Darren's Birthday Gifts

Darren and I are HUGE on finding the BEST gifts for one another.  I won't lie, as we get older, it has become increasingly harder to impress one another.  We are very blessed and we generally do not go without. Finding something to gift to each other that we don't already have is tough.  We always pull through for one another though. Find out what I decided to get him for his special day.  

"DOUGH" BEST Party Favor Bag EVER!

If there is ONE thing that is a MUST at a birthday party, it's a party favor bag.  It's something EVERY kid, let's face it, EXPECTS or at the very minimum wants. I enjoy sending a child home with a "thank you" for celebrating with us!

Donut Pinata!!!

What every kid LOVES... CANDY! So when I told my twins I planned on doing a piñata at their "party",  they squealed. And DON-UT you know I found a doughnut piñata?

Love Ya To Pizzas!

"The Circle Of Llife"..........PIZZA! We all know it. And every kid LOVES pizza, so when I planned a "Dough-NOT Grow Up" party for my twins' 10th birthday gathering, with a few friends, I KNEW I had to include pizza in the mix. You can click here to read the first post about the party that included donuts. Above/Below: take note of the cute, Heidi Swapp Light Boxes that I use for EVERYTHING that needs that extra DETAIL! 

Day #2 - Islands Of Adventures

On Day #2 of our trip, we started out at Islands Of Adventures! This is an Orlando park that I had never been to before, which is always nice to explore a "FIRST" at 42 years of age. None of us knew what to expect, but we were excited. I did prepare the birthday twins with matching minion shirts though and they were so exited and appreciative.  Other than the fact that my shirt is CRAZY SEE THROUGH (SMH) do yo notice what is on it? Bananas!!!! Minions favorite!

Welcome Back... To Birthday Gifts!

On March 25th, my twins' ACTUAL birthday, we had to wake up at 2:30 a.m. to head to the airport and ultimately HOME to Roanoke.  It wasn't the best day to travel.  The timing was quite frankly BAD, but we flew Allegiant Airlines and they only offer 2 days a week to fly.  Originally, our gift to the twins WAS the trip, but I KNEW in my heart that I couldn't stick to that because of the fact that on their special day they would be consumed with jet lag and an early a.m. wake up calls.  I planned ahead and had gifts READY to greet them when we arrived home.

Universal Studios Bound!

The day arrived... we had to be at the airport by 6:45 a.m..  Our flight left at 8:35 a.m. My kids were excited as ever.  The last time they flew on an airplane was when we took a 10 day trip to all of the Disney Parks.  You can visit that trip by using our search box, on the homepage of our blog! Lilah and Jax had their birthday shirts on and they were already receiving all kinds of attention from the airport employees and attendees.  

Thing 1 and Thing 2 - What's Inside The Box!?

WE ARE BACK from our glorious trip.  It was AMAZING and just the perfect amount of time.  I think another day longer and we would have just hung out by the pool, at our resort. (3)-12 hour days of walking parks is enough to make your big toes bruise. LITERALLY, haha. We finished EVERYTHING that interested us!!! So we can officially say, we left our mark at both Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure. NOW, I will spend the next week blogging ALL OF THE DETAILS about the trip reveal and the actual trip.  The question that has everyone curious is, what was inside those Thing 1 and Thing 2 boxes that were used as decorations for the twins' trip reveal?

Oh The Places They'll Go! - Trip Reveal

My twinsies turn a decade old on March 25th.  Lately, I am ALL about collecting moments, not things. Time is traveling fast and although I am exhausted and ready for a slower pace, I am finally at the stage where I am NOT ready for my kids to grow up. Clearly, it's too late ahem.... 10.  My children are very blessed and by blessed I mean beyond measure. So, rather than spending countless hours planning a party and spending ungodly amounts of money to host a party... Darren and I deiced to celebrate the twins in a mightier way. We decided to travel to a vacation spot ONLY Darren and I have been to before. So, this experience, is a NEW experience.  

Your Presence Is My Present!

A party is not a party without your closest friends and family.  Unfortunately, all of our family lives out of state or are so busy with travel sports, I didn't even put the pressure on them to come, by inviting them. Tyson has had the pleasure of being in the company with a nice array of friends because of his involvement in football, basketball, track, and church . Finding (18) friends to invite was not hard.  What was hard was narrowing it down to the amount of friends that could fit on the Enterprise Van Party Bus.  

I am thankful for the friends that Ty has chosen to surround himself around.  I believe he has chosen wisely.  All of his friends are polite, encouraging, involved in school, and kind. Of course, they are also goofy and wild too, but so is Ty.  Haha.  The majority of these boys have been in his life since he was 4 years old.  How cool!

The paintball facility is nestled in Riner, VA.  Secluded in the beautiful mountains, but on the property of the "referee's" home on Paintball Drive.  LOVE IT!

Before beginning their first paintball game, the "referee" had to go over safety and game rules.

Each boy received safety gear, a paintball gun, and a  bag of 500 paintballs.  

The funniest thing is that these poor boys were having such a time with the paintballs.  They were responsible for loading their own guns. As soon as one boy dropped their bag of balls... haha, it seemed like it was a trickling effect. (See below).

Loading their guns took concentration and most boys filled with excitement don't have that.  

I made sure to capture the shooting area.  I think it's just the perfect scenery.  

These boys were excited and ready!

Our food and gift area was a "No Shooting" area.  THANK GOODNESS.  LOL! Although the boys joked about using the bubble gum as paintballs once they ran out of real paintballs.  

Guess who was invited to Ty's party? Little bro.  He felt cool.

The weather was on and off from BEAUTIFUL to torrential downpour rain.  The boys claimed that the rain and thunder made the paintball game MORE fun. Of course and go figure.  The party host, MUA, on the other had was NOT digging it.  LOL!  But it never messed up my details.  NOT A ONE! After the first round of paint balling fun, the boys came back to the covering for snacks, drinks, and CANDY! We just called this battle fuel  

It blessed me immensely to see how well all of these boys got along.  

There was so much smiling and laughter too.  

Hey look, it's Eli, wait nope, Jackson, wait no... Jadon? Okay, never mind it's Gabe?  NO!!! It's the birthday boy!!! TY!

The fact that these boys were wearing masks kind of deterred me from hiring a professional photographer to capture this day AND eliminated me from feeling pressure to capture the actual paintball games. Although, I did video record several of their games.  I will post those on another day!

Reloading both their guns and their mouths, with necessities.  LOL!

In between games, they would recap the game and it created a ton of light hearted arguing and joking around.  

Alone... don't eat those... those are paintballs.  LOL!  Okay, not really.  

Discussing their next game plan?

The boys LOVED having Darren in on the action.  

Waiting patiently for the next game to start. His shirt reads, "Straight Out Of Tilted Towers".  

Game on!

When you get shot, you raise your hands in the air and exit.

Some were good at hiding and then sneaking out eventually to shoot.

I gave out a trophy to the player with the best welt!!! Tyler Pierce won the trophy.  OUCH!

Between the bus ride and the actual party, I believe this a party they will never forget.