Eli's First Birthday Party

Well, we survived it.  Eli's birthday party is over and we all had a wonderful time.  Luckily Eli took a nap about noon and woke up twenty minutes before the party started (yeah, that was our plan, we're that good! haha).  A lot of our family came over to celebrate this milestone and I think everyone enjoyed themselves.  Both boys were tired last night but they still didn't want to go to sleep.  Still hoping for more fun I guess!  Zachary loves playing with Eli's new toys as much as Eli does.  I love that about kids, they can make themselves happy with anything.  He got some new outfits (all of which he will be able to use!), a handful of toys and the rest was money for his savings.  He got some new things to play with but it wasn't an overwhelming amount, it seemed just right.  Thank you to everyone who came and/or sent gifts for him.  We've been blessed with so much this year that it's amazing to see it continue. 

Over the past several months we've noticed Eli really seems to like Mickey Mouse so we incorporated that theme with his 1st birthday decorations.  Mamaw Linda (Bryan's mom) made two Mickey cakes, one white and one chocolate.  We put most of his decorations up Friday night after he'd gone to bed so when he got up Saturday morning he was surprised by what he saw in the living room.  It was really cute to watch him check it all out.  His favorite was the balloons.

Here's a few pictures from the party.  I'll apologize now for the few that are sideways.  I changed them on our computer but they still loaded sideways & I can't figure out how to fix them on here.

Eli's "dig into" cake.

My Aunt Patty came from Evansville for the celebration. 

 A look at some of the decorations and gift table.  Our whole living room was

covered in "1" "Birthday Boy" and balloons.  It was fun :)

Bryan's Great-Aunt Donna holding Eli.  He was very good and enjoyed all the visitors. 

The cakes made by Bryan's mom.  She's pretty handy to have around!!!! ;) 

That hat stayed on for about 12 seconds.  We chose an appropriate pacifier

for the day, it said "It's All About ME!"

He LOVED the musical Mickey cards he got.  He rocked back & forth and

bounced up & down with the music.  He also opened the cards over & over and

looked to make sure everyone was dancing.  You can see that his left foot is

moving in this picture. 

I don't know what this face was about but it's pretty cute.  Maybe "I hope

 no one's going to take this from me!" 

Holding his balloon and getting ready to check out his cake

while we sang Happy Birthday to him. 

He poked at it a lot and acted like he was going to lean in & take a bite

out of the cake but always stopped himself.  You can see Bryan off to the

side acting like he'll take a bite. 

 Still working on it.

He got a lot more confidence after we gave him a spoon.  I don't know if he

ate much more but it definitely increased the mess! 

The finished mess. 

After opening & playing with gifts, having his cake, and getting a bath

this was one tired baby!  We have almost the same picture of Bryan holding

Zachary after his first birthday party.   

It's hard to see but his hair is standing on end because he'd played so long with

his balloons.  The woman using the balloons to hide from the camera is Bryan's

grandma Joyce, better known as Granny.  Her hair was standing up a little too :) 

Both boys playing with the balloons.  (and Granny!)

~~ What sweeties!~~