It's a Bad Week to be Furniture and/or Valuables at Our House

Shafer Household Weekly Damage Report

 (July 24th - July 31st)

1.  Sharpie Marker on new kitchen table. (Wyatt)

2.  Rubbing alcohol removed part of finish on kitchen table in effort to remove sharpie from the table.  (Katie)

3.  20+ holes in the leather ottoman by way of a pointy object. (Wyatt)

4.  Sunscreen sprayed on the side of the car only to come out after a trip to the car wash and a good wax down.  (Wyatt) (Note to Mom:  Don't put a child in timeout in the garage when the other time out spot is occupied.  In the future I would recommend the bathtub without water.)

5.  Scratch to the front of the new desk. (Nobody)

6.  Broken support on the bottom of the bench. (Calvin)

7.  Game stuck in the Wii Console thereby rendering the Wii temporarily unplayable.  (Calvin)

8.  Original artwork piece executed on the hallway wall.  Medium is colored pencil.  (Cyrus)

9.  Chocolate ice cream stains on kitchen chairs.  (Wyatt)

10.  So far nothing else, but there are still 5.5 hours left in the week.

My Mom says to look at these acts of destruction by my children with fondness because when they are grown up, they will remind me of when my kids were small.  And because they will be all grown-up, the memories will be all I have.  

I am still waiting for the fondness to come and make me feel better.

Wyatt Got a New Wallet

Wyatt found this great new wallet while we were doing our back to school shopping the other day.  And let me just say that I am so glad that they are finally making age appropriate wallets for children.  He doesn't need some small, leather, tri-fold thing-a-ma-bob.  No, he just needs something that he can put his money in.  Something that will allow the money to drop out of the top when it is turned upside down.  He just needs something that epitomizes his love for puppies and doesn't fit in his pocket, or anyone else's pocket.  Or even my purse.  Heck, this gem won't even fit in my carry-on luggage.  That's why it's perfect because we never forget it. It's highly visible.  (Don't judge his love of this puppy wallet by that face.  I forgot to tell him to smile.  My bad.)

 If you are a thief and reading this: please don't take this young boy's money.  I know that he has enough for two items at the dollar store, and while that might be too much for you to pass up, consider this:  Is your integrity worth $2?  I didn't think so.

Roughing It

A few weeks ago we went camping and had so much fun!  We went out to Bluewater.  Although I am a little confused because the water seemed more brownish to me, but anyhoo, we still had a great time!  After we (and by we, I mean, Noah, the, ahem, Eagle Scout) put up our tent, we wandered down to the lake to skip some rocks and panic while our kids got too close to the choppy water.  Wasn't it beautiful?

 Noah used a walking stick to make his way down to the beach.  And yes, that perfectly round cylinder was just lying on the ground.  And by ground I mean hung up in Noah's closet for his clothes.  But who needs a place to hang your shirts when you are going camping?  Not us Shafers.  Notice the title is "Roughing It" and not "Cushy Camping."

Here is Cutie wearing the same shirt that both older brothers sported.  Why throw it out when it says so much about each one of them?

 Yes, that's me.  I know you couldn't recognize me with that whack-a-doo ponytail, but just look at how I am trying to display my double chin, and surely you will say to yourself, "Oh yes, it's her!  That's her signature picture-taking face."

 Noah pondering his life's choices. 

 I love this picture of Calvin.  What you can't see is that he is looking at Noah.  And that is the face he is giving Noah about 99% of the time.  Calvin loves him so much.  

 Here is Wyatt giving himself up as a sacrifice to the big tent.  We were grateful for him being so willing to be consumed by Nylon.  Thank you, dear son, thank you.

 Yes, he survived the leap into the tent, and this is proof:  he woke the next morning inside of it.  And I was the lucky sleeping bag.  

 Look at Cyrus' sleepy, wake up eyes.  Seriously adorable.  The footed jammies just make it all the more sweet.  

 And because of the horrible fires that New Mexico and Arizona have been having, we were on fire lock down.  We had to camp without a flame. No smores, no roasting hot dogs, no nothing.  Just lunchables, pop tarts, and doritos.  There may have been a few packs of gushers.  They just went so fast that I can remember!

The beauty of the camp out was that it was fast.  We broke camp at 6:30, and we were home by 9:00.  It was so much fun.  We plan on going again when Cyrus is a little bit bigger and not so unwilling to just go to sleep in a tent. 

Money Well Spent

I warned the boys about the those claw machines at Wal-Mart.  I told them that all they do is take their money.  "It's a waste!" I said.  Yet, they still wanted to spend their allowance on them.  

It is never a good thing when a Mom has to eat her words.  And boy did I when Calvin won 5 stuffed animals with only one dollar.  Yes, that's right.  That means he picked up two at once.  

I have to find a new reason to use when they ask to play the claw game.  Any suggestions?

Now That Was A Good Time

 Over Easter weekend we had the best time.  Our friends, The Ortons, came over to see us all the way from Arizona.  Our first guests!  So much fun.  I only wish that I had taken more that 2 pictures and that I were smart enough to figure out how to steal their pics and load them to my own blog.  You'll just have to read Kelly's post as well.

What didn't we do?  Well, I'll you what we did do.  We ate a lot.  And then we ate some more.  Then Kelly and I went to Target for Easter goodies where I almost hugged a stranger on accident.  You would think there would be more to that story, but that is actually it.  I turned around, arms open wide, moved in for the hug, and then realized it was weird and bailed.

We had a great BBQ.  A great, windy BBQ and a trip to the petroglyphs.  And for all ya'll that don't know:  that means pictures carved into rocks.  I was smart enough to wear my dressy, slippery sandals for the short, but steep hike.   And I was lucky that Dave was spry enough to chase my two older kids + his two older kids up the mountains.

We had such a nice time with them.  Our kids were instant besties, but have since been trying to figure out where their friends went and why they don't see them consistently.  If you ever get the chance to host  The Ortons, you should really do it.  Their kids are so sweet and good.  And Kelly and Dave are okay.  I mean, we like them well enough, but their kids were the most fun.

Thanks to you Blade Toes and Mother Salt.  We had the best time and can't wait to meet up at the GrandCanyon.

Wyatt getting his picture taken with weird Mario at the community Easter Egg Hunt (which was horrible by the way).  We actually saw this poor Mario get pulled aside and chastised for not being friendly enough.  And I hate to go here, but since he wasn't friendly with my kid, I will:  What is going on with his front butt?  It wouldn't be so bad if he pulled it up a little.  

Here are all the kids at our Easter Egg Hunt.  I don't want to brag, but since it's my blog I'm gonna.  It was a kind of an awesome hunt.  Lots of eggs, good candy, and perfect weather.  Plus, the kids are cute.  

P.S.  Elliot - we found the exercise phone.  Du du du du dunt dunt dunt du.  Du du du du dunt bawr nawr nawr.  And that is how you phonetically spell the music to the exercise phone.

Yeah, they're pretty much famous.

This past winter brought some fun things for the boys.  Wyatt took a tumbling class at the rec center, and he loved it!  I really feel like he found his "thing."  I enjoyed watching him even though it meant dealing with run-around-boy (Cyrus) every week.

Calvin was in his first school play, "The Little Red Hen."  The only bummer was the mass amount of kids that stood directly in front of him, the mass amount of people right in front of us, and the lack of a telephoto lens on my iphone.  Other than that, it was so cute and sweet.  He had a part as a "singer."  At the very end, i ran up and got as close as I could and snapped this pic of him. He's the blurry kid in the middle with the white shirt.  

Then they both played baseball, and that was nothing short of funny.  Wyatt just meandered around the field, except when he stopped to lay down and put his glove over his face in the outfield.  Calvin, on the other hand, seemed to enjoy it.  I think that we will end up putting Cal on a team and letting Wyatt hang out around the concession stand with his Mom.  

Pure D-Light

Noah and I can't stop laughing at this picture of me taken at my very own birthday party.  Have you ever seen such delight or pure joy on anyone's face? What cracks us up the most is that I am so thrilled because Calvin blew out my candle.  You would think from that open-mouth smile fest that I was staring at a brand new car gifted to me or maybe I was just told that all of our student loan debt was paid off in full.  Nope, I'm just happy to have my match-standing-in-for-a-candle blown out by my six year old.  

I actually think what you are seeing is a girl who was ecstatic to bust a move on her birthday cupcakes.