Eliot's First Birthday (Party)!

Today we had Eliot's first birthday. I can't believe how quickly that year just flew by! I miss my baby!! On the other hand, though, I love my toddler. He really is just the coolest kid and I feel so blessed to be his mother. OK, enough of the sappy stuff.

Eliot had such a great time at his party. At first, he was a little apprehensive, but within a half hour, he warmed up to everyone and truly started to become the life of the party. When it came time to open gifts, he had fun pulling out everything from the gift bags and climbing on top of all the big boxes. He got some really great gifts! I think I am more excited about them than he is!

Then it came time for cake. I made Eliot a frog cake (to go with our frog/swamp theme). The big cake was a pond. Then I made a smaller, vegan cake in the shape of a lily pad (vegan for Eliot since he is allergic to eggs). Then, I made a bullfrog (out of fondant frosting) to sit atop the lily pad. I was/am so proud of my little bullfrog! We sat Eliot down in his high chair (sans clothes) and gave him his own lily pad cake. At first, he wasn't sure quite what to make of it. He dabbed his fingers in the green frosting a little. Then, he decided he wanted to share it with Daddy. Before long, he just decided to go for it. Frosting ended up everywhere! He was adorable eating it though and I am so glad that he had so much fun. After the cake, we took a quick trip to the tub where both my sister-in-laws and mother-in-law cleaned him up!





We had his party at my in-laws' house in Reading. Unfortunately, it rained all day (sometimes poured), so we had an indoor party. I say unfortunately because as far as photography is concerned, outdoor, natural light photos are usually much better (or at least this is true in my very amateur case). I had a really tough time with my photos today. I had to have my camera set to a high ISO to make up for the lack of light, which in turn, leads to very noisy (grainy) photos. BOO! Also, I was having some white balance issues. I had my camera set to auto WB, which I know isn't the best option, but I still haven't mastered custom WB and there were multiple light sources (outside light from the windows, tungsten lamp light, etc.). That being said, these are DEFINITELY far from my best photos, but I just had to share a few from the day (since it really was such an important day)!