Disneyland!

We Cisneros's love Disneyland. Love, love, love, love, love it. Chad and I have had passes for basically our entire relationship, but took a break from good old D-Land when the little man was born. We had this idea that it would be a bad idea to take him when he was so young because it would take away from the excitement when he was old enough to know what was going on. That theory lasted for about six months. After agreeing that we needed something to do that would satisfy both us and our little one on Chad's days off, it was time we ventured back into frontier land to join our friends at the haunted mansion. So we got ourselves some Deluxe passes and back we were!

After I got off work at 10:30 am (woohoo for teaching two classes and getting a workout in!), we hauled off after Carter's nap! We stayed later than we've stayed in a long time, but for some reason I stopped taking pictures early in the day. Enjoy!

On his trusty steed! He was so excited to go on the carousel, it was so cute!

My boys :)

Oh yeah, and instead of being an excited parent by my child's side, Chad convinced me to hop on!

It was quite a fun date with my boys. Disneyland always delivers!

I'm following suit!

In my daily reading of all the blogs I follow, I think it's time for me to follow suit and announce my goals for 2011. Yes, I said goals, because I'm afraid that if I say "resolutions" I will not execute, much like the word "diet." I'm a super "goal-y" type person, so I'm finally taking note of that and tailoring my New Year's list to myself! Here goes!

1) Become a better morning peson. It is SO DIFFICULT for me to get up in the morning, it's as if getting out of bed is equivalent to setting my hair on fire. For a few months I thought I was getting better at the whole am thing, but recent research has shown that I'm the same old Nicole: a big lug any time before 10:30am. I feel bad about this because Carter is obviously a morning person at this stage in his perfect little life, but I'm still lagging behind! It's horrible! So that is #1 on my list.

2) Become a better cook/home manager. I know this sounds completely lame. I mean, the words "home," and "manager" put together sounds completely un-feministic (again, is that a word?), but I definitely think this is something I need to strive for. I go through these lulls of being really on top of my game for a few weeks, then I slink into this hole of over-relaxation. I dread putting meals together because I was born without intuition in the kitchen, but this is the year I am changing these horrible facts! I already have conquered my style revolution (as mentioned sometime in November or December), but it's on to the household at large!

3) Go to the snow/visit Hearst Castle. The snow needs to be seen at some point this year. I don't care if it's before this winter is over that we are in right now, or we have to wait until December of this year. It just HAS to happen. As far as Hearst Castle goes, I just really want to go see that insane house that was occupied by that insane family. My American Studies major is shining through here!

4) Become more consistent with my correspondences. If you are my friend, you are one of the unfortunates who know just how terrible I am at a) calling you back, b) texting you back, c) carrying on messages/comments via Facebook, and any other sort of communication connection. I am not proud of this, so let me tell you all right now, I'M SORRY FOR THE PAST ALMOST-23 YEARS OF BAD CORRESPONDENCE! I'm changing this ASAP!

5) Run a marathon. (Or at least a 1/2 marathon). This may seem insane, but I don't care if it happens on December 31, 2011, it's happening. That's all I have to say about that one. 


So here I come, 2011, it's going to be a great year!

All I have to say is . . .

Yep, I may have a small obsession. That's all!

LA Zoo baby!

Let me tell you a little something about my upbringing: for some odd reason, I always had the impression that crossing over the county lines from Orange County to LA was comparable to taking a leap into the abyss of the underworld. Weird, I know. To that I'd like to say "thanks, parents of Orange County, for scaring the heck out of us children by telling us that we will be 'shot up on the block' if we step foot into the 'gangland.'" Haha my point is, there are lots of fabulous places to visit in the County of Angels! When I was pregnant, Chad and I took a little trip up to the tar pits, which was interesting. Step two in our quest to discover our neighbors to the North was to take the little man on a trip to the LA Zoo! We had such a great time! We taught Carter how to make sounds like a monkey, showed him how NOT to behave in public (many a-brat throwing many a-fit), and we got good cardio workouts from all those hills. Here are a few of the best:

After our little safari, we took off to quite possibly the world's BEST hamburger hut, TOMMY'S! All you creatures of tradition, this place has been around for about 65 years or something crazy like that, and I'm obsessed. It's this big cheesey, chili-filled, mountain of delicious goodness. You can get out and eat it standing up on their bar type eating stations, or, like us, you can eat it in your car. Everytime I go there, I'm NEVER disappointed. LA would not be complete without a trip to good old Tommy's!

That's Chadly displaying the loot!

So, all and all, the week Chad had off work was filled with adventures, holiday fun, and LOTS of relaxing. The TV we put into our room has served us well, as I am typing in bed as we speak and it's 11:30 am with The View on pause (a mom's got to take it where she can get it!). I hope everyone's holidays were just fabulous, and have a WONDERFUL and SAFE New Years Eve! Muah!

Lots of merry making going on around here......

Here is our first Christmas card as a family! Last year I was on the verge of delivering any minute so Chad and I were never able to send one out, but this year, because of the wedding, we had hundreds of pictures to choose from! (Chad and I got married May 29, 2009, but waited to celebrated with all of our family and friends until June 19, 2010).

Christmas Eve was great at the Cisneros home as always. We had a HUGE meal, complete with turkey, stuffing, yams, mashed potatoes and hand made bread from Grandma Cisneros herself. It was great! Chad made stuffed mushrooms for an appetizer, and all was jolly. Carter had a great time playing with his cousins, and I stuffed my face with pin wheel cookies. Story of my life, I only got a few pictures, but here are a few of the best!

On to Christmas Day. 2010 was by far THE BEST Christmas Day I think I've ever had. It was just so simple and cozy! The only downside was that when I went to get Carter out of his crib, he must of had some sort of allergic reaction throughout the night. The poor little guys eyes were so swollen it looked like he was still asleep! Poor little dude. (Two months ago Carter had an allergic reaction to a peanut butter cookie - I know, I know. It's not recommended to give a baby peanut butter younger than 1 years of age, but I honestly forgot it was even peanut butter! I was just thinking of it as a cookie. His eyes got super swollen and his face broke out in these white blisters. His body was also covered in hives. It was by far the scariest day of my life. - Anyway, that literally was the ONLY bad thing about the day.

After shooting the little man up with some Benadryl, I proceeded into the living room on my way to the kitchen to feed Carter. Oh my goodness, did I have a few surprises awaiting me there! Chad had gotten up in the middle of the night and brought Santa toys! I was so surprised! We had such a great time opening presents!

That picture of Notre Dame is comprised of all of our honey pictures! It was the sweetest gift, and I can't believe Chad thought of that! What a great guy! The framed finger painting Chad and Carter made for me actually made me cry. Yep, I was bawling. It was just so nice!

Next, was our impromptu dinner party with Grandpa Ernie. I was pretty dang proud of the center piece I through together out of two bed dust ruffles and a few pine cones :)

Chad made a full Christmas dinner with ham, scalloped potatoes, his stuffed mushrooms again, and stuffing.

As you can see, it was a great couple of days. Now we have toys coming out of our ears and still one more holiday party to attend. What a great way to end a great year :)

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 :)

Holiday pictures FINALLY!

Now that my camera has corrected whatever the heck was wrong with it on it's own, it's DEFINITELY time for some pictures on this here blog! Also the fact that I haven't been around here in quite some time, (over a week!), I have some pretty serious blog-worthy subjects to discuss!

Let's take a trip back in time (well, only a few weeks haha). Now that I have actual pictures to post, I need to explain every minute of the best holiday season I have experienced thus far. First off: Our fabulous tree!

Seeing as I've mentioned many a-time on here about our cramped quarters, we originally planned to get ourselves a tasteful little shrub of an alpine, but once we were actually in the official Christmas tree lot, Chad and I resorted to our old motto of "bigger is always better." So we got ourselves an outrageously massive tree. In order to accomodate, we had to rearrange all the furniture, which has actually been a great change. Well, as soon as we made a home for the good old pine, she started to shed. The floor of our apartment has been covered in pine needles (that my vaccuum cleaner won't pick up due to a lack of suction), for the past few weeks. The tree has barely drinken any water, and we are a bit worried it might combust into flames at any second. But, on the flip side, it's a fabulous tree and I'm glad we decided to go big. Here are some photos from beginning to just before Christmas Day (pictures to follow for the actual day of!).

Anyway, on to my garland I'm so excited about. Since we don't have a mantle, we had to hang out stockings on something! Luckily I ran across this $10 garland at good old Target!

Next off, Palm Springs! I barely got any pictures here, but here is one with Carter's cousin Leah! She knitted him this nifty beanie!

I'm super SUPER happy I can finally post pictures one here, so watch out for a million more posts! I already have two in mind, so try not to get annoyed with my over-the-top mushiness regarding the holidays and my boys! Woo!