Merry Christmas to ALL!!

This year on our Christmas card, in lieu of writing a Christmas ditty or letter like I have in past years, I just referred loved ones to our family blog, so I suppose I better get an update on here so people have something to look at! By the way, thanks for visiting!

Here are our family updates for 2011:
Aron: Born in July, this handsome little guy completed his first triathlon at 4 weeks old, loves smiling, laughing and snuggles. At 5 months old, he is now going mobile - rolling back and forth, inching his way across the floor. It is only a matter of time before he is able to keep up with his older brother and sister.
Kacy: This two-year old is our very own superhero-princess-kitty loving-fairy. She is beautiful, feisty, headstrong and happy. She loves playing, dancing, making mischief and getting her way. We really are enjoying her hilarious antics now, but heaven help us when she is a teenager!
Bridger: Our preschooler is so excited to be 5 next week! He loves Cars, spy-kids, riding bikes, listening to chapter books, playing computer and wii games and pretty much everything and everyone. He is a cool kid and knows it. He is a big helper and surprises us every day with what he is capable of and what is cooking in that mind of his.
Melanie: Spends most of my time keeping up with these three little ones! I have been the Primary President in our ward for a little over a year now, and am loving the whole experience! I am loving getting back into normal physical activities (working out, soccer, running, sports) after my pregnancy and have some fun adventures planned for 2012. A highlight of my year was visiting Hawaii for the first time (yes, I will be back for more, thank you!)
Jim: He is our backbone, our rock, our catalyst for fun and helps to keep everything all together. His company changed it's name to PRECOA this year, and has been working very hard with a great team of coworkers to continue being quite successful. He is an amazing dad - the kids a just crazy about him! And he also just happens to be the best, most supportive ever!

We wish you all a very Merry Christmas! We are so grateful for our wonderful life and are especially grateful for this season where we can remember Jesus Christ!

Love, The Schaffer Family

Thankful Turkeys and 4 months old

I have a goal to be better at posting on our family blog here. That means the next few weeks I try to be will be short, but sweet and more frequent.

This week, Aron had a his 4 month old check-up. His stats:

Weight: 15 lbs, 11.7 oz (63%)

Height: 26.5 in (91%)

Head: 45 cm (97%)

What can I say? We have big heads in our family.



For Thanksgiving season, the older kids helped me make a "Thankful Turkey". We filled out a feather for everything we are thankful for.

They came up with some good stuff. Some of my favorites:
- Spinning around (Kacy)
- Cars 2 (Bridger)
- Trees (Kacy)
- Bad guys to go away (Bridger)
- The phone (Kacy)
- The park (both)
- "Macanala" (this is apparently Bridgers Adamic-type language only he knows how to read or write)

Time for a Throwdown

What? I haven't posted in 2 months? I feel like I was barely catching up on our summer events, and now fall is practically over. I specifically logged on tonight so that I had at least something to show for the month of November.

One thing that I put together today was a Healthy Challenge for the month of December. I put the Throwdown out to my family and they are going to rise to the challenge! The inspiration for this came as a friend told me of a family challenge she does during the holidays, while I was mentally counting the number of birthday parties and holiday celebrations ahead this month and was feeling the dread for my still-recovering-from-a-baby waistline before things even started. So, this throw-down challenge will help me keep motivated nutritionally and with regular physical activity for the normal days in the month, and thus allow me to enjoy our upcoming celebrations guilt-free.

I figured I would also post it here to get that extra edge of accountability as well as share it in case anyone else may need some extra motivation to stay healthy this time of year. It is set up to be possible no matter your current level of ability, but still challenging depending on what "Point Level" you aim to hit.

Good Luck and Have Fun!

December Healthy Throw-down Challenge:

Goal: Earn as many points as possible in the month of December. Challenge begins December 1^st and goes through December 31^st. Final points tally will be taken on January 1^st and winner will be named.

Points for Nutrition:

·         1 point for a serving for fruit per meal

·         1 point for a serving of vegetables per meal

·         2 points per day if you do not eat any treats (candy, cookies, cakes, ice cream, donuts, etc.)

·         2 points for drinking 100 oz water per day

·         -2 points (yes, that is negative) for eating fast food, and no points will be counted for your meal at a fast food joint, even if you had a fruit or veggie to go with it.

Points for Activity:

·         1 point for every 15 minutes of activity at the gym/ weight training

·         4 points for taking a class at the gym (includes crossfit, yoga, strength class, etc.)

·         1 point for every 30 push-ups

·         1 point for every 50 sit-ups

·         1 point for every mile ran or walked

·         1 point for every 10 minutes on the bike or elliptical or stair stepper

·         1 point for every 15 minutes of P90x, insanity, home exercise video, etc

·         1 point for every 15 minutes mountain biking, hiking or swimming

·         1 point for each session stretching for physical therapy

Point levels:

50 points: Baby Steps Level

100 points: Beginner Level

200 points: Intermediate Level
300 points: Advanced Level
400 points: Champion Level
Most points earned: Bragging rights over all other participants

First Day of Preschool 2011

Bridger started preschool this month. This year we decided to do a preschool co-op with seven other moms - so I host it one week every other month. There is a group of 8 kids and Bridger has a great time every day he goes!

He is a curious, good-natured kid and I can't believe how big my first baby is getting! He loves to play with friends and with his little sister, is enjoying playing soccer for the first time at the YMCA, loves riding his bike, loves to play board games and Wii games, responds well to positive reinforcement, and is at the age where he still wants to please his parents.

He reminds us often that he will be 5 years old soon (in December) and tells me all the cool, fun things he will be able to do when he is five. Slow down buddy!

We are a happy family!

Last month we had some family pictures taken by friend of mine. These are just some of my favorites!

 The Boys:

 The Girls:

 Cute Kids:

Thanks Annie!  http://annierudenphotography.blogspot.com/

Blueberries, Baby Blessing, Biking & other fun!

Time flies when you are having fun! That certainly was true when we had my brothers and parents in town to celebrate Aron's baby blessing weekend.

 We picked blueberries!

 We explored the Gorge & Waterfalls.

 We all participated in the Sherwood Family Triathlon. Yes, even 4-week old Aron completed the race!

 Swim!

 Bike!

 Run!

 Success!

 Me and my Superkids!

 Blessing day! Jim gave Aron a beautiful blessing. We love our special little guy!

Okay, Jim & I look a little tired, but at least the kids are cute!

Love it!

3 weeks old already!

So... Aron is already 3 weeks old!

Time has flown by, but at the same time seems like he has already been a part of our family forever. Here are some things we have already discovered about our little guy:
He has the ability to put a sleeping spell on anyone who holds him more than 5 minutes.

He is a true third child and calmly puts up with a lot of attention from older siblings quite well.

Aron is a hard worker. He takes his jobs of sleeping, eating and pooping quite serious.

He loves his Grandma. (Who wouldn't?)

He has very caring, loving, enthusiastic big brother and big sister.

2 week old stats:

Weight: 10 lbs, 1 oz (87%)
Height: 22 in (91 %)

Head: 38 1/2 cm (81%)

I have been SOOO grateful for the help of my brother, sister and mother. This has been a great recovery for me so far, and we have all enjoyed their presence enormously!

Introducing baby Aron!!!

Better late than never! Nine days after his due date, our little boy finally made his appearance! Yup, that means I was 41 1/2 weeks pregnant, folks!
Aron Donald Schaffer was born Friday, July 22nd at 12:50 am. He weighed 9 lbs 7 oz and is 22 inches long.

Aron means "mountaineer" or "mount of strength". Donald is my father's name and means "ruler of the world". So, Aron Donald is our own little "ruler of the mountains".

After about 12 hours of labor, and about 1 hour of pushing, I was able to have another successful VBAC (and avoid the C-section that was scheduled for that very day).

Aron has a very sweet nature. He loves to be snuggled and cuddled up tight, he is eating like a champ, sleeps well (except between the hours of 2 am - 5 am) and cries pretty much only when there is a diaper change in progress.

Bridger & Kacy are so excited to be big brother and big sister. B loves holding the baby and is very careful around him, and Kacy loves to say "there's the baby!"

We are so excited to have little Aron in our family. I am so happy to finally hold him in my arms, and not in my belly.

Welcome baby Aron!

38 weeks!

Yup, still pregnant! My 4 year old "personal photographer" had me pose, so I figured I would share a belly shot while I've got it!

We are very excited for our little boy to arrive. My joints and I are especially excited to no longer have a mobile watermelon in my tummy. The kids are excited to meet their brother - they love lifting up my shirt (anywhere) and touching and showing off my belly. Time is inching along at a snails pace, but at the same time we still have some essentials to attend to (like pulling out the remaining baby stuff and picking a name!) so I suppose it is good we still have a few weeks left.

I am grateful for this opportunity to grow our family - I just wish it wasn't so physically hard and uncomfortable to get these little bundles of joy here! I admire those amazing women who have great pregnancies and deliver with seemingly little effort.

I also admire those women who can work out and have loads of energy throughout their pregnancy. I especially admire those who refrain from complaining - something I just can't seem to help lately, whether it be out loud or not.

On a good note - the baby is doing great! I suspect he will be a little bigger than Kacy (who was 8 lbs), but maybe not as big as Bridger (who was 9.5 lbs). His heartbeat is strong, all the tests we have had done have been perfect.

The big questions now are: "When will he arrive?" "How big will he be?" "What will his name be?"

Any idea? Please share! Your guess is as good as mine!

Sweet home Arizona

What do you do if the rain is lasting a little too long in Oregon? Go dry out a bit with family in Arizona! My brother just returned from his Mission in Alaska, so it was a great reason for a Mineer reunion.
The warm, sunny weather necessitated a daily dose of swimming and pool hopping. With the help of some floaties, the kids took to the water like fish.

Hiking in Sedona! I was NOT allowed on this side trip, but I was so grateful for my brothers and dad to take my kids on a hike up West Fork.

Spreading the love!

Jim was thrilled to discover that his boy was big enough to do cool pool tricks. (I love all the strangers in the background who were watching them.)The whole gang at Hole in the Rock.

Phoenix in the background.

We can't seem to get a family photo of all of us without someone looking away or blinking. Oops. We'll keep trying.

Me, my sister, my mom, my sister-in-law, and my niece pause for a photo op.

My cute kids. Yup, I love them!

Our Returned Missionary! My kids are so lucky to have some SUPER aunts and uncles in their lives.

Daddy Daughter hiking.

We had a great trip! It was a nice way to knock 2 weeks off the end of this pregnancy!

Thanks for hosting us all Mom & Dad!