Cute to Us

Wyatt likes for us to show him youtube videos of his favorite things.  He loves the Yoshi's Island theme song (from the video game).  We think it's cute that he tries to act out all of the different parts of the video.  This is mainly for grandparents, so don't stress if you don't know what the crap I'm talking about.

A Mish-Mash of Pics and Witty Descriptions

 We've just been plugging along, doing our thing day in, day out.  Here you can see little ole' Cy doing his thing.  Namely, climbing on all of the furniture and risking his life for leftover bowls of oatmeal.  He is so adorable right now as he is desperately trying to talk, but he can't actually say anything except "puppy."  Go figure.  You wouldn't have seen that one coming, given Wyatt's obsession.  And speaking of Wyatt, check him out in the background in his uniform.

 Calvin.  He's too cool for school.  Just look at him in this picture.  It totally cracks me up.  He is always telling me about how his "team" (a.k.a friends) at school are soooooo busy.  They HAVE to dig up a huge rock at recess because, you know, that's what boys do.  Then they have to make a leprechaun trap, and he doesn't know if they are going to have enough time to beat the girls in a race by the end of school this year.   He is a reading machine, and it warms my heart to hear him reading so well.  As always, he works hard and plays hard.

Poor Noah was targeted by a bunch of rowdy teenagers late one night.  Alright, not just Noah, several cars in the neighborhood got rocks thrown through their windows.  It has since been motivation to get garage door openers put on the garage doors.  I hate to admit this, but it was a little exciting to deal with.  You know, walk outside, see the damage, call the police.  I even took the rock in the backseat and put it in a bag for evidence.  Errrr......and look like a nerd when the police didn't stop by to pick it up and dust it for prints.  I guess I've seen too much CSI.  

 And so sad, allergies have been pummeling the family here.  We've all had itchiness and hiviness.  Bleh!!! AND, believe it or not, this desert has been making my skin D.R.Y.  I'm afraid I'll be a piece of leather before we get outta here.  I'll take any moisturizing advice you have.  Seriously.

 Wyatt is going through a Donkey Kong/ Diddy Kong phase.  Needless to say, that involves costumes.  He's been wearing them everywhere, including the store and to school to pick up Calvin.  I can't act like I don't love it.  I think it's adorable.

And last but not least, here I am in my P90x before pics.  I know, I really don't have too much to improve on, but it's fun to have a new workout regimen.




Oh, here I am flexing my biceps.




I know.  Really.  Why would I want to work out these abs that are already sooooooo washboard-ish.



(Don't be silly.  There are not before pics.)

A note to family:  we miss you guys so much, especially grandparents and can't wait for you to come visit.  xoxoxo

Santa Fe

Did you know that we live very close to Santa Fe?  Me either.  Until recently.  So we took the trip on a Saturday and found out the following:

• The burritos were not as spicy as we thought they would be.  I kept waiting for someone to jump out from the back in the restaurant and throw some extra spicy peppers on our food, but it didn't happen.  Wyatt is not mad about that.  We aren't sure why he is mad. 

• There are about, uh, fifty ba-zillion art and jewelry stores.  Which turned out great because my kids are totally into art, jewelry, NOT touching expensive things, and not being bored with those kinds of stores.  We hardly ever had to say, "don't touch that or stop running."  We did find one super sweet dog statue that only cost $6000.  I think there's a good chance Wyatt might get it for Easter.   

• There are some cool benches somewhere around that town, and we sat on them, though not very comfortably.  I like the shadows in the pic. 

• Plus, it was super cold, and we had to order an overpriced and not big enough cup of hot chocolate.
• You know, rereading this post, I feel like I'm giving you the impression that we didn't have a good time, but we did.  Noah summed it up best: as we were driving home he said, "I'd be fine if we never went there again."  Ha. Ha.  Noah is so funny.  I, however, would like to go back someday and peruse the art and jewelry stores and eat at one of those fancy pantsy restaurants.  I think it's more of a date place.  Maybe I'll convince the mister to take me back on a date.  That's probably also the same day that I get that $10,000 necklace I thought was so cute.

Open Letter to Technology

Dear Technology,

Why are you so much smarter than I am?  I have trained on the subject of you for many, many years both formally and informally, yet you still pass me up.  

Example #1:  My new computer.  I had uploading, downloading, word processing, file sharing, music playing, picture organizing, and screen switching down.  But now I am but a poor lost women staring into a perplexing screen of icons and desktops.  Please, ease up on me.  All I want is to organize my family's pictures and post them to my blog.  So quit harassing me with threats of "System Download," and "File Not Found" because I know you are lying.

Example #2:  My phone.  Seriously, quit flipping the picture around when I am taking one and snap a pic of me.  I know that you must love to gaze into my beautiful, yet slightly aged face, but you have to take pictures of Goodwill treasures and not me.  Sheesh.  

Example #3:  My car.  YOU.  ARE.  TOO.  SMART.  FOR.  ME.  TOO.   SMART. Because you turn the headlights on and off without me, you should consider doing the same for the interior dome light.  That way, when my hubby drives the car and turns off the interior light, I don't avoid trying to figure out how to turn it on for 2 weeks because I assume that the car will do it for me.

Example #4:  The TV.  You are too complicated for words.  I just want to watch Teen Mom 2, so please can we just agree to use one remote.  I can't keep up with all of the "sources" - - wii, blue ray, cable box.     And while we are at it, would you please tell me how to clean your screen?  Noah says that I can't use windex, so what do I use? Let me know.  You can email me, since you probably know how and have your very own email account.  I'm sure it's something like smartypantstv@gmail.com.

That about sums it up, technology.  Can we try to work together now?

Sincerely,
Old Woman Shafer

He's So Smart.

Calvin.  That's our son.  The one we are so wonderfully proud of.  He participated in the Read-A-thon at school. And although he is a mere kindergartner, he still made a name for himself, which is:  Winner!  Yep, he is the winner of a gift certificate for a book fair and a pizza party for his class!  It turns out that he read the most time and earned the most money (for a kindergartner).

We highly recommend "The Magic Treehouse" series.  Fun to read and very interesting.

P.S. Mimaw - - here he is showing off his gingerbread boy to his class.  It was awesome, and so are you for sending it to us!

"Hey, Mom. Take a picture of me and Rico."

And, yes, I affirmed to him that he looked just like Rico.

And the puppy legacy lives on.  Cyrus only says about 4 words, one of which is, "Puppy."  

The Holidays

Even though the holidays have come and gone, I am still so behind on our blogging.  So, you will just have to endure a stroll down the not-so-long-ago memory lane.  Our Thanksgiving was so nice.  We decided that even though we were all by ourselves, we weren't going to skimp on any of the good food.  So we made all the dishes that everybody loves.  Calvin requested turkey (convenient, no?) Wyatt requested spaghetti (not too far off of the beaten path), and Cyrus requested a nap (and believe me, he got it). I decided to try and dress up the table with a tablecloth, place mats, and two drinking glasses a piece.  And it was a success!  The boys looked at the table like, "Has our mom lost her mind?  What is all this stuff?"  We also got everyone a little place sitting card (Super Mario Brothers Wii trading cards), and it was so popular that no one wanted to eat their dinner.  Oh well, you win some.  You lose some.

 Here I am after I had cooked the meal, looking just like I had spent three days cooking. Hair never lies.  It was so sweet.  Calvin looked at the table and then asked Noah to take our picture together holding hands.  I almost cried it was so sweet of him.  Wyatt, on the other hand, couldn't care less.  

 Most of you know how much Noah loves Christmas.  So, as soon as the turkey had been digested  Noah ran us to Wal-Mart for Christmas lights.  He dutifully stapled them to the house, and I dare say we had the best house in da 'hood.  And yes, he staples in his pj's.  I actually respect that.

 We decorated the tree.  a.k.a the boys hung the ornaments in one spot at the bottom just within Cyrus' reach, and I rearranged them the next day.  In fact, I was so sick of those paper ornaments that I had made a few years ago, that we trashed them and picked up some new ones from Target.  (And as a side note:  I cringe to think about what my life would be like without Target).

 We listened to Christmas music and danced nearly everyday, all day.  Before school, after school, before bed, when someone started crying, during dinner, while cooking, while staring off into space and sitting on the couch.  Yes, by the end we were so sick of the same songs that we all were glad to wait another year to hear them again.  Here you can see Calvin dancing to some little ditties.  

Christmas Eve jammies.  A tradition that we share with, I think, the entire world.  And in the background you will see our poor dead Christmas tree.  He shed more needles than I knew possible and clogged up my vacuum.  I am still smelling evergreen when I run it.  

 Unwrapping, unwrapping, Wyatt in his underwear, Cyrus strolling around with a cracker.  

 Ahhh, the Christmas fort.  Noah is one great fort maker.  He inherited it from his Dad.  Shafers make forts.  It's just what they do.  Too bad nobody slept in it though. They were too busy barfing.  Yes, barfing.  Nothing says "Merry Christmas" quite like the flu.  

Despite any intestinal issues, we have to admit that our Christmas was awesome.