A Thomas the Train Birthday Bash

For last year's Birthday Carnival Extravaganza, we woke Jack up a little too early, had to change locations at the last minute, and were running around crazy at the last minute so this year...

WE WERE READY!! BEYOND ready for Jack's 3rd birthday party. Adorable train invitations (with Jack's picture in his conductor suit) had been sent.

This AMAZING Thomas cake had been made by Jack's grandmother (aka as Gigi):

Notice Big Al (Alabama mascot for those of you non-Alabamians) in the front corner and Dave (my child's favorite friend who goes everywhere with us) in the back corner - Grandmothers just know how to make everything extra special!!

We had the train and the play table set up.


We had the train cookie decorating table ready to go.

Another of Jack's sweet grandmothers (aka as Nana) made train cookies for all the kids to decorate at the party - yep, we are overrun with sweet, wonderful, caring, loving and generous grandparents!

The cake pops were made - ready to be enjoyed by all (also compliments of Gigi).

The "present corner" was cute - with balloons, Jack's monogrammed chair, and a picture of Jack in his conductor outfit.

The food was hot and delicious. We had:

* Bill and Ben's Buffing and Bashing BBQ - compliments of ANOTHER wonderful grandmother and grandfather (my in-laws - aka as Papa and CeCe) who -fortunately for us- own a chain of BBQ resturants throughout Alabama - everyone eat at Hook's BBQ when you get the chance :-)

* Skarloey's Sweet Sodor Sauce and Molly's Mild Mudding Mix

* Percy's Prized Potato Chips

* Dodge's Delicious Diesel Dip

* Spencer's Strong and Fast Fruit Snacks

* Bertie's Branch Line Brew (Coke)

* Rosie's Really Useful Refreshment (Water)

* Toby's Tough and Fizzy Tram Fuel (Diet Coke)

* Cranky the Crane's Coolers (Juice)

See, everything was ready. We went to bed at midnight the night before the big day feeling great! Jack had seen his cake, he knew the train was coming, he knew there would be presents and he was SO EXCITED!! Then, it happened!! He woke me and Ben up at 3:00 a.m. with the virus - yep, the same one that kept me out of church on Easter and had kept Ben off the golf course the week before - that virus!! I COULD NOT BELIEVE IT!!!

There was no cancelling or postponing - we had a train, family and friends all coming to our house at 11:00 a.m. and we were going to have to figure it out. Jack still felt awful at party time but had stopped getting sick several hours before. My mother took him to her house next door and he finally made it to his party about 45 minutes before it ended. He was able to ride the train (once) and open his presents, so.... I will say that I am very happy that it seemed the other kids enjoyed the party at least :)

Madison and Caroline helping the birthday boy open his presents:


Jack finally making it on the train (even though he is in CeCe's lap). He's riding with Azland and Matty. Looks like Caroline had the blue car all to herself.

Here are a lot of the kids having fun with the train table and other fun things.

Sweet Ella Charles:

After the party, the birthday boy finally came around and even wore his birthday hat for a while:

A family pic after the party - Jack looks like I imagine he felt and I look like I've been up since 3:00 a.m. (which I had) but at least Ben looks pretty good:)

My last post was all about lessons so here are a few more I've learned since then:

I've learned that you can't plan something with children and always expect it to go exactly right.

I've learned that you CAN have a birthday party without a birthday boy.

I've learned that presents can make a sick 3 year old feel better.

I've learned that if you plan things for your children b/c you enjoy planning them, you can be glad you did it even if they don't get to enjoy it.

I've learned that pictures are worth their weight in gold b/c they are how Jack will one day see how many people loved him and wanted to celebrate his birthday with him.

I've learned that cake is still good a few days later.

I've learned that no matter how hard I try, I'm not in control.... So, if my goal in everything is to glorify God and love people with His love, it makes life much less diappointing! Life just works better if I give every situation over to the Lord.

And I've learned that I am very blessed to have my child - sick or well - and I am so thankful for the three years I've had with him so far!! Even sick, he's pretty cute, right??

Jack ended up having a great party (even though he missed most of it) and we had a fun time with family and friends. I can't wait to see how next year goes:)