Birthday Blog!

Good Birthday Morning! Our little Eli is a one-year-old this morning. Unbelievable! Here he is having his birthday breakfast of organic waffles and strawberries. Yum! Oddly, he seems smaller to me this morning, and lighter, though not any less funny, smart, or sneaky.

Today we remember his sweet arrival.
Birth Announcement
Birth Story

And...what's more fun than a one-year-old digging into some presents? Eli is very lucky to have so many sweet grandparents who love him and send him birthday goodies.
Reading the card from Grandma and Grandpa Decker. And, pointing out his first dollar bill, which was taped inside. He's very into the cards. At what point do you go from being genuinely interested in the cards, to giving them an obligatory look before you get to the good stuff?
He tore into the paper to discover three fun soft vehicles! He loves to roll them across the hardwood floors. They go surprisingly far!
There is a green tow truck, a red fire truck, and a blue plane. He even makes brrrrrrr sounds when he drives them, and lifts the airplane up to fly. We tell him about Grandpa (the pilot) flying in airplanes.
Yesterday two boxes came in the mail - one from Eric's Mom (Gram) and one from mine (Yaya) and my sisters Maddie and Michelle.
Daddy helped him break open the box.
He was overwhelmed with excitement.
There was a lion inside! Oohhh, love the lion (that's what we say when he snuggles something).
There was a tractor too. Tractor, meet lion. Lion, tractor.
He loved tearing the paper. What one-year-old doesn't?
There's a tractor on my head!
Hey! There's a panda in that box!
And some books! What a lucky boy!
Now onto Gram's. Ooooo, fun yellow curly ribbon!
More ripping! Good times.
I found some pants!
Eventually he cut to the chase.
Ooooh, fun snow boots!
He also got a sweet turtle from his Great Grandma "Moo". We named her Shelly. Oohhh, love Shelly.
He's got hours of fun reading and playing ahead. Thanks for all his goodies!
We are keeping pretty low key for his birthday today. In fact, I don't think we're even going to leave the house. There will be playing and reading, and may renditions of "Happy Birthday to You". Then Dad's going to bring home a little cake and we'll celebrate at dinner. The real partying happens on the 11th, when his friends will join him at the Botanical Gardens Pumpkin Patch for a picnic and pumpkin pickin!