The twirls got sung to in Primary. I think it's so cute when they hold on to each other to "be brave". That's one of the reasons that they will be in the same kindergarten class in the fall. We've taught them if they are nervous, they can be braver together.
In preparation for their birthday party I made 24 stuffed puppy tails, felt puppy ears, and ribbon with velcro for puppy collars. I am not sure why I thought it would be fun to hand make costumes for all the kids. But it came together pretty well. I had the twirls go with me to Jo-Anns to pick the fabric out for the tails. They chose one with rainbow paw prints. Then I used a tail from a costume as my template. My girls wear puppy tails and ears all the time. I noticed that the tail that clips on is too hard for them to do alone and the ears are on a headband that slips down when they crawl around. So I bought these crochet headbands to use for the waistband on the tails and for the headband on the ears. That way the tail would be easy to step into and slip on. And the ears would stay in place as they played puppy.
Here's the primary singing to the twirls (they sang Happy ten times, 5 for each girl, ignore my piano mistakes. I was watching the girls instead of the music, haha!):
The night before their birthday we had our family party. They opened presents (in tutus that I made for their 2nd birthday, haha!). Then we had cupcakes. I had made 3 boxes of cupcakes for their party the next day. I made them vegan with and egg substitute. I bought a new brand and it wasn't that good. The girls were like "I love these cupcakes! Well, only the frosting. Not the cake part". So after they went to bed Berlyn and I ran to Meijer and bought cupcakes for their party. The bakery happened to have fresh green and yellow frosted mini cupcakes AND green and yellow frosted soft cookies. Meijer for the win!!!
We gathered their whole plush litter from around the house. Put together all the puppy books. Drew paw prints in chalk on the sidewalk. Turned balloons into little puppy faces. And Berlyn topped the treats with Oreo and chocolate chip paw prints. Finally it was Pawty Time!
For their party I found these cool magic sequin shirts. You can push the sequins up or down to make it a cat or dog face. Ten points if you can guess what animal they like them on. I also found these rainbow puppy shorts on Amazon.
When the guests arrived they got to pick their tail and ears. Then they got to use markers to decorate their puppy collar and tag (we used the paper tags you buy for key rings). After everyone was all dressed we began their puppy training. You might remember that Scarlett had a puppy party for her 5th bday. But at that party it was mostly focused on taking care of a plush puppy. For the twirls we turned the kids into the puppies.
First they ate puppy chow (Cocoa Puffs) and popcorn like dogs (with their face on the ground). While the kids were eating I read a few dog stories. The kids were so attentive and quiet!
Then they had to crawl through the puppy obstacle course. After they finished Berlyn gave them a puppy sticker. The kids did a great job waiting patiently for their turn. Then after the course I had them do puppy actions, like roll over and playing fetch (I threw a pretzel that each kid had to crawl and retrieve).
We had a circle time where we sang some songs. On the fly I changed the words of the songs to contain puppies. Like 5 little puppies jumping on the bed. Or singing the puppy pokey where they shake their puppy tails, etc. The kids were so good at following along and playing the games. I was so impressed at how calm and fun the party was. Considering we had a ton of little kids, I was grateful how it all turned out. What nice kids! They were from their primary class and some from their ballet class.
Please ignore my silliness and singing voice. I could see the parents (and a few dads) out of the corner of my eyes, I had to just keep blocking them out so I didn't get self conscious. haha!
I asked the twirls if they wanted us to sing to them at the same time or individually. They said they wanted us to sing together. We were lucky enough to find a yellow and a green "5" candle.
One of my least favorite parts about birthday parties is when they open presents. I feel like all the kids crowd the birthday kid and it's just pure mayhem. So I had the twirls sit on the couch, everyone else sit on the floor, then the gift giver got to sit on the couch in between the twirls. They all loved it and it was a lot calmer than normal (but still pretty crazy).
The twirls had a great time and the other kids seemed to enjoy themselves too. They all finished puppy training and I told them they are all real puppies. One of my friends told me that the next day her daughter (still wearing her costume) asked her "Am I a real dog now?" haha! Several of my friends told me how much their kids like to wear their costumes. Yay! Glad they didn't end up tossed aside immediately.
Siena and Jaide have really blossomed over the past year. They are kind, giggly, silly, thoughtful, sharp, talkative, creative, playful, helpful, and so much fun (as long as they are not tired or hungry, just like me! haha!)
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