It's a Great MONTH to Be Irish!

March is here...and almost gone. I've been a slacker blogger, but other than a few family members who complain if I haven't posted pictures of the Tomster, I'm not sure anyone misses me here!

Tommy turned 2 1/2 on the 10th and I have a birthday coming up on Friday this week! And while they say "it's a great day for the Irish" on the 17th, we've decided it's a great month to be Irish, especially as we've had some incredibly mild weather in the Northeast, resulting in the wearing of the short sleeves, a new spring haircut for the Tomster, a few visits to the park and a few parades to watch!

Locally, we attended the Belmar St. Patrick's Day Parade on March 4th with Meema. This was the second time we ventured out for this one, the first time was when Tommy was 6 months old and he didn't remember a thing about it! We didn't last very long, as Tommy only had a 20 minute nap in the car before we got there.  We only lasted to see the very beginning of the parade which featured what seemed like 100 fire trucks from around the area.  I later found out from a friend who was shooting the parade for Cablevision that the parade lasted 2 hours 45 minutes...after which I realized that 2 years ago when Tommy and I ventured out for the parade, I must have only seen the beginning with the fire trucks as well, because what we watched this day was maybe about 30-40 minutes.



Tommy insisted on wearing his green dinosaur hat for the parade



This tired face was all I needed to say, "Enough...we're going home!"

Tommy napped in the car on the drive home, which is pretty short, and we sat in the driveway for a bit, until my sister Karyn and niece Alexis arrived for a visit.  We had not seen Lexi for her birthday so we got to give her the presents we had been holding on to.  Tommy was so excited to help her open them!

Cousins!

The mild weather really started the second weekend of March, and we ventured over to the "Purple Park." We had stopped there a few mornings after church as a reward when Tommy behaved pretty well, but this day was mild enough for a light jacket, and no hat or gloves!

Looks like he's holding court here, but I think he was mesmerized by some older kids

Tomster has already master climbing UP the slide.  Yikes!

Within a few months, I guarantee he will be going across this without holding onto me !

Down the slide

He even figured out on his own how to slow himself down and stop if he wanted to

Tommy LOVES to be pushed high in the swing

This kid is at his happiest when he is able to run around and play outside - this smile is proof!

All cleaned up and ready for bed after a fun day!

Daycare had a party the day before St. Patrick's Day, and I signed up for Tommy to bring cookies.  As anyone who knows me will attest to, I am no Betty Crocker. I bought cookies that just had to be smacked on a cookie sheet, but they did have shamrocks on them at least.  And Tommy LOVES them, as he's had ones that my mom has made for other holidays. Tommy was so excited to help me "bake" the cookies...perhaps someday I'll really bake cookies!

Helping Mommy make the cookies

On St. Patty's Day, we woke up to find that a leprechaun had been to our house during the night because there was green pee in the potty.  Tommy's comment when I showed him was, "That's not nice!" Apparently he thought it was rude that the leprechaun did not ask, or did not flush, or did not visit with Tommy...I'm not sure. Right after that Tommy needed his stinky diaper changed - and go figure, what I found in there was green. Dark green, but definitely green (he did admit to having green applesauce at his school party). I had my boy convinced that I thought he was the leprechaun who visited during the night and peed green after that happened.

Later on we took the Tomster for a haircut. Does he not look like a little hooligan like his shirt says, with that lollipop hanging out of his mouth? He was so good and quiet while Miss Danielle cut his hair, and was promptly rewarded with that lollipop when she was all done with him!

Happy St. Patrick's Month from the Lil Hooligan!

The Bayonne Parade is always the Sunday after St. Patrick's Day, so Tommy and I headed up to Meema and Pop Pop's house after church.  He had been looking forward to this parade since the one a few weeks earlier in Belmar.  We were fortunate to have yet another beautiful, mild day. Tommy napped in the car on the ride up, thank goodness, because I knew he probably would not the rest of the day hanging out with his cousins and enjoying the parade...which is exactly how it went down. 

Heading out to church and then the Bayonne parade!

I love this self-portrait we did! Tommy does that "side eye" all the time when  I'm talking to him, and I finally caught it on film!

Tommy got to sit back and relax as we headed to the parade

The Tomster and Lexi watching the parade (and yes, I did tape a Rutgers R magnet on his wagon! I do work in Marketing!)

Taking a rest in between groups

We found this tweed hat in a closet at my parents' house before heading to the parade  that Tommy wore for about 10 seconds...so glad I did NOT spend $50 to buy a NEW one at the Irish store we stopped in at on Saturday!

Uncle Dave gave Tommy a shoulder ride, which he really enjoyed

That little boy's smile just melts my heart. I love watching him take it all in and getting excited about the little things!

After the parade we went back to my parents' house for our annual St. Patrick's Day party, complete with corned beef and cabbage, pasta with vodka sauce, and some subs, along with plenty of chips, pretzels and dips.  Tommy had a blast hanging out with his cousins and running around...he was near crashing when it was dessert time, and loaded up on some sugar, incuding cookies, a donut and an Elmo cupcake from Judicke's, a local bakery.  Growing up they were always known for their sprinkled donuts and cookies, and we could not show up to any family function without those items in our hands, otherwise we'd be banned. Unfortunately, the bakery has changed owners a few times over the years and the donuts are just not quite the same as we remember them to be when we were growing up. They are still good, but they are smaller, and something just tastes a little different.  I honestly used to eat 3-4 donuts, and now, I eat just one.  Not that that's a bad thing, since I really SHOULD NOT be eating 3-4 donuts.



Tommy enjoys a little bit of all the desserts




I think this photo is hilarious...the look he is giving the paparazzi on the other side of the camera is priceless...and we don't think he had any idea about the beard on his face either.

Needless to say, Tommy was a nut job for the next hour or so, but in good spirits at least. He was also pretty talkative in the car for the first 20 minutes of our drive home before crashing.  And he transferred nicely from the car into the house, though I had to control my laughter because he was mumbling some jibberish with his eyes closed as I was carrying him upstairs.  I think he may have been speaking Gaelic...my little leprechaun!