Thursday, February 26, 2009

baby name update

Just thought I'd let everyone who reads this know that we have settled on a name for the new guy that's coming: Liam Christopher Shaffer (middle name still kind of up in the air, but for now, this is what we like). That's all :-)

life with boys

just a funny story....
Saturday evening was some kind of carnival @ the elementary school. We took the boys and they had fun spending their tickets on games and then cashing in different tickets for prizes. I think a lot of people got a kick out of seeing Ewan step up after Marcus and Cale to play the same games. We stopped by the booth that made balloon animals. It was sponsered by the Methodist preschool in town. So, it's our turn up to pick our balloon thing....
Marcus: I want a sword.
Balloon people: We don't make swords.
M: I don't want anything.
BP: Would you like a dog, or a bunny or a giraffe, or a flower?
M: No thanks.
Ewan: I want a dog!
Cale: I think I want a snake.
BP: You want a what?
C: A snake.
M: I want a snake too!
Yes, the kids got their snakes, which, let's face it, look a lot like swords. And that is just what they used them as when they got home. By then, Ewan's dog had become untwisted, too, so all the boys had something to wave around and beat on each other with. I bet those were the only snakes the ballon guy made that night :-) Andy cracked up when he heard this story after he got home from work.

first trophy


Cale finished soccer last Saturday. For the final game, four of the 8 kids on his team were there so no one got rotated out-everyone played the whole 30 min. game. At the end, all the kids got a trophy. Cale was so excited to show the trophy to Marcus and Andy. We bought a shelf we put up in the boys' room to display their awards. Marcus finishes up basketball this coming Saturday and should get a trophy also. The icing on the cake?-Grammy Pammy was saw both Marcus and Cale play that day. She started with BB and then drove over to see soccer. The boys were both very happy!

Friday, February 13, 2009

What Cale wore for his Valentine's Day party



On Wednesday, Cale's preschool class had to wear something red. Cale said "I can wear my soccer shirt" I thought that was a great idea, because I think it's the only red thing he owns. Then he came downstairs with his soccer socks, "How about I can wear these too!" I just wanted to show everyone the finished product. I'm pretty sure that he wore his sweat pant legs pulled up all morning so that everyone could see his socks.

a conversation for Valentine's Day

Marcus rides home with Andy from church on Wednesday nights. Andy gets Marcus to talk about what's going on @ school. This past Weds., Andy and Marcus had the following conversation...

Andy: What's your girlfriend's name? (trying to be sneaky, instead of asking if Marcus liked girls)
Marcus: I don't have a girlfriend because I don't like girls.
A: Why?
M: Cause girls make me rusted.
A: What's rusted?
M: Like the tin man in the Wizard of Has (this is a Veggietales reference). I need oil to move.
A: What would you do if a girl kissed you?
M: I would kick her.
A: What if Mommy tried to kiss you?
M: I wouldn't kicked her. (yea for me :-))

Monday, February 9, 2009

Marcus the basketball player

Here are some photos and videos from Marcus's game on Saturday. I got to switch with Andy to watch Marcus play. The kids liked playing, but the hardest thing for me was the stop and go action of the game. Marcus is definitely one of the better players on the team. He can dribble the ball (instead of running with it tucked in his arms), understands how to defend, and will try to move around to defend the other team's players that are open (more like a zone defense than a man to man). Of course, then the coach has to tell Marcus to only guard his man (they have to make it fair-it is the YMCA, and the kids are only 4-5 year olds). Enjoy!


warm up drills


with the basketball


"I'm open!" Marcus has the red wristband on. All the kids wear a colored wristband that matches them up with a kid on the other team to guard.

The following videos highlight the exciting game. At this point, Marcus is wearing a green wristband. You can see that he likes to guard just about anyone on the other team and he will go to where the action is if his guy isn't doing anything.

Probably Marcus and the girl on his team with the red wristband on are their best players. They seem to "get it" the most.