3rd Birthday

Come One, Come All to the Greatest Show on Earth!

Mary Bradford turned 3 YEARS OLD on April 26th. We had a carnival birthday party and had a lot of fun. We had a variety of carnival games, such as ring toss, lucky duck, and lots more. Unfortunately, all the kids were mostly interested in only one game, LUCKY DUCK because they could play in the water to select their duck... After the party, Mary Bradford ended up in the tiny blow up swimming pool with the ducks and her friend, Emma Reid. It was a fun time and we are now adjusting to her being 3. She is able to do so much by herself and we are so proud of her!!

Disney 2009

We took a trip to Disney during my Spring Break in April. It was Mary Bradford's first trip and me and Todd's first trip together. We stayed at the Boardwalk Inn and loved the hotel. We took the ferry boat to Epcot and Hollywood Studios and the bus to Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom. We attended the Princess Storybook Luncheon at the Akershus Hall in Norway. Mary Bradford was able to talk to and get her picture made with Snow White, Cinderella, Belle from Beauty and the Beast, Aurora from Sleeping Beauty, and everyone else you can think of. We saw a great street party in front of the Magic Kingdom and watched the nighttime SpectroMagic parade. Mary Bradford loved the fireworks! I think they were her favorite part. We took in as much as we could in the six days we were there. We had our picture made with Mickey, Minnie, Donald, and the rest of the gang, as well as Tinker Bell, and some of the other fairies. Mary Bradford was amazed at everything that Disney was made of. During one of the rainy days, we were getting ready to leave Magic Kingdom while one of the employees was blowing bubbles. Mary Bradford immediately ran up to her, took her hat off and tried to catch bubbles in her hat. The lady saw her and stopped us to give us a certificate making Mary Bradford the honorary bubble princess for the day. She gave her a sticker and a pass to go to the front of the line. This is one of many things that Disney does to make children feel special. We are ready for another trip next year!

Easter 2009

Mary Bradford with the Easter Bunny! We went to a pancake breakfast to support Todd's dad with Kiwanis and Mary Bradford had her picture made with the Easter Bunny.

January 2009

Since Christmas, we have busy getting over Christmas as I am sure everyone else has. Mary Bradford is taking gymnastics and loves every part of it from jumping and swinging to balance and rolling. We have finally found an activity that keeps up with her!

She is loving her class at school and has found some new friends since she moved up to the 3 year old class. It is really sweet to watch her become upset when she has to leave her friends at school.

We are looking forward to the Mardi Gras season which is right around the corner. I think that Mary Bradford will love the idea of standing outside and waiting for people to throw candy at her. We plan on taking her to the children's parade which is during the day time.

Christmas Preparation

As we get ready for Christmas, the Brightman household has been busy with holiday decorating, making cookies, and our last project was a gingerbread house that we decorated as a family. Well, actually, Mary Bradford decorated most of it and was not stingy with the candy at all!

After her first work of art, we let her use the left over icing on a smaller version. She thoroughly enjoyed the process and wanted to do another one!! Out of all of our holiday projects, this was the messiest one...

Christmas Photos at Ann's House

We usually take the Brightman family Christmas picture during Thanksgiving. Since Todd and I are taking Mary Bradford to Decatur for Thanksgiving to spend some time with my family, we had to go ahead and take the Christmas picture. Although it is a little early, I must admit that I have already put up AND decorated my Christmas tree as I have gotten into the season early this year. As she always does, Mary Bradford had a great time running around her Nana’s house (making a mess) and pulling out many, many, many toys. I had another proud mommy moment as Mary Bradford told us all that she had to go potty. We watched her go inside and assumed she was using her potty, but you know what people say when you assume. Ann normally keeps Mary Bradford’s potty near the living room, but since she was having the family over, she moved it to the guest bathroom. When Mary Bradford went inside to go POTTY, she wandered through the house looking for her potty and when she could not find it and could not hold it any longer, she finally decided to go on Nana’s floor. She promptly came outside and told me exactly where to find it in front of everyone! At that moment, I knew that being a mommy was a very important job…

Bass Pro Shop on November 22, 2008

We had dinner with our good friends, Stephanie and Matt, and their little boy Evan the other night. We then took Evan and Mary Bradford to the Bass Pro Shop in Spanish Fort. They were amazed at the huge fish tanks and real-looking stuffed animals that are all over the store. Mary Bradford ended up taking a Barbie fishing pole as a souvenir after of course, she dropped her entire Vitamin Water in the checkout area. As soon as the clerk paged maintenance over the loud speaker and said that she needed a cleanup, I knew that motherhood was definitely among me, but surprisingly, I was not embarrassed as it was truly an accident. Anyway, the picture shown is Mary Bradford willingly sitting in Santa’s lap. She asked him for a dollhouse and a fishing pole which is quite interesting.