The week before Vancouver when I thought I pressed publish but didn't...whoops

Saturday morning the boys had Men's Breakfast at church.  Otherwise know as the most wonderful day of the month for this mom!!  I ate breakfast, worked on the computer a bit, and then took a leisure shower and took my time getting ready.  I even put on lipstick.  It was a big morning!
Jack is the only one still playing basketball, so we headed to his game at 11:00.  He was ready to go!  Mimi and Tee even came in town for this epic game.  The team that they played beat them the last time they played.  This is the only team that's beaten them all season.  To say Jack had on his game face would be a gross understatement.  Jack's team ended up winning by 40 points.  He was pumped.  To add a cherry on top we headed to Mexican afterwards to celebrate.

Sunday morning we woke up at 5:50 am to Jack getting sick.  Oh dear.  Bless his heart.  When your dad is a pastor and your mom teaches a class on Sunday mornings there's not much rest for the weary and/or sick.  He waited it out in Fred's office while I finished up.  Then we headed home to wait on everyone else.

This week kind of got past me.  I'm not really sure what happened.  We've had three funerals at our church in the last week.  Fred has been very busy with all of that.  Watching people grieve and hurt is the hardest part of what Fred does.  He preached very meaningful messages at each of the funerals. The funerals were during the week.

One day during the week, Andrew asked me how many days we wear "long pants".  I told him I wasn't sure.  Then he said, "So, I guess you don't know how many days we wear short-sleeved pants?"  hahaha!

Monday of this week our eldest child knocked our gianormous flat screen television off our mantle.  Thankfully, he was not hurt.  Thankfully, Fred walked in on the the situation first and with much grace.  Thankfully, my in-laws were wanting to buy a new television and we got their older one.  No harm, no foul.

Friday and Saturday we had the ladies conference at our church that we've been planning since last June.  Last June!  It was so fun to see it come together.  I don't think I've ever been a part of something that has run smoother.  Every single detail was taken care of.  The weekend was stress free and a breath of fresh air.  Since I planned a lot of it, many of my personal friends were the speakers.  It really was the best weekend.  I was pretty busy during the weekend, so I didn't get any pictures.  I did get a photo in the photo booth with Fred's family and Melody.

Vancouver

Wednesday afternoon we rounded the boys up from school a little early and headed to the airport.

We made it to the airport and headed through security.  Do you know how stressful it is to go through security with three children?  Goodness.  Ask Fred.  Being in an airport is one of the only times I ever see him stressed.  You know who wasn't stressed??  This guy...

We flew from Memphis to Atlanta to Seattle.  The next day we toured the Boeing factory (where they make airplanes) and we walked around Pike Place.  It was a beautiful day to be out in Seattle. 

We drove about 2 1/2 hours to Vancouver and went to Dan and Tami's house where everyone just fell into hanging out. 

We hiked several days and toured around Vancouver several days with the best hostesses around.  Dan and Tami really know how to treat guests!  We saw beautiful waterfalls and scenery.  The kiddos even got to play in an indoor pool.

The day we left we ventured a little to the east to have tea with a precious couple on our way back to Seattle.  While we were in Vancouver the Iranians celebrated their new year. 

After tea we drove back to Seattle to meet up with our good friends for a little play time. Then we headed back to our hotel room to grab a little sleep while our neighboring friends at the hotel had a Nerf war.  Okay, they weren't really our friends, but they did have a Nerf war in the hall of the hotel. 

We got up in plenty of time to grab a good breakfast...the hotel breakfast was less than desirable.  Clayton had chocolate breakfast bread, which he explained was much better for you than cake since it was in loaf form.  Nice try son.  That's just a slice of bread. 

 And then the restaurant did the unthinkable...Jack surrendered his breakfast sandwich proclaiming he was full.  Hats off to you Auntie Irene's in Des Moines, Washington. 

On our last leg the boys argued over who would sit by the window, but then we looked over during take off and this was the scene...every single boy was on an electronic device.  Silly boys.  Why must I play referee?!?

Of everything we did, I think the boys enjoyed just being at home with Dan and Tami's children.  They played the Wii together.  The little ones crafted together.  Jack walked in the neighbors yard without a shirt on to retrieve a ball...but that's a story for another day.

We had the best time and can't wait to go back again!

This week

Saturday morning Andrew did not have a basketball game.  Clayton spent the night with a friend.  It was just the younger boys and we didn't have to rush out.  Jack was a little sad that he didn't have a friend over and he told me peanut butter french toast would make him feel better.  How can I argue with that?!?  We actually had a relatively calm Saturday morning.

Then we headed out to pick up Clayton for his final basketball game.  His team lost, but he had a good season over all.

Then we headed to Jack's basketball game.  His team won by 30.  I don't think Jack quit smiling the entire time.

Fred has challenged us to be an inter-generational church.  In response to that my Sunday school class met with an older ladies Sunday school class.  It was the sweetest time.  We enjoyed getting to know them all.  You should have seen their faces when I suggested that we take a selfie.  Ha.  Precious.

Sunday afternoon was absolutely beautiful.  I knew it was going to rain quite a bit this week, but I drug took the boys to Shelby Farms to hike 6 miles with me.  It was really quite fun.  We even took a friend.  At one point around mile 5, Andrew bent over and declared he could not take one more step.  He survived.  Having said that, I don't think he'll volunteer to go again any time soon. Ha!

 

Fred was at the hospital with a precious church member when we the boys and I began. He didn't know if he would make it.  Around mile 1 I looked over my shoulder and this guy was running to catch up with us.  Sweetest sight ever.  

 

Andrew brought a backpack to carry a water bottle and a stuffed animal.  Of course.  Please note who is carrying the back pack.  Yes, that would be me. 

Since we don't get Sundays off (Lionel Richie was WAY off when he penned the song, "Easy Like Sunday Morning."  He has no idea.), I asked Fred to give me one day during the week.  Tuesdays seems to be the best day to do this.  I get to linger in God's word a little longer.  It's really a treat.

I also go on a run on Tuesdays.  I usually take Dash, but it was raining.  He does not like the rain.  When I started putting on my gear he got really excited.  When I explained the rain situation this is what he did.  Bless his heart.

Fred and I voted on Tuesday.  I made tomato soup and we headed out.  This qualifies as a date, right?!?

One night this week I was having a very frank discussion with the boys about not doing something that I asked them to do.  I got a little upset so I went upstairs to seek forgiveness from my oldest.  While I was trying to talk to him, Andrew kept calling my name.  He called my name about 6 times before I said (in a very loud tone!), "Andrew! I'm trying to talk to Clayton.  I have been ignoring you, because we are in the middle of a discussion.  Give me a minute!"  I finished up with Clayton and headed into Andrew's room.  He looked at me over his glasses and said, "Mom, I have two things."  Please envision him holding up two fingers and looking at me over his glasses.  He then said, "Number one.  (Now one finger.)  When I say mom, I want you to say what.  Second thing (now two fingers.)  Can I turn my light on so I can read a book?'  The fingers, looking over the glasses, and telling me I should say "what" when I call his name about did me in.  All I could do was laugh.  Have mercy.

I serve on the PTO at Clayton's school.  They gave Clayton a reimbursement check for me and he lost it.  We dove head first into his backpack/the black hole.  We were up to our elbows in papers and we still didn't find it.  BUT...as he was digging, he did find this...

 That would be my mother's ring that she lost when she was here in November.  It was at the bottom of Clayton's backpack.  You should have seen his face when he pulled this literal jewel out of his backpack.  He said, "Whoa, what is this?"  Of course, as soon as I saw it I immediately knew what it was.  We face timed with Mimi to tell her the news.  I think we are going to clean out Clayton's backpack more often!  PS-We did eventually find the reimbursement check.  Whew.  All's well that ends well!

Friday, I met up with a friend from Paris.  We used to run and work out together.  So, we decided to meet up in the middle of our two cities and try a Yoga class.  It was so fun.  We even had lunch together and shopped a little.  We should have gotten a picture, but we did not.  Bummer.  Before we left we put our next yoga date on the calendar.  I'm going to be counting down the days until we meet up again!