A simple celebration feels like just the thing for a baby's first. Jude's was quite lovely. His mom, Kris, shares: We had a pretty small affair for Jude's birthday. Just family and a few friends. But we wanted to make it special.

I made all the food myself, including the cake. Instead of a theme-theme I decided to use blues and greens to decorate. The bunting was leftover from his baby shower and the birthday sign was made new this year. I'm hoping to reuse that sign for many birthdays to come!

The cake was made from Smitten Kitchen's best birthday cake recipe. Frosting was also from Smitten Kitchen, though I used more unsweetened chocolate.

The sign was made by enlarging letters on my computer, printing them out, tracing them on card stock and then cutting those out and taping them on more cardstock. Inspiration was drawn from Rylie's party on Ohdeedoh. The cookies were made by using this cookie cutter from Williams Sonoma.

Thanks Kris!

(Images: Kris S.)