Doggie Party -- The Preparations

For some unknown reason, Cody and Jaden have always been BIG dog lovers. Even though we don't own a dog (or any pet, for that matter), our boys absolutely adore dogs. They want to pet every dog they see and have never seemed to be afraid of them, even when receiving doggie licks, kisses, sniffs, and up-close barks. In fact, more often than not, the fear typically seems to be reverse-- the dogs often seem a bit frightened, or at least overwhelmed, by our over-zealous little guys! Even when we see dogs in picture books or merely hear a dog's bark, both boys will giggle and point enthusiastically. 

So, when it came time for our boys' birthday party planning, our theme idea was an obvious choice. We planned a doggie party! Due to our family's vacation over the boys' actual birthday, we held the party in mid-May, about 2 weeks before their big day. Mommy put together some doggie-themed invites for our friends and family.

Front: "Come. Sit. Stay. Play"
Back: "It's time to Paw-ty! Jaden and Cody are turning two!
(party details) Be ready for a doggone good time!"

The day before the party, everyone had a job to do. Jaden and Cody saw everyone else working hard and took it upon themselves to dust some furniture. 

Daddy did an excellent job of ready-ing the yard. His mowing and weed-whacking made our yard look picture-perfect. :)

We were SO pleased to have Grammy visit us again this year to help with the boys' party. She is always such a hard worker and doesn't hesitate to jump right in and help with any task. Mommy was especially excited to have Grammy's help with a lot of the food preparations. Grammy mixed up some of our jello "puppy water bowls."

Then, came the involved task of making dog bone pretzels. I'm terming the pretzel-making a task because (a) neither of us had ever made them before and (b) the job is a multi-step process. On my own, I'm not sure I would've attempted this menu item. With Grammy's help, however, the task was quite fun! First, we made the dough and let it rise. Then, we rolled out small sections of the dough and tied the ends into knots.

Here are our pre-baked doggie bones.

The final step was dipping each pretzel into a baking soda/hot water solution (to achieve the pretzel taste) and sprinkling on the kosher salt.

Finally... ready to bake!

The final product! Quite tasty, too. :)

The last major kitchen projects to be completed on the pre-party day were the 2 birthday cakes. Mommy decided that the boys each needed their own cake this year. (Last year we had made 1 cake and two individual kinds of cupcakes.) Grammy bought a couple of heart shaped pans for cake #1.

This was Jaden's cake, the doggie head. Grammy brought along an easy-to-make recipe for icing that was super easy to spread and just delicious!

Grammy had also pre-cut patterns for us to use when cutting the doggie's ears. They had to be formed just right to fit right alongside the dog's head.

We used chocolate icing for the doggie's ears.

Lastly, we added icing facial features and a cookie topped with jam for the tongue.

Cody's cake, a doggie dish, used two round cakes instead of heart-shaped. We stacked these on top of each other and covered the cakes with blue icing.

Reeses Puffs cereal was our dog food topping, and Scooby Snacks were perfect for lining the doggie dish.

Cody's cake... complete!

Here are both boys' cakes together. Gotta love the cute & easy-to-imitate Pinterest ideas!

On the morning of the party, our primary job was setting up all the decorations. On the mantel, we displayed each boy's Year 2 photo poster, plus another poster of both boys combined. It's fun seeing all these memories combined and comparing how much they've changed over the year. I LOVE these fast & inexpensive posters from Costco. We display them on our downstairs wall throughout the whole year.

This was our guest sign-in table. My sister Kim had given me the fantastic idea last year to buy books for the boys that are based on the party theme. Then, the party guests can sign the inside of the book for a precious yearly keepsake. Of course, the boys already love having 2 more doggie books to add to their collection. :)

In the "dog bed" basket above, we set out party favors for all the guests-- homemade puppy chow. We, of course, had to let Cody and Jaden sample some of the treat before the party (their first official taste of peanut butter). They were BIG fans! 

The label reads, "Thanks for chowing down with us!
Hope you had some tail-waggin' fun! Love Cody & Jaden

Behind our food table, we displayed a Happy Birthday banner, handmade by their crafty Aunt Sarah a few years ago. We love thinking of her whenever we take out this trendy banner!

On the food table inside, and the on the outdoor drink table, we set out doggie #2 centerpieces. This was a perfect way to use some of our leftover Reeses Puffs!

We also gave in to the cute-factor and purchased some dog-themed plates and napkins. Cody and Jaden couldn't stop saying "bark, bark, bark" and giggling whenever they saw these plates, so I think the splurge was worthwhile.

Here is our partially-filled food table (more menu details and food pics to come).

On the front door, we hung a welcome to the "paw-ty" sign.

These fire hydrant signs alerted our guests as to the locations of the bathrooms.

Finally, we created a "Play Fetch" basket, filled with frisbees and various sports balls, to entertain both little and big kids outdoors during the party.

We waited until the last possible minute to put Jaden and Cody into their party-gear. It's hard to see in these pics, but the boys' shirts each have a little white dog on their left side.

Grammy entertained the boys in our front yard before the guests arrived. Not surprisingly, the boys loved having time to run around.

 And that's it! All ready for the party to begin!

Happy 2nd birthday, little fellas!

May Playgroup

Due to everyone's schedule, we were only able to fit in one playdate last month. Nevertheless, we enjoyed ourselves thoroughly! We started our gathering with snacks. Ruth had made some adorable grape caterpillars (complete with candy eyes)-- how does a mother of a 2-month old have time for this?? Way to go, Ruth! :)

Our only other planned activity was making peanut butter bird feeders. The kiddos loved rolling around their PB-covered cardboard tubes in the birdseed. It's always great when your mom lets you get messy! On second thought, I guess I should say that most of the kids enjoyed getting messy... our little Jaden cried when his hand got covered in peanut butter! Miss Jenna finished up the bird feeder for him. :) Thanks, Jenna, for your constant understanding of my little ones, and for planning such a fun activity!

After that, we just let the kiddos have lots of time to play. It was a warm, sunny, and absolutely gorgeous day out, so all of us were ready to enjoy some outdoor-time. Jenn has a perfect yard for outdoor play. The kids all loved the trampoline, especially when Jenn led an impromptu game of Ring Around the Rosie.

The littlest ones loved making one another bounce and fall.

Jaden and Cody hadn't been on a trampoline since last summer. What a hit! They laughed and bounced for quite a while.

Jenn's family also has a fun playset that got a lot of use that day. Jaden especially loved going down the slide over and over again.

He even tried out a few new sliding positions. :)

We sure love our playgroup friends! What a treat it is to gather together!

Kody & Noah

Playset Assembly

For their 2nd birthday, Jaden and Cody were blessed to receive a new playset from Grammy and Papa. The boys absolutely LOVE slides and swings at the park-- how exciting to have these things in our own backyard! Jason asked a team of guys to come over to help with the assembly process. This team had a BIG job!

Thankfully, even though rain was forecasted on this day in early May, we had a beautiful, cool sunny day. The first task was to sort out all of the pieces according to their step number.

Then, the assembly began! Here, Jonathan & Jason work together while Cody and Jaden supervise.

Paul and Frances were our two experienced handymen that we named foremen of the building process. It was so wonderful to have their help!

Josh was definitely our most motivated helper. He did not want to quit until the playset was done. What a gift he was to the process! One of Josh's early jobs was assembling the climbing wall.

This playset is a fortress! It was exciting to watch the pieces come together and imagine the boys running around inside. Another friend and helper, Matt, can also be seen in this pic.

Once the "house" portion of the playset was up, our uneven ground presented a problem. The guys ended up digging a couple of shallow trenches in order to level out the playset. As I mentioned, this project was no small task!

For some of our friends, this assembly event became a whole family day at the Schleicher home! Jaden and Cody had 4 of their friends to play with that morning while their daddies were working on our construction crew. This meant that Amy had a few mommy friends to visit with as well. We mainly tried to stay inside, out of the guys' way, but we took a few breaks outside to see the slowly growing playset. The kids enjoyed playing in the sandbox...

...and running, riding, or pushing toys down the hill.

Paul tried to convince Amy that she was the true foreman (forewoman?). He insisted that I wear a construction hat whenever I stepped onto the "job site." Then, when I started to pose for a picture next to the playset, he decided that the picture needed to be an authentic one ("no standing around on the job here!"). So... I was given some power tools.

I wasn't so sure what to think about my new job...

Do I look like an experienced builder yet? :)

If you answered yes, then I had you fooled! :) I still needed Paul's guiding hand a bit.... Even so, I can still say I that was part of the process!

After a break for lunch, many guys still stayed on to continue the work. In fact, Jason had to leave by 3:00 to lead worship team at church, and these three guys-- Paul, Tom, and Josh-- still worked another few hours in his absence! We are truly fortunate to have such hard-working, gracious friends! Jaden and Cody loved coming outside to check on their progress.

Finally by 5:00 (after a LONG, hard day of work at the Schleichers), all the guys had to return home. We were officially over halfway done with the setup. Jaden and Cody didn't seem to mind that the playset was only partially complete. They laughed their way through the door...

... excitedly checked out the telescope,

and enthusiastically turned the steering wheel (even though Jaden doesn't look too energetic here).

Both boys cried when we had to go back inside. They absolutely LOVED their new playset!

Jason and a few willing guy friends (Josh & Matt again, with new help from Joe and Casey) took two more evenings to tackle the rest of the assembly. Once complete, the "house/fort/castle" had its own roof, an exciting slide (which is so fast that it propels our boys forward onto the ground each time they go down!), and an attached swingset. 

Right outside the window, there is also a small table that can be used for sand or water play.

From the back, you can see the climbing wall (which the boys haven't quite figured out yet). You may notice the concrete patio that the guys installed just below the side door. Due to the trench/leveling issue, the door wouldn't open unless the guys dug out some of the sod. They didn't want to leave a dirt hole (which would soon become a mud pit!) right outside this door, so one of the guys had the bright idea to bring in the concrete. We love the realistic taste of home this adds to the playset! :)

Mommy and the boys are SO proud of Daddy's hard work-- his organization of the assembly crew (for three different construction dates!), his hard work with the actual assembly, and for his dedication to getting the project done in a short time period (just in time for the boys' birthday party!).

We are very grateful to our crew of 8 guys for generously giving of their time to help us with the set-up. We definitely couldn't have done it without their help!

Finally, thanks again so much to Grammy and Papa for your generous gift! We think the playset is beautiful, and we know that Jaden and Cody will spend hours and hours playing on it in the years to come.

Almost Two!

When we celebrated Jaden & Cody's 23-month milestone, we realized that we had reached an important benchmark. No longer do we refer to the boys' ages in months... now, they are simply "almost two!" From here on out, they'll just be 2, or 2 and a half, or 3, or before we know it, 18 and graduating. Yikes! How quickly the time is passing with our little ones!

Jaden and Cody only went through a short stage in which
they enjoyed wearing these new hats. Good thing we
captured some pics during this time!

Jaden, Cody-- 23 months and... er... lovin' it??

Jaden, Cody-- taking a quick breather from their wrestling match

The most exciting part of this month has been hearing Cody and Jaden's vocabulary finally start to pick up. At the start of the month, they would point at objects and exclaim, "dat!" for everything. Or, if they were particularly excited, or if Mommy and Daddy don't respond right away, their remarks speedily become "dat-a-dat-a-dat-dat!" The boys won't stop until we give them the word for the particular object of interest.

During the latter half of the month, more and more actual words started forming. Some of their recent favorite words include door, bark (which they eagerly exclaim upon seeing or hearing a dog), green (grrrr), help, blue, no, Jaden (jay-jay), baby (which they will say whenever they hear a child of any age crying), and opposites (oppa) from one of their books. They enjoy imitating the sounds that Mommy and Daddy make. They're trying SO hard to communicate!

The boys have also been making fun language connections lately-- squinting their eyes and pointing at the window when we read about the sun or pointing at their chest when we talk about buttons. Their favorite connections are enthusiastically pointing at our front window when we read about a school bus or a garbage truck since that's where we frequently spot these vehicles.

Their playtime favorites include building book piles on the couch or the floor, flipping our light switches (yes, which they can reach independently now!), going on walks with their mowers to see our neighbor's stone lion.statues, putting stickers on paper, and playing with play-dough. Mommy was excited that the colors on this homemade play-dough turned out so vibrantly! The boys love poking at the play-dough and commenting on the various colors.

Cody and Jaden are also very eager to help in the kitchen. They will drag chairs over to the counter to watch and help whenever Mommy is cooking. Here, the boys help pour ingredients into our cookie dough recipe.

Here are some other fun facts about Jaden and Cody during Month 23:

• They are big helpers for hand washing before meals & love getting out and putting away their stool.
• Oddly, both boys laugh and point whenever they see a picture of a child crying in a book. We're hoping this is only because they enjoy seeing the child's teeth!
• Both boys have developed an aversion to Mommy's camera and will often shake their head and whine whenever she attempts to get a picture.
• They "tell" us when their diaper is dirty by yanking on their pants.
• Devotion time during snacks is a favorite time of day! The boys LOVE doing the actions with Mommy and will often cry when she puts away the devotion book.
• The boys love feeding each other pieces of dry cereal in the morning or giving one another drinks out of their sippy cups.

Lately, we've been encouraging the boys to do specific actions with one another-- hugging, high-fiving, or fist pounding, as seen in the picture here. These interactions always make our boys laugh and laugh!

In fact, the best way to describe the boys' goofy twin behavior is just to let you see it. The following two videos contain various directions and twin-lovin'. Please excuse Mommy's random commentaries. :)

Cody and Jaden have always enjoyed stepping into Daddy's shoes. Just recently, the boys have been successful in walking around the house in his shoes. Seeing them walk around like these reminds me of just how small they are! They've got a ways to go before filling Daddy's shoes! 

CODY

This last picture of Cody isn't the best expression, but it captures a common sight-- seeing our little man snuggle up with his favorite doggie. This stuffed animal is a must-have for naptimes and for transitions after naps.

Cody has made us giggle lately because he's taught himself to toot. Most often immediately following baths, he'll push hard and then laugh hysterically at himself when getting out even the smallest sound. Cody has also become our little snuggler lately. Surrounding naptimes and often during church, too, Cody will cozy right in against Mommy or Daddy's chest and stay there for quite a while. Daddy and Mommy love this precious time with our loving Cody-boy!

JADEN

Our Jaden-man's activity of the month is stacking books. He will throw BIG fits if these book piles are knocked down or if Cody attempts to take a book from his stack. Our little particular boy is still very concerned with details. One day when attempting to put him down for a nap, Jaden cried and cried until Mommy realized that she had put Jaden's favorite sheets on Cody's mattress. As soon as the mattresses were switched, Jaden's tears stopped instantly, and he calmed right down for his nap!

Jaden's fun accomplishment of the month is that he learned to jump-- yes, actually an off-the-ground jump! His favorite place to practice his jumping is on this quilt from my Aunt Jeanene and cousin Marcie. This video isn't the best at showing Jaden's jumping skills, but it sure is a funny one to watch both boys' attempts! (Jaden is in the blue shirt in the video.)

Our almost-two-year-olds sure bring adventure, laughter, craziness, and joy to our lives. We love you, little misters!