Shafers & Seares

**Scroll down and pause the music before you watch the video**

There may have been some talk of past good times.  There may have been some very late nights.  There may or may not have been several large desserts consumed in a short amount of time resulting in poor sleep quality.  One member of the party may have been pushy at The Standard Diner, bullying another out of a sandwich choice.   There may or may not have been some busy-bag, sweat shop abuse occurring.  There may have been some "chilly" walks to the park.  Pizza was possibly consumed at more than one meal.  The truth about how often Noah and Katie snuggle on the couch may have come out.  Someone just might have spent a lot of time in one particular chair reading one particular book.  Some ladies (one of which might be pregnant, but it isn't me) may have gone to the nail salon and out to lunch.  One man may have felt let down because another man now eats meat sparingly.  The Beeper Story may have become an instant classic.  One Pilot might have bumped, yet not damaged, another Pilot.  There might have been a cute toddler adding an "s" to every word. That same toddler may have refused to kiss the toy Hulk.  Four boys may or may not have played for hours on end, not bothering their parents even a little bit.  In fact, they may have played so well that their parents might have forgotten to put them to bed until midnight.  There could possibly be some regrets that there weren't more pictures taken. However, Taylor could have possibly made the best video of the weekend.  What we do know is that there definitely were some excellent friends having an excellent weekend.   

This Week

Before we get started with this week's happenings, let's just get an eye full of Cutie.

And a lovely surprise shot of Cutie's Mom - - - - mid-blink and mid-word.  And no, I was neither asleep nor drunk.  That's my normal look.  That's why Barbizan Modeling Agency won't leave me alone.   

On Saturday we decided to go out to lunch after Noah got out of work and then head to the mall for some shoe shopping.  It seemed like no big thing. And it wasn't really a big deal except that towards the end of shopping, somewhere before the Pumas and after the Vans, we started a quick and steady decent into shopping hell.  Kids crying for candy, pants being bought without bothering to have them even tried on because we just wanted to get out, a pit stop at the germ-infested play area, a mom heavy-laden with three kid's coats + her own coat, and one little boy (who shall remain nameless) who needed a nap.

Cyrus at the stinky play area before things got ugly, and we had to abort the Find-Your-Kids-Shoes Mission

Hot Stuff

 So, before the mall, last Sunday night, we decided to put Cyrus in his own big boy bed.  We split the bunks and put Calvin in his very own bedroom.  Cyrus likes his new bed and mostly because he likes to get out of bed and wander around.  Anyway, we have had a lively week of teaching him how to stay in his own bed.  It looks like we have a few more days of learning. He's a tough cookie.  

We thought for sure that Calvin would miss sharing a room with Wyatt and ask to switch back, but this is not the case.  He is loving his bachelor life, and I can't say as I blame him.  

The boys have been LOVING the trampoline.  I love it, too, except that it makes me feel like I am going to pee my pants.  So I mostly cheer them on from the back porch.  

Cy has given up his nap (for the most part).  We knew something was up when he wasn't ready for bed before midnight on days he was napping.  So, sadly, he is a little cranky at the end of the day. Lucky for me I get a few more snuggles in.  

And no nap means we get a little more of this:

And even some of this:

Wyatt has fallen back in love with everything related to The Hulk.  So this translates into lots of time without his shirt on, clenched teeth, and the phrase "Hulk Smash" being repeated quite a bit.  On another sad note: his hamster Chippy passed away.  It was so sad to tell him and even sadder to take him to the burial site.  Believe it or not, I cried.  It was very sad.  We won't be replacing him.  Instead we took Wyatt to build a bear so that he could get  something to help him not be so sad.  

Wyatt and Calvin were the best of pals today after church. Noah, Cyrus, and I all got a su-weet nap while they played and played and played.  I hope that this is a foreshadowing of this week's spring break.  I'm crossing my fingers for no fights and lots of fun.  And I wouldn't mind a couple of naps either!

Cyrus: Man Of The Hour

As mentioned in previous posts, Cyrus has strong opinions about what he wears everyday.  However, it always includes a hat and shoes.  I have been trying to remember to take pictures of his wacky outfits, but it turns out I have only remembered twice lately.  So here are a few examples:  Over sized hat, "lellow" (yellow) shirt, brown pajama pants, one snow boot, and one church shoe on the wrong foot.  

In this outfit he has on a t-shirt, a light weight jacket, a red coat, blue basketball shorts (because, you know, he plays college ball), one long white tube sock, and snow boots.  Note: it was not snowing and we weren't going anywhere.

Andrea, this one is for you: the yarmulke Boston Red Sox hat made for a six month old.  Also humorous is that he is actually flipping through a magazine in the check out line.  He gets bored just like the rest of us.

 And this is just gratuitous adorable-ness.

 And finally, one of the many places that I find his toys that makes me smile.  He has trapped Iron Man, Hulk, and Thor in my decorative jar.  I left them there until he took them out because I just think it is so cute.  I also find these guys in my make-up drawer, on the edge of the bathtub (it is a little disconcerting that they watch me bathe), in the refrigerator, in the utensil drawer, and lastly, sometimes in his diaper.  Don't reread that. You got it the first time.  He stuffs things down the front of diaper on occasion.  It's always a treat to change him; I can tell you that much.