January 30

Today we celebrated Eli's first birthday!

We didn't have quite the turnout I was expecting, but we had beautiful weather, delicious food, and lots of great friends there to celebrate. Sadly, I pretty much failed at taking pictures during the actual event. 

We had lots of blue and snowflakes, and lots of food. I even got a little helium tank so that we could have as many balloons as we wanted! There were little sandwiches, veggies, fruit, cheese and crackers, pretzels, veggie straws, and so. many. cupcakes. We had pictures of Eli all over the house, and his first year video playing on the computer and on the tv. We had coffee and mimosas and beer and beverages. But most important of all, we had people. The friends  who walked with us through a really challenging year were there, and we all celebrated what God has carried us through. It was beautiful.

At one point, I even dug out one of Eli's preemie onesies that he wore for his first month of life. He was so very, very tiny! And now he is healthy and perfect. I am so thankful.

Eli didn't know what to think of the burning candle on his cupcake, but once we got that out of the way, he knew just what to do.

Go get it, Eli!

(This time, I made sure the icing was room temperature. Rock solid buttercream is hard to eat!)

Yum. He made a terrific mess, which was totally fine.

This is the point where I'm kicking myself for not taking more pictures. I have some cute ones of my mom and dad, and of Shirley and Jim, who I just met for the first time today, even though they are avid readers of my blog and have prayed for us often this year, but I want to do a bit of editing on those still. 

Otherwise, I didn't capture much of the party. I missed snapping a shot of Eli and his future-BFF Dean both looking out the sidelights of our new front door. I missed Naomi and Lily happily playing side-by-side. I missed Caleb graciously allowing Naomi and Malia and Drew to play with his Legos. I missed Caleb and Caleb racing remote controlled cars in the front yard. I missed Johanna and Jill chatting in front of my big glass door, and Malia and Caleb watering the plants with a water cannon. I missed Chris playing baseball with the kids in the back yard while sweet baby Henry watched in awe. I missed Mary snuggling a sleeping Sarah, while Jen enjoyed the heck out the buttercream icing on the cupcakes. I missed my dad inflating balloons, Mom chopping veggies, Daisy eating her lunch while snuggled up next to Gayle. I missed Eli crawling around with a giant grin on his face, reveling in all of the commotion.

I missed a lot. But I missed taking all of those pictures because I was busy enjoying a party that we worked hard to earn. Today we celebrated Eli, we celebrated our friends and family, and we celebrated us. It was fabulous.

Happy first birthday, Eli!

And then they all went down for naps. Mom put Lily down, I put Eli down, and Daisy put herself down. The kids slept long and hard, and while they slept, Chris and Caleb went for a bike ride around the lake. They returned right after Eli woke up, and I suggested that Chris take Eli for his very first bike ride.

Unfortunately, the baby-sized helmet I had in mind for Eli was missing a piece, and didn't work. I ordered him a new one (thanks, Jill!), but in the meantime, he borrowed Lily's helmet.

Eli hated the helmet, but loved riding on the bike. After a practice spin down the street, Chris grabbed his own helmet and Caleb hopped on, and they were off!

With this setup, plus the bike trailer behind my bike, we will be ready for some awesome family bike rides this spring and summer! I'm hopeful that soon Caleb will be ready to take the training wheels off his bike, and Daisy can move up to the tag-along, but for now, this works just fine. I love that "Baby's First Bike Ride" is always a part of our children's first birthday celebrations!