Field trip, family & funder

Okay, so it's thunder. But I was trying to go with the 'f' theme and use alliteration. (No, I did not look that up, so if I am incorrect, please don't tell me!) The last several days have continued to be very busy at the Jones house. Friday Brayden had a big field trip - the last one of the year - to the Tulsa Aquarium. I was so thrilled to be able to go. True, my controlling nature may have had some difficulty with the idea of him being 2+ hours away on his own. Yes, with other responsible parents, yet without me! So I was so happy to be able to go and enjoy the experience with him. Since we were close to all of our family that lives in Oklahoma and it was Mother's Day weekend, we made plans for some stops along the way to visit family. First was Brayden's great-grandma, my wonderful Grandma Sue. She's a treasure and I've written about her here before a while back. It's difficult to capture in words what she means to me. It was wonderful seeing her and my Papa too. They're the most wonderful people and feel like home to me. It was an awesome day with perfect weather and Brayden again loved being able to be outside, playing on the tree that's been there since I was little. He got to feed the horse again and play with the dogs and get loved on by awesome great-grandparents.

We then stopped by Brayden's awesome family to visit his Nana Susanne, Papa G, Aunt Kimmie & adorable cousin Kynnli. We loved getting to visit with them and celebrate an early Mother's Day. I've always felt so blessed to marry into such an amazing family!! We didn't want to, but we finally headed back home. We had many more events happening over the weekend. Sunday we had such a lovely brunch at my sister's house and enjoyed my family all being together. It was a wonderful weekend to be fortunate to see so many of our family members and show off Brayden's full head of hair and adorable curls that are starting and his 'chemo highlights' as his Oncologist calls it. I loved spending the rest of the day with my sweet boy and cherishing the wonder that is motherhood. I'm so thankful for him! He & Dad did a great job of making me feel special and appreciated on such a special day.

Brayden's weekly blood counts yesterday showed a drastic drop. I was actually more comfortable finally seeing them come into a normal range for the first time in 5 weeks. If they had been higher yesterday, his chemo levels would have been raised. Brayden definitely seemed different yesterday. He's been more tired and sore yesterday and today. With extra sleep last night, I was hoping he'd feel better this morning. So even though his counts are back in range, I hope the chemo isn't wearing him down too much. We're back to being more precautious, although he's still in school. We're starting to see the countdown for the end of the year. He's not counting down as much as I am! It's a lot of work to help him at home!! I think I dread tests more than he does!! So I'm ready for a break this summer.

Last night's storms were crazy! My boys are both weather obsessors and the Weather Channel was on our tv all afternoon & evening! Brayden announced to me again that he's going to be a storm chaser. I've gotten past the, "Yeah, right! Not if I have anything to say about it!" I know that I certainly don't want my disapproval to push him into it, so it's become our little joke. He LOVES those storm chaser shows and we've always loved how he gives our family little meteorolgy updates when they call. So last night he was glued to the action. We were also worried about our family being impacted by all the storms. After watching more and more video, we think maybe Brayden has decided watching the storms from a distance is better. We'll see!