Braylon's Wall Mural

I finally finished the Skipper mural and even added some clouds. I'm glad that project is off my list now, and Braylon seems to really like it. He has to show everyone when we have someone over.

A Week in the Life of Braylon + Wyatt

They snuggle....sometimes....

 They ride bikes together....

 They play baseball together, each with their own tee to avoid fights....

 They celebrate Grampa Rollie's birthday with cake and ice cream...

 They feed the fish with Daddy...

Check out all those minnows!

Leaf Fight!

We played in the leaves yesterday and it inspired me to take some photos...

Reading the Alphabet

Braylon is over three and a half years old now, and has begun to show interest in reading. He knows most of his letter sounds, and is always saying things like "I is for ice cream" or "D makes the sound..." So I thought "Why not start teaching him how to read?" That's the great thing about being a stay-at-home-mom, right....teaching them at their pace, and seeing them learn each day! What a blessing!

I found a curriculum online I really love called "Reading the Alphabet," so we started it this week. It includes things like counting, handwriting, reading, and we also add in a Bible Story. This week, he is working on reading T words, the sight word 'a', and all about David and Goliath. He LOVES working on things with me and is having fun so far! I only plan to do about 30 minutes with him, but he usually asks for MORE!

Here's a few snapshots of Braylon working on counting syllables, cutting pieces for a beginning sounds game we played, and a sight word maze. Wyatt wants to be involved to, so he colors with our color of the week, reads, and has a shape of the week we talk about too.

Great Helper

My sweet Braylon can be a test of my patience sometimes, but he also can be so helpful and kind. Saturday morning, he willingly went back to help me hand out food again to the less fortunate families in Huntsville. He patiently waited for almost two hours as we signed in each person and waited for the food truck to arrive. When it finally did arrive, he helped me man the broccoli station. He was told to give two heads of broccoli to each family, so he grabbed his two, put them in peoples' bags, and kept going back for more for an hour and a half. I think it brought smiles to some of the their faces to be receiving their food from a little one.

We probably handed out food to twice as many families as we did last time! Onions, apples, broccoli, potatoes, squash, grapefruit, and cabbage were given away this time.

Houston Zoo

Last Thursday, we decided to make a trip to the Houston Zoo to enjoy a day with friends out in the beautiful weather. The boys did great and there were no meltdowns or fights!! Braylon was really excited to see giraffes, but I think they all enjoyed the monkeys and sea lions the best. They were definitely the most entertaining at the zoo, as most of the big cats were napping. All in all, it was a lovely day with the Volker and Blinka boys.

Trying to get a closer look at the sea lions.

Chef in the Making

Braylon has really shown an interest in cooking lately. He always wants to help. He helped me make some banana-blueberry bread, some homemade sloppy Joe's and cooked our vegetables for dinner last night.

If you're seeing a pattern of Braylon in his undies, I do dress him, I promise.  ;) These pics were taken during "nap time," in which he always gets undressed (since he's usually so dirty).