Shanna and Haley turn 9!

The big day came that the girls were counting down for....their 9th birthday! They were so excited for their birthday.  I just love "kid excitement".  It's so cute and refreshing. 

This year they decided (more Shanna) to share a cake instead of having two little ones.  I didn't want to bake two cakes, which I have done in the past.  They both wanted a temple (love that!) and Haley wanted a butterfly on it.  I did my best to deliver!




A glimpse of the butterfly...which actually was supposed to be purple. Oops!




I know Shanna wanted a friend party, and probably Haley too, but I just am not a party planner/carrying out person.  I love having guests in our home, but I like to keep it simple.  And I love having birthdays with family.  We missed having our friends the Franke's with us. 


The kids.  Wow, I'm going to blink and they'll be all grown up too soon!




It's always fun getting a $2 bill from Grandma and Grandpa Bartholomew.  The girls loved their card and money from Grandma and Grandpa Robertson too.












The requested present....crutches!  (Brittany, does Clara still play with hers?)  Shanna has been using them almost EVERYDAY since her birthday.  Too funny.


The other requested present: Pokemon cards!  It's funny because I don't like the Pokemon movies or the books (the books are annoying to read....for my brain anyway).  But oddly enough I don't mind the cards.  I think it's fun when the kids get together to look at them and play games together with them. 


The girls received dolls for Christmas and I thought their birthday would be a fun time to gift some clothes and accessories. 




Haley put on one of the new outfit on her doll.  And her lunchbox?  I can't get over how cute and little it is!  I was never into dolls growing up. Okay, I was a little but not a whole lot.  But the little items that go with these dolls are just soooo cute.  I think I might need to save more money for Christmas presents....ha ha.




More crutch action.  She hasn't pulled them out yet today, but I am sure she will!  And it was perfect timing (sadly) the night before the girls' birthday Shanna's friend and neighbor broke her foot and was on crutches too.  Glad Shanna is just using them for fun.


It's such a joy to have Shanna and Haley in our family! I always wanted two girls at least, so they could have a sister. Well, that happened and they came at the same time much to my shock. (I thought I was having one baby, not two!)  Check out a few of their birth photos here. We love our girls!