i have two one year olds.... ahhhh!!

i have to say that i have been dreading the girls' first birthday, because i was afraid that i was going to be an emotional train wreck. thankfully, i only shed tears once yesterday and the rest of the day was filled with tons of fun, laughter, and of course food!

{here's my lame attempt at painting reese's fingernails. i thought it would be fun for their birthday. i snuck into the girls' room the night before and painted them. once i realized how difficult it was, i didn't even bother doing ella's}

we kicked off the day by heading to the como zoo here in minnesota. austin was able to meet us over there, which made is SO much more fun for the girls. they love their daddy! we had a picnic on the grass out front and then headed inside to get a glimpse of some of the animals. the girls saw gorillas, lions, giraffes, bears, and leopards. 

{picnic time}

{here are the girls checking out the lions. they definitely liked them the most!}

later that night we had a cook out/pool party. we had a blast!

{here's a pic of our only guests... annie, jordan, jake, brittany (the twins), and juliette}

{dinner time}

{swimming}

then we headed back to our place for presents and cupcakes...

{presents}

one little conundrum with twins is whether or not you sing happy birthday to each child or just once and stick both of their names in there. we decided to sing to them separately. here's ella eyeing her cupcake while we sing to her. and then as i brought the cupcake closer to her to take the candle out, she grabbed it and burnt her little hand on the hot wax. poor thing. i felt terrible! she was so upset that she didn't want anything to do with her cupcake.

and here's miss reese as we sing her happy birthday. she had no problem shoving that cupcake in her mouth as soon as she could get her little hands on it. and then she got upset when it was all gone. i of course caved and gave her another one. it was her birthday after all!

{everyone else enjoying their cupcakes. ella finally joined in and started eating hers. she was so excited about her yummy cupcake that she rubbed it all in her hair}

the day was everything i imagined it would be and more! i can't say enough how much i LOVE my two darling girls. they bring so much joy and happiness into my life and i am so thankful to my heavenly father for allowing me to be their mother. its an honor and i feel truly blessed.

i love you reese's pieces and ella bella!