Eli's Birthday Party

For Eli's birthday this year, it was just us (and our friend Melinda). John's parents were living it up in Sun Valley, Idaho for an Emery Telcom Convention, so they weren't able to be here this time. We invited Melinda over so we could actually spend some time visiting with her and not have it be related to Master's Classes. She's becoming a really good family friend. We went simple with Eli's cake. Just made cupcakes and put them in the shape of a "1". I made a cute little pick for him that also matches the card I made him. :) Cute, huh?

We decided to Barbeque for Eli's birthday dinner since he loves hot dogs. We grilled a few hamburgers as well, I made potatoe salad, strawberry fruit salad, we had chips, cucumbers out of our garden, our pineapple from bountiful baskets, and apricots that John and the kids picked off of Melinda's tree that afternoon (I'm going to make some jam).It was so good. Eli thought so too, as you can see, he is covered in whip cream from the salad!Yummy yummy dinner! I got a round of applause from him for it. :)

After we had dinner all cleaned up, it was time to open presents. This is how Micah reacted when he found out it was no longer his birthday and he couldn't help Eli open them. So sad. :(
Eli was in bad need of some shoes that he could walk in. We got him these cute little brown sandals, and a pair of tennis shoes. The tennis shoes have a clear cut out in the sole that you can see where their toes are--how ingenious! Why didn't they think of this when our other kids were babies??

Opening presents is serious business! Notice that Micah is still crying because he can't help.

Yea! Another present to open! :)

We finally gave in to Micah and let him help Eli open this one. (The crying was getting REALLY annoying to listen to, and it was starting to upset Eli.)

Yea a new ball popper!!

Our ball popper was just worn out. Kids love that thing! We found this one back in February on clearance and have been saving it for Eli's birthday. I think it will be a favorite of his too!

Cute crocodile from Grandma and Grandpa Millett.

What's in this one? Love the look on his face. He was getting the hang of ripping the paper off. He'd rip a piece and throw it on the floor, and then lean over and watch it land. He thought that was great. I think he wished he could have gotten down and played in the paper, but John kept him on task. :)

Some friends stopped by to return our Food Strainer about the time dinner was over, so we visited for a while, which meant that we were a little later opening gifts than originally planned and it was closer to bedtime. After a few gifts, Eli was just done. He'd had enough of opening presents.

Eli blowing out his candle. Micah and Zander helped him a little bit. Check out the bottom right cupcake. Eli attacked it before we were done singing to him! (notice Morgan restraining him now.)

The best part--Cake and Ice Cream! Happy Birthday Eli!

Thought Grandma might want to see Eli in one of his new outfits from her! Very preppy {especially once we put his new brown sandals on him to go to his 12 month check up this morning!! :) So cute!}

Eli's gift list: Brown Sandals, tennis shoes, 3 pair summer worthy pajamas (despirately needed these as it's been 110 degrees every day for a week now--the house doesn't get below 80 degrees very often!), ball popper, socks (from Morgan who rounded them up out of her doll clothes- LOL), stuffed crocodile, 2 new outfits (thanks Grandma and Grandpa Millett!), and a card from Great Grandma Millett. I'm sure Grandma and Grandpa Hughes will be over tomorrow when they return with a little something for him.

We had a great time celebrating with you Eli! :)