The babies go bananas

It's been a long birthday week. I've eaten one too many cupcakes for breakfast.

Saturday was the big (not really that big) double birthday bash for Clara and Luke. It went great (at least we thought so!) and both babies seemed to really have fun.

But why didn't anyone tell me that parties aren't really fun for the hostess? I was stressed! It wasn't too bad, but I will say that next time we'll order food. It's just hard to time everything exactly right and not spend the entire party at the stove.

Other than that, we had a great time and I hope everyone else did too.

It was a banana theme, simply because one day as I was trying to decide to what do, I asked Clara what she wanted the theme to be. Her immediate response was, "Nana," which either meant she wanted a party centered around her maternal grandmother, or bananas. I could have been way off base.

And, let's be honest, it was breakfast-time and she was just hungry, but since bananas are one of her absolute favorite things, we went with bananas. And I threw in monkeys for good measure.

First, the invitations...

Chocolate cupcakes (made with devil's food cake mix, sour cream, chocolate pudding and chocolate chips.. a little piece of heaven!)...

Monkey cake (banana cake with chocolate buttercream frosting)...

Birthday banners, one for Luke...

And another for Clara (they each match their bedrooms, where they'll soon take up permanent residence)...

The banners also match their birthday shirts...

And let's not forget the birthday tutu...

That thing held up surprisingly well! It even survived a lot of running and playing outside.

Party favors...

...which served a dual purpose in the banana toss game...

Recognize either of these little monkeys?...

Messy babies...

Lucy, hard at work in the kitchen...

Getting some work done during the party...

Clara, opening a present from Grandma and Grandpa...

Lukie, having fun with one of his buddies...

We were so happy and so blessed to be able to celebrate our two babies with our family (who made the trip up from NC!) and friends.

I'm still decompressing over here. Although now that birthday week is over, it's time bring on the Christmas season! There just won't be any projects. I'll be relaxing during naps for a while.