Coal's Mining Party!

The kids had the awesome idea of having a Coal Mining Party for Coal's first birthday. We had so many "Coal" themed treats: coal truffles, rice crispy coal, coal and canary cupcakes and a coal cake.

Dada and Uncle Cheese made the mine (which was the crawl space under our house). I saved all the black paper from the Mops Auction and they taped it all around 1/2 the mud room.

Group shot outside the coal mine.

The Coal Miners

We hid dark jewels all over the crawl space and the kids went down in groups with headlights and pails to collect the coal. Every three pieces earned you a piece of candy.

Coal's Birthday Kiss

We served pulled pork, homemade baked beans and "Coal"slaw for dinner. Grandma made some cornbread muffins, too.

Some other games we played were find the canaries around the house, which Karl won, rock climbing and a game where you grab as many canaries off of other people before they take yours which Mr. VanderPol won.

Coal's First Cake - He was a little scared of the candle and singing.

But he LOVED the cake. We've never had a kid get soooo excited to dive right in and devour the thing. He was a mess!

 So he got a birthday bath. After presents he and his girl friends got all cozy in their jammies! It was a fun party celebrating our little mira - coal.

Coal - We love you so much! You are the happiest, most contented baby. You love to be with people, but you don't have to be held all the time. You sleep in the boy's room in the closet crib and love your rainbow blanket which you confiscated from Kivi (It was actually one of her 11th birthday presents.). You laugh, smile, make clicking sounds and make lots of baby sounds, but don't talk yet. You can say Mama and Dada but I don't know if you actually know what they mean. You love your buddy, Opal. You sit with your legs straight out and off the ground; no one else can do it. You just started to scoot around by sitting and then bending one leg, then the other. We are so glad you are in our family and we get to love you and watch you grow! God is good! Happy First Birthday, Coal!