Mario Birthday Party!!

Well, Mario Galaxy to be exact.

On Wednesday, we picked the boys up after special needs preschool and took them to the mall for a special lunch and to play. They were so excited!

At preschool on the morning of their birthday, they had special cupcakes. I frosted/sprinkled them to look like the 1-up mushrooms.

Then today we had a big birthday party for them at Magic Mountain. They have been playing Mario Galaxy with David on the Wii and are slowly working their way through, and so they knew immediately they wanted to have a Mario themed party. Pinterest has become my best and worst friend, as there were tons of great ideas on there I wanted to try. First I brainstormed a cake. I found inspiration here, but needed something a bit more manageable. I like to make cakes for the boys, but with Truman knew it would be hard this year. So I made a sketch and took it to my local Kroger. I hunted and found sprinkles, a Mario and Luma cake topper, and then I made the remaining characters from sculpey.

We made some mushroom favor bags, David made Mario mustache straws, and I made a boo balloon for the table. I wanted to make more and hang them from the ceiling, but we couldn't.

And we went from this:

To this:

They had an awesome time. I cannot believe that they are 5!

This post moved me

This post moved me so much, I just had to share:

Seeing Past What it Seems

A sigh of relief!

The meeting went awesome.

They will be testing the boys into the special needs preschool.

We are unbelievably happy.

twin love, photo love

This is right up there with my all time favorite pictures I have taken of the boys. We went apple picking last Sunday (more pictures to come) and the day was so yucky we almost got rained out! We were able to finally pick right before dinner time. I sat the boys up on a wagon filled with pumpkins and caught this kiss. Again, it's hard not to be biased when you're the mom, but it melted my heart.

Because the day was so blah, I ran a lovely vintage action on this one. I like how it turned out, what do you think?

"I wish I could fly"

Today when I was getting the boys out of the car at daycare, Jack looked up at the sky and pointed and said "Mama, it's gorgeous!"

I replied: "It is gorgeous buddy, isn't it? I can see the moon."

He very seriously looked up at me and said "I wanna fly. It's gorgeous."

How can a 2 year old think such beautiful things? It's amazing.

Nomination, and a plea to vote!

I am shocked and honored that my blog was nominated this year for a Divine Caroline award in the category of parenting. Here's the writeup:

Mother to twin boys born at 32 weeks, 4 days, tbonegrl shares the ups and downs of parenting special needs children and discusses preemies, multiples, parenting, photography, and the joys of motherhood.

I thank whomever nominated me very much! Now here's where you can help!

VOTE! Just click this link: Vote for Taderbaby to cast your vote! We're up against many great blogs, and I appreciate your support. Even more so if you can blog about it and share it with friends and family. There's also a handy voting button in my sidebar.

Thank you a million times over!

family

My next door neighbor took this in our backyard. It is a lovely picture, and it just says summer to me. Wanted to share. I am so lucky.

The sound of the ocean rushing in my ears

I promise to post more later, with pictures, but I wanted to tell you this:

Today my boys went to the ocean

They walked on the sand

They played in the water

They didn't cry, they didn't "loop," they laughed.

My heart sang.

This is so fabulous, I had to share

THIS makes my Friday!

I cried.

Summy rode the carousel today. He seemed slightly nervous but after picking out his horse color (they both chose brown) he made whinnying sounds and seemed super excited while we waited for the ride to begin. It started to move and he cracked a huge grin. (A far cry from a few months ago when we went for Mother's Day. Summy cried "I'm scared, all done!" as the ride was going, but we couldn't obviously get off.) A few times today he said "I got you" which in Summy's world is SPD speak for "my propriceptive and vestibular systems are in overdrive" But when it was over he said "more?" and cried as we got off. Being able to ride the carousel at the zoo was one of Summy's 4 goals for our therapy "burst" that we are currently in. I could not be prouder. I feel like my heart will burst.

After spending the day at the waterpark, we learned a new goal we might make for both boys will be regarding the water. I'd love to see them be able to enjoy it more.

What a huge step today!

Meet my new baby

I applied for a grant/scholarship and was accepted into a week long guitar class through Duquesne University. Today was my first day. We walked in, were given numbers, and they drew from a hat. We got to walk up to a huge table and choose a guitar to keep from TONS of makers...Martin, Taylor, Fender... I got this AMAZING Michael Kelly. I am SO EXCITED! It's my new baby! I went to guitar center tonight and picked it out its own stand and gig bag! LOL!

By the end of the week, I plan to fully rock out on it. I can't believe how much better I can play after one day!!!