Six on Friday

We have six this week because my precious nephew is spending a few days with us while his dad (my brother) hunts with my other nephew. 
1.   The bathroom is ALMOST finished!!  We lack the sink top, the mirror over the vanity and the faucet.  We've had to wait three days before we could fire up the shower.  Today is its maiden voyage.  We are pretty excited about it.  (Once all the components are in place I'll try to post pictures.)
2.  Fred and I had a date night scheduled last night.  The sitter was on her way, plans were made and then...Jack got sick. Bummer for everyone:  us, Jack and the sitter. :-(  We have a 9:15 doctor's appointment.  It must be the holidays! 
3.  Clayton got to go with his good buddy to Nashville to see ICE at Opryland Hotel.  He also got to spend about 2 hours in the Lego Store at Opry Mills.  I'm pretty sure it was 2 of the best hours of his life.  (Thanks to our friend for these awesome pictures!!)

4.  After picking up my nephew we went to lunch with Mimi at Logan's.  The bigger boys split a chicken finger plate.  I asked A how many chicken fingers he would eat.  He answered back with a confident 5.  The picture below is all he ate.  The big fella over his left shoulder could not have been more pleased with this lunch.  All is working well for Jack!

5.  This is as close as we've gotten to Santa this year.  The only reason he got this close was to get the present that's in his hand.  I think he looks thrilled, don't you?!?  Andrew is very concerned about Santa coming to his house.

6.  My nephew has been staying with us this week for a few days.  Have you ever seen the book series, Fred and Ted?  That is what my nephew and Jack look like.  They have had a blast together!  I made donuts for them the first morning and everyone was elated!

Five on Friday

1.  The bathroom renovation, turned remodel, turned bigger than we planned, is going along great!  Tile is in.  Paint is on the walls.  If everything continues to move on schedule we should be in it by Christmas! 

2. I have been dreaming of this moment for a long time.  Pretty much since I heard the words, "It's a boy."  I pulled in the driveway, turned off the car and opened the back hatch of the car.  I went inside and said, "Boys, there are groceries in the car.  Get to it!"  In about 2.5 minutes they were all inside.  Now just to work with them on unloading. :-)

 

 

3.  The Hobbit is coming out as a movie.  Clayton saw the preview and was very interested.  We told him if he read the book he could go to the movie.  I put it on his Kindle, but he hasn't really seemed interested...until his friend invited him to his birthday party.  Guess what they're going to see?!?  Yes, The Hobbit.  Clayton read that entire book in a little under a week.  He even got so excited about book that he stayed up past his bedtime to finish it. 
4.  Jack has been under stress because of a "bossy girl" in his class.  He does not like bossy girls.  I tried to explain to him that this was just a defect of our kind, but he still wasn't too thrilled.  I don't know her name, I just politely and respectfully refer to her as "bossy girl".  This week I asked Jack how things were going with "bossy girl".  He replied, "Great!  She lost her voice." 
5.  Andrew does not like Santa Claus.  Someone asked him this week if Santa was coming to his house.  He looked over at me with great fear and shook his head no.  I don't think he gets it. 

1.  I try really hard, but when someone falls (unless they are elderly or seriously injured) I can't help but laugh.  Even my own children.  It's bad.  Fred came in from a run this week with his hand and knee covered in blood.  He had fallen in the same spot that he fell a few weeks ago.  I should be sympathetic, right?  No, I laughed.  Still at this moment I am snickering at the thought of 6 feet 5 inches of man sailing through the air.  Andrew laughs when someone falls, so it must be genetic.  Right?!? 
2.  Helen used to sing when she was working around the house.  While the boys and I were at her "hotel" for Christmas they had a DJ in the dining room.  He started playing Frank Sinatra's New York, New York.  She immediately recognized it and started singing.  I briefly closed my eyes.  Listening to her sing transported me back to when she was at home fluttering around the house cleaning and singing.  Precious memories. 

3.  One morning this week I asked Jack repeatedly to get ready for school.  He was in the back.  I finally asked him what he was doing.  Clayton was at the table and said, "He's in the back looking for a relic from my kindergarten year."  What??  A relic?!?  Sure enough Jack came out of the back with a "relic" from Clayton's kindergarten year. 
4.  Jack has asked several times why we don't hang lights at our house.  While he's at school today Fred is buying lights to hang on our house for him.  I can't wait to see his face!!  Move over Clark Griswold!
5.  Last week at Dairy Delight I asked Andrew where he wanted to sit...meaning location in the restaurant.  He looked up at me and said, "By you."  Be still my heart. 

Lots of updates!!!

Upon looking at the pictures on my phone I realized I am quite behind on my updates.  This may get lengthy, but here goes...

Fred and Renee sent me home with all the leftovers from Thanksgiving.  I took this as a challenge to use them all and not waste anything.  Here are a few of the meals we had:

On the left is creamed turkey over corn pudding with green beans and strawberry salad.  Creamed turkey is kind of like chicken and dumplins without the dumplins.  It is traditionally served over cornbread, but since I had leftover corn pudding I served it over that instead.  Yum!  

The photo in the middle is Turkey and Wild Rice soup, again delicious.  

The far right is leftover pork tenderloin with egg and cheese on a roll.  We ate this for breakfast.  My only regret is that we did not have 2 for each person.  

I made a pot of corn chowder as well, but failed to get a picture.  We also had a meal of straight leftovers and then I froze what was left at that point.  We will have Thanksgiving meal again this week.

What fun for me!  It was truly the gift that just kept on giving!!

 Our bathroom is still underway.  Thankfully, reinforcements came today in the form of Chris Martin Construction.  The picture on the right is the progress they made this morning.  The photo on the left is leftover wallpaper from when we moved in.  When I saw it it made me wonder why we ever painted the bathroom in the beginning...ha...just kidding.  Is that not hideous?!?  But yet, strangely in style?!? 

 Saturday we ran 13.1 miles for St. Jude.  This is our 4th year to run and it is always a joy!  As long as my legs and knees hold up I hope to run for St. Jude in Memphis at the beginning of December.  At least that's what I'm saying today.  Saturday round about mile 9 I was really questioning my sanity.  I relate it to childbirth.  I promise myself I'm not going to do it next year, but by Tuesday, I've forgotten all those promises and I'm left with a feeling of satisfaction.  I got a picture of me and Fred before and after the race.  It was the perfect day for a run through Memphis.

 Last but not least...my favorite part of running long distances...carb loading!!  Yes, I dream about this day.  My running partner and I split the box below (well, and we shared with our family a little as well).  It is from Muddy's Bake Shop (highly recommend!!).  Yes, you are seeing 3 cupcakes, a piece of cake, a macaroon and a piece of toffee.  Worth every bit of training!!  I also had a burger on 2 pieces of thick white bread with a side of macaroni and cheese.  All for the race, of course. hehe!!  My friend told me for someone my size I sure do know where good food is.  My philosophy on food is that food is fuel and if you are going to fuel up, make it good.  I'll see you next year, Muddy's Bake Shop!!

Just a funny story from the race.  It was hot and once you run a half marathon you are pretty yucky.  My friend and I got a tip on some "nice" showers at Auto Zone park.  She even came manned with a towel.  We found these nice showers, walked in and then...noticed they were community showers.  Community showers.  As in, a cinder block room with 7 shower head sticking out of the wall.  Not my definition of "nice".  I looked at my friend and said, "I'm out."  Not doing it.  She laughed and we both left that locker room as stinky as we entered!  Ha!