The twins are SEVEN!

Jack and Myles turned 7 yesterday. As is tradition with our family, we celebrated all weekend long. It started on Friday when Kendrick went on a field trip for the twins' class. They went on a Nature Walk (in the rain) and collected "treasures" at the park. Kendrick was a cute dad and had a good attitude about it and took these cute pictures. The twins' totally acted like that field trip was part of their Birthday. They get that from their mom-everything is about us on our Birthdays!

That night we had a Star Wars Lego Birthday Party with the neighborhood kids. This party was fun to plan and easy to come up with (mostly because I stole all my ideas from cute Kristen) but such a pain in the rear to oversee. I loved prepping for it-I hated being at it. It was stressful for me. And really for no other reason than because my house is small and awkwardly laid out and it was cold outside so we couldn't do a lot out there and because there was kind of a BIG age gap (2-9) with our "guests". I think the twins had fun though and I think all that really matters is that they will vaguely remember that their mom threw them a Star Wars party when they were 7 that included a Darth Vader Pinata (that was CRAP) and some Darth Vader Birthday candles...maybe they'll remember the photo wall.

Zack

Hailey or Gracie and I am almost positive I spelled the first name wrong. So sorry Jenn.

One of my twins

T.J

Riley

Karlee

Thomas

Cameron

Another one of my twins

Thomas Powers (you must not forget the Powers when saying his name!)

Another Crane twin

Dayton...or maybe Samuel...I don't remember

Lizzy

 We played a game where I dumped a bunch of Legos on a table and then I put the color of each of those Legos on slips of paper in a cup. Each child that wanted to play had to choose a color and then choose a "weapon" (tweezers, chopsticks of a plastic spoon) to try to scoop as many of that color Lego with as they could in only 1 minute. Only one kid got all the Legos of his chosen color. I thought the game might be a miss but it was a total hit with all the kids that played it. Some of the crazier kids opted not to play it and stayed downstairs and had a balloon fight. My blood pressure was through the roof as I had visions of boys flying off recliners and smashing into the flat screen. Next time the twins have a party, we are enlisting the help of another adult. 2 adults and 16 kids wasn't a good ratio.

 I also had a jar filled with Blox candies and each kid had to guess how many they thought were in the jar. The winner got to take home all the candy. The winner was Thomas with a guess of 102. There were actually 160 candies in it but all the other kids guessed less than 100.

Then we had a "scrumptious" dinner of grilled hot dogs, chips, fruit and soda. This was the twins choice and kind of a nightmare to dish up for that many kids. We might just stick to pizza from now on.

Then we opened presents. The twins made out like bandits. They are so spoiled/loved. For their Birthday (from friends) they got: candy, Ninjago Lego sets, giant Styrofoam planes, remote control trucks, mini Lego Star wars kits, disc flyers, an angry birds game, an outer space action figure play set, and some robot building kits. Needless to say, my downstairs is FILLED with all sorts of Lego creations right now.

Then we headed outside to hit the Darth Vader pinata. The kids were so excited for this part. Like, they kept asking me about it through the whole party. I wanted to have them hit it with a light saber, as that seemed only fitting. But Kendrick was afraid the light sabers would get broken so we chose to beat Darth Vader with a stick. We let the two youngest kids, Mary and Easton go first, and Easton broke it right away...with 12 kids behind him waiting for their turn! I was so bummed. I can't believe I paid $15 for such a crappy pinata. It was STAPLED together. Do not buy a pinata from Party City people. I was so disappointed with how poorly made it was. Next year, we make will one. I am not wasting my money and dealing with a bunch of disappointed kids when Taylor's and Easton's friend parties roll around.

After the pinata we came inside to do cupcakes and rice krispy treats. I found these cool Birthday candles and the twins chose to have Surprise cake cupcakes. We had a few gluten intolerant kids so we did rice krispy treats with a peanut butter chocolate drizzle  for them. I wish I had remembered to fill my camera up with batteries. These pictures were all taken with whatever phone was lying around.

On Saturday we spent the afternoon at the Zoo and then we took the kids to get Macey's ice cream cones and some treats for the weekend. Then the kids had a pizza night with Kendrick while I went to the General Relief Society Broadcast with my mom and then Birthday shopped for the twins. This was the first year that I didn't already have all their presents bought and wrapped by Sept 1st. I sort of put off shopping for them until the last minute and aside from getting them Cha Cha, I didn't know what else to get them.

We didn't really do anything Birthday-ish on Sunday because of church. I wanted to skip church and go to IHop for free Birthday pancakes but since Kendrick and I are both new to our callings, we didn't feel like it would be fair to skip out.

The morning of their Birthday they opened presents and enjoyed a breakfast of orange rolls and caramel rolls and hot chocolate and then went to school late. I gave them the option, since they are my only kids whose Birthdays fall during the school year, to skip school if they wanted. Jack didn't want to. Myles did...until he realized that if he stayed home he would miss out on getting a Birthday crown and being sang to at lunch time. He was also bummed to learn that I wouldn't let him play video games all day long, even on his Birthday. Because I am mean. So in the end, both Jack and Myles decided to go to school. They received lots of Birthday love there and came home with hats and Birthday books and treats. The cute crossing guard LOVES them and even gave them a Birthday treat! They felt so special. That night we went to Chuckarama for a Birthday dinner with Grandma and Grandpa and Richard and Tiana.

These pictures are all out of order...but for their Birthday they got (from their family) a new video game, a football, a soccer ball, a puzzle, a board game, some movies, some money, new winter boots, new clothes, pajamas and some transformer building toys.
 

I love these boys so much it is ridiculous. They are slowly turning into...normal kids, and have been more mouthy and less excited to help me the older they get, but they still are such good listeners and are pretty respectful kids. They are my buds. Jack and Myles, as hard as it was for awhile, you boys have been such a joy to raise and such a blessing in my life. I hope you had a good Birthday. I Love You!