Merry Christmas

Things That Make Me Laugh

Obviously, this picture of Wyatt from the app "Fat Booth" on my phone.  Calvin took everyone's pictures, but Wyatt's was the best.  Too bad he slept through it!

 This John Stamos Tweet.  I loved Full House, and I love this joke. 

 Letting Cyrus take our picture at the airport.  I'm actually glad that it's so blurry.  It makes it that much more difficult to see my flared nostrils.  

The Pesky Pest and His Wily Antics

When he was born we named him Cutie.  And he is a cutie.  But he has now adopted the role of "pest."  And he excels in his new position.  When the boys are at school, he strolls into their bedroom and picks through their toys, playing with whatever he wants.  When they come home, he is so indignant that they don't want him to mess with their stuff (it's his!! isn't it???).  

He is guilty of sitting too close to you on the couch, swiping your cookie from under your nose, and coloring on your coloring book.  But he doesn't stop there.  Their Mom is actually "His Mommy!" and he doesn't like to share her.  After all, we do spend about 7 hours a day together without them around. I'm pretty sure he thinks they cramp his style when he gets home.  

 Perhaps Cyrus' greatest threat is his love to escape from home.  He sees the front door as his ticket outta this place, and whenever it opens, he tries with all of his might to race through and b-line for the sidewalk.  I'm still trying to figure out where he wants to go???  I'm guessing Dairy Queen?  Wal-Mart? Constantinople?  It's hard to tell.  He can climb over the wall in the backyard and the gate leading around the corner.  I am "this close" to getting a leash, invisible dog collar, or at least a bell.  At the park he tries to run away.  At the store he tries to wander off.  At church he tries to leave the nursery.  But at Target he doesn't try to climb out of the cart (he knows better than to leave the popcorn and soda).  Buckle him into his cart! You say!  I do! I say!  I'm telling you - - - he is a regular Baby Houdini, escaping from all that keeps him bound.  

 For all of his busy escaping, you wouldn't believe that he would ever sit still.  But he loves to color.  For hours at a time.  One week he went through 2 coloring books.  He doesn't just color the picture.  He likes to color the entire page one color - top to bottom, side to side.  He likes a solid page of color. His medium is marker though he will settle for a crayon in a pinch.  He has been known to sit down and color in the middle of the gym floor and color while basketball-ers try and play around him.  He's insatiable.

 This little short stack also loves to climb all over me and Noah.  At nightly prayer he climbs on top of Noah's shoulders.  While I'm curling my hair, he climbs on the bench and tries to sit on my shoulder.  I once busted him trying to climb on top of the car in the garage.  He was working his way up the windshield as if he were hiking Mt. Everest.  

 And last but not least, the Pest is 100% Boy.  I can prove it with the following quote (said after we put up the Christmas tree):

"Mom, I yike the kistmas twee.  It's bootiful.  I'm gonna punch it."

P.S.  If you ask him how big your bottom is, he is almost certain to tell you that it is either big or medium.  If you ask how big his bottom is, he is almost certain to tell you it is small.  He knows his stuff.

Random Pictures + Random Things

For Valentine's Day, Noah got Wyatt a bathrobe.  He took to it like a fish to water.  He loves to take long, leisurely baths filled with soft singing and playing.  Then he saunters out of the bathroom and puts his robe on and lounges on the couch until bedtime.  His love for comfort and leisure tickles Noah and I.  On this particular day, Noah teased him and told him to put sliced cucumbers on his eyes.  And of course he loved it.  

 Seeing how much fulfillment Wyatt's robe brought him, Calvin had to have one.  He likes to lounge, but he doesn't have that natural inclination to savor the moment quite like Wyatt does.  He did, however, want cucumbers on his eyes to.  

 This is the only picture of Noah's birthday.  This typifies our house.  We love to eat.  And take pictures of what we eat, but there are hardly any pictures of us adults on our big days.  Instead of cake Noah opted for a fancy version of monkey bread.  It was pretty, pretty good.  Some girl in this house can cook!

 This picture exists solely as blackmail material in Wyatt's dating years.  

 Scrolling through the pics from our camera, Noah and I couldn't help but laugh at this artistic shot of some goldfish crackers.  It's way better than any pictures we have ever tried to intentionally take.  We are pretty sure that Cyrus took this one, and we already have him lined up to take our family pictures in the Spring.  I hope he gives us a discount.  

 The last week before school started we had a "flour fight."  It was just as fun as you would imagine it would be.  It was also just as messy as you would imagine it would be.  The cleanup was outrageously hard.  I will never do this again, and I don't recommend that you ever do it.  Unless, of course, you love to try and clean up gummy flour.  It was the worst mess in the world.  Now, if you are planning to leave me a comment about how you would never do that, and you could have told me it would be that horrible, to you, I say - - - save it.  I'm simply going to collect the "My Mom is Awesome!" points I got from my kiddos without any comments from you!

A Cub Scout is loyal, thrifty, kind, cute, adorable . . .

It's official! We have our first Cub Scout. I can't believe he is old enough to be a cub. He loves it, and we are loving passing off things with him. He takes great pride in wearing his uniform and going to his meeting. I sewed on his first two patches and then quickly turned to my glue gun for help. Yes, I am that kind of Mom.

Wyatt Turned 6!

I can hardly believe that he is six, and that he isn't wearing a shirt on his big day! At least he has pants on. Believe it or not that is a family rule for Birthdays: No pants. No cake.

He actually doesn't even like cake (or chocolate!). He wanted candy, so I did my best to hot glue his favorite candies in the shape of a cake.

Wyatt is a riot. He is happy and funny. He still loves puppies. He also is crazy for anything Lego or Ninjago.

We love this guy.

Elitch Gardens, Summer 2012

We took a little, mini-vacation a few weekends before school started.  We made our way up to Denver to see Elitch Gardens (similar to a Six Flags).  Here these boys are with their blue tongues traveling every so well.  It's just seven hours up there, so it was totally doable.

 Hot Stuff and I mugging for the camera.  I'm sorry I didn't take a picture of the doughnuts on the dashboard because that was a very nice highlight. We ate them for three meals.  Yum-O. We also stopped about 4 times just for junk.  Just for junk.  I can't pass up Milk Duds at a gas station for anything.  I like them best when they are fresh (Noah thinks that it is hilarious that I actually think Milk Duds (and candy corn for that matter) can actually be fresh).  

We made poor Cyrus sleep in the drawer.  He is small enough to fit.  Kidding.  He didn't sleep there, but he sure spent enough time climbing in and out of it.  

 Big Man on the bumper cars.  He was quite brave on all the rides.  We even went on one of the adult rides 3 TIMES together!!! I learned that my body is not the same as it used to me.  I thought for sure I was going to barf, and I found myself ducking into Cal's shoulder while screaming.  It was a trip.  

 The big boys rode the ferris wheel.  Wyatt has a love/hate relationship with it.  He loved to ride it, but he was sure he was going to be hurled from it at any moment.  Noah told him that the center, on the ground was the safest spot, so he clung to the pole pretty much the whole time.  No worries, though, he had a great view of everyone's shoes!

 What handsome sweeties.  It was a lovely weekend with just us Shafers.  Let's do this thing (again) Shafers!

First Day of School

So I know this a million days late, but better late than never. Right? If I can remember right both boys were anxious and excited. Wyatt got the same teacher for kindergarten that Calvin had - Mrs. Browning. She is a great teacher. Calvin got Mrs. Padilla, another wonderful teacher. So far, so good.

I can't think of anything too sassy to say in this blog post, so I only that I love those boys. So much. They make Noah and I so proud.

Soccer Season

This year was our first foray into soccer.  Noah and I coached Wyatt's team, and (hilariously) I sometimes refereed for Calvin's team.  We had such a great time.  Both of the boys did so well and loved playing on their team.  Calvin scored 2 goals this season and had 1 assist.  Wyatt scored 3 goals, and we can't remember how many assists.  Anyhoo, it was great fun.  Although, we are ready to have some Saturdays off after being busy.  

He are the dudes in their jerseys before their games.

 Calvin and Cyrus on the sidelines of Wyatt's game.

 Calvin out on the field before the game starts.  

At first, Calvin was timid and didn't like to get to close to the ball, but by the end of the season, he was improving so much and getting in and kicking the ball a lot.  Wyatt was aggressive, but he also got tired pretty quickly. His age plays 4 quarters of 5 minutes each. Wyatt was good for a quarter, but then he would want a break.  In fact, nearly his whole team felt the same way.  Noah and I found ourselves spending a lot of the time coaxing the players into the game. But it was fun, and we loved it.  We look forward to the Spring season in March.

Oh, and Cyrus.  Since he didn't play, he spend most of his time trying to run away.  Yeah, that was a lot of fun.

Cyrus is 3!

Yes, he's three.  We decided to have a small, family party for Cyrus considering that he doesn't have too many friends, doesn't really "get" parties, and is happy to eat cake and play with toys with us.  I am sure that he will want a party next year, but we were (in all honesty) too lazy to plan a big she-bang.

Cyrus is an interesting little dude.  Since Calvin and Wyatt are back to school, it is just Cy and I.  We spent the first 6 weeks of school potty training.  He was easier and harder in some ways than the other two.  All in all he mastered it.

He has picked up the phrases, "I hope so," and "I think so."  However, he always used them at the wrong times.  For example:

Me: "Cyrus, did you go the potty?"

Cy: "I hope so, Mommy."

-------------

Me: "Cyrus, do want to sit around and eat chocolate and buy lots of expensive toys today?"

Cy: "Um, yes, I think so."


So, you get the point that he is still adorable.  He has entered the Terrible 3s.  He sailed right through the 2s no big whoop, but he was saving his sauciness for the next year.  Nevertheless, he charms me daily with his sweet hugs, kisses, and phrases.  Just today at church as I handed him an orange crayon he said to me, "Thanks, Mommy.  You're a sweet boy."  Ahhhhhhhhhhh

Also interesting about our current 3 year old.  He loves to collect the tiny, two dot-wide lego pieces and connect them all in a long line.  It has become a nice diversion for me if I need to steal a few moments away without him in my hair.

Cyrus, you're the Guy-rus.  We love you.

Calvin turned 8

As mentioned, Calvin turned 8 years old about a month ago.  I am so behind on blogging that it isn't even funny.  He decided on a friend party.  They made glow in the dark Yoshi eggs, jumped on the trampoline, ate pizza, and played with their 3DSs.  It was a very hands off party for me as they mostly just wanted to be left alone to play.

 Our big boy also lost his first tooth.  It was a traumatic event for him filled with a few tears.  Noah, in the end, was the hero and pulled it out.  He was cautiously happy that it was out, but I can tell he sort of dreads having to lose the rest of them.  

Calvin's Baptism Day

 

Calvin decided to be baptized yesterday, October 13, 2012 at 12:00 p.m. at the Rio Rancho Stake Center in Rio Rancho.  We are so pleased with him and his decision to become a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.  He said that he felt so clean and pure when he came out of the water.  He is a sweet and good boy.  Noah and I feel so blessed to be his parents.  It was a wonderful moment to share with him.

I was lucky enough to give the talk.  Cyrus and Wyatt did as best as they could although they were pretty restless by the end. He chose Burger King as his memorial lunch celebration.  He dined on a cheeseburger, fries, and chocolate milk.

We feel so blessed to have the gospel and proud of Calvin for taking such an important step in his salvation. We love you, Calvin.

Botanical Gardens, Explora Museum, Cyrus is a Klepto, and the Series "No One Knew They Were Getting Their Picture Taken"

First of all, what kind of mother lets her son go out in this outfit?  Her hat, orange pants, and red shoes??? Who does that?  This Mom.

 Exploring the giant carrots at the Botanical Gardens . . . .

 Sitting on the Giant Ant (or Tant as Cy says) at the Botanical Gardens . . . . 

  . . . climbing the bamboo and resting on the giant potato at the Botanical Gardens . . . . 

 looking out of the giant log at the Botanical Gardens . . .

 inside of a giant lemon at the Botanical Gardens . . . . (theme of the day, yes, you guessed it - - Giant)

We have been to Explora several times (it is the kids museum here), and my kids always love it.  There is so much to do.  That day we sat and built with these pvc pipes for at least an hour.  We were working on a house.  And by we, I mean me and Calvin, and Wyatt.  Cyrus was busy quickly undoing our work behind us.  

 Cyrus later found his knack for building at the blocks.  He was so proud of this tower and said, "Cheese!" for about a solid minute.  

 Wyatt also spent some time building with the blocks and smiling sideways.

 Cyrus is a kleptomaniac.  He is always stuffing whatever he can in his pockets.  This day it was a measuring tape he found at the shadows exhibit.  When doing the laundry, I have found all sorts of goodies: toys, buttons, spoons, socks, rubber bands,  toothbrushes, bits of trash, dry pasta.  Yeah, you name it, he stuffs his pockets with it.  

  . . . . . AND, as promised, the photograph series "No One Knew They Were Getting Their Picture Taken" by various artists in our home.

Wow, Katie, you look radiant after your nap.

 Calvin is excelling with lip pursing.

 I have a sneaking suspiscion that Noah knew this picture was being taken.  Clues: no one else is tall enough to take this picture and the pointing seems very deliberate.  Now we just have to figure out what he was doing besides looking so handsome.

 Wyatt is in the middle of being hypnotized.  "You are getting very sleepy.  Now go clean your room and scratch your Mom's back."