Big Boys Turn 5 (let the parties begin!)!!!!

Where does the time go?!?! I mean, people tell you that time really flies when you have kids. But WOW! I'm still not sure how it is that I am the parent to TWO five year olds! But yes, the time certainly has flown by, and I wouldn't trade one single minute of being the mommy to these boys.


And they were pretty excited about turning five. Maybe more excited than they've ever been about a birthday so far. And of course, we wanted to celebrate them in a special way. So once we FINALLY convinced them that we couldn't have a boys-only-spend-the-night-camp-out-in-our-own-backyard birthday party, they decided they wanted to go to the pumpkin farm. I knew the perfect place.


We headed to Walden Farm in Nolensville for some Fall Fun. We had everyone meet us at the back of the farm where they have this huge kids activity area with bins of dried corn to play in (think, like a sand box, but full of corn kernels to dig around in), see-saws, a 40 foot slide, a huge old tree, complete with a tire swing, and best of all a hay-bale mountain that was enormous! The kids all loved climbing to the top.
This is my best effort at getting a group picture. No one else was really that interested in helping me with this, though. On our way back down towards the log cabin where we had all the rest of the party set up, we stopped at the pumpkin patch to pick out a little pumpkin. We took them all back to the cabin and everyone got to decorate their own however they wanted. We took a break from all the artistry for some lunch and cupcakes.......and then showed everyone our hard work.And that pretty much wrapped up the party. So, most of our buddies left. But seeing that we were blessed with such great weather, we took the few that stayed around on a hayride. Here's a picture with Mommy and the Birthday Boy......and Daddy with the Birthday Boy!!!And it just wouldn't be right to have a birthday party for Ben and Drew WITHOUT getting a picture with their buddy Brax.After the hayride the boys decided to explore even more. So we headed back into the farm to see all the things we didn't have time to do earlier.And wrapped up with a little choo-choo ride.It was a pretty fun day. And the best part is that they both had a great time celebrating with their friends, knowing how much they are loved.

You might have noticed that other than Mommy and Daddy there weren't any of our family members in the pictures. The reason why is because this year, we decided to have all of our family come into town for the actual weekend of the boys birthday, and celebrate with a friends' party the weekend before. Due to the weather last year, it ended up that we were forced to do the same thing. And once we started talking about it, we realized that it really was nice to be able to focus on our families while they're here, rather than rush around with party stuff. So this year we scheduled it that way on purpose. I have to say, I think we really all enjoyed it. And its always so great when you're blessed with families that get along and enjoy spending time together to do so. So here are a few shots of our birthday party at home with both sides of the fam....

hamming it up (a.k.a. "any excuse to wrestle my brother will do") for the camera before opening presents.Opening their very first set of real golf clubs from Mommy and Daddy. They were so surprised and so excited. They took them out to the front yard for a few practice swings and loved hitting with something a little more substantial than the plastic ones we've always used (for fear of things getting broken).Luckily that Saturday happened to be a soccer game. So we brought along an entire cheering section. Michael coached the team again this season, bringing our number of seasons of coaching and playing up to 3! I have to say--he is so patient with all the kids, is great at it, and really seems to enjoy doing it.

and lastly, we celebrated their birthday by bringing treats to their class at school. They chose for me to bring donuts from Krispy Kreme (no complaints here!) and asked if I would come have lunch with them. I was so happy to say YES! The three of us got to sit at a very special table in the middle of the room and eat together. And then they stood up with Miss Anna while the class sang the Happy Birthday song and Miss Anna led a prayer of blessing for them. Of course, I cried during it. But I'm pretty sure I covered it up in time to pass out the treats and get happy to celebrate our boys in such a special place. We LOVE Otter Creek! And we LOVE Miss Anna!!! We are so thankful that they are there!So that about wraps up our three-week long birthday celebration. And thank goodness for it too...I'm not sure how much more celebrating I could do. ;) The truth is they are such sweet spirited little boys, and I am just so proud of who they are. Getting to watch them grow these last five years has been the biggest honor and blessing of my life, and I can't wait to see what all God has in store for them. Each special in his own way, we are blessed beyond measure with these twins.

Thanks for checking in on us! ...at this rate, I might even be caught up on all thats going on in our lives by the next time you stop by.