Christmas festivities

You've seen it before, but I can't share it enough. 

Noni got this one of this sweet guy telling Santa his wishes. 

*Somehow I think Anderson believes in Santa this year even though he really hasn't over the past 2 years. Peer pressure is apparently a real thing. 

Because Noni & Bop love a festivity, they hit up the Santa visit with us. Max was there, but refused to cooperate for the picture, which based on his earlier lack of commitment was ok with us. 

My favorite ornament this year is definitely the one that Anderson made for our family. He has become so crafty lately and it is so much fun to see his finished products. 

I buy them each an ornament every year and I realized that Anderson's last 3 years (2 years old, 3 years old, 4 years old) were all football related. And, this year when I let him & Lily each pick one out, he decided to trade it in for a Nike backpack*, so it was basically football, too. To say his love of football is strong is a HUGE understatement. 

*The ornament was $7, the backpack was $4! It was an amazing find for a Nike backpack. 

I am not sure if you knew, but he likes football. Oh, and those shoes that he "needs"? Those are apparently Under Armour football cleats. (Santa is NOT bringing those, I am 100% positive of that. )

Because my life always works out for me, I was able to go to Anderson's class party and read the Grinch....as the Grinch! In the near future,  he will be BEYOND mortified that I wore Grinch pajamas to his school, but on that day I think I might have been the coolest mom there. I will embrace their childhood as fully as I can in my Grinch onesie. 

We had some fun festivities at work, as well. I was somehow drafted into judging the dessert contest. It was rough, but I took one for the team and plowed through. 

Because 6 months ago, we didn't even think we were going to work together and now we get to recreate Christmas stories on Holiday Character day. This Grinch onesie for the win, for sure. 

Also, ignore the selfie of me, but we did this fun thing at work where I hid our elf and made scavenger hunt clues to find him. Then, everyone had to post a sELFie with him on Twitter to get bonus points. 

I have become my mother. 

Max wore a Christmas shirt (no pajamas or fire jacket) to his class party!!! It requires it's own post, really. Thanks for the cute shirt, GG! He is obsessed with spelling his name (X for the win) and was so proud that the letters were on it. 

We had a day of Christmas crafts, Science experiments, eating sugar and lights viewing with the Watts' girls and lived it up! Well, Max HATED the lights and cried the entire time we drove through them (yes, we were trapped in the car), but the rest of the evening was so much fun!

I roped Brandon and Chloe into helping me wrap presents one night.

 I was hard at work with my wine glass and phone, of course. 

Clare & I had an amazing epiphany to take our annual brunch & turn the gift giving into an activity-enter Jump Jam. 

They had so much fun jumping & I can't wait to see Charlie in the mix next year!

Speaking of Charlie, this is the one picture I have with him. Literally, I have one picture with this baby who is basically my nephew. I do think it sums up what he can expect from me: I'm barely supporting him while we are hanging out on a trampoline and his cousin is half naked. 

Clare does amazing things with food and I am lucky to be included when she has a festivity. This was so full of delicious melted brie that I had to get another entire plate full. 

Love this tradition!

Another one of my favorite traditions is the yearly frame. This was the first year that Anderson questioned how he was alive in 2008. I had to explain that they were out of the frames that year after Christmas and I have to wait until then because that is when the clearance starts. He definitely understands a clearance sale, so I think it made sense to him. 

I love Christmas cards & hope that people never replace this tradition with emails or social media. 

We have watched a few Christmas movies, including my childhood favorite (every year with my cousins eating lasagna on the hotel blanket), which Anderson promptly told me was weird. 

When he was in a crafty mood, he made this adorable book that tells the story of Santa. It is so, so cute and I had it laminated so that I can save it forever. 

I attempted to give more detail to the whole "Jesus' Birthday" thing with Max, but realized I was failing miserably as he spent the time shoving all of the Nativity scene characters in his shirt. 

Points for trying. 

Our favorite big cousins joined us early & we had a festive time viewing the lights at the park. My kids, as always, stepped it up big time for the photo shoot. We are so happy that they are here!

The new gig

How is it already December and I have not even done a post about my new school? Probably....because I am at a new school and have been intensely busy. But also, in some unexpected twist, it doesn't even feel that "new."

I cannot believe how happy I am in my new school and am so, so grateful for the experiences that I have had over the past few years that have allowed me to feel this way. I have friends at work, an office with windows, many ongoing projects, a position that I enjoy and a purpose. Happiness, my friends, is purpose. 

Here are a few random pics from my first semester as a Roadrunner:

Another school. Another Friday night. Another football game. 

#StoryOfMyLastDecade 

Because I married a rock star, he frequently has the kids while I am at work and somehow keeps things super calm. 

Also, huge shout out to Noni for keeping me sane by letting our girls out and helping out on the days we are gone for over 12 hours (i.e.: every day.)

Anderson went with me to a few football games and got special treatment like learning how to blow up the paramedics' gloves while hanging out on the golf cart. 

I took Lily to the dance performance with Denise & Adeline and it was AMAZING! 

We have such talented students; I was blown away by the performance. 

Stevie Wonder was in town and his saxophonist stopped by to play a bit for our kids. 

This just does not happen at other places. 

We have a PHENOMENAL Culinary Arts program and they serve lunch once a week. Thursdays were absolutely my favorite because of the lunches-they were delicious! Also, eating an actual lunch and not just a granola bar was always a huge win. 

Overall, I just cannot believe how truly happy I am at my new school. Look at me being a grown up and adjusting to change so well. #Goldstar

5 years. I said, FIVE YEARS.

Five years ago we began a journey that, if it was a person, would be getting ready to start school. She* would be getting her vaccinations, picking out new clothes, buying school supplies and getting ready to go become a person.

*You KNOW that the patch is a girl. 

As it is, the journey is not a person, which we are all thankful for because if I had another living thing in my house to care for, I would go over the edge. 

What I see in our full handed journey is 2 things.

 First, it is a testament to getting it done. 

Thank you for those words, Amelia. 

Second, I see it as what can only be the coolest example in my own personal life as believing in the the impossible and trudging through despite not being able to see any change.
Is it Science? Faith? Magic?

 Actually none of the above, because the best analogy I can come up with is, of course, a history one: the creation of the Netherlands. 

Many years ago, when the Dutch realized they needed more land, they CREATED it. As in, they actually took land back from the sea by creating a system of dikes and other things (*other things= history major not engineer.)

I imagine someone telling the people the plan-"See that water? One day that won't be water; it will be land." There must have been some major skeptics because that does sound pretty crazy. And, I bet they didn't actually see progress for a long time because I think it probably takes awhile to reclaim land from the sea.

But, they did it. One inch or square or foot space or however reclaimed land is measured. And, in the end, so many people get to be Dutch and so much prostitution and legalized marijuana gets to happen....kidding. I mean, it does, but that is not the point. Amsterdam is pretty amazing and it would  have not even existed if a lot of work wasn't put in for a long time. 

And, to make this even more relevant, I have actually been to Amsterdam! Here I am, posing in the giant M clearly concerned about how one day it would be related to my (not even on my radar) son's eye condition. This was 7 years ago and I still frequently wear those pants, shirt and shoes, which speaks for how fashion conscious I am. 

So, maybe the Amsterdam thing was a stretch but, it is still a really cool story and if you didn't know about it, I am glad I shared it. 

What I can see now, after 5 long years, is so much amazingness. I looked up the other day and saw this boy, so focused on making a Christmas book and I just stopped and realized how this was not supposed to even happen. The first doctor (shudder) basically told us that this exact thing, this normalcy of his life, would never be possible. 

I will not take for granted that my baby can see and am so grateful every day for our journey. He HATES his patch with a passion and is in such a grumpster mood when he has to wear it and we still go through a few every day, despite the fact that it is only 2 hours, but we have made it FIVE years. In those early days, I did not think we would even make it 5 minutes. I cannot wait until it has been TEN years and patching might even be a thing of our past. 

Somehow fate ALWAYS shows her sense of humor when the LEFT eye is missing off of most of his crafts. 

Me: "What happened to the left eye?"

A: "I don't know; it fell off somewhere. It still has one eye, though." 

No. Just no. 

Pontypandy is on Fire!

So, you might have noticed the slight trend with Max's attire over the past few weeks as being very green and reptilish. (Apparently reptilish is not an actual word, but it should be, so I am using it.)  I embraced the ninja turtle pajama trend because I like individual personality and, let's be honest, not having to worry about clothes is filed under "one less thing" in my book. Everyone kept telling me that it is a phase and it will end. And, in some ways it has because now the pajamas are covered up by  the fireman uniform. 

The hat, the jacket AND the boots have to be worn at all times or it is a true emergency. 

He loves Fireman Sam, so he pretends that Pontypandy is on fire in various locations throughout our days.

Since he is so cute, people in public refrain from judging me as a parent to my face. 

His teachers are so great about embracing his trends and letting him wear whatever at school. They sent me this picture & said he was having a photo shoot. 

Woody was on fire and had to be rescued. Thank goodness Max was prepared. 

Seriously. Always. 

Luckily, our friends are ok with this new trend, such as when Max graced everyone with his firefighter presence at Charlie's baptism. 

He pretends everything is his fire truck. For example, the vacuum canister is his oxygen tank and the attachments are his various tools (hose, ax, etc.) While this makes my attempt at cleaning even more of a chore, I do appreciate his imagination.

Also, Anderson's favorite new hobby is photo bombing, so get ready for many pictures similar to this one. 

We have convinced him to sleep without his boots because the sweat is a very real thing, but he leaves them close by, just in case. 

And, because I have saved the best for last-I present the Glover boys 2015 Christmas picture. Because my kids are absolutely the gift that keeps on giving, they manage to make every year's Santa pic even better than the last. In my mind, they were going to be wearing Christmas shirts and maybe smiling, but they proved me wrong.

The reason Max is crying? Santa asked if he was a fireman and he said yes and then realized he didn't have his boots on and was traumatized. Emergency. 

Turkey/Lasagna Time

Per usual, we had quite a fun time celebrating Thanksgiving this year!

Max's class had a Thanksgiving lunch and he, of course, attended with Noni & Bop. 

Note: Please look at the confusion on his face regarding what is on his plate. Are there actually kids that eat read food like that? I have no idea where I have gone terribly wrong, but my kids do not eat things* like mashed potatoes, macaroni & cheese, corn, pasta, etc.

*Or, turkey, dressing, cranberry sauce, lasagna, etc. They basically ate rolls for Thanksgiving. That's normal, right? I mean I didn't even eat turkey; I am just not a fan. But, what I would not give for one of my kids to eat something easy like an egg. I would make them all of the time; it would be so nice. 

To celebrate a day off work/school, we hit up a pizza place for lunch the day before Thanksgiving. My kids DO eat pizza, which brings their total menu items to a total of 5. 

I thought, "Won't it be fun/festive to make these turkey muffins with apple slices as the feathers for them on Thanksgiving morning?" 

They did not agree. Max was mad because:

1. He did not want the turkey placemat; he wanted the Ninja Turtle one. 

2. He didn't want the apples touching the muffin. 

3."Why is this turkey here?"

4. He is 2. 

THANKFULLY, GG is able to make a delicious/well presented spread for us all of the time. She always pays so much attention to detail for holidays. 

So much food. 

So much football. 

So much destroying of GG's house. 

After Thanksgiving, Max decided he needed a snack so he made it easier to get the marshmallows out of the cereal. 

Our girls/Levi came to visit & Noni continued the celebration of Thanksgiving festivities. 

We looked up and Max was feeding Levi a popsicle. This is pretty huge because Max does NOT usually share popsicles, so that is some pretty intense love. 

Kennadee came over to "decorate" Gingerbread houses. 

By "decorate," we do not actually mean decorate. It was fun, but definitely a hot mess. 

My friend, Denise, brought a bunch of dress up stuff to Nicole, so she and her daughter stayed and joined in the fun, too!

Do my favorite memories from my childhood involve eating on a blanket with my cousins/friends? Yes, yes, yes. 

We got to be a part of a wonderful day when Charlie was baptized. Team Catholic gained an adorable new member! And, he was clearly very happy about the decision because he was SO good the entire time!

About 12 hours prior to a plague hitting our house, we spent some time at Jump Jam and enjoyed HUGE icees. I am not sure if there was some correlation between giant sugar drinks/jumping and stomach issues or not, but we did have fun. 

Then I tried to entertain Lily at my house with my random assortment of "craft" supplies. 

Meanwhile, football was on....

Speaking of, did I mention that we played some football over the break?

The question of the night revolved around Max's reaction to Levi in the NT jammies. True to form, Max did not let us down and had a reaction full of confusion, admiration and, mostly, pride.

 It's hard being a trendsetter.