Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?

We had dinner tonight at Andy and Carole's. Actually I made dinner tonight at Andy and Carole's, and you can see that Andy and Adam were doing everything they could to help. I can't remember what mindless show they were watching, but it involved some manufacturing process and large machinery.

The kids had a good time playing together tonight without too much drama. Adam did join them for a rousing game of Monkey in the Middle which makes everyone happy (until someone is crying).

We put Drew to bed shortly after we got home, but he decided to build his own little nest by pulling everything off of his bed. Why he wants to sleep in his doorway like a little homeless man, I don't know. It's not a skill I really want him to perfect.

Off With His Head!

Another week has gone by with not posts. My friend, Sharon was in town for business and I got to see her for a little while on Wednesday night which was wonderful, but I'm surprised neither one of us managed to take a picture (as I mentioned in a much earlier post, Sharon is a fiend with a camera).

Speaking of cameras, Drew took this picture of Adam today. We're really going to have to get him his own camera one of these days.

Would you be disturbed if this was sitting on your kitchen counter? Normally I would, but now I have a four year old and I'm sure this is only the beginning of weird experiments to be conducted in my kitchen. I'll post any progress if it occurs. (Ch-Ch-Ch-Chia!) Of course, some will remember that Hailey used to call me Aunt Chia although that had nothing to do with the Chia Pet (I've always hoped).

The next picture might be even more disturbing to some people. Would you give your child a large bowl of popcorn to eat while riding around in the car? Oh well, it certainly kept him entertained. Anyway, it was Adam's idea.


Finally, I've been hard at work trying to plan a trip to Mackinac Island at the beginning of July. Heidi left me a comment last week, and then she and Scott followed up with a phone call on Friday. I was slow gettting started, but I'm on it now guys!!!

I'm looking for a place that will happily accept 6 adults and 6 children all under the age of 10 and not charge an arm and a leg. It looks like at least an arm will be involved, but I know we're not staying here. Other than that, there are a lot of great options,-- now we just need to narrow it down to what's available on those specific days. I know it's going to be a great time!

Time To Buy Milk and Toilet Paper

It finally snowed for the first time this winter. Adam was home when Drew and I got home from church, and it started to snow shortly after that. Adam and Drew took a short walk outside later in the afternoon and then did a little preliminary shoveling. Drew likes to help, but he doesn't manage to move much snow out of the way.

I don't know if we're supposed to get much accumulation or not, but people will be losing their minds anyway. I stayed away from the grocery store today (I already have milk and toilet paper thank you very much).

Maybe Better

I'm cautiously optimistic that Drew is better. The day is not completely over, but he's had a good day and hasn't complained of feeling sick. Adam is off for his annual weekend away with the boys, so I'm hoping that we can have a relatively peaceful time here while he's gone.

We had to buy a new TV yesterday, since our year old TV in the living room died suddenly. That's what we get for buying an el cheapo model. We bought a Sony this time--hopefully we'll have better luck. Adam actually thought we could move the TV upstairs to the living room and wait to get a new one until he got back. Ha! Not when I have 9 hours of the Sopranos Season 6 to watch while he's gone!

I decided to post this picture from our vacation in Michigan last July. When Drew was wearing his red hat from the National Cherry Festival the other day, it reminded me of these pictures. This one was taken at the Grand Traverse Light just before sunset. On our way back down the peninsula, we stopped at one of the cherry farms with a self service stand. You put your money into this big PVC pipe (it's designed so you can't get your money or anyone else's money back) and then help yourself to baskets of cherries. We ate a LOT of cherries that day, although Hailey was the champion cherry eater in the group. She actually kept count, and she ate well over 100 cherries (around 140, I think).

Let's Go For A Long Norwalk

I guess Drew had the right attitude about the Ravens on Saturday. I think a lot of people in the Baltimore area were sick to their stomachs for a day or two. Personally, I shed no tears since I don't care in the least. I do like the purple lights everywhere, though.

I took these pictures before school today, and I was going to say that Drew was completely over his illness. Here he's wearing his "C" cap that he made in school (Mr. C wears a giant cap, Ms. Y likes to yawn and yodel, Mrs. F has funny feet--you get the picture.) It sort of looks like a chef hat which is appropriate since he's playing in the kitchen.


Today was library day, and Drew decided that, since it's both sunny and cold, he needed a hat and sunglasses. I tried to tell him that the hat wasn't really appropriate cold weather gear, but he didn't care. He was quite the sight walking into the library with his red sun hat and his big yellow and blue winter coat.


After we came home, it was time to change into pajamas, because it was Pajama Day at school. Drew wore his Cars pajamas, and took his Cars blanket and Bananas the monkey. I'm sure Bananas enjoyed his outing as he is quite the jet-setting monkey these days. He has become a little high maintenance lately. Apparently, he now requires regular meals, baths and his own bed. If he keeps it up, he may be finding a new home.

As I mentioned, I WAS going to say that Drew was fully recovered, but he came home from school today feeling poorly again. He's currently in bed with his Daddy (quite the jet-setter himself--he flew to Pittsburgh and back today) looking quite miserable. Looks like a trip to the doctor tomorrow for all of the Shaughnessys.

Go Ravens!!!

I had big plans to get a picture of Adam and Drew in their Ravens attire watching the game. Although, they are wearing the appropriate attire, Drew is less than enthusiastic about football or anything else at the moment. He hasn't been feeling well all week, but last night he was up most of the night with, to put it delicately, stomach discomfort. He is somewhat better today, but he's been sleeping quite a bit and doesn't want to eat anything. I'm sure that he'll be better tomorrow, and, hopefully, all the Ravens fans will be feeling well also. The Colts are winning at the moment, but it's still early.

Baptism Day

I was just getting on Heidi last week about her lack of posting, and it turns out I've been just as lax. Since the first of the year, we've been getting back to the normal routine, and we haven't done anything that I was inspired to post about. I am doing some cooking at least for a few weeks, and Adam and I did a cookday for ourselves so we can stop going out to eat so much. It's the old shoemaker's children story around here a lot of the time. Not that anyone ever goes hungry, mind you.

My cousin Scott (see Heidi above) popped into town for a couple of days, and I was glad to get a chance to see him. Unfortunately, I didn't take any pictures the night we were all at Andy and Carole's. This week he was only flying to DC, not to Paris or India or Brazil.

Today we had Drew baptized, and Dad, Melva, Cathy, Andy, Hailey and Alex were there to witness the event. My grandmother Isabelle would be very happy if she were still here, but that's another story. I didn't manage to get a picture of Drew with either of our pastors after the service which I had intended to do, but Cathy took this picture before we went to lunch so we at least have some visual record of the day. Notice the tree blooming in the background--we've had some unbelievably warm weather.


After lunch, Andy and the kids stopped by to hang out for a while. All the kids love to jump on Adam. Luckily, you can't hear the screaming while you're looking at this picture.