Funny Conversations

Sitting in the car:

Owen: "Holly, you shouldn't put your eyes in soap."
Holly: "Oooohhhhhhhhhhhh"
Owen: "Yeah, that could hurt."

The funny part of the conversation was how Holly said, "Oh". It was kind of like she had never thought of that before, which she probably hasn't because who thinks that kind of stuff?

Owen and Holly at the kitchen table:

Holly: "What's that sound?"
Owen: "I'm scratching the table."
Holly: "Oh, can I do that?"
Owen: "Sure!"
Holly: "How do you do it?"

I love listening to these kids conversations. They are probably a lot more funny when you are listening to them and hearing their cute little voices. I won't be able to remember all of the funny things they say, but I can at least write them down and remember some of them.

Vegetables

This morning I asked Owen what his favorite vegetables were.

He replied, "Spinach and Pizza!"

Hmmm....I guess Pizza does have tomato sauce on it....even if he does usually try to wipe as much of that off as he can.

And he never eats spinach when we give it to him....but maybe I should try again since it's his favorite!

Talater

Things I don't want to forget:

I love the way Holly says that she wants to do something later. She doesn't say, "Can we go to the store later?", or "Can I go outside later?".

No, she says, "Can we go to the store ta-later?" or "Can I go outside ta-later?"

I love it....and I know one day she'll figure out the right way to say it, and I don't want to forget.

Today is also President's Day. I told Holly it was Presidents Day and she said, "Oh, who is going to bring us presents?" I guess President does sound like Presents....maybe I should have said it is Washington and Lincoln's birthday instead.

Introducing Our New Little Boy!

Here he is! We found out yesterday that our 3rd child will be a little boy. We should have known all along because nobody in my family has more than one girl! We are very happy though. We had already decided that his name will be Isaac, and at lunch after the ultrasound we decided his middle name will be Charles, after my father. The most important thing is that he has all his body parts, and he's looking healthy!

2010 in Review

Merry Belated Christmas

At the beginning of December, I told Scott that I didn’t feel like sending Christmas cards this year. I asked if that was OK, and he said, “No.” So I told him to do it, and he said, “No.” Christmas kept getting closer, and we still didn’t have cards ready. Finally, Scott said we needed to send cards, and I decided he was right. So our cards are late, but better late than never!

We hope you all had a happy and healthy 2010. Here is a quick recap of our year.

In October, Holly turned 2, and she keeps us entertained. She loves singing her ABCs, and she dances to any music you play. She loves her older brother Owen, but she wishes he didn’t always want the toy she’s holding. Holly loves all the things Owen hates … like baths, meat, and vegetables. She tends toward the dramatic. Heaven forbid you put her dinner on the wrong plate. She will fall to the ground and cry until her daddy picks her up. (She has him wrapped around her little finger.) This coming year, we hope she starts using her extensive vocabulary to tell us what’s wrong instead of throwing herself on the ground.

Owen turned 4 this month and had his first friend birthday party. He loves bowling, so we had his party at a bowling alley. Since his birthday is the week before Christmas, most of the people we invited were busy and couldn’t make it. Five friends came though, and Owen had a great time sharing his birthday with his friends. Owen is a big fan of Superman. Sometimes, he wears his underwear outside of his clothes in the Superman style. He’s used bibs. clip on ties, and towels as capes. Thankfully, he hasn’t wanted to leave the house dressed that way yet! All the papers he brings home from church have SUPERMAN written all over them. They must think we are teaching him well! Owen loves drawing, and he has inherited Scott’s love of writing words. Owen always asks us how to spell words so he can write them down.

This August/September we climbed into our trusty old van and drove to Utah. People thought we were crazy for driving 2300 miles with two little kids, but the kids did pretty well. Whenever Holly got cranky, we threw some fruit snacks at her, and she was good for another few hours. Owen learned that if he said he had to use the potty, we would stop for a short while. About every ten minutes on the ride home, he said he had to use the potty. Scott only took us on one detour. While he drove through Nebraska heading for Wyoming, I took a much needed nap. When I woke up, we were in Colorado! That wasn’t where we were supposed to be. Thankfully, Scott only went 10 miles off course. I didn’t let him drive much more after that. We enjoyed spending almost 2 weeks with friends and family in Utah, but I think we will wait a few more years before making that LONG drive again!

Scott still works for Lowe’s at a flatbed distribution center. In June they had their family day picnic at Six Flags, and we were able to upgrade the tickets that Lowe’s gave us into season passes! Owen really enjoyed spending a lot of time this summer riding all the kiddie rides. This year, Scott got his dream computer, an iMac! He kept bugging me that he wanted one, and when his old computer finally died, we got him one. He wants to letter comics, and the iMac helps him more than a regular PC. When we were in Utah, Scott climbed Mt. Timpanogos, a real mountain. (The “mountains” here in New England are really hills.) He started out early in the morning to go on the 15 mile hike all by himself, but he came back down the mountain with 6 women! His goal was to reach the saddle, which is about a mile below the summit. Scott hates heights, and my brother Khyl told him that the path from the saddle to the summit was really narrow most of the way. The path just below the saddle was like that in spots, but it was only for short distances. Scott met his goal and made it to the saddle where he could view Utah Valley.

I still work at Verizon. In my free time, I try to keep our house clean although Holly and Owen are determined to make sure I don’t win the housecleaning battle. I’m in a book club that meets on the 3rd Thursday every month, and in July I took over as the fearless leader of the book club! Being the leader doesn’t require too much effort though. So don’t be too impressed. I just send out 2 e-mails a month reminding everybody what we are reading. I can definitely recommend some good books if you’re looking for one.

Now for our most exciting news. Next June we are expecting baby #3! I am finally getting over the first trimester night sickness (no morning sickness for me), and we are getting excited to welcome a new baby into our lives. Now you understand why I originally didn’t want to send Christmas cards. I just wasn’t feeling up to it. Next month we will find out if we are having a boy or a girl. If we are having a girl, we may need help naming her since Scott and I can’t agree on any girl names. Maybe we will just wait until she’s old enough to choose her own.

Of course, much more happened this year, but there is only so much you can read about one family.

We wish you all a Merry Christmas and hope you have a happy and healthy 2011!

Love,

Scott, Brianne, Owen, Holly & Baby #3

Cute

The other day Owen and I were sitting on the couch talking. I asked Owen, "How did you get so dang cute?"

He thought about it for a few seconds and said, "It's because you love me!"

I suppose he is right in a way. Beauty, or cuteness in this case, is definitely in the eye of the beholder. And when you love somebody they seem to become more and more cute the more you love them.

I know everybody thinks they have the cutest kids in the world...and they are right. I also know that I am right, that I have the cutest kids in the world.

Let's all go and enjoy our cute kids now.

Climb Every Mountain!

We Sheaffers LOVE Vermont. Scott and I would go up there every year for our anniversary before we had our two lovely children. When we were there we always tried to go to Woodstock to climb to the top of Mount Tom. Mount Tom isn't a huge mountain. In fact, I think my family and friends back in Utah would call it a hill. But it is still a lovely walk through peaceful woods and there is a great view of the quaint little New England town and rolling hills.

We haven't been to Vermont in 4 years though! The last time we went I was pregnant with Owen. The next year Owen was a baby, so we didn't want to travel. The next year I was pregnant with Holly, so I didn't feel like climbing a mountain (hill). Then of course the next year Holly was a baby. Finally this year both kids are old enough to climb themselves and I'm not pregnant! So off we went to climb a mountain (hill).

Look at me...I turned into a reindeer! I kind of think reindeer antlers are more fun than rabbit ears. Maybe you should try them out the next time you think about giving somebody bunny ears in a picture. Holly may have started a new trend!

Holly rode most of the way up on our shoulders. It was just a lot faster that way. She didn't understand the concept of a trail. She kept trying to walk off the trail and onto steep inclines that would send her rolling down a hill of a dead leaves. I don't think she minded the ride though. She looks awful comfy to me.

We did have to make a diaper changing stop. Thankfully we found nature's changing table!

Owen loved hiking up the mountain. The trail we went on wasn't too hard. It has a lot of switchbacks and it's not too steep until the end. Owen loved all the big rocks we found along the way.

Holly did some walking. We wanted to make sure she got her exercise in too.

We made it to the top...YAY! Here is the beautiful view from the top. Too bad it doesn't look as beautiful in this picture as it does in real life. Some day you will have to come and visit and I will take you to the top of our favorite mountain.

Owen and Holly show off the view from the other side of the top. After we rested at the top for a while we decided to head down. I mentioned before that the last of the trail to the top is kind of steep. It was hard getting up there, but we made it. At the top of the mountain there were two trail markers, one for the trail we went up (Faulkner) and another trail (Precipice). Scott decided that he wanted to go down the Precipice trail because he thought it wouldn't be as hard of a hike down.

Definition of Precipice:

1. High Cliff or crag: a high vertical or very steep rock face.

2. Dangerous state: a very dangerous situation.

I told Scott that we needed to take the trail we took up back down. We didn't even know where the Precipice trail ended. It could have been on the other side of the mountain. Scott insisted that he was going down the precipice trail though because he didn't like the last 100 yards of the trail we came up on. So Scott and Owen went one way, Holly and I went the other. I ended up carrying Holly the whole way down, just to save time. All I could think about while walking down was that Scott and Owen would end up lost on the other side of the mountain, they would have to climb back up the Precipice trail and back down the correct trail. And Holly and I would just have to sit and wait for them.

At the bottom of the trail there is a park. I found a bench and sat down to wait out the long 2 hours until Scott and Owen showed up. But I was wrong! About 5 minutes later I heard them coming down the street. Apparently the Precipice trail ended/started only a few blocks away from where the Faulkner trail started. Apparently the Precipice trail is named that for a reason too. Scott said the trail went pretty much straight down the mountain through thick forest and lots of rocky sections.

After getting home I looked up the two different trails online. The Falkner trail is 1.6 miles.....The Precipice trail is .9 miles. Those switchbacks make the walk up the mountain longer, but they are there for a reason! Scott also informed me that when he got to the bottom of the mountain there was a sign that informed him that the Precipice trail was closed for repairs! It's always fun to smile at your husband knowing that you were right : )

We did stop and get some lunch and ice-cream before the hike.

Who doesn't love ice-cream?

We also stopped to let our kids play some Checkers.

It was one fun day! We are planning to find some more hikes around here that we can take our children on. So if you know any good ones let us know!