The MacGregor Family

2017-08-15T09:43:00.000-05:00

The Seats

I must admit that I am doing this to make my life easier at school by having all these pictures published with a url, so sorry to Shane for an uninteresting post without real updates from our lives. Here are the seat labels for my classroom.

Another story by Jackson and Daddy

2015-09-28T16:23:00.002-05:00

A Fishy Tale

Once upon a time, there was a fish that had seven friends.
He knew them all from his school for fish.
It was the first day of summer. On that day, he went to school and could not find anyone there! He did not know what to do!
Where were his seven friends? Did they not want to play finball with him any more?
He went home and sobbed.
His mommy saw that he was upset, and she asked him why. He said none of his friends were at school. In fact, no one was at school!
She said that it was summer, and in summer you get to stay home.
"But I do not want to stay home if I cannot see my seven friends!" the fish said.
"It's okay. You can go outside and play, and you can have fish dates with them as well," his mommy said.
He did not know what a fish date was, but he liked the idea of seeing his friends, so he asked his mommy to set up a fish date with his friends.
His mommy called his friends' parents, and she asked them if they were able to play.
His friends' parents were happy to hear from her, but not all of them could play. Only three friends could get together.
They had fun, but they missed their other friends.
Over the summer, there were many fish dates, but they never got all seven friends together with the fish!
Finally, summer was over, and the fish's mommy told him to wake up and get ready for school. The fish was tired.
He swam to school and saw all seven of his friends waiting for him!
They were so excited to see each other, and they were ready to play some finball.
But then, the bell rang, and their teacher said, "time to come inside and do some math problems!"
The friends swam inside, and they all hoped that they would get to play at recess.

THE END

An Afternoon Story by Daddy and Jackson

2015-09-22T16:37:00.001-05:00

Once upon a time, there was a little aardvark whose name was Reginald.

He loved his home very much.

His home was under a red plastic slide at the playground, where he had lots of ants to eat.

One morning, all his ants were gone!

He woke up hungry, and he could not find any ants anywhere!

He looked everywhere on the playground, but he still couldn't find the ants!

Reginald was worried that his favorite meal, breakfast, would have to be mulch instead of ants.

He tried some mulch, but he didn't like it, so he thought he would try the sand.

The sand was worse than the mulch, and he spit it out in a sandy cloud.

Next Reginald tried some grass, but it was even worse than sand and mulch! He spit it out into a lake!

He saw some weeds floating in the lake, and he stuck his long aardvark tongue out to taste them.

The weeds tasted the same as the grass, but it was a little longer than the grass.

"This will not do," thought Reginald, "I must find the ants!"

He went back to the playground, and he tried to bite on a basketball and the slide, but those barely even moved.

He was so hungry that he was willing to try anything, but something moving on the slide got his attention.

He saw a kid coming down the slide, and he ran to hide. When he hid, he found a few ants for his breakfast.

As he ate those ants under the jungle gym, he realized that there were a lot of ants there, and they were eating candy!

He saw the kid coming for the candy, so he ran away with the ants.

"My candy must have fallen out of my pockets," the boy said. "Now there are ants in my Smarties and Kit-Kats!"

Reginald was hiding behind the wired fence, and he finished off his meal there.

He noticed that the ants had a deliciously sweet taste to them from the candies. It was Reginald's favorite breakfast ever.

The End

Ben's bunkmates

2013-09-11T19:13:00.001-05:00

Ben needs all three Smurfettes on his pillow before he'll sleep. Should I be worried?

Office Space

2013-09-10T20:15:00.001-05:00

Just two moments from my insane job - a scene from the break room and the items needed for a meeting today.

Proud Moments

2013-09-10T20:12:00.001-05:00

Jackson does math, Ben hand feeds dogs.

Cage Match

2013-09-10T20:09:00.001-05:00

Jackson and Ben love to play outside when I grill, and Jackson told me to turn around so I could see what he and Ben were doing. Jackson was leading caged Ben around by a leash on the cage. I told him to stop before someone got hurt, but then told them to let me take a picture for you.

Happy birthday, Grandmariachi!

2013-09-10T20:02:00.001-05:00

Five years ago, a plus sign appeared on a stick on Grandma Stockman's birthday, meaning a) we were having a baby and b) nothing could ever top what we gave Grandma Stockman that birthday - the name Grandma. So now on her fourth birthday as a grandma, we can only provide cupcakes, Mexican food, and a serenade complete with sombreros. Happy birthday, Grandma!

Two Dates in Three Days

2013-09-10T19:51:00.001-05:00

Three day weekend - two free concert tickets, three songs listened to before we abandoned, one trip to Westador institution El Imperial, two stomach aches, eight am wake-up at home (with boys at grandparents'), one wedding, four servings of steak between us, and what really mattered - her two eyes and nothing to distract me. Thanks to all the grandparents who made this possible.

Stuman

2013-09-10T19:07:00.001-05:00

An old friend bought me a beer about six months ago. I finally drank it with him. Afterwards, he made the best steak I have ever eaten. So, yes, he is a good friend.

Daniel Tiger

2013-08-25T19:17:00.001-05:00

We love Daniel Tiger, but his visit to my job was a lot of work. Luckily, I did have two test subjects to take pictures with him the morning he visited.

First and five

2013-08-25T19:14:00.001-05:00

Thanks to my co-worker Keith, I had tickets to the Texans pre-season game against the Saints, five rows back from the field! It was a surprise for Jackson, who never put together the surprise's clues - new Texans jersey and ear plugs. His first game was mostly successful, but he didn't care for the cannons fired after we scored. (That ended up not being much of an issue being as we lost.) Note the covered ears.

Sleeping In

2013-08-22T08:20:00.001-05:00

This morning, I awoke to realize I had not woken up. All week, Ben has been restless, waking up at random points in the night, meaning we were constantly waking up too. This morning, I woke up and started getting ready, but everyone else got to keep sleeping due to Meet the Teacher Day starting at 9 at the boys' school. When I left around 6:15, everyone was still sleeping. Shen I got to work around 7, I got this picture. Wish I was there.

The sign

2013-08-20T18:54:00.001-05:00

Every afternoon, I inch along Westpark Tollway. If traffic starts backing up at this sign, I have about fifteen minutes to go. If it backs up before it, it's about five minutes added per half mile. Tonight, it took me ten minutes before I got here. This means commuting sucks.

Pictures of the kids in my office

2013-08-19T16:30:00.001-05:00

So if you come to my work, you'll find some big pictures of my boys on the wall.

Mommy comes home.

2013-08-19T16:28:00.001-05:00

First thing the kids requested after Mommy's night away.

Jenny visits!

2013-08-19T14:19:00.001-05:00

When you refer to a friend as an aunt, it builds up expectations for when they visit. The boys were so excited to see Jenny again, and we played at her house, shopped at Goodwill, and ate tacos. They considered this the highlight of the day.

Watch me.

2013-08-19T13:22:00.001-05:00

Ben has little obsessions, namely random toys he wants near him as much as possible. This has led to him requesting that the toys watch him eat or sleep... or poop. He will grow out of this.

Breakfast without Mommy

2013-08-19T13:19:00.001-05:00

While Mommy was in San Antonio, we tried a new breakfast place. The boys were thrilled.

Artificially Attentive

2013-08-15T18:29:00.001-05:00

I wanted to be an attentive husband and father but I had to work late, so I sent my stand-in.

Five more visitors from a previous life

2013-08-13T21:01:00.001-05:00

Five of my old students came to say hi and give love today. The love came in the form of coffee and cards. They stuck around to play and shared the pics. These are the type of people I will miss.

McG/MacG

2013-08-13T05:48:00.001-05:00

The McGraths visited so we got the clans together for burritos and delayed bedtimes.

Lego Time

2013-08-12T21:51:00.001-05:00

We are on a Lego kick.

My building

2013-08-07T18:56:00.001-05:00

By the way, my office is in here.

Job Hazards

2013-08-07T18:53:00.001-05:00

My hands have been blue from Flubber-making two days in a row. Last night I thought the bread I was holding was moldy. Nope - just my hands.