Day Out with Thomas

We did the DAY OUT WITH THOMAS at the Illinois Railway Museum in Union, IL this past Saturday. It was mostly to celebrate my nephew Will's 2nd birthday. Will has recently gotten in to Thomas the Train, much like D did around that age. D still has his Thomas trains - but they've made their way to the end of the toy selection process since Batman and the Batcave moved in. Still, I knew D would enjoy himself, and he's never been on a train - so I was excited to take him.

We had a great time. It was hot, yes. And crowded, yes. But the kids had fun. Well, D and Will had fun - but my niece and nephew who are 6 and 8 were a bit bored with the situation. They powered through though, mostly I believe because my mother was in FULL grandma mode buying snow cones and ice creams to keep everyone in sugar.

Here's some pics from our day out.

Oh here they are - costumes!!

I told you! I am giving D the choice this year on his costume...but I'll let you all vote too!
Here are the superhero options out there. Did you know there's a whole website of JUST superhero costumes?? Anywho - here they are, and YES, D knows who each and every one of them is...

Oh it's coming!

Just wait...it's coming! I'm posting costume possibilities within the next few days. I'm that obsessed.

While I fear my opinion means ZERO this year to D - I will at least be presenting him his options. I just am so excited. I love Halloween!!!

And in the spirit of full disclosure - just so you know what's coming - they will all be superheroes.

Shop for Babies??

Ha! I've MARCHED for Babies - but now there's an opportunity to SHOP for Babies! Another great way to help out one of my favorite causes, March of Dimes.


That's right! On August 27th - you can shop at Macy's and get 25% off EVERYTHING - including sale items...but only with the March of Dimes pass.

For $5.00 you can purchase a pass at the March of Dimes website (click on those words for a link). The money raised goes to March of Dimes - and you save wayyyy more than that anyway! So why not support March of Dimes? And have an excuse to go shopping?

Unfortunately I'll be out of town most of that day - but I'm hoping some of you can take advantage! And support March of Dimes and premature birth awareness everywhere!

BU Grad Wins!

I love cooking shows - which is odd because I don't really cook at home. I mostly LOVE cooking competition shows. I love Masterchef. I love Top Chef. My favorite is Next Food Network Star.
On Sunday night - a new Food Network Star was crowned. A BU grad!! YES!
The winner, Jeff Mauro (to be known as The Sandwich King on his upcoming show) was at BU apparently when I was...he's 32. I remember watching the first episode this season and thinking he looked vaguely familiar. But probably because I've heard that he was involved in the drama department, and I was a theater minor for a bit.
Either way - you can see his bio/new show info here: http://www.foodnetwork.com/jeff-mauro-bio/bio/index.html

He was the best by far on this season, and before I even knew of the Bradley connection I was rooting for him. So congrats to Jeff - and Go BU!

Potty Update!

So D's doing GREAT on the potty! He's still not quite to telling us when he's ready - but he's been only going through a couple pull-ups a day and has been consistently going on the potty when we stick him on there! He's even pooped on there a few times! (If you're thinking this is too much information for you, get over it!).

We've been trying to come up with ways to entice D to tell us when he has to go. Tonight we started the idea of a "potty chart" - where D gets stickers for each time he successfully uses the potty. We had originally told D he could get a fish when he started using the potty well - but he's changed his mind tonight.
Because tonight was his first real success at a poop on the potty - he got to "Watch Batman on TV!!" (I can't even come close to getting D's enthusiasm across via blog). He watches the old Batman TV show starring Adam West, which we DVR for him. Yes, this is a weird reality. The episode he watched featured The Riddler. And now, D's determined he wants The Riddler. (They make one for his Batcave set). So that's what he's "working" for.

Here's a tastefully modest shot I got of D after his 1st poop on the potty. Yes I'm that proud. Dain wouldn't let me take a toilet shot so don't worry - that's not coming. But since this is the closest thing to a baby book/album for D that we have, I'm including the pic I did get!


Go D, Go! Ha!

Gotta Have Heart

Another super-cute library book has crossed our path. This time, not so much for the cute verbiage/storyline, but for the extremely creative artwork on the pages.

"My Heart Is Like a Zoo" by Michael Hall.

Yes, this seems like a WEIRD title. My normal library-scan of the books is just seeing if the pages have enough or too many words and if it looks "cute" right off the bat. I didn't have time to really look too far into it this week - but I lucked out. The image on the front cover caught D's eye and mine and it proved to be a great choice.

The image on the front is a lion pop-art style graphic made up of only heart-shapes (save for the dot eyes). Upon opening the book, I happily discovered that every page was a different animal composed of only geometric hearts. It's amazing!
The book is started with "my heart is like a zoo..." and the following pages are animals with a reason that is a typical description of that animal. "Thoughtful as an owl", "angry as a bear", "eager as a beaver", "steady as a yak", etc, etc. What the author/artist did with the hearts to create the images was amazing!

There's a cute rhyming pattern that flows throughout the book, and the end is ultimately a "zookeeper" that is a little child going to bed with all his heart-shaped stuffed animals around him.

D loves the book. It's so brightly-colored and fun, and the length is perfect. He loves the animals - and I understand how some could praise this book for helping their child understand emotions. I think that's a great thought. I also LOVE the idea of using this book as inspiration for Valentines! (Ha - act surprised next February, family...unless Batman overrides that decision as well!).

It's worth a read. It's definitely going to be D's Valentine's present this February from us. We're always looking for a "love" book - but I think this one is perfect!