Aerating day

Yes, I’m afraid it is that time of year again. Didn’t know? Check Scotts webpage. It stated we are good till the end of September. I think we are on track. So a aerating I will go. Ah wait! Hold the presses!!! There is a twist this year, I can’t do it. Why? Shoulder surgery, remember? If not, click the link. My awesome neighbors,Brian and Matt, are including me in their weekend activities, aerating. They are doing it for me. WOW! How cool is that?!? Actually, Matt said he’s got me covered, but I’m sure both are in on it. They even included me on the old breakfast routine. Nice! So we are off at 0715 this morning. Yes, I couldn’t sleep again. I was up around 4 or so.

Matt and his wife are having us all over for dinner. I think it may be an early dinner, as most gatherings with children require. I hear chili is on the menu. Cool. Wonder if we can make a dip out of it, like conquesto or something. Love that spicy stuff. It ought to be fun. That will be six adults and six kids. NICE! Glad it’s not my house. LOL.

Yes, up at 4. Not sure what is up with that. I’ve been like this for a few weeks. Up and down. Tossing and turning. The best thing for me to do is to get up or sleep down stairs. Either way, get out of bed. Last thing I want to do is keep my wife up. She is too wonderful to me. The very least I can do is let her sleep.

Her sister, Karen, is having a garage sale. We took over some items last night that we are done storing; speakers, monitors, baskets, dishes, etc. It starts today at 0700est. We’d go, but Austin has theater today at 1030est. I believe this his is 3rd session. Oh, and how awesome he is!


As if we didn't have enough hustle and bustle in our community, our neighbor Darrell was cutting up a tree that had fallen in his year a few months back. Yes, we work, so it takes sometime to tend to things that aren't imminent in nature.

This Week At Preschool

Austin had a fire truck come to his school Tuesday morning. He received an activity book and a Junior Firefighter badge from the firemen. The firemen put on their masks and told the children "don't hide, go outside". Austin repeated this phrase all day long.

Thursday was Austin's first day at Chapel. The children learned the "Creation Story". At the end of chapel they each received a Bible Thought. The first one was "God Created Everything".


On Friday Austin's class began preparing to write letters. They learned a song about starting at the top when writting letters. They played with Mat Man and then drew what Mat Man looked like. Austin also practiced cutting paper with scissors. The teacher gave us the pieces of paper in a ziplock bag. Austin also made some artwork out of a paper plate. He obviously had a busy day.




When we picked him up from school on Friday, mom told him that we had a Mat Man at home that Aunt Joyce had sent him. He couldn't wait to get home to play with it. We also called Aunt Joyce to thank her for Mat Man. Aunt Joyce is a kindergarten teacher in central New York. They use the handwritting without tears method as well. So, she knows all of the things Austin needs to learn how to write.

Alien Austin

Alien Austin

This was taken at Denny's in Titusville, FL. Austin and I were on our way back from Sariah and Nikki's birthday party! We had a long drive down there and was on our way back when we got tired and took a nap. Boy were we tough looking.

Austin's Art Lab

Austin had an Art Lab at school on Friday, September 22. He had all kinds of artwork to bring home by the end of the day. He did some stamping, gluing, and chalk drawings. He had paint on his hands and on his neck, so I'm sure he had a lot of fun.

He said that he played with a new friend on the playground. His name is Joseph.



They are learning about fire saftey at school. He learned to stop, drop, and roll, if your clothes catch on fire. A fire truck is scheduled to show up at the school on Tuesday. The kids will just love that.

More photos

Jennifer's 1st Baby Show

What an awesome event! We entered Jennifer into the New Star Discovery's Most Beautiful Baby Contest hosted by New Star Discovery at Concord Mills mall. It was held in the malls food court area. Jennifer got 3rd prize for her age group! How awesome is that?!? It was so cool.

When our number was called, 104, to go on stage, Mommy carried Jennifer up on stage while Dad and Austin were behind the judges helping Jennifer smile her best! It was really fun. We were tickled!


I really think we've started something here.

More photos

Soccer

Austin started soccer on Wednesday, September 20, at the Charlotte Sports Center. He is part of the Hopper's team. It was just him, two other boys, and a little girl. His coach's name is Josh. The class focuses on foot-eye coordination, scoring, and balance. All of the kids had a lot of fun. At the end of class the coach stamped a soccer ball on each of their hands.

Austin cannot wait to play again next week.

More photos

SISP Engineering Night Out

This was taken last night at Morton's Steakhouse in Charlotte. What a great night it was to meet the faces of my friends.



photo by Greg Allomd

From left to right:
Robinson, Shaw, Brahen, Seitter, Mann, Tate, Carnes, Decker, Wheeler.

What a great photo!

Cream Brulee Breakfast for two

Today was great. Jennifer did have a few moments throughout the night, but all was still good. We all got up and headed to school for Austin. He is so excited to be there! Kind of makes us sad, but it is for HIS better good.


We dropped by our local Chick-fil-a to get the morning tea before our walk at Northlake’s mall. During the walk, we saw this advertisement for a Cream Brulee Latte at Borders Books. It looked good. We decided that after our 30 minute walk through the mall, we'd split one. Little goals are the key to large milestone accomplishments. At least that is what I tell myself. ;)
While ordering, I decided add a slice of lemon cake to go with the latte, Kris thought I was joking. The thoughts were so rampant I even asked Kris to get a book that I could read to her. What?!? Were did that come from? It just rolled out of my mouth. For those of you that are new to me, I'm not a big fan of reading non-technical books. Fiction is just that and not worth my time to labor through hundreds of pages that I'll never comprehend properly because I don't have a great imagination without the help of visual aids, lots of them! Well, Kris picked a book by Kay Hooper. I've seen her read her books over the years. They must be powerful because I've seen a large array of emotions from Kris as she reads these books. I can't image why, but she does. The book's title was Chill of Fear. I liked reading out loud to Kris. It was cool. She would blurt out, "How old is so and so", "What was she thinking", and this made me think about it. The reading out loud and Kris throwing out her thoughts got me really into the game! I was digging it. We had finished our meal and it was time to go. Kris was going to change the baby and I was getting the stroller ready when I found myself picking up the book and picking up where we left off. Awesome. Kris caught me as I put it down. I was trying to keep her from seeing me, but I was too slow, too caught up in the book.

I guess I'll be getting a book!


This picture of Jennifer was at Autobell. It was a nice day and mom deserved a good car cleaning. While we were out enjoying the day, I found this flower to put in her ear. It was soo cute!

Austin's first dental appointment

Today, Austin had to visit the dentist to get a superficial cavity filled. He did really well. They gave him a little gas and then shot up the area with a local anaesthesia. Mom didn't leave his side for one second during the whole procedure. Now he is learning that candy is not his friend, not matter how good it tastes. Mom has added more brushing routines as well.

LMS Auto show, Racing, Panthers suck, again.

We started out just getting some breakfast and planned to do some grocery shopping. Some how we ended up over at Lowes Motor Speedway for the auto show. I heard about it on the radio. It was huge. I couldn't believe so many cars and vendors were there. It must have been a record breaking attendance day. You name it, the car was there.


All were represented, from the 1950 woodies to Lightning McQueen from the movie Cars. Austin's favorites were the tractors. He just loved them all. I was amazed at the restoration jobs. We saw many 1930-1950 tractors that looked factory new. It was amazing.


Oh, can you believe those football games. WOW! Panthers suck up another loss. I blame 80% on that to Gamble. What an idiot! Attempt to do a trick play, which I'm sure he never practiced, in the 4th quarter of a tight game they were winning with less than 8 minutes to go. That turnover allowed the game to be tied. Dumbass! I'll have to give another 10% blame to Fox. Letting the 30 seconds left in the 4th quarter run out with two timeouts, WTF!!! Bad move. Overtime is not the place to be for the Panthers. They couldn't get it done in the first 4 quarters! They certainly didn't need another 15 minutes to prove they could lose. And lastly, 2% to the offensive line and 8% to QB that were lackluster. Just should have put more points on the board. What a sad state of affairs in that camp!

But it didn't stop my good day. I had a few neighbors over and Krissy's sister Karen was over - Austin's buddy. I had the race and the football games in PIP. I love this 52" TV. Does a great job of letting me track multiple events. Pretty cool. The race was good. I was happy to see Johnson and Bush at the end of the day toward the end. Two of 4 or so drivers I just don't like. That is odd because of the total amount of cars on the field, I like only a few and the rest are just there. I could root for some of the others in the final laps, but they aren't my favorites. So, to make my sux list the driver, team, or both have to display bad sportsmanship either on the track, when they are levied a fine from NASCAR for 'cheating', and/or off the track antics. It was good to see Harvick win. Not the racer I was look for to pull it off, but he is on a roll and he drives a Chevy for RCR. Not to fret, I like Martin too. I think he is doing a good job so far. Of coarse, I don't want to hear him call out spotters to tell their drivers to move over. That is horseshit! Oh and we can't forget Gordon. He always has gentlemen comments to say. As much as folks complain or boo, he is professional about it all. And that #8? You can tell he was looking for more out of his team. He was really looking to pull himself up in the standings. He did a good job, it just was not the top car today. You get what you can get and gear up for next week. At least he didn't lose any points positions.

Shopping, playing, broken bones

The day started out early for Dad. He was up power walking at 0530est. He couldn't sleep all night, hasn't slept well for a few days now. The walk was good and brisk this nippy morning. It was 58 degree's. By 0800est, the whole family was up and head to a consignment sale in Mooresville. It was a nice one, but had nothing Krissy was looking for. By chance we ran into another, jackpot for Krissy! She was able to get some winter cloths for Austin and Jennifer. It is fun to see her enjoy herself out there while Dad watches the kids. Give her a few moments to herself, which is really with the family in mind! She never stops thinking about the family.

Later we had lunch at Cheddars. We haven't been there in some time. We saw a really cool motorcycle with a trailer in tow. Not the normal trailer. This one was a corvette. It was really cool. The trailer looked as if it was hauling a corvette behind it. Nice twist!

After lunch, Austin and I rode our bikes around the neighborhood. It was cool. Then, I got a phone call from one of our neighbors, Ingram, and his son had broken his arm at a football game. Man! Ouch! He is a twin, they're 9 years old, I believe. They had to take him in to surgery and set the bone back. Not fun. We'll see how this turns out later.

Got to go!

Dad's Rehab - Part II

Well, I've had a few appointments since this post. My progress is good, excellent as a matter of fact! I can’t imagine it will take me 6 months to recover. I’ve made really good progress. My range of motion has to be close to 95%. My strength isn’t there at all and I can’t really put much pressure on it without pain. Even in physical therapy I’m in pain. But I suck it up to get the full range of motion back, plus I don’t take the pain medication as described. I’m taken less and less of it each time. They’ve added two new exercises and subtracted one. The one where I lay on my side and work out my left arm has been replaced with the standing up one with a surgical band, large rubber band. I’ve also increased my weight to 1 pound on two of the exercises! Yippy! When I reach 3 sets of 30 repetitions of an exercise, I can increase my weight 1 pound. It is eating up my time. For example, the over head exercise where I stretch my arms over the head to the ground has a 10 second hold count for 3 sets of 30 twice a day. That is 15 minutes, 30 minutes for the day.

September 12, 2006

Austin was excited about going to preschool today. Every Tuesday is his show and tell day. This week's topic was to bring a photo or an object representing something that you did this summer. Austin picked bowling photos. We stuck 6 photos on some poster board and he proudly took them to school.

When we picked Austin up from school he told us that he went to a new class room. The music room. They sang, danced, and played drums in music class.

We also noticed that Austin had a scratch on his nose. He said that a little boy scratched him on the playground. He said it was an accident.


Tuesday night is "kids night" at Chick-fil-A, so we went there for dinner. They had a clown blowing up balloons and twisting them into animals and other objects. Austin politely asked for a sword. We didn't get Jennifer a balloon since she would put it in her mouth and bite it. Jennifer was happy just watching the clown and all the balloons. One popped and she got spooked, but she didn't cry.

Austin's First Day At PreSchool

Today was Austin's first day at preschool. He is going to school at the University City United Methodist Church. His lead teacher is Ms. Shannon and the assistant teacher is Ms. Mary. There are 14 kids in his class.


He couldn't wait to get to school. He brought his Dale Jr. lunch box and his blue bear for show and tell. He had to bring something to school that was his favorite color. He said his favorite color was blue, so he wanted to bring blue bear.

When we picked him up at 1:00 he was all smiles. He said he really liked school and that he had a lot of fun. He said that he did a puzzel, the teacher read them a book, and that they sang songs. He also said that there was a pretty girl in his class that is tall like him, but he couldn't remember her name.

He cannot wait to go back to school on Thursday. His scheduled school days are Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday from 9:00 to 1:00.

We are so proud of him.

Matthews Festival

Today was a fun day at the Matthews Festival. We met Krissy’s twin sister Karen, her husband, and a friend from NY, Linda. It was great for Austin, Jennifer, and Us. There were crafts, toys, games, rides, FOOD, and just lots of fun! Austin did the FlexFlyer, again! This is his second time. He wanted to impress mom. He did a good job. The only thing we found odd was the lack of restrooms. I’m not sure if that was by design or not, but it was a nuisance to have to go to the one and only restroom we could find. It was located at one end of the festival, at the community center. I think we spent about $20 for food and tickets for about 2+ hours.

Maybe tomorrow we will do the Charlotte Labor Day Parade!

Dad's Rehab - Part I

Physical therapy isn’t going too bad. My first appointment was last Friday. My next appointment is this Tuesday, the 5th. I’ve been doing my home rehabilitation exercises; one in the morning and one at night. It is a bit frustrating that I don’t have full range of motion. It is a little surreal since I was just doing much better before the surgery. But there again, I had intermittent crippling pain that was ramping up more and more as time went on. The most frustrating exercise is where I lay flat on my back and just raise my hands up over my shoulders and back behind my head. I can’t even get my arm all the way to the floor. It is wild. The other hand I can just rest on the floor just fine. I use a golf club for both hands as I do this exercise. My left arm just quibbles when I try to reach the floor, which I can’t. It feels like my arm was never meant to reach that far back. It isn’t like the club is heavy. I just can’t stretch that far. The other exercise is to take my arm at a 30 degree angle, thumb up, and raise it shoulder high starting at the thigh. This one isn’t so bad, but it is the repetitions the get you; 3 sets of 10 with a 10 count hold. It must take around 30 minutes to finish the entire session and it hurts. In the long run, this will be worth it. My shoulder is sore when I’m through and there is a part that feels like a hot poker on the front, inside of my shoulder. I equate it to a really good calf work out, feels like the whole ball is on fire. Well, this is the same, but very pinpointed.

Whirl wind weekend

Chess piece austin.

We got a call Saturday morning from my mother. Her husband had been in a serious motorcycle accident.

My mother’s husband, Ralph, had been airlifted to the University of Louisville hospital Kentucky. He had crashed less then 500 feet from the house as he was leaving.

I had just awaked as my wife took that call. When my wife hung up she asked me how my arms was and if there was anything she could do. I lied a little, as most men do about pain, and said the shoulder feels good and I don’t feel any problems. Then she told me what had happened. The next thing my wife knew, we were headed down the rode to Kentucky. It was a long 10 hour drive but we got there around six or seven at night. We first got a hotel, unpacked, and headed for the hospital.