Cider Pressing!

Adam's parents have been pressing cider for 31+ years with this press. Susan remembers wearing Adam on her back. Now we are wearing and including our kids in this family tradition. I love it. This year we did it in Bellingham! We invited a few friends over to help out and bring their apples. It was a great time! Although I feel like I did more kid wrangling, food refilling, go-getting than being able to help actually press but it was still a great time!

Starting bright and early with Adam's parents!

3 Generations of Shaffer boys!

Toby and Quin helping out.

The sweatshirt gang!

My big guy helping be the "apple police". Love him!

Oh man, I love this little spunky girl!

28 Gallons of cider, not bad for our first Bham press.

We are so grateful that Adam's parents decided to bring their cider press up to Bham for this year cider press! Instead of having to drive to Bainbridge with 15 bags of apples, the dog, and the 2 kids, they came up here! Thank you Susan and Mark! Thank you Tara & Markus - Jen, Toby, Quin, & Silas - Rowan, KK, & Annika - Linda & Brody, and our neighbors for their apples!

RRRRrroooowwlll!

Picture parade

A couple of weeks in pictures...

My two little pumpkins at the Stoney Ridge Pumpkin Patch 2011.

Delicious pumpkin donuts. Eliza would like some too, please!

The rainy days have begun....

My budding artists!

Some new passengers got on at this stop!

My funny boy! Here he is a sheep in Eliza's fuzzy jacket.

And now this spunky little 15 month old. We knew from day one, she was in charge. But seriously this girl is already deciding what she wants to wear, not wear, what she needs and obviously doesn't need. Today her bottle tops were mis-matched. She refused the bottle, 2 times! And had a complete fit! As soon as Adam switched to the "right" top, she drank it down like nothing was the matter. The other day she refused to wear a sweat shirt I had picked. She kicked and screamed and pointed to another one. As soon as I tried to put the new one one, she stuck her arms right through. She would not let me take it off. She has also done this with shoes and jackets! Seriously! I could go on and on... but man we LOVE her! Just look at that smile :-)

lost and FOUND!

It's been a rough week around here. I think me being gone started it off. Corbin had his first rough drop off at preschool on Tuesday. He needed some extra cuddles, to look at his family pictures and to hold his lovie, Blue Blue. So when I came to pick him up from school I heard about his rough day. We were packing up and I realized Blue Blue was not in his bag. So we started looking for him with the help of his teachers. It became obvious pretty quickly that he was not where they thought he was. We searched high and low at school. Corbin became visibly upset. I started tearing up. We called two other teachers who had been with Corbin that day, they didn't know where he was either. We even searched in the trash cans! We wrote a note for all parents to see when they check in each day, thinking maybe it got accidentally scooped up with someone else's stuff. I left his school feeling pretty nervous about what was in store for us. And sad.

The night wasn't so bad, he was sad but he surprised us by being mostly ok. He did say he missed Blue Blue but he did ok. Then on Wednesday after his nap, he woke up just grumpy and crying! It was very rough. He calmed down and it was ok for a while again. Adam and I decided we should probably look for a replacement. Except they don't make the same Blue Blue any more. Seriously, why stop making a lovie!?! Then on Thursday I went to drop off Corbin and it was horrible. He was so sad, didn't want to be there. And then said he couldn't stay without Blue Blue! Oh my heart. I have left Corbin crying before, but he has always had Blue Blue or mom or dad. Leaving him at school without his safety just felt wrong. I started crying, which I hadn't expected. That made things worse. Luckily the director was there, and helped me get out, and feel better. Of course, he was fine after he calmed down. But I think they realized how important it was to try to find him! Adam was feeling mad at the school for losing Corbin's most prized possession. and although that at first crossed my mind, I knew they didn't do it on purpose. But man it was a hard day.

I went and bought every kind of lovie I could find in Bellingham. I bough about 6 different ones to bring home for him to try. He chose a blanket with a fox head, Sir Fox. We talked about how although this was not Blue Blue, he would keep him safe and help him when he was sad, just like Blue Blue. He seemed excited about the new lovie. But somewhere in there he was still grieving over Blue Blue. I wasn't sure where else to go from there.

Then today was another rough drop off. It just made me feel horrible. Is he having a rough transition because I was out of town, because he lost Blue Blue? Why was this happening now after a month of school? Then today I checked my phone after lunch. I saw I had missed a call from preschool. I was so nervous. Was he still having a rough day? But there was this super cute message from Corbin saying "Blue Blue, mommy, we found Blue Blue!". I called school and they said they found him in the dress-up box!

Oh my heart just jumped! Yahoo!! I can't believe I have just written a book about it. And there is still more!

One of the teachers said there was a little bit of a back story...I guess there was this woman in Bham who was much loved by many families. She was known as sort of a clairvoyant in the community. So sometimes when the school needs help to find something, they say, let's ask Yellow. I guess that Cold Play also has a song called "Yellow" about this woman. So the director said yesterday, I think it's time we ask Yellow to help us find Blue Blue. Today when the opening teacher came in and turned on the radio, "Yellow" by Cold Play was on the radio! She knew that they would find Blue Blue today! Yay! We are so relieved!

A little mini gettaway

I was recently able to attend an old friend, Abby, from high school's wedding on Cape Cod, Mass. I used my frequent flier miles to fly myself to Boston! It was a little mini vacation for me. It was great to get a chance to see some old friends from high school. It was one of the best weddings I have been too. All the little details were taken care of. I feel so honored to have been a part of so many of the wedding events from Friday night through Sunday. Since I was there without Adam and my friend Julie was there without her partner, we were each others dates. Julie was a part of the wedding party. Abby was so generous to allow me "hang" out will all the brides maids activities :-)

We were greeted at our hotel by a wonderful little welcome bag full of Cape Cod goodies. I then got to attend the brides maids brunch (thanks Abby!!!), have a little nap and me time, and then go to the rehearsal dinner. Oh my the food and drinks! The food just kept coming. I ate lobster for the first time, ate great food, and drank good wine!

Me and Julie at the rehearsal dinner.

After the rehearsal dinner they had a welcome party for all guests. More amazing food and drinks! Then we got shuttled back to our hotel. The next morning Julie had to get up early to start getting ready for the wedding. I got to sleep in! Take my time, eat free breakfast, and then headed in to see them get their hair and make-up. Wow, what gorgeous ladies, before the make-up too!

The forecast had been for 70-80% chance of rain on Saturday. Abby had to make a 9 am decision about an outside ceremony or inside. There were blue skies on Saturday morning and it turned into an absolutely gorgeous day! No rain at all!

Like I said, all the little details were taken care of. All guests were shuttled to the wedding! Then there were flip flops for all guests if they needed them because the actual ceremony was on the beach.

The ceremony was beautiful! Cliff and Abby wrote it all themselves and it was very personal, heartfelt, and funny! What a great match they are!

It was fun to see some old classmates from Proctor. Some people I have not seen in a long time! We got an official photo got taken outside to. From left to right; Zander, Sarah B., Julie, Cliff, Abby, me, Lorna, Kris S., and James B. Fun times!

I can't even begin to tell you how amazing all the food was. And the drinks! As we came up from the beach they handed us all either champagne or a "Welfleet" something or other. Then the appetizers, oh my! I kept thinking about how much Adam was missing! Then the dinner. SO GOOD! The band was also amazing! So much fun dancing!!!

Julie sang them a song at the rehearsal dinner and then we convinced her to sing with the band too. It was amazing. She also sang at our wedding. Her voice is amazing!!

Oh and then there was the after party at our hotel! Wings, pizza, fries, more drinks, oh my! And then the send off brunch the next morning! It was an amazing weekend. I also got to see my good friend Kat, who came down to Boston for lunch. It was so nice to see her too.

It was a rough transition back home, it always is but it was so much fun! Thank you to Abby and Cliff!! And also to Julie for carting me around all weekend!