Christmas Break

This was the rose that was on the table the night that Brandon proposed to me and I've had it on top of the kitchen cabinet for 11 years...until the other day when I finally threw it away. Apparently nostalgia could not trump my compulsive need to purge. 

I did make Brandon pose with the rose prior to trashing it so now I can treasure this picture forever.  

Brandon always gets roped into doing all of the gifts that require any kind of logistics, engineering, thinking, etc. 

Really, all Anderson wants to ever do is play football, but he will settle for basketball. 

He went outside daily, in all kinds of crazy weather, to practice kicking.

 "Mama, how can I be in the NFL if I don't practice everyday?"

There were moments of playing together without fighting, but those moments were very fleeting. 

So much family time. Also, this might be what I would look like without some grooming. #whenyouareItalian

We took the boys to see "Sing" & Max did not love sitting, so we had some bonding in the lobby pretending to play the arcade games.

 At one point he said, "Mama, it is a good thing we have our vests on so we can fight the dinosaurs." He is really just so darn cute. 

The rec specs received some love over the break. 

A lot of days ended like this....defeated. 

New Year's Eve was spent partying it up at Noni's-we played hedbandz, ate lots of snacks, watching "Finding Dory" and went to bed before 10pm. 

I love this picture because it capture's Anderson's focus in all things. Anytime there is a competition, he is on it. 

And this one is jut always in it for fun. "We all won, Mama!"

Sparklers for the New Year. 

And, high quality pics.

SO.MUCH.FOOTBALL.

Max is even starting to join in the fun/brainwashing. 

"Mama, I am headed to Tennessee!" 

A trip to the Muse was pretty fun once Anderson got over himself & the idea that he was too old to have fun there. He has basically been a teenager for at least 3 years. 

"Mama, I have an eyepatch!" 

I am pretty sure most kids are not recreating eyepatches in their childhood unless one of their siblings actually is one. I mean, the eyepatch has been with us longer than Max has, which says something about our lives, I think. 

We had our annual "Brimer Christmas Jump Jam & Brunch" and it was, of course, a blast AND delicious! So grateful for these friends!

We made many, many visits to the glasses place because these "new" glasses kept breaking. Nothing says fun like driving downtown, paying to park in a garage, going through multiple buildings to get to your location just to do it all over again 2 hours later. 

We got snow on my first day back at work and Anderson was SO happy to be in it at Noni's. 

I know that I say it all of the time, but this ditch might be God's greatest gift to their childhood. 

Ferg. 

Some boys in the snow. 

With their Mama. 

Real life. 

Anderson's first day back to school turned into a SNOW day (Mother Nature is not a real Mother....) and in desperation we exploited Noni's Sam's membership for lunch. 

And we spent some amazing quality time with our favorite Brimers! Nothing says "snow day" like "wine at 3pm."