Hush Little Baby

 Olive: "My baby was crying so I was going to buy her a mockingbird. But, then my other baby started crying because she wanted one. In the end, both babies were crying. Too much money."

Bent #3 Completed & On Site

Yesterday was a bit of a whirlwind.  We gave ourselves until next week to have bent #3 completed, numbered, disassembled, and moved to the tent on the property.  That meant that Jeff and Randy spent all day yesterday cutting the mortises and fitting the braces for the corners (each brace is custom fit).  While they worked on that, I routed the edges wherever needed.  Once pieces were in place and all was well, each (massive) piece was taken apart and labeled.  Before we loaded them onto the trailer, I treated each surface with Tim-bor.  We worked all stinkin' day long, and it was HOT, but we got it all completed.  Jeff, Randy, and the boys took three trailer loads (and our handy-dandy pieces of culvert pipe that we've used to move all these beams with) to the property, and this bent is now ready to be stood up on top of our new basement walls!

Each bent takes about 2 months to complete, so we are hoping to have the final two bents built by the end of the year.  

I have a yard! It's a dirt yard, but it's a yard!

Front

Side

Out back

Bored Preteen #1

Looking from the back field

Bored preteen #2

Thingernails

 I will be sad when I stop hearing the words "lasterday" and "thingernails" in my house.

Just as sad as when the boys stopped calling a singular item of clothes a "cloe".

Important Life Lessons

 We haven't started school yet at our house, but today has already been a day of ordering their own food, paying, learning about the occupation of a physical therapist, accepting compliments with grace even when you are feeling shy, making eye contact when you speak, social smiling, and not being so nervous about airborne germs that you are afraid to swallow your own saliva.

Jointwork for the Rafters

A Day With Gram

 

I love that my girls kids have gotten to feel this.  Just pure, unconditional, unwavering love.  I know that as the granddaughter, I saw a whole different person that her kids did.  The Gram I know gives a stripped down, raw, barefoot kind of love that feels like the way a crisp, solo voice sounds on an old record.  It's love without judgement.  It's love without concern for cleanliness or haircuts or details.  I'm just so glad my kiddos could know it, too.

Toy Story

 Ivey: "Every morning when I wake up can you remind me not to outgrow my Little People or any of my toys?"

More work on Bent #3

If you look closely, you can see the doorway to the 2nd floor master suite!

The bent was measuring exactly 24' across at top and bottom.

But the diagonals were not adding up.  Jeff needed to shift things.

He pulled it tight with straps overnight, and things looked much better in the morning!

She's Right

 At the table tonight, Olive raised her right hand.

"This is my most useful hand. I think it can do just about everything."