double trouble

whew.
i am so glad december is done.
what with crazy post office work schedules (read 12 hour work days), 2 birthdays shortly after christmas, not to mention christmas itself, it gets a little stressful.

and since the girls share their birthday, i tried extra hard to make sure it was special. for BOTH of them.
although, one of them won't even remember it.

we had a small tea-ish party and celebrated turning 3 and 1.

we had
tea sandwiches
adults: turkey and herb cream cheese
kids: peanut butter and banana
soda in lieu of tea
wanna be caramel popcorn
(the kind that uses the corn puff buttery cheeto things instead of popcorn)
cucumber slices
bite sized granola bars
crackers
and chocolate cake/cupcakes

(recipe and super cute ideas mercilessly lifted from sheena)

i made each of the girls their own mini cake.
and then a half dozen cupcakes and even more mini cupcakes.
i let the kids help frost them and they turned out SO cute.

i also came up with these party crowns, just for the birthday girls.
and bought the party hats for everyone else.
i intended to cover all the party hats with super cute paper and ribbon and stuff, but i totally ran out of time and had to bag it.
as well as the birthday banner i've been planning on making for the past 2 birthdays...
maybe i can get it done for the next one.
i thought i was doing really well with the birthday right after christmas preparations.
but alas, i was not. so, next year i'll hopefully do better.
blah blah blah. yadda yadda.
it was still great and the kids loved it.

and of course we used trick candles.. haha.. i love them.

and layla did the exact same thing jonas did with his first birthday.
taking the no hands approach to the cake.
it was hilarious.
i love that she's licking/biting it.
she barely even got her hands dirty.

OH! and those super cute miniature cake stands that i have the mini cakes on?
my mom gave them to me. i'm totally going to make some for myself. or maybe gifts.
links for tutorials here and here and here.