A couple weeks ago the kids and I took the train into NYC to celebrate a special birthday with some old friends – the Cabbage Patch Kids turn 30 this year and boy do they know how to celebrate!

The same people who organized the amazing Playdate in the City last fall threw this party too, so my hopes were pretty high – and absolutely exceeded. It doesn’t happen very often, but this is the kind of thing that makes being a blogger seem like a super cool job.

The party was at the Eventi Hotel, which was a few blocks from Grand Central Station. I was lucky my friend Sarah was going too, since she was smart enough to look up walking directions BEFORE showing up in NYC. Plus she had her daughter Avery with her, and my kids looooove “Baby Avery”.

Caroline might be the only 2 year old who LOVES people dressed as giant characters.

The party had an adoption station where each child got to pick out a Cabbage Patch Kid that the “nurses” opened up for them to start loving right away. Then there were stations where you could listen to a story about where the Kids come from, learn how to change their diapers, get a Cabbage Patch makeover, rename your baby (Each CPK comes with a unique name and birth certificate but we had new ones printed with the names Caroline and Evan chose – Peanut and Emme), take the Oath of Adoption (Caroline doing the Oath might have been the cutest thing ever), and other fun stuff.

I MIGHT have strongly steered Caroline towards the red-headed Kid, but it wasn’t exactly hard. “That looks like me!” she said. Why, I didn’t even notice! (I totally noticed.) There were also boy Kids, but Evan chose a blond girl and insisted that was HIS baby so I couldn’t argue.

“Peanut” came with a bowl and food, so Caroline spent the rest of the party force-feeding her.

Diapering her baby. Even the “nurse” thought it was adorable.

Of course, what would a party be without food – and cupcakes?! Caroline was thrilled that scrambled eggs were on the brunch menu, since she ate two giant plates full of them. Evan ate bagels and “cupcakes”, which were actually corn muffins, until he realized there were ACTUAL cupcakes.

The punch was orange juice and Sprite with cherries in the bottom. I think I drank more than the kids. And how cute are all those details – custom cups?!

Party animal!

We need to work on her table manners. And sitting.

It was so much fun seeing the display of vintage Cabbage Patch Kids and the new Cabbage Patch Kids Celebration ‘Kids in honor of their 30th birthday. Does that make you feel old or what? I remember desperately wanting the a Cabbage Patch Kid when I was little, and how exciting it was to see the new ones come out every year. I’m such a fan of vintage toys that are still going strong, since you know in another 30 years our grandkids are going to be feeding and changing and tucking in their Cabbage Patch Kids too. Best part – they still smell EXACTLY the same as they did when I was little.

In addition to Peanut and Emme, the kids brought home a couple of Cabbage Patch Kids Cuties – one dressed as a rabbit and one dressed as a kitty I think. They’re the perfect size  for a preschooler, and ours have come with us lots and lots of places since we adopted them. I wish I had hidden a couple more in my bag for stocking stuffers.

It was a really fun day and totally worth the train ride plus the craziness that was dragging two kids and a bunch of balloons through the city because my children insisted on bringing them ALL home.

Huge thanks to our friends at JAKKS Pacific for letting us attend the party and for our very own Cabbage Patch Kids.

Busy week #1 complete! SUPER busy week #2 activate!

Sunday:

Easter egg hunt at church is less fun outside playground at church

“Mommy, it’s time to lie down”

Caroline says the Easter bunny goes “Pop pop pop”

Monday:

Doctor Panda’s Hospital means Mommy gets to sleep in

When I came to get her out of bed she was doing this.

Caroline hearts hoodies

Tuesday:

The Navy is finally taking down their Christmas lights. Government efficiency!

Target sells everything

BARNEY TRANCE! NOOOOOOOO!

Wednesday:

Practicing her handstands

This is not what they were supposed to be doing, but it was too cute to stop them

TERRIBLE CHILDREN ARE TERRIBLE AT THE GROCERY STORE

Thursday:

These are ugly and do not have sparkles.

Toys R Us TOTALLY blew Evan’s mind

Much better!

Friday:

Kicking ass at the ball popper game

OMG WHAT’S HAPPENING

EXHAUSTED

Saturday:

We were 2 minutes late to the town Easter Egg hunt and they were all gone – but some nice kids shared with my children.

Mexican food & a library visit is the traditional way to spend the Saturday before Easter, right?

Adorable new shoes gave me wicked blisters from 5 hours of shopping.

This week is Evan’s birthday! Good thing I’ve had the house decorated for the past month. I’ve got some cookies to make and a super amazing cake to order and some train tracks to lay down and maybe a train crossing sign to build and…wow, I really need to get some stuff done. My folks are coming up to help (yah!) but my husband’s going to be away for training (boo!) so the best word for my current feeling is “overwhelmed”.

This week was extremely eventful, but only because I got to see a movie in a theater. Happy Last New Year’s Eve I Will Probably Ever Spend Away From My Children Until They Are In High School!

Sunday:

She says she loves hot chocolate, so at least a little must end up in her mouth

Most Empty Five Guys Ever

Pretty but expensive (stupid weird roof line that’s impossible to insulate)

Monday:

Aunt Carolyn read a lot of books while she was visiting

That’s called the “Godzilla Roll”. Deep-fried sushi.

Champagne in our jammies

Tuesday:

Aunt Carolyn also introduced us to Sherlock. OBSESSED.

MOAR BOOKS

2013 is exhausting already

Wednesday:

Breakfast tastes like New Year’s Resolutions

Fake wood vegetables to fake cut with a fake knife = Caroline’s favorite thing

In my opinion, Christmas jammies are appropriate until Halloween

Thursday:

I shouldn’t reward a 5:30 am wake-up with TV, but if I do I get to sleep on the couch for an extra hour, so….

When she pouts and walks away like this you have to imagine the Charlie Brown music in the background

Parenting workout

Friday:

Reading at Stroller Strides

ABSOLUTELY NOT NO NEVER

Doll face

Saturday:

This also buys me an extra hour of sleep

Booty Mommy! My Booty!

Grocery shopping with a list, a budget AND coupons. I’m pretty proud of myself.

I’m not going to lie, dropping Evan off at school on Thursday was the highlight of my week. But it was the highlight of his week too – he’s already asked to go to school three times today (it’s Sunday) and Caroline is begging to go back to the play place. Now that the holidays are over we start the loooooong cold trudge towards spring in New England. It’s the only part of the year I actually hate living in Connecticut, although I do still love the aquarium, seaport and two children’s museums that all have nice, warm, inside activities.

Did you take iPhone photos of your week? Link up with one or several below! Please consider joining, even if you haven’t done it before – it’s really fun!

Christmas Eve:

Christmas Morning:

Christmas Day:

We had an amazing holiday, full of food and family and fun. The kids were – and are – insanely spoiled, both with STUFF and attention.

I made Bacon and Hash Brown Egg Bake and Blueberry French Toast Casserole on Christmas Eve to put in the oven in the morning and both were delicious. My plans for an actual Christmas meal were thwarted by total laziness (and maybe my “holiday style” hot cocoa starting at 11 am) and we just turned the ham into sandwiches instead. They were FANTASTIC.

My sister is here to visit for a few days and the kids are already madly in love with her. She brought champagne and chocolate and volunteered to babysit on New Year’s Eve so she can stay forever if she wants. I mean, I know her plan WAS to go to Hawaii for a couple weeks and then move to Paris, but I’m offering a very nice guest room, free food and the chance to hang out with two crazy ginger toddlers as much as she wants so we’ll see. It might be an offer she can’t refuse.

I hope you and your families had a wonderful and relaxing holiday. I’ll be on my couch finishing off this bag of candy Santa “forgot” to put in our stockings and Googling “miracle 48-hour juice fast lose 30 pounds today”.

Today is Black Friday, which means a lot of people (maybe even you? perhaps checking the interwebs while standing in a looooong line?) are out right now fighting through crazy crowds hoping to save some money on their holiday gifts. Budgets are always tight this time of year and getting a good deal could be the difference between the naughty list and the nice list.

How would you like to make your kid’s Christmas or Hanukkah (or Kwanza or Festivus or December birthday) totally fantastic without the crowds and lines? Do you have a kid that likes princesses? Or princes? How about music? Cars? All of the above? My kids definitely fall into the “all of the above” category, so I’m a little disappointed I can’t win this prize myself but SO HAPPY one of you will.

I am tickled pink that I get to share some of the fantastic Tollytots toys my kids enjoyed so much with one lucky reader (and their lucky kids/grandkids/nieces/nephews/neighbor’s kids/whoever would love these toys) just in time for the holidays.

• My First Disney Prince — Flynn Rider
• Safety 1st CUBIKALS — Wiggler Car
• Safety 1st CUBIKALS — Stack-n-Play 3-piece block set
• Baby Genius — one of the following: Vinko’s March-Along Trumpet, Rex’s Rockin’ Keyboard or Tempo’s Superstar Guitar
• Rubik’s — My First Rubik’s Cube
• My First Disney Princess Birthday Party Set
• My First Disney Princess Lights and Lullaby  Baby

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Tollytots is providing the above prize package to one winner. No compensation was received in exchange for this post, unless you count lots of very nice emails from their amazing PR rep.