Saturday, September 23, 2017

School Updates

We have all been back in school about 6 weeks now and I am grateful that we seem to have settled into latest routine. These pictures are from Anderson's school, Max's school and mine and they are not ordered in any way.Also, some do not have captions. We are all at school; we just do not have time for all of that. 

I occasionally walk Anderson in to school because they will let him in at 7:05 if he is walked in instead of 7:10 if he is in the car line. Also, I love being able to spend those few extra minutes with him since the afternoons/evenings are usually crazy. 

Also-please note Max & Monkey trying to run into the school. I have a feeling that one will not be quite as eager this time next year.

We planned to go to FPS Spirit Night at Blaze Pizza but it was packed, so we ended up walking down to "Great American Cookie Company" for a well rounded dinner of cookies and ice cream.  It was, of course, delicious. 

Sometimes I think that I signed up to work at a high school strictly because of the dress up opportunities presented by Spirit Week. Denise & I put on the same shirt (zero effort required) for Twin Day. 

Max does not love going to school but once he is there, he is usually pretty happy. 

I took a portion of a half day and volunteered at Anderson's STEM day and he was SO excited. The first thing he did that morning was jump out of bed singing, "Stem day, stem day." This is so out of character for him and I was concerned about the positive attitude and enthusiasm. He said that he was excited about STEM, but mostly excited that I was going to be in his class. So that definitely made the 987 concerns that I had to deal with when I got back to work worth it. 


Raining during the Homecoming parade...

One day before a football game, I looked up and realized that the entire ROTC was somehow in my office. So, I made them pose. 

This is not really school related, but Anderson spent the night with Jack and had the best time, as usual. I loved all of the picture updates that Clare sent me during that 24 hour period. 

Somehow I was voluntold that I was teaching Max's "Children's Liturgy" class this year. Anderson was SO excited about being a volunteer in there. 


Max basically refuses to ever smile, but Lucy made up for his lack of participation. 

So, our theatre teacher was in an actual play and there was a matinee day one day, so he asked me to chaperone his students to see it. He asked me this in June when I thought that September seemed really far away and I knew that I would surely be caught up enough by then to miss a few hours of work. My foresight is clearly a skill that I am lacking because that was not the case. BUT, he had an extra ticket and he let me bring my Mom! I mean, WHAT EVEN IS MY LIFE??  

Also, the play was hilarious. 

Mom-just hanging out in my office. Apparently one of the subs came in there when I was out and tried to ask Mom a bunch of questions, which is hilarious. 

Also, I really, really need to actually hang up my diploma on that wall. The blankness looks really bad now that I can see it. 

Max has not been stuck on one costume for awhile, which is very unlike him. He mostly mixes it up by dipping into some old favorites, like this army one. 






Let me break down my job situation for everyone: it is my favorite, but it is also a lot. I do not know how else to explain it other than

that. I guess most jobs are a lot, so I think that is pretty common. However, I regularly chart around 19,000 steps JUST AT WORK, never actually eat lunch/use the restroom during the day, sit down or do any of my actual work at work. What I do instead is put out fires all day long. Then, I take my actual work home with me. 
This means that when I am out, my teammates have to step in for me. I do not have a sub and, let's be honest, the various problems that need to be solved never stop. I am really, really grateful for my teammates. I learn so much from them and we do a lot of laughing/surviving. 

 I say all of that to explain how hard it is for me to take a day off so that one day when I am feeling all of the post Mom guilt about working when my kids were little, I am going to remember that I did work, but I also rarely missed a "thing." I cannot do middle of the day "secret readers" (WHO CAME UP WITH THAT??) but I get a certain number of personal days a year and I will use them for the boys every time. Like working moms everywhere, this means that my dentist appointments are at 7am, but BY GOD, I will be at Safety City. 


Speaking of.....Hurricane Irma caused the field trip date to be moved which meant a chaperone bailed which meant that I got to go! Only 5 parents could attend, so we were "randomly" selected and I was next on the list!

He even chose me to sit next to him at lunch. 

To be fair: he also annoyed me the entire bus ride there and back because we were 3 to a seat which meant he spent the entire ride trying to entertain his friend. 

One of my favorite students of all time braided my hair one day. 

 I could write a book on all that I see when I look at this picture.  Actually, it would probably be more like a series. I am just so grateful that my story becomes intertwined with new people's stories every day. That fact alone makes up for no lunch time. 

Max was very proud to rock his Boots for his "B" show and tell. 

Anderson's teacher sent me this and I literally stopped in my tracks to read it multiple times. So many emotions with this one. Also, I can't help but wonder if Brandon would still be hero status if the football wasn't wet...

We end with some random work that Anderson brought home because I cannot save everything and then I feel guilty about throwing things away.



Sunday, September 17, 2017

Our 978th Eye Appointment

To be fair, I am honestly not sure of the number because I stopped counting a long time ago, but 978 seems a bit appropriate. And, I say that in a positive way because you know that we LOVE our appointments. What is not to love about hanging out with our family and getting feedback on our third child, Anderson's left eye?

You know that Anderson promptly settled in to watch some football with Big Cousin Noah.
Sidenote: Noah is in COLLEGE. Officially. He is officially in college and I think this was actually his first visit home. I do not even understand how this has happened, but I love that we were able to see him and hear about his classes. 

There was also some swimming, of course. 

At his actual appointment, we found out these things: 

1. His vision in his left eye is 20/25 which is UNHEARD OF IN A CATARACT EYE. The average corrected vision is 20/200 so I do not even know what is happening right now* except that I should clearly never ever complain about anything ever again. 

*The last 7 years of patching is what is happening right now. 

2. He gets new glasses WITHOUT the bifocal. For the first time in over 7 years, he will stop hearing from other kids that his glasses are "broken" because there is a crack in them. Also, and this is life changing, we do not have to drive downtown to get his glasses! I literally just added 17 hours a month to my life AND raised my sanity level 2 points. 

3. We can possibly stop patching at his next appointment. I cannot talk about this one now because I do not have words. 

4. We should not have let Anderson stay up until midnight to watch the VOLS go into overtime because he was yawning during his movie debut. 

On that note....we were asked by UAB Media department a few months ago if they could film part of Anderson's appointment and then interview us about our experience. 

I would give Dr. Cogen my right arm if he asked me for it, so you know that I immediately said yes and then thrust Brandon into the actual interview once it actually happened. 

Anderson did an awesome job and explained his cataract journey and I was so proud of him and, as always, so grateful that we have ended up in those seats because it means that our baby can see. 

Saturday, September 2, 2017

Birthdays, Bseball & the Eclipse


August is FULL of birthdays!!  We started the month with Austin's & everyone (except me...work) celebrated at Wasabi's!


Next up, I turned 36 and Max was THRILLED about eating at Salsarita's. 

But, he did help Mom make this cake, so he clearly made up for his pouting. 

It looks like 36 is not going to be the year that I start focusing on my hair. 

A few days later, we celebrated Brandon!
Because being a parent means never actually blowing out your candles. 

Tradition of GG's cake!

We hit up a Smokies games with some people from AE. 

It was really fun. 

Perhaps the highlight of the night was when Brandon won a bucket of chicken!!!



Max LOVED the fireworks. His reactions to things always make activities worth it. 

We were SO excited about the eclipse and it turned out to be even cooler than imagined. 

We went to Noni's with the Brimers, GG & some of my mom's neighbors. I love when my kids eat on a blanket because it gives me such a flashback to my entire childhood with my cousins. 

We made the sun viewer things and they were actually really cool. 

GG knows how to rock some solar glasses!

Thanks to Noni & Bop for hosting. 

Loved spending the day with them!


During the darkness!

We made s'mores in the middle of the afternoon because....why not?