Fan Art

Amelia has spent the last few weeks volunteering with an organization that helps the young students who need it most in our community.  I'm not sure who has gained more from the experience.  The kids are getting to learn a little, play in a safe environment, and in some cases get the attention or even nutrition they don't always have the luxury of at home... and Amelia is having a blast and having her heart melted by sweet notes like this ....

"Thank you Ms. Amelia for playing tenes (tennis) with me."

Mop

Luckily, thanks to the heat of the summer, Everett agreed to get his wig trimmed. He looks like a different human...or maybe he finally just looks like a human....

Worker

 Amelia has somehow gotten her dream side hustle - dogsitting for a neighbor. She's done it a dozen or so times now and occasionally I go with her.  She doesn't know it, but it is obvious to me as I watch her hand feed one pup while having a conversation with the other, that there are a lot of people in her future - friends, boyfriends, employers, employees, children, grandchildren, etc. - that are going to be extremely, extremely lucky to have her in their lives...and she'll never require anything from them in return.

Receipts pt. 2

 One of our favorite parts of our week together was doing the animal experiences at a nearby zoo.   We've been to petting zoos and regular zoos before....but this was the first time we ever got to hold a baby spider-monkey or have a lemur ride around on our heads...

Despite his wild eyes, this dude was the sweetest, friendliest animal this side of Lucy and Olive...

This spider-monkey's name was Peter Parker.  If I didn't think Meggan would notice, I'd have brought him home with me...

I'll be honest, this guy was cute, but I don't think either one of us ever got comfortable with him...

News flash - sloths are cute and slow, but they are 0% fun to hold and bite like vampires...

Receipts

As promised, here are the first pics from our guys' week together.....

We needed to fuel up before we started ... so, we ordered sodas, hamburgers, fries, corn dogs, tater tots, and tacos....

Ev obviously needed new Hornets swag to properly cheer on the team....

It turns out all the corn dogs and new Buzz City jerseys can't help you when the other team has Kevin Durant...oh well, at least we had great seats....

Spring Broke

Last week was Spring Break for Meggan and the kids.  Since I didn't want them to have all the fun, I took the week off as well.  This week included visiting friends, staying in hotels, riding go karts, playing with monkeys and lemurs, an NBA game, and a girls' trip to Italy.  I won't say it was a restful week, but it was a great one.  I'll post pictures of week soon.  

Belle of the Ball

Amelia had a wonderful time at her school's Spring dance this weekend.  She looked beautiful.  She went with a great group of friends.  She danced to a lot of the music.   She attended a sleepover and stayed up until 2am afterwards... sounds like a pretty perfect night for a 15 year-old... or a 3-day hangover if I tried to do it.

Shooting Star

Everett had the good fortune of having former Duke legend and long-time NBA player Gerald Henderson come to his basketball practice.  Gerald could not have been better with the boys.  He didn't just stop in and wave.  He coached the players in scrimmages, gave them a motivational pep talk, and even hung around after practice to play a little one on one with the boys. For Everett, it was a chance to see even once you make it to the highest level of success and achievement, it's even more important to be a person of the highest character...

Glimpse

Seeing Amelia in her own little world, airpods in, cutely dressed, working on an art project for school gives me a glimpse of adult Amelia working in some amazing career, putting together a presentation for a major client .... or teaching an art class to kindergarteners... the career isn't important....what's important is this glimpse isn't NEARLY as far into the future as I want it to be.....

A Dozen

This guy turned the big 1-2 last week.  I have to admit despite the fact that he's a moppy-haired middle schooler, I have a hard time considering him anything other than my little peanut...

All Relative

In our house, we all think of Everett as the little guy who still needs us to help him with simple things.  In his cousin Reid's eyes, it appears Ev is the awesome big guy who can help him with anything.  I guess the view really does change depending on which side of the window you're on....