The weekend, plus a little more

Friday night we had some friends over so their parents could go on a date night.  It was a rip roarin' time!  They all insisted on sleeping in the same room.  The smallest room in our house, but whatever.  They stayed up until 10:30 and then at 6:05 Andrew's buddy woke everyone up by proclaiming, "It's morning time, cha, cha, cha!"  Funny kid.

Earlier in the evening the little boys and I went to the library for their Stuffed Animal Sleepover.  We left our stuffed animals at the library, read a bedtime story to them, had milk and cookies and then kissed the stuffed animals (not the kiddos) good night.  The next morning we picked up the animals and celebrated with donuts.  The precious lady that works at the library presented a slide show with all the of animal's adventures.  Beyond adorable.

We had a whirlwind of a Saturday, which included flag football games and date night for me and Fred.  My friend happened to be snapping pictures during the football game.  What treasures these pictures are!!  Look at that kid go.  His friend is on the ground with his flag.  I'm proud to report they are still friends and Jack did not mow over that kid running toward him.  

After helping at my friend's clothing sale Fred and I headed out.  We swapped babysitting with our friends from the night before.  We left this crew and headed to Patti's in Grand Rivers, Kentucky with a Sunday School class from church.  

We had the most wonderful time at dinner.  The drive to and from Patti's was nice as well.  Three hours total of uninterrupted conversation?!?  I'll take it.  Dinner was really just a bonus.  I love this guy.  

We got back and Jack told me he was not feeling well.  Sure enough, he was running a low grade temp.  He was pretty pitiful.  Saturday night at a preacher's house is not the best time for someone to get sick.  We regrouped and had everyone get ready for bed.  Just as things started to settle we heard this horrible noise in the bathroom.  Yep, sewage was backing up into our house at 9:30 pm on a Saturday night.  Fred called our plumber.  He was on his honeymoon...whoops.  A replacement plumber was scheduled to come the next morning. 

Sunday morning we woke up, packed a bag and headed to church for showers.  Isn't that what everyone does who doesn't have working water at their house?!?  Mimi and Tee came to the rescue to get Jack so Fred and I could carry out our responsibilities at church.  It was definitely an eventful morning.  

When mom and dad picked up Jack he told them that only Fred and I had gotten showers.  Then he said, "I guess preachers and girls are the only ones that need to smell good."  Honestly, he just makes me laugh with his perspective sometimes.  

Here we are staying home from church.  He looks sick, doesn't he?!?

I am pleased to report that our plumbing is now fixed, Jack is not sick and life has gone on. Well...almost.  Victim #2 went down this morning.  Boo.

The boys are out of school tomorrow.  We delayed our regular Dairy Delight meeting to Friday so they could join us.  They are pretty excited.  They are also going to work in the yard with me, which will be epic.  Good times around here!   

  

This week...

There are two things in this picture that I could just eat up.  How funny that one of my favorite cookies could be named after my favorite fella.  Goodness.  

Last week my friend and I spent three days ripping and mudding seams on wallpaper in the church nursery.  Then we painted every surface.  We had two angels that came in one evening who helped us tremendously.  We actually painted the Team Kid room and Josh's office the week before.  We don't have an official company name, but we are officially out of business.  Our company is closed.  :-)

Saturday morning we had early flag football games.  For some reason we were not able to get breakfast together.  Imagine my surprise as I drove through McDonald's to pick up sausage biscuits and this sign greeted me.  Oh, happy day!  I usually have to get these at Starbucks, but no more.  I typically only allow myself one pumpkin spice latte a season.  We'll see how disciplined I can be with this right around the corner.  

-While dusting this week I came across this ball of gum hidden on our entertainment center.  I turned toward the couch to see three angels sitting there.  I used my past knowledge and addressed Jack right away.  I showed him this little ball of gum and asked him if he knew anything about it.  His response..."Hey, that's not my...oh wait, that was a really long time ago!"  Fred said the statue of limitations was in place in this situation.  

-Andrew's friend came over Monday morning.  It is always a blast.  I could just stand and listen to them talk to each other.  Priceless.  

We went to the grocery and they both picked up candy bars as we were leaving.  At 8:45 a.m.? Would I have let me big boys do this?!?  No way.  But these two??  Who can resist that?!?

 Precious boys riding in the horrible car shopping carts.  I despise those carts, but I sure do love these boys.

 Painting at story hour again.  What a great Monday for Andrew!!

Jack's Baptism

Jack has been asking us for the past several months about "becoming a christian".  Frankly, we kept putting him off thinking that he was too young.  He kept bringing it up.  We kept talking with him and praying for him.  A couple of weeks ago he just wouldn't let it go.  Fred and I talked to him and explained that while this was a one time prayer, his commitment was a lifetime.  We will continue to work with him as he grows.  He bowed his head and prayed.  When he opened his eyes he told us what he prayed afterwards and it was just precious.  Simple and sweet.  His childlike faith just melted my heart.  Fred baptized him Sunday.  Our family was there in support.

I remember being in the hospital room with him when he was just a few hours old.  I remember looking at his sweet face.  We had an almost three year old that had completely rocked our world. I remember praying over him and asking God just to help him love Jesus.  That's all I wanted. The three year old currently living in our house had shattered any expectations of what I thought parenting would be like.  (We did love that three year old.  We just learned a lot from him.  Grin.) Yesterday as our family and church family stood with us Jack started a new journey in Christ. Nothing magical.  Just a choice to daily follow after Jesus.  I pray that he never turns to the left or right.  I pray that he keeps a single, whole-hearted devotion to the one who created him.  I cannot wait to see what God is going to do in and through this young man of ours.

Five on Friday

1. He did it!  Best time (and worst time) ever!  Ha!  1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike and a 13.1 mile run.  It took him 7 hours and 7 minutes.  It took 2 days to rehydrate himself.  He says he never doing that again.  That's what I said after I was pregnant with Jack...
2. This is a text message conversation between my mom and me this week.  It makes me smile...

3.  Clayton asks some pretty interesting questions.  Here's his most interesting question this week:
 "Hey mom and dad, you know when Cain killed Abel...was he the only person in heaven?"  I deferred the question to the one in the family with eight years of seminary training.  Wow.
4.  Jack has been spontaneously breaking out into song and dance he has been so happy lately.  It usually occurs in the morning, but it can also be other times of the day.  I'll take it whenever I can get it.  Fred says he gets my desire to dance and his dancing skills.  It is a smile inducing combination!
5.  Andrew started Story Hour this week.  Our good friend Wade was there with us to experience it, however our other good friend Hayes was not there.  He started preschool.  Andrew asked no less than 15 times when he was coming.
Story Hour is much anticipated around our house and it did not disappoint.  We sang songs, read a story, painted and THEN rode a real school bus.  Oh, and we went to McDonald's.  I needed a nap afterwards just to catch up...not really, but you know...

Funny photo from the week...

The caption would read, "Mr. Jimmy, can I sit on your lap?!?"
Ha!!!  Mr. Jimmy is a friend from church and that is Jack sitting in his lap.  Good times!

What's up with us...

Labor Day weekend my childhood friends and I always get together.  We typically meet up in Nashville for 24 hours or so.  It is a great time.  We laugh and talk and laugh and eat and talk and laugh. We stayed up until 1:00 am just catching up.  (I haven't stayed up til 1:00 am since I had a newborn and absolutely had to get up at that awful hour.) True friendships are such a blessing.  I cherish each one in this picture.  I should note that one girl couldn't make it.  She just had a baby two weeks ago.  She was excused...even though I volunteered for the middle of the night shift.
We ate at the Chop House and then had frozen yogurt from one of those fancy yogurt places.  You know, for a girl from a small town this is a big deal.  I do love some yogurt and fruit.  We had a contest of sorts to see whose weighed the most at check out, but I will refrain from mentioning the winner.

After a long night of sleep (ha!) we headed for a little shopping and a final meal at Chuy's.  We ate here last year and several of us have been craving this dip (jalapeno ranch) since last year.  I may or may not have eaten enough of it to hold me to next year.  

Fred and the boys went to Memphis after church on Sunday.  I have no pictures from this adventure, but I'm sure everyone ate what they wanted, drank as much soda as they liked and stayed up past their bedtime.  And that's just Fred...hahaha...just kidding!

Jack had picture day this week.  He had me iron his clothes so he could look nice for his picture. He even sprayed his hair down and slicked it over.  I cannot wait for these to get back.  Cannot wait.

Clayton is super sweet, 90% of the time.  That 10% though...wow. Mornings, especially breakfast, seem to be his struggle.  After a particularly rough morning, we took away his Lego magazine (and I'll refrain from typing what he said to me).  Said that to say, he will be heading home today to plan the breakfast menu for next week.  He will spend his afternoon completing this little task.  I have four requirements:  1.  It must be healthy.
                            2.  It must be cheap.
                            3.  Everyone must like it.
                            4.  It has to be easy to prepare.
I am tempted to have him shop for the items and then wake up early to prepare them, but I will not.  He asked if this was a punishment.  I explained that it was not a punishment, merely an education.  We'll see...

A friend and I painted a room in our children's area at church.  Of course Andrew had to go with me.  This worked out well for him.  Two of his favorite things collided in this one activity:  being a helper and painting.  After five minutes of "being my helper" he was covered in paint.  We quickly declared the clothes he had on as painting clothes and just moved on.  Thankfully, after all the paint that was on him there was still enough left for the walls.  The room looks great!

Andrew still does not like the car wash.  At least he's not screaming.  I call that progress.

 Don't tell the big boys, but every time the "baby" and I go to Walmart he gets to ride this little jewel.  They did not enjoy pleasures such as this.  There are perks to being the baby, people.