Hey Everybody! Here's some pictures of Ellie's first birthday party which we had on Sunday. I apologize for the sheer number of photos...hopefully by her 18th I'll show some restraint. Anyways, I started off with the cake photos because well, who doesn't want to see cake photos?

First Birthday Party

"Hmmm....should I try it, or shouldn't I?"

"Oooh...that's gooood...."

"I think I'll have some MORE!"

"Yup, I definitely think I'll do this whole birthday thing again!"

"I wonder what would happen if I put some in my nose?"

"Okay Mama, I'm done!"

"I said I'M DONE!!!"

The press.

"Never had a bath in the SINK before!"

Ribbon...the best thing about presents.

"Yahoo! My very own piano! Thanks Uncle Nyk!"

A 'My First Signs' movie from Nana and Grandpa. It'll be fun to expand our rather tiny sign vocabulary ("more" and "please").

Dada video recording the whole thing (eventually we'll get the cake video on here!)

Ellie all 'gifted' out.

Ellie with her "uncle" Nyk. She loves his hat. And that he teaches her piano.

My sister Dana and her fiance, Jon!! Ellie's getting a new uncle this summer!

Ellie and Regan reading together. Sorta.

Regan pushing Ellie around. Ellie gets a kick out of this, because with a little help from Regan, she can go even faster than she already does on her own.

A moment of tenderness. :) These are rare.

The CAKE. Mmmmm....

Some sweet 74 cent ducks from Liquidation World. I love bargains. Can you tell the party had a duck theme? Simple, cute, and Ellie can say duck, so hey, did I have any other choice?

One-handed walker! It's happening, folks! Ellie can take about 4 steps on her own now!

We forgot to wear hats during the cake eating, so we had to get a shot with them on later. Here's Ellie with Regan and her Grandpa and Nana.

"Pa" (Grandpa) being silly.

Happy Birthday Ellie!!

Ellie turns ONE today!! We don't have any birthday pictures (yet) because her party is on Sunday, so here's a photo of her doing the splits. And liking it. Strange, wonderful child.

Laughing Fit

Here's a video Rob made when Ellie and I were sharing a joke:

Thanks, Leap Frog.

Aside from locating her nostril and sticking her finger in it, Ellie's other new favorite activity is standing! By herself! Without parental support! In other words, I can go do something else! This is Ellie hanging on to her friend Ali's leapfrog table.

She enjoyed it so much that we borrowed one just like it from Ellie's friend Raya. Here she's showing off her big new top teeth.And this is Ellie's "I know I'm not supposed to touch Dada's books but I really really want to!" face. We see a lot of that face.

Nose Pickin' Fun

The other day we managed to catch a few shots of Ellie going at her latest and greatest pastime: nose picking. Don't worry...after the initial humor wears off, we'll teach her to do it in private. Enjoy!