...3

Name: Noah
Age: 3
Loves: Thomas the Tank Engine and all his friends
(But not the Diesel 10..."Oh no, he's not nice!)

Favorite food: Cheetos
Favorite drink: chocolate milk
Favorite past-time in the car: seeing school buses, fire trucks, diggers, and excavators
Favorite past-time at home: picking on his big brother
Favorite song: Thomas theme song
Favorite movie: Thomas and the Magic Railroad
Favorite tv show: most anything on Nick Jr.

Favorite phrases: "No way!"
"Yes sirree!"
"Okeedokee Daddy!"
"No lunch!" "No dinner!" "No nap!" "No words!"
(and my favorite)
"Come on, Mom. Let's get out of here!"
Enjoys: playing with friends, games on the computer, jumping off the furniture, loving on his doggies and giving them treats, being carried by Mommy, piggyback rides with Daddy, chasing Big Brother, answering the phone, counting, going to Little Gym and music class at the Y, washing his hands, sleeping in his crib

Hates: having his face washed, potty-training, eating meals when told to do so, being told to use his words, taking naps, when the tv gets turned off, vegetables

All in all a perfect little boy!

Big Birthday Bash!

We celebrated both our boys at the park on a beautiful fall day. It was perfect!

Here's the 5 year-old, atop a dragon. He's really been climbing a lot lately.And here's the 3 year-old in the tent with some friends. Some of our little guests thought someone was really camping out overnight!


And the playground was lots of fun, too!
I sent Brad to Target to pick up the cake. He called me and asked if I thought $50 was too much to spend on a bean bag toss for the party. $50 for a bean bag game? Seriously? But it's a nice Eddie Bauer one. But $50??????

He came home with this nice, reasonably-priced, croquet set instead. It was a big hit.
Baby girl #1.
Baby girl # 2.
Are they cute or what???

A very cool cake featuring - who else? - Thomas and his friends!
Trying to get the candles to stay lit in the breeze...1 out of 3 isn't bad.
And singing Happy Birthday, of course.
Noah did a heroic job blowing out that pesky candle.
Waiting so patiently for cake.
What's that squishy stuff on my finger? It's frosting, son, and it's the best thing in the world!
Here's Jackson's gluten-free/casein-free chocolate cake. I made it from a Pamela's mix, and it's not bad. Jackson seemed to like it.
It was a lovely afternoon. The kids played so hard, and Brad and I got to relax and hang out with our friends. Thanks so much to everyone who came out and had fun with us!


Once we got home, we had a pile of presents to play with. Here's the first one we opened, from Uncle Nick and Aunt Gerri. It was a huge hit!
It featured Thomas, of course. They were fighting over it the moment Brad put it together.
Here are the rest, waiting to be opened.
Those are some really lucky little boys!

A Day Out With Thomas

We drove over to the East Texas town of Rusk recently to visit our favorite tank engine, Thomas! Those of you who know who Thomas is will know what a big day this was.

We got to take a 30 minute ride on the train!The kids spent most of the time with their heads out the open windows. There wasn't much to see besides trees and bushes, but they didn't seem to mind.

The favorite part of the day, though, was this tent filled with train sets. All these kids could have spent the entire day there.
Everytime we finished up another activity, Jackson said, "Oh well, time to get back to my trains."
We finally had to drag them to the car kicking and screaming.
It was well worth the price of the tickets and the 2 1/2 hour drive.
There was also a little petting zoo...
bounce houses...

and a hayride.
But did I mention the kids only wanted to play trains? Don't you just love Thomas?