5th Grade Field Trip

5TH Grade Trip to Tennessee

"JCubed"
This is Jared's group of pals, they did a business project together and that was their name:
Josh, Jared and Jordan

:):)Never seen the penguins at this aquarium before :):)

love this one ;)

I loved the butterfly room, I could have stayed in there all day. Made me think of relay...

This is a Relay butterfly, "painted lady" I think is the name.

Jared and Autumn

Inside Ruby Falls. I wasn't a fan of the tunnels to get there but I LOVED how these pictures came out :)

They were doing a light show with music to make it more exciting...

pretty :)

The castle is made from all the rock they brought up from the elevator shaft to get down to the caverns. I think we were down 270+ feet.

Today was the class trip up to the Tennessee Aquarium, IMAX and Ruby Falls. It has been a LONG time since I have done that day trip. The aquarium was great because we did a building I have never been in before. I actually liked that one better then the main building. The touch tank, butterflies and penguins were awesome! We had a pizza lunch on the plaza and then off to IMAX. We saw the Hubble Movie and Jared was in heaven. It was super cool in 3-D and we learned quite a bit. The entire room shook when the shuttle launched-I can only imagine being at the Cape for the real deal. Next stop was Ruby Falls (named after the founders wife, not because there are Ruby gems everywhere). We had to take a tiny elevator down a narrow shaft into the caverns...walk for 30-45 minutes and viola! the Ruby Falls. The kids had a great time, I was exhausted :) The coach bus trip was fun until the airconditioner quit...minor details.
Rob picked us up at school and we were off to Chick Fil A. Jared and Ryan BOTH made student of the month for May and got a free meal in their honor. Nice :) Tomorrow is the Medieval Feast for Target.

I ~heart~ Faces--"Celebrating Mom"

CELEBRATE, Remember & Fight Back!

Every year our family does the Relay for Life with the American Cancer Society and each year it is the Friday night before Mother's Day. For Survivors and their families it makes the day even more special. I saw this mom and her little girl walking the track with the BIGGEST smiles on their faces. Mom is a cancer survivor and the little girl is just so happy to be with her. It was such a sweet moment I asked if I could get their picture. The theme for Relay is Celebrate, Remember, and Fight Back...I think this is a perfect picture Celebrating this Mom! Head on over to I heart Faces to see other pictures "Celebrating Mom".

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JARED!!

WE LOVE YOU LITTLE MAN!


HAVE A GREAT DAY!!
Mom, Dad, Kevin & Ryan

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!