Video Catch-Up

Okay, so there's been a lot to video since our last picture/video post. I guess it's time we catch up. These are for you, fans. You may want to take it slowly. I've never heard of anyone ODing on cuteness, but better safe than sorry... Don't forget to scroll down so you don't miss anything.

Clayton's mad skills on the court...

Clayton's Sunday School class's Christmas program. Have you seen a cuter wise man? Burger King crown and all!

Christmas morning. Think they were excited?

Back to normal...

The boys returned home this afternoon to find their rooms (and the entire house) back to normal and in order...YEAH!! They have both enjoyed playing with all their new toys, but especially the play dough that Uncle Dan and Aunt Tami sent them. (On a side note...when I mentioned to Melody that my boys were playing with play dough she asked where her friend was...hehehe!!) Boy, do we love play dough! Thanks Dan and Tami! Thanks also to everyone else for everything! We love our blocks, pack pack, Wii games, Legos, pajamas, books, and on and on and on!! (Katie, one would think our last name was Kenworthy instead of Shackelford!) Tonight we sat down for dinner and Jack started to say, "I want some bread with my jel-wee! I want some bread with my jel-wee!" After asking about 20 times Fred finally figured out that he wanted jelly on his cornbread. He loves it! Jelly with bread is really more accurate for Jack. Here he is thoroughly enjoying his jel-wee with bread!!

Christmas 2008

Well, you haven't heard from us in a while, but that's because we've been moving like CRAZY! Christmas with the Shacks is like that. Jennifer and I both come from big families, and that means lots of places to go for the holidays. We kicked off the parade on Christmas Eve with my grandparents, Elzie and Dottie Danley, in Jackson. We then made it back to Paris so Mr. C could make his annual visit. Mimi and T spent the night before Christmas and Christmas morning at our house, where we all enjoyed a BIG breakfast together after we opened presents. After we cleaned up everything, we all loaded into the Shackelford sleigh and headed to Memphis, where we celebrated with MawMaw, PawPaw, Grandma Beulah, Aunt Elizabeth, Uncle Zach, Aunt Tori, and Uncle Lee (for pictures, check out Elizabeth's blog). We had a great time in Memphis, but before we knew it, it was the day after Christmas and time to head to Jackson for Christmas with Jennifer's family.

We celebrated with Mimi, T, Uncle Jeffrey, Aunt Paige, Blake, Adam, Aunt Christie and Grammy on Friday evening and had fun there as well. Finally, we finished everything off on Saturday afternoon at Mun and Janice's with all of Mimi's brothers and sisters and their families. It was pretty exhausting, but fun! Jennifer and I came on back to Paris Saturday night for church on Sunday, but the boys stayed in Jackson with cousins and Mun and Janice until today. When they got home, it was like Christmas all over again. Keep checking back. We'll load a video from Christmas morning soon.

The Giving Tree Project

Here's a little video documenting this year's "Giving Tree Project," a Springhill Christmas tradition. This year we collected, prepared, and delivered (a lot of ) food and gifts to 52 needy families in our community. Each pair of boxes we delivered also had information about our church and the God we serve. Thanks to all of our church family who worked so hard to make this year's project possible.

On a side note, this year for Christmas, Jennifer, Jennifer's brother Jeff, her sister-in-law Paige, and I all decided to donate the money we'd ordinarily spend on gifts for one another to the charity of our choice. This year, we chose to go over and above our normal donation to the GTP by that amount in honor of Jeff and Paige. Thanks, guys, for being apart of what God's doing here in Paris. We love you!

Santa came to Story Hour!!!

Unfortunately, shortly after Santa came in the room Mrs. Donna announced that there were cookies to decorate. As you can see from the pictures we did not visit with Santa. We headed straight to the cookie decorating station. Mrs. Donna also told us that there were two cookies, one for the child and one for the mother. Jack heard Mrs. Donna say there were two cookies, one for the child and the other for the child...as evidenced in the below pictures. Thankfully, Mrs. Katie shared her cookie with me or I would have been left out of the Christmas cookie party!!

We did it!!

Fred, Christy (my running partner) and I headed to Memphis this weekend to run the St. Jude Half Marathon. We do not have many pictures from the race, but luckily Fred's sister caught up with us shortly after mile 7. We were smiling at the beginning and still smiling at the end!! Plans are already being made for next year! It was very emotional as we passed people holding pictures of their children and shouting thank you. One sign we passed read, "Keep running, Brandon needs a cure." Another one said, "Keep smiling, Jake always did", and it had a picture of their little boy on the sign.

Perhaps my favorite sign of the day...
I would like to encourage anyone who wants to run next year to join us. (I ran my first mile just five years ago...no excuses!!) Also, if you would like to give to St. Jude you can visit their website by clicking here.

Thanks to everyone for their encouraging words, cards and phone calls. We couldn't have done it without you!!

We would like to send out a thank you to Aiden, Lee, Zach and Pawpaw

Clayton spent an afternoon at his friend Aiden's house. He came home with this lovely skill. Over Thanksgiving Lee, Zach and Pawpaw really helped him perfect it! They have even named this skill, but I'll spare you. All I can say is hurry home Zeke we have a LOT to teach you!!

Our trip to Asheville, D.C. and Gatlinburg

We left church and headed east about a week ago. We had no destination this particular evening. Our goal was to drive as far as we could. We made it to Crossville. The next morning we left the hotel and headed to our first destination--The Biltmore in Asheville, North Carolina. Unfortunately, our camera card started acting up and we don't have any pictures from the Biltmore. I can just sum it up for you...it was a really big house. We stayed the night at Ridgecrest just outside of Asheville (for $34 a night b/c Fred is a pastor!!). Once we got settled in the hotel we headed back into Asheville for dinner at Tupelo Honey Cafe. We discovered this on foodnetwork.com with Rachael Ray. It was delicious!! I highly recommend downloading the recipe for sweet potato pancakes! After a wonderful nights rest we headed to D.C. We had a LONG drive in for an appointment at the capital. After a few tense moments we made it to our tour...an hour late. We headed into Georgetown later for dinner at an Ethopian restaurant--interesting experience. Saturday the Shackelford storm hit the city like nothing it had seen before. Here are a few pictures from the day...

We got a little turned around at one point and it seemed like every time we turned a corner we came to a new Department of Agriculture building. We took a picture of it for that reason and for our good friend Alex Bomar.

We had lunch in Chinatown.

Arlington National Cemetery

At the end of our day we headed back to the train station. It had rained on and off all day and this is what we saw when we got off the train...

We had a really full day: Arlington National Cemetery, National Archives, White House tour, Chinatown, Union Station, National Gallery of Art and the Air and Space Museum.

Sunday we woke up early for a run. Since we are both training for a 1/2 marathon we had to fit our runs in. Fred mapped out a run for us past all the major monuments and through Capital Mall. I don't have any pictures from this part of our trip, but if I did it would just be a picture of the back of Fred since that's all I saw!! After our run we headed to Capital Hill Baptist Church for worship. It was so nice to just go to church and sit by Fred. We then had lunch and headed to Gatlinburg, Tennessee where we finished our trip. A lovely cabin in the woods awaited us and we thoroughly enjoyed it! We shopped, layed around, read, ate, relaxed and didn't tour anyones home!! All and all it was a really good trip. We are so grateful for the opportunity to do something like this...thanks to all our family and friends for making it possible!!

Jack DOES NOT need any clothes!!

Yes, this is Clayton sitting by a pile of Jack's clothes. Jack was napping, thus the reason he is not sitting by the clothes...Today was around 40 degrees so I thought it might be time to get out a few warmer things for the boys. I had put a few long sleeved things and pants in both of their closets, but we needed more...ridiculous!! Can you believe this pile of clothes?? Granted, most of the clothes are things Clayton has outgrown (last season) or things people just give us. Thankfully I did not just go out and buy this many clothes. Children should not have this much "stuff", but we'll save that blog post for another day! I've said all this to say...JACK DOES NOT NEED ANY NEW CLOTHES!!!!

Fall Break

We're back to blogging!! I left my camera in Memphis when we ran the race and I just got it back. Thus, the blogging has gotten a little behind. Here we go...
We headed to Memphis with our youth for a little mini-mission trip. We had such a good time. They got to go to LeBonheur and pass out treat bags. Then we had lunch at Dyer's in downtown Memphis. It was delicious!! After that the boys and I headed to the Peabody Hotel to see the ducks and head to the roof. They really enjoyed it. Then we met up with the youth again to do a little work at Brinkley Heights. It is a school in Memphis. We helped pass out flyers in the neighborhood to help tell about the Trunk or Treat they were doing. Clayton was really excited. Here are a few pictures...After a busy day in Memphis we decided to have a little fun at Incredible Pizza. Clayton said, "It's called Incredible Pizza because it is INCREDIBLE!!" Mawmaw, Pawpaw, Lee and Tori met us here. It was a fun time full of pizza, games, go carts and mini golf!

Splash and Dash-2008

Friday night was my birthday. I turned 30! Fred thought it would be an excellent idea if we ran a race to celebrate. We ran the FitCity Splash and Dash in Memphis. Everyone minus Fred participated in the "short" race, which was a 2 mile run and a 150 yard swim. Fred did the long race...a 2 mile run, 150 yard swim and then another 2 mile run and 150 yard swim. Here we are before the race. (On a side note I would like to add something...You can see from this picture that I am slightly in front of Fred. Well, shortly after this picture was taken he asked me to please get behind him before the race started...how funny!! He thought I'd slow him down!! hehehe!) Just getting started! Fred and Corey are LONG gone!! Fred is finishing up his second half of the race...After the race we were all smiles. The s and l on our arms stands for short race and long race. Mine is still visible.
They also wrote our age on our calf muscle. I proudly told them I was 30!! Again, the 30 is still on my calf!!

Here we all are still smiling at the end! What fun!! Thanks to Fred, Renee, Tim, Dale, Liz, Zach, Tori and Lee for helping cheer us on and watching our children! What a fun weekend! I will always remember my 30th birthday party!!


Birthday cake at Neely's BBQ in Memphis...yummy!!Thanks also to all of you who called, sent cards and e-mails. You will never know how special you made this day for me!

I finally got it done...

Fred's sister took some of the most precious pictures of the boys. She ordered these huge prints to check her camera. I had them mounted on foam boad and used artist clips to hang them. She gave them to me this summer and I'm just now getting around to it! I am so pleased with them! Great work, Liz!! (Sorry the picture of the picture is not the best quality, but you get the idea!!) Thanks to Aunt Janice for taking them to Hobby Lobby and having them put on tag board and then footing the bill!!

Running, Running everywhere!

For the past two Saturdays Fred has run in a 5K. Last weekend he ran in Camden to help raise money for St. Jude. Today we both ran in a Run for the Cure 5K for Breast Cancer. As you can see below Fred went two for two. Last week he finished 3.2 miles in 24 minutes and 37 seconds, taking first prize in his age group. Today he finished 2nd in his age division (only to his work-out partner!!) with a time of 22 minutes and 58 seconds! Unfortunately, medals are not given for simply finishing so I have nothing to show other than an amazing sense of accomplishment and a smile. My running partner and I ran it in 36 minutes and we never walked, which was our major goal! My camera was not functioning today so we did not get any pictures, but one picture will always stick out in my mind. As Christy and I rounded the final corner to the finish line, Fred, Jack and Clayton were waiting and cheering. Jack started screaming my name and tried to run onto the course. Fun times!!

It's Fall at the Shackelford house!

It may be eighty degrees and I still may be wearing tank tops and shorts to work in the yard, but Monday was the first official day of Fall! We are ready! Thought you might like to see our front porch. It will look better when the mums begin to bloom in the planter, but for now this will do...

Happy Fall everyone!!

Mimi has been sewing!

Check out our new pajamas that Mimi made...she even made some for me, Jennifer. Liz, they are actually long enough!! Unfortunately, I did not get a picture of mine. Can you tell they were watching a show? Does anyone else notice the Fred Shackelford (3rd and 4th!!) stare in this picture? They must just be born with it!!

Fall Picnic at Rhea

Today at Clayton's school we had a cook out! It was so fun! We fed about 1400 people in an hour and a half. Goodness me!! You have never seen so many people or burgers! Mimi, Mun and Janice came to help. Janice helped with Jack at home and Mun and Mimi helped at school. Mimi even helped in the book fair, but I think it was more than she bargained for. What a fun day!

The Wheels on the Bus

Monday at preschool story hour we had a special treat. We got to ride a bus!! Jack was thrilled!! He just sat mesmorized...too sweet!

Guess who got into Mawmaw's make-up??????

I think we have a stinker on our hands!!

Jack now can plug in things

What do these two pictures have in common? Well, Jack now knows how to plug things in...like the iron!! I guess we will be doing a little carpet repair! When I found the iron face down on the carpet I hollared, "Jackson Harris!!"!! He came running and saw me sitting on the floor. He smiled really big, began to pat my back and said, "I sa wee (sorry) mommy." Little stinker!

A tidy and organized house...

is a sign of a mind at peace. My sister-in-law, Elizabeth, posted a blog about a clean house being a wasted life and most of the time I disagree with that statement, even though I LOVE Elizabeth (and being at her house)! By now you have seen the following picture and you must be asking yourself, "What in the world!?!" Clayton had a few friends over last night. They played hard as you can see. Caleb and Shannon spent the night last night and they all had the best time. I didn't have anywhere for all of them to sleep and then I had the genius idea of turning them sideways on the bed so they could sleep side by side. It only took them about 45 minutes to settle down and get to sleep. I woke up at 2:30 this morning and went in to check on them. They were all so sweetly sleeping, without any covers. I covered them up and noticed Clayton was holding Shannon's hair...how funny!! Sorry Jeremy and Lauren, but he loves her hair!
Breakfast of pancakes, scrambled eggs and chocolate milk...yummie!
Now Clayton and Caleb are in the shower. Caleb is singing LOUD and Clayton is laughing hysterically. Shannon will take a bath next...by herself. I asked her if she wanted to do something "girly" while the boys were showering and she looked at me like I was crazy. She is playing with all the Power Rangers and Transformers in Clayton's room while the boys shower.
Oh, and since everything is out of Clayton's closet it will be the perfect opportunity to organize and clean Clayton's closet. Fun times ahead!!

Clayton's trip to the doctor

Clayton has had a cough for about two weeks. We think it is keeping him up at night, thus making him tired in the morning...forcing him to say things like this, "School and big church are the same. They are both boring and I don't learn anything!" Again...tired. We are praying through this...but I still had to laugh on the inside.
Since this little cough has been going on for two weeks we decided he needed to go to the doctor. The nurse came in for her usual preliminary stuff. Keep in mind that he has not been to the doctor since January. This is how the conversation went...

Nurse to me: Has he been running a fever?
Me: no.
Nurse to me: You're right. He doesn't have a fever.
Nurse to me: How long has this been going on?
Me: About two weeks.
Nurse to me: Is Clayton allergic to anything?
Clayton interrupting quickly: Shots. Yes, shots. They hurt really bad and I don't like them!
Nurse: (Laughing) Okay, I will make a note of that for Dr. Minor.

Hehehehehehehehe!! He may look that Fred, but that is trademark Jennifer Merwin...Shackelford!! Makes me proud!!

Clayton's second day

In posting this little story I am simply trying to keep from having to repeat it eight times, not to give Clayton a pat on the back (even though I am proud of him)...
Last night I made pumpkin muffins so breakfast would be ready this morning. The boys got up and ate and then Clayton put on his backpack. He asked me what was in his backpack and I told him his folder was in there with his lunch money inside. He then asked me why he had to have lunch money. I told him we had to pay for the food he ate at school for lunch. Then he said, "Mommy, could we take some muffins to the ladies in the lunch room? They worked really hard yesterday getting my lunch ready and we haven't taken them anything yet." Needless to say I began packing up all the muffins and quickly attached a note. He was so proud when we took them into the cafeteria. I was tyring to fight back tears!!

First day of Kindergarten

Clayton woke up with the sweetest smile on his face this morning! He jumped out of bed, got dressed, ate breakfast, brushed his teeth and put on his backpack. He was ready to go! I thought I was going to be sad, but as we headed down the hall I heard a child crying, no wailing, because he didn't want to leave his parents. Any bit of sadness I had was wiped away and replaced with relief. I was so thankful Clayton was excited and not crying! He's going to have a great year!

What does it take to go to kindergarten???

...apparently, a lot!!!!!(You can't tell from the picture, but they know his name is not Clayton Mitchell. His last name is written in small letters beside his first name. Mitchell is his teacher's name. He has to wear this name tag everyday so people will know where he belongs.)

PARIS SPECIAL SCHOOL DISTRICT
STUDENT SUPPLY LIST
2008-09

W.G. RHEA SCHOOL

KINDERGARTEN
8 glue sticks
1 pair metal scissors
1 package small plain pencils
6 boxes crayons (basic colors)
1 bottle glue
2 folders with pockets
1 box gallon size zipper bags
1 box quart zipper bags
1 box sandwich bags
1 large backpack
1 towel for rest time
3 boxes tissue
2 large bottles hand sanitizer
1 large package baby wipes

Check, check and double check...We have it all packed. Our clothes are laid out and our camera batteries are charged. Kindergarten here we come...

Oh, and I failed to mention that he is supposed to know all his letters, how to count to 50, his address, his phone number, his parents names (believe it or not this was the hardest) and how to spell his name. He will also have to each lunch at a table with 60 other kiddos. Hopefully his ketchup needs will be met!!