Happy Birthday, Nana!

Happy birthday to you!  Happy birthday to you!  

Happy birthday, dear Nana!  Happy birthday to you! 

Nana & her grandsons

Dearest Joshua and Luke,

We had a great time celebrating Nana's birthday at the Olive Garden.  We picked her up at her house, and met Aunt Lisa, Brennan, and Aunt Lisa's friends, Kathy and Kennedy.  Kennedy was celebrating her birthday as well.  Nana chose Olive Garden, one of her favorite restaurants.  It was a lot of driving, but it was worth every minute of the driving.

Aunt Lisa, Eric, Joshua, Luke & Brennan

When Brennan got there, he was the star of the show!  Everyone gathered around him, and watched every move he made.  Luckily, he got to sit by his Nana for her birthday!  After eating, we all took turns passing him around and cuddling with him.  He liked getting his picture taken.  Each time the camera flashed at him, he made a squinty-eyed face.  It was adorable!

Brennan having fun with Luke's tiger xylophone

I know that you two always love being around babies and younger children, but you both amaze me with your love for Brennan.  Both of you really want to be a part of his life.  The few times you are with him, you are wanting to hold him, kiss him, tickle him, talk to him, and just be with him.  I know that as he gets older, you will both be playing with him a lot.  I hope that we will get to see him even more as he gets older.






As we were cleaning out and getting rid of some baby and toddler toys this summer, we saved a small box of things that we thought Brennan would really like.  One of the things that Luke chose to give to Brennan was the tiger xylophone.  It seemed to be a hit with Brennan.  He did not want to put it down.  Joshua chose The Rainbow Fish bath book.

Joshua is reading The Rainbow Fish to Brennan

 It is a plastic book that you can take in the tub.  It is the perfect book that is OK to get wet.  You were both so proud to give him these things.  I think you were mostly excited that the things had belonged and been loved by you.  I was also so glad that you were so willing to give away your beloved treasures.  There was a time when that was not so easy for either of you.




Brennan is a special and loved part of our family.  Aunt Lisa and Nana are a very important part of our family, too.  We are so happy to be part of the family, and we love them so much!  Our only wish is that we could get together a little more.

Brennan loves his Uncle Eric

We are hoping that Nana had an awesome birthday celebration.  It was a lot of fun celebrating with her!  Nana ~ we love you very much!

Love,

Mama

Go Sharks!

Gettin' ready for the meet!

Dear Joshua and Luke,

Guess what we have been doing almost every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday evening and almost every Saturday morning this summer?  Swim team!  The boys have literally jumped into swimming and practicing for a swim team.  After the awesome lessons with Miss Kelly last year, the boys were ready to go to the next step with swimming this year.  The swim team practice started in early June and lasted through July.  We told the boys that they had to wait until Khoury League baseball was over to participate in the meets.  After the first meet, they were both hooked.

Go Joshua!

Go Luke!

First, they have the most awesome swim coaches in the area.  Coach Sharon, Jeff, and Brittany are patient and have so much to share with the children.  Even though you both practiced four days a week, you wanted to practice on your days off.  Things got a little crazy at the end when baseball and swim team overlapped a bit due to the baseball team participating in a tournament.  But it paid off!

There was a lot to learn at the first meet, but we had wonderful support from the other parents, especially Miss Michelle.  She told us all what to expect at the first meet ahead of time, then stepped us through the process once we got there.  We learned about meets, events, the importance of a Sharpie, why we should get there early, how to be a time keeper, the bull pen, and much, much more!  After coming home with ribbons from the first meet, both of you were eager to participate in the next meet.  You were very lucky to have Grandma Bonny there to cheer you on.  Again, more swimming ribbons.  The final meet was the swim conference which was an all day event.  It was fun.  You both swam so well.

Grandma came to a swim meet!

 I was proud of both of you for many reasons.  First, it took a lot of courage to participate in the meet.  It was the unknown, and you both were the newest members to the team.  Neither of you seemed nervous.  You jumped in and encouraged each other a lot!  It was great watching you two work together to help each other.  Also, you were both interested in improving your time and having fun with it. 

Best Friends

There were a few pool parties to play with old and new friends.  Did I mention that some of your teammates were friends from the neighborhood?  That made it all the more fun!  You are both talking about the fun for next year, and I can not wait either. 

We did it!

I must mention the most famous swimmer in our family, your sweet cousin, Elsa.  She has been swimming for quite a few years and has been an inspiration to you both.  You have both watched how dedicated Elsa is to swimming.  You have seen her swimming and watched in awe as she has improved and developed into one f the best swimmers around, third place in State so I have heard.  We are so proud of her tremendous talented how hard she has worked to get where she is at today.  Thank you, Elsa, for inspiring my boys in so many ways, but also in swimming.  We love you so much!

I love you both more today than I did yesterday.

Love,
Mom