[The Adventures of Ellis || First Birthday Shenanigans]

I am so thrilled to finally have taken the time to write about one of the BEST DAYS EVER. 

Before I get into the details of what we did for Ellis’ first birthday, I just want to preface by saying that in transparency, the build up to his very first birthday had me STRESSING. Like most big events in my life, because I work in the “creative world” I feel this disheartening pressure to do something HUGE and BEAUTIFUL and photogenic, haha! I was feeling the pressure to invite ALL our family and friends over and have a themed birthday party and GO NUTS with decor…and everything else. 

Which would have been fine, however— 1) The house we were living in was WAY too small to have even three and a half people over. 2) We were moving the week after his birthday so all of our stuff was packed up in boxes! 3) We don’t have any family within a 3.5 hour radius; so..

I gave myself grace from planning that type of party.

But I knew I still wanted it to be the sweetest and most memorable day; so with that being said, here’s what his first birthday looked like! 

First, Clay took off work which was literally THE BEST. We woke Ellis up with the excitement of balloons in his crib and he ADORED it! So did we. I NEVER want to forget his joy of playing with the balloons and giving us all of his silly little smirks! 

We had a really fun morning with him and let him open presents before doing a little photo-shoot in his “ONE” outfit with his teepee and Wyatt the fox! 

What’s not pictured below is our trip to chic-fil-a (he LOVES his nuggets— boy after my own heart) we met some dear friends there and just had the sweetest time. 

After that we went to the mall to the toy store and let him “pick out” a new toy. He picked a mega blocks tractor with the help of his dad ;) to wrap up our time at the mall we road the train which he thoroughly enjoyed (as did we! haha) 

When we got home we set up his cake and let him go to town. Now, I will say— the “smash cake” is something I also stressed about. I kept wondering if I should have called a baker but I ended up making this one and ordering a little fox to be the topper. It was so easy and stress free and he really only took a few bites, so I have no regrets here. 

You guys. I will never forget this day. It was beyond sweet and magical and even though Ellis will not remember, I will always be able to recall what we did on his first birthday and how special it was to me and his dad. 

Here is a glimpse into the day through images. I hope these photos along with my words allow you to see the joy we had making these memories! Clay is going to put a go-pro video together of the whole day compiled, so once he finishes I will share that!