The Ladies Turn One! {Ava & Chloe's First Birthday Bash!}

The ladies are one, and we celebrated ladybug style! This was a super fun party to plan. It just had to be ladybug theme since the expression "The Ladies Are One!" is just too dang cute for twin girls, Ava and Chloe are referred to endearingly as the ladies, and Nana & Poppi call them the ladybugs. Sold. ;)

I felt like all I did was take pictures all day, but I still didn't get nearly all of the pictures I wanted to! I am so bummed I didn't get any of my girls with Santa Barbara family who came down, grandparents, cousins, aunts, uncles...grrrr. But, little ladies, you had many friends and family there celebrating with you, and they love you to pieces! (Please email me any phone or camera pictures you might have snapped of you at the party, especially you with my girls! Thanks! Would be awesome for the scrapbook.)

This is going to one long picture-filled post! Don't say I didn't warn you.

The dessert table filled with all sorts of sweet treats!

Yummy Rice Krispie Treats made by Laurie, tasty chocolate-covered polka dot Oreos made by my sis Julia, and adorable ladybug sugar cookies made by Maya!

Poor cupcake fell victim to Jake's sweet tooth. That little stinker couldn't help himself!

Check out those adorable smash cakes! They were just too cute to eat. Seriously, though...I just couldn't cut into them! Too precious. I'm thinking I've got to do a styled cake smash session or something with them. A fellow twin mom makes these amazing cakes. We're trading services, and I can't wait to take pictures of her four little ladies in July! If you need custom cakes, shoot me a line and I'll get you in touch with her. ;)

Good thing Auntie Maya entertained Jake for the day prior to the party, and Auntie Laurie and Cousin Maya came over to help make those time-consuming adorable ladybug favor bags. They were all set up and ready to go for the pinata!

These were dangling above the ladybug bags.

Here is a better look at them because the pictures were hard to see with the glare.

I filled a galvanized bucket with ladybug and butterfly wings my sweet friend Anna picked up for me from the Dollar Store. I attached the "Ladies & Bugs" sign I made, and kids were able to pick up the wings, wear them at the party, and take them home!

I made the "The Ladies Are One!" banner in Photoshop, and if you want to know how I made the "ONE" letters below the scrap banner, check out this post.

This was a fun little activity that kept the kiddos entertained! I saw something similar floating around on Pinterest, so when I spotted the ladybug magnifying glasses and mini shovels at the Target dollar spot, I thought it would be fun for the kids to dig for "bug" erasers.

Best fwends laughing about something!

I love baby feet, especially little Faith's toesies.

Love this picture of Grandpa Emmet and Chloe!

The girls certainly knew what to do with their cupcakes...they gobbled them up!

I love how Ava is trying to feed Brother some cupcake in this picture!

Toward the end of the party, we gathered around the kiddos to "show them something." They watched as Presley opened the lid to a container...filled with ladybugs! This ladybug release was so much fun! The kids loved seeing ALL of the ladybugs flying and crawling out onto their fingers, hair, feet, legs, everywhere. This was definitely neat for the kids, and now we have a whole bunch of ladybugs in our backyard protecting our roses. :)

My little ladies went down for a nap while the party carried on and the kids jumped in the bounce house and played on the playhouse swingset.

As the party started to wind down, Jake got to spend some time with his Santa Barbara cousins in the bounce house. I can almost hear their little giggles as I look at these pictures!

I couldn't think of a better way to celebrate our little ladies turning ONE! Ava & Chloe, we love you to the moon and back, and cannot wait to see what this next year brings!