The Allisons

Today was Ezra's first birthday. It was as good as could be expected with Daddy gone and no "real" party. We started off the morning with our usual breakfast of eggs, banana, and toast. Then Ezra hung out with his friend Scarlet for a few minutes while I took Skyla to the vet. After that we came home and Ezra slept for about 3 hours (after sleeping for about 11 1/2 hours last night...) while I worked on his cake. When he woke up from his nap, I gave him the beaters from making the cake. He loved it! Of course he loved to lick the beaters, but I also think half the fun was banging them on his tray. Then we had some lunch and he watched me make the icing for his cake.

Our neighborhood friends stopped by with some birthday ballons and couple of presents. He got a little train and some more bath toys. He loves the bath!

I was pretty happy with how the cake turned out. It was my first attempt, and I think it went reasonably well. We eat dinner at church on Wednesday nights, and I took the cake so everyone could help us eat it. Ezra no doubt liked the cake, but as you can see, he was more impressed with the fire.

He wasn't too sure what to do with his little piece of paradise at first. He just poked at it for a while. I think it was overwhelming. I ended up having to cut about half the piece into smaller pieces and then leave one big piece, which he eventually shoved into his mouth.

Then it was time to open a few presents. We're saving most of them for when Daddy gets home and we have the "real" party, but he had a few to open. Jennifer sent him some bath toys. Of the presents, that one was the only real toy, so obviously it was his favorite. Next was the baseball growth chart we gave him. It's really cool. He might appreciate that later on, but as you can tell, he was still more interested in his bath toys. Last was his toy car from Nana and Grandpa. Nana is starting him an antique car collection. So this car will need to be put away until he can appreciate it enough not to pull the hood and doors off. But he thought it was pretty cool. He also got some assorted, soft and squishy sport balls from our friends the Hemington family. Those were also an instant hit.

Overall, it was a delighful, busy, memorable day. I'm a little sad that a year of first holidays is over, but I know there are many more firsts to come. It does seem like time has gone quickly, but at the same time it doesn't feel "lost". I think I enjoyed every day of Ezra's first year and I feel so blessed to be able to call this sweet little boy my son.