Eli's Monkey Party

      Well my baby isn't really a baby anymore! He turned one and had the first of his first birthday parties (we're having 2) yesterday!  This one was a small party mainly for Eli's Grandma and Grandpa who had to leave town today; of course we had a few others too. Before Eli was born I called him my monkey, so it was fitting to have a monkey theme.

     Before the party even started Eli was super excited.  Mainly because I had some balloons blown up! Carrying them in the house he kept pointing and saying, "ba, ba..."  He loved them!  Unfortunately it doesn't look like there will be many balloons in the future due to the helium shortage. The florist here said that would probably be the last tank they could get!

     I had cute little hats made for Eli and the girls, and although the girls were excited about them in the morning, they wouldn't wear them at party time.  I did get a couple pictures of them on, but they came off immediately!

     He didn't eat a whole lot of dinner even though it was pizza (which he loves). I think he was too preoccupied with trying to tear the ribbon banner off his booster seat.

     At first Eli was very interesting in presents. However, as soon as Ryan and Wendy showed up he was more interested in watching them. He got back into his presents though!

Acting like a good again!

Grandpa told Eli this was a CAT toy, and Nadia replied, "No, it is a backhoe!"

He looked around after tearing the paper to make sure he wasn't going to be in trouble.

     The cake was the big thing of the evening for Eli; he loved it! Or he at least loved the icing!  It was carrot cake and cream cheese icing just like the girls had on their first birthdays.  I didn't think to take it out of the fridge early though, so it was a little cold and hard to get started. Eli figured it out though! After trying to lick it a few times, he dug in with his fingers. Then he went back to trying to shove his face into it!  We eventually gave him a fork, and he dug in with that too even though he missed his mouth a couple times.

     I was really surprised at how clean he was. With the way he eats normal meals I was expecting a repeat of Nadia with cake rubbed in his hair and all the way down to his toes!  Other then the red icing, he really wasn't too hard to clean up.  I think overall he had a pretty fun first birthday!  

Ready for bed, but I don't want to leave my balloons!

Eli's second first birthday party: Eli's Little Man Party