Happy Summer 2009!!

Summer is in full swing at our house and Cade is loving it! He loves to play outside no matter the weather, but now that everyone else wants to be out there too, he’s in hog heaven!

Last weekend for Memorial Day we went to Lake Eufala with Lacey and Steven. We stayed in Steven’s parents cabin. Everyone was so nice and made us feel welcome. Cade had so much fun. He made a friend named Gavin. Gavin and Cade played almost the whole weekend. They played in the sandbox and ran around like crazy. Cade also went on his first boat ride. I think he liked it even though he fell asleep about 10 minutes into it! He also found a turtle. He carried that thing all around for about 2 hours until I finally made him let it go. (He was being so rough on it; I was so afraid that he was going to kill it from dropping it down the rocks over and over again.) Most of the group we were with were fisherman. They had caught enough fish by Sunday night for a fish fry. So, Cade got to watch Steven’s dad, Keith, clean the fish. I think he liked watching it even though he made some funny faces and let out a gasp or two! :o)

This past weekend we were finally able to get in the pool. Lucas smoked a brisket Saturday night and invited some friends and family over. Everyone swam and the adults played washers. Cade wore some of those arm floaties in the pool. It made him so much more confident in the water. Now he wants to swim all by himself and doesn’t want the adults holding onto him. He and Marti swam and swam until their little fingers looked like prunes!

Lucas, Cade and I were back in the pool Sunday afternoon. Cade has lots of fun playing with us in the water and Lucas and I enjoyed being able to relax.
I can officially say that Cade is a water baby because he was begging to go swimming last night! I think he’s already counting down the days til the weekend!
In other news… I started school at SNU last Tuesday. Basically they just issued our books, computers, had us fill out paperwork, etc. They gave us our first week’s homework assignment and sent us on our way. Tonight is the first night that we have actual class. I’ll be completely done on July 27, 2010! Woohoo! Lucas will be done this November. It’s hard to believe that in just a little more than a year Lucas and I will both be college grads. We’ve waited so long and worked so hard, it feels good to be able to see the light at the end of the tunnel.
Check out the slideshow below that his pics from the last couple of weekends. Happy Summer!

Cade is officially 2 1/2!!

Cade was officially 2 1/2 last Thursday. I took him into the doctor for his 2 1/2 year visit. He was such a good boy. He let her listen and look at everything. He didn't complain one bit. He was such a big brave boy. I was so proud of him for being such a good patient. She said he's looks great and is right on track.

We had his pictures made last week in honor of his 2 1/2 birthday! He was such a hoot this time. He's getting the idea of what a camera is and really likes showing off for them.

Longtime No Blog!

I cannot believe it’s been 2 months since I’ve updated the world on my life! Things have been crazy for the Hinshaw clan. Let’s see where do I start??

First, I should let everyone know that I have gone back to school this semester. I’m enrolled in 9 hours of online courses at OCCC... and to be quite honest it’s kicking my rear!! Between working full-time, taking 3 college classes, being a wife to Lucas, raising Cade and helping out with my aunt and uncle I’m just SO BUSY! I am just hoping that all this craziness in my life will be worth it in the long run.

While we’re on the subject of school, I should mention that I have been accepted to SNU for the adult studies program. Lucas is currently enrolled in the same program. I start in May and will finish 14 months later with a Bachelor’s Degree in Organizational Leadership!! (It’s basically a business degree.) That pretty much means that I graduate college 10 years and 2 months after I graduated high school. If that doesn’t qualify as the “10 Year Plan”, I don’t know what does. Even so, I’m proud of myself for taking this step and for working to put this stage of my life behind me.

Moving on to other news…. For those of you who haven’t already heard, my miniature dachshund, Zoe, died on Feb. 13th. Our fence blew down that day, she got out, and a car hit her. I was sad about it for a few days, but am doing much better now. Lucas buried her at my aunt and uncle’s with all of the other dogs I’ve had throughout my life.

After losing Zoe, I wanted another dog. And also, our dog Rowdy needed another companion. So, we got a new dog. Her name is Lily (Officially, Hinshaw’s Awesome Lily Blossom) and she is a 7 week old English Bulldog!! She is so precious. I’ve put pics of her below. Lucas’ parents also got a puppy out of the same litter. She is also a female. They named her Hannah (Officially, Hinshaw’s Whole Lotta Hannah) Lucas’ brother Brad and his wife Heather also got a new bulldog this week; however theirs is not related to ours. She is a 3-year-old female named Baby D. So now including our other dog Rowdy, we have 4 bulldogs in the Hinshaw family these days!

Everyone keeps asking what Cade thinks about Lily. I think the jury is still out on this. One minute he wants to hold her and play with her; the next minute he wants her to leave him alone. We can tell that Lily very much likes Cade though. She loves to follow him around while he’s playing and hang out with him. Rowdy on the other hand doesn’t seem to care for her much. I think he will at some point, but for now, she has way too much energy for him. (He’s 9, which is a senior citizen in Bulldog years.)

One last bit of news… I finally got rid of the 'Stang. After 9 long years with my Mustang, I finally said goodbye. I’m both happy and sad. I love, love, love my new car; but I also miss my Mustang. There were many good memories in that car. Anyway, I got a 2008 Ford Fusion. It’s white with dark tinted windows. It has a sunroof and leather interior. It's kinda fun having extra bells and whistles!

Updates on Cade- Cade is growing like a weed. He is more and more alert and involved in the world around him everyday. He is talking very well these days. He talks in full sentences and can carry short conversations. He is learning his colors and can count to 6 (but only when he wants to, now when we ask him to!) He has also learned lots of animal sounds. It is quite a hoot to listen to him growl like a dinosaur (that's his favorite), "oink" like a pig or "moooove" like a cow. Yes, I said move. He thinks the cow says, "move"! It's so cute. He also knows how to "ruff" like a dog and "Meeeooowww" like a cat. He's getting cuter (and more bossy) everyday! We just love him to pieces and are so thankful to have him in our lives.

Easter is coming up next month. I hope to get Cade’s pics made between now and then. I am very much looking forward to spring and summer (especially Saturdays and Sundays in the pool!!)

-Shaunna

Me trying to get Cade to show off for the camera.



Mason, Cade and Dillon (Cade's cousins)



Cade playing in the bath. There is a great video of this, but I'm too scared of pervs watching it to post it.



Lily





Cade and Lily


Rowdy and Lily

Christmas 2008

Lucas, Shaunna and Cade

Cade and his new fire truck on Christmas morning

All of Lucas' cousins on the Ketchum side (except Dallas)
Brad, JW, Jill, Shecoeta, Matt, Lucas and Dillon

Brad, JW, Shecoeta, Matt and Lucas

Alissa, Maddi and Marti wearing the shorts that Aunt Jenny and Jill made for them

Lucas and Bradon the night before Brandon left for Phoenix

JW, Lucas, Brandon, Brad and Heather at McNellie's the night after Christmas



Our Christmas was really nice this year. Cade, Lucas and I all got lots of things that we wanted. There is one funny story that I want to share.

I had all of Cade's Santa presents stored in the closet in our spare bedroom. There was a huge firetruck, a semi-truck from the movie Cars ("Mack"), some toy Nerf guns and some movies all to come from Santa. None of it was wrapped as we planned to just put them under the tree when Santa came. Lucas' best friend Brandon was in town for Christmas and was over at the house on Christmas Eve. The three of us were sitting in the kitchen talking and catching up while I made cookies. Suddenly, Lucas realized that Cade was being very quiet (anyone who has a 2 year old knows this is a bad sign.) We discovered that he was in the closet in our spare bedroom playing with all his new toys! Lucas had to pry the fire truck out of his hands. Cade started crying, "My fire twuck, my fire twuck!" We put the toys away and rushed him out of the room. Then the next morning Santa was able to deliver them. Luckily, Cade is only 2 so he didn't question anything. However, we've learned our lesson. Next year Santa will store his gifts in the attic until he's ready to deliver!

I've put pictures below of all of our Christmas activities.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year,

Shaunna

We had Family Pictures Made

We had family pictures made last Monday. These are the first ones since Cade turned 2. We didn't get nearly as many as I would've liked. Cade has hit that stage where he doesn't want to sit still (espeically in new places where there is lots to explore).

Check out the pics!

Shaunna

OU vs. UT 2008 - BOOMER SOONER!

Me and Lucas at the Texas State Fair



Shecoeta, Me, Jen and Courtney at Cadillac Bar on the West End Friday Night


OU/TX was so much fun! Let’s see… where should I start?

We left Friday morning around 10:30. Lucas’ friends from work Tyler and Jen rode with Lucas and me. There other friends from work Steve and Courtney followed us in their vehicle and Lucas’ cousin Shecoeta and her husband Boadie also followed us. So, we had quite the little caravan!

We stopped at the Bevo Bash (Bevo is the name of the Texas’ Longhorns mascot) at Carl’s Jr. in Marietta, OK. The Sports Animal guys are always there doing broadcasts. There are free Bevo burgers, and tents set up with OU gear and stuff. We stayed long enough to eat a free Bevo burger, use the bathroom at hit the road.
We arrived in Dallas around 2:30 Friday afternoon. By 4 o’clock we were all checked into the hotel and ready to hit the West End.

Boadie and Shecoeta stayed in a different hotel than the 6 of us. So, they got down there earlier. They went over to Cadillac Bar (a Mexican restaurant and bar) and saved a table for all of us.

As soon as we got to the West End, a Dallas based NBC news crew was down there. They stopped me and Lucas and asked if they could interview us. They were asking us about the economy and if it had affected our ability to come to Dallas for the weekend. They also wanted to know about how much money we’d be spending during our stay in Dallas. Then they asked if we had any messages we’d like to pass along to their viewers. Of course, we started yelling Boomer Sooner, doing the horns down sign and all that good stuff! I know we made the news because Lucas’ best friend’s mom saw us from her hotel room. She said her jaw about dropped when she saw Eddie (that’s her nickname for Lucas) on the news! :o)

We got down to Cadillac Bar a little before 5 and margaritas were $3 until 7!! Woohoo! I love a good margarita and they are sometimes hard to find. These margaritas were so tasty! They didn’t have tons of tequila in them like a lot of them do. Cadillac Bar was about 80% OU fans on Friday night. We sat out on the patio watching people walk by and talking with all of the other OU fans. (And doing a Boomer Sooner - Texas Sux chants on occasion!)

There was a group of older people sitting 2 tables behind us. They were already 3 sheets to the wind and were having a lot of fun. One of the guys got up and started dancing all by himself. He was having a really good time. Our friend Courtney went over and started dancing with him. You could tell he loved all of the attention. After a while Jen and I started dancing with him too and then we were all taking pictures with him. He was really nice and a lot of fun. We actually ended up running into him again the next morning at the fair. He called us his “dancers”. :o)

We ate at Cadillac Bar and then after Happy Hour was over we started walking down the street. By this time it was dark out and starting to get busier. We went into a couple of different bars. We ended up just kind of hopping from one place to another. Every place was so stinkin’ busy and a lot of places were charging cover charges. So, we decided to go back to the room and hang out.

We got back to the room and everyone crashed out pretty early. The game was at 11 a.m. the next morning and we wanted to get to the state fair pretty early since ESPN GameDay was supposed to be there this year.

I ended up being the first one to wake up Saturday morning. I set my alarm for 6:30 but ended up waking up at 6. So I went ahead and jumped in the shower first. This was a good thing because it got everyone else to get around earlier. We all got ready, ate breakfast downstairs and caught the DART bus to the fair.

I don’t remember exactly what time we got to the fair, but I think it was about 8:30. When we first got there, we went over and watched the GameDay crew. There were tons and tons of people over there. So many, that we couldn’t really hear or see much of what was going on. So, we decided to go and get some food and beer. We sat around and forced down a couple of beers and then walked around some. Lucas and I had our picture taken in front of “Big Tex”.

One of the most fun things about the game was the shirts that Jen, Courtney and I wore. We were the hit of the fair. They were homemade by Jen and Courtney and turned out to be so cute. We had people both OU fans and TX fans stopping us left and right asking were we got them and asking if they could take pictures of them. There is a picture in my slideshow of them, but it isn’t a close up. It had the picture shown below on the back with the words, “SUCK IT” on top. I know, I know it’s a little tacky, but in the spirit of this game, it was PERFECT!



Well needless to say, the game didn’t go exactly as we wanted it to. We cheered hard and had fun up until the last quarter or so. Lucas and I left as soon as Texas went up by 10 points. On the way out there was already a dumb Texas fan running around like a fool yelling at the Sooner fans on the OU side. Lucas and he got into a bit of a shouting match because they guy was getting in the face of a couple that was minding their own business.

After the game, Lucas and I went back over to the beer stand and waited for Tyler, Jen, Courtney and Steven to show up. We all sat around and ate and drank a couple of beers and listed to all the Texas fans hoop and holler. Needless to say there were way more Texas fans sticking around after the game than there were OU fans.
After that, we headed back to the hotel and took a nap. When we woke up we went to this little sports bar in downtown Dallas named Tens to watch the OSU vs. Missouri game. That bar was pretty cool. The food was really good. The owner was there and he was really nice and attentive. It’s always nice to go to a place when you know the manager/owner is making sure his people are taking care of you. After the OSU game, they started playing some good music. We stayed another 20 minutes or so and then left.

Our group went down to the West End and Lucas and I went back to the hotel. We were all getting rowdy and I was afraid that we’d end up getting in trouble if we went to the West End. Lucas and I ended up at the hotel bar and sat and had a couple of beers with 2 Texas fans and an OSU fan. (I know, I know, it was a weird night!)
I got up at 8:30 Sunday morning. I was so ready to get home and say my little man. I kept tearing up every time I thought about him. We left Dallas Sunday morning around 11. We stopped at a Dairy Queen on the way home (which took 45 minutes just to get food to go!) We got home around 3:30 and left to go get the little man ASAP!!

All in all it was a fun weekend. I’m real bummed that the Sooners lost. However, I do think that if TX falters, we can get right back in there. I would hate for us not to get to the Big XII Championship or a BSC game just because we lost one game. Granted it’s one very important game, but still. Texas is a good team, they played their hearts out on Saturday and truth be told they deserved to win that game. We said it over and over again Saturday afternoon and night, “Good game, Texas”.

Cade's 2nd Birthday

Cade's had a big birthday so far! We went to Tinker to see the airplanes and visit all the ladies at Lucas' work. Then we went over to the Tinker firehouse and got to visit with the fire fighters, play on the fire truck and see Sparky the firedog. We've had a lot of fun so far. Right now, the little birthday boy is down for a nap. Later tonight we're hoping to get some dinner, play and eat some cupcakes.

Check out the pics we've taken so far!

Also, I'm adding some pictures from a couple of weeks ago. Cade and I went to the fair with my Mom and Floyd. There are pictures of Cade riding a camel and a pony. There are also some pictures of him at the petting zoo. He loves animals very much and loved this part of the fair. There are also a couple of more pictures from when he got his truck.