Wednesday was Annie's last swim meet. She qualified for conference in the back stroke. It was hectic to get all three kids up and fed and to the pool at 8 am.
As we were climbing out of the car Kate turned to Annie and said in her darling little voice " You do a great job out there okay!" my heart melted at her love and support as my eyes filled with tears.
(silly Kate wearing one of Annie's caps)We walked into the pool and the coach gave Annie a new cap with her name on it. She put it on and looked so big in her uniform and MURDOCK cap, as I left her with the coach and walked away I had to wipe away the tears. Not even sure what I was feeling- she is getting too big.
(yes the picture is Meg not Annie, but you get the idea of how cute it is)And then Annie's swimming the in morning prelims qualified her for the final that night. They take the top 16 swimmers for each race. Annie was # 16. But when we checked in for warm-up the times had been adjusted and Annie was not # 17- the Alternate. (Don't get fired up- it was very fair, they use the auto wall clocks in the pool but because the kids have never used them before they also have timer and one little girl's clock had not stopped even though she had won her heat in the morning- all fair). We were bummed but she was a really good sport.
We decided to stay and see what happened. Her race came and we noticed that lane 5 was empty- so we were yelling from the balcony. The announcer noticed an empty lane and asked for an alternate. (The coach had told me not to get my hopes up the alternates never swim) So next thing we know Annie is in the water- we were cheering like she had won the race (just excited that she got a chance to swim) The race is about to start and enter stage right a coach who has suddenly noticed that his swimmer is chatting and not in the water. So Annie climbed back out. This time I cried- Sad for the yo-yo of emotions that a 7 year old had to experience over swimming.
Recently my sister and I had a conversation about parenting.
Is it 50% fun experiences and tender moments and
50% sleepless nights and cleaning up throw-up?
Or some days does it feel more like 90/10?
I still haven't decided but I do know I love my kids more than anything.
Even if they make me want to scream and cry, I share with them the good, the bad, the disappointments and the celebrations.
It is overwhelming and humbling to have responsibility for such amazing little people.
Kate
could these two be any cuter??
Annie
all of us- well most of us anyway. 65 and 8.5/9ths if my math is right
cute little Meggie Moo!
Scott eating a deep fried twinkie.
Mushie and Papa- sharing a "date" shake!
the look on Kate's face says it all. She didn't think it sounded very good either! 
