A Contraption Party for Wilder's 5th Birthday!

I can't believe my baby is 5! I know we parents say that at every age, but it always feels like a shock to see them turn a year older, maybe because their aging feels so slow in the everyday and then suddenly, years have passed. I am not a fan of the whole process, but I am a fan of celebrating them on their special day. Wilder very specifically asked for a contraption birthday, which was surprisingly not as common of a birthday theme, so we got creative with marble runs and marble mazes and car races with some of the activities. Then of course his papa made him a huge, crazy contraption which actually spit out prize balls full of starburst candies. I actually think we'll probably try to have low key birthdays from now on, because we won't ever be able to top the coolness of that contraption.
Wilder, you are so special. I don't know what we would have done without you, but life wouldn't be as sweet, as meaningful, as wonderful without you. Thank you for filling our lives with your special spirit. We love you we love you we love you.

A Robot Party for Wilder's 4th Birthday

it completely blows my mind that it was already four years ago that i gave birth to this boy who has continued to steal my heart more and more every day i know him. these past four years have gone by so fast (SO FAST), and yet i can barely remember life before him. he very specifically asked for a robot party, so of course, we had a million ideas running around in our heads of what we could do, and of course may have gotten a little carried away with it all. but it was definitely a lot of fun to create this party for him, and i think he really enjoyed it. :) i had a lot of fun making the robot crayons and robot cake especially, but you should have seen it during the making process! i'm pretty sure j opened the fridge at one point before i had done the fondant and was like ew! what is that!? haha! it was terrible looking as i was trying to figure out how to get the shapes i wanted using an insufficient number of box cakes and the circular cake pans, etc. it was quite the study in geometry for a little bit there. ;) i think the kids enjoyed the robot boxes and tunnel that j built the most. tied with the water guns, of course.

as always when i'm hosting or just dealing with kids in general, i find it hard to take all the photos i want to take at the same time, but i did get a few. and thanks to our friends who got a few for us as well!

J made this punch box in lieu of a piñata, and it was so fun! every kid got to punch a circle and inside were some little prizes. 

the robot ball shoot

robot crayons made with a silicone robot mold. i also did chocolate but forgot to hand those out.

robot or alien? hahaha

evienne's new best friend, woody. she LOVES him and is clearly taking good care to keep him fed.

punch box!

weekly (monthly?) portraits

hat weather is upon us! we are pretty thrilled with all the opportunities to chase down the last of the dandelions, dig in the sand, and come home with dirty feet. this summer is going to be so great, i can tell, since now both my kids are able to walk around and play on their own. i'm amazed at how quickly the first year with my babies has gone by. and already 4 months into evie's second year?! how did that happen so quickly!? i feel like it's been eons since i did "portraits" of them, so here goes:

wilder:
is a singer. literally walks around the house singing made up songs ALL. DAY. LONG. also, he is a mashup genius! there's a bunch of incomprehensible are-those-even-words lyrics in there too though, haha.
for the last week we've been convincing him to stay in his own bed all night. so proud of him.
regularly asks "what do i get after this?" as he eats his meal (even if it's something he likes). i guess we've been bribing him too much? ;)
requests we go to the library to get a new bug book every other day. "bug" includes reptiles. ;)
has been practicing counting to ten in spanish and french and then trying to count back down to one! i did not teach him that.
was completely enthralled by papa's story of goldilocks and the three bears the other morning and kept asking "what happens next?"
is in the stage of wanting to "go to someone's house to play" every day. i guess our house is officially boring? haha.
loves to ask evie questions like: "are you hungry, evie? yes or no?"

evienne:
invariably answers wilder's questions with: "no." every single time. and i die every time they do it; it's completely adorable.
is now climbing on our dining room table (did i mention that?), so all our chairs are now on top of the table. this stage is so charming. ;)
likes to say: ball, hat, doggie, milk, bath, no, mommy, papa, bubby, cheese, star, and get down. haha!
has been called a boy twice, which is way better than the zillion times w was mistaken for a girl.
wants to do everything w does and have everything w has and breaks down in tears if she can't (see last picture below)!
is allergic to something that is making her break out in some kind of rash. chocolate? soy? :(
likes to run away.
looooooooooves her mimi (milk)!
doesn't like stickers. literally is annoyed if you put one on her.
likes to say "bye" whenever you close a door or shut a drawer or leave anywhere, haha.
will laugh if you start laughing, even if she has no idea what you're laughing about, which just makes me laugh harder!
also likes to make friends with everyone everywhere! somehow she's still shy though, too. so funny.
still loves to be held, except when there's something to get down and do!