Five on Friday

1.  We have gotten a lot of produce from the garden this year, but the one plant that has given and given and given is our hot pepper plant.  While we like a hot pepper like the next person, 10 per day is a little much.  Fred decided to use those peppers this week to make pepper relish.  My family would call it too hot, but this house calls it delicious.  Seriously, I have been craving it.  It is good on beans, chicken, hamburgers, a cracker...yum!!  If you ever come over for dinner be sure to ask for the pepper relish.  You won't be sorry! 
2.   Since we have been in this house we have known that the electrical box was on its last leg.  Well, this week it went out.  Completely.  Nothing.  We lost power in the front part of the house as well as the air conditioning.  The picture below may not look like much to you, but to me and Fred is says Happy Birthday, Merry Christmas, Happy Anniversary, Happy Easter, Happy Valentine's Day, Happy Kwanza, Happy Hanukkah, and anything in between for the next year. HeHeHe!  Just kidding!!  Surely, I'll get him something for Christmas?!?

3.  At Clayton's school when you are in the third grade you are presented with the opportunity to sign up for strings class to take during school hours.  He opted to take the class.  He is supposed to practice 1 1/2 hours a week, with a minimum of 30 minutes a week.  Fred and I are rooting for 30 minutes a week.  We do love the songs "Hot Cross Buns" and "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star."
4.  I make homemade waffles with whole wheat flour and pure grade B maple syrup.  Jack likes them, but I've never garnered the following response...While at my parents house my mom served Jack frozen waffles (toasted of course) with pancake syrup.  He stood up and sang, "Praise God for waffles! Praise God for waffles!" ...in his best church choir voice.  Maybe I should stop trying!?!

5.  You may be asking what the above picture is?!?  Well, it's sharpee...on my bedroom wall...I'm sorry...my freshly painted walls.  Yes, Andrew tried to express himself artistically on my walls with a sharpee.  He also colored on another section of the wall, his face, his arms, his ears and his legs.  I'm not laughing yet, but I'm sure in a couple of months I will.

Five on Friday

1.  Fred is training for an Olympic Distance Triathlon and a marathon.  As part of that training he has been riding his bike with a group of guys.  Today they will be completing a 50 mile bike ride through LBL (Land Between the Lakes).   
2.  Meals started back at church on Wednesday night this week.  It was great to be back with my "family".  We had Poppyseed Chicken, mashed potatoes, corn, green beans, rolls and dessert.  My friend gave me an awesome dessert recipe.  You should try it: 
Dip Chips Ahoy cookies in milk.  Line a 9x13 pan with the cookies.  Top with a layer of cool whip.  Repeat cookies, cool whip, cookies, cool whip and then drizzle with hot fudge.  Place in the freezer overnight.  And then...try it!  It will not disappoint!
3.  As a part of Clayton's P.E. program this year at school he gets to swim at least once a week.  He got to swim this week for the first time and was so excited!  His P.E. teacher coaches a swim team that meets twice a week after school.  We will be signing up.  Paris Piranhas here we come!! 
4.  Jack forgot his name tag at church Tuesday when we were cooking, but he did not realize this until Wednesday morning as we were leaving for school.  For fifteen minutes he repeated that he wanted/needed his name tag.  I tried to reason with him.  I tried to convince him it was okay.  I was compassionate...for 13 minutes.  Did I mention this lasted 15 minutes?  Needless to say a.l.l. of our neighbors heard me tell Jack to get in the car.   I could not get his name tag before school.  It was a rough morning.
5.  We spent time in Memphis last weekend.  Since then Andrew has been asking for Zackey all week  (a.k.a. Zachary, our nephew).  "Where Zackey go?"  "When Zackey comin?"  "I go play with Zackey now?"  Too sweet. 

Five on Friday

1.  Fred was presented with the opportunity to represent the Tennessee Baptist Convention at a new school in Haiti that our convention has built.  He will get to go for the weekend for the dedication of the school.  

2.  Andrew and I have been here alone this week during the day.  It's a new season for me.  I've had a couple of recipes I've wanted to try, so I did.  One of my favorites was peanut butter honey bars.  When I make them next time I will add crushed peanuts instead of sesame seeds.  To view the recipe, click here.  ( I also made homemade pudding and and then froze it to make pudding pops...YUM!!  I'm experimenting with it more this week.)

3.  Clayton seems to be adjusting to his new school.  This week when I picked him up from school he told me all the teachers knew his name.  I asked why and he said, "I guess they know me because they all wanted me in their class."  Oh, to have his confidence!

4.  Jack's school serves breakfast and lunch.  We only eat lunch.  I fix breakfast...every...day.  Tonight he informed me that he has been eating breakfast at school.  

This is how our conversation went:

Me:  You ate breakfast at school?

Jack: Yes. (with a grin and a chuckle)

Me:  You ate breakfast at home.  Remember?  You had bagels and eggs.

Jack:  Yes, I remember, but it's good and it's free. (grin and chuckle)

Me:  No, it's not free.  I will get a bill for breakfast.

Jack:  Well, they let me eat and it was good!

5.  Andrew and I have spent a lot of time together this week.  I've loved it!  I could literally follow him around to just watch and listen.  He loves popcicles.  I love the way he says popcicle.  Thought I'd record it for my benefit. 

 

First day of school

Doesn't he look big?!?  What is it about the start of a new school year that makes my children look so grown up so quickly??  Sunday they looked like normal eight and five year old boys and then Monday morning...oh my!  Neither of my boys wanted me to walk them in to their schools.  I asked several times and in several ways, but they both declined my services.  I'm okay with it....after I briefly teared up.   

 Jack was so excited he ate breakfast with his back pack on.  We still had 30 minutes before leaving for school.  Once I told him about the 30 minutes he still kept his back pack on.  He even kept that smile.  Whew...he's so grown up!!  I'm not sure what happened to my shy, timid little (well, always big) fella.

We are looking forward to a great year, believing that God will use us as a family.  Being involved in our children's schools is one of the greatest blessings we have had as parents.  I cannot wait to see what God will do this year! 

Five on Friday

1.  Thursday was the big guys birthday.  We celebrated with a cookie cake at Dairy Delight on Wednesday.  Then Thursday night we went to dinner in Murray, KY at Jasmine.  Yum!  So glad Fred had a birthday!

 2.  As I've mentioned before, this summer I've been working at the Adult Education Center this summer.  People come for all different reasons: tutoring for the GED test, college classes, plant entrance exams, nursing school test, etc.  Right about the time I started a lady (about my mom's age) came for help in math to get a job at a factory.  When she came to the center she was at a sixth grade level in math.  She left this week working past a twelfth grade level in math.  Yeah!
3.  Clayton does not pass out compliments.  If he doesn't mean it he doesn't say it.  After he spent some time with some of our teenagers at church he said, "Mom, you know I really like them.  They are so nice to me.  Not all teenagers are nice to me."  High praise from Clayton.
4.  We go eat (usually Dairy Delight) with our Paris parents/grandparents every week.  We've gone now for seven years.  Jack went to Dairy Delight straight from the hospital...not really, but almost.  He celebrated his last day at DD this week.  He will start kindergarten Tuesday and won't be able to go anymore until next summer. 

5.  Andrew says cute stuff all the time.  I was in the car with him this week and he was talking.  I finally understood/listened to what he was saying and I heard, "I wuvs you mama.  I wuvs you mama. I wuvs you mama."  Melt my heart.  

This week he has started requesting his favorite television program, Dinosaur Train.  He loves that show.  He will bring me the remote and say, "Dinosaur, peas."

He was with me in the bathroom while I was getting ready Wednesday.  I turned out the light when I finished.  When the bathroom went dark Andrew said, "Oh no!  What happened?!?" 

Clayton's first Triathlon

Clayton competed in his first ever triathlon this weekend here in Paris.  It was super hot, but he did great!  He swam 100 meters (doing the back stroke!), biked 3 miles and ran a half a mile and he was still smiling at the finish  We were/are so proud of him!
It was so hot and humid that morning that my camera lens fogged up for our family picture.  Boo.

 

 Jumping in the pool to start the race...

Back stroking it through the swim...

 

Exiting the pool, heading to the bike transition area...

 

This is probably my favorite picture of the day.  Fred is standing behind the "bike in" sign.  See him?  He's the tall, bald and strikingly handsome fella in the florescent yellow shirt.  He was a volunteer in the bike transition area and he helped all the kiddos coming in and heading out.  The kiddo running out is Clayton and Fred is watching him the entire way.  I can't see Fred's face, but I'm sure he is shouting encouraging words to Clayton to cheer him on.  Sweet.   

 This little fella was hot.  He kept pouring water over his head. 

 It is really difficult to get 30 plus children to look in the same direction at the same time.  Below is a picture of our Kids Triathlon Club, Tri-Eiffel-etes, here in Paris.  We are so grateful to Tony Lawrence and the parks department for starting this club and for their hard work in pulling off this event.  It was a major undertaking for him!  We are also thankful for a community that invests in the lives of young people by providing opportunities to train up this generation to be healthy and active. 

 

Redneck Island

We loaded up and headed to Redneck Island last week in Buchanan, TN (20 minutes from our house).  We took a friend and had some friends meet us at the lake.  You know I love a deal and RDI offers a special in the afternoon from 3 to 7.  Redneck Island is several pontoon boats stuck together in the middle of the lake with a bunch of water toys surrounding the "island".  (You can get more details here.)  I thought we would stay for the full 4 hours, but we only make it about 3.  It was exhausting, but so much fun!  Needless to say no one had trouble sleeping that night!!

 This picture does not convey all the fun things that were inside the play area.  The big thing you are looking at is a water trampoline with launchers on each side.  The boys would get out on one edge of the launcher and Fred would jump on the other end to send our boys about 15 feet in the air.  They loved it!  Fred tried to "launch" me, but we were unsuccessful.  Bummer.  Wish I had pictures of the launch in action, but I couldn't get my camera out in the water.

 Here is one tired little redneck...

We had a great time at Redneck Island and would highly recommend it to anyone wanting a little afternoon of fun...right here in Henry County!!