Jakes Birthday - The Finale! (3 of 3)

We head out to York, PA to celebrate the third and final gathering for Jake's 3rd Birthday with Geedah, Peepa and some of Jake's PA relatives. We had nice warm spring weather, got to fly a kite with the expertise of Uncle Bob, had a super yummy Carvel cake, and got to play in the sandbox! It doesn't get any better than this for my little boy's finale celebration of turning three!

Jake, Caley, Aunt Marianne, Brad, Rebeccah and Uncle Bob (and Jamie sneaking in to see if anything has been dropped yet)


The star of the show...





Yes, this is his third birthday cake, for anyone keeping count.



I think this is probably the first time I have documented the true beauty of a slightly melty Carvel cake...mmmmm...... No, I didn't just try to lick my screen!



Jake's funny "angry face" - this is on cue. Although it may also be a reaction to me swiping some of his melty vanilla ice cream...





Cousin Bec has a good time with Jake's new Spiderman kite. I had fun shooting these unusual angles - I think someone joked about getting all of that in one shot. I made it happen :)



Even Ruthie celebrated by scratching her back on the grass and finding something stinky to roll in.





Jake enjoys his new bubble toys with Emma and Ryan (my parents next-door neighbors, and Jake's York friends)



The crew (Bec, Geedah, Marianne, Caley, Brian and Aunt Nancy) watches...



...while Bob finagles the kite strings for the neighborhood kids



Jake: "Brad, I want a bubble THHHHHHIIIIIISSSSS big!"


Bec, Jake and Geedah (aka Grandma, aka Mary Ellen, aka my mom) play in the sandbox





And, in honor of my only son's third birthday, I will make a rare appearance on the blog. Happy Birthday, baby boy! I love you!

Jake's Birthday (Part 2 of 3)

Three years old, three celebrations. Does this mean I get 33 parties on my next birthday??

Part two was at Mema Mary & Papa Ralph's house:



Jake gets his first left-handed baseball glove from Mema & Papa


The Thomas theme continues with his new bike from Aunt Barb




Which he immediately has to try out outside! (wearing his new jacket from Geedah & Peepa)


As if he didn't already have a cool birthday cake, he gets another one! This one has Oreo wheels, and just happened to have the number 30 (his birthday) and the letter V on it! Cool! :) (The happy birthday Jake part was added, we didn't get that lucky - lol!)







He always enjoys blowing out the candles




Part 3 of the birthday celebration coming in a few days - we wrap up the celebration out in York, PA with the Valentine clan.

Jake's Birthday Party (1 of 3)

I'm obligating myself to post three times now I guess. I am surprised my house hasn't been egged by you guys for not posting for so long. I know, I know! I'll try to stagger the posts (Did you know Blogger can do that for you?) so it's not ovewhelming to read more than one post per month... lol

Anyway, here are some pics from Jake's 3rd Birthday. We had a Thomas the Tank Engine theme. The cake was awesome. Big shout out to my peeps at the A&P for making such a rockin' and realistic Thomas Train birthday cake - it was yummy!!! :) Jake had a great time with his friends at White Plains House of Fun. They did a great job hosting, so I was left to entertain and shoot pics - but the whole party went by in about 15 minutes it seemed!



Jake's friend Bailey


Jake's friend Maya


Geedah and Jake try out the video games


The AWESOME Thomas cake!


My good friend Sarah's daughters, Charlotte & Olivia


Jake and his friend Stella


With his friend and our next door neighbor Gabriella


Blowing out the candles....


Yeah! I did it!


Gabriella, Isabella and Gabriella - say that three times fast!


Bailey enjoyed her cake :)



Jake and Gabby again, with the cool personalized favors that Aunt Barb made


Jake and his friend Bruno


Ralph's friend CJ, his daughter Nicolette, Jake & Ralph


Jakes Birthday, Parts 2 and 3 coming soon(ish)!

Good news for Stellan!

Our little friend Stellan was discharged from the hospital with his 'MckMama' today and can go home tomorrow to his dad, his two big brothers and his big sister! We are so glad to hear the good news and thought now was a good time to post a few photos from our visit up to Boston to see Stellan and Jennifer on Friday.


Jake with Stellan and Jennifer - no, between two photographers, neither one of us thought to take a picture of US together - ugh!


I'm so glad we were feeling spontaneous enough to make the trip, and so flattered at MckMama's open invitation to do so :) We are overjoyed that they get to go back and be reunited at home with the whole MckFamily after having to live so much of Stellan's life in the hospital lately. All our love and prayers to you, Stellan & Jennifer! :)

Visiting MckMama! :)

I'm up here in Boston visiting my good friend Jennifer (the famous MckMama to the blogging world). MckMama has nine million blog hits (and counting), and nearly 10,000 Twitter followers! I almost feel like I'm lunching with Angelina Jolie! ;) It's a beautiful day to be in Boston and it is so nice to get to talk to her in person! :)

We were getting a bite to eat across the street from the hospital. Jake was so tired he fell asleep in the booth, where he is presently snoozing it up.

Jennifer went back across the street to check in on Stellan, so I am just letting Jake snooze for a bit longer. I thought it might be a good idea to ask you, my blogger friends, what (if anything) you would ask MckMama if you had lunch with her?

I can check my blog comments on my Blackberry, so get those questions for MckMama in before I depart for NY at 6 pm. :)

Birthday Pictures

I have many many more that I need to post, but at least for now I have a little something from his birthday party...

Somehow...

...my teeny tiny little baby turned three years old today. And all of a sudden, he doesn't resemble a baby at all any more.

I'm not really sure when or how it happened, but Jake is three. He's a little boy. He's walking and running around; speaking in complete and grammatically correct sentences; giving me his opinion and preferences; sleeping in a big boy bed; pee-peeing and poo-pooing in the potty; telling me what he wants to listen to on the radio and identifying an astounding number of the top-40 artists; recalling stories and events that happened nearly a year ago; playing well with real and imaginary friends; doing chores around the house; hitting and throwing balls quite well; expressing his emotions with words and phrases; using perfect manners and behaving in public; offering his hand when about to cross a street or parking lot; creating stories and telling me about his dreams; making up funny games and role-playing. Nope, he's no longer a baby in any sense of the word. But when I kissed him goodnight, I reminded him he will ALWAYS be my baby.