Basketball & Jax....

Oh my Jax... this kid is on FIRE on the B-Ball Court! The cool thing is... he doesn't even know it. I guess you could say that that makes him a very humble and selfless team player.  If there is ONE THING that both Darren and I CANNOT stand it is a BALL HOG! I'm not sure what's worse... daddy ball or ball hoggers. I'd say they are pretty neck and neck. Game after game, I have watched Jax literally STOP dead in his tracks to pass the ball to his teammates, when he could easily attempt toscore. I've witnessed extreme emotions displayed by Ty when the entire game was played by one or more players who's vision, as soon as they get the ball, is to score and say, "Look At Me".   TEAM = TOGETHER EVERYONE ACHIEVES MORE! If you desire to win or at the very minimum learn, you must work as a team. 

Basketball Party Favors!

Due to snow on the horizon, I didn't think that Lilah and Jax's party was going to actually happen. I literally waited until the morning of to find party favors for his party.  I hate working under pressure, but I had the best taxi cab driver/helper, in my husband AND SCORED BIG time!

Darren and I ran to the bakery to pick up the birthday boy and birthday girl's cake. Then, we ran to just a few stores that I had in mind for good, quality party favors. First up, Captain Party!

I grabbed some hard plastic, basketball cups.  I used them for the party table and then sent them home with the party guests.

They also had these awesome, glow in the dark ice cubes.  YES.. they had NOTHING to do with basketball, but I still think they were unique and impressive.  And besides... after each guest plays a hard game of basketball, they can use their ice cube, while hydrating.  LOL! Check my Instagram account, at Bollingwith5, to see how it works. Use hashtag, #JaxAndLilahTurn9

Although slighting "CHEAP",  I was so excited to spot this suction cup, basketball with goal toy! My boys hung this item in their shower.  So NOW, shower time is game time!

I wanted to put these basketball cards inside the kids bags, but they were $4.99 per pack, so I decided against it. I did put them in Jax's bag though.

The shopping adventure wasn't working out too well.  I wasn't satisfied with my finds, but on the way home, I asked Darren to pull over and let me run in to Walgreens, on 419.  He laughed at me as I left the car saying, "You're not going to find anything in Walgreen's Krisitn!" The joke was on HIM when I returned to the car super excited with these Sharper Image Lauch Pad, TableTop Basketball systems.  

Wacky Water Snakes (Orange).

And Basketball Squishies.  

I wrapped them up really festive, to go along with the theme of the party! I was so excited to bless the party guests in this way!

For this event, "last minute" was a success. One mom wrote me a few hours after the party ended and said, "I'm so confused.  Was this Jax's party or - - - - -'s party!"  LOL!

Lilah and Jax Turn 9!

On March 24th, it was scheduled to snow... I had a "party" parties in motion, but everything was really contingent upon what the Lord had planned weather wise.  For months, I had a theme for Lilah... unicorns.  I spotted some very amazing party decor, on sale for 80% off at Macy's, in October.  And although we only do milestone parties, I bought everything imaginable that day because I figured we would have some sort of celebration.  The guest list was SMALL.  The plan was to travel to EITHER Blacksburg to Frank's CineBowl & Grill OR head downtown to eat the best pizza ever and visit the candy store.  I allowed the twins to decide.  Praise God they agreed on ONE location.  

YES! I had to have (2) themed parties.  This is when having same sex twins would really come in HANDY! As mentioned, Lilah's party was Unicorn themed.  Below are a few of the items I added to our already large party collection.  These items all came from Target and created are "tablescape".  

The items below, were items I picked up from various, local stores (mostly Target) to give out to the girls in their party favor bags!

I put the girls at our kitchen Island. 

I used some gold plate chargers to help make the paper plates not seem so informal.  

 

I always LOVE the fact that I can use Heidi Swapp's lightbox to add just a tad more personality or detail to each of my events.

I thought the party hats were DARLING. They totally represent a UNICORN's horn. "Unicorns are REAL!"

I scattered some unicorn poop or tye dye hershey kisses all throughout the kitchen island too!

I found the unicorn cups at our local party store.  I also allowed the girls to take the cups home as part of their party favor. I had extra straws, so I inserted a straw into their party favor bag as well. Notice the clear bottle of glue?  Lilah's obsession... is making SLIME.  So... this was just a little foreshadowing for some after dinner party plans.

Jax's theme was Basketball.  You can sort of see it peaking through the photo above.  I also used gold plate chargers to dress up his table.  His table was a tad more "plain", even Jax pointed that out, but honestly, his items were bought hours before the party, so he was lucky  it looked as "good" as it did. Eeeek.  I know, boys totally get shafted.

I tried to make it as equal as possible.  That's what you do when you have twins.  LOL!  I used Heidi Swapp's mini lightbox to add some personality and detail to Jax's tablescape as well.  His said, "Happy Birthday Baller"!

Even if it was VERY last minute, I still love the way everything came together.  

After the guests arrived, we headed downtown to Benny Marconi's to eat GIANT sized PIZZA. The boys drove with Darren/Ty and the girls drove with me.

You can't really see the true size of this pizza, but let's just say that Lilah could have probably laid across the entire circumference of this pizza and would have fit on the inside of it.  

This was QUITE the experience.  

7 HYPER boys and girls, LOUD, in a restaurant, downtown, AND THEN... of all places... I take the crazies to the.... CANDY STORE.  What was I thinking?!?!?

 Thanks Cohen for photo bombing a GLORIOUS, downtown "Model Shoot" photo.

We gave the kids a $10 budget EACH.  Doesn't sound like a lot, but they left the store with a very HEAVY bag of carefully and personally selected candies.

The COOLEST part about the trip to the candy store was that NOT ONE of the party guests had ever been there before, except for ours. I LOVED that.  I was so happy I got to treat them to a new experience.  

I brought unicorn bags and basketball bags for the kids to fill up.

The candy store offers candy, of course, and other unique items such as "Ranch Dressing" soda.  EWE!

Our rides home were QUITE different.  The boys sang wildly and I believe, not knowingly, were unbuckled.  Sigh... thank goodness my husband is the safest driver I know.  And the girls calmly sang some pop music.  

Upon arriving home, the boys wanted to play Fort Nite and the girls wanted to make slime.  Presley, Cohen's sister, arrived a little early to pick up her brother, so Lilah was kind enough to let her join in on the fun.

I ordered BOTH of my kids their OWN cake.  Sigh... I may NEVER do that again, until they turn 13 or 16 because NO ONE wanted to eat cake.  THEY were too preoccupied having fun and/or were STUFFED.

Lilah's cake was a darling Unicorn cake. I just LOVED it.  

 Both cakes came from the new bakery, in downtown Roanoke, called Freshly Baked Bakery.

 Jax's cake was a 3-Dimentional BASKETBALL!

Cohen helped Jax blow out his candle.  HAHA.

I'm NOT going to lie... I had a heart attack when I had to finally cut this cake.  I KNOW how much goes into a cake like this.

We sent our guests home with some amazing party favors.  One mom, of a party guest, sent me a text a few hours later and said, "I'm confused.  Was this Jax's birthday or my child's birthday!" LOL!

I was so happy to be able to pull these PARTIES off even with the SNOW that fell.  I appreciate all the parents who were so patient and flexible with our indecisiveness.  Stay tuned for what was inside the party favor bags, in a future post.