July Catch Up

Little catch up from July events.......
4th of July.........I captured zero good pictures, but we had a nice family weekend. Beau was less scared of fireworks this year, so at least his Dad got to enjoy lighting them a little more this year! And Sister did great with all the loud booms and lights.

Monday night (the 6th) marked the last T-Ball game for Beau. He did a great job this season and we loved watching him. We only asked him to have fun, listen to his Coach, and get better each game.......and he did all those things. We capped off the night with ice cream at Braums with the team. Perfect night.

Then he went to a swimming party Friday night. It was a BD party/end of season T-Ball party. He had a great time and took to the pool well! Then Saturday he had another BD party to go to where he built Lego's. And last night he and his Dad and Uncle Kyle headed to the all night car show. Not sure who had the better time! I had to lead off with the best picture taken last night (see above). Booooo..........Sooners!

And now, Sunday afternoon, we are getting ready to get into the blow up swimming pool. It's hot!

Brenley May - 17 months old

Each month, Brenley May gets a little bigger, little cuter, and much more ornery! She was 17 months old on July 6th!

Her likes: sausage, cheetos, and ketchup....in that order. She has a new stuffed pink and white puppy dog that she sleeps with and generally takes with her wherever she goes. His name is, rightfully, Cheeto.

She LOVES her brother and each morning gets up saying, Beau? Beau Beau? Where's Beau? So if he isn't up already, we go wake him up.

When she is mad, she now slaps us on the leg or whatever body part is closest. That's great. She is expressing her emotions, so we are trying to get her to channel them a bit differently. But boy, does she have a temper!

We still can't seem to keep any hair bows or pony tails in her hair for more than a few consecutive hours. She has developed a little crush on her different shoe shoes. Mama is so relieved! :) And she will tolerate a dress now too. Here is a pic of our beauty on her 17 month BD!

Brennerson

Brenley. Brenley May. Bren. Brennerson. Binny. Bin Bin. Sissy. Sissy Pots. She goes by many names. She has many looks. Our doll.

Ranger Game and First Flight

WHAT A WEEKEND - and a quick one to boot! We were jet setters this weekend........taking off for the great state of Texas in a quick 1 hour 15 minute flight for a Ranger baseball game. It was Beau's first flight and experiencing this with him was so AWESOME! His eyes were so big and his head was so full of questions. We took everything in. Look at that, did you see that, check that out.........over and over. It was incredible. And he did so great on his flight. Big boy through security and lines. He was awesome.

Headed to the hotel for swimming and relaxing until our ride came for us at 5:30. Then we headed to the ballpark where the first 7,500 kids got a free jersey. That was cool. The suite box seats were, as usual, awesome. Hot, but tolerable. Great seats, good company, wonderful evening.

Then up and at 'em Sunday morning for the return flight home. Again, he was super pumped about being in such a HUGE airport. But here is the best part. He saw two soldiers in the bathroom and according to his Dad, was mesmerized by them.....watching their every move. Then one of them happened to get in line in front of us at the gate, and he continued to stare. And the soldier turned around and I said, sorry, my son is mesmerized by you. And he just smiled an "ah shucks" grin. And we headed down the terminal gate, and he stopped and turned around and said......."Do you want my blanket?" And Beau just gaped open his mouth. And Brian was like, "Sir, are you sure?" And he was like, "Sure, they are only like 99 cents. Please take it." And we thanked him, and thanked him, and Beau gave him a high five as we passed him in his first class seats. Beau hugged and cradled that blanket. That is what made him the happiest. It was the kindest gesture from an already giving solider. Incredible. Capped off a perfect trip and actually was the ultimate highlight. A forever memory we will have of that trip. One small gesture made a little boy's world forever. Something to take note of.........sometimes, it is about the small stuff.

We pulled into our driveway at 11:00AM to see a pretty little Brenley May and Me Ma anxiously awaiting our arrival on the front porch. We missed our girl, but we loved the time with just Beau. It was such a wonderful short trip.

I am choosing not to talk about this week, though. It's going to be tough. So I am hitting fast forward now.........FFWD...................................

Weird Week

Well, besides not being with my husband all week (another 5 day travel week for him)........it's been an odd week.

Monday: Jon and Kate announce their divorce. Ed McMahon dies. The Bachelorette kicks off Mr. Perfect, Jake. Bummer night on TV.
Tuesday: Brenley and I melted in 100+ degree heat for Beau's T-Ball game (while not a weird event, it is only late June, not hot, hot August).
Wednesday: S. Carolina Governor admits to an affair after coming back from a week with his mistress and lied about his whereabouts to everyone in his life.
Thursday: Back out of the driveway in the AM, and notice our next door neighbor put their house up for sale last evening. Farrah Fawcett dies. Michael Jackson dies. My daughter calls 911 (she was playing with the phone) and a police officer comes to our house - sure he does. At least he was nice. Head to swimming lessons where my son continued to cry like a girl. Came home and our across the street neighbor put their house up for sale. Now, I promise my non-Wichitian readers.......we didn't just all of a sudden become awful neighbors. They were victims of the furloughs and layoff's of the Wichita airline industry. Just 12,000 people in this city, to date, that were let go from their jobs. We are not sure what happened to our neighbors, but hopefully we'll find out in the days to come. Literally, the recession has hit close to home. Now in our 11 block cul-de-sac, there are 3 houses for sale. It's sad because both of these families have small children.
Friday: Who knows........hoping for a happy day. Daddy comes home tomorrow. And my Mom and my two nieces are coming to stay. But from here on out.........I'm looking at a lot of air travel and days without my family as I travel for work. And on the week I don't, Brian will travel. But I try to look at the positive. We both have jobs. We are both healthy. And our marriage is strong. Saying prayers tonight that those things continue.

Happy Father's Day!!!

We enjoyed a lovely weekend together. On Saturday, we headed to McPherson for one of Brian's best friend's wedding reception, then we hung out with his parents. The original plan was for Brian to play golf with his Dad, brother, and BIL, but the weather stopped that. We headed out of there around 7:30 before the severe storms kicked in.

Today was a Happy Father's Day for Brian, as he got to make his annual trek to the Sedgwick County Zoo car show with his son, Beau. They've went every year since we lived here and I am not sure who loves it more. Then we had some BBQ for lunch, and just chilled out at home this afternoon with a few naps in between.

I have a great father for my children, and a really good role model in my amazing Daddy, Fred Levings. And even though I don't think my three brothers read my posts.........I have brothers that are pretty amazing Daddy's too!

More Birthday Parties

Beau had two more birthday parties this weekend. One was for one of his favorite classmates, Jolei. It was Saturday at All Star Sports. He was a roller coaster ridin' fool!

Today, we drove down to Stillwater, Oklahoma to my nephew Dylan's birthday! We had such a great time. We first stopped by my other brother's house and took a dip in their pool. Anything we can do to get Beau more comfortable with the water.......we are going to do it. (We had a very tough swim lesson this past week........too long too write about).

So we headed to the party at 2:30. It was at Kid's Kingdom (like a gymnastic studio), and they got to jump and run and swing. It was so much fun!! Both of the kids played hard and then slept hard on the way home.

Happy Birthday to my 10 year old nephew, Dylan Kyle Levings!