Happy Birthday Sam!

This is a little late... but I can't believe that my baby boy is THREE YEARS OLD! It doesn't seem like that long ago that we welcomed our first boy into our family. And we certainly didn't know then what a funny little person Sam is. We're just starting to find out...
We threw Sam such a fun Thomas the Train bday party.
Indulge me for I have to post all about it so that anyone out there who searches for ideas can find some good ones. Since that's exactly what I did...

First... we sent train boarding pass invitations.
Then, the kids arrived (and yes, all 18 came. It was one busy party!!!) and we gave each child a Thomas hat and a train nametag.

Then, we had 4 stations the kids could go through. (MANY THANKS to Melissa, Tricia, Liz, and of course Matt for being my minions...). First, there was a coal toss into James. Meliss explained that some trains burn coal to make them go. I made Thomas beanbags with fleece from JoAnns - Thomas fleece on one side and black on the other. The kids each got a beanbag to take home after the party. (***I didn't take many pics at the actual party, so these are mostly after the fact.)
Sam LOVES these beanbags.
Second was the train making station. Tricia ran this one. I had spray painted TP rolls (actually I cut them down from a large roll from Tricia's office, so they were stiffer and could withstand more beatings...). Some were blue, green, and red. We used pipe cleaners and hole punched black circles for wheels. They threaded the pipe cleaners through pre-punched holes in the TP rolls. Another short pipe cleaner was used through another pre-punched hole for the funnel on the top of the roll. And there was a face complete already with nose and mouth - just add the googly eyes stickers. Finally, I had foam letters stickers they could put their name on them. Unfortunately... I don't have a pic of these. But I DO have a pic of the awesome play-doh creation Sam and I made together that night after the party. (Totally random, I know.)

Third - the coloring station. I drew this on butcher paper and taped it to the wall. The kids loved coloring it... and we only had some crayon marking on our wall.

Last - the train walk. (Just like a cake walk with a few twists.) Put blue electric tape on your carpet for train tracks. Label some of Thomas favorite spots on the floor (Chocolate Factory, Castle, Docks, etc). Play train music (Choo Choo Ch'Boogie, Take the A Train, I've Been Working on the Railroad, Catch that Train, among others). When the music stops, whoever (multiple people in our case) is standing close to the place you draw out of a hat gets a Thomas sticker! The kids really loved this one and Sam still loves running around. The track is a bit destroyed by the time I took these pics, but we still have it!

We had a Thomas birthday cake (the face fell off... paper was the rescue of choice in a crunch...) and let Sam open presents. Party over.

Our goody bags were fun to put together. Sam helped me make a train crayon for each child (use candy molds and melted crayons).


We made a coloring book from free Thomas pics found online. Add some Thomas stickers, a Thomas blower, the Thomas hat they got when they arrived, one of the bean bags and the TP train they made while here, and that's it!

Happy Monday

How would you like to have THIS little boy greet you when you get home???

Fire Station

We went to the local fire station for playgroup last week. At first, Sam was SO EXCITED.


Then, for some reason he was scared of everything and everyone... firefighters, fire trucks, fire equipment, etc. It was so frustrating, but we made it through the rest of our time there. He had THIS FACE every time I tried to get him involved with what was going on...


At least Z enjoyed it. (Except for when they turned on the siren and honked the horn. BOTH my boys flipped out then... Good thing I have two arms...)

Matching Church Boys

You might think from my title that I am talking about Sam and Zack. Nope. Sam and Matt. Matt was off to meetings before I was coherent enough to see what he was wearing. Needless to say, I got the remaining three of us ready for church. When Matt arrived home with about 5 minutes to help me load the boys in the van, we realized that he and Sam were matching! Sam thought it was SO TOTALLY AWESOME. Matt wished he had time to change. :)

Z

My new favorite Z pic... Check out his hair.

8 Things

Look at these adorable brothers. (And this is Sam's "real smile".)

8 Things
Jen... I totally forgot about this until Reagan. :)

8 shows I enjoy watching:
1) The Office
2) Chuck
3) Heroes
4) Healthy Appetite with Ellie Krieger
5) 24 (starting again soon!!!)
6) Lost
7) SuperNanny
8) Whatever movie I have recently TiVoed.


8 things that happened yesterday:
1) melted crayons and made train shaped crayons (see this)
2) made baby food (sweet potatoes and a fruit mixture) for Z
3) played play-doh with Sam
4) ate a LOT of pumpkin chocolate chip bread
5) finished the last of my 25 train bean bags (for Sam's party)
6) played Ticket to Ride with the Roms. ADULT GAME NIGHT. :)
7) had the best. fish. tacos. at Lonestar. Again. Love that place.
8) went to the library

8 things I'm looking forward to:
1) Thanksgiving dinner. I LOVE THANKSGIVING DINNER.
2) Snuggling tonight with Matt and watching a movie
3) a slimmer waistline (if it ever happens)
4) my fam coming out to visit in about 10 days
5) Sam's bday party. It's going to be traintastic.
6) having good friends in SLC. this place is kinda weird.
7) Bel coming. Anytime Bel comes is my favorite time.
8) the end of YW in Excellence (tomorrow night...)

8 things I love about fall:
1) crisp mornings and evenings
2) leaves, leaves, leaves. I miss Boston, although SLC has had surprisingly good colors this year.
3) my bday
4) Thanksgiving
5) hot chocolate/hot cider/wassail
6) Christmas music
7) squash and sweet potatoes (both things Matt hates... oh well!)
8) sweaters, snuggly blankets, etc.

8 things on my wish/dream/goal list:
1) get organized
2) get exercising
3) clean out scary bedroom
4) send nate and rach christmas packages
5) finish this forever post
6) finish planning Sam's train party
7) a double maclaren stroller
8) a new kitchen

8 people I'm tagging:
(First of all, CONGRATULATIONS if you've made it this far and are still reading. You deserve something... go scoop yourself a bowl of ice cream and read on.)
1) Bel (will you do it, huh huh huh? a departure from your witty banter for sure...)
2) Leese of course
3) Lesley and Trev since they are having a hard time blogging ... when are you going to do my photo post suggestion, ehhhhh cuz???
4) Dr. Katerbates if you have time.
5) Mindy, Mindylou, I miss you.
6) Ev cuz he's so entertaining.
7) Tiffany Jenks... but funny enough you just did it. You're off the hook. :)
8) Anne since I know it's about a, ohhh... ummm...a negative 4% chance that you'll actually do it, my little blogger voyeur. Why oh why won't you blog anymore? I want to see Brock's awesome hair, and Drew is so big now... and we miss you guys.

Some pics. Since what's a post without pics, right???
Brothers. Sam reading Z a book.
Raking leaves with Dad. This was from a couple weeks ago, but repeated today. Sam LOVES playing in the leaves with Matt.

This is Stuck in My Head

Fun choreography and poppy song. Can't seem to get a different tune to stick right now...
(ignore the terrbile video quality)

Just for you Corinne.
THE BOYS ARE BACK...

My Snuggle Bug

Sam loves his "snugglies". Here he has piled all of them and every toy he could find on our main floor on top of me.

And then "snuggled" me. I love my little snuggle bug.

Heard Today...

(Background: We have been listening to new "train" tunes in preparation for Sam's birthday party...)

Sam (walking into Z's room with my small black purse slung over one shoulder)-

"Bye Mom, I'm leaving. I'm taking the A train."

Guess Who...

Is getting quite literally INTO solids and loving it???
Yep, the Z-man.
(Another plug for making your own baby food. So so easy. The above? Sweet potatoes and apples. You can do this too...)

Plus, two more of Sam's creations.