September in Review

To celebrate Dan’s 40th birthday, we joined his family and went to a minor league baseball game. The moments following the end of the game was one of the most fun times I’ve had in a long while. We didn’t know it was a team tradition until after we arrived at the ballpark, so it was a complete surprise to us. But it was a hoot: the crowd got to toilet-paper the stadium! I especially loved beaning my in-laws and my children with rolls of toilet paper. (Don’t worry, they got me back!)

At our neighborhood’s annual pool party, Jackson won a prize for best costume. But I have to say it wasn’t necessarily the costume that won: it was his awesome hula dance that he performed. (I will refrain from posting that online so I have something to surprise him with at his wedding, you know!)

My boss, John, makes me laugh. On a daily basis, I thank God that He paired me up with someone who has such a good heart, lots of wisdom, and the ability to make me laugh. His latest gig is taking “my” parking spot at church, or trying to block me in with his car. On this day, he parked as close as possible so I couldn’t get in my door. (A week later, my volunteers ganged up on him and tried to block his in with their cars.)

We also celebrated Dan’s birthday with some old friends. These are the guys Dan has known since grade school, and we have done lots of celebrating this year for everyone’s 40th. (But not mine, of course. I’m the baby of the group. Ha!)

Quiet time with videogames in the tree house while Dan mowed and I was working late one day.

Oh, there was also THIS. Dan and I got to be Larry and Bob (respectively) at a VeggieTales Live! event. “Dress up in a mascot suit” has been on Dan’s Bucket List for a long time. He got to be the Easter bunny a few years back, which he really liked doing. So being Larry was extra fun. I would post photos of us being dressed in the costumes (as proof that it really is us in there), but I was asked not to ruin the “Larry and Bob magic.” So you’ll just have to trust me.

Jackson used chalk to write a love letter to his sister on our driveway. It made my heart melt.

Twenty years ago, I met my best friend and the father of my children. This is how our life looks now, and I love the “ordinary miracle” of the moments we spend together.

The inevitable finally happened: Jackson got on yellow at school. He was jumping off the risers in music class. But then it got worse when he colored over his teacher’s note and made it look like he was on green that day. Uh oh. He lost some marbles from his jar, had to write the broken rules ten times on a piece of paper (“I will obey my teacher” and “I will tell the truth.”) and then skip playing outside after school.

The last weekend of September, I had a high school friend stay with us while she attended a seminar. My neighbor’s kids offered to help my kids clean the house before my friend arrived, and I loved it. The boys did the windows, dusted, and cleaned the bathroom. The girls vacuumed upstairs and downstairs, cleaned the kitchen, and washed every single knob and handle in the house. Jackpot!

One last September photo to share: me and my girl being silly. Happy fall, y’all!

Christmas Tree House

Dan and Katie put lights on our tree house. I love seeing it at night, when the backyard is dark and all is quiet.

Random Thoughts

I haven’t posted much for the last week because we’ve had a lot going on in our house. So I’m going to just throw out some random thoughts that I want to capture before I forget them. I should be balancing my checkbook right now, but you already know how that goes. I’m going to procrastinate and blog instead.

I am really happy with the Father’s Day gift we gave Dan. I got the idea here at Someday Crafts, and here’s how ours turned out. We also gave Dan a Shutterfly photo book showing the construction of our tree house, plus a frame Jackson made at Mothers’ Day Out. I ordered another gift for him, which STILL hasn’t arrived in the mail. Humph!

Katie tied her shoes for the first time!

Thanks to this post from the Muffin Tin Mom, I made these alphabet match-up games with clothespins from Leftovers and templates printed from my computer. Jackson loves them already, so I hid them away and plan to pull them out on our upcoming cross-country road trip. FYI – I glued the cardstock to some cardboard to make it sturdier as Jackson learns how to open and close clothespins.

Katie has three loose teeth. They’re driving me nuts and I want them OUT of her mouth. Loose teeth creep me out. I even tried tying a string to the loosest one today, but the string didn’t fully remove it. The tooth came partly out of its socket (gag!), but no jackpot yet.

Katie is seven. Does she look as old to you as she does to me? I love the outfit that matches her doll’s. (Thanks, Beth!)

I buzzed Jackson’s hair today. I started with a #4 guard on the clippers, but didn’t feel like it was short enough so I moved down to a 3. I should have stuck with the 4. Hopefully I’ll remember that next time. He looks so blonde now! But the good news is I tried a new trick and it was successful: I gave Jackson my iTouch and let him play Tozzle to distract him from the haircut. It worked like a charm! My iTouch is a bit hairy now, but it’s a good tradeoff.

Corn. Every time we drive by the corn field leading up to church, I hear these lyrics in my head from a song in South Pacific: “I’m as corny as Kansas in August…” Katie insisted she was taller than the corn, so I had her get out of the car and prove it.

I made fluffy flip flops today for Katie, using this tutorial from Sisters’ Stuff. Since it was our first try, I used some of Katie’s flip flops that have seen better days, in case it didn’t work out. I found the tulle at Leftovers and cut it into strips then tied them on. It was so simple and turned out pretty cute. I am thinking these would make great birthday gifts for Katie’s friends.

My bloggy-friend-turned-IRL- friend Gina brought her son Logan over to play. Since Gina is a self-described tree hugger, they wanted to check out our new tree house. They also met Katie for the first time, and Logan had a stunned look on his face when he saw my badly-behaved kids pick at each other quite often. I think Logan enjoyed himself, though! And that Gina’s baby bump sure is cute!

Baptism at our church. 370 people got baptized. I was honored to be one of the photographers for the event and the photos I took are outstanding – all 438 of them! Not because of the photographer, of course, but because of the grace and surrender and joy that was on everyone’s faces. I can’t stop looking at these photos, so I’ll leave you with these images that have inspired my week.

Backyard Movie

Santa brought us a movie projector for Christmas, and last night we put it to good use in our backyard. We invited some neighbors over and let the kids play in the tree house until it got dark. This was the view of the sunset from our tree house.

We hooked up the popcorn machine and the projector, spread out blankets and folding chairs, and enjoyed a movie on the patio.

The girls chose the movie An American Tail. Even though our house siding chopped the picture a bit, everyone enjoyed themselves and ate their fill of popcorn. We can’t wait to do this again!

Our Tree House Flag

Yes, we’re still enamored with our new tree house. We keep adding more and more fun things to it, like solar lights. Katie also made a sign to hang on the clubhouse.

Since the very first day that the kids and neighbors were allowed to play in the tree house, the kids talked about a secret password to get into it. I nixed that idea, not wanting them to start taking sides and fighting over who could use it. Their password was going to be “Girls rule” or “Boys rule,” so I suggested they create a motto instead. They didn’t know what a motto is, so I explained it to them. They quickly settled on the motto “Kids rule” and they throw it about when they are playing in the tree house.

Dan had the brilliant idea to put a flag on the tree house, and I remembered a blank banner I had in the basement that we could use. Yesterday, I got out my StazOn permanent ink pads and some Sharpies, and added the motto to the flag. Then the kids put their names and handprints on the flag.

I’m hoping that every time new friends come to our house to play, we can add their names to the flag too!

Log Blocks

Jackson and I went to the zoo last week with my mom’s group. We had a 45 minute session in the Zoomagination room, where there were all kinds of nature toys and role-playing stations set up for the kids. I saw these cool blocks made out of tree parts, and couldn’t wait to get home and search the Internet for some we could buy. (Sorry the photo quality isn’t so great – it’s from my phone.)

I found log blocks like these for sale by different vendors online, but I scoffed at the $50 (or more) price tag. I think it’s silly to pay so much for something I could have for FREE… well, it would be free if I just chopped down a tree in my yard and all.

So… what to do. Hmmm. I thought about going to our city’s mulch recycling center and finding tree parts to drag home and cut up. And then! What luck! Dan decided to trim tree branches yesterday and called me out to confirm that he didn’t trim too little or too much. I saw some nice-sized limbs that I could use. And then! Like a symphony of heavenly music, I heard the screech of a circular saw! My neighbor’s grandson was cutting boards to repair her basement, and I realized I hit the jackpot. I walked over and asked him to cut my limbs (tree limbs, ahem) into segments. He obliged and I came home with a tub o’ logs for me the kids to use in our tree house!

Katie wasted no time in getting her little paws on the log blocks. She puttered in the tree house, then asked me to take photos of what she built. She told me this is a church (see the logs laid on their sides like pews?) and then the jut-out to the right is the kids’ room at the back of the church.

Then she worked on a forest of stacked logs.

I love these blocks, and I love even more that they came from our own yard waste. Now I just need a few thicker logs to build platforms and bigger structures. Anyone have a tree they want to donate? Ha!

Bedtime Stories in the Tree House

I put Jackson to bed, then snuck into Katie’s room and got her out of bed. I asked her to pick out some books and grab her doll.

We went downstairs and grabbed blankets and pillows, and climbed the ladder to our tree house. Katie gasped with excitement to be outside at bedtime, cuddling and reading books.

It was only fitting that our first book was The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein. Our second book was a collection of poems by Joan Walsh Anglund, Morning is a Little Child. Then we moved on to My Father is Taller than a Tree by Joseph Bruchac. (Notice the tree theme?) We read a few more books, then decided to just lay together and talk.

As we were cuddling, Katie said, “I wish we had our camera.” (When did she become so much like me?) I went inside to get the camera and tried to mess with the settings to get a decent shot. That didn’t happen, so you get this fuzzy shot instead.

The sun had set, so it was time to head in for bed. I hope this was just the first of many memories we make in the tree house.

Finished Projects

Whew! This week has been so good for my To Do List. I was able to mark a few things off the list, such as our tree house! Like any project at our house, it still has a few more tweaks waiting for it, but it is open for business after the ladder and slide were installed. Yay! I can’t wait to hang out in it with my family. Dan and I have already been dreaming up campouts in it, reading sessions, and ways to personalize it.

Here’s another item checked off the list. I have been searching for a boys’ bicycle basket, but apparently only girls use them because the ones I found were pink. Jackson and I took a little trip to the Dollar Tree today and found a wire basket that I zip-tied to his handlebars. It’s perfect for toting around baseballs and all the little things he collects from the yard. Most importantly, he loves it!

The last project to show was a cash gift holder for a former neighbor who moved to Nebraska LONG ago. When we met her, she was 8 years old.

She is graduating from high school in a week, and I am shocked. How, exactly, did ten years go by? Oh, yeah… that’s right! I spent the majority of those ten years making/raising babies! Kids are so time consuming. Ha!

When I graduated from high school and college, I really really liked gifts of money. So these days, that’s what we give to graduates we know. I wanted to jazz the gift up a little, so I got out my stamps and followed this tutorial (which I found in a stack of magazines my friend Mary so generously passed my way!). Here’s how mine turned out:

I also finished a few other things like the video for Katie’s teacher AND I even mopped the floor. Look at me go! Now if I can just get to the other 98 things on my To Do List. Sheesh!

Our New Tree House

It isn’t finished yet, but I am too excited to wait until it’s completely done to post photos. Here’s how our back yard used to look:

And here’s the view as of this evening (and, yes, of course we have screwed the banisters in by now!):

About two weeks ago, Dan spent the day digging concrete piers for the tree house. His parents came to help and supervise, and the kids helped a little too. Jackson was an essential part of shovel management.

The kids especially liked digging in the dirt that was pulled out of the pier holes.

When the concrete was poured, we got the brilliant idea to leave our marks. (Who can resist wet cement?) I collected a few items and we stuck them into the wet concrete. My pier has the least decoration because the concrete hardened a little to quickly for me. I stuck an “E” tile and a heart-shaped rock in the concrete, then dug my thumbprint into it.

Katie’s pier has some Missouri river seashells (I guess they’re not really seashells, huh?), plus some marbles. My favorite part is the embedded rock at the 3:00 position. It’s from my sister’s house in North Carolina.

Dan’s pier has some marbles, metal snaps, and a rock I found on the beach in Jamaica.

Jackson’s pier has a mixture of things:  seashells, marbles, metal nuts, a plastic spider ring, and a rubber horse that came loose the next day. Now, two weeks later, he is still asking to get the spider out of the concrete.

The last two weeks have been monsoon season here in St. Louis. There haven’t been many dry days when Dan could work on the tree house, until today. Even though it was still wet and a little misty, Dan and his friend Eric decided today would be the day. Dan’s parents came too, and the tree house was mostly finished by 4:00. Nothing can compare to Katie’s face when she got off the bus and walked into the back yard to find the tree house. I was standing in it, and she climbed up to join me and check it out. Dan climbed up too.

Katie was so excited to finally be in the tree house (we’ve been planning it since last summer), and she said, “Mommy, am I still awake?” I said yes, of course she was. She said, “Good. Because I don’t want to wake up and have to build this again.” She asked me if she was dreaming, so I told her to pinch herself and find out. She did, then confirmed to me that she was awake.

There are still a few boards that need to be screwed down, plus a ladder and slide to install. Katie wants to paint a sign to name the tree house, and we have plans to make some outdoor pillows that we can use to snuggle and read. My hope is that we might even spend the night in the tree house later this summer. (I have priceless childhood memories of sleeping on our back porch with Mom, Mary and Jackson in the Georgia summers.)

I owe my husband, my in-laws and our friend Eric a huge thank you for making such a cool tree house for our family!