Snowfalls and Train Parties

We spent much of Friday preparing for "Blizzard '10", laughing off the notion that Atlanta would actually get any significant amount of snow that would make a difference.

Ha.

While it wasn't the 50 plus inches that most of the East Coast has been battered with it was more than 4 inches and in a city that closes schools the night before a snowflake actually falls, well, that is a lot of snow.

Cris and Grover and the boys were scheduled to fly in, and Grover's flight was canceled before it even took off and Cris and the boys had the one flight of the entire day that actually left from DC to Atlanta - and thanks to a derailed metro train they missed it. It was not happy news.

We made snowmen and let Finn run around and I prayed, and prayed some more, and then did some complaining, and then prayed some more that the snow wouldn't make a mess out of the roads on Saturday.

 

  

  

  

  

Well, we woke up Saturday morning early and turned on the news where the line of the morning seemed to be that the roads were icy and treacherous and to stay off of them. I texted my dad and asked whether we should cancel the party and we decided to go out and drive around. Fortunately the roads were actually not so bad, and we decided to have it regardless.

Of the 18 kids we expected we had 8, and only 3 cancellations were thanks to the weather. The downside of having a birthday party in February is the fact that illness runs rampant amongst the toddler set (we have missed 2 parties already in the past month), so while we missed the ones that couldn't be here we were thankful that we don't have any more sickness in the house.

We did a train party, with Finn's music teacher coming and doing a 40 minute class, and while I would love to say we got lots of pictures the truth is we decided to enjoy the party rather than take 100 pictures of it, so we only got a few.

 

 I made gift bags for each of the kids, which seemed like a great idea a month ago, and as I was frantically sewing them late last week I realized I bit off more than I could chew...because I have never sewn anything in my entire life until I made 19 of these. I think they turned out pretty good!

  

 And then I made train crayons for each of the kids, with the help of my inlaws who peeled 148 crayons and a train-shaped candy mold and a microwave which melted the crayons.

  

 Along with the crayons I had a train whistle and train shaped lollipop and a tattoo inside each bag, and a train shaped sippy cup to take home.

  

  

 I made cupcakes, more cupcakes and then some more cupcakes. If I never see another cupcake again it will be too soon.

  

 There were balloons...

  

  

 And a shirt that said 'Choo Choo I'm 2!'...

  

  

And then some double-fisting of the cupcakes. Needless to say we are still finding cupcake crumbs all over the floor!

After everyone left we opened presents and cards and realized how lucky we are that we have so many friends who love Finn so much. Even when he has become a present monster and now asks for presents every 5 minutes.

Tomorrow? More snow predicted, and the family is heading back to the UK. Fingers crossed the airport can handle the 1-2 inches headed our way!