Wednesday, January 28, 2009

I Heart Faces---JOY

The theme for this week is JOY.
Nothing says JOY to me more than this picture of our kids. I was having a hard time getting all of them to smile...Ryan was in the goofy face phase so I tricked her by asking her to imagine that Santa brought her everything she asked for, and click, there you have it.

You can click on the button and go to the site to see all the entries for this week...

Saturday, January 24, 2009

Home Brew 1.0


Merry Christmas Rob. Yup, today is the day that he used his gift from my brother Rick, a home brew kit. He has taken this new hobby very seriously. Since December he has been doing all kinds of research and acquiring all the necessary skills for makin' beer. His friend Josh is very proficient in home brewing so the boys have become worse then school girls with a crush--on the phone all the time, going over recipes and swapping ideas. Josh has beer tastings a few times a year, I would imagine we will also. So, if you like beer, let me know-we'll shoot you an invite. :)
I never get a good shot of Rob, I had to include this one since it actually turned out :)

Sunday, January 18, 2009

Coach's Invite Meet

What a great weekend! Jared was really on his game for his first two events. In his 50 Freestyle he beat his personal best by 6 seconds. He continued the streak with a 6 second jump on his 100 Breast. Wow, great, two personal bests, and then he had his 50 Backstroke...ok, so he added half a second to his best time. Today in his first event he was three seconds off his best time for the 50 Breast, kind of a shock since that's his favorite. He rallied back to sink his 100 Back time by 6 seconds. He got a DQ for rolling over too soon on his flip turn so the time won't post. At least it was 10 seconds faster then the last time he swam it! :) So his last event was the 100 Free, he was half a second off his best but he posted 8 seconds faster then the last meet. All in all he did fantastic. The best part of the weekend was when he got 1st in his heat on the 50 Free! Yahoo!

Little Ryan. Let me say, as I always do, that she was one of the smallest there. The ante was upped this meet because it was a 10 and Under meet. That doesn't mean that only the little kids are there, it means the little kids swim up...so she was basically swimming kids that could be about to turn 11. Yeah, that's right...BIG dogs. Our little chihuahua took on the mastiff like it ran off with her favorite toy. She didn't back down and she had a great time. First on the docket was the 50 Free and she got a personal best by a half second. Next up was the 50 Back. She was off her best by 3 seconds, BUT, she beat the last post by 14 seconds...not too bad. Today she had the 50 Breast (her favorite) and she absolutely BLEW her best out of the water by 20 seconds. Maybe she'll get the "whopper dropper" award for this meet. It's kind of like a most improved. Last but not least was the big one. End zone to end zone, I'm talkin' her first 100. She got on that block with kids that were already developing if you catch my drift and held her own against them. She probably posted the slowest time but she didn't sink, she posted a time (no DQ) and she came out of the water smiling. That's a girl!

This meet had 1100 entrants so the kids were limited in their events, 3 each day for Jared and 2 for Ryan. Otherwise we'd be there until July. It was a good meet and it's fun to see progress, especially after all the time they spend practicing. Best thing for them is that they're forging friendships, gaining confidence and they're staying healthy. Maybe I'll take up the sport...If I wasn't afraid of being beat by my kids :)

Thursday, January 15, 2009

HAPPY BIRTHDAY RYAN!!

HAPPY 6TH BIRTHDAY RyRy
We love you!
Mom, Daddy, Jared and Kevy

Wednesday, January 14, 2009

Are you ready for some football???

Yes, you just can't fight fate...Kevin is built like a linebacker. He plays soccer like a defensive tackle. The only thing he asked Santa for was a football. See where I'm going with this!?!? My dad is going to be SO happy, I'm going to be a nervous wreck!
Registration for Fall is in April but I need to start research on teams etc. since we're new at this. I also need to take out a loan for registration, jeepers! The best part is that we are trying to work it out so that he's on the same team as his best buddy Jackson. This would help me with a carpool and it would keep the boys motivated. Football camp sounds brutal, so it'll be good to have someone to go with. He'll have weekly games (that we have to pay to get into--hello???) a homecoming, and cheerleaders (Ryan will love watching them!). It should be an exciting time! Stay tuned. You think he can ask for #34???
Kevy on Christmas after he opened his football. Showing us how he was ready to play...

Christmas photos

Rob and I got sick Christmas night so I didn't get a chance to post these as soon as I wanted to. After a week of hanging out at mom and dad's (see previous post :)) I had to get to work on my Kick-Off for the Relay for Life. Now that's over and I finally have my head back on straight.
Enjoy the pictures!Christmas Eve with the reindeer food from Grandma & Papaw HarveyJared figuring things out. The one with him getting his Santa gift was cool, but I love this look on his face, he does it all the time.Ryan with her ornament from Gran
I LOVE this shot of Kevin. He never shows emotion when opening a gift. My brother hit the nail on the head with a RC boat that has a fishing line attached so you can fish in the middle of the lake.Ok, so my brother strikes again, Rob also is one to hide emotions when opening a gift, but he couldn't help smiling when he saw what he got, a home brew start up kit. We will have a beer tasting soon...

Sunday, January 4, 2009

Thanks for the Ride!

We decided to take the training wheels off of the kid's bikes over the Christmas break. My parents and my brother each put up a $10 incentive for the first one to figure it out. Ryan was the first one out there, ready to go. She rides a lot so she had a good shot at "winning". Kevin followed shortly thereafter and really was close. Jared decided that the house was lonely and decided to give it a whirl about 30 minutes into it. Right around the time Jared came outside, Kevin got it. Not stable, but he just needed to tweak it a bit. Ryan and Jared tried and tried and tried. They didn't quite get it before it got dark.

The next afternoon my folks and Rick went to the store. While they were gone we decided to give it another shot. Especially since Ryan was determined to get her "30 bucks". Guess no one told her it was the first person to get the hang of it...she was bound and determined to beat Jared. In the 5 minutes it took me to grab a sweatshirt and my shoes, she got it. Really, she was off like a shot. Something clicked and she was gone. Jared came out with me, scratched his head at his sister's remarkable improvement and decided to give it another go. He had it within a few minutes and they spent the next couple hours honing in on their mad biking skills. We decided to "trick" my mom and dad and we all ran back into the house and sat where we were when they left a few hours before. As expected my dad made a comment to the effect of, "have you guys even moved?!?!" Ryan was able to convince Gran to come outside even though it was really close to dark and dinner was not going to make itself. The look on her face was priceless. I'm talking about Ryan's, my moms was memorable too, but RyRy was SO proud of herself, she just giggled and giggled. Not only did she trick Gran, she beat Jared to the 30 bucks! Enjoy the video and Happy New Year!