Elaine's 1st Birthday Party!

Here is our birthday princess waiting for guests to arrive sitting in the shoe basket near the door.  Silly girl!

Elaine's first birthday party took place on Saturday, July 13 in the morning at 11:00 a.m.  The guests were greeted with the sign below posted on the front door.  We had a cupcake theme for our one year old little cupcake.

As guests came in they were encouraged to all write Elaine a 1st Birthday Wish. 

Here are Aunt Debra, Uncle Rhett and Grandpa getting ready to leave their wishes.

Then it was the beginning of Game Time.  The kids were on the hunt for Foam Cupcake Stickers.

Here are Daddy and Elaine finding one in a tree.

All the kids showing off their finds.  Savannah won this game.  You can see her in the background with all of her cupcakes.  Her prize was that she was able to go first for the big kids after Elaine and all the little kids went.

Then it was time for the Wrapping Paper Mystery Game where music was played and then whoever it stopped on they could unwrap a layer of gift wrap.

Eli won this game and discovered under all the gift wrap were Cupcake Goldfish.

Next it was Pinata time.  The kids all get a turn at the Cupcake Pinata.  Elaine and all her baby friends went first with their Mommys.

Then the big kids got to have their chance.  The only bummer was we were having some technical difficulties.  The rope that Jim used to tie up the cupcake kept breaking.  Here he is attempting to hang it again. Eventually the cupcake opened up and prizes were sprinkled all over the ground.  The kids were loving it!

Then as Jim was grilling up the hotdogs we played one final game, Cupcake, Cupcake, Cherry (similar to Duck, Duck, Goose).

Then it was lunch time!

This was the first time we got to use this new table Elaine received for her birthday from Grandpa and Grandpa.  It was perfect and fit so many kids!  This is a present that I am sure will continue to get much use throughout the years.

After lunch it was the much anticipated Cake Time!

Big Brother came to the rescue and helped Elaine blow out her candle.

Elaine had no trouble figuring out how to eat it.  She just went for it!

Delicious!

She also had some ice cream!!!

She didn't much like getting cleaned up after her cupcake, but who could blame her really. :)

Then it was present time!  Brother and Sister were by her side to lend a hand.  Here are some pictures of the fun.

Elaine was blessed with so many wonderful gifts.  Thank you so very much from all of our amazing family and friends!  Here are some pictures from the day with a few of them in attendance.

Elaine with Grandma Shirley

Lois and Alan

Jim and Elaine with Pops

Aunt Debra and Uncle Rhett with the not super cooperative Elaine

The Cunningham Family

The Isham Family

The Moon Family

 

Grandma and Grandpa with the super wiggly Elaine

Carol and Greg with our Birthday Girl

 

Finally, I leave you with a picture we attempted to get of all of Elaine's baby friends in attendance at the party.  This was the best we could get.  From left to right we have Elaine, Briella, Avery and Leo.

In a mere second it looked like this! 

Probably needless to say, but Elaine was exhausted after all the Birthday fun and had a glorious nap.  The other bonus was Jim and I actually got to have a Date Night that evening too, because it was our church's Ditch the Parent's Night we were so excited and loved debriefing on this beautiful celebration for our little cupcake and also enjoying a much needed break from all the festivities on our date.  It was a good day!

Creekside Family Camp

We had our annual church family camping trip this year June 20-23.  It was so much fun and extra nice this year because we rented a tent trailer from a local place per recommendation of our good friends the Lawleys.  We were so happy with this decision and will most likely do it again in the future.

Here is our humble abode Thursday night after we got most things set up.

Evan was immediately out riding bikes with his buddies.  Here is a picture of he and Cameron riding around together.

Friday was playtime at the lake.  Everyone was loving it! 

Especially our little water girl Elaine.

After a short time of playing in the water we actually got to have our time out on the lake in the boat.  We went out with our favorite boat driver, Mr. Traynor and friends Tommy and Cole Christy.

Evan got to go out on the water for the first time and have a tubing ride with Daddy.  They had so much fun!  Evie said she would wait until she got a little big bigger, like maybe 5, 6 or 7.  The age kept changing during our boat ride.

 

Then Daddy decided to also go knee-boarding too. 

Later that day we were able to play on the beach a bit more with good buddy Ariel.  The kids were loving it!

 

Elaine actually took her first steps on the beach that evening.  She was cracking us up because she kept standing up for long periods all by herself and finally decided I can do this.  I am going to walk.  Who needs a flat surface.  I much prefer an uneven beach area to learn to walk on. :)  So proud of our little walker!!!

 

Back at camp we all prepared for our group time of dinner.  Elaine was having a blast in the wagon.  She had to stand in it of course! 

After dinner we gathered to enjoy songs and Smores.

Here are best buds Ariel and Evie siting next to each other getting ready for things to begin.

Then pictured below making Smores.  This was Evie's first time making one.  She thought it was pretty neat and delicious.

Evan enjoyed it too!

 

The next day we headed back to the Lake for some more water play time.  

Everything was going grand until I accidentally stepped in a hole that someone had dug next to our groups chairs and sprained my ankle.  Good times!  This held me back a bit from doing what I wanted to do, but luckily I didn't break it and was able to limp around.

 

However, it allowed for me to get some fun pics of the family in action.

Also, when Elaine was ready to have a rest I had a nice open lap to hold her.

After all our fun in the sun the kids got to have afternoon ice cream treats from the camp store.  Yummy!

I must mention that Elaine was obsessed with climbing up on the little chairs.  Jim had to actually stake them into the ground so we could let her go at it and climb.  Gotta love her!

 

After the treats it was giant slip in slide time.  Jim took a turn...

and so did Evan.

I love how he is flying in the air in this picture.

Then it was dinner time again.  While we were waiting in line with the wagon to get our food.  Evie actually feel asleep in the wagon.  She was exhausted!

You can see her in this picture in the foreground still asleep with Jim and Evan in the background being silly eating red vines together.

Then it was group time again.  All of us were challenged to participate in silly games up on stage.  Our family had to bounce ping pong balls out of a tissue box duck taped to our backs.  The first to have an empty box was the winner.  Evie came pretty close to winning.  Both kids did amazing.  Elaine just wanted to try to jump off the stage.

That night was the best night of sleep our whole family got during the trip.  Everyone was wiped out from all the events and we finally didn't even bother trying to put Elaine in the pack n play, but instead just assumed she would sleep with Jim and I at it seemed to work out a lot better.  Here is a glimpse of what our tent trailer looked like in the morning with the kids still sleeping.  It got pretty cold at night which we weren't totally expecting so we used some of our extra towels as blankets.  Notice the empty pack n play. :)

 

Here is my handsome hubby and silly billy baby on our side after just waking up.

We finished things up with a delicious Froot Loop breakfast for the kids!  They were loving it.  Elaine enjoyed some Cheerios.

Then Jim and I worked together to pack everything up and head back home with the other families.  It was another successful Creekside Family Camp.  We are so blessed to have such an amazing church family.  Happy Camping!!!

Roseville Aquatic Center

We had a lot of fun this summer hanging out at the Roseville Aquatic Center Toddler Splash Time.  It was an allotted time just for kids 6 and under to play in this super cool play space.  The awesome part was it had a life guard who worked in the area too which is always a nice feeling when you have three little kids swimming around and going every which direction.  It also was very affordable for me and the two big kids just $8.

Here we are hanging out with good friends Cameron and Tyler Clouse.  This was during our first visit on June 11.  There mom was the one who told us about this fun activity.

We look forward to visiting this location a bunch this summer!