Five on Friday

Happy Friday everyone!!

1. Fred injured his ankle about six weeks ago. After weeks on the elliptical, the bike and in the pool (including one awesome session of pool running...not really) Fred is finally back up and running on the pavement!! He's had two good three mile runs this week and is looking forward to another run tomorrow. Next week he will begin adding mileage. YEAH for all of us!!

2. This morning it was made very clear to me that I am a mother. Andrew has been (how shall I put this?) backed up. I gave him prunes last night and by 8:00 a.m. this morning they did their magic!! I have never seen so much...well, you know. I had to call for back-up. It was EVERYWHERE!! Well, as soon as it was all cleaned up I washed my hands, sat down at the table and ate breakfast. Yes, it's official. I'm a mom.

3. Clayton has learned how to ride his bike really well over the last few weeks. He wants to ride all the time. We have a great place for him to ride, but someone has to go with him. Sunday he went with me while I ran. I told him I could run faster than he could ride. I was wrong. In fact, he rode three miles while I ran two.

4. We have several dogs in our neighborhood. They know me and Fred well since we run past them frequently. They do not like us. Jack is oblivious to this. The other day as we were driving past these barking, snarling animals (behind a fence) Jack told me, "Big dogs, wittle dogs, all dogs--they wike me. I see them smile at me." It was too funny! Those dogs were NOT smiling at us!!

5. Andrew turned six months old Monday!! Six months old!?! Where has it gone? He got shots yesterday. After three children and multiple shots I still can't stand it. I left him with the sweet nurse and stood in the hall while she gave him three shots. I had tears stinging my eyes. If I could I would take the shots for him.

Ode to our Sheriff

Dear Monte Belew,
Thank you for all you do for our county! Since you have become sheriff in Henry County we have seen a real change. Your campaign signs say "For the Future of Henry County". For those of us who are rearing the future of Henry County our hat goes off to you! No wonder you are running unopposed. Thank you for standing for what is right. Thank you for working with other agencies to provide the best law enforcement possible for our county. Putting the high school on lock down and searching the parking lot for drugs...genius!! Arresting the students at school for dealing drugs...inspiring!! Impounding their cars from the school parking lot...brilliant!! Fifteen arrests...unbelievable!! You have reached rock star status at our house!
We pray for you and your officers. May God keep you in the palm of his hand and watch over you all. May he continue to guide you and give you wisdom as you protect our corner of the world.
To quote you from the paper...
“I believe drugs are the root of all evil,” Belew said. “And unfortunately, they don’t discriminate against age. If you are selling drugs, we will investigate you, we will arrest you and we will convict you.”
Once again Monte Belew our hats are off to you! You rock!!

To view the full article click here.

Blankets

All three of our boys have their own blanket. Monday when we were walking out the door Mimi put Jack's blanket on Andrew while he was in his carrier. Once we got in the car Jack quickly noticed that Andrew had his blanket to which he replied, "Hey, get your own blanket Andrew!" My boys are normally very kind to their youngest brother, but obviously they have their limits!!

Here is Clayton with his blanket around 14 months old...
Here is Jack with his blanket (and a cheeseburger) last summer...

Here is Andrew with his blanket last week...

Last Story Hour for Jack

Monday was Jack's last story hour...sniff, sniff. He will be heading to preschool in the Fall at Joyland...sniff, sniff. We had a great year with Ms. Donna and Ms. Pam!
Ms. Donna asked for volunteers to participate in the song Five Little Ducks. Jack was to be the daddy duck. He was not going to do it until Mrs. Katie offered ice cream from McDonalds. He reluctantly stood, but he did not do his part. He stood with the above face for the duration of the song. He finally said "quack, quack" when Mrs. Katie reminded him of the ice cream. Too funny!!
The crew from this year, minus Amber and Jack.

After story hour we headed to McDonald's (where Jack got his promised ice cream). Katie offered to take us on a tour of the back of McDonald's. The manager, Ms. Debbie, even let each kiddo say, "Welcome to McDonald's." Jack actually did it. He giggled through the entire experience.

Our garden with Alex and Gail

Some friends from church are helping us with a garden this year. We have never had a garden before and we really want to learn how. Since Gail and Alex have a farm they graciously allowed us to plant with them. We are excited to see what we will have this summer. We planted tomatoes, cucumbers, green peppers, hot peppers, dill, cilantro, basil, watermelons and squash. Hopefully, we will have pictures to show this summer!!

Fish Fry Carnival

We headed to the carnival Thursday night after the World's Biggest Reading Celebration. We saw lots of our friends there. Clayton and Shannon rode some rides together. They will be moving soon and two little boys that live in this house are going to be heart broken. As we were walking through the carnival I spotted Clayton and Shannon holding hands. It was precious. They are the best of friends. In fact, neither one of them knows what life is like without the other. It breaks my heart to see them separated, but we are going to enjoy these last few weeks with them with everything inside of us--knowing that we will see them again!!

Can you guess who was tuckered out?!?
Jack and Clayton bought these fabulous swords at the carnival. They had the most wonderful evening playing with them...until they broke!!

The Fish Fry Parade

The parade starts on Friday at 10:00 a.m. of Fish Fry week. Christy and I ran along the parade route at 7:30 a.m. and people were already sitting in lawn chairs!! We had to jog around them. Since school is dismissed for the parade we always feel like we have lots of time. Boy are we wrong. Fred and I are usually running around trying to get everything ready to get out the door so we can meet our friends!! Clayton told us Friday, "Whew, you two are really working hard!" Thank you son for noticing! I think it was a first!
We did finally make it to our "spot". All of our friends were there and it was a beautiful day!The O'Neals posed for their final Fish Fry Parade picture! They are moving to Texas. (More details to come on that later...)

Tee was able to come this year! I think he thoroughly enjoyed it!!

Jack sat in his chair and waved at everyone that came by, as if they were waving to him personally. It was precious!
For those of you that don't know, Jeremy does not snack! However, Aunt Janice makes these crackers that are beyond delicious and he could not resist. Seriously, it is the first time in six years that I have seen him snack!!
Our favorite candidate...
This seems to be a common theme with Andrew!!
If you ever find yourself in Paris on the last Friday of the final full week of April join us on East Wood Street. I guarantee it will be a rocking good time!! I heart Paris, Tennessee!