Dan and I have been friends for a long time with Ava’s parents, Jenny and Matt Parker. Dan went to high school with Jenny, and I grew up with Jenny in the church. We’ve stayed close and I even had the honor of singing at Matt and Jenny’s wedding a few years ago. It was only natural that we remain close after Ava was born, and although Matt and Jenny live in Macon (they are hoping to move back to Griffin soon), we try to get together as much as possible.

We were thrilled to be invited to celebrate Ava’s 1st birthday. Dan was out of town, but Brittain and I made the trip to Macon and had a fabulous time. And, let me tell you, this party was done up right! Keeping with Ava’s hot pink and black nursery theme, Ava’s cake, decorations and even the party favors kept these colors. It was a great party with family and friends and we were so happy to be a part of it. Thanks for having us, y’all!

Jenny, Matt and the birthday girl:

For some reason, it seemed that the hit gift was this Dora the Explorer ride. Brittain absolutely loved it, so of course I had to go and buy her one right after the party:

I LOVE this face!:

Perhaps it was the large crowd that made Brittain cling to me as soon as we walked in the door. Here I was carrying around this 25 pound child in my left arm and attempting to take pictures with my right arm. She finally warmed up to 2 people in the room, Amanda and then Ava’s daddy, Matt.

Brittain was blessed with a full head of hair when she was born, and although everyone said she would lose it, she really never did. I really didn’t know at exactly what age children get their hair cut for the first time, but it was clear that it was Brittain’s time. Obviously not a full haircut, Brittain went in to have her first “trim” at 15 months old!

In the waiting area, waiting her turn:

Brittain meeting her stylist, Tiffany Walker (a high school friend of mine):

We figured out that this would be easier if she sat in my lap:

Doesn’t this look easy?! :-):

I love this picture:

“Okay. I think I can do this by myself now”:

“But, I’ll need my milk and anything else my little heart desires”:

“Oh my gosh. I LOVE it!”

One last look at the finished product, and a quick thank-you to Tiffany for a fun time:

I am SO excited! Dan knows how much I’ve been enjoying photographing Brittain at every opportunity. So, for my birthday, he surprised me with a new camera. We had to go through a couple of camera exchanges after trying them out and realizing they weren’t what we were looking for, but yesterday Dan gave me THE camera. It’s a Nikon Digital SLR and it is awesome! I know nothing about it yet, but I couldn’t help myself the last couple of days, testing it out…and you know who I chose my model to be!

Okay, it wouldn’t be fair to take credit for the next 3 pictures. Dan took these when I “allowed” him to play with the camera for a few minutes :-):

At Mimi and Duke’s:

This morning before we left for church:

We picked Mimi up on the way and took these next few pics at her house:

Fun-time after church:

Yeah…I took these myself as well…not so easy: