The Big Day...

Elijah's Big Day started with Mommy and Daddy bursting into his room singing "Happy Birthday To You!!" And this was the initial reaction we got...he was not impressed :)

then we got a little smile...

and he couldn't let us forget Froggie in all the celebration

Here we are beginning to open presents. You will notice as we highlight all of the presents that they might seem a little odd for 1st birthday presents. This is because there is a much smaller toy selection here that I had anticipated! But, we found a few good ones and he's been having fun with them!

Gift #1: A hammering thing with a wooden mallot.

A WORD TO THE WISE: Giving a 1 year old a wooden mallot might not have been the best idea. It an especially bad idea to pick up the 1 year old while he is holding the mallot. This can be hazardous to a mommy's head :)

Daddy passing on the skill of hammering to the next generation. Daniel taught me how to hammer too, when we were in Mexico like 5 years ago, before we were dating.

Gift #2: A tamborine. Its a fairly quiet tamborine, but still enough noise to keep him interested.

Gift #3: A doggy-on-rollers-that-you-pull-with-a-string. Really, thats the official name of it :) This boy is just full of kisses for his new friend!

family photo!

The lunch: chicken fajita tacos with peppers and onions, and chips and salsa. This was the first time I've had tortillas since we left!

Little Bubba is so excited about whats next...

THE CAKE!!

Oh how wonderful that chocolate cake tasted!! We almost didn't have it though, because we couldn't find icing anywhere. But then, at the last minute a good friend who lives close brought us some!

the first bite...

his favorite activity is throwing his food on the floor

Thanks Elijah, Mommy and Daddy just love scrubbing the floor!! :)

He wore himself out, all that cake throwing. Time to sit back, put his feet up, and relax

the kitchen...yikes!!

All ready to go swimming!!

Swim cap with a fin on it. How cute is that? He did really good with his swim cap, we were so surprised. He would hit his head every once in a while like he was trying to knock it off, but most of the time he didn't seem to notice it.

So, we've had a looooong day of partying and eating and swimming, so Birthday Boy must be worn out, right?? One would think.

Well, we had finished his bottle, put his pajamas on, and PUT UP ALL OF HIS TOYS AND BOOKS. Mommy had to take a quick potty break, and then it was going to be lights out. This is what I found when I came back from my QUICK potty break...

Birthday Boy still had some playing to do!! How in the world did he get ALL of this off the shelf so fast???

We had such a wonderful day with our big 1 year old!