Eli's First Birthday Party!

Eli turns one on Wednesday, and this year has flown by as usual. We had his party this past Saturday, and really enjoyed celebrating with family and friends. It was MUCH smaller than Drake's, and I enjoyed it much more. I actually got the chance to talk with everyone who came. Unfortunately, Eric's parents both came down with the dreadful stomach virus and were stuck in our bedroom. We felt so awful for them! Eli (and Drake) really enjoyed the cake and cupcakes. As you'll see, Eli's party was a sock monkey theme. It was fun to do!

Eli had great fun playing with his monkey balloon the morning of the party

Favors



Do you remember Eli when he was this teeny tiny? He was only two weeks old, and had the sweetest squishable lips!

If anyone is looking for a science project with their kid, here is a good one. What is heavier, rain or helium? The answer- Rain! It made all the balloons look deflated:-(

Adorable hat.
Poor monkey balloon.
The party favors were sugar cookies decorated as sock monkey's. Nope, didn't make those either. Our friend from church, Bricklend did. She did the cakes as well, and I'll be happy to pass her info along to those in the Charlotte area.

Sock monkey fabric for the tables and highchair courtesy of my Mom, the fabric queen.

Cupcake wrappers and toppers from etsy:-)
Our friend Bricklend made the cake and smash cake- she's crazy talented!

Cute centerpieces, from the same etsy shop where the highchair bunting and photo banner were from. Check her out- Inspired by Owen.
LOVED his shirt with a sock monkey, a "1", and his name. So super cute! Another etsy find of course.
He decided that a nap was in order for the first fifteen minutes of the party.
Happy Birthday to our little monkey!

Singing to our sweet boy

Drake was a big fan of the cake and "cup-cups"
His smash cake was so big we ended up cutting over half of it, to serve.
Loving his new toys.
A bit overwhelmed by all the new and fun stuff. He's settled right into it now- loves playing with them all!
If you were wondering where our boys get their gorgeous eyes from...

Above: Marley, our neighbor and babysitter extraordinaire!

Below: The hat that was simply adorable, but I forgot to put it on Eli until the party was over.

Muffins for Mom

Last week we were blessed with having Eric's parents come to visit. Drake's school did their annual "Muffins for Mom" on Thursday, and Drake took both me and Oma. Drake calls muffins "cup-cups", meaning like a cupcake. He LOVES them, and he especially like having both Mommy and Oma eat with him.

Drake made me this gorgeous hat! It was a white circular piece of tissue paper to start with, and Drake decorated it with marker. So stinkin' cute! He also made me a handprint keepsake! I truly love his school.
My handprint keepsake
Some of the other kids decided to dance/play on the stage, and Drake followed right behind. This kid loves to dance!
He even took Mommy's hat once:-)

Disney: Animal Kingdom

Our second day at Disney was spent at Animal Kingdom. The day started with Eli being cranky and running a fever. We drugged him up and kept going, assuming it was teeth. Poor little guy was so over it by about 3pm, and running a fever again. I left early with him, and let Drake stay with my Mom. The boys left super early that day, for a 1pm baseball game. The Braves do their spring training down at the Disney ESPN zone. Drake enjoyed the animals, and really liked one of the rides in Dino land. The show "Festival of the Lion King" was great!

The Tree of Life.





We did a buffet character breakfast, called Donald's safari breakfast. Hence, one big picture with Donald.

Drake and Eli had two different shirts to wear for their AK day. Unfortunately, I ran out of room on my camera before getting the other shirt on film.
The looks on the kids faces are hilarious.
We got Mickey's autograph.

Baby jail:-)

Drake just wanted to get away, and Eli was lovin' him some Daisy.
Daisy with the whole family. Can't wait to have Tessa in there next trip!
Eli was into the characters.

Drake was supposed to talk into Goofy's ear, but simply stared at him instead. He never cried, but wasn't all too sure or trusting of the characters.

Really? So much for a nice little photo of my family of four. The grandparents didn't think we knew they were acting silly behind us. (Eli was taking a little morning nap in the Beco.) This was walking the Pangani trail right before the safari. It was the perfect thing to let Drake run around a little.
I don't remember what animal this was, but Drake was totally into it's teeth.
Hint: The island the pelicans are on is a hidden Mickey! The palm tree is sticking out of Mickey's mouth:-)
There are no more pictures of the safari. I ran out of room on my memory card, and there is some type of error on the pics I do have. They show up fine on my computer, but when I try to upload to blogger, I keep getting an error message. It's seriously ticking me off, so I quit trying.

Next up is Magic Kingdom!