A whole day of birthday fun

The Saturday between the kids birthday we decided to hold a joint family birthday party. At first I felt like we were robbing the kids of their own special day. Especially since we were planning on doing cake and presents at the party. But I had a nice little conversation with Ava, and after giving her options of opening gifts on her birthday or on Sat with Nana and Grandpa, she decided it would be more fun to open gifts with everyone on Sat. Whew. That little talk released all the guilt I was having. We did make sure to make their actual birthday special as well with special meals, a special balloon boutique just for them, and a fun activity. But all the pictures below are from our Sat. celebration.

Both kiddos got to wear their special birthday shirts on Sat.


Reid could hardly sit still long enough for me to take a picture. He was just so excited for the day.


Thankfully, the eldest child is a little more accommodating to her mom's picture taking addiction. Thanks Ava!


I think the shirts turned out super cute. Ava loved hers so much she wore it on Sat., to preschool on the day before her birthday, and then on her actual birthday.


That morning we thought it would be fun to take both birthday kids to Kangaroo Zoo for some jumping fun. Especially since the weather outside wasn't cooperating with our day of fun. We must of forget to send it an invitation. Ava had a blast right off the bat.


This girl has no fear. She climbed up the tallest slide with no hint of hesitation. And get this, once at the top she would proceed to do a somersault off the landing directly down the slide.


This girl is crazy!


But when asked what her favorite part of the Kangaroo Zoo was, of course her reply was getting to go down the slides with Reidy.


Reid on the other hand did not experience love at first sight. Actually it wasn't love until after we had been at the jumping place for over an hour and we were just about to leave. Which is very confusing because he jumps off and on everything at home. Josh thinks he was just overwhelmed by all the other kids jumping around him.


Reid would not willingly go up the stairs with me. And since Josh was over the weight limit, ugh, I was forced to carry the kid up the stairs, remember I'm pregnant, and I'd like to point out the stairs are pretty much straight up. Tiring. But once we got up there and went down he had a blast. I just wished he remembered how much fun he had going down every time I tried to have him climb the stairs by himself.


By the end, Reid got a little more comfortable and was climbing up the stairs on his own.


Don't worry, I was following right behind him.


By the end Reid and Ava were both really enjoying themselves.


After the fun morning at Kangaroo Zoo we came back home for lunch, Reid's nap, and then Nana and Papa came over for some birthday fun. Here are the kids putting on their new helmets.


Ava loved her helmet so much that she wore it while opening the rest of her presents. Now the kids didn't just get helmets for the fun of it, they also got something to ride on too. But we were having so much fun watching them ride around that I didn't get any actual pictures with them on their new toys.


Even though Reid and Ava were celebrating their birthdays together, I still wanted to make each one their very own birthday cake. Reid loves anything that has wheels and moves so I made him a Cars cake.



As for Ava, she got her very own Rapunzel cake. After blowing out her candles the first thing she did was pull the tower right off the cake so she could play with her new Rapunzel doll.


We had a wonderful time getting to celebrate the kid's special day with family. Both kids were completely worn out by the end of the day and passed out immediately when put to bed. And yes, Reid does not have him pants on.