What to do with checkers

What else are you supposed to do with big checkers? How about put them down the basketball goal and laugh. Ben sure enjoyed doing that last evening.

Kristin's Solo

The Newton Symphony had to wait three years to get her there, had to pay her $10,000, and had to wine and dine her until she was spent. No, none of that. Just Kristin playing something I can't really even pronounce. Some music from Latin America or something.

Silly Ben

Ben has been following his brother's example and playing up on the couch. Here, he is pooped and needs a break.

Cici's Pizza Field Trip

On February 21st, Sam's preschool class went on a field trip to Cici's Pizza. It was delayed last time due to snow and we were fearful due to cold weather and early morning ice it would be delayed again. Things cleared up a bit and the kids were off to make and eat pizza. Chris, the manager gave the kids a tour of the restaurant. They saw the big blender and a tour of the big walk in cooler. They each made a little pizza and baked it through the 450 degree oven. Chris said that on Saturdays they make 1500 pizza and bake 2000 little cinnamon rolls. Needless to say, we feel sorry for the dish washer.

Zoo Visit

Below is a video of our friend Scott Hudson. No really, it's one of the gorillas at our zoo. It was about 55 degrees today. Not much wind, so made for a nice day to go to the zoo.

The Shaffer Boys

Ben is walking all over the place now. He sometimes forgets he is only one. He is eating like crazy and loves to be busy. Ben enjoys a good haircut now and then. He is also very funny. Below is a picture of Ben with his pacifier backwards.



Grandma and Grandpa Shaffer bought Sam and Ben matching pajamas. I think they wore them most of Thursday morning. It has still been snowing a lot lately, so it was a good day to stay in PJ's.

Shake and Rattle Pooh

I think I posted a video of Ben playing with his "Shake and Rattle Pooh" earlier, but this video is too funny not to post. Mostly because he is shaking the rattle then dancing when pooh begins to sing. It's all fun and games until he hits his head with the rattle, and no matter how much he shakes the rattle, Pooh won't sing. Then the party is OVER!

Preschool activities

A week ago at Sam's preschool it was Hat Day. All the kids had to wear a hat. Sam selected his white cowboy hat that came with his veggietales DVD Moe and the Big Exit. Today at preschool it was Hibernation Day. Each child wore their PJ's and brought pillows and blankets from home. Sam wanted to bring his sleeping bag and tent, but I told him that bears did not hibernate in tents. To which Sam responded, "I know, they hibernate in caves." They went on a bear hunt around the preschool area, finally finding the bear under the desk of the preschool director. They made their own trail mix of teddy grahams, skittles, marshmallows, and pretzels. Then Sam also came home with a baggy of gummy bears. I guess they believe in sugaring up the kids and then sending them home. Sam enjoyed wearing his PJ's all day, even when we went to Target after preschool was over. Sam has been "playing" transformers the past several days. "Mom, what is your autobot name. Mom, what is your vehicle?" Sam reported back that during the pillow fight at preschool today, the girls were the decepticons (the bad guys in the movie) and the boys were the autobots ( the good guys). Apparently, the decepticons won the pillow fight. As they were going on their bear hunt, Sam said that when he was in "robot mode" he held his flashlight up to the ceiling, when he was in "vehicle mode" he held his flashlight straight ahead. Can a child ever have too much imagination???

The Boy is Walking!!!

Last Sunday (January 20th) Ben started taking several steps without holding on to something. Sam began walking on a Wednesday night at the Shaffer grandparents basement, and Ben began walking on a Sunday night at the Keefer grandparents basement. About a week ago, Ben would take a few steps if at the end of his walk he could push one of us over. Finally he just put more and more steps together. He still needs to be by something to pull himself up to standing, but once he is up he is free to GO. His preferred method of transportation is still crawling.

Happy Birthday Ben

Ben celebrated his first birthday twice. Once on mom's birthday (which, for the record, at 39 will be her last and then she will defer the celebration to Ben) with all of the family here (including Uncle Kevin and Great Uncle Hugh). We celebrated at Grandma and Grandpa Keefer's house with a small cake. Ben did not like the 1st birthday bib, so we took it off (after he proved his annoyance with real tears). He ate all of his cake, and was enjoying it until he started rubbing his eyes and got some frosting in them.

We celebrated again on his real birthday (29th) with friends at our house. Once lesson learned is that giving cake (read: sugar) to a one year old will affect their sleep pattern. After the 1st party, Ben did not take a nap all afternoon, even though we knew he was really tired. After the 2nd party, where the cake/sugar was administered in the evening, he woke up in the middle of the night ready to play.

Christmas Letter with Blog Links (hopefully)

Note: this is a work in progress, as I have time. So come back again and see what new links I have finished.

Thanks,
Kristin


Let me introduce myself. I am Benjamin Lewis Shaffer, and I am the reason you did not receive a Christmas letter from my family last year. Mom and Dad planned to send out our family Christmas letter after my arrival last year and include pictures of me, but I demanded a little bit more of their time than they had expected, thus the letter never got written. Actually, besides not writing the Christmas letter, they never even sent out a birth announcement about me. I was born on December 29, 2006 at Wesley Hospital. I weighed 7 lbs and 4 oz. I look a lot like my big brother Sam did when he was a baby. He brought me some cool gifts when I was in the hospital, and has been pretty nice about sharing his toys. He also was very patient with me for several months as I screamed from driveway to driveway anytime I traveled anywhere in the car. Sam didn’t seem to be bothered at all with my ruckus, but I think it drove Mom completely nuts. Finally I grew out of that, and Mom and Dad and Sam and I love going places in the car.

Not only do I enjoy riding in the car now, I’m also an experienced airplane and train passenger. I flew in July to visit my Uncle Kevin Keefer who lives in Pasadena, California. I did a great job of sleeping through each of the flights. We saw the new Pixar movie Ratatouille while we were there. Sam had been looking forward to that movie ever since he saw the preview at the Cars movie. I loved the beach and watched my brother ride the Santa Monica Pier Carousel, and some other kid rides on the Pier. The ocean was lots of fun. If only I could get some of that sand in my mouth. My brother reminded me just the other day when we were talking about the Christmas story that we stayed at the Comfort INN, while we were there and we woke up every day and went swimming in the hotel pool. We also visited a big Aquarium called the Aquarium of the Pacific. Sam had told me all about it because he had gone there last year (you know the year you didn’t get a Christmas letter). They have a huge mommy whale and baby whale hanging from the ceiling. Sam told me about it, and he was really excited when he finally got to show it to me. He said they were not real, just a replica of a real one. Over Labor Day we caught the Amtrak Train from Newton at 3:30 AM. (Of course, we stopped at the all night Daylight Doughnut store – Drubers- first.) This year, Sam wasn’t scared at all about getting on the train. He rode it last year (you know, the year without a Christmas letter) and was a little hesitant about getting on. After about 13 hours on the train, we arrived in Albuquerque, NM where I got to meet my Aunt Doris and all of my Dad’s cousins. I am especially fond of my cousin Katie who held me all day when we visited the Albuquerque Zoo. I met my cousin Brooke Dixon and my Aunt Lori Dixon who also visited from their home in Salem, Oregon.

Besides our trips to California and New Mexico, we went to Hutchinson (my brother tells me that is in Kansas) to an indoor water park and hotel for a fun weekend getaway. It was my first time in a pool, and I really enjoyed it. But my brother enjoyed it even more. We also went to the Abbey in Atchison in February to watch the Benedictine Ravens play a basketball game. My Great Uncle Hugh Keefer is the Basketball Chaplain for the team, so we got to see him. I slept through the game, and Sam enjoyed a couple of bags of popcorn. I’m fond of my Uncle Hugh because my middle name, Lewis, was Uncle Hugh’s first name before he became a monk and changed his name to Hugh. We returned to the Abbey for thanksgiving, just a few weeks ago. I love turkey and sweet potatoes.

I took some swim lessons at the Twin River Swim Club, but mostly I watched while Sam had his lessons. He passed the Red Cross Level 1, and looks forward to completing level 2 this summer. If only he could pass the level based on jumping into the water. We also spent many a Sunday afternoon swimming at my Grandma and Grandpa Keefer’s community pool. I think I will be as fond of the water as my big brother Sam is.

My dad still works at Bank of the West (formerly known as Commercial Federal Bank). I love going to visit him there, because all of his co-workers seem to always fuss over who gets to hold me first. He is very excited because they built a new building right across the street from the old branch and he now has his own office and his own direct phone line, so now I can call him anytime I want to. Sometimes my dad works so hard that he comes home tired, but he never is too tired to play with me. His leg makes a great rodeo bull, and I especially like it when he throws me up in the air. Mom convinced dad to try out Bible Study Fellowship, so he goes every Tuesday evening. That’s okay, because Mom, Sam and I usually get to do something fun, like go to programs at the library. He still leads a men’s small group Bible Study on Wednesday evenings, and is finishing up an online degree from Golden State Theological Seminary.

Speaking of the computer. I can’t keep my hands off of it. Mom and Dad keep saying, “No touch, Ben,” but those lights are so intriguing. If I stand on my tippy toes, and reach up high, I can touch the keyboard. When I touch the keyboard, the screen lights up. It’s magic.

Mom still has her “career” as my brother calls it. She teaches flute lessons at Bethel College in Newton, and plays in the Newton Mid Kansas Symphony Orchestra. I guess I’m taking up too much of her time, because she decided to take a year off from playing in the Hutchinson Symphony. This spring she even gets to be a soloist in a couple of concerts. She is going to play the Latin American Suite for flute, harpsichord, and string orchestra with the Newton Mid Kansas Symphony on February 10, 2008. After that she is going to be the soloist on Bach’s Brandenburg Symphony #5 with the Bethel College Chamber Orchestra on March 18, 2008. Last year, Mom was asked to be a Children’s Leader in Bible Study Fellowship. She agreed, but was a little hesitant because she had just found out that I existed in her tummy. It was a fun year, so she says, of teaching 2-year-old boys and girls the truths found in the Bible, God’s true word! She just missed teaching in the month of January, since I was a little time consuming those first weeks, but I allowed her to go back in February. It was a trade off because Grandma Keefer would come over and play with me while Mommy was gone to Leaders meetings and for Class day. This year Mom has graduated to teaching the 3-year-old kids. Sam joins her on Wednesdays for his class too. Only one more year and I’ll be old enough to go.

I sure love my big brother Sam. He knows just how to make me laugh. Sam goes to Asbury Preschool on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons. It’s the same preschool that my mom and dad and Uncle Kevin went to when they were little. Sam loves preschool and always tells me right after class what his responsibility was (line leader, lights, prayer, flag helper etc.) and what they had for snack. He has just decided that he can write his own name, and we had a glowing report from his teacher, Ms. Ladonna, at his first parent teacher conference. My brother has started to read a few books, and he reads with much inflection. He is constantly asking what words mean, and mom has to look the words up in the dictionary. Mom and Dad have to figure out where Sam is going to go to Kindergarten in the fall. Mom keeps saying she can’t believe that Sam is old enough to be going to Kindergarten. My brother has lots of cool toys, most of which he doesn’t like me to play with. He has really gotten into board games. Monopoly Jr, and LIFE are his favorite right now.

We still go every week to visit our adopted Great Grandma, Ethel Bowlby, at the Life Care Center. It is a treat, because they have ice cream there, and I found out that I like sharing a cone of orange sherbet with my Grandma Keefer. We have a great time during our visits as I try to make everyone smile, and Sam entertains us with his toys or reading books. I’m pretty close to walking, Mom thinks maybe by my birthday I’ll have it figured out.

Every evening during dinner, we have been reading the story of Jesus’ birth. Even though there are cool lights, and Sam told that big guy in the red suit with the funny beard the things I want for Christmas, Mom and Dad are trying to teach us the real meaning of Christmas. That Jesus came down from Heaven, was born in Bethlehem, and lived a perfect life so that he could die and pay the price for our sins, so that we might live in Heaven with him forever when we die. My brother Sam asks some hard questions about heaven, like will my toys be there, and I don’t want to go there because Mom and Dad won’t be there. But the truth is we want all of our friends to be there, and it is our special job to tell our friends about Jesus. (This is what Sam has learned from Bible Study Fellowship).

Next year I might give this job back to my brother. If you wonder what we are up to all year long, please check out our blog at www.samshaffer.blogspot.com . There we try to post pictures, and semi regularly write updates of what is going on at our house. Mom said she would try to put this Christmas letter on the blog along with some pictures that show the events I talked about in this letter. I’ll try to take a few good naps so she will have time to finish it.

We love hearing from all of you, and if you ever want to come by and visit me, or my family, you are welcome anytime.

Merry Christmas 2007

We celebrated Christmas 3 times. On Sunday we celebrated with the Shaffer grandparents, on Monday we celebrated with Uncle Kevin and the Keefers, and on Tuesday (the real Christmas day) we celebrated at our house.


Sam began the festivities Christmas Eve with a reading from Luke 2. Originally I was just going to leave a few words out for Sam to fill in, but as we got into the story, Sam took over and read most of the story from Grandpa Keefer's Bible. I was so proud of him as we had been trying to read the Christmas story every night in December.





Sam got most of the things on his list to Santa. The biggest hit was the Transformers. Sam asked Santa for "Autobots and Decepticons, so I can have a battle." The Transformers were for ages 5+, but the male adults (Grandpa Keefer and dad) sure had a difficult time making the transformation from robots to vehicles, and back, and forward, and back and forward. I think Doug has it finally figured out. Apparently the "directions" aren't too helpful, you just have to figure it out on your own.


Much of the time with Uncle Kevin was spent playing games. Here Kevin, Sam, and Mom are playing the Charlie Brown Christmas game.

Sam also spent time reading his favorite books by Mo Willems to Uncle Kevin. Each book has a pig character (Piggie) & an elephant (Gerald). Sam directed Kevin to read the Gerald lines, and Sam read the Piggie lines. It was very entertaining.

More snow

Yesterday when we woke up, the snow had not started yet, but by 9:00 it was a blizzard with lots of snow and lots of wind. The drifts were huge. Sam had a great time playing in the snow that Doug shoveled off the driveway. Then he spent another 30 minutes or so in the backyard making tracks all over. He is back at it now again in the backyard.

The next Top Chef?

Doug signed me up to bring cookies to Sam's preschool Christmas program, so I decided to make the Candy Cane cookies that we made as kids. You have to sift the powdered sugar and sift the flour. Sam usually likes helping in the kitchen, so I gave him the sifter, and he never gave it back. He was very methodical, dipping the flour from the container into the sifter, sifting into a bowl, dumping the flour from the bowl back into the container, and repeat, and repeat, and repeat. I think Sam was doing this up until the time we had to stop so we could eat lunch before he went to preschool. So this year, don't bother with buying us any toys, just send us a bag of flour.

Let's go sledding

Last Saturday we got a nice snow. Doug and Sam went to the hill at the Indian Center to sled. Unfortunately, the batteries on the camera chose that time to malfunction, so we don't have too many pictures from there. Ben even took one trip down the hill, then went back to the warm car to wait with Mom. Of course the best part about snow is eating it. Once we got home Sam still wanted to be outside, so Doug took him "sledding" in the back yard.

To A Deluxe Apartment

This weekend, we located to our new bank branch across the street. For the last five years, I've worked in a small branch. I've stayed at that location because I've always been able to come home for lunch. Bank of the West bought an old Walgreens building and added on to it. Actually, the Walgreens became a liquor store, now it is a bank. It is very nice. We are now the envy of other branches in Wichita. My direct # is 316-292-5876 if you have any banking questions. We also have a Starbucks machine for our customers, so if your bank is not giving you the treatment or the coffee that YOU deserve, please stop by. The first picture is my new office area.

Jumping Ben

I tried to get this video with the other Thanksgiving pictures, but it didn't work. So here it is separately from the rest of the story. Ben loved jumping in this doorway because it is higher than ours, and he was able to get off the ground.

Jingle Bells

Ben loves to watch this snowman and dog sing Jingle Bells. I'm not sure Ben understands the tree and the lights, but he seems to understand that he is not to touch the tree or lights. Be sure you watch the entire video for Ben's comments when the music is over.

Let it snow

Sam enjoyed the snow that lasted only for the morning a couple of weeks ago. He was excited to wear his new Spiderman snow boots. Sam could care less about playing in the snow. He just went around the backyard picking up the snow and eating it. We actually made snow ice cream and it tasted pretty good.

Sam continues to enjoy at every chance he can get to destroy Styrofoam. This time we got smart and had Sam destroy it in the garage instead of in our bedroom. The clean up was much easier, and boy did Sam have fun. It was almost as if it has snowed inside.

Here comes Santa Claus

We made our annual trip to Indian Hills Ace Hardware to visit Santa. This year Sam went with a real list. He had something for everyone in in the family. I think Santa was impressed. Santa has always arrived at 9:00, so we arrived at about 8:45 and they said that Santa wouldn't arrive until 10:00. Apparently there was a misprint in the advertisement. I thought the employee was joking, but we soon found out that he wasn't. Sam decided to wait in a comfy chair. Just as he did on our trip to Atchison, where Sam spent most of the trip asking if we were "there yet," he asked almost continuously "Is Santa here yet?" Finally we heard that he was in parking lot.



Sam waiting for his turn, list in hand.

Sam's memory floors me. Right before it was his turn to see Santa, Sam turned to me and said, "This year I won't pick my nose." I totally had forgotten that last year, Sam had his finger in his nose for most of the time. This year, he didn't pick his nose, he just kept his fingers in his mouth.

Both Ben and Sam received coloring books from Santa. But Santa gave Sam extra candy canes since Ben couldn't eat them yet.

Who is this guy? I waited in line for an hour for this?