It Was a Jumping Good Time at Alex & Ben's 2nd Birthday

Alex and Ben turned 2 on March 21st. We had a great party with 24 of their closest friends at Monkey Joe's. If you don't have one or don't have kids and have never been to one of these places. It's those huge blowup bouncy things. The first time we went to Monkey Joe's the boys were petrified. But we've been a bout 5 times now and they LOVE it. I like Monkey Joe's b/c they have quite a few things for little kids. However, I would have preferred a set up like Pump It Up where we have a private jump room. Oh well.......it was a great time! AND......I DIDN'T HAVE TO CLEAN UP!!!

These pictures are kind of out of order but I'm too lazy to move them around! :)

Ben LOVED the cake and preferred to feed it to himself.

You can tell these kids are mine. They LOVE cake. It does my heart good to see them love something that I love so much. Hehehehehe!

These are three of my good friends (BFFs) from the Mothers of Multiples Club and their kids. Bottom left in this pic is Erica H., in the center w/sweet Carlos is Sarah O. (you can see her daughter's (Anna's) head w/the white bow at the bottom of the pic). And bottom right you can see the back of Jenn O's head. Wow......I'm a great photographer! LOL!

Ok, here's a good one! Avery H. and half of Landon H. These are Erica's kids. They turned 1 on March 1st. Sadly, these guys moved away and it makes me sad to think about it. :( We miss them all very much.
Here's Zachary O. and Alex trying to climb into one of the blow up things. These are the feet of the HUGE Monkey Joe. Our little friend Anna Kate T. was scared of him. Poor thing. She was terrorized!
Ok, so this isn't one of their friends. This is Ben! What a cutie. He loves to run around this jumper.
This is Owen C. He is in nursery with the boys at church. His Mom is Alissa and she's a friend of mine. We're so glad they came!!
Here's Owen C. again. This time sitting next to Reid M. Reid is also a friend from nursery. This is when we were having cake. Owen is very good at using a fork and Reid has NO time mess with that triviality. He went straight for the "hands on" approach.
These are a few of the older kids that came. Bottom left is Brionna C. (older sister of Gavin & Ciara C. who are 5 days younger than Ben and Alex). Then there are "big sister" cousins Kate B. and Clair B. We're so glad Kate and Clair cleaned their room so they could come to the party!!!
More twin friends! Mom (Lindsey J.) helps Bailey and Ansley J. with their cake. Their older sister Emily J. is almost done with her cake.
Here's Erica and Jason H. again with Avery and Landon....talking to my Dad (the Clemson fan in orange and purple).
Gavin and Ciara C. are BFFs already! They held hands as they walked around and checked things out. It was adoreable and I snapped about 50 shots of them.
Ben and Alex sitting in the big blow up chair waiting for everyone to sing Happy Birthday to them. They sat for a while but then they kept trying to get down. LOL!
Here's a good one of the boys jumping with Kate. I was so happy to see them do more than just roll around in this jumper. Ben is actually walking around which is great!
Kate and Ben play so well together. I'm glad. I love my cousins and I hope that they'll be as close as all are!
Avery O.......SUCH A BIG GIRL! Laughing at who knows what. I just love this little chickie!!!
Grandpa Lynes holding Alex. The boys were so happy to see their Grandparents at their party.

After the party we went to lunch at Mimi's Cafe. Ben and Alex had grilled cheese and chicken fingers. Mmmmmmmmmm! Nutritious! LOL!

WOW! Kate is all grown up. I remember helping her learn to drink from a straw when she was a little tiny thing. We told her to "suck it like a paci." She did and has been drinking from a straw ever since. I used the same technique w/ Alex and he's a champion straw drinker now, too!

Everyone had a good time visiting at lunch. Rosalind said, "Justin is always good conversation!"

Alex - ready for some grub!

Here's a shot from the other end of the table. We had 14 people at lunch!

I saw my friend Lisa there who had her twin girls (Emma and Riley) with her as well as our friend Julie's twin girls (Kate and Emily). So all three sets of twins posed for a little group photo.

So that was our day. It was a loooooooooooooooooooong one. The boys had a blast and we had fun watching them. We can't believe they are two! What a short ride this has been. I was looking at this picture the other day....and it brought tears to my eyes. I know I've said it before but they've come so far. They are thriving and we couldn't be happier. We are so thankful to our Heavenly Father for the blessings he pours out on us. We receive more than we deserve and see that every day in our beautiful boys and our forever family.