C and B are 1 and 3!

In case you didn't know, both Benjamin and his sister were born on the same day. On February 23 three years ago, Benjamin was born. On February 23 of last year, Calliope was born. This February 23 no babies were born to us (as Vince breathes a sigh of relief), but we still had a lot of celebrating to do because it would be the first of many joint birthdays. I started off the big day by dressing the kids in cute new clothes. Benjamin got a Superman T-shirt (complete with a cape that he hated and detached) and Calliope got a tutu (that was so big it looked like it belonged under Scarlett O'Hara's skirt). I really wanted to capture a pic of my two angels posing happily in their cute outfits, but that didn't happen. Here are some of my failed attempts:

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No, Benjamin is not trying to strangle his sister in the picture at the top right. He's trying to gently move her by dragging her away by her neck. Ok, maybe he is trying to strangle her, but I try not to sweat the sibling stuff - especially when baby sister Calliope is a mere six pounds lighter than big brother Benjamin.
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That afternoon, their beloved Hao Po was scheduled to fly in from China. She arrived just in time to attend Benjamin's hip hop class. Usually, I just drop the Boo off and return 45 minutes later to pick him up, but every so often, the teachers allows parents to stay and watch what the kids have learned. This happened to be one of those days, and we were all quite impressed by Benjamin's hip hop moves:


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If you wanna see more of these slick moves, Benjamin's class will be performing in a dance recital at the Playa Vista Spring Fling at the end of March. Stay tuned for details! But for now, back to the birthday madness...

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I'm pretty crafty (and I mean "crafty" in the Martha Stewart sense, not "crafty" in the way the Beastie Boys mean it), and I wanted to do something creative for the birthday party favors, so this year, I decided to make crayon rolls. You know what crayon rolls are, right? Those little fabric sleeves that have a pocket for each individual crayon? Ok, maybe only those of us in Mommy La-La-Land know what crayon rolls are. Anyhoo, I couldn't be happy just making regular crayon rolls, so I decided to create original labels bearing the party motto of "C and B are 1 and 3" (as in "Calliope and Benjamin are turning 1 and 3 years old"). The label-creating was quite a process in and of itself that involved designing a logo, printing it on specially treated printable fabric, cutting the fabric, treating it with fray check, and doing a whole lot of other crap to it. I'll admit it wound up being a bigger pain in the ass than I'd anticipated, but the resulting labels were pretty nifty!
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Once the labels were done, all I had to do was sew up a bunch of crayon rolls using a pattern I purchased from Etsy, design and print matching coloring books, and...
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VOILA! Rock 'n' roll themed party favors! Overkill for a toddler birthday party? Perhaps. But hey, I thrive in the minutiae of motherhood. Besides, I have to put my fancy art degree to use somehow.
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The day of Benjamin and Calliope's big bash wound up being a jam-packed, crazy busy one. That morning, we attended the party of Benjamin's oldest friend Presley. We first met Pres and her mom Brooke at the Pump Station when the kids were mere weeks old. I was there to discuss the booby issues I was having with Benjamin. Brooke was there to discuss her own Presley booby issues. It was love at first boob - I mean, sight- and we've been friends ever since. We had a great time celebrating Presley's third at an indoor playground in Manhattan Beach. In all honesty, I figured that Brooke, Presley, and dad Ben would be totally wiped out and didn't expect them to show up at our party that afternoon, but they did! Here they are looking completely overjoyed to be at their second crazy toddler birthday party in one day:
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For the sake of our friendship, I am taking the initiative to tell you that Brooke is pregnant and not bloated here. If I don't mention that fact, I'm sure she'll kill me.

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Brooke and Ben may have been exhausted, but Pres sure wasn't! In fact, I think she damn near gave her poor preggo mom a heart attack with her antics in this picture. Just look at the expression on Brooke's face!

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All the other little kiddos had a great time, too. We choose to have C and B's party at the local Gymboree, where star Gymboree peeps Rachel and Noel orchestrated the festivities.

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The kids had a blast playing games, dancing, singing, and chasing bubbles.

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Calliope was a bit too young to be able to participate in the games, so she kept herself busy posing, crawling around, and generally just doing her best to look adorable in that giant tutu.

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It certainly seemed to catch James' eye!

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After everyone worked up an appetite playing, it was time for cake! For the second birthday in a row, I had Playa Vista baker Liz Lam whip up another one of her awesome cupcake cakes.
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I'd say they were a sweet ending to a very sweet party!
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Happy Birthday to my two beautiful babies. I can't believe you're growing up so fast.