Freezing Cold

It has been freezing cold here...the coldest in 10yrs. Lows of 21 at night and highs of 35/40 during the day. Because kids are still coughing and with it being sooo cold we have been inside for the past few weeks...so nothing fun to report on. Thank heavens we have a Wii to play.
We also have had a fire burning in the fireplace nonstop for the past 2 days, and our 2yr old heater broke (the plastic stuff around some wiring melted) because it isn't designed for these cold temps.
We can't wait til we can go outside and play again!

Also we took Zach to the Dr. and he is 37 pounds and in the 110% for weight and 90% for height. Dr. said he will probably have the body structure of his dad...at least he won't be short and fat like I was worried about!

2009 in review

We hope this Christmas season finds your family well. Our Christmas letters tend to be more of a year-in-review, so here goes!

We took some nice vacations – a Disney Cruise to the Bahamas and a trip out west to see both sides of our families (Utah and Oregon) for 2.5 weeks this summer. Also, Amber and Byron spend a few days in Aruba as an incentive trip from Byron’s work.

Zach (or Buddy if you ask Byron) is 2 ½ and talking more and more. He has been potty trained now for quite a few months, though we still have to remind him to go every few hours and sometimes we still have to bribe him with candy. But it is so nice to take diapers out of the equation. He’s at the “Zach do it” stage. He refuses help most of the time, so he often runs around with his pants on backwards but that’s all part of growing up. We also have had many spills because he will get into the fridge and pour his own juice. He’s in a big boy bed now, and gave up his binky the same week he potty trained. He was our easiest for those things!

Makenzie (or Kenzie if we don’t feel like saying a 3-syllable name) is reading well in kindergarten. She is the pest and silly one in the family, annoying Mikayla till Mikayla has had enough and retaliates and then Makenzie always ends up getting hurt. We don't understand why Makenzie keeps doing it when she knows what the outcome will be. She also sings and dances and can be very dramatic. It’s amazing how different she is from Mikayla, who is disinterested in those things and private about her feelings toward boys. Makenzie, on the other hand, has a collection of boyfriends and every day seems to add another. Last night Byron asked her why she thinks all the boys like her, her response in all seriousness "Because I'm hot!"

Mikayla is now 9 and in 3rd grade. She played soccer this year and did extremely well at goalie. The other teams’ strategies revolved around how to get past the “really good goalie.” She is brilliant at some things (like getting 100% on her standardized tests) but is still learning how to be responsible and to choose to obey even when she doesn’t want to. But then she blows us away with her understanding of difficult concepts and her memory of facts and details of what happened several years ago. She has been really blessed with great teachers who “get her” and really enjoy having her in their class.

Amber lost her job in January and misses working from home. She enjoys going to Zumba class once a week, playing tennis and ping pong with Byron, exercising and shopping of course. Lately she has spent her time looking for bigger houses and deep cleaning hers in preparation to sell. She also dreams of the day when her kids will stop fighting with each other.

Byron just found out that one of his best employees is leaving for another position. Other than that, life is good. He is the primary chorister at church. He would love to stay in our little house until it is paid off, but Amber is the one who has to be home all day, so we hope to sell our house and then buy a bigger one. We’re hoping interest rates stay low long enough for us to get a nice big one at an affordable monthly payment.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
The Shefchik’s

Horseback riding and four wheel fun

This weekend we had sooo much fun at one of Byron's co-workers place about 45mins from us. They have 4 horses and four wheelers that the kids had a blast on.
Zach did not want to get off the heeeehaaa (his word for horse) we just kept walking him around and around.
Kenzie also did not want to get off.
Mikayla actually got a mini riding lesson for the daughter, and cantered all by herself.

Soccer time

After some of the soccer games we would go to a nearby park to let the kids play...Mikayla always wants to climb something.
Mikayla really seemed to enjoy playing soccer this last season.
Mikayla making a save...she was really good at playing goalie.
Kenzie and Buddy loved to practice and play with the goals too!

Pumpkin Carving and Halloween

We have Belle, Aeriel, and a little surfer boy. Zach was suppose to be a bat but it was 80 degrees and the bat costume was a full fleece hooded outfit so we found something a little cooler.


Everybody is dressed in coats because it got cold for like 3 days (and we just got back from a bike ride) but then it went back to the 80s.

No use mom

"well then you're of no use to me any more!" as she storms out of the room in search of her shin guards. This was Mikayla today after she kept asking me where all her soccer stuff was. I have decided she is old enough now to keep track of her own things. She seems to think that this is my job. So this is what she said to me after I said, "I don't know where your shin guards are, they are not mine to keep track of." I was dying laughing. well at least I know I was of some use to her at some point in the last 8.5 years!

A few things that I learned after 3 kids

1. kids in pre-k and kindergarden spend a lot of time sitting on the ground sitting indian-style (criss cross applesauce)...so i started only buying skorts, or putting shorts underneath their skirts. This info was learned after kenzie said the boys were looking at her panties.

2. save yourself hundereds of dollars a year shopping garage sales, goodwill and consignment stores for used kids clothes and toys. There are tons of nice stuff out there for super cheap and kids clothes don't resell for very much. I got Mikayla a bunch of Gap clothes, .50 cents for shirts, 2.00 for a super nice jacket at a garage sale a few weeks ago. Only worn thru one kid. My other new thing is to buy the kids Christmas toys at garage sales, then I don't feel so bad WHEN (not if) they don't use them very much. I just bought buddy a big matchbox toy set for only $5 that originally cost $90.

3. the teachers at school tend to keep the rooms really warm during the winter, so wearing a sweater and or turtleneck is useless and always shed within the first hour of class. What works better is a heavy coat and a long sleeve shirt underneath. During the summer the rooms also tend to be cold, so send a hoodie for them to wear. ASK your kids how the rooms feel obviously each school may be different.

4. giving strongwilled kids a clear choice (2) "do you want to do this or that?" works better than commanding them to do something, this gives them a sense of empowerment, instead of making them feel controlled. Zach gets to choose which potty he gets to go in, not if he gets to go.

5. CROCS ROCK (but feet get real dirty from them, and they probably are not so great for feet)

6. Avoid buttons on pants/shorts for 3,4,5 yr olds. Why do they put buttons on 3,4, and 5 year old pants? It is really hard/impossible for their little fingers to undo them when they are frantically (since they tend to wait till the last minute to go) trying to go potty.