birthday season is upon us!

We Nesters spread out our birthdays. 
Celebrating all year is definitely the way to go. :)
Babies have winter.
Cale takes Spring.
Mommy gets Summer.
and Megersa & Daddy have fall.

Planning Thad and Shepherd's birthday party was kinda hectic....
One week before we are packing to move (yes, again) I must admit that I considered not having one.
But then...I got to thinking - out of the previous 6 birthdays we've celebrated with our other children, I've only put 1 party on.
ONE!
That should be plain unacceptable for any mom, let alone someone who celebrated "birthday month" as a kid.
(note: Birthday month works quite well when your birthday is the 31st.)
Growing up, parties were a must-have.  One year I even had 2! :) 
So, I made the mental decision to have the party.  AND decided that no matter what is going on in our insane, crazy life, we will celebrate our children's birthdays...
Each. Year.
Now, this may not necessarily mean having a party, but definitely a fun "remember-when" event. 

Getting into the groove for this party was more challenging than I had anticipated. I had a difficult time coming up with a theme - what with them not having an opinion, and with there being 2 of them...
-I've always loved Dr. Suess and am totally planning to eventually do a "Thing 1 and Thing 2" party, but thought it'd be much more fun when they are a little older.
For their first party, I did settled on a "Double Bubble" (for 'double trouble') birthday theme.

So, without further ado...the pictures:
((And I must apologize for the out-of-order pictures.  Switching them about is more annoying challenging than I care to devote time to right now...(did I mention we're moving?))

pictures of Thaddeus & Shepherd's first year. :)

Birthday boys and proud Daddy & Mommy!
((HOORAY! We made it through the first year!!) :)

Questions & Answers (key below) - Thaddeus vs Shepherd

'Lil baby party guests (my fellas have their choice of ladies ;)

left to right: Thad, Shep, Natalie, Nellie, Gia

Baby Shepper playing with one of his birthday toys! :)

Enjoying some birthday bubbles.

The BIRTHDAY CAKE!  A gumball machine! 
(made with NO cake tools, might I brag add.)

LOVES of my life. (Well, 2 of the 5.)

Babies awaiting present time.

Checking out the decor before the guests arrive.

Babies chillin before naptime....gotta rest up before the party!

The whole fam in a classic "can't get everyone to look at the camera and smile" pic.

Birthday Shep picking up his peice of cake.

Look what I got!

...Not a huge fan of being messy though... haha.

Hey Mama.  I made another mess for ya. :)

Birthday boys in their birthday suits (and socks) eating birthday cake! :)

The big boys were totally willing to help with the cake blow.

My FAV decoration. All of the fam blowing bubbles! :)

irredescent tissue paper wrapped and tied around small balloons make

perfect bubble gum decorations.

So there you have it:

Party #1 planned, executed and successful.

I am currently working on Cale's "Firetruck" party.

Suggestions welcome. ;)

*no, this isn't the teary-eyed, looking-back-at-their-1st-year-and-how-far-they've-come-post. 

It will come.*

12 days of....

......OVERALLS!!
Cale loves his overalls.
And why not?  They go with everything and when doing anything...  :)

Under puffer jackets when it's kinda chilly outside:

Perfect for playing the drums:

Casually hanging out with a brother:

Dressing up for church...and even after:

Lookin great under a bug safari vest:

Just chillaxin...

Overalls always go great with that smile:

While having fun with your hair and a bathroom hand dryer:

Looking stylin with oversized sunglasses and a manpurse:

When you go with Mommy to pick out paint colors for the new house.

On an "everyday."

And when Mommy laughs hysterically as she tries her headband on you and your brothers. ;)

It's about the only thing that can makes this child cuter than he already is.

Hello my name is...

...Cale.

At (almost) 5 years old I weigh 50 lbs.

I am 45 1/2 inches tall.

...Megersa.

At age 2 1/2 I weigh 28 lbs.

I am 36 1/4 inches tall.

...Thaddeus.
I am 11 months old and I weigh 22 lbs, 8 oz.

I am 29 1/4 inches tall.

...Shepherd.
I am also 11 months old and I weigh 21 lbs, 11 oz.
I am 29 1/2 inches tall.

Just thought you'd like to know the stats.  ;)

before it gets too late...

As of Jan 27, 2012 Thaddeus & Shepherd are 11 months old.
I figured I better post a little something about them before they turn 1....especially since it's so soon!
I'm excited to celebrate their birthdays and have a little party for them.
They've come such a long way......
But I'm getting ahead of myself.... 
((I'm sure I'll write a teary-eyed, "remember-when" post in just a few short weeks. ;))

I DO have every little milestone recorded on my phone notepad (have found that this is the absolute best place...I always have it with me, it cannot be tossed away, and I can record it asap).
I'll do another "events to date" post with complete specifics on who (including the big guys) did what and when, but for now, I'll just write the fun new things that have occured in the past few weeks:

Shepherd started crawling somewhere between the 10-11 month mark.  He was always so content to just sit, and we sorta thought it'd just be awhile for him, since he didn't seem to care that he wasn't on the move.  But one day, he just up and crawled!  He cracks us up because he's so silent when he moves around.  All the sudden, he's at your feet....as opposed to Thad who makes a gigantic entrance wherever he goes. 
Thaddeus is especially speedy.  If you dare to open the bathroom door, the refrigerator, or the dishwasher, T will be RIGHT THERE before you can blink.  Believe it.  And shut it...quick! :)
Thaddeus reminds us of Templeton from the book 'Charolettes Web'.  You know...the rat that likes to eat garbage?  My baby likes it too....stuff that humans throw away.  On vacation I had to swab a tiny dead frog out of his mouth.  Just the other day I saw him in the kitchen sucking on a banana peel surrounded by a dirty diaper and a bunch of wet napkins. He is regularly found sitting in a pile of unrolled toilet paper, half wet from playing in the potty.
Some of T's newest tricks?  Standing unaided for what seems like forever...even in the bathtub where it's slippery!   ...And speaking of the potty, he's figured out how to flush the toilet (though I wish he'd use this skill BEFORE he plays in the potty....)  YUCK!
How 'bout Shepherd?  He's constantly surprising us at the adorable little things he picks up. For instance: He recently started make kissing noises. I suppose me smooching him 10000x a day has helped. Now, though, I walk into a room...and he'll spot me then immediately starts singing "Maaama" and making kissing noises.  He is a momma's boy...for certain.  Shep will also try to do jumping jacks.  ;)
I've been getting on Cale to try and exercise more (I know...I'm one to talk), so we will all count out jumping jacks while he does them.  The other day we stopped to watch Shepper put his hands in the air and wave them while saying something that sounded like "two" - ...he really is good with the words. 
I still swear he answers me "yah" when I ask him stuff. 

11 months old.  Crazy.
 I suppose it's time now, to go ahead and make this statement:
I actually do love having twins.
Yep, I put it out there.  ;)  I have always loved my babies individually, seperately and fiercely...as I do all my boys.  But until very recently I couldn't make the blanket statement "I love having twins."
Because............It's a lot of work, folks.
But - I suppose it's worth it.  :)

Besides...Tim and I came to the conclusion that we couldn't decide which of these two we'd want to have first and which we'd want to wait for. ;)