Shaw Family Update

First and foremost, Jennifer is walking!!! She started walking on Saturday, February 17, 2007. We are so proud of her!

She started off taking 5 steps, then 10 steps, and now she is walking from room to room and walking around outside. She is getting so big.

Now everything higher up has become of interest to her. Especially door knobs. It wont be long and she will be able to open the front door.

We finally got our master bathroom fixed and back in order. The new vinal is down, the carpet has been fixed and we even paid to have the ceiling in our entryway fixed from some previous water damage. Now we just have to work on the entryway and replace the carpet downstairs. None of that is from the water damage. It is just in need of repair.


Mom took the kids to Chuck E Cheese while the house was being repaired. The kids had a lot of fun while dad was home watch the crew scape the popcorn ceiling, take down the drywall and repair everything.


Austin is registered for kindergarten. Yes, he will be 5 years old in May and will start kindergarten in August. He can hardley wait. He is so excited. But, he wants to ride the school bus. Dad is all for it. Mom, however, is not. What will happen? Tune in in August and find out. He will probably catch a ride every morning with the Ingrams. Thanks Billy :)

Mom has returned to work at KPMG LLP. She has been working there for a week and a half. She is learning International Tax. Right now it seems like everything is very complicated and over her head, but she will get the hang of it. The work isn't nearly as hard as it is to leave the kids.

Mom's 1st Work Day

Off she goes.
She is so beautiful. Yes, she is headed back upstairs to get her long coat. It was around 22 degrees this morning. But WOW, does she look hot. Why is this gorgeous woman with me, only God knows.



Jenny just fell asleep.
Austin, Jenny, and I played outside the whole morning. It was great. Jenny walked around all over the place. It was cool to watch. She pushed the stroller around too. Austin played with our neighbor Nathan. They rode skateboard up and down the road. All this while I got the thermostat swapped out. Glad that is over, the truck part that is!

We love you mom! Hope you are have a great day!!!

Truck never gets warm enough

Well, I just found out why my truck never got very warm enough to pass 100 degrees. Take a peek at the photo. Like where is the middle? Duh!!!
I have never seen this before. Not sure what was the thought process here. You think I’d bought this truck ion Phoenix, AZ or something. Unreal. When it is below 30 degrees for weeks, I need this bad boy warming up. I had half the radiator covered with cardboard and that would barley get it to the 100 mark. Once I hit the freeway it dip back down under. Ok, forget the fact that I was not getting warm, but the truck was severally under the normal operating temperature. Ugh! All done now.

In case you were wondering, here is what a thermostat suppose to look like.

Valentine's Day Party

Austin had his Valentine's Day Party on Tuesday, February 13. He brought valentine's from the movie Cars for everyone in his class. Each valentine came with a tattoo.


The party began at noon. First, the kids made heart decorations. Then everyone got chicken nuggets from Chick-fil-A, pretzels, and a juice box. After lunch everyone got a sugar cookie for dessert. It was a lot of fun.

Thank Goodness It's Friday

Ugh! I feel absolutely HORRIBLE. I woke up with a pounding headache, nasal congestion, and a sore throat. Not good! I'm trying to start a coffee IV before the kids wake up so that I can get Austin ready for school.

He has to bring a cup of his favorite cereal to school today. The class is adding all the cereals together to make a snack mix. Austin is going to bring a cup of Ohs cereal.

Today is also Art Lab, so we should get some fun artwork to put on the refrigerator.

The Rest Of Our Thursday

After dropping Austin off at school Jennifer took a nap. She didn't nap very long, so I didn't get much done.

We picked Austin up at school and he raced Joseph down the hill. The note on the wall said that the kids made mailboxes for their Valentines for next weeks party. How exciting.


None of us are feeling very well, so the afternoon was rather uneventful. When Jennifer went down for her afternoon nap, Austin and mom played Bingo. Austin won the first game. No one won the second game, the dvd got stuck...weird!

Austin and Jennifer were playing together in the playroom and Jennifer got tired. She put her head on Austin's lap. It was so touching. He is a really good big brother.

Thursday Morning

We had a beautiful sunrise here in Charlotte today. It is chilly though, 35 degrees.

Jennifer is catching Austin's cold. Her cold is causing her eyes to collect goop in them. There was so much goop on her long eyelashes this morning that she couldn't open her eyes. Mom had to use a warm water on wash cloth to get it off before she could look around. Her eyes are all puffy and red. Poor girl.


Despite our colds, we all got up, ate breakfast, and Austin got ready for school. We took a family photo for dad.

Busy Day At Home

What a day mom and the kids had today. Jennifer woke up at 5:30, and we were off and running.

We started the day off at Monkey Joes. Mom forgot the camera, so there are no pictures to post. We had pizza for lunch while we were there.


After Monkey Joes we came home and played outside for a little while. Mom pushed the kids on the swing set in the back yard. It was a beautiful, sunny day, 64 degrees.


At 3:30 we went to the Charlotte Sports Center so Austin could play soccer. It was "bring a buddy day" and Robbie Mones asked Austin to come with him. Robbie is in the same preschool classroom with Austin.


When we got home Jennifer crashed in her crib. Mom made macarroni and cheese and then we all had dinner.

None of us are feeling very well. We all have a cold and it tightens up at night, so we are all turning in early.

We hope you are having some fun in KY dad! We love you and we miss you. Here is a photo to make you laugh!

Family First!

Well, It’s 0645est and I’m 40,000 over the . . . I don’t know. I’m headed to Louisville, via NWA direct flight through Detroit, to visit with my mom. Her husband had to have emergency surgery on his neck. It was schedule for Monday at 1100est and that went longer then expected, but fine. Tuesday, when he woke, he was able to feel the sheets. I suppose he was only able to feel pressure in the past, after the accident, but now can make out the sensation. Good sigh, until a disc slip that was inserted during Monday’s surgery. He’s whole left side went numb. He was rushed back to surgery to straighten out the whole thing. They aren’t sure to what extend the damage is, if any at all.

So I’ve booked a flight and headed to help her through this. It’s my mom and she deserves this, especially after raising my brother and I!!! We are not picnic. If you ever think you kids, if you have any are difficult beyond any other child, think again. My brother and I have some stories. Ok, I digressed a bit. I’m scheduled to be in Louisville around 1030est. Let’s see how NWA does. The pilot just stated we are ahead of schedule and due to arrive early and the weather is sunny and colder than usually. What? What is colder then usual? It is to be 40 in CLT and 17 I think in KY. So how cold is this? Anyway, I brought my duster, so I should be fine. The ground time in Detroit is about 90min. I’ll see if I can ‘t get this posted and my laptop charged.

Pilot just stated it is 6 degrees outside in Detroit. NOW I have an idea.

0809est, we just landed and I’m off to the next gate. Ticked stated A21. I’m at A34. However, the monitor stated A171. WOW, that is far. They even have a tram inside, tattooed with NWA – go figure.

0820est, At the bar getting my morning fix. I’m across from the gate, so I shouldn’t miss the 0900est boarding. I hope!

To my family,

I love you sweetheart. I’m sorry I had to leave so early. I hope I wasn’t too loud at 4 this morning. I didn’t sleep very well. Hopefully, you didn’t know that. Kiss Austin and Jennifer for me. I kissed them when I left. They are so precious. How lucky are we?!? I’m so lucky! You are a wonderful wife to me. Did I mention you are so hot looking?!? Stay warm today and have a wonderful day. Have fun and go play. Maybe some Monkey Joes or a stint at the mall. Buy yourself something special, the kids too!

Making the rounds

Had a few neighborly duties to do yesterday.

Good deed 1
First, April stopped by to borrow the chainsaw. She had plans to cut down a tree, shrub, she couldn't stand any longer. Of course, I'd help since using a chainsaw was new to her. I remember hearing about the shrub issue in the past between April and Billy. He wanted the shrub. But since it was just one shrub and it was dying or dead, . . . Not sure it really matters what I thought. I was just helping. RRRrrrrraaaapppp of the chainsaw and it was done. April hauled it to the back woods and dug up the stump. She got it out all by herself!!! I think they, she, plans to plant new shrubs there.

Good deed 2
Since the first went so well, I thought I'd tackle a few issue my other neighbor had with a router and getting his computers to both talk on the internet and share files and printers. So I took a few moments to make a cameo and got it done. Not sure where he got this old 4 port router from, but it did the job. We linked up the XP, 98, and one Canon MF 3 something (I just like the MF part). Mike thinks he can do the other one. He has the ambition, which is 50% of the battle. We upgraded the 98 IE to 6. Mico$oft was no help. The new layout sucks on IE5. All done. I'll have to check in on him later today to see if it all still works or not.

Good deed 3
We, the Shaw family - cause we rock like that, took the other neighbor, Brian, with us to lunch. No, this is not the Brian that could hand with the big boys on Guys Night Out. That Brian is FNG Brian. Anyhow, we all headed to Midtown for a bite. Yes, I know - big surprise. But, as always when I frequent there, we had a fun family time! Speaking of that, I'm missing karaoke right now! However, as I look at my temperature gauge on my taskbar, I'm glad I'm in doors and not outside. It says 35. BBbbbrrr. Back to this short story . . .

Rude mental thought. Excuse me.
Osuna was suppose to meet me this weekend. I'll have to buzz him.
Rude mental thought over.

Ok, back to the story again. Kris and I split a burger and Austin had chicken fingers while Brian had a mushroom burger. Yuck! To each their own.

I've got to get back to bed. My wife is so hot! Seriously, I've got to go!!!

Tri-Sports - Football

Today was the start of Austin's Tri-Sports clinic. Yes, it was 40 degrees outside, but this place is all indoors. This is the same place he did soccer. They will do 3 weeks of each sport; football, basketball, and baseball. He has been so excited for weeks. It looks like football will be the first sport. They had 4 and 5 year old kids out there, boys and girls. It was good to see a few more than normal number of girls participating. The spilt up in groups. Austin practiced catching and blocking the football on the run against another kid. They would line up in two rows. The first in each row would run down the field; one catching and the other blocking. Austin did good on offense getting open, but dropped the ball. No worries. This is why we practice and it is fun. Then he did defense. He wasn't able to keep up with the other boy, as he scrambled a good bit. The other boy caught the ball, but Austin striped it from him! Way cool!!! That was a first for the class!!!

The rest of the day we played outside. It was cold, but he was out and so where the other neighborhood kids. He was pretty wiped out today. He couldn't even make it through the Hulk movie!

Snow Day In Charlotte

We got about 2 inches of snow on Thursday, February 1! They closed all the schools, so we all went out sledding and we had a snow ball fight. It was cold, but a lot of fun.



Dad Notes:

It is about time!!! We have been waiting for this all year, and now it's like the next year. Whatever that just meant. Ok, we had snow! I was up early for work, 1 in the morning. I couldn't sleep and my default activity is work. What is the world, me, coming too?!?

It was to snow that day, but I wasn't seeing any snow. Then when mom got up, it started to flake a little. If flaked a little more and a little more, and then it was all over the place. Waited for mom. What was that all about? I would have woke her. Anyway. I went and got Austin. It was around 0530est. I cared him down. He thought it was cool and then wanted me to caring him back to bed. So, off to bed he went. In another hour he was up and ready to play outside. We wolfed down some breakfast and headed out. WOW, was this the fun part or what? We threw snowballs, made bigger snowballs, tried to get a snowman up, and took the sleds down and hit the slopes. Well, the driveways.
Hey, it was still fun. If you did it right, you get sled down the driveway, on to the street and down the cul-de-sac. That was a rare event, but happened a couple of times. Oh yes, I was sledding too!!! Heck yea! Got the sore tail bone to prove it! The extra 40lbs will do that to yea. As a matter of fact, I'm still sore. But it was fun. Even Jennifer and Mom were out. It was great to see Jennifer see it all new. You know, first time stuff. She would put her hand out and let the snow fall in it. It was cute. She would laugh and point at us too. Mom was great too. She always is. She took care of us later too. We had to get in and warm up just before lunch. Austin really got some numb fingers.

More photos

Donuts For Dad

January 25 was Donuts For Dad day at Austin's preschool. Dad went to school with Austin that morning and they ate donuts in his classroom.


Dad Notes:

Let me say, "This was awesome!" My first Donuts for Dad event. I rarely get invited to these sacred events, on account I act like a kids most of the time. So I fit in here! We shall see how this works in 10 years! Anyhow, Austin and I were the hit of the town. He and I had a great time. Seems like some of the others were a bit uneasy being all together. We didn't care. Man, we looked around, talked to everyone, played, and got our donuts and juice. Well, I had a coffee. I got to stay in class for 30 minutes! Almost as long as mom did. Not really. She taught the class one day. That is like 4 hours. But I'm catching up!!!