First Birthday Party - Part III

We were too busy enjoying the day to take many pictures, but here's a good one of the handsome Gleason men...kind of dressed alike

We were honored by a special performance of "Ben and Anna" by Joe.  It's a great song that he wrote for them:

"You just started life today

And I was a hundred miles away

Watching early fog roll out

You are what I thought about"

Anna and Ben with Grammie and Aunt Caroline - very tired by this point

And the after shot of birthday boots - this illustrates a difference between little boys and little girls, at least in our family!

First Birthday Party - Part II

Our guests!  We are so thankful for our family and friends who have helped us throughout the first year with twins!  We hope this was a time to thank you for your support and prayers and babysitting time, and we missed those who couldn't come.

Grandmommy serving as waitress to Anna and Ben so Jon and I could eat.  Uncle Tim and Aunt Rachel gave us a favorite book Gossie about a gosling who likes to wear red boots...Anna was super excited to be like Gossie for her big day!

Eating lunch - what a handsome fella!

And beautiful girl...this is before she discovered the hairbow

Eating the "smash cakes" - before

And family shot after.  Neighbor Rachel was the perfect photographer - thank you Rachel!!

Anna had no trouble slowly destroying her cake, but she was more fascinated by the texture and playing with it than actually putting it in her mouth!

Silly face

Ben was vaguely interested but tired out by this point.  He had some energy left to inspect the cake.

Then he said "it's my party and I'll cry if I want to!" aka "please get me out of this chair and why is everyone staring at me and taking pictures?"

First Birthday Party - Part I

Jon and I think Anna and Ben were born at the most perfect time of year, so their birthday party was a celebration of fall!  The only thing missing was GA football, but we had an off week.  Here are Pop and Gran posing on our new deck.  We had such a perfect day for the party!

Jon did a great job setting up the backyard for the party.  We had apple bobbing, pumpkins to decorate, turkey decoys and lots of great fall-inspired food.  A good friend Chris came early to help out...he's here with Ben exploring the party setup.

Isn't Ben so handsome in his little man clothes and boots?!

Birthday cake for guests and smash cakes for Anna and Ben

First Birthday - October 17, 2011

Anna and Ben started out their first birthday with buttermilk pancakes - a favorite recipe from Gran!

And when daddy got home from work they got to open a present.  The box was fun and wrapping paper tastes good!

Playing with their new little people animal sounds farm from Uncle Tim and Aunt Rachel.  They pick out the best toys because they know what cousins Kate and Matthew like!

Later in the week, Pop and Gran came to help with the birthday party.  Anna and Ben got to open presents from them on Friday night.  We were eating TCBY and that's mostly what they wanted!

Ben caught in the act of eating his present

Wedding bells

We spent last weekend with family in Lake Oconee, GA to celebrate Cathy and Dennis' marriage.  It was a beautiful weekend and a gorgeous place.  Anna and Ben got all dressed up for the party and had a great time dancing.  Ben had multiple girlfriends before the night was over!

Hanging out with Aunt Caroline

The happy couple

First Haircut

My baby boy is growing up!  Ben has received many comments on his hair since he was about 6 months old...when it started growing, it grew in the middle and straight up.  He had a great mohawk for the summer months.  Well it started to get in his eyes and was looking a big scraggly, so we decided to take our "buddy" in for his first real big boy haircut.  Ben wasn't too sure about the zebra smock.

Overall he was a great sport.  He is such a handsome little man!

Almost one

Well Anna and Ben are almost one, and I obviously haven't done a very good job of blogging.  Maybe I'm turning over a new leaf...

In recent news, we have seen lots of family recently.  First Grandmommy came to visit and loved reading to A & B.  Then Bill and Edna came to help out while Jon recovered from surgery.  I only have pictures of Pop roughhousing with the kids, but this is what life looks like around here lately!

Ben showing off his before haircut do

Anna wearing one of cousin Kate's beautiful dresses

Look at those big blues!