Aaron's Presents

Aaron got the absolute coolest presents at his birthday.  It touched my heart that everyone got him something that really fit him.  He loves all of his gifts.

Erin Vande Zande got this train book (which, amazingly, we did not have).  This is the book that Aaron stopped mid-gift opening to read.  And how cool is the remote control monster truck from  Jacob and Abby Golz

So, we haven't busted open the electric train track with trains, but I know it is going to be a major weekend highlight.  Aaron is SOOO excited about this gift from Kendall and Leah. Papa and Dee got him this search and find Thomas book.

This is after we got home from the party. Abby and Jacob got Aaron this Thomas the Train book that has a huge track playmat and a bunch of little trains.  He has been playing with this thing for two days!

 

I LOVE the outfits Aaron got.  LOVE.  Grandma Sheri got him this.  These are his favorite kind of pants.

And I could die from the cuteness of this outfit from Leah and Kendall! I have a few polo shirts that will work with those shorts, too.

A winter outfit from Katie Grace and Jackson.

Thomas Underwear from Grandma Sheri and Grandpa Tom!

These are fun!  The gift on the left is a creative cutting pad from Anna, Caroline and Andrew.  Aaron LOVES to cut paper.  This is a perfect gift for him.  Zingo is apparently a very popular game amongst his friends.  I have not heard of it, but all the kids got so excited when he got it from Emerson and Christopher so I can't wait to try it. They also got him this Thomas Puzzle.  He has a similar one and loves it, so he is super excited about this.  Dee and Papa got him a fire fighter video.  My mom got him a Construction video for Christmas that he loves and this is from the same company.  It's real life people doing their jobs.

Here is a picture of the book and track from the Golz family.

Hand written notes and pictures from his friends.  Melt My Heart!

100 Cool Activities came from Grandpa Tom and Grandma Sheri today.  It looks so neat.  I can't wait to get into it with him.  The Giant Fire Truck floor puzzle is from Dee and Papa. Jackson and Katie Grace got him a Thomas Leapad App.  They know how he loves his Leapad.  And Ryleigh Grace got the portable Thomas Track with trains.

 

How sweet and precious is all of this???

More of Aaron's Party

These are going to be a bit out of order, but here is Aaron arriving at his party at McDonald's.  He wore a Thomas the Train shirt that Grandma Sheri and Grandpa Tom gave him for Easter last year.

This is Aaron being sung to

And wanting so bad to take those trains off of his cake.  It just killed him to wait until we actually cut the cake to get his trains.

I took so many pictures of the kids eating because it just blew my mind.  The kids (all 14 of them) played hard in the play area for about 30-45 minutes and then when the food arrived they all just went orderly to the table and ate in perfect silence.  14 children quieted by food was amazing.

The cake before we cut it.

More being sung to.

When we gave Aaron his plate, the hostess started to hand him a fork and he said "I don't need a fork".  She started to ask if he wanted a spoon but by then Aaron was demonstrating how one actually goes about eating cake.

First bite was all icing.  There was about two inches of icing on that cake and we had no idea until we cut into it.  WOW.

More quiet kids eating.

The beginning of the present opening.  The picture taking pretty much ended at this point because the present opening got out of control.  Everyone was very, very excited about Aaron's very, very cool presents and there we presents and kids going nuts in a very small space.

 

Aaron taking a pause from present opening to read his new book from the Vande Zandes.

FINALLY, he got the trains off of the cake.

Aaron's Party!

Aaron's party was a lot of fun.  It was crazy, but it was a good crazy.  Everyone seemed to have a good time - especially Aaron.  He said he had a very good day.  I took 60 pictures, so they will come in batches. Here is the 'stuff' - some of which has already been on here.

The invitation to the train party

 The cake Aaron picked

 The actual cake.  It was really good.  It was a strawberry cake - Aaron's favorite.

 One of each type of cookie for favors

The favor box said "Thank you for sharing in Aaron's day, please take a cookie before you chug on your way"

 The cake, cookies and the first present

 Some more presents

 The table.  Each kid gets a hat and a party favor bag.  Aaron got a Frisbee, ball and a special birthday plate to take home.

The last few days

On Saturday we had pictures taken in the morning at the Botanical Gardens because Erin Vande Zande (Purpletree Studios) was giving a gift to all the customers she has had since she started her business in Texas.  I am not actually one of those customers, but the email came to me, too, so I absolutely accepted.  Ha!  It was SO cold, though.  Seriously.  It was 34 degrees at 9:30 in the morning and we were there for an hour.  We came home and had to warm up with a hot meal!  In the afternoon, it was much nicer and we took Family Fun Saturday to Bass Pro!

Looking at the fish

Looking for some fish.

On Sunday after church and naps we heard that the Huffman children were having a rock sale in their front yard and we are always in need of good rocks so we headed over.  We ended up staying for an hour and playing with their toys and eating their snacks.  It was such a fun afternoon and we got to catch up with our friends.

 

Afterwards we went to a new Mexican restaurant for dinner.

On Monday we went to the car wash.  Aaron loves to wash the cars with the spraying fire trucks.

After the car wash, we went to Chick Fil A to pick up Aaron's cookies for his parties this week.  The Chick Fil A is near Laura's house so we got to meet her and Braysen and Brock which made us all so happy.  Laura got some fun pictures you can see here. 

Sneak Preview

Because I could just die from the cuteness!

We picked up Aaron's cookies Monday so that he had some for his school party Tuesday and then the rest will be for his McDonald's Party on Wednesday.

I was SO impressed with these.  The 4s made out of train tracks match the cake - the same trees and river.

And the coal is black sugar on the icing so it shines a bit.  And there is so much detail.  I am sure Amy will post good close up pictures on her website that I can share.

Pictures Aaron took (with my phone)

 And some funny things Aaron has said lately.  "I have to take this sweater off so I can play the piano.  Is there a shirt underneath it?"  "No." "So I'll just be wearing my belly?"

 "Abby, Nice Askly" (I think he was going for 'ask nicely' and got a little tangled up).

 "When I was a baby, was Abby a boy?" "No, she wasn't here when you were a baby" "Where was she?" "God hadn't made her yet."  "Oh!  So she was in heaven with God and Jesus and the Holy Spirit."

 

Birthday Stuff

This was the last cookie from Abby's birthday.  I made me a little sad, but we are full force into Aaron's birthday now.

Aaron's birthday falls on Spring Break and we found out at his first party that everyone leaves town for Spring Break and the weekend before and the weekend after are No Gos for parties.  So ever since then we have had his birthday on a weekday the week before his birthday.  So his party is this coming Wednesday, March 6.  He will turn 4 on March 11.

He, of course, is having a train party.  This is his invitation.  Almost everyone we invited is coming, so we will have 14 kids and 10 adults in McDonald's.  I expect it to be CRAZY.  I hope it's a good crazy.

This is the cake that Aaron chose after Hours of perusing Thomas cakes on the iPad and my phone.  Texas Star is making it and he chose strawberry for the cake.  He will have Train Cookies as party favors.  The same person that did Abby's cookies is doing his.  I can't wait to see what she comes up with!