Saturday, May 30, 2015

Baseball 2015

This baseball season has been B-U-S-Y and sadly the boys' games have been, MORE often than NOT, scheduled at the SAME time aka doublebooked.  It's been hard figuring out who's game to go to and by the time I do arrive to the game, I am so frazzled that I don't even bother taking my camera out.  Here are some of the photos that I have captured, in between keeping up with Lilah, holding on to Sadie, (who has come to every single game so far) and watching the boys play.
Ty has been given the position of pitcher, catcher, and short stop!
Dug out!
Daddy's girl!
Jax has been given the position of pitcher and first base! He really has impressed me this year.  Baseball is his sport for sure.
I thought Jax was playing in the dirt, which seems to be the t-ball players first favorite thing to do, but Darren reassured me that JAX doesn't play in the dirt.  Unlike the player behind him, Jax was just wiping off the mound before "pitching".
I am always so happy and proud to watch my boys playball.  These kids are also so blessed to have their father right by their side, cheering/coaching them along.

I just posted the photos of my children playing baseball, but from time to time I enjoy capturing photos of individual teammates.  To see ALL of the photos I have captured to date, please double click on the picasa web album below! Enjoy!

Friday, May 29, 2015

First Birthday "Must Do's"

TheStir has ask if I have any 1st birthday "must do" ideas.  Sadly, I didn't have blogs back then, so I am randomly posting the ideas, to our current blog, that I once did when my children turned 1. This post is meant to be shared with the editor, of the stir, and then of course their 30 million viewers!!!

First birthdays are fun! And should totally be memorable and documented. I shared the idea of preserving memories here, and now here are a few more ideas that you might desire using for your one year old birthday boy or girl.

An Individual Cake:  This is probably the FIRST time that your baby will have ever tasted cake, so why make him/her SHARE?  Allow the guests and the birthday boy/girl to have their OWN cake!  Our firstborn, Ty, had a Cookie Monster 1st birthday, so we made his individual birthday cake to look just like a chocolate chip cookie!
The guests cake looked like this!
Lilah and Jax ALSO had their own individual cakes. Their first birthday theme was Mickey and Minnie Mouse.

Time Capsule
If you've never heard of this before, let me explain.  We asked our guests to bring an item that was representative of Tyson's 1st year of life (2005-2006).  tyson will not be permitted to unseal the treasure box until he turns 18.  
First Year Portraits
You only turn ONE once, so capture this sweet moment with first year portraits.  Here are a few of my kids' first year photos. It's NOT quite what I would do NOW, if I had to do it all over again, but remember, this is 6-10 years ago.  My have times changed...a ton!  Back then, there was NO pinterest and people didn't do this kind of stuff, unless they went to Olin Mills. Haha.  I, on the other hand, probably was one of the few who got creative without pinterest.
 Party Guests Autographs
Life will change A LOT over time.  People will come and go, in and out of your lives, but it's nice to recall who was at your first birthday by having them sign a photo mat and place it around your first birthday photo.  
Document Handprint!
Your little one won't be little for long. Sheesh, that one year old little boy, below, just turned 10!!! So...document those little features that are so special, such as a handprint.  I bought a 5 tier handprint tower to document handprints from years 1-5.  It certainly could be a birthday tradition until they turn 6. Ty hated to be dirty, so putting his hand into wet clay wasn't fun or appealing to him.  
I wish I had more ideas to share with you! Of course, a 1st birthday party is critical! Be it a huge elaborate party or a very simple, intimate party with family, who cares, just as long as you celebrate such a special day!

Preserving Time!

This post was originally posted on our old blog titled, Two-rrific Twins, but I am RANDOMLY adding it to our current blog because TheStir.CafeMom is asking for ideas for capturing a baby'1st birthday. I would prefer our current blog receive the traffic/recognition for the features we receive  on TheStir. 
For Lilah and Jaxon's 1st birthday, we decided to echo what we did for Tyson ~ a time capsule. 
If you've never heard of this before, let me explain. We asked our guests to bring an item that is representative of Lilah and Jaxon's 1st year of life (2009-2010). Lilah and Jaxon will not be permitted to unseal the box until they turn 18.

I spent countless hours trying to come up with a clever and polite way to do this. It's never easy requesting your guests to bring something to your party. I try not to boast in much, other than Christ, but these little boogers made me all giddy inside. Along with the party invitation, I inserted a homemade mickey mouse or minnie mouse silhouette. If the guest was a boy, he got the Mickey Mouse insert and if the guest was a girl, she got the Minnie Mouse insert. Each silhouette was hand cut and taped to card stock. Afterwards, I created a "bow tie" for Mickey and a "bow" for Minnie out of grosgrain ribbon. Finally, I purchased black glitter and used it for the ears. This added a special dimension and shine to the insert. For those of you who complained about black glitter all over their home, imagine what my home went through making over 40 of these.
The insert read:
"Soon we'll be one, time passes so fast,
So we're gathering a collection of things from our past.
Think of things reminiscent to our special day,
Then mommy and daddy will hide them away.
When we turn eighteen we will open our presents
And reflect on our lives when we were once infants.
Bring pictures, receipts, anything that will show,
Just how different life is to the world we now know.
We know we are loved, you show it so well,
But whether life is the same in 2027 only time will tell."
We are very grateful for everyone who participated in this fun event. We received a nice collection of items, not to mention some of you were very creative. A few of my favorite items were:

The Loader Family: Bekka captured her children shopping at the grocery. She captured every move. From walking in the store, to placing food in the shopping cart, to checking out, and then delivering the food to the food bank drive. Bekka created a gorgeous and professional photo book (2 of them). Their gift to Lilah and Jaxon was a food donation and their time capsule gift was documentation of it.

The Williams Family: Brett and Jody recorded, on cd, the first time Darren and I shared our testimony in front of our Church body. Lilah and Jaxon will get to hear that on cd one day (if a cd player exists).

The Crisafi Family: My step-mom purchased a precious heart-shaped hand print mold for Lilah and Jaxon to imprint their hands onto. In 18 years, they will be able to compare their hand size to when they were once 1.

The Shelor Family: Tabby enclosed the cell phone that I called her on to tell her that I had just found out I was having twins. She was the first person I called.

The Pierce Family, Kaitlyn Barnette, Maddie Benson, & Gram: All included sweet letters to our dear children. Every single one focused on their desire for Christ to be their treasure.

The Hurley Family: An old ipod. It will be hilarious to see what Apple comes out with in the next 18 years, compared to the year 2009.

The Maxey Family: In 2009, Puerto Rico came out with their first quarter. We received two of them.

Reid and Renee Bolling + Nanna Bolling: A gold USA coin worth $5.00. It's itty bitty, but very cool. We also received two of them.

The Carroll Family: A list of popular baby names for 2009. Jackson was #3 (even though he spells his name Jaxon) and Lila was #52 (even though her name is spelled Lilah).

The Fernandez Family: A copy of Aaron's speeding ticket (one of many) in 2009 and the cost associated with speeding.

The Maggi Family: (3) Cds FULL of the parties details and guests. She's an amazing photographer.

The Higginbotham Family: A family photo and (2) Mickey/Minnie 2009 snow globes. Jill, I assume that was you?

The Shaffer Family: A copy of worship songs. Gretchen is the worship leader at our church. She has a passion for music, so with the cd she wrote a note that read, "It will be interesting to see how music changes in the next 18 years."

The Harris Family: A 2009 newspaper. I assume this was you Ashley?

Mommy, Daddy, and Tyson: I enclosed all of the party details. Daddy is enclosing the party video on dvd. I also plan to turn the blog of their first year of life into a book and put that in there as well.

Who can claim the grocery store receipt?

I apologize if I missed anyone. I was going to list my favorites, but they all were very cute and creative in their OWN way.

For those of you who could not make it to the party, I hope you still plan to add to the time capsule. The more that is added to it, the more exciting the box will be to open in 18 years. Kaitlyn, Shawn, Elise/Destiny, Uncle David, Aunt Ashley, Aunt Morgan, Aunt Whitney, Uncle Paul, The Reid Family, and The Schoonover Family, I will haunt you until you add to this box.  Haha.  

I was having a difficult time deciding on what to use as the time capsule box. I wanted the box to be big, beautiful, masculine and feminine, and theme related, but being they will be opening their time capsule on their 18th birthday, I didn't want it to scream Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse. I worked hand in hand with a very talented woman in California. She normally makes photo boxes for brides, but I had her step out of her shell and design a box that worked for the theme of Lilah and Jaxon's party.

Enjoy some of the pictures below of the insert and the time capsule box. All photos below are compliments of Shannon Maggi.