TWIN'S 6 MONTH PICS BY MAIN STREET STUDIOS, PLUS A FEW MORE FAMILY ONES

My brain doesn't appear to be working very well right now, and that is what I am blaming for the super-long, non-catchy title.  This fall took the cake on us having a busy schedule, but I know someone who was a bit busier - my brother in law, Luke of Main Street Studios.  Because he is so good at what he does, his fall was packed full of people clambering to have their pictures made.  Including us.  And, he graciously took our pictures right in the middle of all of his busy.

We used a couple of them on our Christmas card, and I got the rest of them this week, to my great delight.  Both times we took the pictures, William - aka one of the smiliest babies - was not in a smiley mood, but Luke did manage to get a little grin.

Here's my new favorite picture of the twins together to date.



And here's Violet, our sweet bonus girl.

It's amazing that they are already looking a bit different from these portraits!  They seriously change so much in the first year.  Here's precious William.

We used the best family pics on our Christmas card, but there were a few more fun ones.  You have to understand that getting any good shots right now with our crew feels like a miracle.

This is a great behind-the-scenes shot of what it takes to get baby pictures of twins.  It is no joke.

And, I love the reckless abandon of children that can be seen so clearly in this shot that features Lily.

I am so thankful that Luke so graciously captures our family and children at each stage.  Soon, it will be time for nine month pictures - I can hardly believe it!

(To see other pics Luke has taken of our family, click here!)

PRINCESS PARTY DETAILS

This is the second post about Lily's Princess Party - to see the first post with pictures of the actual party, click here!  This post includes some of the details from the party just in case you ever want to throw your own princess party.

I tend to put a lot of time and energy into parties.  (I also have inner party tension that you can read about in this post, if you so choose.)  John has so graciously accepted this as one of my ways of loving our children and celebrating them well, and he is fantastic about getting on board.  I also had a lot of help on the weekend of the party, since my mom and step-dad came, along with my sister and the sister-in-law that lives here.  It was all hands on deck, and I was so thankful for the help in transforming our home into the Spenst Castle mentioned on the invitation.



I used a free printable pack from the Hostess with the Mostess blog, and I ordered the matching invitation.  I got a lot of ideas from the blog post I linked to that had the printables, and I really liked the way things came together.

For the other decorations, I shopped around our house and party stash for girly stuff, and I got some purple sparkle fabric and tulle at Hobby Lobby and got all the paper products at Party City.  I raided one of our church's themed rooms for the large lions and life-sized suits of armor.  Bless John's heart for all the help getting suits of armor to our home and then back to the church.

I really didn't want to go overboard on using the Disney princesses, but they could be found in several places.  They were represented most noticeably on the table and the cake.  I did make the cake, and I found the idea as well as a tutorial for how to do the frosting here.

For food, I wanted to do Lily's favorite food.  That meant we had: King John's Chicken Nuggets.



Princess Snow White's Apples



Peanut Butter and Nutella Wish Upon a Star Sandwiches



Princess Bow Noodles

and "Princesses Are" Parfaits



In addition to the cake, the other sweets we had included sugar cookies, of course.



Star Brownies and Rice Krispy Treat Wands

We also gave out True Love's Kisses liberally.

And cupcakes.



We kept the drinks simple with mini-water bottles and a Pink Princess Punch that somehow escaped having its picture made.  It was unexpectedly yummy with a recipe I made up: Pink Lemonade, Pineapple Sherbet and Ginger Ale.  Good stuff.



The Sparkle station included tiaras that I purchased from Oriental Trading Company and necklaces and bracelets from Party City.



Favors were sugar cookies.



It was nice to have the one activity of a Horse and Carriage ride.  I was so thankful for the great fun it provided, and the company we used - the Little Rock Carriage Company, did a fantastic job.

All of the details are so much fun for me to think through and plan, but at the end of the day, a great party is made great by the people that come.  I know Lily felt celebrated and loved at the end of the day, and that is what matters.  And I'm thankful that I have several months between this party and the twins'.

LILY'S PRINCESS PARTY

Lily had been planning her 5th birthday party almost since the moment that her 4th birthday party ended.  She loves party planning, which I think she comes by honestly.  She had said she wanted a "Pony" party, but since she just had a Horse party, I was hoping that would change.  So, when she off-handedly mentioned that she might like a Princess Party,  I decided to run with that.

That means that in the last 3 months, I had done two of the most cliche birthday themes ever - Hello Kitty and Princess.  But, as John often reminds me, the parties are for the kids, and so I really want to do what they want.  Their party often ends up being the biggest present we give them - in fact, we didn't get Lily any traditional gifts other than the party.

And, it turned out to be a magical day.  Truly.  I am breaking it up into two posts, because there are so many fun pictures.  So this post will be the party and people there.  Tomorrow's post will have party details, just in case you find yourself planning a similar party for your princess.

I stayed to a smaller invite list and only invited girls close to Lily's age.  That kept things simpler.  Here are the princesses - this picture was taken towards the end of the party, and it was pretty hard to wrangle them, but they were a super cute bunch.

We created a castle atmosphere with a "Sparkle Station" right as the girls entered so they could get necklaces, bracelets and tiaras.

The table was all ready for a royal luncheon, which was served to the princesses in style, with a bit of chaos thrown in.

The big fun thing for this party was that we had a horse and carriage come to our house and give rides throughout the party.  Lily rode it almost every time it went out and was thrilled by every moment.  It is so wonderful when something turns out to be just as fun and special as you hope it will be.  The weather turned out perfectly, and considering the week we had had, that was something to be thankful for.

My sister and her son True came down, as well as my Mom and Wes.  Ellen (my sis) dressed as Belle for the party, which was a special treat!

Everyone sang Happy Birthday, and after several tries, Lily was able to blow out the candles with a little of mom's help.  

Lily opened presents, and the other princesses crowded around to see the gifts.  Lily enjoys her personal space and asked the other girls to step back no less than 3 times, which made me laugh a lot.  We are working on social graces.



Having family and friends there to celebrate Lily (and to be my army of helpers) was such a sweet blessing.

Lily and I both had our princess party wishes fulfilled, and I am so thankful for such a wonderful day.