I ended up making two monkey cakes for the twins (see next blog post for more pictures) when I realized one cake wouldn't be enough for everyone. As I've said before, I'm no Martha Stewart but I was actually really pleased with the cakes. Note: Mason's monkey cake has no hair since he's still pretty bald.

Ethan practiced for a couple of days singing the Happy Birthday song. His favorite part of the party was getting to blow the candle out!

This past Saturday, May 24th, the twins turned the big 1! It's so hard to believe it has been a year already. Where did it all go? It seems like yesterday that we got the call that they were ready to be discharged from the NICU. I can clearly remember scrambling around trying to get prepared at home because we didn't know they would be ready to come home so early. Although it has been an exhausting year, it has been such a great adventure full of many smiles and laughs.

Carson was a huge fan of his monkey cake. He wasted no time making a huge mess!

Fun facts about Carson (pictured above at 4 months):
-Baby Boy B (born one minute after Mason at 1:19 p.m.)
-Birth weight: 3 pounds 4 ounces
-The "vocal" one
-Likes: EVERY kind of food, playing with big brother Ethan, Happy Feet, finding any room with an open door
-Dislikes: Naps and bedtime, having his nose wiped
-Has 6 teeth (4 on top and 2 on bottom)

Mason equally loved the monkey cake and he was incredibly neat about eating it.

Fun facts about Mason (pictured above at 4 months):
-Baby Boy A (Born one minute before Carson at 1:18 p.m.
-Birth weight: 3 pounds 1 ounce
- The "thinker"
- Likes: Naptime and bedtime, sucking his fingers, his toy snake, dragging around Ethan's doodle pro, playing with doorstoppers
-Dislikes: Spiral pasta
-Has 2 teeth on bottom

Eric and I have had this full length mirror in our bedroom for awhile now. I've been secretly wanting to get rid of it for the last year or so but the boys love being able to sit or stand in front of it and look at themselves. Ethan brushes up on his acting skills in front of it and the twins come and put their handprints and drool all over it. As much as I want to see it go, I just can't seem to part with it. I posted pictures of the boys with the mirror below:

Carson - 12 months old

Mason - 12 months old

Ethan - 8 months old

Rub a dub dub, three boys in a tub! We decided it's time to knock out bathtime all at once. It usually gets pretty wet and crazy but they have a blast together.

This is definitely a two person job!

It's a little hard to see them in the picture but Carson has three top teeth coming in at once. He looks so much older now!

May has been quite the busy month and it's not over yet! Eric's birthday, Mother's Day, and Carson and Mason's birthday all take place in May, so we have been celebrating with balloons, flowers, and best of all - cake! Eric turned 29 on May 10th, the day before Mother's Day. Ethan brought balloons to the front door for him after we went out to "run errands." He also had his favorite meal, fish and steak tacos from Zaba's, follwed by a mini bundt cake- a Payne birthday tradition!

Ethan was very eager to help his Dad finish his birthday cake!

The next day Ethan showed up on our doorstep again. This time he was carrying the beautiful flowers in the picture. It was a very special Mother's Day for me!

The term 'double trouble' has a lot of meaning in our house right now. Carson is usually the instigator and Mason is always right there to join in. They love getting into the refrigerator and pulling out whatever they can grab. It's kind of hard to stay frustrated when they look so cute!

Thank you to Eric for getting all of the locks put on the cabinets. One day it clicked to Carson that he could open them and pull everything out onto the floor. We were hoping we would get lucky and not have to do the full babyproofing. I don't know what we were thinking....especially with two curious boys!

Along with the great weather we have also had some nasty windstorms. Our tree in the front yard decided to topple over and the guys decided to salvage it. I couldn't help but laugh and take pictures as the "handymen" went to work.

Jason had the idea to tie a rope to his car and pull the tree back to an upright position. We were joking that this looked like a Ford ad. His bright idea actually worked!

Men at work!

Uncle Jason is a pro by now with the twins. I think he should just quit his day job and be our full time nanny! In all seriousness, we have been so happy to have him here in Vegas.

Here is Carson and his Mad Scientist hairdo. He loves the camera!

This past weekend we decided to head over to The District at Green Valley Ranch. They were celebrating the opening of their carousel with free rides all weekend. We took some dinner and met our friends there for a night of fun. The weather was perfect and Ethan loved running around with Danielle.

The twins love their chocolate pudding! It's absolutely impossible to feed them without it ending up all over their faces.

This goes to show that the twins have no idea what to make of the grass out here in the desert. We have turf in our backyard so this is one of the few times they have ever touched it. Needless to say, Carson was not a fan of it!

Carson's cry was infectious. Mason chimed in seconds later! It's a good thing they had their big brother Ethan there to comfort them.

We also brought Ethan's tricycle so he could ride around with Danielle. He loved getting to wear Doug's helmet!

Just a few quick pics of the boys. I have more posts/updates below from our packed weekend.

Ethan was so excited that he built up his confidence to go on the big boy swing again. Now everytime he gets on the swing he makes sure I know he is NOT in the baby swing.

Mason's two bottom teeth finally came in this past week. I couldn't get a good shot of his teeth in this pic but he has been chewing on anything and everything within reach.

Carson is content these days as long as he is not confined to the exersaucer or the jumparoo. He is SO curious. He seems to find every open door in the house.

I caught Ethan a couple of times trying to push Mason over the side of the chair. When he realized I was looking he started patting him on the back saying, "Nice Mason." Sly little thing.

To top off our eventful weekend, we took Ethan to the Sesame Street Live performance. Ethan's Omi and Opa took him last year while we were in Cabo San Lucas and we wanted the chance to take him this year. Despite the fact that Eric and I got 4 hours of sleep the night before (see the next post below), it was still a great time.

We told him all morning we were going to see Elmo but I don't think he really understood what we meant until we got there. I think I look more excited in this picture than he does.

It was so fun to see his reaction once the lights went out and the concert started. He was literally on the edge of his seat.

That is until he decided to lay down on the floor. This just confirms our decision to wait another year before taking him to Disneyland. His attention span is still incredibly short and he lost interest about halfway through the show.

Getting very sleepy here. We left shortly after this right before the show ended. Major Sesame Street overkill. I think we'll take a break from it for awhile.

This weekend our good friend Ira flew in from New York to go to the Kanye West concert with us. It was Eric's early birthday present and we had an absolute blast! The concert was held outdoors at Red Rock Casino in Summerlin. It far exceeded our expectations. It was great to hang out with Ira since we don't see him very often.

The crew waiting for an elevator right before the concert.

We had to get a full shot of Jason's awesome outfit. Notice the old school Pumas with the green stripe. Classic.

This is the one of the only clear pictures I took of Kanye on the big screen.

The boys. Another classic photo. Thanks again Ira for flying in for the weekend. As always it was a blast. Also, thank you for keeping us up to date with the latest music and fashion trends so we're not living in 2003. Once again you proved you are so much cooler than us because you are from New York. Ha! I just had to get that one in.

The arrival of spring has brought beautiful weather to Vegas and it has given us the chance to spend many evenings in our backyard with the boys. They are loving the playscape and it is teaching Ethan to be patient and take turns with the swing. Yes- he is still insisting on being pushed in the baby swing due to falling straight on his head when attempting to use the "big kid" swing. We'll be working on that one until he builds up his confidence again.

Mason is now a full two inches longer than Carson and he weighs a pound less. He is our happy little string bean. He is definitely catching up to Carson in the mobility department. He insists on standing and barely holding on to things for support. We joke that he needs to wear a padded helmet because he is always banging into things.

Carson is our short and chubby yummy boy. He reminds us so much of Ethan at this age that sometimes when we look at pictures we have to look at the date the picture was taken to tell if it is one of Ethan's baby photos. He is cruising along and will be walking in no time!

Here is Eric doing double time in the backyard. Whenever he walks in the door from work, they both immediately turn to the sound of his voice and begin kicking their legs in their booster seats until he comes over and sees them. They love their daddy!

I finally have a place for Ethan's overflow of artwork he brings home from school every week. His teacher says that painting is his absolute favorite thing to do and I love that he gets the chance to do it every day that he is there. He loves seeing his artwork on display in his playroom and tells me about "Ethan's paintings" all the time.