Happy Birthday Mima!

Today is Mima's birthday! Gonna party like it's her birthday. Gonna sip Pinot Grigio like it's her birthday. Last night we had a little birthday dinner for her at Casa Gifford.


The guest of honor ...

Okay so technically he's not the guest of honor but how beeee-utiful does he look in that picture?


Is it me or is Jack doing "The Sprinkler" in this one? (If you are unfamilliar with the dance called "the sprinkler" a GREAT example can be seen here: Click me! Disclaimer - I do NOT know that guy. It's just a ramdom video I found on YouTube. Don't you just LOVE YouTube?):



Okay, okay I guess I should put up some pictures of the real guest of honor. For some reason Mima kept shutting her eyes right before I snapped each picture ..



So I tell her to stop closing her eyes and this is what I get ...



You have no idea how much trouble I am going to be in for posting that! This one should make up for it tho ..

Awwww!

Playing some trains ...


Doing some chores (his life is SO hard!) ...



Trying to decide what to play with next (SO SO hard!)


The cake


Make a wish!


Happy Birthday Mima!

Thank you Michael Michael!

Uncle Mike recently did an internacional business trip which took him to Peru, Brazil, Argentina and Chile! He brought Jack back an official soccer jersey from each country he visited. I can't quite tell you how nice these jerseys are or how
A-dorable Jack looks in them .. so I'll just show you. Below is our little soccer star right before SoccerTots on Saturday morning.

I must note here that most of the kids at SoccerTots wear sweatpants and Keds. This is how we roll in...



Jack would be a shoe in for "Best Dressed" if they did SoccerTots superlatives!

Spike

Just had to post some pictures of my little man from this morning.

Seriously is there anyone cuter?? I think not.

For this one he actually sat down on the ground, looked back over his shoulder at me and said "MAMA! Take a picture, take a picture!". Work it boy!


We tried out that hair product at the store yesterday before buying it (yes - the boy has his own "product"). On the way home from the store ...
Jack: Mama- what did you put in my hair?
Mama: Sculpting paste! It makes it spiky!
Jack: Can I touch it?
Mama: Sure!
Jack (Reaching up to touch his hair) Ohhhhh it's BEAUTIFUL.
HA! Yes it is Jack :)

Finally - a little video of Jack's new favorite song ....



He already is a rock star, no?

Jack says BYE!

All Aboard!!! Epilogue.

Jack did score some loot from the Thomas merchandise tent:
A poster for his bedroom (I have no picture.)
A cool shirt from Granny and Gramps ...
Front:



Back:


And a shirt from Daddy ...

Tres retro!


They had professional photographers there that would take pictures of you and Thomas or you and Sir Topham Hatt which you could then purchase. We opted to just take our own pictures and save the $150 I am sure they were charging. The photographer that was dong the Sir Topham Hatt pictures gave out a card listing instructions on how to order your pictures online at a later date.

Go to: www.jedphotography.com
Click on "View/Order Photos"
Username: thomas2007
Password: 993802
(You DO NOT have to enter an email address)

Ours are Image #5111 and #5112. #5112 is alright - but not worth the $$ since we already have a shot much like that. #5111 would have been ADORABLE had my eyes not looked as I'd been hitting some spiked Thomas punch right before it was snapped. I mean, THE Sir Topham Hatt is standing right behind him and my Jackie can't staring at me. He was actually asking me to give him a kiss right at this moment. Could you just die!?

While I wasn't a big fan of our shots, I did find a few others I loved:

Image #5101 & #5102
Image #5121 & #5122 (seriously - I might have to order both of these. HIL-arious.)

And that brings out "Day Out With Thomas" to and end again!

All Aboard!!! Part II.

So where did we leaave off? Ah yes - we were riding THE REAL THOMAS!!!

Jack held onto his ticket for dear life during most of the ride ..


Just look at that precious little beautiful face full of wonder ...


Jack made a little friend in the seats behind us. They thought it was SO funny to try touch hands ...


A better picture of the little friend ..




They had a Thomas fair that you could go peruse after the actual train ride. There was a plethora of Thomas merchandise for sale in one tent (Jack actually pointed at it and screamed "TOYS!!!!" and took off towards it at full speed), a temporary tattoo tent (When asked if he wanted to get one Jack responded "NO. I NOT a tattoo." Good boy.) a celebrity appearance tent featuring ...


That is right, THE Sir Topham Hatt. He was available for pictures every hour on the 1/2 hour ..
.
(note to self - make sure to wear a shoe with a heel with those jeans going forward as to not appear so cartoon-ishly squatty)

There was a big long train shaped moonbounce that the kids could run through.
Me: Jack are you sure you want to go in?
Jack: YES
Me: Okay then let's take off your shoes and socks. You're sure you want to do it?

Jack: YES
Me: Okay let's wait our turn (wait wait wait .. take off the shoes and socks .. wait wait wait)
Guy working the moon bounce: Okay! You can go now!

Jack climbed up - took one look in the door - jumped back down and ran for his life. Train shaped moonbounces are highly overrated.

He did, however, LOVE the hay maze which he went through approximately 1,456 times.







They also had a tent with all sorts of Thomas trains set up for the kids to play with. Jack liked that best of all ...




Look at that sweaty little head!!!

And that brings our "Day out with Thomas" to an end! We got back in the car and Jack was asleep in about 10 minutes. He just missed seeing the part of the ride where you drive thru a mountain ...


Beautiful!
It actually has a name which I can't remember at the moment. "Something-or-Other Gap" I believe it was. I should totally be a tour guide.

In the meantime ....

While we're waiting for "All Aboard!!! Part II" I thought I'd post a series of pictures from Jack's playgroup yesterday. About once a month we get together with some of the kids with whom he used attend "Little Gym" classes. Well yesterday was his playgroup friend Trevor's 2nd bday. His mom is just about 9 months pregnant (I believe one day this week is her actual due date.) She could not do much party planning herself so she thought we could have this month's playgroup on his actual birthday and do a little something to recognize the occasion. Trevor's mom thought we were just going to have cupcakes and maybe sing at the end of playgroup. We all know that is not how I play! The other moms and I did a whole surprise party for them. Balloons ... cake .. decorations ... we broke out Jack's moon bounce ... I put together some loot bags ... we all got him gifts. Trevor and his mom were both overwhelmed and everyone just had a blast. This series of pictures was taken at the end of the party. After 2 hours of mostly outside play. Add in a sugar high from cake and the fact that the oldest in the group is just under 2 and 1/2 and you know you're in for a photographic treat. This is our effort to get all the kids to sit on the stairs for a picture. Us moms must have been high on something too thinking that we were going to be able to accomplish that! This entire series was taken over the course of approximately 2.5 minutes.

Enjoy ....










Finally - SCORE! (No, really - this is the best one we got)



And then there was one. Again.

All Aboard!! Part I

On Saturday Gramps and Granny treated Mike, Jack and I to a very special outing


A ride on the *REAL* Thomas the Train! Granny found the event online a while ago and we've been planning it for a couple months. I made the mistake back in the beginning of August of telling Jack about it. EVERY morning since, oh, about August 5th, he's woken up and said "We're going to see the REAL THOMAS TODAY!". To which I'd answer "Ummm no sweetie. I know I said we were going, but I meant we're going in September. September 22nd actually! Umm .. it's the end of September." To which he would reply "Alrighty! I'll just be patient until then.".
Kidding. He'd look at me like I was crazy and scream "THE REAL THOMAS!!!". Lesson learned. He did manage to get it down eventually. Kind of. The night before we were going to go ....

Mama: Jack, do you know where you are going to go TOMORROW??
Jack: Blank stare
Mama: Jack - where have you been wanting to go? Where do you keep telling me you're going to go?
Jack: Ummmmmmmmmmmm
Mama: THOMAS! It's finally here! Tomorrow you're going to RIDE THE REAL THOMAS!!!!
Jack: Uhhhhhh no. I going on Thomas September 22nd, Mama. September 22nd.

Not even kidding.


I have to say that even as an adult (yes I am an adult. AM TO. AM TO.) I was blown away by seeing the "real" Thomas. I didn't think the pictures online did it justice. I thought it was going to be some kind of a Thomas sticker or sheet that was draped over a real engine. But no ...


In the words of Stephanie Tanner, former Full House cutie turned meth-addict, "WHOA BABY!". If adults are that blown away can you even imagine seeing that through a child's eyes? Jack can - thanks Granny and Gramps :)

The actual ride was a 20 minute scenic route through Cumberland, MD. They had the inside of the train decorated with Thomas pictures and balloons ...


Gramps and Granny ready to roll ...

How cute are they?


Jack and Granny engaging in some serious train talk ..


Jack giving Daddy some last minute train riding instructions ...



Jack would have stared out that window for the next 10 years if we'd let him ...


Jack saw this and was like "A TRAIN! LOOK Mama - it's a TRAIN! WOW! Oh it's a TRAIN!". I was like "Ummm .. you do know you are ON a train, yes?"


I have plenty more pictures ... but they are at home on Mike's computer (I've been using his computer while mine is on vacation. He is none to pleased about it. Apparently I "move his mouse" from it's proper location and don't put it back. The horror!). I thought I uploaded them all to Shutterfly but it appears as tho I only got about half of them uploaded. So stay tuned (late tonight or tomorrow) for "All Aboard!!! Part II".