Celebrations of Green and JPA

Clearance hoarding from last year resulted in some fun green festivities for St. Patrick's Day. 

Both of my kids love green, so this holiday is made for them. Anderson was obsessed with it (you might remember the green plastic that covered his face for about 2 years?) and it is definitely Max's favorite color. He always requests green everything. Except shirts or pants because my kids are never clothed. 

Anderson's leprechaun trap for school. His idea was to put tissue paper over the hole and then put the penny to trick him to step on it and then...BAM, in the trap! He does not like any kind of crafting at all and it was all I could do to get him to put some stickers and little stamps on it. 

Perhaps our greatest celebration of the year so far was JPa's birthday! I love this pic of the 4 generations-even with Anderson's expression.

Isn't this a great pic?? How AMAZING that our JPa is doing so well after the last few months? We all knew he was going to win and it is nothing short of amazing to be able to celebrate him!

My kids are always on top of me. 

HOW IS IT GENETICALLY POSSIBLE FOR THERE TO BE ZERO RESEMBLANCE??

I can never get a pic with Max & Pappaw because Max has some kind of anger situation, usually an ear infection, at every holiday/family get together. I was determined to get one this time and I clearly stepped it up with this high quality situation. 

Toni always does such an amazing job as a hostess of events. The food and decorations are always so perfect, down to every detail. She makes everything look so effortless, but I know it takes a lot of planning. We are so happy they are back home! I might say that every post, so get ready.  

Brothers

I still cannot believe I have these 2 perfect boys. I love that I have sons and I am so grateful that they have each other. To use a Noni phrase, they annoy the stew out of each other, but I know deep down they are literally each other's favorites. 

Every thing that Anderson has done at school about being thankful, what he loves, etc. has been about Max. 

"I drew his mixer for him, " Anderson said, so casually. 

Also, super thankful he loves our girls because they are literally our extra high maintenance kids in the winter/spring. So much neediness. I love their hearts, but PLEASE STOP SNOWING AND RAINING so my dogs can play outside/pee without getting covered in mud! Also, while I am praying about them...the shedding. Thank you. 

Always.*

*Some of the time. 

Touching the E Coli fish at the Aquarium. I just love their togetherness in my arms. 

This is not someone's first selfie. CHEESE!

We are all sitting in Anderson's tiny armchair. 

When I found out I was pregnant with Ferg I wished with ALL of my pregnant heart for another boy. I wanted boys for their craziness and their silliness and dirtiness and, most of all, for their mischief. Remember, it was not girls that made the Marauder's Map in Harry, but boys. 

And, to have Mischief Managed, they have to start the mischief! 

Anyway, this is a revisit to Snow Day #48 and you see what I walked into find and why I had to take a pic before pulling him out of there. Mischief. In a vent. 

-He really meant it in a harmless way because he was hoping there might be a slide in there when he opened it. I know he was a little disappointed when there wasn't anything there. 

See those boys on the slide? Such cuties.

These brothers at Ijams. Ferg is so lucky that he gets to participate in so many amazing activities as a part of the constant quest to get Anderson's energy out of the house. 

Dinner with NoniBop at Texas Roadhouse (thank you for dinner! We love free food!) & Anderson totally took over the raising of Max. It really was about time. 

Max was totally fine with eating oatmeal (he likes oatmeal!!) until Anderson was having cereal and then, suddenly, the oatmeal was no longer cool. Peer pressure apparently starts early around here. 

So, those pics sum up SOME of the time. I, of course, do not have a picture of the fighting and annoying and screaming at the top of his lungs (Max), which demonstrate their real life approach to being brothers. Plus, living in this nice, contrived universe is so much better, right?

This baby is here.

Levi. 

Have we been waiting for his arrival our entire lives? 

I think we have. 

The wait is over. 

He is here. 

Also, the only reason I have not posted this yet is because I was waiting for Nicole to post hers first and apparently she is busy raising 3 kids or something. Such excuses. 

His stats. 

Also, it is not stated on here, but the other stats are:

perfect

chubster

our grand finale

most loved 5th boy baby ever (Kyler, Noah, Anderson, Max, Levi)

His face. I mean, he is here. 

Pictures do not do him justice. He is so real, in person. 

Noni is an old pro by this point. 

In keeping with tradition, I was the first non immediate family to hold this Mister. Hughes said he was ready and I vaguely recall throwing a screaming/snotty Max at Pops and running into the room. I say vaguely because I am truly not even sure if Pops caught him. Sorry, Ferg. Someone had to take one for the team. 

This is our LAST baby! I can't even believe it. Our family is here. 

*Also, I find it hilariously fitting that as Nicole was being ushered into life as Boy Mom, Anderson spent the entire day with his shirt on backwards. This is just how it is in this world. It is really so much easier. 

The Mister!

Now, to the back story. 

The boys & I drove to Bristol & picked Lily up from school where the secretary kept telling me, "I normally ask for ID, but I don't think I need to with you!" I mean, at least 5 times. It was so funny every time, clearly. 

*On a related note, I put a pic of me holding Levi on Facebook and a few people commented that I look so great CONSIDERING I just had a baby. They thought I was Nicole. I am not sure it was a compliment that they thought I had just had a baby 30 minute before, but it was pretty hilarious. 

Lily was SO excited! So was Bug, but he is a boy and this is what they do. 

We went to eat lunch and then to visit Nicole at the hospital. We quickly realized entertaining 4 kids at the hospital was a terrible idea so we headed back to Nicole's to wait for Noni to let us know it was time to go back. 

These are out of order-this is from the next day when Bop & I took the 4 to a bounce house where Lily lost  tooth! 

"Sissa!" as she handed it to me, sort of covered in bloody spit. I did not really know what to do because I have not ventured into this world yet, but I did know that the most important step is documenting so I took care of that part & sent Nicole a pic. 

Babies Bouncing! 

They are not the babies anymore :(

How AMAZING are cousins??

Also, how amazing is a trampoline in the living room?

Anderson & Lily played "Book Store" where Anderson yelled at everyone to buy books (maybe like a publisher?) & ran the cash register, while Lily had to make all of the books. I am not sure how those tasks balanced out, but they had fun. 

Babies with the Bop. 

Back to Friday where we were waiting FOREVER for this baby to join us. Thankfully Noni was there with her bag of random toys. 

Lily brought gifts for Levi-this is a swaddle/blanket thing. She is an AWESOME big sister. Seriously. 

In a desperate attempt to prevent Max from figuring out how to open the window and escape while I held Levi, I bribed them with all kinds of treats. 

At Nicole's house. Is this not adorable??

Bop got roped into playing pizza restaurant or something equally as fun. At least it was not Baby Cheetah, Bop. 

Basically, we are SO happy that our Mister has arrived and are looking forward to watching him grow up!

Outside for Spring

Spring Break was upon us! We did all of our normal "break" activities like haircuts, doctor visits, dentist visits, vet visits, house cleaning/organizing but still managed to have fun...mostly OUTSIDE! 

So thankful for the sun. 

I love when Anderson keeps up with Max at the park for me. He really can be the best big brother. This visit lasted about 2 hours (my kids have outdoors' endurance...it's called boy) and ended with Anderson playing football with a kid he met and Max crashing some kids' construction equipment. 

Feeding  GG's ducks! It is hilarious to watch these ducks frantically waddle to the steps when Toni opens the door. 

My greatest dream is that my kids love the library and, so far, things are going well in that regard. Anderson loves to pick out books in "his section", which is all of the juvenile nonfiction. We always leave with a collection of animals, sports and science related things like tornadoes. Also, he has decided that he likes "Fact Shows", as he calls them, on Netflix. These are the Nature & Science documentaries and we have seen an exciting array of topics like "Dino Fish" and "Deadly tornadoes." Before you start thinking that my kid is really smart, remember that his favorite phrase is "Butt-fart", so it is all relative. 

Back to outside...the library has this awesome outdoor area with a creek and room to run and random animal statues that Max loves. Beaver!!

One day we hit up Ijams and Max took a selfie with a digger. ( I actually took it, but it looks like a selfie, doesn't it?)

Max is the most amazing not even 2 year old in the world. He literally spent hours walking trails with us didn't even get super grumpster until the very end.

A teacher that I work with met us there with her daughter and she was hilarious and might have been a little traumatized by Anderson constantly playing with the dead reptiles that we found. 

Found a glass jar that made it's way to my house. This was his favorite part of the day. 

We also caught a tadpole/lizard? It looked like a tadpole, but it was sort of big, so maybe a lizard? There was not much out because, I don't know, it was SNOWING 2 weeks ago. 

Anderson had soccer practice only one day during spring break (I was hoping for more because this is the one week that it is not difficult for me to try & make it on time) and I was there for maybe 20 minutes before I left him with Brandon & took Max home. I hate missing his practices, but NOT having to chase Max at a sporting event is sort of amazing. 

He really thinks he is 7. I don't know if it is because he is a boy or because he is 2nd born, but the kid is not going to sit on the sideline and eat a snack or play with a random toy or even my phone. He will not rest until he is in the middle of the action. 

*Also, the gloves. They were Anderson's "receiver gloves" that he got for Christmas and Max has totally domineered them. He wears them everywhere. 

I thought I was failing when I couldn't keep pants on them and now, I realize, I have reached an even lower level of parenting. 

Climbing a tree at GG's house. 

HOURS is how much time we spend outside when it is nice and we don't have to go anywhere. Chalk, basketball, bubbles, digging, driving, finding bugs and worms all while making fashion statements.