Daddy at Dusk

Why am I sitting here blogging and yawning incessantly when all I want to be doing is sitting in my freshly made bed with a big bowl of popcorn and a cold drink?

 

Why?

 

Because the lovely little people in my life do adorable things, 

because the love of my life is the best father I could have imagined, 

because I want to remember these beautiful summer evenings forever.

 

Even when Tom is dog tired...

like got up at 5 a.m.

Drove and hour and a half to get to work a 9 hour day in the hot city...

Then drove and hour and half home to find an exhausted wife....

who's pitiful excuse for dinner was chicken nuggets and mac n cheese. 

He still finds the energy to show his kids he loves them.

 

One week and one day ago they planted these...

I realize its probably way to late in the season for sunflowers, 

but it was something I had planned to do with them months ago and never got around to. 

 

So no matter if they get as big as they should.... 

"we will grow something" Daddy said last Sunday.

They outgrew the little window pots in just a week.

Really they are perfect for preschoolers to grow because of the instant gratification.

They were so excited because they could really see the progress everyday.

And tonight it was time to transfer them outside.

So Daddy.... being the overachiever that he is.... decides we must build a flower box,

And those that do not work will not eat, so everyone must help.

 

Plus work is still fun and cool when your under six.

 

Especially if it involves Daddy's tools.

Then we took mommy's silverware outside... which I'm sure is where it still is..... and planted....

 They were dirty, sweaty and beaming by bedtime.

Maybe planting sunflowers will become a tradition for us.

Maybe next year we will plant them on time.

Maybe it doesn't really matter what we are doing or when as long as we're doing it together....

All fathers are invisible in daytime; 

daytime is ruled by mothers and fathers come out at night.

Darkness brings home fathers, with their real, unspeakable power. 

There is more to fathers than meets the eye.

Margaret Atwood, Cat's Eyes

How He Love's Us

The Castle is finished. 

Well, I suspect it will never be truly finished.

There are always improvements to be made.

 Isn't that what make life exciting and beautiful? 

The unknowns, the unexpected additions.

Someday soon Tom will get another idea and run with it. 

And his imagination will be brought to reality 

and our kids will use it to feed their own imaginations 

and make believe wild and wonderful things in this beautiful place that Daddy built for them

 And most important, they will remember that this was made by him just for them, 

and they will know that they are loved extravagantly.

This is how we should feel about God when we see the sunset, 

or the flowers, 

or any other thing he has created for our pleasure.

 This is a picture of our new neighbors house....a little family of Robins.

The kids don't seem to bother them, they only fly away when an adult climbs up.

The Princess and her subjects survey the kingdom.

 I love how he made it wrap around the tree, when your inside you feel like your really high up.

Like this little tree house may have been here for a hundred years.

 I'm praying that we spend many happy hours here together. 

Having tea parties,

picnics, 

water battles, 

camp outs,

maybe someday even real conversations with our "almost grown up" kids.

Thanks to my sweet husband for creating another beautiful place where we can live life and love each other.

May we never take all our many blessing for granted...

and when we count our blessings we will count you  Daddy,

along with all that you've done for us... and we will never be done counting.

Rated E for everyone.

Tom spends a lot of time working in our yard and I need to find ways to amuse myself....

that don't involve cooking, cleaning, or caring for my darling offspring....

So when I get bored or generally overwhelmed by life I take pictures.

It helps me to remember that this seemingly ordinary day full of housework, diaper changes, and time outs isn't forever... 

when the kids are grown and gone it will be these pictures that I'm taking today 

that will be a window into the foundation of the beautiful life we are building here.

Also I like to harass my man.

But that's just a bonus... mostly I'm preserving the memories and blah blah blah..... anyway....

I said "honey... blow me a kiss!"

This is what I get...

first I'm ignored..

Then.... "no... your taking a video.... aren't you?"

 "No! just a picture.....Please???"

"Your going to blog about this aren't you?"

"....no.... well..... now I might...."

 "Don't post pictures of me with my shirt off......"

"I didn't ask you to take your clothes off....I just wanted a kiss... 

what kind of blog do you think I'm doing!?"

That look means he is both exasperated and amused, and that I should probably quit while I'm ahead :)

*Tom will say that this is not at all how the conversation went.... 

he's right... this was the condensed version

but kids kept interrupting.... 

 Just like they are doing now... so I don't have time to explain it all...

But he never did give me that kiss

and he did say not to show the world his naked chest...

Sorry if you were waiting for that.

Men at Work, Dogs in Therapy....

I have no wisdom to spout here today, no funny stories, no energy for anything really.

I am having a weird and fairly unproductive day.

I can't seem to get ahead of the housework anymore, 

This has been the norm practically since Daniel was born. He is a sweet "easy" baby... but he is a baby.

So we have more to do... less time to do it in... and I am tired.

Bone weary.

And if I'm tired then Tom must be near death.

The man never stops working! He always has something he needs to be doing lately and so tonight I'm on my own with the little ones, probably until Letterman comes on.

I'm glad he is a hard worker though... I'm even more glad when he is hard at work right outside my kitchen window where I can stare at him like a thirteen year old who is in love for the first time...

 I'm so glad he doesn't wear a suit to work everyday... this is a way better look in my opinion.

 When I took this picture I told him it was the "money shot"... I love to make him blush by telling him I"m going to blog about him!

So the tree house is progressing slowly, it has been unseasonably cold the last few days, and Tom has been busy, but this weekend looks promising.

When i say "promising" I mean warm enough to sit outside and watch him work all day...
after he lets me sleep in on Saturday.... 

Are you reading this baby??? 

Plleeaaasseee??? Just till ten thirty?

Anyway..

We have been enjoying the great indoors too. Camping out between the boys cribs.

And I am brightening up the cold cloudy weather with my happy toes.

They make me disproportionately happy.....

Here are some more pictures of the kids "campin" without my freakishly long toes in the way.

 

Ahhh poor Jack...
I think he need to get outside more than the average pup. I read that boxers get destructive if they don't get enough attention....
remember the snow white massacre?

Well in the last few days he has eaten  her friend sleeping beauty, 

the back legs of a large plastic grasshopper, 

a toy frog,

a stuffed elephants trunk,

an earring,

a barbie hairbrush,

an Easter egg filled with bubble stuff...

and a partridge in a pear tree.....

See!? ... this is why I blog... now that I wrote it out like that I'm not nearly as angry...

But still this has to stop!

I bought those toys for my children to destroy... not my dog.

Also I'm afraid if he continues down this path of destruction and crime
I will have to hide Isabella's favorite Snow White dress...
Does anyone else think he is looking at her like she is dinner?

Does anyone know the number of a good Doggy therapist?

And I guess I lied... I did have a funny story after all.

Prince Charming to the Rescue!

I thought it might be nice to try to make Isabella her birthday cake this year.
I was inspired in part by the Vitafamiliae Blog, and partly I just plain felt like I could actually do it...

Save money,

make memories,

look good in front of the relatives!

I could barely boil water when I got married, so this is a big step for me ok?

And so it began as a cake...then a princess cake... then maybe the kind of cake you see that looks like the skirt on a barbie (you know like a ball gown?).

She said she wanted "Cinderella" so we started looking at pictures and that was the fateful moment when she saw a castle cake... a big fancy one... and she said in awe, "I want a castle cake mama!" 

And I said... "Ok"..... cool as could be..... no problem.... your mom can do anything baby, don't even sweat it.

What I was really thinking is ....'Daddy can do anything and he will save my butt'

he cooks

he bakes

he builds

he fixes... well... everything!

Have I said lately that I am the luckiest woman alive and I truly love this man that God gave to me?  

Cause I am and I do!!!

These are the pans we used, I made the cake from the Pioneer Woman's Recipe.

I love her... shes not hard to love... just try one of her recipes!

Once I had made the cake and the frosting (thank you Leesha it was awesome!)

Tom pointed out that it might not survive the drive to my moms house in the morning once it was assembled,

so we loaded up the kids and headed to my moms to finish the cake.

I would like to say now that  

I made the cake..

I made the icing.... 

and I figured out the general assembly process  

with some help from Tom and my awesome facebook friends..

Then I wisely let my baby take over...

Here you go...

Rice Krispies to hold the cupcake towers together and anchor them

Lollipop sticks to help

Pre-icing

The cone roofs with icing and sugar crystal on top

iced...

And....

TA-DA!!!

The doors and windows are Wafer cookies he cut with scissors to look like windows and doors.

One very happy birthday princess!

One very awesome Daddy and some very blessed kids!

Did I mention I never even really asked him to help?

He apologized for "kinda taking over my project" once we were in the car heading home...

little did he know That I knew it was his project all along :)