Little boy blue

I've been blogging a bunch about the swimmers recently. Not much has been going on with Kevin since wrestling ended. He will start football as soon as we get home from the beach, he can't wait to get out on the field. Until then he has picked up a new hobby, the trumpet.

Jared went for middle school orientation a few weeks back. We were discussing all his options-band or orchestra-which instrument etc. We already have an electric guitar, two acoustic guitars, and a full set of drums. Jared decided the violin was right for him. Good thing Rick gave me one for Christmas many moons ago. One of my favorite gifts ever and now Jared will use it in 6th grade. :)

While we were deciding what to do for the eldest, Kevin was contemplating the trumpet. Grandfather, Uncle Ricky and cousin Cal all play the trumpet. Uncle Ricky also has a french horn. I think there is a band at Chalker in 5th grade, not sure if it is for 4th grade as well. We will see in the Fall. We placed a call to Grandfather to see if he had another horn sitting around. In deed there was and Kevin couldn't wait to get his hands on it. I went to work the first day he had it and by the time I came home he had figured out how to play hot crossed buns and another "song" that I couldn't quite put a finger on.

Since Kev is kind of in the jet wash of summer swim flurry I asked if he could go to "Camp Gran" for a few days to get some extra lovin. Kev was exstatic! He learned and practiced the scales and by the time I saw him a few days later I was amazed with how well he was doing. He stayed at the lake and I will see him tomorrow. He's been with Uncle Ricky and Grandfather so I know they had some playing time in there. I'm glad he found something to make his heart happy. :)

Swim with the Champions Tour

Did Ryan win a GOLD medal??? Nah, she's just borrowing one until she gets her own. ;) We signed the swimmers up for a pro-am with 3 Olympic medalists: Misty Hyman (Ryan's favorite), Maritza Correia and Matt Targett.

Here's the group shot

they were all SO nice, we will do this again!!

Ryan on the blocks against Misty...AWESOME! I had to quick grab my still camera because I was getting video at the same time. I will try and post those later.

autographs at the end. Ryan has had Misty's picture on her door for the last 3 years. :)

Notice the bling?? Those are Matt's 3, yes 3, NCAA AUBURN rings. He let Ryan wear them since her middle name is Auburn.

I had pictures of Jared but his group was way across the pool. He had a great time as well. Rob and Kevin stayed home and had some "guy time". Looking forward to a great summer in the pool.

Last Days at Chalker for Jared

Wow the last few weeks of 5th grade are PACKED with fun things to do. We had the field trip to Tennessee, the Target presentation, a Hawaiian Luau with DJ, a red carpet lunch and video presentation, awards assembly, class awards and the walk of fame through the halls. We didn't get that kind of treatment in 5th grade! Jared received 1 award, the class Science award-Way to go!
One bus stop on our street uses silly string on the 5th graders for the last day of school. Since they only had two kids this year they invited all the 5th graders and their families to come to their stop. We had silly string, a banner for the kids to run through, popsicles, cold drinks and plenty of pictures. The bus driver was SO sweet about the entire thing, even when her bus got "decorated".
YAY!! It's officially SUMMER VACATION

Medieval Feast-Roger Bacon

ROGER BACON

like the monk wig? $2.50 (yay me) the other stuff we already had at home.

decorations for the feast, the room looked outstanding!

more decorations.....

...and more

a shot of the class all decked out. I spy with my little eye:
Leif Eriksson, Ann Boleyn, Johannes Gutenberg, Richard the Lionheart, Marco Polo, Queen Elizabeth I, Kubla Kahn, Henry the VIII...

This would be "Roger" slaying the 7 foot tall dragon that was in the room....

The last two weeks of school are JAMMED full of activities for all three kids. Between the field trip to Tennessee, Medieval Feast Day, Field Day (x3) and end of the year projects (x4) we are going to ENJOY summer break!
Jared chose to do a monologue on Roger Bacon, a monk who developed the scientific method, discovered the camera and helped spread Christianity :) Good Boy! :) He did a great job on his presentation, we may have an actor on our hands. :) The room looked beautiful for the feast! I didn't help much because it was on the tails of Relay but total props to the moms that took that project on. I was SO tempted to buy one of the huge Knights for my Dad, he's always wanted one ;)

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 ;)