Missed Expectations?

So, there are times in life you let things go and other times you don’t. Well, this is one of those fence riding events for me. Thus, I’m posting here. I need to get it somewhere.

We’ve had a less than enthusiastic time with CHAMPS. It is not CHAMPS fault, just the program in which we are participating in. IMHO, while I welcome a "winning" attitude, I believe there are levels that should be demonstrate per age group. In other words, age appropriate level of enthusiasm toward "winning". No, this isn’t a Charlie Sheen discussion. Anyways, at a third grade level I expect "winning" to take a backseat to leadership development, sportsmanship, and meritocracy. With that said, there have been some parents that have expressed their concern(s) over the coaching of their children. Some items like; practice is too long, more water breaks, more child rotation, and too early on game days. I'm sure there may have been more. Just so we are clear, ‘expressing a concern’ is feedback in my book - a form of communication.

Well, one of the 15 year old coaches, who told us that he was eager to teach the youth football, posted this below on his FB BTW, which has over 500 friends. Which ones are true friends is another discussion. For anonymity, let’s use a boy's name, Robbie.

“now that all of the complainers are gone from the football team it is going to be much easier without there parents emails and calls every day”

Now, IMHO, this was unnecessary. So, I crafted this response:

Tyro Robbie –

I understand you are putting on big boy pants to coach a church league and help youths grow in the sport, but this post is unnecessary and damaging to your reputation as a leader. I hope this is not dinner table discussion at your house, or I will be sorely disappointed. I look forward to your public explanation by our next meeting.

I crafted a response, I have not posted it. Well, expect for here.

Shaw Weekend Fun: Football, Pinewood Derby, B-Party, Xbox, Oh My!

The Shaw's had another wonderful kick off to the weekend! The line up was fantastic and built for fun. However, Austin had one very hard decision to make. The football game and pinewood derby race was at the same time. Austin chose to do football and try to attend the derby race. So, we gave our derby car to some great neighbors to race it for us if we couldn't make it.

Getting focused with a book: Along Walk For Water

Football
Austin had a strong showing at the game today. Austin made captain of the team last practice. A strong leadership skill he demonstrates at the field, helping and show others the way. I do give mom the credit. She is a loving, passionate woman giving the kids the best of traits. All the kids showed up ready to play. The cold rain made its way to the game as well. It was around 47 degree's at the start of the game. The Saints, the football team, was ready to take the field with the Colts. The Colts are rumored to be tough, playing together for nearly 3 years and not allowing any scores. Wow. Stuff legends are made of. Well, the kick of was great and the rain didn't let up. The Colts scored on a long run within 3 snaps. The game was on. The Colts scored two more times before we snapped the streak! We scored on a great pass. It was 21-7 at halftime. The kids rested up, got drinks, and huddled under umberllas. In the second half Austin jumped up to block a pass and got kneed in the leg by a teammate. He was down. He was not getting up. It didn't look good. We watched as he laid there with both teams and coaches around him. He got up and limped over to the sidelines with a loud round of applause and cheers from the fans! Sariah rushed over to him with water and the umbrella. Good job! They walked the sidelines to work out the leg. Before I knew it, he was back in the game! Yea for Austin we shouted!!! What a tough kid. The Saints scored one more goal to round the game out 21-14. Not a bad game for a team rumored to be so tough. With the cold and rain, the team showed great spirit out there playing hard. We were soaked and hurried to the car. We raced over to the derby, of which I was getting updates from our neighbors.





Pinewood Derby
We made it after the pack had ran their cars. The track was huge; 4 lanes, 5 feet high to start, sloped down for 4 feet, and tapered off for another 35 feet. This thing was complete with numbering and laser scoring. Wow, what and exciting time! They allowed us to take Austin's car down the track for unofficial racing. He was thrilled. We must have ran it 10 time. We raced our friends and did well. We think we have a few new ideas for next year. Austin's car placed 3rd in the Bear den. Very respectable. Our neighbors both did well too. Connor took 3rd in Weblos. But, Logan!!! Logan, took 1st in the Tiger den, winning 5 races. And, tool 3rd overall for the pack!!! WOW!!! Great job Logan!!! All the kid did a great job. If you remember, they worked hard on their cars earlier in the week. They all did a great job. Next year, the dad's are entering cars for the "Open Class." Man, we saw some cool cars in the group. One had a remote control propeller?!? Seriously!

We are also making plans for rocket, CO2 cars, etc. Let's hear the ideas. Our WWDC company has opened a new division in which these are were built in, BMW (Balthazar Motor Works)! Let's rock it!


The Sub-beast






Pose


Normal

Birthday Party
Mom and Jenni had stayed in the car for part of the football game. It was just too cold for them to be out. Mom and Jenni ran home to get blankets, coats, and umbrella for us. Great job girls!!! Then, they were off for fun at the birthday party!!!

Xbox
After all the racing and celebratory lunch at Buffalo Wings/Rings, we invited Logan and his dad over for some Xbox action. We played the 4 wheeler game. It was awesome. We learned how to do tricks, boost, and drive these wild 4 wheelers. Austin seemed to beat us all without doing any tricks. I'm not sure how. As we did tricks and stunts we got boost. But in the end, Austin finished 2nd and I was barley in the top 15. :) Kids...

Movies!
To wrapped up the evening after a long and exciting day, Austin and I cleaned up the peanut shells and put on a movie. We picked The Chosen One. It is a dork movie, but I was happy how Austin was picking up AND pointing out plot items. It was cool. After that ended, we picked up, in mid stroke, a movie that starred the kid from Transformers. He had an ankle bracelet on and a new girl moved in next door. I think we'll need to find that on Netflix. :)

Have a great day!!!

Happy St. Patty's Day!!!

We celebrate St. Patrick's Day in this house!!!

Austin
http://sendables.jibjab.com/view/hFwLDlUOBRs5G3N7Vmyj

Riverdance Family
http://sendables.jibjab.com/view/AsFLwehGOZ3UJ1nG

Jenni
http://sendables.jibjab.com/view/zsnypKsn1aUWVdbp

Family Celebration!
http://sendables.jibjab.com/view/E9U6XSK6OoztzKU8



Have a great day!!!

Pinewood Derby: Creating Cars

Today, we started making the cars for the Pinewood Derby. The kids and adults had a great time. We had purchased a few tools; vise, graphite, and some sandpaper. We had a fun designing the cars. Logan picked a really cool rally car. Austin pick a submarine. Connor pick a wedgemobile! The kids spent some time with the drawing and being creative. When that was all compete, the adults broke out the power tools. And bot]y did we have some cutting to do.

(Cutting the rally car looked pretty hard)

Brian trust!

(Supervising the painting)

(Taking time to reflect)


Whad a great day!

Jenni's New Bike!

The other day I found a good deal on craigslist. Jenni had out grown her 12" bike for some time now. She looked like a clown now. Austin went through the same phase. I found a bike for Jenni at little cost. It was more than half of what I could get at the cheapest discount store. Leary of the deal, I went the next day to the house to check it out. The bike looked great! It was working well and had all good parts, no scratches, no marks, and tires were good. A great fine. I spent a few minutes with a Clorox wipe when I got home and that was it. The bike was 5 years old, but looked brand new. WOW!

So, here are the pictures!


(Mom bring the bike out as hers)


(Jenni in shock of her cool new bike)


(Like a fish to water, she was off!)

Have fun Jenni!

Elf Yourself: Year Round Fun!

They folks at Elf Yourself have been allowing everyone year round fun with their product. This i especially fun during seasonal events, say, like St. Patrick's Day!

Here is one:
St. Patrick's Day

Austin Sports

Austin has joined up with Calvary sports doing flag football. I'm so happy for him. He had practice a few days ago. It was cold, but he didn't complain once. I did. :) All the neighborhood ball playing has molded Austin's mind. I'm really excited for him. He has pratice this weekend too. I think the games are on Saturday's. We'll post the best we can.

Have a great day!

Good 'Ole Family Update: Family Matters

Wow, a good 'Ole fashion update from the Shaw's!

We've had so much happening this year, I'm starting to forget it all. I can't believe we have hit March already. What?!? Where is the time going? I mean seriously. It was just the other day the kids where celebrating Christmas! Time is flying people. PLEASE, stop and appreciate what's around you before it is gone. Good old time keeps moving. You can't by time back. Once you've used it, it is gone. Gone forever and ever, only to exist in memories. Make sure they are YOUR memories!

I'd like to start by talking about my daughter Sariah. She is living with us for now. She is doing great and is loving life, learning about life, and most of all LOVE. She got a job at a locate business and is doing great in school. Of coarse, I have much higher hopes for her. Duh! What am I thinking?!? This girl is healthy, happy, and well adjusted! I couldn't ask for a better 17 year old! We have great conversations. I challenger her daily to think. Think about every decision. Think about others. Think about how she can help others. She is adapting to that very well. She has always done this mind you. But now, she is understanding the decision behind the actions. She is doing great. School? She is getting good grade. She always did. She is in the AP courses. Sometimes she has to work hard, but most of the time she understands the material the first time. The best thing, she is a self starter. Once she is motivated, she will do what it takes. Take the cell we recently got her. She did the research, picked plans, and did a pro/con list. At first this was hard. She didn't see the value in it. A curse I passed on. :) The "how" to pay for it was difficult at first. As a father, I need to prepare the children for the world. And, the world isn't always just. So, while some items I task my children with seem hard to others, I see opportunities for my children to grow in an ever fast paced world. I believe everyone will fail at something. That is acceptable. It is the same repeated failures where nothing is learned that is disturbing. So, while I expect greatness from my children in their decision making, I accept the failures they will have. I rather them try hard under me and fail, then fail in the world. There is nothing more solid and secure than family. Take family away, and it will be a hard, cold world. So, I afford my children great leeway at my expense. Again, I expect failure now, under me, because they will learn and grow healthy from their mistakes and take this into society. Something I feel is lacking in the world, true family. I digress. Sariah is learning this fast. As for the cell phone, her decision to get a cell was for emergencies. However, her theory came unraveled as I told her she could have my old cell phone. It will make 911 calls without a plan. So began the research. Then the question came up of how to pay. This took an entire day for her to decide. At first she said it was a parents duty to buy the phone, of which I promptly noted that there is no emergency where she would not be near a land line. She doesn't drive alone. The school as phones. Work has phones. Not a good plan. :) So I asked what the phone was for. Bam! The truth drips out. She says that she'd like to call my friends, email, and web. Ok, now that she has some wants, I asked how is she going to pay for that. Again, it is her wants, not a need. At the end of the day, she comes up with a plan to pay $35 towards a phone. Now, we are talking! The point here was to get her in as a stakeholder, one who has some ownership in the game. Now, which plan? Again, she approached me with the big plan, spints $69 - all you can eat. Well, let's say $80 after tax. Sounds great I said. So for being lazy, we want to spend $1920 on a two year contact? Lazy she says. Why yes! You have all the free Internet and phone you can use right here at the house. So, basically, you want to be lazy and keep up with friends on the phone? Yes, dad. Well, that is cool I said. I would have thought you wanted to save that towards a car. Um, yes she says. Then let's think harder about a plan I say. After a few days of research, which seemed like years to her, she finally asked if we could share a line. What an idea!!! After checking into it, she agrees to pay for a line added to my wife's plan. They share 550 minutes, which my daughter said, "what?" I reminder her that is compare to her plan now, nothing. She was then back on track to share. I noted, this is a phone for emergencies, remember? :) With AT&T, she has unlimited text (teenager's primary communication to the world. Another post) and can call me and Kris for free. What a deal I thought. She agreed. She also picked up the $15 Internet use. So, her $35 toward the phone is working well. Now, what phone. Well, Kris did all that. She picked out an iPhone. It was $40. I admit, it is a great phone. Kris has used hers constantly. She is always getting information at her finger tips. My plan was to get her an android phone, letting her be the first to test it in the family. But, as some plans, not all materialize and I'm cool with that. So, first bill, no extra charges. Sariah did great. Albeit, the text usage was 2100 text messages, in/out. But hey, no texting after hours or going over the plan and we are all good. This was a bg life lesson for Sariah. Yes, I know a trivial phone. But it was more than that. It was the decision that lead to this deal; negotiating with us, researching plans, renegotiating, understand wants versus needs, and most of all we need to be honest with ourselves on our decisions. We had a great experience, all of us! Good job Sariah!!!

Pray, Love, Live