OK, so when I picked up Owen from Stephanie's this afternoon, she shared a funny story about the boy child. Evidently when he gets to her house each day, she has him wash his hands. I am guessing that is for germs and other assorted boy-funk. So today he is washing his hands and he looks at her with his serious "professor" face and says "Yes, Stephie, it is important to wash your hands. We don't want to get the swan flu." She maintains as straight face as she concurs with this statement. He is so funny sometimes!!
Owen and Daddy had the chance to watch the players from FC Dallas conduct a practice at the soccer field near our house. They watched all the drills and a mini game and then were able to get autographs from all the players. 
I don't know who all these guys are, but they couldn't have been nicer and Owen is STILL talking about it!
Our musical girl had her second piano recital on Sunday afternoon. She played beautifully and conducted herself like the little lady she is becoming. Her daddy and I couldn't be prouder of her and her musical ability!!
The Kindergarten class at Heritage put on the absolutely adorable "Barnyard Moosical" for us last week. Owen was a farmer and even had a speaking part! He was a very serious farmer and told us all that "we don't lock anyone up inside our fun-filled farm!". Too cute!!
Owen was first. All the 5-6 year olds lined up and waited for the "GO!" When it came, it was CHAOS!!! Owen ran around like a chicken with its head cut off--but didn't grab eggs!
Abby fared much better...I believe she snagged about 38. There were WAY less kids in the 4th/5th grade group so everyone got a lot of eggs. Luckily the Easter spirit entered her body and she shared her loot with her brother. Of course, after she had picked out what she wanted...
Of course, Abby had to inform him that he misspelled "disturb". His response? "Mind your own business...it is MY sign." Again proof of "monkey see, monkey do"--that is a totally Abby response!
Owen's first baseball game of the season was Saturday. He is playing t-ball with coach pitch. He did a great job, especially when he got to play the position of "pitcher". He was all about stopping the ball and made a couple of great throws to first base! I look forward to the rest of his season. He is such a neat guy to watch!!
Our little conservative, Owen, has decided he would like to sport a mohawk hairdo. He asked me to "spike it up" the other morning and, being the cool mom that I am, I said sure! We put some hair paste--that is some seriously sticky stuff--and combed it up. I hit it with the hairdryer to "set" the paste and voila! Mohawk madness!
OK, call me crazy, but I let the girl convince me that we needed to go and buy our copy of Twilight when it came out at midnight. Midnight? Really? I mean, I am all about going to a midnight movie with some great girlfriends or buying a much awaited book at a midnight release and then spending all night reading...but a DVD? I don't know where she gets these ideas...(I suppose a comment like 'the apple doesn't fall far...would be in order!)
Of course, the girl wants to watch it when we get home and who am I to say no? So...we watched it together--with our previously purchased snacks and Sonic drinks--at 1:15am. Definitely fun and definitely something I will want to do with her again in the future!
We went to see Race to Witch Mountain, a surprisingly good movie. I remember the original from when I was a kid, so I was not overly excited to check this one out, but I needed to get the Fighting Shaws out of the house, so to the movies we went.
I thought this would be a great way to kill a day, get some fresh air, and learn a little about our animal friends. Yeah, so did about 10,000 other people. The 5:00 news showed footage of the absolute chaos at the zoo earlier in the day. Truly, I don't think I have EVER seen that many people (and strollers...grrr) crammed into one place at one time. Despite the craziness and crowd, we did have a good time. Big Owen especially loved the herpetarium. He spent his time telling me, and anyone else close enough to hear, facts about each reptile--most importantly, whether or not they were venomous. I guess knowing which ones will kill you is a life skill...or at least will impress some girl some day!!
Again, I think the entire northern half of the metroplex joined us, but is was fun nonetheless. Owen was not too jazzed about the whole thing at first, but he soon channeled his inner Mike Modano and was shuffling all over the ice (note his sporty mohawk...more on that later). As we were leaving, he said it was the best thing he had ever done and could we come back tomorrow?? A successful outing for the Shaw clan!
Overall, we had a lot of fun together and I am thankful for the opportunity to spend time with the amazing people that are my kids (and hubby, too!!)
We went on buses with about 200 other gifted students from LISD--including 3 of my students. We had a blast breaking open geodes, getting henna tattoos, and having our names written in about 10 different languages. The best part of the day was when Abby got to give a mock newscast on the actual set of the campus TV station. Prior to her time on camera, she was taught how to run the sound for the opening and closing credits--which she did like a pro! 
When it was her turn to "do the news" she hopped right on the set and got her mike. The director did a sound check by asking her to tell what she had done so far that day at Explore UT. Well, my precious girl child responds with "Oh! We all got tattoos and...". She was cut off by the loud, raucous laughter from the control booth, the studio, and the waiting room. The adults all got a kick out of the fact she said we got tattoos...you see, Austin is the tattoo capital of Texas. After several minutes of laughter, I piped up and said "HENNA tattoos...we got henna tattoos at the children's festival". Sigh. All I could think about was this scenario:
Owen commented last night that Bella, our chubby guinea pig, was feeling sad she wasn't on the blog yet. I asked him how he knew and he replied "I can tell...she has a sad face." I think she always looks a bit shell-shocked, but we don't want Miss Bella to be sad...so here is our spoiled little pig!
Everyone was excited and even threw a quick "thank you" my way before they were off to another day of fun!
