April so far: Festivals, the Zoo & some other things

I managed to get away one day to have lunch with my favorite oldest son. In the scheme of life, living on one side of the county and working on the other side is not how I would have necessarily laid things out. Let's just say that logistics/no-plan-period-or-time-to-pee-much-less-drive-to-West-Knox does not generally line itself up in my favor. BUT, a well planned, OCD, creative Mama will occasionally figure it out, so I managed to have lunch with this guy and it was so much fun!

Also, I love when he genuinely smiles. 

Despite time constraints, I will always figure out how to dress up in random things and pose with Denise at technology conferences. 

Also, Google=MIND BLOWN. 

Lily's sweetness made these for the boys. I love how she even figured out the X. 

Also, I love Anderson's descriptions of "Defend Yourself" and "Run." Yes, just yes. 

A trip to the zoo with some of our girls. Again, I always love when Anderson actually smiles in pictures. It reminds me that he is not really a teenager. 

This stinking cutie, just enjoying his Push-Up. 

How amazing are push ups? I mean, what a genius invention. 

Reese means enthusiasm and it is, for sure, the best fit for her! We were driving to the zoo (it took us 2 hours-traffic) and when everyone else was losing their minds, we could hear her little voice saying, "This is so great!"

Adeline & Denise joined us, which made the event even more fun. I think there might be a celebrity YouTube video that came from this trip, also. 

*Side note: in the last 6 weeks, my sister has had 3 birthdays/parties, sick kids, a Daisy scout troop to lead, a splay pad to create, life to survive AND shingles. Seriously. And, she never missed a beat doing things like spending the day with us at the zoo. 

Another day, another zoo trip. 

This time we went because Max had a birthday party to attend & he was so happy to hang out with his bestie, Marley. I am especially grateful for her on the days that Max hates school because she can always convince him that it will be ok. Their teacher said, "These 2 just love each other so much; you might as well set a date."It was precious because they really do, but also...he is actually still mine. Ha ha. 

Nicole & I have this thing about the beavers and it's like a magnetic force  just draws us to each other. 

Doughnuts before church! Krispy Kreme closed & I always feel like I am cheating on them by visiting Dunkin Donuts, but kids don't really care about emotion and sentiment; they only care about chocolate and sprinkles. 

We got to spend some time at the park with the Brimers! One of my absolute favorite things about Lucy is that I can send her after Max and she helps me keep tabs on him. The girl knows how things need to be done and, with 2 brothers, taking care of the males is in her blood!

And, in keeping with the theme of Max and his girl best friends (Reese, Lucy, Marley), we got to see Kennadee at the Library Book Festival! We love this festival because of the $1 books, free food and activity time, in general. 

We believe hardcore in some UT around here and are not ashamed to brainwash our children at the earliest age possible. This, of course, means attending the Orange & White game to watch UT win (and lose, I guess.)

Anderson refused to smile, but he was in his happy place. 

I was also in my happy place because Nicole gave us her tickets & we had air conditioned hang out time with free food! 

Anderson & his friend Noah are so funny together and they had so much fun cheering on the Vols against the Vols. Well, to be fair, we got there way too early (like early enough to spend an hour in McClung Museum & still make it to the game an hour early), so we only stayed for the 1st quarter of the game. BUT, there was some hard core cheering during that time. 

We spent almost 3 hours at the church picnic (again, I got there way too early) and the majority of it was not spent bonding with people or praying or any of those things. Instead, there was exploring, which resulted in Anderson being bitten by a spider (he's ok; it was a whole scene that was hilarious in hindsight) and Max peeing on the playground. We might not be asked back next Sunday. 

Also, we grew butterflies!!! The caterpillars actually grew into butterflies! I am still in shock-they did not seem like they were going to make it towards the end. 

Anderson broke his glasses AGAIN, which is why you are getting this rare treat of his entire face!

Eye visit

In March we went to Anderson's eye appt in Alabama. 

There is just so much that happens during those appointments, yet I don't have any pictures. I got a new phone and I didn't have the Harry Potter moving filter (or whatever it is called) turned off and I cannot load the pics, so these are the few I salvaged. 

Due to a training at work, Brandon had to miss an appt for the first time in about 5 years. 

But, thanks to the amazing technology that is Face Time, we still managed to be together during the entire appointment. 

Anderson was so good. I was so nervous. Dr. Cogen was so amazing. 

These are pretty much all normal occurrences every visit. Well, they are normal at this point-5 years into our journey, which means patience and time for the win. 

We found out....Anderson is awesome; the patch is working. His eye is growing into the implant just like it is supposed to be, his prescription has decreased again AND....we get another day off of the patch!

WHO ARE WE?? WHAT HAS HAPPENED?? 

It has been almost 5 1/2 years of the eye journey and I am at the point where I can do an EYE post with only 2 pics and very few updates. I like it. 

To keep in theme with our vacation parenting that we are now doing with so few days of patching, the boys lived it up in Aunt Manda's awesome new pool! 

Easter.

Easter Egg Dying is always one of my favorite things because I love a tradition. For my kids, the "tradition" is destroying them. Anderson LOVES to destroy eggs. It is seriously his favorite thing to do, which is so weird. 

How much do I love these boys on my kitchen floor?

They got a pretty good haul from the neighborhood Easter egg hunt. 

Also, I think this is definitely Anderson's last year for egg hunts. He was already a little annoyed/bored until he realized he could race to get his the fastest. 

He is always on the lookout for a competition. 

The Easter Bunny made a visit. Our fireplace gets so much love at Christmas and Easter. 

The boys got random stuff including a cup of caterpillars that are supposedly going to become butterflies. We will see if this actually happens and, if not, we will blame the Easter Bunny for the failure. 

Max, as always, will keep it real and just be skeptical of things, in general. He was so confused why there was Paw Patrol stuff in a bucket when he woke up. 

Anderson is so exited about all things Harry Potter. I love it. 

This sums up my life, just in general. This was totally my fault; my best of intentions just sort of melted together in an icing blob. 

How great is this picture of Max and his GG? 

GG got Anderson a book for Easter & he read an entire chapter of it to us! I continue to be so shocked by the fact that he is actually reading! I love his teacher so much. 

Uncle Curtis helped Max dominate the egg hunt. Also, shout out to St. Francis in the background!

Anderson clearly found a pretty good haul of eggs with a little help from Brandon. 

Maybe I got a little carried away with the egg hunt situation; that is a lot of eggs. 

I love how close these 2 are-it makes me excited for my relationship with my grown up boys. 

Also, I mean, THANK GOD for my mom every day. I cannot even begin to explain how much she makes my life manageable/survivable/happen. I love how she is just a natural hostess of all things and, most of all, she puts up with my craziness. 

I am a lucky girl to have such loving women looking out for me and my family all of the time. 

Also, this boy refused smile but his happy place is for sure in his Bop's shed. 

We had such an awesome Easter and we are so grateful for everyone who made it so much fun!

March, in general.

Max went to a party for a kid in his class & he refused to let me take any pictures until we left and then he demanded that I take this one of him with "his friend."

Over Spring Break, we made a visit to Ijams with the Watts' girls and spent entirely too may hours hiking, catching things and, apparently, putting out fires. 

Under the list of "Battles I choose," the fireman gear does not make the cut. 

Anderson is in his happiest of places when he has some kind of reptile or amphibian on him, so this day was perfect because we caught ALL kinds of stuff. 

Glowing. 

Pouting. 

I love how Adeline can flow between both Anderson & Max & be friends with both of them at the same time. 

At one point,  Max yelled that he caught a lizard and, because he is 2, I did not actually believe him. Then, I looked up and realized he was right and was so proud of him!!

I got this stinking cute picture of him one day from his school-looking at the worm farm. I will work 9 million hours, but I know my people are doing ok when they are away from me because of the amazing documentation that I get everyday. 

I had to sneak this one day from the outside of his room-look closely at the little firefighter on the rug, raising his hand like a little student. 

In an amazing twist, I WON this in a box of fruit loops. With the sale price & coupon, the box was .54, so throw in a really expensive tablet and I think it was a really nice deal. 

Noni took Max to eat lunch with Anderson one day and they clearly demonstrated all of their manners at the table. 

We do not get to see our favorite Brimers nearly as much as I would like, but when we do, the kids don't miss a beat playing with each other! I love how Lucy can totally hold her own with all of the boys! Also, how great will it be when Charlie is in the mix, too??

A boy and his Bop. 

All Anderson ever wants in the entire world is to be a car rider or a walker and I took off early one day and met him as a walker. I swear he won the lottery that day and never stopped smiling. 

Also, he broke his glasses (again,) which is why they are missing. When I first got there, I kept looking for him in the line and did not even recognize him. Also, shout out to Bobble Cole for the water bottle!

We made another visit to see our Bristol  cousins and hung out at a super crowded but fun museum. 

Baby Levi and Bobble Cole were there!

I loved Max's focus in the little grocery story. He was really cute studying the fruit before he put them into his cart. 

Anderson & I found 23 worms that we gave to these guys to play with and they were so happy. Clearly, Noni was also intrigued by them. 

I mean, how cute are these little BOY cousins? Max was so proud to show Baby Levi the worms. 

Anderson always needs creatures near/on him. 

Easter Egg Hunt!

Anderson has to make everything into a huge competition. Love sweet Lily in her nightgown. (Nicole-she is sweet, don't disagree with me.)

Noni bought this really cute cookie decorating kit for the kids and they had so much fun decorating eating the sprinkles. 

So grateful for our cousin time. 

Also, in a "It Keeps Getting More Free" twist, we sort of invited ourselves to one of Nicole's friend's daughter's birthday party at Chuck E Cheese & the boys had SO much fun!

Actually, Anderson proved that he doesn't always want to beat up his younger brother and used all of his tickets to get Max a generic Lego Dump Truck kit. It was so sweet and he was so proud. 

Also, I hate all Legos-generic and real. Just for the record. 

My boys love nothing better than just spending time outside and Anderson found this little flower at Noni's  and decided to protect it. He was so proud of it.