Circus time

We went to the circus last Friday night. My mother-in-law went with us and we had a great time. I have to say I haven't been to the circus since I was I child so I had no idea what to expect or how Brayden would react to it. He actually really enjoyed it! He stayed engaged the whole time and loved it. I think we all loved the animal acts the most - the tigers and the elephants were amazing. It was a really fun night.

My Boy

Lately I have been finding him exactly in this position. Coloring, on the floor, with his foot propped up. What's so significant about this is that I did the exact same thing as a kid. I would color for hours on the floor and usually with a leg propped up. He loves to color, LOVES it and is getting remarkably good at it. The other day he said when he grew up he wanted to be an artist. Of course my heart did a happy dance however I know that desire is fleeting. I am sure he will change his mind a few times over :)

I love watching him do whatever he loves to do and improving at it each day.  Whatever he decides to do or be in life I just want him to love doing it.  I have watched all of these athletes over the past few weeks at the Olympics and they are such an inspiration of drive and motivation to follow your dreams and show that doing what you love and working hard (EXTREMELY hard no doubt) can pay off for you.  I hope to instill in him to just follow HIS dreams and that HE can do anything he wants if he puts his mind to it. 

Learning and growing

Brayden is almost 5 (in a few months don't remind me - my heart hurts thinking about it) but he really is learning and growing so much. He loves to draw and color and stay busy. He is writing now his first and last name. He will go into the private kindergarten class at his school in August since he won't be five yet until October - so he won't officially start elementary until next fall. Thank goodness! One more year for mommy! :)

A painting Brayden recently painted - love anything abstract so I will frame this one for sure.  He said it was a large elevator coming down on a smaller elevator - so there you go. 

At the library - we have gone a lot this summer and checked out books.  He has really enjoyed it! He really loves books.

Our last name is a hard one - but he is really tackling it! 

Loves playing on iPad - especially the coloring book.

Fourth of July

Fun at the Lakewood parade on 4th of July

Swimming

Brayden took swimming lessons and has really taken to swimming this year- he has become quite the little fish! We have spent lots of time in the pool and at the splash park. Anything to beat the summer heat!

Fun swimming with his buddy Grady

I love this shot - don't capture many of these great moments at the right time often.

Brayden graduating to the next level at Dolphin Swim School.

TBall

Brayden played TBall this summer for the first time and LOVED it. It was fun watching him doing something finally he really enjoyed. Got lots of pics of course :)

First practice

Getting his trophy from Coach Clay

Pure joy - popsicles post-game

Such a fun team - can't wait until next season!

Charlee's Dance Recital

Went to see my niece Charlee perform in her first dance recital - of course she was the most precious one there!

TCU Spring Games

We went to Ft Worth to one of Ryan's spring soccer game - David joined us - so great to see him.

Easter art project

Spray some shaving cream and add paint, swirl it around and add some paper and you've got marbleized paper! Brayden had fun getting messy. We used the paper to make homemade Easter cards for the grandparents.

Bluebonnets

About a month ago I took Brayden to a local field filled with bluebonnets... Here are some of the highlights. He looks like such a big boy - it hurts my heart a little he has grown so fast but I am so proud if the boy he is becoming

Cooper and His Little League Opening Ceremonies

Today we went to my nephew's little league opening ceremonies at Winfrey Point near White Rock Lake. The day was beautiful! It was great to support Coop and it was my brother's birthday so nice to spend time with him on his special day.

Stars Game!

Last Tuesday we went to the Stars game. Ryan got free tickets from the Dallas Morning News for being a loyal subscriber if you can believe that! The fantastic part is we get there and we were three rows behind glass. So cool! Brayden had fun. Was a little overwhelmed by noise but we had a good time.

Date Night

Ryan and I got to finally celebrate our 6 year anniversary last weekend. We went to Del Frisco's Grille for dinner which was fabulous and then after for a few drinks at Bar Belmont. The view of downtown Dallas at the Belmont was awesome - such a cool place to go. We had a great time.

Aquarium!

A few weeks ago we got Brayden an aquarium for his room. He loves going to the aquarium at Fair Park and had been asking for a fish. We went to pet store with the intention of getting a goldfish and a bowl and walked out with a 10 gallon fish tank and 6 fish.. It's actually really cool and surprisingly low maintenance. So 6 new fish are now part of our family.