All about the weekends.

Work/school/life has totally interfered with our ability to hang out on the weekdays, but we more than make up for it by LIVING IT UP on the weekends!

Also, these pics are from the last month and a half, not one weekend. We aren't that crazy. 

A little work and A LOT of rain did not keep us from FREE Chickfila day! This truly is one of my favorite holidays, to the point where I bought a clearance cow costume at a consignment sale last year. Because we were so official, they gave us the 12 count nugget meals for FREE!!! Did I mention this is my favorite holiday??

I prefer the Home Depot crafts over Lowe's for so many reasons-they are normally more "useful", they are easier to make, WAY less crowded, but, most of all, because of the snacks!

I love how Brandon is actually making the chalkboard thing and the kids are just eating. #Childhood

Hoarding random, free festivals is in my genes, so my parents are always on the lookout for them, too. Pops was doing balloons on a random Friday evening at a bank and we visited & had so much fun. Bounce house, fun food, prizes and FREE!

Gabs loves when we are home on the weekends because we basically live outside. 

Lots of this. 

And, this. 

Shout out to Kennadee!

Thankful for water balloons. Also, thankful to Brandon for filling them all up. 

Another "festibal", this one at Chickfila! 

*We call everything with random free stuff a "festival." Technically this was called "Touch a Truck", but whatever. 

I bought this for $1 last year on clearance and I think I overpaid. It joined the recycling items later that evening. 

How COOL is this?? Jack got glasses!!! Look at these 2, just destined to be buddies. 

Mom & Nicole are amazing and took these guys to the zoo one day (Max was at school, Levi was there but not pictured.)

Max totally wins at life with an older brother. He gets to do so much fun stuff, like science experiments, that I would have never thought to do with A at this age. 

Our girls came to visit one weekend and we tried to make it really fun so Lily would want to spend the night with us again-we swam at the Y, 

we painted birdhouses 

and we did tye dye shirts. 

Please note how Lily has a carefully detailed plan for her shirt and Anderson is sort of peeing on his, trying to explode all of the paint and completely saturate everything around him. 

Another weekend brought a trip to Jump Jam to GET OUT SOME ENERGY!

Patching is still a part of our lives. Also, making weather stations is clearly a part of our lives because I have had at least 3 rain gauges in that very spot in my yard.  

A moment of success. 

No weekend is complete without a visit to GG's for dinner and hangout time with Uncle Curtis. 

My new home/work/office with windows has proven to be quite the amusement park for the boys. We went to a Culinary Arts' work day thing and they ate doughnuts, hung out in the greenhouse, painted the wall and ran around everywhere. We were clearly very helpful with the "work" part. 

All.weekend.long. 

And, then....Kindergarten

Anderson started kindergarten! I am so excited and also not at all surprised because I think he is at least 15 based on the amount of time he has been awake in the last 5 years. 

Possibly my favorite part was the preparation/planning/supply hoarding/list making/none of this surprises anyone. 

He was SO excited about picking out all of his new stuff. 

The list of things that I was looking forward to prior to having kids:

-forts

-Boo at the Zoo

-face paint 

-playing in the rain

-buying school supplies

I was so excited about letting him pick out his stuff that we went about a month early and then I got another list at Open House, so we had to go back. The thing he was the most excited about was the jeans with the holes in them. He actually put them on when we walked out, but then realized it was July and a million degrees and he took them off. 

Also, this is the only pic I got of the quality time outing. 

Picking out his new shoes. The kid is a sports brand snob; he loves Under Armour. How does even happen? It definitely is not from me unless Target counts as a brand. But, honestly, only having to buy one pair of shoes for the year makes it sort of easy and justifies the expense. 

He is SO excited about these. 

Brandon met us for "Meet the Teacher."

Side note: this event was from 10-12 in the morning. For the love of all things, does nobody else work??? I had to drive to AE, speak to the 9th grade class, fly back to his school and then drive back before the 9th graders left for the half day. It was crazy and, I think, provided a small glimpse of my future. 

His teacher is already awesome and had so much cute stuff out in the room-it was so little and colorful. I was in shock because my school world is sarcastic and everyone is bigger than I am. 

He got to take home treats and found out one of his friends from preschool is sitting at his table!

The Science center also helped his excitement. 

But, this-this RIGHT HERE, made me the happiest. Of all of the books, in all of the world, this is the one that was sitting out on the shelf. (Technically there were about 50 books sitting out, but this was one of them.) What kind of amazing sign of fate was this??

So many different pictures. 

Knox County does this really fun thing where kids basically go for 4 hours at a time spread out over the course of 6 months. I am kidding, but it really seemed like that. 

He is in the army phase pretty cool now. At his Open House (another adventure), his teacher told us about "ABC Boot Camp" and how, when it is over, they march down the halls. I was telling Anderson about it, thinking he would be excited, and he asked, "Oh, like the army crawl?"

Yet again, he will always set his bar high. 

Ok, one more funny about this pic. A said he wants to be an army man to "protect the country and Max." I said something that ended with, "best brother." 

To which Max promptly replied, "I right here!" 

Walking to school on the first day, well one of the 15 first days. 

Yet another first day....it really has been a very gradual process.

His teacher gave these out at Open House; it was really sweet. 

Perhaps you know Clare? My partner in all things parenting over the past 5 years?? Well, THANK GOD, we get to do this rodeo together, too!

Anderson was supposed to be in this pic, but I was frantic (shocker) and dropped him off earlier because I was worried about being late to work. 

Another side note-we get to meet Baby 3 in a month!!!

We are now 2 official days into this new journey and here is what he has told me so far:

He dislikes: the pizza, the fact that kindergarteners can't go on the monkey bars, the fact that they don't do Science ("If I had a wishing well, I would wish for a Science kit."), that they didn't get a ball out in P.E. and that there is so much drawing. 

He likes: the snack after school, the fact that a kid he knows is in his class and the fact that I gave in and let him pick out his own clothes each day-see below. 

The next great adventure.

"It's no use going back to yesterday because I was a different person then."-Alice in Wonderland

"Hello Fear. Thank you for being here. You're my indication that I'm doing what I need to do." -Cheryl Strayed

"What is happening?" -Me

So you might remember, When I left Farragut and I was devastated and cried for weeks on end and then I found out I was pregnant and cried more and I was just a whole hot mess on the inside but had to fake like I knew what was going on while at work. It was an exhausting time in the beginning because I missed my students, my own kid, my people, my lunchtime and my comfort. 

Then, as it usually does, life happened and I became happier than I ever thought possible as I got to know new kids, new people and new comfort. I am, without a doubt, who I am today in large part because of my time at Powell High School. 

S/O to Clare for the pic!

In July, I found out that I was leaving Powell and moving to Austin East Magnet High School. I was a mixed bag of emotions because I wanted to work with my principal who was moved there, but I knew I would miss being a Panther. 

How lucky to have had something so wonderful that saying goodbye was so hard. I realize that my last 3 years at Powell were challenging and so rewarding and, ultimately,  I will always be grateful for my time there. I can never go back to who I was before because I have changed in ways I never knew possible. I sound like an exaggeration, but it is just the truth. 

The Melissa that I was before DW, AS, CJ, RS, SS....well, she is gone and, luckily, can never resurface. I now see, in a  totally different way than before, the power and opportunity of education. The ability to transform a culture into something different. The real world of many things. I could go on and on, but I won't because it is really too difficult to put into words. 

I am on to my next adventure and while I know change is difficult and starting over is a challenge, I hope that I can learn as much from my new placement as I did at Powell. Here's hoping to sadness at the next move, as well!

Of course I drug Mom & the boys to help me pack my old office. This was, for all purposes, a nightmare.  (Have you met Max??) Somehow I managed to get it all moved out and I only teared up once-when the Graduation coach hugged me.

Because she is amazing, Clare promptly visited me at AE, bringing personalized gifts and candy! I made her take a tour and meet kids and now she knows my new story!

Apparently I am in charge of technology (yes, I laughed , too) and Brandon had to meet me in the parking lot during an off campus meeting to fix my laptop.

If that is not true love, I don't know what is. 

We were in the paper/online article! 

I am glad that they captured me as I usually am, completely serious. 

And a little excited. 

Nicole and this Mr came to visit me, too! Apparently I am an Assistant Principal with an office. 

I am not sure when this title will go away; I am also shocked that there is not a hair brushing requirement. 

I left many, many friend behind, but I did manage to steal Denise who does wonderful things like bring in cake. Yes, she is at AE with us!

Also, I have WINDOWS in my office!

There will be many more posts as I settle into my new home. 

The pics of the Fam