A Twin Birthday Party

The second party of "Birthday Weekend" was a twin birthday party. Two of my first cousins on my Mom's side of the family also have sets of twins. That in itself is a fun bond to have, but even more exciting is that they all have birthdays in February, all within 3 days of each other. Brock and Kyle share their birthday with Andrew and Elizabeth, who turned 11 years old this year. Dixie and Kinzie's birthday is the 10th, and they turned 4 years old this year. All of this celebrating made for one very fun evening!! There were actually four sets of twins at the party, as my twin aunts (on my Dad's side) were also there to take part in the festivities. The waitress actually noticed them first, and was then astonished when we pointed out the other 3 sets of twins in the room. I think that she told the whole resturant, and the cook even came in to check it out:). It was a fun sight to see!!


Here are all of the birthday kids together in front of their cake. You might notice that Brock and Kyle rounded out the boy/girl ratio. Now there's a boy/girl set, a girl set, and a boy set of twins.


Everyone (except Brock and Kyle) tried to blow out their candles, but I think Dixie and Kinzie had most of the candles out before the others even took a turn. They were soooooo excited!!!


Here's the cake - a nice combination of princesses and race cars. Now that's pretty unique!!


Brock and Elizabeth were good buddies all evening long.


Here are all of the cousins that were at the party.


Aren't these two just too cute?? Precious little girls.

Here we are opening presents. Brock and Kyle actually seemed to be interested in what was coming out of the bags this time:).

Kyle and Mommy

As you can see, all of the kids were in on the action. We let the older ones open their gifts first, but they definitely didn't loose interest when it was Brock and Kyle's turn!!

Brock and Aunt Kara. We are so glad that you made the trip home to celebrate with us!!

Our little family at the end of the celebration. It was a great weekend, and a great culmination to a wonderful year!!

Birthday Presents Galore!!!

For the boys' first birthday, they were blessed with many presents, both fun and functional!! They weren't that into unwrapping their gifts, and Mommy and Daddy had to do most of the work. But make no mistake. After the parties were all over and the cake had been eaten, the boys have been doing a great job of enjoying all of the awesome presents that they got. So for all of you generous gift givers, I thought we'd show you some pics of the boys in action, enjoying some of their gifts:


Here were are opening presents during the family birthday party. This part was fun, but not nearly as fun as watching them enjoy their presents after all of the busyness subsided!!


Brock is reading one of their new favorite books. It sings to you when it is open, and the boys think that this is great!! Thanks, Grandma Leman!!


Here are the boys modeling their new backpacks to use for church. They ran around with them on for at least a 1/2 hour, and didn't want to take them off. They don't quite get the whole purpose of them yet, but I'm sure they will figure it out soon!! Thanks Grandma and Grandpa Martin!!


"See Mom, we can wear these things while we play!!"


Kyle's new obsession seems to be anything baseball (this is a surprise to us, as we're not sure where he gets that:). He loves this new ball and bat toy, and is rarely seen without the bat in his hands as he wanders about the house throughout the day. It's definitely a hit!!!!


Here's another favorite. This little tree sings when you put the balls through the top. It's a winner with Brock, as he tends to focus more on the balls than the bats:).

Here's Kyle reading another singing book. Notice the bat in his right hand. This is a common seen. Could he be a multi-tasker????

Brock finally got a chance to use the bat. Swing batter batter, swing!!

Kyle loves the Little Superstar Sing-along Stage that Mommy and Daddy got for the boys. They like to dance to the music, but their favorite use is to look in the mirror and give kisses to themselves. What funny boys!!

Our other birthday gift for them was a ball pit with tunnels to play in. We set it up in the basement and it takes up all of our open space!! But, the boys love the balls, and I definitely think this is one that will grow with us for several years (and it folds down very compactly so we can put it away easily:).

Here's Kyle looking at Daddy through one of the tunnels.

"Can you see me Mommy?? How do I get out of here??"

"Yum!!!! These taste good!!"

We are so thankful to have such a wonderful family who love our boys as much as we do, and for the generosity that they show. We appreciate you all and are thankful for all that you have done to support us in this past year. We love you!!!!

Happy First Birthday, Brock and Kyle!!!

Can you believe it??? Brock and Kyle turned 1 year old on Sunday, February 8th. This past year has gone unbelievably fast and has been a ton of fun!! We had a big weekend of birthday celebrations. We started on Saturday evening with a little Leman/Martin party, complete with Grandma Leman, Grandma and Grandpa Martin, several Leman aunts and uncles, and Aunt Kara from Colorado!! She came home just for the celebration. The boys enjoyed all of the attention, presents, and of course the cupcakes!! They made a super mess:). Here are some pics:


Brock and Kyle on their birthday. Remember the pictures of those two little babies in this huge chair?? Now the chair doesn't seem so huge, does it?? These special outfits were Christmas presents from Grandma Martin and Aunt Kara. Aren't they precious??


The boys think we've already had enough pictures taken, and we still have another party to go!!


Kyle says, "I'm out of here. I've got new toys to play with!!"


Brock says, "I'm right behind you, brother!!! Let's play, then let's go see if we can find any of those leftover cupcakes:)."

Here they are with their birthday cupcakes on Saturday night. They looked pretty intrigued with everyone singing to them, and then Mommy and Daddy handed them cupcakes with fire on top!! What's the deal with this birthday stuff!!??!!

Brock was a little timid at first, which Mommy and Daddy didn't expect. He liked the butter-cream icing, but Mommy had to break the cupcake up in bite size pieces to get him to eat the cake part.

He then proceeded to smear what was on his hands all over his face and hair.

"I'm all done!! Now, what's next??"

Kyle, on the other hand, was nothing close to timid!! He picked up the entire cupcake and took a huge bite!! "Yummy!!! This is good!!"

He also did a little bit of a smear job, but his signature move was to wave his frosting covered hands dramatically to spray the wall, cupboards and front row of the crowd with frosting bits!!

Here he is looking over to see what Brock was doing. "Was yours as good as mine was, brother??"

"We're all done and ready for presents!! Who's going to clean us up??" Thanks Aunt Polly and Grandma Martin for volunteering for that very messy job!!

Move over, Liberace!!

Last Sunday at Madison's birthday party, Aunt Stacy graciously offered to let Brock and Kyle "play" the piano. Oh what a treat!! I think they have "played" once before at my parents house, but they didn't remember and this was another new adventure for them. Brock almost cried at the noise when he first pounded on the keys. He definitely didn't expect the sound he made, but he quickly recovered from his fear and moved onto sheer delight. Kyle didn't take long to join in the fun, and actually persisted in "playing" the piano longer than his brother. Brock definitely had a lighter touch, but Kyle showed alot of passion. Both boys had tons of fun. It made Mommy realize that her hopes of having a piano someday are best to be just that...............someday!!! Thanks, Aunt Stacy for letting us abuse your piano a little. It was fun!!

Behind Closed Doors;)

One of the boys' new tricks is to go into any open room that they can find and shut the door. Any room will do, but the bathroom is their favorite. Any time it gets quiet, we go and investigate, and sometimes find them sitting in the dark. They usually don't cry, and they're usually not alone. These are adventures that have safety in numbers:). Here's what we find when we open the door - mischievous looks of pure delight!!

Looks ominous, huh?? Who knows what havoc's been wrecked behind there!!

"Peek a boo, Mommy!! I see you!!"

"Here she comes again to ruin our fun:(. I thought we were quiet enough this time!!"

"Come in and play!! You wouldn't believe what we've found!!"

"Hi Mommy!!!"

"That's it for now, folks!!!"

Is this where you would choose to keep your paci??

Ewwww!! Yuck!! This definitely got a bath!!