A 3rd Birthday Adventure

For Jack's 3rd birthday we took a trip to see his favorite trains, Thomas and Percy! We drove about 4 hours east of Pittsburgh to the Strasburg Railroad. We were so excited to find out that the railroad hosts a Day Out with Thomas & Friends about 4 times a year. What luck it was to have the November dates fall on Jack's actual birthday! As obsessed as I am with party planning, I think this trip was better than any Thomas party I could have thrown!

My parents and sister, plus the Ginger's dad traveled with us for the adventure! We stayed at the Fulton Steamboat Inn in Lancaster for the night and it certainly added to the experience! The hotel was laid out just like an old-fashioned steamboat, with Victorian touches! It was great fun and we even snuck a late night swim in!

              

But the real fun started the next day when we arrived at the railroad. As soon as we got there we had to stop at a railroad crossing and we saw Percy riding down the tracks! Jack was beyond thrilled! I knew then that this was going to be the best day! From there we got to ride on Thomas and have our photo taken with him. Then we rode on Percy, shopped in the many stores at the station and drank hot chocolate to keep warm. Our final ride was a on the real Strasburg train, but after a very full day it was one train too many. Everyone ended up falling asleep on the ride! We finished the day at a Pennsylvania Dutch family-style restaurant and then headed home.

It was so special to be able to plan something like this for Jack. I hope to always be able to provide little adventures for the boys that really show that I understand their interests and passions. I am so glad we got to experience this together! It's not every day you get to ride on your favorite toy in real life!

A real shock was how much I loved Lancaster! There seemed to be so much to do with outlet shopping, amusement parks, learning about the Amish and much more! I hope we will return since it's not a far drive from Pittsburgh!

MILK & COOKIES: JACK'S 1ST BIRTHDAY

I can’t believe my baby boy is no longer an infant. He’s a full-fledged toddler now. To celebrate this huge milestone, we threw him a fun 1st birthday party with all of our friends and family (or as many as we could fit into our house)! 

I love throwing parties, but I sometimes put way too much effort into little details and end up missing the actual fun of the night. So for this party, I tried to stop myself from going too crazy and let this be more laid-back, but with a few fun details. 

I think choosing a theme makes party planning so much easier. I chose Milk & Cookies as our theme and based all of the details around that. Seemed easy enough, and actually it was! We had a fun cookie contest between our guests and some of them got really competitive! Plus, it was nice that baking was checked off my list! We got store bought cupcakes and garnished them with mini cookies ourselves to save some money. We also bought lunch instead of making it. I served lunch meat and sandwich salad sliders. It was easy, and I really loved that I didn’t turn the oven on the whole day! My mom made pulled pork sliders in the crock pot and that was a huge hit!

I kept the decorations simple, as well. My colors were black, white and red. I threw in some pattern as well, with polka dots and stripes. My favorite decoration was a photo collage in the shape of a “1”. I really hope to keep this up each year. I did it for the Ginger’s 25th birthday and for me it’s fun to choose the photos and make sure the guests are sprinkled throughout it, along with the birthday boy.

We really had such a blast with everyone. I think Jack truly enjoyed seeing so many people and getting so much attention. He loved opening his presents, and he received so many beautiful and thoughtful gifts. 

And then there was the cake! It took a little while for him to realize that he could really get into it. He’s usually a very neat eater and loves to feed himself, so he didn’t seem to understand how to make a mess. But he learned. Hahah, it was so cute! To make it even funnier, my Papap kept trying to clean Jack off with a napkin! He kept looking at me like, “Come on, he’s a mess” and I couldn’t get him to understand that was the whole point! 

I’m so thankful for this sweet boy. He has made my life infinitely better. I look back on this past year with so much joy. I am so happy that I get to watch this little boy grow up! 

OSCAR NIGHT

Our best-dressed little Oscar winner. 

GALENTINE'S DAY

I celebrated my first Galentine’s Day this year with some of my very best friends! Steph hosted a great night, complete with crepes and fancy cocktails. Jack was the only boy allowed. He totally has his first crush…on Nicole. He could not stop staring at her! 

I really like the concept of Galentine’s Day, celebrating the love between female friends. I think that relationship is just as important as one with a significant other. I hope this is the first of many February 13th celebrations! 

Co-Ed Baby Shower

Just days before Jack was born, my mother-in-law hosted a second baby shower for me and the Ginger. The soccer theme was adorable with such a cute cupcake “cake” (from Giant Eagle!). I guess I’d better prepare to be a soccer mom, because that is certainly the Ginger’s plan! Jack is going to be all set in his first Riverhounds onesie, little trainers and already too many jerseys to count! 

Library Baby Shower

During this time while pregnant, I’ve realized just how many people really, truly love me! I was given the most amazing shower by my mom, sister, and cousins. They put so much time, energy and love into it and I can’t thank them enough. For about a month we crafted every Monday night to prepare! Those nights were just as much fun as the shower, spent laughing and laughing! 

The theme for the shower was Build-a-Library. We asked everyone to bring a book instead of a card and baby Jack is so set to be an avid reader! With the book theme in place, we decided to use Little Golden Books as inspiration for the decorations. Like with the Gender Reveal Party, Pinterest was an amazing source of inspiration. The color scheme was green and yellow to match the nursery. Everything came together so beautifully! Probably my favorite part of the decorations were the reading quotes on brown kraft paper. It was so simple, but really beautiful paired with the pennant banners made from old Golden Books.

 

Most importantly, I loved spending time with so many lovely women who attended my shower. I really have some of the best friends and family! We played shower games (because I LOVE them), ate delicious homemade food, and got to look at all the presents that guests so generously gave to make Baby Jack’s entrance into this world easier! 

It's a Boy!

And we cut the cake to find blue icing!! 

We had our ultrasound painstakingly early in the morning…8am. I say it was painful because our party wasn’t until 7pm that night! We had to wait all day to find out…I don’t know how anyone could wait the entire nine months.

The ultrasound tech wrote down the gender in a card and I brought it to the bakery. I was a bit nervous leaving that envelope. Especially because I used some stationary I had laying around, and it had a pink envelope (no expectations, just what I had already). The guy at the counter was like, “Oh we’re making a cake with pink icing, right?” I sort of freaked out and shouted, “NO! Look inside the envelope!” I was a bit on edge, I guess because he just started laughing at me!  

But the bakery did a fabulous job and it matched the card…which I asked to have back just in case! Ha! So paranoid. 

It was the most amazing feeling cutting into that cake with the Ginger. I had guessed boy beforehand but I really wasn’t sure. I always imagined having a girl, but I could not be more thrilled to raise a little boy. Everything will be so new and exciting with a boy. I have nothing to compare it to, like I would with a girl! I know the Ginger is going to be an amazing father and it’s going to be a blast being a parent with him! 

And now we can start shopping! Oh wait. I’m on a spend freeze. Well, we’ll see how that goes. I guess moderation is key, because I know I can’t hold off on buying baby clothes for too long! 

Gender Reveal Party Part 1

The Ginger and I decided we would have the most fun finding out the gender of our baby while surrounded by friends and family! As true products of our age we hosted a Gender Reveal Party! Pinterest was my great friend during the planning process!  You can check out my inspiration board! 

It was a very light, fun party so we decided to have just a dessert bar! But of course we went all out! We had French macarons, chocolate covered pretzels, my Mom’s famous chocolate chip cookies and Hope’s oatmeal peanut butter cookies (my favorite kind), brownie bites, M&M’s…and then the cake! More on the cake in a later post!

No party in 2013 is complete without a photo booth, so we had two options for our guests. Everyone who thought it was a boy got a mustache, while those guessing girl got lips. It’s great to have a log of who guessed correctly before we cut the cake…and I love photo booths because you are sure to get at least one photo of everyone at the party! Stay tuned for the gender reveal!