Happy 1st Birthday Juliana and Olivia!

What an amazing and the most wonderful year we had of our lives. On April 3, 2010, our twin identical girls were born. Juliana at 4 pounds 13 oz and Olivia at 4 pounds 14 oz. They have since then grown into beautiful little toddler girls. We are so blessed. For the past two months, I have been working on making their birthday an amazing event.


Starting in February I picked a theme for the girls birthday...Ladybugs.I wanted to be able to have something that would be easy theme to find decorations for. So, I started searching for ladybug items. I found their plates, cups and napkins at Oriental Trading Company, and other items at Michaels craft store.


In March, I had another few challenges, first the menu. I wanted it to be kind of a picnic style party, so I sat down with my friend Joy, and she helped me plan the meal. The menu came down to this....a sandwich bar, with all the toppings, a pasta and potato salad, fruit kabobs, veggie tray, and desserts.

After the menu was planned, we got on the internet to see if we could find our second challenge, a picture of what cake I would like the girls to have. Being that it was a ladybug theme, we obviously wanted the girls to have a ladybug each. So, I found a picture of one and then did what I could to find the right frosting and cake pan.

 Olivia

 Juliana

All of March was busy with making thank you baskets, getting the girls pictures taken, making invites and sending them out, and finding the perfect outfit. My intention was to get the girls to look like ladybugs, but the dresses out there were so expensive so we opted for a sweet spring dresses. That was until shoes were purchased by our girls Godparents, Dawn and Greg.

 Uncle Greg and Auntie Dawn (Godparents)

They bought the perfect shoes with ladybugs on them. Those shoes inspired me to go to Walmart and buy the black pants and red top. But something was missing. I wanted to put them in a tutu, but I couldn't find any that were black and red. My friend Jeanna suggested a link on how to make your own tutu. It looked easy enough so I decided I would make them. It took an hour to accomplish each tutu, but the end result was amazing! The girls were perfect little ladybugs.

 Olivia and Juliana

Ladybug Juliana

 Ladybug Olivia

Yesterday, April 3rd, I went for my Sunday run and then came home to prepare the ending details for the party. We decided that the party would be at 2PM so the girls were able to take a nap before their big event. It was perfect. I made yellow pinwheels and placed them along the sidewalk, and Joy and I were up the night prior until 12:00AM decorating the house with black and red streamers, a banner, and little detail items, like the styrofoam ladybugs. In the end everything was perfect.

The girls had about 15-18 guests and a lot of fun playing and socializing with everyone. They received 4 pillow pets and lots of stuffed ladybugs and 2 stuffed fluffy dogs. They opened lots of clothes, which is a blessing, when you have twins, and they received some books and toys.We are so thankful for friends and family that care for our little ones and for the generosity they have shown all of us. Thank you.

That evening Juliana and Olivia were so tired. We needed to keep them up a little longer so the ladies took a walk and the men went to the golf course. After our walk it was time for a bath, bottle and then bed. It wasn't even 10 minutes and the girls were out sleeping. They were so worn out from their big adventure. What sweet little troopers they were. They did however wake up around 9:30PM wanting to be up, but Mama and Daddy put their foot down and told them it was time to go night night. By 10:30PM we finally convinced them to go to sleep.


What an amazing day and we thank everyone that helped with the food and decorations. We also thank those that took the time to come to the girls' party and make it so special. It means a lot to us and can't wait to share the next year with you. We are truly blessed with such outstanding friends.