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:
Brittain called it an early night and was in bed by 8:00 (without a peep)!
