Three little monkeys jumpin on the bed

A slightly better reaction to the peas

Movie Madness

Yesterday I watched kids movies with Addi and Kaden all afternoon. We watched the old Care Bear movies (1&2)The Lion King, and Lady and the Tramp. All of which Addi had never seen before. I contemplated having a snack break during the scene in the Lion King where Mufasa dies. We watched it and her emotional response brought me to tears. We sat there crying and hugging eachother. She loved all four movies, and it was fun for me to share movies that I loved as a child with my own daughter. Addi's favorite thing right now is the Ninja Turtles which makes Tony very happy. She has her Ninja Turtles rescue eachother all day from various emergencies, but her girlness shines through because yesterday Donatello and Rapheal got married. They have been hand in hand and dancing ever since......:o) Guess we should change a name to Donatella! Addison also loves Scooby Doo and Casper right now. She likes the word "Spoooooky". She is really into watercolor paints right now, creating at least 5 new masterpieces a day. She goes through three sets of paints a week. But I am happy to keep her fully supplied and painting. Kaden is still trying to get the hang of eating food. I swear he wants to skip all the baby food and just get right to eating a bacon double cheese burger. He stairs you down with such an intense look while you eat that it makes you feel guilty, then he is completely disapointed when he gets baby food. Tonight we are going to watch the Never Ending Story as a family and I am by far the most excited.

Kadens first chow: organic rice cereal and pears

Wedding on lake CdA

A few days off together

Ahhhh just spent the perfect three days with my hubby, and this morning he went back to work. It is a good thing too because I have a hard time cleaning when he is home, I always want to just hang out with him. So Saturday we dropped the kids off at our friends in Spokane so we could go spend the night in Coeur d'Alene. Our friends had a princess tea party set up and decorated with balloons, so Addison was happy to see us go. That makes it so much easier! And well, Kaden is happy to see anyone. :o) So we headed to CdA Resort to attend a wedding. The wedding was out in the middle of the lake on a big boat. The ceremony was on the top deck and afterwards we headed down to the cabin where the dinner and dancing took place. Back to the top deck for a final cruise around the lake at sunset. Talk about romantic. It was beautiful. I just love a good wedding. The pastor had so many amazing things to say about marriage and it really made me reflect on my own vows I made nearly four years ago. I didn't have a big extravogent wedding like I had dreamed of as a girl. Tony and I got married under a tree in his parents yard. But I stood there looking into Tony's eyes, and we held eachothers hands and promised to love, cherish and respect one another for the rest of our life. And it was beautiful. Marriage is a gift from God. With Tony by my side I feel like we can accomplish anything. Some days we work for it, and some days it comes easily, but everyday it is worth it. Our family has grown since the day we took those vows into something more beautiful then I could have ever dreamed up. Not a day goes by that I don't thank God for our beautiful children. We spent the rest of the night in CdA enjoying the nightlife and sitting in back corner booths laughing and stealing a kiss every chance we got. Sunday we spent hanging out in Spokane with family and friends, and Monday we didn't leave the house. Stayed inside all day playing video games, watching movies, napping and eating. It was wonderful. :o)

Kaden laughing

Relaxing at home

Kaden discovers farts are a good sister repellant

How Addison eats Oreos :o)

Christine and Johns wedding

August is flying by

Ahhhhhh. I am sitting here enjoying a quiet moment at home. This last part of summer is always the busiest and it can be hard to find a moment. My youngest cousin got married this month and it was so nice to see all of my family together to celebrate. Addison thinks weddings are the best thing ever, and has been talking about getting married herself. She wanted the bride and groom to dance right after they kissed and was very disapointed she had to wait to see them dance together. When they finally did have thier first dance together Addison did her best to join them. My daughter is a firecracker. Fast forward a week and we are at this past weekend. Friday night. I went out to dinner and to the movies with a friend. It was exactly one year since the two of us went to a movie together. The last time I was crying and didn't leave my couch for three weeks because the doctor had told me first that I was pregnant with triplets and two weeks later that I had lost all of them. It was a very hard time in my life, but now a year later I sit here looking at my beautiful little boy and what a gift from God he is. A miracle. When I went to that movie a year ago it was the first time in weeks that I had laughed (Pineapple Express, great movie!) It felt so good to laugh and be happy for a short moment again. I found out a couple days later that I was indeed still prego with one little baby, after I stormed the hospital and demanded an ultrasound. Needless to say that simple night out with my buddy was very special to me and something we will do every year now together. Saturday night Tony and I had a date night. It was absolutely perfect. We had a nice dinner at Gambinos and talked and laughed the entire time. We tried to not talk about the kids, but it was nearly impossible. We are both proud parents. After dinner we walked down to John's Alley hoping for some live music and maybe even a little dancing. On a side note John's Alley is our favorite hangout. It is where we have celebrated numerous birthdays and special occasions such as Tony's promotions, my graduation, our engagement, ect. It has a very special place in our heart. But it was too early for the band so we spent a good deal of time taking turns picking songs from the Juke Box and then enjoyed listening to them all while we played some competitive ping pong. I am the champion of ping pong. Just ask me. :o) We were home in time to tuck the kids into bed and spent the rest of the night enjoying eachothers company. :o) All is well in the Shaffer home.

He did it!!

Almost there!

Give it up Addi!

All Aboard!

Buddies

Addi's first jump-rope

snoozin in the jumparoo

Just Ducky

Feeding the Ducks

Addi the fisherwoman

Moose Creek

The Re-Do

Today was not smooth sailing. We definately experienced some turbulance. Tony had a day off so we packed up the car and headed for the "lagoons", an infamous local swimming hole that I had only heard of and never actually visited myself. My standards were set high from the get go. We get there after thinking we were lost for a couple miles and it is freaking HOT. Addison is pissed off. We have to hike a little ways into the lake and she falls, adding to the crankiness. She is screaming and it is echoing through the wilderness. Great. There are couples everywhere, all about 18 years old and I am sure the last thing they want to hear is a screaming kid. Addison refuses to get in the water or even put her life jacket on. She screams and cries about bugs the entire time. We have finally had enough and threw in the white flag. We were going home and I didn't even get to swim. Grrrrrrrrrrrrr. We hung our heads in defeat as we packed everything back to the car in the heat. Addison now cried because she WANTED to swim. Crazy little girl. I try to explain to Addison that she has ruined the fun for everyone with her bad mood and she doesn't seem to care in the slightest. :o) We pile in the car and tensions were high. Tony and I both grumble to ourselves about what an aweful day it turned out to be. We were going home empty handed, without our new and fun memories. I felt robbed. It wasn't supposed to turn out like this! We drive a ways down the road and everyone is quite. Up ahead is Moose Creek Resevior. I convince Tony to stop and we decide on a re-do. We took a mulligan on our bad day and decided to try again. We found a nice spot in the shade and Kaden napped. Addi was all the sudden in the best mood of her life. A family of ducks entertained her for hours. Tony was able to get some fishing in and I sat on a bench and soaked it all up. My good day that tried to slip between my fingers. But we didn't let it. And on the drive home all of us were happy and decided we had a most excellent day.