Ellison's 1st Birthday Bash! (Part 1)

Well, after what seemed like years of preparation, Ellison's 1st birthday party is over. I think we spent more of today getting ready than actually partying! But it was a fun day, the people she loves most were here to celebrate with her, and it definitely seemed like she had fun! Lots of smiles and laughs! She was standing on her own a lot today, which was the first day she has done it for more than a few seconds at time!

Ellison absolutely LOVES playing with her cousins, so I'm sure that was her favorite part of the day. I wish I would have been able to take more pictures, but I was running all over the place! I'm sure there are more out there, cameras were flashing all day long! I don't have a ton of time to post pictures right now anyway, but I wanted to write quick tonight while the day was still fresh in my mind. I will post more of the decorations and such in the near future though!

We got Ellison some goldfish this morning...her first pets! They were really props for the party (it was supposed to be like Elmo's goldfish Dorothy, but Jay bought two just in case!), but we will see how long they stay alive. At this point Ellison isn't very interested in them, anyway!

Ellison had her own little Elmo cake, which she seemed very unsure of. She didn't really want anything to do with it until we gave her some of the frosting to try and helped her dip her fingers in it. She did end up eating some of it and was digging around in it with a fork. We had a separate cake for everyone else, for obvious reasons...

Opening gifts was basically Mommy's job, because Ellison doesn't sit still for that long. She definitely had some clear favorites...a little set of turtle bath toys (she is obsessed with bath toys!) from Great Grandma Tea and Great Grandpa Joe and a singing Elmo from Grandpa Jeff and Grandma Nancy. She also got 2 personalized armchairs (one from Gramma Janis and Grampa Ron, the other from Grandpa Jay and Grandma Sandy), which are adorable! I guess we will put one in her room and leave one downstairs. She likes to sit and flip through books so I'm sure they will both get a lot of use. I think another favorite will be a Cozy Coupe, but she only saw the box which obviously isn't that exciting. She got so much awesome stuff, she is one spoiled little lady!

We thought she would totally crash by the end of the party since she only took one nap. I even took her up to lay her down for a nap once most of the guests were gone, but she wanted nothing to do with it. She wanted to spend every second she could with her cousins! She is sleeping now though...I can't believe I put my BABY to bed for the last time. When she wakes up she will be a toddler!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MY SWEET PEA!!!!!!!!! I love you times a million, times a billion, times a trillion, and to the moon and back :)