Dear Patrick

I cannot believe my little Patrick is one!! I'm not sure how I can sum up how wonderful this year has been in one blog post, but i'll give it a shot! I wrote Patrick a little note in a Sesame Street book, since Sesame Street is his favorite, and put it on his bookshelf. Since this blog is really for my memories and for Patrick when he gets older, I thought I would also post the note to the blog in case the book ever gets lost.

Patrick,

You are more than I ever could have dreamed for and I am just so thankful for you every day. You are truly a blessing to your dad and I. We wake up each day and realize just how lucky we are to have such a loving, healthy, beautiful baby boy. I remember so vividly the day we went into the hospital and how anxious we were to meet you! You were ready to join this world earlier than expected and you have been going ever since! I remember seeing your sweet little face and knowing that you already had me wrapped around your little finger!

Patrick, you are a curious and busy little boy and I wouldn't want anything less. It has been such an honor for me to teach you new things and help you learn about the world around you. You started walking about a month and a half ago and you have been on the move ever since! You just started sleeping through the night this past month, so you and I had a lot of cuddle time in the middle of the night for the past 11 months! I wouldn't trade the sleepless nights for anything! I loved cuddling with you and found myself missing you so much when you started sleeping through the night. I have become so accustomed to getting up that I still find myself checking on you almost every night.

My favorite moment of every day is when I get you up in the morning. You normally wake up slowly and talk quietly to your stuffed animals in your crib. The moment you hear my footsteps you pop your little head up and get the biggest smile on your face when you see me. I would replay that moment over and over again if I could!

I love your sweet hugs, your contagious giggle, your big smile, your soft little voice and most of all those big blue curious eyes! I can’t get enough! I often wonder if you get tired of me kissing those chubby little cheeks of yours!

Patrick, I am looking forward to all the fun memories we have ahead of us. You are such a sweet little boy and I know you are going to grow into a wonderful man! I can't wait to experience it all with you!

I love you,

Mom

Patrick's 1st Birthday- Part 2

Michael and I both took the day off to celebrate Patrick's birthday last Monday and we had such a fun family day! I don't think we have had a day where we just played all day since Patrick has been born! So it was really fun for all of us.

We started out our morning at Loveless. We were excited to start a new birthday tradition with Patrick. Patrick loved the pancakes, hashbrown casserole and the biscuits (of course)!

On our way home we went to see the bunnies at Phillips toy mart.

We were the only people in there for a little while, so the lady that works there brought out one of the bunnies for Patrick to pet. He was a little nervous to pet the bunny, but he liked to look at it.

After Phillips toy mart, we came home and played outside in the cozy coupe for a little while.

I love Turk's floppy ears in this photo. He can't stand for something to be going faster than him, so he is running circles around the cozy coupe

Then we all took a long 2 hour nap! I think we were all exhausted from Patrick's birthday party the day before!

After lunch, we headed to the Zoo. Michael and I were both pretty excited too since we both couldn't remember the last time we had been to the zoo. We thought that since it was really hot outside (almost 90 degrees!) and a Monday, that the zoo would be pretty slow, but we forgot that it was Williamson County spring break, so it was packed!!! I think Patrick liked looking at all of the other kids better than he liked any of the animals.

Pointing to the pony

Brushing the pony

Looking at the goats

You can't really see it in this picture, but the alligator came right up to us and opened his mouth. Patrick thought it was pretty great.

Seeing the Zebra's

Cougars- Patrick was much more interested in all the other kids

The giraffe's were by far his favorite

Talking about the giraffe's

Pointing at the giraffe

Excited about his new giraffe stuffed animal

How cute are these two?

On our way out of the Zoo. Can you tell it was hot!?

After the zoo, we came home and tried to get Patrick to take his afternoon nap. He was too excited, so we opened all of his presents from the day before. I'm sad I didn't take any pictures, but Michael and I were worn out, so we just watched him play around. He got so many cute presents from family and friends!

Since he skipped his afternoon nap, this is what he did during his birthday dinner at local taco

We woke him up at the end of dinner so he would be tired at bed time. After dinner, we went home and tried the smash cake again. Since he wasn't fond of it on his birthday, we thought we might try one more time. No such luck this time either....he only pulled off the dots on the top.

We handed him a cupcake, to see if he would try that since it was a little smaller and a little less overwhelming. He wouldn't try it either! He stared at it and played with it, but never put it in his mouth. He ended up throwing it on the floor for the dogs. Oh well, maybe next year i'll get a good smash cake picture...

Such a fun day with my sweet little family!

Patrick's 1st Birthday Party

Last Sunday was Patrick's Sesame Street birthday party. Patrick loves Elmo, so I thought a Sesame Street theme would be perfect! I had so much fun planning this party! I'm not very crafty, but I wanted to make Patrick's party personalized, so I tried to hand-make a lot of things for Patrick's party.

The party invitation

The birthday boy!!



Sign at the entrance to Patrick's party

It was BEAUTIFUL outside (even a little on the hot side), so we really lucked out being able to do it all outside! April can be pretty rainy, so I was so excited it was so pretty out!

Bubbles with Big Bird

Oscar's Trash Toss

If you watch Sesame Street, you know that Elmo Loves his Crayons!

Instead of flowers, I decided to do skittles and whirly pops for the centerpieces since it matches the colors of sesame street.

The brunch table. The food table included goldfish (for Elmo loves his goldfish), breakfast casserole, veggies, flying fairy fruit pops (a play on Abby's Flying Fairy School), hashbrown casserole, and french toast. The grandmothers made the casseroles and the french toast and they were delicious!

Dessert and drink table, which included cream cheese cinnamon squares, yogurt parfaits, cookies, cupcakes, fruit tea and mimosas.

The cookie stand, which was one of my favorite parts! On the bottom are chocolate chip cookies, the middle row are cake batter cookies, and the top are soft frosted sugar cookies. I had planned to start baking really early on Saturday, but a few things came up that were out of my control, so I didn't start baking until 9pm the night before! Fortunately, Michael was a trooper and helped a lot with the cookies!

Oscar, Elmo, Big Bird and Cookie Monster cupcakes. I made the cupcakes and icing from scratch, so I didn't finish the cupcakes until 2 am. I got a little tired towards the end, so they were a little messier than I had hoped!

The favor table, with "P" and "1" cookies. I made these cookies on Friday and cookie cutting is surprisingly more difficult than you would think! Aunt Denton and John helped package the cookies the night before. I forgot to take a picture of the table before the party, so most of the favors are gone, but you get the idea

Patrick running around before the party started

Patrick face planted in the duck pond before the party even started! So he was wet for half of the party!

Patrick spotted Cookie Monster. He went around grabbing all of the stuffed animals after we put them out. He has been carrying them around ever since. He loves them!

Uncle Matthew volunteered to dress up as Elmo. It was a great idea and I was so glad he thought of it! He went to great lengths to get the costume, since apparently Elmo is a popular costume. Elmo was definitely the highlight of the party! When Patrick saw Elmo he got excited and ran towards him!

2 handfuls of goldfish for Elmo!



Trying to feed goldfish to Elmo

The girls loved Elmo too!





Family picture with Elmo

Playing with Daddy and Grover

My boys :)

The kiddie table

With Rachel and Zane

Smash Cake time! Patrick was not fond of the cake. He is a really picky eater, so I wasn't sure if he would dig into the cake or just stare at it. He put his fingers in it but wouldn't put any of it in his mouth. Oh well, maybe next year!



He looks a little concerned that this enormous cake is on his tray





I think he lasted a total of 2 minutes before he decided he wasn't going to try any of it



Zane and Patrick ate ice out of the beer coolers all day



Hugging Grumps

The cozy coupe was a big hit! It took Michael four hours to put together the day before, but after seeing all the kids riding on it all day, I think he was glad he put it all together :)

Hannah and Patrick

Hanging with Big



Opening Uncle Matthew and Mark's present. Unfortunately, this is the only picture I have of one of his presents

Worn out after the party

A few pictures of my birthday boy. I forgot to get a picture of him in his hat, so we had a little photo shoot after the party.

He was not very fond of the hat!

It was such a fun birthday party! I can't believe my little boy is 1!