The Shafferland Shuffle

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY (to you)!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY (to me)!! I fully anticipate today to be crazy busy here in Shafferland, but it'll be great to fill you in later!

Meanwhile, here's a peek at our last week.

* Last Sunday was Ryan's sister's bridal shower, and I took pictures at that while Ryan stayed home and enjoyed a MUCH deserved nap! Bre's shower was so nice, and she got tons of nice gifts. I think she was a little overwhelmed by it all, actually! But it was a good day.

* I actually had Monday off from my carpool duties, but I ended up helping another of our friends get his kiddo home from school, so it ended up balancing out. At least it was a pretty-ish day and I could enjoy my time in line! I spent the whole afternoon making props for one of my talks next week, and then I did my first "dress rehearsal" for it. Ryan felt it necessary to take my picture. I told him it looks like I'm directing a choir. LOL!

* Ryan had a carry-in at work on Tuesday, and I made these uh-mazing Samoa brownies to take to it. I was hoping everyone would hate them and I could bring them all home, but it didn't work out that way. That night, Mom and Dad took us out to eat for our birthdays, and we got free dessert! Made up for the Samoa brownies that didn't come home. HA!

* I spent Wednesday creating my 10 page color-coded itinerary to get us through the upcoming schedule madness, and that made me so tired by the end of the day, I just wanted to sit down and put my feet up! So I did! I did watch my friend's kiddos that evening for a little bit. This one cracks me up. Wants to play with the ball that's the same size she is!

* By Thursday, we were pooped, and Ryan took a nap at the end of lunch to get enough energy to get through the afternoon. I've been there!! We went out to buy all the rest of our flowers for this year so we could get those planted. It wasn't a super warm and sunny evening, but at least the rain held off!

* Friday, to celebrate the end of National Hospital Week, a food truck came to Ryan's work, and he was SO excited, because it was BBQ, and he loves BBQ! Friday was the nicest day of the whole week, and we were able to mow the yard and plant all our flowers. Looks like summer, now!

* Yesterday, Ryan had to work, and while he was gone, I got the garage set up to host Mommapalooza 4.0 and worked to prepare all the food I could ahead of time! When Ryan got home from work, we got all dressed up and went to wedding #2 for the month! Had a lovely time! Ryan makes one handsome date, doesn't he???

Birthdays, Gifts, and Goodwill

Have I mentioned Sunday's my birthday?

What? Only daily? Oh! Okay. Well then I won't tell you again.

(That Sunday is my birthday, I mean.)

A couple of years ago, my parents started a tradition of taking Ryan and me out for dinner in between our birthdays. A big birthday palooza for all. This year, we decided to go to Cracker Barrel, and Mom said we could order whatevvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvver we wanted. (That's a joke from my childhood. On regular days, the goal was to eat frugally. On birthdays, you could get whatevvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvver you wanted.)

 Sorry about my hair and our halos. I promise my hair looks better earlier in the day. It seems to fade fast by evening.

Anyway. We got delicious dinners, and our waitress, who was amazing by the way, brought us birthday desserts!!

After we left, we headed to the Goodwill to look for some boots for Ryan, and LOOK WHAT WE FOUND ACROSS THE STREET? IT IS ALMOST READY!!!

Best. Birthday. Gift. Ever.

We were looking for boots to wear in his sister's wedding, and we found them, but he also found this and wanted to wear it. (Possibly with the flamingo suit. You remember the flamingo suit.)

Before we came home, we went to Kohl's, and apparently I took too long trying on dresses. Found these on my phone when I came out of the dressing room.

So now you're caught up on our birthday celebrations! Until Sunday. My birthday. ;)

Freelan Family Festivities

I'll be honest with you: I have no idea what day it is! Sunday didn't feel like a Sunday, yesterday felt like a Saturday...so who knows!!?? I might end up at church today! But I hear it's really podcast Tuesday, so here's the last Spill the Beans of 2016! A little bit of Christmas story, a little bit of looking ahead, and hopefully some fun for you!

 Click here to listen.

I think most of you know by now that my family is a bit on the small side. And some don't live around here, so Christmas is usually a bit more of an intimate affair when it comes to that celebration. One thing we've really enjoyed in the last four years is having Ryan's mom, Allen, and his sister Bre join us on Christmas day. I love it that our two families enjoy spending time together and that they include each other in celebrations like this!

Mom is famous for taking the let-me-get-your-picture-as-you-walk-in-the-door photos, which is also something her mom did when I was a kid. And much like her own mother, the photos often have to be redone to actually give someone a head on their shoulders or something. :)

This was about the fourth try. HA!

We had a low-key lunch, which I loved, actually. BBQ sammiches, baked beans, potato salad, broccoli salad (THANK YOU, JULIE!!!), and cookies and cheesecake for dessert. Delicious!

Julie and I have issues with our food touching, so Mom bought us school lunch trays for occasions such as this. LOL!!!!

You'll notice the photo booth background was up, but we spent so much time eating, opening gifts, and FaceTiming with my sister in Kansas, that we never got around to taking photo booth pictures.

After lunch (and coffee...Ryan brought his newly acquired Christmas vacation mug), we gathered around in a big circle to exchange gifts.

I realize that looking at endless photos of people you don't actually know in real life unwrapping gifts you may not care about could border on boring, so I'll pick some of my favorites that have good stories with them and share that with you today!

My sister Lori always comes up with the coolest themes for her gifts, and this year, the girl-gifts {Mom, Julie, yours truly} theme was "quiet time." So we each got our gifts in a bag we could keep, and all the bags had to do with quietness. Mine was Be still, and know that I am God, which was the theme of the retreats I did this fall. I love that!!! Inside, she'd given me a book, a Wood Wick candle (if you've never had one of those, you are missing out. They are so cool!!) and a mug that holds coffee AND a cookie on the bottom. My. Love. Language.

Because everyone knows bird feeders are THE most riveting gifts. LOL!!! This cracked me up!! How many people does it take to pay attention to Dad's new bird feeder?

The straw hat was the gift. I just thought the black wig added a little something extra that we all needed to see.

This picture cracks me up {many of these photos are the result of what happens when Ryan takes over being the main photographer so I can be IN pictures} because I feel like it's story hour for Mom and she's loving the picture on this page. LOL!!!! In reality, I'd given her some art from Lindsay Letters, and I was explaining to her about the artist and why I love her work so much.

My brother-in-law and I were a little overheated. So we took a break to fan. LOL!!!

Not a flattering photo, but a funny story. Mom heard me say {I think on the podcast recently} that I'd never read The Secret Garden. She happened to have a copy from HER childhood, so she gifted it to me. I was excited to open it and said again that I'd never read it. She said, "Me either. I got it in 1947 and quit about 20 pages in. So it may be an old book, but it's practically brand new. I looked in the front, and sure enough, someone had given it to her and written 1947 in the front cover. And page 23 was dog eared, so I'm guessing that's where she quit! Guess what I'll be reading to open 2017?

Next to the photo of Mom holding a Victoria's Secret bag a few years, ago, this may be my favorite.

Because I feel like this post has not featured NEARLY enough of my handsome husband.

We ALMOST forgot to take a group photo, but we remembered. Now to be fair, my dad does not normally wear a winter coat inside the house, but my mom had asked him to show it to my sister, and he thought it could best be shown by being WORN. And I'm not real sure why he's holding a Clark bar. My mom has my sister Lori on FaceTime.

And here are a couple more.

We were the last two to leave, and when my Mom went to the back of the house to get a curtain for Ryan to hang up before we left, we heard her shout "WE FORGOT TO GIVE RYAN AND BEKAH THEIR PRESENTS!!!"

What???

We had such a stack of spoils that we hadn't noticed we didn't get as much stuff as my sister. Apparently we actually had gotten very little from my parents, because our BIG GIFT was hiding in the back of the house.

Now, before I tell you what it was, I should tell you THIS part of the story too. Early in gift opening, Ryan and my brother-in-law Tom opened these gifts from Lori:

It's a trunk organizer and even comes with a little cooler that fits in one of those compartments. When I was busy taking this picture of Ryan, Mom hollered "It can go on the boat!!" I stopped taking the picture and said, "WE'RE GETTING A BOAT?!?!!?!?"

Apparently she was actually talking to my brother-in-law, Tom, who HAS a boat. But it became a joke that we were getting a boat for Christmas. So when she found this mysterious big gift that she'd forgotten to give us, I said, "IT'S OUR BOAT!!!!!!"

Turns out...not so much.

But we loved the gift very much! Two folding tables and six folding chairs so we can entertain in our new garage without having to borrow/haul tables and chairs every single time we have company! Such a blessing!

And just for funsies, we turned them into a boat.

So that was the Freelan Family Christmas! Maybe a little on the different side from some, but much fun, nonetheless!

The Christmas Shuffle!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!! We know many of you are extra busy today with Christmas festivities and church, too, so you might not even be here to read this ON Christmas day, but whenever you arrive at this post, we wish you a very merry Christmas!!

We've had a full week, and our best gift is that we are FINALLY FEELING BETTER!!!!!

* Because a second round of ice was expected to fall overnight Saturday into Sunday, many churches canceled their Sunday morning services, including ours. AND, Ryan's mom postponed their family Christmas, which was supposed to be that day as well. So Ryan and I had a whole day at home! Ryan made breakfast, we watched church on TV, and we took a whole day of rest, enjoying movies, football, scrapbooking, naps, and the Christmas lights!

* Even though it was so bitterly cold that all the schools around here operated on a delay, last Monday morning was so pretty. Sunrise on snow is beautiful! AND I found a cardinal in the tree, so that made me happy, too! Ryan and I had a few errands to run after work, and we stopped by to visit a friend who is home-bound now. He was happy to see us and asked his caregiver to make us espresso, which I promptly ruined by adding creamer. LOL! But it was good to see him and try to bring some Christmas cheer!

* Tuesday was the last day of school before Christmas break, so I did my last carpool run before coming home to work on my 2017 planner. {Happiness in a day!} I also had a little more wrapping to do - including Ryan's stocking stuffers, so I got that done. Our only free night this week was Tuesday, so we finished binge-watching a DVR'd show, and Ryan was exceedingly sad to realize he was going to have to wait quite a while for the next episode!

* Wednesday was my parents' neighborhood Christmas party and we went as photographers for the photo booth, which was much fun! Dinner was delicious, the company was fun, and we had a great time!

* Thursday, I met up with one of my friends for coffee and some shopping in the afternoon, which was a fun treat! That night, Ryan and I joined his family to celebrate his mom's birthday, and we ended up having a good time together - even if we traumatized our poor waitress!

* Friday felt like Saturday ALL DAY. Not sure why! I met with my friend Faith and her daughters for our annual Christmas celebration, and we had a great time. That night, Ryan and I had date night, which included a trip through the We Care Park to see the lights. We drove it since it was rainy, but it was still a lot of fun!

* Ryan had to work yesterday morning, and while he was gone, I had a massive cookie baking extravaganza for all the Christmas celebrations. It was FUN! And last night was our first Christmas of 2016, with Ryan's dad's side of the family. His grandma always makes an amazing dinner {ham, noodles, the whole nine yards} and we got to exchange gifts with that side. Great night!

So...merry Christmas from us!! Can't wait to catch up with you this week and tell you all about Christmas! :)

Let the Celebrations Begin

Party week for the Shaffers is in full swing! Thought I'd let you peek into the last couple of evenings we've enjoyed!

Earlier this year, I read a book called Next Door as it is in Heaven, and it has really changed the way I view neighborhoods. {In a good way!} The book talked a lot about how "back in the day," neighbors knew each other and did life together, because you did ALL of life from your neighborhood. People lived and worked and shopped and went to church and had friendship circles right in their geographical circles. Now we spread our life over a much wider range, and after reading that book, I began to crave the old way of doing things.

That's why I think it is so cool that my parents actually have the "olden days" kind of neighborhood. They know their neighbors and they do life together all the time. They watch out for each other and pitch in to help and share together, everything from extra garden spoils to evenings around a fire pit roasting marshmallows.

So in this season when it seems like many people cram their annual socializing with everyone into one week, this neighborhood got together for a Christmas party - but for them, it's not an annual meeting. It's just a special gathering of a life that happens all the time.

They take turns hosting the party, and this year was Mom and Dad's turn. And a couple of weeks ago, Mom asked if Ryan and I could come and bring our photo booth props for something new and different. Rarely known to turn down food in exchange for anything, we happily packed up our photo booth stuff and drove to Mom and Dad's to be part of the celebration.

You guys, it was so. much. fun. Everyone pitched in with food, and we pulled up chairs around a table to eat salad, my aunt's best-ever-on-the-planet homemade lasagna, and breadsticks from Fazoli's. {Yours truly picked those up on the way over and had to carry TWO DOZEN BREADSTICKS WITHOUT EATING THEM. Slow forms of torture.}

Pie, cookies, and coffee made up dessert, and then we played Christmas games and took turns at the photo booth. And then everyone just sat around in a huge circle and they told story after story after story, each one feeding off the story before, and we laughed until we cried.

That's how celebrations should be. People stayed late - we didn't get home until about 11:30 - and I don't think most of them wanted to go home then. It was just sort of socially expected.

I saw notes on Facebook of how much fun they all had and how much they all loved each other, and it warmed my heart. I love it that this bunch is proof that a neighborhood can be a neighborhood that works. Not just a bunch of people living next door to each other.

Here are a few peeks into the photo booth. They were fun!

And then last night, the celebrations continued, because yesterday was Ryan's mom's birthday! A group of us got together to celebrate with her at Bob Evans, and it was a fun night!

{This is what happens when my dinner time is delayed. My stomach can't tell the difference between 15 minutes late and 2 hours late. HA! I had downed 2 cups of coffee by the time food arrived, and then apparently there was the fear that I would hoard EVERYONE'S food.}

{No. I did not eat all that.}

While we waited for our food, Nita opened her gifts and had fun with her treasures.

{Ryan and I gave her a calendar that I'd made using pictures of her family and pictures she had taken. I think she liked it!}

And of course, photo opps!!

I think we scared our poor waitress half to death, but she did a good job, and we had a great night together.

Happy birthday {again}, Nita! We love you!! :)