The Twins are EIGHT!

Even though it doesn’t necessarily fit the DIY-theme of my blog, I’ve gotten in the habit of documenting our girls’ Birthday every year. These posts are really just an online ‘scrapbook’ of sorts… for me to be able to look back on. But some of you are pretty invested in their lives and have been around since their babyhood. So these posts are for YOU too!

Each year, we take a picture of the twins in this orange chair that I got for $4 at Goodwill many years ago. When they were newborns, we started taking WEEKLY PICS in this chair starting the very first day we got home from the hospital. Weekly pics for the first year, and monthly pics for the second year. Then just yearly after that. I’m so glad I had the presence of mind as a new mom to start doing something like this! So fun!

This year, for the first time, the twins showed an interest in having separate birthday parties. We’ve always made them separate cakes, but I’m not opposed to letting them have separate birthday parties too! Especially since Della goes to school and they’ve developed separate friendships (which is what we wanted to accomplish by keeping the social butterfly at home for school, and sending the shy one to school to learn to make friendships apart from her outgoing sister). We’re navigating this twin thing one year at a time.

I let them each choose between a sleepover with a limit of TWO friends, or a big non-sleepover party with no limit of friends… but no longer than two hours. HEHE!

OF COURSE we ended up with one of each. Della chose to have a sleepover with two of her favorite friends. We made her a cake to look like her kitty, Storm. She loved helping make this cake!

We pushed our giant modular sectional together to make a huge bed ‘pit’ for the kiddos to sleep in and watch movies. It was BRILLIANT and so much fun. Dell got to pick out the movies and snacks! And they stayed up until 1 in the morning. *cringe*

Dell even got to share her birthday with a new butterfly that hatched in our care!

Moving on to PAISLEY! She wanted to have a ‘fancy ball’ for her party. She loved getting all gussied up in a dress, straightened hair, and makeup. She chose an ice cream cake for her cake.

Our basement below the kitchen isn’t ‘finished’ by any means. But our vintage sectional is down there, and a nice rug. So we decided to hang twinkle lights from the ceiling joists, and drape lots of streamers all about. I wish I had gotten a picture of the whole scene before all the kiddos showed up. But we were decorating until the last minute so it just didn’t happen. But I did snag a blurry screenshot of a video I took of them dancing the night away. I’m kicking myself for only getting video!

In my defense, Paisley banished me from being around her party most of the time. She DJed her own party, and decided when it was dance time, snack time, karoke time, and cake time. She loves being the boss.

You might remember that we planted two willow trees the year the twins were born, and have taken their pics every summer with their tree. I love this tradition and seeing how much they (the twins AND the trees) grow every year.

Since we moved last fall, we made the decision to move the trees to my mom’s pasture about 60 miles north using a giant tree spade. It seemed kinda ridiculous, but we’ve all grown really attached to these trees. And the trees were just barely at a size where they could still be moved with a good probability of surviving the shock.

If you go to my Instagram (@RealityDaydream!), you can watch the whole process unfold by going to the highlight called ‘Moving Trees’ on my profile. It’s very interesting to watch!

We were so happy to find out that the willows lived through the (arctic) winter, although they looked pretty tragic in the spring. By the end of July, the branches on the bottom 1/3rd of the tree didn’t make it, but the top is flourishing with new growth! I think we just need to trim those dead branches and it will all fill in… especially when it gets really ‘weepy!’

It makes me feel a little bit sad that the trees aren’t at their best. But I’m so glad that they pulled through, and I’m sure they’ll come back strong!

I’m so honored to be these little girls’ mama, and will cherish these memories forever!

Bethany