My sweet little boy is turning 3! (almost!)

We celebrated Charlie's 3rd birthday a bit early this year, figuring it would be easier to do with mommy 36 weeks pregnant than with a 3-ish week old (which seems somewhat impossible and which would probably mean no fancy cake and no fancy anything).  I still cannot believe that my sweet baby boy is turning three soon.  I heard once that when you are a parent, the days go slowly but the years fly by. 

So.Very.True.

Charlie is loving Thomas Trains these days, so a Thomas Train party it was.  We  decided to have his party at a local kiddie play area, which meant that I was just in charge of the food, cake and favors.   With pinterest and cakecentral as my starting points, the party planning started weeks ago.  It is safe to say that every minute of my time these past few weeks that wasn't spent working or preparing for the arrival of Charlie's little brother was spent on Charlie's party.   There were a LOT of late nights and early mornings working on Charlie's party, but I wanted every single detail to be perfect for him!  And, it is no secret that I love the cake making  and party planning and crafty parts of all this...
Here are some pics from Charlie's party:

       

  

Charlie's Cake!

4 tiers of chocolate fudge cake layered with vanilla buttercream and oreo cookie cream filling.

Yummmm......

I made this Sir Topham Hat our of gumpaste - so he is completely food safe (though rock hard)

              

  

The trees, hills, sun and tracks and tunnel are made from Satin Ice fondant.

The clouds and grass are made from buttercream.

The rocks are chocolate.

360 degrees of decorated train cake! 

And finally, singing Happy Birthday to our little boy:

 

Happy early birthday Charlie!  I never knew just how perfect life could really be until almost  3 years ago when you came into ours and I love you so much! 

Chooo Chooooooo Choooooooooooooooooo!!!!!

ALL ABOARD!!!!!  Chooooo Choooooooo  Choooooooooooooo!

Happy Birthday Ramon!

Ramon just turned 5 and much like other little boys his age, he's a fan of Thomas the Train.   We're just getting into the Thomas Stage at my house and when my little guy spotted the train for Ramon's cake, he immediately decided he needed to have it, now.  So, the train went into hiding in an unreachable cabinet with a promise that we'd get another one before the end of the weekend. Crisis averted - phew!

I was SO excited to make this cake and I just love how it turned out!  I hope it brings a big smile and much joy to this special little birthday boy!  

Here are the pics:

Ramon's cake is mostly buttercream, with a few fondant decorations. 

The train tunnel and railroad crossing signs are made from fondant, as are the rolling hills.....

Top view..... clouds.

The apple tree, clouds and grass are all buttercream.

Fondant tunnel, chocolate rocks..... 

Train tracks are drawn onto the cake board....

The cake was decorated all the way around...no real front or back.  Perfect if the birthday boy wants to drive the train around on the tracks for a bit :)

I'm hoping this cake brought a smile to this 5 year old's face on his birthday!  If he loved it as much as I did, I know it certainly did!!

Thomas the Train cake details:  Chocolate cake, cookie-cream filling, vanilla buttercream frosting.