Wednesday, April 29, 2015

March for Babies 2015

We participated in the March of Dimes/March for Babies this past Saturday and it was such an awesome day! I'd been looking forward to this event for a month now. I really want to teach my kids to give back, help others, and bring awareness to important issues. Of course, prematurity is near & dear to my heart after our experience with our 29 weekers. Our last quint home, Rayleigh, came home after four long months in the NICU. I hope the money we helped raise for the event will help other expectant moms and premature babies.

The event that was closest to us was in Longview, Texas, which is an hour and 15 minute drive. We had around 40 people drive that far to participate in the event with us. We all meet at the church parking lot so we could follow each other; when we drove up and I saw everyone who'd gotten up early on a Saturday morning to come support us, I had tears start to swell in my eyes. I seriously had tears of joy. We have the most awesome support system. We will never be able to convey to all the people who help us out, just how much we love and appreciate them. We are so blessed.

Another reason I was so excited for the event to arrive, was because I knew I was finally going to get to meet my fellow quint mom, Darcy. When I found out we were going to be in Longview, I knew I had to get in touch with her and see if they were available to come out. Darcy has 10 year old quints. She is from a small town that's about 20 minutes from where we live and she still has family in the area. When word broke about me being pregnant with quints, she reached out to me. She sent me pictures of her quints and offered advice and was always so supportive. Darcy spearheaded a diaper drive for us and to this day, we have yet to buy any diapers for the quints. She is such a special lady. The moment I saw her, my eyes filled with tears; once again, I was overcome with joy. We talked the whole 3 miles. I probably asked her a million questions. She was so easy to talk to and we have so much in common.

Me & Mia
Mia was styling!

Tessa and Kara

Paula & Brant

Kayla and Mia

Gavin and Brady

Tessa

Rayleigh and Mia

Brady and Brant

Getting ready
Gracie and Tessa

Mia
Walking for a great cause!
After the walk, we were ready for some Mexican food!!!













We are so loved! 
Quints holding quints plus a little sister and a big brother!!
Austin holding Mia (Baby A's)
Mackenzie holding Tessa (Baby B's)
Kaitlyn holding Brant (Baby C's)
Peyton holding Gracie (Baby D's)
Caleb holding Rayleigh (Baby E's)
The Bryant Quints have a little sister, sweet Olivia.
And we have big brother Brady.
It was so nice to finally meet a fellow Quint Mom.
I have the most amazing friends, who also happen to be very talented. My friend, Channing, designed our team shirts and my friend, McCall worked on the quints' shirts. I am so please at how all the shirts turned out!





We walked for our 29 weekers!!!! I wanted to make it longer in my pregnancy, but that didn't happen. I did everything I could, but my body just gave out. I'm so thankful for modern technology and the awesome staff of doctors, nurses, aides, and therapist at Baylor University Medical Center - NICU. They saved our babies. Today, the Mia, Tessa, Brant, Gracie, and Rayleigh are happy, healthy, and thriving 13 month olds.
Sweet little Rayleigh was about 2 weeks old in this picture. Look at her tiny little legs.
Tessa and Gracie were so little I could fit both of them in my shirt (of course I was still wearing my maternity shirts then). They were about 3-4 weeks old.

The first picture of them all together again. They were 2 months old.
This was the day we took Brant home. They were almost 3 months old.

Wednesday, April 22, 2015

National Infertility Awareness Week - Our Story of Hope

This is a really long post, but if my experiences with infertility will help another couple struggling with a similar situation, then it's all worth it. I hope my story will give other couples hope.

The older I get, the more I realize I shouldn't judge how other people handle specific situations when I haven't personally been through the situation. Take miscarriages, for example, when I was younger, and before I ever tried to have a baby, I couldn't understand what the big deal was with miscarriages. I seriously thought, 'what's the big deal, the mom never even saw that baby'. (Thankfully, I never told someone that, but I did think it.) The bottom line is, I was ignorant about miscarriages, completely ignorant. But never fear, God was about to teach me a very valuable lesson.

January 2010, after three years of marriage, Steven and I decided we were ready for a baby. I went to the doctor, got checked out, and got the green light to start a family. Four weeks later, while Steven was away on a 2 week business trip, I took a pregnancy test, and it was positive!! I was shocked at how easy and fast it was to get pregnant. We decided to wait until after the first appointment to announce the good news, and I'm so thankful we did. At the first appointment (I was suppose to the 8-9 weeks pregnant) and the sonogram showed the baby was measuring 5 weeks and there wasn't a heartbeat. I was heartbroken. A few weeks later I had a D&C and was told to wait three months before trying again. Those three months of waiting seemed like forever, it passed by so slowly. All I thought about was getting pregnant because if I didn't think about that, I'd cry about the baby I lost.

After 3 months, we were ready to try again. Just like the first time, I got pregnant the first month. I was so excited because this baby was due in March 2011, around Spring Break (which was a dream come true for me since I'm a teacher). My doctor watched me more closely this time and I went to see her around 6 weeks and our baby had a good strong heartbeat!!! Talk about excited! We really thought this was it, we were finally going to have a baby. I went back the next week at seven weeks and the baby was bigger and the heartbeat was still going strong. It was the most amazing feeling ever getting to see that sweet little peanut and hear the heartbeat. After that appointment, I left for Florida with my sisters, niece, and nephews. We took the kids to Disney World and I didn't do much of anything but walk around because I was so scared of hurting my baby. After our week in Florida, I came home and the first night home, I started bleeding. There I was again, facing another loss, another miscarriage. I starting wondering what was wrong with me? What was I doing wrong? I had another D&C and was told I had to wait 3 more months before trying again. I was crushed, heartbroken, sad, and starting to think I was never going to be able to have a baby. During this time, only a hand-full of people knew what was going on with me. I didn't want to be treated different by people and I didn't want people to feel sorry for me, so we kept our troubles and heartache a secret and tried to deal with it the best way that we could.

Three months later, I was pregnant again! This time, my doctor prescribed Progesterone and I took a baby Aspirin daily. I went to the doctor every week to have a sonogram to make sure the baby was okay and growing. Every week the baby was growing and getting bigger! I was so excited when we made it to 8 weeks and the baby was still alive. Week after week, I'd go for my sonogram, scared to death that I was going to receive horrible news, but I didn't, that beautiful baby was still growing. We were so excited, we finally thought this was it, we were going to finally have a baby. Around 11-12 weeks, we actually saw the baby moving on the sonogram. It was the most amazing thing I'd ever seen in my life. I asked my OB/GYN when she thought we were safe to announce the pregnancy and she said whenever you want, she really thought we were safe. So on Valentine's Day 2011 we announced that we were having a baby. We put it on Facebook so all our family and friends knew our exciting news. I was so, so, so excited!!! I was to the point in my pregnancy that my doctor could hear the baby on the dobbler so I wasn't having sonograms every week any more. I was happy to get to this point but I hated not getting to see my sweet baby every week. I went back for a checkup at 13w5d and my doctor couldn't find the heartbeat on the dobbler. I was so scared, but she told me not to worry, the baby may be positioned weird. So we went for a sonogram and there that beautiful baby was, it was so much bigger than the last time we saw it, but there was no heartbeat. Heartbroken doesn't really describe how I felt. It was horrible. Why? Why did God take this baby from us too? What was I doing wrong? We are good people, we're Christians, we would be great parents... why are we going through this?!?!!!! For the first time through all this heartbreaking experience I was a little mad. This was so unfair! I had prayed so hard, but God kept saying no! Because I had carried the baby so long, I had to go to the hospital and give birth. It took 3 days of labor before I was able to birth the baby. It was so horrible. It was horrible to walk out of that hospital empty handed. I was so mad at myself for telling people. Now, I had to go face everyone and tell them I wasn't pregnant anymore. It was awful! My OB/GYN told me it was time to go see a specialist, she had done everything she could.

So we made an appointment to see a Reproductive Endocrinologist in Dallas. At my first appointment, he did an exam and said he saw cysts on my ovaries. He said I had PCOS, and he felt like my problem was that I wasn't releasing good mature eggs. He did a couple of different tests to check everything out. During one of the tests, he saw that I still had some tissue from my previous pregnancy so he tried to remove the tissue, and I started bleeding. The bleeding was so bad I had to go to the hospital and have an emergency D&C. It was craziness! After a few weeks, I was better and the doctor decided to put me on a very small dose of Clomid. He said he thought it would help me produce a good mature egg. So, it took the Clomid and................ surprise, surprise, I got pregnant!

So with this pregnancy I took progestrone and I took Lovenox injections every day (Lovenox is a blood thinner). Just like before, I went to the doctor every week for sonograms. At five weeks, the baby had a heartbeat. Every week, the baby kept growing (actually measuring bigger, which was good) and the heart rate was excellent. Around 8 weeks we could see the baby moving in the sonogram. I was so happy to be pregnant and thankful the baby was growing and looking good, but I was scared to death that something terrible was going to happen again, so I didn't let myself get too excited... I tried to keep the pregnancy a secret as long as I possibly could...I didn't want to lose another baby and have to go back and tell people I wasn't pregnant. So, at 16 weeks, I couldn't hide the bump any longer, so we announced the pregnancy. We had so many people praying for us and that made us feel so good. At 18 weeks, my doctor walked in the exam room and asked if we wanted to find out the sex of the baby. I was like "heck yeah". I had my heart set on the baby being a boy the whole pregnancy, Steven was saying girl, but of course...I was right.  ;)   It was a BOY!!!!! That was one of the happiest moments of my life! My Brady bump kept popping out and it was the most amazing feeling to feel him kick, hiccup, and roll around in my belly.  I was in heaven! On March 15, 2012 I gave birth to my big (8lb 2oz) healthy baby boy, Brady James Seals! For the first time, I experienced love at first sight. I was finally a mama! God finally said YES to my prayers.

Life was wonderful as a family of three. Our whole world revolved around our little guy. I knew I wanted to give Brady a sibling, so we waited until he turned one to start trying again. I talked to my OB/GYN and she said she would prescribe Clomid (same prescription I took to get pregnant with Brady), I didn't have to worry about going back to the specialist in Dallas. So, I took the medicine and sure enough, I was pregnant again the first month of trying. I felt so confident with this pregnancy. The day after I found out I was pregnant we left for vacation, of course I was very careful not to do anything that would harm the baby. A day or two after we got back from vacation, I started bleeding. I was crushed, I had hoped that this time would be easy and I'd be able to really enjoy this pregnancy, because I was scared to death throughout my whole pregnancy with Brady. I wanted one pregnancy were I could stop worrying and enjoy the process. So, Steven and I decided we'd try one last time, and no matter what happened, we'd never try again. We both agreed that there was absolutely no reason to keep putting ourselves through the heartache that comes with miscarriages when we were so happy and blessed with just having Brady.

We decided to go back to the specialist in Dallas to give this last try our best chance for success. The doctor checked me out and said I looked healthy. He prescribed Clomid and Follistem (the lowest doses of both drugs). I had to have sonograms every-other-day to measure my follicles. I also took a shot to trigger ovulation. And that was it...that's all it took for us to get the surprise of our lives. About a week later, I started feeling bad and my stomach was very swollen. Turns out, my ovaries had overstimulated. I went back to the specialist and they did a blood test and sure enough, I was pregnant! I had a sonogram and my abdomen was full of fluid and they also saw 2 little dots in my uterus! Twins!! (so we thought..haha) I had the fluid drained (which was an awful experience) and headed home. Steven was in shock with the news about twins and I was over-the-moon excited! On the way home, the nurse from the clinic called and said they got more results back from my blood work and it was definitely multiplies. I thought, duh lady, twins are multiples....lol.. She didn't expand, and I didn't inquire so I went on my merry way thinking we were about to have twins! A week later, I was back in Dallas to see the specialist, and this is when our lives changed forever... they did a sonogram and this time there were four little dots and possibly one more. I couldn't believe it... I really didn't know what to think. I couldn't figure out how this could happen. Our specialist talked about the chances of "possibly" having twins, but it wasn't too high, and the "chance" of having triplets was even lower...but quads! That never crossed our minds...N.E.V.E.R!!!!! I had more fluid drained from my abdomen (it was just as horrible the second time as it was the first). We also sat down with the specialist. He told us this had never happened to any of his patients before and that we didn't need to go through with the pregnancy. It was very risky and the statistics were bad for pregnancies of HOM (higher order multiples). We left there thinking, "what are we going to do"?!????!!?? We didn't really talk to each other the whole 3 hours home. We were in so much shock! So a week passed and we went back to Dallas for a checkup. I really felt like all four of the babies wouldn't still be alive. My problem is I can get pregnant, I just can't stay pregnant..so I really felt like we would maybe have 1 or 2 babies that would have made it, definitely not 4. WRONG AGAIN!!!!! During the sonogram, the tech was very quiet. Then she was like, "this is bad", she told a nurse to go get the doctor and he came in and was quiet, then he just left. Finally, she said, you have EIGHT fertilized eggs. Two were measuring a week behind and didn't look like they were going to make it but there were SIX babies that were measuring on target with how far along I was. Right then and there, I started shaking all over, my whole entire body was shaking and I couldn't stop! I was in shock and I was scared to death.  The specialist told me I could not have 6 babies. He told us we needed to start thinking about what we wanted to do (move forward or reduce some or abort the whole pregnancy and start over fresh). We left, and I called my OB/GYN from back home. She was in shock; but she talked to me and made me feel better. She told me about the risks but she never pushed reduction, she was so supportive. The next week we went back and our SIX babies all had heartbeats. Let me tell you, it doesn't matter if you are having one baby or fifty babies, when you see that little heart flickering, it is the most amazing feeling. However, the whole situation was so scary, and it really felt like a dream, it was so crazy that it was almost unbelievable.  We went back the next week and one of the babies had stopped growing and didn't have a heartbeat. I thought this would happen all along because I have problems staying pregnant. The other five looked great. It was hard to lose Baby F, but I believe it was God's way of helping the other five have a better chance at surviving. I know where all my angel babies are and I know one day I'll be reunited with them. I loved and will always love all my angel babies. But at this point, I had to focus on what I had to do to help these other five babies survive. My OB/GYN put me in touch with a new doctor, a maternity fetal specialist in Dallas. She was amazing and told us about all the risks and options, but she never pushed anything on us and she told us that she would treat me no matter what I decided. Of course I decided to keep my babies and she was my doctor for the remainder of my quint pregnancy. Once I started seeing the new doctor I stopped going to the fertility doctor. I went to the doctor every week of my pregnancy. I'd go to Dallas one week and my OB/GYN  the next (that way I was only having to travel to Dallas every other week). The quints kept growing and so did my belly. At just 10 weeks into the pregnancy we had to announce the BIG news because I couldn't hide my bump any longer. We announced it at church and asked our church family to pray for us and from there, the news spread like a wildfire. I kept working as a first grade teacher through the first semester of school. The day before Christmas break I went to the doctor and she officially put me on bed rest and told me I was not going back to work. I hated to hear that news but I was so proud of myself for teaching first grade until I was 17 weeks pregnant with QUINTS!!! Bed rest was a drag but I knew I had to do it for my babies. I wanted to do everything in my power to stay pregnant as long as I possibly could..I wanted to do everything in my power to help them be mature and healthy when they did arrive. At 23 weeks I was admitting into Baylor University Medical Center for the remainder of my pregnancy. It was so hard to be 3 hours away from Brady. He wasn't even two years old, there was no way he could understand what was going on. All he knew was that mama was not at home anymore. It was so terrible not getting to be a mama during that time. I had to completely relinquish my title and let everyone else raise my little guy. But, I knew this would only be temporary and I HAD to do everything in my power to stay pregnant for the quints' sake. On March 18, 2014, just 2 years and 3 days after I gave birth to Brady, the quints made their BIG debut! They were born at 29 weeks 1 day (11 weeks early). First there was Mia Danielle weighing 2lbs 10oz, then came Tessa Suzanne weighing 2lbs 14oz, next was Brant Lee  (the only boy of the crew) weighing a whopping 3lbs 6oz, then Gracie Lou weighing 2lbs 7oz, and finally Rayleigh Ann arrived weighing 2lbs 8oz. They were so tiny and helpless. It broke my heart to see them hooked up to all the machines. Life in the NICU was tough, but thankfully, all five of my babies were fighters and they all survived. After 4 long months, we finally got all our babies home from the NICU. God said YES again to my prayers for a baby, but this time he said yes FIVE times!!!!!

Now days I spend my time being a mom to six beautiful little blessings. God has blessed me beyond my wildest dreams. I'm so thankful and blessed to be Brady, Mia, Tessa, Brant, Gracie, and Rayleigh's mama. And I share my story because during those dark days of miscarriages when I didn't know if I was ever going to be a mama, I prayed to God and asked Him to help me use those losses to help other women... and that's what I hope this post does. I hope someone who is facing infertility or recurring miscarriages will read what I've been through and will gain some hope about their situation. God always hears our prayers, sometimes He says yes, sometimes He says no, and sometimes He says wait because something awesome is heading your way (or in my case 6 little awesomes).    :)

I am 1in8!!!
If you think our hands are full, you should see our hearts!

Wednesday, April 15, 2015

Tummy Trouble Update

We took our girls to Dallas yesterday to meet with the Pediatric Gastroenterologist. First of all, let me say, this doctor was amazing! Probably the sweetest pediatric specialist I've ever come in contact with. He was patient, thorough, and really easy to talk to. I'm usually a nervous wreck when I have to talk to doctors, I don't know why but they really intimidate me, but I didn't feel nervous around this doctor.
So, this is what we found out.... He told us pretty much the same thing we've been hearing for the past year, they are premature and it's just going to take time. He thinks the problem may be volume intake so he made adjustments to how much the girls are taking each feed. With Mia, she's getting a smaller volume each feed, but we will make up the lost calories at night. He said Tessa is growing great (she's now 19lb 1oz!!!), so he is leaving her volume as is and prescribed a medicine to help make her hungry. Gracie is doing the best when it comes to taking a bottle, so he lowered her volume just a little to, hopefully, make her hungry. It must have worked, because she took her whole noon feed through the bottle and didn't have to use the g-tube!!!! (I love progress!!!) Finally, Rayleigh, he is leaving her volume the same and putting her on the same medicine as Tessa. He also wants us to start seeing a Dietician for the babies.

I am hopeful these changes will work and the girls will stop vomiting so much and start wanting to take their bottles. The doctor told us we're not running a marathon, we're running a triathlon. This is (probably) going to be a very long process. I really hated to hear that part, but that's just the way life goes with premature babies (or so is true for ours). All-in-all, it was a great visit and we're going to use this new plan until June and then we'll go back for a follow-up and he'll reevaluate.

We want to thank all our family, friends, and everyone who is following us for the love, prayers, and support. Prayers really work, and if you ever doubt that, just take a look at my 6 kiddos. I had so many people praying for both my pregnancies (Brady & the quints) and now I get to spend my days loving on these precious little angels. Please keep those prayers coming!!!

**Oh, and another firsts for the girls, after the appointment, we took them to eat at a restaurant for the first time!! They did so good! Rayleigh actually feel asleep at the table, Gracie watched movies on Steven's iPhone, Tessa ate rice off Daddy's plate, and Mia entertained the people at the table beside us. :)   Of course, we had people staring at us and I could hear them calling the girls quads. I didn't want to shock them even more with the fact that they're actually quints plus there's a big brother!   ;)

Monday, April 13, 2015

Tummy Troubles - Praying for Answers

My quints were born at 29 weeks 1 day gestation (11 weeks early). Life in the NICU was tough and it was a long process. The effects of prematurity are hard on a baby and many of them deal with being born early for a long time, maybe a lifetime. To have five 29 weekers; my quints did amazing considering the circumstances. However, all four of my girls had and still have feeding issues. They have problems aspirating the milk into their lungs during feeds. They also have bad reflux, which means they vomit, a lot. And, they have aversions to the bottle. All four girls came home with a g-tube to help with their feeds. They are almost 13 months old and they still have the g-tubes and we use them with every feed. I was hoping that, by now, they would have the tubes out and eating on their own, but that's not the case.

I've been taking this process day-by-day, trying to not push too hard, but enough is enough. I feel that they should be eating, like normal, by now, but they aren't and it's very frustrating. I have no medical background, and I really feel like I have no idea what to do to help them get better. So, I contacted our Dallas pediatrician and asked him what we should do, and he referred us to a GI specialist. I hope and pray that the GI doc can figure out what's going on and help our girls out.

I don't share a lot of information about my kid's health issues because I think some things should be kept private. But I'm telling you this because I'm asking you to pray that this new doctor will have the answers. Pray for us traveling to Dallas to see this doctor. And please pray that the girls' feeding issues will be resolved soon!
Praying for our little sweethearts!


Saturday, April 11, 2015

A Gift From My Heart: Birthday Books

It's pretty evident that my kids are my world. I dreamed all my life about being a mom. Then, when I decided it was the "right time" to have kids, things didn't go the way I planned. The experiences of my first three miscarriages devastated me. For the first time in my life, I was heartbroken. Finally, on March 15, 2012, God blessed me with the baby that I had prayed so diligently for, day after day. Brady was my wish come true, the "yes" to all those prayers.

When Brady was 15 months old, we decided it was time to try to give him a sibling. Unfortunately, the answer was no, again. So, Steven and I decided, we'd try one.last.time to have another baby. And when I say, one last time, I'm serious. Whether the outcome was good or bad, this was it. I was not going to put myself through anymore heartache. If God wanted us to have another baby, he'd give us one, if not, then we were going to be happy as a family of three. So, I prayed really hard that God would give us one more blessing, and low & behold, He gave us FIVE!!!! lol   Our quints arrived on March 18, 2014, just three days after Brady turned two, so in a span of 2 years and 3 days, I gave birth to 6 kids! :)   Talk about the shock of a lifetime!

It's such a honor to be Brady, Mia, Tessa, Brant, Gracie, and Rayleigh's mama. I want them to always know how much I love them and what a blessing they are to my life, so I'm doing something special for them each year on their birthday, and I thought I'd share this idea with you! My sister gave me this idea from something she's doing for my nephew. She bought the book, Oh the Places You Will Go, and each year, she gives the book to Gavin's school teacher to write a note to him. When he graduates, she will give him the book as a graduation gift and it will have been signed by all his teachers throughout his childhood. I love that idea, and I plan on doing the same thing for my six kiddos.

I was walking down the book isle in Target a couple of months ago and saw the book, If I Could Keep You Little by Marianne Richmond. It caught my eye, so I picked it up and read it. I fell in love with the book, it made me think of my quints. I don't know why, but it's so hard for me to see the babies grow up so fast. I'm so thankful they're healthy and growing and meeting milestones....I just wish I could slow the process down because it's going way too fast. So, I decided to take my sister's idea with the book and I'm putting my own twist to it... I bought 5 copies of the book, If I Could Keep You Little, and each year on the quint's birthday, I write a message to them. When they turn 18, I'll give them the book and it will have little notes from me each year of their life.

Well, I will never leave my Brady out of anything, so I started thinking about what to do for him. I had already missed two years of writing to him in a book, but I decided I wasn't going to worry about that, he was going to have a book too, but one that was different from the quints. I found another book by the same author, called You Are My Wish Come True. I immediately knew it was the perfect book for Brady. So, I started, this year, writing to him in his birthday book.

I'm sharing this with you because maybe some of you are sentimental like me and would like to do something special for your little one too. It's cheap and easy to keep up with and it's something they will always be able to keep. And I ask that if you have any great ideas on a special project you're doing for your kiddos, please share with me. I love hearing from other mamas. :)
For my sweet Brady Boo!   :)
For Mia, Tessa, Brant, Gracie, & Rayleigh!   :)


Friday, April 10, 2015

Birthday Party: Food & Decorations

Let me tell you, Pinterest can either be your best friend or your worst enemy, but no mater what you think about it, you can always find lots of great ideas. I love Pinterest. I'm not creative, at all, so I go on Pinterest and I can get so many ideas to use for whatever occasion. So, here's my disclaimer; none of these ideas are mine. Go to Pinterest and type in Mickey Mouse birthday party and you can find all these ideas.  :)
Our color scheme was black, red, and yellow. I got my ideas from Pinterest and made (with the help of some friends) all the decorations. Homemade decorations are so much cheaper; plus I kept everything so I can reuse in the future. The setting was our back porch. It had rained all week long so the ground was wet. We had rented a bounce house but cancelled a few days before the party because our backyard was a swamp. Even though the ground was wet, the weather was perfect for an outside party. I love that my kids have springtime birthdays so it's not too hot or too cold (usually).



I did this for Brady's first birthday too...love a decorated table or highchair.
The party was at 2pm on Sunday afternoon, so I knew I didn't need a lot of food (people ate lunch after church before coming over). 

Six smash cake for six sweethearts! :)
I know 3 year olds typically don't do smash cakes, but I couldn't leave Brady out. He enjoyed having his own cake.

I made a 7 Layered Dip and put the olives in the shape of a Mickey head.

A friend of mine from church makes cakes, I gave her a picture of this cake (that I found on Pinterest) and she did a fantastic job of making the same cake... Best part, the cake was delicious!!

I thought about having Steven grill hot dogs, but after some consideration, we decided pigs-in-a-blanket would be much easier and economical.



Pluto's Punch
Each kid had his/her own head to showcase how much they've changed over the year. 








 All about the kids. My friend McCall made these boards for me and I think they are such a sweet reminder of the milestones the kids had reached by this point in their lives.


 I bought scrapbook paper from Hobby Lobby (1 for each kid - blue for boys and pink for girls). Eventually I'm going to start scrapbooking for the quints and when I do these pages will go in the book so they can always remember who was at their birthday party.
Brady's picture from his first birthday.






Pictures of me and Steven at our first birthday parties. It's a tradition to have these out for my kids 1st birthday party (I did it for Brady's 1st birthday too).


I ordered these Mickey head balloons online (a package of 6). By the time the party started, there were only 4 left. 
Mickey heads were very easy to make. Just buy styrofoam balls and paint them black, use toothpicks to stick the ears on. I used decretive straws for the stick part. We painted the clay pots.