Evan and Alli's Birthday

Yes, Evan and Alli really are 5 years old. When I think about Drew turning 5 she seemed so grown up to me, but Evan and Alli still seem like babies. They're so little. Another thing that I keep thinking about is when I was 28 weeks pregnant with them I was put in the hospital with contractions 8 minutes apart. It was such a stressful time because I was in the hospital for a week hearing nurses whisper in the corner that I wouldn't be leaving the hospital pregnant, which worried me to death. I remember my doctor reassuring me that he saw a patient of his that day who had premature twins that had just turned 5, and I thought about how lucky she was to have her babies grown and healthy, and that seemed so far away for me. Of course, I did leave the hospital pregnant and held on for another month, and here we are today, with 5 year old normal, healthy kids. I know, the sap is overwhelming. Anyways, back to the birthday party. We took them out to dinner on their actual birthday because they wanted to go to a restaurant where they sing to you. And then we had the big party this past Sunday. It went really well. Of course, nobody knows what RSVP means these days (I myself am as guilty as the next guy), so we had no clue what to expect. A whole bunch of kids showed up. Twins means double the kids and double the presents, so we had a garage full. The rain showed up before the party, and it ended up pretty nice. The ground was wet and soggy, which was why we moved everything into the garage, and the kids still played outside with all their little friends and got nice and muddy. They got a crazy amount of gifts (lots of much needed clothes and several not-so-needed, but much desired toys). I think more than anything they were just thrilled to have their friends at their own house. And, Andy and I were pretty excited about getting to show off the house. It was a really nice day, lots of family and friends around, and a few strangers, including one very odd mother - nice, but odd. Here are some pictures:

Also, here's a little video clip of Drew hitting the ball at her last ball game. Of course, when I thought to get up and take video she hit the ball straight to the pitcher and got out, but she hit it pretty good anyways.