Cole's Baptism

After rescheduling Cole's baptism a few times for various reasons, we finally settled on March 3. (Good thing too, because her gown was size 12 months.) Our church schedules baptisms for the first Sunday of every month. I actually scheduled her birthday party around the baptism. We knew some of our family would come into town for her birthday party and we thought it would save them an extra trip by coordinating the two events. 

Cole loved being in her gown and bonnet!
We snapped a few pictures before the service which I'm calling our family pictures for the month.
In case you are wondering about the scenery, our church meets in a school. 

As much as Cole loved dressing up, she did not love being handed to our pastor for the baptism.
In fact, she cried the whole way through.
This wasn't our pastors first rodeo so he didn't miss a beat.
He drew a parallel between Cole's crying out and our ability to cry out to our Heavenly Father who promises to be the God of our children.

Originally I planned on hosting a luncheon at our home after the service.  As it worked out, much of Peter's family had to hit the road immediately after church so I nixed the idea of a luncheon and instead we took our little crew to Sweet Grass for brunch. It was delicious, surprisingly child friendly and super easy.

The Birthday Party

We decided to have Cole's first birthday party a few weeks after her actual birthday. It was best for our families' schedules.  Cole was lucky to have a number of her Maryland and Georgia relatives come to Memphis to celebrate. A few of our local friends and their children were also in attendance.

A while ago I decided on a milk and cookies theme. It was a bit silly because I decided on the theme based on the fact that Cole still loves to nurse. The whole party was made easier by the fact that it's Girl Scout Cookie season. I bought eleven boxes of cookies for our twenty guests and they were gone in a flash! I went to Fresh Market for the flowers and ended up getting some local milk there, purely out of convenience.  It worked out though because the milk was delicious!

My sister made some labels for the cookies and milk. 

I printed them on card stock and called it a day. 

I also made a slew of banners to help make our house a bit more festive.
I just love paper crafts because they are super easy and cheap.
I found some medium size rick rack at Hobby Lobby and used that to hang some pictures from the year. 

Rather than a cookie, Cole got a birthday strawberry.
Our precious little introvert did not take to everyone looking at her and singing, but she loved her birthday strawberry!

When it came time to open gifts, Cole was excited.
She examined each of her gifts and even stockpiled some of her favorites across the room.
She and her friends had a real blast playing in the gift wrap.
You've got to love the world through toddler eyes!

At the end of the party, Cole received a special balloon delivery from her aunts and uncles who couldn't make it to Memphis.
Cole is still loving the balloons three days later.

Bigs and Scottie got Cole a doll that she's been toting around the house. 

And Grandma Kathy and Grandpa Phil got her a swing for the back porch. 

Cole was fortunate to get to hang with some of her grands and all of her cousins at the party.

One Announcement, Two Pictures

We have a bit of news. Cole is going to be a big sister in September!

We're so grateful for this new little life. To announce the news to our family and friends, we bought Cole a "big sister" shirt that she received at her birthday party (more details about and pictures of the party later). When we opened the gift with the shirt in it, no one made a peep. After a few seconds, Steph asked, "Is this for real?" We assured everyone it was and then saw eyes tear up.

Last week we took some pictures of Cole in her new shirt to pass around at the party since one years olds aren't known to hold still on command. 

Picture 1: So Big Sister 

Picture 2: Reality Bites