Elyas Jake Turns 1!

The big day finally arrived. Elyas turned 1! It was great fun for all.

Stephanie made the birthday boy the ultimate party hat...his own Lion King Crown.

Our little Elyas, the Leo, the Lion. I cannot even put into words how your arrival on August 22nd, 2008 changed our lives. You made our hearts grow larger than we ever knew possible, and you gave us the opportunity to feel a type of love that we had never felt.

We love you so much.

Elyas's Nini made him his own special birthday poster portraying all the things special to a Leo. It was beautiful.

Stephanie shared special words about her role in Elyas's life. As you can see in the picture, he was ready to party.

Dad decided to have a little fun with the birthday boy before the guests arrived.

"I'm ready to get this shindig started!!!"
All his cousins and friends were here to celebrate his special day.

Marlena took a rest on Elyas's new bike. And yes, this was a gift from his dad :)

It may be a little while longer before he can ride it but it's in the garage waiting for him when he's ready!

Nicholas entertained us with some of his fabulous break-dancing.

Steve and Star wrote Elyas his own individual birthday song and it was a hit! We all loved it and Elyas literally rocked out to it in his high chair as we sang to him. It was truly a special moment.

Then there was a candle mishap during the celebration which really put the "rocking out" to a bitter end. He didn't get burned although you would have thought we needed to take him to the emergency room based on his scream. Of course, the reaction from me and the crowd didn't help the situation. He was fine after a few minutes but was not ready to eat any of that cake that caused him such pain :(

(Do I need to tell anyone how horrible I felt for lighting that candle?)

Here he is attempting to eat a little cake after the unfortunate event, but it was very short-lived. He was finished...

No worries though. He dug into it the next day as he got his own personal serenade from his guilty parents. Thanks Kevin for hooking up the cakes!!! Elyas loved his cream cheese cake and the peanut butter chocolate cake was talked about for days!

Although Elyas truly didn't understand that all those bags and boxes were full of gifts for him, deep down I know he understands that each and every one of you love him. Thanks to all of you for the thoughtful birthday gifts. We are truly blessed to have such wonderful people in our lives.

"Thank you Papa and NaNe for my very own rocking chair!"

Now that he's 1, I have to start working on getting him off the bottle.

But look how good this looks w/ the cake. Makes me want to try it.

A few more pictures of friends and family as we enjoyed ourselves.

And a special thanks to our photographer, Rick Hawkins, for sticking around for the whole party to get some great shots. You took one more thing off my to-do list that day which made me very happy :)

Happy Birthday Love Bug :)