Branagh Cabana: Happy 2nd Birthday Henry! (and the rest of May)

Happy Birthday, Little Bug! We had so much fun celebrating you this year. We are so proud of you and the little boy you are turning into right before our eyes. You are not a baby anymore; you are a sweet, thoughtful, playful, and happy little boy! You are so smart; we can tell you are learning by the minute, soaking it all in, understanding so much. You love your big brother; you ask where he is when he is not around, you want to play where he is playing, rough house and tackle even when I think you have had enough. You love being tickled--on the toes, on your thighs, on your ribs, in your neck, on your ears--you giggle and giggle and ask for more! You love music; you dance and wiggle even when you hear it in the distance. You love to swim...you love to be bounced and thrown with an unusual amount of vigor. You love balls and playing catch, especially "bee-ba," aka baseball. You love your two blankies and your water bottle. You still love chips and guacamole and meat and hummus. You have taught us to enjoy every minute of life and to celebrate even the littlest of things. We all love you so much, Little Henny, and we are so very grateful to have spent another year with you in our lives! Can't wait to see what is in store for you and your third year of life!

We had a ton of fun celebrating Henry's birthday this year. The day (it was a Friday) started with pancakes and presents at home with the four of us. Then the boys and I met some friends at the Zoo for some fun. Henry rode the Merry-go-round for the first time and picnicked on the lawn. That night we had dinner at home together. Saturday morning we made a quick trip to the Steam Trains and came home to make dinner and set up for a little family fiesta birthday dinner party in our backyard...so fun!

This Mother's Day I was so blessed to celebrate with my own mother :) We had a great weekend together! So thankful for that time. We also got to spend some good time with Little Miss T (Tegan) and Nicole. I think Grady and Henry taught her everything she knows :) (aka how to be loud and silly!)

One special thing to note that I will never forget...I got to go to Grady's school for a Mother's Day Tea. The kids sang songs and we all had tea and treats together. We also got a tour of the class room...I have dropped him off and picked him up all year long, but it felt like such a special morning in the classroom together. He was so happy to have me and I was beyond thrilled to be there. Thank you G, for a sweet morning together. I was also gifted a necklace the week before, that G told me he made especially for me. I proudly wore it all week long. When I showed up to the tea with it on, all of the other mom's commented on how cute it was that I was wearing it and how theirs had been on their kids' teddybears' necks all week long. Come to find out, the kids had made the necklaces for their teddybears when they had a Teddybear Picnic. G failed to tell me that part ;) Oh well! It doesn't matter why he made it; the point is he gave it to me and I will always keep it as a special Mother's Day gift! I also got an awesome handmade portrait of myself, in which I look like a little boy with a mop of short hair on my head! All of the other mom's had flowers and earrings and lipstick on their portraits, clearly feminine and pretty :), Not me though; hard to tell the difference between his Mommy picture and his Daddy picture!

May was a month of "firsts"...YaYa taught Grady how to hula-hoop, Grady had his first Slurpee, Henry had his first Diet Coke (by none other than Papa!), Grady had his first last day of school, and the Branagh family went on their first family camping trip! Also in the mix...some backyard baseball; a Mommy and G date afternoon of Chick-fil-A, the dentist, and popsicles; last week of school fun; Wolf and Doggie dress-up; some silly boys; and Nana's surprise birthday dinner.

last week of school...note grady's portrait on the wall :)

Battle of the Bay

First Family Camping Trip...Big Basin, CA. We went with two other experienced camping families and had a great time. It was beautiful, the weather was perfect, not too cold and not too hot, and the boys ran and played and got dirty, just as they should! In total, we had 6 adults and 5 little boys under 5! We ate very well, played soccer and Planes, had a washers tournament (even Grady and Mason got serious about the washers!), played finger lights at night, and slept awesome! The boys had never even slept in the same room before, so we were nervous about all being in one tent. But they went down like champs, not making a peep and slept most through the night! We will camp again :)