Little House in the Backyard

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So, Kari’s been pining for a play house for the kids for some time and, to this point, I’ve always just smiled and nodded and agreed that would be a good idea.

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Then a couple months ago my neighbor, John, mentioned that a friend of his had a bunch of walnut trees cut down on his farm but the loggers only took the trunks, leaving all the tops.  Turns out those tops were plenty big for … a log cabin!  Brilliant!  Kari’s happy and I have an excuse to buy a new chainsaw!

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3 trips down to the farm cutting 8 foot lengths of walnut and a few weekends later and the cabin really started coming together.  I put some steel rebar though the windows and door.  The corners are notched together, just like they did it in the olden days … well, the olden days with chainsaws.  Believe it or not, it’s surprisingly sturdy and, according to Kari, it turned out a lot better than she was expecting (though I have a feeling her expectations may not have been that high?!).

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 Had to break down and buy some actual lumber from Menards to frame out the roof, but then ran across a little Amish run saw mill south of town where I  picked up some cheap wood to cover it with.

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It’s been a hub of activity for all the neighborhood kids ever since.   They’ve gotten very creative, putting sticks in the larger cracks to make little tables and hauling chunks of wood in there for little chairs. 

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And another good thing is that someday we’ll have a nearly endless supply of firewood!

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Power Hugs

As if we needed one more thing to love about Thomas, he now gives out, what have come to be referred to as, “power hugs”.

They are really pretty simple.  Thomas wraps his arms around your neck as far as he can reach and then squeezes like there’s no tomorrow.

It doesn’t matter how crummy your day has been — if you ask Thomas for a power hug, and you’re lucky enough to get one, all of the sudden you can’t help but feel good.

I am absolutely convinced that if everybody in the world could get a power hug from Thomas it would be the solution to world peace.

Oh… one word of caution, though.  Thomas gets annoyed if you don’t shave your whiskers and watch out for his power kisses.  They are a little sloppy.

Daisy, Daisy…

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Well, Emma’s first year of Girl Scouts just finished up.  She was a Daisy this year and, due to her outstanding performance, was proudly promoted to a Brownie at a Bridging Ceremony held this last weekend.

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Of course with Kari as the troop leader, the ceremony (which included a family picnic for about 70 people) was a rousing success.

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In fact,  the whole year was such a success that all 19 girls signed up again for next year already.  I’m hoping next year they’ll give family discounts on the cookies.

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Either way, Emma seems to like it.

Kaylee’s preschool

Kaylee just finished up her first year of pre-school at Christ the King.  Tuesday and Thursday mornings for the last 9 months have been spent playing games, doing crafts, listening to stories and making friends.  Kaylee likes pre-school and had a very good year.  She’ll be 5 yrs old this August, but we decided to go one more year of pre-school before heading off to kindergarten.  Figured she’d rather be one of the oldest kids in kindergarten than one of the youngest.

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Here’s a shot of Kaylee and her teachers.

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Thomas is looking forward to preschool in a couple years too!

Thomas shows off his ABC’s

Pretty good, huh?

Flying Kaylee

Kaylee was showing off her acrobat circus skills today so thought I’d see if I could get some good action shots.

The first few are Kaylee gaining more and more confidence in her flying ability, regrettably egged on by her Dad who repeatedly encouraged her to do another one for the camera.  The last couple are of Kaylee going just a bit too high and what your face looks like immediately after it slams into the ground.

Ouch.  Sorry about that Kaylee.  Got some good pictures, though.

The Big Day!!!

The black mail photo on Wednesday?  Just one last hurrah before we finally pulled the trigger the next day.  After 2 years, 5 months and 9 days, Thomas was ready for his first hair cut.

We prepped him by watching a few youtube videos of kids getting their hair cut.  He was all excited and ready to go.  He talked about the barber cutting his “crazy hair” and told us how you have to “sit like this” - and he’d hold his arms like a statue.  Of course it made Kari tear up.  Is he still going to be our baby boy without those golden curls?

 

Thomas was a bit nervous to start too.

 

Maybe if Barber Tom lets me run the chair I’ll feel a little better.  Pretty cool that my barber has the same name as me!

 

Are you sure you know what you’re doing mister?

 

Here we go!

Hey, look at that!  Didn’t hurt a bit!

 

Maybe a little more off the top, if you don’t mind.

 

Looking good!!

 

That wasn’t so bad after all and look — I’m still super cute!  He even left a few of my curls!

Congratulations Thomas!  You did a very good job.  You earned yourself a sucker and a certificate (suitable for framing) to document your very first haircut.   And believe it our not, your mom shed nary a tear.  Way to go Kari!

Extra special thanks to our good friend Lydia, www.mebraldyphotography.com, for the awesome pictures.  Thank you so much!

Blackmail photo

Sorry, Thomas.  Had to do it!

Guess that’s the price you pay for having such fabulous golden curls!

A bit of advice…

Do not twist a comb around in your hair so tightly and so many times that it can only be removed by cutting out chunks of your hair and asking dad to get some tools from the garage so you can cut the comb in half.  (Also a bit of advice for dads – when you’re summoned to get something to cut up a comb with, bringing out the rusty 2 foot wood saw is not nearly as funny to 7 year old girls as it is to you.)

Now that’s a bad mood

We went out to eat this weekend and Thomas was in a bad mood.  How bad, you may ask? 

So bad, that when his mashed potatoes fell off his fork onto his plate he nearly had a meltdown because they landed upside down.

You know things are not going well when upside down mashed potatoes are enough to bring you to tears.