Gobble, Gobble!!

Anderson's first Thanksgiving was SO much fun! Lots & lots of food & family. And, then a little more food & family. To me, Thanksgiving tastes like lasagna(made by mom/gravy by pops) & cranberry sauce (straight from the can, with the little can ridges in it). I like for them to be blended together, too. That means there is so much food on the plate, each food doesn't get it's own area. I think that life is kind of that way. With all of the relatives visiting, we just all kind of overlapped & it was perfect! Anderson had 5 grandparents, 12 aunts/uncles & 15 cousins (the Hill fam is included here...just easier than explaining) visit over Thanksgiving! Needless to say, we stayed pretty busy. To start off the holiday, we took in a little Dixie Stampede action. After eating an entire chicken with my fingers & watching pigs race around candy canes, I knew the weekend was starting off right.

Anderson has so many things to be thankful for-this is what he told me, anyway. We have a special mother/son thing, so I can understand him. He is thankful for me the most. Sorry, everyone. It's what he said & I don't want to translate it wrong. Look, his onesie even says it. Let's be honest, the boy loves his dad so he probably is #1, but I got him dressed so I win. Here are some other things he said made the list... Thankful for fun cousins who travel all the way to Knoxville to hang out & tye dye shirts!
...for impromptu football games


for Aunt Manda, in general, & her gifts, hugs, recipes & calmness

for cousins & Noni's love....

for Aunt Paula!!

for eating at the Big Kids Table (nicole was making a canvas & Aunt Paula was making Morgan's Build a Bear project)...

...for the blur that is Thanksgiving with aunts, uncles, cousins & grandparents

...for a family that not only allows, but encourages ball playing in the house

...for everyone's undivided attention

...for Thanksgiving lunch at GG's

and Thanksgiving dinner at NoniBop's...

...for a cousin who teaches him lots of great things to do/destroy

...for Uncle Zack who genuinely wants nothing more than to be playing on the floor

or, drawing on the chalkboard wall

...for Great Aunt Lori who came to visit twice & brought a fun police book

...for Big Cousin Noah who was celebrating his first Thanksgiving, too

...for so many cousins driving all of the way from Alabama to see him (especially ones that love history, YAY Savannah!)

...for playing in fun places & Santa pjs!

Here is a little video of the weekend. I did no editing & literally picked the clips that would fit in 3 minutes, so it is kind of random.

'President Glover' has such a better ring to it

I chaperoned a trip to Washington, D.C. last week and, while it was so much fun, I missed Anderson so much! I didn't see him for 4 days! Before this, I have only been away one night before, so I was definitely sad. He had such a blast with Brandon & his NoniBop & GG, so I am not sure he even noticed I was gone. I struggle so much between the parent side and the teacher/me side and ultimately I tell myself that I can't be Anderson's mom 24 hours a day (which I am, of course. What mom is not thinking about her kid every minute??). And if I am not willing to plan things for my students then how can I expect teachers to care about my son? And, the students who went are so awesome & genuinely love history, which made it even better. Maybe that is justification, but it works for me. He got numerous goodies as a result of the trip, so it worked for him, too.

As every good little American should, Anderson loves Teddy Roosevelt. Seriously, what's not to love about a man who won the Nobel Peace Prize, hunted on every continent, read a book a day, mapped a river in the Amazon....I could keep going, but I will spare you. I think his favorite souvenir is his new Teddy! I am trying to avoid saying the word "doll", but I think we all know that's what it is.

I saw the Lincoln Memorial, FDR's microphone, Monticello, the WWII Monument... but the best thing of all was what I saw when I came home! I literally walked into the kitchen to throw away a diaper & this is what I came back to-he opened the drawer, crawled in & started throwing clothes out. It was my favorite.

So, here's a piece of advice: bring your license when you try to go to the White House. Oh, and a picture of it on a phone or a printout of your school website page won't count. Yes, I learned this the hard way. A little background: I have been planning this since March. My name was on the reservation. I sent probably 15 different emails with detailed spreadsheets of information to our Congressman. I don't even know how many phone calls I made to Rebecca, the Congressional aide. I typed the instructions of what to bring (your license) & gave it to the students. I did the license check on the bus. My exact words were, "We are not leaving this parking lot until I see everyone's license." Ha ha. So, about 4:30 in the morning the day of our scheduled visit I realized I did not have my license. I had a starbucks giftcard instead. And, it was only $5, which barely covers a drink so it's not like it was life changing or anything. A lot of franticness followed with Brandon trying everything he could to help me, but being 8 hours away meant that wasn't much. He did listen to me cry & promise we will go again. I really wanted to call Obama up and explain that I am a teacher & I brought 40 students to his Inauguration & even though I didn't technically vote for him, he should make an exception. But, his phone number is not available to the public. So, I watched my students & fellow teachers go into the White House, while I walked away. I think I would have been more concerned (but happy) if they let me in because that would mean our national security is pretty rough. I guess I will just have to wait to visit as the mother of the president. As Nicole said, "It probably smells like old people anyway."

Because Angela is an amazing friend, she stepped out of the security line and came with me to hang out. We went to the Willard Hotel across the street where we had $9 coffee and made friends. It actually turned out to be hilarious & a lot of fun. A stop at the National Cathedral-Teddy Roosevelt laid the first stone to build it!! He touched this altar, so technically we have now met. Or, are BFF. Just depends on how you look at it.

I LOVE the Supreme Court. It is my favorite branch of the government & I follow their blog pretty regularly (yes, they have a blog & I realize I am a nerd.) I like this picture because I look gigantic. Or, maybe photoshopped.

Our tour of Arlington had the most amazing guide-his name was Mel. In a ten minute drive, he managed to convince a group of high schoolers how amazing history is & how grateful we should be to veterans. I can't do this in an entire semester, so I was pretty impressed. They literally all wanted their picture with him but we made them settle for a group shot.
A nice little detour along the way was Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows! I made these amazing shirts that give a shout out to the Marauder's Map (the true Harry fans already knew that, of course). You have never really seen Harry until you've been with 37 high school students, many of whom dressed in costume for the occasion! It was hilarious. Except for the weird dancing scene. That was kind of scary.
Our dates at dinner. Thomas, John & Teddy.

November.

Anderson is definitely having a lot of fun during his first fall! J-Pa saved him a big pile of leaves so that he could play in it! Also, the adorable coat only cost $5 brand new at a consignment sale! Cheap clothes and free entertainment is my kind of weekend.

Visiting Bop the balloon man at IHOP. we snuck up on Bop & Anderson got so excited when he realized who it was & I let crawl toward him. I maybe should have warned the family he was making balloons for who seemed totally creeped out because I was letting my child approach the random old man in the store. It could have been because I was letting him crawl on the floor of a restaurant, though.

New jammies from Noni.

Shout out to Molly who also likes to play in diaper boxes!

The free sample at Target was mashed potatoes, which seemed like fate since it is one of the foods he can eat!

Part of the Alabama family came to visit for the UT game. Kyler & Big Cousin Noah continued to teach Anderson how to be a boy by playing keep away with the popsicle.

Some chill time with Uncle Zack. We missed Aunt Manda, but she sent lots of love...and some clothes & a toy, of course!

I don't have the heart to tell him he is probably not going to make it in there.

I have commented (complained) on a few occasions about Chloe & I am starting to feel pretty badly about the negativity. She has really stepped it up as a big sis & lets Anderson crawl all over her on a pretty regular basis.

She even lets him follow her when she is trying to hide in her "I'm too out of shape to play longer than 3 minutes, so I have to rest" area.

He loves, loves when we pull him around on this blanket. He will lay face down & make squealing noises until we go. It is hilarious.

Here he is cheesing it up with Marisa a few weeks ago. Please notice that this might be the best picture of him we have-both people smiling AND looking at the camera!

10 months!!

Oh, my. The pictures continue to be exhausting. We had to relocate to the floor where I thought I would have better luck. This is the best one.

This was a close second.

Anderson at 10 months:

-He is pretty much done with baby food, which is fun but I miss the convenience! He will eat the fruit, but the veggies have to be mixed with yogurt, cereal, etc. He LOVES mandarin oranges, the baby cheetos & yogurt! He also eats cereal bars, carrots, peas, avocado, peaches, pears, bananas, pasta, beans, corn & pretty much whatever we are having.

-For some reason he has been waking up between 5:30-5:45 more often. I am working on moving that back to 6. His naps are becoming a little shorter & he can go with only one nap, but it is not really ideal for anyone.

-He cruises everywhere & can stand for longer amounts of time each day. He has even taken a few accidental steps, but I am not encouraging it because I want him to stay a baby! He is really much more interested in the butt scoot than walking anyway.

-He is madly in love with Brandon & will fall out of my arms to get to him, but I am a pretty close second. There is just a little stranger anxiety when we first get somewhere new, but he is a really happy baby.

The haircut is coming soon. It's starting to become a little mulletish in the back. He always wants to stand in the tub and lately he has started trying to put one leg over the side of the tub to get in himself! He is obviously not tall enough, but it is precious.

He is into EVERYTHING!! He loves to climb under, over & into stuff. He will go out of the way to put something in his path. I think he looks at life as his own obstacle course.

We went to Chili's & Anderson got his very first balloon, which he loved & carried everywhere. It was the hit of the weekend.

He loves this box of ziploc bags & takes them all out at least once a day. I let him do this because it gives me a good 4 minutes where he is still. I can get a lot done in 4 minutes.

We went for a walk & I dressed him for the arctic. I guess it was pretty cozy because he fell asleep!

I tried to make Anderson & Jack a "My First Election Day" shirt. "Tried" being the key word. Sadly, this was the third attempt.

One of my most concrete childhood memories is pizza on the Minnie Mouse blanket on Election Night, so we had to start Anderson off right! Brandon was out of town, so NoniBop came over to celebrate! And celebrate we did-goodbye, Nancy Pelosi!!

Anderson continues to be ridiculously spoiled by his GG! In addition to clothing him, she visits just in time to give him a bottle! Actually, the bedtime snuggle is my favorite part of the day. When he puts both of his arms straight down I know he is tired. I like to think he does that because he knows he doesn't have to hold on to me because I won't let him go.

The never ending quest to entertain him continues every morning. We distract him with a toy & usually have about a 5 second window to out one arm in the shirt, put one contact in ,etc. It's not enough to get fully dressed as the last time I tried that the toilet got a few gifts. Anyway, here he is chomping on my toothbrush. Speaking of, no more teeth that I can see so we are stuck on 4. Also, please notice the Chloe muzzle in the corner.