Thanks techgnome, here is what I have right now when calling buttons from my xml file. Please ignore the reference to "labels" as I am doing buttons. I have tried a couple of things here to add color, but have had no success.

Code:
Private Sub LoadButtons(ByVal container As Form1, ByVal filename As String)
        filename = "C:\Temp\Buttons.xml"
        Dim xmlfile As New XmlDocument
        xmlfile.Load(filename)

        Dim labelsroot As XmlElement = DirectCast(xmlfile.SelectSingleNode("buttoncollection"), XmlElement)

        For Each labelnode As XmlElement In labelsroot.ChildNodes.OfType(Of XmlElement)()
            Dim location As New Point(CInt(labelnode.Attributes("x").Value), CInt(labelnode.Attributes("y").Value))
            Dim size As New Size(CInt(labelnode.Attributes("width").Value), CInt(labelnode.Attributes("height").Value))

            Dim lbl As New Label With {
                .Text = labelnode.Attributes("text").Value,
                .ForeColor = Color.White,
                .BackColor = Color.FromArgb(50, 127, 120, 127),     '<<<<< this is what I want to get from the xml file
                .Location = location,
                .TextAlign = ContentAlignment.MiddleCenter,
                .Size = size,
                .Font = New Font("Agency FB", 8, FontStyle.Regular)}
            container.Controls.Add(lbl)
            lbl.BringToFront()
        Next
    End Sub