This week

Saturday morning Fred and Renee brought the guys back.  Jack and Clayton's games were canceled, but Andrew played basketball.  Jack was pretty bummed, so I filmed this little video to cheer him up.





Saturday I had a soup exchange at my house.  What's a soup exchange? Well, you invite friends over to your house.  Ask them to bring 4 quarts of soup. When you leave you take 4 quarts of soup with you. Have I mentioned that I like soup?!?  I made chicken and wild rice.  I kept Vegetarian Tortilla, Buffalo Chicken Chili, Tomato Bisque, and Taco Soup.  Andrew thought this was a great plan!  

 On Monday I went to Jack and Andrew's school.  I read to both of their classes and then had lunch with them.  For some reason I did not get a picture of me with Andrew, but Jack was a good lunch buddy.  I learned a lot about the money that we waste on school lunches.  Mercy.

 I also learned that Jack is his class representative for self discipline.  Pretty sweet kid.

 Speaking of lunch...I had lunch with these three at Pyro's.  It was delightful.  Of course, the food was outstanding, but these girls are just great.  I love our time together. However, after looking at these pictures, it's official.  I am my dad.  The glare was hurting my eyes so bad I couldn't take a picture.  We tried three times.  Oh, the glare.

 In other news, Dash tried to get Jack to share his breakfast.  Jack.does.not.share.food.

One day this week I deviated from my usual routine and had a treat at Starbucks.  I wish someone could have seen this 37 year old stuffing that warm muffin in my mouth.  It was delicious.  Until we meet again muffin and iced coffee...

It's a good thing I fueled up, because I found a massive desk for my friend at a thrift shop.  You can't see it all, but the desk is in the back of my van and sticking out. They could not legally tie down my back hatch, but they did give me some twine to tie it myself...which worked great until it broke right as I got off the interstate.  I'm happy to say, the desk made it to its new home and I made it home as well.  

The boys FINALLY got their passports!  Canada here we come!  Clayton will use his this summer when he and Fred go with our church to Honduras.  I'm so excited for them! (Please note, no cast for Clayton!  Yay!)

I take Clayton to school on Mondays and Fridays.  We leave the house at 6:45 am so I usually look like this.  Yes, those are my slippers.  I pray I never have to stop or have a wreck, but this is real life.  My mother would not approve of this ensemble, but after a brief poll of my friends I realized I'm not alone in my attire.

Typically by Friday night I am somewhere in this house comatose, but not this Friday night.  I was busy.  I was busy making cinnamon rolls.  Saturday morning is going to be epic!  Woohoo!

This week

Saturday started off wih a bang.  Fred had to be at a funeral so I had all three boys and all three basketball games.  My parents planned to come in for the games, which helped tremendously.  They met me at Andrew's game so I could take Clayton to his game.  He's not playing, but he still wanted to cheer on his team.  Bless his heart.
Jack's game was at 12:15, so my dad took him while the rest of us ate lunch.  We all got there just in time to see Jack score before the game ended.  Yes, mother of the year struck again.  I had the time down incorrectly. Luckily, my dad took him early so he got there at half time.  He scored 18 points and had 20 rebounds.  I hate that I missed it, but I'm glad he played and my dad was there.

Sunday my family came here to celebrate my dad's birthday.  I was not feeling well that day, but pushed through.  Mercifully, my parents took my boys home.  As soon as they left I got sick.  Stomach virus sick.  Yuck.  I pretty much slept on the couch...in the clothes I wore to church, until I mustered the strength to get off the couch to go get my mom's sewing machine.  Please note I was still in my clothes from Sunday morning.  I sent my mom this picture and told her this is what love looks like...

I'm happy to say that the sewing machine made it home safely to its happy new owner, my mother.

While the boys were at my parent's they ate these biscuits and were extremely happy.  Especially Jack.  That boy LOVES a biscuit.

There was shopping at Target.

Tuesday morning Andrew came down the steps looking very forlorn.  He said, "I M I M I S." (Said each letter.  I had no idea what he was saying.  He looked at us again and said, "I M I S M I."  I still did not know what he was saying.  He said, "I'm trying to spell I miss Mimi."  Sweet boy.  Sweet Mimi and Tee.  I don't know what I'd do without them.

Fred went to meet my parents half way at Brownsville at the Burger Basket.  I didn't think my stomach was quite ready for that.  I got a bath and FINALLY changed out of my church clothes.  Ha!  While I was in the bath Dash kept checking on me, but he wouldn't come any further.  He hates water.  He loves me.  It was quite the conundrum.

One night this week Fred and I had steak and intended for the boys to eat that as well.  They asked if they could have hamburgers instead.  Sure.  A hamburger is just as good as a steak. Said no one ever. #moreforthegrownups

Wednesday my friend and I transformed two walls in my house.  I've been dreaming about this for a year now.  My friend helped me turn it into a reality.  Friends like that are awesome!

Wednesday afternoon before church the big boys were doing their homework.  Jack was annoying the fire out of Clayton.  Jack came and sat by me. and this was our conversation:
Jack:  Give me something to do my homework on.
Me:  Go to the kitchen table.
Jack:  Clayton doesn't want me in the kitchen with him.
Me:  No, Clayton doesn't want you annoying him in the kitchen while he's trying to do his homework.
Jack:  I can't help it!

Look at that face.  It says it all.  He is just like my dad, but don't tell either one of them I said that!!

Snow was predicted in our area.  These were the bread shelves at the grocery store in my parent's town.  Panic much?!?

All the snow talk made Dash nervous.  So, he ate my shoe.  He's ashamed, right?

Friday morning we did indeed wake up to snow.  Yahoo!!  We ate a big breakfast together and then enjoyed a little snow cream.  I cleaned out all the cabinets in the kitchen.  We played board games, card games, watched a movie.  Snow days are the best!

Since the roads weren't bad Fred and I decided to go on a date.  We ate at Hog and Hominy and then went to a movie.  I have no pictures from this event.  We were just so pleased to be out by ourselves neither of us picked up our phone.  If you've never been to Hog and Hominy in Memphis please go.  Also, please call me to go with you.  It's the best!

While we were in the movie Renee sent us a message and asked if the boys could just spend the night.  Why of course!  My fingers would not text her back quick enough.  Coffee tastes better when you can sip it and enjoy every drink instead of gulping it down or letting it get cold.  

This week

Saturday mornings are going to be fun.  Andrew and Clayton have games at the exact time every Saturday morning through January and February.  Since Fred coaches Andrew I will take Clayton, which means I won't get to see Andrew (except last week) and Fred won't get to see Clayton play.  This parenting technique is called Divide and Conquer.  Fred and I may write a book about it.  We seem to do it all the time!

Jack has games at 12:15, so the entire family gets to participate.  He won his game this Saturday in a real nail biter.  He was so excited about the game beginning I though he might explode.

 Here he is after the game with his twin.

 His good friend from school is on his team this year and he's so excited!

Friday night we headed downtown for our final Christmas present...the Harlem Globetrotters.  They laughed and laughed and laughed. 

Before we went to the game we grabbed a delicious meal at Dyer's on Beale.  Man, was it good!

 Andrew got his first root beer float.  It's safe to say he really liked it!

As we started our week on Monday things got pretty exciting.  Jack fell from the top of the stairs to the bottom.  He hit every single step on the way down.  You have never heard such a racket.  He was laughing, we were laughing, he was crying, we were laughing.  He is fine, a little sore, but fine.  The rest of us, however, are still chuckling.
Clayton went to basketball practice on Tuesday night.  While there he fell backwards, landing on his wrist.  He told me it was sore, but when he woke up Wednesday morning I knew it was hurting.  We made an appointment at Campbell Clinic and quickly discovered that while the bone was not completely broken, it still required a cast.  This is our first cast with these three boys.  I think 12 years is a long streak.  But, I'm thinking the picture of Clayton playing basketball above may be our only picture this season.

Andrew has been through 2 pairs of glasses.  The first pair Dash ate.  The second pair just broke.  They just broke.  He broke them over Christmas, so it's taken a while to get them back in.  We just got them back in.  We got him a regular pair and a sport pair. He's a little cutie.

My father in law has been in the hospital this week, so my mother in law has not been able to keep my niece and nephew.  So, Friday they got to come stay with me.  Did I say niece and nephew?  I meant Spider Man and Nora.  Spider Man kept us safe as we drove through Memphis.  I'm sure everyone loved seeing us drive by.  

Since I had two toddlers I took them to McDonald's play place.  It brought back lots of memories of sweet friends in Paris when we used to go every Monday after story hour and be way too loud.  Some of my favorite memories of my children when they were younger are wrapped in this group of moms.  PS-The fries at McDonalds are still delightful.  The play place still smells like feet.  

Friday evening my boys had a men's event at church so, my friend and her dog came over.  We sat on the couch and talked and laughed at the two dogs playing together.  It looked like two toddlers playing.  I have laughed thinking about it.  

New Years

I went to sleep December 31st and was aggravated when fireworks woke me up.  It wasn't until the next morning that I realized people were celebrating the new year.  Whoops.  We were in Franklin over the holiday helping clean out the rest of my grandparent's things.
Saturday morning Andrew had his first basketball game.  He had a great time.  Fred is the coach, so I'm thinking it's going to be lots of fun.

We had Monday out of school and enjoyed our last day of freedom for Christmas break.  It's always so sad to see Christmas break come to an end.  Once Tuesday got here our break was a distant memory.  We just jumped back into the routine of school. practices, etc.
Tuesday Clayton and Andrew had basketball practice.  Wednesday we had school and then church.  Thursday evening got a little exciting.  Clayton and Fred served at the Union Mission downtown.  Then Jack, Andrew and I went to eat at CiCi's Pizza for Oak night.  After eating we took Jack to basketball practice.  Then we picked him up and shuttled him to Bible Drill.  I think this is a good time to say thanks for the location of our home.  All of these places, except Cici's are about 2 minutes from our house.  It was just a lot of running around.
One morning this week there were two fox (or is it foxes??) walking around in the green space behind our backyard.  Dash lost his ever loving mind!  For over an hour.  When he wasn't barking he was standing guard at the door.  It's safe to say we were all safe from the fox (or foxes) inside our house, behind our doors...because of Dash.

Tuesday afternoon Andrew's teacher sent a note home saying that Friday would be Dalmatian day and the children needed a white shirt with spots on it.  Oh dear...
I'm pleased to say we survived Dalmatian Day and one happy little boy left for school dressed like a puppy.

After he left I went to yoga for the first time in a year.  I have a few observations on yoga:
1.  I should invest in some Lululemon gear and a little less Adidas gear for yoga.
2.  Most people do not wear socks.
3.  There are some heavy breathers in yoga.
4.  There is  not a good time to get a picture during yoga.  (So, this one was taken at home.)

Friday night, this little love muffin came over while his parents went to a Grizzlies game.  We had the best time!

Christmas

We had our candlelight service at Ellendale the night of Christmas Eve.  Our family came to the service and then they came here for some snack foods.  Eli even got to hold his own candle, while the rest of us held our candle and our breath.  Yikes.

After everyone left we hit the bed to be ready for Christmas.  Christmas morning I decided to use my "good" camera instead of my phone.  Halfway through opening presents I realized the good camera did not have a card in it.  Whoops.  Here's what I have though.  We always have a game on Christmas morning.  This year we played Shackelford family trivia.  The boys had to answer questions about our family to get points.  Once they got enough points they could open one thing.  Then they had to get more points to open the next thing and so on.  There was a lot of laughter at 6 am at the Shackelford house.

 Fred got two sweaters that were exactly the same from my parents.  We all got a good laugh out of it.  My parents and Aunt Christie were in attendance, but there is a strict no photo policy of adults on Christmas morning.  An exception is made when you receive two of the same sweater from the same person though.

Later that afternoon we headed to Fred and Renee's for presents and a little steak dinner.  My mother in law got a selfie stick.  Good times.

This was Andrew by Christmas night.  Exhausted.

The next day, Saturday, was glorious.  We had absolutely nothing to do.  I was able to put up all my Christmas decorations and get all the loot we received put away.

Sunday morning Fred headed to church while the boys and I headed to Jackson for my family's Chritsmas celebration.  Fred met up with us later.  He wanted boiled custard to see my family.

Fred loves boiled custard so much it even makes our family photo.  

This is Mun with all her grand and great grandchildren, minus 2 of my cousins.  This photo was no minor accomplishment.  

We stayed the night in Jackson so we could spend just a little more time with my family.  Then we headed home for a few days of quiet before we headed to Franklin.
My Aunt Christie needed a little help clearing out the last of my grandmother's things, plus she gave the boys gift certificates to an indoor climbing facility.  They climbed while Christie and I worked at the house.  I'm not sure who got a better deal!  I do love cleaning out. While I was cleaning out I found the rough draft of the prayer my grandfather prayed at our wedding.  Needless to say, I'm keeping it...and framing it.

And then here's the boys from the climbing wall. They had a blast!