This week...

-My dad's birthday was this week.  We headed to Jackson to celebrate.  We also tried to get a picture, which proved to be an almost impossible task, but thankfully we prevailed...barely.

We also enjoyed a piece of German Chocolate cake.  It was beyond delicious.  I actually ate another piece the next day for lunch.  There was half a cake left.  I couldn't leave half of a cake for two people.  That would be too much, so I tried to do my part.  I'm a giver like that.

-Last week the boys attended Aunt Janice Academy on Friday.  I got this picture with the following explanation...
When school is completed they can go to Chuck E. Cheese.  I call that motivation!

Aunt Janice also surprised the boys with a mystery trip.  When she told the boys they were going on a mystery trip Jack wanted to know if they were going to Hawaii.  Not quite.  Pinson Mounds is a fun place.  It's not Hawaii, but fun in its own way...

 And I've been told they finished their school work so Aunt Janice delivered with Chuck E. Cheese.

-On Tuesday night, just a random night, we went to Chick Fil A.  It was kids night so you got a free kids meal with every adult meal purchased.  They also had a craft.  Why include this on my blog?!?  Did you read that we ate at CFA in the middle of the week on a random Tuesday?!?  Big.deal.
-For Christmas we gave the boys tickets to a University of Memphis game.  Fred had to stop by a funeral home that just happened to be on the way to the game.  After the funeral home we were hungry, so what to do?!?  Oh yes, we ate at Huey's.  We really suffered through it.  It was SO good.  So good!  Huey's is known for their hamburgers and for the toothpicks in the ceiling.  We all enjoyed a hamburger, but no one was successful getting a toothpick in the ceiling.  We did give it a valiant effort though.

 We sat on the back row of the FedEx Forum (by choice) and cheered on the Tigers.  Sometimes I have to pinch myself to really believe that I live in Memphis.

 We braved the cold to get to our car.  The game was over about 9 pm...not too late. We hadn't even made it out of downtown and Andrew was out.  So was Jack.  They were snoring by Midtown.

-While the boys are doing school I don't allow Andrew to play his Kindle.  He got frustrated with me and said, "Ugh.  Can't I just play something educational?!?"

What's going on around here

-Fred and I sold a lot that we owned in Paris.  The bank called us and let us know we needed to come sign papers to close the deal.  Since I was in Jackson for school with the boys I just drove on to Paris.  (Great time in the car with the boys.  We passed the time by listening to this and this.)  Before I left I checked with our lawyer to make sure he did not have our durable power of attorney papers.  I needed these to sign for Fred.  Once I got to Paris I looked for the papers at our house.  They were not there.  I had the papers for Fred to sign for me, but not me to sign for Fred.  I also had my last will and testament, but not Fred's.  Told that story to say two things:
1.  My will is really outdated.  We wrote it when Jack was one.  A lot has happened in our family since he was one.  Whoops.
2.  If you see my durable power attorney papers for Fred around please send them my way.
-Fortunately for us there is a branch in Jackson that we could close the land at and our friends were coming in to Jackson.  I love a plan.  The boys and I spent the night and then Fred drove up the next day.  We signed the papers together...which was a bummer...I had a giant shopping trip planned...not really...well...really...anyway...shortly after we signed at the bank we met these people for an unforgettable hour at Sky Zone.

After we left Sky Zone we went to Sparky's Pizza.  It was delightful.  So, who has two thumbs and is glad I couldn't find those papers?!?  This girl plus all four of my boys.  Not only did we get to meet up with friends we spent the night at my parents house.  Three words for you...Breakfast.at.Lathams.
While we were in Jackson Mun treated us to a Union University basketball game.  My crew stayed for the girls game, but left before the boys game began.  Jack and I stuck it out for the a little of the boys game.  Spending one on one time with him made my heart smile.  We got to sit and talk.  He loves a ballgame and I love to see him smile.  Win win for everyone involved.

-We had a little church party the other night.  A precious lady at church made those peanut butter corn flake cookies.  They are so good.  She sent the plate home with us.  Not a good idea.  I have been rationing them to the boys.  I told Clayton he could have two after dinner.  Apparently, as they sat on the counter if they were touching they kind of melted together.  Clayton grabbed "one" cookie that was actually about six melted together and said, "I pick this one!".  Click here for the recipe.  Disclaimer:  They are NOT healthy, but they are so yummy!!
-One of the many lovely things about living in Memphis is that my mother in law loves to have the kids sleep over.  It is great.  The answer is always yes.  Some of the time Liz's kids will be there.  This particular night Clayton slept with Z.  Z had already gone to sleep when Clayton climbed in bed.  At some point during the night Z woke up and started laughing loudly because Clayton was in bed with him.  Renee could hear it from her room.  She told Z to go back to sleep.  When Clayton got up in the morning he said, "Man, at some point in the night Z work up full of joy!"
-I signed all three boys up for soccer today.  This should be interesting.
-Our house is still for sale in Paris.  If you would like to buy it we will consider all reasonable offers.  If you don't want to buy it join me in praying that someone will.  :-)
Click here to view it.  Tell a friend.
-Fred's sisters started a work out program.  Some how we discovered that they were texting pictures of themselves as they worked out for accountability.  Fred and I got in on the game.  Now we text them a picture each time we work out. Here are a few examples...
I got fancy with my "action" shot at the gym.
Fred's sister gets fancy with her collage.
My shot inside my bedroom was almost disqualified.  Your picture must prove that you participated in some sort of activity...not just got out of bed, clicked a picture and got back in bed.
I love these people.  They make me smile every morning.

 

    

                                      

-Another perk of living in Memphis is that we are close to the airport.  So, when Aunt Janice flies in from being in Hawaii what do you get to do?!?  Meet her at the airport and hug her neck!  These three boys were happy to see her!

-It never gets cold in Memphis...or at least that's what I told myself when I left my coat in Paris when we "moved" here.  Grin...fail for sure...Who knew it could get this cold in Memphis?!?  Not me obviously.

-Clayton loves a Lego.  A Lego movie is premiering in February.  He is pumped.  At least once a day he watches a promo for it.  Clayton ordered 10 mini figures from the Lego website of the movie characters.  The wait was torture for them to be mailed to us.  We tracked them and learned the definition of "it will ship in 3 to 8 BUSINESS days".  The wait was excruciating.  It was touch and go on the day they were due to arrive.  Just when all hope was lost dad saved the day and found the package at the office.  You would have thought it was Christmas morning.  Mercy.

-Andrew and I were studying the letter S last week.  We think of people whose names begin with the letter S and try to do something special for them.  We thought of two people back in Paris...Ssssusan and Sssstacy.  They got a sssmile.  It made me smile.  I hope it makes you smile too...even if your name does not begin with a S.   

Hello 2014!

-Our friends from Paris came and spent an unforgettable afternoon with us at Incredible Pizza Company.  It was so good to see them and spend some catching up time for the moms...I mean boys.  Oh, these boys just melt my heart.

 Trying to get five boys to smile and look in the same direction at the same time is like trying to herd cats.  It's next to impossible.  Here's the best I could do...

Glow in the dark mini golf was interrupted by a pose on this awesome motorcycle.

-Saturday we headed over to Fred and Renee's to watch the Memphis game.  (Isn't that fun?!?) Well, the boys watched the game.  I took down Christmas decorations, put back decorations and listened to the game.  It really was a good time.  I love January...getting all the Christmas stuff down, cleaning the house and getting it back to some kind of normal.  Since I don't have a house I'm thankful my mother in law allows me to use hers.  Good times.
-Fred is busy (good busy) with church stuff.  We have gone to lots of Christmas and New Year's parties.  We usually go to more than one in a night.  They are not every night, but who has a party on Monday night?!?  Seriously, I'm going to have to let out my pants.
-Our gym is a little over a mile from our house.  Sometimes Fred will just run there, complete his workout and then run home.  This is how he was dressed the other morning...

Nerdy, yes...but I still love him.  If you are in Bartlett and see this coming down the road don't stare, just keep going.
-The boys and I started back to school today and it went smoothly.  Our challenge for the semester is to memorize Psalm 103.  Our drive to and from Jackson twice a week really helps with this.  I haven't decided if we will memorize the entire chapter or just the first six or sever verses.  If we just do the first couple of verses we'll work on something in addition to these.  Any suggestions?

One of the perks of living, literally living, in the church parking lot is that you get to use the gym and parking lot.  We headed over to the gym today and Jack said, "Cool mom, it's like P.E.!!"
-Update on our house situation...We had a contract on our Paris house, but the loan fell through.  If you know of someone in Paris looking for a house ours is still available.