Happy Birthday Ephram!

Ephram's first birthday party was held on New Year's Day... it was a great way to ring in the New Year!  Because we were still in California, he had a lot of extended family there.  My parents, my older sister's family and my little sister were there... and my brother and grandma came up from the San Diego area as well.  We had stayed the night at my grandma's after our New Year's Eve festivities, so we drove up earlier in the day and set-up the house for the party.  We even had a little high chair kit to dress up Ephram's seat since he isn't quite big enough to sit at the table yet!  (Although I have a feeling that day will be here all too quickly...)

Once everyone arrived we dug into some yummy pizza.  It was Ephram's first time having pizza.  He really enjoyed it, and I think that the crazy bread was his favorite part.

Cousins Quinlan and Braxton both seemed happy to be eating pizza.  Either that, or they are really used to having their pictures taken and can smile on demand.

Despite appearances, Charlie enjoyed the pizza too.  It was the most he had eaten in a couple of days.  Well, the most non-candy food he had eaten in a couple of days.  He, unlike the cousins, was not appreciative of the lens pointing in his direction.

This was around the time that Ephram started hamming for the camera.  I love that he smiles when he sees me pick it up...  doesn't he look so cute?  He was so excited to eat the food that all the big people were eating.

And cousin Evin was super excited to have another Dr. Pepper.  I'm assuming he brought it up from his visit with Uncle Jordan.

We had a hard time getting Eprham to keep his little hat on for a picture, he was much more interested in playing with it then wearing it.  Here he is soooo close to yanking it off!

Once dinner was over we prepared to open presents.  Ephram was excited when he saw the pile... he had a lot of opportunity to open presents in one week!

His cousin Dustin gave him a little toy camera.  Ephram was pretty excited about it.  So was Dustin - he had fun showing Ephram how it worked.  Three months later, Ephram still pulls this new toy out regularly!

Cousin Quinlan made him a special card.  Actually, she made him three.  She's pretty artistic!

Even though he'd had tons of practice, he was still very neat about his present opening.  I am guessing it will be a different story next year.

Ephram also had a present for all of his cousins - glow bracelets.  Dustin was really excited about his!

After a little bit of playing it was time for cake.  We had one for the family and one just for Ephram.

We all sang Happy Birthday... and Ephram cried through the entire song.  He wasn't ready to sit in his chair I guess.  So, yes, I made everyone sing the song again.  Originally, I wasn't going to recount the story of the two birthday songs... but it's a part of his birthday, so I figure it belongs here.  I really just wanted one "happy" video to document his first birthday song!  

By the time we recorded this video Ephram had already watched some cousins start to eat their cake.  This made him much more interested in it... and is likely why he tolerated the experience better.  My favorite parts about this video are when he tries to put his finger in the fire from the candle, and then when he sticks his finger in the frosting as though he is ready to start.

And then we took out the candle, gave him the cake and let him eat it as he wished.  At first he was very delicate, picking up some yellow frosting with one hand, some blue with the other.

And then he started taking little licks of the frosting he'd picked up.

I'm pretty sure he liked it because he started reaching into the cake further, and actually started to get little bits of cake too.

Yeah... he likes cake.  He also likes painting with frosting fingers.

This is what the cake looked like when he was all done!

I got him cleaned up and the kids enjoyed some more playtime before bed.  What a great first birthday for my growing boy!