One year ago your Daddy and I were blessed with the most amazing gift...
that amazing gift is YOU. :) We have cherished every moment spent with you over this past year look forward to all of the wonderful adventures yet to come. You stole our hearts from the moment you were put in our arms.
We love you so very much Eli Thomas!!! Happy 1st Birthday!!
Lots of Love,
Mommy and Daddy xoxo
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On October 15th Eli turned ONE YEAR OLD!! I have been so excited to celebrate Eli's first birthday!! I wanted to make Eli's party super special, so decided it needed some handmade decor pieces. :) I am not gonna lie, I was up until 3 am with a hot glue gun putting some things together....but in the end, things came out just how I envisioned and I think the time spent making things for my little guy's special day was totally worthwhile.
I went with a 1st Birthday theme of primary colors. I like bright!! Eli is such a happy, outgoing little guy, so I felt he needed lots of color to celebrate his day. :)
The birthday decor...
This birthday ball thing came in one of the decoration sets I bought. Eli had soooo much fun kicking this thing around!
A little banner I made...
One thing I have been doing each month is taking Eli's photo in his chair, so Charlie and I could look back and see just how much he has grown over the months. I knew I wanted to display these photos from 1 month until now.
Here is the final product...
The cupcake stand I made for sweet Eli...
Eli's 1st birthday cake.... (it was soooo yummy!)
Of course Mommy had to make cupcakes :)...
Ready for Eli's party :)...
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We planned for Eli's birthday to begin at 3:30 in the afternoon. He usually naps from noon to until 2-2:30, so we chose a time we knew he would be bright-eyed and happy. :)
Eli and Mommy...
Eli with Nana and Super Pop Pop...
My sis-in-law Samantha and I...
Eli had such a fun day!! He is one loved little boy and received some really nice presents!
First of all, thank you Uncle Chris and Auntie Samantha for this skull-mohawk hat! It seriously never gets old...
Eli had so much fun playing with his new things :)...
The weather was absolutely perfect!! I was so happy we were able to spend a lot of time outside.
Enjoying the outside...
Spending time with Grammy :)...
Thank you to my sweet and amazing hubby who spent most of the afternoon putting all of Eli's toys together! :)
Coming to help you Daddy...
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After we spent some time outside, it was time to present the birthday boy with his cake! We sang "Happy Birthday" (Mommy blew out the candle) and it was time for Eli's first piece of cake!
He took tiny, very nice, mannered bites at first...
Then he realized just how yummy cake is... haha
By the look of his empty tray and cake covered fingers, I am pretty sure he enjoyed his first piece of cake...
Thank you everyone for all of the birthday wishes, cards, phone calls, texts and thoughtful gifts you have sent to Eli! He had a fantastic 1st birthday and is blessed to have so many loving and thoughtful people as part of his life.
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The next day, Eli woke up and found MORE presents waiting for him. My best friend Courtney and her husband Todd came to visit the night of Eli's party and he had already fallen asleep.
One of the gifts they bought for Eli was this green keyboard. Eli LOVES it!! He plays with it all the time!! I am pretty sure he thinks he is a pianist... haha
LOVE his expression in this one.... (please excuse the runny nose--I just thought the pic was too cute not to post!)
Of course Eli spent some more time in his super cool hat from Uncle Chris and Auntie Samantha... hehe
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Later that day, Charlie and I took Eli to the Pumpkin Patch to pick out his very first pumpkin! They had a really nice Pumpkin Patch set up at the church nearby.
Our happy boy at the Pumpkin Patch :)...
Playing in the hay...
Eli really liked looking at all the pumpkins!
I was pretty impressed at how strong our little guy is!! He would see a pumpkin he liked so he would try to pick it up and would grunt... it was pretty cute. :)
Our strong little man...
Oh and did I mention I have a strong big man also? (hehe....love you Charlie!)
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Eli picked out a perfect pumpkin! I decided to just throw a sheet down on the floor, get the paint out and let him make a big ol' mess painting his pumpkin!!
He REALLY likes colors, so he LOVED the paint!! I had to keep a watchful eye to make sure he didn't eat the paint.
Eli painting his pumpkin...
He was very sad when I took the paint away because it was time to clean up...
Eli is quite the little artist!! Look at his beautiful pumpkin he painted :)...
