May was a great month...it is always a month of celebrations--My birthday, Mother’s Day, and our anniversary. For my birthday, Brian and I enjoyed a weekend together while my Mom stayed home with the kids. We went to Universal Studios and enjoyed a night in a hotel. Then, we went shopping the next day, and I spent all of my gift cards I had been hoarding. I got some great stuff!

Brian gave me a digital photo album with pictures of the kids for Mother’s Day. And we enjoyed dinner out together. Brian is always good at making me feel spoiled and loved. For our anniversary, we went to one of our favorite restaurants--Bonefish. The kids were with us and Braxton was in a “mood”, so the whole meal was spent trying to entertain him. But I was glad the kids got to see us celebrate 7 years of marriage. We keep saying we are going to celebrate just the 2 of us by going to the beach or a theme park or something. Maybe when more family is in town this summer.

My Mom came for my birthday to watch the kids. It meant a lot to spend my 30th birthday with her. I can’t believe she flew all the way to Florida to watch the kids so Brian and I could go out. Her time here was short, but very sweet. I don’t think the kids even missed us while we were gone! Brian’s parents came to visit recently too. We enjoyed a slow-paced week with a lot of game playing at night when the kids were in bed! We celebrated Papa’s birthday early, and we enjoyed the zoo together too. This has become the kids’ favorite place, I think. Looking forward to a lot more family time this summer!

With summer here, we are looking forward to a lot of fun. To help Ainsley keep track of all the scheduled things this summer, we are making a calendar together. This will help her understand days, dates, months, etc. There is a lot to keep track of this summer. My Mom and other friends will visit this summer. Ainsley has VBS next week. Then, we are starting swim lessons. These will be every morning (mon-fri) for 4 weeks. Then, the last day of swim lessons, we leave for Texas for a couple of weeks. We’ll be flying into Dallas, then driving to Houston to spend time with my family, then drive to Austin to spend more time with more family. Then, drive back to Dallas to spend more time with even more family (and friends). Then, fly back to FL. Brian won’t be with us, so we will miss him, but the kids will certainly have a blast, as they always do at their grandparent’s houses. Then, the week after we get back from Texas, we will have soccer camp for a week. The week after soccer camp is another week of VBS. Plus, plenty of fun at the beach, playdates with friends, etc.. By August, we will be excited about settling back into normalcy. In August, after all this settles down, Ainsley will start gymnastics.

I’m open to the idea of having a job when the new school year comes. I applied for a Reading Coach position, but it seems that any of the open teaching positions are for those people who are needing to be reassigned due to job cuts. We’ll see. As of right now, I will just continue tutoring. It is still in our plans to keep Ainsley and Braxton at home for another year, then put Ainsley into preschool when she turns 4. Now that she is 3, I’ll include various additions to our day to help prepare her when she does go to preschool. But, mostly, we just PLAY, PLAY, PLAY.

Here are some tidbits about everyone:

Braxton is such a sweetheart. He loves to hug and give kisses. His hair has grown precious curls in the back that I just can’t cut yet! Braxton is absolutely hilarious. It is obvious that he delights in making other people laugh and smile. It is hard to take our eyes off of him! (And this is just fine for Ainsley, because she doesn’t like attention from others. So, she is happy to share the limelight! They make a good pair. :) Braxton has finally decided he loves books. I’m so glad he will sit with me and let me read to him now. We read book after book. I feel like we have a lot of catching up to do after his aversion to books his first year of life! Braxton, like I have said before, has a very intense, passionate, and determined spirit. He puts his whole heart into things. He loves shoes, bugs, outside, balls, milk, big chairs, piano, music, cars, lizards, frogs, dirt, rocks, brooms, buttons, toothbrush with toothpaste, bathtime, swimming, lawn mower, and his family. Notice, one thing that I didn’t mention is FOOD. Braxton does NOT like to be hungry, but he just wants to eat enough to barely satisfy, then he is done. He definitely has a sweet tooth. After church, Ainsley gets a lollipop, which she doesn’t like the taste of, but she loves to unwrap and hold it. So, every Sunday after church, as soon as their classes are over and they reunite, Ainsley holds the lollipop and he takes licks. Again, they make a great pair! Braxton is still choosing to say the same sound for everything, but with different inflections. He is a big communicator, and I usually know exactly what he is saying. And he can say about 10 words, but he doesn’t like to use them because he is stuck on “duh”. He understands everything we say, though. He’ll speak more on his own timing, it is just very different from Ainsley at this point! I love the way Braxton’s eyes get so big when he is talking to me.

Ainsley is our family girl. She just loves being with her family. She is starting to just prefer staying home and playing. She is so happy when it is the 4 of us together. Her love language is quality time, for sure! We’re making such great memories EVERY day. She is really loving crafts. I have a weekly craft or game or activity of some sort. Mostly, they are too old for Brax, but he participates on his level. I love hearing all the songs on Ainsley’s heart. She is always singing something. The words that come out of her mouth are just priceless. The sticker charts are working very well. We have a very self-sufficient, mature little girl on our hands. We are very proud of her. There have never been many battles with Ainsley. She is an easy gal. Ainsley takes very good care of Braxton. She understands him so well, and is patient beyond her years. Ainsley also like taking care of her daddy. She is always concerned for him. Did he get enough to eat? Is he going to be safe driving in the rain? I’m so thankful for the close relationships we have with our daughter.

Brian and I have been renewing our commitment to exercising more regularly. This has been fun to accomplish together. He is continuing to excel in photography. It’s always fun when I am laying on the couch watching tv, and I have a camera in my face for pictures! He is always wanting to get better, which is one thing I love about him. I’m his biggest fan, and he is mine! That is a great thing in a marriage. :)