Brittain's blog » Pictures

I’m not sure why this particular birthday seemed different to me. As we celebrated Cecilia’s 29th birthday all I could think was, “Oh my gosh, my baby sister is 29 years old!” I looked around at all the people sitting in the room, remembering celebrating mine and Cecilia’s childhood birthdays. I saw people there who remembered Cecilia when she turned 2, and now they were sitting there as she turned 29. I also remembered people who weren’t with us anymore and wondered if they looking down on us and what they were feeling and thinking about. And then I saw the newer family members as Dan, Matt and Brittain were now there continuing to carry on the family tradition. What a mixture of emotions that was.

If you ask me or Cecilia what a favorite memory is, we will surely have many. But, I’m certain that we would both say that Mama baking the chocolate pound cake before all the family birthday parties is one of them. Cecilia came by the house the morning of her birthday and this time I was baking the cake. She knew there was no time like the present. You’re never too young to start the licking of the beaters:

As always, Brittain was prepared to be in many pictures. Here, she took the time to pose with the birthday girl and Aunt Linda:

She had forgotten how exhausting these birthday parties can be. She took a moment for a quick rest on Aunt CC:

Brittain took part in all birthday festivities. Blowing out the candles:

Eating some ice cream:

Eating more ice cream:

and more ice cream:

and MORE ice cream:

Our lame attempt at a self-portrait:

After most everyone left, we retreated to Mimi and Doot’s room to relax:

Or maybe we just went there to play some more. In this picture, Aunt CC and Brittain are covered up with a Cabbage Patch tent that belonged to Cec and me when we were kids. I can’t believe my mom saved this stuff. But I’m so glad because Brittain LOVED it!:

The end of the day. Good ol’ exhaustion:

I love you, Cecilia. You’re my best friend and I’m so fortunate to have you as my sister. Happy Birthday!

You heard it right. Today we had the good fortune of sharing Will Mulder’s 4th birthday with him. As always, it was wonderful being with friends and having so much fun.

Even though there was one of those huge inflatable Moonwalks to play in, Brittain decided that made her feel a little too out of control (OMG. She’s so ME!) and chose to play with all the balls instead.

Robert, however, LOVED the Moonwalk. He got smart and decided to combine the fun of the Moonwalk and the balls by putting a ball IN the Moonwalk. Smart kid!:

The flirts:

Will offers this white ball for Brittain to have until he can afford a promise ring:

She considers the offer:

After much playing, we retreated to the food room for gift opening, pizza and cake. Another moment where I realize how neglected all of these children are :-):

The birthday boy chowing down on some canteloupe:

Daddy put on a smile despite his mouthful of food:

Awaiting the big moment before Will blew out the candle on his Little Einstein’s Rocket cake (made by Kate Evans):

This was my favorite moment of the day. As everyone began singing Happy Birthday to Will, he reached for his mother. This is where he chose to stay for the duration of the song. I don’t think Erin minded one bit:

Will decided it was his birthday and snuck a bite of cake before it was officially cut and served. You go, Will!:

At the end of most days I go to bed at night and I’m able to say to God that if I died that night, it would be okay because I would die happy. (There are, of course, those occasions when I ask him to please let me live through another night because I’d really like to have another chance. :-))
Then there are days like today. It’s 10:30 on Easter night and I’m reliving this day in my head. Today is what heaven must be like. I know it will be embedded into my memory forever.

This Easter weekend was funny, exciting, moving, touching, happy…and so many other adjectives that I can’t think of right now.

Before I go into the goings on of the weekend, I will begin with an admission. I’m an overachiever (or at least that’s what one of Dan’s coworkers said). Saturday morning was the annual Easter egg hunt at our church. Brittain has never taken part in an Easter egg hunt before, so how would she know what to do? I solved that very quickly by taking her on a “dry run” on Friday afternoon. She’s got to learn, right? I hid 8 eggs for her to practice with. She caught on very quickly and had a great time doing it.

We began by playing on the playground…

and then moved to “the hunt”:

The weekend continued the next morning at Griffin First United Methodist Church at the annual Easter egg hunt (Brittain’s first). By the time Mimi, Doot, Brittain and I arrived we were a well oiled machine. Video camera? Check. Nikon D40 (my camera)? Check. Nikon D80 (Aunt Susan’s camera)? Check. A 20-month old prepared to hung Easter eggs? Check.

I have to be honest. When we pulled into the parking lot, there were kids and parents everywhere and I became a little bit nervous. It was 10:00 on the dot. Out of the car. Go in. It was time. I calmed down when we walked into the fellowship hall. The Easter bunny was on the stage. There were activities for the kids, including a table to make easter cookies. Everyone was dressed in their Easter best with their baskets in hand.

Making cookies with Mimi:

But then it was time. They called Brittain’s age group. It was go time. We rushed to the door. Will she remember what she’s supposed to do? Will she understand that she needs to go quickly and pick up as many eggs as she can? Will she remember that she needs to put them in her basket?

The short amount of time that the kids were out there, it was perfect. It was fun. So much fun. She laughed (and I love that sound). She loved it. She had a wonderful time. We all had a wonderful time.

Brittain’s custom-made Easter basket made by Mimi:

Following the hunt, all the kids met up:

Then there was today. Let me first get the superficial stuff out of the way. The subject is Easter Clothes. I can’t help it. It’s fun. Dressing Brittain up in pretty clothes is fun. Brittain’s Easter outfit idea came from Cecilia. She emailed me a couple of months ago and said that the new rage for celebrity babies were these “pettiskirts.” Immediately when I saw them, I LOVED them. The decision was made for me. THIS was what I wanted Brittain to wear for Easter this year. I began the search online and found many sites that sold these pettiskirts, so I waited until a little closer to actually place the order. This was a big mistake. The word had obviously spread and this was definitely the hot item this Easter. Each site I found, the pettiskirts were back-ordered. I finally came across “Fairy Princess Clothing” site and was able to find the right color and size and it arrived just in time. She was a living doll (and everyone else thought so, too)! :-):

The next few pictures are of Will Mulder. Right after Brittain was born, Steve (his dad) asked if Brittain had a date for prom yet. He told me to go ahead and pencil Will in to be her date. I got these shots after church on Sunday. Will was being so sweet to Brittain. In this next picture you see him putting a sticker on her. She had a sparkle in her eye.:

I wish I had gotten a better view of this. Will made no bones about it. He was planting a kiss on her and he didn’t care who saw it:

Following church that day we had the family over to our house for our first Brittain Easter egg hunt. It was such a wonderful time together, and it was here where I felt so blessed. So happy. So thankful. We spent the morning at a beautiful church service with beautiful music. Then, we came home to spend time together and be thankful for each other and the reason we are here.

I love these pictures I took from the day. There are quite a few of them, so be patient.

Brittain greeted most of her guests from her new Cinderella tent that the Easter Bunny brought her that morning:

Gramy and Papa outdid themselves (as usual) with a HUGE Easter basket full of all kinds of goodies and new summer clothes:

Here was the funniest thing…in the picture below, Gramy is handing Brittain a pink, rubber watch. This apparently was the prize out of a box of cereal that Papa found. I’m assuming that including this watch in the basket was probably an afterthought. The funny thing is, out of that entire basket of great stuff, that rubber watch was her favorite item!

We provided bunny ears and flower petals for everyone. I couldn’t believe that everyone participated without complaining. It was great!

Showing Mimi her watch:

Showing Aunt Janice her watch:

And showing Aunt Susan her watch:

I was a little afraid at first that she was going to be burned out with the whole hunting Easter egg thing. She had already done this now two days in a row, so it was nothing new. But I was wrong. She ran out there to find those eggs like it was the most exciting thing she had ever done:

The next few pictures crack me up. I love the serious conversations everyone is having with these headbands on. Roger especially makes me laugh in this one:

The frog rain boots were a gift from Mimi and Doot. None of us could have imagined the effect these things would have. After everyone left and Brittain was playing with her new gifts, she would not let these boots out of her sight. She didn’t want to wear them, she just wanted to carry them around and talk to them. These boots became her friends!

Some great moments with Gramy. Here, she licks the icing off Brittain’s fingers. Who but a grandmother would do that?

Gramy asked what color the cup was and Brittain answered, “BLUE!” Gramy said, “No, it’s pink.” They went back and forth saying PINK, BLUE, PINK, BLUE!

Talk about having some servants…Brittain asked for her frog boots to be removed. Her feet were sweaty from having them on so Gramy proceeded to blow on the inside of her boots to cool them off. Aunt Susan blew directly on her feet to cool them off:

As Gramy and Papa were about to leave, Papa asked for a kiss so she gave him one. Then, she gave Gramy one. I guess she decided that one wasn’t enough because she kept going back and forth until she was all out of kisses for the evening: