Happy Birthday Nick Nick!

Nicholas turned 3 on Monday! Weeks leading up to his birthday, I asked him what he wanted to do for his big day....he said he wanted to have a TRAIN party. Knowing I did not want to throw a "friends" party this year, I decided to plan an alternate celebration.

We decided to take him up to the Strasburg Railroad in Lancaster County, PA. We took a 45 minute trip on a real-live steam engine locomotive. Nicholas had a BLAST! The train car that we rode on bore the name Warren F. Benner. Todd's ancestor's come from PA...so maybe we are related??The ride takes you through the beautiful Amish country of Lancaster. We saw several farmers working their crops with horses pulling their plows. It was so cool!


After the train ride, we took him to a Thomas Train Shop and let him pick out a few train related gifts.

We came home and had cake and ice cream.


As I have mentioned before, I love making my kids' birthday cakes, and this year was just as fun as any other. Nicholas was SO excited about his cake, the minute we came home from our day-trip, he went to the fridge to check and make sure it was still there.

I know he would have been just as excited about a store bought cake, however, the entire time we were making and decorating the cake he stood beside me saying, "Mom, this is going to be the BEST cake ever!" "Mom, I love my cake, you're doing so good." "Mom, my cake is AWESOME." How can I resist an ego-boost like that!

Nicholas is such a treat to have as a son. He is sweet, tender and gentle, but all boy at the same time. He loves to be outside...playing basketball, riding his scooter, digging in the dirt, swinging on the swingset, or playing baseball. He also loves to wrestle daddy and Noah. Nicholas has always been a little chatterbox and is quite social. The best things about Nick are that he gives great, unsolicited hugs and he is so dang FUNNY - a lot like his daddy! We love you Nick, Nick and are so glad to have you in our family. Happy Birthday, Buddy!