Five on Friday

1.  Fred recorded one minute devotions for a radio station here in town.  They will be aired every day, beginning the first Monday in February.  Tune in to 94.1 to hear the, "Word from the Hill".  Good times.
2.  I booked our vacation spot for this summer.  I'm pretty pumped.  Look out beach here I come!
3.  I took lunch to Clayton's teacher for her birthday today.  I asked Clayton if he wanted me to eat with him since I was at school.  He said yes.  I sometimes wonder how much longer he will want me to eat lunch with him?!?  I hope forever.
4. Jack and Clayton had their swim meet last week.  Jack won first place in the breast stroke, but I will not remember that.  What I will remember is every time he bobbed out of the water he was smiling at me as I cheered him on at the end of his lane.  It makes my throat tighten just thinking about it now. 
5.  Andrew told me this week, "Mys ready to get our of my bed."  It was really sweet.  He also spoke loudly (i.e. yelled disrespectfully), but we won't talk about that.

Five on Friday

1.  Tuesday I had chicken and dumplings on the menu.  I cooked a chicken all day in the crock pot and had every intention of coming home to fix them for the boys, but I didn't get home in time.  In between swim practice, hair cuts and me going to work I gave Fred verbal instructions on how to make them.  He knocked it out of the park!!  I think one of his new names may be "The-Mean-Lean- Chicken Dumplin-Making-Machine!!"
2.  Fred sent me a text this week that said, "I have an idea.  Call me when you get the boys to school."  My heart skipped a beat.  I called him immediately and he began discussing the possibility of synching our calendars electronically.  What?!?  I told him the next time he sent me a message that he "had an idea" it better be something with the words weekend getaway, pack your bag, cruise, dinner out or night off!
3.  Clayton and Jack have their last swim meet this weekend.  Clayton came home from swim team practice and reported that he had been working on going super fast this weekend.   
4. Thursday morning as we were about to walk out the door for school I saw the picture below...

Yes, Jack's jeans are on backwards.  No, he did not notice or care.  I made him turn them around and he was more bothered with turning them around than with wearing them backwards!  
5.  Andrew and I get to hang out a lot during the day while the big boys are at school.  He really (apparently) likes to be around me.  When he looses sight of me in the house he comes to find me saying, "Where ares you Mama?  I can't see you!  Mama! Mama!  I can't see you!"  I think I will use this on him when he's a teenager.

Five on Friday

1.  After praying for a car for several months God placed on in our path.  We debated on keeping this Jeep as an extra vehicle, but decided it would just not be cost effective.  The Jeep has been a member of our family for 10 years.  It has been a good car.  We officially sold it Monday.  I'm not sure, but as Fred changed the oil for the last time I think he might have shed a tear.  We brought Clayton home from the hospital in that car, ya'll.  sniff.  sniff.
2.  After talking over a few adult matters Fred and I determined that we needed to institute "quiet time" around here from 3:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.  Some of us are happier about this than others.  Quiet time means no electronics.  You have to play with actual toys, read a book or work on homework.  I think this is a wonderful idea and it has worked beautifully this week.
3.  During quiet time this week I told Clayton I'd like to introduce him to the game RACK-O.  I told him this Monday.  We didn't get to play it until Wednesday.  We started around 4:50 p.m. (quiet time).  After playing three rounds Clayton realized it was after 5:00 p.m.  He jumped up and proclaimed that he was going to play the DS.  He then said, "I've been looking forward to this all day!"  Then he turned and saw me putting up the game.  He came back over, smiled, ruffled my hair and said, "Of course I was looking forward to playing this game with you too mom."  Melt my heart.  
4.  I told Jack to go get clothes on so we could drive to McDonald's for a breakfast treat.  He came back with his favorite pair of yellow shorts on and nothing else.  When I told him he could not wear that he grinned really big and asked why.  I told him it was too cold to wear shorts and nothing else.  He came back in the kitchen with his Christmas pajama bottoms, a camo shirt (backwards) and his tennis shoes with no socks.  I wish I had taken a picture of the entire crew.  We were quite the spectacle...including me.  When we got to McD Jack asked why we couldn't go inside to play.  All I could do was look around the car and laugh!
5.  Andrew announced to me that he "wanted to tee tee on the potty."  Having already potty trained two little boys I knew this was too good to be true, but he actually did it!  I put big boy underwear on him and he had a few accidents, but I think we are close.  One problem though is that he can't reach the potty.  So, when he needs to go he grabs his step stool, runs through the house and says, "tee tee's coming, tee tee's coming!"  It's pretty comical. 

Christmas Update and End of the 2011

Whew!!  December was a blast, but it is kind of a blur.  It came in with a bang and left with a bang.  So long 2011!  I just got used to writing 2011 a month ago!  With Christmas being on a Sunday we are kind of limited with our ability to travel.  Thank goodness we have understanding families.  Our Christmas celebrations started the week before Christmas with a celebration at Fred's grandparents house in Jackson.  We did an up and back that Saturday.  The big boys didn't get out of school until Wednesday, but once they were out of school the party began!!  Mimi, Tee, Mun and Janice all came here Saturday to spend the night.  We had a delicious steak dinner, opened some presents and then called it a night. 

Remember Jack asking for Doritos for Christmas??  Well, my Aunt Leeta gave him three bags.  Upon opening the present with the three bags Jack abandoned all present opening and commenced eating Doritos.  I have not laughed that long in a while!!


My mom takes the boys shopping every Christmas so they can buy presents for us and for each other.  Good idea, right?!?  Jack gave Fred Duct tape and he gave me Chap Stick.  He could not have been more excited to see us open our presents!!  It was priceless!!

Clayton got me kitchen shears because he told my mom I am ALWAYS in the kitchen.  Imagine that!!
 

Breakfast preparation Christmas morning

The whole crew...





Sunday morning (Christmas!) the boys got up (at 2 am, 4 am and ) at 6:00 a.m.  We opened presents, ate a wonderful breakfast, and headed to church.  After church we ate lunch and Janice had the wonderful idea to help put up our Christmas decorations while they were all here.  What a great idea!! 


Monday morning we loaded up for the beach to meet up with these people:

 Yes, that is the entire Shackelford crew...including 2 week old Eli and Grandma Beulah and Papa Ray!  We stayed in a beach house in Fort Morgan, Alabama for a week and it was delightful!!  We shopped, ate, visited the fort, ate, played on the beach, ate, went to the Track and ate!  (We won't discuss weight gains over the week!)  Sunday (New Year's Day) when we rolled out to head home we stopped in Fairhope, Alabama to go to church.  When we got there I thought I smelled a funny smell, but we just figured it was something in the area.  Well, about 30 minutes down the road we realized something was terribly wrong with our car.  I won't go into all the details, but God took care of us every step of the way!  We ended up spending the night in Saraland, Alabama and got back to Jackson Monday night (with the car not totally fixed, but good enough to make it home).  We stayed in Jackson since I had to teach Tuesday and someone was scheduled to fix our car.
Lucky for us Elizabeth went on the trip so we got a few priceless pictures!!

 How much fun is this picture below?!?  I love everything about it!  I think it will make me smile for years to come!

For the new year I typically don't make resolutions.  While this is not a resolution I am doing two things:  keeping up with how many loads of laundry I do in a year and counting to see how many solicitations I receive from Charter Communications.  (I currently have Dish Network and AT&T.  I am also not remotely interested in switching, but they must think I am.)
When I told Fred what I was doing he replied by saying, "Well, in 2012 I'm planning to tell people about the Lord."  Snarf.  Snarf.  There's one in every crowd!  Praise be to the Lord for giving us another year to serve him!  We look forward to 2012 and all it holds!