Why Two Birthday Parties?

As you can see in the slide shows below, there are two birthday parties. Why? Well if you look at the first slideshow I posted (2nd one down) the very last photo says it all. Carissa fell asleep on the couch before we could sing Happy Birthday and open presents. She had so much fun and excitement the first two hours she ran out of gas when it was cake and presents time. I was trying to take a photo of Maia and Carissa together but Carissa wasn't cooperating. Out of the blue she starting crying hysterically. I laid her on the couch to try to get her to calm down and then to everyone's surprise, she fell asleep within minutes. It was bizarre and it left me in a awkward predicament. What now? We ended up just singing to Maia and Maia opened all the presents that said "To Maia" and also the ones that said "To Maia & Carissa". That night Maia said she loved the party because "I had my own birthday and my own cake". That statement right there made all the drama worth it. The next day I bought the same cake and decorated it. I invited Hailey and Grandma over again. Stacie, Bryan, and Anthony had spent the night. I even re-wrapped all the presents that said "To Maia & Carissa". Then we sang Happy Birthday to Carissa and she opened all her presents. If you look at this slideshow (Part II), you can tell by the big smile on Carissa's face that she too liked having her own party and presents. In fact, she told Scott and I over and over again that day how much she liked it and how thankful she was. So this may be a new trend for the future to have two parties. Maybe one in the morning and one in the evening. Or two days in a row like this year. Who knows? It's not an easy thing with twins. I have a lot of friends with twins I'll have to get advice from for the years to come.