McMinnville City Triathlon

After spending the night at my brother's house we headed to McMinnville, Tennessee for my first triathlon. The race consisted of a 200 meter swim, 11.5 mile bike ride and a 2 mile run. Here we are right before the race began. Some of our friends from Paris came to race as well: Ray and Rhonda Compton and Melody and her family. You can't tell from the picture, but I was REALLY nervous at this point!!

I am in the blue swim cap. I included this picture because moments later this big guy to my left swam on top of me. It was awesome.



The entire family after the race. The boys are pointing to their numbers because they are about to compete in their triathlon.
We had three families from Paris at the race. If you take the Paris Post Intelligencer with you and capture a picture they will print it in the paper. Stay tuned for that!
The boys are waiting for their race to begin.
Clayton is running as fast as he can. He totally has Fred's sense of competition.

Jack grinned the entire time he was racing. We was intense. We had to tell him the race was over before he stopped running. Too cute!
Once everything was over we got to swim at the city pool in McMinnville. There were three water slides and several water features. It was a great city pool. I highly recommend it!
I convinced Clayton to jump off the high dive. He was a little timid, but he did it. I was so proud of him! He got to do it twice and then we had to leave.
After the race they served peanut butter sandwiches, bananas, oranges and BBQ sandwiches. I was hungry, but I can't eat BBQ after a race. Other people were literally shoveling BBQ and slaw at 10:30 in the morning!! Whew...I just took a peanut butter sandwich, banana and some oranges. I later went back and they were all out of BBQ. When we finally left we were all hungry. On the recommendation of my brother we stopped at the most amazing restaurant! Fred and I split a Chicken Pesto Pizza and a Greek salad. If you are ever on I-24 around exit 111 you should stop at J & G Pizza. It is awesome!!

Five on Friday

1. Fred had the big boys by himself for a few days while I was gone. They did "boy stuff" as Jack told me. We still have a tent set up in our backyard as a result of this "boy stuff". I think they had lots of fun!

2. My triathlon is this weekend! I am so excited about it! My goal is to finish...FINISH! Right now I'm feeling pretty good about meeting my goal. I'm sure there will be a post on my race some time this weekend. Keep your fingers crossed!

3. Clayton and I (and Jack) played Chutes and Ladders this week. On his own he began adding all the numbers. For example he would be on space 15 and spin 6. Instead of counting out six spaces he would add 15 and 6 in his head and then move to the appropriate spot. He loved it and continued to add like this until he eventually won the game. Impressive!!

4. Jack is generally a happy fella. Lately when he gets excited about something (it doesn't take much) he does the cutest thing. He does a fist pump and says, "Yes!" in a whispery voice. It is just priceless!! For example this response is evoked when I tell him we are having toast for breakfast or that we are going to the grocery store together...simple things, but he gets so excited!

5. Andrew and I made it fine to Sioux Falls for my cousins graduation. He did not sleep well in the motel and by Saturday evening he was running a low grade fever. He did not feel good at all. In fact he cried most of the way home. When we walked through the door of our house he flashed the most precious grin when he saw his brothers. He was so glad to see them! FYI-he had/has an ear infection in both ears.

Trip to Sioux Falls for graduation

After we celebrated the end of school we all parted ways. Fred went back to Paris. He was heading to Nashville with a group from our church to help with flood clean up. The boys and I headed to Memphis. We all slept in Memphis Friday night. Saturday we spent the day in Memphis then Mimi and Tee met us at the Shackelford's house later that day. Renee drove Mimi, Tee, Andrew and me to the airport and we flew to South Dakota. The big boys stayed in Memphis until Sunday and then were returned to Paris. Whew! That was a lot of moving around!! On to our trip...below Andrew is pictured during his first plane ride.

Here is the entire crew ready for the graduation ceremonies!

Thanks to Lynn, Jim and Richard for being such wonderful hosts!

Awards Day and Family Celebration

Clayton's school has Award's Day each year. The picture below is Clayton doing his best attempt to not smile. We are so proud of him and all he has accomplished academically. More than academics though, we are proud of the young man he is maturing into. Way to go Clayton!

After a hard year at school is there a better way to celebrate than an intense game of laser tag?!? We hit the laser tag place in Jackson after school Friday for a fun game!

Last day of First grade

Today is the last day of school for Clayton. Where has it gone?!? Since it was the last day of school we decided to let Clayton pick where he would like to go to breakfast. He picked the donut shop close to our house. Good choice! He and Jack picked a chocolate covered donut filled with chocolate icing and chocolate milk to drink. (Wow, does that make us the worst parents ever?!?)

Five on Friday

1. Fred and I love beef from Alex and Gail's cows. We bought a 1/4 of a cow over a year ago from them. It was a large cow and it took up 2/3 of a large freezer. We are down to two packages. I just got a text that our cow (processed of course) has arrived! Fred will be so excited! There is nothing like a fresh steak from Alex and Gail's farm!
2. Andrew and I are leaving for Sioux Falls, South Dakota for my cousin's high school graduation. We are going with my parents. Up until last week we were going to drive (13 hours), but thankfully we found a great deal on some airline tickets!! Sioux Falls here we come!!

3. Clayton found out yesterday who his teacher will be next year for second grade. He really wanted this teacher based on her test scores and classroom management skills...HA!! The real reason, we've determined, is that she's young and cute!! Bless his heart! Or maybe bless our hearts!
4. I got a new cell phone this week. Jack thinks it's awesome. How do I know this? Every time I use the phone he says, "Mom, your new phone is awesome! Can I hold it?" Sometimes he's hard to read. ;-)
5. Andrew woke up Wednesday morning with his first tooth! On a related note...I told Fred Tuesday night that Andrew was growing up too quickly. I decided I was going to call him Peter Pan so he would never grow up. Fred assured me of the fact that little boys that don't grow up are definitely not called Peter Pan, but something entirely different that we don't want him called. Who wouldn't want to keep this little precious little?!?

The first of many...

With three boys (four if you count Fred) I knew we would have some mishaps around the house. We have a rip in our couch, crayon on a wall, dirt everywhere, etc. etc, but this is a first. You may be asking what is the above picture? Well, it's cracked sub floor. Yes, cracked sub floor. Now you may be asking...how did that happen? I'm glad you asked. It seems that when little boys jump from the top of the slide and land just perfectly they can break the floor. When this happens the parents of the house have to crawl under the house to check the floor, take up base boards, remove carpet padding and pull back the carpet to check the damage. Once they have assessed the damage they have to fix it. I'm just going to say...It's the first of many!! But from now on, if you come to my house to play, please don't jump off the top of the slide. It's a new rule. Thanks.

Five on Friday

Friday is here again! How does it get here so quickly?!?

1. Since we've been at Springhill Fred has wanted to get his sermons on a podcast. Sunday morning our sound guy had a new device for him to try. Fred (and all of us) are proud to announce that you can now listen to his sermons online at our website. Click here to view your listening options.

2. I got a new bike this week. After suffering through last week with trying to clip in and eventually just riding my mountain bike my precious husband found me a road bike. He even drove to Camden to get it for me. I took our bikes to Murray yesterday for a tune up. I never thought I'd say this, but I'm really excited about riding it! Hopefully, I won't fall off!?! Stay tuned for that update...

3. Clayton has one more week of first grade! Didn't I just take him to his first day of preschool yesterday?!? He is growing and maturing into such a precious young man. He constantly amazes me with his insights into life and how he just "gets" certain things. I'll have to stop now or I might tear up.

4. Jack and Clayton were in the front yard when I was trying to clip in to Melody's bike. I fell over several times, with the boys watching. Since then I have been riding my mountain bike. Wednesday Jack and I went for a spin around the circle on our bikes. Jack was pedaling behind me and shouting, "You're doing a good job Mom!! You're not even falling off! Good job, Mom!!" I'm sure all the neighbors heard it and wondered why I am just now learning to ride a bike.

5. Andrew has reached his grabbing stage. He grabs everything and eventually gets it to his mouth. We call him grabby-goo. It is so funny to see the sheer determination on his face when he wants to grab something. Sunday I was loading him for church in his carrier. I set him on the table in his carrier and ran back to my room to get something. When I got back he had grabbed my plant and pulled a leaf off. Yes, he was grinning and eating it. (The plant was not poisonous.) He's come a long way from gagging on his rice cereal, hasn't he?!?!

Five on Friday

Happy Friday everyone!

1. Fred will be starting a new sermon series: I 2 Us. It is a series about the family that will begin on Mother's Day and conclude on Father's Day. Come join us at Springhill. It's going to be a great time!

2. I am registered to run my first triathlon at the end of May. Swim...no problem. Run...in the bag. Bike...yikes!! Yes, that's correct. I am really nervous about the bike portion. I'll have to admit I'm also a little nervous about doing them all together. Melody and I went for a ride yesterday. Did I say we went for a ride?!? No, we did not. I fell off my bike multiple times (in the parking lot) and asked her to take me home before the long list of expletives running through my head made it out of my mouth.

3. Clayton's teacher has just been precious this year. Each six weeks he takes what is called a STAR reader test. Last six weeks his score did not improve. He missed almost a week of school, had spring break and then took it when he returned. Well, this week he took it again and his score jumped an entire grade level. His teacher was so excited she had him call me from school. What a blessing it was to hear her excitement and his as they celebrated his score!

4. Since Jack was sick on Tuesday I did not get to teach at the tutorial. Aunt Janice, Mun and Mimi usually keep them. Fred was in Jackson Tuesday so he picked up a few things from Aunt Janice's house. One of those things was an envelope with JACK written on it. Jack was so excited to find a "ticket". He went around the house and proclaimed, "Look what Aunt Janice gave me...a hundred thousand dollars!!" A hundred thousand is his new favorite number. I didn't have the heart to explain the difference.

5. We have this Leap Frog drum at the house. It plays music and lights up when you hit it. Just this week Andrew seems to be hitting it and understanding what he's doing. It is too precious!

Andrew and Jack Update

Andrew is eating much better. He likes food now. While the rest of us were eating dinner I game him a graham cracker. He loved it. You can't really tell from the pictures below, but he thoroughly enjoyed it!!My sweet Jack is sick. He and I had a "lock-in" last night. I was talking to him this morning and turned around and this is what I found...
At 2:00 a.m. I was up helping him as he was getting sick. He was so drowsy. Once it was over he said in a very sleepy voice, "Thanks mom" and drifted back to sleep. He is the most grateful child, even when he's sick and even in the middle of the night! Precious!