the blue & the white

I know!! Adorable. Anderson attended the FHS Spring scrimmage on Sat. with me to spread his Admiral pride. I am really not the person who believed in the motto of bringing the baby along to everything. Before he was born, everyone told me to just "take that baby with you" wherever I had to go. Um, ok. Either they have severe momnesia or birthed some seriously angelic children. I like to follow the motto of "Only take the baby IF it is an emergency, you have a bag filled with every possible item & , actually, just leave him at home." But, now that he is the MOST FUN THING EVER I want him with me at all times (except possibly the grocery if the trip is longer than 10 minutes or we don't have Noni with us) so he hung out on the FHS field for 5 hours on Saturday. It was so great because I had to be there & I didn't miss hang out time with him!

Clearly interested in the game. This outing was really just another reminder that a toy tractor can make anything manageable.

Just for comparison, here he is a year ago!

Because she is awesome, Clare stopped by to say hi! Please remember that this wasn't even a real game so Jack is obviously a dedicated Admiral, as well. Please notice Jack's expression which I think is directed toward my scary looking hair.

They were all fighting over who got to hold Jack. Let's just say that Sarah got stuck with Anderson.

We found his missing eye.

I highly suggest supplying a giant sandbox in the form of a long jump pit at all of your outings. Also, the younger sisters of cheerleaders doesn't hurt the experience.

First Dippin Dots!

just some pics.

truck pjs, truck in hand, probably saying, "truck!"
Going to see a tractor with JPa!

I literally do not know what we are going to do when the construction in Noni's neighborhood is done.

I got this train table at a garage sale & it seems to work pretty well for trucks, too!

Ribbitting like a frog! He makes Brandon go first, then I have to go & then he goes. Precious.

3 of his favorite things: playing on the bed, trucks & throwing a tantrumShannon & Nicole got me this shirt for the "patching marathon"!! I love it! Shannon figured out that if we patch as long as expected it will be 73 months...so 72.1! It was such a surprise & has reminded me that we are all in this eye thing together! Thank you:)
Curtis was at work...
Toni came over to watch Anderson last week because I had to proctor a test & Brandon had to work and I came home to a sleeping baby AND folded laundry! Wow.

under the sea & into the storm!

We celebrated Jack's first birthday last weekend at a nautical themed party! Clare played up the Jack Cousteau theme & it was so cute! I loved Jack's little shark shirt & Anderson wore an adorable sea themed outfit from GG.

Jack was so adorable eating his cupcake & I loved the blue icing that got everywhere! Clare did such a good job on the party-I felt like we were at the ocean, for sure!

After almost 9 years of knowing him I found out that Brandon can juggle. I am still a little in shock. How does that not come up at some point? We are going to pair him up with Bop's Balloons for the next party!

Discovered a free outing for us-Home Depot. Who needs to pay to go to the zoo when there are tractors to sit on? Also, please check out the cuteness overload when he fell asleep with his toy tractor!!

As part of our daily (desperate) attempt to get Anderson to eat, we are putting the high chair up & moving him to the table. It is definitely not easier in terms of cleanliness or behavior but I do think he feels more grown up.He is not really ready because he still wants to smear everything/throw everything on the floor & the high chair tray was definitely easier to clean. Our table is by the window & every time a car goes by he can hear it & is positive it is a truck so he gets hysterical/giddy & just cannot focus on eating.

Notice Brandon (on the right) at a SWAT training day. I will say once more that very, very soon Anderson will realize all that is awesome about his dad & I will officially get the boot.

Jessica came by last week & brought goodies to Anderson (of course) and goodies for us in the form of yummy cupcakes!! How cute is this peanut butter & jelly one??

So, like everyone we had crazy weather a few weeks ago. Here is the hail at my parents' house.

The hail in our yard...

We are so lucky because so many people were really affected, but I must admit it was definitely scary for a few minutes. We got Anderson up & went into the cozy little world I had made for us in the bathtub. The worst that happened was a broken window & lots of dents in the siding. I am so sad for the people in Alabama who lost so much and everyone in Memphis who is dealing with the floods! Be careful!

On a positive note, here is a video of some random moments over the past few weeks.

the best day.

Ok, so I have already mentioned that I really like the Taylor Swift song, "The Best Day", because it is just so fun & directed at her mom. I genuinely do have the best day with Anderson every day because he just makes everything more rewarding, fun and just perfect! It's so different being on the mom side of things and getting so excited about hanging out with Anderson and giving him a fun childhood. I found myself thinking about how awesome our childhood was & I am so hoping that Anderson feels the same way. And, possibly does a blog post about what an awesome mom I was when he is older. For Mother's Day I am doing a really condensed version for mom that is, of course, really awful in comparison to Taylor Swift's version. I will also not actually be singing it any point either, so that's nice. I skipped a huge chunk of life because I still need to scan those pics but you can still get the general idea of the post. On an unrelated note, I have no idea who that dog is in the above picture.

We're 2 (?) years old & playing at some random farm in our cute matching coats probably yelling cockadoodledoo at the roosters...
we're 3 years old playing in Nanny's pool with our swimmies & pink bikinis on...
We're 4 years old riding an elephant at the circus and I know that nobody else's mom rode with them, so we had the best day with you....

We're 6 years old at Disney World & I remember packing months in advance because we were so excited...
We're 7 or 9 or something and having so much fun with our cousins at an Easter egg hunt...I'm 8 years old and you were the room mother (every year) and planned our end of year party where we had kids meals from Burger King and there were no custom orders so I was going to have to eat mustard, but you fixed it so I could get my own...

I'm ___(every year) and we got a homemade present for Christmas...

I'm 27 years old & we are in Italy and I tell you I'm pregnant & you are so excited (and nervous/worried the rest of the trip)...I'm 28 & terrified & in pain and you drive in the middle of the night to be there on my best day..
.
I'm 28 years old & you give up everything to move to Knoxville so we can have more best days going to the grocery store...


The only part I am stealing from Taylor Swift...

"And now I know why all the trees change in the fall
I know you were on my side even when I was wrong
And I love you for giving me your eyes (and hair, and eyebrows)
For staying back and watching me shine
And I didn't know if you knew, so I'm taking this time to say
That I had the best day with you today....!"

Love you, Mom!

No paparazzi, please

Check out my little celebrity http://littlefoureyes.com/photo-gallery/

Ok, stop whatever you are doing right now and schedule your kid an eye doctor appointment. I am serious. Do NOT ignore me. I don't care if you think your kid's vision is fine, you don't have any eye problems in your family, you can't afford it, or, my personal favorite, you don't have time. Well, let me tell you that you don't have time NOT to! I cannot fully explain that saving Anderson's vision would have been impossible if we didn't catch it early enough. If your baby is under 1, then check out http://www.infantsee.com/ and find a doctor who is in the program. It is FREE for babies! This is how we found Anderson's cataract because Aunt Paula told me about it. Our pediatrician did not catch it! We go to KPA, which is probably used by half of Knoxville, and they didn't see it! Cataracts are so rare that pediatricians really don't know what to look for. If your kid is over 1 then make them an appointment and pay for it. I am sure their eyes are fine, but it can't hurt. I am serious. Right now. And, tell everyone you know who has kids!

Ok, a few fun eye stories...

1. A student at FHS was in a pick ax accident (weird, but still) and has a scar on his face. Turns out, his glasses saved his life! They stopped it from going into his eye. What on earth.

2. Trivia question...How many presidents wore glasses? Answer: ALL of them. Of course. Glasses clearly are a sign of genius, great leadership and love of America. (Not that our current president necessarily possesses all of these traits, but you get the idea)

Anderson as Teddy Roosevelt about a year ago!

3. Final question...What 2 presidents wore glasses all of the time (not just for reading, etc)? Teddy Roosevelt and Harry Truman.

Ok, here is where it gets good...Anderson just happens to have a Teddy doll in his room. (dressed as a pirate in this case)
Coincidence? I think not. Even better, Teddy's glasses case saved his life when a crazy tried to kill him. Seriously, it altered the trajectory of the bullet.

The only other president paraphernalia that he has is related to Harry Truman! He loves his Truman monkey.
They have similar glasses, don't you think??

For those of you who don't know, Anderson had a Winston glowworm and Franklin lovey. Chloe ate FDR, so Truman replaced him. Anyway, what are the odds? I love it.Here he is snuggling with Truman monkey. Moose & Scout made the cut that night, too.