Lyla's Birthday Party

This past weekend was the continuation of Lyla's birthday celebration. Saturday morning Ellen got up early to run a 5K with Dustin's mom. The race was to support breast cancer survivors, but Ellen liked to think of it as a good way to commemorate one year post-giving birth. Ellen is STILL sore and can't believe she ever thought it was a good idea to run a race when she hasn't excercised since well before Christmas of last year.

Once the race was over, Ellen came home to decorate Lyla's cakes. There were many icing mishaps but she made the best of it. Lyla helped her mom and dad get the house ready after that because Ellen's brother, Aaron, and his family came to town to celebrate Lyla's birthday with her. They came up after Max's soccer game (he is quite a good player - he's scored a goal the past two weeks for his team!).

Once the fam showed up, the chaos ensued. Lyla found that she loves to maul Charlie and liked trying to climb on top of him to ride him like a toy. Charlie, as you can imagine, didn't think that was too much fun.

For dinner Saturday night, Max and Sadie helped Ellen make pizzes for Dustin to grill. The kids were both great chefs, adding just the right amount of cheese and meat to make the perfect pizzas!

After dinner that night, the kids changed in to their pajamas and enjoyed an impromptu dance party. Lyla loved watching Max and Sadie bust a move - she was so inspired she tried to get Charlie to dance with her too!

The next day was party day. The cousins were really excited to help Lyla celebrate. Even Charlie proved he wasn't too little to get in on the action - he even wore a party hat!

Ellen thought Lyla would like a Hello Kitty birthday party theme, so of course all decorations, party hats, plates, napkins, cups, cakes, and some wrapping paper featured the Hello Kitty.

We started off with a good old-fashioned cook-out, complete with hot dogs, hamburgers, and brats. Lyla is a fan of the hot dog and ate an entire one to show us how much she loved them.

After dinner, it was time for presents! Grammy and Pa video chatted with Lyla so they could get in on the birthday action and watch Lyla open her presents.

And of course, Maga and Paga came over to watch Lyla open all her presents too!



Lyla waited patiently with her mound of presents, but she really wanted to open them!

And then there was dad's present....

Which turned out to be a great bouncy cow for Lyla to ride on - she's a fan!

After all the present excitement, it was time for cake. Lyla loved having everyone sing to her. She smiled the whole time. We think she may have been hoping for an encore...

After the candles were blown out, it was time for Lyla to experience some cake. She was quite tentative, but seemed to really enjoy all the frosting and the few bits of cake she had.

Even being cautious, she still managed to make quite the mess!



After Lyla had her go, everyone else enjoyed their cake and ice cream. The kids were big fans!

By the end of the night, Lyla was so overwhelmed and overstimulated that she was one tired pup! Her first birthday was a major success, and we're so grateful for all who gave presents, showed up, video chatted, or sent Lyla well wishes on her special birthday weekend!