Berkley's Birthday Party

Berkley wanted a Jake and the Neverland Pirates themed birthday party.  In August she started saving toilet paper rolls so all of her friends could make spotting scopes at her party. 

Treasure for the kids.  

 The cake. 

I told Berkley she could have 4 friends come since she was turning 4.  Then only 2 of them showed up.  Oh well, we still had fun.  I had to practically bribe Jackson to wear his eye patch and bandana for the picture. 

The major hit at the party was the plank.  I had Zack take off the railing between our kitchen and family room and build a plank for the kids to jump onto the lovesac. 

 We played pin the tail on tic toc crock. 

 And, of course, we had to decorate the spotting scopes Berkley had been saving. 

 Lastly, presents and cake. 

The 4th of July

We hosted our 3rd annual 4th of July bbq this year and it was our biggest one yet!  Even though our yard isn't exactly ideal for this sort of thing, we managed to find shade for everyone and the quality of the food made up for the lack of space. 

Love my Grandma in this pic!

Peyton is excited about the bbq.

Or maybe a little confused?

Zack not only smoked his signature baby back ribs but also did chicken wings and turkey breasts.

The real highlight, though, was the jalapeno alligator sausage.  It looks a little gross but it was delicious. 

The whole crew.

We even had a kid table.



And to top it off, our guests brought amazing cake and cobbler for dessert.


We loved spending the day with our family and friends.

I wanted a picture of the girls in their matching shirts but Berkley would not smile so I have a bunch of pictures like this.

I finally bribed her with ice cream and she gave me this smug, closed-mouth smile.



My grandparents gave us this amazing water jug that has been sitting in its original box, brand new, in their basement for who knows how long.  We were pretty excited about it.

We lit some fireworks with friends and Berkley got to hold her first sparkler.

This guy gets so giddy.  Did I mention it's his favorite holiday?


We ended the night by watching the Clearfield fireworks (which are supposed to be some of the best.)  Peyton may or may not have enjoyed being carried around by her twin.

Peyton's First Birthday!

Peyton turned one on March 27th.  She weighed in at 18.5 lbs (15%) and was 29 in tall (50%).

She is seriously all over the place and into everything.  She's really getting the hang of walking and can stand up from sitting without assistance from anything.  She's opening drawers and cupboards, flushing the toilet, etc. Berkley didn't walk until later, which I thought was convenient, but I kind of love watching this little thing toddle around because she just looks too small to be walking and it's adorable. 

She also really loves to climb.  She loves to climb up the little chairs.

One day Zack had the genius idea to put the stool by the little kitchen so she could reach the higher stuff.  She was in heaven.

She is normally happy but boy can she scream!  When she wants something, everybody knows about it.

Berkley currently calls her "babe."

I posted most of the words she can say and sign in the 11 month post.  There are a few new ones but it's pretty much the same.  She's catching on really quick.  Her most common words are "wassat?" and "wassdiss?"

She loves stuffed animals.  Whenever she's handed one she gives it hugs and kisses.

This girl can eat!  She generally isn't picky but she knows if you're eating something different than she is and she'll beg for your food.  Her favorite food is probably bread of any variety (normal bread, rolls, breadsticks, banana bread, cookies, pancakes, etc.)

She still has seven teeth.  Four on top, three on the bottom.  Her molars are trying to poke through.  

She understands more than I realize.  She knows commands like stand up, sit down, come here, etc.  But I think it's funny when she's listening to a conversation and we don't notice.  Like if somebody says something about a hat or hair and she starts patting her head.  One time she was playing on the stairs and Zack said, "You better get down or you're gonna eat it."  She started doing the sign for 'eat' in sign language. In fact, here's a picture of when she did 'eat it' against a corner of a kitchen cabinet.

This girl's hair is amazing.  Not only does she keep getting blonder, but her hair is super long and thick.  It makes for some good bedhead.


I think she looks like a Toolson (my Mom's side of the family.)
I took some pictures of her on her birthday.
 





Since her birthday was only 4 days before Easter this year we had a combined Easter dinner/birthday celebration at our house. She wasn't really into opening her presents but Berkley was all over it.











She got lots of fun toys and cute clothes!  Berkley was more excited than Peyton to play with all the toys.



Peyton caught on eventually.  She loves all of her new stuff!


And, of course, we had to do cake and take way too many pictures/video.  Rylee made the perfect little cake for the occasion.  Both of my girls were really dainty about eating their cakes and they took some encouragement.  Here's the long video.

And here's a short one of her digging in.

This picture of my videoing Misty while she sings 'happy birthday' makes me laugh.






And the aftermath.

Just for comparison here's Berkley at one year and Berkley's first birthday party.