Carving Punkins

After our trip to the orchard....we went back to Frog and Jenna's to carve pumpkins!!! I was super excited about this, because I'd never before {by myself} carved a pumpkin! I've been part of group carving adventures, but never a solo carving.

First, we let the kiddos have their moment painting pumpkins. We waited until they were napping to bring out all the sharp tools and get to work.

They had much fun - and as far as we know, no one ate any paint!

Then...the big kids got to work. Take a look at some of the prep portion of our day:

 Pumpkin slime = so. so. gross.

 At Adelaide's request, Jenna attempted a Dorothy pumpkin. This is her pre-carving freak-out face.

 Frog, the pumpkin carving guru, went for a minion.

 Working on the pattern. Yes. I poked holes through a paper. Don't judge me.

 Ryan, diligently working on his pumpkin.

 I kind of wanted to call it done here...just in case it never got any better. LOL!!

 Playing with knives!!

 The minion taking shape. Frog and Jenna are experts and are into the whole pumpkin shaving thing.

 The friends who carve together...are still friends ten years later!!

So here were the finished products, and we put this picture on Facebook to take a vote. {We didn't say who did which pumpkin.}

Close-ups of each one:

I thought they all turned out REALLY REALLY cute!!!

And here we are claiming our works of art:

It was so much fun!!

Apple Orchard!

One of the best reasons to visit Frog and Jenna in the fall is...the apple orchard! They live near this MASSIVE orchard/pumpkin patch/photo opp treasure trove. It was overcast when we arrived, and about halfway between the van and the big barn, it started POURING. Good thing we brought along the umbrellas!!

While we {along with a few hundred other people} took shelter in the big marketplace barn, I took a few pictures...

LOVED the massive chalkboard. 

 How can a store be bad with this many bins of candy???

 A billion kinds of decorative gourds.

 And my favorite - Honeycrisp apples. THEY ARE SO GOOD!!!!!

 I misread this sign at first. My brain did not see the middle line. Kind of changes the meaning....

 The orchard is famous for its apple cider donuts, and Ryan had never had one. We bought a bag of them and have been enjoying them ever since. SO GOOD!!!!

 These are my friends we went to visit! Jenna and I worked together in Financial Aid over 10 years ago, and we're still friends!!! She and her husband got married almost 10 years ago {I was at that wedding!} and now they have two adorable kiddos!!

Ryan and I got in on the photo opp too!

It was at this juncture that my hair began to grow {rapidly} in the post-rain humidity. It was kind of funny by the time I got home!! Ryan's hair held up well. I've GOT to start using his product.

Next up - we visited the little animal barn.

Apparently I wasn't the only one suffering from growing hair:

 Lincoln and his larger than life cane...checking out the goats!

 A goat after my own heart: guarding the food dish in the ultimate way.

 The rooster kept crowing, and inside the tiny barn, it was pretty loud! Adelaide wasn't too sure about that.

 Trying to get in touch with my inner farmer...since Ryan grew up on a farm....

 I think our search for a new house has ceased....

 Whoopsie!!

 My husband is such a turkey....

 Too, too cute....

 Frog and Jenna...

 This woman's hand placement is 30 kinds of awkward!! Is she in labor? Constipated? Itching?

 And before we left...a little bell ringing!

We had a great morning - and we were glad it stopped raining!!!

Weekender Road Trip!

Well...y'all...we hit the road this past weekend!! I think our time actually ON the road equaled the amount of time at our destination! :)

We went to visit my friends Frog and Jenna, who live on the other side of Chicago, so it was a nice little road trip.

Well.

Little might not be the right word.

We both took off work at noon on Friday, and we were out the door of our house by about 1:45 that afternoon.

 Everything is all fun and games in the Shafferland car, right?

GORGEOUS day for a drive. GORGEOUS.

Made it to the Land of Lincoln...

...RIGHT about rush hour on Friday.

Maddening.

We also figured out, after getting stuck behind the car above (stickers for running a marathon and half marathon)...that this was the weekend of the Chicago marathon. Oh. My. Word.

I did thoroughly enjoy the view of the Chicago sklyine.

Well. Until I'd stared at it from the same spot FOR AN HOUR.

Ryan's thoughts on that.

As for me...

Eventually, I had to just lay back and look at the sky to keep the editorial comments on other drivers to a minimum. :)

We finally got a bit of a different angle on the skyline.

Two hours later, we were out of Chicago and back on the road!

EXCEPT.....

We didn't realize Ryan's GPS was set to avoid freeways.

When Jenna texted to see about our progress...I said "Well...have you heard of County Road 17? We're on it."

We turned the trip into 8 full hours and were about ready to eat our SHOES when we arrived that night.

But they were waiting with smiles, hugs, and a crock pot full of chili, fresh cornbread, berry crisp, and hot apple cider.

And that's how the Shaffers get every last drop out of a road trip!!

The Shafferland Shuffle

* Last Sunday was another rainy day, so after church, we settled in for a day of resting and football, but that night, we worked together on our new writing project. This day's task? Outlining! I've never written with anyone before and Ryan's not a writer, so this was new for both of us!

* Monday I had the privilege of accompanying Lynne to a luncheon where she was the guest speaker. She did a magnificent job with her speech, and I enjoyed watching the people appreciate her! And that night, Ryan and I went to the gym together for the first time ever. But then...you already read about that.

* Tuesday I had to pack up my office at work and relocate for a few days while they installed new carpet in my office. It's a good excuse to give it a good cleaning! And that night, Ryan and I headed back to the gym, and this time, he got me to set foot inside what I call "the big boy weight room." You know. The one where they have the 1000 pound club list. And that is for pounds lifted, not eaten.

* Wednesday was my official moving day at work. I appreciated all the hard work they did to make my temporary office as nice and user-friendly as they could! It's not home, of course, and for me to be creative in the middle of stacks and piles is a bit of a stretch - but it is really nice! I can power through with Jesus, these pictures, and my Keurig!

* Thursday evening, I stopped by an adoption celebration for some of my friends, who were just able to adopt a little boy after being his foster parents for a couple of years. The party was at a frozen yogurt place, so it seemed almost WRONG to leave without getting a treat for Ryan and me!! I was trying to take this picture of it - and he was anxious to start eating. Can you tell? :)

* Friday, we took a half day off work for a bit of a long weekend! WOO HOO for long weekends!!! And just for funsies, we took a little road trip! Headed out to visit my friends Frog and Jenna...Ryan had never met them, and I had never met their newest kiddo, so we were really looking forward to this trip!

* Saturday we enjoyed the NICEST day with Frog, Jenna and their kiddos. Even though it was kind of rainy in the morning, we headed to an apple orchard for some fun - and then we spent the afternoon carving pumpkins! More on this later - but in the meantime, here are our four pumpkins. We took a vote on Facebook...which pumpkin do you think won?

The Saturday Six

One.

Oh. My. Word. I laughed my fool head off reading these 21 Really Annoying Facebook Friends We All Have. I think the created examples were as funny as the descriptions! Which ones are you? I'm 1 and 2. {Apparently I like to go straight to the top.}

Two.

Source

Been pretty glued to this book this week. It's called Dancing on My Ashes by Heather Gilion and Holly Snell - two sisters who lost their father...and months later both their husbands drowned in a canoe accident. Reading their grief journey takes me back to my own {for different reasons} and reminds me how much we carry each other's burdens by sharing our stories.

Three.

Speaking of books. As Ryan and I work to write...together...we're sort of that beautiful blend of excited and scared out of our blessed minds. That's why so much of the advice in Lysa TerKeurst's blog post this week really spoke loudly.

Four.

I hate hashtags. There. I said it. That's a whole blog post in and of itself...but meanwhile, if you're on Twitter, you really should search #AddAWordRuinAChristianBook. People take well known Christian books and add a word to them, thus changing the entire meaning. I appreciated the authors that poked fun at their own titles - and my favorite of them all was "Left Behind Itches." Yes. I'm twelve.

Five.

Encountered this article by Emily Timbol; she and her husband do not feel called to be parents...and that's a tough stance to take in a "when are you gonna have a baby?" world. I don't know if I agree with every word she wrote, but I appreciate her courage to write about a tough topic.

Six.

Source

I nearly died over this - over at Thistlewood Farms. A piece of art made entirely from the words in three months' worth of blog posts. Seriously....amazing.