The Birthday Shirt

We saw this idea somewhere and decided to use it ourselves. We bought Mary Pat an adult size "I love NY" t-shirt (with an irish theme) to wear for a picture on each birthday. This way we will have a way to see how big she has gotten each year.

As you can see, the shirt is HUGE on her this year, but that makes the pictures all that more enjoyable! She had no idea what we were doing when we were trying to take these pictures but she thought it was hysterical.
A full length shot (although you can't see the shirt very well)
A little better. She is getting more teeth so her finger is pretty much always in her mouth!

More Birthday Pictures

As promised, here are two links for more pictures from Mary Pat's birthday weekend. I will warn you up front that there are a bunch of pictures! Here's a link to Mommy's pics and here's a link to Papa's pics. Enjoy!!
Mary Pat LOVES her new stroller car from Auntie Leenie and Auntie Moe.

Mary Pat got this fun Winnie the Pooh train from Papa & Nana. She picked it out in the store herself!

Mary Pat Turns One!!!

We can hardly believe that Mary Pat is already one year old! She had a very eventful and fun filled weekend of celebrations beginning on her actual birthday last Thursday. The events began with Mommy and Daddy singing "Happy Birthday" to Mary Pat in her crib Thursday morning. She laughed and bounced up and down not really sure what was going on.

Thursday afternoon, Mommy took some Dunkin Donunt Munchkins into Mary Pat's class at daycare where they had a birthday party for her. Everyone sang and clapped and Mary Pat wore her Birthday Crown and enjoyed all of the attention. When we got home that afternoon, Nana, Victoria, Aunt Shawn and Papa arrived at our house for their weekend visit. Mary Pat was very excited to see all of them. After Daddy got home from work, we all went to Grimaldi's Pizzeria for Mary Pat's birthday dinner. She enjoyed noodles and pizza for dinner followed by ice cream with a candle in it!

Saturday was the big birthday party. Unfortunately the rain caused us to move the party from the park to our house, but a good time was still had by all. Mary Pat was very happy to have so many friends and family able to come and celebrate her big day. She was not very interested in her cake, but had a great time eating one of the cupcakes we had for the party! Below are some pictures from the weekend. A link to MANY more will follow shortly!

Mary Pat in her class getting ready for her party!
She loved wearing her birthday crown at school.
And was VERY excited to see Mommy earlier than usual!
Mary Pat and her classmates singing Happy Birthday.
Enjoying her birthday munchkins.
Mommy & Mary Pat at Grimaldi's Pizzeria for her birthday dinner.
Daddy & Mary Pat the day of her birthday party.
Mommy & Mary Pat awaiting the arrival of her birthday party guests!
Trying to crawl in her pretty party dress.
Seriously observing the party.
Mary Pat was very happy to have her Nana there to celebrate turning one!

I'm ready for CAKE!!!!

Family photo with the cupcake shaped birthday cake.

Mary Pat liked the small cupcake better.

Tasting the icing.....

YUMMY!

Technical Difficulties......

Due to technical difficulties with our home internet, birthday pictures are taking longer to get posted. I will try to have some pictures up by tomorrow morning!

Play Dates

This month we have had a couple Saturday "play dates" with friends of ours who have kids around Mary Pat's age. First, we had Brighton Jesse over to play and go swimming with his Mommy and Daddy (Suzanne and James). We had a great time at the pool and grilling at the house. Brighton is 17 months old and walking, so Mary Pat loved watch him walk through the baby pool!

Next, we had Claire George over to play with her Mommy and Daddy (Dave and Celia). Claire is only three weeks younger than Mary Pat so they had a wonderful time together! They loved crawling after each other at the house and splashing with each other in the pool!

Mary Pat is becoming much more active and loves playing with other kids so these play dates were perfect for her! Here are some more pictures from the visits.

Playing at the house with Brighton Jesse. Having fun in the pool with Daddy and Brighton.
Sharing toys with Claire George.
Mary Pat and Claire splashing around in the pool.
One of Mary Pat's MANY silly faces!
Crawling with Dada at the pool!

Big Girl Food

Mary Pat has really started to enjoy eating "big girl food" and is doing great with it! She loves turkey, cheese, bread, noodles, pineapple, carrots, peas, and green beans. At school she has also tried mac & cheese, meatballs, cheese quesadilla and has been gobbling these items up!

We have noticed that Mary Pat enjoys going out to dinner now that she can be "included" in the eating. She really likes to make a mess which isn't fun to clean up but it sure is fun to watch! Her hair is wet in these pictures because Mommy already had to wipe her down once during this particular meal.
Preparing to eat her green bean.

Shovelling it in with both hands!
YUMMY!

Here Comes Trouble!!

Well, Mary Pat has found the stairs.

We knew it was only a matter of time and last weekend she decided that she wanted to climb up the basement stairs. Luckily she still has little interest in the main stairs leading from the living room to upstairs. However, this new development meant that Daddy spent last Sunday installing baby gates.

As you can see from the pictures below, Mary Pat concentrated very hard as she climbed and was very proud of herself as Mommy waited at the top of the stairs clapping for her!

Beginning the ascent.

Pausing to look around.
Once she got to the landing she really took off!
Almost there!