More pictures from Ellie's party

Ellie is 1 year old!

Today is Ellie's official birthday. We spent the day having banana pancakes (slices of banana covered with pancake), going to church, going to life group and opening presents from yesterday's birthday party (Thank you everyone!), and generally just trying to recover from yesterday - we're exhausted!

I've been very bad about keeping up with monthly photos or footprints of Ellie, but here's what I got:

1 week old

2 weeks old?

3 weeks old?

1 month old?

11 months old

12 months old

Ellie's birthday in the park

First, a HUGE thank you to those to helped to make this happen! We really couldn't have done it without you!

It was wonderful to see all our wonderful friends and family surrounding Ellie for her first birthday. It's still a little hard to believe it's already been a year! Just one year ago, this little girl was plotting her big (early) debut.

We had a blast at Brand Library Park, just up the street from us. We were able to snag a great spot right next to the playground under some big trees. After setting everything up, we had 2 food tables and 3 large tables to sit around. We ordered food from a local Mediterranean restaurant that was delicious!

There were about 35 people total including kids: our coworkers and life group (Josh, Lauren, Sophi & Shiloh, you were missed!) and 1 dog. Ellie had a great time playing with Oliver. He was being the "good citizen" that he is and allowed Ellie to pet him. We think she thought he was a big stuffed animal or something because every time he moved she was a little surprised.

Ellie being very gentle patting Oliver

The cake moment was great. Ellie was teasing us all by going in slow motion picking up the cake and bringing it to her mouth. Seriously, if you watch the video, it's in real time - it just looks like it's in slow motion! First she licked off all the frosting, then started nibbling at the cake itself. Thanks to DaDa, the cupcakes turned out beautifully.

Thank you to Aunt Meiya and Uncle Yoav for the beautiful pictures! We can't wait to see more!

I can't believe she's going to be one!

11 months and 2 weeks ago she was still a little mystery waiting for her debut. Now she's a big baby/little girl with a voice and personality all her own!

We have pigtails!

Ellie finally has enough hair for pigtails!

While the grandparents and uncles were in town, we decided to celebrate Ellie's first birthday a little early since they won't be around for her actual first birthday. Unfortunately for Ellie, she was unable to enjoy the ice cream cake.

Ellie's little friend

Ellie has really taken a liking to "Bubu" a stuffed animal Will got me a few years ago. She'll give him a big hug when we get home every day and loves to cuddle with him.