31.89

Swim Meet this morning... Carly shaved 8 seconds off her Free Style time! No DQ's for either!

And the news that has had ALL of us SCREAMING all afternoon.... Ben's Free Style Time.

31.89! His Personal Best WAS 34.56, so it's pretty amazing that he was able to shave so much off his ALREADY incredible time....

Oh, and by the way... 31.89 is a JUNIOR OLYMPICS cut time!!!! Hence the SCREAMING!

Thirty Seven

It would seem Weekly Posts are becoming the Norm around here... our week just flies by!

Our biggest news of the week was Ryan's birthday, last Friday! Of course, we celebrated all week, as usual! He doesn't love cake (HOW?) so I always make him Apple Pie... actually, I will be making another one today! Apparently we are STILL celebrating his birthday! Stupidly, while Ben was enjoying his pie, I asked him if it was good... yes. "Better than Auntie Laurie's?".... long pause. Nervous look at his Dad. Asperger's wins out. "Ummm, not really." That's what I get for asking, right? Duh. NOBODY's apple pie is better than my sisters. I did everything SHE did, too, all the way down to NOT measuring ANYTHING (because we all know I can't bake or cook if there is REAL measuring involved!), but still... Don't get me wrong, it was yummy, and Ryan certainly had NO complaints. But it wasn't Laurie's Pie. Oh well.... Ben loved his visit LAST FALL to Laurie's in New Hampshire where he got to pick apples, then go home and make a pie with the Master.

Photo from September 2008....

On Friday, we went to.... well, lets see if you can guess. For Ryan's "Birthday Dinner". My brother, Steve, met us there, which was super fun to see him. Ben and Carly were particularly pleased to see him, and drill him about his life. They would make Grammy proud, the information they were pulling out of him! He's doing really well, in case anyone is wondering.

Pretty sure Ryan had a nice, relaxing birthday and weekend.... I was at work for the bulk of it. They got a new game for the Wii, which apparently is VERY fun. (Wii Resort Sports).

The only other thing to share (to bring this up to date) would be that the weather is FINALLY cooler... we've been suffering in 95 degree heat for MONTHS and are finally in the 70's which makes life so much nicer.

And a funny story from today to share with you... the above picture is actually BEN when he was 22 months old, and "petting" Miggy, who then resided at Grandma's house in Michigan. This would be why Miggy got to come and live with US, because he's so tolerant of little kids. I believe Ben had been "petting" him for about 20 minutes here. And by "petting", I mean, POUNDING on him. Under Grandma's supervision. ANYHOW, this morning, during Eli's visit, I was, of course, allowing him the same liberties with Miggy. He's declawed (Miggy, not Eli), so it seemed pretty safe. Eli decided he was tired and laid his head right down on Miggy with his thumb in his mouth (Eli's thumb, not Miggy's... because Miggy doesn't really have thumbs, I guess). So cute, Must-Get-Camera. After a few shots, (none of which came out great) Miggy decided, "I've been doing this for 10 years, I-Think-Not" and HISSED at Eli (who I QUICKLY grabbed away from the Cat... because I am a nice Auntie). Blah, Blah, Blah... Eli took a nap (in his pack-n-play, not on Miggy) and when he got up, I decided "Lets go see Miggy again" because Eli was calling him (so cute, Eli calling the kitties...)

What does my little darling Pumpkin Nephew do as soon as he gets to Miggy? Carly guessed correctly... can you? Ok, it's too funny to make you wait. He HISSED at him!!!! (Eli, not Miggy!) Yup, that really cracked me up. Did NOT know Eli could hiss. So funny!

One last Overheard Conversation to share:

Ben: Did you know you can get diseases from mosquitoes?

Me: yup, Malaria, right? but that's really in Africa and there's medicine for that.... (hey, he really worries about these things!)

Ryan: hey, Daddy's sister had malaria once.

Ben: Really? (in the She's-So-Famous-And-Lucky awe inspired voice) Which one?

Ryan: The Funny One.

Ben: Aunt Rochel?

Ryan: no.... The Smart One.

Ben: Aunt Renae?

Ryan: Which one is The Pretty One?

Ben: AAGGGGGGGggghghghghhhhhhh, I don't know! I don't know! I don't know!!!

It would seem, we are The Perfect Shade of Yellow today....

I can NOT believe it worked...

So, if you are missing something for 2 weeks, you might want to hire Carly to create some signs for you...

Yup. I decided I should probably clean BEN's closet up a little and MAYBE this crazy DS would present itself to me... and all I had to do was move a puzzle, and there it was, on top of the Sponge Bob Pinball Game. My guess is that she got distracted playing the Sponge Bob game, (you know, while she was looking for the charger....) and well, you know the rest.

So I'm charging it. In Ben's Room. And no one is allowed to touch it. And now we can kindly remove a new one from her Christmas List. I did take a picture of it with my NEW CELL PHONE (again, Thanks, Edgar) and send it to Ryan. I don't think he started crying when he saw it. We will reserve that trick for Mother's of Very Sad Little Girls Who Have Lost Their DS's.

Yet another Random Week

Here we are at the end of another week... or I guess the BEGINNING of a new one, right? Here are a few tidbits from our busy week...

The kids had dentist appointments that consisted of replacing sealants on Ben and placing sealants on Carly... and filling a cavity on our Candy Junkie. She enjoyed her first try at Laughing Gas, especially after an iCarly episode where Sam got Laughing Gas and told Carly she kissed Freddie. Yup. iCarly is our favorite show. By OUR, I mean, ALL OF US. It's just that funny.

Somewhere along this week I found a letter Carly wrote to her friend. You know, the one who's party we completely missed. Now, when Carly told me she made a card for her friend to say she was sorry, I wasn't surprised. You shouldn't be surprised, either, to know that my daughter has her OWN stash of card making supplies (albeit, cast-offs from Mama) or that her first thought when something "happens" is "I-will-make-a-card". Let me complete this incident by saying that I got right on my knees and thanked our Heavenly Father that THIS card was intercepted.

Hey, Kaleigh: Rude Girl wants her Goodie Bag. Ugh. Yes, we had a long talk about this... where I was informed in a very quiet voice that since she FORGOT the card at home, she just TOLD Kaleigh to bring the Goodie Bag. Which she did. And hey, there was a really cool horse prize in there. Good chance I can never go to school on parent night again.

While I'm on Carly... she has lost her Nintendo DS. Has anyone seen it? We think it's in the same place where her Mamma Mia DVD is. This would be how I ended up cleaning her room LAST weekend... looking for the DS. Here's how it got lost, in Carly's words:

I was playing it on Ben's top bunk, when SUDDENLY the red light went on and I knew I needed to charge it. So, I CAREFULLY got down and started looking for the charger. I looked all over Ben's Room, then looked in my room, checked the kitty dish, then looked in the Wii Room. While I was in there, I realized I didn't know where my DS was, and since I didn't have anything to charge, I stopped looking for the charger.

Ok, so it's missing. Apparently somewhere in the house. The good news (Tracy and Torrey), in the process of looking for the DS, we FOUND the Mamma Mia movie, so the next time you come to visit, we can save 10 hours of looking for it, and just watch it. I say all this to share this picture:

These signs are hanging up on everyone's doors. Hey, it works in the neighborhood when you lose your dog, so why not, right? I will let you know if it works.

Friday night, we ALL went over to the Warren's to hang out and eat dinner. We had a lot of fun. Just relaxing and the kids were playing and having a blast. Love these kind of nights where everything is informal and you all bring stuff to make the dinner. It's like being at home, but you get to talk to friends, too! Ben spent the night, which he's been dying to do for about forever! The next day, when we picked him up, he informed us that the boys stayed up until 4am, and woke up at 7am. He was giggling the whole time. Oh, and he go to eat Ramen Noodles for lunch! He was THRILLED about that! He's all ready for college! He had a great time and actually, has NOT been cranky or too-tired acting! He certainly didn't get that from his Night Shift Working Mamma. She's COMPLETELY cranky when she stays up all night and only gets 3 hours of sleep!

While Carly was a Lonely Only, we tried to make some fun for her... She really missed Ben, but mostly was upset that she couldn't spend the night with The Warren Boys anymore. Stinks growing up:) So, we were going to take her to the movies, but she asked if we could just go to Michael's and get a craft to make instead! Imagine the pride and excitement I felt!?!?!?!!!!!! She picked out iron-ons and tshirts and made a shirt with a cross that she wore to church this morning (no photo, sorry)... and a giant tshirt with skulls and crossbones that she made for pj's. Enjoy the broad range of fashion tastes there. Cross. Skulls and Crossbones. Nice. Of course, we had fun:)

And special THANKS shout out to my brotherinlaw, Edgar, for driving all over Tampa and visiting Target 3 times to get me my new cell phone. For free. That was really nice of you! And as soon as I figure out all the buttons, I can call my family again. I'm REALLY fast at texting now, since it has all the keys!

It's Sunday Night. So that means Rodney is here... piano lessons for the kids. Carly just finished working on Beethoven's 9th, the Ode to Joy, which everyone remembers from the arrangement Ryan composed for our wedding for me to walk down the aisle to, RIGHT?!?!?!? It was pretty sweet to hear her playing it. Love that so much! The Beattles have made an appearance in my living room... And once I can clear them out, we are going to get the kids to bed and play the game Rodney got Ryan for his birthday....

Pretty sure we can take Tracy and Dean on this one! Ha! Probably not! We are pretty excited about that one...

LASTLY! A picture. Of the Most Non-Contributing Member of our Family:

The One who gives Nothing back. You'd think we were killing him if we try to hold him. Oh well... we keep him because he seems to really like Ben. Who ignores him. Must be why he loves Ben so much! Enjoy Cassidy!

Ok... Ryan just "Dedicated" Eight Days a Week to "My girl, Jenny!". Once, my grandmother told me that if I keep rolling and crossing my eyes, they were going to get stuck that way. She must have known I was going to live This Life!

*sigh* it doesn't get much better!

Ryan and Kids at Nesika Beach

I tried UNSUCCESSFULLY to post this video back when I posted about our Oregon Coast Vacation... finally it was able to upload and it's kind of fun, so here it is! The water was COLD, in case you can't tell!

I am a Swim Mom

I wish I could get this video to post HERE, but since I can not, you will have to go to the website to see it... Anyone who's seen Ben's hair, will think one of these little boys look like Ben with brown hair!! My friend shared this with me, so ENJOY!!

www.Iamaswimmom.com

Our Random Week...

It's been a week. Or should I say, it's been a Week. Nothing too interesting, I guess... just routine McGregor Stuff. Here's how it went...

LAST FRIDAY night, Ryan and I painted the living room, Antelope-Hide-with-10-drops-of-white-to-the-half-pint. We started around 5pm, when my Kind Brother came to pick up Ben and Carly for the night. (THANK YOU!) We finished at 10pm, although, we did take off at 8pm for dinner and finished when we returned. I think we did pretty good! Somehow, in the process of that, we found out the FiOs box was broken and Ryan spent some time on the phone with Verizon trying to trouble shoot (ummmm, we do have our priorities here!) and then getting a new one ordered. So, MANY DAYS without TV. Amazingly enough, we survived. I did, however, have to miss seeing Donny Osmond dance Monday night on DWTS. *sigh*. oh, and YES, we still love the paint color, even though I was hoping there would be moments we did not.

SATURDAY... SUNDAY somewhat of a blur as I was working/sleeping/working/sleeping... I do remember feeling REALLY tired:) and somewhere along that way we completely forgot to take Carly to her friend's birthday party. That we RSVP'd for. That I spent 1/2 an hour on the phone discussing the week before with the girls mother.

We did get our new couch delivered Saturday morning (photo above)... we have 2 pieces of furniture we still need to get (shelves and entry way bench) so official pictures will be posted whenever that happens...

MONDAY... 10pm. That would be when Ryan and I realized that we missed the party. Also, when I realized that I am not Super Woman. Ouch. And that I need to actually SLEEP after working instead of staying up, or getting up really early to do stuff that really could wait. And that I really can't function on 2 hours of sleep. And remember birthday parties that I RSVP'd to.

TUESDAY... I spent a fun day at my friend Debbie's house. She recently had surgery and can't lift her adorable baby, Levi, so I was the Lifter. And Eli went with me... here he is NOT crawling, even though I told him he had to. He doesn't want to. Told you Levi was cute. And he's my mom's Birthday Buddy, which is a big deal around our house.

And probably my favorite part of the week... I had to call The Mother of the Missed-Birthday-Party-Girl and apologize. Didn't even have a clever excuse, just we are clueless. I say it was my favorite part, because this mom was SO gracious to me, and kind. Which made me feel worse, and better all at once. A little sad that I was SURPRISED she was so kind. Most people aren't these days. It was a horse back riding lesson "party" with a trainer and everything, so I was REALLY feeling bad as I'm sure they had to pay ahead of time. Anyways, it was a great Object Lesson for me in the end... to always be a kind person, and to SLEEP so I can focus on things that are important to the family and others... RIGHT?!?!

scooting on ahead to FRIDAY... kids had a swim meet in St. Petersburg! We took off as soon as they got home from school and they got started warming up just before 5pm and really didn't stop swimming until about 9pm. They both did really well, and Ben even got a B time for his backstroke. So he was happy about that! There were a couple of DQ's, but they were both OK with that, too... even Ben! A word about his backstroke... when he started on the swim team, he was so "bad"at this stroke that he just constantly went in circles:) So it is really awesome to see him working hard and even getting cut times. A word about the cut times... they aren't easy to get, and most of the kids his age DON'T have them, so it's a HUGE deal. We are really proud of both of them for their hard work and ESPECIALLY for their good sportsmanship. Also, the Coach has extended Ben's practice time each day, which is a great sign as that means he's noticing he's serious about this and working his way "up the team". Thank you to Rochel, Edgar, and Eli for coming along to enjoy the Swim Meet Circus.

and TODAY. We haven't really done anything all day and it's been GREAT!!! Well, I helped Carly clean her room. Disaster. Not sure how that happens. I'm beginning to think it's the Room. It's jinxed. I know this because it was Rochel's room at one time. (You are welcome, Rochel, for NOT blaming my messy daughter on you... butIthinkweallknowwhereshegetsitfrom). And the highlight of our evening... Eli is here! His mom and dad are OUT, and well, lets start with the funniest things that have happened so far...

When Rochel brought him in, she had so much eye shadow on (going to costume party) that Eli would look at her and slowly close his eyes and turn his head away, and keep his eyes closed. ("Mommy, there's something wrong with your eyes!!") ok, that made us laugh for a long time!

Ryan. Trying to MAKE Eli crawl. This could be why we only have 2 kids. Ryan DECIDES they are going to learn something, and well, he's a somewhat unorthodox teacher. Sorry Edgar. Anyways, there was a TV remote involved and tears, and a baby who never got the remote... and a lightup rubix cube and tears, and an Auntie saying "Stop it! That's mean" and a baby who got the rubix cube. That's all I'm saying.

And probably the funniest... Ryan put him on his tummy for the 100th time and told him to crawl (yeah, right) and Eli flipped right back over and blew a raspberry at him. Really funny. So appropriate.

Anyways... he's off to bed now, and MY kids are relaxing and we are enjoying the 2nd to last RAYS game of the season. They are saving us lots of money by NOT getting to the post season, so I guess we should thank them? Hmmmmm... we ARE enjoying our new couch, so THANKS, RAYS!