Early Celebration

I meant to post this a few days ago, but Cole and I have both been sick. It was not fun. Anyhow.

We celebrated Cole's first Birthday with his cousins on my side of the family last Saturday. It was so much fun seeing all of the little ones have a blast. We didn't have anything fancy, no jumping gyms, clowns, or expensive prizes for the kiddos; just an old fashioned birthday party. Good company, good food, cake, balloons and bubbles for the kids, and a funtastic time.

Cole watched me make his cake all afternoon. I'd give him a sample of the whipped icing every now and again. It kept him coming back for more. I think he liked his cake, he sure is admiring it in this picture. Or he wants more icing. Ha. :)

Grammy sure can cook. We had fried chicken (ok, so we cheated and bought that), scalloped potatoes (one of my favorites), green beans, grapes, strawberries, cheese and sweet tea. Oh is was a southern home cookin comfort meal. Mmmm.

After dinner, the kids played duck-duck-goose. It was so cute to watch them. Some knew the game like they'd been playing it for years and some were just figuring it out. (They played this game until it was time to eat cake.)

I thought Cole was crawling out to join in on the fun.

But, I was wrong. Little guy passed up the playful kids and was going out to the barn where his horse Ace, and the dogs were. I've never seen such determination.

Pa and Grammy to the rescue. Boy, you can't leave your party. Come back and play with the other kids.

It's time for cake!

Mama, are you serious? Is that whole piece for me?

Oh, thank you Mama. This cake is soooooo good. I love cake.

Not one ounce wasted. My boy loved his cake. I was so proud of him. Not one bit of icing on his shirt or face. Unbelievable.

After all the kids got hyped up on cake, they ran around chasing each other with their balloons. It looked like so much fun.

I lost Cole's attention after we opened up his very first present. After that, all the kids were more interested in playing with Cole's new fire engine. I thought is was so cute how one of Cole's cousins would push him while the others would "cheer" him on and wait for their turn. So cute.

I don't know why we thought we could get all of these youngens to sit still and smile at the same time. It was a challenge but I think I caught a pretty good one.

Everyone seemed to have a great time. I know Cole did. Can't wait for the next party. :)