Snow Days.

We got snow days already this year!

For comparison:

Last year's snow-2015

Snow Days-2014

Perhaps nothing will get you in the mood for snow days more than someone rolling down your icy neighborhood hill and knocking into your mailbox. 

Can we talk for just a minute about how THIS WAS NOT DONE BY ME?! I have actually rolled down said hill (no ice- middle of summer) and hit the mailbox, too. 

My lack of spatial awareness rules my world-I just live in it. 

Nothing says snow like fancy hot chocolate at 6am. Also, my children do own clothes, they just refuse to wear them.

Different people have different strengths and, I have to admit, one my of mine is being prepared for snow days. I might never actually know what our dinner plans for that day are doing to be, but I have had a tub of snow gear and activities in my attic since the SnowPocalypse of last year. Fool me once, Mother Nature, shame on you. Fool me twice...well, I am trying to stay out of the insane asylum. 

Don't get me wrong, we still had many hours to kill and there were a few touch & go moments where survival was questioned, but I think we had a pretty fun few days. (Also, to be fair, by the third day that we were out, I dropped Max off at daycare within seconds of their opening.)

This was some kind of soap blowing up experiment in the microwave. 

Painting. 

Do not be deceived, it quickly turned to this. Also, the fish tank got a new coat of green, as well, thanks to the tornado here. 

The snow was not much at first, but we still hit it up pretty hard. 

Things began to pick up and we took advantage of the 2 clearance sleds I bought last year. 

I even got in on the action. 

Laziness > cropping the picture

Many moments were resorted to this. 

We have a giant ditch next to our house and it basically an extension of our backyard. We spend HOURS out there whenever we are home and I am especially grateful for it when we have snow. 

Also, always grateful for this boy. 

At one point, Max refused to put his big coat on and I refused to let him go outside without it, so we compromised on this and he wore both. It did not go well. He was angry the entire time because "Firefighters don't wear big coats!."

Things I cannot make up: this firefighter phase.

Then Brandon came him from work and it got real pretty quickly. 

Note to self: move out of the way next time before this hits you in the face. 

I had on 17 layers and Brandon didn't even have gloves on, despite the fact that Max kept demanding that he make more "snow boulders." Hardcoreness is definitely a Brandon strength. 

These guys are so my happiness. 

Anderson literally spent HOURS outside every day. 

When I say he is obsessed with football, I wish I had another word besides "obsessed" to use. 

Also, at one point I told him put on a hat and he said. in the most exasperating tone ever, "Mom. Cam Newton does not wear hats in games. " 

Duh. 

Meanwhile Chloe spent the days hiding in the closet in case I made her go out, making a rare appearance to snuggle in on the couch. 

Lots of Love.

I have not shared this yet because I cannot wrap my mind around how to write a blog post that has even a percent of the justice that is deserved. It doesn't feel right, just going from playing outside and firefighter costumes to sharing something this monumental, this shattering and this important. I keep waiting for a different time-a time when it feels right, feels easier, feels less. But, what I have learned is that there are always more tears, always more emotion and always more everything than you can imagine. 

So, I choose today to share a tiny piece of a father, a grandfather, a husband, a father-in-law, a friend. 

I will not begin to describe the life of Jack Glover not only because there are not enough words to serve the purpose, but because I honestly don't know what all to write. So, I will keep it  brief and do my best to share a tiny of bit of an amazing man. 

 Over the last 14 years, I was a lucky girl to be a part of his life. Jack welcomed me into his family and his heart the first time that I met him. As my relationship with Brandon progressed, I became the only Glover girl, a position that I will always treasure because it gave me a lasting connection with Jack. He was, in every sense of the phrase, my Soul Dad. 

Normally I am a person of many words, but they are failing me now as I try to explain our relationship, but I know, and will always know how lucky I am to have had it. 

I owe so, so much of my adult happiness to Jack. As a dedicated dad, he raised Brandon to be loving, hard working, motivated, a planner, a questioner. Jack taught him to never settle, never stop until you finish/win, always give 110% and if something needs to be done tomorrow, make sure it was done yesterday. Perhaps, most importantly, he showed Brandon that the most important thing any man can do is to fiercely love the mother of his children. 

My life is, in so many ways, indebted to Jack Glover and my happiness is eternally connected to him. 

*Also, that is not Anderson in the waves-it is actually Brandon. 

Perhaps Brandon has his dad's personality, but he has his mom's face. 

Speaking of Toni, it is impossible to share stories of Jack without including her in every detail. Their dedication to each other is, without a doubt, the most inspiring example of how true love can make life work well. True to form, she has remained devoted to him though out every step of his journey over the last 4 years and has reminded all of us what patience, commitment and care look like on a daily basis. 

Of all the good fortune that I have had in my life, one of most treasured experiences is watching JPa in action. He loved his grandkids as he loved his boys and they were all better for it. 

To Jack: Your zest for life and personality inspired everyone who had the good fortune to know you and your love for your family was evident in everything that you did. 

You are missed. Lots of Love. 

Anderson-SIX

One of my children has enough years to necessitate 2 hands when demonstrating his age. I feel pretty good about this 6 year old situation so far. Summing up my boy at 6:

Anderson is such an awesome big brother. He worships Max and has since they first met. He helps me take care of him, teaches him everything (equal parts appropriate/inappropriate), sometimes shares with him and loves to play with him. He also antagonizes him almost every minute of every day, but it is is out of love/boredom/following the big brother creed, so we can deal with it it most of the time. 

He is so silly. He loves to make other people laugh by entertaining them in various ways. I am really looking forward to the future emails from his teacher about his antics as the class clown. 

Other characteristics:

-The boy is intense in all things. He is obsessed with sports-playing them, watching them, knowing all of the rules/players. His competitiveness is something fierce and we are on a constant mission to help him channel it into motivation and drive, instead of frustration or poor sportsmanship (not that these are always, but he is a kid so the struggle is generally real.) Watching the way he sizes up his opponents on a  field or court, never doubting his ability, all while literally outplaying kids that are bigger and older than him gives me such hope that this ferocity of personality will make him a force to be reckoned with in life. I say this because if I did not find a positive then his energy level might do us in within his first hour of being awake every day. All of the parents at his games who come up to us and say things like, "I have never seen a more competitive kid" need to come to our house and see that "competitiveness" in action 16 hours a day. Now that he is older I am able to understand his personality and how all of his character traits really work together to make him who he is. I wish that the me of 5 years ago had understood this when I was devastated about losing nap time and trying to figure out why my kid only needed half the sleep amount recommended in the baby books. 

-He loves being with his family-grandparents, cousins, aunts, uncles. He is so lucky to have so many people who love him. 

-He is generally a rule follower (except with me....) and, the few times that he has had his card moved down at school he has been devastated and his conscience clearly gets to him because he will be waiting at the door of after school care to tell me and get it off of his chest. 

-Again, he loves sports, especially football. I cannot stress this enough. Football is who he is-I cannot imagine him being as passionate about anything else more. 

-He still doesn't love eating, but occasionally buys school lunch! That is what we call a parenting win. 

-He has recently become very interested in drawing and art. I credit his inspiring teachers and the fact that Brandon has every talent imaginable, including amazing artistic skills, so it is in his genes. 

-He does not love TV, video games, iPads, computers, etc. I remember reading once about "limiting screen time" and I was so confused. He could literally go an entire day without ever seeing any kind of screen and not even notice.

-He is reading! I am so impressed with kindergarten teachers and their ability to teach tiny people such a crucial skill for life. I try to read books with him to make him switch from "read to survive" to "survive in order read", but he does not love sitting and reading yet. Sitting, he does not love sitting. But, he is actually reading, so I will take it. 

-He wants to be a Scientist and a football player when he grows up. He also wants to go to The University of Memphis-thanks, Noni. 

-He is so perfect and so much fun and grown up that I forget he is only a kid. I am so grateful to be his mama. 

I love the Scavenger Hunt birthday (leftover stocking) tradition that I started 3 years ago. I initially did 6 for his 6th year but realized this is getting out control when I imagined myself trying to find 13 things one day. So, I cut it down to 5 and am just going to do 5 every year. Honestly, I have so much fun making the clues and hiding them, it might be more for me anyway. 

On his actual birthday, it was Noni for the win again when she brought cookies and capri suns to his class for snack. Apparently all of the helicopter moms started this trend of doing this and it is a great idea if only snack time was not at 1:15 in the afternoon. I was, yet again, thankful for grandparents. I did, at least, buy the stuff that she brought and sent an email to the teacher about it, so I was at least 3% involved, 

We had sort of a terrible January for other reasons, but we really focused on making sure this guy knew he was loved and celebrated. I whipped up a delicious green cake and he thought it was perfect, which means he has not actually become wiser over the last year. 

Present opening at Noni's!

Did I mention that he likes football? Noni is working on his mini helmet collection. 

GG picked out this perfect book for him-it is so interesting! I have read quite a bit of it myself, actually.

GG also put out quite a spread for the boys as a late Christmas celebration. They were so happy about new stuff and, of course, so excited to see their GG. She is always so thoughtful with her gift giving. 

We went with something new this year- a green, football party at the YMCA. 

Insert sarcasm here-it was the same* party as last year. 

*Except last year about 10 kids came and this year, because I was not in the mood, almost EVERY single kid RSVPd. We had about 24 kids there. It was crazy. 

Speaking of crazy, there is a rule that a parent has to be in the pool if there are kids in floaties. Nicole did not even hesitate and just got in the pool in her clothes. It was hilarious and proof that she really is the nicer twin. 

Anderson had so much fun at the party and told me that his favorite part was using the water guns. 

So many kids in floaties-thank goodness for Bobble Cole's sacrifice. 

Reese. She will win every time. 

Also, Bop blowing balloons in the background!

Sweet Kennadee and Max are always so cute together. 

I would like to say that I got pictures with everyone important like my parents, my family, the close friends....but that did not happen, so I present this high quality shot in summary. 

He really is so great. 

Please check out Lily's excitement in the reflection. 

Max totally wins being the younger brother. 

Baby Charlie was there....and this is the one picture that I got. 

Also, thankful for Noni putting up with my craziness. 

I love making goodie bags. (Noni scored all of those ugly dog things at the Y for free!)

So grateful for our 6 year old boy!

Now, I am going private.

Sigh.

Peer pressure is apparently a real thing.

Nicole is making her blog private, so now I am feeling immense pressure to do it, too.

I would love, love it if anyone cares enough about my family to want to read our random stories, I would love to share them with you.

Please leave a comment with your email address or send me an email at melissaglover8@Hotmail.com or text me and I can add you. Once Nicole figures out how to do it, she will tell me and I will send you an invite.

Thanks for putting up with me.

MaxGloverForTheWin

Can we talk for just a minute about how much public LOVES firefighter Max? I mean, they cannot get enough and I cannot blame them. 

The comments that people make as he runs by them in his outfit are so funny and so true.

 He routinely wins at life and I am so grateful that he is mine.

We started potty training and the hardest part was trying to convince him to remove the outfit occasionally so it wouldn't be covered in pee. 

Play-doh is his second favorite love after being a Firefighter. 

*potty training: we will talk about it later. I am afraid to jinx it. 

This kid LOVES play-doh. Aunt LoLo got him this super fun fire station set and I think we have played with it every day since Christmas. 

Also, these blocks-please get them if you have a young kid & don't already have them. They are the only toy that is still around from when Anderson was a baby and they have survived/provided a background for many activities over the years. 

His life is pretty tough. 

I could have 1000 pictures like this. He climbs on every counter/dresser/piece of furniture in our house all day long. 

Again....

If only his mom was not so lazy, you could see this picture turned the right way. 

Also, he was clearly this cute last year, too because he was in the same paper for the same festival. #Celebrity

We were leaving the Y the other day (I worked out for the first time in about 10 months...it was so nice; I need to make it a habit) and there was A FIRE TRUCK OUTSIDE! I cannot make this up. How much does God love me that he just made this appear right at that moment?? Max was IN HEAVEN! He played on it and pointed out all of the tools (a duck billed lock breaker...how does he know these things?) and later told me, "Mama, that fire truck was SO cool." 

It melted my heart and made me realize I am definitely going to miss this firefighter wearing stage.