Happy 39th Birthday!!!!!

OK, this is what 39 year olds who are in denial of their age look like!

I had the greatest "daycation" ever! There are 8 of us who have been together since we were 12 (as a collective group - some of us have known each other since grade school) and I don't think we could love each other more! I think it is so funny how as soon as we walk in the door and are gathered all together we completely forget our age and become 16 again!

Ok back to my "daycation" - my friend Susan is amazing! To start off with she lives down on Balboa Island - how can any party go wrong in this cute little town of beach cottages!

She wanted to give us a "39" birthday party to say adios to the 30's and start the 40's off with a bang! To start the night off she had hired Chef Jill to come and cook for us - ALL night! She just kept bringing the darn food out so I kept eating it! I think there were 10 courses - ugggg. Then, we had 2 masseuses there who gave us each an hour massage - wonderful. Next, we had 45 minute oxygen facials - I have the cleanest, shiniest, softest face ever!

Lovely

We did our traditional gift exchange (my friends give great gifts, by the way!) The rest of the night we chatted and sang and danced and did head stands and yoga (ummm I took pictures) until 3:00 in the morning!

We were gently wakened by the neighbor talking to her long lost best friend at 7:45 in the morning! (The houses are kinda close down there), but it was ok because we just got up and guzzled down the coffee then went on an amazing walk around the whole island. Actually I more like jogged - you see most of these girls legs are 6 inches longer then mine and therefore, for every one of their steps - I had to take two!! But after all I ate the night before I needed it! We then got into Susan's state of the art golf cart and drove around in between all the houses until we came to this little restaurant that was nestled in between the houses - it was great!

Needless to say this was one of our most fun (and most crazy) gatherings! I know we are going to be 80 and still doing headstands - or at least Kelly will be! Way to go Sus and THANK YOU!!!! Can't wait to see what we get for our 40th!! haha

Also, Susan gave us necklaces with a word she thought described each one of us.

Mine said "Grace".

I don't think she knows how perfect that is for me since I feel like I am daily surrounded with God's grace and love!

:}

He is always giving me gifts - like friends like these and days like this!

Sweet 16......

"Sweet 16"

Well the party was a big sweet success!! And my girls are officially 16!!

The night went really well, I started the kids off with a "candy bar". They filled up Chinese take out boxes with all the candy they wanted!

This kept them busy for a while then we brought out the "Chipotle"............................

This was a hit especially with the boys - because the party was 75 % boys (I'm not sure how that happened!).

Next came the photo booth (which my girls didn't really want to do, but they had so much fun with this so I'm glad I went with my "mom instinct" and did it anyway!

So have you heard the one "How do you keep a teenager busy?................give him a Polaroid camera!"

They took the pictures then put them in a scrap book and wrote messages to Ashley and Amber.

A & A love this book - priceless! (well kinda, that film is darned expensive!)

And then.......... (this was my favorite part) we started the chocolate fountain!!

And after they were all on a sugar high we let them dance the night away.

The party went off without any major issues (keeping in mind that they are teenagers) We also had some personal touches that I loved doing: We had personalized push pops, trident gum (wrappers), M & M's, and dove chocolates. We also had photofetti (photofetti.com) sprinkled all over (my parents love picking this, along with all the fallen candy, up all over their back yard - good thing they love the girls so much). Thank you to my brother-in-law David, for doing the DJing - good job. And I want to thank my little sister Courtney for all her help planning this (check out her blog http://joyfulweddingsandevents.blogspot.com/) I could not have done it with out her :} Thank you for all your thoughts and prayers!

One last note:

Thank you to my Brother and Sister-in-law (Sean and Lindsey) for these awesome necklaces made by our friend Lisa Leonard http://www.lisaleonard.blogspot.com/. They made me cry - very special :} And thank you to all my friends and family who showed up to help (and spy)!!!!

The twinkies

Happy Birthday Ashley and Amber!

My girls will be turning 16 on Saturday! I think I'm in shock. Where does the time go? It seems like just yesterday I was laying on an ultrasound chair laughing and crying at the same time as I was told I have two (2) babies in my tummy - unbelievable.

I remember thinking "What have I done to deserve this?????" but that selfish, scary thought only lasted a minute as I realized "Wow, God must really have faith in me to trust me with two babies at one time!" (on top of a two year old at home). It didn't take long for me to know what a blessing and a miracle this was.



These girls have always brought me so much joy!

I know these High School years are going to be fun, but they are good girls and I'm so thankful for them!

Here is a glimpse into my world with twins for the last 16 years:

This is how it all started. Could I have been any bigger????

Then they kept growing!!!!!!!!!!

And here we are today. Even though they look alike they are very different.

Ashley is so sweet and caring. She has such a nurturing heart, is very sensitive and a little driven by her emotions.

Amber is strong. She is not so emotional and thinks things through. We call her the family attorney.

They are both goofy and fun. I love our "girls only" road trips!

Now that you know them a little better, I ask for prayer. While they are excited about turning 16 they are also very sad. We are having a party (with 60 of their closest friends - yikes) on Saturday. Their Daddy was planning a huge "sweet 16 party" and now we have scaled it down to fit Grandma's back yard. They are not sad about this but they are not feeling much like celebrating with out their DAD.

They miss him very much and it's times like this, that him not being here hurts the most. He was our "party person". He loved a big celebration!! I am trying to make it as fun as possible but I don't know how to fill that gaping hole in their hearts. Father's Day on Sunday doesn't help. Please pray for a fun and healing weekend. I know God will sustain us - it's just the worst feeling in the world to see your kids hurting and not be able to heal them, only God can - over time.

What a weekend!

Wehhhooooo what a weekend! I don't think I have been this tired in a long time! Let's start with Friday. Mandy was in her school talent show - she danced to "Strut like you mean it" with 3 of her friends. They were so stinking cute it made me cry. They actually did most of the choreography by themselves! She had two shows in the afternoon and one BIG show at night! Here are some pics of her big production :}

Then Saturday morning we were off to Ashley and Amber's soccer tournament here in MV. They played so great - the whole team really did. We only made it to one of the two soccer games because we had to leave to Oceanside for a Volleyball tournament. We did not get home until almost 8:00 p.m. - I love watching them play volleyball - it's so exciting!

Sooooo then on Sunday morning the girls had to be at their Sunday Soccer match at 7:00 a.m., they played well but I don't think they were fully awake yet! (I know I wasn't!)

Then I had volunteered to work the tournament (since our club was hosting it) and I think I got the best job there - parking lot attendant - for 4 hours!!!!!! At this point I was just about to pass out on my feet - but this is what makes these things so fun for our kids and someone has to do it so why not me! (I could list a thousand reasons why but I'll spare you all the whining).

One would think this was enough but nooooooo I still had a baby shower for two of my high school friends that I helped plan (yes us old ladies are still having babies!) so I had to go and I was glad I did because it's always great to catch up with old friends.

As busy as we were this weekend it actually really made me grateful for my wonderful family! What a joy to be able to cheer them on and laugh, cry, scream, and pray for them! I know someday I will miss this craziness! This is what it is all about, huh? And I don't think they realize what a gift they give me!

So what am I doing up at 11:00 p.m. writing this? I don't know - good night - I'm going to bed :}