The pics of the Fam

Some pics that sum up our lives

Max in his hooded towels. Always. Also, Max running. Always. 

Max is so similar to Anderson in so many ways, but he is just not nearly as physical and...occasionally sits down. I was very unprepared for this aspect of parenting. Don't get me wrong, he still only needs 8 hours of sleep total in a 24 hour period, needed stitches from jumping off of a chair and had a "broken nose" from running into a wall, but he will sit for small increments of time and it is so nice. 

You can see the corner of Max's head as he sits next to me on a bench & you can see Anderson digging in the lakeshore, never even considering sitting. Granted, he is stationary and that is pretty nice. 

Max fed a biscuit to Anderson's fish. 

To be clear, Max is not calm or relaxed. Having less energy than Anderson doesn't make one a chill person. There is always some kind of destruction left in Max's wake.

The other part of the biscuit? In the toilet. 

Clare, just raining 3 kids at one time. THREE! 

Brandon just decided to run an impromptu 400 in the "Parent Event" at Anderson's track meet. Literally, he had just eaten a cheeseburger and had not even stretched and did awesome. I love him. 

Variations of sports in the backyard with Brandon. So thankful for his patience and knowledge of all sports. And, for that Gabs just in the middle of it all. 

I walked into the room to find them making homemade water balloons out of plastic gloves. 

My toes are strong from always being on them. 

Mom & Nicole took the kids to the zoo when I was at work one day (thank you to my village) and I got this text from Nicole. Hilarious. We are such beavers, just building a dam in an already enclosed space and never sitting still until the unnecessary dam is completed. Meanwhile, the otters are just chilling down the road, totally oblivious to the need for dams. 

Also, I screenshot this and didn't edit, so you can see my frequently used emojis. 

Always a cousin, always a project, always our ditch and always an activity at 6am. 

My children's address should be titled "Random Festival*"

*festibal for Max

Max's Summer

We love, love, love us some Max Glover. 

Swimming with sweet Kennadee!

At the gymnastics place, he asked: "Is this place a festibal?"

How much do I love that he is so aware of festivals?

Deep conversation about the zoo 

2 year checkup-chubby head

Max crying? So out of the ordinary. 

*SARCASM*

They are obsessed with GG's desk drawer. And, because she is way more accommodating than I am, she lets them play in it. 

This guy HATES being dropped off at school-he literally is HYSTERICAL from the second we turn right out of our street. I occassionally try to bribe him with a doughnut but he STILL screams. 

But, I know he is totally fine once I leave because I get pics like this later in the day. Poser. 

Tornado. 

He really is this awesome in real life. 

I think I might have mentioned this a time or two, but we really love our Y. 

Some Videos:

Max in his dinosaur towel

Max named his toes

Max telling me how he broke his nose

(I don't know if it was really broken, but I had to pick him up from daycare because it was swollen & bleeding)

Max & I talk about the zoo

(I didn't know Brandon was recording this)

Max wants to go back to Hio

Max always wants to jump off of EVERYTHING

Anderson's Summer

I have been photo dumping here over the past 2 months, so these are all over the place.

Green shirt bottom left.

Because I have to work some in June and almost all of July, I had to find some kind of summer camp situation for Anderson. Noni is amazing, but if you have met this kid, you know that he is very....high energy, so we really needed an outlet for him on some days. 

Little face, bottom right. 

I settled on the Y because there was swimming, snacks, playing, fun field trips* and it was only $11/day! What on earth!

*the zoo, a farm, an outdoor adventure place, Jump Jam, Putt Putt, Bowling, parks, splash pads, etc.

He promptly hated it. 

The hatred was such a real thing that he literally made himself sick one day (the Neyland Stadium field trip day!) and I had to go pick him up. "He seems like he is really sick," they said. 

No. Just No. 

We both learned a lot of lessons through this Y camp. For example, I had to learn to not look back after dropping off a sad 5 year old, because a mom's heartbreak is a real thing. I endured this because I know that real life requires making your kids learn how to be ok alone....swimming, eating snowcones, going on field trips, etc. I think he had fun when he was there, but he made sure that we knew how much he didn't want to go. I mean, he told us ALL of the time about his reasons why he shouldn't have to go. 

Because Noni is amazing, she kept him most of the summer (that is A LOT of days/hours/minutes), but we still made him go 2 days/week when I was working. 

I signed him up for a summer "track" team and it was the perfect combination of outdoor activity, competition and fun. He really loved the second part of evening practices, once the sun went down about 7:30. It was a little toasty out there prior to that. We only went to one of the actual meets because we always had so much else going on over the weekends and spending 6 hours in 98 degree weather didn't trump those activities. He did "place" in each of the events he did, which was not terrible considering there were 16 different locations competing at one place. 

Just like my parents did for us, I will sit for hours to watch my kid compete for 30 seconds if track is the sport he chooses, but I am also holding out that maybe it won't win. Love you, Mom. 

Always entertaining this guy at his brother's practices. 

He has really embraced the neon clothing trend.  

The last practice was a water party with popsicle relays, water balloon fights, water gun tag and all kinds of fun stuff. He even won a giant thing of water balloons by demonstrating some kind of running skill. They definitely know how to convince you to sign your kid up every year. 

SO much time was spent at our pool. Anderson loves anything physical and swimming is one of his favorite things, for sure. 

So much more fun was had when Brandon came along for the ride/swim. 

Most of Anderson's favorite time was spent hanging out with Bop, just fixing things. 

Gymnastics place

Library.

I feel your pain, Anderson. The struggle to keep the library book limit is a real thing. 

He did a 3 day basketball camp, which reminded him that he does love that sport. 

(Part of my master plan to move track down in the rankings)

Also, "please can we go to Noni's?" is a top request at all times, so we are thankful for Noni's accommodating. And, for our Lily, in general. 

If someone were to say the words, "flexible. easy going, laid back, go with the flow," and then yell, "OPPOSITE DAY, "Anderson would be the representation. His intensity in all things is a blessing and makes him fun/curious, but holy grumpy pants when there is a change in things. 

Noni & Bop took them to the $1 movie to see SpongeBob. My bigger concern here is definitely Max, but they are more patient than I am & everyone survived.

Reliving his firefighter obsession days.

Some Videos:

He taught himself to flip into the pool

His Pre-School graduation video that I am just now uploading

Flipping on a trampoline

Anderson doing the long jump at track practice