Happy Thanksgiving!

Sarah and the rest of the Kinder kids gave a Native American performance last week. Each class represented a different tribe and sang about what they ate, wore, lived in, etc. Sarah's tribe was the Wapanoag (sp?). Sarah is third from right.



I forgot the real camera so all these were taken with my cell phone. (middle back)




And here's a cute picture of Lucas and Andrew on the playground at church while we waited for brother and sister to get done with their "Wednesday school" class. It's like Sunday school but it's on Wednesday!

Surprise!

So I'm standing outside with the neighbor and our daughters are in the cul-de-sac. Julie leaves her bike over there so Sarah decides to hop on and declares "I'm going to ride Julie's bike." And off she went!!

Mind you, up until that very moment, Sarah had never ridden her own bike without training wheels, much to the chagrin of her father.

So she's riding all over the place, making turns, stopping and starting by herself, going one-handed...and she rode and rode until it was dark. Then we had to go back out and do it some more when Daddy came home!

Pictures later - it was too dark for them today!

Spurs Game!

NAPA got some upgraded tickets for two games this season. Eight rows off the floor behind the opposing teams' bench. Here's the view. Not bad!



My girls - Charisse (Nissan Armadalashayla) and Laurie (Pacificaniqua).



Timmy!

Dance-master-a-shayla

The Bud Light girls weren't around so, what's a guy to do?



Chair dancing. So many funny things in this pic - Laurie shakin' it in the back, the look on Tim's face...but the best part is the Harry Potter lightning bolt coming out of her hands! hahaha! Who knew Laurie was a wizard?



Is this a remake of Thriller?



And for the full background on Dance-master-a-shayla, go to You Tube and type in Top 60 Ghetto Names. It's a hysterical video. The Top Indian names are pretty funny too!

The Manny

Sarah had her baby swaddled when she came downstairs in the morning. But then she had to go to school so Lucas took care of the baby for her. He'll make a great "manny" someday!

Injury Report #347

At least that's what it feels like. I'm sure the number will only grow exponentially as the mother of three boys (and an accident prone daughter). The latest? Jacob stuck his hand up the ice dispenser on the fridge door and sliced his finger on the blades that crush ice! He probably would have gotten stitches but we didn't think it was that bad at the time (Friday night). Today, it's swollen and I was worried about infection so I took him in. Now they can't stitch it ... 12-24 hour window ... so we are to use steri-strips and gauze for the rest of the week. Jacob is trying to be so brave about it but he's on the verge of tears just telling the story. And even more so when I took him to the doctor. He's so shot-phobic I think he was panicked he'd get one. Off to the drug store to get his rx ointment.

Not Tonight Deer

Dear Mr. Deer,
Or Ms. Deer, as the case may be. Might I suggest you not cross a major city thoroughfare in the early evening when traffic is moving along at 50 mph and can't see you coming. Yes, I know there is contruction all over the place and really, what time of day would be good for you to cross that road? I'm not sure. But I'm fairly certain if you had waited just three seconds longer, you would not have crashed into my driver's side headlight and quarter panel. Didn't you learn anything from your distant relative's misfortune last winter? He too, was taken out by a stealth-like black Nissan Maxima. I've never thought of my family as hunters, but we seem to be doing more than our fair share to control your population. I will spare you the photographic evidence of our chance encounter, but our insurance agent will surely be interested in it.

R.I.P.

Sincerely,
Shannon

NASCAR Wknd Part 1

"NASCAR is a cross between Mardi Gras, tailgating at a college football game and a redneck wedding!" - Laurie

Laurie and I just got back from a fun-filled weekend at the Texas Motor Speedway. We had race tickets, pit passes and Speedway Club privileges courtesy of NAPA and ride-around tickets courtesy of Shiner. If you're going to NASCAR, it helps to have the hook-ups!

Here's Team NAPA camp. About 8 RVs corralled into a long rectangle. They had five different grills, a portable heater, a TV with dish network, coolers and chairs everywhere. Golf carts to get around the grounds of the track. These folks have obviously done this before and know how to do it right!



Here's Robert cooking up some delicious sausage and egg breakfast tacos at the camp site. We ate better in camp this weekend than we do at home!



The Sprint Cup drivers had practice before the Nationwide race so we were able to stand at the entrace to the track from the garages and got to see everyone's car up close. Even Tony Stewart's car! Hooray! What you can't see on TV is how electrifying these cars are - the colors are so bright - dayglo! They are also very flimsy - the fiberglass shells move and seem extra fragile up close. The incline of the track in the turns is also really steep.



This is us on Pit Row right before for the Nationwide race on Saturday. We were able to walk amongst the race cars in the pits and in the garages and be down on the track for the start of the race.



Greg and Laura - friends from NAPA. The host and hostess with the mostest ensured that Laurie and I had an awesome weekend.

NASCAR Wknd Part 2

This is Jason. We met him at the Shiner bus. Super nice guy. Manager of a Chili's restaurant in the area. Big Kasey Kahne fan. And willing participant in the ride-around where we got to go around the track in a real race car. This was after signing our lives away on a waiver and getting a fire suit!



This was my race car! It's a replica of a Tony Stewart car. Supposedly, it used to be his charity event car. Just like the real thing, only with a paasenger seat. Shortly after this pic, we were in the cars, going 160 mph around the track! The drivers were racing instructors from the Team Texas driving school. They did a great job of doing different manuvers that give you a real racing experience: passing, riding the wall, riding the inside line, side by side with another car. Acceleration on the back straight-away into turn three was the scariest part for me. I thought the g-forces would crash us right into the wall for sure! Four times around the track only took about two minutes - just like a ride at any amusement park - but so much cooler!



We spent much of the weekend stalking Tony Stewart. Tony on trailers, banners, posters... she wasn't picky.



Here's the view from our seats for Sunday's race. This was at the start as all the drivers came into turn one. Jimmie Johnson crashed about one minute later in Lap 2! The noise was deafening and we all wore headsets or earplugs to muffle the noise. After a while, you got used to it and it almost lulled me to sleep!



Jared from NAPA scored hot passes for Sunday's race which meant you could go down to the pits and garages during the race. He took Laurie to Tony's pit where she filmed a pit stop up close, talked to some of his pit crew and got three smokin-hot lug nuts right off his car after a tire change! Awesome souvenier! It's amazing how close you can get to the cars - the only thing separating her from the pit crew was that blue line painted on the concrete.

NASCAR FAN-actics

Oh yes, we saw our fair share of crazy people. This lady was an Elliot Sadler fan. Elliot drives the Stanley tools car. Or maybe you could tell that by her fingernails? I should have taken a picture of her outfit. It was a black racing jacket covered in sponsor logos, rhinestones, Sadler across the back shoulders football-style which Elliot had signed with his name and "Great jacket!" I wonder if he was being sarcastic? Black pants with rhinestones down the sides, bright yellow cuffs and flames that licked up her calves. It made me want to ask "Are you his mother?"



This dude and his wife were from Nebraska. We met them in line for our ride-around. He told us how he was messing around in his shop one day and had fashioned these things that made it look like he had drilled through his cheeks to scare his wife. Charming fellow.



I'm thinking this guy ought to get sent back to prison for this outfit. Super-tight jeans tucked into biker boots! Yikes!



We'll cut Greg some slack because he didn't actually own this checkered-flag thong, but it was funny to see him try it on. Not sure which person in the NAPA camp had purchased it as a souvenier. I'm probably better off not knowing.



Laurie thought she was Tony Stewart's biggest fan until we saw this guy. Love the tail fin sticking out of the fake-hair visor!

Off to the Races!

On short notice, I started working for another friend of mine who makes beaded jewelry. Jennifer does mostly wholesale business and cranks out hundreds of pieces a week these days. She just finished a big trade show and sold out so I have been beading about 7 hours a day for the past couple days! I'll post some pics sometime...haven't had time to take any!

Tomorrow night is the American Red Cross Muster Gala. My friend Robyn was part of the organizing committee and I'll be helping her do check-out after the silent auction. Mark will be taking all the kids to Movie Night at Hardy Oak...sitting on blankets in the cafeteria, eating popcorn and hot dogs and enjoying a flick.

Then Saturday, it's off to the races! The NASCAR race, that is. Another friend, Laurie, is a huge fan of NASCAR and Tony Stewart, so we are off to my first race ever. I'm sure it will be quite an experience! A beer distributor we know arranged for us to each get a ride in a race car!! I'm slightly freaked about it already! I'm sure the NAPA peeps will take good care of us. And we'll be home Monday.

Start your engines!

Not So Invincible

Heard some sad news tonight that a former EPHS classmate passed away. Erika Andersen Herron died today after a long battle with melanoma. She is survived by her husband and two children. I am shocked! I haven't been to a funeral for anyone besides relatives and even those were years ago. I suppose I am lucky - maybe even outside the norm. I hope not. I'm 37 but I still feel invincible and figure everyone I know must be too. Going to go kiss the kids and Mark now.