First day of school

Doesn't he look big?!?  What is it about the start of a new school year that makes my children look so grown up so quickly??  Sunday they looked like normal eight and five year old boys and then Monday morning...oh my!  Neither of my boys wanted me to walk them in to their schools.  I asked several times and in several ways, but they both declined my services.  I'm okay with it....after I briefly teared up.   

 Jack was so excited he ate breakfast with his back pack on.  We still had 30 minutes before leaving for school.  Once I told him about the 30 minutes he still kept his back pack on.  He even kept that smile.  Whew...he's so grown up!!  I'm not sure what happened to my shy, timid little (well, always big) fella.

We are looking forward to a great year, believing that God will use us as a family.  Being involved in our children's schools is one of the greatest blessings we have had as parents.  I cannot wait to see what God will do this year! 

Five on Friday

1.  Thursday was the big guys birthday.  We celebrated with a cookie cake at Dairy Delight on Wednesday.  Then Thursday night we went to dinner in Murray, KY at Jasmine.  Yum!  So glad Fred had a birthday!

 2.  As I've mentioned before, this summer I've been working at the Adult Education Center this summer.  People come for all different reasons: tutoring for the GED test, college classes, plant entrance exams, nursing school test, etc.  Right about the time I started a lady (about my mom's age) came for help in math to get a job at a factory.  When she came to the center she was at a sixth grade level in math.  She left this week working past a twelfth grade level in math.  Yeah!
3.  Clayton does not pass out compliments.  If he doesn't mean it he doesn't say it.  After he spent some time with some of our teenagers at church he said, "Mom, you know I really like them.  They are so nice to me.  Not all teenagers are nice to me."  High praise from Clayton.
4.  We go eat (usually Dairy Delight) with our Paris parents/grandparents every week.  We've gone now for seven years.  Jack went to Dairy Delight straight from the hospital...not really, but almost.  He celebrated his last day at DD this week.  He will start kindergarten Tuesday and won't be able to go anymore until next summer. 

5.  Andrew says cute stuff all the time.  I was in the car with him this week and he was talking.  I finally understood/listened to what he was saying and I heard, "I wuvs you mama.  I wuvs you mama. I wuvs you mama."  Melt my heart.  

This week he has started requesting his favorite television program, Dinosaur Train.  He loves that show.  He will bring me the remote and say, "Dinosaur, peas."

He was with me in the bathroom while I was getting ready Wednesday.  I turned out the light when I finished.  When the bathroom went dark Andrew said, "Oh no!  What happened?!?" 

Clayton's first Triathlon

Clayton competed in his first ever triathlon this weekend here in Paris.  It was super hot, but he did great!  He swam 100 meters (doing the back stroke!), biked 3 miles and ran a half a mile and he was still smiling at the finish  We were/are so proud of him!
It was so hot and humid that morning that my camera lens fogged up for our family picture.  Boo.

 

 Jumping in the pool to start the race...

Back stroking it through the swim...

 

Exiting the pool, heading to the bike transition area...

 

This is probably my favorite picture of the day.  Fred is standing behind the "bike in" sign.  See him?  He's the tall, bald and strikingly handsome fella in the florescent yellow shirt.  He was a volunteer in the bike transition area and he helped all the kiddos coming in and heading out.  The kiddo running out is Clayton and Fred is watching him the entire way.  I can't see Fred's face, but I'm sure he is shouting encouraging words to Clayton to cheer him on.  Sweet.   

 This little fella was hot.  He kept pouring water over his head. 

 It is really difficult to get 30 plus children to look in the same direction at the same time.  Below is a picture of our Kids Triathlon Club, Tri-Eiffel-etes, here in Paris.  We are so grateful to Tony Lawrence and the parks department for starting this club and for their hard work in pulling off this event.  It was a major undertaking for him!  We are also thankful for a community that invests in the lives of young people by providing opportunities to train up this generation to be healthy and active. 

 

Redneck Island

We loaded up and headed to Redneck Island last week in Buchanan, TN (20 minutes from our house).  We took a friend and had some friends meet us at the lake.  You know I love a deal and RDI offers a special in the afternoon from 3 to 7.  Redneck Island is several pontoon boats stuck together in the middle of the lake with a bunch of water toys surrounding the "island".  (You can get more details here.)  I thought we would stay for the full 4 hours, but we only make it about 3.  It was exhausting, but so much fun!  Needless to say no one had trouble sleeping that night!!

 This picture does not convey all the fun things that were inside the play area.  The big thing you are looking at is a water trampoline with launchers on each side.  The boys would get out on one edge of the launcher and Fred would jump on the other end to send our boys about 15 feet in the air.  They loved it!  Fred tried to "launch" me, but we were unsuccessful.  Bummer.  Wish I had pictures of the launch in action, but I couldn't get my camera out in the water.

 Here is one tired little redneck...

We had a great time at Redneck Island and would highly recommend it to anyone wanting a little afternoon of fun...right here in Henry County!!

Five on Friday

1. Our new staff guy has been at church now for several weeks. He and Fred really enjoy working together. What an answer to prayer!
2. The boys and I went to stay with my grandmother one night this week. I have been blessed with grandparents whom I would call friends. My grandmother has dementia and will be moving into an assisted living facility some time in August. Knowing this would be my last chance to stay with her at her house I headed to Franklin. As I left she did her usual stand-in-the-drive-way,-wave-and-blow-kisses. I blew kisses back. Thankfully, I had on sunglasses because they hid the tears that were streaming down my face. She would have worried if she'd seen me crying. I cried to the river (half-way home). The realization of not ever being able to go back "home" hit hard. Growing up some times is just no fun.(She does NOT like having her picture made!!)

3. Clayton has been in the kids triathlon club here in Paris, Tri-Eiffel-etes, for two years now.  He will compete in his first triathlon tomorrow.  He will swim 100 yards,  bike 3 miles and run 0.5 miles.  Go, Clayton go!!
4. We found out this week that Jack got Clayton's kindergarten teacher. Also, we discovered that the guy pictured below will be in his class. That is Jack's bff. Look our Rhea Elementary and Ms. Linda!!

5. Andrew is really putting together sentences. This week Fred leaned back in the chair to catch a cat nap. Andrew pointed his little chubby finger and said, "Daddy sweepin'. He lay down."

Five on Friday

1. Fred has been getting lots of yummy things out of our garden. This week he was super proud of a really pretty cabbage.
2. I have been looking into making my own laundry detergent and liquid soap. I think I've finally decided to try it. Why? #1 Andrew has really sensitive skin and I think it will be good for him. #2 I am really cheap. I can make laundry detergent for $0.05 a load. Do you know how much laundry we do around here?!?
3. Clayton has spent the week at Mimi and Tee's house in Jackson. He has attended Union's Summer Music Camp. He has had a blast! We get to go to his concert tonight.
4. Jack has really missed Clayton this week, especially at night. They sleep together in a full bed each night. When I say sleep together I mean that they sleep snuggled up in the middle of the full size bed...all night.
5. Fred says Merwin's (my maiden name) are squirrels. We are always working, we never sit down and we love a project. Andrew is a Merwin...even though his last name is Shackelford. Well...I've been purging the house the past few weeks. I've had a pile of stuff in one of the bedrooms. Andrew was quiet for about 15 minutes and Fred got curious. You see, he found a cup and a bowl in the pile of purged items. He proceeded to turn on the water outside, fill the cup and bring it inside to dump in the bowl. There is no telling how many trips he made. We don't really know why he did it, but he was busy and it was a project. He's a squirrel. It makes me smile.

Camp Linden

After the boys returned from Mawmaw and Pawpaw's house we headed to children's camp at Linden Valley Retreat Center (a.k.a Camp Linden).  I grew up going to Camp Linden with a great group of girls.  Oh the memories, but I'll save that for another day...
I left Wednesday with three of our 4th and 5th graders.  Then Fred and the others came Thursday.  The older kids get to do a few extra things like play paint ball, climb a ropes course, serve around camp, etc.  All in all we took 19 kiddos and 6 adults.  We had the best week!  I cannot stress enough about how wonderful our kiddos acted throughout the week.  It really was the best time!

 One of our kids and two kids from FBC Paris preformed a "normal dance" (as per their words) routine for the talent show.  I laughed until my cheeks hurt! 

 One afternoon there was an obstacle course that included a mud pit.  Once the game was over I looked back at the mud pit and almost every one of our kids (minus my children) were in the mud pit--swimming.  Yes, everyone of them!  Too funny!  They literally had to tell the Paris kids it was time to get out of the mud.  Literally.

Here is the talent show for your viewing pleasure...

Untitled from Fred Shackelford on Vimeo.