Mako Mania 2010

Wow, this weekend was bittersweet. I couldn't wait for Ryan to swim this meet in Dalton. It's a trophy meet and I thought she had a great shot at a couple trophies. As it turns out, she didn't get any (unless there is one for High Point, then she is in the running for that). She swam FANTASTIC! Pinkie had 5 out of 10 events beat her best time. That is really good! Her best event was the 100 FR where she paced for 75 and then sprinted for the last 25, everyone was watching her race to the finish...it was really neat to watch. I can't wait for her to hit the summer swim team pool. Great job girly!! :)

The flip side was that this was Jared's last meet as a 10U. He has been swimming with his buddy Anthony, but now he will move up. This also means that we will be morning shift for one swimmer and afternoon for the other. Swim meets just went from a half day marathon to a full day schedule hijack. Jared swam ok this meet. His breast stroke is completely shot for some reason. Have no clue what happened to it but his fly is taking off. On his 100 Fly yesterday he had an epiphany. Apparently he figured something out, something clicked (like riding a bike I guess) and he did really well. I told him that practice was the time for that not at meets but at least he got the feel of it....it's only been 5 years. Anyway, his new "trick" worked because he swam the 50 fly like his hair was on fire today. He came in 2nd in his heat where he was seeded 4th. He would have had a 2nd place trophy but someone from a previous heat leapfrogged over him and he made 3rd. Awesome. He also got a 3rd place trophy from the 100 FL the day before. He did ok on points, like I said, they may not get overall point trophys...we'll have to wait and see what happenes when they get to the pool on Monday.

Next up, Long Course---ugh---we go from yards to meters and 50/100/200 instead of 25/50/100/200...the events drag on and so do the meets. Jared is only doing two this summer and Ryan, one. They will be doing summer team for the neighborhood again and I don't want them getting burned out.

Spring Break

What a week. I seriously sat on the porch the entire time. I think I went on the boat a couple times and in the house to eat and use the bathroom, but the majority of the time was outside listening to the kids play, riding our bikes or shooting the b-b gun. All of us got into the bb gun action. I loved some of the pictures of the kids going after the tin cans...

Of course the Easter bunny had a HUGE hunt for the kids, hid the baskets and brought lots of chocolate. That explains the chocolate foot prints from one room to the other. Maybe hard candy for the outside eggs next year :) Like Ryan's socks? My nickname used to be "little miss red socks" from my 1st principle Mrs. Jurrack....guess it's herreditary. :)

Spring Break wouldn't be complete with out a Rusty trip. Sherry was gracious enough to let us come love on Rusty for the afternoon. What a great day!

Rusty and Ryan

We had a GREAT time visiting with Uncle Ricky, Gran and Grandfather...the time went too fast as always. Soon it will be time for Sky Valley-YAY that means SUMMER time. Wahoo! I can't wait to spend EVERYDAY with my three favorite little people. They are gettign so big so fast. I wish time would just slow down for a bit. Jared goes off to middle school next year, sniff sniff. New adventures to be had...

Ryan's 1st Communion

Wow, where does the time go?? It seems like yesterday Jared was taking his first communion. Now Ryan has completed her class and is ready. She did really well during the question and answer section of the service, first one with her hand up for each question. :) I took the opportunity to get a picture of all the kids cleaned up and ready for church. It's rare to catch them in something other than a suit or a singlet ;)

i heart faces-Angles

Focusing on Angles Week

Funny enough the title of this picture is "My Angels" so I guess this is my Angels angle shot. I absolutely adore this picture! Our kids make me smile (most days) and this picture reminds me of the beautiful summer day we were having out in the front yard. Something we rarely have time to do during the busy school year. Head on over to i heart faces for more Angle pictures.

Short Course STATE 2010!!

The sign says it all...2010 Short Course State in Savannah Georgia

Jared during warm ups. I went on the deck on Saturday to get photos but just during warm ups. The first day I took video of Jared's race from the stands and the second day I left the camera behind. The seats were really crowded and I was afraid it would fall through. Jared did ok during his swims, two seconds from his beast time on each event but it was a learning experience. It's a shame that his times have been dropping like rocks but it just didn't happen for him when it counted. :(

He didn't mind though, we had a blast with our friends.

After the meet we went to the Crab Shack on Tybee, the gators were a bit sluggish but then again, so was I. The wind was terrible and it was really cold. It was cruel to be on the beach and it be so chilly.

The adults got appetizers and Jared decided that he needed to try oysters in the half shell. I love seafood and this is by far my least favorite. He said he liked them...yuck. :)

On the Tybee Pier, what a cute couple of kids ;)

Tybee pier from the freezing cold beach.

What a great trip...hopefully we can go again next year ;) Ryan's not too many years away from making a state cut. Jared will have his work cut out for hime next year, he ages up and the times are crazy fast.

Snow Watch 2010

Got the kids off the bus and went in to wait for the snowmageddon to hit!

It's snowing!!!

When can we go outside and play?!?!

Ryan had a meltdown and missed the first few minutes of playtime. She was peeking out at the fun and the boys were hitting her window with snowballs!

Jared making his snowball to start Frosty-unaware of the danger behind him...

...look out Jared!!

After Kevin missed Jared at point blank range, they decided to work together to build our FIRST snowman in our own yard EVER. They made one 2 years ago at Rick's in Michigan, but not at home.

Ryan got paroled and everyone joined in the fun.

This is tough work :)

Starting to take shape

DONE! What a great job. It's easy when you have a kit ;)

Jared hitting the sled on Day Lily Speedway...and

the sled hitting Kevin on the nose....

Ryan looking cute before her death run down the street. Just kidding, the snow/ice was starting to melt so she went super slow.

What a beautiful day! It was worth the wait...only 10 years in the making. Maybe we'll get another one this year??? Nah....

Genetics??

SMILE!! ....or not?

I know I just posted this one of Ryan, but it makes me laugh every time. Jared and Rob RARELY make faces. Kevin, Ryan and I on the other hand make them all the time. Grandma Lou used to laugh out loud when I was talking to her and say, "oh, the faces you make-it's amazing". I'm sure she was being polite because they are not amazing beautiful, they are amazingly scary. Here is a montage of the crazy sheep in the family


... oh-here's one more. Guess we know where it comes from!

Kell Longhorn Wrestling

HOOK 'EM Kevin!

Kevin started wrestling as soon as football was over. Glad to say, he loves it. We are getting used to a new sport (again). I think he is really good at it so we are encouraging him to stay with it again next year. Here are some pictures from his first two tournaments. I took a couple and a team parent on the floor took the other ones. I am so grateful because we were so far away and his pictures came out so much better then mine did. The links should take you directly to the shutterfly address to see all of the pictures of the team. I posted my favorites. Kevin was in the 10 & Under for the Kell Longhorn and the Kell Greenhorn.

At home before the Tournament, not a fan of the singlet.

warm ups. Hi Mom!

Click here to view these pictures larger

Click here to view these pictures larger

YAY!! A Bronze medal for coming in 3rd in his bracket! Way to go Kevman :)

Swimming the MLK in Downtown

Ryan is officially 7 for her first meet. This meet (MLK invite) will be tricky every year because of the way her birthday falls. This year she was just older for the meet. Not so big of a deal since she isn't aging up, but it may be an issue in future years. Since she's too young to really care about state cut times, the only thing she is going for is IRON MAN (posting a time in all available events for her age group). She has been missing the 50 Fl for 2 years but at MLK, she finally did it. WAHOO!! Next goal is to post a Top 10 Time for the Gold Girls in each event in her age group, she already has quite a few :)
Jared swam well, he even matched his state cut time for the breast so that made me feel better, he's not going to state on a fluke ;) The poor thing is so close on a couple more events, we'll see. He still has two more meets before state. The reason we are trying to get them in this year is that next year the state cut times are REALLY hard to make. The jump from 9-10 times to 11-12 times is HUGE. He really doesn't have a shot at state next year unless something momentous happens..which I don't foresee-this IS Jared we are talking about. Marching to his own drum is an understatement. His coach always says that he hopes we never get caught in a fire because Jared would still take his sweet time, even then. Anyways, here are some pictures of the day. I know swim pictures can get boring so here are my favorites from the weekend:

LOOK how comfortable he looks on the blocks-AWESOME! It took a long time to get here...

Ryan on the other hand rarely gets intimidated...

...even when the girls are twice her size :)

Great form Pinkie:)

Not to bad for Jared either. He's come a long way this year!