Tristan's Choo Choo Party

Tristan's birthday was last Thursday, but we celebrated a bit earlier for his party. It always feels like a little bit of a letdown if you celebrate the party after the birthday has already come. We chose to celebrate on May 1st, which, as it happens, was also the day that the monsoons struck Kentucky. I don't think I've ever seen so much rain in a single day, or a single weekend for that matter. I was super excited(not) about the prospect of having the entire party indoors at my house. I had planned on having all these fun outdoor activities, but had to scale back when I realized that I'd end up with seven crazy kids and their parents stuck in my house with no backyard to escape to. Despite the meteorologic difficulties, we still managed to have one rockin' choo choo party!
Tristan woke up early on party day to discover a new train table all set up and ready for him! He LOVES playing with train tables whenever we see them at other people's homes, so I'm hoping this will be a hit for him. After I'm done being pregnant and don't mind getting down on the floor again, this train table will go up in his bedroom in place of the changing table. Sadly, I think that the changing table is going to have to go long before actual potty training commences. Notice my son's layered look. He could be a GAP model for as much as he loves layers. Actually what happens is that he never wants to remove his PJ top, just to add the day's shirt on top. Most days it's just easier to go along with it than argue the point.

Be prepared for over the top party decorations. I know I'm over the top--no one need point that out to me!! This would have been a perfect birthday to have had at Monkey Joes or Chuck E. Cheese due to the fact that I'm eight months pregnant. Remind me of that next time I'm NOT pregnant again!
The favor table. I lucked out and found the favor buckets on super clearance after Easter. Every kid got an engineer's hat, train whistle, train lollipop, bubbles and Play-doh.
Birthday Crossing!! Fun Times ahead. I had planned on making even more signs, but the fact that I had to work the day before put some major kinks in my plans. Some of these props were made at work in between patients. Notice the railroad tracks made of electrical tape to the right of the table. So cute...so permanent. I now have permanent railroad tracks where the electrical tape pulled the varnish off the floor. Ooops.
Ready to celebrate my sweet two year old!!
The party room just waiting for some food. It's hard to tell, but I wrapped the front of the island in blue paper, added some windows and black paper plates for wheels and made it into the dining car.
Choo choo--he's two!!
I was pretty happy with the way the banner turned out. The green paper had little trains on it--just a little hard to see in the photo.
All of Tristan's loot! I borrowed trains from my mom and took all of ours to set out around the room and on the mantle.
Here's the truly over the top part. I borrowed a logo from a site on the Internet and used Paintshop to take out the other kid's name and put in Tristan and Friends. We then wrapped each water bottle in paper and added the logo. So cute!

Even the napkins sported the logo! The food turned out awesome. My mom and sister were such a HUGE help. I couldn't have done the party without them. Mom came over on Friday night and prepped pretty much everything. Mom and Katie came over early Saturday to help me decorate and finish the food. Brent was a huge help too--he took the kids to McDonald's and got them out of our hair!! We ate mini sliders, choo choo wheel pasta salad, broccoli salad, and fruit salad. I made pb&j sandwiches for the kids and cut them out with a train cookie cutter. I think everyone enjoyed the food a lot.
The birthday boy himself, proudly sporting a train outfit. I looked high and low for a dressy train outfit and ended up buying a plain Jon Jon and having my mom embroider the train on top. It turned out so adorable and Tristan LOVED it. He showed his train to anyone who was interested. He loved showing up to a completely decorated house when he came home from McDonald's. He was in awe of all the choo choos we'd placed everywhere.

The thing that he was most excited about was his choo choo train that we'd placed in the main room. He's had this train for a year and he's always liked it, but I think seeing it in the house in the midst of all the decorations was really something for him. We had a hard time getting him to let the other kids have a turn!
Mommy and Daddy with their sweet two year old. I can hardly believe that this baby boy is already two!! He's growing up WAY too quickly.
Aunt Katie with her favorite nephew(for now!) Lorie and Micah weren't able to attend because they were out of town. The next day, Maura asked me why we didn't invite Aunt Lorie and Uncle Micah to Tristan's party!

Grammy and Pappap were so proud of their big two year old grandson!!
We set up the bouncy house in the garage and the kids bounced amid all the chaos that is our garage. They didn't seem to mind!!
Rachel, Audrey and Avery were some of the first guests to arrive. I remember when Avery was born and I thought he was so big compared to Tristan. Now they're the same age!

Carter and Chad. Carter's mommy was home resting--she had a baby four days later!
Miss Amy and Liam wouldn't miss all the fun! I love seeing Tristan play with Liam. He's got a serious case of big boy worship!

Elizabeth and Thomas. These are our friends who will be moving away this summer. We're going to miss having our boys grow up together! I didn't manage to get a photo of Jack and Lindy. but they were there having a great time too!
The boys were all immediately drawn to the train table. Glad we set that up for them to play with. They loved it!
We played a few short games--as much as two year olds really play games. We played stick the logo on the train and had a beanbag toss into the front of a train. They kids enjoyed the games, but I think they liked the free play with the train table, ride on train and bouncy house even more.
Tristan was VERY enthusiastic about blowing out his candles. I lit the candle and lowered the cake in front of him so we could sing and he immediately blew it out. I lit it again and managed to keep it lit while we sang. He LOVED having everyone sing the Happy Birthday song to him. He had the biggest smile on his face! On his real birthday, a few days later, he actually made us sing the song three times. Mom made the cake for me because I knew I'd go crazy if I tried to do that too. It turned out awesome!!
Present time. This photo cannot adequately convey the chaos that is present opening at a two year old's party. Tristan was not particularly interested in tearing off wrapping paper, but Maura and Avery were happy to help out!
One thing Tristan WAS interested in doing was beating the pinata! I made it out of a shoebox and toilet paper tube when I realized that pinatas cost $18. The kids loved this activity, I just wish I'd thought in advance and gotten a better implement than a toy broom. Tristan waylaid the pinata with that broom. If he'd had a bat, he would have torn the thing apart!
Two tired but happy kids. Maura loved the party almost as much as Tristan. She's Engineer Maura in this photo!
Tristan with his favorite present of the day--a ride on ATV that Grammy and Pappap got him. This boy had too much fun on his birthday party day. We were ALL exhausted and headed up for early bedtimes! Happy Birthday sweet Tristan!!