7 months later......

I realize that seven months without a single entry is quite the failure on my part. I keep so busy these days! Here's a quick update on everyone and a family photo:

Chad: Chad is still enjoying work at H & L. He has consistently worked 60-80 hours a week since February, but enjoys the work so it doesn't bother him much. The firm did give him a laptop so he can do some work from home. They treat him really well and constantly sing his praises. Not much to say about Chad otherwise. He's doing well.

Kindra: I am so busy anymore! I am teaching preschool during the days, taking care of the kiddos, running errands, keeping a house of six clean-somehow,running the kids all over town for activities, sports, and birthday parties. Life as a mommy never slows down! It really makes me wonder if I'll be able to go back to teaching in a couple of years and still be able to run a household. We'll see.

Kiley: Kiley is doing okay in school. She is starting to show the infamous signs of being a pre-teen: laziness and lack of motivation.  It seems the only way to get her to keep her grades up (A's and B's) is to use bribery or threats. It's not a healthy parenting choice, but I'll do whatever it takes to keep her from slacking in school. She is excelling in her pre-team gymnastics though!

Creighton: Creighton is busy as ever. He gets up around 5:30am and still spends his days "working". He has started to really get interested in art (drawing, painting, crafts, etc). He is very excited for Christmas this year and asked Santa to bring him a saw, drill, flashlight, batteries, and an extension cord. This kid cracks me up, but he is seriously talented and, of all the kids, I am most interested in what he will grow up to become. I think architect, but who knows. Creighton is showing a good amount of athleticism-just like daddy. Despite Chad's current state of body, he was very athletic and excelled at nearly every sport. Creighton is very focused, has great control of his body, is advanced in almost all areas of physical development, and is a great leader. I foresee many soccer and baseball games in the near future.

Cort: Despite being 3 now, Cort is still "baby Cort". He is a mommy's boy if there ever was one! He is so sweet and snuggly. I am glad that he still has 3 years to mature before heading off to school. He is our one and only child who is hanging onto his baby years with all that he has. I am excited to get him on the swim team here when he's 5. He is a good swimmer and loves it. He's long and lean, so he's built for the sport! He is also very fast, so perhaps a cross-country star....again, a sport Chad did really well at.

Cheyenne: Well, Cheyenne has disappointed her daddy and is not a "girly girl" as he had hoped. How could she be? She's the youngest of 4, so it's survival of the fittest and she's around boys all day! She is most similar to Creighton. She has met all of her development milestones really early, has exceptional fine motor skills, is focused, loves to draw, and is mature beyond her 18 months of age. She is the star of the family, always making us laugh.

Chad and the kids are pushing me to have another baby. I am feeling a bit guilty to shoot down the idea so quick, but I am really looking forward to the day we can start going on vacations, go skiing, and even go out in public without it taking all of our energy! Plus, I just lost all my baby weight and back in the 120's for the first time since 2007!!!

My mom and step-dad are getting horses on their land this spring. I am soooo excited. Some of my greatest memories are taking Kiley out to the stables and spending the evenings riding horses and hanging out in the barn. I know the other kids will love going out there and I will so enjoy making new memories with them. We are a "country family" despite living in the city. Well, Chad is scared of horses, but I think I can convince him to get on one. ;) and I know that Creighton will be a great little stable hand.

Summer update!

The above pictures are the most recent pics I took of the kids. The one of Cort (with the sign) is for a Father's Day gift we are doing for Chad. At the top of the frame it says "I love you because" and then each kid has a sign with a reason they love him. They all turned out really cute. It just so happens that the illusive Cort has not offered up a smile, smirk, grin, or even a full face shot for any other picture I have taken of him in 2012!

Kiley is keeping busy with dance. She has a recital in a couple of weeks and we've been busy with costume tailoring, dance pics, rehearsals, etc. She pretty good. Next year she wants to do both gymnastics and dance. It all depends on her grades though. She has a lot of friends her age on our street and several of them are in competitive gymnastics and are really, really good. The girls spend most days teaching each other dance moves and front hand springs. I just love our neighborhood. Our street is quiet so we don't have to worry about cars. Kiley and her friends are always gossiping on the curb, riding their bikes, going to the park, flipping across my front yard, or making friendship bracelets in the driveway. I am so happy that she has the option to spend the day with her friends, making childhood memories.

Creighton still spends his day working. He is up before 6am nearly every morning-even weekends, ouch....He spends most of his day outside also, but in our backyard doing yardwork or building onto his fort. He is such an engineer! The other day we were watching a movie and a kid crawled into a window and Creighton said to me "I could crawl in a window.......I could build that window". It's so funny that his little brain is always thinking about how to assemble, disassemble, and create. He is so loving and spends a lot of his day just trying to please me. What a great kid, who also has a temper. I often compare him to the sour patch kids commercials (the candy) "At first they are sour, then they are sweet."

Cort is outgrowing the "terrible two's". He no longer runs though the house in destruction mode. Now, he loves to snuggle. He would lay with me and read books all day. He is sooooo loving and cuddly-definitely a mommy's boy. He spends his days playing outside, watching movies, reading books, and putting puzzles together. He has learned how to squeeze through the rails and go upstairs (we will see how long it is before his head gets stuck). He likes the quiet of his room and I often find him laying in his bed, all tucked in, watching a movie that he has put in himself. A smart 2 year old!

Cort is very quiet, unlike our other 3 kids who haven't figured out how to use an inside voice. I really look forward to my alone time with him when we can just cuddle up, read a book, and enjoy the peace and quiet of nap time.

Cheyenne started walking at 10 months. Now, at almost a year, she is running, jumping, and dancing. That girl is determined to grow up faster than I'd like her to. She is a very, very independent baby. As all my kids have been, I guess. She loves to cuddle, but quickly realizes there is a toy she needs to play with and wants off your lap. As the youngest of 4 kids, and a girl with two older brothers, she is a little rough and tumble girly girl. She loves her dresses, bows, and babydolls, but won't hesitate to get her hands dirty or wrestle with her big brothers. Cheyenne is saying: mama, dada, Kye Kye, baba, bye bye, no no, night night, and making animal noises. She has been pretty advanced in her development and fine motor skills. As a 4th child, she's learned to be self-sufficient, independent, loud, and is happy to go to any stranger who will hold her. She loves to read books, dance to music, and do the ABC's. She's the perfect baby and rarely fusses. It's a rare moment to see her in anything but a happy mood with a big smile on her face. She is so funny too and we find ourselves always laughing about something she is doing.  I am enjoying every minute of her since she is my last, but Chad is convinced there will be more. I think six Shaffers is enough though.

Chad is really loving his new job and having a lot of success at this new firm. The principals continue to be impressed with his skills and work ethic and they are very good at showing their appreciation to him. They are a family oriented firm and don't encourage their architects to work more than a 50 hour week. Chad did get put on as project architect of a 1.2 MILLION (yes, million!) sq. ft hospital campus and that meant he had to work 80 hours a week for about 6 weeks, but he made the deadline, got great reviews, and now things have slowed down. He spend the last couple weekends completing an extensive landscaping project for me that included building a retaining wall around a tree, putting down 250 sq. ft of sod in an area of our backyard that the dogs tore up, and putting in several walk-ways through flower beds. It's looking good.

I am really looking forward to the laid-back days of summer. Although, my kids are all early risers so I don't expect to be able to sleep in at all, it will be awesome to not have to worry about getting Kiley to school in the morning. I am excited to have more time to finish house projects, decorate the basement (we have new furniture coming on June 7th!!!) and work out. Perhaps, I will even have time this summer to get in another update before the next school year!!

Oops, March did come without an update.

In my last post (January) I said I would do an update before March. Oops. I swear time gets away from us! We have been keeping busy, as always. Instead of doing one loooonnnnggg post, I did a small post on each of us and what's been going on. I am going to try to be better at this and update once every 2 weeks instead of once every couple months. Don't hold me to it, though. Below are 6 small posts and a quick update on each of us.

Chad

Big news for Chad: he sadly left his firm that he'd been at for nearly 8 years to work for another firm. He really likes this new firm (H+L Architects). It's in a beautiful building (downtown, 2 stories, concierge, parking-$200 a month, but it's parking!, and it was designed so beautifully with great architectural detail) At his old firm, which he does miss sometimes because it was small and they were all pretty close, he did a lot of design and drawing. He also was able to see projects through from start to finish and was involved in nearly every aspect so he gained a lot of valuable experience. At this new firm, he is not doing any drawing because he is in meetings all day. He is going to sites, meeting with contractors, doctors, and consultants. He is getting a ton of experience there and really loves it. This firm also seems to take the extra step to please their employees. It's a really good firm.

Chad has finished up most of our basement and it turned out really nice! He has also started to work out-although it's pretty sporadic so far. Not too much to report for Chad other than his firm change. Life is a little boring right now, but who can complain!

Kindra

Life is busy with these 4 kiddos. I am thankful for getting to spend each day with them. We just celebrated Creighton's 4th birthday and I thought about how lucky I have been to stay at home with all of them and remember every milestone from the past 4 years. It's a blessing. Nothing to exciting in my life. I am going to be leaving my position at our church shortly to become more active in the congregation. One of our good friends just became the head pastor at our church and we are excited about that. We are so thankful for our church here. They have really become like family to us. I am getting ready to start decorating the basement. I have been waiting for it to be finished so that I could start painting, but now I am dreading the work. O'well. Pinterest has given me some great ideas and I am excited for it to be done soon! The picture above is all 6 of us in our 80's gear a couple months ago. We went to a bowling party a while back for a friend of ours and the theme was "a decade from her life". She turned 40, so we had a few decades to choose from (Sorry, Niki). It was hilarious to see all the costumes.

Kiley, 10 1/2

Well, I don't have any pics of Kiley. I have made plans to take her picture, but something always comes up. She keeps busy with dance and her friends. She is definitely a pre-teen now, but is generally in a good mood and fun to be around. She loves dance, although after her recital we may look into a different studio. We have a studio within walking distance (about 1/2 mile) from our house and we were thinking if she sticks with it, it will be nice if she can walk straight there after school for dance. I always say we live in the best location with everything at our fingertips. Kiley will have a blast when she is old enough to walk or ride her bike places with friends. We do have everything close, but things that she would like that are less than a mile from our house are the Movie Tavern (dine while watching the movie), several ice cream/yogurt shops, cafes, Kohls, dance studio, 24 hour fitness, tanning (although I will discourage this), several spas and salons and sooo much more. We have a great park with bike trail in our neighborhood and Kiley just got a new bike for her birthday, so Chad and I will be getting a bike this year so that we can take the older kids on bike rides in the evenings. I will try to get some pics of Kiley soon. I know she has her dance pics coming up, so at least we'll have those!

Creighton, 4 years old

Time out is not his favorite place

At Chuck E Cheese

His dinosaur birthday cake

He loves his new bike

Creighton had his 4th birthday on March 12. It's hard to believe he is already 4. It's a fun age though. For his birthday, we went to the dinosaur museum, Chuck E Cheese, and had a little party at home for him. He requested a dinosaur cake, which I didn't have time to make and felt terrible even though this one turned out nice (even though they spelled his name wrong). I took him to the store to pick out a new bike and helmet as his birthday gift. He was given dinosaur everything from his grandparents and loves all his new toys. The weather is nice now and my little worker is back out there "building" things from sun up to sun down. He also loves to sit in the front window and look out at the kids playing in the street. He's not quiet old enough to venture out front on his own, but in a couple years. He is a little lover. He is always telling me "I lub you mom" and when I said once to him "Creighton, I am not very happy with you right now" he stomped his foot and yelled "You are happy with me! I lub you and you lub me!" and then stormed upstairs to his room. I couldn't help but laugh and in fact, Chad and I spend most of our time laughing at the things that come out of his mouth. 4 is a fun age so far. Creighton will be heading off to preschool this next school year and starting soccer very soon. He's a great little athlete and excels at nearly every sport so far (just like daddy) so it'll be exciting to watch him in the coming years.

Cort, 2 1/2

Well, "baby Cort" is not so much a baby any more, even though he is still so tiny (97% for height, but only 10% for weight). He embodies every stereotype for the "terrible two's". Cort throws tantrums, jumps off furniture, takes off all his clothes...all the time!, destroys his room and anything in his path, opens every drawer and cupboard and clears them out, colors on everything, and does any other thing that you would find annoying. Despite all the extra work he makes for me, I am so in love with him. He is sweet, cuddly, loving, kisses me all the time, loves for me to lay in his bed with him and read, and is a total mommy's boy.

Cheyenne 9 months

Cheyenne: 9 months

This little girl is so sweet. She is saying "dada", "mama" and "baba". She is walking around furniture and standing on her own. No steps yet though! She spends her day playing, sleeping, stealing from her brother, Cort, climbing, and crawling under the table to see what crumbs she can find to snack on. She is eating soft foods and her favorites are: bananas, cheese, tortillas, crackers, cheerios, and yogurt. I can't believe she is 9 months already! I think it's time to start planning her 1st birthday party!!

No time to do a full update, but soon....I promise.

So sorry that I haven't had the time to really update this for the past couple months. Life is busy BUSY with 4 kiddos! Cheyenne is 7 months now. She is such a great baby. Never fussy. She loves attention but is totally fine just playing on the floor. She has been sitting up for a while and is nearly crawling. Very soon! As you can see from her photo-she has big blue/green eyes and dark blond hair (although sometimes it looks a bit red in photos-it's not though). So, 4 out of 4 of my kids have blue or green eyes and blond hair. I am certain that dark hair and brown eyes are a dominant trait, but I'm thrilled they are all so beautiful.

The holidays were great and I will give more details and tons of pics soon. For Thanksgiving we celebrated with a huge feast and had some friends over. We ate and then played some games that Kiley and her friend could take part in. We decided to stay in town for Christmas this year to avoid the torturous winter weather of the Midwest. Turns out, it snowed here and was beautiful in Nebraska. Of course. Our parents came up here on the 26th. Since they tend to go overboard with gifts, I set a limit of 5 toys per child, per grandparent. (That comes out to be about 60 gifts, 80 if you count the ones I got them! Ummmm...no, I can not find room for 80 new toys! Turns out, one grandma just stuffed a bunch of gifts into 5 bags, but each child really ended up with about 10. The other grandma didn't even attempt to deceive us and just said she couldn't do it. So, we ended up with a living room FULL of gifts!!!! Some of their favorite gifts were: Kiley-a new flat panel TV, an MP5 player, and gift cards. Creighton-a 5 foot tall fort and remote control cars. Cort-the same fort and a ball (he's simple), Cheyenne ended up with a ton of adorable clothes and some toys, but loves her new Johnny Jumper! It was a great Christmas for us.

The basement is coming along very nicely. Chad is just finishing up mudding the seams and then I am going to paint. Woo Hoo! I hate the act of painting, but love the end result. I already know the colors I want. The workout room is pretty much done. We are going to have one wall of mirrors and some free weights and later on Chad wants to put down a rubber floor. The living room is going to be really cool. He put in a cove ceiling and two columns that will be trimmed in wood. The ceiling will have a rope light so it looks normal during the day, but can have a movie theater feel when it's dark. Same with the play area. The bedroom is pretty much done too, nothing to great in there except a nice window seat and huge closet (considering it's the 5th bedroom and will be used as a guest room). The office also has a window seat, but no closet although it's technically listed on our permit as a 6th bedroom. Chad built a beautiful fireplace and hearth that will look awesome when it's tiled. The bathroom is smaller than our other 3, but again, it's just for guests. It will be done in all travertine, so I am excited to see the end result. It has a bathtub/shower so it counts as a full bathroom. Very soon, this house will officially be a 6 bedroom, 4 bathroom, 3500 finished sq. ft house. I can't wait to have full use of the new space! Kiley is even asking to move downstairs already. Many pics to come!!!! Hopefully before March. :)