Carter's birthday celebration!

Since I had his birthday party so early (December 5th), we decided it would be a good idea to gather our immediate families for a mini birthday celebration the night before his actual birthday (December 23rd). At first I had this elaborate plan to cook an entire traditional Christmas meal complete with a ham, mashed potatoes and yams. But as the day approached, my quick-on-his-feet thinking husband suggested in order to alleviate some stress, why don't we just have pizza? A big slap in the back is what I gave him and said "Good thinking, babe!"

So it was a great night of wine, pizza and relaxation with our hilarious families! Carter was having a great time with his little cousin, Tessa, and the mood was splendid! The best part was that there were NO DISHES, leaving me free to laugh uncontrollably with the good old sister. Here are some pictures of our mini celebration.

And then came D-Day. The day my little man turned into a toddler. It was a great day because he was in such a great mood, but I have to say I almost cried sporatically throughout the day. I held it in though, like a trooper, but it just went by so fast! It was just insane. Talk about an easy baby and, hopefully, an even easier toddler! Here's him opening up his first present! (He was super reluctant to rip it open, which was so surprising!)

Our original plan was to take a trip to Disneyland, just the three of us, but that fell through for some reason. Then we were going to go to see Santa via the Irvine train, but that didn't work out either! So we took off for South Coast Plaza and took a ride on the carousel! Carter had a death grip on my neck, so he was a little freaked out, but it was so adorable!

Then it was to Old St. Nick we went!

For all you parents out there, I DO NOT recommend visiting Santa on the 23rd of December. It's just NOT good idea. We just did it because it was his birthday, but NEVER AGAIN! We waited in line for an hour and a half. That's all I need to say.

After some lap-sittin, we headed over to the Macaroni Grill, where Carter was able to color on the table! Chad and I got a half-off bottle of wine (I think I deserved some props for hitting the one year mark of that 13 hour labor!), and we had a fabulous dinner.

A perfect way to celebrate a most perfect day :)