Best Friends

Another fun day... although, I might be the only one who thinks so... So, we started the day with Kristin's new do. A girl in our church cut her hair at her house and I think it came out very adorable! She's a totally stylin' College Girl! Next, we ran a few errands which Kristin wasn't too thrilled with (JoAnn's... but I was looking for a frame for Ben's room, and I did not even find THAT, and did not get ANYTHING else! What restraint!) then over to the mall for lunch (YUM) and a little more shopping. Coffee stop on the way home (breaking my girl in right!) then we relaxed for a little while...

Next, my parent's best friends, the Lewis', were able to come over for dinner! They are down in Florida doing some work and we were thrilled they had the evening free and were willing to come over for some McGregor-style fun. I did have to tell Aunt Ruthie she was a rotten grandma since she showed up here withOUT pictures of her son Steve's new baby! WHAT IS THAT??!?! She was able to redeem herself when we got Steve to connect with us on Skype. It really worked out better for us in the end since we got to see him trying to crawl around and he is super cute. We had a great time hanging out and talking. It really gave me my much needed MOM FIX. Of course, Aunt Ruthie isn't YOU, Mom... but she held her own:) And you will be happy to know that I am STILL stealing from you:)

I will close with Ben and Carly's FAVORITE!!!! They are thrilled that their cousin is here since they usually don't get to play video games during the week and well, we would HATE for Kristin to have to play by herself!!! Here they are thoroughly enjoying MarioKart! It is pretty fun to listen to them all yelling while they are playing!

I would like to note that Kristin is VERY MAD at me right now for posting the first picture... but I think she looks really pretty, and she's the one who took the 2nd picture (self portrait) showing off her pout. Her hair looks really great:)

Picnik, anyone??

So... just when I thought we wouldn't really have a "post" about our Sunday with our new girl, she showed me something new! We were just going to chill out all day... time change, church, relaxing... then Kristin goes, "Do you ever go to Picnik.com?"... you might want to check it out! You can't go wrong with FREE photo-editing, and it's the best FREE option I've found so far. If you follow my card blog, you KNOW I need some serious help with photography of the cards, so I'm hoping that once I stop playing around with all our OTHER pictures, I can work with those, too... Here's a little of the fun we had last night:

THANKS, Kristin! What are you going to show me today??!?!!

It's a GIRL!

The McGregor's are PROUD to welcome to the family, KRISTIN JOY McGREGOR! She came to us yesterday and we've been having FUN ever since. See? She even posed for a picture with her adoring cousin! I mean, SISTER. Don' worry, Laurie. We just remembered how much her college tuition is setting you back, and we will gladly make her a FLEMING again after our week of fun!

Ryan and I are THRILLED and yes, honored, that my niece Kristin wanted to spend her FIRST college Spring Break with us. Now I know what you are thinking... FLORIDA AUNT. Of COURSE she wants to "spend" her break with you. But so far, she hasn't made any plans to DITCH us, so I'm feeling VERY optimistic.

Soon after she got here, we took her over to Grammy's House to see if there was anything she "needed". SHE left empty handed. I'm going to have to work on that with her.

We did get a picture of the kids at Grammy's... Notice Ryan, doing what he ALWAYS does at Gram's House. We visited with Uncle Steve and I would like to make a note that I actually RETURNED everything I had previously removed from said house. Well, not the Mac N' Cheese dish, but that's only because Kristin might need some while she's here. Hey, she's missing her Grandparents, too. I did removed the "Shape" magazine's because I can not figure out WHY my father has a subscription to them... we need to talk, Dad.

Thought you might like to see the state of your retention pond, Dad. It's very sad, huh? We desperately need rain in our state! Kristin was commenting on how brown the grass is... there are watering restrictions, again.

And Tracy, I'm working desperately to try to steal this for you... however, Steve is now acting as an armored guard and I believe he has even BOLTED this to the wall. He has to sleep sometime, right?

After our "visit", we went to T'juana Flats for dinner. I did NOT take any pictures of the chips, Tracy... after the week you've had, it's bad enough that I am even mentioning us going there! HOWEVER! When you come next month, I am HAPPY to accompany you there each night for chips and salsa. Mmmmmm. Perhaps we could have THAT for Easter, instead of ham.

After our fun... Kristin and Carly made brownies! Kristin was so sweet teaching her how to read the directions and measure everything... so patient!!! Carly was loving it, since her Mama doesn't bake. Ever. So, of course, Carly in the kitchen made for funny moments... my favorite: Carly was so helping getting all the ingredients out and finding everything they needed and after the brownies were in the oven and Carly was licking the spoon (a FIRST for her, because like I said, I don't bake... and lets be honest, raw eggs? I had to let it go....) Kristin was very diligently putting everything away. So, she asks Carly, "Where did you get the oil from?" to which my very charming girl said, "Publix" and kept on licking... oh boy. Kristin and I might still be giggling about that...

Saturday Chores

It STINKS to be a McGregor. Welcome to SPRING in Florida... most places in the country rake leaves in the fall... not here! Our trees wait until March and then there are leaves EVERYWHERE. So, Ryan has the kids outside ALL MORNING long raking leaves and bagging them up. Those kids are really starting to pay off around here. I had to take a picture because that's my Little Princess, holding the leaf bag open with her mouth. Needless to say, she is over her week-long illness. Yes, WEEK-long.

This is Ben's "I'd-rather-be-raking-leaves-than-hugging-my-sister" look. Note the amount of dirt on the Princess. And I just cleaned their bathroom, too! Oh well... Before you feel all bad that they had to do yard work, they are working towards a new Wii game, and are HOPEFUL that their Dad is going to say that last weeks work and this weeks work will be enough to earn it!

Stay tuned for our exciting week with the new addition to our family....

Gasparilla 1/2 Marathon

So, Ryan is the Man! Since he was "all trained up" from running the Disney 1/2 and Full marathon in January, he figured he might was well go for the Gasparilla race last Sunday morning... he's been wanting to do this race for a while and it finally worked out! Unfortunately, a cold front was moving through as soon as the race started and the weather was TERRIBLE, so his time was a MINUTE under his last 1/2 marathon time. Don't you hate it when that happens?!?!? These are "Official Race Photo's" since none of us were there to cheer him on! I was working and the kids were with Aunt Rochel, plus, the RAIN!

Ok, so the pictures are a little wonky, but you get the idea! Pretty proud of him!

Sick Day

.... again. Just minor stuff, but enough to NOT be at school and infect the whole first grade. Actually, Sunday Carly had a random fever. You know, no symptoms, just fever. (Mom, she hasn't had a fever since... I knew you'd want to know that). Anyways, Ben asked her what her temperature was and she said, "102. You know, FOUR more degrees until, well, you know...(dramatic eye roll and "i'm-not-long-for-this-world-defeated-sigh")". Of course, after THAT information, Ben kept staring RIGHT in her face (hi, I have no concept of personal space) and saying, "are you dead yet?". Ah, big brothers.

Also for fun, I am including a letter I found that Carly had written to her cousin, Torrey. It is actually written on the back of the birthday letter she wrote to Tor, and yes, I will be mailing it a little closer to March 16th. Enjoy....

"well, one day the cat that never got sick, got sick"

...and an author was born.

Praying. 21st Century Style

Ok... so (no pictures today) I'm noticing an interesting phenomenon. I realize that by even MENTIONING this, I am totally going to look like a stalker, but bear with me... last month, my sister had this blog entry. Anyone who knows my darling look-alike, knows she loves other people's business. (Sweetie, it's true). So, my first thought was "Deep End". But I figured, I'd play along, and checked out Stranger Girl in Arkansas' blog. That blog lead me to this blog and before I knew it, I had 2 babies I was completely burdened to be praying for. I'll be honest. Felt a little uncomfortable being so worried over strangers (I SAID I WAS BEING HONEST!!!). But I felt compelled to go with it... so I prayed. A lot.



Did you take a minute to go to visit Kelly's blog that my sister mentioned? Do you know what she does? She has a blog. Do you know what she does with it? Talks about herself. Her baby. Her family. TV. Do you know what she REALLY does with it? She has this incredible ministry of reaching out to strangers and praying for them... particularly couples struggling with infertility, because she did, too. She posts links to other people's blogs. So the THOUSANDS of people (yes, you read that right!) who read HER blog will pray for them, too. Talk about a prayer chain. Welcome to the 21st Century.


I know this might be a little dramatic, but I'm going to put it out there anyways... I almost lost my son last month. It changed my life. Completely. I've decided that when God speaks, I think I will listen. Carefully. So, here's another little one to add to the list... want to be a part of something way bigger than your usual circle? Challenge ya to try it for a month... see if you don't learn something along the way...