Chopsticks Times 6: Grad Gifts and More

When we arrived to Knoxville in July, Emily wasted no time in bringing out the graduation gifts! Regan had the biggest smile all day! This is all so new to us! She had no idea that graduation gifts were even a thing. Surprise, surprise!

And here comes Emily with her ginormous basket of goodies for the first of her nieces/nephews who are college bound! Still hard to believe we are here already!

love the shirt (each gift had a special note attached from Emily that explained why she got the gift/why it's needed for college0

You can never have enough Bath and body Works!

Cute Asian shopping bag!

Gift from Mamaw!

Mary and David started this bible for Regan when she started her senior year of high school. They took the year to read through the Bible and underline or make notes in the margins about things that were important to them. I can't tell you how special this is!!

Mamaw also put together a photo album that had 1-2 pictures from each week in Regan's life as a senior in high school. Again, so special!!

After Papaw passed away, Benjamin really struggled to process it all. The way he finally was able to process was to work on a woodburning project to remember Papaw. He presented it to Mamaw when he came over to Knoxville.

Tears of joy, sadness, thankfulness, and love.

Katherine also made some things for Mamaw

The picture of them together holding it, we had to repeat...so it will show up in another spot.

Mamaw and Benjamin

Katherine made some things for Emily, too (you can see Mamaw's card, vase, and flowers on the table)

Surprised look about the bracelet Katherine made

Emily and Katherine

They wanted a picture in the cereal aisle to show their Italian friends.

The kids thought this was hilarious. They also want to show their friends what "American's think Italians look like"

Hudson was on cloud nine when he was allowed to buy a bubble tea at the mall

And of course, we bought double doozies! It wouldn't be a trip to America without one of these :)

Lauren bought a vest off of clearance, but it came in handy to guard against the AC of America :)

Regan and I were out and missed lunch...so a trip to Auntie Anne's was needed! ;)

Well, since I have 3 teenage girls (18, 14, 13) and none of them has ever worn make-up, we thought it would be fun to do a makeover. Victoria from Sephora was fantastic. She did "natural" looks for each of the girls and still made them all different and age appropriate.

crazy technology1 She scanned each of the girls' foreheads and cheek to get a precise color match

learning how to do eyeshadow

These two are done and are just waiting for Lauren.

love these girls...fun sister time!

HUGS! vs. Don't Touch me! haha!

Now, I need a makeover! ;)

yes, we must eat noodles and rice!

Katherine and Emily walking Linus.

Love this one, too! There's just so many good one!

This is what Katherine decided to buy with her money.

Then we were out and I said, "What is in your purse?" I opened it to find her phone, a bottle of water, and chips...just in case.

I think it was past time for new inserts for Lauren's shoes!! Her PT made her custom inserts a few years ago and they have fixed 90% of her ankle and foot pain.

Just chillin in the front of Emily's house

I got a kids cup of icecream with "S'mores" added (marshmallows and graham cracker crumbs) I had no idea there would be so many marshmallows! :)

Yes, I'm going to take as many selfies as I can. We have lots of things to get for college and for life in general.

YES! THIS. IS. A. KATHERINE CAR! And yes, she ended up buying it. She kept saying "Oh!! I knew I would end up finding stuff in here" (She was trying to be very careful with her money)

This is usually a favorite aisle...and a dangerous aisle for Katherine and Lauren...the stickers! I only let them spend their money on this aisle if it's 50% off (which is every other week)

Hudson was not really having much fun shopping, but he was being a good sport. WE just were never in "his type" of store....until. Five and Below. He found an LED keyboard, mouse and mousepad that he fell in love with.

Katherine's purchases!

Shoe shopping. Hudson picked these out for Auntie Em and really wanted her to try them on.

I'm surprised we didn't get kicked out with all of the laughing we were doing :)

Especially when Katherine tried them on and started walking in them. She looked like an ostrich! HAHA!

Sunday morning before church...what have I done? ;)

Mamaw bought a 4,000 piece puzzle of the Great Wall. If we were home more to work on it then we might have finished it, but we are getting it little by little. Hopefully, Mamaw will keep working on it.

Sunday morning before church

We went to Mt. Olive Baptist Church and ran into my relatives! Who knew!! Far right: Dolores Hickey (my mom's cousin) and her daughter Darlene Hickey

Dolores wanted a picture with Hudson (12) and her granddaughter Brooke (12)

He's so handsome! He picked out this outfit at Old Navy.

Playing some old fashion croquet!

Katherine beat everyone.

He loves phones and selfies! He can't wait until we say he's old enough to have a phone ;)

Hudson and Linus

Hudson did stretches before each turn. haha

Loved that he enjoyed playing basketball! He played for a long time and had fun! There are not many sports that he truly enjoys, so I was excited to see hime have fun shooting baskets.