Carter's 1st birthday!! A Dinosaur Party to remember!

It was a Dino Party and it was awesome!!  Here is his invitation that I made through Shutterfly.com:

My sister came in early to help me out with getting Carter's party all ready to go.  :)  We had a blast setting up his party and making the food, baking cakes, putting together goody bags for the kiddos, shopping for everything, and playing with the Boss.

Decorations:  Happy Birthday Banner

Balloon Trees everywhere!  We couldn't find any brown streamers so we had to use black.  They were still pretty cool though.

A scary dinosaur balloon.  And a '1' from the $1 store from a 2012 graduation kit.  It was sparkley and awesome and now I have a '2' for his next birthday.  :)

The food:
Tree Salad (Broccoli pasta salad)
Dinosaur Eggs (Deviled Eggs)
Petrified Fish (Goldfish)
Lava (Salsa)
Dinosaur Snot (Guacamole)
8 Layer Journey to the Center of the Earth (8 layer dip)
Carnivore Sandwiches (pulled pork sandwiches)
Gummy Fish (Swedish Fish)
Dinosaur Toe Nails (Bugles)

We also had little clumps of balloons all over and brown and green netting on the table (also from the $1 store-the luau section was my friend.)  Straws that had palm trees wrapped around them, a palm tree table decoration, stuffed dinosaurs, fun safari plates, blow up palm trees down by the pool (more about that later), 1st birthday napkins.....

For beverages we had Marsh Water (Margaritas), Sangria (from a box-Klassy, I know), and beer.  For the kiddos we had Hansen's sodas and Blueberry juice.

Carter's Dinosaur cake!!  It was made using 2 round cakes, M&M's, colored icings, and Hershey Kisses for the spikes along his back.

The pool and the 'Pail-eolithic' dig for dinosaurs (plastic toy dinosaurs in pails of sand with plastic sand shovels) were fun for the big kids.

The pool was a huge hit!  It was filled with dinosaur rubber duckies and the kiddos had a blast soaking each other all. party. long.  And here I thought it was going to be hard to keep the little one year olds out of the pool.  Although-one of them did take a swim and it wasn't Carter!

Our neighbor Penelope and my sister.

The special smash carrot cake was a big hit!  He loved it.  He wasn't into making a mess at all though...he was very focused on putting more in his mouth.  :)

Carter loves his cousin Xavier!

The family kids!  Xavier, Carter, Evan and Lauren.

Mom-do I have something in my teeth?

Such a good sharer! 

Playing with some of his new wooden trains after the party was over and he got a good nap in.  He didn't even make it to the end of the party or even to open all of his presents but I can tell you he appreciates them all and thanks everyone for coming over and making his party very special!

Bath time is now ducky time

Our good friend Katie Keller bought Carter this awesome ducky tub and he lurrrrves it!  It quacks and is nice and squishy on his little baby bottom.

*These pictures are from December 8th, 2011

Chillin' with my Pops

All in a days work, eh dad?

Yep son, life is rough some days.  Chill and take it all in.

Bath time at Grandma Cindy's

Family bath time in the kitchen!

Hmmm, where is David????  :)

Oh this baby....

Gotta clean the booty....

His least favorite part of bath time.  The end of bath time.  :(

I love my mom! She is the best.

Jeff really getting Carter's hair dry.  It's very important for his after bath recovery.

*These pictures are from Nov 27th, 2011

Great Grandma's blanket

Carter loves the blanket his Great Grandma made for him!  He likes to stick his fingers and toes through the holes.  Because he is adorable.

He also likes to sleep on his dad.  Because he is adorable too.  :)

 *These pictures are from Nov 25, 2011

Off to Vegas!

Back to real-time for one post.  We are off to Vegas to celebrate Jeff's birthday!!!  (Which was May 3rd)  My brother David bought us all tickets to Vegas and we plan to do it up right.  No thinking about work, no stressing out, no pre-made plans for while we are there, just going with the flow.  I can't wait!  There won't be a picture update though, because we all know what happens in Vegas.......  :)

Thanksgiving 2011

 My sister took some fantastic family pictures while she was here.  I love them all!!!!  Carter was 6 months old here.

Why did my dad put tin foil on my head?!

 He loves hanging out with his Aunty!

 Jeffrey and his mom hanging out.

He was a great eater at his first big holiday!

 Great Grandma came to visit also.  We really love having her here.

Babies and skulls go together like peas and carrots

Carter got this sweet outfit from a good family friend Charlene.  And Jeffrey picked out the hat from a little boutiquey store in Evergreen.  And his little crab shoes came from Jeff's best friend Sean and his wife Emily when he was over in Holland!  Super adorable and it's awesome to have so many people loving Carter!

*These pictures are from Nov 20, 2011

His shirt says it all

 It says he is Handsome Like Daddy.  So very true.