Bring on the Birthday!

Jake & Mallory will be turning 1 on Saturday, but the birthday fun actually began while we were at the beach. Mimi was so sweet to plan a little birthday party for them, since their aunts, uncles & cousins won't get to join us this weekend.

In keeping with the beach theme, they got a Finding Nemo cake. They were mesmerized by the lit candles & room full of people singing to them.I love Jake's crooked smile in this one. It's as if he's saying, "Come here little cake...I won't hurt you."
Mal is a take charge kind of girl - she dove right in!
"Mommy, why don't we have this for dinner every night?"
"Get in my belly!"

Please excuse my no makeup with air-dried hair look in this family shot. I did actually look presentable for the original birthday party night, but due to that aforementioned stomach bug, we had to postpone the festivities for another day.
Gigglebox on the beginning of her sugar high
Jake's eating technique works well for cake: shovel it in!
Icing covered faces!
Scratch that...icing covered head. (zoom in to see the full effect)
The toys from the cake were also a big hit. They love to chew on Nemo & Dory!

Their first birthday present! Mal was enthralled with the curly ribbon.
Ripping paper is such fun!
Here they are enjoying the contents of that box back at home. It's an inflatable helicopter ball pit! In this shot, we only had the 20 balls that came with it, but we've since filled it with 100 more. They love it & spend hours rolling around in there & tossing balls in & out. Thanks Ryan, Amy & Ella! Mark, Rachel & Belle got them the sweetest little outfits from Bailey Boys that I can't wait to put them in this fall. We're so glad we got to celebrate with everyone!