Mr 3 becomes Mr 4.......

Well Mr 3 has just become Mr 4. He is still in love with Thomas the Tank Engine. Will this love affair never end??????? He requested a Thomas cake and, due to my general fabulousness, I embraced the challenge (amid much questioning of my own sanity and dramatic throwing of my hands up into the air) and came up with something that sorta kinda resembles Thomas. Of course, his birthday party arrived on the hottest day of the year so far (34 degrees). So helpful....
(For those of you interested, I Googled 'Thomas the Tank Engine cake' and came up with a site called 'Thomas the Tank Engine Birthday Cake Tutorial'. Mine looks nowhere near as good as hers..... but I didn't start days in advance or have any of the proper tools!!)

Mr 4 is growing up. He is now correcting so many of his mis-pronunciations of words. I am happy, though, that some still remain......... 'omelette' is what he calls his 'wallet', 'helicopperdial' for 'helicopter' (it's a mixture of helicopter and crocodile, in case you were wondering...), 'jumpoline' for 'trampoline' (incidentally, why aren't trampolines called jumpolines? It is a much more appropriate name!!)

Speaking of the 'jumpoline', the kids and I have been extremely blessed in our next door neighbours. When we moved in we discovered a Dad and two boys next door. They have become great friends to us; Mr T (the Dad) organised for the second hand jumpoline to be delivered to our house, and the boys (Mr J and Mr L) play with the kids beautifully. I would like to thank Mr J and Mr L for often making Thomas train tracks and thus saving my sanity (because pretty much every day Mr 4 asks me to make a train track with him!!!).... They also play 'crack the egg' on the trampoline and various other games and generally make my life and my kids' lives better.

Handy Hint Number 52: When you are a single mother, make sure you move into a house with fabulous next-door neighbours who will love your kids and play with them!

Mr 4 loves the trampoline. It is used every day. I have to watch and specify the style of jump: bottom drop, knees, and a special something called the 'beautiful bottom drop'. Mr 4 came up with that one, and as far as I can tell it is a bottom drop with pizazz and some crazy hand actions.....

Here is a photo of Mr 4 in action. BTW, apologies for the shirt. I did not buy it (it was a gift) and Mr 4 was only wearing it because we were not going out anywhere! How was I supposed to know I'd snap an extremely cute and joyous photo of him jumping on the trampoline?!