Christmas Festivities

These are my absolute favorite decorations and I am so glad that I started buying them. 

New house, new placement of things.

Max was making a ladder while I put up decorations and it was the closest I've ever come to anyone helping me.

Annual Santa pic at Zaxbys!

Followed by freezing light fun with the Brimers! 

Our elf brought snacks!

This was really the only thing the elf did and it was because Anderson stepped it up that one day. 

Reese sent Max an ornament and he was really proud of it & hung it up. 

Gingerbread houses!

This sums Max up more than any other picture. 

Mailed his letter to Santa!

Christmas movie night at FPS with the Brimers.

Max will actually participate in a craft every now and then. 

Barefoot Santa picture with Marley!

I took a personal day & hit up both of their parties. Full disclaimer: I get my hair cut at Great Clips at the same time the boys do, have been wearing the wrong contacts for a month and always have 65 errands I need to run at any given time, but I will always save my personal day to go to their parties. It is not "lucky"-it is strategic. I want to remind future me that while I did work a lot, I still made sure they knew I loved them at school. 

Noni& Bop made balloon animals because....of course they did. 

Love him. 

I even "got" to stay for lunch!

Then that afternoon we went to Anderson's party!

I was in charge of cookie decorating. 

My real contribution was bringing my parents who definitely were the hit of the party. 

Love him, too. 

I am really so glad that I was able to go. 

Max got his reply from Santa!

We went downtown when the family arrived. 

Aunt Manda took it back to our childhood with the candy cigarettes. 

Cruze Farm ice cream!

Max wanted me to open my present early. I am in LOVE with his teacher. 

December, besides Christmas and sports

We got SNOW and the boys had so much fun in their first snow in our new house! We completely took advantage of it and sled, built snowmen and had snowball fights. 

Lots of angry frustration, also. 

Check out the ankles-someone is getting a new snow suit for Christmas. 

Hot chocolate is one thing I do really, really well. 

New haircuts seem to be necessary every week. 

Pops & went shopping one night during Anderson's practice. Love this tradition. 

Max flossing

Snow 2018

Me/Max sledding

A sledding

November

Emory & Henry College dedicated a swim meet to Levi. Love these shirts that we got from them. 

Inservice Day: Noni kept the boys (thank you) and I met them for lunch at Blaze. Max's face in this pic cracks me up. 

Election Day! Through some random occurrences, Brandon & were able to vote at the same time! I planned to go before school but had to actually be there even earlier than usual and Brandon was already in East Knoxville when his Commander told them to all go vote, so he headed back to Farragut. The universe, for once, made this happen and I am grateful because it is one of my favorite traditions. 

Election Day cookie cake!

Max was so snuggled up on the chair one weekend morning. 

We hit up the UT/KY game one FREEZING Saturday. It was 33 degrees and it felt like 3. (That second part might not be scientific, but that is what it felt like to me.) Anderson won a DD gift card and he was SO happy. He had been plotting his spin the entire time we were in line, so this was pretty exciting. 

Brandon & Max stayed at home during the day of the game and had lots of bonding time. 

Freezing. 

Love this pic of Anderson's excitement. Being a UT fan has a been rough time during his entire life, so it was fun to watch him as UT actually WON!

Max had to disguise a turkey & he went with camo themed. This, of course, did not surprise anyone.

He still fully embraces the camo business. 

All 4 of us got our haircut at Great Clips using free coupons one day. Possibly the greatest day of November for me. 

Gabs & I have bonded quite a bit during some FREEZING cold walks. Why on earth was it so cold in November this year??

GG took Max to his Book Fair at school. The moms in his class are intense and I knew they were going to all show up and I did not want him to be the only orphan there, so GG stepped in for me! 

Curtis finished an amazing mural at Hard Knox Pizza!

One random night they both fell asleep in our bed and managed to end up like this. Despite the usually ever present fighting, I am so grateful that they have each other. 

Bagel Bites & Gatorade picnic one night-keeping it real. 

We got a popcorn popper and they LOVE it. We have eaten so much popcorn in the past few weeks. 

Such fun. 

Piles of leaves.

Max ended up COVERED in mud and sand after this visit to Anchor Park.