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)!

I honestly cannot believe that it’s been since November that I posted on Brittain’s blog. There have been so many things that have happened…new developments with Brittain. It’s been an exciting few months, so I can’t wait for you to see new pictures of this little toddler!

When I last posted, I was thankful that the child was merely crawling. Now, she is running (yes, running) around. When she turned a year old we decided to start her in physical therapy. Babies Can’t Wait (an awesome program) came into our home once every two weeks to begin with, and less often after that, to monitor Brittain. At first her progress went very quickly. After her first session she started crawling. After that it was slow going, but we all stuck to what we were supposed to do and concentrated on encouraging Brittain to stand whenever possible. When it finally happened none of us could believe it. In fact, I look at her now and still can’t believe it. At 17 1/2 months old Brittain started walking. A mixture of emotions came with this. Relief and joy were the first ones. Then, I suddenly felt sad. My baby was growing up.

What has caught all of us by surprise the most is her verbal skills. We all started noticing that Brittain was saying a lot of words, but it wasn’t until I finally sat down to write them down did we realize just how much she was saying. At 17 months I made a list of words (what I could think of off the top of my head) and the count was at 230. Now, she is speaking in full sentences, can count from 1 to 10 on her own, and even sings (kind of) a few songs. You always know what she wants, or doesn’t want, for that matter. She makes it perfectly clear!

For me, I’m still doing my best to be the best mother I can be. Some days I feel like I’m accomplishing that. Other days, well, maybe not so much, but I continue to believe that this was what I was put on this earth to do. If I had to sum up the way I feel about my life today it’s that every day is the best day of my life…and it’s all because of my precious Brittain who brings more joy than I can ever put into words.

Enjoy the new pictures and catching up on Brittain’s life…

This weekend, Dan, Brittain and I made the trip to Athens to spend some time with Cecilia and Matthew. As always, Cecilia and Matt had everything planned perfectly. They cooked us a delicious dinner Friday evening (and gave Brittain an adorable cow purse as soon as we arrived). After dinner, Brittain was entertained for hours by her Aunt CC and Uncle Matthew. After a full day and about as much fun as she could handle, Brittain finally called it a night at 12:30 p.m.!

The presentation of the cow purse:

Brittain insisted on being an “assistant” in the kitchen. You can tell how much of a help she was:

While we waited for Chef Matthew to finish up dinner, Brittain found her way to Aunt CC’s closet. Cecilia had been upset that night…upset because her closet was unorganized and she couldn’t find anything. So, she pulled every piece of clothing off the hidden shelf (hidden by hanging clothes) and threw them in the floor. Now, she was REALLY upset, of course. Little did she know that this was going to become the best playroom that Brittain had ever seen. We spent about an hour and a half in this closet, and had to drag Brittain out of there even then.

A big kiss for Aunt CC:

Aunt CC knew that some simple stickers would thrill Brittain:

After dinner was when Uncle Matthew pulled out the bubbles. She LOVED it!:

As you can tell, the adults were having as much fun as Brittain:

On Saturday, the guys headed out for a day of golf. Brittain, Cecilia and I decided to spend the day spending time together and perhaps doing a little shopping in Athens. Shortly after the boys left, we started watching the news and we saw the string of storms. Unsure of exactly where the storm was headed, we decided it would be safest if we hung around the house. Looking out the window, you would never know that storms were so close. Other than it being a little overcast, the weather was perfectly fine. We contemplated quickly running out to the K-Mart close-by just to get out of the house for a little while, but we decided against that as well figuring that as soon as we left the house, a tornado would directly hit our car. Finally, Daddy called us and said that a second round of storms looked to be coming right toward Athens. Afraid because we didn’t have a basement, Daddy told us to head to the mall where we would be in a more substantial building. When the storm was about 30 minutes from us, Cecilia, Brittain and I quickly threw a few things in the diaper bag and we jumped in the car to head to the mall. Although the weather was still fine, we were no less afraid on the ride over. You would have thought we were trying to outrun a tornado as fast as I was driving. As we pulled into the parking lot of the mall, it started to rain, so we quickly parked and ran inside. At this point, it still just seemed to be a rainstorm. We headed to the food court to grab a bite to eat, but suddenly realized that we needed to head into a store, and do it fast. As soon as we started hearing the hail on the roof, an employee of Macy’s came out and grabbed us and pulled us into the store. The three of us ran back to the designated area where they were sending everyone. We sat and waited as they made announcements about the weather. After about 30 minutes of being cramped in the corner of the store with lots of other people (and trying to keep Brittain constrained), the storm had passed and we were able to go home. Whew.

In case you’re wondering, the boys experienced a great golf day with absolutely no bad weather at all. And, while we were scared to death at the Athens mall, they continued their all day party at the house with again, no bad weather.

We left the mall and ran home to get ready for Chuck E. Cheese’s. What a fun night we had there! It was a perfect ending to a day. You will see from these pictures that Brittain looks less than thrilled. After the stressful day of weather (and no nap), she had a hard time showing her excitement. Of course, she is still talking about the big mouse and the pizza she ate there.

Jeff played golf with Dan and Matt earlier that day, and decided that he didn’t want to miss the good time at Chuck E. Cheese’s either:

The guys were so excited about their winnings, and couldn’t wait to redeem their tickets so they could get a prize for Brittain. As you can see from the next two pictures, they thought they had done GREAT! In the end, they were able to get a toy rocket (that broke before we left) and a Chuck E. Cheese ball.

After a couple of hours, Brittain decided that although toys and games are fun, she was perfectly content spending time in Aunt CC’s arms:

Leaving is never easy, and this was no exception.  For the first 30 minutes of the trip home, Brittain cried “CeeeeCeeee…I want CeeeeeCeeeee.”  There was nothing I could do for her, so I decided just to cry, too.  The funny thing is, while I was on the way home I ended up feeling so fortunate that we were forced to stay in on Saturday.  Spending time together is the most fun anyway, and this was exactly what we were able to do.  I wouldn’t go back and change a thing.  We miss you, Aunt CC and Uncle Matthew.  Can’t wait to see you soon.