The Henry Family Circus: September 2012

Fourth of July decor

I so miss having a mantle at this house. I love having my house decorated for holidays, though, so I had to improvise with this shelf in my dining room. Until I get a house of my own again one day, this will have to do. I do love the shelf though. Scott made it and it matches the one in my living room.

Under the Sea, take 2

The twins had their first friend party this year. They were so excited! Though, you'll notice from the picture below that the girls FAR outnumber the boys. There are so few boys in our new ward Keaton's age, and none of which he plays with. So we invited the little boy down the street to be his guest. He's actually Brighton's age, but they both play with him. He and Brighton went off and did their own thing though, and Keaton was left with just the girls to play with. Luckily, he didn't notice or seem to care. Sorry Buddy! Better luck next year.

We kept with the same Under the Sea theme. I saved back some cupcakes from the family party, which was great not to have to do more in my heavy state.

Here's our crew. We had a fishing pond with bubbles and mermaids for the girls, water guns for the boys.

We played feed the shark with bean bags.

Sometimes we fed it something a little more substantial.

Wrigley

Piper

I think she's just humoring me.

My 2 lovely helpers, Chloe and Savannah got into a little too much.

We played freeze dance and pass the dolphin. These two games kept them occupied for a lot longer than I thought possible for 4 year olds.

We had cupcakes outside.

And opened more gifts.

Waverly was thrilled with her mini Rapunzel ("now Big Rapunzel has a little sister"), and Keaton was thrilled with his Thomas the train engine that really moved. Thanks Marcus and Jamie!

They had a great day. Lots of fun, but it's good it's only once a year. They are already planning next year's event.

Breakfast in bed for 2

On the twins' birthday, Brighton made sure to get up early so he could serve them breakfast in bed. It consisted of cold cereal (their favorite anyway) and Cheetoes. Yes, Cheetoes. They both said that's what they wanted (as they had just received a HUGE bag from Aunt Julie), and when I hesitated, Brighton reminded me that it was their birthday, and they should get what they wanted for this special day. How do you argue with that? The twins had come out of their rooms, and he made Keaton go get back in bed (they share a bunk bed), and Waverly was told to go to Brighton's bunk to get her breakfast. They both waited patiently there for their meals. As you can see, he even made sure to put it on a cookie sheet with an absorbent towell below it in case of drips. This boy has potential yet.

He does like to pound on his younger siblings, but he's really a loving older brother (when he wants to be). He also told me that he had planned on bringing me breakfast in bed, too, but he "wasted all his time on getting the twins breakfast", so he'd do it tomorrow. I asked him why me, and he said, "mom, you're the one that made the twins. Without you they wouldn't be here, so it's your special day too." Just when I'm ready to ship this little dude off to China, he does something so incredibly sweet and thoughtful like this. He'll make a great husband one day, I'm sure. And, to end the story, he was true to his word. I got cereal the next morning in bed.

Under the Sea, we're no longer 3!

Ok, so, typical with my parties, I have to get photos of every detail, plus my twins were so cute this year, there's a million photos of them too. So, be fore-warned, this is a LONG post. You may want to get a snack and some popcorn.

The twins are finally 4!! Hooray!! We made it through the 2's and 3's!!! No one warned me how hard 2 and 3 were, so I have been so excited to make age 4. We tried to find a theme that would suit them both; Waverly wanted either a Pinkalicious or Tinkerbelle party; Keaton wanted Cars. So I did what excited me, and we did Under the Sea. I know, poor kids. Next year. We had submarine sandwiches,

BBQ'd octodogs,

I made flavored ice cubes from drink mixes that we added to water. We had fishes and sea stars.

7 leagues under the sea salad,

spinach dip

Shrimp,

tuna dip,

and following a tip on Pinterest, I made this Twinkie "sushi", which was too time-consuming, plus the Swedish fish were too big and looked funny. Oh well, they tasted great.

cucakes, of course

I liked the shark fins in them.

These guys are the best of buddies.

See the fishbowl in the center? I went to Walmart the night before and bought 6 goldfish (well, they were supposed to be "gold"fish, but were actually brown, and 2 died before the party even started. Dumb fish!)

They were all smiles this year, and there were no tears when we sang to them, unlike last year. Maybe we're getting better?

I'd love to know what he's saying to her.

Because the expression on her face was hilarious.

I just adore these 2, and I LOVE love love having twins. They are best buds, playmates, got-your-backers, and friends. I hope they always have a close bond with one another.

I LOVE Keaton's expressions in these 2 photos.

Waiting for presents...

Aunt Julie gave them an outfit each, plus a Costco-sized bag of Cheetoes and fruit snacks to share. The Cheetoes didn't last a week.

More Cheetoes from Grandma!

She's so well trained!

So is he

Grandma gave them each an outfit, flip flops, and a toy from the Disney store, the mecca of all stores for my kids. Waverly is in love with Rapunzel right now, so she was SO ecstatic to get a Rapunzel shirt AND flip flops!