Day Out with Thomas

This was Ryan & Jason's 2nd event, but the 1st for Brandon and I. And we took Mattie-Matt along with us. Having visited the Illinois Railway Museum on a non-Thomas weekend, I was amazed at the transformation in the facilities and the number of people that were there to see Thomas! For us train geeks, it was a fun day!

An official picture with Thomas the Tank Engine....

On the way to see Thomas...2 boys excited for the day ahead!

A ride on one of the electric cars that the museum runs, but this wasn't our ride on the Thomas coach.

The 2 older boys had lots of fun playing on this hand car.

My kid is kinda timid...when this electric car started rolling, Ryan reached over and grabbed Matt's leg. Don't worry, their seats were safe!

A special train that was on display - the Leviathon (leviathon63.com). It is a working steam engine and will be running at the IRM in September.

This was taken right before Brandon fell asleep on a ride on this electic car.

Tried to take a picture of the duo on this caboose, but didn't get much cooperation.

Matt on the caboose

They also had other activities...model train displays, tatoos, jump houses and this dragon blow-up course. It was probably 100 degrees in there, but the boys thought it was great!

Checking out one of the model train displays....but don't touch!! Or the bigger train geeks will get you!

Marshmellow Feast!

I'm a bad Mom for posting this, but can't resist. This morning Ryan dumped 1/2 a bag of mini marshmellows all over the floor. He claims he was trying to see if they were open (ok, whatever!). So I gave him a bowl and told him to clean them up. He was putting one in the bowl, and then eating one, one in the the bowl and then eating one. And then along came Brandon, and he discovered the marshemellows on the floor. Pretty soon there were no marshmellows on the floor but none in the bowl either! Wonder where they went??....

On the count of 3.....Yee Haw!

Texas Roadhouse has become our restaurant of choice for birthday celebrations...good food, good music and Ryan loves yelling Yee Haw for the birthday celebrations. Sometimes there's several in the time that we're there. So of course we went for Brandon's actual birthday. Here he is on the saddle!

First Birthday Party

Happy Birthday to Brandon....B, B-Man, Mr. B, and Chunker Monker! It's hard to believe that we added him to our family just over a year ago. Wow, how time flies when you're having fun. We celebrated with two parties - the first in Springfield with the Ritchie Clan - Nana, Ivan, Aunt Leslie, Sarah. Then we celebrated north of 80 with a party at our house. Too bad that Mother Nature didn't cooperate completely. Just about the time the party was supposed to start, the skies opened up and POURED! Fortunately everyone was a good sport and we managed to party-hardy anyway :)

Our theme was cupcakes with ONE candle.

Grandma helped coordinate our theme by making lots of cupcakes! The coca-cola chocolate ones were my personal favorite...tasted like mini TX sheet cakes....yum!

And we had this giant cupcake balloon!

Brandon was on the move and it was hard to keep his interest in opening presents. But he had soo many and received lots of neat things. Lots of the other kids helped open them.

Great! I got this big box...it's perfect for climing on!

And some ribbon?! Perfect for chewing

Somebody knows that we like trains in our house. (Yet to be determined whether Brandon will be Train Geek #2! hehehe)

Yum.....my 2nd taste of CAKE!! The first was last weekend at cousin Brynn's birthday party. Thanks to Brynn for sharing her actual birthday with Brandon!

I'll just put this entire cupcake in my mouth. That'll take of things!

WHAT are ya'll staring at and what's up with the singing?! (Brandon didn't quite know what to think when 35 people sang happy birthday to him. He just looked around with a confused look on his face.)

Jill's girls - Kailey, Ally & Camryn with Ryan & Brandon. The girls LOVE Brandon. They are soo excited these days when he stands up. Will he take some steps soon?? Notice Camryn's snow cone? Ryan got a snow cone machine for his birthday, so I had a fabulous idea to make snow cones for the kids. Went over well, but would have been much better if the rain hadn't made it 65 degrees out (at least that's what it felt like!).

And our other brilliant idea for an activity for the kids was this water slide. Used to be Cousin Alex's, but he outgrew it and got a bigger one, so he passed it along to Grandma & Grandpa. Would have offered hours of entertainment for the kids, but again, was a weeee bit chiiiillllyyy after the storm passed through. But that didn't stop the kids from giving it a whirl.

Here's Matt!

And Abby!! She & Ayden were racing down the slide (there's actually 2 paths next to each other).

And Ayden!

We're so lucky to have such a great circle of family & friends to celebrate with! And now that July is over, what will we do without all the excitement?!

One, Two, Free, FOUR!!!

July is a very busy birthday month for the Murr Family.....Grandma, Ryan, Alex, Brandon AND Great Grandma Murr! Dinner at Montana Ted's for Grandma's and dinner at ChooChooJohnny's for Alex's. On Ryan's actual birthday, we had dinner at the All Aboard Diner (2 train restaur-nants in one week!).

Then we had a small party at Blackberry Farm to celebrate the big F-O-U-R. It was a HOT day, but the kids had lots of fun enjoying all the activities at BF.

Jason says I don't cook, but I can bake....and I did! Yummy cupcakes topped off with a #4.

"Happy Birthday to you, cha-cha-cha, happy birthday to you, cha-cha-cha, happy birthday dear Ryan, happy birthday to you!" (Ryan says that Jill taught him this version)

Brandon & Jason enjoyed a spin on the merry-go-round!


All aboard!! After lunch, the entire crew boarded the BF Express for a trip around Gregory Lake.

Aynn & Ryleigh taking a whirl on the merry-go-round. Aynn looks like a movie star here...cut and paste this picture in People magazine :)

Ryan got lots of fun gifts and Matt & Dontre helped him open them.

All the kids!! In the back, Jack & Alex. Front, Dontre, Ryan, Ryleigh, Ayden, Myles, Lucas, Matt & Liam. Colton was having his diaper changed and by the time he was done, all the kids had lost interest in sitting on the table. (sorry kiddo! we'll get you next time)

All aboard!! Whoowhoo!

Four kiddos ridin' in the caboose - Jack, Matt, Ayden & Ryan

Ryan's Big Boy Bike

Ryan's early birthday present was a CARS bike. Jason put it together for him and Brandon was quite interested in the tires....

By the time it was put together, it was getting dark outside, but we took it for a quick spin!

It was Jason who insisted that he wear a helmet....so now he has the complete ensemble!

Now Ryan goes on lots of bike rides. When Gram & Poppy were here, he paraded down the sidewalk.

My bike isn't functional (yet), but Ryan & Jason cruise around the neighborhood. Usually Jason pulls the trailor so that B can ride along too!

Love this picture!

I have lots of work to do with my photography skills, but I took a shot recently that I think is great! Exposure is good, color is good and the subject is super cute!!! One of my favorites of Mr. Brandon....

And this subject was pretty cute too! ....even though he's not quite as cooperative as the lil' guy.