a brown bear birthday

We finished up Colin's birthday weekend with a big birthday bash! We had family and friends over for a fun backyard party, pizza, and cake. The decorations and cake were themed for one of Colin's favorite books, "Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?"

It was REALLY hot, but Colin and all the other kids had fun playing in the sandbox and baby pool. Between the Baptism, the sandbox, the cake, and the pool, I think Colin went through at least 5 outfits... and even spent some time in his "birthday suit."

Colin loved trying cake for the first time! He poked it a couple times, and then dove in face-first for a bite. I think he was confused about how to eat something that wasn't cut up into tiny pieces!

After a few tentative nibbles of frosting, he really dug in!

I used the leftover colorful frosting from the cake stripes to frost cupcakes for everyone else. I might have gone a little overboard with the food coloring!

I think I barely survived hosting a Baptism and a birthday in one day. Remind me never to have a double-header party again! I was especially out of practice from not hosting any gatherings during the pandemic. Fortunately, everything went smoothly, and I was able to relax and enjoy the party! I'm grateful that we were able to have family and friends all together to celebrate!

colin's baptism

While Colin's actual birthday wasn't very eventful, the day afterwards sure was! We celebrated Colin's Baptism and had his first birthday party all in one day!

Colin was pretty well-behaved for the Baptism ceremony. He was a little wiggly but calmed down with a pacifier.

Since he loves bath time so much, I wasn't worried at all about him crying. He looked confused but relaxed as Father Ed poured the water over his head. As soon as I lifted him back up, he pointed and lunged back towards the water saying, "da!" (which translates to, "Can I play in that little baby pool?!")

He was entranced by the Baptism candle and kept pointing at the flame.

Thank you to Aunt Kelsey and Uncle Christopher for being Colin's Godparents! We took family photos at the church and then enjoyed lunch back at our house before getting ready for Colin's birthday party. More (lots more) photos to come!

Welcome to the church, Colin!