G & V are 3! ~ The Dino Party!

The invitation:

On Sunday, June 24th, we had the twins' dinosaur-themed (as per their request) third birthday party at our house. We started off the day decorating and cooking and baking and ended it with great conversation, cupcakes (!), and a ton of outside fun outside. First, Gavin and Vivian helped Wes paint some "dinosaur tracks" leading up to the front porch. 

We also hung up some streamers and tied a few balloons to the front porch.

Then, we decorated inside and got all of the food and drinks put together. We had all kinds of dino-themed food like "T-Rex Arms" (chicken wings), "Triceratops Eyes" (deviled eggs), "Lava Rocks" (meatballs), and a few others. The food was labeled into sections: "For Carnivores," "For Herbivores,"  and "For Sweetivores."

The dino-themed goodies bags filled with fruit snacks, a granola bar, sunglasses, a stuffed dinosaur, a little dino figurine, and a few other little goodies.

The living room was decorated with a couple of streamer banners, some balloons on the floor and ceiling, a group of twin photos strung along the fireplace mantle, a few dinosaurs on the mantle, and presents!

A lot of G & V's friends and family came to celebrate
(we had about 30 guests through out the day).

 (Uncle Iad & his daughter, Lea)

 (Grandma & Paxton)

 (My Aunt Rita, Uncle Kenny, & my mom, GG)

 (GG & my Aunt Rita)

 (Aunt Brandy, Me, & Aunt Stephie)

("Littlest Kenny")

There were plenty more guests (see photos below). The big hit of the party was the incredible box castle that Wes, Tony, & Philip built before the party. All of the kids (especially Vivian and Olivia) absolutely loved the castle  and played in it most of the day.

(Vivi, Carter, & Olivia)

(Emme)

Then, it was time for presents! We are so grateful for all of

our generous friends and family- the twins were totally spoiled rotten.

After the mayhem of presents (It was like Christmas morning with tons of gifts and very little attention paid to each one because there were so many to open. G & V just kept going to the next one and the next one and the next one.), we went outside for the obligatory group photo, singing Happy Birthday, and cupcakes!

The rest of the party was spent playing outside and inside with new toys, the box castle, and bubbles.

(Gavin was a little upset a few times about having

to share his new trucks with Vivian and Carter.)

(Uncle Tony helping Vivian with her new dinosaur-bubbler)

We even had dinosaur masks! Another big hit!

 

Grandma NeeNee, Aunt Sarah, and Dave came near the end of the party and stayed for a while afterwards playing with the twins and all of their new stuff.

G & V were also fascinated by Lea (Aunt Brandy & Uncle Iad's daughter). Vivi kept calling her "Carter's new baby" (Carter is their older child). Vivi was especially happy that Lea was a "baby girl" unlike Paxton.

Before everyone headed out, we were lucky to get a pic of the five of us (which is great because we hadn't gotten any family shots of all five of us since the hospital)

We all had a GREAT time and can't wait til next year!