Zoo Fun, and playing Catch-up

Sorry..I'm behind here.. I'll try to catch everybody up..

Ok, so after the girls had their big birthday party we thought it would be fun to take them on their first Zoo visit.. It was a perfect day, cloudy and overcast..So not too terribly Hot.. which is good because MJ hates the heat.. So it was really nice.. They liked the Birds the best.. especially the Peacocks, because they were loud and came right up to them.

They also enjoyed petting the goats, and the little donkey's.. And looking at the Giraffe's.. We stayed about 3 hours, and they were sleepy, so we went home after that..but it was a great first visit! Can't wait to go back again!

(Cross saying "Here" and "Thank you" in her Play-land)

We have been busy the past few weeks. Gigi & Papa kept the girls 2 weekends ago for the WHOLE weekend.. Jordan & I had a TON of stuff to do.. mainly cleaning, and its pretty much impossible to clean with two mobile toddlers.. Cross is full on walking everywhere now, and LL is a fast crawler! So the whole weekend we cleaned and got everything done..

We built the girls an outside play land.. I wanted them to have some place to go outside during the day, that was shaded, with a pool and fun stuff.. Stuff they could do with Leslie.. so We built them a big outside area. Its 16x12.. We put a crab pool, a ball pit, their playhouse, their kitchen, some birthday toys, their water table, and a couple of chairs in there.. Then last weekend I also built them a sensory board and hung it up on the wall.. I made it out of random things.. It was cheap.. I had the leftover turquoise glitter paint from their nursery.. So I used that. I had the leftover L & C from their birthday party, so I glued that on.. Then we got samples from Home depot of different types of carpet, and textures.. Got them some locks and gadgets and glued those on.. They don't care that much about it yet..but I think they will in the next few months..

The girls had a big time at Gigi and Papa's.. Steve had a retired show heifer out there named Lulu and the girls loved her.. They also met their new Donkey, Kris.. Cross also found a turtle.. she tried to Kiss him, but we told her that was not a good idea..

They are at SUCH a fun age.. Cross is talking and babbling constantly.. LL loves seeing things and saying "OOOO!" She gets so excited she growls.. They are so full of joy, and everything is a new adventure..its so much fun.

It does make it a little harder to corral them.. We went & Met GT & Nana at Cafe 501 the other night for dinner, and after the girls eat.. all they want to do is crawl around and be wild.. Cross wanted to follow the waiter all over the place and help him take orders.. So we have about a 30 minute window to eat now, lol.. But they love going out.. They say "Hi" to everyone they see, and they love people to talk to them.. Complete strangers come up to us wherever we are at to tell us how pretty they are, and play with them..

At Sams last week I was watching LL in the basket, and she started to smile really big.. Well I looked behind me and a woman and a man were doing Peek-A-Boo with her.. in the store.. making fools of themselves.. Which I truly appreciated.. lol

When we take them to church, they love to sit by the elevators and wait for people to walk by so they can visit with them.. They give big cheesy smiles to suck people in, and then entertain them by saying "Hi" and smiling non stop.. And they are pretty cute..

This weekend we are going to the farm to have their 1 year pictures taken.. I'm excited. They are so photogenic that I think it will be fun. We are going to do it early in the morning, and also try to take a few pictures with them..

The girls had their 1 year checkup on the 13th. They did really good.. LL weighs 22lbs, Cross is 24, and they are both 30" long. They each got 3 shots, and that hurt their feelings, but they got over it pretty quickly..

(My mom got these ponies when I was pregnant.. now they can finally ride them!) 

They made it a year before they ever even went to the dr for anything other than a checkup.. but last week when I got home from work, LL had thrown up her lunch, and she kept getting sick.. Apparently they caught a virus.. Which made me sick, because I had forgotten to Oil them! Up until that point, I had been oiling them with essential oils every day.. (I use On Guard from Doterra, and Thieves from Young living).. So I feel like if I had been oiling them we could have avoided it.. thankfully it was short lived. LL was better by the time she went to bed, but Cross woke up at 11:30 with it, and was sick most of the night. I brought her to bed with us, and she got better around 4am, woke up jolly and good at 6am.. Then I got it the next day.. then Jordan the next day.. blargh.. It was short-lived, but it sucked.. We are now oiling religiously to avoid those types of things in the future.. I know sickness builds their immune systems, but it sucks! Just glad they are ok now.. it just had to work its way out of their system.

Thats about it.. I think you are caught up.. I know, I know.. I'm still not podcasting.. but I will.. Oh, and if you want any baby stuff, I put a ton of the girls cute stuff up on FB.. You can look at it here..  I've got to get rid of stuff, so I can get new stuff of course!! MJ & I are doing really good in our jobs.. We love our church familly so much, and have been really enjoying that part of our lives.. We count our blessings every day for all the wonderful people around us and our precious family!

Our Ladybugs are ONE!

Well My girls are officially a YEAR old.. We made it! I know for MJ and I sometimes we didn’t think that would be possible.. and I’m sure the girls thought the same thing a few times, but they are doing so great. They are healthy, happy, and the jolliest little souls! They are good eaters, full of curiosity, and sweet!

The Party was amazing. We had it at MJ’s dad’s house in Norman and we went ALL OUT. It was over the top,(Even for me).. I know.. I know.. But it turned out perfect. I had read too many pinterest posting though and went a little crazy with those..but they all turned out great! Here’s some pics of all the décor..

The girls took a nice nap before the party so they were super excited and ready to play when they got there.. I went over early to decorate and then MJ brought them over.. When they got there all of their people were waiting for them.. So excited and happy to see them. I cannot tell you what a blessing it was to see all of the girls favorite people in one setting just celebrating them! They were so happy to look around the room and see everyone cheering for them! It meant a lot to Jordan and I to see everyone there too.. We are very blessed with an awesome set of family and friends. We could not have made it through this year without them, and our amazing church family.

Several people have already asked me about all the stuff and where its from, so I’m going
to try to provide a list with some links and information..

The Invitations were from Etsy, a shop called Rachelle's Printables, and they required me to assemble them.. but they were really cute, and worth it..When you opened them, you had to open the ladybug wings.. Super Cute. Thats why I had to have 'brads' which apparently are not that popular now, because it took me 2 stores to find them!  I also ordered custom stamps with the girls pictures on it from Picture It Postage for the invitations, LOVED those! 

The Smash cakes were made by Nicolette’sRaspberries & Cream. and they were GOOD. It was all whipped cream on the top and yummy cake in the middle. I will say that I’m not sure black icing was the BEST idea.. As you can see, Crosslee loved it, and smeared it all over her face. After trying to get it off for about 15 minutes, we accepted that she was going to look like her teeth were rotting out and that she had a ‘bruised’ face.. lol.. I took a bite of it, and I looked like I had rotten teeth too.. it was great. But it tasted delicious!

The cookies were made by 1 Smart Cookie.. Good grief, if you have not had their cookies you are missing Out. They are soo good.. Most people look at how pretty they are and think they are not going to taste good, but they taste amazing! They did a great job with them.. so delicious. I was obsessed with these cookies while I was pregnant..so its only fitting that I have them at the first birthday party! 

The cupcakes were made by two different places. The Ladybug Cupcakes were made by Green Goodies on Classen Curve. They were confetti cupcakes and so cute. The Fancy Cupcakes were from Fancy Cakes inNorman and they tasted SO good.. I loved that the icing was cream cheese icing and not just schmowy non-taste-good icing.. All the cupcakes were delightfully Yummy!

Their Poofy Birthday Dresses came from a shop on Etsy.. She did a custom order for me and made 1 red and 1 black to change it up a little bit. We LOVED them. These were over the top, even for me, but they were so cute on. LL didn’t know what to do with hers.. Cross powered through hers walking, but she was confused at first.. 

I ordered the headbands separate, also from boutiques on Etsy and we loved them. LL's was from HERE, And Cross's was from HERE.. 

They had 3 wardrobe changes at the party.. fabulous I know.. They started off in their big ladybug dresses.. then we changed them into their custom made bibs (also from Etsy) and  leg warmers. Then their 3^rd outfit, which was also from Etsy, was custom made 1st ladybug shirtswith their names on it, complete with matching sequin tutu’s.. These were so cute. I also ordered ladybug necklaces to go with them. The lady that made their necklaces did a great job.. we loved them. 

We got the High-chair tutu skirts off Etsy as well (are you seeing a theme here). She also did a custom order for us, and made one red and one black, so they would each be a little different. These were so cute and we hot-glued them/tied them onto the chairs. Their custom chalkboards came from Chalking it up Chalkboards.. So cute. You fill out the info you want on them, and then they fill it out and send you a jpeg.. You then take them to like Kinko's, or wherenver and get them printed in the size you want. We did 11x14's, and then I found 1/2 off cute frames at Hobby Lobby.. Excellent! I also couldn't help but glue some bling to the oustide of them.. so they were perfect! 

 I did the giant #1 myself.. I found the idea on Pinterest and just took 5 pieces of foam board, glued them together, and then used spray adhesive to make the #1 full of pics.. It turned out super cute. We put it right as people walked into the house so they could see all the pics. I ordered a bunch of pics from Shutterfly with a special promo they had going on for like 1 cent.. I also used a coupon from retailmenot.. As you can tell, its freakin huge.. like 7ft tall.. Hard to fit in a car? Yes.. Did we make it happen? Well duh. .. 

We also put together a ladybug tent for the kiddo's to play in.. It was pretty cute. Got it from Zulily.. I think it was like $13.. My girls are still playing in it, and love it! 

 The rest of the party décor came from Amazon and Oriental trading.. Ladybug plates, cups, center pieces, happy birthday banners, cupcake toppers, straws, balloons, bubbles & ladybug treat bags. I filled the treat bags with cheese popcorn from the Popcorn Pharmacy.. It was delicious! They have a million flavors, but we went with the regular cheese kind..I also ordered a custom made "Happy birthday" sign from Oriental Trading, and they did a great job with it. It came with stakes for the yard.. Very cute. 

 I made homemade punch, and Koolaid to drink.. and put it in the “Polka dot Punch” bottles.. Also super cute. I took the baby water bottles from Sams, and put Koolaid in them and made it into ladybug punch! I bought red plastic forks, and then added jewels to the end of them.. Bought the stick on jewels from Hobby Lobby.. As you can tell.. we went WAY over the top for this.. lol.. We will NOT be doing it again.. Not to this extent anyway..

From Hobby Lobby I got the “C & L” and put them on the table.. I also made a table topper box with ladybugs and an L & C complete with bugs and glitter.. We tied big bows on the backs of the chairs with tulle, and hung balloons throughout the place. Everyone went on and on about how great everything looked.. 

I also ordered their 'month by month' pictures from Walgreens.. Did a giant collage of the pics and featured it with an easel when people walked in.. I ordered it the same day, and was able to pick it up same day, so thats cool. You can also usually get really good coupons from retailmenot.com and that helps for sure! They have coupons for EVERYTHING.. 

So as you can see, we had a great time, and a great party. I feel like I missed it because I was racing around, taking pics, filling punch, making popcorn, etc.. but it all turned out so great, and the girls just LOVED it, along with the guests. The house was beautiful, everyone enjoyed each other, and the girls loved all their treats and goodies! Thank you so much to everyone who helped, contributed with their cute stuff, and showed up to celebrate!