What's been going on in our world

-This little guy woke up the other night around midnight crying, because his ear was hurting.  He'd told me for about three days his ear was hurting, but then it would stop.  Waking me up in the middle of the night has a way of getting my attention.  So, off to the doctor we went...

Who wouldn't think this kiddo was sick?!?  We played about 99 rounds of I Spy while waiting for the doctor.  In fact, he did have an ear infection.  Who knew?!?  Whoops...fail on my part.  

-At Andrew's preschool they cover a different letter each week.  They ask parents to bring snacks for certain letters.  Andrew and I took the letter 'C'.  We had the best time coming up with snacks to send.  (My suggestion for couscous was nixed...what?!?) We decided on Ccccarrots and Ccccookies.  He helped me make the cookies.  They were really Ccccut out Cccookies with Cccolored Icing.  I made the cccc sound a lot that week.  In fact, after a few hours Andrew said, "Would you please stop saying Cccc every time you say a word that starts with 'C'?!?"  

We had some extra cookies so we decided to give some to our neighbors. (I still have not met some of them after four months of living here...whoops.)  We tried unsuccessfully three times to deliver these cookies.  No one was home.  On the fourth try we finally got our immediate neighbor to the door.  When the man opened the door Andrew said, "Finally!!!"  I feel certain he didn't hear Andrew.  I hope.
-Andrew and Zachary are not in school on Mondays.  I swung by Z's house and picked him up and headed to the Children's Museum.  Literally, there was one other child in the museum and we visited the snack bar.  Yes, we did.  It was very interactive.  Ha!

-Clayton made honor choir.  Hooray!  He "gets to" (his words not mine) memorize a song in German.  Honestly, if I hadn't been in the delivery room I wouldn't believe he was my child.  There is no part of me that would use the words "gets to" if it came to memorizing a song in German.
-All three boys have started playing flag football.  Andrew is comical.  When the ball is snapped and he's on offense he's supposed to run down the field.  He does not.  I yelled from the sidelines the other day for him to RUN!!  He stood still, with all the activity around him, and addressed me on the sideline saying, "Mom!  I don't want to run.  I'm HOT! Nope."  And he stood right there.  So...maybe flag football is not going to be his thing.
Jack on the other hand is in it to win it.  He played center.  Every time he bent over to snap the ball he grinned.  No, not a grin, a full on smile...from ear to ear.  Every.single.time.  He loves it.  As a mom my heart smiles when my kiddos are involved with something that they love.
-Speaking of sweet Jack, one day this week while we were walking Dash he said, "Mom, having a dog is not really what I expected.  It's even better!"  Then Andrew wrapped his arms around the dog and said, "I love you Dash.  Thanks mom for letting us get a dog."  It's a good thing they like the dog, because said dog keeps getting under our fence and into our neighbor's yard.  Guess who gets to chase him down?!?  This girl.
-This was Clayton's math homework one day this week.  He worked on it for an hour and then I took over for about 15 minutes.  Then we had to call the big guy.  He came home right as I was getting on a roll...really.  I may or may not pass 6th grade.  You have to make a hexagon.
I sent this picture to my mom and her comment was that those two pieces would complete the hexagon.  In case you are wondering...the numbers have to match up.

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The last few days

-One day this week I had a little something that required a quick trip to the doctor.  We have a nurse practitioner at Kroger right around the corner from our house.  I thought I could just swing in before I had to take Andrew to preschool.  He was very disappointed when we left the house and did not head to school.  He said, "Can't you just take me to preschool, give me a hug and THEN go to the doctor?!?"
-I was asking Jack the other day about friends at school.  He said, "There are some boys in my class that I thought I might be friends with, but then I noticed they kept getting bad conduct grades.  So, I decided to stay away from them."  Yes sir Jack, yes sir.  I explained to him that while we love all people it is a good idea to identify those that might lead us in a wrong direction and set the example for them instead of following.  Yahoo...maybe he has been listening?
-Clayton is trying out for honor choir today.  At some point this weekend he reminded me that he needed to learn this piece of music from memory.  We do not have a CD player in the house so we found ourselves sitting in the garage in the car practicing this song.  It was a good time.  I am happy to report that he knows the song and should be prepared for the audition.  I'm also happy to report that I know the song, A Dream Within a Dream, as well and would be ready for my audition.  Ha!
Along the lines of this audition...middle school has brought about all new territory for us.  Take this try out for instance.  I know nothing, except that he had an extra rehearsal and that he stays after school today.  He sings alto and he is supposed to sing with a soprano and a baritone.  Is this group assigned?  Does he need to enlist the services of people outside of middle school?  Can Fred and I audition with him?  I don't know.  That's why I sent his teacher an email asking those questions.  I offered the services of Fred and myself to help with the audition.  What sixth grade boy would not love to have his parents audition with him?!?  His teacher laughed and assured me that he would help all the students get in their groups.  But then he added at the end that he would welcome Fred and me to audition with Clayton.  If I didn't think it would scar Clayton for life I would totally call his teacher's bluff.  Would that not be awesome if Fred and I auditioned with him???
-We said goodbye to Fred's brother and his family.  I'm going to miss those guys.  Sniff, sniff.  When they come back our crew will be 13 (8th grade, finishing up middle school...yikes!),  10 (5th grade, finishing up elementary school...mercy!) and 7 (2nd grade...I can't even talk about it!!)
While we will miss them terribly I am so excited for what God has in store for their family.  I know He will accomplish great things through them!
-Fred ran the Chick Fil A 5K Labor Day morning.  He said there were over 1000 people there.  (Hello Memphis runners...so different from the running scene in Paris, where a crowd at a 5K would be 150.)  He came in 6th in his age division.  Such a good runner.  Grin.
Once Fred got home we loaded up and headed to Shelby Farms to ride bikes on the Green Line.  We told the boys that we would get gelato at the halfway point.  It was a good time.  Andrew got to ride in the trailer.  I think next time I may switch with him.  If only...
All in all we rode about 11 miles.

 It was about at this point that the boys were done.  Sure, they are smiling, but it was only moments before that there was a semi meltdown over water.  Fred managed to get a smile out of them and we carried on.  This picture still makes me shake my head.

After we finished riding we let Andrew play on the playground and then we grabbed dinner with Fred and Renee.  Good times.
-I walk in the mornings for about an hour before anyone gets up at my house.  It really is my favorite time of day.  It is so peaceful.  There's just something about the sun coming up that is relaxing.  It's just such a reminder to me that I'm not in control.  Anywho...this morning it was just beautiful coming up over the trees behind my house.  So pretty in fact that I took a picture.  I paused outside briefly to take in the moment.

It's a good thing I did because as soon as I stepped in the door Jack was standing there, in his underwear with a thermometer in his mouth saying, "I just threw up."  Awesome...not really.  But, at least I get to spend a little extra time with my sweet Jack.  Now, we're keeping our fingers crossed that no one else gets it.  Here's to hoping.