Blessing 181 - Family Love Wall

It's February 1st! The month of love! Today I'd like to share a little project that been lots of fun for my family.

Ever since Christmas, I have really enjoyed drawing typography on my chalkboard wall.  For Valentine's Day, I wanted to do something special.

Using this pin as inspiration (you can find the original source here), I drew it up on the walls.

Once I had the chalk art up, I bought some post it notes from the Dollar Tree.  The note pad had four colors, blue, pink, green, and yellow.

Family members would write something that they love about another family member and put it on the wall.  To easily see which notes are yours, each family member was assigned a color, Shad - blue, me-pink, green-Brandon, and yellow-Collin.

Originally, I wanted to store the notes in those little silver buckets, but Collin had a little too much fun with them.

That's a lot of love right there!

For Brandon, we write down what he wants to say and he signs his name.  This is one of my favorite that he has given me.

At first, I didn't know if Shad would get into this project, and I didn't want to put pressure on him.  However, he has left me a note right in the middle of the board most mornings, and I really look forward to seeing it. A few nights ago, he said, "I haven't gotten my note yet!"

This project has been so nice, and it warms my heart every time I look in my pantry and see all that love.

   

Blessing #158 - A Tree Full of I Love Yous

A couple of Christmases ago (Yes, I just had to google, "What is the plural form of Christmas?"),  I mentioned our ornaments tradition. Each year, we take a special night out where we hunt for our ornaments.  Each ornament is tied to a memory of a fun night together, but there is another reason that these ornaments are so special to me.

See these boots Brandon got last year.  B loves that we found a boots ornament, but what he hasn't noticed yet is what's underneath.

On every ornament, I write the year he got it, and I always write I <3 U! In case you haven't noticed, I am deeply sentimental, and everyone of their special ornaments has a note and and I <3 U somewhere on it from me.

To most people our tree just looks like a tree full of ornaments, but to me, I see a tree of I love yous.  Someday, my boys are going to leave me, and if all goes as planned they are taking their ornaments with them.  I'm glad they'll have the ornaments, but I'm even more glad they'll have a tree full of I love yous from me.
 

Blessing #147 - Shad's Birthday Week

Last month was Shad's birthday, and we celebrated birthday week.  It happened right in the middle of 31 Days to Love your Home so I didn't blog about it then.

A few years ago, I started the tradition of "birthday week" with Shad.  I've mentioned how much he loves it here.   Last year, I got really sick during his birthday week so this year I knew I needed to make it up to him.

For one week, and only one week, I am an amazing wife.  See, I'm not the world's greatest juggler.  I can only focus on one thing at a time.  If my house looks clean and great, well, I we are probably going out to eat that night.  If I am decorating and making some pretty project, the laundry is probably stacked high.  I try my best, but I really can't do it all.  Birthday week goes a long way with Shad.  For one week, he is the center of my attention and gets absolutely spoiled.

Before the week begins.  I sat down and listed out the surprises he would get every day.  I tried to think of the five love languages and cover each one with a different surprise.  Here are the surprises for this Birthday Week.

On Monday, I made his coffee station.  This surprise covered acts of service.

Tuesday was 60 cent wing night so he had hot wings for supper.  Because Shad thinks that food should be the sixth love language, he was a happy camper.

For Wednesday, I made a Pioneer Woman recipe.  Now, the man will probably never admit this if you ask him, but he loOoOoves the Pioneer Woman.  It all started when she came out with her cooking show. Because I loved the Pioneer Woman long before her show, I faithfully watch her show every Saturday afternoon during lunch on our DVR.

It's my special little time for myself, and I thought it was strange Shad never complained when I watched this cooking show.  Then Shad started to commentate.  "That looks really good.  I would eat that.  Stephanie, she made him a great lunch AND supper."   I've tried to explain to him that cooking is her job, and that's why her husband gets lunch and supper.  Last night, he said, "When she calls her husband whose name is Lad, I think she is saying Shad."  On Wednesday, of birthday week, I made him this sandwich and called him Lad.

I would be mad at him, but I understand.  He had to suffer through comments like that when I watched the Nate Berkus show. (Why did they cancel it? Whyyyyyy?)

Anyway, on Thursday, he got a massage from me.  That covered the love language of physical touch, and that's all I'll say about that.

Friday, I surprised him with a date to Longhorns.  This surprise covered quality time.

Saturday, I put an organizer in his closet for all these fabric boxes he had.  I also got chalkboard labels to label each bin.  That surprise was also an act of service surprise, and that's his primary love language so I wanted to do that one the most.

Sunday was his actual birthday, and I made him no bake cookies. Because he's not a big fan of cake, I always try to make him a "birthday cake" out of something different.  We just piled the cookies up, and put a candle in the one on top, and sand happy birthday to him.

All throughout birthday week, I watch how I speak to him, and try to encourage him to cover the love language of words of affirmation.

One thing I learned early on in giving birthday weeks is to give without expecting anything back.  The first year I did his birthday week, I really held it over his head when my birthday rolled around.  My expectations were so high, he could not do anything right.  What's the joy in having a birthday week when you have to pay for it in six months?  So now, I give birthday weeks just for the sake of loving him without expecting anything in return.  That kind of giving and loving is very powerful.  At the end of the week, not only was Shad happy and feeling loved, but I was happy and feeling loved because he told me so many times how much he was enjoying birthday week and how much he loved me.  

This years birthday week was a huge success, and I'm glad.  Shad deserved it!

 

Blessing #123- Skydiving video

Monday, I mentioned that I was going skydiving for my birthday.  Well, I actually went through with it, and I'm so glad I did!

I'm going to write about the experience later this week, but for now, I have the video. 

During freefall, in case you wonder, I mouth the words, "I love you Shad. I love you Brandon. I love you Collin, I'm thirrrrrrrty!"

Blessing #57 - 29th Birthday Adventure

Instead of doing a normal Project Life post today, I decided to post pictures of my birthday adventure to Baltimore. About five years ago, Shad and I started doing birthday adventures. My first one was supposed to be to a go-cart track, but I got sick. His first one was a day on 4 wheelers, but he got hurt in the first ten minutes.

For some reason, we kept at it, and have had nothing but wonderful birthday adventures since then. For this birthday adventure, we decided to explore Baltimore. We had driven through the city on several occasions, but we had never really explored it. the day did not go as we planned, but I think we ended up having more fun. We will definitely be going back, there is so much more to see.


Shad's sister gave us tickets to the aquarium for Christmas (Thank you very much Shannon). We decided to use those on my birthday adventure! I love this picture of Brandon looking at the dolphin tank.







You have to check in your stroller at the aquarium, but they give you a baby carrier to use. Collin enjoyed it, and even fell asleep in it.


We were riding on the bus headed to our car, but then we saw this "Goodwill Boutique" out of the window. We had to get off and check it out.




We were going to pose for a picture on the balcony of Barnes and Noble, but both Brandon and I got caught up in Collin. It was a really sweet moment that Shad captured.


This was not a posed picture. Shad checked to see what was inside this children's museum that was closed, and his little shadow had to follow him. My camera is always ready, so I snapped a picture of this sweet moment.


1 fountain + a little wind = lots of fun


After we gave this street performer some money, he asked if I had any requests. I requested one of my favorite songs, "Fly me to the Moon." It was beautiful, and my favorite moment of the day. Dancing on the street...or dancing at all is not Shad's thing (he can't clap on beat), Brandon refused to dance with me, and Collin was sleeping. I had three boys and no one to dance with. So I tapped my toes and sung along. When we walked away, he started playing "Happy Birthday" for me.


Poor wittle Cowwin was so sweepy. The boys were such troopers. We were out the whole day. Collin never cried and Brandon never whined.


On our way out of Baltimore, we took our time, and passed by CAFE EINSTEIN! I wanted to yell, "It's a birthday miracle!" Unfortunately, it wasn't open, but I did get a picture with the sign.

The day went nothing like Shad planned, but we had so much fun. It truly was an adventure.

Curse #16- Easter Outfits

I have never been a big fan of the Easter outfit. Growing up, my mom would always take me to Hamricks, a department store, or as I remember it, "Torturicks." Inevitably, she would always pick out a pastel colored dress with a big floral print, and in the worst cases a matching hat. Inevitably, I would make fake throwing up noises, and inevitably, it would all end in an argument.

As a teenager, I got smarter and moved from fake throwing up noises to a logical argument about how Easter was too commercialized. The focus of Easter should be on what Christ has done for us and not my new outfit. A completely valid argument, and it would have completely worked had it not been for my weakness for Peeps and Cadberry eggs. The "Easter is too commercialized" argument loses its affect when you are shoving peeps and cadberry eggs in your mouth as you say it.

As an adult, I have come to terms with getting my own Easter outfit, but now I have two boys that need Easter outfits. The main problem with shopping for boys is there are no options!

The main Easter choice for boys is the argyle sweater vest. If you go into unsaid children's store, most years you can choose a blue version or a green version. If you want to be creative and go to a different children's clothing store, you will walk in and find more...ArGyLe SwEaTeR VeSts that look strangely similar to the argyle sweater vests from last year, and you realize that every Easter picture is of your boys in argyle sweater vests!

The most frustrating part of the whole experience is as I hold my two choices of sweater vest, and decide, "Hmmm...blue or green," I look to the other side of the store...the girls section. In the girls section, mother's hold up multiple options in all the colors of an Easter basket, but then I see a little girl with her mom, and as her mom holds up a pastel nightmare the little girl makes a fake throwing up noise, and I guess life comes full circle.

Blessing # 17- Lankford Family Christmas Project 2010

As you can tell, I love traditions. We have about four or five traditions for Christmas time. One of my favorites is the Lankford Family Christmas Project. Every year Shad and I pick out a way for our family to give. This year, we decided to give 20 dollars away, 5 dollars at a time. It's not a lot, but it's something.

We put each $5 in an envelope with a note that talked about Christ and Christmas. On the outside we put, "Merry Christmas to Whoever," so people would know it was for them. (whoever or whomever I always have that debate every time I write it) We then got to pick where we put our envelopes.

Envelope #1- We passed a homeless man, and Shad knew that is who needed his envelope. We pulled over and gave it to him. His reaction was great, "That's too cool!"

Envelope #2- I got to pick this one out, and I knew exactly what I wanted to do. I put mine in the Walmart parking lot. We parked our car so that we could see the envelope. Like a family of stalkers, we watched as about 17 people walked by the envelope. Every time someone would come near the envelope, we would all say, "Pick it up pleeeease." When a man finally got it, B was so excited he yelled, "Give me five,Mom!"

Envelope #3- Shad picked a grocery store and wanted to put the envelope in a buggy. So I ran up and put the envelope in the first buggy. I noticed a piece of lettuce in the same buggy, but someone was coming and I had to go. I casually walked back to the car, and we waited for someone to get our buggy...and waited...and waited. Finally, a lady approached our buggy. We were so excited, but then she looked in the buggy and moved it to the side. Nobody would get our buggy now. I told Shad, "You have to get the lettuce out!" In stealth mode, he ran up to get the lettuce, but before he could get there a man came up and got the buggy!


Envelope #4- We liked it so much, we put it in the buggy again, but right after I put it in the buggy the wind blew it out. I then had to get in the tight space between the buggies and the wall to get it. (so much for being inconspicuous)

This was actually a quick plan B project when plan A didn't work out, but we loved doing this project. The idea came from Shad constantly looking for money on the ground. The best part about this was how much Brandon liked it. It allowed for our entire family to get excited about giving. Well, maybe not Collin. He slept the whole time in his car seat.

Blessing #16- Ornaments

Our family loves traditions. Traditions give us something to look forward to, and someday they will give us something to look back to. One of our many family traditions is to get an ornament every year. Shad and I started this tradition the first Christmas we were married. We don’t collect lines of ornaments from Hallmark (we aren‘t that organized). Instead, we just find an ornament that represents that year or just sticks out to us. We also started the tradition for the boys. Brandon started picking out his ornament a few years ago. Let me show you his choices.

2 years old - tractor (He really liked this ornament. Notice the missing front wheels.)

3 years old - train

4 years old (this year) - fire truck

Do you see a pattern? He definitely loves things with wheels.

Shad and my ornament this year

Mr. Collin's first ornament

This was definitely our hardest year to find ornaments. It was a quest that has taken most of the month of December. However, I realized all of our trouble was worth it as soon as I pulled out all of our ornaments from years past. Looking at these ornaments takes me back to each year of our marriage, and each year of our sons. They aren't worth anything to anyone else, but to me they are priceless.

Blessing #14- Christmas Memories

My absolute favorite Christmas memory was a tradition my brother Chad and I had. My brother and I fought constantly, but once a year there was peace on earth as we worked together on our Christmas tradition…opening our presents early.

It started when I was seven. My brother and I really wanted the game Shark Attack, and there was a box under our tree that looked to be the size of Shark Attack. While my mom was getting ready, we opened and quickly tried to play Shark Attack. We had the game rewrapped and put under the tree before she came out of her room. With this first transgression, we were hooked.

Through the following years our tradition continued. One year, our parents gave us the early gift of walkie talkies. We quickly put these to good use for our tradition. My brother placed me at the top of the driveway, walkie talkie in hand, as lookout while he dug through the trash for receipts.

When I was nine, my parents put all of our gifts in the huge trunk of my dad’s Delta 88. Patiently, we waited all the Christmas season for them to slip up. One day they left the keys as they went out in a different car. We ran outside to see what trunkie claus had for us. I squealed with delight as my brother pulled out my brand new bicycle. I took it for a quick spin, and my brother made sure to wipe off the tires before he placed it back in the trunk.

Another year, we used my mom’s checkbook registry to find out all of our gifts. A few years later, my brother and I were delighted when my mom discovered the decorative box. She decided not to wrap our presents but place them in the decorative box. My brother and I could not have been happier because this made our job much easier.

Our tradition continued until one fateful Christmas. My brother was in his first year of college and was very busy. Determined to keep our tradition going, I opened all our gifts, and told him what he got. When Christmas morning came, my dad was videotaping as my brother opened one of his gifts. He held up a shirt and said, “Stephanie, is this the shirt you told me about.” I looked at him like I was going to kill him as my dad cut off the video camera. Dad then proceeded to give us the now famous “You Ruined Christmas” lecture. I believe this lecture was made up of parts of his Christmas sermon that year, the “I only got nuts and coconut candy when I was your age” story, and threats to never buy another gift for us again. After the lecture, dad cut the camera back on, and we faked surprise through the rest of the presents. However, we had done that for years.

One day Brandon and Collin will ask me why I never put presents under the tree until Christmas day, or why I shred all receipts for the month of December. Or why I randomly jump out during December and say, “Aha! I caught you!” I’ll just blame it all on their Uncle Chad.

The Birthday Adventure...Adventure

Here in the Lankford family, we have birthday adventures. A birthday adventure is where the family goes on an “adventure” of the birthday person’s choosing. For Shad birthday adventure, we visited as many Goodwills as we could in one day. That’s may not seem adventurous, but Shad loves Goodwills, and the birthday adventure really did get adventurous.





While waiting in line to check out at a Goodwill, Shad noticed some money on the ground in front of him. He picked it up an realized it was a larger amount of money than you would expect to pick up at Goodwill. We suspected it belonged to the two men in front of us. Now everyone knows saying, “I just found some money, is it yours?” is not the smartest way to handle this situation. So we waited to see if our suspected money losers noticed the missing money when they paid. The only item they bought was a big suitcase. (Red Flag #1). Surprisingly, the suspected money losers did not notice the missing money when they paid. Maybe it was because they pulled a large wad of cash out to pay. (Red Flag #2) Shad told me to stay in the store and he followed them out. As they were walking to there incredibly, nice customized mustang, (Red Flag #3) Shad asked if they had lost some money. The one man did not know English so his friend interpreted for him. “Yeah, we lost $30,” the interpreter answered back. Shad informed them that wasn’t the amount he found and told them to have a good day.

Shad came back in the store and retrieved me and my son. As we were buckling ourselves into the car I said, “Shad the drug dealers are walking around looking for something. Shad the drug dealers are pointing at our car!” Now before you call me judgmental, look at the red flags! Growing up as a preacher’s kid on the mean streets of my rural Georgia hometown, I learned how to spot these things. Anyway, Shad gets out of the car. In panic, they told Shad, “300!!! we lost 300 dollars!!!” Shad told them that was the right amount and gave it back to them. After thanking him profusely, they gave Shad $40 for his good deed. Shad took the opportunity to witness to them. The one man said in his best English, “You a good Christian man.” Shad then gave them five, a fist bump, and a hug ( I have no idea why he chose the day we meet the drug dealers to become a hugger) and got in the car.

Afterwards, I had an image of what could have happened. I would be sitting in the police office trying to explain why my husband was talking to drug dealers in a Goodwill parking lot. The conversation would go something like this…

Police: “But ma’am if he wasn’t getting drugs, why did he have $300 in his pocket.”

Me: “They dropped it and he was returning it to them.”

Police: “RRRRRRight. Sure, he was ‘returning’ the money!”

Me: “No I promise. We are Christians. Christians do stuff like that!!!”

Fortunately, I did not have to have that conversation. We did not expect Shad’s birthday adventure to have that much adventure, but at least he has a story to tell.