I get asked the question all the time, “So, is she spoiled?” My answer is quite simple. “She’s the first grandchild on mine and Dan’s side of the family. What do you think?”

Perhaps even more special than watching Brittain’s face when she’s around family, is watching family members faces when they’re around Brittain. The sincere looks are priceless:

It was bound to happen…because all the babies were born last summer, it was now time for the parties to begin. After Brittain turned 1, her friends Emma-Kate Kirkland and Robert Evans had their birthday parties the next month.

Robert started his party out the right way…with a nap:

By the time Emma-Kate arrived, she had decided that SHE wanted to keep the soccer ball (that she was supposed to be giving as a gift). About 30 minutes into the party was when she finally let go!:

Brittain enjoyed having a whole new set of toys to play with:

Brittain enjoyed dressing up in one of her new dresses for the occasion:

Eventually, Leah and Will headed off to Leah’s room to play. They were so over the baby birthday party:

Erin and Gracie Mulder:

Brittain was more interested in seeing the person behind the camera:

Will and Leah pose with their birthday hats:

The birthday boy and his mom:

Opening gifts, with the help of many others:

I wish I had gotten more pictures of the end result of this cake. It was absolutely demolished. Robert’s parents were smart having this be the very last event of the day. It was a good thing. There was cake all over that house:

Dan’s first Father’s Day was probably not how he imagined it would be. Actually, his first Father’s Day AND his birthday fell on the weekend of Matt and Cecilia’s wedding. The poor guy…because of everything that was going on, I don’t think he got even a verbal “Happy Birthday or Happy Father’s Day.” I kept thinking that I would make it up to him when things settled down, but I don’t think that has actually happened yet. Finally, Brittain put her foot down. She wanted to do something special for him, even if it was a couple of months late! We ended up working on a “Daddy and Me” book on shutterfly.com and she gave it to him one night when he least expected it. She didn’t want to make a big deal about it, but she did want him to know how special he is to her.