Happy 1st Birthday Max!!!!!

Max's first birthday was last Friday, October 9th. All week I was really sad that my baby was already one year old - there were even a few tears. But then on the day, I was nothing but happy. It is so amazing to see how he has grown in his first year, and I treasure every moment of it. I feel like the luckiest woman alive to have such a wonderful little boy (and I'm sure all of you moms understand this indescribable feeling).

On Max's actual birthday, we celebrated by going out to dinner at PizzaCake - Max had a Margherita pizza; and then out for gelati - Max had caramel :) Me & Max before dinner

The whole family :)


Waiting for our pizzas


Max after tasting his caramel gelati (it was his first ice cream!)

All of us at the Gelatissimo!

After our big night out, we put Max to bed and got straight to work on making his birthday cake. Luckily, I had the help of Colin and Jean (I couldn't have done it without them!) and I actually started baking the cake(s) that morning. Max's birthday cake was a wombat, my favorite Australian animal. It was part of the Australian Animal theme for his party. The wombat was actually made up of 4 separate cakes that I baked in various shape/sized pans.

The finished product (we finished at 12:15 am!)


For those of you who have never seen a wombat, here is a picture of a real one :)

a quick pic before we put the food out and guests arrived

the adorable Australian animal banner that Jean made :)

in addition to the wombat cake, we also made koala and echidna cupcakes

and Max needed his own cake to tear into...

I think he likes chocolate even better than the white cake he had in Hawaii!

and this time, he's even sharing :)

The party was lots of fun and Max was lucky to have so many friends and family to help him celebrate. We had 7 of Max's kiddie friends, 5 little cousins and 21 grown-ups. It was a lunchtime party, and we set up a little play area for the kids, complete with crash mats and a ball pit. After lunch the bigger kids had fun smashing the pinata and then everyone enjoyed eating the chocolate wombat, koalas and echidnas :)

Macey, Eli and Lily

Macey, Max, Lilly and Reese

(Back) Terry, Indy, Riley, Joe, Martin; (front) Lily and Oli

Max loved watching the big kids hit the pinata at his friend Lily's birthday party (he was laughing so hard, everyone stopped to watch him), so we had to get one for his. He liked hitting the pinata himself almost as much...

And he enjoyed heckling the other kids as they tried to break the pinata open (watch Max as Charlotte hits the pinata)...



I couldn't resist posting this picture...

wombat in the fridge :)

After everyone left, and Max had a (very short - too hyped up on chocolate cake) nap, he and Daddy enjoyed a little game of rugby in the back yard.

At the end of the day, Max was a very tired little one-year old :)

Hawaii Part 4 - last one!

I'm sure everyone is sick of Hawaii pictures by now, but I have just a few more. These are a few other things that Max really liked in Hawaii...

Balloons...
Eating with no clothes on...

Hawaiian shave ice...I had to include this picture just so you could see how huge it was!

Hmmm... I'm not so sure about this, it's really cold...


No wait, yep, I definitely like it! Give me more!!

Feeding fish...at our hotel in Maui

I thought today was a good day to post the next pictures, as Max is going to be 1 year old tomorrow!!! He loved having his eary birthday party in Hawaii - especially the cake and presents! (as kids do :) It was Max's first experience with cake (and sugar for that matter) and I'll let the pictures tell you how he liked it :)Singing Happy Birthday

Max's birthday cake - it's a construction site :) We chose it because it has my mom's favorite Australian candy crushed on top of it :)

What?? You're letting me just go at this on my own?? But, Daddy hates when I get messy eating!


Ok, I'll give it a try...


Hmmm...I think I could get used to this...


I LOVE it!


Look! I can even eat it with no hands!!!


Yep - this is definitely the best food I've ever had!!!

Now Max can't wait for his Australian birthday party on Saturday!

Hawaii Part 3 - other highlights for me

It's really hard to pick the highlights of the trip, because the whole entire thing was a highlight. But here are a few things I want to share.

Kristin, Colin and I ran a half marathon (13.1 miles!) in Maui. We decided to do the half marathon when we found out that the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society was a sponsor - it was a special way to help honor my mom's 20-year survival. So, we all started training in April - Kristin and Colin had NEVER run before (other than about the one-mile physical fitness test in gym class). So, this was a huge undertaking for both of them (and me since I hadn't run for almost 2 years - since before I got pregnant). I am so proud to say that we all finished the race together and actually had a little fun doing it! Doing this with Kristin and Colin, for my mom, is a memory I will cherish forever.

All of us getting ready at 4:30am - race started at 5:30am!

Crossing the finish line together!

After the race - all of us with the guest of honor :)

In addition to getting to spend the vacation with my family, I got 2 fantastic surprises when I was there - getting to see my friends Raina and Alana! I found out about a week before we left that Raina was going to be there, and I didn't know Alana was going to be there until I ran into her at our hotel in Maui (she knew we would be there at the same time and decided to suprise me). It was such a treat to see both of my friends who I haven't seen for several years.Me, Max and Raina

Max, Colin, me, Raina, Raj

Alana and Max

Kristin, my mom and I haven't taken a vacation together for a very long time, so it was really nice to just have some girl-time with them...

Snorkeling at Black Rock in Maui


With our cabana boy (just kidding :) He was the fire dancer at our luau- I wish he was our cabana boy! :)


With the flamingos at our hotel in Maui

There were also penguins at our hotel in Maui! 8 of them! Unfortunately I didn't really get any great pictures of them, but here's one...They were adorable!

We also took advantage of having 3 babysitters. I can't remember the last time Colin and I went out for a drink! Evening drinks by the pool

And of course, it was just really, really great to take our first official family vacation with Colin, Max and me.

me and my boys :)

the 3 of us at Waikiki beach

I am so lucky to have such a wonderful family!