E's first birthday!

(Beware - long post and picture overload alert!)

I can't believe our little monkey is a year old! It feels like we were just bringing him home. Although the "fog" of the first few weeks does seem like ages ago...someone told me recently that God does that on purpose so you'll have more kids. ;) Being a mommy has been the most difficult but most amazing thing I've ever experienced. Way better than I could have imagined before having my own little man. 

Anyway, back to the point of this post! Yesterday, E officially turned one but we had his party this past Saturday. I did a Very Hungry Caterpillar theme from the children's book by Eric Carle. I had so much fun putting it together and we absolutely LOVED having all of our friends and family here to celebrate. 

We ate all the foods that the caterpillar eats in the book with little labels made from the pictures in the book. 

The cake table: 

                                      

All the credit for the cake icing goes to Marcos' Meme Jan who saved my cake disaster ;)

My friend, Kara, made this chalkboard sign which was adorable! I made the photo banner of some of my favorite pics of Elias growing up this past year. 

Giant caterpillar on the ceiling!

E got a bajillion presents...that little man is way too loved :)

He wasn't really sure what to make of the whole singing and cake-eating thing...

But he got the hang of it eventually :)

The party favors were these cute little buckets, playdough caterpillars, coloring pages, and the antennae headbands everyone wore during the party. 

Aunts and uncles with their antennae...

And of course the birthday boy himself...the only decent pic we got of him all day except when he was stuck in his highchair! He had such a great time playing with all his new stuff and all the kids! I don't think he stopped moving all day!

He has been the greatest blessing that we ever could have imagined. This past year has been so full of joy thanks to this little cutie. Happy birthday Elias! :) A big thank you to everyone who made his day special!