Mimi and Aunt CC came over late afternoon on Easter day once naps had been had and we were all feeling a little more revived. Brittain’s Easter basket was actually a picnic basket which was something she had been saying she wanted since we had been having the occasional picnic lunch during the week when Mimi was able to come over during her lunch break. The 2 highlights of what the basket actually held? Smarties candy and a 5-pack of sunglasses in different colors. As the owner, Brittain required the sunglasses to be worn a certain way. Also? you will see they looked great on everyone.
Oh, the tattoos you see on us and my child are not real. They were one of the gifts in the Easter basket that the Easter bunny brought her that morning…and she was obsessed.
Cecilia ended up having an extended stay and it was great. Whenever we have the opportunity to visit each other we always have high expectations of actually being able to really talk, like we used to have the time to do. But each time as we’re saying our goodbyes we realize how naive we are to think that will ever happen. We’re only able to merely skim the surface of what’s going on in our lives. This time, though, we got to talk! And by talk, I mean we almost came close to running out of things to discuss. There was one night after Brittain went to bed that we were up drinking wine and discussing what it is that makes us want to have children. I, of course, was coming at it from the perspective of being a first-time mother. She was coming at it from a person who eventually wants to start a family. There were many different facets to this conversation, which I hope to devote an entire blog post to at some point, but at one point Cecilia asked me what the bottom line reason was for me wanting to have a baby, before I became pregnant with Brittain. I sat there or a minute and thought about it and finally said, “I guess I thought it was just time. It was the next natural step in my life.” I then asked her a similar question, “Why do you want to have a baby?” She came back with such a heart-felt, meaningful answer. “To think about having a part of you in another person. Knowing that there’s another person in the world that actually has a part of you in them.” I suddenly felt like I was Lucky or Dusty in The Three Amigos movie when they’re all laying in bed together, talking about what they plan to do with the money they are (supposedly) making from what they believe is a movie they are starring in. Lucky says that he plans to buy a big shiny, silver car. Dusty says that he plans to go to New York and Paris and drink champagne and go to parties. When Ned was asked, he said, “I plan to start a foundation…for homeless children.” I felt the need to go back on what I said as I stumbled over my words saying, “Well, yeah, that was the initial reason I wanted to have a baby and this was the second reason…”
It was one of the best visits Cec and I have been able to have since Brittain was born. And you know she didn’t go back to Florida without at least one dance party:
It was another special Easter surrounded by the people I love the most…our family. Fortunately, everyone also gave into my request of posing for pictures.
In case you don’t know, this is apparently called an Easter basket (even though I have always referred to it as a wheel barrow). Yes, suffice it to say, the child is spoiled.
One Easter basket was not enough. She had to get 4. So, we also made a quick stop by her Uncle Terry and Aunt Janice’s to pick this one up.
I have started to learn that there are actual people out there who don’t completely freak and stress out about Easter attire, Easter egg hunts, and anything else superficial having to do with Easter. I have also learned that I am not one of these people. The truth is, I’m not sure why I put myself through all of it, but when it comes right down to it, I guess my philosophy is “If you’re gonna do it, you might as well do it right.” Even better? Fun times, good memories, and cute pictures.
This year I really talked up the decorating of the Easter eggs and Brittain was thrilled about getting started on them. After a few days building it up, we finally sat down with the 3 different decorating kits that I had purchased and tried to figure out how to use the darn things. I didn’t remember it being this difficult when I was a kid. Brittain ended up decorating 1 egg, I think…and then I did the 23 others.
Preschool Easter egg hunt…it was freezing!
Although Cecilia and Matt weren’t going to Boston this year for Easter, they weren’t going to be able to make the trip to Griffin because they had just come the weekend before. I was disappointed, but I understood.
You can only imagine my surprise and excitement when my doorbell rang on Friday night and I walked in the living room to find Cecilia and Sophie (their dog) standing there. Aunt CC always makes things more fun and I just love being around her because she brightens my life as well as Brittain’s. The egg hunt at the church this year was a bit different. Brittain knew exactly what she was in for and no “trial run” as we had done last year was necessary.
Perhaps the funniest part of the day was when Brittain began going for an egg that Cecilia pointed out to her, but Emma-Kate got to it first. By the look on her face, Brittain was extremely disappointed with this so Cecilia quickly remedied the situation by finding another egg and pointing Brittain in that direction in order to get her mind off the other. Cecilia said to her, “Brittain, here’s another egg and it’s got your name written all over it.” It seemed like an eternity that Brittain stood there staring at this egg…trying to find where her name was written:
A new twist to the egg hunt this year was the Easter parade where all the kids were invited to decorate their bikes and bring them in for a contest. I’m really not good at all at this kind of thing, but I still spent a couple of days going out to various places trying to get ideas and purchase decorations that would appropriately fit somewhere on a bike. The entire time I kept thinking, “How the hell do you decorate a bike?” I mean, really, where do you put decorations and how do you attach them? I ended up coming home with streamers, a strand of decorative easter eggs, a pink foam letter B, and a few other random Easter items that I found on sale somewhere. I spent hours stressing over the fact that I couldn’t think of anything creative to do with her red Radio Flyer tricycle, so I eventually called for reinforcement (my mother, of course). I don’t know how she does it, but the end result?
was this. (Please note that the only item that I purchased that was used on the bike was the pink letter B on the front):
The Easter Parade itself was not very thrilling for her (hence, Aunt Susan trying to push her around the circle with a walking stick she found somewhere):
Fortunately, the judges of the contest did not take “Easter egg hunt spirit” into account, because Brittain ended up winning 1st place for the most creatively decorated bike (thanks to Mimi). You would have never known that this was the same child that almost refused to even sit on her bike when we were trying to convince her to at least make one lap around that circle. She certainly came alive when she was presented with her award suddenly yelling, “I WON! I WON!!!” I don’t think she had a clue as to what was going on, but it was still fun.:
After everything was over, we quickly got the kids together to pose for a quick picture. We did this same picture last year at the egg hunt and I couldn’t wait to compare to see how they had all changed. I love looking at these and comparing. It’s amazing how much they’ve all changed in just a year.:
Last year:
