After making a big splash in the Bahamas the day before, Britney Spears emerged Saturday in Amite, La., where she made a low-key appearance as an “honorary” bridesmaid at the wedding of her cousin, Laura Lynne Covington. “When her brother walked her down the aisle, she looked stunningly calm and beautiful,” says one wedding guest. “She was very pretty, low-key. She was not the center of everything, just pretty and calm and collected.” The wedding took place at the First United Methodist Church, the same church where the funeral for Covington’s mother Sandra, who died of ovarian cancer, took place in January 2007. Later, at the wedding reception, the pop star hung out with her sister and fellow bridesmaid, Jamie Lynn, who toted baby Maddie, and “sat at a table off to the side and visited with local people she knew,” says the guest. “There was no fanfare,” noted the guest. “With all the star power Britney and her family command, it was still the bride’s day.”

Unlike Britney’s fake cousin and former assistant Alli Sims, Laura Lynne is Britney’s real family and it makes sense that she would want to be a part of her special day. Laura Lynne was one of Britney’s bridesmaids when she got married to Kevin Federline back in 2004. It’s very clear to me that Britney only makes time for her family in matters like this, which I think is very healthy and good for her overall progress. It’s clear to me that Britney doesn’t like making too many appearances, especially at functions where her fame might be exploited but you can tell she remains grounded and loved when she returns to Louisiana. Congrats goes out to Laura Lynne on her nuptials.

[Photo credit: Splash News; Source]

Britney Spears made it a cozy New Year’s Eve with her family – seeing big brother Bryan, 31, tie the knot in a private ceremony at New Orleans landmark Latrobe’s on Royal.

“It was beautiful,” a source tells PEOPLE about the elder Spears’s wedding to Graciella Sanchez, 36, longtime manager of little sister Jamie Lynn. “It was only close family, very small and intimate.” While the couple’s engagement may have caught many by surprise – they only recently started dating seriously – the two have been acquaintances for years. “The family was totally excited,” a friend of the family tells PEOPLE. “Graciella’s wonderful. Everybody was happy about it.” The bride looked stunning in a beige-white Carolina Herrera dress, while the groom sported a smart Marc Jacobs suit. As for the guests? Sanchez’s mother and brother were in attendance, as was the entire Spears crew including sisters Britney and Jamie Lynn; their kids Jayden James, Preston and Maddie; Jamie Lynn’s fiancé Casey Aldridge; and parents Jamie and Lynne.

Aww … that is so sweet. I love that Britney spent her New Year’s Eve in the company of her family, bearing witness to a new addition to the Spears clan. I was hoping she would spend a quiet(er) night this year and am happy to hear that’s exactly what happened. Yesterday, Britney was seen paying a visit to the Kentwood Sonic Drive-In where she enjoyed (among other things, I’m sure) one of the eatery’s famous humongous soft drinks (a Cherry Limeade, perhaps?). Bryan Spears has worked extensively with and protected Britney behind the scenes for years … he was there to help his father get a handle on things when Britney needed them most … I wish him nothing but love and prosperity in his new marriage to Graciella. Congrats!!

[Photo credit: X17, INFdaily; Source]

BRITNEY SPEARS rushed her two-year-old son to hospital after he suffered a suspected seizure yesterday. According to sources in the US, JAYDEN JAMES was taken to an emergency ward after lapsing into a “vague and unresponsive” state during a long-awaited family trip to the singer’s hometown of Kentwood in Louisiana. The entire Spears clan made the 25-mile dash to Southwest Mississippi Regional Medical Centre, Mississippi, including sister JAMIE LYNN. Doctors were unable to pinpoint the problem straight away and kept the toddler in for overnight observation. Distraught Britney, 26, refused to leave his side and asked for a bed next to him in the ward. Ex-husband KEVIN FEDERLINE is now believed to be making plans to jet out and also be by Jayden’s bedside. Sources say chaos erupted when the toddler suffered a suspected seizure out of the blue, at about 3pm on Sunday. One said: “One minute Britney and her sons were relaxing and enjoying their first visit to Kentwood in months, and the next minute Jayden had fallen ill. “He was vague and unresponsive so Britney dialled an ambulance. But she was told it would take half an hour to arrive, and she was best trying to get Jayden to the hospital herself.” Another added: “They tore off so fast it was incredible.”

This is so sad … I really hope that little JJ is OK and that nothing serious will come of this incident. It’s also sad timing since this is the first time that Britney has been able to visit her hometown in ages and it is Jayden’s first visit to Kentwood, LA ever. It is my sincere hope that the family was just being cautious and that everything will turn out fine for Britney and her family. It would be such a shame for something tragic to happen after she made such strides to to turn her life around.

[Photo credit: INFdaily; Source]

It’s time for a very special Spears family get-together as OK! has learned exclusively that pop star Britney Spears, along with her father — and her two young sons! — left L.A. on Friday morning to make an early holiday pilgramage to her Louisiana home. Around 10:30am PT on Friday, the pop star and her young boys, Sean Preston, 3, and 2-year-old Jayden James, boarded a private plane at an airport in Van Nuys, Calif., where they flew with the pop star’s papa, Jamie Spears, to Kentwood, La. This trip marks not only the first time that young Jayden will get to see Serenity, the family home in Kentwood, but also the first time since ex-husband Kevin Federline was awarded physical custody of the boys that Britney has been able to take them out of the state. Insiders tell OK! that the reason for the trip is twofold. First, so that Britney can have some quiet family time away from the hustle and bustle of Hollywood before the release of her new album, Circus, on her 27th birthday (Dec. 2). And the second reason for the family getaway is so Sean and Jayden get the chance to spend more time their cousin Maddie, the baby daughter of Jamie Lynn Spears and Casey Aldridge.

Awww … this is so great. You can see that Britney’s mother Lynne Spears and her older brother Bryan Spears came out to the airport to meet her, her father and her boys. The only ones missing from this cute family reunion were Jamie Lynn Spears and her unmarried babydaddy Casey Aldridge. I wonder how long Brit plans to stay in Louisiana … for just the weekend, thru Thanksgiving? However long she stays, I hope she has an amazing time at home with her entire family. She’s been working real hard this year and has made such remarkable strides in her recovery … I think she really deserves to enjoy as much downtime as she can muster. Good for her!!

[Photo credit: INFdaily; Source]

Wow. There is no other word to describe how amazing Brit Brit looks in these pics. She just looks … really, really good. After the jump, check out A SLEW of photos of Britney posing for pics and signing autographs for the kids at his junior high school today …

Yeah, I’m not exactly sure what the reason for Britney’s visit to this school was but by the looks on the kids’ faces, she was a very welcome visitor. Britney brought along her manager Larry Rudolph and her older brother Bryan Spears to accompany her on this visit. I just can’t get over how great she looks. That’s my girl, y’all. Don’t you think she looks amazing?

[Photo credit: Splash News, Bauer-Griffin]

Britney Spears revved up the celebration for sons Preston and Jayden on Saturday, throwing her sons a joint car and truck-themed birthday bash in Los Angeles. And the party was truly a family affair. Spears celebrated her boys’ special days – Preston turns 3 on Sept. 14, and Jayden turned 2 on Sept. 12 – with sister Jamie Lynn Spears, her newborn niece Maddie Briann, dad Jamie and mom Lynne. Held at close friend Adrienne Maloof-Nassif’s Beverly Park house, the outdoor party drew some famous guests, including Jenny McCarthy with her son Evan, and Gwen Stefani’s son Kingston, 2, who came to the bash from an equally starry affair: He celebrated Heidi Klum’s son Henry’s 3rd birthday at the model’s Beverly Hills house along with all three of Victoria Beckham’s sons. But the guests of honor seemed to be having the best time. Preston and Jayden drove around the party in mini motorized cars, which were customized Ed Hardy by Christian Audigier. The cars featured tattoo-inspired decals, Ed Hardy air fresheners and personalized license plates. To keep with the party’s theme, the cake was in shape of a yellow truck. “The boys received tons of birthday gifts,” a source told PEOPLE. “Britney and her family really made the party special for the boys.”

Oh yeah, now this sounds like a good ol’ fashioned Spears family get-together. I’m actually surprised that there is no mention in this report of Kevin Federline being in attendance … surely the father of the kids was allowed to attend. As you can tell from the first photo, Britney’s older brother Bryan was in the hiz for the celebration and he wasn’t mentioned either. In any event, it looks like a really fun birthday for the boys … we know they love trucks so I assume they had a great time. Happy Birthday, Sean Preston (tomorrow) and Jayden James (yesterday)!!!

UPDATE: I just found out that Kevin Federline WAS NOT in attendance at his sons’ joint birthday party after all, he was bizzy partying with “a group of ladies” and spent all of last night seated at Privé nightclub’s private and exclusive Table 69 in Las Vegas, NV. Proof positive that K-Fed is worthy of his recent Father of the Year title.

[Photo credit: Bauer-Griffin, INFdaily; Source]

Life and Style magazine reports that Grandpappy Jamie Spears gave them a quote after Maddie Briann was born (When asked how he feels about the new addition to the family, the new grandpa tells Life & Style, “We’re thrilled, we’re all absolutely thrilled.”) and also report the baby was born around 8am by C-section. People magazine, on the other hand, got quotes from other, more removed, members of the Spears & Aldridge families, friends and townfolk:

Jamie Lynn Spears’s hometown of Kentwood, La., was buzzing with the news she gave birth, with friends and relatives expressing surprise, relief and confidence the 17-year-old will be a good mother. “She’s awfully young to be a momma,” says distant cousin Margie Busby. “But that’s what they make [grandmothers] for. They have to help. That’s the way it is with our circle of friends.” Second cousin Janet Bridges acknowledges, “I didn’t even know she had the baby,” but gives a thumbs up to the baby girl’s name. “Ooh, I like ‘Maddie,’” says Bridges. The birth was the talk of Kentwood. “I’m really happy for her and her family,” says Jennifer Pike, who works at the corner store where the Spears family often shops. “There will probably be some rough times and some bumpy times, but I wish the best for her. I wish her all the luck in the world.” “We’re so excited for her,” a family friend tells PEOPLE. “She’ll be a great mom. She’ll be awesome.” Adds another friend, “She was so excited about having this child. (She was) looking forward to it so much.” The days have passed slowly for Spears and fiancé Casey Aldridge, who had finished preparing for the baby a few weeks ago. “It seemed like this day would never come,” says a cousin of Aldridge. “They’ve been getting ready, but everything was pretty much done by last month. So they just had to wait.”

As you may imagine, Britney Spears talked to no one. We’ll prolly have to wait until the OK! magazine coverstory on the birth of Maddie Briann comes out to get any decent inside information from the core Spears family … and that is fine by me. I hope Jamie Lynn and Casey are able to enjoy the first days and weeks with their newborn daughter without having to deal with the press or the paps. They must be insanely relieved that their baby has arrived at long last … I hope they are able to take the time to enjoy their new family away from prying eyes.

[Photo credit: INFdaily; Source]

It makes sense that Papa Jamie Spears would be anxious for Britney to sell her Studio City home … you may recall it as the site where Britney suffered her last mental breakdown and had to be carted away to the hospital on a gurney in front of the world’s media. I would want to clear that memory form my family’s history as well. It’s unclear where the Spears fam are heading off to … they could pop up anywhere. I guess we’ll just have to wait and watch.*

*Clearly, I lost my head … Brit and co. showed up in Kentwood, LA to be with Jamie Lynn Spears at the end of pregnancy — but she could’ve been on her way to London to shoot a new music video (a report that came from Larry Rudolph) so I wasn’t sure which rumor to go with.

[Photo credit: Bauer-Griffin]

Mario Lopez may be PEOPLE’s Hottest Bachelor – but the A Chorus Line star and fitness buff has a shocking admission: He was a chubby baby. “I looked like a sumo wrestler,” Lopez says in a new interview. “My mom had to pull the fat folds apart when she bathed me!” But that’s all in his past. As fans know, Lopez has mined his love of fitness to create his own book, Mario Lopez’s Knockout Fitness. The exercise guru, who is recently single, says that a full slate of projects has kept him off the dating market but that hasn’t stopped him from thinking about dating completely. “I like a girl who’s from a modest sort of upbringing, because it’s more relatable,” he says, explaining what he looks for in a potential girlfriend. “I’m a first-generation American. My parents [Elvia and Mario Sr.] emigrated from Mexico and live in the same house I grew up in Chula Vista, Calif. I’d feel weird if the girl was a little too uppity or affluent, because I’m a very down-home kind of guy.”

It’s interesting that Mario was chosen to top the list of People’s Hottest Bachelors because he *just* broke up with his girlfriend Karina Smirnoff (of Dancing with the Stars fame) just a few weeks ago (I wonder who the #2 guy was/is). In any event, the full list of bachelors who made the cut this year is revealed in the new issue of People magazine (which hits newsstands on Friday) but People.com has a gallery of some of the guys who made the cut. I totes understand why dudes like Adam Levine, Terrance Howard and Gerard Butler made the list but I’m surprised that Bryan Spears (Britney’s older brother) and Hunter Johansson (Scarlett’s twin brother) made the list. Neither one is a big name in Hollywood and, yet, they still are listed among the hottest bachelors in Hollywood. Something tells me that the People list was pretty thin so they had to beef it up with extraneous family guys (not that either Bryan or Hunter aren’t hawt enough, I just think they’re not famous enough). In any event, congrats (?) goes out to the lucky dudes who made the list … I suppose kudos are in order for being hawt and single.

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