Lucas is a star too...

The two-year olds came out for the last couple songs. We were just glad Lucas stayed on the stage and didn't come running to us!


He didn't sing much, but he didn't cry either.


His biggest smile was reserved for Miss Eva (his babysitter) when he saw her in the audience!

Baby, I'm A Star (Part 2)

The preschool that Ethan and Lucas attend puts on a Christmas program on the day before break. If you remember from an earlier post, Ethan was seriously bribed to be the star, which he apparently thought was a girl's job. Here he is as a shepherd in the beginning of the program. (Next to Noah, Robert and Matthew as the three wise men.)


But then...he became a gold star!




He had to lead the three wise men to the baby Jesus...


And took his place behind Mary and Joseph (where he remained for the rest of the show trying to shrug the star costume off)!

Photo Catch-up

Lucas and Ethan (and Jacob) got buzz cuts again. It's funny how often Ethan and Lucas get mistaken for twins. To me, they look nothing alike, other than haircuts and coats.


Sissy and me on our way to the Mommy & Me Nutcracker Tea!

Hi Blog. I've missed you.

I kind of forgot about this blog for awhile. With all the technical difficulties and learning curve of a new computer, I not only put posting on the back burner, I let it fall off the stove. Thanks to those of you who wrote to say you missed it. I'm back on the wagon again. Swear!

The past week and a half since school got out has been a blur. Actually, it was a blur the week BEFORE school got out. We had holiday parties, birthday parties, xmas programs, babysitting, jewelry-making and all sorts of Christmas shopping/wrapping/shipping. I'll get caught up with pictures soon, but here's one of me and some friends at a Girls Night Out at Kona Grill. I heart sushi. Who knew?

Michelle, Candace, Charisse, me, Ida and Dana.


I have completely lost myself in iTunes. Mark gave me an iTouch and I spent tons of hours going through all our CDs and burning music to the new Mac. I realized that I bought a lot of music pre-children. Since Jacob was born in 2001, I've hardly bought any in comparison. iTunes is like Christmas everyday - bringing up fun/sad/crazy memories associated with all these songs I can find with a click. Two of my friends came over one day and we burned each others CDs for hours! And now my music library has more than 1,000 songs on it! More than 3 solid days of music!

So that's where all my blog time went!

Baby, I'm a Star!

Ethan was asked to be the Star in his school's Christmas program. He acted up for two days until the teachers sent me a note that they believed his naughty behavior was due to the fact that he absolutely did not want to be the Star! And it's possible he thought it was too girly. So last night we had a talk and I explained the bribe ... good behavior and being the star = slushie ... and today was a much better day! His teachers said "visions of slushies danced in his head." And if he follows through next week in practice and for the actual program on Thursday, I owe him a Nerf toy.

How can it be December 10th already? I haven't shipped my early Christmas purchases, haven't made any purchases for Mark and two of the kids, haven't put up a tree or decorated the inside of the house...

I have been working like crazy on PTA stuff, beading for a friend and extra shifts at Bath & Body Works. Seems like they want to change stuff around every week! And this week I was at the school every day for the Box Tops collection which has raised almost $800 so far!

Sunday, Sarah and I went to a friend's house for a Mommy & Me Nutcracker Tea! It was so adorable! All the little finger foods and tea cups and crafts and party favors were incredible. Once I figure out how to use the photo software on the new computer, I might be able to post a pic.

Until then...

Tenth Anniversary Weekend

Our 10th anniversary was October 23rd. It took some logistical gymnastics but we finally got to enjoy the Riverwalk for a night last month. This was our hotel, La Mansion Del Rio.



We spent most of the afternoon wandering around La Villita, the artisan area with lots of painters, jewelers, sculptors. We had lunch at the Guadalajara Grill, where the food was way too greasy and the chicken taquitos were terrible but the decor was incredibly fun to look at. It included this gem of a sign.



This was taken on the Rio Boat tour. We've done it a million times, but I still get a kick out of it. It all depends on your guide!



We had dinner at Las Canarias, the fantastic hotel restaurant. Their pastry chef made this as a surprise for our anniversary! It included milk chocolate sprinkled with pink peppercorns, chocolate madeleines and mini apple tarts.




Another shot of La Mansion. Our room was on the first floor. Our balcony was right between those two trees. The bridge in the foreground is known as Selena's bridge. Jennifer Lopez sang from there during the making of the movie "Selena", the Tejano singer who was slain by her fan club president.



We had a lovely time. I think the best part - other than spending time together - was getting to sleep in til 10 AM! Blackout curtains and no kids made it very easy to snooze well past what we normally get to do at home!

It's Murphy's Law

1. The kids are out of school all last week for Thanksgiving, so Lucas and Ethan catch bronchitis now and can't go to school a couple days this week.

2. Mark got me a new computer. It's so cool, we don't know how to use most of it. Or how to transfer my address book. Or iTunes. Or attach the printer. So the old computer is still hooked up - five feet away from the new one.

3. I spend two days loading all the music we own on my iPod so I can take it to my beading job (where I sit by myself in the office for hours at a time) and haven't been back to the beading job since before Thanksgiving.

In other news, Thanksgiving was fun. We went to our ex-neighbors' house again where we decided in a shocking turn of events NOT to get up early and shop pre-dawn Black Friday deals. We just didn't see enough stuff we needed in the ads to make it worthwhile. And the lines at Kohl's are never worthwhile. Went out later in the day at a much more reasonable time.

PTA and school things are picking up in these last three weeks before the holiday break. We've got the Box Tops collection, Sarah's teacher's birthday, the winter class parties, the Christmas program at KDO, plus other holiday parties like a Nutcracker Tea and Spurs tickets and shopping and I STILL HAVEN'T SEEN NEW MOON!

Lots of pics to post soon - Sarah riding her bike sans training weeks, the boys' new buzz cuts and our anniversary weekend downtown. Don't hold your breath for a Christmas card from us. We'll continue the Valentine's Day card tradition again this year! Besides, now you have this blog for pics all year round!

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.

Happy Halloween!

Gorgeous night for trick-or-treating in SA! Probably in the 70s when the kids started off, then moved into the 60s. Here's the crew. One of these things is not like the others: Darth Vader, Sharpay, Boba Fett and Yoda!



After disappointing a few too many neighbors last year, I was guilted into creating another Tiny Tot Spooky Spot (haunted hallway) on our covered porch. Of course, I started putting it together yesterday afternoon, so today was a mad dash around town buying full-priced decor and what-nots to fill out my not-so-scary hallway.

Frankie's back!


Each of the two windows had little vignettes with sound/motion activated decor. One had a spinning skull strobe light that changed colors and one had a mirror that changed the image from real to skeletal.



This was one of the areas on the right - between the brick pillars.


Ethan sorting his "goody bag." I thought it was funny he kept calling it that...like it was from the biggest birthday party ever!



Don't forget to change your clocks back. I will be grateful for the extra hour of sleep tonight!

TGIF!

It was a crazy week. The early part was dedicated to Holiday Marketplace preparation. The event was a big success and I'm happy to say, it's now over! We raised more than $2000 for the preschool playground fund! I may have spent a little too much time on the computer lately because stuff like this happens...



That was Lucas into Sarah's glitter makeup. It all went in the trash after that. But don't tell Sarah! I bought a couple things at the marketplace. Two prints from a local artist who does lots of watercolors of Riverwalk scenes. Since San Antonio is probably not our "forever home" I've always wanted to get some kind of artwork from here and these two prints were vibrant and fun. Couldn't choose so I got them both. They are by a lady named Marilyn Moore who has a gallery in La Villita. She also has a blog at marilynsbrushwithpaint.blogspot.com (Sorry my pics show the flash on the plastic cover.)





I also bought this cuff from a lady who uses estate jewelry to make belt buckles, cuff bracelets and compacts. Super neat stuff. It's not for everyone, but I really like this piece. (www.buckleit.com)



Mark and I also got to exchange anniversary gifts. Ten years = diamonds. And he did not disappoint! ; ) Helps to have friends that own a jewelry store!



I arranged for a night away for just he and I in November. It was supposed to be a surprise but then the hotel concierge called and left a message asking if there was anything they could do...blah, blah, blah... and he heard it before I did! So there went the surprise. But it should still be fun nonetheless.

And lastly - the baby boom continues!

Congrats to Dawn, Chad, Aiden and Matthew on the arrival of Grant Thomas!
Congrats to Maria, David, Lizzie, and Sophie on the arrival of Josephine!
Congrats to Serena and Ramon on the arrival of Natalie Rose!