Finn's big bed)
eat that
like it
all done
hey brother (a la Buster on Arrested Development)

She calls any stuffed animal a "baby" and sleeps cuddled up with a stuffed Olivia pig from Grandma Howard every single night.
Her new favorite word is "look." She'll put on Maggie's sunglasses or Finn's hat and then come find us and say, "look." So cute.
When I turn on the vacuum or coffee grinder she says, "loud" which tells me she understands abstract concepts.
In case you couldn't tell, I am one proud mama!
Here's a short video of her saying lots of words. I filmed it with my iphone about two months ago.